Isaiah 61:11

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) As the earth bringeth forth her bud . . .—The passage is memorable as at least suggesting the leading thought of the parable of the sower, and the appropriation of that title to Himself by the Son of Man (Matthew 13:3-23; Matthew 13:37; Mark 4:26-29).

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth, &c. — By this and the other metaphor here used, the church shows, not only the revival and restoration of her blessings, after they had been, as it were, dead and lost in the winter of affliction, but the great plenty and abundance of them that should spring forth and flourish: what had been as a wilderness should be as a paradise, referring to the effects of God’s grace and bounty. So the Lord will cause righteousness — That is, his great work of salvation; and praise — As the natural product and fruit of it; to spring forth — To break out and appear; before all nations — These things will not be done in a corner, but will be eminently conspicuous in the sight of all the world.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

61:10,11 Those only shall be clothed with the garments of salvation hereafter, that are covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness now, and by the sanctification of the Spirit have God's image renewed upon them. These blessings shall spring forth for ages to come, as the fruits of the earth. So duly, so constantly, and with such advantage to mankind, will the Lord God cause righteousness and praise to spring forth. They shall spread far; the great salvation shall be published and proclaimed, to the ends of the earth. Let us be earnest in prayer, that the Lord God may cause that righteousness to spring forth among us, which constitutes the excellence and glory of the Christian profession.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For as the earth bringeth forth - This figure is several times used by the prophet (see the notes at Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 55:10-11). The idea is an exceedingly beautiful one, that, on the coming of the Messiah, truth and righteousness would spring up and abound like grass and fruits in the vegetable world when the earth is watered with rain.

Her bud - The word 'bud' we now apply usually to the small bunch or protuberance on the branches of a plant, containing the rudiments of the future leaf or flower. The Hebrew word, however, (צמח tsemach), rather means the germ, the shoot, or the young and tender plant as it comes up from the earth; that which first appears from the seed.

So the Lord God will cause righteousness to spring forth - (See the notes at Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:9; Isaiah 44:4; Isaiah 45:8).

Before all the nations - The sense is, that righteousness would abound over all the earth, and that all the world would yet join in celebrating the praises of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. (Isa 45:8, 55:10, 11; Ps 72:3; 85:11).

bud—the tender shoots.

praise—(Isa 60:18; 62:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth: by this and the other metaphor he shows not only the reviving of the blessings of the church after they had been as it were dead in the winter of affliction, but the great plenty and abundance of blessings that should break forth; that which had been as a wilderness shall be as a paradise, pointing at the effects of his grace and bounty.

So the Lord God will cause righteousness to spring forth, i.e. his great work of salvation shall break out and appear.

And praise, as the natural product and fruit of it; his own glory being the principal end of making his righteousness to appear and manifest itself.

Before all nations: these things will not be done in a corner, but will be eminently conspicuous in the sight of all the world, for which purpose those hymns penned by the godly will ever be famous in the churches of Christ to all ages, as of Moses, Hannah, Mary, Zacharias, Simeon, &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,.... Of tender grass in the spring of the year, after a long and cold winter, being well manured:

and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth being enclosed, and better taken care of, and well watered, and dunged, and cultivated; seeds sown in such a rich soil spring up freely, strongly, and constantly:

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations; that is, the righteousness and salvation of his people through Christ, by which they shall be justified and saved; and on account of which they shall praise the Lord, and shall be to honour and praise themselves, being interested in those blessings in the sight of all the Christian nations around them. It respects the conversion of the Jews, and their justification and salvation, and the suddenness of it, and the large numbers of them converted, who should rise up at once like the buds of grass out of the earth; and denotes the flourishing condition in which they shall be, like a garden abounding with all manner of flowers and fruit; and suggests how full of joy, thankfulness, and praise to God they should be, and how honourable in the sight of men; and all this will be the Lord's doing, and owing to his efficacious grace. The Targum is,

"so the Lord God will reveal the righteousness and praise of Jerusalem before all the people.''

