Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 51:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER LI

The prophet exhorts the children of Abraham to trust in the

Lord; and briefly, but beautifully, describes the great

blessedness which should be the consequence, 1-3.

Then, turning to the Gentiles, encourages them to look for a

portion in the same salvation, 4, 5;

the everlasting duration of which is majestically described, 6.

And as it is everlasting, so is it sure to the righteous,

notwithstanding all the machinations of their enemies, 7, 8.

The faithful, then, with exultation and joy, lift their voices,

reminding God of his wondrous works of old, which encourage

them to look now for the like glorious accomplishment of these

promises, 9-11.

In answer to this the Divinity is introduced comforting them

under their trials, and telling them that the deliverer was

already on his way to save and to establish them, 12-16.

On this the prophet turns to Jerusalem to comfort and

congratulate her on so joyful a prospect. She is represented,

by a bold image, as a person lying in the streets, under the

intoxicating effects of the cup of the Divine wrath, without a

single person from among her own people appointed to give her

consolation, and trodden under the feet of her enemies; but, in

the time allotted by the Divine providence, the cup of

trembling shall be taken out of her hand, and put into that of

her oppressors; and she shall drink it no more again for ever,

17-22.

NOTES ON CHAP. LI

Verse Isaiah 51:1. Ye that follow after righteousness — The people who, feeling the want of salvation, seek the Lord in order to be justified.

The rock — Abraham.

The hole of the pit — Sarah; as explained in Isaiah 51:2.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

God of the impossible (51:1-23)

To the captive Jews it must have seemed almost impossible to escape from the powerful grip of the tyrant Babylon, make the long journey over harsh territory and then rebuild their ruined country. God encourages them with reminders of the apparently impossible things he has done for them in the past. The very origin of Israel was something of a miracle. God built a nation out of one couple, even though the man and his wife were past the age when they might normally expect to have children. The same God is still active; he can perform a miracle again and restore Jerusalem (51:1-3).
From this rebuilt Jerusalem, God’s salvation will spread throughout the world. This salvation will not be temporary and political, but eternal and spiritual. People of all nations will receive new life and hope when they come to know God (4-6). The Israelites should be encouraged as they see what God is about to do through them. They should have no fear of their present oppressors (7-8).
A cry from the captive Israelites urges God to act on their behalf. As he overthrew Egypt (here symbolized by Rahab, the mythical dragon of the Nile) and led his people through the Red Sea and into Canaan, so may he overthrow Babylon and lead his people back to Jerusalem. They look expectantly to a new age when sorrow is banished and they live in Zion in unbroken contentment (9-11).
God reassures Israel with the reply that he is the Creator, the eternal one. Israel’s enemies, by contrast, are merely creatures, who one day must die. Israel has no need, therefore, to fear Babylon’s might and fury (12-13). Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, is the Almighty. He is in control of all affairs and he will release his captive people. More than that, he will give them his teaching so that they can know him and serve him (14-16).
Jerusalem fell, but it is now about to rise again. The Babylonian attack on Jerusalem was a punishment sent by God to bring about the collapse of the city and the destruction of Judah. The judgment is likened to a strong drink given to a person to make him drunk, so that he staggers and falls (17-20). This strong drink is now to be taken from Judah and given to Babylon, so that it will stagger and fall. God is going to destroy Babylon as he destroyed Judah (21-23).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; and joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."

"Look unto the rock" Actually, the meaning here is not merely a rock, as indicated by its being called "hole" in the next line. The passage "should be read, `Look unto the quarry whence ye were digged.'"Peake's Commentary Series, p. 466. The comparison, of course, is a metaphor instructing faithful believers to look back to their ancestry, i.e., Abraham and Sarah.

The persons addressed in this paragraph are called Israelites; but it is obvious that only the "righteous remnant" are meant; and therefore the ultimate application of the passage extends to the Ideal Servant and his holy Church. This does not diminish either the need of the discouraged captives in Babylon for such marvelous encouragement as that given here, or its ultimate application to all the discouraged followers of the Messiah in future generations.

The purpose of the encouragement given here is, "To convince them of the certainty and permanence of the coming deliverance."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p, 335.

