Jesus was tender and compassionate

JESUS WAS TENDER AND COMPASSIONATE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Isaiah42:3 3A bruised reed he will not break, and a
smolderingwick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness
he will bring forth justice;
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Tenderness OfGod
Isaiah42:3
W.M. Statham
A bruised reed shall he not break. Then he is very unlike us. We are often
over-indignant with wrong done to ourselves. We find that there is an
imperious temper in humanity, and that even parents sometimes "break" the
spirit of their children. How many are discouragedand disheartenedin life
through a want of sympathy, through the coldness and hauteur of others!
I. THERE ARE BRUISINGS OF SIN. Christ will heal these. He never drives
to despair. He might, indeed, condemn; for he knows all the subtle intricacies
of evil in our hearts. But the Son of man is not come to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.

II. THERE ARE BRUISINGS OF DOUBT. St. Thomas felt these, and he
expresses his doubts with startling emphasis and boldness. But Christ is
sympathetic even then - shows Thomas his hands and his side, and tells him to
reachhither his hand. Alas! many have been driven into infidelity because
their doubts have been treatedas sins, and the bruised minds have been
broken!
III. THERE ARE BRUISINGS OF SORROW. ButGod knows when godly
sorrow has workedrepentance not to be repeatedof. He knows whenthe poor
heart is well-nigh crushed with grief at its departure from him. He does not
delight in pain. The Roman emperors did. But he whose throne was a cross,
and whose sceptre is love, he loves to heal. In sin and doubt and sorrow, letus
go to Christ alone. - W.M.S.
Biblical Illustrator
A bruised reed shall He not break.

Isaiah42:3, 4
The bruised reed
J. R. Macduff, D. D.
The reed, or "calamus,"is a plant with hollow stem, which grew principally
by the side of lakes orrivers. Those who have been in Palestine are familiar
with it in the tangled thickets which still line the shores of the ancient Merom
and Genesis nesaret,or, above all, in the dense copse fringing the banks of the
Jordan. The plant might well be takenas an emblem of whateverwas weak,
fragile, brittle. The foot of the wild beastthat made its lair in the jungle,
trampled it to pieces. Its slender stalk bent or snapped under the weight of the
bird that soughtto make it a perch. The wind and hail-storm shivered its
delicate tubes, or laid them prostrate on the ground. "A reed shakenby the
wind" was the metaphor employed by One whose eyes, in haunts most loved
and frequented by Him, had ofttimes gazed on this significantemblem of
human weaknessand instability. Once broken, it was rendered of no use.
Other stems which had been bent by the hurricane might, by carefulnursing
and tending, be recovered;but the reed, with its heavy culm, once shattered,
became worthless. In a preceding chapter (Isaiah36:6) it is spokenof as an
emblem of tottering, fragile Egypt.
(J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
A bruised reed
J. Parker, D. D
Say some an instrument was meant, and there was a rift in it, which spoiled
the music. Jesus Christsaid, We must repair this; something must be done
with this reed; it was meant for music, and we must look at it with that end in
view. He does not take it, saying, There is a rift in the lute, and the music is
impossible; rend it and throw it away. He always looks to see if a man cannot
be made somewhatbetter. Or "a bruised reed" may mean that wild beasts in
rushing through to the water, or from the flood, have crushed the growing

plants, so that they are bent, they no more stand upright; but Jesus Christ
comes to heal them and to restore them.
(J. Parker, D. D)
The bruised reed and She smoking flax
God has His strong ones in His Church — His oaks of Bashanand cedars of
Lebanon; noble foresttrees, spreading far and wide their branches of faith
and love and holiness; those who are deeply rootedin the truth, able to wrestle
with fierce tempests of unbelief, and to grapple with temptations in their
sterner forms. But He has His weaklings and His saplings also — those that
require to be tenderly shielded from the blast, and who are liable, from
constitutional temperament, to become the prey of doubts and fears, to which
the others are strangers. Sensitive in times of trial, irresolute in times of
difficulty and danger, unstable in times of severe temptation; or it may be in
perpetual disquietude and alarm about their spiritual safety. To such, the
loving ways and dealings of the Saviour are unfolded.
Rudiments of religion in the heathen world
Prof. J Skinner, D. D.
It is an interesting question whether these rudiments of religionare conceived
as existing in the heathen world or in the breasts of individual Israelites. The
former view is, no doubt, that to which the national interpretation of the
servant most readily accommodates itself, and is also most in keeping with the
scope ofthe passageas a whole. But in later sections a mission in and to Israel
is undoubtedly assignedto the servant, and a reference to that here cannot be
pronounced impossible.
(Prof. J Skinner, D. D.)

The bruised reed
Homiletic Review.
I. INSIGNIFICANCEESCAPESNOT CHRIST'S ATTENTION. There is no
insignificant life, nor insignificant incident of life. All is fraught with the
importance of endless existence.
II. UNWORTHINESS FORFEITS NOT CHRIST'S REGARD. Nothing more
worthless than a bruised reed. Yet He will not break it. As there is no trifle
that escapesHis notice, so there is no unworthiness that transcends His
gracious regard. Where is the bruised reedthat the Redeemerhas ever
broken? Is it the dying thief? Is it Mary Magdalene? Is it Saul of Tarsus?
III. UNPROFITABLENESSABATES NOT CHRIST'S LOVE. Nothing more
unprofitable than a bruised reed. The heart that yields no large return for all
His care He loves and blesses still. The unprofitable bruised reed He will not
break.
(Homiletic Review.)
God's negatives imply strong affirmations
As that negative assertionis the Hebrew way of conveying a strong
affirmative, it is equivalent to saying that He will bind up the broken heart,
that He will cement the splintered stem of the hanging bulrush, endowing it
with new life and strength and vigour causing it to "spring up among the
grass, as willows by the watercourses";that He will pardon, pity, comfort,
relieve.

Fragrance from the bruised-soul
In the case ofsome aromatic plants, it is when bruised they give forth the
sweetestfragrance.So, it is often the soul, crushed with a sense ofsin, which
sends forth the sweetestaroma of humility, gratitude, and love. "Blessedare
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
Bruised reeds
J. Pearce.
It is quite a relief to come across words ofsuch gracious import as these, and
to learn that there is One having to do with us, while immeasurably above us,
in whose heart pity has a place, in whose eyes are tears as they look on our
woes, whosetouchis softwhile strong, whose voice has no harshness in it
when addressing the weak and failing — for we live in a cold, callous, cruel
world, still darkenedby the foulest crimes, where thousands are handled
roughly and are driven into out-of-the-way places to die, unattended,
unhelped, and unblessed, except, perhaps, by the angels ofGod. Readhistory:
it is written largely in letters of blood. Read your newspaper, that mirror of
the world's daily life, and weep over fallen human nature as you do so. Read
your scientific books, and you will find vivisection preachedso far as animals
are concerned, and "natural selectionand the survival of the fittest" so far as
the race is concerned. "Letthe weak perish, let the afflicted be cut off," says a
pitiless science — thus following the ancientSpartans, who killed off their
sicklyand deformed offspring, and Plato, who favoured infanticide. These
people would deliberately and in cold blood break the bruised reed and
quench the smoking flax. Into such a world as this Christ comes, comesto
teachus that God is love, that the strongestBeing in the universe is the
gentlest, that all life is precious, that even maimed humanity is worth saving,

that the man who has been smitten by a mighty misfortune is to have the
tenderestattention, that the man most in the mud is to be lifted out, so that his
powers may unfold themselves in winsome and undecaying blossoms by the
river of life. The slender bulrush,, with its sides crushed and dinted, its head
hanging by a thread, stands for that large class who have been injured by evil
of any kind, and to all these Jesus deals out an unwonted, unheard of,
restorative tenderness.
I. SOME ARE BRUISED BY ANCESTRAL SINS. Our scientists now accept
and emphasise the greatMosaic doctrine, "The sins of the fathers shall be
visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that
hate Me." Many are seriously handicapped by hereditary taints. "The great
men of the world are the forestkings of the sociallandscape;the rich are its
olives, the cleverare its orchids; the fashionable are its climbing roses;the
merry are its purple vines; but here at the bottom, in the dirt, are the bruised
reeds of humanity, the outcast, the forsaken, the ill-starred, the poverty-
stricken, the weak, the wronged, the fallen." To which did Jesus give His best,
His primary attention? He won for Himself the name, "A friend of publicans
and sinners." When His disciples queried Him as. to who was responsible for
a man's blindness, He refused to be drawn into a discussionof the law of
heredity to satisfy their unfeeling curiosity. To Christ the blind man was
something more than a scientific or theologicalproblem — he was a brother
whose blindness was an appeal for help, and He helped him by opening his
eyes.
II. SOME ARE BRUISED BY PERSONALSIN. There are many who realise
that their lives are knockedout of their proper shape. How many of us have
robbed, degraded, and damaged ourselves!God meant us to be temples, but
we have desecratedthe hallowedshrine. God meant us to be kings, but we
have given our crowns away. Godmeant us to be priest, but we have made
ourselves vile. God meant us to be His children, but we have wandered away
and become Satan's serfs. No one has injured us half as much as we have
injured ourselves. Whata contrastis Jesus evento the best of His followers in
the treatment of self-injured men! Someone has said, "How surprising it

seems that we find in Jesus no feeling of scornfor man." Surprising? There
was not a shade of a shadow of contempt in His nature, not even for the
sorriestsons of Adam.
III. SOME ARE BRUISED BY THE SINS OF SOCIETY. Some are more
sinned againstthan sinning. Societymust be indicted as a greatsinner. Full
often it is thoughtless, careless, cruel, wicked. It has a don't-care sort of mien.
It cares nothing for others'rights, feelings, happiness. Its maxim is, "Every
man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost." Thus the reeds are trodden
on, and there is small wonder that they have hard thoughts of man and God.
Whateverour treatment of them, our Lord metes out to them a royal
generosity, a most delicate consideration. When He was under Calvary's
shadow the soldiers put a reed into His right hand — they did it in mockery,
but they knew not what they did. That reed was a sceptre, the symbol of the
reign of gentleness. The bruised reed may be nothing to us — but to Him who
knowethall things it suggestsmusic, beauty, usefulness.
(J. Pearce.)
The weak Christiancomforted
S. Bridge, M. A.
Nothing is more common than for the inspired writers to represent spiritual
and Divine things by an allusion to those which are natural. Notice —
I. SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BELIEVER'S
WEAKNESS.
1. He has knowledge, but it is as yet imperfect.

