Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 41:8
But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
8 10. Israel is bidden “Fear not,” because of its peculiar relation to Jehovah.
But thou, Israel ] In opposition to the other peoples ( Isa 41:1). Omit “art” with R.V.
my servant ] Cf. Jer 30:10 f., Jer 46:27 f.; Eze 28:25; Eze 37:25, the only older passages (if those in Jeremiah be really older) where the name is applied to Israel. The title is used in its simplest and widest sense, being applied to the nation as a whole, although of course in its ideal aspect, as it exists in the mind of Jehovah. The idea, however, is already a complex one, although the writer does not as yet analyse it into its different elements. (See Introduction, p. xxxi.) The one fact emphasized in this passage is the irrevocable choice or election of God, by which Israel was from its origin in Abraham constituted His servant. Cf. ch. Isa 43:10, Isa 44:1 f., Isa 49:7.
seed of Abraham my friend ] (cf. 2Ch 20:7) lit. “my lover”: but as Duhm remarks Heb. has no single word to express the reciprocal relation of friendship as distinct from companionship. Cf. Jas 2:23, . So among the Mohammedans, Abraham is designated chall ullah, “Friend of God.” Note that Abraham is called “my servant” in Gen 26:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But thou, Israel, art my servant – This is an address directly to the Jews, and is designed to show them, in view of the truths which had just been urged, that God was their protector and friend. Those who relied on idols were trusting to that which could not aid them. But those who trusted in him were safe. For their protection he had raised up Cyrus, for this purpose he had subdued the nations before him. God now expresses to them the assurance that though the nations should be destroyed, yet that he had chosen them, and would remember them, and his promise made to Abraham, their illustrious ancestor. The word servant here is used in a mild and gentle sense, not to denote bondage or slavery, but to denote that they had been engaged in his service, and that he regarded them as subject to his laws, and as under his protection.
Jacob whom I have chosen – The descendants of Jacob, whom I have selected to be my people. Abraham my friend. Hebrew, Loving me, my lover. Abraham was regarded as the friend of God (see 2Ch 20:7). And he was called the Friend of God Jam 2:23. This most honorable appellation he deserved by a life of devoted piety, and by habitually submitting himself to the will of God. The idea in this verse is, that as they were the descendants of his friend, God deemed himself bound to protect and deliver them according to his gracious promises; and this is one of the many instances where the divine favor is manifested to descendants in consequence of the piety and prayers of their ancestors.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 41:8
But thou, Israel, art My servant
The servant of Jehovah
It is reasonable to seek the origin of the idea in the first passage in which the term occurs (Isa 41:8).
Here there can be no doubt as to what the term denotes. It denotes the Israelitish nation, treated, however, not as the mere aggregate of the members composing it, but as a unity, developing historically, and maintaining its continuity and essential character through successive generations. (S. R. Driver.)
The seed of Abraham, My friend
God blessing for the sake of another
God turns the eyes of Israel to the past. He reminds them that they are the children of His friend Abraham. You may find a man in distress, and may be tempted to turn away from him; but as he talks to you about himself and his antecedents, you find that he is the son of an old friend of yours. That alters the case. There is another motive operating on you now–the desire to be faithful to your friend. Israel was the seed of Gods friend Abraham. God would be faithful to them for His friends sake. For Jesus Christs sake is the highest expression and application of this principle. (J. A. Davies, B. D.)
The seed of Abraham
(with Mat 3:9):–There is between these two passages an ascertainable relation. In the passage which we have read from the Book of Isaiah is exhibited the greatest element in the Israelitish national consciousness. Apparently these people never forgot their vocation as the children of Abraham. Sometimes they attributed more importance to it, sometimes less. When the nation was at its best they spiritualised the ideal; when it was at its worst they materialised it; but they never wholly ignored it. Here is a prophet speaking in a stern time with the purpose of heartening the people who were listening to him. See how he does it. In the chapter which precedes the one whence our text is taken the opening sentences are: Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God, etc. The last verse of the chapter is more beautiful still: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. We see the mood in which Isaiah speaks and the tenderness which is evident in his message. It is as though he would say to Israel: You have passed through a stern testing time, but you have not ceased to be the people of God. Indeed, the testing time was permitted because you are never to be anything else than the chosen ones, Gods Israel. You have Abraham for your father, and the covenant which God made with Abraham He will keep with you. Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. In the light of this Old Testament consciousness let us now look at the passage which we have chosen from the New. Isaiah and John are both heralds; there is at least this similarity between them, that they both come as the bearers of good tidings concerning a better day. But they are different in this: while Isaiah speaks with the gorgeous magnificence of Oriental symbolism, and his message is one full of comfort and tenderness, the words of St. John are utterly unadorned; rugged and grim is the speech of this child of the desert. He comes less with a message of comfort than with one of rebuke; and yet, like Isaiah, he is the herald of a glorious day. But the people are not ready for his message nor for the blessing which he announces. And so his words to them are words of warning, especially, shall I say, to the Pharisees. The people and their leaders had been too much inclined to content themselves with making much of the tradition of the covenant of God with Abraham, and they thought comparatively, little of what was required from them in the keeping of it. O generation of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. The Pharisees were conspicuous for two particular vices; and may I say, in parenthesis, that Pharisees were by no means in their entirety pact men. There were many sincere men in their ranks, and yet Jesus, like John, had more difficulty with the Pharisees than with any other class in the community. Their chief sin was that of spiritual pride; but another was, they believed in the externals of religion rather than in change of heart. They insisted much upon their lineage: here we are the chosen people, the descendants of Abraham–would not God keep His word to us? What part or lot has the race of mankind in this which is a special privilege of Israel? Johns reply to them is this: Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. Why should God trouble to show His favour to men like you, for you are very different from Abraham? God is able to raise up from these stones children unto Abraham. Shall we spend a little more time in discovering what John the Baptist means by saying, God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham? I have heard an exegesis of this kind, and it is not a modern one only: Oh, it is obvious that St. John meant that the hearts around him might be changed by his glorious message, that God would give to these men a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone, and then they would be children of Abraham indeed. Well, the inference is not unjustifiable, but I do not think it is correct. I believe that St. John meant exactly and literally what he said: God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. To believe that he meant it literally adds force to the warning and the appeal. What he meant, then, was something like this: It is in the power of God to breathe the breath of life into these rocks of the desert, and they should become living souls; and if so it is conceivable they would be better men than you and worthier successors of Abraham, the friend of God. For who was, what was, this Abraham? If you turn to Heb 11:1-40. you will read a Christian description of the man and his character: By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went, etc. Momentous results followed that far-off choice. It was the dawning of a great hour in which Israel was born, and with Israel the Messiah, and with the Messiah the gospel under which you and I live our lives to-day. Here, then, is the Abraham of whose seed these Pharisees claimed to be. They had not his moral courage, nor his noble spirit; these were not of the kind who would have gone out in pursuit of a spiritual ideal. These were men who had hardened into insensibility, who by their lives denied the spiritual idea Abraham had bequeathed to them, and therefore the Baptists remonstrance was apt indeed. Think not to say, we have Abraham to our father. You are not of the spiritual lineage of Abraham; you would never dare for God; you are content with the grovelling things, your gaze is never lifted to the eternal. God could raise up another Abraham, yea, of these stones he could raise up children worthier than you. As an illustration of what the fiery, indomitable prophet of the desert meant, let me remind you of something, perhaps, that may have crossed your lips but yesterday. Looking upon the degenerate son of a noble sire, what was it you remarked to your companion? His only recommendation is that he is his fathers son. Any worthless profligate who soils a noble name and brings degradation upon the record of a noble race receives and deserves the reprobation of honest men. The question whether England is Israel is not worth discussing, believe me. If you could prove it to-morrow, some John the Baptist might rise and tell you you are out of the spiritual succession altogether. This is merely the negative side of the question. The seed of Abraham in spirit and in truth are those who hear the Word of God speaking within their own hearts, and rise and go forth and obey. Hear what Jesus has to say on this theme in Joh 8:39. If Jesus is correctly reported by one who at any rate knew Him well, as addressing the indignant Jews, He says: I speak that which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abrahams children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. We can classify easily the men that are of the quality of Abraham. Did these pharisaic time-servers, these bigoted Jews, who were questioning Jesus with the object of destroying Him, really think that they stood in the succession of him who was the friend of God? Verily they did; but the consciousness of humanity since has put them right. An Ambrose, in the early years of Christianity, a rough soldier, is chosen by the people, who know him and his character, to be their bishop; and now as prelate of Milan it is the duty of this erstwhile soldier to turn from the church door the bloodstained emperor who had been his commander. He dare not do otherwise, for he is serving a greater than the emperor. Here speaks the seed of Abraham. And who knows? God knows, maybe, that in this church this morning there are some of the lineage of Abraham of whom the world will never hear. The rest of us, perhaps, in the gaze of heaven, may have to be put in another category–the category of those who have not dared for justice and right and truth. There is one more thought suggested in our second text. There is something contained in the very phrase these stones, which I think was not merely accidental. The prophet knew well what he meant: the stones are unpromising material Con version is a turning from sin and a turning towards God. Get firm hold of that fact. Feelings are an endowment which may or may not accompany it; but the man whose heart is right with holiness and truth, whose faith is turned that way, is of the seed of Abraham and the friend of God. I want you to recognise, what is the very truth, that Abraham had far less to guide him than you. He heard the same voice as you, but it had not told the world as much then as it has told it since. When you take up this Old Testament again and read of the wonders achieved by the heroes of old, remember that the voice that spake to them spake within their own hearts, and not without, just as it speaks now to you. This Abraham heard a voice, and he said he would obey it; he could trust it; he established his covenant with God, and it never failed him. How shall I know I am of the seed of Abraham? Is my face turned the way his was? How shall I know I belong to the Lord Christ? Here is my charter: Whosoever shall do the will of God (even seek to do it), the same is My brother and sister and mother. Jesus will never turn away from His own spiritual kindred. Yet there may be one more experience here to which I ought to speak. There is, perhaps, a man who says, Ah yes; but I have made shipwreck of my career. Such lives as these may look back upon their life and say, I have done the best I could with my manhood. But I have failed; my road is strewn with the dust and ashes of vain regrets. The stones are the rubbish of the desert. They only serve to accentuate its desolation. Just so; I am the stones. Well, I want you to hear a voice that I am fond of listening to–with deepest reverence be it spoken–One that spoke with authority;and I think you will agree with me it has power in it still:– Joh 8:56 :Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. Picture the astonishment of those Jews. Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? Poor literalists! Abraham in his lonely desert vigil never saw Jesus; he had no foregleam of the day when Jesus should speak such words as these; but what he did have was the vision by which he saw the Sun of Righteousness arising in his own heart. That was Jesus day. The Abraham who spent his early days in a guilty household, in the midst of men who never thought of the unworthiness of serving God by lascivious rites and brutal deeds, one day said to himself, This life has to be left behind. So soon as he had seen that, he had seen Jesus day, and he rose up and went out to meet it. And that is just what we have to do. For the same voice that spake to Abraham is speaking to the world to-day, is speaking through Jesus: Before Abraham was I am. Children of Abraham, friends of Jesus, is not that voice speaking to you even now? (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Scripture characters
1. There is in Scripture a hidden truth which we gradually become acquainted with, and which we may not thoroughly know for years. God has attached certain names and titles to men in the Bible which seem to have some great hidden meaning, as showing what character God approves. There are certain men to whose characters He has attached a distinct approval which is most striking. Abraham is called the friend of God; David, the man after Gods own heart; St. John, the beloved disciple. There is some deep meaning in each of these titles not to be passed by casually.
