2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form nor lordliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
As many were astonished at thee -- his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the children of men
who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman's form, taking his place in [the] likeness of men;
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in him.
or to rulers as sent by him, for vengeance on evildoers, and praise to them that do well.
They railed at him, and said, Thou art his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses; but [as to] this [man], we know not whence he is.
They cried therefore again all, saying, Not this [man], but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
(now it was [the] preparation of the passover; it was about the sixth hour;) and he says to the Jews, Behold your king! But they cried out, Take [him] away, take [him] away, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
(Jesus therefore went forth without, wearing the crown of thorn, and the purple robe.) And he says to them, Behold the man!
Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as king, and act wisely, and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
He was in the world, and the world had [its] being through him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he [the] right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name; who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth;
And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven roosting-places, but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head.
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them. And his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.
and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And he answering said to them, Elias indeed, having first come, restores all things; and how is it written of the Son of man that he must suffer much, and be set at nought:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also take of the highest branch of the lofty cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of its young shoots a tender one, and I will plant it upon a high and eminent mountain: upon the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth branches, and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish: I Jehovah have spoken, and will do [it].
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 53
Commentary on Isaiah 53 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 53
The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in the Old-Testament prophets testified beforehand were the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, 1 Pt. 1:11. And that which Christ himself, when he expounded Moses and all the prophets, showed to be the drift and scope of them all was that Christ ought to suffer and then to enter into his glory, Lu. 24:26, 27. But nowhere in all the Old-Testament are these two so plainly and fully prophesied of as here in this chapter, out of which divers passages are quoted with application to Christ in the New-Testament. This chapter is so replenished with the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called rather the gospel of the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. We may observe here,
By mixing faith with the prophecy of this chapter we may improve our acquaintance with Jesus Christ and him crucified, with Jesus Christ and him glorified, dying for our sins and rising again for our justification.
Isa 53:1-3
The prophet, in the close of the former chapter, had foreseen and foretold the kind reception which the gospel of Christ should find among the Gentiles, that nations and their kings should bid it welcome, that those who had not seen him should believe in him; and though they had not any prophecies among them of gospel grace, which might raise their expectations, and dispose them to entertain it, yet upon the first notice of it they should give it its due weight and consideration. Now here he foretels, with wonder, the unbelief of the Jews, notwithstanding the previous notices they had of the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament and the opportunity they had of being personally acquainted with him. Observe here,
Isa 53:4-9
In these verses we have,
Isa 53:10-12
In the foregoing verses the prophet had testified very particularly of the sufferings of Christ, yet mixing some hints of the happy issue of them; here he again mentions his sufferings, but largely foretels the glory that should follow. We may observe, in these verses,