2. He has faith, but as yet it is comparatively powerless.
3. He has hope, but it is faint and feeble.
4. His joys are few and transient. But these characteristicsofthe Christian's
weakness are also the sources ofhis sorrow.
II. SOME OF THE PLEDGES OF THE BELIEVER'S SECURITY. "He will
not break," etc. if faith be genuine, though but like the smallestgrain of seed,
He owns it; if hope be legitimate, though feeble, He owns it; if love be sincere,
though languid, He owns it. The pledges of the believer's security are many
and great.
1. Weak believers, equally with the strong, stand in a Divine relation to God.
2. They are, equally with the strong, the purchased possessionof the
Redeemer.
3. The weak believer is, equally with the strong, supplied out of the
inexhaustible store of Divine grace.
(S. Bridge, M. A.)
The bruised reed
J. H. Evans, M. A.

I. WHO ARE SET FORTHUNDER THE FIGURE OF A BRUISED REED?
It is a description that well suits all believers, without exception. Some are
comparatively strongerthan others. How is this where all are so weak?
Becausethey have a deeper, more deeply felt experience of weakness. They
live more by faith, lean more on Jesus, are brought into deeperpoverty of
spirit, receive Him more fully. Those branches next the stem are always the
strongest. But our text sets forth the weak believer, and one who is conscious
of it. It is not only a reed, but a bruised reed. Perhaps heavy afflictions wound
the believer, and temporal troubles become strong spiritual temptations. It is
storm upon storm, tempestupon tempest, and the poor reednot only bends
beneath it", but is bruised beneath it. The world is unkind, friends are
unkind, saints are unkind, and faith being weak, Godseems unkind; and then
the soul, full of suspicion, is unkind to itself, and suspects its own grace. What
s bruising is this! Perhaps a deep sense of sin and inward corruption is added
to this.
II. OUR LORD'S CONDUCT TO SUCH. He will not break this bruised reed.
1. His faithfulness will not permit it. These are of those whom the Father has
entrusted to His love.
2. His holiness will not permit it. Here is a spark of His own kindling, a germ
of His own planting, a new nature of His own creating, a child of God, one
who loves Him — will He bruise such a one?
3. His tenderness will not permit it. Will a kind physician neglecthis patient?
Will a shepherd forget his wandering sheep? Will a mother dash her sick child
to the earth?Conclusion —
1. Beware lestyou make your feebleness anexcuse. There is all fulness in
Christ.

2. Beware lestyou increase your feebleness.Sin enfeebles, neglects enfeeble,
the world enfeebles;want of peace in the conscienceenfeebles;living on
anything but Christ enfeebles.
3. Admire that condescending Saviourwho can stoopto this bruised reed.
4. Admire the compassionofthe Saviour.
5. Still more admire Him who has supported, who has all grace to help.
6. Be contented to be ever weak in yourself.
(J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The compassionofChrist
B. Beddome, M. A
I. INQUIRE WHY THE PERSONS SPOKENOF MAY BE COMPARED TO
THE BRUISED REED AND SMOKING FLAX.
1. Both these objects have a mean appearance, andare deemed of little use:
and low and humble Christians are much the same. Especiallyif in a declining
state, they bring but little honour to their profession, and often afford matter
for reproach.

2. The bruised reed has some strength, and the smoking flax some fire, though
both in a small degree;so the Christian, though he has but a little strength,
like the church at Philadelphia, yet he is still alive, and the light of Israelis not
quenched.
3. Many are ready to break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax.
Greatalso are the oppositions and discouragements whichweak believers
meet with, and yet they are still preserved.
4. The bruised reed needs to be supported, and the smoking flax to be
enkindled: so does the Christian need to be strengthened, and quickened
afreshby Divine grace.
II. NOTICE WHAT IS IMPLIED IN CHRIST'S NOT BREAKING THE
BRUISED REED, NOR QUENCHING THE SMOKING FLAX. Much more
is implied than is expressed. The Lord will not put the weak believerto those
trials which are disproportioned to his strength. He will not suffer him to be
tempted above what he is able to bear; but will with the temptation also make
a way for his escape.The following things are also implied.
1. That as Christ will not break the bruised reed, so neither will He suffer
others to do it.
2. Insteadof breaking the bruised reed, He will binD it up, and strengthen it;
and will cherishthe smoking flax till it break forth into a flame. He who
notices the smallestsins to punish them, will also notice the weakestefforts of
grace to encourage and reward them.

III. AN IMPROVEMENTOF THE SUBJECT.
1. Let weak Christians be encouragedfrom hence to commit themselves to
Christ, and place an entire confidence in His faithfulness and compassion.
2. Let us imitate this part of our Lord's conduct, and carry it towards others
as He carries it towards us.
3. It becomes us to beware that we do not abuse the mercy of our Saviour, by
supposing that we have weak grace,when, indeed, we have none; for it is real
and not counterfeit piety to which He shows His tender regard. Nor yet by
contenting ourselves with weak grace,though it is true.
4. If weak Christians shall not be neglected, much less the strong.
(B. Beddome, M. A,)
The source of Christ's perfecttenderness to sinners
H. E. Manning, D. D.
is none other than the Divine compassion. It was the love and pity of the Word
made flesh.
1. It is plain that this gentle receptioneven of the greatestsinners implies that,
where there is so much as a spark of life in the conscience, there is possibility
of an entire conversionto God. Where there is room to hope anything, there is
room to hope all things. Such is the mysterious nature of the human spirit, of
its affections and will, such its energies and intensity, that it may at any time

be so renewedby the Spirit of the new creationas to expel, with the most
perfect rejection, all the powers, qualities, visions, and thoughts of evil.
2. Another greattruth implied in our Lord's conduct to sinners is, that the
only sure way of fostering the beginning of repentance is to receive them with
gentleness andcompassion. On those in whom there is the faintest stirring of
repentance the love of Christ falls with a softbut penetrating force. To receive
sinners coldly, or with an averted eye, an estrangedheart, and a hasty,
unsparing tongue, will seldomfail to drive them into defiance or self-
abandonment. A sinner that is out of hope is lost. Hope is the last thing left. If
this be crushed the flax is extinct. Truth told without love is perilous in the
measure in which it is true. There is in every sinner a greatburden of misery,
soreness, and alarm; but even these, insteadof driving him to confession,
make him shut himself up in a fevered and brooding fear. And it was in this
peculiar wretchedness ofsin that the gentleness ofour Lord gave them
courage and hope. It was a strange courage that came upon them; a boldness
without trembling, yet an awe without alarm. What little motions of good
were in them, what little stirrings of conscience, whatfaint remainder of
better resolutions, what feeble gleams of all but extinguished light, — all
seemedto revive, and to turn in sympathy towards some source of kindred
nature, and to stretch itself out in hope to something long desired, with a dim
unconscious love. It is an affinity of the spirit working in penitents with the
Spirit of Christ that made them draw to Him. It was not only because ofHis
infinite compassionas Godthat Christ so dealt with sinners; but because,
knowing the nature of man, its strange depths and windings, its weakness and
fears, He knew that this was the surest way of winning them to Himself.
(H. E. Manning, D. D.)
The transforming tenderness of Jesus
A. Sradlle, M. A.

He uses and loves and transfigures broken reeds. They become pens to write
His truth. They become instruments of sweetmusic to sound forth His praise.
They become pillars to support and adorn His Temple. They become swords
and spears to rout His enemies; so that, as Mr. Lowellsings, "the bruised reed
is amply tough to pierce the shield of error through." And He loves and
employs and fans into bright and glowing flame dimly burning wicks. They
are changedinto lamps that shine, into beacon-fires that warn, into torches
that hand on His messageto the generationfollowing, into lighthouse rays and
beams that guide storm-tossedsailors into the desired haven.
(A. Sradlle, M. A.)
The long-suffering of Messiah
St. J. A. Frere, M. A.
A passagesetting forth the gentleness ofthe new Prince of Righteousness
promised to Israel.
I. THE ANALOGIES OF HIS FORBEARANCE.
1. Few of nature's forms are more lovely and symmetrical than the tall cane of
the reedrising by the marsh or river edge. One of the elements of our pleasure
as we look at it, is derived from our sense of its marvellous powerof resisting
the pressure of the wind or the dashing of the waves. It is one of the triumphs
of nature's architecture. Yet let but a rough stroke fall suddenly upon it, and
all its glory is abased. Every passing wind only aggravates the injury. Of what
goodis it henceforth, but to be cut down and castinto the oven! Yet this,
which we should esteemreasonable in the husbandman, is preciselywhat the
Messiahdoes not do with respect to souls that have been similarly injured.
2. The other illustration of the prophet is from the home or the temple. The
oil-lamp was one of the most common objects there. The wick fed by the oil is

able to sustain a flame which, although feeble, is clear, and sufficient for the
small chambers of the poor. The oil, however, is supposedto be exhausted,
and the wick is sending forth a weak, smoky, disagreeable light, soonto
subside into darkness. Wouldit not be better, one might ask, to put out such a
light altogetherthan to endure its disagreeablestench, or, all unprepared, find
ourselves plunged in darkness? Thesetwo images setbefore us suggestionsof
what would be reasonable actions onthe part of man, when considering
merely human ends.These two things are —
1. Types of spiritual states.
2. Suggestions ofjudicial action.
II. THE ULTIMATE AIM OF HIS FORBEARANCE. "Until He bring forth
judgment unto truth." The gentleness ofChrist without some such obvious
explanation might appear moral indifference, or amiable eccentricity, or
insane belief in the inherent goodnessofmen. This aim gives it an entirely
new, a far nobler aspect.
1. To every man is given an opportunity of putting himself right with God.
The force of circumstances will be counterbalancedso that the will and
affections may work freely; inequalities, opposition, etc., will be neutralised or
allowedfor in so far as they affectconduct.
2. Judgment will be withheld until the careerof man is complete. Goodand
evil alike will work themselves out. There is a tragic powerof evolution latent
in all sin. Righteousness, too, is as a seed.

