Isaiah 40:9

O Zion, that bringest good tidings,.... Or, "O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion (n)"; which rendering of the words is more agreeable to the latter part of the verse, say unto the cities of Judah, c.

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

O Zion, that bringest good tidings; O Zion, to whom the glad tidings of the coming of Christ into the world, and of the salvation of mankind by him, were first published by Christ and his apostles, and by whom they were published to all nations. But the words are otherwise rendered in the margin, and by others, O thou (whosoever thou art, prophet or apostle) that bringest good tidings to Zion. So Zion is not the deliverer, but the receiver, of these good tidings, as she is in the parallel place, . But our translation seems to agree better with the Hebrew text, in which the particle unto is not here expressed, as it is in the latter part of the verse; by comparing which part with the former, it seems most probable that Zion or Jerusalem is the speaker or publisher, and the cities of Judah the hearers. Get thee up into the high mountain, that thy voice may be better heard, as appears from the next branch of the verse: see ,14. Be not afraid, lest thou shouldst be found a false prophet; for it shall certainly be fulfilled. Say unto the cities of Judah; to all my people in the several places of their abode, whether cities or countries. Only he names cities, to intimate that they also, though they should be destroyed, yet should afterwards be rebuilt, and inhabited again. Behold your God! take notice of this wonderful work and glorious appearance of your God, who will be visibly present with you, so that men may point at him, and say, Behold, here he is.

Isaiah 40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!Ver. 9. Oh Zion, that bringest good tidings.] That evangelist. The gospel is the sum of all the good news in the world. Christ’ s incarnation (bisher, the word here used, cometh of bashar, which signifieth flesh), was "glad tidings of great joy to all people." Get thee up into the high mountain.] Zion was itself a high mountain, yet is bidden to ascend into a higher, for the better promulgation of the gospel. Lift it up, be not afraid,] viz., For persecution, which is evangelii genius, the evil angel that doggeth the gospel at the heels, as Calvin wrote to the French king. Behold your God.] Behold the Messiah, who hath been so long expected, is now exhibited.

(9) O Zion, that bringest good tidings.—A new section begins. In some versions (LXX. and Targum) and by some interpreters “Zion” is taken as in the objective case, O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion; but as the participle, “thou that bringest,” is in the feminine, and a female evangeliser other than Jerusalem has not appeared on the scene, the Authorised Version is preferable. In that rendering the ideal Zion, seeing or hearing of the return of the exiles, becomes the bearer of the good news to the other cities of Judah. It is not without emotion that we note the first occurrence of the word which, passing through the Greek of the LXX. and the New Testament (ευαγγελίςεσθαι), has had so fruitful a history, as embodying the message of the Gospel—good-spell, glad tidings—to mankind. The primary meaning of the Hebrew word is to make smooth, or bright, and so “to gladden.” (Comp. the connection of this English word with the German glatten.) The high mountain.—There is no article in the Hebrew, but the word is probably connected with the ideal exaltation of the holy city, as in Isaiah 2:1. Behold your God!—The words have, in one sense, only an ideal fulfilment; but the prophet contemplates the return of the exiles and the restoration of the Temple worship, as involving the renewed presence of Jehovah in the sanctuary which He had apparently abandoned. He would come back with His people, and abide with them.

Verse 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings - "O daughter, that bringest glad tidings to Zion"] That the true construction of the sentence is this, which makes Zion the receiver, not the publisher, of the glad tidings, which latter has been the most prevailing interpretation, will, I think, very clearly appear, if we rightly consider the image itself, and the custom and common practice from which it is taken. I have added the word daughter to express the feminine gender of the Hebrew participle, which I know not how to do otherwise in our language; and this is absolutely necessary in order to ascertain the image. For the office of announcing and celebrating such glad tidings as are here spoken of, belongs peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great public success, a signal victory, or any other joyful event, it was usual for the women to gather together, and with music, dances, and songs, to publish and celebrate the happy news. Thus after the passage of the Red Sea, Miriam, and all the women, with timbrels in their hands, formed a chorus, and joined the men in their triumphant song, dancing, and throwing in alternately the refrain or burden of the song: - "Sing ye to JEHOVAH, for he is greatly exalted; The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea." Exodus 15:20-21. So Jephthah's daughter collected a chorus of virgins, and with dances and songs came out to meet her father, and to celebrate his victory, Judges 11:34. After David's conquest of Goliath, "all the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music;" and, forming themselves into two choruses, they sang alternately: - "Saul has slain his thousands: And David his ten thousands." 1 Samuel 18:6-7. And this gives us the true sense of a passage in the sixty-eighth Psalm, which has frequently been misunderstood: - "JEHOVAH gave the word, (that is, the joyful news,) The women, who published the glad tidings, were a great company; The kings of mighty armies did flee, did flee: And even the matron, who stayed at home, shared the spoil." The word signifying the publishers of glad tidings is the same, and expressed in the same form by the feminine participle, as in this place, and the last distich is the song which they sang. So in this place, JEHOVAH having given the word by his prophet, the joyful tidings of the restoration of Zion, and of God's returning to Jerusalem, (see Isaiah 52:8,) the women are exhorted by the prophet to publish the joyful news with a loud voice from eminences, whence they might best be heard all over the country; and the matter and burden of their song was to be, "Behold your God!" See on Psalms 68:11.

Ch. Isaiah 40:1-11. The PrologueThis first proclamation of glad tidings to Zion (see ch. Isaiah 41:27) is a passage of singular beauty, breathing the spirit of new-born hope and enthusiasm with which the prophet enters on his work. The announcement of a miraculous restoration of the exiles to their own land is the central theme of his prophecy, and the point around which all the ideas of the book crystallize. As yet the historical fact is but dimly outlined, the writer’s mind being occupied with its ideal significance as a revelation of the glory and the gracious character of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 40:10 f.). His state of mind borders on ecstasy; his ears are filled with the music of heavenly voices telling him that the night is far spent and the day is at hand; and although his home is with the exiles in Babylon, his gaze is fixed throughout on Jerusalem and the great Divine event which is the consummation of Israel’s redemption.—The prologue consists of two parts: i. Isaiah 40:1-2.—Proclamation of forgiveness and promise of deliverance to the exiled nation. ii. Isaiah 40:3-11. An imaginative description of the process by which the promise is to be fulfilled,—Jehovah’s return with His people to their ancient abode. This second division contains three sections:— (1) Isaiah 40:3-5. A voice is heard calling on un seen agencies to prepare a way for Jehovah through the desert. The idea expressed is that already the spiritual and supernatural forces are in motion which will bring about the return of the captives and a revelation of the Divine glory to all the world. (2) Isaiah 40:6-8. A second voice calls on the prophet to proclaim the fundamental truth on which the realisation of his hope depends,—the perishableness of all human power, and the enduring stability of the word of the Lord. (3) Isaiah 40:9-11. The prophet himself now takes up the strain; he summons a company of ideal messengers to announce to Zion and the cities of Judah the advent of Jehovah with His ransomed people.

O Zion, that bringest good tidings - This is evidently the continuance of what the ‘voice’ said, or of the annunciation which was to give joy to an afflicted and oppressed people.

9. O Zion — The English Version makes Zion the announcer of the message; in the margin, (backed by nearly all commentators,) Zion is the receiver of it. So the order is in the Hebrew, and so in the Septuagint.