John Gill Commentary Isaiah 40

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

The Babylonish captivity being predicted in the preceding chapter, for the comfort of God's people a deliverance is promised, expressed in such terms, as in the clearest and strongest manner to set forth the redemption and salvation by Jesus Christ, of which it was typical. Here begins the more evangelical and spiritual part of this prophecy, which reaches to and includes the whole Gospel dispensation, from the coming of John the Baptist to the second coming of Christ.

It begins with comforts, and holds on and ends with them; which consolations, Kimchi observes, are what should be in the times of the Messiah; and the word "comfort" is repeated, he says, to confirm the thing.

It is God that here speaks, who is the God of all comfort; the persons whom he would have comforted are his "people", whom he has chosen, with whom he has made a covenant in Christ, whom he has given to him, and he has redeemed by his blood, and whom he effectually calls by his grace; these are sometimes disconsolate, by reason of the corruptions of their nature, the temptations of Satan, the hidings of God's face, and the various afflictions they meet with; and it is the will of God they should be comforted, as appears by sending his Son to be the comforter of them, by giving his Spirit as another comforter, by appointing ordinances as breasts of consolation to them, by the promises he has made to them, and the confirmation of them by an oath, for their strong consolation;

and particularly by the word of the Gospel, and the ministers of it, who are Barnabases, sons of consolation, who are sent with a comfortable message, and are encouraged in their work from the consideration of God being their God, who will be with them, assist them, and make their ministrations successful; and to these are these words addressed; which are repeated, not to suggest any backwardness in Gospel ministers, who are ready to go on such an errand, however reluctant they may be to carry bad tidings; but rather to signify the people's refusal to be comforted, and therefore must be spoken to again and again; and also to show the vehement and hearty desire of the Lord to have them comforted.

The Targum is, ``O ye prophets, prophesy comforts concerning my people.'' And the Septuagint and Arabic versions insert, "O ye priests", as if the words were directed to them. The preachers of the Gospel are meant, and are called unto; what the Lord would have said for the comfort of his people by them is expressed in the following verse.

Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
Or, "speak to or according to the heart of Jerusalem ^F8 "; to her very heart, what will be a cordial to her, very acceptable, grateful, and comfortable; and let it be proclaimed aloud, that she may hear and understand it. By "Jerusalem" is meant the Gospel church, and the true members of it. Aben Ezra interprets it of the congregation of Israel; see (Hebrews 12:22) :

that her warfare is accomplished ;
this life is a warfare; saints have many enemies to engage with, sin, Satan, and the world; many battles to fight, a great fight of afflictions, and the good fight of faith: this is "accomplished", or "filled up ^F9 "; not that it is at an end before this life is, while that lasts there will be a continual conflict; yet all enemies are now conquered by Christ, and in a short time will be under the feet of his people; the Captain of their salvation, who has got the victory, is gone before them; the crown is laid up for them, and is sure unto them.

Some interpret it, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, "her set or appointed time ^F11 "; and compare it with (Job 7:1) , and may be understood either of the time of deliverance from captivity: so the Targum, ``that her captivity by the people is filled up:'' or of the time of the Messiah's coming, the fulness of time, when he should appear, afterwards prophesied of; or of the servitude and bondage of the law being at an end, and of all the fatigue, labour, and trouble of that dispensation; and of the Gospel dispensation taking place: it follows,

that her iniquity is pardoned ;
which is God's act, flows from his free grace, is obtained by the blood of Christ, is full and complete, and yields great relief and comfort to guilty minds: or "is accepted" ^F12 ; that is, the punishment of it as borne by her surety; see (Leviticus 26:43) . The allusion is to the sacrifices being accepted for the atonement of sin, (Leviticus 1:4) , and may have respect here to the acceptation of Christ's sacrifice, for the expiation of the sins of his people.