Geneva Study Bible

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. as the earth &c.] i.e. as surely as the seed germinates in the earth, so surely will Jehovah bring to pass the great redemption here promised through the self-fulfilling power of His word. Cf. ch. Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 42:9, Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 58:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - As the garden; rather, as a garden. The Hebrew is without the article. Righteousness and praise. The essential result of righteousness is "salvation" (see ver. 20); its accidental result is "praise" or "renown." Men cannot but recognize the benefits which flow to themselves from goodness in others; and a perfectly righteous nation would attract to itself universal praise (comp. Zephaniah 3:20, "I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord ").



Isaiah 61:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This is the joyful calling of the Servant of Jehovah to be the messenger of such promises of God to His people. "Joyfully I rejoice in Jehovah; my soul shall be joyful in my God, that He hath given me garments of salvation to put on, hath wrapped me in the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom who wears the turban like a priest, and as a bride who puts on her jewellery. For like the land which brings forth its sprouts, and as a garde which causes the things sown in it to sprout up; so the Lord Jehovah bringeth righteousness to sprouting, and renown before all nations." The Targum precedes this last turn with "Thus saith Jerusalem." But as Isaiah 61:4-9 are a development of the glorious prospects, the realization of which has to be effected through the instrumentality of the person speaking in Isaiah 61:1-3 both in word and deed, the speaker here is certainly the same as there. Nor is it even the fact that he is here supposed to commence speaking again; but he is simply continuing his address by expressing at the close, as he did at the beginning, the relation in which he stands in his own person to the approaching elevation of His people. Exalted joy, which impels him to exult, is what he experiences in Jehovah his God (בּ denoting the ground and orbit of his experience): for the future, which so abounds in grace, and which he has to proclaim as a prophet and as the evangelist of Israel, and of which he has to lay the foundation as the mediator of Israel, and in which he is destined to participate as being himself an Israelite, consists entirely of salvation and righteousness; so that he, the bearer and messenger of the divine counsels of grace, appears to himself as one to whom Jehovah has given clothes of salvation to put on, and whom He has wrapped in the robe of righteousness. Tsedâqâh (righteousness), looked at from the evangelical side of the idea which it expresses, is here the parallel word to yeshū‛âh (salvation). The figurative representation of both by different articles of dress is similar to Isaiah 59:17 : yâ‛at, which only occurs here, is synonymous with ‛âtâh, from which comes ma‛ăteh, a wrapper or cloak (Isaiah 61:3). He appears to himself, as he stands there hoping such things for his people, and preaching such things to his people, to resemble a bridegroom, who makes his turban in priestly style, i.e., who winds it round his head after the fashion of the priestly migbâ‛ōth (Exodus 29:9), which are called פּארים in Exodus 39:28 (cf., Ezekiel 44:18). Rashi and others think of the mitsnepheth of the high priest, which was of purple-blue; but יכהן does not imply anything beyond the migba‛âh, a tall mitra, which was formed by twisting a long linen band round the head so as to make it stand up in a point. כּהן is by no means equivalent to kōnēn, or hēkhı̄n, as Hitzig and Hahn suppose, since the verb kâhan equals kūn only survives in kōhēn. Kı̄hēn is a denom., and signifies to act or play the priest; it is construed here with the accusative פּאר, which is either the accusative of more precise definition ("who play the priest in a turban;" A. ὡς νύμφιον ἱερατευόμενον στεφάνῳ), or what would answer better to the parallel member, "who makes the turban like a priest." As often as he receives the word of promise into his heart and takes it into his mouth, it is to him like the turban of a bridegroom, or like the jewellery which a bride puts on (ta‛deh, kal, as in Hosea 2:15). For the substance of the promise is nothing but salvation and renown, which Jehovah causes to sprout up before all nations, just as the earth causes its vegetation to sprout, or a garden its seed (כ as a preposition in both instances, instar followed by attributive clauses; see Isaiah 8:22). The word in the mouth of the servant of Jehovah is the seed, out of which great things are developed before all the world. The ground and soil ('erets) of this development is mankind; the enclosed garden therein (gannâh) is the church; and the great things themselves are tsedâqâh, as the true inward nature of His church, and tehillâh as its outward manifestation. The force which causes the seed to germinate is Jehovah; but the bearer of the seed is the servant of Jehovah, and the ground of his festive rejoicing is the fact that he is able to scatter the seed of so gracious and glorious a future.