3. The characterof this judgment, therefore, will be final and absolute.
(St. J. A. Frere, M. A.)
"A bruised reed" and "smoking flax
A. Maclaren, D. D.
The two metaphors are not altogetherparallel. "A bruised reed" has suffered
an injury which, however, is neither complete nor irreparable. "Smoking
flax," on the other hand — by which, of course, is meant flax used as a wick in
an old-fashioned oil lamp — is partially lit. In the one a process has been
begun which, if continued, ends in destruction; in the other a process has been
begun which, if continued, ends in a bright flame. So the one metaphor may
express the beginnings of evil which may still be averted, and the other the
beginnings of incipient and incomplete good. If we keepthat distinction in
mind, the words of our text gainwonderfully in comprehensiveness.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The strong "servantof Jehovah
A. Maclaren, D. D
It is to be noticed that in verse 4 we have an echo of these metaphors. The
word translated "fail" is the same as that rendered in the previous verse,
"smoking," or"dimly burning"; and the word "discouraged" is the same as
that rendered in the previous verse, "bruised." So then this "servantof the
Lord," Who is not to break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, is
fitted for His work because He Himself has no share in the evils which He
would heal, and none in the weaknesseswhichHe would strengthen. His
perfect manhood knows no flaws nor bruises; His complete goodnessis
capable of and needs no increase. Neitheroutwardforce nor inward weakness
can hinder His powerto healand bless; therefore His work cannever cease

till it has attained its ultimate purpose. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged,"
shall neither be broken by outward violence, nor shall the flame of His saving
energy burn faint until He hath "setjudgment in the earth," and crownedHis
purposes with complete success.
(A. Maclaren, D. D
Christ the arresterof begun evil
A. Maclaren, D. D
We have here setbefore us three significant representations ofthat Servant of
the Lord, which may well commend Him to our confidence and our love.
I. AS THE RESTOREROF THE BRUISE THAT IT MAY NOT BE
BROKEN. "He shall not break the bruised reed." It is "bruised," but the
bruise is not irreparable. And so there are reeds bruised and "shakenby the
wind," but yet not broken. And the tender Christ comes with His gentle, wise,
skilful surgery, to bind these up and to make them strong again. To whom
does this text apply?
1. In a very solemn sense to all mankind. In all the dints and marks of sin are
plainly seen. Our manhood has been crushed and battered out of its right
shape, and has receivedawful wounds from that evil that has found entrance
within us. But there emerges from the metaphor not only the solemnthought
of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessedone, that there is
no man so bruised as that he is broken. And Christ looks onall the
tremendous bulk of a world's sins with the confidence that He can move that
mountain and castit into the depths of the sea.
2. But then the words may be takenin a somewhatnarrow sense, applying
more directly to a class. "The brokenand the contrite heart," bruised and
pulverised as it were by a sense of evil, may be typified for us by this bruised

reed. And then there emerges the blessedhope that such a heart, wholesomely
removed from its self-complacentfancy of soundness, shall certainly be healed
and bound up by His tender hand. Wheresoeverthere is a touch of penitence
there is present a restoring Christ.
3. The words may be lookedat from yet anotherpoint of view, as representing
the merciful dealing of the Masterwith the spirits which are beatenand
bruised.
II. AS THE FOSTEREROF INCIPIENT AND IMPERFECT GOOD."The
dimly burning wick He shall not quench." Who are representedby this
"smoking flax"?
1. I am not contradicting what I have been saying, if I claim for this second
metaphor as wide a universality as the former. There is no man out of hell but
has in him something that wants but to be brought to sovereignpowerin his
life in order to make him a light in the world. You have got consciencesatthe
least;you have convictions, which if you followedthem out would make
Christians of you straight away. You have got aspirations after good, desires,
some of you, after purity and nobleness of living, which only need to be raised
to the height and the dominance in your lives which they ought to possess,in
order to revolutionise your whole course. There is a spark in every man
which, fanned and caredfor, will change him from darkness into light.
Fanned and caredfor it can only be by a Divine power coming down upon it
from without.
2. Then, in a narrowerway, the words may be applied to a class. There are
some of us who have a little spark, as we believe, of a Divine life, the faint
beginnings of a Christian character. They saythat where there is smoke there
is fire. There is a deal more smoke than fire in the most of Christian people in

this generation. And if it were not for such thoughts as this about that dear
Christ that will not lay a hasty hand upon some little tremulous spark, and by
one rash movement extinguish it for ever, there would be but little hope for a
greatmany of us. Look at His life on earth; think how He bore with those
blundering, foolish, selfishdisciples of His. Remember how, when a man came
to Him with a very imperfect goodness, the Evangelisttells us that Jesus,
beholding him, loved him. And take out of these blessedstories this great
hope, that howsoeversmallmen "despise the day of small things," the
Greatestdoes not. How do you make "smoking flax" burn? You give it oil,
you give it air, and you take awaythe charred portions. And Christ will give
you, in your feebleness,the oil of His Spirit, that you may burn brightly as one
of the candlesticksin His temple; and He will let air in, and take awaythe
charred portions by the wise discipline of sorrow and trial sometimes in order
that the smoking flax may become the shining light. The reasonwhy so many
Christian men's Christian light is so fulinginous and dim is just that they keep
awayfrom Jesus Christ.
III. AS EXEMPT FROM HUMAN EVIL AND WEAKNESS, as the
foundation of His restoring and fostering work. "He shall not burn dimly nor
be broken till He hath setjudgment in the earth." There are no bruises in this
reed. That is to say, Christ's manhood is free from all scars and wounds of evil
or of sin. There is no dimness in this light. That is to say, Christ's characteris
perfect, His goodness needs no increase. There is no trace of effort in His
holiness, no growth manifest in His God likeness, fromthe beginning to the
end. There is no outward violence that can be brought to bear upon Him that
shall stay Him in His purpose. There is no inward failure of strength that may
lead us to fear that His work shall not be completed. And because ofall these
things, because ofHis perfect exemption from human infirmity, because in
Him was no sin, He is manifested to take awayour sins.
(A. Maclaren, D. D)

The smoking flex shall He not quench
The smoking flax
J. H. Evans, M. A.
I. A STATE OF GRACE IS SUPPOSED. The figure is that of a lamp. Such
are believers (Matthew 5:15, 16).
II. THE FEEBLENESSOF THAT STATE. "Smoking flax." There is some
light, yet but little, and that little seems all but ready to be extinguished. There
is something of the light of God's Word in the soul, a real spark of grace, but
it seems little more than this. Some warmth of affection, but it acts feebly.
Many causes conspire to produce this. Some have but the first spark. All
things seem ready to put it out. Strong corruptions, fleshly passions, vanities
of the world, evil companions, entire inexperience are all extinguishers.
Others have little light in the schoolof self-knowledge— the danger of
temptation, the evil of the heart, the worth of Jesus, the characterof God.
There is much of the smoke ofvain confidence, fearlessnessofconsequences,
tampering with things dangerous, and this very smoke obscures the light still
more. Some are in greatprosperity — the wick grows tall and all is dim. In
some, the light is obscured by neglects with a certain degree of wilfulness in
them. In some, by want of deep humbling and thorough repentance on
accountof sin. In some, by ceaselessengagement, that scarcelyallows any real
dealing with God. In some, the constant, undeviating habit of looking at
themselves rather than Christ, living more by sense than faith. In short, we
may dim the light by whatevergrieves the Spirit.
III. THE CONDUCT OF OUR LORD WITH RESPECTTO IT. He shall not
quench it. He will greatlyexceedthis. He will tend this smoking flax. The flax
is His own, the light His own, the oil His own, all His heart is shownin all His
actings here. He will dress it. True, He may cut down the wick — humble,
lower, abase. He will increase the light. "He giveth more grace."He will
perfect it. Conclusion—

1. Perhaps there are some whose hopes of worldly happiness are like a dying
taper, and, alas!they have little, if any other, hope. Such a beam was in the
heart of poor Manasseh. Is it but the faintest, the feeblest, yet does it take thee
poor and needy to the Saviour? Will He castout? Never!
2. If the blessedSaviour does not despise, neither should we.
(J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Smelting flax
I. WHAT STATE THIS METAPHOR REPRESENTS.
1. A smoking flax represents a state in which there is a little good. The margin
is "dimly burning flax." It is burning; but it is burning very dimly. There is a
spark of goodwithin the heart.
2. You are like smoking flax, because your goodis too little to be of much use
to anybody. What could we do with a smoking flax if we had it here to-night,
and the gas was all out?
3. Smoking flax, then, has a little fire, but it is so little that it is of small
service, and, what is worse, it is so little that it is rather unpleasant.
4. Though the goodof it is so little that it is of very little use to other people,
and sometimes is very obnoxious, yet there is enoughgoodin you to be
dangerous in Satan's esteem. He does not like to observe that there is yet a
little fire in you, for he fears that it may become a flame.

II. WHEN ARE SOULS IN THAT STATE?
1. Some are in that state when they are newly saved — when the flax has just
been lighted.
2. Sometimes a candle smokes, notbecause it is newly lit, but because it is
almost extinguished. I speak to some Christians who have been alight with the
fire of grace for many years, and yet they feel as if they were near the dark
hour of extinction. But you shall not go out. The Lord will keepyou alight
with grace.
3. Sometimes the wick smokes whenworldliness has damped it.
4. At times a wick burns low because a very strong wind has blown upon it.
Many men and women are the subjects of very fierce temptations.
III. WHAT DOES JESUS DO WITH THOSE WHO ARE IN THIS STATE?
He will not quench the smoking flax. What a world of mercy lies in that word!
1. He will not quench you by pronouncing legaljudgment upon you.
2. He will not quench you by setting up a high experimental standard.
3. He will not judge you by a lofty standard of knowledge. The Lord has some
of His children whose heads are in a very queer state;and if He first puts their
hearts right He afterwards puts their heads right.

4. The Lord will not quench you by setting up a standard by which to measure
your graces. Itis not, "So much faith, and you are saved. So little faith, and
you are lost." If thou hast faith as a grain of mustard-seedit will save thee.
Come along, you little ones,-youtrembling ones! Jesus willnot quench you. He
will blow upon you with the soft breath of His love till the little spark will rise
into a flame.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(3) A bruised reed shall he not break . . .—Physical, moral, spiritual weakness
are all brought under the same similitude. In another contextthe image has
met us in Isaiah 36:6. The simple negative “he shall not break” implies, as in
the rhetoric of all times, the opposite extreme, the tender care that props and
supports. The humanity of the servant of the Lord was to embody what had
been already predicated of the Divine will (Psalm51:17). The dimly burning
flax, the wick of a lamp nearly out, He will foster and cherish and feed the
spiritual life, all but extinguished, with oil till it burns brightly again. In
Matthew 25:1-13 we have to deal with lamps that are going out, and these not
even He could light againunless the bearers of the lamps “bought oil” for
themselves.
Judgment unto truth—i.e., according to the perfect standard of truth, with
something of the sense of St. John’s “true” in the sense ofrepresenting the
ideal (John 1:9; John 15:1).

