that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying,
The Pharisees had just met to plan Jesus' death. He answered by withdrawing, healing the crowds, and telling them to keep quiet — and Matthew says this quiet retreat is what Isaiah had written about.
Why does Matthew mark a retreat as prophecy fulfilled? The withdrawal was not fear.
Jesus, knowing their purpose, withdrew from the area. This was not from fear. But He would not rally public support in His favour against this evil. He healed everyone who came to Him for healing. This was clear evidence that He was the Messiah of Israel. Yet He told them not to make it known, for it was not the time of His great public showing. Instead, in lowly grace He was fulfilling Isaiah 42:1-3. He took the place of God's Servant rather than that of the Messiah. He was the one chosen Servant, beloved of God, in whom God found pure delight, and on whom God had put His Spirit. These are precious words to say about a servant. A servant's place is one of relative obscurity and of little outward importance in the eyes of men. But God's approval is the vital matter.
This is not the only place where Matthew stops to point at a prophecy coming true.
Any careful reader of Scripture must be struck by how often the phrase "That the Scriptures might be fulfilled" occurs in Matthew's Gospel — far more often than in any of the other Gospels. You often get "As it is written" in each Gospel. But Matthew goes further. Twelve times he says, "That the Scriptures might be fulfilled" (see Matt. 1:22, Matt. 2:15, 17, 23, Matt. 8:17, Matt. 12:17, Matt. 13:35, Matt. 21:4, Matt. 26:54, Matt. 27:9, 35).
Matthew names Isaiah as the speaker, and this settles both who wrote the words and who they describe.
Isaiah 42:1-4 confirms the truth and exposes the shallow thinking of the sceptics. The passage certainly applies to the Messiah. To deny that, we would have to despise the inspiration of the New Testament as well, and count sceptics more reliable than Matthew (Matt. 12:17-21), who also vouches for Isaiah as the prophet. It is Jehovah's Servant above all others, beyond any comparison. This passage is not about Cyrus, and not about Israel — though Isaiah 41:8 calls Israel His servant. It is about Christ. He alone is the one God gives (Isa. 42:6) "for a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles." It is not an ideal figure, but the real Messiah.
Isaiah's prophecy speaks of a bruised reed and smoking flax. One writer applies both images to the men plotting Jesus' death.
The prophecy is quoted in Matthew 12:14-21 as showing the lowliness and forbearance of His coming in grace. The Pharisees were indeed as unreliable and worthless as a bruised reed, and as objectionable as smoking flax, yet He neither broke nor quenched them. He was not an agitator, inflaming the crowd. The powers against Him were enough to discourage any servant of God and make him fail. Yet He carried on His service to the end. He brought forth judgment according to truth by His sacrificial death and resurrection. But we must wait for His second coming to see judgment set up openly in the earth, when even the most distant island will wait for His law.
The quotation is not only Matthew's explanation for readers. These words first brought comfort to Jesus Himself.
He knew the Scriptures. He had come to fulfil the prophecies about His sufferings. His constant desire was to do the will of Him who sent Him, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. What comfort and encouragement these words must have brought Him — words His own Spirit had revealed to Isaiah. The rejection of Him by His own was near. They were turning away from Him and accusing Him. But He knew Himself as the chosen One, the Beloved, His Father's love and delight resting on Him. So He could be calm, even surrounded by enemies with their wicked accusations and persecutions. His trust rested perfectly in the One whose Beloved He was, well pleasing to Him.
The prophecy Matthew picks also points ahead to a change in who receives God's blessing.
But the quotation twice mentions Gentiles: "He shall show judgment to the Gentiles," and "in His name shall the Gentiles trust." This shows clearly the great change that was about to take place. Israel is not even mentioned. In Matthew 12 she stands out more and more openly in smoking antagonism against this blessed Servant of God. She is to be set aside, while God favours the Gentiles with the blessings Israel might have had, but refused.
- Rejection. The Pharisees met to kill Him. He withdrew instead of rallying the crowds to His side.
