Isaiah 53:2

For Christ is of those who are humble-minded, and not of those who exalt themselves over His flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, although He might have done so, but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared regarding Him. For He says, "Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have declared [our message] in His presence: He is, as it were, a child, and like a root in thirsty ground; He has no form nor glory, yea, we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness; but His form was without eminence, yea, deficient in comparison with the [ordinary] form of men. He is a man exposed to stripes and suffering, and acquainted with the endurance of grief: for His countenance was turned away; He was despised, and not esteemed. He bears our iniquities, and is in sorrow for our sakes; yet we supposed that [on His own account] He was exposed to labour, and stripes, and affliction. But He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; [every] man has wandered in his own way; and the Lord has delivered Him up for our sins, while He in the midst of His sufferings opens not His mouth. He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before her shearer is dumb, so He opens not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away; who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth. For the transgressions of my people was He brought down to death. And I will give the wicked for His sepulchre, and the rich for His death, because He did no iniquity, neither was guile found in His mouth. And the Lord is pleased to purify him by stripes. […]

What therefore does the prophet say in these words?… For he confesses what we also have announced, that is, we have foretold unceasingly that he will come in due season. But perhaps someone shall say in response, "What then if God who is the Word should come down from heaven, covered in divine glory and resplendent in unapproachable light, and appear to those on earth as one who cannot be looked at because of his ineffable glory?" Indeed, when he visited the earth in the form of fire on Mount Sinai it was dark and gloomy, and storms and fire burst from on high along with smoke, and there were many other things that so completely terrified [the Israelites] that his appearance was unbearable to those who saw it. In fact, it was so unbearable that the Israelites called for a mediator, saying to Moses, "Speak to us, and do not let God speak lest we die." So, as Isaiah says, it is no wonder that the one who shall appear should be hard to look at. Why then do the prophets say that unbelief is without excuse and rebellion is unjustifiable when there is no form or glory to his appearance? For he was not, it says, in a form or glory that befits the divine. For he emptied himself, taking on the likeness of humanity, and being found in the appearance of a man he humbled himself. And we say this not merely from hearing the reports, but we have gazed with our own eyes on the one proclaimed. For human things are in every way small, cheap and worthless compared with the divine, supreme, eminent and illustrious beauty of that nature that is above all things. […]

For not by any means in working wonders only was He wonderful, but even when merely showing Himself, He was full of great grace; and to declare this the prophet said, "Fair in beauty beyond the children of men." And if Esaias saith, "He hath no form nor comeliness," he affirms it either in comparison of the glory of His Godhead, which surpasses all utterance and description; or as declaring what took place at His passion, and the dishonor which He underwent at the season of the cross, and the mean estate which throughout His life He exemplified in all respects. Further: He did not first give "commandment to depart unto the other side," nor until He had healed them. For surely they could not have borne it. As therefore on the mountain they not only continued with Him while exhorting them, but also when it was silence followed Him; so here too, not in His miracles only did they wait on Him, but also when He had ceased again, from His very countenance receiving no small benefit. For if Moses had his face made glorious, and Stephen like that of an angel; consider thou our common Lord, what manner of person it was likely He would appear at such a time.

"For he grew up before him like a child," like a child dear to his Father, he says, because he will be dear to God. But "like a root out of the ground," which is deprived of water, he will also be deprived of life …

Therefore, beloved, have in your mind God's providence (which from the beginning until now is dispensed with foreknowledge) as some excellent medicine for weakened eyes, and keep its recollection with you at all times. Ponder, consider, and be taught by these things, that you may …

Second, he describes the order of the deed. And first, he sets out a similitude as to his exaltation: and he shall rise up, in being born from the womb of his mother, in rising from the dead, in ascending from the earth into heaven, …

It was not only his last scene that was tragical, but his whole life was so, not only mean, but miserable, -------- but one continued chain Of labour, sorrow, and consuming pain. Thus, being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had subjected us to, that we should eat in sorrow all the days of our life ( Gen. iii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,....