MacLaren's Expositions
Isaiah
CHRIST THE ARRESTER OF INCIPIENT EVIL AND THE NOURISHER
OF INCIPIENT GOOD
Isaiah42:3 - Isaiah 42:4.
The two metaphors which we have in the former part of these words are not
altogetherparallel. ‘A bruised reed’ has suffered an injury which, however, is
neither complete nor irreparable. ‘Smoking flax,’ on the other hand-by which,
of course, is meant flax used as a wick in an old-fashionedoil lamp-is partially
lit. In the one a process has beenbegun which, if continued, ends in
destruction; in the other, a process has beenbegun which, if continued, ends
in a bright flame. So the one metaphor may refer to the beginnings of evil
which may still be averted, and the other the beginnings of incipient and
incomplete good. If we keepthis distinction in mind, the words of our text
gain wonderfully in comprehensiveness.
Then again, it is to be noticed that in the last words of our text, which are
separatedfrom the former by a clause which we omit, we have an echo of
these metaphors. The word translated‘fail’ is the same as that rendered in the
previous verse ‘smoking,’ or ‘dimly burning’; and the word ‘discouraged’is
the same as that rendered in the previous verse ‘bruised.’ So then, this
‘Servant of the Lord,’ who is not to break the bruised reed nor quench the
smoking flax, is fitted for His work, because He Himself has no share in the
evils which He would heal, and none in the weaknesses whichHe would
strengthen. His perfect manhood knows no flaws nor bruises; His complete

goodness is capable of and needs no increase. Neitheroutward force nor
inward weaknesscanhinder His power to heal and bless; therefore His work
can never ceasetill it has attained its ultimate purpose. ‘He shall not fail nor
be discouraged’;shall neither be broken by outward violence, nor shall the
flame of His fading energyburn faint until He hath ‘set judgment in the
earth,’ and crownedHis purposes with complete success.
We have, then, here setbefore us three significant representations ofthe
servant of the Lord, which may well commend Him to our confidence and our
love. I shall not spend any time in answering the question: Of whom speaketh
the prophet this? The answeris plain for us. He speaks ofthe personal
Servant of the Lord, and the personalServant of the Lord is Jesus Christ our
Saviour. I ask you then to come with me while I deal, as simply as may be,
with these three ideas that lie before us in this greatprophecy.
I. Considerthen, first, the representationof the Servant of the Lord as the
arresterof incipient ruin.
‘He shall not break the bruised reed.’ Here is the picture-a slender bulrush,
growing by the margin of some tarn or pond; its sides crushed and dented in
by some outward power, a gust of wind, a sudden blow, the foot of a passing
animal. The head is hanging by a thread, but it is not yet snapped or broken
off from the stem.
But, blessedbe God! there emerges from the metaphor not only the solemn
thought of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessedone, that
there is no man so bruised as that he is broken; none so injured as that
restorationis impossible, no depravity so total but that it may be healed, none
so far off but that he may be brought nigh. On no man has sin fastenedits
venomous claws so deeply but that these may be wrenched away. In none of us

has the virus so gone through our veins but that it is capable of being expelled.
The reeds are all bruised, the reeds are none of them broken. And so my text
comes with its greattriumphant hopefulness, and gathers into one mass as
capable of restorationthe most abject, the most worthless, the most ignorant,
the most sensuous, the most godless, the most Christ-hating of the race. Jesus
looks on all the tremendous bulk of a world’s sins with the confidence that He
can move that mountain and castit into the depths of the sea.
There is a man in Paris that says he has found a cure for that horrible disease
of hydrophobia, and who therefore regards the poor sufferers of whom others
despair as not beyond the reachof hope. Christ looks upon a world of men
smitten with madness, and in whose breasts awfulpoison is working, with the
calm confidence that He carries in His hand an elixir, one drop of which
inoculated into the veins of the furious patient will save him from death, and
make him whole. ‘The blood of Jesus Christcleansethfrom all sin.’ ‘He will
not break,’and that means He will restore, ‘the bruised reed.’ There are no
hopeless outcasts. None ofyou are beyond the reachof a Saviour’s love, a
Saviour’s blood, a Saviour’s healing.
But then the words in my text may be taken in a somewhatnarrowersense,
applying more particularly to a class. In accordancewith other metaphors of
Scripture, we may think of ‘the bruised reed’ as expressive of the condition of
men whose hearts have been crushed by the consciousness oftheir sins. ‘The
broken and the contrite heart,’ bruised and pulverised, as it were, by a sense
of evil, may be typified for us by this bruised reed. And then from the words
of my text there emerges the greatand blessed hope that such a heart,
wholesomelyremovedfrom its self-complacentfancyof soundness, shall
certainly be healedand bound up by His tender hand. Did you ever see a
gardenerdealing with some plant, a spray of which may have been wounded?
How delicatelyand tenderly the big, clumsy hand busies itself about the tiny
spray, and by stays and bandages brings it into an erectposition, and then
gives it waterand loving care. Justso does Jesus Christ deal with the

conscious andsensitive heart of a man who has begun to find out how bad he
is, and has been driven awayfrom all his foolish confidence. Christcomes to
such an one and restores him, and just because he is crushed deals with him
gently, pouring in His consolation. Wheresoeverthere is a touch of penitence,
there is present a restoring Christ.
And the words may be lookedat from yet another point of view. We may
think of them as representing to us the merciful dealing of the Masterwith the
spirits which are beaten and bruised, sore and wounded, by sorrows and
calamities;to whom the Christ comes in all the tenderness of His gentleness,
and lays a hand upon them-the only hand in all the universe that can touch a
bleeding heart without hurting it.
Brother and sistersuffering from any sorrow, and bleeding from any wound,
there is a balm and a physician. There is one hand that will never be laid with
blundering kindness or with harshness upon our sore hearts, but whose touch
will be healing, and whose presence will be peace.
The Christ who knows our sins and sorrows will not break the bruised reed.
The whole race of man may be represented in that parable that came from
His own lips, as fallen among thieves that have robbed him and wounded him
and left him bruised, but, blessedbe God! only ‘half dead’; sorelywounded,
indeed, but not so sorelybut that he may be restored. And there comes One
with the wine and the oil, and pours them into the wounds. ‘The bruised reed
shall He not break.’
II. Now, in the next place, look at the completing thought that is here, in the
secondclause, whichrepresents Christ as the fostererof incipient and
imperfect good.

‘The dimly-burning wick He shall not quench.’ A process, as I have said, is
begun in the smoking flax, which only needs to be carried on to lead to a
brilliant flame. That represents for us not the beginnings of a not irreparable
evil, but the commencementof very dim and imperfect good. Now, then, who
are representedby this ‘smoking flax’? You will not misunderstand me, nor
think that I am contradicting what I have already been saying, if I claim for
this secondmetaphor as wide a universality as the former, and say that in all
men, just because the process ofevil and the wounds from it are not so deep
and complete as that restorationis impossible, therefore is there something in
their nature which corresponds to this dim flame that needs to be fosteredin
order to blaze brightly abroad. There is no man out of hell but has in him
something that needs but to be brought to sovereignpowerin his life in order
to make him a light in the world. You have consciencesatthe least;you have
convictions, you know you have, which if you followedthem out would make
Christians of you straight away. You have aspirations after good, desires,
some of you, after purity and nobleness of living, which only need to be raised
to the height and the dominance in your lives which they ought to possess,in
order to revolutionise your whole course. There is a spark in every man
which, fanned and caredfor, will change him from darkness into light.
Fanned and caredfor it needs to be, and fanned and cared for it can only be
by a divine powercoming down upon it from without. This secondmetaphor
of my text, as truly as the other, belongs to every soulof man upon the earth.
He from whom all sparks and light have died out is not a man but a devil. And
for all of us the exhortation comes:‘Thou hast a voice within testifying to God
and to duty’; listen to it and care for it.
Then again, dear brethren, in a narrower way, the words may be applied to a
class. There are some of us who have in us a little spark, as we believe, of a
divine life, the faint beginnings of a Christian character. We callourselves
Christ’s disciples. We are; but oh! how dimly the flax burns. They say that
where there is smoke there is fire. There is a greatdeal more smoke than fire
in the most of Christian people in this generation, and if it were not for such
thoughts as this of my text about that dear Christ who will not lay a hasty

hand upon some little tremulous spark, and by one rash movement extinguish
it for ever, there would be but small hope for a greatmany of us.
Whether, then, the dimly-burning wick be taken to symbolise the lingering
remains of a better nature which still abides with all sinful men, yet capable of
redemption, or whether it be taken to mean the low and imperfect and
inconsistentand feeble Christianity of us professing Christians, the words of
my text are equally blessedand equally true. Christ will neither despise, nor
so bring down His hand upon it as to extinguish, the feeblestspark. Look at
His life on earth, think how He bore with those blundering, foolish, selfish
disciples of His; how patient the divine Teacherwas with their slow learning
of His meaning and catching of His character. Rememberhow, when a man
came to Him with a very imperfect goodness, the Evangelisttells us that Jesus,
beholding him, loved him. And take out of these blessedstories this great
hope, that howsoeversmallmen ‘despise the day of small things,’ the Greatest
does not; and howsoevermen may say ‘Such a little spark can never be
kindled into flame, the fire is out, you may as well let it alone,’ He never says
that, but by patient teaching and fostering and continual care and wise
treatment will nourish and nurture it until it leaps into a blaze.
How do you make ‘smoking flax’ burn? You give it oil, you give it air, and you
take awaythe charred portions. And Christ will give you, in your feebleness,
the oil of His Spirit, that you may burn brightly as one of the candlesticks in
His Temple; and He will let air in, and sometimes take awaythe charred
portions by the wise discipline of sorrow and trial, in order that the smoking
flax may become a shining light. But by whatsoevermeans He may work, be
sure of this, that He will neither despise nor neglectthe feeblestinclination of
goodafter Him, but will nourish it to perfection and to beauty.
The reasonwhy so many Christian men’s Christian light is so fuliginous and
dim is just that they keepaway from Jesus Christ. ‘Abide in Me and I in you.’

‘As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye, exceptye abide in Me.’How can the Temple lamps burn bright unless
the Priestof the Temple tends them? Keep near Him that His hand may
nourish your smoking dimness into a pure flame, leaping heavenwardand
illuminating your lives.
III. And now, lastly, we have here the representationof the servant of the
Lord’s exemption from human evil and weakness, as the foundation of His
restoring and fostering work.
‘He shall not burn dimly nor be broken till He hath setjudgment in the
earth.’ There are no bruises in this reed; that is to say, Christ’s manhood is
free from all scars and wounds of evil or of sin. There is no dimness in this
light, that is to say, Christ’s characteris perfect, His goodnessneeds no
increase. There is no trace of effort in His holiness, no growth manifest in His
God-likeness,from the beginning to the end. There is no outward violence
that can be brought to bear upon Him that will stay Him in His purpose.
There is no inward failure of strength in Him that may lead us to fear that His
work shall not be completed. And because of these things, because ofHis
perfect exemption from human infirmity, because in Him was no sin. He is
manifested to take awayour sins. Because inHim there was goodness
incapable of increase, being perfectfrom the beginning, therefore He is
manifested to make us participants of His own unalterable and infinite
goodness andpurity. Because no outward violence, no inward weakness, can
ever stay His course, nor make Him abandon His purpose, therefore His
gospellooks upon the world with boundless hopefulness, with calm triumph;
will not hear of there being any outcastand irreclaimable classes;declares it
to be a blasphemy againstGod and Christ to saythat any men or any nations
are incapable of receiving the gospeland of being redeemedby it, and comes
with supreme love and a calm consciousness ofinfinite power to you, my
brother, in your deepestdarkness, in your moods most removed from God
and purity, and insures you that it will heal you, and will raise all that in you

is feeble to its own strength. Every man may pray to that strong Christ who
fails not nor is discouraged-
‘What in me is dark
Illumine; what is low, raise and support,’
in the confidence that He will hear and answer. If you do that you will not do
it in vain, but His gentle hand laid upon you will heal the bruises that sin has
made. Out of your weakness,as of ‘a reed shakenwith the wind,’ the Restorer
will make a pillar of marble in the Temple of His God. And out of your
smoking dimness and wavering light, a spark at the best, almostburied in the
thick smoke that accompanies it, the fostering Christ will make a brightness
which shall flame as the perfectlight that ‘shineth more and more unto the
noontide of the day.’
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
42:1-4 This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ, Mt 12:17. Let our souls rely on
him, and rejoice in him; then, for his sake, the Father will be well-pleasedwith
us. The Holy Spirit not only came, but rested upon him, and without measure.
He patiently bore the contradiction of sinners. His kingdom is spiritual; he
was not to appearwith earthly honours. He is tender of those oppressedwith
doubts and fears, as a bruised reed; those who are as smoking flax, as the wick
of a lamp newly lighted, which is ready to go out again. He will not despise
them, nor lay upon them more work or more suffering than they can bear. By
a long course of miracles and his resurrection, he fully showedthe truth of his
holy religion. By the power of his gospeland grace he fixes principles in the
minds of men, which tend to make them wise and just. The most distant
nations wait for his law, wait for his gospel, and shall welcome it. If we would
make our calling and electionsure, and have the Father delight over us for
good, we must behold, hear, believe in, and obey Christ.

