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'When Moses held up his hand ... Israel prevailed: and when he let down
his hand, Amalek prevailed' (Exod. 17:11).
Moses was not sufficient of himself to ensure success, so Aaron and Hur
'stayed up his hands' (verse 12). Here the words 'stayed up' are the same as
in Isaiah 42. He was 'upheld'. So there will be no failure on the part of
this greater Servant than Moses; the words of Isaiah 42, 'I will uphold'
guarantee victory. Isaiah not only says of the Messiah 'He shall not fail'
but he adds 'nor be discouraged'. We have already seen that the dim burning
of the smoking flax is echoed in the word 'fail', both being the same word in
the original, and now another parallel awaits us. The word 'discouraged' is
the Hebrew word ratsats, which means 'to break or to crush'. The same word
occurs in verse 3 in the phrase 'a bruised reed shall He not break' where the
word 'bruised' is also ratsats. Let us endeavour to put the beauty of the
original before the eye:
Isaiah 42:3,4
A
Ratsats
'A crushed reed will He not break'.
B
Keheh
'A dimly burning flax will He not quench'.
C
Mishpat
'He shall bring forth judgment unto truth'.
B
Kahah
'He shall not fail (dimly burn)'.
A
Ratsats
'Nor be discouraged (or crushed as a reed)'.
C
Mishpat
'Till He have set judgment in the earth'.
These verses of Isaiah 42 are quoted in Matthew 12. By observing in
what circumstances this quotation is made in the Gospel we shall learn how it
was that the Lord Jesus was not discouraged, even though there was much,
humanly speaking, that was crushing.
Matthew 12, where the quotation occurs, is in a setting of apparent
failure. The Lord had upbraided the cities where His mighty works had been
wrought because they had repented not. Instead, however, of being
discouraged we read:
'At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it
seemed good in Thy sight' (Matt. 11:25,26).
This is a spirit that cannot be discouraged.
In Matthew 12 we have a
threefold rejection of the Lord.
'A greater than the temple is here'
(Priest).
'A greater than Jonas is here'
(Prophet).
'A greater than Solomon is here'
(King).
(Matt. 12:6,41,42).