Devotional Commentary on Isaiah 50
Isaiah describes the Lord’s interview with the feeble
remnant by saying that He did not write a certificate of divorce as is outlined
in Deuteronomy 24:1.
The remnant or bride of God was not divorced. Neither was
the sons sold for debt that God had, which was the custom also in the Law of Hammurabi 117-119 in the Ancient
Near East. “Behold you [sons and daughters of God] were sold for your
iniquities and for your transgressions your mother was sent away” (v. 1).
M. L. Andreasen said in his 1928 Sabbath School Quarterly on
Isaiah the same: “When Isaiah wrote this, God had not as yet put away
His people, Israel. They deserved this treatment, but God was still merciful.
Later on He did divorce Israel. Jer. 3: 8.”
The preterist Delitzsch in Vol. II 1890 said on page 251: “The
address is now no longer directed to Zion, but to her children.”
When the Lord came to the remnant Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden to walk and talk with them, “why was there no man when I came? When I
called, was there none to answer?” (v. 2a-b). Do they doubt the power of God to
deliver and to ransom? (v. 2c-d).
Andreasen in 1928 page 26 indicated that “He offers the
riches of heaven and men are not interested.”
Isaiah elaborated on God’s ability and power to dry up the
sea and rivers (v. 2e-h).
One is almost inclined to sometimes in this chapter seek an
application to Christ and His ministry but there are some strong indicators
within the verses not to do so.
Delitzsch Vol. II 1890 page 253 was convinced that verses
2-3 refers to Christ: “Hence we say, Jehovah has come to His people in His
servant. We know who, in actual historical fulfillment, this Servant of Jehovah
was; it is He whom the New Testament also, especially in the Book of Acts (iii.
13, 26, iv. 27, 30), calls τòν παίδα τοῡ κυρίου.”
[the Son of God]. For those who do not know F. Delitzsch, he is the Assyrian
scholar par excellence, in the Victorian Period and early 20th
century who was a preterist but at times he is honest and climbs out of
preterism into historicism saying the same as Adventists are saying. Said an
Assyrian critic of him one day to me: “Delitzsch was very creative” and he
giggled. I did not know then what he meant. At times I almost wondered if he
was first an Adventist who became something else later?
The one who is strengthened in this chapter is a disciple “the
Lord has given me the tongue of disciples” (v. 4a). The role of the remnant is
to “sustain the weary one with a Word” (v. 4b).
Every morning the Lord awakens the member of the remnant “to
listen as a disciple” (v. 4d).
Ellen White said the same about Christ: “‘The Son of
man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.’
Not for Himself, but for others, He lived and thought and prayed. From hours
spent with God He came forth morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven
to men. Daily He received a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the early
hours of the new day the Lord awakened Him from His slumbers, and His soul and
His lips were anointed with grace, that He might impart to others. His words
were given Him fresh from the heavenly courts, words that He might speak in
season to the weary and oppressed.”— Ellen White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 139,
cited by M. L. Andreasen in his 1928 Sabbath School Quarterly on Isaiah page 27.
Similar to Ellen White is the preterist Delitzsch words in
Vol. II 1890 page 254: “The servant of Jehovah here affords us a deep insight
into His hidden life. The prophets receive revelations chiefly through the
night, either in a dream or (like Zechariah) in ecstatic visions; here,
however, the servant of Jehovah receives the divine revelations neither in
dream [ ] nor in vision [ ], but as the antitype of Moses (Num. xii. 6—8),
and thus also in this respect as a prophet like him (Deut. xviii. 15—19),
are fully awake with the clearest consciousness: "every morning" ([ ]
as in xxviii. 19), therefore, after waking from his sleep, which is a direct
merging of conscious life in God, without the intervention of the world of
images constituting involuntary dream-life — Jehovah draws near to him, awakens his ear
(Cheyne takes this to be the inner ear, as in xlviii. 8), by giving him a sign
that he may listen, and then takes him, as it were, into the school like a
pupil, and teaches him what and how he is to preach.”
This member of the remnant “was not disobedient nor did I
turn back” (v. 5b-c). This is a victorious believer in the Substitutionary
Christ. The Christ in him living thankfully for the Christ for him.
