Isaiah 51:1, commentary and pictures

Hearken is spoken to those who continually pursue righteousness and seek the Lord, calling them to listen to God and to remember the rock from which they were cut and the quarry pit from which they were dug for comfort and encouragement. The rock and the pit are Abraham and Sarah, whom God called when Abraham was alone and blessed and increased, recalling humble beginnings from a heathen people so that descent alone makes no one worthy or indispensable. The call opens the promise that the Lord will comfort Zion and make her waste places like Eden with joy and thanksgiving, and that His law, righteousness and salvation are near and endure forever, so those with His law in the heart need not fear human reproach which will perish like a moth-eaten garment. Listening therefore means gospel workers must dig deep in the Word and plead with the Lord for wisdom rather than rest in partial knowledge, and remembering Abraham's increase gives them faith to enter new fields and spread the gospel seed in trust in divine power. The pit also bids those who have advanced to remember their own former condition and progress with patience and sympathy toward beginners, and bids those who have lost first love to look back to what they were before Christ lit love in their souls, examine whether Christ is in them, and repent and do the first works of love.

Address and Ancient Roots

Hearken to me is spoken to those who follow after righteousness and seek the Lord, and to those who do so continually rather than only at times, summoning them to listen to Him. The listening called for is tied to remembering origins under the figure of a rock from which they were cut and a quarry pit from which they were dug. That backward look is given for comfort and encouragement.

The rock and the pit are Abraham and Sarah, from whom the people were formed. God called Abraham when he was alone, then blessed him and increased him. Remembering this shows humble beginnings, for Israel was shaped from Abraham, whom God called out from a heathen people. Descent from Abraham therefore makes no one worthy of favor nor necessary to fulfill God's purpose.

In its setting the verse stands within Isaiah 50-58, given to leaders and institutional workers who have received light and reproof yet are not fully consecrated nor warning others as duty requires. It stands also within Isaiah 51-53, which directs readers to God's life-giving Saviour and especially to the hope of life in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 51:1-11 is to be studied carefully so that its teaching directs the mind, leading to careful movement and to cultivation of mental, spiritual, and physical powers with increase of each capacity and gift.

Promises and Doctrinal Witness

Hearkeners who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord are met at once with comfort for Zion and for all her waste places, her wilderness made like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord, with joy and gladness and thanksgiving and melody found there. That comfort gives courage for labor among the waste places of the earth for the salvation of souls. From the same opening goes forth law to rest as a light of the peoples, with righteousness near, salvation gone forth, and the arm judging the peoples and trusted by the isles. Those who know righteousness and have the law in the heart need not fear human reproach and reviling, for opposers will be consumed like a garment by the moth and like wool by the worm, while righteousness and salvation endure forever from generation to generation. With that assurance belongs prayer for the arm of the Lord to awake as in ancient days when Rahab was cut, the dragon wounded, and the sea dried to make a way for the ransomed to pass over, and the promise that the redeemed of the Lord shall return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy upon their heads, obtaining joy and gladness as sorrow and mourning flee away.

The verse stands as a Sabbath scripture proving that God has made no change in His day of rest and carrying wonderful promises to keepers of the law. With Isaiah 58 it belongs among the plain Sabbath scriptures to be searched out, made clear and plain, put in tract form, and brought to the front to do its work in hearts. That urgency belongs to the time when every worker must draw near to God by faith laying hold on infinite power under the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. The chapter teaches what the covenant requires, what salvation means, and what education is most valuable, calling all to take seeking the Lord, repenting of sin, and doing righteousness seriously.

When descent fails God can still call others to serve Him, and His Spirit can give life even to hearts as lifeless as desert stones, enabling them to do His will and receive His promise. The rock from which people are hewn pictures God taking men and women of every class, nation, language, and nationality out of the world and preparing them for His temple. All thus share a common spiritual origin and preparation, so skin color and nationality must not determine worth or place among His people.

Gospel Work and Personal Growth

Hearken is a charge to gospel ministers to study the Word until they understand what is revealed, to dig deep for truth, and to put the mind to the task rather than resting satisfied with partial knowledge pieced out with weak suppositions. It calls them to plead with the Lord as the Source of all wisdom to supply their need and to enlighten their understanding so they can give light to others. Those who seek in this way will be comforted, for Zion and all her waste places will be comforted until her wilderness is like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord, where joy and gladness with thanksgiving and melody are found.

Looking to the rock and to Abraham and Sarah as the pit from which the people were formed recalls that God called Abraham when he was alone, blessed him, and increased him. That remembrance belongs to gospel work as a call to enter new fields and spread the gospel seed in trust in the Lord's power and grace. It stands as encouragement for God's workers whose full meaning will be understood better in the future.

The same call gives assurance and hope in tedious affliction that Jesus looks upon the sufferer in the night and bears all burdens. By grace He strengthens the sufferer to keep working and to endure without murmuring for the glory of the Lord.

The hole of the pit from which people were dug is a reminder of the condition from which they came and of their own gradual progress after they advanced. Remembering former condition teaches patience, sympathy, and humility toward those who are only beginning to reform, especially those who have not yet learned about health reform. They are to be led step by step and gradually rather than discouraged by demanding too much at once or requiring them to give up more than they are ready to accept. In this way as many as possible are brought along.

Looking back to the rock also calls those who still follow after righteousness but have lost the love that gives value to good works, in whom love burns only feebly, to remember their spiritual beginning and what they were before Jesus lit love in their darkened souls. It means examining often whether they are in Christ and Christ in them, whether they wear Christ's yoke of meekness and humility or a yoke men have placed on them, and whether hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong still keep them from cherishing God's love. Such looking back exposes spiritual loss and leads to repentance and to doing the first works of Christian love, without which they cannot be saved.