"He was but one when I called him" The point here, given for the encouragement of the captive remnant is simple enough. If God called Abraham when he was only one person, and a hundred years old at that, and his wife barren at the age of 90 years, yet, despite all that, did indeed make him a mighty nation as he had promised, why should the thousands of the "righteous remnant" have any doubt whatever that God indeed had the power to bless and multiply them, overthrow their enemies and pour out the blessings of heaven upon them that trusted him? Kelley also pointed out that, "The fact that the prophet addressed these words to them in the very land in which Abraham and Sarah had indeed received their first call gave added meaning to what is said here."Ibid.

Note that these sacred promises should be restricted to the "righteous remnant," despite the fact of their being identified as "posterity of Abraham" (which, of course, they were). That portion of rebellious Israel, however, that included sons of the devil such as Manasseh and the nation of blind and deaf hypocrites, most of whom remained in Babylon even after being commanded to leave, certainly never participated in the consolation and blessing detailed in this passage. Of course, this remark is not intended as a judgment upon Manasseh following his repentance.

The promise in Isaiah 51:3 that God would comfort Zion means that he would intervene to rescue the "righteous remnant" and return them to Jerusalem.

"Ye that pursue righteousness" This mark of identification eliminates all of the captives except the righteous remnant, the ones who would return. As to what the "pursuit of righteousness" actually meant, Lowth cautioned us that, "The word has a great latitude in meaning, signifying: justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, salvation, etc."Robert Lowth's Commentary, p, 355. In this particular verse, Cheyne was sure that the meaning of the word was "fair dealing."T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, Vol. II, p, 28. This may be correct, because a great many Jews by their unfair dealings became wealthy citizens of Babylon and refused to leave when the time came.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Hearken unto me - That is, to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them. They are regarded as in exile and bondage, and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah (compare the notes at Isaiah 1:0), is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.

Ye that follow after righteousness - This is addressed evidently to those who sought to be righteous, and who truly feared the Lord. There was a portion of the nation that continued faithful to Yahweh. They still loved and worshipped him in exile, and they were anxiously looking for deliverance and for a return to their own land.

Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn - To Abraham the founder of the nation. The figure is taken from the act of quarrying stone for the purposes of building; and the essential idea here is, that God had formed the nation from the beginning, as a mason constructs a building; that he had, so to speak, taken the materials rough and unhewn from the very quarry; that he had shaped, and fitted them, and moulded them into an edifice. The idea is not that their origin was dishonorable or obscure. It is not that Abraham was not an honored ancestor, or that they should be ashamed of the founder of their nation. But the idea is, that God had had the entire moulding of the nation; that he had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and bad formed them into a great people and nation for his own purpose. The argument is, that he who had done this was able to raise them up from captivity, and make them again a great people. Probably allusion is made to this passage by the Saviour in Matthew 3:9, where he says, ‘For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.’

The hole of the pit - The word rendered ‘hole’ means such an excavation as men make who are taking stones from a quarry. It expresses substantially the same idea as the previous member of the verse. This language is sometimes addressed to Christians, with a view to produce humility by reminding them that they have been taken by God from a state of sin, and raised up, as it were, from a deep and dark pit of pollution. But this is not the sense of the passage, nor will it bear such an application. It may be used to denote that God has taken them, as stone is taken from the quarry; that he found them in their natural state as unhewn blocks of marble are; that he has moulded and formed them by his own agency, and fitted them into his spiritual temple; and that they owe all the beauty and grace of their Christian deportment to him; that this is an argument to prove that he who had done so much for them as to transform them, so to speak, from rough and unsightly blocks to polished stones, fitted for his spiritual temple on earth, is able to keep them still, and to fit them for his temple above. Such is the argument in the passage before us; and such a use of it is, of course, perfectly legitimate and fair.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

1Hearken to me, ye that follow righteousness. The Prophet now exhorts the Jews not to despair because they are few in number; for they had been cut down and diminished to such a degree that they appeared to be on the eve of being reduced to nothing, while there was little or no hope of any to succeed them. He therefore reminds them of their origin, that they may know that, though they are a small remnant, God can increase and multiply them; and he bids them contemplate their father Abraham, who, though he was a single individual, grew to a vast number, and received from God a numerous posterity. Hence they might infer that God, who, in so short a period, had multiplied their fathers, would in future multiply them also; because his power has not been diminished, and his will has not been changed.

