Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 44:1
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
1. Yet now ] But now; marking the contrast, exactly as in ch. Isa 43:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Isa 44:1-5. Once more the gloom of the present is lighted up by the promise of a brilliant future; the Divine spirit shall be poured out on Israel, and strangers shall esteem it an honour to attach themselves to the people of Jehovah.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yet now hear – This should be read in immediate connection with the previous chapter. Notwithstanding you have sinned, yet now hear the gracious promise which is made in regard to your deliverance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 44:1-5
Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant
Why are the people of God called by the name of Jacob?
Have you never wondered why the people of God should be called by the name of the third of the ancient patriarchs in preference to the first two? We often, indeed, find them called the seed of Abraham, and we should easily understand what was meant if we read of the children of Isaac: but, as far as I remember, they are nowhere called simply Abraham or Isaac, whereas it is perfectly common to hear them called Jacob or Israel, the name of the third patriarch being directly transferred to his descendants. Not only so: this usage has passed over into the New Testament, and we still sometimes call the whole body of living Christians the Israel of God. This is a somewhat surprising circumstance; for of the three patriarchs the third is certainly not the favourite. Why, then, is it that the name of the third patriarch is attached to Gods people, as if he were more directly their progenitor than the other two? Is it because they are liker him than they are to Abraham or Isaac? Is the average Christian an imperfect, stumbling mortal, a compound of obvious vices and struggling virtues, as Jacob was? It would be harsh to say so. But we may come nearer the mark if we put this suggestion in a different form. Jacob was the progressive character among the patriarchs. His beginnings were ignoble, and the vices of his nature long clave to him; yet by degrees he surmounted them: he lived down the evil which was in him; and his end was that of one who, after many defeats, had at last obtained the victory. Abraham is a much grander figure than Jacob, but he has far less history. He may almost be said to be perfect from the first. If in him there was a slow development from small beginnings, we have no record of it. Isaac, again, was, as far as the records inform us, a back-going rather than a progressive character. The opening scenes of his history are beautiful and noble; but his character lacked back-bone, and we see him sinking into physical grossness and moral flaccidity. Jacobs life, on the contrary, in spite of great defects to begin with and many faults by the way, was a developing and ascending one. This is shown by the names he bore: he was first Jacob and then Israel. And it may be to recommend such a life of progress that his names are given to Gods people. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
Biography in three words:
I. JACOB.
1. This was the name of the natural man. After he had received his new name the very mention of the old one must have reminded him of the evil time when he was an unbrotherly brother and an unfilial son. It is true that, while he was still Jacob, he went through the experience of Bethel, where he saw the vision of the ladder reaching up to heaven. This is usually regarded as his conversion, but, if it was, he was afterwards a backslider, for his subsequent life in Padan-aram was far more guided by selfish cleverness than by the law of God. The name Jacob, in short, was a memorial of a youth of sin and of a manhood of worldliness. But is it not, thus understood, an appropriate name for the people of God? Is there not for them also a bad past to remember? It is well sometimes to go back to what we were, because the old habits may still spring up and trouble us; though we may now have received a new name, the old Jacob is in us still. Above all, we ought to go back on that old time, because it helps to magnify the grace which brought us out of it.
2. But there is another idea inseparably connected with the name of Jacob: it is that of Divine choice. In our text this is very prominent–Israel, whom I have chosen, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. It is, indeed, connected with the other two names here, because these indicate that to which he was chosen. But he was the choice of God, in preference to Esau, while he was still Jacob. As He chose Jacob, while he was still Jacob, so He loved us while we were yet sinners.
II. ISRAEL.
1. The patriarch received a new name because he had become a new man. God does not trifle with such things. A change of name among, us may be a mere freak of caprice; but when God deliberately changed a man s name, it was an outward monument of an inward change. If it did not mean that the natural man, which the name Jacob designated, was entirely exterminated, it meant that it was so far overcome that the complexion of the life would henceforth be different. The reign of selfishness and worldliness was over, and a new spirit had entered in and taken possession If we ask how this came about, it may have been a slower and more complex process than we have any record of; for what appears a sudden spiritual change is often only the culmination of movements going on for a long time before. But what we are permitted to see clearly in the records of the patriarchs life is the midnight scene on the bank of the Jabbok. It is far away, and it is evidently concealed under forms of speech which are now alien to us; but this at least is evident, that the patriarch was that night, if a homely phrase may be allowed, at cross grips with God. That night God was not to him vague and far-off, but intensely real and very near; and Jacob had transactions with Him face to face–ay, hand to hand. Is not this what the religion of many people lacks? To a certain extent they are religious. Yet somehow it never comes to close quarters between them and God. What they need is Christ, the reconciler.
2. But the new name of Israel denoted more than this. It was expressly said to him, as he received it, As a prince hast thou had power with God and hast prevailed, and this was what the name meant–the possession of power with God. Evidently a great crisis had come in Jacobs experience, in which his will came into collision with the will Divine. But what an unequal struggle! The mysterious man had only to touch Jacob in the seat of his strength, and it yielded in a moment; the sinew shrank, and he could struggle no more. Yet in the moment when he appeared to be thoroughly beaten, it turned out that he had gained the victory and won the blessing. This is not so mysterious as it looks. It is repeated in every great spiritual crisis. It is through such experiences that men and women enter into the secret of the Lord, become mighty in prayer, are endowed with spiritual power, and if they do not receive new names on earth, yet obtain a stamp and a signature of character leaving no doubt that they have new names in heaven.
III. JESHURUN. There is no evidence that this name belonged to the third patriarch, though it may have done so. But there can be little doubt that, standing where it does, alongside of the other two, it was meant, like them, for a symbol of character. The root from which it appears to be derived means straight or upright, and this is its most probable meaning. This was precisely the development of character which the third patriarch needed, after he had received the new name of Israel. What happened the very next morning after the great midnight scene on which we have been looking? He went forth to meet his brother Esau; and this is the account of how he behaved: Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold Esau came, and with him four hundred men;. . . and he bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Bowed himself–to the ground–seven times! This to his own brother! What was he bowing for? Whycould he not stand up straight on his feet and look his brother in the face? Read the whole account of the preparations and dispositions which he elaborated before meeting Esau, and of the sly, suspicious way in which he met and managed his rough but generous brother, and you will feel inclined to sneer: Is this the man who was called last night a prince who had power with God? There is far too much bowing and becking, twisting and turning. This man is not straight; he is not upright. It seems to me that sometimes in people who have had their Bethels and Hahanaims and Peniels, and can speak to you about experiences of struggle and emptying, and of being filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a defect of a similar kind. Although they have had dealings with God, and feel themselves on a footing of reconciliation with Him, they are not right in their dealings with men. There are few things which so injure the cause of religion in the world as these defects of men of God. On the contrary, how noble and God-honouring a sight it is when one who is a prince with God is acknowledged on earth also to be a princely man; and when one who has power with God has at the same time influence with men through his manliness, uprightness, and charity. Our text is a message of hope. It speaks of the possibilities of spiritual transformation and development. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
Jacob, Israel, Jeshurun:
I take these three names in their order as teaching us–
I. THE PATH OF TRANSFORMATION. Every Jacob may become a righteous one if he will tread Jacobs road. We start with that first name of nature which, according to Esaus bitter etymology of it, meant a supplanter,–not without some suggestions of craft and treachery in it. It is descriptive of the natural disposition of the patriarch, which was by no means attractive. All through his earlier career he does not look like the stuff of which heroes and saints are made. But in the mid-path of his life there came that hour of deep dejection and helplessness when, driven out of all dependence on self, and feeling round in his agony for something to lay hold upon, there came into this nightly solitude a vision of God. In conscious weakness, and in the confidence of self-despair, he wrestled with the mysterious Visitant in the only fashion in which He can be wrestled with. He wept and made supplication to Him, as one of the prophets puts it, and so he bore away the threefold gift-blessing from those mighty lips whose blessing is the communication, and not only the invocation of the mercy, a deeper knowledge of that Divine and mysterious Name, and for him self a new name. That new name implied a new direction given to his character. Hitherto he had wrestled with men whom he would supplant, for his own advantage, by craft and subtlety; henceforward he strove with God for higher blessings, which, in striving, he won. All the rest of his life was on a loftier plane. That is the outline of the only way in which, from out of the evil and the sinfulness of our natural disposition, any of us can be raised to the loftiness and purity of a righteous life. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character if there is to be transformation. How different that path is from the road which men are apt to take in working out their own self-improvement! How many forms of religion, and how many toiling souls in effect just reverse the process, and say practically–first make yourselves righteous, and then you will get communion with God. That is an endless and a hopeless task! This sequence, too, may very fairly be used to teach us the lesson that there is no kind of character so debased but that it may partake of the purifying and ennobling influence.
II. THE LAW FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. There are some religious people that seem to think that it is enough if only they can say: Well! I have been to Jesus Christ, and I have got my past sins forgiven; I have been on the mountain and have held communion with God. Now, the order of these names here points the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is–righteousness. God does not tell us His name merely in order that we may know His name, but in order that, knowing it, we may be smitten with the love of it, and so may come into the likeness of it. Take, then, these three names of my text as preaching, in antique guise, the same lesson that the very Apostle of affectionate contemplation uttered with such earnestness: Little children! let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.
III. THE MERCIFUL JUDGMENT WHICH GOD MAKES OF THE CHARACTER OF THEM THAT LOVE HIM. Jeshurun means the righteous one. How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls us saints. All wrong-doing is inconsistent with Christianity, but it is not for us to say that any wrong-doing is incompatible with it; and therefore for ourselves there is hope, and for our estimate of one another there is the lesson of charity, and for all Christian people there is a lesson–live up to your name. Noblesse oblige! Fulfil your ideal. Be what God calls you, and press toward the mark for the prize.
IV. THE UNION BETWEEN THE FOUNDER OF THE NATION AND THE NATION. The name of the patriarch passes to his descendants, the nation is called after him that begat it. In some sense it prolongs his life and spirit and character upon the earth. That is the old-world way of looking at the solidarity of a nation. There is a New Testament fact that goes even deeper than that. The names which Christ bears are given to Christs followers. Is He a King, is He a Priest? He makes us kings and priests. Is He anointed the Messiah? God hath anointed us in Him. Is He the light of the world? Ye are the light of the world. His life passeth into all that love Him in the measure of their trust and love. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Church comforted and revived:
I. AN ADDRESS MOST GRACIOUS AND COMFORTING. Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen, &c. The persons to whom these words were spoken are represented–
1. As the servants of God. How great the honour to be acknowledged as a servant of the King of kings!
2. As the people of His special choice.
3. As the objects of His wonderful interpositions. The words, Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, refer to them in their national character. The relationship He sustained to them, and the great things He had done for them, are employed as arguments to inspire them with confidence, and lead them to be of good courage.
II. A PROMISE EMINENTLY CHEERING. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, &c. They are evidently spiritual blessings which are here promised, of which water is frequently employed as an emblem. In this passage we are reminded of the following particulars.
1. Their nature. In some places the cleansing property of water is intended. At other times its quality of quenching the thirst is set forth. But it is to be understood here in connection with its refreshing and fertilising influences.
2. Their value. We have but a faint conception of the importance of water, on account of its being so common with us. But, in those countries where it is scarce, its worth is very differently estimated.
3. Their seasonableness. When the soil is parched through long-continued drought, how welcome are the genial showers. And to the dry and barren soul, how cheering are the waters of life and salvation!
4. Their abundance. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. Nor are they ample in quantity alone, but in their range they are most extensive. Besides embracing the people of God themselves, they also embrace their offspring.
III. A RESULT TRULY REFRESHING. One shall say, I am the Lords; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. We have here–
1. An important principle indicated. It is that Gods own people must be first revived before large accessions can be expected to the Church from without.
2. The blessed truth declared. (Anon.)
A promise for us, and for our children:
Yet. What an ominous word as to the past! What a cheering word as to the future! Yet. What black words are those which come before it! Gods people were represented as being in a sadly backsliding state. Consequently God gave them up ,to the curse and the reproach. It may be that such is our case, though we be God s people. Yet, says the text–though you have fallen into this state, do not despair; I love you; you are My chosen; yet will I return unto you in favour. Come then, if we have wandered never so far, let this word sound like the shepherds call to bring us back.
I. THE LORD COMFORTS HIS PEOPLE BY THE REMEMBRANCE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR THEM. Taking the text as our guide, let us notice–
1. The grace we have experienced in its practical effect. To make us Gods servants–Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant. We may be unfaithful servants: we certainly are unprofitable odes, but, if not awfully deceived, we are His true servants. We were once the servants of sin and the slaves of our own passions, but He who made us free has now taken us into His own family and taught us obedience to His will.
2. This grace is peculiar, discriminating and distinguishing. My chosen.
3. Reflect again upon the ennobling influence of grace. The people are first called Jacob, but only in the next line they are styled Israel. You and I were but of the common order. If we had boasted of anything we should have been called Jacobs, supplanters, boasting beyond our line; but as Jacob at the brook Jabbok wrestled with the angel and prevailed, and gained the august title of prince–prevailing prince–even so has grace ennobled us!
4. The text conducts us onward to notice the creating and sustaining energy of that grace. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb. Men might as well claim the honour of creation or resurrection as boast of commencing their own spiritual life.
5. This grace has the characteristic, of intense,, affection in it. God gives to His people the title of Jeshurun, which means the righteous people, according to some translators, but most interpreters are agreed that it is an affectionate title which God gives to His people. Perhaps it may be considered to be a diminutive of Israel. Just as fathers and mothers, when they have great affection for their children, will frequently give them an endearing name–shorten their usual name, or call them by a familiar title only used in the family–so, in calling Israel Jeshurun, the Lord setteth forth His near and dear love. Gods grace to us is not merely the mercy of the good Samaritan towards a poor stranger whom he finds wounded by the way, but it is the love of a mother to her sick child; the fondness of a husband towards a weeping wife; the tenderness of the head towards the wounded members.
II. WE ARE ENCOURAGED BY THE PROMISE OF WHAT GOD WILL DO. Fear not; I will help thee. You cannot pray as you desire–I will help thee. You feel unable to overcome sin–I will help thee. You are engaged in service too heavy for you–I will help thee. Then comes a promise, fuller in words and as rich in grace, I will pour water on him that is thirsty. You shall be refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripe: you shall have fructifying grace; you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in Divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full You shall be, as it were, drenched with it.
III. AS A VERY GREAT COMFORT TO HIS MOURNING PEOPLE, THE LORD NOW PROMISES A BLESSING UPON THEIR CHILDREN. They must get the blessing for themselves first. I win pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground,–that is first; and then afterwards–I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed. We must not expect to see our children blessed unless we ourselves grow in grace. It is often the inconsistency of parents which is the outward obstacle to the conversion of their children. But now, if we have had faith to receive much grace from God, here comes a blessed promise for our children–I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, in which observe–
1. The need. To give a new heart and a right spirit is the work of the Holy Spirit, and of the Holy Spirit alone.
2. The source of the mercy which God will give. My Spirit.
3. The plenty of grace which God gives. Pour: not a little of it–but abundance.
4. The blessedness of all this. And My blessing upon thine offspring. What a blessing it is to have our offspring saved! What a blessing to have our children enlisted in Christs army!
5. Notice the vigour with which these children shall grow. They shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. Close by the waters edge the grass grows very green, and the willow is a well-known tree for speedily shooting forth its branches. Our farmers lop their willows often, but they very soon sprout again. The willow grows fast, and so do young Christians.
6. The manifestation of this in public. Not only are our children to have the Spirit of God in their inward parts, but they are to make a profession of it. One shall say, I am the Lords,–he shall come out boldly and avow himself on the Lords side; and another shall so ally himself to Gods Church that he shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and then another who can hardly speak quite so positively, but who means it quite as sincerely, shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord; and a fourth shall surname himself by the name of Israel. (C. H. Spurgeon)
The Spirit promised to the seed of Jacob:
The text contains one of those interesting passages in which the Holy Spirit is promised in the Old Testament. Consider–
I. THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE.
II. THE PROMISE ITSELF.
III. THE EFFECTS ATTENDING ITS FULFILMENT. (D. Rees.)
Jesurun,
Jesurun, or Jeshurun, is supposed to be derived from a word which literally means straight or even. The symbolic meaning is therefore upright or righteous. St. Jerome renders it most upright. In the Septuagint it is translated most beloved, a term of endearment. A German commentator gives it the quaint and familiar rendering of gentleman, or one of gentlemanly or honourable mind (Delitzseh),–a noble epithet alike for the individual or the nation. Taking it in connection with the only other two places in Scripture where the word is used, Isaiah, in employing it here, has probably reference to the primitive virtues which characterised the patriarchal ages–the faith and purity and rectitude of the old founders of the nation–those to whom Israel pointed with something of the same pride and glory as we do to our covenanting forefathers. (Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26-29.) (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XLIV
This chapter, besides promises of redemption, of the effusion
of the Spirit, and success of the Gospel, 1-5,
sets forth, in a very sublime manner, the supreme power and
foreknowledge, and absolute eternity, of the one true God; and
exposes the folly and absurdity of idolatry with admirable
force and elegance, 6-20.
And to show that the knowledge of future events belongs only to
Jehovah, whom all creation is again called to adore for the
deliverance and reconciliation granted to his people, 21-23,
the prophet concludes with setting in a very strong point of
view the absolute impotence of every thing considered great and
insurmountable in the sight of men, when standing in the way of
the Divine counsel; and mentions the future deliverer of the
Jewish nation expressly by name, nearly two hundred years
before his birth, 24-28.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLIV
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Although I have chastised thee for thy sins, and had just cause utterly to destroy thee; yet in judgment I will remember mercy, and will still own thee for my servant and chosen people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-5. YetThough thou hastsinned, yet hear God’s gracious promise as to thy deliverance.
chosen (Isa41:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant,…. These words are directed to a remnant according to the election of grace among the Jews, about the time when their princes should be profaned, and the body of the people should be given to curse and reproaches; and who are distinguished from them by the title of the Lord’s “servants”: who, being called by grace, were made willing to serve him in righteousness and holiness, either by preaching his Gospel, and so had the title of the servants of the most high God, which show unto men the way of salvation; or by observing his commands and ordinances, and walking agreeably to his will, serving him acceptably with reverence and godly fear; as they are also, in the next clause, distinguished from the rest by their being “chosen” of God: and these, having ears to hear, are called upon to hearken to what the Lord had to say unto them; for, notwithstanding the sorrowful things delivered out in the latter part of the preceding chapter, threatening destruction to the nation of the Jews; yet he had some comfortable things to say to this remnant, and therefore would now have them hear them, and attend unto them for their use and comfort:
and Israel whom I have chosen; an Israel out of Israel; a seed the Lord had reserved for himself, whom he had chosen in Christ before the world was; to be holy and happy, to grace here and glory hereafter, to believe in him, and profess his name, and to serve him in their day and generation, either in a more public, or in a more private way; chosen vessels they were to bear his name, and show forth his praise. What they were to hear and hearken to is as follows,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet cannot bear to dwell any longer upon this dark picture of their state of punishment; and light of the promise breaks through again, and in this third field of the fourth prophecy in all the more intensive form. “And now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, and thy Former from the womb, who cometh to thy help; Fear not, my servant Jacob; and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen! For I will pour out water upon thirsty ones, and brooks upon the dry ground; will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine after-growth; and they shoot up among the grass, as willows by flowing waters.” In contrast with the cheerem, i.e., the setting apart for destruction, there is here presented the promise of the pouring out of the Spirit and of blessing; and in contrast with the gidduphm , the promise of general eagerness to come and honour Israel and its God (Isa 44:5). The epithets by which Jehovah designates Himself, and those applied to Israel in Isa 44:1, Isa 44:2, make the claim to love all the more urgent and emphatic. The accent which connects , so as to make by itself an attributive clause like , is confirmed by Isa 44:24 and Isa 49:5: Israel as a nation and all the individuals within it are, as the chosen servant of Jehovah (Isa 49:1), the direct formation of Jehovah Himself from the remotest point of their history. In Isa 44:26, Jeshurun is used interchangeably with Jacob. This word occurs in three other passages (viz., Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5, Deu 33:26), and is always written with kibbutz , just as it is here. The rendering in Gr. Ven. is founded upon the supposition that the word is equivalent to – a strange contraction, which is inadmissible, if only on account of the substitution of for . The points back to , to be straight or even; hence A. S. Th. (elsewhere ), Jerome rectissimus (though in Deu 32:15 he renders it, after the lxx, dilectus ). It is an offshoot of = (Psa 25:21), like , from , ; and un (= on ) does not stamp it as a diminutive (for , which Kamphausen adduces in opposition to Hengstenberg and Volck, does not stand in the same relation to as mannikin to man, but rather as the image of a man to a man himself; compare the Arabic insan ). We must not render it therefore as an affectionate diminutive, as Gesenius does, the more especially as Jehovah, though speaking in loving terms, does not adopt the language of a lover. The relation of Jeshurun to is rather the same as that of to , so that the real meaning is “gentleman,” or one of gentlemanly or honourable mind, though this need not appear in the translation, since the very nature of a proper name would obliterate it. In Isa 44:3, the blessings to be expected are assigned as the reason for the exhortation to be of good cheer. In Isa 44:3 water is promised in the midst of drought, and in Isa 44:3 the Spirit and blessing of God, just as in Joel the promise of rain is first of all placed in contrast with drought; and this is followed by the promise of the far surpassing antitype, namely, the outpouring of the Spirit. There is nothing at variance with this in the fact that we have not the form in the place of fo e (according to the analogy of , , , Psa 68:10). By ) we understand the inhabitants of the land who are thirsting for rain, and by yabbashah the parched land itself. Further on, however, an express distinction is made between the abundance of water in the land and the prosperous growth of the nation planted by the side of water-brooks (Psa 1:3). We must not regard Isa 44:3, therefore, as a figure, and Isa 44:3 as the explanation, or turn Isa 44:3 into a simile introduced in the form of a protasis, although unquestionably water and mountain streams are made the symbol, or rather the anagogical type, of spiritual blessings coming down from above in the form of heavenly gifts, by a gradual ascent from and (from , to trickle downwards, Son 4:15, Jer 18:14) to and ( ). When these natural and spiritual waters flow down upon the people, once more restored to their home, they spring up among ( only met with here, lxx and Targum ) the grass, like willows by water-brooks.