M. L. Andreasen said on verse 5 the following in 1928 in his
Sabbath School Quarterly on Isaiah page 27: “The ears of
the true servant are always open, and those of the rebellious servant are
closed. The true servant will hear the word and do it. The wicked servant will not
hear.”
Tribulation is the path of the faithful in this hostile
world: “I gave My back to those who strike” (v. 6) which may sound to many like
Christ in Matthew 26:67, but it is not the case. Paul was also beaten. Help for
the suffering servant is coming from the Lord God “the Lord God helps me” (v.
7a). There is victory “and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (v. 7d). God is
near when people accuse His apple of His eye, the remnant “He Who vindicates me
is near” (v. 8a). “Who has a case against me. Let him [Satan] draw near to me”
in the presence of Christ our Advocate in Heaven (v. 8b-d). We know it is not the
Messiah since Paul in Romans 8:33 also interpreted verse 9 as the remnant.
M. L. Andreasen also asks us to look at Romans 8:33 and 34
in verse 9 on page 27 of his 1928 Sabbath School Quarterly on Isaiah.
Delitzsch felt that verse 6 referred to Christ as he
indicated in Vol. II of his 1890 commentary page 255. He cited a type of Christ
in Job 30:10; 17:6 and also Davidic Psalms 22:7; 49:8 as well as Jeremiah 20:7;
17:14-18 that he says “find in him [Christ] a perfect fulfillment.”
The ones who will condemn the remnant will “wear out like a
garment, the moth will eat them” (v. 9c-d). The servant of the Lord in verse 10
is the faithful remnant as the vehicle of God’s revelation in this hostile
world.
M. L. Andreasen said on page 27 of his 1928 Sabbath School
Quarterly on Isaiah: “Difficulties will arise that will try your
faith and patience. Face them bravely. Look on the bright side. . . . Never let
your courage fail. Never talk unbelief because appearances are against you. As
you work for the Master, you will feel pressure for want of means, but the Lord
will hear and answer your petitions for help. Let your language be, ‘The Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded:
therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed.’ Isa. 50:7. ‘If you
make a mistake, turn your defeat into victory. The lessons that God sends will
always, if well learned, bring help in due time. Put your trust in God: Pray
much, and believe. Trusting, hoping, believing, holding fast the hand of
Infinite Power, you will be more than conquerors.”— Ellen White,
Testimonies, Vol. 7, p. 244.
Delitzsch says on verse 9 in Vol. II 1890 page 257: “The
first word of Jehovah is addressed to those who fear Him, and who listen to the
voice of His servant.”
The one who fears the Lord “obeys the voice of His servant”,
the chosen ones to compile the Word of God or God’s Revelation to humanity. The
converted ones are those who fear the Lord, obey the Words of His servant[s the
prophets] and who use to walk in darkness and not the light (v. 10a-c). They
should now trust in His name and “rely on his God” (v. 10d). In Ephesians 5:8
Paul also applied this to the remnant of his generation.
It may mean that the remnant must be so much soaked with the
Word of God that when they present the Truth with the Spirit of God and
spiritual maturity as fruit of that relationship, then what Yahweh says and His
remnant are the same words and should be taken seriously. But, it is not a
mechanical or automatic situation or a label or sticker, it can only be processionally
earned by Spirit-filled involvement and biblical like-transformation. There are
conditions to be met: the test of a true prophet or true church biblically
measured. Truth spoken by the remnant should not go against truth spoken by
Yahweh in His Word. “To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak
according to this they are not a people of daylight”.
A warning is sent out to the evil by Isaiah in the last
verse 11. As James applied the verse in James 3:6, their tongues kindle a fire
that will burn themselves in Hell and that is what this verse is saying “walk
in the light of your fire and among the brands you have set ablaze. . .and you
will lie down in torment” (v. 11c-d, f).