2. The characters of Holy Scripture are so various that we are impressed with the view that the Old Testament is a volume of character, written to show the application of religious privileges to the varieties of men. Look at Abraham. What is our first feeling in thinking of him? that is, in what did his character seem peculiar? In faith and unworldliness. In what Davids? A tender love of God. In what St. Johns? Love. Now how do they assimilate essentially with each other? Who else was especially faithful? Not so strikingly, Jacob or Isaac or Solomon. Abrahams faithfulness bore the great fruit of faithfulness, unworldliness. Samuel, Elijah, and Ezekiel were characters who seemed especially to have lived by faith, to have lived free of the world. How did Abraham differ from them? In having a tender disposition, a deeper well.spring of human feeling. He was a man of much strong and domestic affection, really attached to earthly ties, and mentioned in close connection with them throughout his history. The three characters, then, which are thus distinguished by especial names of Gods favour, all agree in this respect, a deep and tender love in their dispositions; yet prevented from so ruling them as to draw off their faith from God, which faith was shown by a life of freedom from the world.
3. Let this, then, be the lesson and comfort we draw, that however little we may be living a life of public usefulness, yet a retired one may be the life God has placed us in. (E. Monte.)
The friend of God
(with Jam 2:23):–Abraham was called the friendof God because he was so. The name does not occur in his life as given in the Book of Genesis, and it has been questioned whether it occurs anywhere else in Holy Scripture; for many have preferred to translate the word in Isaiah, and in 2Ch 20:7, as lover, or beloved, rather than friend. However this may be, it is quite certain that among the Jewish people Abraham was frequently spoken of as the friend of God. At this present moment, among the Arabs and other Mohammedans, the name of Abraham is not often mentioned, but they speak of him as Khalil Allah, or the friend of God, or more briefly as of Khalil, the friend. Those tribes which boast of their descent from him through Ishmael, or through the sons of Keturah, greatly reverence the patriarch, and are wont to speak of him under the name which the Holy Spirit here ascribes to him. It is a noble title, not to be equalled by all the names of greatness which have been bestowed by princes, even if they should all meet in one. Patents of nobility are mere vanity when laid side by side with this transcendent honour. I think I hear you say, Yes, it was indeed a high degree to which Abraham reached: so high that we cannot attain unto it. Think not so. We also may be called friends of God (Joh 15:14).
I. A TITLE TO BE WONDERED AT.
1. Admire and adore the condescending God, who thus makes of a man, like ourselves, His friend. In this case the august Friend displays His pure love, since He has nothing to gain. Surely God does not need friends. How sweet it is to mingle the current of our life with that of some choice bosom friend! Can God have a friend? Friend ship cannot all be on one side. In this particular instance it is intended that we should know that while God was Abrahams Friend, this was not all; but Abraham was Gods friend. He received and returned the friendship of God. Friendship creates a measure of equality between the persons concerned. I say not that absolute equality is at all necessary to friendship, for a great king may have a firm friend in one of the least of his subjects; but the tendency is towards an equalising of the two friends: the one comes down gladly, and the other rises up in sympathy. Friendship begets fellowship, and this bridges over the dividing gulf. We must keep our place, or we shall not be friends.
2. Note the singular excellence of Abraham. How could he have been Gods friend had not grace wrought wonderfully in him? Although a plain man, dwelling in tents, the father of the faithful is always a right royal personage. A calm dignity surrounds him, and the sons of Heth and the kings of Egypt feel its power. His character is well balanced.
3. Note some of the points in which this Divine friendship showed itself.
(1) The Lord often visited Abraham.
(2) Secrets were disclosed.
(3) Compacts were entered into. On certain grand occasions we read: The Lord made a covenant with Abram.
(4) This friendship resulted in the bestowal of innumerable benefits. The life of Abraham was rich with mercies.
(5) Since Abraham was Gods friend, God accepted his pleadings, and was moved by his influence.
(6) There was also between these friends a mutual love and delight. Abraham rejoiced in Jehovah! He was his shield, and his exceeding great reward, and the Lord Himself delighted to commune with Abraham. The serenity of the patriarchs life was caused by his constant joy in God.
(7) This friendship was maintained with great constancy. The Lord never forsook Abraham: even when the patriarch erred, the Lord remembered and rescued him. He did not cast him off in old age. Constancy is also seen on the human side of this renowned friendship. Abraham did not turn aside to worship any false god.
(8) The Lord kept His friendship to Abraham by favouring his posterity. That is what our text,, tells us. The Lord styled rebellious Israel, the seed of Abraham, My friend.
II. THE TITLE VINDICATED. Abraham was the friend of God in a truthful sense. There was great propriety and fulness of meaning in the name as applied to him.
1. Abrahams trust in God was implicit. He staggered not at the promise through unbelief, for he knew that what the Lord had promised He was able also to perform.
2. There was joined to this implicit trust a practical confidence as to the accomplishment of everything that God had promised.
3. Abrahams obedience to God was unquestioning.
4. Abrahams desire for Gods glory was uppermost at all times.
5. Abrahams communion with God was constant.
III. Regard this name as THE TITLE TO BE SOUGHT AFTER. Oh, that we may get to ourselves this good degree, this diploma, friend of God!
1. You must be fully reconciled to Him.
2. We must exercise a mutual choice. The God who has chosen you must be chosen by you.
3. There must be a conformity of heart, and will, and design, and character to God.
4. There must be a continual intercourse. The friend of God must not spend a day without God, and he must undertake no work apart from his God.
5. If we are to be friends of God, we must be co partners with Him.
6. Friendship, if it exists, will breed mutual delight.
IV. THE TITLE TO BE UTILISED for practical purposes.
1. Here is a great encouragement to the people of God. See what possibilities lie before you!
2. Here is a solemn thought for those who would be friends of God. A mans friend must show himself friendly, and behave with tender care for his friend. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
But thou, Israel, art my servant: thus the Gentiles show themselves to be the servants of their idols, and own them for their god; but thou art my people, and I am and will be thy God.
Whom I have chosen, out of the heap of the idolatrous nations, to be my peculiar people.
Abraham my friend; with whom I made a strict league of perpetual friendship; of which see Gen 12:2,3; 15:1,18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Contrast between theidolatrous nations whom God will destroy by Cyrus, and Israel whomGod will deliver by the same man for their forefathers’ sake.
servantso termed asbeing chosen by God to worship Him themselves, and to lead otherpeoples to do the same (Isa 45:4).
Jacob . . . chosen (Ps135:4).
my friendliterally,”loving me.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thou, Israel, art my servant,…. As the great spread and success of the Gospel could not fail of drawing the resentment of the idolatrous Heathens on those who embraced and professed it, and by whom they were grievously persecuted under the Roman emperors; wherefore, to support them under these trials, the Lord speaks these and the following comfortable words unto them; for not carnal, but spiritual Israel are here meant; such who by the power of divine grace were turned from idols to serve the living God, who were made willing to become his servants, and whose honour it was to be so called and accounted; and being so, they might be assured their Lord and Master would protect and defend them, bless and reward them:
Jacob whom I have chosen; Israelites indeed, Jacob like, plain hearted men, wrestling and prevailing ones in prayer with God, whom he chose to be his people, and peculiar treasure; who, though disallowed of men, were like their Lord and Saviour, chosen of God, and precious:
the seed of Abraham my friend: the spiritual seed of Abraham, being believers in Christ, and friends of his, as Abraham was; and whom he uses and shows to be such, by disclosing his secrets to them,
Joh 15:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The proof adduced by Jehovah of His own deity closes here. But instead of our hearing whether the nations, with which He has entered upon the contest, have any reply to make, the address turns to Israel, upon which deliverance dawns from that very quarter, from which the others are threatened with destruction. “And thou, Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham my friend, thou whom I have laid hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen and not despised thee; fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not afraid, for I am thy God: I have chosen thee, I also help thee, I also hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” The before connects together antitheses, which show themselves at once to be antitheses. Whereas the nations, which put their trust in idols that they themselves had made, were thrown into alarm, and yielded before the world-wide commotions that had originated with the eastern conqueror, Israel, the nation of Jehovah, might take comfort to itself. Every word here breathes the deepest affection. The address moves on in soft undulating lines. The repetition of the suffix , with which forms a relative of the second person, for which we have no equivalent in our language (Ges. 123, Anm. 1), gives to the address a pressing, clinging, and, as it were, loving key-note. The reason, which precedes the comforting assurance in Isa 41:10, recals the intimate relation in which Jehovah had placed Himself towards Israel, and Israel towards Himself. The leading thought, “servant of Jehovah,” which is characteristic of chapters 40-46, and lies at the root of the whole spirit of these addresses, more especially of their Christology, we first meet with here, and that in a popular sense. It has both an objective and a subjective side. On the one hand, Israel is the servant of Jehovah by virtue of a divine act; and this act, viz., its election and call, was an act of pure grace, and was not to be traced, as the expression “I have chosen and not despised thee’ indicates, to any superior excellence or merit on the part of Israel. On the contrary, Israel was so obscure that Jehovah might have despised it; nevertheless He had anticipated it in free unmerited love with this stamp of the character indelibilis of a servant of Jehovah. On the other hand, Israel was the servant of Jehovah, inasmuch as it acted out what Jehovah had made it, partly in reverential worship of this God, and partly in active obedience. , i.e., “serving Jehovah,” includes both liturgical service (also absolutely, Isa 19:23) and the service of works. The divine act of choosing and calling is dated from Abraham. From a Palestinian point of view, Ur of Chaldaea, within the old kingdom of Nimrod, and Haran in northern Mesopotamia, seemed like the ends and corners of the earth ( ‘atslm , remote places, from ‘atsal , to put aside or apart). Israel and the land of Israel were so inseparably connected, that whenever the origin of Israel was spoken of, the point of view could only be taken in Palestine. To the far distant land of the Tigris and Euphrates had Jehovah gone to fetch Abraham, “the friend of God” (Jam 2:23), who is called in the East even to the present day, chalil ollah , the friend of God. This calling of Abraham was the furthest terminus a quo of the existence of Israel as the covenant nation; for the leading of Abraham was providentially appointed with reference to the rise of Israel as a nation. The latter was pre-existent in him by virtue of the counsel of God. And when Jehovah adopted Abraham as His servant, and called him “my servant” (Gen 26:24), Israel, the nation that was coming into existence in Abraham, received both the essence and name of a “servant of Jehovah.” Inasmuch then as, on looking back to its past history, it would not fail to perceive that it was so thoroughly a creation of divine power and grace, it ought not to be fearful, and look about with timidity and anxiety; for He who had presented Himself at the very beginning as its God, was still always near. The question arises, in connection with the word , whether it means to strengthen (Isa 35:3; Psa 89:22), or to lay firm hold of, to attach firmly to one’s self, to choose. We decide in favour of the latter meaning, which is established by Isa 44:14, cf., Psa 80:16, Psa 80:18. The other perfects affirm what Jehovah has ever done, and still continues to do. In the expression “by the right hand of my righteousness,” the justice or righteousness is regarded pre-eminently on its brighter side, the side turned towards Israel; but it is also regarded on its fiery side, or the side turned towards the enemies of Israel. It is the righteousness which aids the oppressed congregation against its oppressors. The repeated heaps one synonym upon another, expressive of the divine love; for simply connects, appends, heaps up ( cumulat ). Language is too contracted to hold all the fulness of the divine love; and for this reason the latter could not find words enough to express all that it desired.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 8-16: GOD’S CARE FOR ISRAEL, HIS SERVANT