The willows
(Note: “The garab,” says Wetzstein, “was only met with by me in one locality, or, at any rate, I only noticed it once, namely in the Wady So’b, near to a ford of the river which is called the Hd ford, from the c hirbet el – Hd, a miserable ruin not far off. It is half an hour to the west of Nimrin ( Nimrim, Isa 15:6), or, speaking more exactly, half an hour above (i.e., to the east of) Zaft Nimriin, an antique road on the northern bank of the river, hewn in a precipitous wall of rock, like the ladder of Tyre. I travelled through the valley in June 1860, and find the following entry in my diary: ‘At length the ravine opened up into a broader valley, so that we could get down to the clear, copious, and rapid stream, and were able to cross it. Being exhausted by the heat, we lay down near the ford among the oleanders, which the mass of flowers covered with a rosy glow. The reed grows here to an unusual height, as in the Wady Yarmk, and willows ( zafzaf ) and garab are mingled together, and form many-branched trees of three or four fathoms in height. The vegetation, which is fresh and luxuriant by the water-side, is scorched up with the heat in the valley within as little as ten paces from the banks of the stream. The farthest off is the ‘osar plant, with its thick, juicy, dark green stalks and leaves, and its apple-like fruit, which is of the same colour, and therefore not yet ripe. The garab tree has already done flowering. The leaves of this tree stand quite close around the stem, as in the case of the Sindiana (the Syrian oak), and, like the leaves of the latter, are fringed with little thorns; but, like the willow, it is a water plant, and our companions Abdallah and Nasrallah assured us that it was only met with near flowing water and in hot lowlands. Its bunches of flowers are at the points of the slender branches, and assume an umbelliferous form. This is the of the Bible.’ Consequently the garab (or (as nom. unitatis) the garaba cannot be regarded as a species of willow; and Winer’s assumption ( Real-Wrterbuch, s.v. Weiden), that the weeping willow is intended at any rate in Psa 137:2, is an error. In Arabic the weeping willow is always called shafshaf m ustachi (the drooping tree). At the same time, we may render ‘willows,’ since the garab loves running water as well as the willow, and apparently they seek one another’s society; it is quite enough that the difference should be clearly pointed out in the commentary. The reason why the garab did not find its way into my herbarium was the following. On my arrival in Salt, I received the first intelligence of the commencement of the slaughter of the Christians on Antilibanus, and heard the report, which was then commonly believed, that a command had been sent from Constantinople to exterminate Christianity from Syria. This alarming report compelled me to inquire into the actual state of affairs; therefore, leaving my luggage and some of my companions behind, I set off with all speed to Jerusalem, where I hoped to obtain reliable information, accompanied by Herr Drgen, my kavas, and two natives, viz., Abdallah the smith, from Salt, and Nasrallah the smith, from Ain Genna. For a ride like this, which did not form part of the original plan of my journey, everything but weapons, even a herbarium, would have been in the way. Still there are small caravans going every week between Salt and Jerusalem, and they must always cross the Hd ford, so that it would be easy to get a twig of the garab. So far as I remember, the remains of the blossom were of a dirty white colour.” (Compare p. 213, where we have taken nachal haarabhm , according to the meaning of the words, as a synonym of Wady Sufsaf, or, more correctly, Safsf. From the description given above, the garab is a kind of viburnum with indented leaves. This tree, which is of moderate height, is found by the side of streams along with the willow. According to Sprengel ( Gesch. der Botanik. i. 25), the safsaf is the salix subserrata of Wildenow).)
are the nation, which has hitherto resembled withered plants in a barren soil, but is now restored to all the bloom of youth through the Spirit and blessing of God. The grass stands for the land, which resembles a green luxuriant plain; and the water-brooks represent the abundant supply of living waters, which promote the prosperity of the land and its inhabitants.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Prosperity Foretold; The Supremacy of God. | B. C. 708. |
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. 5 One shall say, I am the LORD‘s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel. 6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
Two great truths are abundantly made out in these verses:–
I. That the people of God are a happy people, especially upon account of the covenant that is between them and God. The people of Israel were so as a figure of the gospel Israel. Three things complete their happiness:–
1. The covenant-relations wherein they stand to God, Isa 44:1; Isa 44:2. Israel is here called Jeshurun–the upright one; for those only, like Nathanael, are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, and those only shall have the everlasting benefit of these promises. Jacob and Israel had been represented, in the close of the foregoing chapter, as very provoking and obnoxious to God’s wrath, and already given to the curse and to reproaches; but, as if God’s bowels yearned towards him and his repentings were kindled together, mercy steps in with a non-obstante–notwithstanding, to all these quarrels: “Yet now, hear, O Jacob my servant! thou and I will be friends again for all this.” God had said (ch. xliii. 25), I am he that blotteth out thy transgression, which is the only thing that creates this distance; and when that is taken away the streams of mercy run again in their former channel. The pardon of sin is the inlet of all the other blessings of the covenant. So and so I will do for them, says God (Heb. viii. 12), for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Therefore hear, O Jacob! hear these comfortable words; therefore fear not, O Jacob! fear not thy troubles, for by the pardon of sin the property of them too is altered. Now the relations wherein they stand to him are very encouraging. (1.) They are his servants; and those that serve him he will own and stand by and see that they be not wronged. (2.) They are his chosen, and he will abide by his choice; he knows those that are his, and those whom he has chosen he takes under special protection. (3.) They are his creatures. He made them, and brought them into being; he formed them, and cast them into shape; he began betimes with them, for he formed them from the womb; and therefore he will help them over their difficulties and help them in their services.
2. The covenant-blessings which he has secured to them and theirs, Isa 44:3; Isa 44:4. (1.) Those that are sensible of their spiritual wants, and the insufficiency of the creature to supply them, shall have abundant satisfaction in God: I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, that thirsts after righteousness; he shall be filled. Water shall be poured out to those who truly desire spiritual blessings above all the delights of sense. (2.) Those that are barren as the dry ground shall be watered with the grace of God, with floods of that grace, and God will himself give the increase. If the ground be ever so dry, God has floods of grace to water it with. (3.) The water God will pour out is his Spirit (John vii. 39), which God will pour out without measure upon the seed, that is, Christ (Gal. iii. 16), and by measure upon all the seed of the faithful, upon all the praying wrestling seed of Jacob, Luke xi. 13. This is the great New-Testament promise, that God, having sent his servant Christ, and upheld him, will send his Spirit to uphold us. (4.) This gift of the Holy Ghost is the great blessing God had reserved the plentiful effusion of for the latter days: I will pour my Spirit, that is, my blessing; for where God gives his Spirit he will give all other blessings. (5.) This is reserved for the seed and offspring of the church; for so the covenant of grace runs: I will be a God to thee and to thy seed. To all who are thus made to partake of the privileges of adoption God will give the spirit of adoption. (6.) Hereby there shall be a great increase of the church. Thus it shall be spread to distant places. Thus it shall be propagated and perpetuated to after-times: They shall spring up and grow as fast as willows by the watercourses, and in every thing that is virtuous and praiseworthy shall be eminent and excel all about them, as the willows overtop the grass among which they grow, v. 4. Note, It is a great happiness to the church, and a great pleasure to good men, to see the rising generation hopeful and promising. And it will be so if God pour his Spirit upon them, that blessing, that blessing of blessings.
3. The consent they cheerfully give to their part of the covenant, v. 5. When the Jews returned out of captivity they renewed their covenant with God (Jer. l. 5), particularly that they would have no more to do with idols, Hos 14:2; Hos 14:3; Hos 14:8. Backsliders must thus repent and do their first works. Many of those that were without did at that time join themselves to them, invited by that glorious appearance of God for them, Zec 8:23; Est 8:17. And they say, We are the Lord’s and call themselves by the name of Jacob; for there was one law, one covenant, for the stranger and for those that were born in the land. And doubtless it looks further yet, to the conversion of the Gentiles, and the multitudes of them who, upon the effusion of the Spirit, after Christ’s ascension, should be joined to the Lord and added to the church. These converts are one and another, very many, of different ranks and nations, and all welcome to God, Col. iii. 11. When one does it another shall by his example be invited to do it, and then another; thus the zeal of one may provoke many. (1.) They shall resign themselves to God: not one in the name of the rest, but every one for himself shall say, “I am the Lord’s; he has an incontestable right to rule me, and I submit to him, to all his commands, to all his disposal. I am, and will be, his only, his wholly, his for ever, will be for his interests, will be for his praise; living and dying I will be his.” (2.) They shall incorporate themselves with the people of God, call themselves by the name of Jacob, forgetting their own people and their fathers’ house, and desirous to wear the character and livery of God’s family. They shall love all God’s people, shall associate with them, give them the right hand of fellowship, espouse their cause, seek the good of the church in general and of all the particular members of it, and be willing to take their lot with them in all conditions. (3.) They shall do this very solemnly. Some of them shall subscribe with their hand unto the Lord, as, for the confirming of a bargain, a man sets his hand to it, and delivers it as his act and deed. The more express we are in our covenanting with God the better, Exo 24:7; Jos 24:26; Jos 24:27; Neh 9:38. Fast bind, fast find.
II. That, as the Israel of God are a happy people, so the God of Israel is a great God, and he is God alone. This also, as the former, speaks abundant satisfaction to all that trust in him, v. 6-8. Observe here, to God’s glory and our comfort, 1. That the God we trust in is a God of incontestable sovereignty and irresistible power. He is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent and self-sufficient; and he is the Lord of hosts, of all the hosts of heaven and earth, of angels and men. 2. That he stands in relation to, and has a particular concern for, his church. He is the King of Israel and his Redeemer; therefore his Redeemer because his King; and those that take God for their King shall have him for their Redeemer. When God would assert himself God alone he proclaims himself Israel’s God, that his people may be encouraged both to adhere to him and to triumph in him. 3. That he is eternal–the first and the last. He is God from everlasting, before the worlds were, and will be so to everlasting, when the world shall be no more. If there were not a God to create, nothing would ever have been; and, if there were not a God to uphold, all would soon come to nothing again. He is all in all, is the first cause, from whom are all things, and the last end, to and for whom are all things (Rom. xi. 36), the Alpha and the Omega, Rev. i. 11. 4. That he is God alone (v. 6): Besides me there is no God. Is there a God besides me? v. 8. We will appeal to the greatest scholars. Did they ever in all their reading meet with any other? To those that have had the largest acquaintance with the world. Did they ever meet with any other? There are gods many (1Co 8:5; 1Co 8:6), called gods, and counterfeit gods: but is there any besides our God that is infinite and eternal, any besides him that is the creator of the world and the protector and benefactor of the whole creation, any besides him that can do that for their worshippers which he can and will do for his? “You are my witnesses. I have been a nonsuch to you. You have tried other gods; have you found any of them all-sufficient to you, or any of them like me? Yea, there is no god,” no rock (so the word is), none besides Jehovah that can be a rock for a foundation to build on, a rock for shelter to flee to. God is the rock, and their rock is not as ours,Deu 32:4; Deu 32:31. I know not any; as if he had said, “I never met with any that offered to stand in competition with me, or that durst bring their pretensions to a fair trial; if I did know of any that could befriend you better than I can, I would recommend you to them; but I know not any.” There is no God besides Jehovah. He is infinite, and therefore there can be no other; he is all-sufficient, and therefore there needs no other. This is designed for the confirming of the hopes of God’s people in the promise of their deliverance out of Babylon, and, in order to that, for the curing of them of their idolatry; when the affliction had done its work it should be removed. They are reminded of the first and great article of their creed, that the Lord their God is one Lord, Deut. vi. 4. And therefore, (1.) They needed not to hope in any other god. Those on whom the sun shines need neither moon nor stars, nor the light of their own fire. (2.) They needed not to fear any other god. Their own God was more able to do them good than all the false and counterfeit gods of their enemies were to do them hurt. 5. That none besides could foretel these things to come, which God now by his prophet gave notice of to the world, above 200 years before they came to pass (v. 7): “Who, as I, shall call, shall call Cyrus to Babylon? Is there any but God that can call effectually, and has every creature, every heart, at his beck? Who shall declare it, how it shall be, and by whom, as I do?” Nay, God goes further; he not only sees it in order, as having the foreknowledge of it, but sets it in order, as having the sole management and direction of it. Can any other pretend to this? He has always set things in order according to the counsel of his own will, ever since he appointed the ancient people, the people of Israel, who could give a truer and fuller account of the antiquities of their own nation than any other kingdom in the world could give of theirs. Ever since he appointed that people to be his peculiar people his providence was particularly conversant about them, and he told them beforehand the events that should occur respecting them–their bondage in Egypt, their deliverance from it, and their settlement in Canaan. All was set in order in the divine predictions as well as in the divine purposes. Could any other have done so? Would any other have been so far concerned for them? He challenges the pretenders to show the things that shall come hereafter: “Let them, if they can, tell us the name of the man that shall destroy Babylon ad deliver Israel? Nay, if they cannot pretend to tell us the things that shall come hereafter, let them tell us the things that are coming, that are nigh at hand and at the door. Let them tell us what shall come to pass to-morrow; but they cannot do that; fear them not therefore, nor be afraid of them. What harm can they do you? What hindrance can they give to your deliverance, when I have told thee it shall be accomplished in its season, and I have solemnly declared it?” Note, Those who have the word of God’s promise to depend upon need not be afraid of any adverse powers or policies whatsoever.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 44
THE FAITHFUL GOD BLESSES HIS PEOPLE
Vs. 1-8: ISRAEL CALLED TO HEAR AND BELIEVE THE VOICE OF HER GOD
1. Jacob is Jehovah’s servant, (vs. 1-2; Isa 41:8).
a. Having formed him from the womb, the Lord will be his constant help, (vs. 2a; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:7; Isa 41:10).
b. Thus, Jesurun (a diminuitive farm of endearment, meaning “perfect” or “upright”), the Lord’s chosen, must not fear, (Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26).
2. Refreshment will be divinely provided for the Lord’s own heritage, (vs. 3-4).
a. Water for the thirsty, (vs. 3a).
b. The Spirit of God will be poured upon the seed of Jacob; divine blessings upon his offspring, (vs. 3b; Eze 36:27; Eze 37:14; Eze 39:29; Isa 32:15; Isa 59:21).
1) The outpouring on the Day of Pentecost was a mere “earnest” of what is to be bestowed in its fullness during the millennium, (2Co 1:22; 2Co 5:5).
2) For the bodies of the saints it will involve: resurrection, quickening and glorification, (Rom 8:11; Rom 8:23; Joh 6:63; 2Co 3:6).
3) The souls of men will be enriched by the Spirit’s bestowment of: knowledge, wisdom, utterance and such endowments as will enable men to serve and worship God in a perfect way.
c. The offspring of Jacob will spring up luxuriantly, as willows by the water courses, (vs. 4).
3. Divinely refreshed, the seed of Jacob will joyfully acknowledge themselves servants of Jehovah, and the spiritual heritage that he has so richly bestowed upon them, (vs. 5; Jer 50:5; 1Co 6:19-20; 2Co 8:5; comp. Psa 87:4-5).
4. Jehovah is the King of Israel, (Isa 41:21; Isa 43:15); Jehovah of hosts his Redeemer, (vs. 6; Isa 41:14; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:14).
a. He is the first and the last, (Isa 41:4; Isa 48:12; comp. Rev 1:8; Rev 2:8; Rev 22:13).
b. Beside Him there is no God, (vs. 8; Isa 43:11; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 45:21).
5. There is no other who can call and order the lives of a people as God has done with Israel, (vs. 7; Isa 41:22; Isa 41:26).
6. Therefore, the people .of God are not to be afraid – astounded, or distracted by fear, (vs. 8).
a. That He has faithfully guided their destiny in the past, they are witnesses, (Isa 43:10).
b. Beside Him there is no God – no Rock of refuge and strength! (Isa 45:5; Deu 4:35; Deu 4:39; 1Sa 2:2; Joe 2:27; Isa 17:10; Isa 26:4; Isa 30:29).
c. He Who knows ALL knows of NO OTHER GOD! (1Sa 2:3; Dan 2:22; Heb 4:13; Col 2:3).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Yet now hear. Having a little before rebuked the transgressions of the people, and declared that all deserved eternal perdition, because both the princes and the people had polluted everything by their crimes, he now mitigates that severity of punishment, and comforts the people. In this passage I consider the particle ו (vau) to mean But or Yet, as in many other passages. As if he had said, “Though grievous afflictions are about to overtake thee, yet now hear what I will do for thy sake.” The verse must be viewed in connection with the former argument, because the Lord declares that he will never permit his people to perish altogether, though they be grievously afflicted. Hence infer, that God is never so angry with his Church as not to leave some room for mercy, as we have already seen on many occasions. The consequence is, that the prophets, whenever they threaten, always add some consolation as an abatement.
But lest we should imagine that men have deserved it by their good conduct, he therefore adds, whom I have chosen; for we do not serve God, because we are entitled to it, or deserve it, but because he renders us fit by a free election. In this passage, therefore, the words Servant and Elect are synonymous, yet so that election comes first in order, and therefore David says that he was God’s “servant” before he was born, because even from his mother’s womb he had been received into God’s family. (Psa 22:10.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE SPIRIT PROMISED TO THE SEED OF JACOB
Isa. 44:1-5. Yet now hear, O Jacob my Servant, &c.
The three Divine Persons in the Godhead are represented in Scripture as concurring in the salvation of fallen man. Our text is one of those interesting passages in which the Holy Spirit is promised in the Old Testament.
I. THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE. The seed or offspring of Jacob, i.e., those who resemble Jacob in his state and character, in his spirit and conduct.
1. Jacob is here represented as the creature of God. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb. The same is true of all His spiritual children (Eph. 2:10).
2. God had chosen Jacob. Twice declared in our text. True also of His spiritual children (1Pe. 2:9).
3. In the text twice called the servant of God. His children are also in the same capacity (Act. 27:23; Rom. 12:1).
3. Jacob is also called Israel. We know on what occasion that name was first given him (Gen. 32:28). It is the memorial of his triumph in prayer; and the promise in our text is made to those who, like Jacob, wrestle with God in prayer for spiritual blessings,
5. Jacob is here called Jesurun, i.e., the upright one. Those who are interested in this promise are such as are upright before God. Imperfection may cleave to them; overpowered by temptation, they may fall into sin; yet they are sincere (H. E. I. 1022).
II. THE PROMISE MADE IN THE TEXT (Isa. 44:3). What is here promised is the Holy Spirit of God, the Sanctifier and Comforter of the Church. A blessing in which all other blessings may be said to be included. With it, and it alone, there come to the soul spiritual life, pardon, purity, peace, and meetness for heaven. Here promised under the emblem of water.
Water is a blessing
1. Universally necessary. Without it, both man and beast must speedily perish.
2. Universally diffused. In some countries, indeed, it is more abundant than in others; but there is no habitable region on the face of the earth where it is entirely wanting. Nor is the Holy Spirit confined to a few favoured ones (Act. 2:17). This promise is being fulfilled.
3. Abundant. Note the promise of the text: pour floods. He will communicate His Spirit copiously to earnest suppliants.
4. Cheap. Generally cheap, as the light of the sun, or as the air we breathe. What can be cheaper than the grace of the Spirit? Too precious to be sold (Job. 28:14). It is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Joh. 4:10).
III. THE EFFECTS ATTENDING THE FULFILMENT OF THIS PROMISE (Isa. 44:4-5). When the earth has been long without rain, the whole face of nature assumes a mournful and sterile appearance. Let rain be given, and fertility and beauty are seen on every side. Without the Holy Spirit, there is barrenness in the Church. When the Spirit is poured out upon the Church, what are the results?
1. Its converts become exceedingly numerous. They shall spring up as among the grassnumerous as the blades of grass. Preliminary fulfilments of the promise (Act. 2:41; Act. 4:34; Act. 5:14). In every age since that time, the number of converts has multiplied in proportion to the outpouring of the Spirit.
2. Its converts become distinguished for the rapidity and luxuriance of their spiritual growth. They spring up as willows by the water-courses (cf. Hos. 14:5-7). The young convert, watered by the dews of the Spirit, makes rapid progress in spiritual knowledge and in grace. He rivals the lily in grace, the olive-tree in beauty, the cedar in stateliness, and the vine in fruitfulness. He ripens as quickly as the full-grown ear of corn; and, like the vine of Lebanon, diffuses around him the most delightful fragrance.
3. They are animated by the purest spirit of self-dedication to the Lord, and of cordial attachment to His people (Isa. 44:5). That is, they shall dedicate themselves to the Lord as His faithful servants and sincere worshippers; and separating themselves from the ungodly and profane, shall solemnly and publicly join themselves to His Church. That this is the duty of those who have been converted and benefited by the Spirit, may be safely inferred from the practice of the Church in every age (Act. 2:44; Act. 2:46). Can we do better than follow the example set us by the primitive Church? Is it not at once our duty and the most likely way to promote the edification and salvation of our souls? Are we not more likely to go to heaven in company with those who travel thither, than by keeping aloof from them? (H. E. I. 39033911.)
CONCLUSION.
1. What resemblance do we bear to the character of the people to whom the promise is made? Is the workmanship of God seen in us? Does the sanctity of our lives prove that we are His elect people? Are we men of fervent and persevering prayer? Are we sincere and upright before God?
2. Has the promise of the text been fulfilled to our souls? We so absolutely need the grace of the Spirit that we must perish, if we have it not. There is no good reason why we should be without it; like water, it is everywhere placed within our reach, and may be obtained in the greatest abundance by only asking for it. How inexcusable, then, must we be, if we still remain without it!
3. Some of us profess to have received the Spirit! What are the effects which He has produced on our spirit and conduct? (H. E. I. 2897, 2898, 14301437).
4. Have you truly dedicated yourself to God? and have you joined His people?Daniel Rees: Sermons, pp. 469479.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS INFLUENCE ON MAN
(For Whit-Sunday.)
Isa. 44:3-4. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, &c.
