Isaiah 63 · a question people ask
Who is this who comes from Edom?
The chapter asks the question and doesn't answer it with a name. A voice asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" (63:1), and the one who comes answers only, "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save" (63:1). The chapter doesn't say who asks, either. Chapter 59 shares some of this chapter's Hebrew words. 63:5 has four words that stand together only there and in 59:16, the words the WEB gives in 63:5 as wondered, arm, brought salvation and uphold, and the chapter on Isaiah 59 sets those two verses side by side. Garments in 63:1, 63:2 and 63:3 is beged, and 63:4's vengeance is naqam, and 59:17 has the two together: "He put on garments of vengeance for clothing" (Isaiah 59:17). These are shared words only, and these notes don't use them to put a name to the one who comes from Edom. Revelation tells of a rider whose garment is sprinkled with blood and who treads the wine press (Revelation 19:13, 19:15); this chapter's line to Jesus gives the two ways Christians read that, and these notes add no other and pick neither. The chapter names Edom and Bozrah as the text has them, and these notes apply none of it to any people, nation or land today.
The verses
“Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.””
“I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me.”
“Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? “I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.”
“He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.”