Barnes'Notes on the Bible
A bruised reed - The word 'reed' means the cane or calamus which grows up
in marshy or wet places (Isaiah36:6; see the note at Isaiah 43:24). The word,
therefore, literally denotes that which is fragile, weak, easilywavedby the
wind, or broken down; and stands in contrastwith a lofty and firm tree
(compare Matthew 11:7): 'What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shakenwith the wind?' The word here, therefore, may be applied to people
who are conscious offeebleness andsin; that are moved and broken by
calamity; that feel that they have no strength to bear up againstthe ills of life.
The word 'bruised' (‫ץּוצר‬ râtsûts) means that which is broken or crushed, but
not entirely broken off. As used here, it may denote those who are in
themselves naturally feeble, and who have been crushed or broken down by a
sense ofsin, by calamity, or by affliction. We speak familiarly of crushing or
breaking down by trials; and the phrase here is intensive and emphatic,
denoting those who are at best like a reed - feeble and fragile;and who, in
addition to that, have been broken and oppressedby a sense of their sins, or
by calamity.
Shall he not break - Shall he not break off. He will not carry on the work of
destruction, and entirely crush or break it. And the idea is, that he will not
make those already broken down with a sense of sin and with calamity, more
wretched. He will not deepentheir afflictions, or augment their trials, or
multiply their sorrows. The sense is, that he will have an affectionate regard
for the broken-hearted, the humble, the penitent, and the afflicted. Luther has
well expressedthis: 'He does not castaway, nor crush, nor condemn the
wounded in conscience,those who are terrified in view of their sins; the weak
in faith and practice, but watches overand cherishes them, makes them
whole, and affectionatelyembraces them.' The expressionis parallel to that
which occurs in Isaiah 61:1, where it is said of the Messiah, 'He hath sent me
to bind up the broken-hearted;' and to the declarationin Isaiah50:4, where it
is said, 'that I should know how to speak a word in seasonto him that is
weary.'

The smoking flax - The word used here denotes flax, and then a wick that is
made of it. The word rendered 'smoking' (‫הככ‬ kēhâh) means that which is
weak, small, thin, feeble; then that which is just ready to go out, or to be
extinguished; and the phrase refers literally to the expiring wick of a lamp,
when the oil is almost consumed, and when it shines with a feeble and dying
luster. It may denote here the condition of one who is feeble and disheartened,
and whose love to God seems almostready to expire. And the promise that he
will not extinguish or quench that, means that he would cherish, feed, and
cultivate it; he would supply it with grace, as with oil to cherishthe dying
flame, and cause it to be enkindled, and to rise with a high and steady
brilliancy. The whole passage is descriptive of the Redeemer, who nourishes
the most feeble piety in the hearts of his people, and who will not suffer true
religion in the soul everto become wholly extinct. It may seemas if the
slightestbreath of misfortune or opposition would extinguish it forever; it
may be like the dying flame that hangs on the point of the wick, but if there be
true religion it will not be extinguished, but will be enkindled to a pure and
glowing flame, and it will yet rise high, and burn brightly.
He shall bring forth judgment - (See Isaiah 42:1). The word 'judgment' here
evidently denotes the true religion; the laws, institutions, and appointments of
God.
Unto truth - Matthew Mat 12:29 renders this, 'unto victory.' The meaning in
Isaiahis, that he shall establish his religion according to truth; he shall
faithfully announce the true precepts of religion, and secure their ascendency
among mankind. It shall overcome all falsehood, andall idolatry, and shall
obtain a final triumph in all nations. Thus explained, it is clearthat Matthew
has retained the generalidea of the passage, thoughhe has not quoted it
literally.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary

3. bruised—"It pleasedthe Lord to bruise Him" (Isa 53:5, 10;Ge 3:15); so He
can feelfor the bruised. As Isa 42:2 describedHis unturbulent spirit towards
His violent enemies (Mt 12:14-16), and His utter freedom from love of
notoriety, so Isa 42:3, His tenderness in cherishing the first spark of grace in
the penitent (Isa 40:11).
reed—fragile:easily"shakenwith the wind" (Mt 11:7). Those who are at best
feeble, and who besides are oppressedby calamity or by the sense of sin.
break—entirelycrush or condemn. Compare "bind up the broken-hearted"
(Isa 50:4; 61:1; Mt 11:28).
flax—put for the lamp-wick, formed of flax. The believer is the lamp (so the
Greek, Mt 5:15; Joh5:35): his conscienceenlightenedby the Holy Ghostis the
wick. "Smoking" means "dimly burning," "smouldering," the flame not quite
extinct. This expresses the positive side of the penitent's religion; as "bruised
reed," the negative. Broken-heartedin himself, but not without some spark of
flame: literally, "from above." Christ will supply such a one with grace as
with oil. Also, the light of nature smouldering in the Gentiles amidst the
hurtful fumes of error. He not only did not quench, but clearedawaythe mists
and superadded the light of revelation. See Jerome, To Algasia, Question2.
truth—Mt 12:20 quotes it, "send forth judgment unto victory." Matthew,
under the Spirit, gives the virtual sense, but varies the word, in order to bring
out a fresh aspectofthe same thing. Truth has in itself the elements of victory
over all opposing forces. Truth is the victory of Him who is "the truth" (Joh
14:6). The gospeljudicial sifting ("judgment") of believers and unbelievers,
begun already in part (Joh 3:18, 19; 9:39), will be consummated victoriously
in truth only at His secondcoming; Isa 42:13, 14, here, and Mt 12:32, 36, 41,
42, show that there is reference to the judicial aspectof the Gospel, especially
finally: besides the mild triumph of Jesus coming in mercy to the penitent now
(Isa 42:2), there shall be finally the judgment on His enemies, whenthe

"truth" shall be perfectly developed. Compare Isa 61:1-3, where the two
comings are similarly joined (Ps 2:4-6, 8; Re 15:2, 4; 19:11-16). On
"judgment," see on [783]Isa 42:1.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
A bruised reed shall he not break; he will not break it to pieces, but rather
will strengthenand bind it up. It is a common figure, whereby more is
understood than was expressed, and one contrary is left to be gatheredfrom
another, of which many instances have been given in former texts. The sense is
plainly this, Christ will not deal roughly and rigorouslywith those that come
to him, but he will use all gentleness and kindness to them, passing by their
greatestsins, bearing with their present infirmities, cherishing and
encouraging the smallestbeginnings of grace, comforting and healing
wounded consciences,and the like.
The smoking flax shall he not quench; the same thing is repeatedin other
words, to give us the greaterassurance ofthe truth of it. That wick of a candle
(called flax metonymically, because it is made of flax) which is almost extinct,
and doth only smoke and not flame, he will not utterly quench, but will revive
and kindle it again.
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth: judgment may be here taken either,
1. Forthe law or will of God, or the doctrine of the gospel, which he will
bring forth, i.e. publish, which he will do unto, or in, or with, or according to
(for this preposition is used all those ways)truth, i.e. truly and faithfully, not
concealing norcorrupting it, as false teachers commonly do. So this is a
characterlike that which is given to Christ, Matthew 22:16, Thou art true,

and teachestthe way of God in truth; and thus this phrase of bringing forth
judgment is takenhere, as it is Isaiah42:1. Or,
2. Forthe cause which is debated, or for the sentence whichis given in the
cause, as this word is most frequently used, which he will bring forth, i.e.
bring to light, or discover, or publish; and this he will do according to truth
and equity, and not unjustly and partially, as corrupt judges use to give
sentence againstthe poor and meek. In this sense this very phrase of
bringing forth judgment is takenPsalm 37:6. And this sense seems to be
favoured, both by the considerationof the quality of the persons, to whom this
judgment is here implied to be brought forth, who are called bruised reeds,
and smoking flax, whereby they are supposedto be persons discouragedand
oppressed, and in a contestwith themselves, or with their spiritual
adversaries, aboutthe state of their souls;as also by comparing this place with
Matthew 12:20, where these very words are quoted, and thus rendered, till he
send forth judgment unto victory, i.e. till judgment or sentence be given for
him, in which case a man is said to be victorious in judgment. If it be said for
the former interpretation, that it seems most reasonable to understand
judgment here as it is understood Isaiah42:1,4, and bringing forth judgment
here as it is taken, Isaiah 42:1, it may be truly and fairly answered, that it is a
very common thing in Scripture for the same words or phrases to be used in
severalsenses, notonly in two neighbouring verses, but sometimes also in the
very same verse, whereofI have formerly given divers instances.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
A bruised reed shall not break,.... The tenderness ofChrist to weak and
ignorant persons is here and in the next clause expressed;by whom young
converts or weak believers seemto be designed; who are compared to a
"reed", because worthlesswith respectto God, whom they cannot profit; and
in the view of men, who reckonthem as nothing; and in themselves, and in
their own view, who judge themselves unworthy of the leastof mercies;and