When God designed the recovery of ruined man, He purposed to accomplish the gracious and glorious work by two great means: by giving the Son to take upon Him our nature, to obey and suffer for us therein; and by sending the Holy Spirit, to render all that Christ has done and suffered for us applicable and effectual to the salvation of our souls.
In this Scripture an abundant effusion of the Spirit is promised to the Church, under the emblem of water: I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. Being made truly sensible of spiritual need, and earnestly desirous of something better than creature satisfaction, this declaration promises a supply of spiritual blessings for the refreshment of the soul. Is that soul barren as the dry ground where there is no water? There is an enlargement of the promisefloods of grace are spoken of: and floods upon the dry ground. Then there is an explanation, in the plainest language: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessings upon thine offspring.
This promise was strikingly fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It is doubtless to have a more complete fulfilment in that happy and glorious state which yet awaits the Church, when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea. But it has also a most important reference to those operations which are carried on by the Holy Spirit in our own souls, and upon which our salvation depends (Joh. 3:3). Let us, then, reverently study what has been revealed to us in the Word of God concerning the being and operations of the Holy Spirit.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. The Spirit, of whom this and other Scriptures speak to us, is Divine.
(1) This, and more, is involved in our Lords command, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(2) The same distinguishing names and titles are given continually in the Word of God to the Holy Ghost, as belong to no other than Almighty God. THE LORD (2Co. 3:1. Cf. Isa. 6:9 with Act. 28:25). GOD (Act. 5:3). JEHOVAH (Cf. Isa. 63:14 with Deu. 32:12 and Num. 14:11).
2. The Holy Spirit is not an attribute or operation of God the Father; His distinct personality is clearly manifest from several scriptures.
(1.) From distinct and visible appearances. At the baptism of our Lord. In Mat. 3:16, we read of a distinct manifestation of three Sacred Persons, at one time and place: The voice of the Father was heard, This is my beloved Son; the Lord Jesus came up out of the Jordan; and the Holy Spirit in a bodily shape descended from heaven, and lighted upon Him. On the day of Pentecost. He visibly descended on the apostles, in the likeness of fire.
(2.) To the Spirit divine and personal attributes are assigned. He is eternal (Heb. 9:14). Omnipresent (Psa. 139:7). Omniscient (1Co. 2:10).
(3.) He acts in a personal manner, as one who has a distinct and personal will (Joh. 14:7-8; 1Co. 12:11).
(4.) He has personal appellations (Isa. 11:2; Joh. 14:16; Joh. 14:26). He is called a Comforter, which is the name of a person, and of one vested with an office; another Comforter, to distinguish Him from God the Son, who is a Comforter and indisputably a Person.
(5.) The immediate care and government of the Christian Church has been committed peculiarly to the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is His especial work, spiritual life His especial gift; by Him the work of sanctification is carried on; all Christian holiness, and the exercise of every grace, proceed from Him (Joh. 3:3; 2Th. 2:13; 2Co. 13:14, &c.) He also qualifies and appoints persons to minister in the Church of Christ, and claims their services (Act. 13:2; Act. 20:28).
These testimonies place it beyond doubt that the Holy Spirit is a divine, distinct, and self-existent person, infinite in all His attributes; that He is also, with the Father and the Son, One, God over all, blessed for evermore (H. E. I. 2867).
II. HIS OPERATIONS IN THE HUMAN SOUL.
He is the great Teacher, the Spirit of Illumination, the promised Guide, who alone can lead us into a saving knowledge of the truth. We all continue in a state of spiritual darkness and death until by His mighty power we are born again. It is only through His agency that the corruptions of the human heart can be subdued and mortified, and a holy conformity to the will of God either acquired or sustained. He is the great and only true Comforter, from whom alone any solid consolations come. His work in the soul is just as necessary for its salvation as was the work that was finished on the Cross; and no man, however wise or learned he may be, knows really one tittle more of spiritual things than he is experimentally taught them by the Holy Ghost. His blessed influences, which are so absolutely necessary to us, should be earnestly sought (H. E. I. 28712891; P. D. 18151821).John Johnstone, M.A.: The Way of Life, pp. 172196.
The suitableness of this passage to the important subject of the day, when we commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, is obvious. Let us consider
I. THE PROMISE. I will pour, &c. This, then, is a promise of the Spirit, which is here compared, as in other scriptures, to water, on account partly of its purifying, and partly of its comforting properties. For as water cleanses the body and quenches thirst, so the Spirit purifies the soul and satisfies spiritual desires.
But who are they upon whom the Spirit is poured?
1. Upon the people of God, compared to the earth in the drought of summer, parched and thirsting for rain; upon those who are sensible of their spiritual barrenness, and are not looking for the supply of their wants to their own imaginary merits or strength, but are trusting in the mercy of God through Christ. Upon these the Lord will shed the Holy Ghost abundantly.
2. Upon the children of believers.
II. ITS EFFECTS. And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. The image here employed implies two thingsan increase of the Church, and a growth of individual piety. As plants and herbs spring up of themselves and spread in a grassy and well-watered spot, so did the Christian religion at first rapidly extend itself, through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Thousands were converted by a single sermon, and churches were planted over the whole of the then known world. As the willow situate by the rivers side shoots up quickly, so he upon whom the Lord pours His Spirit plentifully thrives and flourishes in the divine life. His faith becomes steadfast, his love pure and fervent, his humility profound, his knowledge and wisdom extensive and deep, his zeal ardent and constant, lowly and meek, his deadness to the world thorough, and his devotedness to God unreserved.
If the gift of the Spirit be so important, how earnestly should we pray for it! Prayer is the appointed means of obtaining every blessing, whether temporal or spiritual, which God has to bestow. It is the particular duty annexed to the promise of the Spirit (Eze. 36:27; Eze. 36:37). Neglect it not! Pray first of all for your own dry and barren souls, that they may be visited with an abundant outpouring of the Spirit, and thereby be softened, refreshed, and fertilised. Pray next for your children, and pray in faith, expecting, on the ground of the new covenant and of the Divine promises, that your prayers will be heard and answered; your children are included in the promise as well as yourselves. Make a constant practice of praying for the good estate of the Catholic Church, that it may be so guided and governed by Gods good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in the unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.James Gibson, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 8799.
Three things demand our attention
I. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCE.
This is seen in the condition of the persons to whom this promise is addressed. Graphic and affecting terms are used to describe the state of the Church when the grace of the Spirit is withdrawn or withheld. It is a state
1. Of destitution. The face of nature is entirely dependent on the dews and rains of heaven for its picturesque and fruitful appearance. In their absence the earth pines and languishes. Think of the condition and appearance of Israel, when for more than three years rain was withheld from it. As dependent is the heart of man upon God; where His gracious influence is not exerted, there is no true peace or joy.
2. Of sterility. This is denoted by the phrase dry ground. Dry ground is barren. Equally barren is the human heart in the absence of divine influence; it brings forth nothing valuable.
3. This destitution and barrenness extends even to the rising generation. Grace is not hereditary. The children of the most devout are individually dependent on God for all excellence. Unless that dependence is exercised, all the excellences resulting from their religious education will dwindle away and ultimately die. The necessity of divine influence clings to us all.
II. THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE INFLUENCE.
This is represented in the metaphor by which it is described, I will pour water, &c. The opposite metaphor, fire, is also used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. The propriety and beauty of the metaphor employed here will appear if we consider
1. The peculiar proprieties of the promised blessing. Remember
(1.) its cleansing influence.
(2.) Its softening power.
(3.) Its fertilising tendency.
(4.) Its satisfying quality. Nothing else so effectually quenches thirst.
2. The manner of its bestowment.
(1.) It falls from heaven.
(2.) It is imparted freely.
(3.) It is poured forth copiously. Floods upon the dry ground.
III. THE EFFECTS OF DIVINE INFLUENCE.
When it is exerted, the results are seen
1. In numerous conversions to God (Isa. 44:4). As grass springs up in the water-courses, and willows grow in the moistened earth, so where the Spirit is poured forth numbers of converts arise to call the Redeemer blessed.
2. In consecration to the service of Christ (Isa. 44:5).
(1.) It is individual and personal.
(2.) It is marked by holy decision openly avowed.
(3.) It is influential in its example. One shall say and another!
CONCLUSION.
1. This promise should teach us to cultivate dependence on the Holy Spirit.
2. Let us derive encouragement to seek an enlarged effusion of the Divine influence for ourselves and for others.
3. The promise and the pictures of the text appeal to you young folk. They show you what you are without the Holy Spirit; what you may become under His gracious influence; and they stimulate you to that personal dedication to God on which your present and eternal well-being depends.George Smith, D.D.
Who are they that shall participate in these rich blessings? The region surveyed by the promise is one of destitution. It is a dry ground. Months since a drop of rain fell. It is parched. Nothing grows. The land is thirsty. The land and people represent Gods Church. It was a separated people (Isa. 44:2). Jacob and Israel, names of the chosen people. Jesurun, my righteous or beloved one. So that the promise of the text relates to the Church.
1. IN ITSELF. This is the primary idea. The Church is depressed. Here is a promise of revival and refreshing. This is Gods usual course. He reanimates the spiritual life within the Church before He extends it beyond. The worlds conversion is through the Church. But if, like salt that has lost its savour, it has become incapable of its proper influence, how shall its capacity be regained? Only by a new outpouring of the Spirit from on high. God brought back His people; then the heathen knew that He was the Lord. At the Day of Pentecost the Spirit was first given to the disciples, then to the multitude. Beginning at Jerusalem.
2. IN ITS CHILDREN. The special promise of the text is that the children shall be brought under the saving influence. I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring (Act. 2:39). There is a special propriety and beauty in the arrangement that the Christian parent should be the means of training his children for the Church. If the children of Christians are not Christians, it is usually because the parents have failed in some respect to be to their children what they should have been. We ought to be able to look around on the families of Christians and anticipate their union in the fellowship of the Church as a matter of course.
Thus there is in this promise the idea of the Gospels perpetuation in the world. It shall not expire with the existing generation. If not a single convert were added from the regions beyond, it will continue to live in the children of Gods people. So that, though the grass withers and the flower fades; though the man dies and is forgotten, the Word of the Lord, which by the Gospel is preached unto you, endureth for ever. Is not the greater proportion of conversions usually among the young? Is not this a fulfilment of the promise? Let Christian parents and Christian ministers be specially interested in the young (H. E. I. 781788, 795, 803806).
Nor does it terminate there. It spreads outwards. Unlike Gideons fleece, which was saturated while the surrounding ground remained dry, the dew which falls upon the Church reaches the region outside (Eze. 34:26). Large numbers attend our Christian sanctuaries who do not identify themselves with the Church. They hear the Gospel; are interested in its success; but they have not its blessing. The waters of salvation are flowing around them; but their souls remain parched. For them every Christian should pray. They will suffer me to say a word to them. You are like a drowning man who clings to the side of the boat, but refuses to enter it. This is not Gods fault. It is your own. How long shall it continue?
We want more prayer for the Holy Spirit; a more real belief in His work.J. Rawlinson.
REVIVAL: A HOMILY FOR SPRING
Isa. 44:3-4. For I will pour water, &c.
Foremost among the judgments which followed Israels idolatries was the visitation of drought. We enjoy copious supplies of fertilising rain. Yet, even in our own land, a sensible reduction of the rain-fall in spring is followed by empty shocks in August. But in the sunny climes of Syria, if the half-yearly gift of rain failed, the effect was disastrous in the extreme.
If drought is so injurious in the fields of nature, is it not equally injurious in the Church? In our text there is,
I. A STATE OF BARRENNESS DESCRIBED. The ground is said to be dry, in a parched and impenetrable condition. Deadly to vegetable growth. With such homely imagery the prophet leads our thoughts from the outer world to the inner. Is it my soul that is here described? Whatever be the reason, God shall be held clear of blame; and, like the first sign of approaching spring, comes His gracious promise, I will pour, &c.
II. A SENSE OF NEED EXPRESSED. The insensibility is gone. The rigid hardness of winter is at an end. Who is there among us whose spirit thirsts not? (Mat. 5:6.)
III. A GENEROUS GIFT PROVIDED. A promise from God is as good as its performance.
1. The source of the supply. The great folly to which all men are prone is to seek the supply of their wants elsewhere than in God. Yet God has wisely ordained that nowhere out of Himself shall mans highest good be found.
2. The suitableness of the means. Showers for a thirsty soulmercys gifts to satisfy the wants of dependent man. Showers of spiritual influence to refresh our drooping piety. Not half so skilfully do the several parts of a key fit into the wards of a complicated lock as the gifts of Christ fit the needs of a human soul.
3. The copiousness of the gift. If showers will not suffice, there shall be floods.
4. The range of the promise. It shall not terminate with ourselves; it shall extend to our childrenay, to our childrens children. Consolation for parents. The spirit of piety is as contagious as the spirit of profanity. If our Christian faith and love be vigorous, our ambition for our children will be, not riches, &c., but salvation.
IV. ABUNDANT FERTILITY FORESEEN. There shall be a revival of life in the Church, as in the parched fields after a copious shower, as in nature at the advent of spring. What a delightful change!
1. Multiplicity of conversions is here predicted. Appearances may be unfavourable; unbelief may ridicule the hope; but the word has gone forth, and cannot fail.
2. Rapidity of growth shall be another feature of this era. Now, for the most part, growth is slow; good fruit is scanty. We scarce can tell whether we gain or lose. But when the heavenly rain shall descend, the young life will break through every bond, will send out new shoots, and make every branch fruitful.
3. Constancy of verdure will be enjoyed. They shall be as willows by the water-courses.D. Davies, M.A.: Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv. p. 407.
These words describe a time of refreshing.
I. Who is the Author of a work of grace? God.
1. He begins a work of anxiety in dead souls (Zechariah 12; John 16; Ezekiel 37)
2. He carries on the work, leading awakened persons to Christ (Joe. 2:28; Joe. 2:32).
3. He enlarges His people. Learn
(1.) To look beyond ministers for a work of grace;
(2.) Good hope of revival in our day;
(3.) That we should pray for it.
II. God begins with thirsty souls.
1. Awakened persons.
2. Thirsty believers. Signs:
(1.) Much thirst after the word.
(2.) Much prayer.
(3.) Desire to grow in grace.
III. God pours floods on the dry ground. Represents those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Marks:
(1.) They do not pray.
(2.) They do not wish a work of grace in their souls.
(3.) Those who do not attend to the preached word.
Learn, Christians, to pray for floods of blessing.
IV. Effects.
1. Saved souls will be like grass.
2. Believers shall grow like willows.
3. Self-dedication.R. M. MCheyne: Sermons, pp. 6672.
THE CHURCH AND THE CHILDREN
(For the third Sunday in October, the day for universal prayer and effort on behalf of Sunday-schools and young people.)
Isa. 44:3-5. For I will pour water, &c.
The third Sunday in October is, in many places, an anniversary associated with blessed recollections. If the mighty hosts of godly parents and Sunday-school workers agree to ask for the gift of the Holy Ghost, it will be made manifest that we are among the heirs of Pentecost; in our dwellings, &c., we shall be richly blessed, and multitudes of the young will be added to the Church, according to these glorious declarations. Let there be no misgiving; these exceeding great and precious promises are unto us and our children.
I. GODS PROMISE OF BLESSING UPON THE CHURCH.
1. The nature of the promised blessing. Consists in the influences of the Holy Spirit which are frequently represented in the Scriptures, and especially by Isaiah, under the figure of water, either as streams, rivers, or floods. Here the terms water and Spirit are used interchangeably (cf. Joh. 7:38-39). Analogy between water in the natural world, and the Spirits influences in the moral world. Whatever good there is in the Holy Spirits agency, this promise includes them all, for when God gives His Spirit, He gives all other blessings (Luk. 5:23 with Mat. 7:5).
2. Abundant. The terms employed indicate communications commensurate with the existing need, however great. Like torrents of rain poured on the thirsty earth. The fulness of the Spirits influences shall be communicated to us if we seek in the way of obedient prayer and faith. Not a solitary promiseone of a group (Eze. 34:26; Joe. 2:28; Hos. 14:5; Mal. 3:10, &c.) Had their first grand and signal fulfilment upon the day of Pentecostthe beginning of the fulfilment of these promises. Act. 2:39 proves the universality of the promise. It is yours now. What abundant communications of divine influence we should expect!
3. Needed. Gods ancient people were in a sadly backsliding state. They needed the bestowment of divine influence. So do we.
(1.) The low and languid piety of the Church.
(2.) The comparatively small success of the various agencies for the conversion of sinners. Our agencies will not be spiritually useful upon anything like a large scale, until they are charged with spiritual force.
4. Must be sought. The promise is made to the thirsty. God gives what He promises only in answer to prayer. His promise cannot fail.
5. The results will be most glorious. Individuals. Church. World.
II. GODS PROMISE OF BLESSING UPON THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. Has made the hearts of multitudes of pious parents and teachers thrill with delight. Accords with many others.
1. Our children need the Holy Spirit. No natural goodness can supersede the work of the Spirit. Religion not hereditary.
2. God promises to give the Spirit as abundantly to them as to us. Same terms used in each case. Having received the Spirit, they are to grow in grace most vigorously (Isa. 44:4). The manifestation of this in public (Isa. 44:5).
3. Must be sought. As in the former case, so in this. The universal Church is seeking this blessing to-day upon Sunday-schools and young people. Grand and inspiring fact! The salvation of our children is placed before us as the crowning glory of the Church when she is in the full tide of her prosperity. Let parents and teachers, &c., expect the fulfilment of the promise to-day.
CONCLUSION.A word to unconverted parents. You are glad to see your children pious, though you are neglecting salvation yourselves. One of the strongest reasons why you should seek it. How sacred and solemn is the parental relationship.A. Tucker.
I. That God will pour His blessing on the children of His people. A promise which in all ages, when parents are faithful, is abundantly fulfilled.
II. That one of the richest blessings which can be imparted to a people is, that Gods Spirit should descend on their children.
III. That the Spirit of God alone is the source of true happiness and prosperity to our children. All elseproperty, learning, accomplishments, beauty, vigourwill be vain. It is by His blessing onlyby the influences of pietythat they will spring forth, &c.
IV. Parents should pray earnestly for a revival of religion. No better description can be given of it than we have here. Who would not pray for such a work of grace? What family, what congregation, what people can be happy without it?A. Barnes.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. POWER OF THE LORDS SERVANT CHAPTERS 4449
1. SOVEREIGN OVER ALL GODS, CHAPTER 44
a. SHOWS FAVOR TO THE FAITHFUL
TEXT: Isa. 44:1-8
1
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2
thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
4
and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
5
One shall say, I am Jehovahs; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6
Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
7
And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them declare.
8
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.
QUERIES
a.
Who is Jeshurun?
b.
When is this promise of the Spirit to be fulfilled?
c.
Why the different names in verse five?
PARAPHRASE
Although chastisement is sure to come to you, O Jacob my servant, I want you to know I called you Israel because I have chosen you for something better which will surely result from your chastening if you will listen and obey Me. First of all, remember, I, Jehovah, created you as a nation; your birth as a people was My doing. Surely you know I will help you. Do not be afraid Jacob my servant, Jeshurun, my chosen, for your offspring who are faithful and the messianic seed among you will have My Spirit poured out upon them and they will spring up and grow a harvest like the dry ground produces when streams of water are poured upon it. They will thrive like the abundant grass and trees that grow by the river banks. One by one they will proclaim that they belong to Jehovah. Some will bear witness that they belong to Jehovah by writing it down, counting it an honor to be called Jehovahs. Secondly, need I remind you that I am the King of Israel; I am Israels Redeemer; I am Jehovah, Lord of all the heavenly hosts; I am before all that begins and after all that endsFirst and Last; there is no other God besides Me. If there is any man or god like Me, let him stand forth and declare it and prove his claim by ordering the course of history like I have from the very beginning. If there is anyone like Me let him prove it by predicting what will happen in the future. No, Israel, you have nothing to fear from these others who claim they are gods and have omnipotent power. I have proved to you long ago that I am the only God there is havent I? By the prophecies I have declared and their fulfillments which you have experienced, you are witnesses to the fact that I am the only God. Is there any other God? No! None that I know about! There is no other Rock!
COMMENTS
Isa. 44:1-5 INVIGORATES: Although the chastening judgment of Jehovah is predicted with absolute certainty (chapter 43) upon Israel, still Israel is the chosen of the Lord. They were not even a nation when God chose them. He took them as nomadic sheepherders and formed them as an instrument of His from nothing! God molded them from useless clay into a vessel for His purpose (cf. Rom. 9:19 f). They should surely know that God desired with all His heart to help them and favor them. But God could not help them become the vessel they were chosen to be because they did not want to be that vessel! The Lord knew, and predicted through His prophet here, there would be a remnant formed from the chastening captivity which would believe and surrender to its chosen purpose. This remnant, even now being formed by Isaiahs preaching, need not fear the impending judgment. Gods purpose will survive through this remnant called Jeshurun (the name means: right, upright, esteemed, righteous). The prophet suddenly makes a dramatic shortening of perspective in verse three. From the promise of help to the remnant of Israel formed from the chastening captivity Isaiah focuses his prophetic telescope down on the time when God will pour my Spirit upon thy seed . . . and thine offspring. Gods redemptive purpose will be accomplished ultimately in the seed and offspring of Israel. What is this pouring out of the Spirit? Is it the special, miraculous Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost (cf. Joe. 2:28 f; Act. 2:14 f), or is it the promise of the Holy Spirit to all obedient believers (Isa. 32:14; Act. 2:38-39)? Isaiah could be making a general prophecy in which both were intended since without the miraculous revelation of the gospel covenant terms of salvation through the Spirit to the apostles there could have been no indwelling presence of the Spirit. Whatever the case, we feel certain Isaiahs prophecy of the Spirit here is intended to be fulfilled in the new covenant believer. Christ is the seed and offspring (cf. Gal. 3:15-29) and Christians are offspring by being in Him. So, Isaiah has skipped from the Captivity to the New Covenant without any mention of the centuries between. Keil and Delitzsch think the threefold zeh (demonstrative pronoun) (one . . . another . . . another) indicates verse five is speaking of the heathen (cf. Psa. 87:4-5). Gentiles will take pride in belonging to Jehovah. They will confess their allegiance orally and yiketov (from kathav, to subscribe) in writing. The emphatic willingness of the Gentile to allow himself to be surnamed Israel is an astounding prophecy in view of the contempt most of the heathen world had for the Hebrew and his God. Nothing short of conversion and rebirth could fulfill this prophecy!
