Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 51:1

"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hold of the pit whence ye were digged." — Isaiah 51:1 (ASV)

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.