Глава 12

1–6. Israel's song of praise to God for the salvation they received from Him Isa.12:1–6. The chosen remnant of Israel, returning to their homeland from captivity, will sing praises to their Savior God, and the prophet puts this very song of praise into the mouths of the future generation of the Israeli people. Isa.12:1. And you will say on that day: I praise You, O Lord; You were angry with me, but You turned away Your anger and comforted me. Isa.12:2. Behold, God is my salvation: I trust in Him and am not afraid; For the Lord is my strength, and my song is the Lord; and He was my salvation. “On that day,” that is, when the final salvation of the chosen remnant is accomplished. The words of verse 2 are very close to the expressions found in the song of praise of Moses, sung after the Jews crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 15:2). Isa.12:3. And in joy you will draw water from the fountains of salvation, "Draw water". Water is the most necessary condition for the well-being of an eastern person, who needs water especially in the summer, when it does not rain in Palestine. Therefore, the prophet, in order to indicate the future happiness that the redeemed remnant of Israel will enjoy, proclaims that Israel will have an abundance of water, and moreover, water obtained from springs that do not dry up even in summer, as often happens with the Palestinian rivers. At the same time, the prophet predicts the abundance of grace that the Messiah will give to all humanity when he comes into the world (see John 14:18). Isa.12:4. And on that day you will say: glorify the Lord, call on His name; proclaim His works among the nations; remind us that His name is great; Isa.12:5. Sing to the Lord, for He has done great things, so that they may know it throughout all the earth. Isa.12:6. Rejoice and rejoice, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst. The Jews in the days of the Messiah will invite other nations to glorify the Lord. Doesn't the prophet here point to the preaching of the apostles of Christ, who proclaimed salvation to the whole world? The prophet himself invites the inhabitants of Zion to rejoice, that is, the population of Jerusalem, who should most likely respond to the great joy that the Messiah will bring with Him. Of course, this population is also conceived by the prophet as Christian, constituting the first Church of Christ (Acts 2:44). Biblical criticism has expressed strong suspicions about the authenticity of the 12th chapter. Even such cautious scholars as Dillmann and Skinner refuse to accept Isaiah as the author of these six verses. But it seems to us that the foundations on which this denial is built are not firm enough. They say that it is unusual for Isaiah to express himself in the way the author of this song expresses himself, that the thoughts and tone of the song are reminiscent of the song of Moses and the later psalms. But what follows from this? Couldn't the prophet Isaiah have used phrases from earlier hymns? And the expressions that are found in this song again do not seem somewhat strange in the mouth of Isaiah. In conclusion, this song is a beautiful, short and powerful postscript to the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah contained in chapters 7-11. Verses 3–6 of this chapter are read as a proverb for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, because they mention “water from the springs of salvation,” and, therefore, contain a foreshadowing of that water that is sanctified by the descent of Christ the Savior into it during Baptism. You might be interested in: