Isaiahchapter 51
23 verses · BSBIsaiah book hub →
Speaks with:Isaiah 52×4Isaiah 51×3Isaiah 49×2Isaiah 2×2Psalms 94×1Hebrews 12×1
Summary
Chapter summary
Repeated summonses structure the chapter: three "hearken" calls to those who follow righteousness (look to the rock whence you were hewn, to Abraham and Sarah), with promises that Jehovah comforts Zion, making her wilderness like Eden, that law and justice go forth as a light of the peoples, and that while the heavens vanish like smoke, his salvation stands to all generations. Then come the "awake" cries: first to the arm of Jehovah, recalling the cutting of Rahab, the piercing of the monster, and the drying of the sea, so that the ransomed return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy; then to Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of Jehovah's wrath, the cup of staggering, her sons fainted in the streets. Jehovah, who pleads his people's cause, takes that cup from her hand and puts it into the hand of them that afflict her.
Context
Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview
- A. 1–8 Look to the Rock Whence Ye Were Hewn
- B. 9–16 Awake, Arm of the LORD That Cut Rahab in Pieces
- C. 17–23 The Cup of Trembling Taken Out of Jerusalem's Hand
The outline
A.Look to the Rock Whence Ye Were Hewnvv. 1 to 8
Read vv. 1 to 8 →B.Awake, Arm of the LORD That Cut Rahab in Piecesvv. 9 to 16
Read vv. 9 to 16 →C.The Cup of Trembling Taken Out of Jerusalem's Handvv. 17 to 23
Read vv. 17 to 23 →
The world behind this chapter
Isaiah 51The history
The first image is quarry work. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug — a stonecutter cuts blocks out of a rock face and leaves a hole behind, and every dressed stone in Jerusalem came out of a quarry somewhere. Then the identification: look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. A discouraged minority is told to go and count how many Abraham was.
The middle section retells the Exodus in the older poetry, using the sea-monster language the whole region shared. Are you not the arm that cut Rahab in pieces and wounded the dragon, that dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, and made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross? Rahab is the nickname for Egypt and also the name for the chaos monster; the poem lets both stand.
One line describes a prisoner in a hurry. The captive exile hastens to be released, that he may not die in the pit and his bread may not fail. Ancient prisons were often literal pits, and prisoners were fed by whoever remembered them; men did die down there of neglect.
The cup is the chapter's other main image. At a feast, a cup was passed and each guest drank in turn; here it is the cup of the LORD's fury, the cup of staggering, and Jerusalem has drunk it to the dregs — down to the sediment at the bottom, the bitterest part. She is described lying at the head of every street like a wild bull in a net, with no son to take her by the hand. Then the cup is taken out of her hand and put into the hand of those who tormented her.
What it meant to them
The comfort offered is not that the suffering was imaginary. God takes responsibility for the cup and then removes it.
And the reason not to fear a man who dies and a son of man made like grass is put next to what will not die: my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth wear out like a garment; that is the comparison being drawn.
Sources cited
- Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah (3 vols.)
- Walton, Matthews & Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Isaiah 51. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.