Tomasso Malvenda's Commentary on Isaiah 49:1-6

 

Christ is established as leader of the Gentiles and of the Jews who are to be saved, and he is given as a covenant of the people to be called from every part of the world. Having shown the great blessedness of those who believe in Christ, he exhorts them to thanksgiving and kindly consoles them. He also comforts Zion, which had complained that it was forsaken by God, promising that it would be glorious throughout the whole world, with all nations flowing to it and its enemies being crushed.

Is 49:1 “Hear, O islands, and…” Others, following the Hebrew, render it: “Listen, O islands, to me.” When the prophet, they say, from chapter 40 onward, proposed to himself two passages of consolation to be explained—one concerning the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, the other concerning the restoration of the Church through Christ—he now finally begins to expound specifically this second passage and continues in this argument to the very end of the prophecy. This chapter, however, is in a certain way a preface, or rather a summary of the entire argument of all that follows. For first Christ, through the prophet, calling all nations to himself, establishes his authority by the narration of his calling in the first six verses; then follow the promises made to him and to the Church up to the end of the chapter. In these two arguments the whole remaining prophecy is contained, up to the end of the book.

In the calling, therefore, the calling of Christ by God the Father to that holy office of mediator between God and the Church is explained in the first two verses; then it is shown from whom the Church is to be called through Christ, in four verses.

“And listen, O peoples, from afar.” Some add, “and listen, O nations from far away,” that is, although you are far distant, even to the ends of the earth—those nations which are the most remote.

“The Lord called me from the womb.” Others translate: “Jehovah had called me from the womb,” that is, he called me from eternity, and therefore I had already been called when I was conceived in my mother’s womb. For Christ is that blessed seed in whom the salvation of the Church is established and the promises of salvation were made (Galatians 3:16), and this by the calling of God the Father (Hebrews 5:4–5).

“From my mother’s womb he made mention of my name.” In Hebrew: “from the inward parts of my mother he caused my name to be remembered.” Others: “he remembered, or caused to be remembered, my name,” or “he established the memory of my name.” Some explain it thus: “in my mother’s womb he remembered my name,” that is, he gave me my name (Matthew 1:21). Others say: before I came forth from my mother’s womb into this light, he commended me, proclaimed me honorably, and made my name famous and glorious, as above in chapter 48:1.

Is 49:2 “And he made my mouth like a sharp sword”. Others: “He disposed my mouth like a sharp sword,” that is, he armed me with his most effective and penetrating word, which is compared with a sword and a very sharp arrow, with promises added of his defense and of my ministry. See Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16.

“And he made me a chosen arrow.” Others: “He disposed me as a polished arrow,” cleansed, smoothed, shining, purified, clarified, as Psalm 45:6. With a sword we strike those near, with an arrow those far away; thus Christ struck both the Jews who were near and the Gentiles who were far away by the word of God.

Is 49:3 “And he said to me: You are my servant”. Others: “He had said to me: You are my servant,” as above in 42:1.

“Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Or, “I will glory.” The accent athnach clearly separates the word Israel from what precedes and connects it with what follows. Some render the Hebrew as: “Israel, for in you I will be glorified,” or “Israel, surely in you I will be glorified.” From the verb they have Israel, which may mean “in whom I will be adorned, honored, glorified.” Some explain it thus: “Israel is that concerning which I will glory through you,” that is, I command you first to present my glorious word to Israel and to unfold my glory first among the Jews, as in Matthew 10:6, 24; Acts 13:46; 28:25 and what follows.

Is 49:4–5. In the forming of the Jews, God is witness and testifies to my conscience, who alone knows my office and my work most perfectly. Nor are there lacking those who interpret “judgment” here as the Gospel, as above in chapter 42:1 and 4, and likewise “work.”

“I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” Others from the Hebrew:

1. “In vain I labored; uselessly and rashly I consumed my strength.”

2. “I labor in vain, to emptiness and vanity, or vainly and uselessly I consume my strength,” that is, Israel does not hear nor receive the word; very few from among the Israelites believe.

“Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” The explanation: Now indeed I would wish to contend in judgment with God and to have the work of my preaching approved by him, that it has not been fruitless on my part, since I applied all diligence to my ministry so as to bring the Jews to faith, which they themselves refused.
2) Nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, that is, my reward, my work, or the recompense of my work is with my God, or from my God; that is, although they will not believe me, I will nevertheless perform my office, and I will await the reward of my labor from you, Father.
3) Forster and Forerius: certainly my condition or status is from Jehovah, and my work from my God; that is, no one should think that I labored in vain because I came when sent, or that I handled things otherwise than was fitting, or erred in anything. Certainly my condition, status, efforts, and all my actions were disposed and ordered by my Father, so that I never deviated even a fingernail’s breadth.
4) Tremellius and Junius: nevertheless my office is with Jehovah and my work with my God—an amplification of indignity from the testimony of conscience and of God himself. “I,” says Christ, “have consumed all my strength…”

“And now says the Lord.” Others: “And now Jehovah says,” namely, when, after all my strength had been spent among the Jews, God experienced their obstinacy.

