thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy God, who pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I take out of thy hand the cup of bewilderment, the goblet-cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again
Jerusalem lies stunned in the dust. She has drunk a cup from God's own hand, and not one of her sons can lift her up. Then the God who gave her that cup speaks — now as the One who pleads the cause of His people — and He takes it away.
The cup has several names in Scripture. Older Bibles call it the "cup of trembling"; the ESV calls it the "cup of staggering."
The wine cup, the cup of trembling, the cup of His fury, the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath — these are various titles of the same cup. That cup is the symbol of divine judgments, like the bowls of Revelation 16. The cup of salvation, on the other hand, expresses the joy of the kingdom.
Why did she have to drink at all? Commentators trace her long ruin to real guilt, not to bad luck.
The city had indeed suffered for her sins, and above all for her rejection of Christ. So she drank of the cup of the fury of the LORD. No one among her own children was left to guide her. For generations her position has been one of desolation, destruction, famine and the sword. Now the prophet looks on to the day when her sorrows will be over. Then the cup of judgment will be taken from her lips. It will become the portion of those who have afflicted her and trodden her under foot.
The hand that held out the cup now takes it back. And the cup does not simply vanish — it changes hands.
Next, the Spirit of God calls Jerusalem to arise and stand up. He gives a vivid description of her reeling under Jehovah's judgment, with not one of her sons to guide or help. He describes too how He takes the cup out of her hand — not here to drink it Himself, but to put it into the hands of their oppressors.
The promise is not that the suffering was light, but that it had an end fixed by God. Writing on Lamentations, one commentator puts the two halves together — the full draining and the final "never again."
The cup of God's wrath will pass on to Edom, who was rejoicing in the ruin of the city of Jehovah. As to Zion, she has doubtless drunk this cup to the dregs; but if she has done so, it was in order that she might drink of it no more. The punishment of her iniquity is accomplished.
One writer gathered passages like this one to show that Israel's ruin has a set end.
Many of these passages, like those already considered, predict the transfer of these calamities to their enemies… Whatever period the fulfilment of this prophecy may belong to, the prophecy itself clearly shows that there is a defined limit beyond which Jerusalem's desolations are not to continue.
Commentators see the same picture at the cross. There the cup changed hands again.
The Prince of Life took the cup of wrath — the cup of trembling — from Jehovah's righteous hand, and drained it to the dregs. He did this so that He might put into the hands of His people the cup of salvation, the cup of God's indescribable love. They could then drink, and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.
Commentators differ over the timing. Some tie the words to Jerusalem's past sufferings. Some tie them to the first coming of Christ. Others look to a remnant still ahead.
It is no wonder that interpreters are much divided. Some apply these appeals and answers of increasing earnestness to the past history of the Jews; others apply them to the time of Christ's first coming. Neither view matches the language of the Holy Spirit at all. He is in fact looking forward to the gradual progress of Jehovah's dealings with the future remnant, and to His work in their souls as they rise from their degradation or grasp their calling.
- Cup — staggering, fury, wrath — many names for one cup, the picture of God's judgment. Its opposite is the cup of salvation, the joy of His kingdom.
- Cause — Jerusalem drank for her sins, and above all for her rejection of Christ. Desolation, famine and sword were the contents of the cup.
- Limit — she drained it to the dregs so that she would never drink it again. God fixed a limit to her desolations.
- Transfer — God does not empty the cup here. He moves it from the afflicted city to the hands of those who afflicted her.
- Exchange — at the cross Christ drained the cup of wrath, and put the cup of salvation into His people's hands instead.
and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.
Isaiah 51 ends with Jerusalem staggering like a drunk woman, drained by a cup God Himself gave her. In the last verse He hands that cup to the tormentors who walked over her back, which raises two questions: who set the limit to her suffering, and on what ground can the God who poured the cup take it away?
The chapter has already called on the arm of the Lord to wake up. Then the summons turns around and lands on Zion.
The Spirit turns to Zion. "Awake! awake!" had been said to the arm of the Lord; now the same call is made to Zion herself, crushed and trampled underfoot by strangers. It is as if to say that Zion was the one who needed to wake up, not the Lord, for the salvation was already there. The cup will now be given to those who afflicted her.
The same cup appears under several names, and it has an opposite.
The wine cup, the cup of trembling, the cup of His fury, the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath — these are all names for the same cup. That cup is the symbol of God's judgments, like the bowls of Revelation 16. The cup of salvation, on the other hand, stands for the joy of the kingdom.
Her enemies trampled her, but the cup came from a higher hand. The same hand lifts it away.
Next, the Spirit of God calls Jerusalem to get up and stand. There is a vivid picture of her staggering under the Lord's judgment, with not one of her sons to guide or help her. Then He takes the cup out of her hand — not here to drink it Himself, but to put it into the hands of their oppressors.
God turns her treatment back on those who dealt it out. And more than the sword had struck her.
So first, in the closing verses of Isaiah 51, we are told what these disciplinary dealings did to Israel. Then comes the declaration that God will reverse the process and punish those who inflicted judgment on Israel. But they will have suffered not only the sword of their enemies; there is also famine, which comes from the hand of God. Under the affliction they are pictured as drunk, but the words are added, "not with wine."
This verse sits among many Old Testament promises that limit Israel's troubles and turn them back on her enemies.
Let me set before my readers many passages from the Old Testament which plainly declare that God has put limits on how long Israel's troubles will last. Many of them, like those already considered, predict that these troubles will be passed on to Israel's enemies… These are only a few out of many passages that testify to two points. First, Israel's overthrow and rejection are limited in how long they last. Second, when Israel stops suffering the blows of God's wrath, those blows will fall on the very people who have been the rod in His hand to discipline His people Israel.
Once the cup leaves her hand, the city that staggered becomes the thing that makes others stagger.
God will take the cup of trembling out of Jerusalem's hands and place it in the hands of those who afflict her (Isaiah 51:22-23). She herself will become a cup of trembling to all the nations around her (Zechariah 12). The destruction of His people's enemies will make His fame known, and the glory of the God of Israel, to the nations that are spared. They will then bow before the royal rule of His Christ.
Why does the wrath end at all? One writer traces the answer to Christ.
The wrath will not stay on them, because Christ has drunk the true cup of it. But they must come to understand that wrath as people under the law, because they had been under the law.
- The cup is God's. The wine cup, the cup of trembling and the cup of His fury are names for one thing: the symbol of God's judgments. Its opposite is the cup of salvation.
- The cup was handed to her. Her enemies trampled her, but the Lord gave her the drink. So the Lord is the one who can take it out of her hand.
- The cup changes hands. God reverses the process and punishes those who inflicted judgment on Israel. The city that staggered becomes a cup of trembling to the nations around her.
- The cup has an end. God has set a limit beyond which Jerusalem's ruin will not continue. Her troubles then fall on the oppressors who were the rod in His hand.
- The cup was drained by Another. The wrath does not come back on her, because Christ drank the true cup of it. And the city, not the Lord, is the one told to wake up — the salvation was already there.