Isa. 44:6-8 INFORMS: Man thinks in terms of beginnings and endings. Timelessness is outside mans experience. God condescends to mans limited experience and calls Himself, the first, and the last. When time began, God was already there; when time shall end, God will still be there. Many heathen people claimed such eternal existence for their gods, but they could not prove it. Jehovah demonstrated His eternal deity, not only in the things He made (cf. Rom. 1:18 f), but also in the predictions and revelations He gave through His prophets. Jehovah challenged and defeated scores of false prophets and false priests (scoffers of the days of Noah; magicians of Pharaoh in Moses day; false prophets of Baal in the days of Elijah; the witch of Endor in King Sauls day; the false prophet Hananiah in Jeremiahs day). None of these were able to meet the challenge of Jehovah. In every instance Jehovah demonstrated that only He has absolute knowledge and power. Now, Isaiah is emphatically reminding his generation that as the Lords servant the power of Almighty God is available to them in the supernatural revelation of Jehovah through His prophets. He knows their future and their destinythey do not need to be afraidthey simply need to trust Him. Has He not from of old proven His omniscience? And are they not witnesses to it? There is no other god they need to fear.
QUIZ
1.
Who is the seed and offspring of verse three?
2.
Why is the prediction of verse five such an astounding one?
3.
When had God proved He was the only God?
4.
Why should Israel not be afraid?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XLIV.
(1) Yetnow hear . . .The thoughts of Israel are turned from their own sins to the unchanging love of God, and that is the ground of their hope.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Jacob my servant The names Jacob and Israel, both synonymous, are used in these chapters to aid rhetorical effect by parallelism. They originally expressed psychological differences: The word Jacob meant a supplanter, and was changed to Israel, prevailer, when he who bore it wrestled and prevailed with God at Mahanaim, (Gen 32:28,) and was ever afterward “a new man” and a faithful servant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Sec. 3. GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH ISRAEL, Isa 42:17 to Isa 44:5.
The controversy with heathendom closed. Its period is from Abraham’s call ideally to the last triumph of Messiah. The message is now again to Israel. It began in Isa 1:2, and has been scatteringly resumed ever since.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Coming Pouring Out of the Holy Spirit ( Isa 44:1-5 ).
Isa 44:1
‘Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.’
This reversal of order of the names Jacob and Israel (see also Isa 43:22) compared with Isa 41:8 may arise from what has just been described. At present Israel His hardened servant is more like scheming Jacob. But the nation as an entity is still His chosen. Thus not all of them will become ‘devoted to destruction’ and ‘a reviling’ (Isa 43:28). Implicit within the descriptions are that they are the seed of Jacob, and therefore of Abraham (Isa 41:8).
Isa 44:2
‘Thus says Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you.’
The inner nation had been made, fashioned and shaped by Yahweh right from the time of conception. They are His firstborn (Exo 4:22). Thus He will not desert them but will help them.
Isa 44:2
“Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant,
And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.”
The change of Israel’s name to Jeshurun must be significant. It refers back to Deu 32:15-17. Deuteronomy 32 appears to be re-echoed in this passage. Consider for example the reference to the Rock and the use of Eloah (in Isa 44:8), the latter being the poetical word for God. There in Deuteronomy Israel, under the name of Jeshurun, (which is actually an affectionate term, ‘O upright one’), was castigated for growing ‘fat’ and prosperous, and thus forsaking God and lightly esteeming the Rock of their deliverance, moving Him to jealousy with strange gods, and provoking Him to anger with their abominations, sacrificing to god who were not gods at all, but demons. The reference is therefore apposite after Isa 43:22-28.
The name Jeshurun occurs elsewhere only three times, in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26. It probably means ‘upright one’. It may well therefore indicate the spiritual true Israel, while also through Deu 32:15 indicating rebuke.
So the mention of them as Jeshurun is in fact both a rebuke and a comfort. A rebuke because they had done exactly what Moses had said as described in Isa 43:22-28, and a comfort because He is promising to help them because He has in mind those who will yet be truly upright through His grace. It is a reminder that it is the upright ones who are the true Israel.
Isa 44:3
“For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And streams on the dry ground,
I will pour my Spirit on your seed,
And my blessing on your offspring,
And they will spring up among the grass,
As willows by the watercourses,
One shall say, ‘I am Yahweh’s’,
And another will call himself by the name of Jacob,
And another will subscribe with his hand to Yahweh,
And surname himself with the name of Israel.”
This is an extension on the idea in Isa 32:15-18, but here the emphasis is totally on spiritual transformation. The great change to take place in God’s people will occur through the direct activity of God (compare Isa 45:8; Isa 55:10-13; Joe 2:28-29; Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:26-27; Eze 37:7-10).
Here the Spirit of God is again pictured in terms of water poured down and the streams that result. The ground is dry until God’s Spirit works on it. But once His Spirit, His active, personal blessing, has come on Israel’s seed and offspring, they will spring to life like vegetation among the grass. They will grow like willows beside plentiful water (compare Psa 1:3; Jer 17:8). Only someone who has lived in a similar climate to Canaan can picture the scene. First the dry barren ground, with everything brown and dead all around. And then the rain comes and suddenly as if from nowhere greenery springs up everywhere. It almost seems like magic, but it is really the result of the Creator’s work.
This is thus a picture of new life, of a new creation. It was what Jesus meant by being ‘born of water, even of the Spirit’ and being ‘born from above’ (Joh 3:5-6), and was what John’s baptism also signified. That is why John the Baptiser also spoke of grain that had to be separated from the chaff at the harvest, a picture of the ‘drenching with rain’ by the Holy Spirit yet to come, producing abundant harvest. It is what Paul meant when he said, ‘if any man be in Christ he is a new creation’ (2Co 5:17).
‘One shall say, ‘I am Yahweh’s’, and another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and another will subscribe with his hand (or ‘write on his hand’) to Yahweh, and surname himself with the name of Israel.” Then those on whom the Spirit works will boast in being Yahweh’s, they will delight in being called sons of Abraham (Gal 3:7), the true seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29), they will write on their hands Yahweh’s name as a token of ownership, and they will gladly take the name of God’s Israel and become true ‘children of Israel’.
This statement about ‘calling themselves by the name of Jacob’ would be mainly redundant if it only referred to the Israel that was, for they already called themselves Jacob and bore the name of Israel. It is rather an indication of the wider outreach to the nations, often visualised by Isaiah, with individuals from among the nations uniting with the true Israel and becoming adopted Israelites, and thus calling themselves by the name of Jacob.
This first occurred during the inter-testamental period when many Gentiles became proselytes (converts to Judaism who were impressed by their monotheism and their strict morality and were circumcised into the covenant), and then abundantly when through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit Gentiles were converted worldwide and became Christians, part of the new Israel which sprang from the old, the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).
This is how the New Testament saw it and proclaimed it. In its eyes Gentile Christians became an essential part of the new Israel, the true vine, founded on Jesus Christ and the Apostles, although by baptism not circumcision, becoming the true seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29), ingrafted into the olive tree (Rom 11:17; Rom 11:19). For the New Testament regularly sees the ‘church’ (ekklesia) as the new congregation (in LXX ekklesia) of Israel that sprang from the old, founded especially on the Apostles (for confirmation of this new congregation of Israel see Mat 16:18-19) and on those Jews who entered under the Kingly Rule of God and became followers of Jesus Christ. These were the true Israel, becoming part of the true vine (Joh 15:1-6).
Then when Christian Jews had first formed the new true Israel, large numbers of Gentiles also became Christians and were united in Jesus’ death with the true Israel, those Jews who had became followers of Christ, so that all became members of the commonwealth of the new Israel and of the household of God (Eph 2:11-22; Gal 6:16), no longer strangers but fellow-citizens. They were grafted into the olive tree, while unbelieving Israel were cut off (Romans 11). That is why there was such a controversy about circumcision. Paul’s reply was not that the church was not Israel, for he regularly stated that they were, but that circumcision had been replaced by the circumcision made without hands in the death of Christ (Col 2:11).
This pouring out of the Spirit was the great reality for the early church. It outwardly began at Pentecost as the Holy Spirit fell on Jews and reached out to Jews who were there from all over the Roman world (Acts 2), although the Spirit had unquestionably been at work throughout Jesus’ ministry (e.g. Luk 4:1; Luk 4:18-21) and had been imparted in a special way to the Apostles in the upper room (Joh 20:22). It continued on in the early church, encompassing Samaritans and Gentiles who became a part of the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). And that is what they delighted in, being the true Israel of God, being fellow-citizens with the ‘saints’ (the Old Testament name for the pure in Israel) and members of the household of God, and recipients of the promises. No longer separate. No longer alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, they saw themselves made one with the true Israel through the blood of Christ (Eph 2:12-22). Indeed they saw themselves as the true Israel as Paul makes clear, from which unbelievers in Israel had been cut off and the new believers had been grafted in (Rom 11:15-24).
It is unscriptural to see the church and Israel as two separate bodies. The separate bodies are unbelieving Israel (which is not really Israel at all) and believing Israel, and the church became one with the believing Israel. The church is not ‘spiritual Israel’. It is physical Israel, made up of all who truly believe and are made one in the covenant. It is literal Israel. Israel had always been made up of descendants of the patriarchs and all who had been co-opted in. All through the centuries, from the very time of Abraham, people had been able to enter within the covenant and become ‘Israel’. It included many of Abraham’s servants and the foreign servants of the later patriarchs, it included the large number of foreign people who joined the Exodus (Exo 12:38) and were confirmed as ‘Israel’ at Sinai, it included Uriah the Hittite and many such, it included proselytes through the ages, and it included all who through baptism and new birth entered the Israel of God. They did not replace Israel. They became Israel. And all who did not believe were seen as cut off from Israel (Rom 11:15; Rom 11:17; Rom 11:20).
Thus these words found their final fulfilment in the ministry of Jesus, the One drenched (baptizo) in the Holy Spirit, and through the ministry of the Apostles, when they welcomed men of all nations by the Spirit into the Israel of God. As Paul could say, ‘If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not His at all’ (Rom 8:9).
Note the progression, ‘will say’, ‘will call himself’, will subscribe with his hand’, ‘will surname himself’. The commitment begins and becomes ever deeper and more personal.
‘Write on his hand.’ We know from the papyri found in Egypt that soldiers sometimes wrote the name of their commander on their hand, slaves bore the name of their masters, and devotees did the same with the name of their gods (compare Isa 49:16; Exo 13:16; Deu 6:8; Deu 11:18).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
Isa 44:2
[64] Mary K. Baxter, A Divine Revelation of Heaven (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1998), 117.
Isa 44:2 Word Study on “Jesurun” PTW says the Hebrew name “Jesurun,” or “Jeshusun,” literally means, “blessed.” It was a symbolic name for Israel (Deu 32:15).
Deu 32:15, “But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.”
Isa 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
Isa 44:3
The phrase “dry ground” used in Isa 44:3 refers to him that is thirsty, God’s seed and God’s offspring, terms all used in this verse. Note Isa 53:2, where “a dry ground” refers to people in darkness with no fruit:
Isa 53:2, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
People are compared to the earth bearing fruit (Heb 6:7-8).
Heb 6:7-8, “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”
The Holy Spirit is poured out upon those who have desire God’s presence and power. Benny Hinn writes,
“That longing is very important. In fact it is the first key when it comes to experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit: You must have a passion for His power. You must have a starvation in your heart that causes you to search and search until you experience in your own life the miracles recorded in the Bible, the very same miracles that are available today.
As we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, He will pour His presence out upon our thirsty souls like torrential rains upon the parched earth. His presence will become so real and so tangible. Broken lives are healed because of this presence and lives are changed forever.
Here’s one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned about the work of the Holy Spirit: He manifests His presence and power to those who yearn for His touch upon their lives. Spiritual thirst draws His anointing like a siphon draws fluid from a full container to an empty one.
That is why the Lord promised through the prophet Isaiah when He said, ‘I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground’ I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offering.’” [65]
[65] Benny Hinn, Welcome, Holy Spirit (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, c1995, 1997), 14.
Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
Isa 44:18
Rom 1:22-24, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:”
Isa 44:19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
Isa 44:20 Isa 44:21 Isa 44:21
Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Isa 44:21-23
[66] The Babylonian Talmud reads, “The sages, however, said: The world was created beginning with Zion. As it is written [Ps. l. 1, 2]: ‘The God of Gods, the Lord Speaketh,’ etc. ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty’; That signifies, from Zion began to be the beauty of the whole world. In another Boraitha we have learned: R. Eliezer the Great said, It is written [Gen. ii. 4]: ‘These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.’ The luminous stars, etc., were created from the heavens, and all earthly things from the earth. But the sages say: Everything was created from Zion. As it is written [Ps. l. i]: ‘A Psalm of Assaph. The God of gods,’ etc. ‘The perfection of beauty,’ i.e., the beauty of the whole world.” See Michael L. Rodkinson, “Tract Yomah (Day of Atonment),” in New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, vol. 6 (Boston: New Talmud Publishing Company, 1903), 78; Louis Ginzberg writes, “The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah, for the Holy Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth.” See Louis Ginzberg, Legend of the Jews, vol. 1, trans. Henrietta Szold (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication of America, 1909), 12.
Mat 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”
Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
Isa 44:26 1Ki 17:1
2Ki 23:16, “And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed , who proclaimed these words.”
Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Isa 44:28
Ezr 1:1-4, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
God’s Sovereignty Over the Nations – God created the nation of Israel, the children of Abraham, to be a light unto the world, to be a messenger of God’s salvation (Isa 42:19). God had placed this nation at the crossroads of civilizations, at the crossroads of travel where three continents meet, of Europe, Asia and Africa. All who passed through the land of Israel would have seen God’s blessings and would have heard of God’s glorious salvation to His people. Israel had seen God’s glorious miracles (Isa 42:20) in the past and their obedience would have exalted the Law as great and glorious (Isa 42:21) because their nation would have abounded with divine blessings. Instead, Israel rebelled and became deaf and blind (Isa 42:18). Therefore, God turned them over to divine judgment (Isa 42:22-25). Yet, because of God’s unfailing love for His people (Isa 43:3), He has redeemed them (Isa 43:1-4). He will gather them back as a nation from the four corners of the earth (Isa 43:5-9) so that they can become the witnesses that He created them to be (Isa 43:10-13). God reminds them of their past deliverance through the Red Sea (Isa 43:16-17) and tells them to forget their past sins (Isa 43:18-28) because He will blot them out forever (Isa 43:25). Israel is God’s chosen (Isa 44:1-5) and He is their Redeemer (Isa 44:6-8). Thus, idols are nothing (Isa 44:9-11) and those who follow them know nothing (Isa 44:12-20). Israel has been redeemed (Isa 44:21-23). Therefore, all creation rejoices (Isa 44:23).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reassurance of God’s Covenant Faithfulness
v. 1. Yet now hear, v. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, v. 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, v. 4. and they, v. 5. One shall say, I am the Lord’s, v. 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, v. 7. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, v. 8. Fear ye not, neither be afraid,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 44:1-5
A PROPHECY OF ISRAEL‘S SPIRITUAL RECOVERY AND REGENERATION. This section is closely connected with Isa 43:1-28; of which it ought to form the conclusion. The prophet cannot bear to leave Israel under a banits spiritual guides “profaned,” and itself given over to “reproaches.” He must end with a brighter prospect. Accordingly, he holds out, in the present passage, the double hope
(1) of the blessing of an abundant outpouring of the Spirit, to take the place of the preceding “curse” (Isa 43:28); and
(2) of a pressing of proselytes into the renovated Church, who will hold it in honour, instead of making it the object of their “reproaches.”
Isa 44:1
Yet now hear; i.e. “be not dismayed at what has been said. Listen a little longer.” O Jacob my servant, etc. A recurrence to the terms of endearment used in Isa 41:8, showing that words of favour and’ promise are about to follow.
Isa 44:2
The Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb (see Isa 43:1, Isa 43:7). “From the womb” is added here for increased emphasis. Jesurun. The Lord’s people have their proper namesJacob, Israel, Jesurun, or rather, Jeshurun. “Jacob” marks them simply as descendants of the patriarchthe people to whom the promises were made. “Israel” marks their militant characterthat as “God’s soldiers” they fought his battles and maintained his cause in the midst of a hostile world. The third name, “Jeshurun,” which is very rarely used (only here and in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5, Deu 33:26), designates them as “righteous,” being a derivative from the root yashar (or joshar), equivalent to “upright,” and points to that standard of moral excellence which it was their duty to set forth, and which to some extent they did set forth, in a world that “lay in wickedness.” Had they been more worthy of the name, it would probably have been oftener applied to them.
Isa 44:3
I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. “Water” is, in Isaiah, the common metaphor for Divine grace. Sometimes, as in this place (and Isa 35:6; Isa 43:20; Isa 55:1), the simple maim, “water” or “waters,” is the word used. At other times we have instead, or in addition, “rain” (Isa 5:6; Isa 30:23; Isa 55:10), or “dew” (Isa 26:19), or “rivers” (Isa 30:25; Isa 32:2; Isa 33:21; Isa 41:18; Isa 43:19, etc.), or “streams” (Isa 30:25; Isa 35:6), or “floods” (as in this place). At his coming on earth, our blessed Lord took up the comparison, and has made it familiar to all men throughout the whole Christian world (see Joh 3:5; Joh 4:10, Joh 4:11, Joh 4:13-15; Joh 7:37-39). We may note here that the “water” is only poured on him who is athirst for it. Thy seed thine offspring. Not “Israel after the flesh” only, but also Israel after the Spiritthe true “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16).
Isa 44:4
They shall spring up as among the grass. The LXX. have, “As grass among the waters;” and this reading is followed by Bishop Lowth, Ewald, and Mr. Cheyne. But there does not seem to be any necessity for departing from the existing Hebrew text. As willows. There is some doubt whether the Hebrew word used (‘ereb) is rightly translated “willows.” The modern yarab seems certainly not to be a “willow,” but rather a species of Viburnum. It is, however, most strictly a water-plant, growing only “near flowing water.”
Isa 44:5
One shall say, I am the Lord’s, etc. There shall be an influx of proselytes. Instead of the heathen nations looking scornfully on, and uttering gibes and jeers (Psa 137:7) at Israel’s fall, on seeing Israel’s rise they shall be anxious to have a part in it, and shall hasten to enrol themselves among the worshippers of Jehovah. “One shall say, I am Jehovah’s,”while “another shall proclaim the name of Jacob,” as that in which he glories; and a third “shall write on his hand, (I am) Jehovah’s, and take as a surname the name of Israel.” It was usual among the heathen nations to mark the name of a god upon the bodies of persons specially devoted to him (Herod; 2:113; 7:235); and, though the practice was forbidden to Israelites (Le 19:28), it might naturally continue in use among semi-heathen proselytes.
Isa 44:6-20
A FURTHER CONTRAST OF GOD WITH IDOLS. The captive Jews, dwelling scattered in a land the inhabitants of which were, one and all, idolaters, and having by hereditary taint an inclination to idolatry, would be easily tempted, during the long and weary period of the Captivity, to put away the worship and even the thought of Jehovah, who had allowed their subjugation, and conform to the religion of their conquerors. Hence the repeated contrasts in these later chaptersspecially addressed to caprice Israelbetween Jehovah and idols, and the sharp ridicule of the latter (comp. Isa 40:18-25; Isa 41:4-7, Isa 41:21-29).
Isa 44:6
The Lord the King of Israel. Therefore entitled to Israel’s allegiance (comp. Isa 43:15). And his Redeemer; i.e. Israel’s Redeemerhe who had redeemed them from Egyptian bondagewho will redeem them from the power of Babylonwho, best of all, will redeem them from their sins. The First the Last (comp. Isa 41:4, with the comment). Beside me there is no God. This had been distinctly asserted in the Law (Deu 4:35, Deu 4:39; Deu 32:39); but Israel could not be induced practically to believe it. The “gods of the nations” were supposed generally to be realities, actual powers, not perhaps so potent as Jehovah, but still real beings, capable of doing good and harm (see Isa 41:23). It is one of Isaiah’s special objects in these later chapters to disabuse Israel of this notion (see Isa 41:21-24; Isa 43:9-11; Isa 45:5, Isa 45:6, Isa 45:14-22, etc.).
Isa 44:7
Who, as I, shall call, etc.? i.e. “Who will do (or who can do) as I docall events into being, declare them, and set them in order beforehandwho can do this for me (or, in my stead)? No one. I have done it, ever since I appointed (or, placed upon earth) the ancient people” that is, the race of men before the Flood (see Job 22:15). The claim is that, from the first creation of mankind, God has not only prearranged the events that should happen, but has declared them by the mouth of prophets (see Gen 3:15; Gen 6:13, Gen 6:17; Gen 8:22, 23; Gen 9:12-16, etc.). No other has done the same. The things that are coming, and shall come. Not earlier and later events, but “future events,” and “such as will actually come to pass” (Kay, Cheyne). Let the idol-gods declare these, if they are to be entitled to consideration.
Isa 44:8
Fear ye not (comp. Isa 41:10,Isa 41:13; Isa 43:5; Isa 43:2). Israel need not fear that they will be forgotten or forsaken. God has told them from that time, or, from the beginning (Isa 48:3, Isa 48:7), and declared to them, what he is about to doviz, destroy Babylon, and give them deliverance. He will assuredly do as he has said. Ye are even my witnesses (comp. Isa 43:10, Isa 43:12). There is no God; literally, there is no Rock; i.e. no sure ground of trust or confidence (comp. Isa 17:10; Isa 26:4; Isa 30:29; and see the comment on Isa 17:10).
Isa 44:9-20
The uniqueness of God having been set forth, the prophet now turns to the images and the image-makers, overwhelming them with his scorn and ridicule. The passage may be compared with Jer 10:3-10 and Baruch 6:8-72.
