Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 42:23
Who among you will give ear to this? [who] will hearken and hear for the time to come?
23. The question expresses the prophet’s wish that now at last some of the people should begin to realise the significance of their relation to Jehovah, and prepare themselves for the great deliverance.
will give ear to this ] i.e. to the substance of the present exhortation, the contrast between the ideal calling of Israel and its present position, its failure to realise its mission, and (especially) the reason of that failure ( Isa 42:24 f.).
for the time to come ] in contrast to past disobedience. It is evident that the prophet expects the mission of Israel to be realised by a conversion of the nation. The process of that conversion is powerfully described in ch. 53.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who among you will give ear to this? – Who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgments of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and reform his life, and return to him? It is implied by these questions that such ought to be the effect; it is implied also that they were so sunken and abandoned that they would not do it. These judgments were a loud call on the nation to turn to God, and, in time to come, to avoid the sins which had made it necessary for him to interpose in this manner, and give them to spoil.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 42:23-25
Who among you will give ear to this?
—
National calamities
I. THE TRUE CAUSE OF NATIONAL CALAMITIES IS HERE POINTED OUT–SIN. The public distresses of the men of Judah and Israel did not proceed from fate or fortune, but from the Supreme Lord of the universe, who, as the just punishment of their atrocious wickedness, delivered them into the hands of them who spoiled and deprived them of their possessions. Their most powerful enemies could not have treated them in the manner here described had not He who rules in the kingdoms of men given them as a prey on account of their aggravated and multiplied transgressions. Though the various events, prosperous and adverse, that happen to nations and individuals are brought about by the intervention of means and instruments, the hand of the Almighty ought never to be overlooked, but humbly acknowledged. Is there any evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it? Afflictions are necessary to the government of the world in its present state; they check the progress of wickedness, and show the dreadful consequences of incurring the wrath of the Almighty.
II. THE JUST CONSEQUENCE OF TRANSGRESSION IS HERE DESCRIBED. Therefore, because they would not walk in all His ways, etc. The deplorable state of the Jewish nation at the time this prophecy was delivered, and in succeeding periods, is here graphically described. An awful instance of the Divine judgments!
III. THE ONLY METHOD TO ESCAPE DIVINE JUDGMENT IS HERE SUGGESTED. The prophet directs his discourse to the hypocritical and disobedient, who were averse to admit light into their minds, to admit conviction of their sin and danger. They were neither affected by the calamities which they felt, nor feared those with which they were threatened, though the storm was gathering thick around them. Of such people the Jewish nation were mostly composed at the time of the prophecy; and the prophet inquires, Who among you will give ear to this, and hearken for the time to come? (T. Lewis.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Oh that you would learn from your former and dear bought experiences to be wiser for the future, and not to provoke God to your own total and final ruin!
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. A call that they should bewarned by the past judgments of God to obey Him for the time to come.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who among you will give ear to this?…. To this prophecy of your destruction, and to what follows concerning it:
who will hearken and hear for the time to come? and receive instruction from hence, and repent and reform? none at all; so blind, and deaf, and stupid, were they both before, and at their destruction, and even ever since; they take no notice of the hand of God upon them, nor hearken to the rod, any more than to the word of God; which seems to be what is meant by “the time to come”, or “hereafter”; and this will be their case till the veil is taken away, and then they shall see and hear, and turn to the Lord.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When they ceased to be deaf to this crying contradiction, they would recognise with penitence that it was but the merited punishment of God. “Who among you will give ear to this, attend, and hear afar off? Who has give up Jacob to plundering, and Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? and they would not walk in His ways, and hearkened not to His law. Then He poured upon it in burning heat His wrath, and the strength of the fury of war: and this set it in flames round about, and it did not come to be recognised; it set it on fire, and it did not lay it to heart.” The question in Isa 42:23 has not the force of a negative sentence, “No one does this,” but of a wish, “O that one would” (as in 2Sa 23:15; 2Sa 15:4; Ges. 136, 1). If they had but an inward ear for the