“Who formed me from the womb to be his servant.” Others: “Who had formed me from the womb to serve him,” that is, he had prepared me by his eternal decree, as above verse 1.

“And Israel will not be gathered.” The Hebrews, because this seemed to tend toward their reproach—as if they were never to be brought back from the exiles in which they are scattered throughout the world—note that this place is one of the fifteen in which לא (lo, “not”) with aleph is to be taken for לו (lo, “to him”) with waw; thus: “and Israel will be gathered to him,” or “and Israel will gather itself to him.” But without doubt the negative reading is to be preferred. Some translate: “and even if Israel is not gathered, nevertheless I will be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah.” Others take it parenthetically: “but Israel will not gather itself to him,” or “even if Israel is not gathered to the Lord, nevertheless I will be glorious,” etc. Tremellius and Junius: when Israel did not return itself to God calling the Jews through the Gospel of Christ.

“And I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is my strength.” Others: “because I am glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God is my strength,” that is, because the Father loves the Son and has delivered all things into his hands; nor does he approve what perverse Jews do in despising him. Therefore he does not wish that the ministry of his Son should be useless and inglorious, as is shown in the parable of Matthew 22.

Is 49:6 “And he said: It is a small thing that you should be my servant…” Hebrew: “And he said: It is too light that you should be my servant…” Others:

1. “It is light that you should be my servant.”

2. “It was unseemly,” that is, it was judged dishonorable and shameful that you should not be my servant; for thus the particle מ prefixed to the infinitive is often taken as “not,” as in 1 Samuel 15:26 and elsewhere. But I by no means approve this sense, since it does not fit the context.

3. “He said, I say, you seem too insignificant that you should be my servant for the Jews,” as the following verse explains.

4. “He said, I say, it is a small thing that you should be my servant,” and this sense is preferable and is ours: that it is not so great a thing for you to be a prophet of the Jews; I have destined you for greater things, etc. The Jews, to cover their shame, read it interrogatively: “Is it a small thing that you should be my servant…?”

“To raise up the tribes of Jacob.” Hebrew: “to raise, establish, constitute, arouse, stabilize, confirm, ratify the tribes of Jacob.”

“And to restore the preserved of Israel.” Learnedly so, for in Hebrew it refers to what is reserved or stored up, like the dregs which settle and remain at the bottom of a vessel. Others:

1. “and to restore the desolations or devastations of Israel”;

2. “and to restore the preserved ones of Israel”;

3. “and the guarded ones of Israel,” that is, to bring back the Israelites whom I had guarded with special care as a possession above all other peoples and as the apple of my eye (Deuteronomy 32:10).

“Behold, I have given you as a light to the Gentiles.” Others:

1. “Unless I give you as a light to the Gentiles”;

2. “Therefore I establish you as a light of the Gentiles,” that is, that you may flood all nations with the illumination of your Gospel, as above in chapter 42:6. See Acts 13:46.

“Thus says the Lord.” Others: “Thus says Jehovah,” etc. The second part of the chapter is the proposition, namely of evangelical promises—first toward Christ up to verse 14, then toward the Church in Christ from there to the end—both of which members are proleptically contained in this verse.

“The Redeemer of Israel,” or “the Avenger of Israel,” that is, of the elect of God.

“To the despised soul, to the abhorred nation, to the servant of rulers.” Others from the Hebrew:

1. “To him who is despised in soul and who is abhorred by nations, and is the servant of rulers”—understood of Christ and his apostles.

2. “To him whom the soul despises, whom the nation abhors, the servant of rulers,” that is, Christ, whom each of the Jews despises and abhors and, as it were, forces into the harshest servitude. They explain “servant of rulers” as referring to the Jews, who imagined dominion for themselves even in the gravest servitude and claimed freedom for themselves, as in John 8:33.

“To the despised soul”—בזה (bazeh)—can be taken as an infinitive, “to despise the soul,” or “soul,” that is, to him who is fit to be despised by any soul, or whom every soul despises, as if it said: exposed to the contempt of all; or “to despise the soul,” by enallage, that is, to him whom the soul of each despises, that is, whom everyone despises; or it can be taken as a noun of quality, “to contempt of soul or mind,” that is, to one who is contemptible to all.

“To the abhorred nation”—למשגב (limshaggeb), a Piel participle with the prefixed lamed indicating the dative—which some thus resolve: “to one abominable to the nation,” that is, whom every nation abhors. Others: “to him whom the nation abhors,” and this is more correct. Avenarius renders it: “to the one despising the soul and abominating the nation.”

CONTINUE