Isaiah 50:9

Isa 50:9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who [is] he [that] shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

Ver. 9. Behold, the Lord God will help me.] See Isa 50:7.

Who is he that shall condemn me.] {a} If Libanius could say of his friend Basil (though of a different religion), Let but him praise me, and I care not who dispraiseth me; how much better might Christ, and may every good Christian say the same of God!

Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment.] The scribes and Pharisees (those old cankered carles) shall; for of them Jerome, Cyril, and others understand it. The Romans - according as they feared, and therefore crucified Christ {Joh 11:48} - came upon them, and took away both them and their nation.

The moth shall eat them up,] i.e., They shall be irrecoverably ruined, being once laid aside by God as an old wornout garment, which is made thereby food for moths. Thus it befell Pilate (saith Lyra here), banished by Tiberius; and thus it befell the priests, who were burned by Titus in the temple; who also added that it was fit that those which served in the temple should perish together with it.

{a} Kατα παντας εχω τα νικητηρια.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

50:9 Who will declare me guilty? The implied answer to this rhetorical question is, “No one!” This answer foreshadows the New Testament understanding of justification (see Rom 8:31-35).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(Compare "deal," or "proper," Isa 52:13, Margin; Isa 53:10; Psa 118:6; Jer 23:5).

as a garment-- (Isa 51:6, Isa 51:8; Psa 102:26). A leading constituent of wealth in the East is change of raiment, which is always liable to the inroads of the moth; hence the frequency of the image in Scripture.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(9) They all shall wax old as a garment.—An echo of Job_13:28; Psa_102:26; reproduced in Isa_51:6.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. who is he that shall condemn me?] Comp. Rom_8:33 f.

wax old (better, be worn out) as a garment; the moth &c.] Common images of gradual but inevitable destruction (cf. ch. Isa_51:6; Isa_51:8; Psa_39:11; Psa_102:26; Job_13:28 &c.).

Two striking parallels to the latter part of this discourse occur in the Book of Jeremiah. See ch. Jer_17:17 f.; “Thou art my refuge in the day of evil. Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be ashamed … bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction”: and Jer_20:7; Jer_20:11 ff.: “I am become a laughingstock all the day, every one mocketh me.…” “But the Lord is with me as a mighty one and a terrible; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be greatly ashamed” &c. Cf. also Jer_22:6-21.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold, the Lord God will help me,.... This is repeated from Isa 50:7; see Gill on Isa 50:7; to show the certainty of it, the strength of his faith in it, and to discourage his enemies:

who is he that shall condemn me? make me out a wicked person (c), prove me guilty, and pass sentence upon me, when thus acquitted and justified by the Lord God? The Apostle Paul seems to have some reference to this passage in Rom 8:33,

lo, they all shall waste old as doth a garment; his enemies, those that accused him, the Scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests; and those that condemned him, the Jewish sanhedrim, and the Roman governor:

the moth shall eat them up; they shall be like a worn out or motheaten garment, that can never be used more. The phrases denote how secret, insensible, and irrecoverable, their ruin should be, both in their civil and church state, all being abolished and done away.

(c) "quis ipse impium faciet me", Pagninus, Montanus; "impium vel praevaricatorem et iniquum faciet me", Vatablus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Lord God will help me - (See Isa 50:7). In the Hebrew this is, ‘The Lord Jehovah,’ as it is in Isa 50:7 also, and these are among the places where our translators have improperly rendered the word יהוה yehovâh (Jehovah) by the word ‘God.’

Who is he that shall condemn me? - If Yahweh is my advocate and friend, my cause must be right. Similar language is used by the apostle Paul: ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ Rom 8:31; and in Psa 118:6 :

Jehovah is on my side; I will not fear:

What can man do unto me?

They all shall wax old - All my enemies shall pass away, as a garment is worn out and cast aside. The idea is, that the Messiah would survive all their attacks; his cause, his truth and his reputation would live, while all the power, the influence, the reputation of his adversaries, would vanish as a garment that is worn out and then thrown away. The same image respecting his enemies is used again in Isa 51:8.

The moth shall eat them up - The moth is a well known insect attached particularly to woolen clothes, and which soon consumes them (see the note at Job 4:19). In eastern countries, where wealth consisted much in changes of raiment, the depredations of the moth would be particularly to be feared, and hence, it is frequently referred to in the Bible. The sense here is, that the adversaries of the Messiah would be wholly destroyed.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That shall condemn me; that dare attempt it, or can justly do it.

They all, mine accusers and enemies,

shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up: shall pine away in their iniquity, as God threatened, Lev 26:39; shall be cut off and consumed by a secret curse and judgment of God, which is compared to a

moth, Hos 5:12, whilst I shall survive and flourish, and the pleasure of God shall prosper in my hands, as is said, Isa 53:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They - Mine accusers and enemies. The moth - Shall be cut off and consumed by a secret curse.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who (is) he (that) will condemn me?” The help specifically meant is that afforded by an advocate or judge to an injured party. The potential meaning (can condemn) is included in the future (will condemn), though not directly much less exclusively expressed by it. The last clause adds to the assurance of His own safety that of the destruction of His enemies. “All they (or all of them, his adversaries, not expressly mentioned but referred to in the questions which precede) like the garment shall grow old (or be worn out), (i.e., like the garment which is worn out or decays). The moth shall devour them.” By a perfectly natural and common transition, the writer passes from comparison to metaphor, and having first transformed them into garments, says directly that the moth shall devour them, not as men, in which light he no longer views them, but as old clothes. This is a favorite comparison in Scripture to express a gradual but sure decay. (Compare Isa 51:8 and Hos 5:12) In Job 13:28; Psa 39:12, it seems to denote the effect of pining sickness.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

a moth Heb. עָשׁ, the worm of the clothing.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Behold the Lord, etc. Since God assists me, who will condemn me? And all those that condemn me by their words, they will wax old as a garment. יבלו They shall wax old. They shall perish.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.