Look to the rock of your hewing. ⁽²¹⁾ Some are of opinion that Abraham is called a “Rock,” because, as Paul declares, “he was strong in faith.” (Romans 4:20.) Others assign a totally opposite meaning to this metaphor; for they think that he is called a “Rock,” because he was worn out by age, and that Sarah is called a Pit, because she was barren. But both, in my opinion, are in the wrong; for it is a simple metaphor, taken from quarries, and declares that they have descended from Abraham and Sarah, as stones are cut out of a “rock” and a “pit.” Amidst the ruin of the nation it was highly necessary that the godly should be supported by this doctrine and admonition. God had promised that the seed of Abraham should be “as the stars of heaven,” (Genesis 15:5,) and as “the sand of the sea.” (Genesis 22:17.) This promise had apparently failed amidst that desolation in which they who were left hardly differed at all from a few clusters when the vintage was ended.

But since they had already known by experience how powerful was the strength of God to create a vast people out of nothing, the Prophet bids them cherish favorable hopes, that they may not be ungrateful to God; and he addresses his discourse directly to believers, to whom this was a sore temptation. He does not speak to all, but to those only who could rely on the promise, that is, to those whom he calls “followers of righteousness;” for the country abounded with unbelievers and hypocrites, who had formerly revolted from the practice of piety; and so much the more laudable was the steadfastness of those who did not cease to follow what was right. Wherever “righteousness” is practiced, there God is listened to; and wherever unbelief reigns, reliance cannot be placed on any promise. ⁽²²⁾ Although therefore they boasted that they were the children of Abraham, yet all were not capable of receiving this doctrine.

Ye that seek Jehovah. He explains the method of “following righteousness” to consist in “seeking the Lord;” for they who make an outward shew of “righteousness,” and do not aim at this end, must have wandered during their whole life. These two things, therefore, must be joined together; namely, the practice of righteousness and seeking God.

(21) “Regardez a la pierre dont vous avez este coupez.” “Look to the stone whence you were hewn.”

(22) “On ne sauroit recevoir promesse queleonque.” “No promise whatever can be believed.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Tonight we have a marvelous study as we look at Isaiah, chapters 51-55, in which the prophet sees so clearly the suffering and the rejection of God's provision for man in sending His Son to die for our sins. In fact, these prophecies of Isaiah so clearly describe what did happen to Jesus Christ in His rejection, in His suffering, in His death, it is as though they were written after it happened rather than 600 years before it happened.

The Lord is calling unto the nation of Israel, unto His people, and God calls unto them to hearken to Him.

Ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD ( Isaiah 51:1 ):

Two important things: following after righteousness, seeking the Lord. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness" ( Matthew 5:6 ).

look to the rock from whence ye are hewn ( Isaiah 51:1 ),

Actually, they are encouraged to look back to their roots. To look back to Abraham. To the heritage that they had. To the covenant that God had made with their fathers.

and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, to Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all of her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody ( Isaiah 51:1-3 ).

So God speaks of what is yet a future day of restoration. As God will restore again the nation of Israel in full glory, in full beauty, in full blessing. And their wilderness areas will become like the Garden of Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord.

It is interesting how that it would seem that already we can see the beginnings of the fulfillment of this prophecy. As you see the areas that were once so barren and deserty down around Beersheba and you see now the beautiful crops that are grown in that area. However, there are troublous times yet ahead for the nation of Israel. These people that have endured such tragedy through their history have yet another seven years in which they are to be tested to the limits. Jeremiah called these seven years, "the time of Jacob's trouble." They will be forced to flee the land once more. But not this time for a millennium or two, but they will be out of the land for about three-and-a-half years, as once more a world leader turns his wrath against these people. But at the end of that period is when God is going to restore the glory unto the nation, for the Messiah shall come and He will establish God's kingdom and God's throne upon the earth. And He will rule from Zion, and at this time this prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled as God just brings a whole new condition to the earth as He restores the earth to its glory, to its beauty, before the fall of man in Genesis.