Isa 44:9
They that make a graven image are vanity; rather, are confusion. The word used is tohu, which, together with bohu, describes the primitive chaos in Gen 1:2 (comp. Isa 24:10; Isa 34:11; Isa 40:17, Isa 40:23; Isa 41:29; Isa 59:4). Their delectable things shall not profit. “Their delectable things” are their idols, which are “pets, favourites, treasures.” These cannot possibly be of any advantage to them. They are their own witnesses. Their powerlessness stands confessed in their very appearance, since they are manifestly sightless and senseless. That they may be ashamed. The subject of this clause cannot be sought in the earlier part of the verse. It is the idol-makers that will be put to shame.
Isa 44:10
Who hath molten a graven image? Metal idols were mostly cast in the first instance, and then finished off with a graving-tool. “Who hath molten” means “who has been so foolish as to do soto take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?”
Isa 44:11
All his fellows; or, all its associates‘; i.e. all who are associated together in the worship of the idol. The worshippers of a particular idol, or sometimes of a particular god, formed a sort of guild or company, bound together by common participation in certain rites, and under an obligation to defend each other. The prophet says that, though the worshippers and the makers should, all of them, be gathered together, and stand up to help one the ether, yet should they be unable to effect anything. Gathered together against God, they would “tremble and be ashamed.”
Isa 44:12
The smith with the tongs. The Hebrew text is defective, some word having fallen out. We should probably supply “maketh,” and translate, The smith maketh an axe, and worketh it in the coals, and with hammers fashioneth it. The description of image-making thus commences with the fashioning of the carpenter’s tools. He is hungry, etc. The artificer who takes the first step in “forming a god” (Isa 44:10) is himself hungry and thirsty, depending on so mean a thing as food to supply him with the needful strength. Unless he can cat and drink, the whole work is brought to a standstill.
Isa 44:13
The carpenter, etc. When the smith has done his part in the formation of tools, the carpenter is called into action. His proceedings are traced “extragressively.” (Delitzsch). First, he is regarded as in possession of his block of wood. On this he proceeds to stretch out his rule, to obtain the idol’s length and breadth. Then he marks out on the block a rough outline with red chalk (sered). After this he pares away the superfluous wood with planes, or chisels, and marks out the limbs more accurately with the compass, planing and measuring until he has brought the rough block into the figure of a man, and impressed on it something of the beauty of a man, so that it may seem worthy of remaining in the place where it is set up, whether temple or private house. But there is something necessarily anterior to all this. To obtain his block, the carpenter must first cut down a tree, or have one cut down for him (Isa 44:14); to obtain a tree, he (or some one for him) must have planted it; for the tree to have grown to a fitting size, the rain must have watered it. So the very existence of these wooden idols depends ultimately on whether it has rained or noti.e; whether God has given his rain or withheld it.
Isa 44:14
Cedars cypress oak. The second of the trees mentioned is more probably the ilex than the cypress, which does not grow either in Palestine or in Babylonia. Idols would be made of cedar on account of its fragrance, of flex and oak on account of their hardness and durability. Cedar was used as a material for carved figures in Egypt. Which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. The meaning is obscure. Dr. Kay translates, “and he encourages himself in the trees of the forest,” which conveys no very distinct idea; Delitzsch, “and he chooses for himself among the trees,” etc; which is sufficiently clear, but scarcely obtainable from the Hebrew text; Knobel, “he makes himself secure among the trees”, which imparts an idea certainly not contained in the original. He planteth an ash. It is uncertain, and it does not greatly matter, what tree is intended. The point is that, before trees can grow up, they have to be planted, and that, for them to grow when planted, God’s gift of rain is necessary (see the comment on Isa 44:13).
Isa 44:15
Then shall it be for a man to burn. The tree that has been planted, and nourished, and has grown up is naturally “for a man to burn.” That is its ordinary destination; and even the idolater applies it partly to this purpose; but out of a portion he maketh a god. The very same tree serves him both for fuel and for a divinity.
Isa 44:16
He burneth part thereof; rather, half thereof; “With half thereof”not the other half, but the same”he eateth flesh.” One fire serves for the two purposes of warming him and cooking his victuals.
Isa 44:17
The residue thereof; i.e. the other half.
Isa 44:18
They have not known nor understood. The cause of all this folly is a Minding of the understanding, divinely caused in the way of punishment, on account of their having wilfully closed their eyes to the truth. Because they “did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate (or, undistinguishing) mind” (Rom 1:28; comp. Isa 29:10). He hath shut; or, One hath shut. But the reference is in either case to God. The word translated “shut“ means literally “plastered“ or “smeared.”
Isa 44:19
None considereth in his heart; literally, recalls it to his heart; i.e. returns to a sound way of thinking upon the subject. It is implied that the idolaters had once had it in their power to think and reason justly upon the absurdity of such conduct as that which was now habitual to them. But they had lost the power. They had suffered themselves little by little to be deluded. The stock of a tree. The marginal rendering, “that which comes of a tree,” is preferable.
Isa 44:20
He feedeth on ashes; i.e. on vanityon what can give no support or sustenance (comp. Pro 15:14; Hos 12:1). A deceived heart. Either self-deceived, or imposed upon by illusions from without; e.g. the seeming power of the idols, as seen in the victories and conquests of their worshippers. He cannot deliver his soul. The deceived soul is bound in trammels, which it feels to be irksome, and from which it would fain be free. But it cannot deliver itself. Deliverance must come from some external source; in other words, man needs a Deliverer. Is there not a lie in my right hand? An idol is “a lie.” It professes to have power, strength, ability to help and save, whereas it has no power at all. It cannot even save itself. Savages often beat their fetishes. Diagoras of Melos threw an image of Hercules into the fire on which he was cooking his dinner, and bade Hercules make himself of some use by boiling his turnips. The powerlessness of idols even to help themselves is represented with much force in the Book of Baruch (6:12-15, 17-22, 27, 49, etc.).
Isa 44:21-28
ISRAEL ONCE MORE PROMISED DELIVERANCE, AND THE DELIVERER MENTIONED BY NAME. Israel, having been exhorted never to forget the impotency of idols (Isa 44:21), is promised forgiveness and deliverance (Isa 44:21, Isa 44:22). Then, heaven and earth are called upon to join in rejoicing over the announcement (Isa 44:23). Finally, in a noble burst of poetry, God is represented as solemnly declaring his intention of frustrating all the false sayings of the soothsayers concerning his people, and accomplishing their restoration to their own land, and the rebuilding of their temple through the instrumentality of Cyrus (Isa 44:24-28).
Isa 44:21
Remember these; rather, remember these things; i.e. the futility of idols and the folly of the idol-worshippers. For thou art my servant. Therefore bound to worship me, and not the idols (comp. Isa 41:8; Isa 41:1, Isa 41:2). I have formed thee (so also in Isa 43:1, Isa 43:21; Isa 43:2, Isa 43:24). The duty of absolute unquestioning obedience seems contained in the relation of that which is formed to that which has formed it. On the other hand, it may be assumed that he who has formed a thing will have a constant care of it and regard for itthat at any rate he will not “forget” it.
Isa 44:22
I have blotted out thy sins (comp. Isa 43:25). The promise there made is here represented as having its fulfilment. Before God reverses his sentence and restores his people, he must first forgive them. As a thick cloud as a cloud. It would be better to translate, as a cloud as a thick cloud. The latter of the two Hebrew words used is the more emphatic. Return unto me. This is an underlying condition, both of restoration and of forgiveness. Only the penitent can be received back into favour. The knowledge, however, that God has, in Iris counsels, “redeemed” his people generally, may act as a stimulus on individuals to repent and turn to him.
Isa 44:23
Sing, O ye heavens. The sympathy of external nature with the fortunes of Israel is assumed throughout Isaiah, as it is throughout the Psalms (see Psa 11:6 -8; Psa 24:4-7; Psa 29:1-11 :17; 30:25, 26; Psa 33:9; Psa 35:1, Psa 35:2, Psa 35:7, etc.). If Israel is depressed, the earth must “mourn and languish,” the heavens grow dark; the mountains shrink and “be ashamed.” If, on the contrary, Israel prospers, heaven and earth, mountain and forest, must alike rejoice and sing. Dr. Kay expounds the rejoicing of the heavens here (and also in Isa 49:13),of the joy felt by the angels over the returning and pardoned sinner; but the context of both passages is in favour of the material heavens being meant. It is quite possible that there is a real and not merely a fancied sympathy between the material and the spiritual worlds. The Lord hath done it; literally, the Lord hath wroughtwhat he has wrought is not said. Mr. Cheyne translates, “Jehovah hath done nobly.“ Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Metonymy of the part for the whole”the lower parts of the earth” for “the earth even to its lowest depths.” There is no thought of Sheol or of its inhabitants. Break forth into singing (comp. Isa 14:7; Isa 35:2). As children and birds sing from the very gladness of their hearts, thereby venting the joy that almost oppresses them, so all nature is called upon, not merely to rejoice, but to give vent to its joy, now that Israel is redeemed and God glorified.
Isa 44:24
Thus saith the Lord. This is not a new prophecy entirely unconnected with the preceding, as Delitzsch supposes, lint a declaration to which the prophet has been working up, and which he intends as the crown and climax of all that he has been announcing with respect to Israel’s deliverance. Not only is the deliverance absolutely determined on in God’s counsels, but the Deliverer himself is already chosen and designated. He that formed thee from the womb (comp. Isa 44:2). I am the Lord that maketh all thingsrather, I the Lord am he that doeth all things; i.e. I am he that executeth whatever he designsthat stretcheth forth the heavens alone (comp. Job 9:8), that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. God did not delegate the creation of the heaven and the earth to an inferior spirit, a , as the Greeks generally taught. He did not even call in the co operation of a helper. Singly and solely by his own power he created all things.
Isa 44:25
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars; i.e. “who brings to nought the prognostications of the astrologers and soothsayers, that pretend falsely to a knowledge of future events” (see Isa 49:13; and comp. Jer 29:8, Jer 29:9); and maketh diviners mad; i.e. “shows them to be thole or madmen” (see Job 12:17). That turneth wise men backward; i.e. “repulses themputs them to flight.” Pretenders to wisdom, rather than truly wise men, are meant.
Isa 44:26
That confirmeth the word of his servant; that is, of Isaiah himself, whom God calls “my Servant” in Isa 20:3. The “messengers” are the prophets generally. Before the return from the Captivity took place, it had been prophesied, not only by Isaiah, but by Jeremiah (Jer 29:10-14), by Ezekiel (Eze 39:25-28), by Joe 3:1), by Amos (Amo 9:11-15), by Obadiah (Oba 1:20), by Micah (Mic 4:10), and by Zephaniah (Zep 3:14-20).
Isa 44:27
That saith to the deep, Be dry (comp. Isa 42:15). “The flood” here is probably the main stream of the Euphrates, while “the rivers” are the various side streams which branched off from it and again united themselves with it. Some commentators regard the drying of Euphrates as a mere metaphor for the exhaustion and ruin of Babylon (Kay); but (with Delitzsch) I should be inclined to understand a reference to the action of Cyrus in drawing off the water of the river (see the comment on Isa 42:15).
Isa 44:28
That saith of Cyrus. The mention of Cyrus by name, here and again in Isa 45:1, has no doubt been one of the main grounds on which has been set up the theory of two Isaiahs. It has been thought incredible, or at any rate contrary to the analogy of prophetical revelation, that so minute a matter as the name of a man should have been announced in prophecy more than a century before his birth. There is, however, the parallel case of Josiah, who, according to the author of the Books of Kings, was announced by name more than three centuries before his birth (1Ki 13:2). And there are the extremely minute facts noted in Dan 11:1-45; which were prophetically de-dared from two centuries to three centuries and a half before they happened. It is, perhaps, assuming that we know more than we really do know about the object and laws of prophetic utterance, to lay it down that there can be no minute prophecy except when the prophet is living in the midst of the events. It is certainly a very marvellous thing that Isaiah, living at the close of the eighth and the beginning of the seventh century b.c; should -mention a king by name who did not ascend the throne till the middle of the sixth; but no one can suppose that God could not have made such a revelation to him if he pleased. An attempt to minimize the marvel, without postulating two Isaiahs, has been made by the supposition that “Cyrus” was not really a proper name, but an old title of the Persian (Achaemenian) kings, signifying” the sun,” and that Isaiah, therefore, only meant to point out Persia as the power which would destroy Babylon, which he had already done in effect in Isa 21:2. But, in reality, there is no sufficient ground for either of the two statements
(1) that Cyrus meant “the sun,” and
(2) that it was an old titular name of all the Persian kings.
That “Cyrus” meant “the sun,” rests upon the weak authorities of Plutarch and Ctesias, and has been disproved by Sir H. Rawlinson. That it was an old titular name of all the Persian kings is directly contrary to the evidence. Out of fourteen Achaemenian kings, two only bore the name; and they bore it as their one and only personal appellation. It was also borne by an Achaemenian prince who had no other name. It is as purely a proper name as Cambyses, or Xerxes, or Darius. The theory of Dean Plumptre must therefore be set aside as untenable, and we must face the fact that the great Cyrus, who reigned from b.c. 559 to b.c. 529, is mentioned in prophecies attributed to a writer whose death cannot be placed much later than b.c. 700. The name which the Greeks expressed by and the Romans by “Cyrus,” is in the original Persian Kurush, in the old Babylonian Kuras, and in the Hebrew Koresh. He is my shepherd; i.e. not a mere ordinary king, who was often called “the shepherd of his people ( ),” but “my shepherd”the shepherd of my people, who will tend them and care for them. And shall perform (literally, accomplish) all my pleasure. Cyrus is said by Josephus to have had ibis prophecy pointed out to him on his conquest of Babylon, and to have thereupon determined to fulfil what was written (‘Ant. Jud.,’ Rom 12:1, 2). His edict, reported by Ezra (Ezr 1:2-4), contained a statement that “Jehovah had charged him to build him a house at Jerusalem.” It is difficult to see any sufficient political object for his restoration of the Jews to their country. Thou shalt be built; rather, it shall be built. Thy foundation shall be laid; literally, it shall be founded. The decree of Cyrus found by Darius at Ecbatana required that “the foundations of the house should be strongly laid” (Ezr 6:3), and prescribed its dimensions and materials. (On the actual laying of the foundations, see Ezr 3:8-13.)
HOMILETICS
Isa 44:3, Isa 44:4
Water a symbol of Divine grace.
It has been shown (in the comment on Isa 44:3)
(1) how this symbolism pervades the prophecies of Isaiah; and
(2) what an echo it found in the teaching of our Lord.
An analogy thus recommended seems entitled to be viewed as something more than poetic imagery, and may properly be made the subject of our serious thought. In what respects, then, we may ask, does the symbolism hold?
I. WATER IS COMMON, ABUNDANT, FREELY GIVEN TO MANKIND AT LARGE. So is it with Divine grace. Christ, the Light of the world, lighteth every man that cometh into it (Joh 1:9). What men call “the light of nature” is an illumination poured by God into the soul, and this light is common to all. It shows men the way that they should walk in; it enables them to discern between right and wrong; if they would follow it, it would guide them to heaven. Nor does Divine grace stop at this point. To those who struggle to do right God’s assisting grace is never wanting. His Spirit strives with all men (Gen 6:3); his mercy is over all his works (Psa 145:9); he is “no respecter of persons” (Act 10:34).
II. WATER IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO LIFE. Nothing living, whether animal or vegetable, can exist without water. No spiritual life can exist without grace. Without moisture, neither can the embryo be formed, nor will the seed germinate. Without grace there is no commencement of spiritual life. Water is needed for the sustentation of both plants and animals. Grace is needed for the sustentation of the quickened spirit.
III. WATER CLEANSES MEN‘S BODIES FROM ALL FILTH AND POLLUTION. The pace of God cleanses their souls from the filthiness and impurity of sin. His grace is the “one fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness” (Zec 13:1); the precious influences of his Spirit can alone take away impurity, and make the soiled soul once more clean in his sight. Wonderful is the cleansing power of water; still more wonderful is the guilt-removing power of grace. Sins that were “as scarlet” are by grace made “white as snow;” iniquities that were “red as crimson” become “as wool” (Isa 1:18). It is not merely that the sins themselves are forgiven, but the “evil heart,” from which they proceeded, is washed, sanctified, and cleansed, so as to retain no taint of evil.
IV. WATER REFRESHES AND RENOVATES THOSE WHO ABE WEARY AND FAINT. There is no refreshment to the faint and weary soul comparable to the pouring out upon it of God’s Spirit. When “the parched ground becomes a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isa 35:7), the result is a complete transformation of the whole appearance of things. “The wilderness and the solitary place” at once “are glad the desert rejoices and blossoms like the rose It blossoms abundantly the glory of Lebanon is given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon” (Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2). Similarly, when the dry and thirsty soul obtains a “time of refreshing from the Lord” (Act 3:19), its whole condition is on a sudden changed. Gladness succeeds to gloom, happiness to despair, an almost ecstatic bliss to a dull, gnawing sense of misery. The soul puts forth blossomsrejoices with joy and singing (see the Psalms, passim).
Isa 44:9-20
The utter folly of all kinds of idolatry.
Idolatry properthe actual worship of imagesis felt by modern Englishmen to be so extreme a folly that they have a difficulty in believing it to have at any time been, or still anywhere to be, the actual religion of a people. Their inclination is to regard it as a symbolismcoarse and ill-judged, perhapsbut yet a well-meaning symbolism, expressive of the truths of natural religion. But research into the past history of mankind, and investigation of the present condition of the nations by whom idolatry is practised, alike show a real belief in the supernatural power of the images, and a real trust in them for help and protection. Thus the idolatry directly denounced by Isaiah, extraordinary as it seems, is in fact a real form of human follyone of the many strange aberrations of the human intellect that have an actual existence; and not only so, but one that is widely prevalent. Its “utter folly” is sufficiently exposed by the prophet, and, as being generally allowed among ourselves, need not be dwelt upon. The folly of other forms of idolatry, though not much less, is not so commonly admitted, and may with advantage be pointed out in connection with portions of Scripture like the present. We may instance
I. THE IDOLATRY OF PERSONS. Human beings are allowed to stand between us and Godto absorb the thought, the attention, the affections, that ought to have God for their Object. Most often, perhaps, it is a child; but sometimes it is a husband, or a wife, or a lover, that holds the position, occupying the first place in our heart, and filling it to the entire exclusion of that Being who has the principal claim on us. Now, what exceeding folly is this! Is it much short of the folly of the old idolaters? To put in the place of God a mere human being, a form of flesh that may quit us at any time, that may change towards us, that has no power to help or save us,that is not much superior to the idolater’s “graven image.” How often does our idol shatter itself, disappoint our hopes, disregard our wishes, become estranged from us, tear our heartstrings, trample upon our best feelings! How often is it suddenly snatched from us! God is very jealous of rivals near his throne, and very frequently takes from us, by a premature death, the idol that is imperilling our souls. Even in the best casewhich is alas! the worstif our idol stay with us, and do not change, what madness to be wholly wrapt up in the love of the finite, and to let go from us for its sake the love of the Infinite Being!
II. THE IDOLATRY OF WEALTH. “Covetousness,” St. Paul tells us (Col 3:5), “is idolatry.” There are those who make riches the object of their worshipwho allow the idol of gold to come between their souls and God, having more regard for the possession of wealth than for God’s approval, and a greater desire to be rich on earth than to be saints in heaven. What abject and grovelling folly is this! Wealth! So many pieces of yellow metal to be our object in life, the end-all and be-all of our existencepieces of metal that we cannot take away with us when we die (Psa 49:17) or even make sure of keeping with us during our lifetime; pieces of metal that do not save us one twinge of pain in sickness, or one pang of remorse at death! The idolatry of wealth is even greater folly than the idolatry of persons, and even more degrading to a rational being.
III. THE IDOLATRY OF RANK AND STATION. Some, who despise wealth, and have no strong affection for any individuals, have an inordinate regard, a profound veneration, for the possessors of high worldly station. To number princes and nobles among their friends and acquaintances is the highest pleasure of which they are susceptible. They idolize rank, consider it a sufficient set-off against all demerits, and will stoop to anything in order to bring themselves into contact with it. Here, again, one can only exclaimWhat folly! Rank and station, like wealth, belong to this world only. They have to be left behind, with our everyday clothes, when we step into the grave. They are accidents which no way affect a man’s true worth, or the estimation in which he is held by those whose esteem is of the slightest account. The prince of to-day is the exile of to-morrow; the noble may become bankrupt in purse, and too often is bankrupt in reputation. Such as idolize rank and court the favour of nobles are despised by men of sense, disliked for the most part and ridiculed by those to whom they labour to make themselves acceptable.
Isa 44:28
The duty of kings to be God’s shepherds.
“By me kings reign,” says God, “and princes decree justice” (Pro 8:15). Though the expression, “the Divine right of kings, has been greatly abused, it is yet a truth which all must acknowledge, that monarchs are placed in their responsible position by God, and must answer to him for the use which they make of that position. The whole world is, in a certain sense, God’s flock, and the various chief rulers who hold authority over different portions of the human race are rightly viewed as shepherds entrusted by God with the care of this or that division of the flock which is primarily and really his. Thus
I. EACH KING IS REQUIRED TO ACT AS A SHEPHERD TOWARDS THE NATION OVER WHICH HE IS SET. A true shepherd seeks the good of his flock, not his own good. He is watchful, vigilant, wisely provident. He seeks to benefit his flock, not to pleasure them. Oftentimes he must check their desires, restrain their wanderings, keep them back from alluring pastures, confine them to high regions, where the herbage is short, scant, and far from succulent. He must be specially careful of the weak and sickly, and of such as have suffered any hurt. He must spare no trouble or pains to secure, so far as he can, the well-being of every sheep and lamb committed to his charge. And further
II. EACH KING IS SPECIALLY REQUIRED TO ACT AS A SHEPHERD TOWARDS THE PORTION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHICH IS WITHIN HIS KINGDOM. Within the universal fleck, which is coextensive with mankind, our Lord has a special flock, enclosed within a special fold, which he calls in a special sense his own (Joh 10:1-16). This flock is not, however, confined to one placeit is “dispersed throughout the whole world.” Kings are required to look to its interests in some special way. They are to be “its nursing fathers,” as queens are to be “its nursing mothers” (Isa 49:23). Cyrus, from the time of his conquest of Babylon, while in a general way the shepherd of all the nations under his rule, was especially the shepherd of Israel. And the case is the same with all those monarchs within whose dominions any portion of the Church of Christ has its abode. England’s monarchs bear, among their other titles, the proud one of Fidei Defensor“ Defender of the Faith” The faith which they have to defend is the faith of Christ, and in this defence is necessarily included the special protection of Christ’s faithful ones, or of the Christian community within their realm.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 44:1-5
The offspring of Israel.
