The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 72

rejection or contempt (as in Hos. i. 9; eh. vi. 9), but as my people. "Israel, my people, and I their GL-.d," is the great word on which both Judaism and Christianity rest. Now the prophets are to "speak to the hea.rt of Jerusalem." It is to be in a voice clear &nd <listinct and penetrating. "Heart," in Hebrew use, is &comprehensive word• it stnnds for.'.' intclli~cnce, con,~cicnce, feeling.''. in one (cf. Gen. xxxiv. 3; I. 21, where the Hebrew ~s, t,o their_ hearts ). Perhaps chiefly the latter here. The vocation of the prophet 1s now cspec1ally to comfort a.nd encourage. And so ever with the preacher. We may compare with these words the scene in the synagogue at Nazareth. Christ announces himself as the Bearer of consolation to the heart of bis people, to tho heart of man- kind, especially to the poor and the distressed and dejected. .And surely the burden of every ministry may well be the " Christ of consolation." I. THE MESSAGE TO JERUSALEM. I. "Her warfare is fulfilled." "Warfare" standing for "enforced hardships." The metaphor" very suggestive of the peculiar troubles of military service in ancient times:" "Hath not man a warfare [hard service] on the earth?" (,Job ..-ii. 1). The idea of an appointed time of service enters into the word- the discharge of a duty for which a man has been enlisted, or solemnly engaged, as that of the Levites in the tabernacle (Numb. iv. 23; viii. 24, 25). Life as a period oJ e11/orced service. It mea.ns for most of us, perhaps for all of us, toil, danger, suffering. From this enlistment the only discharge is by death (Job xiv. 14; Dan. x. 1). Our times are in the hand of God. A period is fixed to all suffering and trial. It may calm the apprehension of calamity in the most susceptible heart to see how quick a bound has been set to the utmost infliction of malice. We rapidly approach a brink over which no enemy ca.n follow us. "Let them rave; thou art quiet in thy grave." 2. " Her guilt is paid off." For punishment is viewed as the paymmt of a debt, and so as the satisfaction of the demands of Divine justice. In the Law, the sword a.nd disper- sion among the heathen o.re threatened against the disobedient and the unreformed; but never does Jehovah forget the covenant between him and the people; ho is ever ready to suspend punishment when they suspend sin. Here the people are represented " as having suffered what God had appointed them-endured the natural punishment he saw to be necesBRry. They had served out the long term he had appointed. Now he is satisfied, has pleasure in releasing them and restoring them to their own land." Happy that moment in the personal life when the soul can be assured that suffering has done its work, and that it may be self-forgiven, because God-forgiven. "At the l.aet, do e.s the heavens have done: Forget your evil; with them, forgive yourself." 3. " ' She bath received double for all her sins.' The expression seems to denote what is amply sufficient (cf. Jer. xvii. 18; Rev. xviii. 6)" (Uheyne); "As much as God judged to be sufficient" (Grotius); "Double to be received for large and abundant" (Calvin). The great law of compensation running through life, we must believe, is exact in its operation. God makes no mistakes in his reckonings. Suffering may con- tinue lung after sin has been forgiven. If the memory of guilt be still poignant, if tbo consequences of sin seem still" ever before us," it is as if God were saying," Not enough hast thou suffered yet to know how precious is the peace of forgiveness." And when that blessed sense of forgiveness steals into the soul, it is the symptom that the hand of God is removed, that the cup of sorrow ha.a been drained, that the medicine has done its work. The justice of our God will exact sufficient from us in the way of suffering; his clemency and mercy will never add a superfluous stroke from the scourge; rather he will stop short of the full exaction-thirty-nine rather than the full forty stripes. IL THE ll!YBTEBIOUB CALL. From what is to be believed of Jehovah, we pass to what is to be done for Jehovah. So ever doeu faith push on to practice. The internal act of the mind realizes itself and is made perfect in the external act of the life. I. Mysteriously a voice bids the listening heart r.epare for Jehovah. It is a "non-Di"!ino, yet supernatural voice." The poetic effect lB heightened by the mystery (cf. ch. li._9; lii. 1; !vii. 14; !xii. 10). Similar voices are spoken of in the B~ok of Ileve\e.t1on (i. 10, 12; iv. 1; L 4, 8). There are times when the breath of comID~ cbe.nge 1s felt stirring, and voices are heard calling to men to welcome it in and to help 1t on. Whence come they? Who knows? A spiritual world is all about 118. It h!l5 music, and words; but while "tbi11 muddy vesture of decay doth grossly close us ID, wo cannot ou,xt, 1-81.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 75