because they are weak, not only as all men are, of which weaknessthey are
sensible;but they are weak in grace, especiallyin faith, and have but little
hope, their love is the strongest;and because theyare wavering like the reed,
tossedto and fro with every wind of doctrine, and shakenwith the
temptations of Satan, and disturbed with many doubts and fears; and are like
a "bruised" reed that is squeezed, and almost broke to pieces, and so of no
use; these are brokenin heart, under a sense ofsin and unworthiness; whose
spirits are bruised and wounded with it, and whose hearts are contrite on
accountof it. On these Christ does not lay his iron rod, but holds out the
golden sceptre of his grace to them; he does not callthem to service and
sufferings beyond their strength; but strengthens, supports, and upholds them
with the right hand of his righteousness;he binds up their broken hearts,
having poured in the balm of Gilead, his own blood, and the wine and oil of
his love; he encouragesthem in their application to him for salvation, and
manifests his pardoning grace, andrestores comforts to them, and revives
their souls:
and the smoking flax shall he not quench; or, "the wick of a candle; (h)"
which just going out, has some heat, a little light, smokes,and is offensive;so
the persons intended by it are fired or lighted by the divine word; have some
heat of affectionin them to spiritual things, but have but little light; into the
corruption of nature into the glories of Christ's person; into the doctrines of
the Gospel;into the everlasting love of God, and the covenantof grace;and
but little light of joy and comfort, and this almost gone, and seemingly ready
to go out; and yet Christ will not extinguish it, or suffer it to be extinct; he
does not discourage smallbeginnings of grace, ordespise the day of small
things; he blows up their light into a flame; he increases their spiritual light
and knowledge;supplies them with the oil of grace;trims, snuffs, and causes
their lamps to burn brighter. The Targum is,
"the meek, who are like to a bruised reed, shall not be broken; and the poor,
who are as obscure as flax (or a lamp ready to go out), shall not be extinct:''

he shall bring forth judgment unto truth; which some understand of Christ's
severity to wickedmen, in oppositionto his tenderness to his ownpeople; see
Isaiah11:4, others of the Gospel, as preachedby him in truth, as in Isaiah
42:1, but rather it designs the power of his Spirit and grace accompanying the
word, to the carrying on of his own work in the hearts of his people; which,
though attended with many difficulties and discouragements, shallgo on, and
be performed; grace will break through all obstructions, and prove victorious
at last; see Matthew 12:20.
(h) "ellychnium fumigans", Junius & Tremellius; "fumans", Piscator.
Geneva Study Bible
A {f} bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking {g} flax shall he not
quench: he shall bring forth judgment to {h} truth.
(f) He will not hurt the weak and feeble, but support and comfort them.
(g) Meaning, the wick of a lamp or candle which is almostout, but he will
cherish it and snuff it, that it may shine brighter.
(h) Although he favours the weak, yetwill he not spare the wicked, but will
judge them according to truth and equity.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
3. His gentleness towards the downtrodden expiring goodin men.

the smoking flax] R.V. marg. the dimly burning wick. The metaphor (like the
preceding) involves a litotes:the meaning is that instead of crushing the
expiring elements of goodness he will strengthen and purify them. It is an
interesting question whether these rudiments of religion are conceivedas
existing in the heathen world or in the breasts of individual Israelites. The
former view is no doubt that to which the national interpretation of the
Servant most readily accommodatesitself, and is also most in keeping with the
scope ofthe passageas a whole. But in later sections a mission in and to Israel
is undoubtedly assignedto the Servant, and a reference to that here cannot be
pronounced impossible.
unto truth] i.e. probably, in accordancewith truth. The rendering of R.V.,
however, “in truth,” may be right.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 3. - A bruised reed shall he not break. Egypt was compared to a
"bruised reed" by Sennacherib(Isaiah 36:6), as being untrustworthy and
destitute of physical strength; but here the image represents the weak and
depressedin spirit, the lowly and dejected. Christ would deal tenderly with
such, not violently. Smoking flax shall he not quench; rather, the wick which
burns dimly (margin) he shall not quench. Where the flame of devotion burns
at all, howeverfeebly and dimly, Messiahwilltake care not to quench it.
Rather he will tend it, and trim it, and give it fresh oil, and cause it to burn
more brightly. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. But with all this
tenderness, this "economy," this allowance for the shortcomings and
weaknessesofindividuals, he will be uncompromising in his assertionof
absolute justice and absolute truth. He will sanctionnothing short of the very
highest standard of moral purity and excellence.(Foran instance of the
combination of extreme tenderness with unswerving maintenance of an
absolute standard, see John 8:8-11.)
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As Isaiah 41:25 points back to the first charge againstthe heathen and their
gods (Isaiah 41:2-7), so Isaiah 41:26-28 point back to the second. Notonly did
Jehovahmanifest Himself as the Universal Ruler in the waking up of Cyrus,
but as the Omniscient Ruler also. "Who hath made it known from the
beginning, we will acknowledgeit, and from former time, we will sayHe is in
the right?! Yea, there was none that made known; yea, none that causedto
hear; yea, none that heard your words. As the first I saith to Zion, Behold,
behold, there it is: and I bestow evangelistsupon Jerusalem. And I looked,
and there was no man; and of these there was no one answering whom I
would ask, and who would give me an answer." If any one of the heathen
deities had foretold this appearance ofCyrus so long before as at the very
commencementof that course of history which had thus reachedits goal,
Jehovahwith His people, being thus taught by experience, would admit and
acknowledge theirdivinity. ‫ׁשץרמ‬ is used in the same sense as in Isaiah48:16 :
and also in Isaiah41:4 and Isaiah40:21, where it refers according to the
context in eachcase, to the beginning of the particular line of history. ‫ּויּדצ‬
signifies either "he is right," i.e., in the right (compare the Arabic siddik,
genuine), or in a neuter sense, "itis right" ( equals true), i.e., the claim to
divine honours is really founded upon divine performances. But there was not
one who had proclaimed it, or who gave a single sound of himself; no one had
heard anything of the kind from them. ‫ןּדר‬ receives a retrospective character
from the connection;and bearing this in mind, the participles may be also
resolvedinto imperfects. The repeated‫,ףר‬ passing beyond what is set down as
possible, declares the reality of the very opposite. What Jehovah thus proves
the idols to want, He can lay claim to for Himself. In Isaiah 41:27 we need not
assume that there is any hyperbaton, as Louis de Dieu, Rosenmller, and others
have done: "I first will give to Zion and Jerusalemone bringing gladtidings:
behold, behold them." After what has gone before in Isaiah 41:26 we may
easilysupply ‫,רׁשץמּד‬ "I said," in Isaiah41:27 (compare Isaiah8:19; Isaiah
14:16;Isaiah 27:2), not ‫,ץׁשר‬ for the whole comparisondrawn by Jehovah
betweenHimself and the idols is retrospective, and looks back from the
fulfilment in progress to the prophecies relating to it. The only reply that we
can look for to the question in Isaiah 41:26 is not, "I on the contrary do it,"
but "I did it." At the same time, the rendering is a correctone:"Behold,
behold them" (illa; for the neuter use of the masculine, compare Isaiah48:3;

Isaiah38:16; Isaiah45:8). "As the first," Jehovahreplies (i.e., without any one
anticipating me), "Have I spokento Zion: behold, behold, there it is,"
pointing with the finger of prophecy to the coming salvation, which is here
regardedas present; "and I gave to Jerusalemmessengers ofjoy;" i.e., long
ago, before what is now approaching could be known by any one, I foretold to
my church, through the medium of prophets, the glad tidings of the
deliverance from Babylon. If the author of chapters 40-66 were a prophet of
the captivity, his reference here would be to such prophecies as Isaiah 11:11
(where Shinar is mentioned as a land of dispersion), and more especiallystill
Micah4:10, "There in Babylon wilt thou be delivered, there will Jehovah
redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies;" but if Isaiahwere the author,
he is looking back from the ideal standpoint of the time of the captivity, and of
Cyrus more especially, to his own prophecies before the captivity (such as
Isaiah13:1-14:23, and Isaiah21:1-10), just as Ezekiel, whenprophesying of
Gog and Magog,looksback in Isaiah 38:17 fro the ideal standpoint of this
remote future, more especiallyto his own prophecies in relation to it. In that
case the mebhassēr, or evangelist, more especiallyreferred to is the prophet
himself (Grotius and Stier), namely, as being the foretellerof those prophets
to whom the commissionin Isaiah40:1, "Comfortye, comfort ye," is
addressed, and who are greetedin Isaiah 52:7-8 as the bearers of the joyful
news of the existing fulfilment of the deliverance that has appeared, and
therefore as the mebhassēror evangelistof the future ‫.ׁשירץּדמ‬ In any case, it
follows from Isaiah41:26, Isaiah 41:27 that the overthrow of Babylon and the
redemption of Israel had long before been proclaimed by Jehovahthrough
His prophets; and if our expositionis correctso far, the futures in Isaiah41:28
are to be takenas imperfects: And I lookedround (‫,רץרו‬ a voluntative in the
hypothetical protasis, Ges. 128, 2), and there was no one (who announced
anything of the kind); and of these (the idols) there was no adviser (with
regard to the future, Numbers 24:14), and none whom I could ask, and who
answeredme (the questioner). Consequently, just as the raising up of Cyrus
proclaimed the sole omnipotence of Jehovah, so did the fact that the
deliverance of Zion-Jerusalem, for which the raising up of Cyrus prepared the
way, had been predicted by Him long before, proclaim His sole omniscience.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRIAN BELL
Isaiah42 5-12-05
“The Servant, the Song, the Sight, & the Sin!”
1. Intro:
1.1. Outline: The Servant; The Song; The Sight; The Sin.
1.2. Open with Mt.12:14-21.
2. The Servant; The Song; The Sight; The Sin! (1-12)
2.1. THE SERVANT!(1-9)
2.2. My Servant! (1) – Jesus.
2.2.1. This is the 1st of 4 Servant Songs in Isaiah(referring to Messiah).
2.2.2. Contextdenotes if it is Messiah, Israel, orthe Remnant.
2.2.3. Vs.1-4 show the Messiah’s manifestation, mission, method, & His
might.
2.3. What he doesn’t do! (2-4)
2.3.1. Doesn’tcry out, nor raise his voice, nor is heard in public! (2)
2.3.1.1. Mt.12:16
2.3.2. Doesn’tcrush the weak!(3a)
2.3.2.1. He’s so patient & merciful!

2.3.2.2. Neveranexcuse to kick a man when he is down.
Rather, we are to extend the hand of mercy to anyone who
is in trouble.
2.3.3. A “smoking flax” applies to Christ but has a lessonfor all believers.
They used a simple oil lamp to light their homes. It was a small clay
vesselwith the front end pinched togetherto form an opening. A
piece of flax, serving as the wick, was inserted through the small
hole until part of it was submerged in the oil. When the flax was
saturated, it could be lighted. It would then burn with a soft, warm
glow. But when the oil in the lamp was consumed, the flax would
dry out. If it was ignited again, it would give off an acrid, dirty
smoke, making the vesseloffensive and useless. Now,you might
think that the only thing to do would be to crush and discard the
wick. But that would accomplishnothing. If you simply refill the
lamp, the wick could burn brightly again.
OccasionallyGod’s people temporarily “run out of oil.” They
become like the smoking flax because they are ill-tempered and
offensive. But fellow believers should not abandon them or become
angry and impatient with them. Rather, they should seek to restore
them by being merciful and understanding. By supporting them
with prayer and expressions of concern, they can help them
burn againwith the soft, warm glow of Christian love.
2.3.4. Q:Has your love become like a smoldering wick, going out?