Judgments are coming upon the world. And the sacred seed shall be scattered abroad through all nations. There shall be deliverance of Israel from all those calamities and much more; the heathen nations shall be brought into the light of Jehovah.
I. ADDRESS OF JEHOVAH TO THE PEOPLE. There are three names for the peopleJacob, Israel, Jesurunand each represents a separate phase of moral progress.
1. Jacob, my servant. This itself is a title of honour. To be the minister of the will of an earthly sovereign is a proud distinction: how much more to wear the badge of the King of kings! Moreover, in ancient times servitude often meant confidence and friendship of the happiest kind between two souls. The name of Jacob, too, calls up memorable associations: a life of vicissitude and adventure, cheered by the constant presence of God; of notorious faults and weaknesses united with victorious faith; of a struggle to realize the Divine reality of love richly rewarded. The history of Jacob is beloved because it typifies the union of the human with the Divinein the people, in all believing men.
2. Israel the chosen. One foreknown, selected, predestinated from the first to fulfil the ends of God. From the beginning of their history, the Divine hand had formed and moulded all Israel’s restitutions. As the organism lies implicit in the cell of protoplasm, as the oak may be seen in miniature in the acorn, so Israel sprang from a thought of God.
3. Jesurun the upright one. An imputed righteousness, we are told, is meant. Others say it is a word of flattery and endearmenta diminutive form of “Israel.” If the two ideas may be combined, then the chosen and beloved of God will be upright in the thought of God. To say that God “imputes” righteousness to those who have it not in themselves, what is it but to ascribe to him the most beautiful effect and operation of love? It is to say that Israel is by him idealized. And to feel this about ourselves means deliverance from despair in those moments when in the mirror of conscience we behold a hideous self-reflection, or when we perceive how cheaply we are held by the world
“All I can never be,
All men ignore in me,
This I am worth to God.
Whose wheel the pitcher shared.”
There are secrets of the heart unknown to any system of theology. He who can hear God’s voice saying to him, “Fear not,” may be deaf to all detraction and indifferent to all applause.
II. PROMISE OF JEHOVAH.
1. The outpouring of the Spirit. Let us transport ourselves in fancy from these moist atmospheres and dripping skies of Britain to yonder burning Orient clime. Then and there let us bathe ourselves in the generous bounty of those refreshing words, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground.” But we need not go to the Orient to experience drought of soul. We may find reading “dry,” and preaching drier, our own minds driest of all; nothing growing within us, nor promising to grow. And for the future the prospect seems equally cheerless. Nothing is left us but this Word of God; but all is left us in that Word. Thinking of snow will not cool us; the imagination of water will not refresh us in our thirst; but faith in God, the realization of what he is in this relation to us, remains the one resource which Scripture offers to us.
2. The spiritual posterity. Biblical promises respect the “solidarity” of life. That which we moderns call “individualism” appears to be unknown. As the curse, so also the blessing, goes on working to the “third and fourth generation,” nay, to “a thousand generations,” under the dispensation of a covenant-keeping God. Nay, it is conceived as abiding through time into eternity”a seed established for ever, a throne built up to all generations” (Psa 89:4). Here the abundance of Israel’s spiritual posterity is imaged as grass by the waters, or as the tall and graceful poplars by the artificial water-courses. “A tree planted by the rivers of water; Thy years shall be as the years of a tree:” what more beautiful and touching image? The tree is typical of life in its strength, its gracefulness, its fruitfulness. These shall be its characteristics in the Messianic age. The Church will finally embrace the world. Proselytes will come thronging to her threshold. They will join in one confession. It will be recorded that this and that man was born anew in Zion (Psa 87:1-7.). Each Jew will be as it were the centre of a little synagogue; ten men will seize his skirts and say, “We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (Zec 8:23). The frequent confession will be heard, “I belong to Jehovah;” or be found taking upon his person the stigmata, or sacred marks, which denote him as vowed to Jehovah’s service (cf. Herod; 2:113). We may learn:
(1) The blessedness of pious parents, and their corresponding responsibilities.
(2) The gift of God’s Spirit is the source of true happiness and prosperity. Piety alone can be the root of the Church’s and the nation’s weal.
(3) God will never permit true religion to be extinct. It may appear to wither; but so long as he lives it will certainly know its recurring times of revival.J.
Isa 44:6-28
Jehovah and the images.
I. SELF–MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH. He is the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega. Existing before the creation, he will endure when it shall have passed away (Isa 48:12). It is a thought which strikes us at once by its sublimity, anal, what is better, with its truth. Men sometimes speak of the material world as real, of the world of faith and imagination as dreamy. Not so the greatest prophets and poets. Shakespeare describes the globe and all its human splendours as passing away like an “insubstantial pageant faded.” But Isaiah outdoes Shakespeare, making the very heavens themselves pass; and perhaps St. Paul goes a step further when he sees “knowledge itself” vanishing away. Moreover, Jehovah is the incomparable God. He can admit no “rival near the throne;” cannot accommodate other deities to places in a tolerant pantheon. He is the sole Object of worship, the only Being to whom is due the title “God.” So, too, he alone can tell the future. Let the long past bear witness. He placed the “ancient people,” or the “everlasting people.” The reference seems to be to the ever-enduring covenant spoken of in Exo 31:16, to the priesthood and the kingdom which are everlasting (Exo 40:15; 2Sa 13:16). It suggests “the everlastingness of God’s people,” in opposition to the proximate fall of the idolatrous nations. Or, the reference may be to the days before the Floodto the most ancient inhabitants of the world. In any case, he has appointed beforehand the times and the bounds of the habitations of men. And history is intended to teach men of him, that they may with mind and heart glorify him. Israel herself is the great witness on the earth to God. He is her “Rock”a great and memorable figure (Deu 32:4, Deu 32:30, Deu 32:31; Psa 19:14; Psa 31:2, Psa 31:3; Psa 42:9). Rock of Ages, Dwelling-place of all generations: who can wear such titles but himself? “If there were another Rock of Ages, Jehovah would not complain; but as his Being is unique, it pains him that men will not have him for a God.”
II. IDOLATRY CRITICIZED. The image-makers are all of them “chaos”an expression of extreme contempt. There is no use, no profit, in their trade. To that question of use all institutions, yea, all men, must ultimately come. Now, what can be said on behalf of idolatry? Produce the witnesses. Blind and ignorant, what have they to say? To produce them is to abash and confound them. And so it is with many an idol and institution of our time. It tries to keep off criticism under the plea of sacredness; when the age insists on criticism, and will have an answer, its silence or its confused apologies are its condemnation. What can be answered to the following questions? How can you turn an image into a living spiritual being? Quis nisi demenswho but one out of his senses can confound the one with the other? The worship of these idols was sacra mental, and was kept up by societies and guilds. The members were in association with the idol and with one another; like Ephraim (Hos 4:17), they were in fellowship with demons (cf. 1Co 10:20). If the idol be nothing in the world, what becomes of those “joined to him”? Let that question be answered. And then, again, how can these human craftsmen make their Maker? Let them all combine in their toil: the ludicrousness of their endeavours is the more manifest. There is the smith with his sharp axe and his hammers, sweating at the fire till he is faint; the carpenter with his line and sharp chisel, plane and compasses. The semblance of a human figure appears. The god is made; and sacrifice and prayer follow. “Save me!” the benighted worshipper cries to his manufacture. The scene is enough to carry conviction to the spectator’s mind, and to convince him that these votaries can have no perception, so “daubed” are their eyes and their hearts by the habits of sense. The power of reflection seems gonethe power to hold up the act before the mind and judge it. A thoughtless religion, an uninquiring compliance with tradition and custom, is often enjoined upon us; but only thoughtful religion will endure. God is Mind; and if we fail to offer him the best of our mind, we sink down into some such miserable delusion, such ashy refuse of religion, as is here held up to scorn and ridicule.
III. ADMONITION TO ISRAEL. Let the child, the servant of Jehovah, remember these things, and lay to heart the folly of idolatry, and the glorious constancy of the God who has claimed them for his own. Do they think they are forgotten of God? Impossible! “O Israel, thou canst not be forgotten of me!” He is beforehand with her. Before she confesses, he proclaims her sins forgiven; before she returns to her allegiance, be cries, “I have blotted out as a mist thy rebellions;” before she prays for deliverance, he proclaims, “I have released thee; then return!” Here is the heart of the gospel, the heart of the infinite love. We, with too narrow heart, too often make human good the antecedent of Divine grace. “Repent,” we say, “and God will forgive; be obedient and God will reward.” But on the prophet’s representation, Jehovah makes the first advances. He calls for conversion on the ground that he has released Israel. And so ever. The parable of the prodigal reflects the same ideas. The “goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” It is this thought which makes hardness of hearthousing up wrath against the day of wrathappear so odious in the sinner’s own eyes. We need to represent the gospel so that the sinner shall throw all the blame of his condition on self, not on God. Let us ever speak of him as One who “keeps mercy for thousands,” and whose stores of compassion cannot be exhausted.
“Oh for this love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break!”
Let heaven and earth join in a chorus of sympathy, with shoutings from the depth of the earth, and ringings from the mountain-heights and from the forests. Let his praise be even “sounded down to hell” (cf. Psa 6:5; Psa 88:12); for he is Redeemer, has “beautified himself” in Israel (cf. Isa 49:3; Isa 60:21; Isa 61:3).
IV. JEHOVAH AND HIS PURPOSES. He is the God, the Guardian Spirit, the Guide, the Avenging Judge, for Israel. He has moulded Israel in the womb of time, who has made the universe of things. He only is wise, “bringing to nought the signs of the praters, and making the diviners mad,” turning the wise backward, and proving their knowledge folly. On the other hand, he speaks by the prophet. He causes his servant’s word to stand, and fulfils the counsel of his messengers. And his word and counsel is that Jerusalem shall be peopled, and the waste places of Judah be built upon; the flood of Euphrates be dried up. And already the word is passing into deed. The instrument of Jehovah’s purposes has been selected; no prince of the Davidic house, but Cyrus shall be his shepherd and accomplish all his pleasure. And we read in Josephus that Cyrus read the prophecy of Isaiah, and was seized by an impulse to fulfil it (‘Ant.,’ Isa 11:1.2). God has jurisdiction over heathen monarchs; their plans are directed by him and made subservient to his will. What the Greeks thought of as , Necessity, the Hebrew thinks of as the will of the Eternal.J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 44:20
True and false bread.
“He feedeth on ashes.” Man does not understand himself. Feed he must: the question is, on what? There are cravings of heart which cannot be repressed. Men are hungry for fame, applause, wealth, honour. Full many a time they taste this fruit; but each apple has ashes at the heart of it. What a picture of contrast is given us by Christ! He tells us of the true breadthe living bread, the bread which cometh down from heaven.
I. THE TABLE OF THE MEN OF THIS WORLD. Ashes! Is that all? In other words, dust! Yes; everything that does not feed the immortal nature within us is dust. Wealth is dust, and is scattered like dust. Beauty, however fascinating, turns to dust. And so far as the pursuits of man are concerned, how unsatisfying these are! The post of honour is no sooner secured than others are eager to fling the victor down. The famous “garter” is laid on the coffin and the pall. We are told the reason of this sad mistake. “A deceived heart hath turned him aside.”
II. THE TABLE OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD. They feed on the Bread of God; and this Bread is the Son of God, who said, “I am the Bread of life.”
1. Christ must be taken and eaten. Not in the hands. That is impossible. We are to feed on the living Christ. His mind is to be our mind. The soul can only feed on kindred elements. The spiritual nature cannot be satisfied through the senses. Christ must be “in us,” the Hope of glory.
2. Christ was the broken bread for us. It is the Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary on which we are to feed. “My body was broken for yon.” So we take into our spiritual being, not only Christ the Example, Christ the Teacher, but Christ the Saviour. And as we eat this bread we live by him, and become like him. He died for us, that we who live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again; for Christ came, not merely to save by teaching, but to teach by saving!W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 44:3-5
The indispensable blessing.
We may well speak of water in the natural realm and of its antitype in the spiritual as
I. THE INDISPENSABLE BLESSING. There may be abundance of earth, and it may be of the most valuable quality; there may be the utmost diligence in the field, and the latest agricultural science; but if the rain be withheld, if no water can be obtained to nourish the sown seed, there can be no harvest,the indispensable blessing is not bestowed. So is it in the sphere which is more sacred and more serious. You may have the soil of spiritual human nature, you may have the seed of Divine truth, you may have the diligent and watchful culture of the Christian pastor; but if the influences of the Holy Spirit do not descend, there will be no ingathering for the Husbandman. God must pour down his rich blessing, or all our labours in the Master’s vineyard will be barren of result; there will be nothing for Heaven to see but thirsty land, dry ground, fruitless farming.
II. THE FIELD WHERE WE MOST DESIRE THAT THESE RAINS SHOULD FALL. “I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” We desire that God should be blessing the ministry we render to the aged; we are more solicitous that words of Divine wisdom should penetrate the minds and affect the lives of men of middle life, on whom such duties devolve, with whom so many issues rest; but we are most concerned that the truth of Christ should enter the understanding, cleanse the conscience, possess the soul, of the young.
1. They are, in a peculiar degree, the objects of our love; they may be “our seed, our offspring.” But if not, we are strongly attached to them, and therefore interested in their spiritual welfare.
2. They stand at a point where religious decision will make the very greatest difference. If now they seek God and surrender themselves to his service, they will have a large and noble contribution to make to the cause of righteousness, to the service of mankind.
3. Unaffected and unwon in youth, the obstacles in the way of decision and devotion are continually increasing.
III. THE BLESSED RESULT OF THE DIVINE BESTOWAL. There will be a glorious spiritual upspringing. “They shall spring up,” etc. There shall be the signs of abounding life. The life that will be seen when the floods of heavenly influence are poured forth will be manifest in:
1. The stem of sacred conviction. God’s truth revealed by Jesus Christ will be the staple of human thought.
2. The flower of fitting utterance. (Isa 44:5.)
(1) The Name of Christ will be honoured by a Christian profession; and
(2) the people of God will be honoured by close association with them.
3. The fruit of holy usefulness.C.
Isa 44:9-18
The irrational and the religions,
This passage is interesting, as containing the most pungent and effective sarcasm in holy writ. There are indeed the finest conceivable materials for the sarcastic in the practice of idolatry; i.e. in all those cases in which idolatry has sunk into its lowest stage. Where a statue is understood to be nothing more than the memorial or visible representation of the Divine, the language of the Hebrew prophet would not apply; but where it is regarded, as it has been and still is regarded by millions of mankind, as not only suggestive of but identical with the Deity, then these strong and scorching words are most appropriate, most crushing. They may suggest to us thoughts respecting
I. RELIGION TRAVESTIED BY IRRATIONALISM. Some caricatures are clever and amusing enough, but a caricature of the sacred and the religious is both sinful and hurtful. Idolatry has gone far to dishonour and to discredit religion. The fact that men have committed such gross absurdities in connection with religion as these which Isaiah exposes and ridicules, and the fact that they have thus associated the utmost credulity with religious faith for hundreds of years under many skies,this has done much to prejudice the minds of men against the highest and purest forms of piety. So far is ignorance from being the “mother of devotion,” that it is the prolific parent of infidelity. The irrational is the best friend of the sceptical and the atheistic. It is well that we understand and appreciate this now. For though the grosser forms of incredulity have disappeared, the superstitious is with us still; and superstition, though it be baptized with a Christian name and wear Christian garments, will be recognized as the irrational thing it is; it will be transfixed by the modern reformer, and be shown in its true colours, and it will weigh down the truth which it was supposed to be sustaining.
II. RELIGION REPRESENTED BY REASONABLE SERVICE. AS nothing can be more utterly irrational than the conduct here described and satirized, so, on the other hand, nothing can be more reasonable, more perfectly conformed to the fitness of things, than intelligent, spiritual devotion. What can be more right and reasonable than that the creature should worship the Creator; than that the finite mind of man should seek to be instructed in the wisdom of God; than that the recipient of innumerable and inestimable mercies should offer deepest gratitude and render heartiest thanksgiving to the Author of all his mercies; than that they who have most serious duties to discharge, difficulties to surmount, burdens to bear, obligations to meet, should seek the guidance and support of the Lord of life, the Source of strength and righteousness; than that they who are daily travelling to the grave, and have no light of experience to tell them what is beyond it, should make their appeal to One who has given us such strong reasons to accept him as the Resurrection and the Life?C.
Isa 44:20
The vanity of irreligion.
In a few vigorous touches the prophet sketches the utter Vanity and the condemnation of idolatry. The idolatrous man:
1. Is relying on that which will miserably disappoint him; what he takes for food turns out to be nothing better than “ashes.”
2. Is misled into the most grievous error; he has been “turned aside” from the highway of truth.
3. Is continually enacting a falsehood; there is “a lie in his right hand.” Idolatry is the supreme mistake as well as the most heinous sin. But what is palpably and particularly true of this great iniquity is essentially true of all sin. A sinful life is
I. A LIFE OF SADDEST INSUFFICIENCY. “He feedeth on ashes.” Like the “apples of Sodom,” like the “little book” of the prophet’s vision trey. 10.), a guilty action (or a sinful life) is very pleasant on the outside or at the beginning; but within, afterwards, it is bitter and disappointing in the last degree. Crime begins in successful violence or enriching fraud; it ends in the prison or the garret. Vice begins in unholy pleasure, in unprincipled companionship; it ends in distracting pain, in mortal sickness, in cruel loneliness. Ungodliness begins in the delights of eager but unhallowed ambition, of happy but unsanctified affection; it ends in weariness, in heart-ache, in the discovery that earthly distinctions and human love cannot fill the heart that God made for himself, cannot gladden and ennoble the life that he fashioned for his service. A life spent without God, devoted to selfish gratification, is a life of deep disappointment; the mistaken sinner finds out that the delectable food which he plucked with such keen anticipation is only ashes between his teeth.
II. A LIFE OF SERIOUS DEFLECTION. “A deceived heart hath turned them aside.” The straight road is the path of piety, of purity, of truthfulness, of sobriety, of justice, of kindness. When men “see light in God’s light,” they recognize this path as the one right road in which a man should walk, any deviation from which is errora spiritual wandering. But when the heart is deceived, when the soul is corrupted by “the deceitfulness of sin,” when the inward “eye is evil” and consequently the whole body is full of darkness, then it seems to the deluded spirit that the wrong way is the right one, that the green, downward slopes of folly and sin are the highway of wisdom. And the worst of it is that the path of sin does not run near to and parallel with the way of life; it goes off from it at an angle which is continually increasing, so that the further a man goes along this evil road the greater distance he is away from that in which he should be walking. Every step takes the mistaken traveller further from his course. And when men have wholly lost sight of the beauties of holiness, of the excellency of holy service, of the claims of Divine benefaction; when they are so far off the true track that the voices of heavenly wisdom no longer reach their ear;they are helpless, they are lost. The deceived and deluded pilgrim “cannot deliver his soul.”
III. A LIFE OF PRACTICAL FALSITY. “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” Men are often living falsehoods when they are not putting them into words; the lie is not on their lips but in their right hand. The man who is withholding his heart from God and his life from his service is saying, by his chosen course, by his daily doings, by his deliberate action, that it is better to live a selfish than a devoted life; that the claims of Christ may be neglected; that the temporal is of more consequence than the eternal, the material than the spiritual; that happiness is more worth seeking than blessedness, the honour that cometh from man than the approval of the heavenly Father. These are fatal falsehoods, which lure men to sin and lead them down to death. Happy is that wandering soul who sees a form that comes to rescue, who hears a voice that summons to redeemthat One who says, “Man shall not live by bread alone;” “He that cometh to me shall never hunger;” that voice which says, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you;” “In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death” (Pro 12:28).C.
Isa 44:23-28
Joy in God’s redeeming power.
We have here
I. THE REACH OF ALMIGHTY POWER. It extends:
1. Over all visible nature. (Isa 44:24.) He makes “all things.” The heavens and the earth are the work of his hand.
2. Over individual men. He can
(1) direct the indifferent, so that Cyrus performs his pleasure (Isa 44:28), although that king was living in spiritual ignorance (Isa 45:5);
(2) confound the rebellious, so that the impostor is discredited and ashamed (Isa 44:25);
(3) establish the faithful, so that his servant, however he may have been disregarded, is honoured in the eyes of men (Isa 44:26).
3. Over men in their collective capacity. Jehovah had fashioned Israel, making her all she had become, giving her strength to do all she had accomplished; it was he that “formed” her from the beginning, that shaped her life (Isa 44:24). And he would yet restore the cities of Judah; they should be populous and powerful again (Isa 44:26).
4. Over the most formidable diacritics. Things that seem impossible of achievement are found, under his power, to be effected. At the touch of his hand the waters of the great deep disappear; at the sound of his voice the river-beds are dry (Isa 44:27). “With God all things are possible.” Mountains of difficulty are removed, and seas of impediment are swept away. Nothing is “too hard for the Lord.”
II. ITS BENEFICENT RESULTS. It is a question of the greatest importanceWhat are the results of the power which is exercised by the strong.? The world has had some terrible illustrations of the miseries of malevolent force. Power seeking selfish gratification at the expense of righteousness and of human happiness is the most deplorable as it is the most damnable thing under the heavens. On the other hand, power put forth to elevate and bless is the most admirable and beneficent thing. God works toward two ends
(1) the exaltation of his own holy Name; and
(2) the redemption and restoration of mankind (Isa 44:23).
The two become one; for it is by bringing men back to himself and to his service that he redeems them from all that is ruinous, and that he raises them to all that is elevating and ennobling. Man finds his worst calamity in distance from his heavenly Father; he finds his highest good, his fullest blessedness, in the honour he pays, in the love he cherishes, in the obedience he renders, in the resemblance he reaches, to his Divine Saviour, his living Lord and Friend.
