Isaiah 63:8

So he was their Savior. In all their affliction "And he became their Savior in all their distress" - I have followed the translation of the Septuagint in the latter part of the eighth, and the former part of the ninth verse; which agrees with the present text, a little differently divided as to thee members of the sentence. They read מכל miccol, out of all, instead of בכל bechol, in all, which makes no difference in the sense; and צר tsar they understand as ציר tsir. Και εγενετο αυτοις εις σωτηριαν εκ πασης θλιψεως αυτων· ου πρεσβυς, ουδε αγγελος·. "And he was salvation to them in all their tribulation; neither an ambassador nor an angel, but himself saved them." An angel of his presence means an angel of superior order, in immediate attendance upon God. So the angel of the Lord says to Zacharias, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God," Luke 1:19. The presence of Jehovah, Exodus 33:14, Exodus 33:15, and the angel, Exodus 33:20, Exodus 33:21, is Jehovah himself; here an angel of his presence is opposed to Jehovah himself, as an angel is in the following passages of the same book of Exodus. After their idolatrous worshipping of the golden calf, "when God had said to Moses, I will send an angel before thee - I will not go up in the midst of thee - the people mourned," Exodus 33:2-4. God afterwards comforts Moses, by saying, "My presence (that is I myself in person, and not by an angel) will go with thee," Exodus 33:14. Αυτος προπορευσομαι σου, "I myself will go before thee, "as the Septuagint render it.

The MSS. and editions are much divided between the two readings of the text and margin in the common copies, לא lo, not, and לו lo, to him. All the ancient Versions express the chetib reading, לא lo, not.

"And he bare then and carried them all the days of old

And he took them up, and he bore them, all the days of old"

- See the note on Isaiah 46:3 (note). - L.

For he said - Yahweh had said. That is, he said this when he chose them as his unique people, and entered into solemn covenant with them.

Surely they are my people - The reference here is to the fact that he entered into covenant with them to be their God.

Children that will not lie - That will not prove false to me - indicating the reasonable expectation which Yahweh might have, when he chose them, that they would be faithful to him.

So he was their Saviour - Lowth renders this, 'And he became their Saviour in all their distress;' connecting this with the first member of the following verse, and translating that, 'it was not an envoy, nor an angel of his presence that saved them.' So the Septuagint renders it, 'And he was to them for salvation εἰς σωτηρίαν eis sōtērian) from all their affliction.' The Chaldee render it, 'And his word was redemption (פריק pâriyq) unto them.' But the true idea probably is, that he chose them, and in virtue of his thus choosing them he became their deliverer.

63:8 He said - When he made a covenant with our fathers, and brought them out of Egypt. Not lie - That will keep my covenant. So he - Not Cyrus, Zerubbabel, or Nehemiah, but Christ himself.