Jarchi interprets the word "appeased"; and so it may be applied to the reconciliation for sin made by the blood of Christ. The Targum understands it of forgiveness, as we do:

for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins ;
which may be understood either of a sufficiency of chastisements for sin; though they are not more, but less, than are deserved, yet are as much as their heavenly Father, in his great tenderness and compassion, thinks are enough; and though they are in measure, and do not exceed, yet are in large measure often, at least in their own apprehension: or else of the large and copious blessings of grace and goodness received, instead of punishment for sins, that might be expected: or rather at the complete satisfaction made by Christ for her sins, and of her receiving at the Lord's hands, in her surety, full punishment for them; not that more was required than was due, but that ample satisfaction was made, and, being infinite, fully answers the demerit of sin; and this being in the room and stead of God's people, clears them, and yields comfort to them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: (bl le wrbd) , (lalhsate eiv thn kardian) Sept. "loquimini ad cor", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Vitringa; "secundum cor", Calvin.
• F9: (habu halm) "completa est militia ejus", Pagninus, Montanus.
• F11: "Tempus praefinitum", Junius & Tremellius.
• F12: (hurn) "acccpta est", Piscator, Forerius.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness
Not the voice of the Holy Ghost, as Jarchi; but of John the Baptist, as is attested by all the evangelists, (Matthew 3:3) (Mark 1:3) (Luke 3:1Luke 3:5Luke 3:6) and by John himself, (John 1:23) , who was a "voice" not like the man's nightingale, "vox et praeterea nihil" a voice and nothing else; he had not only a sonorous, but an instructive teaching voice; he had the voice of a prophet, for he was a prophet: we read of the voices of the prophets, their doctrines and prophecies, (Acts 13:27) , his voice was the voice of one that crieth, that published and proclaimed aloud, openly and publicly, with great eagerness and fervency, with much freedom and liberty, what he had to say; and this was done "in the wilderness", in the wilderness of Judea, literally taken, (Matthew 3:1) , and when Judea was become a Roman province, and the Jews were brought into the wilderness of the people, (Ezekiel 20:35) and when they were, as to their religious affairs, in a very forlorn and wilderness condition ^F13 :

what John was to say, when he came as a harbinger of Christ, and did, follows: prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God :
by whom is meant the Messiah to whose proper deity a noble testimony is here borne, being called "Jehovah" and "our God":

whose way John prepared himself, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptism, pointing at the Messiah, and exhorting the people to believe in him; and he called upon them likewise to prepare the way, and make a plain path to meet him in, by repenting of their sins, amending their ways, and cordially embracing him when come, laying aside all those sentiments which were contrary to him, his Gospel, and kingdom. The sense of this text is sadly perverted by the Targum, and seems done on purpose, thus,

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: Though, according to the accents, the phrase, "in the wilderness", belongs to what follows, "in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord"; where it is placed by Junius and Tremellius, commended for it by Reinbeck, de Accent, Heb. p. 416. though the accent seems neglected in Matt iii. 3. Mark 1. 3.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low
Which is not to be understood literally, but, as Kimchi says, parabolically and mystically: the meaning is, that in consequence of John's ministry, and our Lord's coming, such who were depressed and bowed down with the guilt of sin, and were low and humble in their own eyes, should be raised up and comforted; and that such who were elated with themselves, and their own righteousness, should be humbled; their pride and haughtiness should be brought down, and they treated with neglect and contempt, while great notice was taken of lowly minded ones; see (Luke 14:11) and (Luke 18:14) :

and the crooked shall be straight and the rough places plain ;
what before was dark and intricate in prophecy should now become clear; and such doctrines as were not so well understood should now become plain and easy.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Christ himself, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and his own glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; the glorious perfections of his nature, seen in the miracles wrought, and in the doctrines taught by him; the glory of the divine Father, in the face or person of Christ; and the glory of his attributes, in the work of salvation by him; all which is most clearly discerned in the glass of the Gospel, or in the ministry of the word, by John, Christ himself, and his apostles.

and all flesh shall see it together; not the Jews only, but Gentiles also; not with their bodily eyes, but with the eyes of their understanding; even the salvation of the Lord, and his glory, as displayed in it, being set forth in the everlasting Gospel to the view of all; see (Luke 3:7).

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it: that his glory should be revealed, and be visible to all, and therefore sure and certain; for what he has said he does, and what he has spoken he makes good.

The Targum is, "for by the word of the Lord it is so decreed;" and therefore shall be fulfilled.