The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 274

thy glory" (Cbaldee). She is to shake the chains from her limbs, for her captivity is drawing to an end. Has she been sold? Na,v; Jehovah bas received naught for her. " It is not a sale, but only a temporary transfer." He can receive them back and renew his covenant with them. " You shall be redeemed." There was to be a remarkable proof of the power and sovereignty of God. For usually slaves and captives are uot given up without a ransom. That they may expect this to be done, Jehovah remindij them of what has been done. He who had delivered from Egypt could deliver also from Babylon. And the like applies to the sulTerings under Sargon, and Sennacherib, and Tiglath-Pileser. And now what was fitting for him to do in the case of the third great captivity, that of Babylon? He has .-,ome dc,wn to see and consider. And the result is that he" must return to Jerusalem, else his gracious purposes will be frustrated. But in its present state he cannot do so; therefore Jerusalem must arise from its humiliation." In their pride and contumely, the Babylonians both oppress the people and blaspheme the Name of their God. Another reason, then, for bis interposition. Theref<rre-for all these reasons -the people shall know his Name, shall experience what it is to have a God whose Name is Jehovah; as in the days of deliverance from Egypt. He is One who, in answer to the people's cry, responds, "Here am I!" Thus the leading thought remains, that Israel is Jehovah's people, and he is their God. "Enclosed by God from amidst all other nations, to be the seat of his worship, and the great conservatory of all the sacred oracles and means of salvation. The Gentiles might be called God'~ own, as a man calls his.hall or his parlour his own, which yet others pass through and make use of; but the Jews were so as a man accounts his closet or his cabinet his own-that is, by a peculiar incommunicable destination of it to his own use." And again, " The whole work of man's redemption carries in it the marks, not only of mercy, but of mercy acting by an unaccountable sovereignty. He gives the world to know that his own will is the reason of his proceedings. If the sun is pleased to shine upon a turf, and to gild a dunghill, when perhaps he looks not into the chamber of a prince, we cannot accuse him of partiality. The short but significant saying, 'May I not do what I will with mine own?' being a full and solid answer to all such object;ons" (South). II. VISIONS OF REDEMPTION. "'l'he prophet passes into an ecstasy. What he sees with the inner eye he expresses pictorially. He has told us already of the ideal Zion ascending a high mountain, and acting as herald of the Divine Deliverer. Now he varies the picture. It is Zion to whom the herald is seen to come-bounding over the mountains" (Cheyne). The feet give a greeting before the mouth utters it (Stier). The soul of prophet and of poet delights in the mountains; they give forth in visible form the sublimity with which his soul is charged (cf. Ezek. vi. 1). The mountains speak of the eternity of God; upon them the epiphany of the Deliverer may in a sense be expected, as they silently speak of his righteousness, of a constancy which is not to be moved. How welcome the messenger who tells of the fall of a city of the oppressors (Nab. i. 15), such as Nineveh! How still more welcome be who comes to bear tidings from the spiritual world to the spirits of men (Rom. x. 15; Eph. vi. 15) ! '!'be proclaimer of peace is at hand, and "peace" is nnother word for "salvation." But there can be neither peace nor sal vat.ion in this distracted world, except under a strong government-the g.. vernrnent of the King of kings. Now the tidings are that" God has resumed the crown which he had laid aside." "'l'hy God has become King I" Celestial watchers are heard, lifting II p their voices with a ringing cry, as they from their high seat behold the return of Jehovah to Zion. 'rhey "note every advance of the kingdom of God, seeing it eye to eye, as 11. man looks into the face of his friend; so near are the two worlds of sight and of faith" (Cheyne). The return of Jehovah to Zion means the return of spiril uni power and joy and freedom. All earthly relations melt away into the spiritual realities. 'l'he real banishment is the separation of the soul from God; the true return from exile is when the soul can say, "G,,d exists; God ill near-is for me." Bondage is in oursdvcs; redemption and comfort are when we realize again that there is another-a" Not-ourselves that makes for righteousness," an Etern!'Ll Love, in sho1t, in the senso of which all limitation must be forgotten. Jehovah has bared his holy arm for action in tho face of all the nations; and the whole world has seen the salvation of God. Then, in prospect of such a redemption, what should be the conduct of the faithful? They must refuse to touch the unclean thing; they must be purified and become pure. They must regard themselves as armour-bearers of  THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ea. LII, 1-16