For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
Ver. 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant.] His beginning shall be mean and despicable. See Isaiah 11:1, with the notes. God hid his Son under the carpenter's son; this the Jews much stumbled at, Matthew 13:55 ; Matthew 13:57 ; John 7:27 ; John 7:41 ; John 7:52 ; 1Co 1:23 that Christ should come without sightly show or state. a But they should have known that his kingdom is not of this world. Some of their Rabbis can say, In regno Messiae nihil mundanum. In the reign of the Messiah, nothing is worldly.
He hath no form or comeliness.] How could he? say, when his fair face was covered, sanguine, sputo, spinis, lachrymis, with blood black and blue, swelths, spittle, tears, scratches, so that Pilate, wondering at it, said, "Behold the man," q.d., he is not dealt with as a man; but being in greatest misery, he deserveth to be pitied.
And when we shall see him.] Here the prophet taketh upon him the person of a carnal Jew, who judged of Christ according to his outward appearance. Joh 7:14 But what saith the Chaldee proverb? Ne spectes cantharum vel urceum, sed id quod in eo est. Look not on the pitcher, but on the liquor that is contained in it.
And when we shall see him there is no beauty.] Heb., And we shall see him, and no sight or sightliness.
That we should desire him.] And yet he was a man of desires, yea, the "desire of all nations," Hag 2:7 all over desirable: Son 5:16 but so he is only to such as have their "senses exercised to discern good and evil." Heb 5:14
a Humilis Christi prosapia notatur.