1. With what tender affection does the Lord address His own people, (vs. 8).
a. Israel is His “servant” – a word that is used very flexibly (of the patriarchs, of Job, Moses, David, Cyrus, Israel and the remnant; but, pre-eminently of the Messiah) – something that must not be overlooked, (Isa 43:10; Isa 44:1-2; Isa 44:21; etc.).
b. Jacob is His “elect”, or chosen, people, (Isa 45:4; Isa 65:9; Isa 65:22).
c. That relationship is strengthened, and sustained, by the fact that they are the “seed” of Abraham, God’s friend, (Isa 29:22; Isa 51:2; Isa 63:16; Jas 2:23; Heb 2:16).
2. On His own initiative, God has called them from the ends of the earth, saying: “You are my servant, I have chosen you, and not cast you away” – though He surely would have been justified in doing so, (vs. 9; Isa 11:11; Isa 43:5-7; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Psa 135:4).
3. They are not to fear, or be dismayed; their God is with them – to strengthen, help and uphold them with the right hand of His righteousness, (vs. 10, 13-14; Isa 43:2; Isa 43:5; Deu 31:6; Joshua 1; Joshua 9; Psa 27:1; Rom 8:31; Isa 44:2; Isa 49:8; Psa 89:13-18).
4. All who have been incensed and raged against God’s elect people will be ashamed, confounded and brought to nothing; though a search .be made for them, they will not be found! (vs. 11-12; Isa 45:24; Eze 23:22; Psa 37:35-36).
5. Though her enemies regard her as a despised and helpless “worm”, Israel will be comforted and sustained by “the Holy One of Israel” (vs. 13-14).
a. Again and again He affixes His name to His declaration of intention concerning the welfare of His people – this name appearing 25 times in this prophecy, and only 6 times elsewhere in the entire Old Testament.
b. He will hold her hand and calm her fears, (Isa 42:6; Isa 42:10).
c. The Holy One of Israel is also her Kinsman-Redeemer, (see Lev 25:48-49; Isa 43:14; Isa 44:6; Isa 44:24; Isa 48:17; Isa 49:26; Isa 54:5; Isa 54:8; Isa 60:16).
6. In the Lord’s hand Israel will become a disciplinary instrument toward her foes and those of her God, (vs. 15-16).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. But thou, Israel, art my servant. He now shews how unreasonable it is to confound the people of Israel with the heathen nations, though all have lifted up a standard and agree in error, and though the whole world be abandoned to impostures; for, since by a calling of free grace God had chosen and set them apart, they ought not to have given themselves up to the same rage. This is a remarkable passage, and teaches us that we ought to be satisfied with our calling, so as to be restrained from the pollution of this world. Though corruptions abound, and though we indulge freely in every kind of iniquity, yet we ought to be restrained by this consideration, that we are God’s elect, and therefore we are not at liberty to go beyond bounds like Gentiles, and ungodly men. “Such were some of you,” says Paul,
“
but now you have been washed, now you have been sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Co 6:11.)
Indeed, nothing is more unreasonable than that we should wander like blind men in darkness, when the sun of righteousness hath shined upon us. We ought therefore to consider our calling, that we may follow it with all zeal and industry, and, “walking as becomes the children of light,” (Eph 5:8,) may shun that manner of life to which we were formerly habituated. For this reason he calls Israel his servant; not that the Israelites deserved anything on account of their obedience, but because he had set them apart for himself; and accordingly, for the same reason he adds —
Jacob, whom I have chosen. This is a remarkable commendation of undeserved favor; as if he had said, “You are indeed my servants, not through your own merit, but through my bounty; for by my election I have prepared and formed you to be my peculiar people.” In short, he reminds them that it was not by their own industry that they obtained the honor of being called God’s servants, and that they did not differ from others so as to excel them in any respect, but that it was because it so pleased God, who has a right to select this or that person according to his pleasure. Yet at the same time he explains what is the design of our election, namely, that we may serve God. “He hath chosen us,” as Paul says, “that we may be holy and unreprovable before him.” (Eph 1:4.) The object to be gained by election is, that they who were the slaves of Satan may submit and devote themselves unreservedly to God.
The seed of Abraham. This is added in the third place, in order to inform us that election depends on the promise of God; not that the promise goes before the election, which is from eternity, but because the Lord has bestowed his kindness from a regard to the promise; for he said to Abraham,
“
I am thy God and the God of thy seed.” (Gen 17:7.)
This favor has therefore been continued to posterity, and on account of the promise the Lord took peculiar care of that people, as Paul also declares that “to them belonged the testament, the promise, and the giving of the Law.” (Rom 9:4.) Hence also they were called “that holy nation,” (Exo 19:6,)
“
God’s sacred inheritance, and a priestly kingdom.” (1Pe 2:9.)
My friend. It was an extraordinary honor which the Lord bestowed on Abraham, when he called him his friend. To be called “the servant of God” is high and honorable; for if it be reckoned a distinguished favor to be admitted into the family of a king or a prince, how much more highly should we esteem it, when God accounts us as his servants and members of his family? But, not satisfied with that, he bestows on him even a higher honor, and adorns him with the name of “friend.” What is here said about Abraham relates to all believers; and Christ declared more plainly, “Now I call you not servants, but ye are my friends; for servants know not their Lord’s will, but to you have been revealed secret and divine mysteries, and hence you may know my friendly and kind disposition towards you.” (Joh 15:15.) Having therefore obtained from God so great an honor, we ought to remember our duty, that the more abundantly he has testified his kindness towards us, we may the more earnestly and with deeper reverence worship him continually. But we ought always to remember that Abraham was God’s friend on no other ground than that of adoption; as Moses also says that the Jews enjoyed their high rank merely through the good pleasure of God, “because God loved their fathers.” (Deu 4:37.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
b. GODS PEOPLE SAVED
TEXT: Isa. 41:8-13
8
But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,
9
thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away;
10
fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11
Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall not be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.
12
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
13
For I Jehovah thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
QUERIES
a.
Why is Israel reminded of her servanthood?
b.
When did God bring to nothing those who made war against Israel?
PARAPHRASE
But you, Israel, you are my chosen servant. You have a special heritage to fulfill because you are the descendants of Abraham whom I knew as My friend. Through him I fashioned you as a nation to serve me from out of the midst of heathendom. If I have done all this especially for you I certainly will not desert you if you will carry out your mission of service to Me. Therefore do not fear any of your enemies because I am with you. There is no reason for you to despair. I, Jehovah, am your God and I will give you divine strength and help. Yes, indeed, I will cause you to stand with My righteous and powerful right hand. Wait and seeall those who hate you will be confounded, humiliated and destroyed. Those who oppose you will be annihilated. Even if you go around looking for your enemies you will not be able to find any. I repeat, those who make war against you will be utterly obliterated. It is I, the Lord your Great God, holding on to your right hand. And I say to you I will not let you go so do not be afraid.
COMMENTS
Isa. 41:8-10 SERVANTHOOD OF ISRAEL: God chose the Hebrews for special servanthood. They were to serve Him as a consecrated, holy priesthood. (cf. Exo. 19:5-6; Lev. 25:55; Deu. 4:5-7; Deu. 7:6-8; Deu. 14:2; Deu. 26:18-19) By their consecration to His commandments they would be the human agency through which God could send the Redeemer in human flesh. They would also serve as witnesses to the glory of Jehovah to the nations round about them. The Lord did not choose Israel according to human standards, i.e., Israel was not large in population or wealth (Deu. 7:7). He chose Israel by His sovereign gracebecause He loved her (Deu. 7:8; Deu. 10:12-22).
The point of this passage, however, is to allay the fears of the people of Isaiahs day. Isaiahs contemporaries were filled with terror at the threats of Assyria and Babylon. They began to despair that God would ever be able to fulfill His covenant to them. So Isaiah reminds them that if God could take a man like Abraham from a background of heathen idolatry, make him a friend of God and protect, sustain and multiply him into a nation, God can protect His people in Isaiahs day! If God can take that nation, from Abrahams loins, and deliver them from the power and temptations of Egypt, He can certainly deliver Isaiahs Judah from the threats of Assyria and Babylon. And if Isaiahs people will serve God and trust Him, He will fulfill His covenant with them. He is the same God who was with them in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the day of the Judges and in Davids day.
Isa. 41:11-13 SUBJUGATION OF ISRAELS ENEMIES: Now the process by which God fulfills His covenant involves the preparation of a people to make them capable of receiving its fulness! This preparation involves discipline, repentance and holiness. The Lord did not take Moses and his people directly from Egypt to Canaan. They demonstrated they were not mature enough for that, so they were disciplined forty years in the wilderness. In Isaiahs day it was apparent Gods covenant people needed some severe discipline and serious penitence. Isaiah is attempting to prepare his people spiritually for the coming captivity. He is trying to reorient their thinking about who God is and what He does that they may have faith in Him in spite of the circumstances of the imminent exile.
