Bible Commentaries
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
Isaiah 58
THE DIVINELY GUARDED LIFE
‘Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee: the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.’
Isaiah 58:8
I. That the word ‘prophet’ should so early in our language have come to be used as a synonym for a predictor is only an instance of the prevailing error which consists in looking for signs and wonders as evidence of Divine power.—If a man possesses a superhuman commission he must be able to do superhuman acts. The true seer is not the magician, but the pleader for the righteousness of God.
II. The attitude of the prophet Isaiah is that of the forward-looking man.—His eye is not so much lifted to heaven, or bent downwards upon the people, as it is turned ever towards the horizon, waiting for the dawn. It is for all nations that he looks forward with hope. The prophet was a predicter. He could not fail to be. The firmer his faith in God, the farther a man sees. The ‘seer’ owes his power to faith. The believer sees and knows what the unbeliever cannot see or know. These are the two notes of the prophetic character—its hopefulness and its catholicity.
Canon Ainger.
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