The Strand Study Bible

ISAIAH 49:26

ISAIAH 50:11

1109

captives of the 1 mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the 1 terrible shall be delivered: 2 for I will contend with 1 him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. PP 26 2 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with 3 sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy SAVIOUR and thy REDEEMER , the 4 MIGHTY ONE of Jacob. P Isaiah 50 The LORD’S unchanging commitment of marriage to his people (Note - This portion of Isaiah’s prophecy took place in the 27th year of King Hezekiah’s reign) Date Written - c. 700 BC/AM 3300 1 Thus saith the LORD , Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, 5 for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. 2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? 6 Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, 7 at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The promise of great wisdom given to CHRIST (Fulfilled - Lk 2:40,52 - AD 28) 4 The Lord GOD hath given 8 ME the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him

that is 9 weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. P The promise of CHRIST’S total obedience (Fulfilled - Mt 26:39 - AD 32) 5 The Lord GOD hath opened 10 MINE ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. P The promise of CHRIST’S rejection (Fulfilled - Mt 27:26 & Mt 26:67 & 27:30 -AD 32) 6 I gave 11 MY back to the smiters, and 12 MY cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not 13 MY face from shame and spitting. PPP CHRIST’S one purpose - Calvary! (Fulfilled - Lk 9:51 - AD 31) 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; there- fore shall I not be confounded: therefore have 14 I set MY face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. P 8 He is near that justifieth me; who will 15 contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. 10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his SERVANT , that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. 11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

1. or, “Babylon” 2. Fulfilled - Dan 5:30-31 (Fall of Babylon) 3. or, “new wine; freshly squeezed grape juice” - Acts 2:13 & Joel 1:5 & 3:18 & Amos 9:13 4. Isa 1:24 5. Isa 52:3 6. Num 11:23 7. Exo 14:21 & Psa 106:9 & Nah 1:4 & Mt 8:26 8. Fulfilled - Lk 2:40,52 (Christ’s Wisdom) 9. Mt 11:28 10. Fulfilled - Mt 26:39 & Mk 14:36 & Lk 22:42 (Christ’s Obedience) (See - Psa 40:6 & Jn 8:29 & Phil 2:8 & Heb 5:8) 11. Fulfilled - Mt 27:26 & Mk 15:15 & Lk 23:16, 22 & Jn 19:1 (Rejection) 12. Fulfilled - Mt 26:67 & Mk 14:65 & Lk 22:63- 64 & & Jn 18:22 & 19:3 (Rejection) 13. Fulfilled - Mt 26:67 & 27:30 & Mk 14:65 & 15:19 (Rejection) 14. Fulfilled - Lk 9:51 (Christ’s One Purpose) 15. Rom 8:31

50:1 The question is rhetorical (no answer being expected), and so the implied answer is that there is none. There was no bill of divorcement on God’s part. That’s because God did not divorce Israel; Israel divorced God ( Jere 3:1b ), and God went along with it ( whom I have put away ). Nevertheless, God never divorced ( sold ) Israel. God believes in separation (I Cor 7:10-11), not divorce (Mt 19:1-8). Man, not God, originated divorce. Nevertheless, God allowed divorce because of the hardness of man’s heart. Since God does not have a hard heart, He will never divorce His own (though He would seem to have just cause – Jere 3:8). The divorce between God and Israel in Jeremiah 3:8 was not God’s doing, but Israel’s. They were Israel’s acts, not God’s (Mt 23:37). If God divorced Israel, then why is Israel still God’s wife ( Hos 3:1,5 )? Ellicott’s Bible Commentary notes: The divorce, the sale, were her acts and not His. 1 50:10 Israel must choose: Walk in the SERVANT’S light (vs 10 – Jn 1:6-9), or in the light of their own campfires (vs 11), which was really darkness. 1 Ellicott, Charles John. Ellicott’s Bible Commentary , Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1971. Print