The Bruised Reed (1)

I have joined in on the Puritan Paperback Challenge of 2008 instigated by Timmy Brister. I got my copy of Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed today. I’m two weeks behind already, but I was encouraged that there are only 16 chapters in the book. One a day and I should be fine.

I have not read any of Sibbes’ work before now. As one would expect, this book seems to work off of the passage in Isaiah,

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
Isaiah 42:1-3

Already, I love the language. The first sentence reads, “The prophet Isaiah, being lifted up and carried with the wing of a prophetical spirit, passes over all the time between him and the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” What great prose.

Sibbes equates those whom Christ came to save as being the bruised reeds and the “smoking flax” referenced by Isaiah. I had not made that connection, but have generally passed over that portion of the passage as a testimony to the meekness of Christ in His mission. Sibbes recognizes that as well, but pushes it further by describing the necessity of our being “bruised” before we can come to Christ.

The bruised reed is a man that for the most part is in some misery, as those were that came to Christ for help, and by misery he is brought to see sin as the cause of it, for, whatever pretences sin makes, they come to an end when we are bruised and broken.

Sibbes argues that these are those who are the “poor in spirit” referenced by Christ. According to Sibbes, this bruising also continues after conversion so that “reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks.”