Isa 55:1-13. THE CALL OF THE GENTILE WORLD TO FAITH THE RESULT OF GOD'S GRACE TO THE JEWS FIRST.
1. every one--After the special privileges of Israel
(Isa 54:1-17)
there follow, as the consequence, the universal invitation to
the Gentiles
(Lu 24:47;
Ro 11:12, 15).
Ho--calls the most earnest attention.
thirsteth--has a keen sense of need
(Mt 5:6).
waters . . . wine and milk--a gradation. Not merely water, which
is needed to maintain life at all, but wine and milk to strengthen,
cheer, and nourish; the spiritual blessings of the Gospel are meant
(Isa 25:6;
So 5:1;
Joh 7:37).
"Waters," plural, to denote abundance
(Isa 43:20; 44:3).
no money--Yet, in
Isa 55:2,
it is said, "ye spend money." A seeming paradox. Ye are really
spiritual bankrupts: but thinking yourselves to have money, namely, a
devotion of your own making, ye lavish it on that "which is not bread,"
that is, on idols, whether literal or spiritual.
buy . . . without money--another paradox. We are bought, but not
with a price paid by ourselves
(1Co 6:20;
1Pe 1:18, 19).
In a different sense we are to "buy" salvation, namely, by parting with
everything which comes between us and Christ who has bought it for us
and by making it our own
(Mt 13:44, 46;
Lu 12:33;
Re 3:18).
JFB.
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