For he shall grow up before him as a tender
plant
Which springs out of the earth without notice; low in its
beginning, slow in its growth, liable to be crushed with the
foot, or destroyed with the frost, and no great probability of
its coming to any perfection; or rather as a little "sucker", as
the word F2 signifies, which grows out of the
root of a tree, at some little distance from it, of which no
notice or care is taken, nor anything hoped for from it; and the
figure denotes the mean and unpromising appearance of Christ at
his incarnation; which is the reason given why the Jews in
general disbelieved, rejected, and despised him; for this phrase
of "growing up" does not design his exaltation, or rising up from
a low to a high estate; but his mean entrance into the world,
like that of the springing up of a low and insignificant plant or
shrub out of the earth: and the phrase "before him" is to be
understood either of God the Father, by whom he was taken notice
of, though not by men; and in whose sight he was precious, though
despised by men; or his growing up, and the manner of it, or his
mean appearance, were all before the Lord, and according to his
will: or else it may be understood of Christ himself, and be
rendered "before himself", who was meek and lowly, and was mean
and low in his own eyes; or rather it may be interpreted of the
unbelieving Jew, of any or everyone of them that did not believe
the report concerning him: because before him, in the sight of
everyone of them, he sprung up in the manner described; unless it
can be thought that it would be better rendered "to his face"
F3; or "to his appearance"; that is, as
to his outward appearance, in the external view of him, so he
grew up: and as a root out of a dry ground;
or rather, "as a branch from a root out of a dry ground";
agreeably to ( Isaiah 11:1 ) , meaning
not so much the land of Judea, where he was born; or the country
of Galilee, where he was brought up; as the family of David, from
whence he sprung, which was reduced to a very low condition when
he was born of it; his supposed father being a carpenter, and his
real mother a poor virgin in Nazareth, though both of the lineage
and house of David; from this passage the ancient Jews
F4 are said to conclude that the
Messiah would be born without a father, or the seed of man:
he hath no form nor comeliness;
like a poor plant or shrub just crept out of the ground, in a dry
and barren soil, ready to wither away as soon as up; has no
strength nor straightness, of body; without verdure, leaves,
blossom, and fruit things which make plants comely and beautiful.
This regards not the countenance of Christ, which probably was
comely, as were his types Moses and David; since he is said to be
"fairer than the children of men"; and since his human nature was
the immediate produce of the Holy Ghost, and without sin: but his
outward circumstances; there was no majesty in him, or signs of
it; it did not look probable that he would be a tall cedar, or a
prince in Israel, much less the Prince Messiah; he was born of
mean parents; brought up in a contemptible part of the country;
lived in a town out of which no good is said to come; dwelt in a
mean cottage, and worked at a trade: and when we shall see
him:
as he grows up, and comes into public life and service, declaring
himself, or declared by others, to be the Messiah: here the
prophet represents the Jews that would live in Christ's time, who
would see his person, hear his doctrines, and be witnesses of his
miracles, and yet say, there is no beauty, that we should
desire him;
or "sightliness" F5 in him; nothing that looks grand and
majestic, or like a king; they not beholding with an eye of faith
his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; only
viewing him in his outward circumstances, and so made their
estimate of him; they expected the Messiah as a temporal prince,
appearing in great pomp and state, to deliver them from the Roman
yoke, and restore their nation to its former splendour and glory;
and being disappointed herein was the true reason of their
unbelief, before complained of, and why they did not desire him,
who is the desire of all nations.