- Servant. In that withdrawal He took the place of God's Servant and not the place of a Messiah on display — unimportant to men, delighted in by God.
- Silence. The bruised reed and smoking flax He refused to break or quench were His own accusers.
- Steadiness. Isaiah's words named Him chosen and beloved. Knowing that, He stayed calm under attack.
- Nations. The prophecy Matthew chose names Gentiles twice and Israel not once — His name became the hope of the nations.
Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew forth judgment to the nations.
The religious leaders have just decided to destroy Jesus, and He answers by withdrawing and telling the healed crowds not to make Him known. Matthew explains that silence with Isaiah's words about God's chosen Servant: the King takes a servant's place, God delights in Him while men reject Him, and the nations come into view.
Jesus turns away from public fame here. The quotation names the place He takes instead.
Jesus knew what they planned and withdrew from the area. He was not afraid. He simply would not gather public support on His side against this evil... He healed all who came to Him for healing. This was clear evidence that He was the Messiah of Israel. Yet He told them not to make it known, for the time of His great public appearing had not come. Instead, in lowly grace He was fulfilling Isaiah 42:1-3. He took the place of God's Servant rather than that of the Messiah — but the one chosen Servant, loved by God, in whom God found pure delight, and on whom God had put His Spirit. These are precious words to say of a servant. A servant's place is a lowly one, of little outward importance in the eyes of men. But God's approval is what matters.
The opening word tells us to look at one particular Person. (The writers quoted here use an older translation, which says "judgment" where the ESV says "justice.")
Here we get the word "Behold" in another sense... "Look upon my servant" is the force here, the only perfect servant... Judgment here is grace that makes distinctions.
Commentators differ over what that judgment means. One calls it grace; another calls it everything set absolutely right:
In the fulness of that Spirit He is going to show judgment to the nations. Judgment is here the absolute right of things.
Matthew's wording is not the same as Isaiah's. The extra word ties this Servant to what the Father said at Jesus' baptism.
Matthew 12:18 quotes the first verse of Isaiah 42. It fulfils what had been written about Messiah so long before. It is easy to see why the Spirit of God adds in Matthew the words "My beloved." The Father had already called Him that, and drew the attention of others to it, when He came up out of the water at His baptism (Matt. 3:16-17). Only the beloved Son of God could do the great work needed to make God known... How infinite the love, how lowly the mind, how unspeakable the grace, that made the blessed Son of God become a Servant, for the pleasure of the Father and the eternal blessing of His creatures.
God's pleasure in Him looks back as well as forward, and God delights in Him in two distinct ways.
The verb in the original does not only mean "I am now well pleased." It also means "I was well pleased." From everlasting, the Father found His delight in His beloved Son. Elsewhere we read that Jehovah's soul delights in His beloved Servant (Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18). The first is delight in what He is Himself; the second is delight in what He is as Mediator.
The promised Spirit marks both how the Servant works and how sure His work is.
God's Servant showed nothing of independence. He obeyed God in everything. All that He did, He did by the Holy Spirit with which God anointed Him. God said, "I have put my Spirit upon Him." This was His seal, claiming Him for His service. It was also the mark of the deep pleasure He had in Him. And it expressed His confidence that the Servant would finish in full the work He had entrusted to Him.
The last clause widens the horizon past Israel — and one name is missing from the whole quotation.
But the quotation twice mentions Gentiles: "He shall show judgment to the Gentiles," and "in His name shall the Gentiles trust." What a clear sign this is of the great change in God's dealings that was about to take place. Israel is not even mentioned. In Matthew 12 she shows more and more of her smouldering hostility against this blessed Servant of God. She is to be set aside, while the Gentiles receive the blessings Israel might have had, but refused.
- Chosen — men plot to kill Him, and He steps into the Servant's lowly place. Men reject Him; God approves Him. That approval is what matters.
- Beheld — the verse opens by telling us to look at Him, the one perfect Servant.
