Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord God - Hebrew, ‘The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh.’ The Chaldee renders this, ‘The prophet said, the spirit of prophecy from the presence of Yahweh God is upon me.’ The Syriac, ‘The Spirit of the Lord God.’ The Septuagint, Πνεῦμα Κυρίου Pneuma Kuriou - ‘The Spirit of the Lord,’ omitting the word אדני 'ădonāy. So Luke quotes it in (Luke 4:18). That this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Jesus expressly applied it to himself . Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and some others, suppose that it refers to Isaiah himself, and that the idea is that the prophet proclaims his commission as authorized to administer consolation to the suffering exiles in Babylon.

It cannot be denied that the language is such as may be applied in a subordinate sense to the office of the prophet, and that the work of the Redeemer is here described in terms derived from the consolation and deliverance afforded to the long-suffering exiles. But in a much higher sense, it refers to the Messiah and received an entire completion only as applied to him and to his work. Even Grotius, who has been said to ‘find Christ nowhere in the Old Testament,’ remarks, ‘Isaiah here speaks of himself, as the Chaldee observes; but in him we see not an obscure image of Christ.’ Applied to the Redeemer, it refers to the time when, having been baptized and set apart to the work of the Mediatorial office, he began publicly to preach .

The phrase ‘the Spirit of Yahweh is upon me’ refers to the fact that he had been publicly consecrated to his work by the Holy Spirit descending on him at his baptism (Matthew 3:16; John 1:32), and that the Spirit of God had been imparted to him ‘without measure’ to endow him for his great office (John 3:34; see the notes at Isaiah 11:2).

Because the Lord has anointed me - The word rendered ‘has anointed’ (משׁח mâshach) is that from which the word Messiah is derived (see the notes at Isaiah 45:1). Prophets and kings were set apart to their high office by the ceremony of pouring oil on their heads; and the idea here is that God had set apart the Messiah for the office which he was to bear, and had abundantly endowed him with the graces of which the anointing oil was an emblem. The same language is used in reference to the Messiah in Psalm 45:7 .

To preach good tidings - On the meaning of the word (בשׂר bâs'ar) rendered here ‘to preach good tidings,’ see the notes at Isaiah 52:7. The Septuagint renders it, Εὐαγγελίσασθαι Euangelisasthai - ‘To evangelize,’ to preach the gospel.

To the meek - The word rendered ‘meek’ (ענוים ‛ănâviym) properly denotes the afflicted, the distressed, the needy. The word ‘meek’ means those who are patient in the reception of injuries and stands opposed to the revengeful and irascible. This is by no means the sense of the word here. It refers to those who were borne down by calamity in any form and would be particularly applicable to those who had been sighing in a long captivity in Babylon. It is not improperly rendered by the Septuagint by the word πτωχοῖς ptōchois—‘poor,’ and in like manner by Luke (Luke 4:18); and the idea is that the Redeemer came to bring a joyful message to those who were oppressed and borne down by the evils of poverty and calamity .

To bind up the broken-hearted - (See the notes at Isaiah 1:6). The broken-hearted are those who are deeply afflicted and distressed on any account. It may be either on account of their sins, or of captivity and oppression, or of the loss of relations and friends. The Redeemer came that he might apply the balm of consolation to all such hearts and give them joy and peace. A similar form of expression occurs in Psalm 147:3:

He healeth the broken in heart,
And bindeth up their wounds.

To proclaim liberty to the captives - This evidently is language which is taken from the condition of the exiles in their long captivity in Babylon. The Messiah would accomplish a deliverance for those who were held under the captivity of sin similar to that of releasing captives from long and painful servitude.

The gospel does not at once, and by a mere exertion of power, open prison doors and restore captives to liberty. But it accomplishes an effect analogous to this: it releases the mind captive under sin, and it will finally open all prison doors, and by preventing crime will prevent the necessity of prisons, and will remove all the sufferings which are now endured in confinement as the consequence of crime.

It may be remarked further, that the word here rendered ‘liberty’ (דרור d'ror) is a word which is properly applicable to the year of Jubilee, when all were permitted to go free (Leviticus 25:10): ‘And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (דרור d'ror) throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.’ So in Jeremiah 34:8-9, it is used to denote the manumission of slaves: ‘To proclaim liberty (דרור d'ror) unto them; that every man should let his man-servant and every man his maid-servant, being an Hebrew, or an Hebrewess, go free.’ So also (Isaiah 61:1), of the same chapter.

So also in Ezekiel 46:17, it is applied to the year in which the slave was by law restored to liberty. Properly, therefore, the word refers to the freedom of those who are held in bondage or servitude; and it may be implied that it was to be a part of the purpose of the Messiah to proclaim, ultimately, universal freedom, and to restore all people to their just rights.

If this is the sense—and I see no reason to doubt it—while the main thing intended was that he should deliver people from the shameful servitude of sin, it also means that the gospel would contain principles inconsistent with the existence of slavery and would ultimately produce universal emancipation.

