Moreover, the Prophet would here form rather a strange figure; he would appear as it were, as if he had been blown in by a snow-storm. According to Hofmann, he describes how he is rewarded for his activity and zeal in his vocation. But how does this suit the contents of the second part, which evidently is a whole, the single parts of which must stand in a close relation to its fundamental idea! It is only a person of central importance that is suitable to this context. It is only when we refer it to Christ, that the expectations are satisfied which were called forth by the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. This call is answered only by pointing to the future Saviour of the world.
One element of truth, indeed, there is in the explanation which makes the Prophet the subject. It is revealed to him, indeed, that the Servant of God shall undergo persecution, shame, and ignominy; but he has the natural substratum for this knowledge in the experience of himself and his colleagues, comp. Matt. xxiii. 29-37; Heb. xi. 36, 37. The divine, wherever it enters into the world of sin, as well as the servant of truth who upholds it in the face of prevailing falsehood, must undergo struggles, shame, and ignominy. This truth was confirmed in the case of the prophets as types, in the case of Christ as the antitype. All that which the prophets had to experience in their own cases was a prophecy by deeds of the sufferings of Christ; and we should the less have any difficulty in admitting their knowledge of this, that it would be rather strange if they were destitute of such knowledge.
Ver. 4. "The Lord Jehovah hath given me a disciples tongue, that I should know to help the weary with a word: He awakeneth morning by morning, wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear as the disciples."
The greater number of expositors explain a disciple's tongue by: "A tongue such as instructed people or scholars possess,--an eloquent tongue." But למד, everywhere else in Isaiah, means "pupil," "disciple," and is used especially of the disciples of the Lord, those who go to His school, are instructed by Him; comp. chaps. viii. 16; liv. 13. A disciple's tongue is such as the disciples of the Lord possess. Its foundation is formed by the disciple's ear mentioned at the close of the verse. He who hears the Lord's words, speaks also the Lord's words. The signification, "learned," is not suitable in the last clause of the verse, and its reference to the first does not permit of our assuming a different signification in either clause. Just as here the Servant of God traces back to God that which He speaks, so Jesus says, in John viii. 26: κᾀγὼ ἃ ἤκουσα παρʼ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα λαλῶ εἰς τὸν κόσμον, comp. iii. 34: ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ θεοῦ λαλεῖ. The verb סמך, which occurs only here, means, according to the Arabic, "to help," "to support;" Aquila: ὑποστηρίσαι, Vulg. sustentare. Like other similar verbs, e.g., סמך, in Gen. xxvii. 37, it is construed with a double accusative: "that I may help the weary, word," i.e., may support him by comforting words. The weary or fatigued are, like the bent reed, the faintly burning wick, in chap. xlii. 3; the blind, the prisoners sitting in darkness, ibid., ver. 7; the broken-hearted, chap. lxi. 1; them that mourn, ibid., ver. 2. Just as here the Servant of God represents the suffering and afflicted ones as the main objects of His mission, so Christ announces, that His mission is specially directed to these, comp. e.g., Matt. v. 4; xi. 28. In order to be able to fulfil this mission. He must be able to draw from the fulness of God, who looketh to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, chap. lxvi. 2, and who alone understands to heal the broken in heart, and to bind up their wounds, Ps. cxlvii. 3.--In the words: "He wakeneth, &c." we are told in what manner the Lord gives to His Servant the disciple's tongue. To waken the ear is equivalent to: to make attentive, to make ready for the reception of the divine communications. The expression "morning by morning" indicates that the divine wakening is going on uninterruptedly, and that the Servant of God unreservedly surrenders himself to the influences which come from above, in which He has become an example to us.
Ver. 5. "The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, and have not turned back."
The phrases "to open or uncover the ear" have always the signification, "to make known something to some one," "to reveal to him something." "to inform him," both in ordinary circumstances (comp. 1 Sam. xx. 12; Ruth iv. 4), and on the religious territory, comp. 2 Sam. vii. 27: "For thou, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of thy servant, saying: I will build thee an house;" Isa. xlviii. 8: "Thou heardest not, thou knewest not, nor was formerly thine ear opened;" chap. xlii. 20: "The ear was opened to him." According to this well established usus loquendi, "The Lord hath opened mine ear," can only mean: The Lord hath revealed to me, hath informed me inwardly; Abenezra: גלה סודו לי "He has made known to me His secret." What the Lord has made known to His Servant, we are not here expressly told; but it may be inferred from ver. 6, where the Servant declares that which, in consequence of the divine manifestation, He did, viz., that He should give His back to the smiters, &c. The words: "The Lord hath opened mine ear" here are connected with: "The Lord wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear," in the preceding verse: The Lord has specially made known to me that, in carrying out my vocation, I shall have to endure severe sufferings. To this subject the Servant of God quickly passes over, after having, in the introduction, described, by a few features, the vocation, in the carrying out of which these sufferings should befal Him. As the authors of these sufferings, we must conceive of the party opposed to the weary, viz., the proud, secure, unbroken sinners. On "I was not rebellious," compare what, in Deut. xxi. 20, is written of the stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father; and farther, the words: πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλʼ ὡς σύ, Matt. xxvi. 39.
Ver. 6. "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to the pluckers, I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
The words express in an individualizing manner the thought, that the Servant of God, in His vocation as the Saviour of the personae miserabiles, would experience the most shameful and ignominious treatment, and would patiently bear it. In God's providence, part of the contents was literally fulfilled upon Christ. But the fact that this literal agreement is not the main point, but that it serves as a hint and indication only of the far more important substantial conformity which would take place, although the hatred of the world against the Saviour of the poor and afflicted should have manifested itself in forms altogether different,--this fact is evident from the circumstance that regarding the fulfilment of the words: "and my cheeks to the pluckers"--plucking the cheeks, or plucking off of the beard being the greatest insult and disgrace in the East, comp. 2 Sam. x. 4--there is no mention in the New Testament history.
In vers. 7-9 we have the future glory, which makes it easy for the Servant of God to bear the sufferings of the Present. If God be for Him, who may be against Him?
Ver. 7. "But the Lord Jehovah helpeth me, therefore I am not confounded, therefore I make my face like a flint, and I know that I am not put to shame."