Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 51

Listen to me - This refers to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them. They are regarded as being in exile and bondage, and as despairing about their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more accurately the Messiah (compare the notes at Isaiah 1:0), is introduced as addressing them with assurances of deliverance.

You that follow after righteousness - This is clearly addressed to those who sought to be righteous and who truly feared the Lord. There was a portion of the nation that continued faithful to Yahweh. They still loved and worshipped Him in exile and were anxiously looking for deliverance and a return to their own land.

Look to the rock from where you are hewn - This refers to Abraham, the founder of the nation.

The figure is taken from the act of quarrying stone for building purposes. The essential idea here is that God had formed the nation from the beginning, much like a mason constructs a building.

He had, so to speak, taken the materials rough and unhewn from the very quarry, and then shaped, fitted, and molded them into an edifice.

The idea is not that their origin was dishonorable or obscure. It is not that Abraham was not an honored ancestor, or that they should be ashamed of the founder of their nation.

Rather, the idea is that God had entirely molded the nation. He had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land and had formed them into a great people and nation for His own purpose.

The argument is that He who had done this was able to raise them up from captivity and make them a great people again. An allusion is probably made to this passage by the Savior in Matthew 3:9, where He says, ‘For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.’

The hole of the pit - The word translated ‘hole’ means an excavation like those men make when taking stones from a quarry. It expresses substantially the same idea as the previous part of the verse.

This language is sometimes addressed to Christians to produce humility by reminding them that they have been taken by God from a state of sin and raised up, as it were, from a deep and dark pit of pollution. But this is not the meaning of the passage, nor can it support such an application.

It can be used to signify that God has taken them, just as stone is taken from the quarry. He found them in their natural state, like unhewn blocks of marble. He has molded and formed them by His own agency, fitting them into His spiritual temple.

Furthermore, they owe all the beauty and grace of their Christian conduct to Him. This, then, is an argument: He who had done so much for them—transforming them, so to speak, from rough and unsightly blocks into polished stones fit for His spiritual temple on earth—is also able to keep them and fit them for His temple above.

Such is the argument in the passage before us, and such a use of it is, of course, perfectly legitimate and fair.

Look unto Abraham - What was figuratively expressed in the former verse is here expressed literally. They were directed to remember that God had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and that from so humble a beginning He had increased them to a great nation. The argument is, that He was able to bless and increase the exiled Jews, though comparatively feeble and few.

For I called him alone - Hebrew, For one I called him; that is, he was alone; there was but one, and he increased to a mighty nation. So Jerome, Quia unum vocavi eum. So the Septuagint, Ὅτι εἷς ἦν hoti heis ēn — For he was one. The point of the declaration here is, that God had called one individual—Abraham—and that He had caused him to increase until a mighty nation had sprung from him, and that He had the same power to increase the little remnant that remained in Babylon until they should again become a mighty people.

For the Lord shall comfort Zion - On the word ‘Zion,’ see the notes at (Isaiah 1:8). The meaning here is that He would again restore it from its ruins. The argument is drawn from the statement in the previous verses. If God had raised up so great a nation from such a humble origin, He had power to restore the waste places of Judea to more than their former beauty and prosperity (see the notes at Isaiah 40:1).

And He will make her wilderness - Judea is here represented as lying waste. It is to be remembered that the time to which the prophet here refers is that of the captivity, and near its close. Of course, as that would have continued seventy years, in so long a period Judea would have become almost an extended wilderness, a wide waste. Any country that was naturally as fertile as Judea would in that time be overrun with briers, thorns, and underbrush, and even with a wild and luxuriant growth of the trees of the forest.

Like Eden - (Genesis 2:0) Like a cultivated and fertile garden—distinguished not only for its fertility, but for its beauty and order.

Her desert like the garden of the Lord - Like the garden which the Lord planted (Genesis 2:8). Septuagint, Ὡς παράδεισον κυρίου Hōs paradeison kuriou - ‘As the paradise of the Lord.’ The idea is that it should again be distinguished for its beauty and fertility.

Joy and gladness - The sound of rejoicing and praise shall again be heard there, where the cries of wild beasts are now heard.

The voice of melody - Hebrew, ‘A psalm.’ The praises of God shall again be celebrated.

Hearken unto me, my people - Lowth reads this:

Attend to me, O you people,
And give ear to me, O you nations.

The reason why he proposes this change is that he supposes the address here is made to the Gentiles and not to the Jews. In favor of the change, he observes that two manuscripts read it in this manner. Gesenius (Commentary) says that three codices read עמים ‛ammiym (“peoples”), instead of עמי ‛amiy (“my people”), and that thirteen manuscripts read לאוּמים le'ûmiym (“nations”), instead of לאוּמי l^eûmiy (“my nation”). Noyes also has adopted this reading.

But the authority is too slight to justify a change in the text. The Vulgate reads it in accordance with the present Hebrew text, and so substantially does the Septuagint. They render it, Hear me, hear me, my people, and you kings, give ear to me. It is not necessary to suppose any change in the text. The address is to the Jews, and the design is to comfort them in view of the fact that the pagan would be brought to partake of the privileges and blessings of the true religion.

They would not only be restored to their own land, but the true religion would be extended also to the distant nations of the earth. In view of this great and glorious truth, Yahweh calls on His people to listen to Him, and receive the glad announcement. It was a truth in which they were deeply interested, and to which they should therefore attend.

For a law shall proceed from me - The idea here is that Yahweh would give law to the distant nations by the diffusion of the true religion.

And I will make my judgment to rest for a light - The word ‘judgment’ here is equivalent to law, or statute, or to the institutions of the true religion. The word rendered here ‘to rest’ (ערגיע ‛aregiya‛ from רגע râga‛), Lowth renders, I will cause to break forth. Noyes renders it, I will establish. The Vulgate, Requiescet - Shall rest. The Septuagint renders it simply, My judgment for a light of the nation.

The word properly means ‘to make afraid,’ to terrify, to restrain by threats, rendered divideth (Job 26:12; Isaiah 51:15); then, to be afraid, to shrink from fear, and hence, to be still or quiet, as if cowering down from fear. Here it means that he would set his law firmly; he would place it so that it would be established and immovable.

My righteousness is near – The word ‘righteousness’ is used in a great variety of meanings. Here it means, probably, the faithful completion of His promises to His people (Lowth).

My salvation is gone forth – The promise of salvation has gone forth, and the execution of that purpose has already begun. He will soon deliver His people; He will before long extend salvation to all nations.

And mine arm shall judge the people – That is, it will dispense judgment to them. The ‘arm’ here represents Him, as the arm is the instrument by which we carry out our purposes (see the notes at Isaiah 51:9).

The isles shall wait upon me – The distant nations; the pagan lands (see the note at Isaiah 41:1). The idea is that distant lands will become interested in the true religion, and acknowledge and worship the true God.