- Beloved — Matthew adds a word Isaiah did not write, tying this Servant to the Son the Father owned at His baptism. God delights in Him both as Son and as Mediator, and that delight reaches back to everlasting.
- Empowered — the Spirit on Him is God's seal and the mark of His pleasure. It is God's guarantee that the Servant will finish the work.
- Extended — the promise ends outside Israel. Judgment goes to the nations, named twice here, while hostile Israel is not named at all.
He shall not strive or cry out, nor shall any one hear his voice in the streets;
Matthew quotes these words of Isaiah while men were bent on killing Jesus. Instead of a defence, we get a picture of quietness — and a question: why did the One with all power refuse to raise His voice in His own cause?
The setting is not peace but conspiracy. Jesus heals a man in the synagogue, the Pharisees take counsel to destroy Him, and He responds by moving away and healing the crowds who follow, telling them not to make Him known.
The hour would come when He would bring judgment to victory. Meanwhile He kept the place of complete lowliness, where grace and truth could commend themselves to those who valued and needed them. But while He showed this grace and bore witness to the truth, He would do nothing to act against that character. He would not draw people's attention in a way that would block His true work. He would not even let anyone suspect that He was seeking His own honour.
"Quarrel," "cry aloud," and a voice "in the streets" are the language of public campaigning. One writer starts from what a servant's place is like, then draws out what each phrase rules out.
A servant's place is one of relative obscurity and of little outward importance in the eyes of men; but God's approval is the vital matter… "He will not quarrel or cry aloud" — that is, He started no public movement for reform, and in no way advertised Himself. He was no opportunist. He did not use the large crowds to raise Himself up as the champion of some cause. Hearing His voice in the streets means His voice raised in public protest against wrongs, real or imagined. That has been a popular political tactic through history, and no less today. He avoided every such thing.
His silence was not weakness. He had the power to hold His ground, and one writer turns that into a word for everyone who serves Him.
He was Lord of all. True, He had become a servant, He had taken human form and become a man; yet He was Lord of all. If anyone could have used His power to hold His ground in acts and works of mercy, it was Jesus Christ… But you never find that, dear friends. He always withdrew. He never strove. May God help us to learn a lesson from that. May God, in His infinite grace, help us take in that blessed word: "The Lord's servant must not strive."
The Spirit pictured the same quietness when He came down on Jesus. Yet Jesus did not give His disciples that quietness as their rule for preaching.
The visible form the Holy Spirit takes matches this work. When He came down on Christ, the Spirit was like a dove. That was a symbol of the meekness and sweet calm of Him of whom it was written, "He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets"… But to the disciples He said, "What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops."
The prophecy runs on to "judgment to victory," so the quiet is a stage, not a permanent policy. One writer points to His return as the moment it ends.
Yet He, whose glory was beyond all rivals, showed it first in perfect, quiet lowliness. Even far-reaching power in testimony was not what marked Him then. What marked Him was meek withdrawal. He withdrew from murderous hatred, and also from the crowds that followed Him and from the praise of those He healed, who would have spread His fame… Here that state of things ends with the victory of His second coming.
His silence was not defeat. Accepting rejection made room for blessing to reach beyond His own people.
His people refused their Messiah, and so these words came true: "He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets" (Isa. 42:2; Matt. 12:19). The Lord accepted His rejection in meekness, though with deepest sorrow. He knew this would open the door to a greater service — bringing heavenly blessing to a people destined to be with Him in heaven.
- Plot — Faced with murderous hatred, He withdrew, kept on healing, and refused to advertise Himself.
- Restraint — No public movement, no self-promotion, no protest shouted in the street. He avoided all of it.
- Choice — He was Lord of all and could have used His power. He never did, and His servants get the same word: do not strive.
- Reach — He accepted rejection in silence. That opened the door to a greater service: heavenly blessing for a people who will be with Him.