There are some very interesting things that Isaiah has prophesied concerning the future and concerning the earth from a purely physical standpoint. As he talks about the earth staggering to and fro and like a drunken man and being removed out of her place.

Now back prior to the time of the flood that came as the result of God's judgment upon the earth, before the flood the earth had a canopy around it, a water canopy that actually reflected much of the cosmic radiation that is really... has a detrimental effect upon life and upon life forms. Prior to the flood, this heavy moisture shield in the atmosphere shielded the earth from much of this cosmic radiation. As the result, man lived an average of around nine hundred years. Thus, man was able to develop during that period of time his mental capacities to a great extent. Think of being able to continue to learn for nine hundred years. They say that man only uses about twenty percent of his brain and his brain capacities. Well, that's because we're only here such a short time. What can you learn in a hundred years? But if you could go on learning, absorbing for nine hundred years, you'd be using much more of your capacity, brain capacity, and you'd be able to do many more interesting things. Now as we study some of the architecture and some of the buildings that these people created, we find out that they had all kinds of sciences that are astounding as you look at ancient man. He wasn't some grunting half-beast with a club dragging his wife by the hair into the cave. He was a highly intelligent being. And he had marvelous capacities intellectually. In fact, Adam was able to name all of the animals according to their characteristics. Took tremendous genius for that.

Now in that kind of earth you would never really have a dark night because all of this moisture would give you the diffused light of the sun all night long. And thus, you would have much longer growing periods and everything would grow larger in that because of the fact that you wouldn't be bombarded by these cosmic rays which would begin the mutation of cells which would create the breaking down. And so they have discovered how large many of the animals were before the flood as they look at some of these animals that were caught in the flood and through the sediment were kept in place, they found cockroaches that were a foot long. Man, you wouldn't go after them with your shoe. You'd go after them with a shotgun, you know. Asparagus ferns sixty feet tall. All kinds of tropical vegetation up in the North Pole area. And the whole earth was no doubt just a lush, beautiful, glorious place.

God's going to restore it to such a state, and He speaks about it here. As the waste places will be restored, the wilderness like Eden, and the deserts like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, the voice of melody.

Again, God, as He began in verse Isaiah 51:1 , cries to the people to hearken.

Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people ( Isaiah 51:4 ).

The Lord is going to come. He will sit in judgment and the law will proceed from Him as Jesus Christ comes to reign in righteousness.

My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the coasts shall wait upon me, and upon mine arm shall they trust ( Isaiah 51:5 ).

So the universal trusting in the Lord.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished ( Isaiah 51:6 ).

So the heavens shall vanish away. Peter describes the vanishing away of the heavens in Second Peter chapter 2. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away" ( Matthew 24:35 ). It is interesting that the earth is growing old. "The earth shall wax old like a garment." The universe, according to the great scientist Sir Herschel Gene, like a giant clock that was wound up and is gradually slowing or winding down, the sun loses one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass every second. Fortunately, it's large enough to continue to support life in the next ten billion years. So you don't have to stay awake at night worrying about the fact that the sun is gradually burning out. But that isn't so gradual. One million... or one billion two hundred. Or one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass per second. And so the earth growing old like a garment. The heavens will one day vanish away, but the Word of God shall endure forever.

And at that time God is going to create a "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" ( 2 Peter 3:13 ). The old will not be remembered or brought into mind. The whole new order that God is going to create for us. An order that knows no chaos. An order that knows no decay. An order that knows no sin or rebellion. Just the glorious kingdom of God and everything in the universe subject unto that kingdom.

Hearken unto me ( Isaiah 51:7 ),

The third cry of God for them to hearken.

ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation ( Isaiah 51:7-8 ).