2
2.3.5. Q:Is it difficult to getyour heart ignited again?
2.3.6. Q:Is it hard to keepit aglow?
2.3.7. Q:And how do you respond to those whose wick is going out?
2.3.8. Its’a note of Gentleness here like – 2 Tim.2:24-26 “a servant of the
Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in
humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will
grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that
they may come to their senses andescape the snare of the devil...”
2.3.8.1. As Christians, we should always have Bold Gentleness &
Gentle Boldness!
2.3.9. A Bruised Reed– you want to prop up, support it, till it regains
strength.
2.3.9.1. Example flowering plant in my backyard. (cagedit in &
propped it up)
2.3.9.2. Your heart might be a bruised Reedbecause ofunkindness
of another,…orby a sense ofsin in your life.
2.3.10.Q:Has God led anybody to you lately that needs propping up?
2.3.11.Doesn’tfail, & isn’t discouraged!(4a)
2.3.12.Fail – He will not fail, the church will not fail, nor shall we!
2.3.13.Norbe Discouraged – A certainsocietyin South Africa once wrote
to David Livingstone, "Have you found a goodroad to where you
are? If so, we want to send other men to join you."

Livingstone replied, "If you have men who will come ONLY if they
know there is a goodroad, I don't want them."
2.3.14.Doesn’tstop until truth & righteousness prevail! (3b)
2.4. What he does do! (2-4)
2.4.1. Doesactwith gentleness!(2,3)
2.4.2. Doesbring Justice to all! (3b)
2.4.2.1. Justice & liberation do go together!
2.4.3. Doesbring in a reign of righteousness!(4b)
2.5. The Messiah’s Assurance!(5-9)
2.5.1. (5)God the FatherHimself guarantees allof the above!
2.5.2. (6)He is called, held, kept, & given…& all for the purposes of
deliverance!
2.5.3. (7)Jesus never releasedanyone from a literal prison in his ministry,
and even allowedJohn the Baptist to suffer in one!
2.5.3.1. Butthere was much spiritual liberation & people released
from many prisons.
2.5.4. (8)Ultimate purpose?…the Glory of Yahweh!
3
2.6. THE SONG!(10-12)
2.7. The Singers! (10-12)
2.7.1. All creatures on earth all calledto praise God.
2.8. The Song! (13-17)
2.8.1. PraiseHim for what? 2 things:

2.8.2. [1]Defeating His enemies(13-15)
2.8.2.1. The silent God will finally break the silence to become a
shouting conqueror.
2.8.2.2. The Masteris a Servant & the Servant is a Master!
2.8.2.3. In (Rev.5:5,6)we have a Lamb that is a Lion;
in (7:17) we have a Lamb that is a Shepherd;
& in between(6:16) we have the Wrath of the Lamb.
2.8.3. [2]Delivering His people(16,17).
2.8.3.1. A Seeing Eye God!
2.8.3.2. The Father’s holding the Son’s hand, & He’s holding ours!
2.8.3.3. At times when: the Lord is silent; the world around you is
evil; bad men prosper; societylies under the spell of vice;
you need to remember…it is only temporary!
2.8.3.4. Then, Godcomes forth out of the silence, & shows Himself
strong on behalf of those whose heartis perfecttoward Him.
2.8.3.5. He brings the blind, “by a way they did not know”.
2.8.3.6. He makes “crookedpaths straight.”
2.9. THE SIGHT! (18-20)
2.10. Sightless!(18-20)
2.10.1.The “servant” in these verses is Israel(see 41:8), blind to their own
sins & deaf to God’s voice.
2.10.1.1.Theywould not listen or see what God does.
2.10.1.2.Thus theywere incapable of being God’s light to the nations.

2.10.2.The famous blind songwriterFanny Crosby wrote more than
8,000 songs. WhenFanny was only 6 weeks olda minor eye
inflammation developed. The doctorwho treated the case was
careless, though, and she became totally and permanently blind.
Fanny Crosbyharbored no bitterness againstthe physician. She
once said of him, "If I could meet him now, I would say thank you,
over and over againfor making me blind." She felt that her
blindness was a gift from God to help her write the hymns that
flowed from her pen. According to those who knew her, Miss
Crosby probably would have refusedtreatment even if it could have
assuredthe restorationof her sight.
2.10.3.It was said of blind hymnwriter, George Matheson, that God made
him blind so he could see clearlyin other ways and become a
guide to men.
4
2.11. James Packer, in his excellentbook, Knowing God, writes:
Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives.
As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put
him down without explanation in TrafalgarSquare and leave him, as one
who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are
cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the
God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange,
mad, painful place, and life with it a disappointing and unpleasant

business, for those who do not know God. Disregardthe study of God and
you sentence yourselfto stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as
it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds
you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.
2.12. THE SIN! (21-25)
2.13. Theywere robbed, enslaved, & imprisoned.
2.14. (25)How sadit is when God disciplines us & we do not understand
what he is doing or even take it to heart!
2.14.1.The children of Israelwere cured from idolatry, but it did not
create w/in them a desire to please Godor glorify Him.
2.14.2.That’s why so many have gotten so defeatedat Christianity. We
often have portrayed it as giving up sins!
2.14.2.1.Theygave it up & viola…nothing happened!
2.14.2.2.Giving up sins is a result of true salvation, but not the
reason!
2.14.2.3.Painting the outside of a waterhand pump doesn’t make the
dirty waterany sweeter!
PAUL APPLE
Isaiah42:1-9 -- Servant Song #1 - Justice on Earth is Coming

BIG IDEA:
THE PREDICTEDSUCCESSFULMISSION OF THE IDEAL SERVANT
OF THE LORD REINFORCES THE PROVEN SUPERIORITYOF THE
TRUE GOD TO IDOLS
INTRODUCTION:
Remember the Messianic prophecythat Isaiah had delivered in 9:1-7, chap.
11. What a tremendous prospect to look forward to: the advent of a Messiah
who would rule on the earth in justice and righteousness . . . Who would
deliver God’s chosenpeople from their oppressionand affliction.
In order to comfort Israelas they face the approaching hardship of the
Babylonian Captivity, Isaiah focuses theirhopes back on this same promise.
No matter how bleak things get, no matter how much injustice reigns around
you, God will ultimately send His servant Messiahto triumphantly usher in
this reign of justice on earth.
Look at current events that cause us to cry out for justice on earth:
- ISIS beheading of Japanesehostage
- Yemen coup
- Etc.

The false idols exposedin chapter 41 are powerless to callthe shots. But God
always calls the shots and He will fulfill all of His promises as He intervenes in
history to accomplishsomething totally new and wonderful.
David Thompson:
GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE COMFORTED BYKNOWING THAT EVEN
THOUGH ISRAEL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOD’S SERVANT, WHO
FAILED TO BRING TRUE KNOWLEDGE AND WORSHIP OF GOD TO
THIS WORLD, GOD WILL SEND HIS MESSIAH/SAVIOR/SERVANT
INTO THIS WORLD WHO WILL ACCOMPLISHEVERYTHING GOD
HAS PLANNED FOR ISRAEL AND THE WORLD.
Servant Songs:Isa 42:1-7; 49:1-9a;50:4-11;52:13-53:12;[61:1-4 ??]-- the
appointment and empowerment of God’s Servant; His characteristics;His
mission; His suffering; His victorious accomplishment
Parunak:Vv. 1-4 speak of the servant in the third person, while in 5-7, the
Lord addresses him directly. This passage is quoted of our Lord in the NT,
and also understood Messianicallyin Jewishtradition.
Constable:Earlier(41:8-16) the servant was Israel, so the readers would
naturally assume that Israelis the servant here too. Other references to Israel
as the servant of the Lord are verse 19; 43:10;44:1-2, 21; 45:4; and 48:20.
Only later does it become clearthat this Servantmust be an individual,
namely: Messiah. The contextand the characteristics ascribedto the servant
in eachreference to him dictate his identity. That the Servant is not Cyrus is
clearfrom the contrasts betweenthem. He will be the ideal representative of

Israelwho will accomplishfor the Lord what Israeldid not regarding the
world (cf. Gen. 12:3). Matthew quoted 42:1-4 as finding fulfillment in Jesus
Christ (Matt. 12:18-21).
THE PREDICTEDSUCCESSFULMISSION OF THE IDEAL SERVANT
OF THE LORD REINFORCES THE PROVEN SUPERIORITYOF THE
TRUE GOD TO IDOLS
F. Duane Lindsey: The emphasis of the passage is on the introduction of the
servant and the out- come of His completed task. The servant is calledto
accomplishHis work. The poem thus predicts the servant's faithfulness in
fulfilling the mission for which He was designated.
I. (:1-4) THE PREDICTED SUCCESSFULMISSION OF THE CHOSEN
SERVANT OF THE LORD
5 Reasonsfor the SuccessfulMissionof Bringing Justice to Earth
A. (:1a) Divinely Appointed with Approbation
“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosenone in whom My soul delights.”
Approbation: commendation, praise

Emphasizing more the mission of God’s Servant rather than His identity at
this point
Young: turn their thoughts awayfrom the idols of vanity to the One who can
bring salvation to His people
“uphold” - grasp by the hand, grasping securelye.g., Exod. 17:12 (Aaron and
Hur supporting the hands of Moses during the battle with the Amalekites)
God delights in His chosenservant – Matt. 3:17; 17:5 – testimony of the
Father at His baptism and on the mountain of Transfiguration
F. Duane Lindsey: Electionby Yahweh made a person His servant (cf. 1 Kings
11:13, 32-34;Ps. 105:26;Hag. 2:23). The servant's task cannotbe performed
by just anyone—it can be accomplishedonly by Yahweh's “chosenone.”
Electionand service go hand in hand (43:10-12, 21;cf. 41:8-9). The expression
“my servant” is not only a title of honor, but also, since Yahweh is viewed as
the King of Israelin the immediate context(41:21; cf. 43:15;44:6), a
description implying royal characteristics. . . Not only is the literary genre of
the passage similarto a royal designationoracle (as alreadyindicated), but the
task of establishing (“a just order”)is a characteristicallyroyalresponsibility.
. . The entire expression(“my servantwhom I uphold”) is tantamount to
saying, “He's mine— no powercan overcome Him!”23 How can He not
succeedin His task of causing a just order to prevail in the earth?
[Source:BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 139 (553)(Jan. 1982):12-31.]

