“A bruised reed shall He not break, and
smoking flax shall He not quench, till He
send forth judgment unto victory. And in
His name shall the Gentiles trust.”
I call attention to the above passage, believing that however well the commonly received interpretation of it may comport with the true idea of the grace of the Lord, it is a false interpretation, both as to the persons it refers to, and also to their condition.
The popular thought is that the bruised reed is a figure of a person broken and contrite in heart, and that the smoking flax is a soul in which the fire of divine life is newly kindled, or at least one in which grace is operating, though as yet but feebly and dimly; and that the Lord will not break the one, nor quench the other. This fails as an interpretation, because the Lord is to do both when the proper time arrives—the words are “till He send forth judgment unto victory.” But will He ever break the broken heart? No, He was sent to bind it up (Isa. 61:11The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (Isaiah 61:1)). Will He ever quench the operations of His own grace? We need not answer the question.
The reed is used in Scripture as an emblem of weakness, and in several places for a nation: “The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and He shall root up Israel out of this good land,” 1 Kings 14:1515For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. (1 Kings 14:15); “Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt,” 2 Kings 18:2121Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. (2 Kings 18:21); “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 29:66And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 29:6). A reed was, moreover, put into the right hand of the blessed One in derision of His claim to sway the scepter of the kingdom.
But neither the “bruised reed” nor the “smoking flax” do I look upon as expressing a good or desirable condition which the Lord was to cherish, but a bad condition which He must certainly judge, though not until a certain time.
The bruised reed expresses, I believe, the external condition of the Jewish nation, as under the Gentile yoke, but not yet given up to the unrestrained will of their enemies under the full weight of the judgment of God. This is the condition they were in when the Lord was upon earth, and they should have felt and owned it.
The smoking flax is an emblem of the internal or moral condition of the Jews, full of that envy and hatred to the Lord which betrays itself so early and so constantly, which led to His crucifixion, and which is still leading onward to the reception of the antichrist, under whose hand as the instrument of God, the bruised reed will be emphatically broken, and the smoking flax quenched; that is, the Lord will visit His judgment upon the full-blown enmity of His people. But in the midst of judgment He will remember mercy, for He shall save them from utter destruction, making them willing in the day of His power, and leading them to say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” So the judgment shall end in victory, “and in His name shall the Gentiles trust.”
In Isaiah 7:44And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. (Isaiah 7:4) Rezin and the son of Remaliah are called, because of their “fierce anger,” “smoking firebrands.” Then in verse 8 it is said that “in threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.” These passages are suggestive of the view here taken. In Luke 12:49-5049I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? 50But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! (Luke 12:49‑50) the Lord said, “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” There were many tokens of this kindling of their hatred toward Him, and Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42— “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets” —as illustrative of His charging them to not make Him known. This is in connection with His withdrawing Himself from them when He knew that the “Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him.” (All this in the very chapter 12 of Matthew from which our subject is taken.) Here was a tuft of the smoking flax; but the time of its judgment and quenching had not yet come. It must smolder and increase till it should compass His death—that baptism by which the floodgates of divine love should be opened, and He who was the expression of that love being glorified, should be the unfettered Dispenser of eternal life to as many as the Father has given to Him.