Isaiah 59:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 59:16
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
rightness (abstractly) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sustained
סְמָכָֽתְהוּse.ma.Kha.te.hu
H5564
to prop (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it:…
Psalms 98:1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
Psalms 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he shoul…
Isaiah 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast co…
Isaiah 41:28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Isaiah 52:10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 63:3-5 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fu…
Mark 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 59:16–end
How sin abounded we have read, to our great amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much more abound we read in these verses. And, as sin took occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took occasion from the transgression of the commandment to appear more exceedingly gracious. Observe,
I. Why God wrought salvation for this provoking people, notwithstanding their provocations. It was purely for his own name's sake; because there was nothing in them either to bring it about, or to induce him to bring it about for them, no merit to deserve it, no might to effect it, he would do it himself, would be exalted in his own strength, for his own glo…
no man--namely, to atone by his righteousness for the unrighteousness of the people. "Man" is emphatic, as in Kg1 2:2; no representative man able to retrieve the cause of fallen men (Isa 41:28; Isa 63:5-6; Jer 5:1; Eze 22:30).
no intercessor--no one to interpose, "to help . . . uphold" (Isa 63:5).
his arm-- (Isa 40:10; Isa 51:5). Not man's arm, but His alone (Psa 98:1; Psa 44:3).
his righteousness--the "arm" of Messiah. He won the victory for us, not by mere might as God, but by His invincible righteousness, as man having "the Spirit without measure" (Isa 11:5; Isa 42:6, Isa 42:21; Isa 51:8; Isa 53:11; Jo1 2:1).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 59:16
And wondered that there was no intercessor - This and the following verses some of the most eminent rabbins understand as spoken of the Messiah. Kimchi says that Rabbi Joshua ben Levi proposes this objection: "It is written, 'Behold, he will come in the clouds of heaven as the son of man,' Dan 7:13; and elsewhere it is written, 'He cometh lowly, and riding upon an ass,' Zac 9:9. How can these texts be reconciled? Thus: If the Jews have merit, he will come unto them in the clouds of heaven; but if they be destitute of merit, he will come unto them riding upon an ass." Now out of their own mouth they may be condemned. They were truly destitute of all merit when Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem…
For the unjust deeds displeased the just judge so he did not call the workers of these deeds "humans," for although being in an honored place they do not understand and are comparable to the unthinking beasts and resemble them.… In place of "mercy" the three translators have rendered "justice," so as to say "he has exacted a just recompense on them." It calls the operation of God his "arm," while "mercy" teaches the usefulness of discipline. The God of all things disciplines for profit.
(Verse 16, 17.) And the Lord saw, and evil appeared in his eyes: because there is no justice, and he saw that there is no man, and he was astonished, because there is no one to oppose. And his own arm will save him: and his righteousness itself will strengthen him. He is clothed with righteousness as with a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head. He is clothed with garments of vengeance, and covered with a cloak of zeal. As for revenge, it is like retaliation for his enemies, and retribution for his foes; he will repay the islands. LXX: The Lord saw, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle, repaying his enemies with their just deserts. Up to this point, the prophetic discourse has been from the perspective of the people: now the prophet speaks from his own perspective. While they were saying these things, the Lord saw that they were professing repentance with their mouths, but not acting with their hearts, and this did not please Him. For He sought truth in judgment among them, which had been transferred to the nations, but He did not find it. He desired a righteous man who could meet Him in anger, but He did not find one; as He had previously said: 'I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to hear.' (Isaiah 50:2) And because those who persist in wickedness, not even one righteous person is found: but all have turned away, and together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm 14). But God has strengthened him with his arm and righteousness, and confirmed him with mercy, so that those who desire to turn from error may be saved not by their own merit, but by God's mercy. Finally, he has put on the armor of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and has wrapped himself in the cloak of zeal. Thus, armed, he has gone forth to battle, to exact vengeance upon his enemies. Without a doubt, this signifies the Jews, who persist in blasphemies, and the Roman army surrounding their enemies. When they are conquered, the Lord is shown to have…
Dictionary and topics
Anthropomorphisms · .Amazement — .Amazement
Arm · FIGURATIVE USE OF — FIGURATIVE USE OF
Atonement, The · Necessity for — Necessity for
Righteousness · Christ: Was sustained by — Christ: Was sustained by
Salvation · Is by Christ alone — Is by Christ alone
Soldiers · .Of the divine protection — .Of the divine protection
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Isaiah 59:16
And he saw that there was no man,.... Whose works are good, as the Targum adds; no good man, or faithful and righteous one, that had any regard to truth and justice; that was an advocate for truth, and opposed error, and set on foot a reformation; or was concerned for any of these things, and mourned over the general corruption; not that it must be thought there was not one individual person, but very few, comparatively none; since mention is made before of some that departed from evil, and made themselves a prey:
and wondered that there was no intercessor; to stand up, and pray for them, as the Targum; so it seems a spirit of prayer and supplication will be greatly wanting in the times of…
He saw that there was no man. Isaiah continues the same subject, but expresses more, and relates more fully what he had briefly noticed; for what he said in the preceding verse, that "it displeased the Lord that there was no judgment," might have been obscure. In this passage he repeats that the Lord saw that "there was no man" [145] to render assistance to the Church, and that he wondered. He makes use of the verb ystvmm (yishtomem) in the Hithpahel conjugation, [146] for the purpose of denoting that the Lord was the cause of his own astonishment; as if he had said, "He made himself astonished."
He wondered that none came forward. Some think that mphgy (maphgiang) means an intercessor; but…
The confession of personal sins is followed by that of the sinful state of society. "And right is forced back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the market-place, and honesty finds no admission. And truth became missing, and he who avoids evil is outlawed." In connection with mishpât and tsedâqâh here, we have not to think of the manifestation of divine judgment and justice which is prevented from being realized; but the people are here continuing the confession of their own moral depravity. Right has been forced back from the place which it ought to occupy (hissı̄g is the word applied in the law to the removal of boundaries), and righteousness has to look from af…
The Lord goes out as a warrior intent on achieving victory against the wicked (cp. Eph 6:14).
Rashi on Isaiah 59:16
And He saw that there was no man And now, when He repents of the evil to His people, He sees that there is no righteous man to stand in the breach.
and He was astounded He was silent to see whether there was an intercessor, and there was no intercessor. וַיִּשְׁתּוֹמֵם is an expression of a man who stands and wonders and remains silent in his wonder, and the ‘tav’ of וַיִּשְׁתּוֹמֵם is like the ‘tav’ of מִשְׁתּוֹלֵל, and both of them serve here as the reflexive, and this is the procedure of the word whose first radical is a ‘shin’ or a ‘samech,’ that when it is converted into the form of מִתְפָּעֵל, the present reflexive, נִתְפָּעֵל, the past reflexive, or יִתְפָּעֵל, the future reflexive,…
