Isaiah 52 – 53
I think I know what Isaiah means when he speaks of a tender plant. He is talking about those plants that grow from locations of weakness, like growing from beneath a rock. The plants tend to become strong if they can get established and get roots and sunlight but if you see them before that happens they are tender and ungainly. They have no form nor comeliness and there is no beauty in them that would make them desirable but that is because they grow in such inhospitable conditions—just as the savior did (speaking of the conditions of their nation and society)—not because they are not good plants. Afterwards they tend to be ungainly and woody but very hardy.
This chapter is so much more beautiful with that understanding.
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