Isaiah 53:1

1 The people reply, ¹ "Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this?

Isaiah 53:1 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 53:1

Who hath believed our report?
&c.] Or "hearing" ^F1. Not what we hear, but others hear from us; the doctrine of the Gospel, which is a report of the love, grace, and mercy of God in Christ; of Christ himself, his person, offices, obedience, sufferings, and death, and of free and full salvation by him: it is a good report, a true and faithful one, and to be believed, and yet there are always but few that give credit to it; there were but few in the times of the Prophet Isaiah that believed what he had before reported, or was about to report, concerning the Messiah; and but few in the times of Christ and his apostles, whom the prophet here represented; for to those times are the words applied, ( John 12:38 ) ( Romans 10:16 ) , the Jews had the report first made unto them, and saw the facts that were done, and yet believed not; when Gentile kings, and their subjects, listened with the most profound silence, and heard with the greatest attention and reverence, as in the latter part of the preceding chapter, to which some think this is opposed; wherefore some begin the text with the adversative particle "but". According to the Septuagint and Arabic versions, the words are directed to God the Father, for they render them, "Lord, who hath believed"; and so they are quoted in the above places in the New Testament: and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
meaning either the Gospel itself, the power of God unto salvation, hidden from the generality of men; for though externally, yet not internally revealed and made known; which to do is the Lord's work, and is owing to his special grace: or Christ, who is the power of God, by whom all the works of creation, providence, grace, and salvation, are wrought; and by whom the blessings of grace are dispensed; and by whom the Lord upholds all things, and supports his people; and who was not revealed but to a very few, as the true Messiah, as God's salvation, and in them the hope of glory: or else the powerful and efficacious grace of the Spirit, and the exertion and display of it, which is necessary to a true and spiritual believing the Gospel, and the report of it; which, unless it comes with the power and Spirit of God, is ineffectual.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (wntemvl) , (th akoh hmwn) , Sept.; "auditui nostro", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.

Isaiah 53:1 In-Context

1 The people reply, "Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this?

2 It was the will of the Lord that his servant grow like a plant taking root in dry ground. He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him.

3 We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him - we ignored him as if he were nothing.

4 "But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.

5 But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.

Cross References

• 1. 53.1Romans 10.16;John 12.38.