I, even I, am he that comforteth, &c.— The apostrophe being finished, wherein the foundation of this consolation was laid; the thread of the discourse is resumed, and the consolation is continued, which seems more properly to belong to the Father in this place than to the Son; and the sum of the discourse is, to fortify the people of God against the fears and dangers threatened by the adversaries of the true religion, and the princes and chief of those adversaries, who endeavoured by every method to draw the confessors of the true religion from the faith, or at least by threats of the most grievous punishments, to draw them to a public denial of their faith. Vitringa renders the 14th verse, The captive exile shall soon be loosed; and he shall not die in the pit, neither shall his bread fail. That is, "When the fury of the oppressor, and the tyrannical persecutions spoken of in the preceding verses, are over, the persecuted and afflicted shall soon enjoy their liberty, and the consequences of it." The meaning of the next two verses is this: that all the greater commotions which are raised in the world, some of them immediately in opposition to the church of God, and, as it seems, about to overwhelm it, are subject to the Divine Power, and are appeased according to his wisdom and good pleasure: but, in the mean time, he takes, and will always take, such care of his church and its teachers, that, covered by his counsel and providence, they may be preserved to perfect the great work of the new oeconomy, prepared and designed for his glory. I have put my words in thy mouth, Isaiah 51:16, refers primarily to Christ, and secondly to Christ's mystical body; and therein to the pastors and teachers. See chap. Isaiah 59:21. Planting the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth, refers to the same idea with that in Isaiah 51:6. The meaning is, perfecting the work of the new oeconomy. See chap. Isaiah 65:17 Isaiah 66:22 and Vitringa.
Isaiah 51:12-16
12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
13 And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.