- Victory — The lowliness is for now. It ends at His return, when He brings judgment to victory.
a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory;
Just before this, the Pharisees met to plot Jesus' death. He withdrew from them and went on healing people. Matthew then quotes Isaiah 42. Verse 20 is its heart. It shows how God's chosen Servant treats what is bruised and barely burning. Then comes the word "until", which sets a limit on that patience.
The words land just as the plot against Jesus begins. One writer asks what they meant to the One they describe:
He knew the Scriptures. He had come to fulfil the prophecies about His sufferings, and His constant desire was to do the will of Him who sent Him. What comfort and encouragement must have come to Him through these words, which His own Spirit had revealed to Isaiah! His rejection by His own was close. They were turning away from Him and accusing Him, but He knew Himself as the chosen One, the Beloved, His Father's love and delight resting on Him. So in the middle of enemies with their wicked accusations and persecutions He could be calm.
A reed is fragile; a bruised one is finished. A smoldering wick has no flame left — only a thread of smoke. Older translations read "smoking flax" and "judgment unto victory", and the writers quoted here use that older wording. Asked what the two pictures stand for, one writer points first to the faithful few in Israel:
The connection in Matthew seems to show that it refers first of all to the remnant. The same may be said of the passage in Isaiah 42:3, from which the quotation is taken. Israel as a nation has turned from God, but a remnant, in weakness and brokenness, is waiting on Him. The nation should have been God's faithful servant, but was not. Then His own Servant, Christ, came and fulfilled His will perfectly. He does not despise the lowly. So in Matthew we see Him healing the helpless, while the leaders of the nation look on with contempt. He, blessed be His name, does not despise the afflicted, nor quench the feeblest flame of faith — even if it is only smoke. Of course there is a sweet and precious application to the individual also.
Commentators differ here. Others see the reed and the flax as His enemies — the men plotting His death, whom He left unbroken:
Matthew 12:14-21 quotes the prophecy to show the lowliness and patience of His coming in grace. The Pharisees were indeed as unreliable and worthless as a bruised reed, and as offensive as smoking flax, yet He neither broke nor quenched them. The powers ranged against Him were enough to discourage any servant of God and make him give up. Yet He carried His service through to the end.
The verse is often quoted as pure comfort and stopped halfway. One reading warns against dropping the last clause:
But verse 20 is often misunderstood. A bruised reed is very weak, and smoking flax easily quenched. "Until" — He is going to do it in judgment by and by. What people mean when they quote it is all right: He is tender and gentle to any poor thing. But He is going to deal with man in judgment... So His grace comes out here, but it will not always be grace. He will not always be so gentle. Smoking flax speaks of something fit for judgment; we usually put it out — He left it alone.
His restraint is not weakness. It is a pause with a settled end. One writer applies both pictures to Israel — a nation that should have shone and only smoked, spared for what God will still do with it:
Israel was a bruised reed, but He would not break it. His earthly people ought to have been a flaming torch in testimony for God. Instead they had become a smoking flax. It gave no light to the nations around; it clouded them. Yet He would not quench Israel. The time of judgment would come. But there would always be a remnant, until the nation stood upright as a witness for God — a bright light for Him in the world to come. Then God would send forth "judgment unto victory" through Messiah.
Another writer sets out when that victory comes:
He brought forth judgment according to truth by His sacrificial death and resurrection. But we must wait for His second coming to see judgment set up in public on the earth.
The Servant's way does not stop with Him. One writer traces it into the lives of those who follow Him:
The bruised reed He did not break. The weakest thing He took tenderly in His hands. The smoking flax He did not quench... He in us will reproduce that very same characteristic in our lives here on earth.
- Setting — Matthew quotes these words the moment men decide to kill Him. He withdraws instead of striking back, calm because He knows He is the chosen and Beloved.
- Weakness — a bruised reed and a smoldering wick are the feeblest things imaginable. One reading sees in them the faithful few, whose faith is down to smoke, and He never despises them.
- Restraint — another reading sees His enemies in the two pictures. They were worthless and offensive. He broke and quenched neither.
