Chapter Fifty-Five

1–5. Universal call to enter the new covenant church through the mediation of the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord. 6–7. The necessity of moral rebirth as a condition for God’s mercy toward the sinner and his acceptance into the church. 8–11. The incomparable height and efficacious power of God’s Word, capable of spiritually regenerating man. 12–13. A joyful picture of the future universal regeneration.

The concluding verses of the preceding chapter 54 presented, as we have seen, speech from the Lord Himself. The present chapter opens from the very beginning with the words of the Lord, so that, from this side, it serves as the natural continuation of the preceding narrative. As for the internal connection of these two chapters, it becomes more natural and understandable when they are rearranged: in chapter 55 the cause (the call into the new covenant church of all who wish and are morally reborn) is indicated, and in chapter 54 the effect (the extraordinary external spread and internal establishment and flourishing of Christ’s church).

Isaiah 55:1. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. From verses 1–3 there is the customary poetic and figurative introduction to the discourse, so common for the prophet Isaiah in solemn occasions, and therefore rather lengthy, or more precisely, an address to the recipients of the discourse, with a general indication of its subject matter. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” In the dry and hot climate of Palestine (where the prophet Isaiah lived and worked), usually suffering from severe droughts and lack of moisture, the image of pure, cold springs and their refreshing waters was especially clear and persuasive for all. But that this was only an image, giving an idea of another water – of “living water” – is evident from the earlier words of the prophet Isaiah himself: – “and you shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation” (Isa 12:3), or: “for I will pour water upon the thirsty and streams upon the dry; I will pour my spirit upon your offspring” (Isa 44:3 cf. Isa 41:17 and others); and especially clearly from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, who began His well-known sermon about salvation, delivered at the feast of Tabernacles, with the exposition of this very image: “if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). And in another place, in conversation with the Samaritan woman, He explains that this “water” – “which I will give... becomes... a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Note. On this day, our church, with the memory of the sanctification of water by an angel in the Jordan basin, joins the memory of the teaching of Jesus Christ concerning living water, that is, the Holy Spirit (John 7:38), and thereby prays to the Lord for the watering of all who thirst for salvation with the waters of piety. On this basis in our land a pious church and popular custom has been connected to the day of Tabernacles to sanctify water on rivers, in wells, – and this water, like the water of Theophany, is considered a very important sanctifying means for domestic use. In connection with this custom, without doubt, is also another, by which our people in the company of priests perform special processions to the fields, during which prayers established over the sown fields are usually read and the priest sprinkles the fields with holy water. Editor’s note. “Ho, everyone, come to the waters, even you who have no money.” A beautiful and strong expression of the thought about the universal call to enter the new covenant church, not conditioned by wealth, nor power, nor birth, in short, not by any external advantages. “The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to believers freely (Matt 10:8), since the Lord does not need the goods of man (Ps 15:2). Or as in another place, already the New Testament Scripture beautifully speaks, that God “has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty-handed” (Luke 1:53). Received by man, they have for him the same significance which wine and milk – for an exhausted human organism, that is, invigorating and nourishing” (Commentary of St. Petersburg professor – page 845).

Isaiah 55:2. Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in richness. Verses 2–3 express one and the same thought – of the superiority of eternal, heavenly goods over vain and illusory earthly ones, – which is first expressed in a questioning-negative form (verse 2), and then in a categorically positive form (verse 3). “Why do you spend money on what is not bread... what does not satisfy?” Comparing the prophetic image given here with the well-known discourse of the Savior on the “bread of life” (John 6 chapter), we have the right to say that the prophet contrasts sensual and deceptive earthly pleasures with higher spiritual goods, at the center of which stands care for eternal, heavenly salvation. An additional commentary to this place can be the comparative reasoning of the Apostle Paul on old covenant and new covenant righteousness: “for when you were slaves of sin... what fruit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get is sanctification and the end is eternal life” (Rom 6:20-22). “Listen carefully to me and eat what is good.” More precisely, the thought of the prophet should be conveyed in a conditional form: “if you listen to me, then you will eat what is good.” The very invitation to “listen” to the discourse on salvation and true good very closely resembles similar calls of Divine Wisdom to her children (Prov 8:1). Of “tasting” good, as the portion of the righteous, the prophet has spoken not once before, even in the first half of his book (Isa 1:19; Isa 3:10. See also further Isa 58:14). And the fact that this “good” has not material but spiritual character is evident from the very fact that throughout the prophet constantly connects it with the “life of the soul” (verses 2–3).