Accordingly, it is a matter of undoubted fact that its influence was such that in less than three centuries it was the means of abolishing slavery throughout the Roman empire; and no candid reader of the New Testament can doubt that if the principles of Christianity were universally followed, the last shackle would soon fall from the slave.

Let the following facts be remembered:

1. No man ever made another originally a slave under the influence of Christian principle. No man ever kidnapped another, or sold another, BECAUSE it was done in obedience to the laws of Christ.
2. No Christian ever freed a slave who did not feel that in doing it he was obeying the spirit of Christianity, and who did not have a more quiet conscience on that account.
3. No man doubts that if freedom were to prevail everywhere, and all men were to be regarded as of equal civil rights, it would be in accordance with the mind of the Redeemer.
4. Slaves are made in violation of all the precepts of the Savior. The work of kidnapping and selling men, women, and children; of tearing them from their homes, and confining them in the disease-ridden holds of ships on the ocean, and of dooming them to hard and perpetual servitude, is not the work to which the Lord Jesus calls his disciples.
5. Slavery, in fact, cannot be maintained without an incessant violation of the principles of the New Testament. To keep people in ignorance; to withhold from them the Bible; to prevent their learning to read; to render invalid the marriage contract, or to make it subject to the will of a master; to deprive a man of the proceeds of his own labor without his consent; to make him or his family subject to a removal against his will; to prevent parents from training up their children according to their own views of what is right; to fetter and bind the intellect and shut up the avenues to knowledge as a necessary means of continuing the system; and to make people dependent wholly on others whether they shall hear the gospel or be permitted publicly to embrace it, is everywhere deemed essential to the existence of slavery and is demanded by all the laws which rule over the regions of a country cursed with this institution. In the whole work of slavery, from the first capture of the unoffending person who is made a slave to the last act which is adopted to secure his bondage, there is an incessant and unvarying trampling on the laws of Jesus Christ.

Not one thing is done to make and keep a slave in accordance with any command of Christ; not one thing which would be done if his example were followed and his law obeyed. Who then can doubt that he came ultimately to proclaim freedom to all captives, and that the prevalence of his gospel will yet be the means of universal emancipation? (compare the notes at Isaiah 58:6).

And the opening of the prison - This language also is taken from the release of those who had been confined in Babylon as in a prison; and the idea is that the Redeemer would accomplish a work for sinful and suffering people like throwing open the doors of a prison and bidding the man who had been long lying in a dungeon to go free.

On the grammatical structure of the verb rendered here ‘opening of the prison’ (פקץ־קיץ peqach - qôach), Gesenius (Lexicon) and Rosenmuller may be consulted. According to Gesenius, it should be read as one word. So many manuscripts read it. It occurs nowhere else. It means deliverance here.

The Septuagint renders it, ‘And sight to the blind,’ which is followed by Luke. The sentiment which is found in the Septuagint and in Luke is a correct one, and one which elsewhere occurs in the prophets ; and as the sentiment was correct, the Savior did not deem it necessary to state that this was not the literal translation of the Hebrew.

Or more properly, the Savior in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:19) used the Hebrew, and when Luke came to record it, he quoted it as he found it in the version then in common use. This was the common practice with the writers of the New Testament.

The Evangelist wrote probably for the Hellenistic Jews, or the Greek-speaking Jews, who commonly used the Septuagint version, and he quotes that version as being the one with which they were familiar. The sense is not materially varied whether the Hebrew is followed or the version by the Septuagint.

The Arabic version agrees nearly with the Evangelist. Horne (Introduction, ii. 403) is of the opinion that the Hebrew formerly contained more than we now find in the manuscripts and the printed editions. Of that, however, I think there is no good evidence.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord - (see the notes at Isaiah 49:8). There is probably an allusion here to the year of Jubilee, when the trumpet was blown, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land (Leviticus 25:9–10). In like manner the Messiah would come to proclaim universal liberty - liberty to all the world from the degrading servitude of sin. The time of his coming would be a time when Yahweh would be pleased to proclaim through him universal emancipation from this ignoble bondage, and to restore to all the privilege of being the freedmen of the Lord.

And the day of vengeance of our God - (See the notes at Isaiah 34:8). This is language adapted to the deliverance from Babylon. The rescue of his people would be attended with vengeance on their enemies. This was not quoted by the Saviour in his discourse at Nazareth, or if quoted, the fact is not recorded by Luke . The text which the Saviour took then as the foundation of his discourse (Luke 4:21) seems to have ended with the clause before this. However, it is not to be inferred that he did not consider the subsequent expressions as referring to himself, but it was not necessary for his purpose to quote them. Regarded as applicable to the Redeemer and his preaching, this doubtless refers to the fact that his coming would be attended with vengeance on his foes.

It is a great truth, manifest everywhere, that God’s coming forth at any time to deliver his people is attended with vengeance on his enemies. So it was in the destruction of Idumea - regarded as the general representative of all the foes of God (see the notes at Isaiah 34:0; Isaiah 35:1–10); so it was in the deliverance from Egypt - involving the destruction of Pharaoh and his host; so in the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of the captives there. So in like manner it was in the destruction of Jerusalem; and so it will be at the end of the world (Matthew 25:31–46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10).