And so for the righteous enduring forever. For the evil that would reproach the righteous or revile them, they will be destroyed. "The moth will eat them up like a garment, the worm shall eat them like wool." Jesus in describing the conditions of Gehenna said, "Where their worm dieth not, neither is the fire quenched" ( Mark 9:44 ). The wicked shall be cast into hell and all those that forsake God. But the righteous they shall endure, they shall be forever and ever.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD ( Isaiah 51:9 );

Now here is the response of the people to God. God thrice called them to hearken to Him. And so they said, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord." There are times when it would appear to us that God is asleep. How can God be so patient with the blasphemies of man? How can God put up with evil as He does? Why does He allow evil people to go on for a period of prosperity? Why doesn't He smite them down immediately? This is a problem. It troubles me. If I were God, I'd just wipe them out so fast their heads would be swimming. "Just take that, you little rat! You want to go that way? All right," you know. Smack! But God is so patient. He lets people get by with so much. They blaspheme Him. They mock Him. They ridicule Him. And it's like He doesn't even... it's like He's sleeping. He doesn't even know. And so the people cry, "Wake up, God, wake up. Put on strength, O arm of the Lord."

awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? ( Isaiah 51:9 )

Now Rahab is a poetic reference to Egypt. He uses it also in the thirtieth chapter in the seventh verse. It's just the poetic reference to Egypt. And so he is. "Wake up, God, wake up. You are the God that was showing Yourself so powerful in our history and especially in the deliverance out of Egypt."

Art thou not the one which hath dried the sea, and the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? ( Isaiah 51:10 )

And so the reference to the drying of the Red Sea to make a path for the people of God to pass through.

I have very little patience for those men that classify themselves "higher critics" who try to talk about a Sea of Reeds that is usually only a foot or so deep, that the children of Israel passed through. And that quite often when a strong wind blows for a period of time it sort of forces back the tide of that sea from this one area where they presume the children of Israel went across. But in reality, they tell us that the sea is only about a foot deep at that area. And thus, it really wasn't much of a miracle that they did cross. Well, as far as the nation of Israel was concerned it was a marvelous miracle. They looked upon it as a marvelous miracle, and here the reference is to the depths of the sea. And even to the waters of the great deep. Now Isaiah was much closer to the time and he understood the language much better than these modern critics of the Bible who pass themselves off as biblical scholars. And I will go along with Isaiah much quicker than I will these men today. For if indeed they've made the sea only a foot deep, they surely have not removed the miraculous from the story, because it's a miracle how God could drown the whole Egyptian army in one foot of water. You see, you might try to figure out one way, but you're only creating another problem.

"You dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; You've made the depths of the sea a path for the ransomed to pass over." The ransomed, of course, were those who through the Lamb that was slain in Egypt were ransomed.

Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return ( Isaiah 51:11 ),

The future day when God is going to gather again the people when Christ returns in power and great glory. Then shall He gather together the elect from the four corners of the earth. As the Jews will be gathered back into the land, "the redeemed of the Lord shall return."

and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away ( Isaiah 51:11 ).

What a glorious day that is going to be, the glorious day of the Lord when He comes to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth and He again takes Israel as His people, as His bride. And they recognize Him, and there is this glorious receiving and accepting, each of the other.

I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ( Isaiah 51:12 );

Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those that kill your body, and after that have no power. But rather fear Him, that after the body is killed has power to cast your soul into Gehenna; yea, I say unto you, 'Fear ye Him'" ( Luke 12:4-5 ). The Bible says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso will put his trust in the Lord shall be saved" ( Proverbs 29:25 ). And again, why should you fear man who is going to die himself? Son of man whose life is as the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is dried and cast into the oven?

And forget the LORD your Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name ( Isaiah 51:13-15 ).

Now you see, for a moment they cried unto God, "Wake up, wake up, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake. And aren't You the God that brought our fathers through the sea and all?" And in verse Isaiah 51:11 , God begins to speak again of the glorious future as the redeemed of the Lord returns and God declares, "I am He that comforteth you. Why should you be afraid of man? I'm the One that is with you. I'm the One that brought your fathers through the sea, divided the sea whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is His name."

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people ( Isaiah 51:16 ).

God declares, "Hey, thou art My people." Oh, what a tragic thing it is that people misread the Bible and say that God is through with the nation of Israel. He cut her off forever. God forbid!

Now as if to say, "Hey, I'm not the One that's sleeping. You're the ones that are sleeping," God says to them,

Awake, awake ( Isaiah 51:17 ),

The same thing they said. So many times we say to God, "Awake, God, awake." And He says, "I'm not sleeping." And He calls; we're the ones that are sleeping. We're the ones that don't see what's really going on.