contradiction which the state of Israel presented to its true calling, and the earlier manifestations of divine mercy, and would but give up their previous deafness for the time to come: this must lead to the knowledge and confession expressed in Isa 42:24. The names Jacob and Israel here follow one another in the same order as in Isa 29:23; Isa 40:27 (compare Isa 41:8, where this would have been impracticable). belongs to in the sense of c ui . The punctuation does not acknowledge this relative use of (on which, see at Isa 43:21), and therefore puts the athnach in the wrong place (see Rashi). In the words “we have sinned” the prophet identifies himself with the exiles, in whose sin he knew and felt that he was really involved (cf., Isa 6:5). The objective affirmation which follows applies to the former generations, who had sinned on till the measure became full. takes the place of the object to (see Isa 1:17); the more usual expression would be ; the inverted order of the words makes the assertion all the more energetic. In Isa 42:25 the genitive relation is avoided, probably in favour of the similar ring of and . is either the accusative of the object, and a subordinate statement of what constituted the burning heat (cf., Ewald, 287, k), or else an accusative, of more precise definition = in Isa 66:15 (Ges. 118, 3). The outpouring is also connected by zeugma with the “violence of war.” The m ilchamah then becomes the subject. The war-fury raged without result. Israel was not brought to reflection.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
23. Who is there among you? Isaiah continues the same subject; for he means that the Jews are and will be so stupid, that they will not see, even when they are warned; and he expressly addresses them, because, while they ought to have been better educated and taught than others, yet they understood nothing, and did not observe the judgments of God, even though they were exceedingly manifest.
Who shall hearken for the time to come? That is, who, being at length subdued by afflictions, repents, though it be late. We see, then, how this astonishment aggravates the criminality of their madness, because they will always refuse to be taught. Yet let us learn what is the use of threatenings and punishments; for God does not reprove our crimes, or punish us for them, as if he delighted in taking vengeance, or demanded some recompense, but that we may be on our guard “for the time to come.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE SUBJECTION OF THE JEWS AN ADMONITION TO THE WORLD
Isa. 42:23-25. Who among you will give ear to this? &c.
I. The desolation brought upon the Jews. Terrible. Sent upon them by God. Defeated after their rejection of the Messiah. It continues to this day.
II. The justice of the sentence that is gone forth against them.
III. Their insensibility under these judgments. They do not see the sentence which, in evil hour, their own ancestors pronounced against them: His blood be on us and on our children!and on them it hath been. This is the awful curse under which they are now drooping and groaning (H. E. I., 143).
IV. An appeal arising out of this awful dispensation as applicable to ourselves. The whole history of the Jews is intended to be an admonition to us. Sharing in their sins, we shall certainly share in their chastisements.R. C. Dillon, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 72103.
DEADENED BY SIN
Isa. 42:25. And it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
One of the most evil results of sin is, that it hardens and deadens the soul. When persisted in it goes beyond the stage of arousing anxiety and alarm; it stupefies and benumbs, so that a man gets past feeling. What a pitiable object does he become who is so under the influence of poison that he is no longer himself! Fire burns him, yet so insensible is he, that where a healthy man would be active in self-defence, he lays it not to heart (H. E. I., 4535, 4540). We take the meaning of the text to be, that the corrupt part of Israel had become so depraved by their sins that they were not to be roused even though they witnessed the judgments of God inflicting upon the nation the just penalties of their rebellions: they laid it not to heart. It matters not whether we regard the judgment as a special interposition of God or as a natural result of sin, the doctrine is frequently illustrated in human experience. All sin carries with it a fire that burns the sinner; yet we see instances in which the sinner has been previously so hardened that he lays it not to heart, and the fire goes on burning him. E.g.,
1. The fire of Covetousness takes hold upon some men. The just desire to secure a fitting recompense for honest effort is here distorted into a consuming fire of avarice. How seriously it deadens all the higher faculties of their nature. Selfishness is the centre of their life, and there they live in the midst of one raging desire, the desire for possessions, to the exclusion of God and divine things. Ponder this picture of insensibility as drawn by Christs own hand (Luk. 12:15-21).
2. The fire of Lust does deadly damage upon others. Here the lurid flames of unholy passion obtain the mastery where Gods temple should be (1Co. 6:19). The powers of body and mind sink down in debasement under the tyranny of this ruinous vice.