For he shall grow up - Supposes something to have preceded; as it might be asked, what or who shall ‘grow up before him,’ etc. As the translation now stands, no correct answer can be given to this question. The translation then is wrong, the connection broken, and the sense obscured. זרוע zeroa, translated the arm, from the root zara. 1. To sow, or plant; also seed, etc. 2. The limb which reaches from the shoulder to the hand, called the arm; or more properly beginning at the shoulder and ending at the elbow.

THE Prophet is speaking of the Messiah. He declares of Him, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." It is marvelous that with such plain prophecies concerning the Messiah the Jews should have made such a fatal mistake in reference to Him. They looked for a temporal prince who would come in splendor, notwithstanding that this and other Scriptures speak of His humiliation in express terms.

tender plant--Messiah grew silently and insensibly, as a sucker from an ancient stock, seemingly dead (namely, the house of David, then in a decayed state) (see on Isa 11:1). shall grow . . . hath--rather, "grew up . . . had." before him--before Jehovah.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

THE Prophet is speaking of the Messiah. He declares of Him, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." It is marvelous that with such plain prophecies concerning the Messiah the Jews should have made such a fatal mistake in reference to Him. They looked for a temporal prince who would come in splendor, notwithstanding that this and other Scriptures speak of His humiliation in express terms. Every unprejudiced person might have seen from this passage that the Messiah, when He came, was not to be surrounded with pomp but would come as "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," to be, "despised and rejected of men." Yet, though the Truth of God was written as with a sunbeam and the Jewish people were pretty generally acquainted with their own Scriptures so that they had the opportunity of knowing it, yet when the Messiah came unto His own, His own received Him not. And though favored with the clearest prophecies concerning Him, they rejected His claims and cried, "Let Him be crucified!" Does not this teach us that the most plain instruction, earnestly and forcibly delivered, will not be understood by the unregenerate mind? The carnal mind discerns not spiritual things—its eyes are darkened, its ears are heavy. Inspiration itself cannot put a spiritual Truth of God so clearly that men will see it unless their eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit. Vain is the best light to blind men! Beloved, remember that what was true of the Jews is equally true of the Gentiles. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the simplest thing in the world, but no man truly understands it until he is taught of God.

For he shall grow up before him - In this verse, the prophet describes the humble appearance of the Messiah, and the fact that there was nothing in his personal aspect that corresponded to the expectations that bad been formed of him; nothing that should lead them to desire him as their expected deliverer, but everything that could induce them to reject him. He would be of so humble an origin, and with so little that was magnificent in his external appear ance, that the nation would despise him. The word rendered ‘he shall grow up’ (ויעל vaya‛al, from עלה ‛âlâh), means properly, “to go up, to ascend.” Here it evidently applies to the Redeemer as growing up in the manner of a shoot or sucker that springs out of the earth. It means that he would start, as it were, from a decayed stock or stump, as a shoot springs up from a root that is apparently dead. It does not refer to his manner of life before his entrance on the public work of the ministry; not to the mode and style of his education; but to his starting as it were out of a dry and sterile soil where any growth could not be expected, or from a stump or stock that was apparently dead (see the notes at Isa 11:1). The phrase ‘before him’ (לפניו lepânâyv), refers to Yahweh. He would be seen and observed by him, although unknown to the world. The eyes of people would not regard him as the Messiah while he was growing up, but Yahweh would, and his eye would be continually upon him. As a tender plant - The word used here (יונק yônēq, from ינק yânaq, to suck, Job 3:12; Son 8:1; Joe 2:16), may be applied either to a suckling, a sucking child Deu 32:25; Psa 8:3, or to a sucker, a sprout, a shoot of a tree Job 8:16; Job 14:7; Job 15:30; Eze 17:22; Hos 14:7. Jerome here renders it, Virgultum. […]