Ver. 1. Listen, O isles, unto me,] i.e., Ye foreigners; for wicked Israel will not, and therefore have no true peace. (Isaiah 48:22 Psalms 119:165) Unto me.] Understand it of Isaiah, but especially of Christ: for from hence to the end of this book, as the Jewish doctors also acknowledge, are visions and sermons set down concerning Christ’s twofold kingdom, viz., of patience and of power. See Acts 13:47 2Co 6:2 Re 7:10. The Lord hath called me from the womb.] Called me and qualified me, appointed and anointed me to the office of a mediator. Thus those that attend not, though never so remote, are deeply guilty before God. (Deuteronomy 18:18,19 Acts 3:22,23)
Ver. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.] He hath added efficacy to my doctrine, and will protect my person till I have finished the work that he gave me to do. And made me a polished shaft.] That, being well pointed, will pierce at a distance, and either prick converts at the heart, [as Acts 2:37] or cut refractories to the heart. [as Acts 7:54] Christ will pursue his enemies both with the terrors of his words, his mouth being “made like a sharp sword,” and with the plagues of his hands, being made like a polished shaft.
Ver. 3. Thou art my servant, O Israel,] i.e., O Christ, who best deservest to be called by that name, who art also the head of the elect, that Israel of God. (Galatians 6:16)
Ver. 4. Then said I: I have laboured in vain.] I have done little more than preached my hearers to hell. The Pharisees and the lawyers “rejected the counsel of God against themselves”; (Luke 7:30) they would not be forewarned to “flee from the wrath to come”; (Matthew 3:7) to “escape the damnation of hell.” (Matthew 23:33) Our Saviour lost his sweet words upon them: so did the prophet Isaiah upon his untoward countrymen, who refused to be reformed, hated to be healed. Nothing was unconquerable to his pains, who had, as one saith of Jul. Scaliger, ‘a golden wit in an iron body’; but this matter was not malleable: hence he spake to them to as little purpose as Bede did when he preached to a heap of stones. Hence his complaint: (Isaiah 53:1) “Who hath believed our report?” He might haply hope at first, as holy Melanchthon did, that it was impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the gospel: but after he had been a preacher a while, it is said he complained that ‘old Adam was too hard for young Melanchthon.’ Rev. Mr Greenham, besides his public pains in season and out of season, was wont to walk out into the fields, and to confer with his neighbours as they were at plough. But Dry Drayton, the place where he was minister many years, though so often watered with his tears, prayers, and pains, was little the better for all: the generality of his parish remained ignorant and obstinate, to their pastor’s great grief, and their own greater damage and disgrace. Hence the verses, “Greenham had pastures green, But sheep full lean, &c.” He might well cry out, as many also do at this day, Eheu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo! Our people, alas! are like Laban’s lambs or Pharaoh’s kine; they are even ministrorum opprobria. But if ministers toil all night and take nothing, it is to be feared, saith one well, that Satan caught the fish ere they came at their net. Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord.] He will do me right, and reward me howsoever. The physician hath his praise and pay, though his patient dies; the lawyer hath his fee, though his client’s cause miscarry. Curare exigeris, non curationem, saith Bernard to a friend of his, It is the care, not the cure of your charge that is charged upon you. Jeremiah was impatient, and would preach no more; (Jeremiah 20:9) but that might not be. Mr Greenham left Dry Drayton, upon friends’ importunity, and moved to London, but he afterwards repented it. Latimer, speaking of a certain minister who gave this answer why he left off preaching, Because he saw he did no good, ‘This,’ saith Latimer, ‘is a naughty, a very naughty answer.’ Mr Fuller’s Church Hist.
Ver. 5. To bring Jacob again to him.] To convert and reduce him to the fold: this is the proper work of the arch-shepherd. (1 Peter 2:25 3:18 5:4) Men may speak persuasively, but Christ alone can persuade the heart. Meum est docere, saith Cyril, rostrum auseultare, Dei vero perficere. Though Israel be not gathered,] viz., By God’s Word, which is his “arm”; (Isaiah 53:1) or, will not be gathered. [as Matthew 23:37] Yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord.] Wh o will reward me κατα τον κοπον και ου κατα τον καρπον, according to my pains, and not according to my success; yea, it is more than probable that such as patiently persist in the work of the ministry, though few or none be converted thereby, shall have a greater measure of glory than those that see much fruit of their labours, and so have their honeycomb here to feed on. Secundum laborem, non secundum proventum. -Bern.