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up ( Isaiah 51:17-18 ).

They are lacking in real leadership.

These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? ( Isaiah 51:19 )

So he speaks of the terrible time of tribulation that they will go through as they experience desolation, destruction, famine, the sword. And really no one seems to be concerned. It is interesting today how that the whole world seems to be willing to just dump these people. And yet God declares that they are His people and He will receive them again.

Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Thus saith the Lord the LORD, thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again ( Isaiah 51:20-22 ):

The day will be over. No more tribulation for these people. There will be this glorious reuniting of them with their God and God with them.

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee: which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over ( Isaiah 51:23 ).

And so God is going to put His hand against those that have afflicted them. When Jesus comes back, His first duty is going to be that of judging the earth. And the judgment will be of the nations will be relative to their treatment of the Jews, as He says, "Come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom. I was hungry, and you fed Me: thirsty, and you gave me to drink." "Lord, when did we see You?" "Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these My brethren [speaking of the Jews], you did it unto Me. Those that are on the left, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I was hungry, you did not feed Me: thirsty, you did not give Me to drink," and so forth. "Lord, when did we see You this way?" "Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of these My brethren" ( Matthew 25:34-45 ). So the Lord here affirms much of what Jesus declared there as God will take up their cause once more.

But you say, "Why was God so severe with them? It seems that they have suffered more than any other race of people." Well, that is not completely true. There are other races of people that have been totally obliterated. They no longer exist. Many races of people that have been completely wiped out. However, the reason for the severity is this: the Lord said, "Unto whom much is given, much is required" ( Luke 12:48 ). And that should be a warning to us who have received so much from God; so much of the understanding of God's purposes and God's plans. We who have come to an understanding of His truth and of His Word. There comes with that understanding an incumbent responsibility to walk according to the understanding. To live in harmony with that which we know. This they failed to do. God had given them much. What advantage then doth hath the Jew? Paul said, "Much and in every way." Unto them were committed the oracles of God. And the covenants and the promises and the fathers and the law and the statutes. God gave them so much. And the more God gives you, the greater is your responsibility unto God for those things that you have received. They failed in their responsibility, and that is why God has dealt so severely is because they turned against all of that background and knowledge and all that God had given to them. "Unto whom much is given, much is required."

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Lord appealed to the righteous in Israel to listen to Him (cf. Isaiah 50:10). Watts believed the speaker, through Isaiah 51:4, was Darius. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 204.] These were the Israelites who sincerely wanted to trust and obey God, but found it difficult to do so because impending captivity seemed to contradict God’s promises. The Lord directed them to consider their history, their origin.

"Abraham was the rock from which his descendants were hewn-having a rocklike quality imparted to him by God’s faithfulness and grace." [Note: Archer, p. 645.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Listening to the Servant 51:1-8

This section of Isaiah, like the preceding one, reflects on the third Servant Song (Isaiah 50:4-9). Here the emphasis is on the expectations of those who will listen to the Servant, as well as encouragement for those who are followers of righteousness. From this point through Isaiah 52:12, the Servant theme builds to its climax in Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12.

God directed His people three times, in Isaiah 51:1-8, to listen. They should listen and look back, to remember what He had done (Isaiah 51:1-3). They should listen and look up, to remember who God is (Isaiah 51:4-6). And they should listen and not fear, to remember what God had promised (Isaiah 51:7-8). [Note: Adapted from Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 573.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness,.... After having declared the doom of the wicked, and those that trust to their own righteousness, the Lord returns to them that fear him, whom he describes as such that "follow after righteousness"; not the righteousness of the law, it is the character of carnal Israel to follow after that; nor is that attainable in the way it is pursued by such; nor is there any justification by it; nor is following that consistent with seeking the Lord, in the next clause: but the righteousness of Christ is meant; not his essential righteousness as God; nor the righteousness of his office as Mediator; but that which consists of his active and passive obedience; of which he is the author and giver, and is in him as its subject: this is what is commonly called imputed righteousness, an evangelical one, the righteousness of faith, and is justifying: "following after" this supposes a want of one; a sense of that want; a view of this as out of themselves, and in another; a love and liking of it, and a vehement desire for it; and what determines to an eager pursuit of it are its perfection, suitableness, and use: now such persons are called to hearken to the Lord; to the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; to Christ, to his Gospel, and to his ordinances, particularly to what is after said:

