Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Isaias
Chapter 61
Ver. 1. Lord. Hebrew adds, "God." Adonai seems to have been inserted to prevent the pronunciation of Jehovah, (Kennicott) which alone occurs in the Septuagint, Arabic, and in St. Luke, iv. 18. (Haydock) --- Thus Elohim may have been substituted for Jehovah, Genesis xxii. 8., as [in] [Genesis xxii.] ver. 14, "Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah jireh, because he had said that day on the mount: Jehovah will provide" a victim, even Jesus Christ in the same place. Perhaps no part of the Bible is "so absurdly translated" as this, (Kennicott) by Protestants. (Haydock) --- St. Luke follows the Septuagint in his quotation, only instead of to preach a, &c., he has an explanation, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Isaias may here speak of himself, (Chaldean) yet only as a figure of Christ. The Jews admit that the Messias is meant. Christ had received the Holy Spirit at the Jordan, John i. 32. He performed these works, (Luke vii. 22.) particularly addressing his discourse to the meek and poor, Sophonias iii. 12., and Zacharias xi. 7., and 1 Corinthians i. 26. (Calmet) --- He was not anointed with oil, like Aaron, but with the Holy Ghost; so that of his fullness others must receive, Acts x. 39., &c. (Worthington)
Ver. 2. Year of Jubilee, (Jeremias xxv. 11.) when the Jews should be delivered, as a figure of Christ's redemption. --- Vengeance, when the Chaldeans, &c., should perish, (Calmet) and all obstinate sinners, at the day of judgment. (Haydock)
Ver. 3. Glorify. The rulers shall act with justice, chap. lx. 17, 21.
Ver. 4. Ruins, as the Jews did, chap. lviii. 12. The apostles preached to the Gentiles, who had been long neglected.
Ver. 5. Vines. Bishops were soon chosen from among the Gentiles. The Machabees subdued the neighbouring nations, 1 Machabees xv. 28.
Ver. 6. Priests. They were greatly honoured, (Exodus xix. 6.) so that the sons of David had the appellation. The Jews had still to labour as before. Christians become heirs to these promises, and are styled a royal priesthood, 1 Peter ii. 9., and Apocalypse i. 6. They have received the Scriptures from the Jews, and employ human sciences for the advancement of religion. The wisest pagans yield to the force of truth.
Ver. 7. Part: God, or the land. Converts shall bless God for having withdrawn them from the crowd of infidels, and they will rejoice in suffering for his sake, (Calmet) preferring their lot before that of unbelievers. Before this change the apostles grieved. (Worthington)
Ver. 8. Holocaust. The pagans saw such things were improper victims. (Eusebius, præp. iv. 14.) --- Septuagint, "hate unjust plunder." (Haydock) --- Therefore will I subject the strangers to you, ver. 5. --- Truth. I will grant a sure reward. --- Covenant. These of Nehemias and the Machabees were soon forgotten: but Christ's covenant shall abide for ever.
Ver. 9. Blessed. The Jews are visibly the reverse. The Church flourishes in spite of domestic and foreign enemies.
Ver. 10. Jewels. Apocalypse xxi. 2. Jerusalem, or rather the Church, praises God.
Ver. 11. Nations, whose conversion is implicitly foretold. All behold the justice with which God has treated both his people and their oppressors. (Calmet)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The office of Christ: the mission of the apostles: the happiness of their converts.
1 The *spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up.
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: *to comfort all that mourn:
3 To appoint to the mourners of Sion, and to give them a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of grief: and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify him.
4 *And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old, and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generation and generation.
5 And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen, and the dressers of your vines.
6 But you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: Ye ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and you shall pride yourselves in their glory.
7 For your double confusion and shame, they shall praise their part: therefore shall they receive double in their land, everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in a holocaust: and I will make their work in truth, and I will make a perpetual covenant with them.
9 And they shall know their seed among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples: all that shall see them, shall know them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her seed to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations.
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1: Luke iv. 18.
2: Matthew v. 5.
Chapter 62
Ver. 1. Rest, as long as God grants me life, or till I behold the Saviour; or Cyrus, the figure of Christ. (Calmet) --- True preachers will not be silent on account of any threats, but will labour for the Church, 2 Timothy ii. (Worthington)
Ver. 2. One. No profane historian mentions what Cyrus did for the Jews; but all the world knows how much Christ has favoured his Church. (Calmet) --- Name. Thou shalt be no longer the rebellious Jerusalem, but the spouse and chosen people, the Church of Christ. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, ad Magnesians) (St. Jerome)
Ver. 3. Hand. Chaldean, "before." Hebrew, "by the protection."
Ver. 4. Forsaken. Yet the synagogue was again rejected, at the death of Christ. The promises naturally relate to his Church. (Calmet) --- Inhabited. Protestants retain the Hebrew words Chephtsi-bah, "my delight in her," and Beulah, (marginal note) "married." (Haydock)
Ver. 5. Dwell. Hebrew, "marry." They shall be attached to their country. --- Thee. He shall love thee as a bridegroom does one whom he has lately married. Christ never abandons his virgin spouse. (Calmet) --- Isaias speaks of some state of the Jews which has not yet taken place. (Houbigant)
Ver. 6. Watchmen; priests and prophets, (Matthew ii. 1., and Psalm cxxxiii. 2.; Calmet) or angels. (St. Jerome; St. Bernard) --- The synagogue has been long destitute of guides, but the Catholic Church has an uninterrupted succession of watchful pastors. --- Mindful whose duty it is to remind him of his promises, and to recite the Church office. (Calmet) --- Hebrew mazcirim, monitors, 2 Kings viii. 16. (Haydock) --- In these faithful watchmen the Church is always visible. (Worthington)
Ver. 8. Hand; inviolably, Deuteronomy xxxii. 40. The Persians deemed this oath most sacred. (Calmet) --- Darius, just expiring, said to Polycrates, "By thee I give this right hand to Alexander," (Plut.[Plutarch?]) that he may revenge my death. --- Wine. The Church cannot be deprived of her faith or of her God.
Ver. 10. People, that they may return to Judea, and be converted to Christ. (Calmet)
Ver. 11. Work the redemption of mankind. (Haydock) --- Though Cyrus was a figure of Christ, he was as much beneath him as earth is below heaven, Zacharias ix. 9. (Calmet)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The prophet will not cease from preaching Christ: to whom all nations shall be converted: and whose Church shall continue for ever.
1 For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest, till her just one come forth as brightness, and her Saviour be lighted as a lamp.
2 And the Gentiles shall see thy just One, and all kings thy glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4 Thou shalt no more be called forsaken: and thy land shall no more be called desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited.
5 For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children shall dwell in thee. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and thy God shall rejoice over thee.
6 Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night; they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace,
7 And give him no silence till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8 The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength: Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for which thou hast laboured.
9 For they that gather it, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord: and they that bring it together, shall drink it in my holy courts.
10 Go through, go through the gates, *prepare the way for the people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people.
11 *Behold, the Lord hath made it to be heard in the ends of the earth, tell the daughter of Sion: Behold, thy Saviour cometh: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
12 And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. But thou shalt be called: A city sought after, and not forsaken.
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11: Zacharias ix. 9.; Matthew xxi. 5.