- Limit — "until" matters. His gentleness now is a season, not a permanent policy. What is fit for judgment will one day meet it.
- Victory — the judgment He brings ends in triumph. He won it by His death and resurrection, and will display it at His return, with Israel restored as a light for God.
and on his name shall [the] nations hope.
Matthew ends a long quotation from Isaiah 42 at a strange moment: the leaders have turned against Jesus, and He has withdrawn. Here the Spirit looks past Israel and names the Gentiles — the nations outside Israel — as those who will hope in Him.
Matthew chose this quotation with care. What it says — and what it leaves out — signals a turn in God's dealings.
But the quotation mentions the Gentiles twice: "He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles," and "in His name the Gentiles will hope." This shows how great a change in God's dealings was about to take place. Israel is not even mentioned. In Matthew 12 she shows more and more of a smouldering hostility against this blessed Servant of God. God is going to set her aside and give the Gentiles the blessings Israel could have had, but refused.
The last word of the verse looks forward. Paul uses the same word in Romans 15:12.
"In His name the Gentiles will hope" (v. 21). It is the same word as in Romans 15:12. Hope is for something that has not yet come, but it is not uncertain. God can speak, and does speak, of things that do not yet exist as though they already do.
The Name the nations will hope in belongs to a Servant in lowliness. He healed the crowds and told them not to make Him known.
Jesus withdraws from them, and great crowds follow Him. He heals them, telling them not to make Him known… The hour would come when He would bring justice to victory. Until then He kept the place of complete lowliness. In that place grace and truth could commend themselves to those who valued them and needed them… Still, the Spirit of Jehovah was on Him as His beloved, in whom His soul delighted. He would declare justice to the Gentiles, and they would put their trust in His name.
Commentators differ on how much of this verse is present and how much is future. One writer puts the full weight in the coming reign, and also points to a fulfilment now.
The time of judgment would come. But there would always be a remnant, until the nation stands upright as a witness for God, a bright light for Him in the world to come. Then God will bring "justice to victory" through the Messiah. In that day, "in His name the Gentiles will hope." But as the Apostle Paul shows in Romans 15:12, God is fulfilling this Scripture now in the Gentiles who have believed the gospel of their salvation.
Another writer sets Matthew's wording beside Isaiah's own, and then points back to the place Christ took.
Isaiah 42:4 speaks of the coastlands waiting for His law. Matthew gives this as "in His name the Gentiles will hope." The prophet points more directly to the blessing of the nations in the coming thousand-year reign. The Spirit uses the words for the principle on which the nations will be blessed then, and on which they are blessed now, before that day… We must not lose sight of why Matthew quotes the passage: the lowly place Christ took, coming in grace and humiliation, before the day when His voice would be raised in judgment. In that place we see what He was to the heart of God, and the glory and blessing God has purposed in Him — the One whom the leaders of the nation were planning how to destroy.
Three chapters later, Matthew shows this promise meeting a real person. A woman from outside Israel begs help for her daughter. Jesus tells her she has no claim on the blessing that belongs to Israel.
"Quite so," she replied, "but dogs get crumbs from their masters' tables." She meant: "I know I have no claim to the blessing that belongs to Israel. But my daughter and I are needy. I make a claim on Your mercy" (see Matthew 12:21 and Romans 15:9). Such an appeal could not be refused. The Lord answered her great faith by healing her daughter.
- Rejection — Matthew quotes this line just as the leaders turn against Jesus. The prophecy he chooses never mentions Israel.
- Retirement — The Name the nations will hope in belongs to a Servant who withdrew, healed the crowds, and told them not to make Him known.
- Reach — What Israel refused, the nations receive. Paul uses the same promise in Romans 15:12 for Gentiles who believe the gospel.
- Mercy — Outsiders come with no claim at all, only an appeal to mercy — and such an appeal is not refused.
- Hope — The word is "hope": something that has not yet come, yet God speaks of it as certain.