III. UNSPEAKABLE JOY THEREIN. “Sing, O ye heavens,” etc. (Isa 44:23). Joy at its very fullest is uncontainable, inexpressible. He wrote well who said, “I were little happy could I say how much.“ There are times when we feel that we want every one and everything to be vocal with the gladness of our own soul. If the children did not shout, the very stones would have to speak the joy of that glad hour (Luk 19:40). When the great and gracious purposes of God are accomplished in the redemption of one human soul from sin and its restoration to the love and the likeness of God, there is occasion for more joy than human songs can celebrate; how much more so when a nation is redeemed! arid how much more yet will there be when the whole race is transformed, and when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ!C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 44:2-5
Revival promised in the power of the Spirit.
The history of the Church reminds us of the tides that rise and fall upon our shoresebb and flow, ebb and flow. Sometimes the waters rise with an unusual strength, and flood all the land around, but soon they fall back into the old limits and quiet movements. No doubt the kingdom of Christ is steadily advancing, widening its reach, enlarging its influence. But as we can only see a little, one little bay of the great shore-line, as it were, we can only form our estimate of the tide in this our “arm of the sea;” we cannot measure the encroachments of the great tide of God. We may live at a time when the high tide of revival has spent its strength, and is receding lower and lower. So far as we can observe, it is not the living waters encroaching upon dreary sand, but dreary sand encroaching upon living waters. But let us wait awhile; the tide of God may turn again, and flow up higher than ever. There is a promise of blessing in our text which has been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled over and over again.
I. OUR DEPENDENCE, FOR REVIVINGS, ON THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. The evils that gather about the Church of Christ are too subtle, and too mighty, to be mastered by anything less than the strength of God. The tendencies to decline and spiritual slumbering are too constantly working for anything less than Divine energy to counteract. The ends for which Christians associate in fellowship are too pure, too high, to be reached in any other way than by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The Church is the Church of Christ; but what a desolate and helpless thing it would be if it were only the Church of a dead Christ, or the Church even of an absent Christ! We must have the assurance that he is still with us, not indeed in the body, but in the grace and power of his Spirita form of his presence so much better suited for permanent relations that he could say, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” No helpless, trembling infant trying to walk needed mother’s steadying as we need the all-supporting Spirit. No young lad ever took tools into his inexperienced hands, and needed the directions of the master, as we need the teachings of the Spirit. No man in the fulness of manhood ever entered on an untried office, and looked for some one to guide, as it becomes us to look for the help of the Spirit. And yet this dependence it is most easy for us to lose out of heart and out of life. The Church without the Spirit is figured in our text as an unwatered Eastern land. No dews have formed on the grass or the leaves; no rain-clouds have shaded the blazing sun, and poured down revivings; the rivers have sunk lower and lower, till now their beds are exposed to view, and the pebbles are bleached in the sunshine. The leaves are dropping off the trees, dried up and scorched; the grass is killed; the ground is cracking and gaping; there is no scent in the flowers, no song in the birds; the cattle lie panting by the walls and hedgerows, or stand thirsting by the river-bank. It is a “dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” That is the emblem of the individual and the Church unwatered of the Spirit.
II. THE GOOD THINGS THAT FOLLOW ON DIVINE REVIVINGS. (Isa 44:4, Isa 44:5.)
1. The glory of a sustained godly life. Which depends on the constant renewal of heart motives, impulses, and resolves.
2. The glory of a holier and more earnest ministry. In this direction the firstfruits of a spiritual revival are usually gathered. The fruits of Divine outpourings were seen in Luther, and Whitefield, and Wesley, and Venn, and Simeon, and Arnold; and such a reviving would give us such men of “power with God and men to prevail,” once again.
3. The glory of the widening and extending of the Redeemer‘s kingdom. Isa 44:5.) Who does not long for the promised time when every scoffer shall be stricken dumb; the doubts and questionings of every faint-hearted believer shall be silenced, because, in crowds, “as doves to their windows,” as locusts over the plain, men shall come to Christ’s people and say, “We will go with you, for verily the Lord is with you’?
III. THE GRACIOUS PROMISES WE MAY PLEAD IN PRAYING FOR A REVIVAL. There is something about God’s promises that they almost overwhelm our power of faith by their largeness. He promises “floods,” as though he would not have us think of limits.
1. The Spirit is the Lord’s light. Then we must be willing to let him in, with his Divine illuminations, dispelling all the darkness, and making us light in the Lord.
2. The Spirit is the Lord’s life. We must let him in with his Divine quickening, making every good seed in our souls thrive unto blossoming fruitage.
3. The Spirit is the Lord’s power. He can make “a little one chase a thousand, and two put tea thousand to flight.”
4. The Spirit is the Lord’s love. And we must be willing to open our hearts, and let that love come in with its Divine cleansings and burnings, burning up sin and self, kindling a new glow of fervour, and making us revived souls and revived Churches.R.T.
Isa 44:5
God’s kingdom entered one by one.
Reference is probably intended to the coming of Gentiles, as proselytes, into the Israelite communion; and the point suggested is that they will come in “one by one,” because the acceptance of the Jewish faith must be a matter of individual and personal decision. God asks for an intelligent worship. The true worship is the voluntary surrender of the will and life to God, and that each man must do for himself. We worship together; but there is no virtue in the numbers beyond the aggregate of the virtue in each individual. If we hold fast the truth of a saving conversion, a Divine regeneration, we must clearly see that men cannot flow by masses into the kingdom of God; they must come in one by one. The Greeks may be inquiring for Jesus; but each Greek will have to come, for himself, into vital and saving relations with him.
I. THERE IS A RELIGION OF ASSOCIATIONIT IS NOT SAVING RELIGION. We are Christians as citizens of a Christian country; as worshipping with Christian people; and as members of Christian families. But we are not saved men and women by virtue of that connection. The association of a diseased man with any number of men in health does not make him a healthy man. The association of a criminal with any number of honest men does not make him an honest man. The association of an unpardoned sinner with any number of forgiven and regenerate people does not make him an accepted man. And yet, in various ways, we are yielding to this self-deception, and satisfying ourselves with relations that are merely external, that are not vital. No greater work is demanded in this our age than that of driving men out of this overcrowded “refuge of lies.” Not to masses, but “to you,” and “to you,” is “the word of this salvation sent.”
II. THE RELIGION OF ASSOCIATION MUST BE MADE PERSONAL. It must become a direct dealing between each soul and God. Each one must be humble and penitent; each one must seek for the way of life; each one must believe and be forgiven; each one must make full consecration, presenting himself to God a living sacrifice; each one must take up the precise work God may entrust to his care. To stamp our absolute individuality in our soul-relations with God, he has ordered it that each of us shall come into the world “one by one,” and each of us shall go out of the world “one by one.” The gift of eternal life is made to us “one by one,” and it must be accepted by us “one by one.”R.T.
Isa 44:8
God’s witness to his own rights.
“There is no God; I know not any.” A most striking exclamation. God becomes a witness to his own claims, and the last, the supreme, witness. The thought here so grandly and sublimely expressed is one which occurs also in the sacred book of the Buddhists. In the address of Gotama “Bhagavat,” are the following sentences: “Even I was even at first, not any other thing, that which exists, unperceived, supreme; afterwards I am that which is, and he who must remain am I.” The exclamation sets us upon thinking what witnesses we have to the Divine rights. When all are carefully reviewed, it must be felt that, as all beings and all creation are really dependent on one great Being, the supreme witness must be that Being’s witness to himself. Our sphere is strictly limited to the human and the earthly, and, so far as our experience goes, there may be some other God away in other spheres which we cannot reach. No man can prove that there is no other God beside Jehovah. But Jehovah fills all spheres: he, and he alone, can tell us whether, in any sphere, there is any rival deity. In a truly sublime way, the prophet presents him as lookingwith an all-searching eyeinto every corner of unbounded space, and then turning to us and saying, “There is no God beside me; I know not any.” The passage stands in close relation with the supposed claims of idol-gods; and we should carefully note that the idol-figures are first of all representations of qualities, or powers, which are supposed to exist, though unseen, and are usually personified or thought of as living beings. Only in the degraded stage are idol-figures treated as if they themselves were gods. In this connection two points may be illustrated, and practical lessons from each may be enforced.
I. GOD ABSORBS IN HIMSELF ALL THE IDEAS WHICH IDOLATRY SEEKS TO EMBODY. Poetically conceived, the figures of Baal or Jupiter are only representations of certain powersof life, warmth, rule, wisdom, etc; which are living, unseen beings. Our God says there are no such beings. Every one of these powers is in himself. He is Zeus, and Baal, and Venus, and Diana, and Moloch, so far as any of these represent necessary powers belonging to Deity. We must not divide him into many beings; he is only One. So far as idols are mere creations of men, there is nothing existing that corresponds to them. So far as they represent real powers, these powers all meet in the One Godour God!
II. GOD DEMANDS ALL THE WORSHIP WHICH IDOLATRY DISTRIBUTES OVER MANY GODS. True worship is both word and work, profession and service. Men who divide God into gods have their favourite deity. God cannot be divided. And the law for every creature made in his image is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy mind, and all thy soul, and all thy strength.”R.T.
Isa 44:20
The ill-fed soul.
The expression, “he feedeth on ashes,” is proverbial in the East for that which is done to no purposethat which is vain, unsatisfying, disappointing. Hugh Macmillan gives some accounts of depraved and perverted appetite in the use of earth for food. He says, “This propensity is not an occasional freak, but a common custom, and is found among so large a number and variety of tribes, that it may be regarded as coextensive with the human race. From time immemorial the Chinese have been in the habit of using various kinds of edible earths as substitutes for bread in time of scarcity; and their imperial annals have always religiously noticed the discovery of such bread-stones, or stone-meal, as they are called. On the western coast of Africa a yellowish kind of earth, called caovac, is so highly relished, and so constantly consumed by the negroes, that it has become to them a necessary of life. In the island of Java, and in various parts of the hill country of India, a reddish earth is baked into cakes, and sold in the village markets for food.” But such food cannot give due nourishment to the body. It is unnatural, unsatisfying. Our souls need healthy and satisfying food as truly as our bodies do; and men’s folly in respect of their bodies only illustrates their much greater folly in respect of their souls. So many of us are ill fed, injudiciously fed. After showing what is the proper nutriment for a renewed soul, leading up to the mystical expression of our Lord, as recorded by John, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” it may be shown that food for the soul is insufficient and injurious when it is
I. ILL SELECTED. It must be good, but it must also be appropriate and adapted. The word of the preacher must be such as “ministers’ grace to the hearers.” The supreme question for each one isDo the means of grace minister grace to me? I may be at the feast, yet be ill fed.
II. ILL PREPARED. Food that is in itself good is often made unsuitable for us in the cooking. Teachings may be spoiled by the vanity or the over-adornment of the teachers. Especially teachings may be ill prepared as they lack the true spiritual flavour. Then they come to us as the word of man rather than as the word of God.
III. ILL PROPORTIONED. Sometimes in excess; at other times deficient. We may at times be starved, and at others surfeited. We may have the false appetite, which feeds voraciously at times. We may, in religious things, run too hard along particular lines, interest ourselves only in sides and aspects of truth, and so become ill-fed souls.
IV. ILL SUSTAINED. In respect of soul-feeding the law for the body applies. Little and often. Plain and regular. Therefore are we taught to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” And to teach us that we want food, not luxuries, Christ said of himself, “I am the Bread of life.”R.T.
Isa 44:22
God’s way of pleading with men.
Put in other words, the statement of this text is, “As a cloud is blotted out of the heavens, so have I blotted out thy transgressions.” But it is difficult for us to realize what is meant by “blotting out a cloud.” So far as we have to do with clouds, we cannot speak of them as “blotted out.” Some swiftly hurry by; others move majestically along,they go out of sight into some other quarter of the heavens; but we do not see them vanish from their place in mid-sky, and become “blotted out.” Sometimes the cloud sends down showers upon the earth, and so it exhausts itself; but that cannot be the image of our text, because it intimates a putting away of our sins, so that they shall not shower down upon us the tribulation and anguish that is gathered up in all transgression. But the image which our damp climate cannot furnish is given in the sunny lands of the East. There, in the morning, will often be seen dull heavy masses of clouds, and there is every indication of a showery day. But as the sun rises and gathers strength, these clouds all varnish and disappear; they do not drift away, or pass into another part of the heavens; they just vanish on the spot, they die away, they are “blotted out.” Understood thus, it is a striking and impressive figure. Even thus the thick clouds of our sins darken the sky, and those sin-clouds bear manifest tokens of punishment and wrath. But thus also God’s love, the sun of his forgiving love, arises, shines out full, and the sin-cloud is dispelled, it vanishes away. It is not driven into the future, to await us there; it is just “blotted out,” forgiven and forgotten. With other most impressive figures God endeavours to convince us of the fulness of his forgiving. He makes his servant say, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.“ Where is the east? Where is the west? Is it yonder ridge of hill, behind which we saw the sun set yesterday? Nay, did you stand on that very spot, the west would be still away, away, in the dim distance. The more you hurry toward the east, the further you get away from the west. Go east, and try to find your forgiven sins; behold God has put them in the utmost west. Elsewhere we renal of God’s “casting our sins behind his back.” He not merely puts them behind his back, he casts them there; his love refuses to look on them, his forgiving restoring love will not treasure them up against us; they are flung away; they are done with; they are bonds cancelled, debts settled for ever. And there is another figurethat of “casting our sins into the depths of the sea.” Take a jewel, and when upon mid-ocean, drop it over the ship’s side into the waters. It is gone. None can descend into those depths and bring it back again. So God, as it were, binds up the book, the “handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” He drops it in mid-ocean. And as we see it go, our hearts should be filled with thankful, trustful love to the great Forgiver. To a full return to him who has so dealt with our sins the text invites. This is God’s way of pleading.
I. OUR REDEMPTION IS AN ACCOMPLISHED FACT. The terms of the text are very explicit: “I have blotted out I have redeemed.” Redemption is not a matter which has to be settled; it is settled. We too often speak of needing to be redeemed; we should speak much more of realizing our redemptionentering into the life and privilege bought for us, and offered to us in the sovereign mercy of our God. That redemption should be regarded as an accomplished fact is taught by our Lord.
1. See the parable of the prodigal son. The charm of the parable is the look it gives us into the lather’s heart. He had forgiven the son in his heart long before the forgiving word could be spoken.
2. The parable of the feast. The message sent forth is, “Come, for all things are now ready.”
3. Notice how Christ directed the thoughts of men to himself. If our redemption were. not an accomplished fact, of which our Lord was the Divine expression and persuasion, how could he say, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”?
4. This is, indeed, involved in the doctrine of the cross of Christ. God provided that cross as the highest expression of his love to us; it is the persuasion that he has forgiven. It is not in order that he may love us, it is because he did love us, that he gave his only begotten Son.
5. Observe the new terms of condemnation set forth in the gospel: “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life;” “He that believeth not is condemned already.” God looks on men as forgiven, but tested by their thoughts of Christ, by their acceptance of his offered love and friendship in the person of Jesus Christ. God says, “I have redeemed you.” If you will turn to God, return to God, you shall realize that you arw redeemed. If you will not return, then that very redemption will gather into a burden, weightier far than all others that can come upon you.
II. OUR REDEMPTION, AS AN ACCOMPLISHED FACT, IS GOD‘S GREAT POWER ON HUMAN SOULS. This is the very essence of the gospelthe “good news” of God. God is a forgiving God. He has forgiven in his heart; he speaks his forgiveness in Christ. He can pass by iniquity, transgression, and sin. He can keep his righteousness before all his creatures, and Yet reach down a hand of acceptance to us.
1. The cry of God, in olden days, was the cry of this forgiving love, “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” etc. (Isa 55:1). The wine and milk are bought; they are set ready; take, and eat.
2. Apostles preached a perfect salvation. They told men it was wroughtit was done. They preached remission of sins in the Name of Jesus. Our faith is not asked for a scheme partially realized, a salvation partially accomplished, that needs the addition of our delayings, our tears, our prayers, our goodnesses. It was perfect before we had one thought about it. It sprang out of God’s own love; it was manifested in God’s own perfect way. He has redeemed us, and wants the fact of his redemption to be a gracious persuasion of us to come to him. We have seen the little bird taken from its nest in the woods, and put into the cage, and it seemed to be happy even with the bars all round it. Not always happy. Sometimes it would flap its wings against the bars, and try to get free, when a glint of warmer sunshine broke in upon it. And when the door was opened, wide opened, the bird scarcely knew what to do; it seemed bewildered, as if it could not believe such good news. But at last it seemed to flash upon it, “I am freefree to the wild woods, and the open sky, and the glad sunshine.” And at once it spread its wings and fled away. We are like that bird, caged in with sin: the bars are all round us. Some of us are willing to be caged, some of us fret to be caged. And the fact is that God has set before us an open door. Yet we stand irresolute. What! is the cage really open? May we come forth into the sky of God’s free favour and acceptance? Has God kept his holiness and his truth, and yet can he open the door? That is the truth, that is the assurance of the text. That is God’s way of pleading, “Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”R.T.
Isa 44:28
God’s rights in the individual.
God made us, gave us breath and being. We are his, and for his use. He can call any man into any sphere he pleases. It ought to be true of him that he saith to one “Come,” and he cometh; to another “Go,” and he goeth. Every man s true attitude is figured m the attitude of the six-winged seraphim before the throne. “With twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly,” or did stand ready to fly. Of every man, great and small, our God may say, “He is my under-shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure.” Josephus has a very curious statement concerning Cyrus, which may have some basis of truth. “Now this became known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Esaias left behind him of his prophecy; for this man said that God had spoken thus to him in secret: ‘My will is that Cyrus,’ etc. This was prophesied by Esaias one hundred and forty years before the demolition of the temple. When, therefore, Cyrus had read this, and marvelled at the divinity, a kind of impulse and ambition seized upon him to fulfil what was so written.” Modern discoveries are changing our received notions respecting Cyrus; they do not alter the fact of his having been the agent in securing the return of the exiles, but they indicate that, so far as he was concerned, his action was strictly one of state policy. The idea that he was a pure monotheist is greatly shaken. The line of thought which may be followed can only be indicated.
I. God has absolute rights over every individual.
II. He makes particular claims on individuals for particular services.
III. The duty of each individual is response to the gracious claims.
IV. The highest well-being of the individual lies in his yielding all supposed individual rights, in order that he may, entirely and faithfully, meet the claims of God.
Cyrus (Koresh) was required to be a shepherd, and lead God’s flock back to its old pastures. Whatsoever we may be required to do, that must be done as unto the Lord. We should not want any other man’s place or work. The best for us is just that one which is given to us. And the daily, lifelong, attitude which we should keep should inspire the daily prayer, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” “It is the greatest honour of the greatest men to be employed for God as instruments of his favour to his people. It was more the praise of Cyrus to be God’s shepherd than to be Emperor of the East.”R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 44:1-2. Yet now hear The prophet throughout this discourse alternately mixes reproofs and threats with consolations, because he had a two-fold subject before him; a church within a church; the true believers among the carnal Jews; each of them called by the name of Jacob and Israel. The church of the spiritual Israel is here addressed: which should remain among the Jews after God had executed the judgment just mentioned; that is to say, the people of God, who were to be brought back from exile, and to be preserved in Canaan, till God should fulfil the promises of grace which he had given to the seed of Abraham.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
5. THE COMPLETION OF THE REDEMPTION BY DELIVERING FROM SIN IS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Isa 44:1-5
1Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant;
And Israel, whom I have chosen:
2Thus saith the Lord that made thee,
And formed thee from the womb, which will help thee;
Fear not, O Jacob, my servant;
And thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
3For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
And floods upon the dry ground:
I will pour my spirit upon thy seed,
And my blessing upon thine offspring:
4And they shall spring up as among the grass
As1 willows by the water courses.
5One shall say, I am the Lords;
And another2 shall call himself by the name of Jacob;
And another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord,
And surname himself by the name of Israel.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See list for the recurrence of the words: Isa 44:1. . Isa 44:2. .. Isa 44:4. .