3. The fire of Intemperance has a destructive hold upon tens of thousands. And how insensible its victims become! Draw the too well known and familiar picture of a drunkards life, and a drunkards home. Health, property, reputation, comfort, all drop away: wife and family are debased; yet, whilst poverty and ruin are creeping over the scene, he can look upon it all with astonishing indifference. The fire burns him and his, yet he lays it not to heart.
These instances suggest many others. How fearfully true it is that men can live in such flames as these, and not lay it to heart.
They remain insensible
1. To all Warning.
2. To most Impressive Examples in the fate of others.
3. To most Agonising Convictions which now and then haunt even themselves.
CONCLUSION.Where fire is concerned, prompt, earnest, and wise attention is the duty of the moment. If there be some feeling left, begin with that, and lay hold of recovering help.William Manning.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Isa 42:23 Who among you will give ear to this? [who] will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Ver. 23. Who among you will give ear to this? ] Magna nimirum haec sunt, sed paucis persuasa. We shall have much ado to make you believe these things, though your liberties, lives, and souls lie upon it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 42:23-25
23Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will give heed and listen hereafter?
24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not obey?
25So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he paid no attention.
Isa 42:24 walk This is used in the Bible to show that biblical faith is a lifestyle commitment, not a theology alone. This is possibly a source of the early title of Christianity in Acts, the Way (cf. Act 9:2; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22; and Joh 14:6).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Why did Israel and Judah need this message so badly? (cf. Isa 40:27)
2. Why is God’s power stressed?
3. Does the title My Servant refer to the Jews or to the Messiah?
4. Why are the numerous references to the Gentiles’ inclusion so significant in this passage?
5. Why did God choose the Jews?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Who . . . ? The other “call to hear” emphasized by the Figure of speech Erotesis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 42:23-25
Isa 42:23-25
“Who is there among you that will give ear to this? that will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not Jehovah? he against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.”
Here God prophesied that not even the captivity of Israel, in the complete sense, would result in the understanding of the people as a whole; and this was fulfilled in the truth that when the time came to return to Jerusalem, only a handful returned. These passages also emphasize that the hardships Israel would undergo in Babylon were solely due to the fault and rebellion of the people. There seems to be also a hope that some sense of shame could be aroused in some of the Israelites who were indeed not themselves hardened.
“So thoroughly hardened are the Jewish people as a whole, that they are represented here as being trapped in a house on fire, and even being scorched by the flames, but still unwilling to see their danger or to admit that they were hurt. What a picture of hardening! And this is their state to the present day!
“These final verses of the chapter emphasize that Israel’s sufferings in exile are due to the very disobedience which they were still displaying; and there is also a plea for them to change their attitude (Isa 42:23).
Isa 42:23-25 INCORRIGIBLE: The question of Isa 42:23 is a wish that one might be found among the nation (cf. Jer 5:1-2) who will hear and obey. Is there not one who will learn from history and prepare themselves for the judgment that is to come upon this nation? Have they all forgotten that it was Jehovah who gave their forefathers over to judgment and chastening (cf. Amo 4:6-12). It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word shama is translated obedient in our English version of Isa 42:24. The Hebrew word translated law, is torah. The nation, for the most part, was incorrigible. They deliberately and obstinantly chose not to walk in the ways of Jehovah (cf. Jer 6:16-19). They refused to learn from the history of their rebellious ancestors in the wilderness wanderings and the days of the Judges. Time and time again God chastened Israel by slaughter of war, destruction of her cities, drought, pestilence-still Israel knew it not. It was not a lack of an authentic historical record of Gods divine deeds-it was a moral unwillingness to accept it.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
will give: Isa 1:18-20, Isa 48:18, Lev 26:40-42, Deu 4:29-31, Deu 32:29, Pro 1:22, Pro 1:23, Jer 3:4-7, Jer 3:13, Mic 6:9, Mat 21:28-31, Act 3:19, Act 3:22, Act 3:23, 1Pe 4:2, 1Pe 4:3
time to come: Heb. after-time
Reciprocal: 2Ch 24:19 – but they would Isa 44:1 – now Isa 44:21 – Remember Jer 6:10 – their ear Jer 13:15 – and Jer 26:4 – If Jer 35:13 – Will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
42:23 Who among you will give ear to this? [who] will hearken and hear for {b} the time to come?
(b) Meaning, God’s wrath.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The prophet despaired that no one among the Israelites was learning from God.