Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions. Vol. 2

by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

נכלמתי refers to כלמות in the preceding verse. He whom the Lord helps is not confounded or put to shame by all the ignominy which the world heaps upon him. The expression: "I make my face like a flint" denotes the "holy hardness of perseverance" (Stier); comp. Ezek. iii. 8. In that passage it is especially the assailing hardness which comes into consideration; here, on the contrary, it is the suffering one. There is an allusion to the passage before us, in Luke ix. 51: ἐγένετο δὲ τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναλήψεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐστήριξε τοῦ πορεύεσθαι εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ.

Ver. 8. "He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with one? Let us stand together; who has a right upon me, let him come near me."

In the confidence and assurance of Christ, His redeemed ones, too, partake,--those that hear the voice of the Servant of God, ver. 10, comp. Rom. viii. 33, 34, where this and the following verse are intentionally alluded to. The justification is one by deeds. It took place and was fulfilled, in the first instance, in the resurrection and glorification of Christ, and, then, in the destruction of Jerusalem.--בעל משפטי literally, "the master of my right," i.e., he who according to his opinion or assertion which, by the issue is proved to be false, has a right over me, comp. the ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔχει οὔδέν which, in John xiv. 30, the Lord says in reference to the chief of His enemies.

Ver. 9. "Behold the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them."

That which is said herein reference to the enemies of Christ is, in chap. li. 8, with a reference to our passage, said of the opponents of those who know righteousness, and in whose heart is the law: "The moth shall eat them up like a garment." Enmity to Christ and His Church is, to those who entertain it, a prophecy of sure destruction. The words: "The moth shall eat them," are farther expanded in ver. 11, where it is described how the people who ventured to condemn the Servant of God, become a prey to destruction.

The Servant of God closes with a double address; first, to the godly; and then, to the ungodly.

Ver. 10. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the word of His Servant? When he walketh in darkness, in which there is no light to him, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

From the words: "Of mine hand," in ver. 11, it appears that the Servant of God is continuing the discourse. Hence "the voice of His Servant," q.d., the voice of me who am His Servant. By the words: "Among you," the address is directed to the whole of the people. In this two parties are distinguished. The first is formed by those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of His Servant. Both of these things appear as indissolubly connected. The fear of God must necessarily prove itself in this, that He whom He has sent is obeyed. It is a mere imagination on the part of the people to think that they can fear God without obeying the voice of His Servant; comp. John v. 23. There is in this an allusion to the emphatic "Unto him ye shall hearken," which, in Deut. xviii. 15, had been said in reference to the Prophet. From ver. 11 it appears that the darkness in which those walk who fear the Lord, is not to be understood of personal individual calamity which befals this or that godly one, nor of the sufferings which happen to the pious godly party, in contrast to the ungodly wicked, but rather that we have before us the foresight of a dark period of sufferings which, after the appearance of the Servant of God, shall be inflicted upon the whole people; so that both of the parties,--that devoted to the Servant of God, and that opposed to Him,--are thereby affected, but with a different issue. For in ver. 11, it is described how the ungodly, who likewise walk in darkness, endeavour to light up their darkness by a fire which they have kindled, but do so to their own destruction. Behind the exhortation: "Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God," there is concealed the promise: he may trust, his darkness shall be changed into light, his sorrow into joy. When the destruction of Jerusalem approached, the cry came to believing Israel: "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke xxi. 28. In the destruction of apostate Israel, not obeying the Servant of God, but persecuting His faithful ones, they beheld the beginning of the victory of the true people of God over the world.

Ver. 11. "Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that gird sparks,--walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. From mine hand is this to you; ye shall lie down in pain."

The image begun in the preceding verse is continued. The pious walk in confidence and patience through the lightless darkness, until the Lord kindles a light to them. Those who do not hear the Lord, who do not obey the voice of His Servant, kindle a fire which is to light up their darkness; but instead of that, they are consumed by the fire. Thus the Servant of God, who brings this destruction upon them, obtains His right upon them.--The fire is often in Scripture the fire of war, chap. ix. 18; Jer. li. 5; Rev. viii. 7-10. According to several interpreters (Hitzig, Ewald, Knobel), it is assumed that the discourse is here not of "self-assistance by rebellion," but "of the attacks of the wicked upon the godly, and of the destruction, into which these attacks turn out for their authors." But this view is opposed by the circumstance that the darkness is common to both parties; hence, it must come from some other quarter. The fire which the wicked kindle is destined to enlighten the darkness in which they also are, which is especially evident from the words: "Walk in the light of your fire." They now have a light which enlightens their darkness; but this self-created light consumes them.--To gird stands for, "to surround one's self with a girdle," "to put on a girdle." In substance it is equivalent "to provide one's self with it."--The ἅπαξ λεγόμενον זיקות cannot with certainty be explained from the dialects. The connection and parallelism are in favour of the signification "sparks," "flames," which is found as early as in the Septuagint (φλόγα), and Vulg. (flammas). In Syriac זיקא has the signification "lightning." Those who explain it by "fiery darts" are not at liberty to refer it to the זקים in Prov. xxvi. 18. The signification "flames" (not "sparks," as Stier holds), is, in that passage, quite suitable; simple arrows could there not be mentioned after the fiery darts without making the discourse feeble.--לכו "walk ye," is equivalent to: "ye shall walk," yet with an intimation of the fact that this result, as we are immediately afterwards expressly told, proceeds from the speaker: sic volo, sic jubeo. The words: "From mine hand is this to you," are, by those who make the Prophet the subject of this prediction, supposed to be spoken by Jehovah. But throughout the whole section, the Lord is always only spoken of, and never appears as speaking. The words are in harmony with the exalted dignity which, elsewhere also, is attributed by the Prophet to the Servant of God who plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, chap. li. 16; whose mouth the Lord makes like a sharp sword, chap. xlix. 2; who is the personal salvation, the Saviour for the whole earth, chap. xlix. 6; and the embodied Covenant for the covenant-people, chaps. xlii. 6; xlix. 8. The last passages, especially, are of no small importance. The saving and judging activity go hand in hand, and cannot be separated. We have here thus the Old Testament beginnings and preparation for the doctrine of the New Testament, that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, The Servant of God, in the highest sense, is Lord and judge of the fellow servants.--The ל in למעצבה serves for designating the condition: so that you belong to pain, שכב occurs in chap. xliii. 17 of the Egyptians lying down; comp. Ps. xli. 9: "He that lieth shall rise up no more." In the announcement that Israel's attempt to help themselves would turn out to their destruction, the Song of Solomon, in chap. iii. 1-3; v. 7, has preceded our Prophet: "The daughter of Zion, in her restlessness, endeavours to bring about, by worldly, rebellious doings, the Messianic salvation. It is in vain; what she is seeking she does not find, but the heavenly watchmen find her."