He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head. He shall be like an ardent warrior who, in pursuing the enemy ("in the way"), does not turn in to any place of entertainment to refresh himself, but contents himself with water, which he hastily drinks from any brook or pool х nachal (H5158), properly a valley in the channel of which rain forms a pool]. The point is His hasty refreshment amidst His untiring zeal for the honour of God. The allusion is not specially (as Hengstenberg thinks) to Samson's being refreshed by the water produced by God at Lehi (Judges 15:15-19); for there is no mention there of "a brook," but 'a well.' The emphatic "therefore" that follows implies that this clause is the ground of the following "He shall lift up the head" (cf. Psalms 27:6). Christ's zeal appears in Hebrews 10:5-7: cf. Psalms 40:6; Luke 22:15; Luke 9:51; Isaiah 50:7. At the same time, it is His zeal against the foes of God at His coming in glory that is the prominent thought, as the general scope of the psalm is His glorification.
Thus Isaiah 59:17-19 is strictly parallel, "He put on ... vengeance ... and was clad with zeal as a cloak ... He will repay, fury ... recompence to His enemies ... So (answering to the "therefore," etc., here) shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun." David, pursuing after the Amalekites, and pressing on over the brook Besor, where 200 of his men stayed behind through faintness, is a general type (1 Samuel 30:9-10). Gideon's 300 men, who, in their eagerness of faith, bowed not the knees to drink (Judges 7:5-6) is another. Samson, revived with water by the Lord at Lehi, is another (Judges 15:17-19). There is no one scripture to establish the sense given by the Fathers, "He shall drink of the brook" OF SUFFERING, though it is true that His exaltation is founded on His sufferings (Philippians 2:7-10; 1 Peter 1:11; Luke 24:26; Isaiah 53:12). To drink of the brook invariably means refreshment, as Elijah was refreshed at the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:6: cf. Psalms 42:1). Matthew 20:22 has the image of a cup of suffering; but that is not a brook. Evidently His refreshment by God amidst His zeal against God's foes is the ground of exaltation implied in "therefore shall he lift up the head." This latter phrase hints by contrast at His previous humiliation (Psalms 109:22-25). Contrast with His lifting up the head in triumph hereafter, John 19:30, "Jesus bowed His head, and gave up the ghost." The stooping of the head to "drink" in the first clause, may hint at this, though the fact that this is not expressed, but simply "He shall drink," shows that not humiliation, but refreshment amidst ardent zeal, is the primary sentiment.