Verse 4
4. Messiah, as "the servant of Jehovah" (Isaiah 42:1), declares that the office has been assigned to Him of encouraging the "weary" exiles of Israel by "words in season" suited to their case; and that, whatever suffering it is to cost Himself, He does not shrink from it (Isaiah 50:5; Isaiah 50:6), for that He knows His cause will triumph at last (Isaiah 50:7; Isaiah 50:8).
learned—not in mere human learning, but in divinely taught modes of instruction and eloquence (Isaiah 49:2; Exodus 4:11; Matthew 7:28; Matthew 7:29; Matthew 13:54).
speak a word in season— (Proverbs 15:23; Proverbs 25:11). Literally, "to succor by words," namely, in their season of need, the "weary" dispersed ones of Israel (Proverbs 25:11- :). Also, the spiritual "weary" (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 11:28).
wakeneth morning by morning, c.—Compare "daily rising up early" (Jeremiah 7:25 Mark 1:35). The image is drawn from a master wakening his pupils early for instruction.
wakeneth . . . ear—prepares me for receiving His divine instructions.
as the learned—as one taught by Him. He "learned obedience," experimentally, "by the things which He suffered"; thus gaining that practical learning which adapted Him for "speaking a word in season" to suffering men (Mark 1:35- :).
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