8 By restraint and by judgment he hath been taken, And of his generation who doth meditate, That he hath been cut off from the land of the living? By the transgression of My people he is plagued,
and a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being chief priest of that year, said to them, `Ye have not known anything, nor reason that it is good for us that one man may die for the people, and not the whole nation perish.' And this he said not of himself, but being chief priest of that year, he did prophesy that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that also the children of God, who have been scattered abroad, he may gather together into one.
Many bulls have surrounded me, Mighty ones of Bashan have compassed me, They have opened against me their mouth, A lion tearing and roaring. As waters I have been poured out, And separated themselves have all my bones, My heart hath been like wax, It is melted in the midst of my bowels. Dried up as an earthen vessel is my power, And my tongue is cleaving to my jaws. And to the dust of death thou appointest me, For surrounded me have dogs, A company of evil doers have compassed me, Piercing my hands and my feet. I count all my bones -- they look expectingly, They look upon me, They apportion my garments to themselves, And for my clothing they cause a lot to fall. And Thou, O Jehovah, be not far off, O my strength, to help me haste. Deliver from the sword my soul, From the paw of a dog mine only one. Save me from the mouth of a lion: -- And -- from the horns of the high places Thou hast answered me!
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,