Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ... — We obviously have a new poem in the form of a soliloquy, and we ask, “Who is the speaker?” The Jewish Targum and many modern critics hear only the voice of Isaiah. Guided by Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 1:4–9, we recognize here, as there, the utterance of the ideal Servant of Jehovah.

That view, it scarcely needs to be said, is the one suggested to all Christian minds by our Lord’s application of the passage to His own work in Luke 4:16-22. The opening words repeat what had been said by Jehovah of the Servant in Isaiah 42:1. The “anointing,” as it stands, might be that of a king (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1), or a priest (Exodus 29:2; Leviticus 7:36), or a prophet (1 Kings 19:16). As interpreted by its fulfillment, it may be held to include all three.

To preach good tidings ... — Compare the note on Isaiah 40:9. To this passage, more than any other, even than Isaiah 40:9, we may trace the use of the word “gospel” (“evangel,” “good tidings”) in our Lord’s teaching and that of the Apostles. Claiming the promise as fulfilled in Himself, He became the great evangelist, and all who followed Him were called to the same office.

To bind up the broken-hearted ... — The primary thought is that of a healing bandage applied to the heart’s wounds . The Servant of Jehovah is the great physician as well as the evangelist.

To proclaim liberty. — Phrase and thought are taken from the law of the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10; Ezekiel 46:17; Jeremiah 34:8).

The opening of the prison. — The Septuagint, adopted in Luke 4:18, gives “recovery of sight to the blind;” and as the verb is never used for the opening of a room or door, and is used in Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, for the opening of the eyes, that is probably its meaning here.

To proclaim the acceptable year ... —The Year of Jubilee is still, perhaps, in the prophet’s thoughts; but the chief point of the promise is the contrast between the “year” of favour and the single “day” of vengeance, reminding us of the like contrast in Exodus 20:5-6.

To appoint unto them that mourn ... —The verb (literally, to set) has no object either in the Hebrew or English, and it seems as if the prophet corrected himself in the act of writing or dictating, and substituted for a word that would have applied only to the coronet one that was better fitted for the whole context.

Beauty for ashes. —Literally, a diadem, or coronet, that is to take the place of the ashes that had been sprinkled on the head of the mourners or penitents (2 Samuel 1:2; 2 Samuel 13:19; Joshua 7:6). The assonance of the two Hebrew words, ’ epher, paer, deserves notice.

Oil of joy. —Same phrase as in Psalm 45:7.

The spirit of heaviness ... —The second noun is that used for the “smoking” or “dimly burning” flax in Isaiah 42:3, and in its figurative sense in Isaiah 42:4; Ezekiel 21:7.

That they might be called trees of righteousness ... —Strictly, terebinths, or oaks, as the symbols of perennial verdure—the “righteousness” being thought of as the gift of the Spirit of Jehovah, and, therefore, life-giving and enduring—and in their beauty and strength manifesting His glory.

They shall build the old wastes ... —Literally the waste places of ancient times: that is, not merely the cities that had fallen into ruins during the exile, but those that had been lying waste for generations. The words are parallel with those of Isaiah 58:12. By some commentators, strangers is supplied from Isaiah 61:5 as the implied subject, as in Isaiah 60:10. Here, however, it would seem as if the prophet looked on the rebuilding as being Israel’s own work, while service of another kind was assigned to the foreigners.

Strangers shall stand ... —i.e., like servants waiting for their master’s orders. The implied thought of the whole passage is, as in the next verse, that all Israel is raised to the dignity of a priestly caste, leaving the rough work of the world to be done by foreigners, who stood on a lower level. .