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"The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to
speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He
wakeneth (Heb. ur) ear to hear (Heb. shamea) as the learned" (Isa. 50: 4).
We perceive the underlying structure of this great section, and can proceed to set it
forth so that it may be before us as we enter into fuller examination of details.
Isaiah 49: 13 - 52: 12.
A | 49: 13-26. |
a | 13. Sing.
b | 14-26. Reason. The Lord hath comforted His people.
B | 50: 1-3. Sold. "For your iniquities."
C | 50: 4-9. |
c | Wake.
\ The Messiah.
d | Hear. /
D | 50: 10, 11. The voice of His Servant.
C | 51: 1 - 52: 2. |
d | Hearken. \ The Lord and
c | Awake.
/ His people.
B | 52: 3. Sold. "For nought."
A | 52: 9-12. |
a | Sing.
b | Reason. The Lord hath comforted His people.
This section as we observe opens and closes with a song. "Sing, O heavens", "Sing
together ye waste places of Jerusalem". The rejoicing of the heavens, as well as of the
ravaged earth, are by reason of the fact that "The Lord hath comforted His people".
While the call to the heavens to sing, may be explained as the figure of prosopopoeia or
personation, that explanation must not be so used as to `explain away' the truth. The fate
of the earthly city Jerusalem and the fate of the earthly people Israel, is an intimate
concern of `the heavens' and they that dwell therein.
Isaiah opens his prophecy with the words "Hear, O heavens, and give ear O earth",
and complains of the callous ingratitude of Israel (Isa. 1: 2); an ingratitude which led to
the desolation of their country (Isa. 1: 7). At last however the prophet reaches the blessed
opening of the new section, and cries "Comfort ye", and it is in view of this comfort that
the heavens and the waste places are now called upon to sing.