To comfort all that mourn - The expression, all that mourn, may refer either to those who mourn over the loss of earthly friends and possessions, or to those who mourn over sin. In either case the gospel has afforded abundant sources of consolation (see the notes at Isaiah 25:8).

To appoint to them — Hebrew, ‘To place;’ that is, to place happiness before them; to give them joy and consolation.

That mourn in Zion — (See the notes at Isaiah 1:8). The mourners in Zion mean those who dwelt in Jerusalem; then all those who are connected with the church of God—His poor and afflicted people.

To give to them beauty for ashes — In the Hebrew there is here a beautiful paronomasia, which cannot be transferred to our language—אפר תחת פאר pe'ēr tachath 'êpher. The word rendered ‘beauty’ (פאר pe'ēr) properly means a headdress, turban, tiara, or diadem; and the idea is that the Redeemer would impart such an ornament to His mourning people instead of the ashes which in their grief they were accustomed to cast on their heads.

For the use of the word, see Isaiah 3:20; Isaiah 61:10; Exodus 39:29; Ezekiel 24:17–23. It was common among the Orientals to cast dust and ashes upon their heads in time of mourning and as expressive of their grief (compare the notes at Isaiah 57:5; 2 Samuel 13:19).

The oil of joy — The oil of joy denotes that which was symbolic or expressive of joy. Oil or ointment was employed on occasions of festivity and joy (see the notes at Isaiah 57:9); but its use was abstained from in times of public calamity or grief (see 2 Samuel 14:2).

The garment of praise — That is, the garment or clothing which shall be expressive of praise or gratitude instead of that which shall indicate grief.

For the spirit of heaviness — Instead of a heavy, burdened, and oppressed spirit. The word used here (כהה kēhâh), usually means faint, feeble, weak (see the notes at Isaiah 42:3). It is applied to a lamp about to go out (Isaiah 42:3); to eyes bedimmed, or dull (1 Samuel 3:2); to a faint or pale color (Leviticus 13:39). Here it denotes those of a faint and desponding heart.

These expressions are figurative, and are taken from the custom which prevailed more in Oriental countries than elsewhere—and which is founded in nature—of expressing the emotions of the mind by the manner of apparel. These customs are stated in the book of Judith. She ‘pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire upon it (Greek, μιτρε mitre), and put on her garments of gladness wherewith she was clad during the life of Manasses her husband.

And she took sandals upon her feet, and put about her her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely to allure the eyes of all men that should see her’ (Isaiah 10:3–4).

That they might be called — That is, those who had mourned in Zion.

Trees of righteousness — In the Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ or terebinth trees. ‘Oaks of righteousness’ means people distinguished for righteousness or justice.

The Septuagint renders it, Γενεαὶ Geneai—‘Generations;’ Jerome, Fortes—‘Strong;’ the Chaldee, ‘Princes;’ the Syriac, ‘Rams;’ but the word properly denotes the oak, or the terebinth tree—a lofty, strong, and magnificent tree. It is not uncommon to represent people by trees (Psalms 92:12–14):

The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree;
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon,
Those that be planted in the house of the LORD,
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be fat and flourishing.

See also the beautiful description in Psalm 1:3, and in Jeremiah 17:8. The idea here is, that those who had been oppressed and borne down by calamity and by a sense of sin, would become vigorous and strong; and would be such as aptly to be compared to majestic trees with far-spreading branches—an image everywhere of that which is truly beautiful.

The planting of the Lord — Those whom Yahweh had truly planted; that is, those who were under His care and culture (see the notes at Isaiah 60:21). The same figure is used by the Savior. ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up’ (Matthew 15:13).

That he might be glorified — (See the notes at Isaiah 60:21).

And they shall build the old wastes - (See the notes at Isaiah 58:12).

And strangers shall stand - (See the notes at Isaiah 14:1-2; Isaiah 60:10).

And feed your flocks - The keeping of flocks constituted a very considerable part of the husbandry of those who lived in Palestine. Of course, any considerable spiritual prosperity would be well represented by an influx of foreigners, who would come to relieve them in their toil. It is not necessary to suppose that this is to be taken literally, nor that it should be so spiritualized as to suppose that the prophet refers to churches and their pastors, and to the fact that those churches would be put under the care of pastors from among the pagan. The idea is that it would be a time of notable spiritual prosperity, and the influx would be as great and important as if foreigners were to come in among a people and take the whole labor of tending their flocks and cultivating their fields.

Your plowmen - Hebrew, אכר 'ikkâr — from which probably is derived the Greek ἀγρός agros; the Gothic akr; the German acker; and the English acre. It properly means a digger or cultivator of the soil, or farmer (Jeremiah 51:26; Amos 5:16).

And vine-dressers - The sense here agrees with what has been so repeatedly said before, that the pagan world would eventually become tributary to the church (see the notes at Isaiah 9:5-7, Isaiah 9:9–10).