The troubles of the Jews (called indignation by Daniel) did not cease with the Babylonian exile. Great and powerful enemies opposed the Jews ever after (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Rome, etc.). So, this passage has its fulfillment, not in genetic, national, Israel, but in the children of Abraham according to faith (Rom. 4:1-25; Gal. 3:6-9; Gal. 3:15-29). It is readily apparent from the New Testament that Gods deliverance of His covenant people from their enemies was not intended to be fulfilled physically, but spiritually (which is more important) (cf. Luk. 1:46-55; Luk. 1:68-79; Eph. 6:10-18; Col. 2:12-15, etc.). It is true, God preserved a physical nation, the Jews, until about 70 A.D. when they were scattered all over the world by the Romans. They are still a dispersed and dispossessed people today (in spite of the fact that a very small percentage of Jews maintain a very tenuous occupation of a portion of Palestine). But even this preservation of a physical nation until 70 A.D. was possible only because a small minority (remnant) of that nation trusted God and hoped in the messianic promises. Now that the Messiahs kingdom has been established physical, national relationship is no longer efficacious with God. Within the Messiahs kingdom there is neither Jew nor Gentile. God has always been interested in the spiritual man (Rom. 2:28-29), not just his nationality. The true Israel of God walks by the rule that neither circumcision (Jew) nor uncircumcision (Gentile) counts for anything, but a new creation (Gal. 6:15-16).
If Israel of Isaiahs day will serve the Lord by believing and obeying, He will deliver them from those who would oppose the redemptive work of God in the world. God will deliver the Jews from Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Syria, Egypt and, in the days of the Roman empire He will fulfill His covenant through the Messiah. The Messiah will defeat once and for all the power of the devil. The Messiah will demonstrate historically that God is able to defeat even death. All the promises of God find their Yea! in Christ (2Co. 1:20).
QUIZ
1.
What service was Israel to render as Gods servant?
2.
What was the basis upon which God chose Israel as His servant?
3.
What is the point of emphasizing Israels servanthood?
4.
What enemies will God destroy?
5.
What is the long-range fulfillment of this passage?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) But thou, Israel, art my servant . . .The verse is important as the first introduction of the servant of the Lord who is so conspicuous throughout the rest of the book. The idea embodied in the term is that of a calling and election, manifested now in Israel according to the flesh, now in the true Israel of God, realising its ideal, now, as in the innermost of the three concentric circles, in a person who gathers up that ideal in all its intensity into himself. The three phrases find their parallel in St. Pauls language as to (1) the seed of Abraham according to the flesh; (2) the true seed who are heirs of the faith of Abraham; (3) the seed, which is none other than the Christ Himself (Rom. 9:7; Gal. 3:7; Gal. 3:16). Here we have the national aspect, Israel as he is in the idea of God. So in the later language of Christian thought we have (1) the visible Church falling short of the ideal; (2) the spiritual Church approximating to the ideal; (3) Christ Himself, as identified with His people.
The seed of Abraham my friend.The word for friend implies loving as well as being loved. Of all the names of Abraham, it has had the widest currency (comp. 2Ch. 20:7; Jas. 2:23). For the Arabs of the present time Abraham is still Khalil Allahthe friend of God, or simply, el Khalil, the friend.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8-10. The sarcasm is now that of silence; the idol does not speak. There is therefore no farce of waiting for a reply, but Jehovah turns his address at once to Israel, who recognises the sole invisible deity in his own Lord Jehovah of Israel.
Thou, Israel, art my servant The Lord’s address is in terms of affection. The collective body of Israel is God’s servant, chosen servant, in the person of their ancestor Abraham, Jehovah’s friend, or the one (literally) loving Jehovah. Special protection and care over Israel along his whole history is here asserted. Selected first from Mesopotamia, then rescued from base slavery in Egypt, now to be delivered from exile in Babylon, the people may well be said to be taken from the ends of the earth, the sides or corners thereof not from chief men, as in our version. From all the places where the lot of Israel has been cast, God has hitherto rescued them, and there can now be no reason for fear, for the right hand the power, in other words, of omnipotence is underneath to uphold.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s Assurance of Success To His People, Weak Though They Are ( Isa 41:8-16 ).
Isa 41:8
“But you Israel, my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
The seed of Abraham, the one who loved me.”
He now declares Israel’s unique position. They are His chosen, but not because of what they themselves are, but because they are the seed of Abraham, the one who loved Him, the one who came from the east. They are His chosen ones in Abraham. They are begotten through Jacob. Thus do they enjoy the unique position of being the servant of Yahweh because they are ‘in Abraham’. They are the seed of Abraham His servant (Psa 105:6). We have already had ‘David my servant’ (Isa 37:35). Now we have ‘Israel my servant’. But both come below Abraham, who was ‘the one who loved Him’ (compare 2Ch 20:7 also see Joh 15:15) and had had directly revealed to him what God was going to do. Abraham is also constantly described as His servant in the tradition (Gen 26:24; Psa 105:6; Psa 105:42; see also Exo 32:13; Deu 9:27).
This confirms that the previous verses referred to Abraham. Why else bring Abraham’s name in here? It would not be like Isaiah to suddenly bring his name in and then include nothing further. These words make the most sense if we see them as following a detailed reference to Abraham in Isa 41:2-4.
The use of ‘Jacob’ here (in contrast with Israel) may be intended to indicate their unworthiness. In Isa 41:14 he is called ‘you worm Jacob’, and Jacob was the double-dealer who became Israel, the prince with God. This may especially be being brought out here in the reversion of the names. Always elsewhere in this whole section (Isa 40:1 to Isa 49:26) when the two are in parallel Jacob comes first. But here Israel comes first (contrast this with Isa 44:1 where an almost identical phrase has the usual order). Jacob was chosen because he was the seed of Abraham, but it was in order to manifest himself as Israel, God’s servant. (But see Isa 10:20 where there appears no reason for the order).
Of course the people of Israel were not all literally descended from Jacob. Far from it. Many had originally been adopted into his ‘household’, his family tribe, which itself was composed largely of people, his household servants, not descended from him. They further came from a conglomerate people, from many nations (Exo 12:38; Exo 12:48), and were united in Jacob by the covenant at Sinai. So God’s people were made up of people of many nations, as ‘adopted’ by Abraham. But as so adopted they were seen as his seed, and the implication is that they too should love God. Love was at the heart of the covenant (Deu 6:4-5).
This brings out Israel’s unique privilege. They were called to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:5-6). It was they who should have taken His word to the nations (Isa 2:3), and one day would through the Dispersion (Israel scattered among he nations), and then through the Apostles and the foundation Jewish church, but it was dependent on their obedience.
We are already getting the seeds of the idea of ‘the Servant’. David is His servant, chosen by Him to rule over His people who are also called upon to be His servant (Isa 37:35). Israel is His servant, chosen to be a witness to the nations. Thus the Servant is one yet many, king and people, fulfilling the purposes of God revealed to Abraham, who was His servant par excellence. Indeed the nation of Israel would have agreed with this way of seeing things. They certainly saw themselves as ‘in David’. He was their very breath (Lam 4:20), and this was why the status of the king, whether good or bad, was so important in the books of Kings. And they saw themselves as ‘in Jacob/Israel’ the patriarch, as looking back to Abraham.
Isa 41:9
“You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,
And called you from its furthest reaches,
And said to you, “You are my servant.
I have chosen you and not cast you away.”
Israel has been taken hold of from the ends of the earth and called from its furthest reaches. The primary thought is first of the call of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees far away, then of the return of Jacob from Haran, and then of their deliverance from Egypt to be called to be His holy nation, His kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6), so that Yahweh’s purpose through them might be fulfilled. And then of the fact that He will reach out to scattered Israel worldwide and call them to His service (Isa 11:11-12). What He has done before He will do again. They are His chosen servant to the nations, and in spite of what they have done He has not cast them away. They are seen in their totality as His servant if only they are willing.
This idea of the oneness of the nation must not, however, be overpressed. They are seen as one because within the covenant, but they are only so because they are in the covenant. Thus in the end the true servant is the body of those who reveal themselves as within the covenant by obedient response to it. They are the true Israel within Israel (Rom 9:6). As with the remnant, it is only the righteous who will survive, the unrighteous will in the end have been pared away (Isa 6:13). The fruitbearing branches will be pruned, the unfruiful will be removed (Joh 15:1-6).
This will become clearer later. In Isa 49:3 ‘my servant Israel’ will minister to Jacob/Israel seeking to restore them to Yahweh (Isa 49:6), the remnant thus clearly being distinguished from unbelieving Israel, and in 53 there is only One Who is qualified to represent Israel, a unique personality representing them all in His own person.
There may be implicit within this also the thought that those who have since been dispersed to every corner of the earth may also be confident that they too can be His servant and a witness both where they are and by returning. For they can be sure that He has not forgotten them (contrast Isa 40:27). And certainly those who were faithful among the dispersed did cause many Gentiles to seek God. But Isaiah also expected many of them to finally return to the land of God’s inheritance (Isa 11:11; Isa 27:12-13), which must literally have occurred with the faithful once the opportunity arose durint the inter-testamental period, because of the strength of their beliefs.
But the main idea behind the promise is that they will be gathered to Himself. First in the coming of the righteous son of David calling them under the Kingly Rule of God, and finally in the new heaven and the new earth (Isa 65:17).
Isa 41:10
“Do not be afraid for I am with you,
Do not be dismayed for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you,
Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Yahweh encourages His people in their service. If they are faithful they can be sure of His strength and help wherever they are. For He is with them in their situation and those who look to Him will be upheld. Notice, however, that the hand that will uphold them is the right hand of His righteousness. These promises are only made to those who seek to be righteous in His sight. The righteous right hand will only uphold those desirous of righteousness (Isa 1:27; Isa 3:10; Isa 10:22; Isa 24:16; Isa 32:17; Isa 33:5; Isa 33:15), just as He called Abraham in righteousness (Isa 41:2). These promises remain true today. The righteous may look for help to the Righteous One. (The right hand is the hand of power).
Isa 41:11-13
“Behold, all who are incensed against you,
Will be ashamed and confounded,
Those who strive with you,
Will be as nothing and will perish.
You will seek them and will not find them,
Even those who contend with you.
Those who war against you,
Will be as nothing and a thing of nought.
For I Yahweh your God will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, Do not be afraid, I will help you.”
The opponents of God’s people will be thwarted. Those who are enraged against them will become ashamed of their rage and will find themselves confounded, those who strive with them will achieve nothing and will perish, so that if they are sought for no one will be able to find them. Those who war against them will be nonentities. And this will be because Yahweh is holding His people’s right hand, assuring them of His constant help so that they need not be afraid. The picture is one of complete protection. But the holding of the right hand is not just for comfort. It is in order to impart strength. His people may go through tribulation but they can be sure that He is always with them.
‘Fear not you worm Jacob, And you few men of Israel.
I myself will help you, says Yahweh,
And your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.’
Even though Jacob is but a worm, he need not fear, for the One Who will help him is Yahweh, and the One Who will redeem him is the Holy One of Israel. Though he is worth nothing, God, as the Holy One of Israel, is willing to pay a price for his deliverance, even as ‘Jacob’. So Jacob is but a worm and the men of Israel are few, that is, they are inconsequential. His people are both the worm Jacob and the few men of Israel. They are as nothing, but they need not fear for if only they will trust Him they will bring the world to nought (Isa 41:13) because God will help them.
The idea of a worm is of one who is totally unworthy (Job 25:6), one who is a reproach (Psa 22:6). The word used for men regularly means ‘few’, and thus inconsequential, unable to deal with the problem in hand.