Ellen White said the same as cited by M. L. Andreasen in his
1928 Sabbath School Quarterly on Isaiah page 28: “The picture is
that of a man in darkness, trying to get light by kindling a fire. All that
results, however, is a few sparks. Refusing God's light, he tries to make one
of his own. But he shall not succeed. "Many look to their ministers to
bring the light from God to them, seeming to think this a cheaper way than to
be at the trouble of going to God for it themselves. Such lose much. If they
would daily follow Christ, and make Him their guide and counselor, they might
obtain a clear knowledge of His will, and thus be gaining a valuable
experience. For want of this very experience, brethren professing the truth
walk in the sparks of others' kindling; they are unacquainted with the Spirit
of God and have not a knowledge of His will, and are therefore easily moved
from their faith. They are unstable, because they trusted in others to obtain
an experience for them. Ample provisions have been made for every son and
daughter of Adam to obtain individually a knowledge of the divine will, to
perfect Christian character, and to be purified through the truth. God is
dishonored by that class who profess to be followers of Christ, and yet have no
experimental knowledge of the divine will or of the mystery of godliness.”—
Ellen White, Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 644.
Delitzsch argued that verses 1-3 is Yahweh speaking and the
rest the servant including verse 9 and then at 11b Yahweh is closing with the
words: “from My hand has this been.” The divine aspects of the servant is what
Delitzsch is emphasizing (Delitzsch Vol. II 1890 page 257).
On this verse 11 Delitzsch further indicated that the evil
will kindle fire not of divine wrath but the fire of wickedness, missiles are “their
blasphemies and curses they hurl against the servant of Jehovah” (Delitzsch
Vol. II 1890 page 257). My explanation here is that there is an eschatological
last battle against the remnant explained in the Scripture where the Wicked
comes against the remnant and the Warrior Messiah goes out to fight with fire
[Hell] and extinguish them forever. That is the true meaning of “from My hand
does this come to you [the wicked]” at that Hell event.
Delitzsch had the same idea as myself here when he said: But the
destruction which they prepare for the servant of Jehovah becomes their own; they
themselves are obliged to go into the burning fire and the fiery darts which
they have kindled: the hand of Jehovah brings this about (cf. Mal. i. 9),
suddenly reversing the former state of things; the fire of their rage becomes
the fire of divine judgment, and this fire becomes their bed of pain.”
Notice that Ellen White did not pull it through to the
eschatological Hell fire. A criticism of myself and Delitzsch is in place here.
Ellen White is correct since if one investigate Maleachi 1:9 and context where
the same expression occurs of “this has come from Your hand” then it is not
talking about the eschatological fire but about the kindling of fire in worship
on the altar of the Lord in vain by the spiritually wicked people. Look again
at Ellen White’s explanation above. She is the best explanation on this issue
since that is what Maleachi is saying: If God does not desire us, in vain is
our worship. If one does acts bona fide, God will not reject the person. If one
acts mala fide God will not accept the person. Bona fide or mala fide only God
and yourself reads the heart. Do not play with God. That is Ellen White’s
message and also Maleachi 1 and probably then also the true understanding of
Isaiah 50:11. Below is another statement by Ellen White also saying the same
about the fire.
J. Mortyer the preterist is saying the same as Ellen White
here in 1993 page 401: “Those who continue in their own way, dealing with life’s
darkness by a ‘do-it-yourself’ remedy, are doomed”.
Some scholars thought that Isaiah 50 contains the 3rd
Servant Song but that is not correct. They say the second one is in Isaiah 49
and the first one in Isaiah 42. There are also ones in Isaiah 45:4 and Isaiah
44:21 so that their numbering is not correct. These passages are mostly about
the remnant of God who is to fulfill the role for God to spread the gospel in
each generation. But the remnant is feeble and blind and deaf and in need of a
Messiah Who is Perfect.
About the darkness in which the weeds of the remnant will
find themselves in Ellen White wrote: “they cannot discern light from heaven,
and will be inclined to accept a falsehood. This will affect the whole tenor of
their thoughts, their decisions, their propositions, their counsels. The
evidences that God has given are no evidence to them, because they have blinded
their own eyes by choosing darkness rather than light. Then they will originate
something they call light, which the Lord calls the sparks of their own
kindling, by which they will direct their steps” (SDABC Vol. 7-A: 1147).
The preterist J. Mortyer said it similar to Ellen White
in 1993 page 401: “The picture here is of people seeking to equip themselves,
out of earthly resources, to deal with earth’s dark experiences.”
Dear
God
We
do not want to invent our own revelation when Revelation exists already. Your
Word is clear to us that we should obey your prophets and in that we fear the
Lord. This is the way we want to walk with You. Amen.