Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation - literally, Behold me, as Him who has laid-namely, in my divine counsels (Revelation 13:8): none except I could lay it (Isaiah 63:5; Romans 3:25).
A stone - Jesus Christ: neither Hezekiah (Maurer) nor the temple (Ewald) realizes the full significancy of the language; but only in type point to Him in whom the prophecy receives its exhaustive accomplishment; whether Isaiah understood its fullness or not (1 Peter 1:11-12), the Holy Spirit plainly contemplated its full fulfillment in Christ alone; so in Isaiah 32:1: cf. Genesis 49:24; Psalms 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Romans 10:11; Ephesians 2:20.
Tried - both by the devil (Luke 4:1-13) and by men (Luke 20:1-38), and even by God (Matthew 27:46): a stone of tested solidity to bear the vast superstructure of man's redemption. The tested righteousness of Christ gives its special merit to His vicarious sacrifice. The connection with the context is, though a "scourge" shall visit Judea (Isaiah 28:15), yet God's gracious purpose as to the elect remnant, and His kingdom, of which "Zion" shall be the center, shall not fail, because it rests on Messiah, the "sure foundation" (Matthew 7:24-25; 2 Timothy 2:19).
A precious corner stone - literally, a corner stone of preciousness: so in the Greek, 1 Peter 2:7, He is preciousness: cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19.
Corner stone - (1 Kings 5:17; 1 Kings 7:9; Job 38:6); the stone laid at the corner where two walls meet, and connecting them: often costly.
Shall not make haste (yachish) - shall not flee in hasty alarm; but the Septuagint have 'shall not be ashamed;' so Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:6, "be confounded," substantially the same idea. He who rests on Him shall not have the shame of disappointment, nor flee in sudden panic (see Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 32:17). Contrast Jehu's precipitate zeal, not based on real belief (2 Kings 9:20; 2 Kings 10:27-31), and therefore like a blaze in straw-after great show, soon going out.