Isa 41:15-16
‘See, I will make you a threshing instrument,
New, sharp and that has teeth.
You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
And will make the hills as chaff.
You will waft them with a winnowing fan,
And the wind will carry them away,
And the whirlwind will scatter them.
And you will rejoice in Yahweh,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.’
But the worm will turn. Yahweh will make him like a threshing instrument, sharp, new and with teeth. The mountains and the hills will be turned into dust and chaff by them. The mountains are their opponents, and they will not only be turned into chaff, they will also be blown away. Then His people will rejoice and glory in the One Who has done it, for He is Yahweh, He is the Holy One of Israel.
Threshing instruments were heavy sledges of timber with stones and sharp metals underneath. They were dragged over the grain to divide it up and separate grain from chaff, ready for fanning with the winnowing fans which would blow away the chaff leaving the good grain.
The final idea is that God’s true people will become triumphant overcoming all obstacles.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Lord’s Promise of a Future Victory
v. 8. But thou, Israel, art My servant, v. 9. Thou, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof, v. 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, v. 11. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee, v. 12. Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee, v. 13. For I, the Lord, thy God, will hold thy right hand, v. 14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, v. 15. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, v. 16. Thou shalt fan them, v. 17. When the poor and needy seek water, v. 18. I will open rivers in high places, v. 19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, v. 20. that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 41:8-13. But thou, Israel, &c. The prophet here subjoins to his reproof of the nations, a consolation to the people of God, drawn from the same argument, as also he had done in the preceding section. See the analysis of this chapter. In order fully to understand this consolation, it is necessary to observe, that the scene of this exhortation is to be fixed in the midst of the period between the return of the people of God from Babylon, and the manifestation of the Son of God. To this church, afflicted, weak, and struggling with adversity, which, after the return from banishment, amid straits and difficulties, expected the redemption of Israel, and a completion of the excellent promises given to the fathers, this consolation belongs: and, indeed, it is peculiarly suited to the distresses of those times, when Antiochus particularly so much oppressed Judaea; and it is well joined to the preceding prophesy respecting Cyrus; a wonderful event, well calculated to sustain their hopes, and convince them of the truth and power of their God. There is nothing in this passage of difficult interpretation. In the 9th verse, instead of called thee from the chief men thereof, Vitringa reads, called thee out from the sides thereof: an expression, which well denotes Mesopotamia or Chaldaea, and is used for it in Jer 6:22; Jer 31:8 Isa 41:14-16.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. THE SECOND CHIEF FIGURE: THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH ISRAEL CHOSEN IN ABRAHAM AND CALLED IN GLORIOUS VICTORY
Isa 41:8-13
8But thou, Israel, 14art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
The seed of Abraham my friend.
9Thou whom I have 15taken from the ends of the earth,
And called thee from the 16chief men thereof,
And said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away
10Fear thou not; for I am with thee:
17Be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I 18will strengthen thee; yea, I 19will help thee;
Yea, I fwill uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11Behold, all they that were incensed against thee
Shall be ashamed and confounded
20They shall be as nothing;
And 21they that strive with thee shall perish.
12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
Even 22them that contended with thee:
23They that war against thee
Shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
13For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand,
Saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 41:8. Isa 41:9. . Isa 41:10. . Isa 41:11 . Isa 41:12. .
Isa 41:9. On see Isa 40:28.
Isa 41:10. , Hithp. from stands here in the sense of to look anxiously about. occurs only here; see Isa 41:13; Isa 51:15.On see. Isa 41:6.
Isa 41:11. again only Isa 45:24. only here in Isaiah; comp. Jdg 12:2; Job 31:35; Jer 15:10.
Isa 41:12. jurgium, . .; comp. Isa 58:4, and rixari, Isa 37:26. only here in Isa. comp. Isa 42:13; Jer 50:30; Eze 27:10.
Isa 41:13. only here; comp. Isa 45:1; Isa 51:18.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. But thou Israelaway.
Isa 41:8-9. In the preceding section (Isa 41:1-7) the Prophet has introduced the principal figure of the prophetic cycle, chaps. 4048. With this is immediately connected another: the Servant of Jehovah in a national sense.
But thou Israel is evidently contrasted with islands and people, Isa 41:1. The Prophet turns to Israel with well-founded and glorious consolation. The Lord calls His people Israel my servant. We encounter here for the first time this significant notion of the . Yet not the subjective, but the objective side of the notion is made prominent. The nation is not so named because it has chosen the Lord for its God out of the great mass of gods that, according to heathen ideas, are in existence, therefore not because Jehovah was its national god in contrast with other nations, the servants of Baal, Moloch, etc. (Hitzig). On the contrary, they are so named because the Lord has chosen Israel for His possession, His instrument, His servant. For a servant is the property of his lord, and Israel is the peculiar people (Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Psa 135:4; Mal 3:17). But Israel is chosen in its ancestor Abraham, whom, already, the Lord calls my servant Gen 26:24, which passage easily comes to mind, since Isa 41:10 is evidently a citation from it. Thus Abraham was not only chosen for his person, though what he was personally by Gods grace, fitted him to be for all times a pattern of the right sort of servant of Jehovah, even in subjective respects. Hence he is called My friend. For love is the fulfilling of the law, and involves faith (Gen 15:6; Deu 6:5). In 2Ch 22:7 Abraham has the same title; also in Jam 2:23. In Arabic his regular surname is Chalil-Allah, i.e., confidant of God. Abraham was chosen that by his seed all the nations of the earth might be blessed. And after Isaac and Jacob, this seed was to be the great nation that the Lord would make of Abraham (Gen 12:2), and to which He would give the land of his pilgrimage (ibid. Gen 41:7; Gen 13:15; Gen 15:18, etc). Accordingly Israel is the servant of Jehovah primarily as the seed of Abraham. This is purely an objective honor and dignity, belonging to the nation by reason of the election of their ancestor, but of which, of course, it must make itself worthy by worshipping Jehovah alone as its God, and serving Him with its entire being and possessions. On the parallelism of Israel and Jacob see Isa 40:27.
With great emphasis the Prophet repeats in various forms the thought that Israel is Jehovahs chosen servant. Whom I have taken, [or grasped] (see Isa 41:6-7) expresses that the Lord stretched out His hand after Israel to seize it (comp. Isa 41:13; Isa 42:6; Isa 45:1; Isa 51:18) and bring it to Him; thus that He alone was active in this, while Israel was passive. By the ends of the earth the Prophet, whose viewpoint is Palestine, means the distant lands of the Euphrates. Concerning the situation of Ur Kasdim see Schrader, D. Keilinschr. u. d. A. T. p. 383. The monuments prove that the present ruin of Mugheir (on the right bank of the Euphrates south-east from Babylon) was Ur. is probably related both to Exo 24:11, nobilis, princepsproperly the extremest, extremus, thus in some sense also summus, comp. , and also to lotus, juxta. It occurs only here. Yet twice again, Isa 41:9, it is affirmed that in choosing Israel Jehovah alone was active. Once by I have called thee, and then by I have chosen thee. Finally the thought is confirmed by the negative expression I have not cast thee away. Evidently underlying this last is the thought that the Lord might indeed have rejected Israel, in fact that He was near doing it (comp. Deu 7:7 sq.), but that He did not do it. Therefore, spite of considerations that existed, He has still on reflection and on purpose chosen Israel.
2. Fear thou notI will help thee.
Isa 41:10-13. Having set forth the election of Israel in Abraham as emphatically the basis of the relation between Himself and His people, the Lord now infers the consequences. These are positive and negative: Israel need not fear, the Lord helps them; their enemies must be destroyed. The words fear not for I am with thee are quoted from Gen 26:24 with only for . On fear not comp. Isa 40:9. The context shows that is used here as in Isa 44:14; Psa 80:18 with the meaning to make firm, sure, viz., the choice of one object out of several. The idea is not an invigoration imparted to Israel, but the election made sure (comp. 2Pe 1:10, ). is also used in a similar sense. Comp. Isa 42:1 and Mat 12:18, where is rendered , The expression occurs only here. It can only mean the right hand that does right in the Old Testament sense, on which comp. Isa 41:2. The relation of the three verbs of the second clause of Isa 41:10 seems to me to be the following: signifies the sure election, from which follows, on the one hand, the helping, on the other, the not letting go again. The correlative of this promise is the threat (Isa 41:11) of destruction to their enemies. This thought is presented in various forms in what follows (Isa 41:11-12). Isa 41:11 a it appears as a theme, and Isa 41:11 b12b give it a three-fold amplification: first the opponents are called (contestants, opponents in general), and it is said they shall be nothing and shall perish; then they are called (rixatores, objurgatores) that one shall seek and not find; finally they are called (enemies in war, hostes), and it is said of them that, not only they are not to be found, but that they shall absolutely no more exist. In conclusion, Isa 41:13, the protecting and helping presence already promised Isa 41:10 is repeated to the nation as the ground of its expecting victory. That Isa 41:13 has the character of a confirmatory repetition appears from . For expressly refers to the comforting words fear not, I have helped thee, as having been used by the Lord (Isa 41:10).
Footnotes:
[14]omit art.
[15]seized.
[16]their borders.
[17]Look not around.
[18]have made thee (i. e thine election) sure.
[19]omit will.
[20]They shall be as nothing and destroyed thy adversaries.
[21]Heb. the men of thy strife.
[22]Heb. the men of thy contention.
[23]Heb. the men of thy war.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
I beg the Reader to pause over these blessed verses, and inquire, with me, whether it be not the Lord Jesus that is here spoken to by Jehovah, when beholding him as the Husband and Head of his Church and people? There can be no doubt that such is the case in that similar passage, Isa 49:3 . for there the Lord Jesus is surely the Speaker. And, indeed, those blessed promises which follow, must confirm it. For all the promises of the Bible are first made to the Person of Christ, and then in Him, they are all yea and amen, to his people. And, if we accept the passage in this delightful view, what beauty and glory do we discover in it? Reader! think what condescension there must be in thy Lord, that there should be a communication of names between Christ and his people, as well as an union and interest in all that Christ hath, as Redeemer. Was it not enough, thou dear Lord, that thy Church should be called by thy name; but wilt thou he called by her’s? Is this the manner of men, O Lord God? No, surely! It is indeed customary for women to take the name of their husbands, but it is peculiar to the love and condescension of our Jesus, to call himself Israel, to show his love and oneness with his spouse, the Church; 2Sa 7:18-19 . When the Reader hath duly pondered the gracious promises, made by Jehovah, to this glorious Israel of ours, even our Christ, to whom they were certainly made, and in whom they were certainly fulfilled, with all their precious yeas and amens: (see some more of the same kind, Psa 89:20-29 ; and then see the reasons for them, Heb 5:7-10 ) when the Reader has satisfied his mind on this grand point, let him then remember, for his personal comfort and interest in the same, that what, is given to Christ, as the Head of his Church, is given also to his people in him, as his body; and from an union with him, they are interested in every one. See in proof, 1Co 3:21-23 ; 2Co 1:20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 41:8 But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Ver. 8. But thou, Israel, art my servant. ] And it was for thy sake, and for thy settlement, that I have dealt so long with those odious idolaters, whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with, as he said, 2Ki 3:14 .