Isaiah 55:3. Incline your ear and come to me: listen, and your soul shall live, – and I will make with you an eternal covenant, the sure steadfast love promised to David. “And I will make with you an eternal covenant, the sure steadfast love promised to David.” Both the content of the present chapter and the whole course of the prophetic discourses of Isaiah leave no doubt that here is spoken of the “New Covenant,” that is, the Christian church, with which the Lord entered into a union, as a bridegroom with a bride. The Old Covenant cannot be seen here because the prophet in the first half of the book already spoke of its termination and annihilation by the sins of men (Isa 24:5). But of course, in virtue of the internal affinity of the ideal traits of the old covenant with the new, the latter can rightfully be called the restoration, or more precisely – the completion of the former. In this sense it becomes quite understandable and the mention of the messianic promises given by God to David (2 Sam 7:14-16), since the latter had not so much a historical as a typological and prophetic meaning, that is, they related either to the Person of the Messiah Himself, or to His era.

Isaiah 55:4. Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander.” Based on the immediate grammatical connection, many exegetes of a rationalistic bent understand under the word “him” not the Messiah, but David, who was just spoken of (Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, Cheyne, and others). But in the opinion of very many other interpreters, there is no need to slavishly follow grammar at the obvious expense of common sense, since it is more than risky to acknowledge the person of the historical David as a witness for the contemporaries of the prophet Isaiah and their teacher and leader; and not only for his contemporaries, but for their most distant descendants, since the prophet’s discourse has in view, primarily the latter (Vitringa, Rosenmüller, Umbreit, Orelli, The Pulpit Commentary, and others). The Messiah is here called a “witness,” in complete accord with the words of Christ Himself, Who said: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). The Messiah – this beloved Servant of the Lord – is also repeatedly presented as the universal teacher, leader and commander of the nations, both in the prophet Isaiah himself and in other prophets (Isa 42:6; Isa 43:9; Isa 44:8; Isa 49:1-2; Isa 51:4; Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; and others).

Isaiah 55:5. Behold, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. “Behold, you shall call a nation you do not know.” It is scarcely fair, as Yakimov and some other commentators do, to find here also an indication of the Messiah and His call of nations into the new covenant church. The inadmissibility of such a view is conditioned by the subsequent context, where it is said that the one who called the nation had not known it before; and this, of course, cannot be said of the Messiah, since it would contradict His Divine omniscience. Therefore, it is more correct to see here an indication of the people of Israel, which, although in the greater part did not know Christ, but nevertheless brought others to Him. The perpetrators of such an unexpected, in a certain sense, even miraculous result were the best representatives of historical Israel – his prophets and leaders, and finally, the Promised Messiah Himself – the “Holy One of Israel.” All these thoughts we encounter in the prophet Isaiah more than once (Isa 49:7; Isa 60:3; Isa 62:2 and others).

Isaiah 55:6. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55:7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. They contain an indication of those conditions which all called into the new covenant church must satisfy. They must “seek God” and “call upon Him,” the more so since He is always close to each of us who actively seeks Him (cf. Acts 17:27). And then – and this is most important – those seeking entry into the Messianic kingdom must radically change not only the character of their life and activity (“let the wicked forsake his way”), but also the very pattern of their thoughts (“and the man of iniquity his thoughts”) It is not difficult to see how closely all this resembles the primary theme of the first new covenant sermon – of the Forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist: “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand... bring forth fruits worthy of repentance!” (Matt 3:2).

Isaiah 55:8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The exposition of the thought about the saving, morally regenerating power of God’s Word is presented, representing in this respect a striking contrast to weak human words. In an easier paraphrase the content of these four verses can be conveyed in these words: “Your intentions and actions,” says the Lord to people, “are as distant from Mine as heaven is from earth: since everything in you is changeable, contradictory, half-hearted, and weak-willed, with Me every promise and word is sealed with the character of absolute immutability and is always fulfilled in its full measure and in reality. Consequently, it will certainly be fulfilled, and the word – of salvation for sinners, on condition of their repentance, – about which we just spoke and which to some might seem an offense, in view of the one-sidedly formal view of old covenant humanity, that only the righteous are saved (cf. Matt 10:6; Matt 18:11; Luke 9:56). In the interests of the unity and authenticity of the book of the prophet Isaiah, it is important to note that a similar characterization of human plans and Divine determinations was encountered by him even in the initial chapters (Isa 7:7; Isa 8:10). In the figurative sense, under the Word of the Lord some understand the Hypostatic Word of the Father, who appeared in the world to accomplish the will of the Father (John 1:1; John 17:4).

Isaiah 55:10. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, – Isaiah 55:11. so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth: it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:12. For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. The concluding verses of the chapter speak of the fruits of redemption, depicting them in broad strokes, in a vivid picture. These fruits will immediately be reflected in the people, who with joyful hearts shall come out of their spiritual bondage – slavery to sin and the devil (John 8:31-32); but they will also touch all the rest of nature, since it shares together with man both his sad and joyful fate (Gen 3:18; Rom 8:19-22). The love of the prophet Isaiah for speaking in such images and comparisons is proved even by many other passages of his book (Isa 5:25; Isa 13:2; Isa 14:25; Isa 30:17; Isa 35:2; Isa 44:2; Isa 49:13 and others).