ye that seek the Lord: the Lord Christ, for life and salvation; for righteousness and strength; for more grace from him; a greater knowledge of him, and of doctrine from him, as the Targum; and more communion with him; that seek his honour and glory in the world, and to be for ever with him; who seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; that seek him where he may be found, affectionately and sincerely, carefully, diligently, constantly, and for everything they want:

look unto the rock whence ye are hewn; which is in the next verse interpreted of Abraham; so called, not so much for the strength of his faith, as for his old age; when he looked like a hard dry rock, from whom no issue could be expected; and yet from hence a large number of stones were hewn, or a race of men sprung:

and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged; that is, to Sarah, who was for a long time barren, whose womb was shut up, but afterwards opened; and from whom, as from a cistern, (to which a wife is sometimes compared, Proverbs 5:15) flowed the waters of Judah, Isaiah 48:1 or the Jewish nation. Jerom thinks Christ is meant by both, the Rock of ages, in whom is everlasting strength; to whom men are to look for salvation, righteousness, and strength; and out of whose pierced side flowed blood and water: and in this sense he is followed by Cocceius, who interprets the rock of Christ, the Rock of salvation; out of whose side flowed the church, as out of the hole of a pit or cistern.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.   2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.   3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

      Observe, 1. How the people of God are here described, to whom the word of this consolation is sent and who are called upon to hearken to it, Isaiah 51:1; Isaiah 51:1. They are such as follow after righteousness, such as are very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and to be sanctified, are pressing hard after this, to have the favour of God restored to them and the image of God renewed on them. These are those that seek the Lord, for it is only in the say of righteousness that we can seek him with any hope of finding him. 2. How they are here directed to look back to their original, and the smallness of their beginning: "Look unto the rock whence you were hewn" (the idolatrous family in Ur of the Chaldees, out of which Abraham was taken, the generation of slaves which the heads and fathers of their tribes were in Egypt); "look unto the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, as clay, when God formed you into a people." Note, It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth, how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions, and how miserable the hole of that pit out of which we were digged! The consideration of this should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves and high thoughts of divine grace. Those that are now advanced would do well to remember how low they began (Isaiah 51:2; Isaiah 51:2): "Look unto Abraham your father, the father of all the faithful, of all that follow after the righteousness of faith as he did (Romans 4:11), and unto Sarah that bore you, and whose daughters you all are as long as you do well. Think how Abraham was called alone, and yet was blessed and multiplied; and let that encourage you to depend upon the promise of God even when a sentence of death seems to be upon all the means that lead to the performance of it. Particularly let it encourage the captives in Babylon, though they are reduced to a small number, and few of them left, to hope that yet they shall increase so as to replenish their own land again." When Jacob is very small, yet he is not so small as Abraham was, who yet became father of many nations. "Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of God, and take example by him to follow God with an implicit faith." 3. How they are here assured that their present seedness of tears should at length end in a harvest of joys, Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 51:3. The church of God on earth, even the gospel Zion, has sometimes had her deserts and waste places, many parts of the church, through either corruption or persecution, made like a wilderness, unfruitful to God or uncomfortable to the inhabitants; but God will find out a time and way to comfort Zion, not only by speaking comfortably to her, but by acting graciously for her. God has comforts in store even for the waste places of his church, for those parts of it that seem not regarded or valued. (1.) He will make them fruitful, and so give them cause to rejoice; her wildernesses shall put on a new face, and look pleasant as Eden, and abound in all good fruits, as the garden of the Lord. Note, It is the greatest comfort of the church to be made serviceable to the glory of God, and to be as his garden in which he delights. (2.) He will make them cheerful, and so give them hearts to rejoice. With the fruits of righteousness, joy and gladness shall be found therein; for the more holiness men have, and the more good they do, the more gladness they have. And where there is gladness, to their satisfaction, it is fit that there should be thanksgiving, to God's honour; for whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving; and the returns of God's favour ought to be celebrated with the voice of melody, which will be the more melodious when God gives songs in the night, songs in the desert.