The seed of Abraham, my friend.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
My servant. See note on Isa 37:35 for the three “servants” in Isaiah. This was Israel, as the seed of Abraham, not Cyrus (yet). Compare verses: Isa 41:21-29.
chosen. See note on Isa 1:29.
My friend. See note on 2Ch 20:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 41:8. But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom l have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Let us, for the time being, forget the people to whom this message was addressed, and see whether it might not be spoken to ourselves. Come, my friend, art thou truly Gods servant? Dost thou delight to do his will, and to walk in his ways? If so, then thou art Gods chosen; for, wherever there is the true spirit of obedience to the Lord, it is the result of his grace, and grace never comes except from the well-head of electing love. If thou art Gods servant, thou art Gods chosen. Then, see to it that thou dost walk and live as one of the seed of Abraham, whom God calls, my friend. It was very touching, the other day, to notice how the Queen spoke of one who was her servant, but who had gained the friendship of his royal mistress. So the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends. May we so faithfully serve him that it will be fitting for the Lord to speak of us in all three of these terms: Thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isa 41:9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
May the Lord just now say that to each one of you who are his servants! Especially, may he say the latter part of it, I have not cast thee away! Many times, he might have done so if he had dealt with us according to our deserts. Dismiss me not thy service, Lord, is a prayer we ought often to put up, for, in that service, we are far from perfect. I think I speak for all sane Christians; I do not undertake to speak for certain insane ones that abound at this time, but I believe that all sane servants of the Lord confess that they are such poor servants that their wonder is that they have not been dismissed from his service. Yet it is sweet to hear him say, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Isa 41:10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
Oh, the riches of that word, I am thy God! That is more than Thy Friend, thy Helper. I am thy God.
Isa 41:10. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
First, I will give thee strength, and then I will use my own strength on thy behalf: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
Isa 41:10. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
The poor child of God seems to cry, Lord, thou sayest, I will help thee, but I can hardly stand; I am such a babe, I have not yet learned to stand alone. Well, then, says God, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Are any of you afraid that you will slip with your feet? Are you put in very perplexing positions, so that you hardly know which way to turn? Then rest on this sweet promise, Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isa 41:11. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
The Lord Jesus Christ will put to rout all the enemies of his people. Their sins and their sorrows, their foes and their woes, shall alike be scattered to the wind.
Isa 41:12. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
You know how it happened to Pharaoh and all his hosts; the Israelites could not find them after the Lord had overthrown them in the Red Sea. The psalmist sang, long afterwards, concerning the Egyptians who were drowned, There was not one of them left. So shall it be with all those whom you now fear and dread; God shall appear, and work such a deliverance for you that you shall wonder where your trouble is. It shall be drowned, utterly washed away, like the Egyptians whom the children of Israel saw no more.
Isa 41:13-14. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
You must not miss those charming words, dear friends. Let me read them again. Some of you will want them, so do not miss them. There is some medicine here that you will need, may be, before long: Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
You know the corn-drag was made rough at the bottom, as though it had sharp teeth, and when it was drawn over the wheat after it was spread out on the threshing-floor, the grain was separated from the chaff. So God tells his people, if they trust him, that he will make them into a threshing instrument having teeth, and they shall thresh, not ordinary harvests, but shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff. No task is too hard for Gods people to accomplish when God is with them; difficulties vanish, and their fears are driven before the wind, when God strengthens them.
Isa 41:16. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Come, ye that are drooping in spirit, here is Gods promise to you that you shall overcome all your difficulties, and then shall rejoice in God. Oh! say you, I could rejoice in God if he enabled me to do that. Put the if away, and believe that he is about to help you, and anticipate the victory he is going to give you by singing the song of faith.
Isa 41:17. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst,
They have come to such a state that they cannot even tell their wants; they do not know how to speak to others about their grief, or even to describe it to themselves. Their tongue faileth for thirst. What then?
Isa 41:17. I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
But, Lord, they could not speak. Didst thou not say, Their tongue faileth? Yet thou sayest, I the Lord will hear them. It shows, dear friends, that a groan is a prayer, a sigh is a prayer, and that, even if we cannot get as far as to sigh or groan, our very hunger and thirst make up a prayer before God: I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18. I will open rivers in high places,-
That is an unusual place to find rivers; but God does strange things when he shows mercy to the poor and needy: I will open rivers in high places,
Isa 41:18. And fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
There shall be enough and to spare; there shall be an abundance of the water of which before they could not find a single drop. When God is gracious to a soul, he is gracious. When his mercy is made to enter a mans heart, then he pours floods upon him. No little grace will God bestow, but endless grace, and boundless grace, and crown that grace with glory, too.
Isa 41:19-20. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
May these gracious promises be fulfilled in you and me, that we may praise our faithful covenant-keeping God for ever and ever! Amen.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 41:8-16
Isa 41:8-16
THE FIRST SERVANT INTRODUCED
“But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away; fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed; I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all that are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”
In these verses (including also the text through Isa 41:20) Israel is assured (1) of the faithfulness of God, Isa 41:8-9; (2) that they will receive strength from God, Isa 41:10, (3) that weakness will afflict their enemies, Isa 41:11-12; (4) that God will raise up aid for them, Isa 41:13-14; (5) that their enemies shall be scattered, Isa 41:15-16; (6) and that they shall receive spiritual refreshment during their worst experiences, Isa 41:17-19.
As Kidner observed, “This long chain of promises (future verbs) is characteristically anchored in the facts (present and past), a pledged relationship, and an irrevocable choice and call. Note that this usage of past blessings as a pledge of future support for Israel supports the view that Isa 41:2 is not a reference to a future “righteous man,” but to a former one, Abraham.
“Jacob is called `a worm’ in Isa 41:14; and `men’ should perhaps be rendered `lice’ in the same passage.” It is believed that such derogatory words represent, not God’s opinion of Israel, but their discouraged and pitiful opinion of themselves during the times that lay ahead of them.
The metaphor here of Israel’s threshing the mountains and hills, all nations great and small, large as it is, does not exaggerate the influence of Judaic-born Christianity over all the nations of mankind.
There is another term in Isa 41:14, namely, Redeemer, that has been seized upon by some as indicating a new author for this part of Isaiah. Yes, it is true that this word, from Lev 25:47-54 is a technical word found a number of times in the Old Testament. A man’s [~go’el] was his next of kin; and in case a man sold himself into captivity, his `redeemer’ or [~go’el] was under obligation to purchase his freedom. Critics quickly point out that, “This word never appears in Isaiah 1-39; but it is found 13 times in the final 27 chapters of Isaiah. No other Biblical writer ever used the word, except Jeremiah, and he did so only once. So what? In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, there was never another occasion when Israel was in a status of captivity, as envisioned here; and thus the word would never have been appropriate until these later chapters. Furthermore, it is a fact beyond all dispute that Isaiah knew the word, as indicated by his utmost familiarity with the Pentateuch. The desperate status of the `Deutero Isaiah’ theory is indicated by its advocates’ pressing into service such a meaningless point as this one.
Archer pointed out that Isa 41:8 in this paragraph is the “first mention of the momentous figure of `Servant of the Lord,’ the `Servant’ here being the believing nation of Israel as opposed to the Gentiles … Even though no exiled nation had ever before in history been brought back to start life anew in their former homeland, God here promises to bring about such a seeming impossibility. There is also in this the type of that Far Greater Servant, Jesus Christ, the True Israel, the True Vine (as distinguished from the corrupt vine (the old Israel) (Joh 15:1 ff), the Old Israel being most certainly a type of the True Israel, as extensively indicated in the Book of Jonah. We agree with Archer that the primary reference here is not the antitype but the type. The Greater Israel, under the figure of the Suffering Servant, will be more prominent in later chapters.
Isa 41:8-10 SERVANTHOOD OF ISRAEL: God chose the Hebrews for special servanthood. They were to serve Him as a consecrated, holy priesthood. (cf. Exo 19:5-6; Lev 25:55; Deu 4:5-7; Deu 7:6-8; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18-19) By their consecration to His commandments they would be the human agency through which God could send the Redeemer in human flesh. They would also serve as witnesses to the glory of Jehovah to the nations round about them. The Lord did not choose Israel according to human standards, i.e., Israel was not large in population or wealth (Deu 7:7). He chose Israel by His sovereign grace-because He loved her (Deu 7:8; Deu 10:12-22).
The point of this passage, however, is to allay the fears of the people of Isaiahs day. Isaiahs contemporaries were filled with terror at the threats of Assyria and Babylon. They began to despair that God would ever be able to fulfill His covenant to them. So Isaiah reminds them that if God could take a man like Abraham from a background of heathen idolatry, make him a friend of God and protect, sustain and multiply him into a nation, God can protect His people in Isaiahs day! If God can take that nation, from Abrahams loins, and deliver them from the power and temptations of Egypt, He can certainly deliver Isaiahs Judah from the threats of Assyria and Babylon. And if Isaiahs people will serve God and trust Him, He will fulfill His covenant with them. He is the same God who was with them in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the day of the Judges and in Davids day.
Isa 41:11-13 SUBJUGATION OF ISRAELS ENEMIES: Now the process by which God fulfills His covenant involves the preparation of a people to make them capable of receiving its fulness! This preparation involves discipline, repentance and holiness. The Lord did not take Moses and his people directly from Egypt to Canaan. They demonstrated they were not mature enough for that, so they were disciplined forty years in the wilderness. In Isaiahs day it was apparent Gods covenant people needed some severe discipline and serious penitence. Isaiah is attempting to prepare his people spiritually for the coming captivity. He is trying to reorient their thinking about who God is and what He does that they may have faith in Him in spite of the circumstances of the imminent exile.
The troubles of the Jews (called indignation by Daniel) did not cease with the Babylonian exile. Great and powerful enemies opposed the Jews ever after (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Rome, etc.). So, this passage has its fulfillment, not in genetic, national, Israel, but in the children of Abraham according to faith (Rom 4:1-25; Gal 3:6-9; Gal 3:15-29). It is readily apparent from the New Testament that Gods deliverance of His covenant people from their enemies was not intended to be fulfilled physically, but spiritually (which is more important) (cf. Luk 1:46-55; Luk 1:68-79; Eph 6:10-18; Col 2:12-15, etc.). It is true, God preserved a physical nation, the Jews, until about 70 A.D. when they were scattered all over the world by the Romans. They are still a dispersed and dispossessed people today (in spite of the fact that a very small percentage of Jews maintain a very tenuous occupation of a portion of Palestine). But even this preservation of a physical nation until 70 A.D. was possible only because a small minority (remnant) of that nation trusted God and hoped in the messianic promises. Now that the Messiahs kingdom has been established physical, national relationship is no longer efficacious with God. Within the Messiahs kingdom there is neither Jew nor Gentile. God has always been interested in the spiritual man (Rom 2:28-29), not just his nationality. The true Israel of God walks by the rule that neither circumcision (Jew) nor uncircumcision (Gentile) counts for anything, but a new creation (Gal 6:15-16).
