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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 55 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/55.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.</div>LV.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Ho, every one that thirsteth . . .</span>—The whole context shows that the water, the wine, the milk are all, symbols of spiritual blessings as distinctly as they are, <span class= "ital">e.g., </span>in <a href="/john/4-10.htm" title="Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.">John 4:10</a>; <a href="/matthew/26-29.htm" title="But I say to you, I will not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.">Matthew 26:29</a>; <a href="/1_peter/2-2.htm" title="As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby:">1Peter 2:2</a>. The Word “buy” is elsewhere confined to the purchase of corn, and would not rightly have been used of wine and milk. The invitation is addressed, as in a tone of pity, to the bereaved and afflicted one of <a href="/context/isaiah/54-6.htm" title="For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, said your God.">Isaiah 54:6-7</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Without money and without price.</span>—<span class= "bld">“</span>Literally, <span class= "ital">For not-money and not-price. </span>The prophet had used the word “buy,” but he feels that that word may be misinterpreted. <span class= "ital">“No </span>silver or gold can buy the blessing which He offers. Something, indeed, is required, and therefore the word” buy “is still the right word; but the “price” is simply the self-surrender that accepts the blessing. Comp. <a href="/context/proverbs/3-14.htm" title="For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.">Proverbs 3:14-15</a>; <a href="/context/matthew/13-45.htm" title="Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:">Matthew 13:45-46</a>,<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-2.htm">Isaiah 55:2</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore do ye spend money for <i>that which is</i> not bread? and your labour for <i>that which</i> satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye <i>that which is</i> good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Wherefore do ye spend money . . .</span>—Here again the “bread” is that which sustains the true life of the soul. “Labour”-stands for the “earnings of labour.” Israel had given her money for that which was “not-bread,” she is called to accept the true bread for that which is “not-money,” <span class= "ital">scil., </span>as the next verse shows, for the simple “hearing of faith.” “Fatness,” as in <a href="/isaiah/25-6.htm" title="And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make to all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.">Isaiah 25:6</a>, and the “fatted calf” of <a href="/luke/15-23.htm" title="And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:">Luke 15:23</a>, represents the exuberance of spiritual joy.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-3.htm">Isaiah 55:3</a></div><div class="verse">Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, <i>even</i> the sure mercies of David.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Your soul shall live . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">revive. </span>The idea is that of waking to a new life.<p><span class= "bld">I will make an everlasting covenant . . .</span>—The words find their explanation in the “new covenant” of <a href="/jeremiah/31-31.htm" title="Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:">Jeremiah 31:31</a>, <a href="/luke/22-20.htm" title="Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.">Luke 22:20</a>, but those which follow show that it is thought of as the expansion and completion of that which had been made with David (<a href="/context/2_samuel/7-12.htm" title="And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.">2Samuel 7:12-17</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/89-34.htm" title="My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.">Psalm 89:34-35</a>), as the representative of the true King, whom Isaiah now contemplates as identical with the “servant of the Lord.” For “sure mercies” read <span class= "ital">the unfailing loving-kindnesses, </span>which were “of David,” as given to him and to his seed by Jehovah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-4.htm">Isaiah 55:4</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I have given him <i>for</i> a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">I have given him . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">I gave, </span>the words referring primarily to the historic David (Comp. <a href="/context/psalms/78-70.htm" title="He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:">Psalm 78:70-71</a>), though realised fully only in Him who was the “faithful and true witness” (<a href="/john/18-37.htm" title="Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.">John 18:37</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-5.htm" title="And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,">Revelation 1:5</a>; <a href="/revelation/3-14.htm" title="And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things said the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;">Revelation 3:14</a>), the “captain” or “leader” of our salvation (<a href="/hebrews/2-10.htm" title="For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.">Hebrews 2:10</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-5.htm">Isaiah 55:5</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, thou shalt call a nation <i>that</i> thou knowest not, and nations <i>that</i> knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt call a nation.</span>—The calling of the Gentiles and the consequent expansion of the true idea of Israel is again dominant. The words sound like an echo from <a href="/psalms/18-43.htm" title="You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.">Psalm 18:43</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Because of the Lord thy God . . .</span>—The words are repeated, as expressing a thought on which the prophet loved to dwell, in <a href="/isaiah/60-9.htm" title="Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.">Isaiah 60:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-6.htm">Isaiah 55:6</a></div><div class="verse">Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:</div>(6) <span class= "bld">While he may be found . . .</span>—The appeal shows that the promised blessings are not unconditional. There may come a time (as in <a href="/matthew/25-11.htm" title="Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.">Matthew 25:11</a>) when “too late will be written on all efforts to gain the inheritance which has been forfeited by neglect (<a href="/2_corinthians/6-2.htm" title="(For he said, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)">2Corinthians 6:2</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-8.htm">Isaiah 55:8</a></div><div class="verse">For my thoughts <i>are</i> not your thoughts, neither <i>are</i> your ways my ways, saith the LORD.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">My thoughts are not your thoughts . . .</span>—The assertion refers to both the promise and the warning. Men think that the gifts of God can be purchased with money (<a href="/acts/8-20.htm" title="But Peter said to him, Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.">Acts 8:20</a>). They think that the market in which they are sold is always open, and that they can have them when and how they please (<a href="/context/matthew/25-9.htm" title="But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.">Matthew 25:9-13</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-10.htm">Isaiah 55:10</a></div><div class="verse">For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:</div>(10) <span class= "bld">For as</span> <span class= "bld">the rain cometh down . . .</span>—The verse includes well-nigh every element of the parables of agriculture. The “rain” and the “dew” are the gracious influences that prepare the heart; the “seed” is the Divine word, the “sower” is the Servant of the Lord, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the Son of Man (<a href="/matthew/13-37.htm" title="He answered and said to them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man;">Matthew 13:37</a>); the “bread” the fruits of holiness that in their turn sustain the life of others.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-11.htm">Isaiah 55:11</a></div><div class="verse">So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper <i>in the thing</i> whereto I sent it.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">So shall my word be . . .</span>—The point of the comparison is that the predominance of fertility in the natural world, in spite of partial or apparent failures, is the pledge of a like triumph, in the long run, of the purposes of God for man’s good over man’s resistance. It does not exclude the partial, or even total, failure of many; it asserts that the saved are more than the lost. Comp. <a href="/isaiah/53-11.htm" title="He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.">Isaiah 53:11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/55-12.htm">Isaiah 55:12</a></div><div class="verse">For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap <i>their</i> hands.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">The mountains and the hills . . .</span>—Cheyne aptly compares—<p>“Ipsi lætitia voces ad sidera jactant<p>Intonsi montes.” VIRG., Æ<span class= "ital">clog.</span><p>(The very hills, no more despoiled of trees,<p>Shall to the stars break forth in minstrelsies.)<p>The waving of the branches of the trees is, in the poet’s thoughts, what the clapping of hands is with men, a sign of jubilant exultation (<a href="/psalms/96-12.htm" title="Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice">Psalm 96:12</a>).<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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