ScottGrant: Verse 1 contains echoes of1 Samuel 16:13, where David was
anointed by Samueland the Spirit came upon him. The links to David in verse
1 show that when Isaiah speaks ofthe Servant of the Lord, he's also speaking
of a king.
B. (:1b) Divinely Anointed to Execute Justice
“I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Young: To endue the servant for his work, God has placedHis Spirit upon
him. The Spirit is a divine force and supernatural power who equips the
recipient to perform his task.
Spirit descendedupon Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove
(cf. 11:2-4; Num. 11:16-25;1 Sam. 16:13; Ps. 33:6; 139:7; Matt. 3:16; Luke
4:18-19, 21).
Cf. 61:1-3
Does He primarily proclaim judgment or execute judgment?
Matt. 12:18ffthis passageis quoted in the NT – sense of proclaiming justice

Calvin: Christ was sent in order to bring the whole world under the authority
of God and under obedience to him.
The primary meaning of the noun “justice” is that of a judicial decisionor
sentence
Motyer -- “Justice” – mispat -- In the light of the foregoing courtscene it must
retain its meaning of “judgment at law” .. also a righting of wrongs, the
establishment of a just order – a prospectassociatedwith the Lord’s own
coming to reign (Pss. 96:11-13;98:7-9).
Constable:connotes societalorderas well as legalequity.
Oswalt:This is that life-giving order which exists when the creationis
functioning in accordancewith the designof its Lord. . . It is through the
Servant that the lordship of God will be made effectivelyavailable to
everyone.
Parunak:In the most common idiom, bringing “judgment” refers to the
statute itself, rather than the resulting action, and the idea is that God
provides his righteous laws to people. This meaning fits the contextwell. The
Psalmistrecognizedthat the knowledge ofGod's judgments was a privilege
for Israel, not originally accessible to the Gentiles:
Psa 147:19fHe shewethhis word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments
unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments,
they have not knownthem.

The Servant extends this knowledge to all nations, as prophesied in the
Messianic visionof ch. 11,
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge ofthe LORD, as the waters coverthe sea.
F. Duane Lindsey: The servant's task is to make right within history all
aspects and phases ofhuman existence -whether moral, religious, spiritual,
political, social, economic, andso forth -so that the prayer will be fulfilled,
“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt.
6:10). . . the kind of life that will prevail on earth when all nations are brought
under God's rule, to be accomplishedthrough the instrumentality of God's
servant
Fits best with a premill interpretation where there is a millennial kingdom on
earth
C. (:2) Divinely Dependentwith Meeknessand Humility
“He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.”
Young: He stands in sharp contrastto the loud worldly conqueror who
proclaims to all his deeds.

Motyer: Such service is first unostentatious and unself-advertising.
Parunak:This verse explains why “he … chargedthem that they should not
make him known.” The Saviordid not promote himself, or try to generate
“buzz.” He did not come to promote himself:
David Thompson: God’s Servant came an entirely different way than the
world’s political leaders. He had no pomp or circumstance to His first coming.
Think of how opposite this is to our world. When some major political leader
goes anywhere, they travel in a fleetof limousines and in a caravanthat
announce their presence to the whole world. Even actors and actresses love
the limelight of red carpettreatment. Here was God in the world and what a
contrast.
Jesus Christ would not initially come as some boisterous world conqueror the
first time, which is what Israelwanted, instead He came quietly and
unobtrusively. He did not try to make a public spectacleofhimself. He did not
seek notorietyor prominence. He was not here to make a big name for
Himself, even though this was the greatestPersonto ever walk on the face of
this earth.
He was here to save sinners.
* * * * * * * * * *

Illustration: Harry Ironsides:PersonallyI was so under the powerof legality
that I felt guilty if I rode in a streetcar without immediately rising to give my
testimony.
As soonas we left the corner I would get to my feetand say, “Friends, I want
to give my testimony for Jesus Christ, and I want to tell you how God saved
me.”
The conductorwould come and say, “Sit down. We didn’t ask you to come in
here to conduct a church service.”
Then I was rather rude to him. I said, “Well, I’ll sit down if you sayso, but
you’ll have to answerat the judgment-bar of God for preventing these people
from hearing the gospel.”
I would do the same thing in a railroad train. As soonas we gotaway from the
station, I facedthe passengersand beganto give my testimony. I felt I had to
do it, or be responsible for their souls. I did not realize that this was rude. . .
The devil either tries to keepyou quiet or makes you think you must do what
is unreasonable. What delivered me at lastand showedme there was a golden
mean betweenindifference and rudeness was this very passage.
* * * * * * * * * *
F. Duane Lindsey: The more probable interpretation of these verbs indicates
that the servant will not seek publicity (v. 2) or promote violence toward the

oppressed(v. 3a). An alternate view that the servant will not utter lamentation
in His distress is a definite possibility and merits some attention. . . the
statements may simply be the figure of speechcalledlitotes (a negative,
minimizing statementused to emphasize its opposite), thus indicating the
meek, humble, gentle characterofthe servant (cf. Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5).
He not only shall come quietly but he shall deal gently.
D. (:3a) Divinely Compassionatewith Gentleness andMercy
“A bruised reed He will not break,
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;”
Young: refers to broken men, whose hope is extinguished because ofoutward
oppressionand perhaps also because ofinward disillusionment with the life of
this world.
Alan Carr: When Jesus comes,His faithful people will be weak and their
flame nearly extinguished. He will not break them down or snuff them out. He
will heal their weaknesses. He will bind them up and restore their usefulness.
He will rekindle their flame so their light shines bright again. The Messiah
will not fail in His mission to redeem and restore His people. . . flax threads
were used as wicks in oil lamps. A piece of thread would be placed in the oil.
After the thread had been thoroughly soakedwith the oil, it would be lit and
would serve as a wick, drawing the oil from the lamp, producing light. . . The
“bruised reed” has lost its strength, its stability and its soundness. A “bruised
reed” is unreliable and unusable. . . The “smoking flax” has lost its light and

its glory. A “smoking flax” has become unusable. . . The Lord sees the
weakness andthe uselessnessofthe “bruised reed” but He does not reachout
in anger to finish it off. He does not come to the “bruised reed” to destroy it,
but to mend it, to repair it, reinforce it and to restore it. . . The Lord does not
snuff out that smoldering wick. He does not finish it off without a care.
Instead, He comes to rekindle its weak flame. He comes to make it useful
again. He comes cause it to shine its light one more time.
Brian Bell: They used a simple oil lamp to light their homes. It was a small
clay vesselwith the front end pinched together to form an opening. A piece of
flax, serving as the wick, was insertedthrough the small hole until part of it
was submerged in the oil. When the flax was saturated, it could be lighted. It
would then burn with a soft, warm glow. But when the oil in the lamp was
consumed, the flax would dry out. If it was ignited again, it would give off an
acrid, dirty smoke, making the vesseloffensive and useless.
Oswalt:God’s answerto the oppressors ofthe world is not more oppression,
nor is his answerto arrogance more arrogance;rather, in quietness, humility,
and simplicity, he will take all of the evil into himself and return only grace.
That is power.
E. (:3b-4) Divinely Focusedon Executing Justice – Persevering Through
Difficulty
“He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not be disheartened or crushed, Until He has establishedjustice in the
earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
Parunak:In a derivative meaning of bringing judgment to somebody, the
recipient is often a poor or oppressedperson. Bringing judgment to such a one
means to exercise the law on their behalf, to vindicate them.
Ps 103:6 The LORD executethrighteousness and judgment for all that are
oppressed.
JIM BOMKAMP
ISAIAH 42: “The Lord Says, “BeholdMy Servant!”
By
Jim Bomkamp
Back Bible Studies Home Page
1. INTRO

1.1. In our last study we lookedat chapter 41 of Isaiahand how that
Isaiahhad begun to build upon his theme of focusing the eyes of a generation
not yet born and living 100+ years future of him of the hope that they have in
the Lord fulfilling His promises and providing deliverance from their
captivity which they would be in, as he has already announced prophetically,
in Babylon
1.1.1. We saw that the whole of chapter 41 unfolded as a court room scene in
which the Lord as judge asks the nations and it’s leaders to come before His
bench and present their case that they in fact have powers like the Lord to call
things into being that did not exist and to declare the future before it happens
1.1.1.1.Wesaw thatthe Lord stands alone among men and gods in His ability
to do these things
1.1.2. We saw also in this chapterthat Isaiah beganto point us to a world
ruler who would come into power in the future and who would conquer the
nations and return captive Judea from Babylon. We saw that in the next few
chapters Isaiah refers againto this man and his being calledby God, and even
later in Isaiah he is called, ‘Cyrus’, by name. This is a verifiable prophesy
that was fulfilled in history some 170+ years afterIsaiah wrote this chapter
when Cyrus the Persianconquered the nations, including Babylon, and freed
all of the captive peoples in Babylon allowing them to return to their native
lands
1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at how Isaiahnow
introduces us to God’s “idealservant”

1.2.1. Isaiahhas alreadymentioned others as being the servantof the Lord,
howevernow we are going to see God’s perfect servant begin to be portrayed
1.2.2. Isaiahis going to continue to develop this theme of the “ideal servant”
throughout the restof his book
1.2.3. Againwe will see also that Isaiah is writing to encourage a generation
of yet unborn Judeans who are living in Babylonian captivity
2. VS 42:1 - “1 ”Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen
one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring
forth justice to the nations.” - The Lord tells us to behold His “ideal servant”
2.1. In this chapter, we read that Isaiahbegins to build upon his theme of
the ‘servant’ of Jehovah. Here, in the description of the ‘servant’ we see that
the one referred to must be God’s “ideal servant”, for the description Isaiah
provides does not fit with the reality of how Israelserved the Lord. The
Messiahto come can only fill the role of this “idealservant.”
2.2. The title of God’s ‘servant’ is not just applied by Isaiah to the
Messiahwho is to come.
2.2.1. SometimesIsaiahuses the title of ‘servant’ in reference to Israel.
2.2.1.1.Wesaw alreadyin Isaiah 41:8, that the Lord calledIsrael His servant,
“8 “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacobwhom I have chosen, Descendantof
Abraham My friend.”

2.2.1.2.Likewise,in Isaiah 49:3-6, Isaiahagainuses the ‘servant’ motif in
reference to Israel, “3 And He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In
Whom I will show My glory.” 4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent
My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice due to Me is with
the Lord, And My reward with My God.” 5 And now says the Lord, who
formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacobback to Him, in
order that Israelmight be gatheredto Him (For I am honored in the sight of
the Lord, And My God is My strength), 6 He says, “It is too small a thing that
You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preservedones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that
My salvationmay reachto the end of the earth.””
2.2.2. We readin Isaiah 20:3 that Isaiah uses the title of ‘servant’ to refer to
himself, “3 And the Lord said, “Evenas My servant Isaiah has gone naked
and barefootthree years as a sign and tokenagainstEgypt and Cush.”
2.2.3. In Isaiah22:20, Isaiah uses the title of ‘servant’ for faithful Eliakim,
“20 “Thenit will come about in that day,ThatI will summon My servant
Eliakim the sonof Hilkiah.”
2.3. Outside of the book of Isaiah, the title of ‘servant’ of Jehovahwas
given to various of God’s people, for example:
2.3.1. David: 2 Samuel3:18.
2.3.2. Moses: Num. 12:7.

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