If Israel of Isaiahs day will serve the Lord by believing and obeying, He will deliver them from those who would oppose the redemptive work of God in the world. God will deliver the Jews from Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Syria, Egypt and, in the days of the Roman empire He will fulfill His covenant through the Messiah. The Messiah will defeat once and for all the power of the devil. The Messiah will demonstrate historically that God is able to defeat even death. All the promises of God find their Yea! in Christ (2Co 1:20).
Isa 41:14-16 WORM WINS: The Hebrew word tolaath is translated worm and is the name of the coccus worm which was the worm used in making scarlet dye. It is the same word used in Psa 22:6 in reference to the scorn and despite men will show the Messiah. Jacob (Israel) is called a worm by Isaiah to describe the scorn with which the nation is looked upon by its enemies. Assyria considers Judah with contempt (see comments Isa 36:8-9). It is interesting that Gods covenant people are called worm and the Messiah calls Himself worm (Psa 22:6). God is going to give the covenant people victory over their adversaries. They may go into captivity but eventually they will return, by the Spirit of God, to resume their service of messianic destiny. Their enemies will, one by one (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome) be ground to chaff (cf. Dan 2:31-45, esp. Dan 2:35), and blown away. A threshing sledge was a flat plank or planks of wood with rollers underneath studded with metal spikes for thrashing wheat. They were sometimes put to use by armies to torture and execute prisoners of war. This prediction of covenant victory over enemies ultimately was fulfilled in the Messiah. The Messiahs victory will usher in a universal kingdom of God (the church) and men of all nations will rejoice and give glory to the Holy One of Israel who accomplished it all (cf. Isa 2:1-5; Isa 19:16-25; Zec 14:16-21, etc.).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
servant
Three servants of Jehovah are mentioned in Isaiah:
(1) David Isa 37:35
(2) Israel the nation Isa 41:8-16; Isa 43:1-10; Isa 44:1-8; Isa 44:21; Isa 45:4; Isa 48:20
(3) Messiah Isa 42:1-12, Isaiah 49, entire chapter, but note especially Isa 49:5-7, where the Servant Christ restores the servant nation; Isa 50:4-6; Isa 52:13-15; Isa 53:1-12. Israel the nation was a faithless servant, but restored and converted will yet thresh mountains. Against the Servant Christ no charge of unfaithfulness or failure is brought. (See Scofield “Isa 42:1”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
thou: Isa 43:1, Isa 44:1, Isa 44:2, Isa 44:21, Isa 48:12, Isa 49:3, Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Lev 25:42, Deu 7:6-8, Deu 10:15, Deu 14:2, Psa 33:12, Psa 105:6, Psa 105:42-45, Psa 135:4, Jer 33:24
the seed: Mat 3:9, Joh 8:33-44, Rom 4:12, Rom 4:13, Rom 9:4-8, Gal 3:19, Gal 4:22-31
my friend: 2Ch 20:7, Joh 15:14, Joh 15:15, Jam 2:23
Reciprocal: Deu 4:37 – because Neh 9:7 – choose Psa 47:9 – the God Psa 103:17 – unto children’s Psa 119:94 – I am thine Pro 27:10 – own Isa 29:22 – who redeemed Isa 45:4 – Jacob Isa 63:7 – mention Isa 63:8 – Surely Jer 2:21 – wholly Eze 16:8 – thy time Eze 20:5 – In the Zec 1:17 – choose Mal 1:2 – I have Mat 1:2 – Isaac begat Mar 12:26 – I am Luk 12:4 – my Joh 11:11 – he saith Act 13:17 – God Act 13:26 – children Rom 11:28 – but Gal 3:14 – the blessing Eph 1:4 – as Heb 11:16 – to be 1Pe 2:9 – a chosen
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The God of All Help
Isa 41:8-15
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Book of Isaiah is one that lives with us in every daily task and conflict. Sometimes we think that the Old Testament Scriptures are far separated from our needs, and that they have very little in common with twentieth century life. This, however, is altogether erroneous. People of all ages and all climes meet the same needs, have more or less the same environments, and have the same task from God.
Isa 41:1-29 displays God as a Friend of His people. Isa 41:8 says, “But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend.” God first speaks of Abraham as His friend, and then He shows Himself to be a friend. We believe it. was Robert L. Stevenson who said, “Oh, my friend, teach me to be thine.” Thus it is that we look into the face of our Heavenly Father and of our Lord and Saviour, and say, “Teach me to be Thy friend.”
To Israel God says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee.” But God was no more with Israel in the days past than He is with us. Even now we can hear our Lord say unto us, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” He said unto Israel, “Be not dismayed; for I am thy God * * I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”
So also does He say unto us, “All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth.” With this He gave us the promise of His presence unto the end of the age. Israel is described in Isa 41:11 as having her enemies-those who were incensed against her, but God says that these same enemies would be ashamed, confounded, and as nothing.
To Israel God now says, “I will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” Then He says, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
How wonderful it must have been to Joshua when the Lord came to him and said unto him, “Only * * be strong and of a good courage * *: for the Lord thy God. is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
How encouraging it was unto the Prophet, Jeremiah, when God said unto him, “Be not afraid of their faces * * for behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land.”
These promises of old, however, are made real to us today. When Peter and Paul as the two outstanding witnesses to Jew and Gentile went forth with the Word of God, they were invincible. Every foe that rose up against them was put to nought, until God’s testimony through them was fully delivered.
Peter shook the whole Jewish nation, and of Paul and Silas it was said, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.”
The Church of Jesus Christ needs to strengthen her feeble knees. She should gird up her loins. We are not a defeated, nor a depleted people. We are old in the train of a triumphant Lord. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
I. GOD HELPS US WITH HIS HANDS (Isa 41:10-13)
In each verse before us we have the expression, “I will help thee.” In each we have the expression, “I will hold thy right hand,” or, “I will hold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” The ministry of the hand should always be the ministry of helpfulness.
1. He took him by the hand. In Act 3:1-6 we read of how Peter and John approached the Temple at the hour of prayer. Without the Temple gate there was a beggar who was lame; he was asking alms. When Peter saw him he said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Then Act 3:7 says, that he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. Peter encouraged the faith of the lame man by the touch of His hand; and the man entered into the Temple to praise God, There are scores of people today who need the touch of our right hand.
2. He led him with his hand. Mar 8:1-38 tells the story of a blind man at Bethsaida upon whom the Lord Jesus Christ put His hand. Christ put His hands upon him, and made him look up, then He sent him away. The man, who had hitherto been led by others, now saw every man clearly. Instead of being helped, he could now help, and lead others by his hands.
3. He stretched forth His hand. In this instance recorded in Mat 14:31, we have the story of Peter endeavoring to walk on the water. When he saw the storm, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried, “Lord, save me!” The Lord stretched forth His hand, saying, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” How often it is that we have felt the touch of the Lord’s hand! It is the touch of encouragement and cheer. We felt ourselves sinking beneath some billow of sorrow, some testing, but the Lord touched us, and it seemed that new strength entered into us.
II. HE UNDERGIRDS US WITH HIS ARMS (Deu 33:27)
1. The arm of His strength. In Isa 51:1-23 is a pitiful cry from a broken and depleted nation. Here is what Israel says, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” Israel seemed to have felt that God was asleep, because He had not been helping, as of yore. Israel remembered the ancient days when God helped Rahab, when He dried up the sea, and led His people with a mighty outstretched arm. Israel now is crying unto the Lord.
In Isa 52:1 we have God’s answer: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.” She who asked the Lord to awake was, in turn, asked by the Lord to awake. Then the promise was made of Israel’s full and complete restoration, and Isa 52:10 says, “The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Thus will God stretch forth His arm in behalf of His people.
2. The arm of His salvation. In Isa 53:1-12 the question is made: “To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Following this query, the chapter outlines the story of Christ’s first coming, His rejection of men, His being bruised and crushed. The whole message of this chapter is, as we see it, the answer to the query. In other words, the arm of the Lord’s strength is His Calvary substitutionary work for His people. It was through His Cross that He sent forth His strength to redeem Israel and to redeem us.
3. The arm of His glory. In Isa 63:1-19 comes that remarkable statement of how God led Moses by His right hand, and with His glorious arm. He divided the water before them, and He made Himself an everlasting Name. Thank God that He leads us through with the arm of His strength.
III. HE GUIDES US WITH HIS EYE (Psa 32:8)
1. His eyes are all-seeing. 2Ch 16:9 tells us that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” The Lord is looking not only to discover the wicked and to bring them to nought, but He is looking to discover the righteous. He is strong in behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.
2. His eyes behold the righteous. Sometimes we marvel when we remember that there is not a word but that He knoweth it altogether. He knoweth our ways, and He hears our cry. There is not anything that befalls us that He does not see it.
3. His eyes ponder our goings. It may seem strange to some of us that our God would be so interested in such poor worms of the dust as are we, and yet He is interested. There is not a hair of our heads that He has not numbered. There is not a condition in which we find ourselves that He is not there.
IV. HE HAS US IN HIS HEART (Exo 28:28-29)
He who holds us with His hands, undergirds us with His arm, guides us with His eye, likewise has us in His heart. It is a beautiful picture that is described in our key-text. Israel’s high priest wore a breastplate. Upon that breastplate he bore the names of the Children of Israel upon his heart. Wherever he went he carried them. All of this is a picture of the heart of the Lord Jesus toward us.
1. His heart is a heart of pity. Psa 103:13 tells us that “like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.”
2. His heart yearns. In Mat 23:37 we see our Lord standing before His beloved Jerusalem, as He cried, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
Did ever anyone love people as the Lord loved the nation which despised Him? In the Book of Hosea, we have the description of Ephraim and his disobedience. Then it is that the Lord says, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” The Lord truly loves His people, and He yearns after them with all the yearning of a patient, tender, affectionate heart.
3. His heart of love never fails (Joh 13:1). As our Lord approached the Cross, He loved His own unto the end. There was nothing that could stop Him. For those who nailed Him to the Tree. He had a tender word. The men who wagged their heads against Him were the objects of His grace. The man who pierced His side had a part and a portion in the blessing of the blood that flowed from the wounds.
