THE NINTH VERSE.
And he made Ms grave ivith the wicked, and tvifh the rich in his death ; because lie had done no violence, neither ivas any deceit in his mouth.
The prophet goeth on with the account of Christ's sufferings, and showeth that he should at length be humbled to the grave, and brought thither in a most ignominious manner. Yet, liowever, there was no cause why the .Jews should stumble at it, and dash the foot of their faith against tliis rock, for God had made provision ample enough against this offence and scandal. Even his grave, that seemed to obscure his glory, did in some measure illustrate it : ' He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because,' &c.
Here are in this verse, as in many of the former, two parts con- siderable:—
1. The Jews' scandal : he made his grave luilh the loicked.
2. The propliet's defence, which you have —
[1.] By the circumstances which made for the glory of Christ : and icilh the rich in his death.
[2.] By asserting his innocency —
(1.) In respect of open and gross sins : he hath done no violence.
(2.) In respect of secret and hidden sins: neither ivas anrj deceit found in his mouth. All these parts will more plainly appear in the exi)lication. There are no verses have been so severally ex- pounded as this and the former. I should perplex your thoughts too much to give you the differences. Some distinct senses there are: I shall only give you what I conceive to be the positive and plain sense, by going over the phrases.
ISA. LIII. 9.] THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 363
And he made. There may be a question to whom this he must be referred, for the number being so often changed, we can have no relief from the context. There are three persons spoken of in the chapter : God tlie Fatlier, God the Son, and the Jews. If this he be applied to God the Father, then the sense is, he disposed and ordered it so by his providence that his grave should be appointed among the wicked ; and so it points at the divine decrees, which implied that Christ should be executed as an oHender, and be buried in an ignominious manner, as other offenders are, for aught could be discerned at first. This suiteth with the Seventy, who bring in God the Father speaking this clause, though they read the sentence a little otherwise than we do : hoiaw Tov<i TTovTjpoix;, &c., ' I will give the wicked for his grave.' Or it may be referred to God the Son, — his patience, who submitted so, as it seemed to hold forth nothing but as if he were to have had the burial of an ordinary malefactor, he submitting to it till a further declaration of God's pleasure ; a man could have guessed nothing else. Or, he made, may be referred to the people of the Jews ; they did as much as in them lay that Christ should have the burial of a wicked man : ' He made,' that is, by their ordination. You may take either or all very commodiously. It followeth, 'and with the rich in his death.' There is a great deal ado about what is meant by rich. Some understand the term, as Calvin, equivalent with the wicked ; because riches puff up men's minds and dispose them to injury and violence. Junius understands Pilate ; others have different apprehensions of the place. I shall take liberty to recede from them ; for by this phrase, ' the rich in his death,^ I understand Joseph of Arimathea ; and the meaning I conceive thus, that though at his crucifixion his grave was intended to be with ordinary malefactors, j^et God ordered it so that he should be honourably interred by a rich person, Joseph of Arimathea : ' With the rich in his death,' that is, after his death. And my reasons for this interpretation are two : —
1. Because the word for rich, aasir, in the Hebrew, is in the sin- gular number, and so notetli some eminent rich man that had to do about the grave and sepulchre of Christ ; and that was Joseph of Arimathea.
2. Because the evangelist Matthew seemeth, as with a finger, to point to this place when he saith, Mat. xxvii. 57, ' When the evening was come, there was a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple, and he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.' And besides, the place is most sweetly and without wresting opened. And, indeed, the following words yield us a twofold reason : —
[1.] Because God would right his innocency in the midst of calum- nies and reproaches. God would not have an innocent buried among malefactors ; and, therefore, by the care of Joseijh and Nicodemus, he would have it testified to the world that there were some thought him innocent and worthy of an honourable burial.
[2.] It may well be to show the suitableness of it. He would have a new kind of man laid in a new grave, in which no man was ever laid. It could be said of no man but Christ that no iniquity and guile was found in him ; and therefore he was put in a sepulchre in which no