V. HE BEARS US ON HIS SHOULDERS (Luk 15:5)
1. We dwell beneath His wings. In Deu 32:1-52 the Children of Israel are likened unto the eaglets whose nest is stirred up. Here a wonderful statement is found. In a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness, God led them about, He instructed them, He kept them as the apple of His eye. Then we read, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.” We can almost see the mother eagle as she begins to stir up the nest. Her young, who thus far have never flown, look pityingly at her; but the nest is rent. As the eaglets begin to fall, they try to fly. Time and again she catches them. And so with us. Sometimes it may have seemed that everything had gone, and then we found that underneath us were His wings.
2. The government is on His shoulder (Isa 9:6). We now have the picture of a mighty “Man” holding on His shoulder a tremendous burden. He is none other than our adorable Lord and Saviour, and the burden is the government of the earth. He who was born the Son of David, and heir to David’s throne, will come again as King of kings and Lord of lords.
3. We dwell between His shoulders. We now turn from the government of nations to the government of an individual tribe. Moses is blessing the tribe of Benjamin, and he said, “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.” How comforting it is to know that He who is able to bear the burden of the governments of the world upon His shoulders of strength, is also interested in the beloved saint who trusts Him!
VI. HE INSTRUCTS US WITH HIS WORDS (Act 20:35)
The Apostle is speaking of how he coveted no man’s silver, gold, or apparel, and how he labored with his own hands. Then he calls upon the saints to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” To His words we should give our heed, and our perfect obedience.
1. His Words are a sure foundation. Mat 7:24-27 gives us the story of a man building a house upon the sand. He is described as a foolish man. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew so that his house fell. Another man, however, is described as a wise man, who built his house upon a rock. The rock withstood the madness of the storm. He who builds upon the sands, is he who hears the Word of God and does it not. He who builds upon the rock, is he who hears the Word and accepts it as authoritative and final. As the Rock on which he builds can never be shaken, neither can he. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not His Words.
2. His Words are Truth (Joh 17:17). Christ here says, “Sanctify them through Thy Truth; Thy Word is Truth.” He who, with the spirit of Zedekiah, penknifes the Word of God, will find himself penknifing God, because the Word of God, is God: Christ is called the Word. The Word is forever settled in Heaven, and was given to man by the Holy Spirit through Prophets moved by Him. His Word is an inerrant Word.
VII. HE HEARS US WITH HIS EARS (Psa 18:6)
During the course of the sermon we have thought of God, His hands, His arms, His eyes, His heart, His shoulders, His lips, and now we close the study with the most wonderful consideration: His ears.
1. He hears us to deliver us. Psa 34:1-22 describes the prayer of David, and how God delivered him from all his fears. He hears more than the sound of our voice; He hears the yearnings which the words carry. Do you remember when Peter was sinking, how he cried unto the Lord? Paul was in distress on a storm-tossed sea in a ship that had been driven about for fourteen days and nights; the Lord heard his cry and delivered him. In Judges we read that Israel cried unto the Lord seven times, and seven times the Lord heard and delivered her.
2. He hears the cry of the humble. Psa 10:1-18 tells us how the humble cry unto the Lord and are heard. The proud, God will cast down; the humble He will exalt. God not only hears our cry, but He marks the spirit in which we speak to Him. God looks upon the heart. It was not so much the prayer of the prodigal which appealed to God as it was his mien, the spirit of humility in which he prayed.
3. He hears the prayer of faith. The Bible says, if any man doubt, “let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” When we pray we must believe that we shall receive the things for which we ask. There is one thing God demands of those who seek Him, and that is a perfect and an abiding confidence in His Word, His promises, and His power.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“THE GOD OF ALL HELP”
“How God Gives Help. At one of the Bible classes held for women at a mission station in. Korea, a bright, clean, earnest woman with a baby on her back, walked from her home to the meeting, a distance of one hundred miles. When she told of her journey and saw the astonishment in the face of the missionary, the devoted woman said, ‘It was not difficult; God helped me along.’
“This simple and sincere expression of one recently brought from heathen darkness to gospel light has in it a great lesson for the Christian worker. Any hard service becomes exceedingly difficult when we attempt it in our own strength. How bright are the days and how cheering the reward when we can say of the most difficult undertakings that God helps us.
“Happy is the Christian worker, especially the missionary in the foreign field, whose burdens of service are always heavy, who has complied with the command of the Psalmist to cast his burdens on the Lord. The promise which follows this command, assuring us that He will sustain us, enables us to overcome the difficulties with a courageous spirit and to bear our burdens with a light heart.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Isa 41:8-13. But thou, Israel, art my servant Thus the Gentiles show themselves to be the servants of their idols, and own them for their gods: but thou art my people, and I am and will be thy God. Jacob, whom I have chosen Out of the multitude of idolatrous nations, to be my peculiar people. The seed of Abraham my friend With whom I made a strict league of perpetual friendship: see Gen 12:2-3; Gen 15:1; Gen 15:8. The expressions are very endearing: it is honourable to be Gods servant, still more so to be his chosen servant, and to be descended from one to whom he vouchsafed the title of friend, as God did to Abraham, (2Ch 20:7,) the greatest honour that any man is capable of: which glorious privilege Christ was pleased to communicate to his disciples, Joh 15:13. Thou whom I have taken, &c. Thou Israel, whom I took to myself, and brought hither in the loins of thy father Abraham, from a remote country, namely, from Chaldea; or, whom I brought out of Babylon into thine own land: which, though yet to come, he may speak of as of a thing past, according to the usual custom of the prophets when foretelling future events. But the former interpretation seems better to agree with the foregoing verse. And called thee from the chief men thereof From the midst of many great and noble persons, among whom he lived in Chaldea. But the Hebrew, , is rendered by Vitringa and Dr. Waterland, from the sides thereof, and by Bishop Lowth, from the extremities thereof, which is probably the prophets meaning. I have chosen, and not cast thee away Or, and will not reject thee: I have chosen thee and thy seed through all generations. They that were incensed against thee shall be confounded Both because their hopes and designs shall be utterly disappointed, and because the mischief which they contrived against thee shall fall on themselves. They shall be as nothing Shall come to nothing, or perish. Thou shalt not find them They shall be so totally consumed, that although thou search for them, thou shalt not be able to find them anywhere in the world. The powerful monarchies that have been incensed against the church, and have contended with her, have been put to shame, and brought to nothing: and this prediction hath already been fulfilled in the ruin of the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Macedonian, and Roman empires, which we now may seek for in vain; for no vestiges of the four former, and scarcely any of the last, can be found; while the church still subsists! In like manner all that now do, or hereafter shall contend with her, shall perish. Scott. I the Lord will hold thy hand Or, will strengthen it, as signifies: I will assist and enable thee to vanquish all thine enemies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 41:8-10. But Israel, who in the person of Abraham was summoned from Mesopotamia, is also a chosen instrument of Yahweh, and has nothing to fear amid these commotions.
Isa 41:10. right . . . righteousness: render, My vindicating right hand.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
41:8 But thou, Israel, [art] my {i} servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
(i) And therefore ought not to pollute yourself with the superstition of the Gentiles.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord turned from addressing the nations to speaking to Israel. God had chosen the Israelites for special blessing because He chose to love them more than other peoples. Election rests on love (cf. Deu 7:7-8). The reference to Jacob recalls the unworthiness of the Israelites, and the mention of Abraham the fact that Abraham loved God (Gen 18:17-19), the proper response to electing love (cf. 1Jn 4:19). Both references also connect to God’s covenant with the patriarchs. God had called Israel to be His servant. This is the first of 31 references to a servant of the Lord in Isaiah. [Note: See Allan A. MacRae, "The Servant of the Lord in Isaiah," Bibliotheca Sacra 121:483 (July 1964):218-27, for a study of the progressive revelation of the servant of the Lord in Isaiah. For a good overview of the title "Servant" in Isaiah, see Willis J. Beecher, "The Servant," in Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 187-204.]
"Old Testament slavery/servanthood must never be thought of on the model of the West Indian slavery of the Christian era. Mosaic legislation extended protection to the slave and-such was the institution-had to make provision for the slave who loved his master and would not leave slavery (Exo 21:2 ff.). Such a ’slave’, as a matter of social status, may have been at the bottom of life’s heap, but in another sense he was as powerful as his master, for should he ever have been molested, it was the master the molester had to reckon with." [Note: Motyer, p. 312.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
BOOK 3
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD
HAVING completed our survey of the fundamental truths of our prophecy, and studied the subject which forms its immediate and most urgent interest, the deliverance of Israel from Babylon, we are now at liberty to turn to consider the great duty and destiny which lie before the delivered people- the Service of Jehovah. The passages of our prophecy which describe this are scattered both among those chapters we have already studied and among those which lie before us. But, as was explained in the Introduction, they are all easily detached from their surroundings; and the continuity and progress, of which their series, though so much interrupted, gives evidence, demand that they should be treated by us together. They will, therefore, form the Third of the Books, into which this volume is divided.
The passages on the Servant of Jehovah, or, as the English reader is more accustomed to hear him called, the Servant of the Lord, are as follows: Isa 41:8 ff; Isa 42:1-7; Isa 42:18-25; Isa 43:1-28 passim, especially Isa 43:8-10 : Isa 44:1; Isa 44:21; Isa 48:20; Isa 49:1-9; Isa 1:4-11; Isa 52:13-15. The main passages are those in chapters 41, 42, 43, 49, 1, and 52.-53. The others are incidental allusions to Israel as the Servant of the Lord, and do not develop the character of the Servant or the Service.
Upon the questions relevant to the structure of these prophecies-why they have been so scattered, and whether they were originally from the main author of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13, or from any other single writer, -questions on which critics have either preserved a discreet silence, or have spoken to convince nobody but themselves, -I have no final opinions to offer. It may be that these passages formed a poem by themselves before their incorporation with our prophecy; but the evidence which has been offered for this is very far from adequate. It may be that one or more of them are insertions from other authors, to which our prophet consciously works up with ideas of his own about the Servant; but neither for this is there any evidence worth serious consideration. I think that all we can do is to remember that they occur in a dramatic work, which may, partly at least, account for the interruptions which separate them; that the subject of which they treat is woven through and through other portions of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12, and that even those of them which, like Isa 49:1-26, look as if they could stand by themselves, are led up to by the verses before them; and that, finally, the series of them exhibits a continuity and furnishes a distinct development of their subject.
It is this development which the following exposition seeks to trace. As the prophet starts from the idea of the Servant as being the whole historical nation Israel, it will be necessary to devote, first of all, a chapter to Israels peculiar relation to God. This will be chapter 15 “One God, One People.” In chapter 16 we shall trace the development of the idea through the whole series of the passages; and in chapter 17 we shall give the New Testament interpretation and fulfilment of the Servant. Then will follow an exposition of the contents of the Service and of the ideal it presents to ourselves, first, as it is given in Isa 42:1-9, as the service of God and man, chapter 18, of this volume; then as it is realised and owned by the Servant himself, as prophet and martyr, Isa 49:1, chapter 19 of this Book; and finally as it culminates in Isa 52:13-15, chapter 20 of this volume.