Isa 44:2. is to be connected with , as appears from Isa 44:24; Isa 49:5. is an elliptical relative clause.. That this word springs from , (Gr. Ven. ), or that it is identical with the first part of (Jerome, who translates by rectus Dei and by rectissimus; Aqu. Symm., Theod., , ) is an ungrammatical view. But it appears also to have been shared by those that have translated Jeshurun directly by Israel (Targ., Pesch., Ar.). This they seem to have done because they saw in it, not only an indirect equivalent for the name Israel, but also (because of the supposed identity of and ), a direct equivalent. It is now admitted that has nothing to do directly with , but is derived from an essentially different root . As the word is used only of Israel, and that not as an adjective but as a name for Israel, we must regard it as a cognomen, and as so called Kunje (comp. on Isa 44:5), consequently as a proper name. But, as is well known, there is greater freedom and variety used in all languages in the formation of proper names than in the formation of appellatives. This is because proper names have regard to individual peculiarities, which is not the case with appellative designations, which merely correspond to abstract modes that are always alike. Thus has originated from by appending the nominal ending , which, as the characteristic and at the same time the final syllable, has attracted the final syllable of the root. is therefore the notion in that peculiar aspect which the ending imparts to it. But what is this peculiar meaning of ? It occurs on the whole not often. It only appears in the appellatives , statutum, statua, monumentum, in the five proper names, , , ,() ,, and in the word (Amo 5:26) of which it is not known definitely whether it is a proper name or an appellative. But the ending is manifestly derived from , by changing the vowel. The latter ending is exceeding common both in appellatives and in proper names. Several words have both endings: thus Nun, father of Joshua, is also named 1Ch 7:27. The tribal designation from is (Num 26:27; Jdg 12:11-12), and in Greek the word is pronounced regularly . has a near relation in . For not only is Mt. Zion called Zehjun in Syriac and Arabic, but also it is even not impossible that the original meaning of coincides with that of . For Zion might very suitably be designated as something firmly set up, firmly founded, a , Isa 28:16. There is great variety in the meaning of words in . It ought not to have been so positively contradicted that the ending is also used to designate diminutives. What Ewald (Gram., 167) adduces on that subject is still worthy of consideration. occurs only in Son 4:9, where it is manifestly a term of endearment, and where one may translate thou hast taken away my heart by one of thine eyes, by a picture (as if formed by a turner) of thy little neck (properly Halzpartiechen). (Gen 49:18) from serpsit, reptavit, is called a diminutive by Gesenius, meaning little sneak. which occurs Dan 1:16 for ibid. Isa 44:12, can hardly mean anything else than small vegetables, i.e., something inconsiderable as means of nourishment. It is universally admitted that , the pupil, means the little man in the eye; and also (Isa 3:18; Jdg 8:26) is generally taken to mean lunulae. If, finally, Ben-Gorion, whom Ewald cites, is correct in stating that Josippon is diminutive of Joseph, I cannot see what one can object to the assumption that the Heb., among its diminutive forms, forms some in . Moreover Isa 44:5 manifestly corresponds to Isa 44:2, and as the words ver.5 , correspond to the words Isa 44:2, so the words Isa 44:5. refer to the words Isa 44:2, (comp. the remarks on Isa 44:5). From this results that the Prophet regards as the for . Isa 44:5. Piel , besides here, occurs only Isa 45:4 and Job 32:21-22. In Job the meaning is manifestly to flatter. In Isa 45:4 the word stands, as here, parallel with , and can likewise mean only to name honorably. In later Hebrew the word means cognominare, titulo appellare in general, and is cognomen, agnomen, when even not exactly an honorable one. Thus and are the for . Among Hebrew grammarians the pronoun is called , because it is a word standing in place of a noun. Comp. Buxtorf, Lex. talm. et rabb, p. 1054. With this certainly connects the Arabic Kunje, which however has more the meaning of a familiar name of flattery or one given in jest (comp. Ewalds Gr., pp. 662, 665).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. This strophe connects closely with the foregoing one as its necessary conclusion. The prospect disclosed Isa 43:21, that not merely the brute world, but also the people of God will proclaim the praise of the Lord, cannot be realized at once after the return from Exile. For the fleshly Israel still predominates. They cannot proclaim the praise of Jehovah; they will not, in their self-righteousness, acknowledge their sin, and will not accept the sacrifice that God, in His grace, offers to make for their sin. For this they are given up to the curse of destruction. But Israel is by no means done away as a whole by this. On the contrary, the moment has come when the Lord will fulfil to the people of His choice, i.e., the election, the of His people (Isa 44:1-2), the promise given Isa 43:19-21. For then the Lord will send down, not earthly abundance of water, but streams of the Spirit, on the spiritual Israel, composed of those of Israel and of the heathen that are qualified to receive (Isa 44:3), and these streams will enable the spiritual Israel to cleave to the Lord in a fresh life of the Spirit, and thus to perform what was predicted Isa 43:21.
2. Yet now hearhave chosen.
Isa 44:1-2. It is first of all to be remarked how the Lord no longer addresses His people merely by the name Jacob or Israel, but with the ten-derest expressions, and how He accumulates these expressions. We see that He is no longer dealing with the natural Israel, but with the remnant, the . But now depends on Isa 43:28. But now, i.e., after fleshly Israel has contemned the sacrifice for its sins, and has on that account been rejected, the moment has come when the Lord prepares the true Israel for the accomplishment of His will. This Israel He first addresses as Jacob My servant. Thus we see that here, not the total, but only the noble nucleus of the nation is designated as Servant of the Lord. For He calls this nucleus Israel whom I have chosen (Isa 41:8-9; Isa 43:10; Isa 49:7). This is the first address, and meant only to call the attention of the one addressed. Then follows the second address, which begins with naming the speaker, who is designated as Jehovah, the Creator and Former of Israel from the womb, and their Helper. From all the facts and names accumulated in the two verses, the conclusion is drawn that Israel ought not to be afraid. The words Isa 43:28 seem to give the occasion for this. Jeshurun [ Jesurun is an erroneous orthography.Tr.], which occurs first [and the only passages beside.Tr.] Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26, is undoubtedly a designation of the people of Israel (see Text and Gram.). If we may take it as a term of endearment or flattery, we may then understand it to mean pious little one, pious little nation, Frmmchen. It is to be noted that the second address (Isa 44:2), like the first (Isa 44:1) concludes with I have chosen him.From this appears what emphasis the Prophet lays on the idea of the election.
3. For I will pourof Israel.
Isa 44:3-5. Here the Lord says to His beloved people why they need not be afraid. In the judgment that is to consume the fleshly Israel, the spiritual Israel is to remain unharmed. The latter is in fact called to perform what the other could not do: proclaim the praise of Jehovah (Isa 43:21). It is enabled to do so by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet here returns to the sphere of thought of Isa 43:20. There a rich blessing of water was promised to the nation returning home through the desert. We have seen that the Prophet here again contemplates together the whole period of salvation. We are aware of this from his seeing also the irrational brutes qualified and impelled to thanksgiving to God. But this elevated goal Israel does not attain at once. Rather in this period, beginning with the deliverance from the Exile and concluding with the reign of peace, the outward Israel descends deep down into the abyss of destruction. But the election will remain, and to it will be given that outpouring of streams of living water, of which the blessing of water during the journey in the desert was only a type. With Isa 44:3 a the Prophet makes the connection with that type. I may say, he places one foot in the physical and the other in the spiritual, and thus forms a bridge from one to the other. Not as if to the elect will be imparted first the physical and then the spiritual blessing. But only for the purpose of making us recognize the connection with Isa 43:20, the Prophet speaks first physically. But, as the following intimation shows, he means already in Isa 44:3 a spiritual water. (not ) seems, in antithesis to the thirsty, to mean a living being, and (comp. Gen 1:9-10) the dry ground. fluentes, fluenta (comp. Exo 15:3; Psa 78:16; Psa 78:44) only here in Isaiah. When the Prophet says on thy seed, thine offspring he addresses the ideal totality of the nation (comp. Joe 3:1). The blessing, which we are primarily to understand as spiritual and belonging to eternal well-being, is the effect of the Spirit, and appears outwardly in joyous, fruitful prosperity. Hence . The LXX. and Targ. appear to have read . And at first sight one might prefer this reading to the of the text (which occurs only here) were it better supported and not the easier. It seems to me that the Prophet, by the grass, does not mean the Israelites themselves, to whom seed and offspring do refer. He rather conceives of the Israelites as higher and nobler plants, say, flowers or trees, growing out of the midst of the grass, and by the grass means the converted heathen. He further compares them to Arab-trees (, Isa 15:7, according to Wetzstein in Delitzsch, p. 459. Rem., not willows, but a poplar tree that grows like willows, and along with such, by flowing water) by the water-courses (comp. Isa 30:25; Psa 1:3), which, less common than the willow, rise conspicuous among the trees and bushes growing by the water.
Thus the Prophet prepares for what he would say Isa 44:5. He shows, namely, that to the spiritual Israel, whom he addresses Isa 44:1-2, belong not only such as are Israelites by corporeal descent. Not all are Israel that are of Israel (Rom 9:6 sqq.); and just as little are the heathen on account of their descent excluded from Israel. Our Prophet, in fact, often enough utters the promise that the heathen shall come to Israel and be incorporated in Israel (Isa 2:2 sqq.; Isa 11:10; Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6; Isa 49:18 sqq.; Isa 54:1 sqq.; Isa 55:5; Isa 56:5 sqq; Isa 60:3; Isa 65:1, etc.). Thus I see in Isa 44:5 an exposition of the thought that the believing Israelites sprout up in the midst of the grass, and that they thus shall be distinguished from the grass, and yet stand upon one foundation of life with it. For Isa 44:5 does not speak of Israelites, but of such as turn to Jehovah and to His people. But the language concerning these would be wholly disconnected if Isa 44:4 did not in among the grass contain a transition to the thought in question.
Notice that Isa 44:5 has two chief parts, of which each has two subdivisions. The first subdivision of each part contains a declaration of surrender to Jehovah; the second subdivision contains each time a recognition of Israel as a people of prominent importance. The first subdivisions begin with , the fourth does not. As one cannot avoid inquiring why the Prophet should refrain from a fourth , it appears that he would say: not all will make prominent in their confessions either Jehovah or the nation, but many will do both. Thus among these heathen there shall be so far a difference, that some in their declaration of adhesion will mention more especially the God of the people, others the people of God, while still others will mention both in equal degree. Thus one will say I am the Lords, another will let a loud call be heard by means of the name of Jacob, i.e., he will loudly praise Jacob (comp. on Isa 41:5). Finally a third will do both: he will sign away his hand, i.e., what he can do, effect, perform (compare the expression Jer 1:15; 2Ch 30:8, etc.) to the Lord (literis consignare also with of definition, e.g., in 4:3). This explanation appears simpler to me than the other two that translate either to write, etch on the hand, or to write with the hand. Thus one may say in Latin: literis manum suam Jovae consignabit, in order to signify surrender by means of a legal obligation. Of the same person it is said further, that he will make an award of honor by means of the name of Israel, i.e., that he will honorably name the name of Israel. See Text and Gram. The intimate relation between God and His people is assumed here. He that confesses the Lord must confess His people, and vice versa.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 43:1. Here are presented to us for our comfort all three articles of the Christian faith concerning the Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification. For 1) if God created us He will not forsake the work of His hands (Psa 138:8). 2) If He has redeemed us, no one will seize His sheep out of His hand (Joh 10:28). 3) If He has called us and named us by our name, we are allowed to rejoice that our names are written in heaven (Luk 10:20)Cramer.
2. On Isa 43:2. God delivers out of perils of water. Examples: Noah (Gen 8:15). Moses who was cast into the water in a little ark covered with pitch (Exo 2:6). The children of Israel who were led through the Red Sea (Exo 14:16). Jonah in the whales belly (Jonah 2:11). The disciples with the Lord in the boat (Mat 8:26). Peter who walked on the water (Mat 14:30). Paul shipwrecked, and along with whom were rescued two hundred and seventy-six souls (Act 27:37). God delivers also from perils of fire. Examples: Daniels companions in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:24 sqq.). Lot, whom with his family the holy angel led out of Sodom (Gen 19:17).Cramer.
3. [On Isa 43:4. He would cause other nations to be destroyed, if it were necessary, in order to effect their deliverance, and to restore them to their own land. We learn here, (1) That nations and armies are in the hand of God and at His disposal. (2) That His people are dear to His heart, and that it is His purpose to defend them. (3) That the revolutions among nations, the rise of one empire, and the fall of another, are often in order to promote the welfare of His church, to defend it in danger, and deliver it in time of calamity. (4) That His people should put the utmost confidence in God as being able to defend them, and as having formed a purpose to preserve and save them.Barnes.The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead, Pro 11:8].
4. On Isa 43:3-4. There are various views of this: a. Some suppose we are to understand it thus; the Egyptians imagined they would blot out the people of Israel, but they were punished themselves; b, others apply it to the times of Hezekiah, when the Egyptians and Ethiopians were chastised by Shalmaneser; c, others suppose it was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar in the time of Zedekiah; d, others by the Romans, when the Jewish republic was spared and these nations encountered misfortune; e, still others regard it as yet future, and that it is to be fulfilled on anti-christian nations, which they infer from Isa 44:5-7.
Several examples of such a warding off of punishment from the Jewish nation, which on the other hand were suffered to fall on heathen nations, are to be noticed in the history of the Jews. Still this is not to be understood as if these nations suffered for the sins of Judah. The wrath of God that should have come upon Judah, came on the heathen because of their own sins, but Judah was then spared out of grace (Pro 21:18). God forgave the penitent Jews their sin, but He punished the sin of the impenitent heathen.Starke.
5. On Isa 43:5-8. What the Prophet says here primarily of the return of Israel from all the lands of its exile, applies also to that return that takes place when poor, straying heathen souls are led back from dead idols to the living God, their Saviour and Redeemer. Then they are the ones that the Lord has made and prepared for His glory (Act 13:48; Rom 8:29 sq.) Such are the blind people that still have eyes, and the deaf that still have ears. For blind and deaf they are in as far as by nature and their birth they belong to the blind and deaf heathen world. But they have eyes and ears in as far as the Lord has opened their hearts and given them a penetration by which they see and hear better than those who, although surrounded by light through possession of the means of grace, still do not know what belongs to their peace (Mat 13:13 sqq.; Joh 9:39 sqq.).
6. On Isa 43:9-13. The Prophet here gives a proof of the existence of God, which at the same time involves a proof of the non-existence of idols. It cannot be denied in thesi, that a knowledge of the future lies beyond the sphere of human ability, and that if it occurs, it can only happen by virtue of a superhuman penetration that overleaps the limits of time and space. Prediction is not an art. All depends on what is foretold being fulfilled at the right time and in the right way. The agreement of prophecy and fulfilment can only be verified after the fulfilment takes place. Hence it is necessary that at the moment named the prophecy be attested as genuine, not fortuitous, not fabricated post eventum. Hence the Lord says (Isa 44:10): ye are my witnesses. And in fact, in all its notorious history, in its remarkable indestructibility, by virtue of which it moves through the entire universal history, while all other ancient nations have disappeared, Israel is a living witness for the existence of Him who calls Himself at once the God of Israel and the Creator of heaven and earth. For it is foretold that to this nation shall happen judgment, dispersion, continued existence in dispersion and a gathering together again out of dispersion. Over thousands of years ago it was foretold, and what to the present could be fulfilled has been fulfilled. What but divine knowledge and power can have so fitted the prophecy to the fulfilment and the fulfilment to the prophecy? Therefore the existence of a divine providence is proved by the history of Israel. But what other God should be the author of this providence than He that said not only, ye are my witnesses (Isa 44:10), but also, I declared when there was no strange god among you? (Isa 44:12). One is reminded of the anecdote of Frederick the Great, who, having demanded a striking proof of the truth of the religion revealed in the Bible, received from one of the guests at table the answer, Your majesty, the Jews.
[7. On Isa 43:10. Neither shall there be after me. This expression is equivalent to that which occurs, Rev 1:11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and it is remarkable that this language, which obviously implies eternity, and which in Isaiah is used expressly to prove the divinity of Jehovah, is, in Rev 1:11, applied no less universally to the Lord Jesus Christ.Barnes.
On Isa 44:13.Who can hinder it. The doctrine taught here is, (1) That God is from everlastingfor if He was before time, He must have been eternal. (2) That He is unchangeably the samea doctrine which is, as it is here designed to be used, the only sure foundation for the security of His peoplefor who can trust a being who is fickle, changing, vacillating? (3) That He can deliver His people always, no matter what their circumstances. (4) That He will accomplish all His plans; no matter whether to save His people, or to destroy His foes. (5) That no oneman or devilcan hinder Him. How can the feeble arm of a creature resist God? (6) That opposition to Him is as fruitless as it is wicked. If men wish for happiness they must fall in with His plans, and aid in the furtherance of His designs.Barnes.]
8. On Isa 43:19 to Isa 44:5. We have here again a brilliant illustration of the grandeur of the prophetic view of history. The Prophet sees in spirit that with the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity a new thing will begin, in comparison with which the deliverance from Egyptian bondage with all its miracles will only appear as something inferior. For with the beginning of that period of salvation, the Prophet sees, too, the end. The waters with which the Lord will refresh those returning from Babylon flow from the same source as the water of regeneration, of the , of the renewal of nature. And yet! What a tremendous period separates both, and what must Israel not go through till, from the drink out of that earthly fountain in the desert, it has attained to the well of heavenly water of life! It must first slough off the entire fleshly Israel, It has already performed the entire Old Testament ceremonial service in an unsatisfactory manner. Indeed, had it done this most perfectly, it could only have satisfied the needs of blotting out sin in an ideal, typical way. But Israel was far from performing even the outward letter of the law by that sort of service. The Lord must take all the guilt of His people on His own shoulders. What Israel did itself was as good as nothing. And the Lord, in His long-suffering, not only put up with this, He will even do more. He will undertake Himself the entire and complete blotting out of the guilt of His people. But the people are self-righteous and trust in their own work. They maintain that they have done what they ought, although the Lord can prove that not even their chiefs and prominent representatives have been righteous. Since then the nation, persisting, stiff-necked, in its self-righteousness, does not accept the sacrifice, that the Lord, in His infinite grace, brings for the purpose of making atonement,this outward, fleshly Israel, with all its outward ceremonial service, which is used only to feed its self-righteousness, must be broken up and destroyed. Then, out of the ruins of the fleshly Israel, the spiritual Israel will issue as from a cast off shell, and it will be susceptible of the gracious gifts of its God. To it then will be imparted the streams of the Spirit which bring about the regeneration of all natural and personal life, and will enable Israel to sanctify the name of its God, as predicted in Isa 43:21.
[On Isa 43:25. We may learn from this verse; (1) That it is God only who can pardon sin. How vain then is it for man to attempt it! How wicked for man to claim the prerogative! And yet it is an essential part of the papal system that the Pope and his priests have the power of remitting the penalty of transgression. (2) That this is done by God solely for His own sake. It is not (a) because we have any claim to itfor then it would not be pardon, but justice. It is not (b) because we have any power to compel God to forgivefor who can contend with Him, and how could mere power procure pardon? It is not (c) because we have any meritfor then also it would be justiceand we have no merit. Nor is it (d) primarily in order that we may be happyfor our happiness is a matter not worthy to be named compared with the honour of God. But it is solely for His own saketo promote His own gloryto show His perfectionsto evince the greatness of His mercy and compassionand to show His boundless and eternal love. (3) They who are pardoned should live to His glory, and not to themselves [Isa 44:21; Isa 44:5]. (4) If men are ever pardoned they must come to Godand to God alone. They must come not to justify themselves, but to confess their crimes.Barnes.].
10. On Isa 44:1-2. God has two arguments wherewith to comfort: 1) When He reminds His own what He did for them in the past; 2) what He will yet do for them in the future.Cramer.
11. On Isa 44:3. Comparing here the bestowment of the Spirit to pouring water on dry land, happens primarily out of regard to the special connection of our passage, which treats of the return of Israel through the desert. As in Isa 43:19-20 abundance of water is promised for physical refreshment, so here streams of the Spirit for spiritual refreshment. Outpouring of the Spirit is promised elsewhere also for the purpose of cleansing, fructifying, refreshing (Eze 36:25; Joh 7:37 sqq.). When, however, the Holy Spirit appears elsewhere as a fiery energy (Mat 3:11; Mar 1:8; Act 2:3) it is to designate it as the principle of divine light and life-heat. Whether by the baptism of fire is to be understood also the fire of judgment (Mat 3:12; 1Co 3:13-15) as Origen and Ambrose think, we will leave uninvestigated here.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 43:1-4. A glorious word of comfort for the individual Christian and for Christian communions. All grounds of comfort are therein enumerated. We learn 1) what the Lord is to us (Isa 44:3 God, Saviour, Isa 44:4 He loves us). 2) What we are to the Lord (Isa 44:1 His creatures, redeemed ones, and not such as disappear in the great mass, but whom He knows by name, and whom as a precious possession He keeps ever in sight). 3) He delivers us out of manifold distresses (Isa 44:2 out of all). 4) The price He pays for our deliverance (Isa 44:3-4; conscious enemies, or their unconscious instruments may go to destruction to save us, e.g., in ancient times the Egyptians in the Red Sea, in modern, the French against Germany, 187071. 5) To what He has destined us (Isa 44:4, because so dear, thou must be glorious). On Isa 43:1-2. Thou art mine! saith the Lord. By that He signifies 1) a well-acquired; 2) an inviolable right of possession. Koegel in Aus dem Vorhof ins Heiligthum, 1876, Vol. II. p. 196.
2. On Isa 43:5-8. Missionary Sermon. The Lord here addresses the spiritual Israel, to whom we and all out of every nation belong, who are born of God. Missions are properly nothing else than a gathering of the hidden children of God, scattered here and there, to the communion of the visible church (Joh 11:52). Contemplate 1) The mission territory a, in its outward extent (all nations Isa 44:5 b, 6); b, in its inward limitation (Isa 44:7-8; all are called, only those are chosen who are marked with the name of the Lord, are prepared for His glory, among the blind and deaf are such as see and hear). 2) Mission work: a, its difficulty (Isa 44:5, fear not implies that, humanly speaking, there is reason for fear); b, the guaranty of its success (Isa 44:5, I am with thee).
3. On Isa 43:22. [Proofs of weariness in religion. (1) Casting off prayer: thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob. Jacob was a man famous for prayer (Hos 12:4); to boast the name of Jacob, and yet live without prayer, is to mock God and deceive ourselves. If Jacob does not call upon God, who will. (2) They grudged the expense of devotion. They were for a cheap religion. They had not brought even the small cattle; much less the greater, pretending they could not spare them, they must have them for the maintenance of their families; still less would they pay for a foreign article like missions; bought no sweet cane. (3) What sacrifices they did offer were not meant for Gods honor, neither hast thou honored me, etc.; being offered carelessly, or hypocritically, or perfunctorily, or ostentatiously, or perhaps even to idols, these were dishonouring to God. (4) The aggravation of this; as God appointed the service it was no burdensome thing, I have not caused thee to serve, etc. Gods commands are not grievous. After M. Henry].
4. On Isa 43:24-25. Passion sermon. The righteousness that avails with God. 1) Israel does not obtain it (it has not even fulfilled the ceremonial law; and not merely the nation in general left the law unfulfilled, but also its chiefs and teachers: and as with Israel so with mankind in general. 2) Christ procures it; for: a, He the guiltless, out of pure love takes on Himself the heavy burden of suffering, which beginning in Gethsemane ends on Golgotha; b, thereby He blots out our transgressions and reconciles us to the Father.
5. On Isa 44:1-5. Pentecost (Whitsuntide) sermon. The Church of Christ can grow, flourish, and bear fruit only by the Spirit of Christ. Hence is necessary the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This Isaiah 1) to be hoped for with certainty, because promised by the Lord (in proportion to the need and to the receptivity the Holy Spirit will ever be imparted to the church); 2) infallibly efficient in producing all the good fruits that must adorn the vineyard of the Lord (Isa 44:4-5).
6. On Isa 44:1-5. The period of confirmation an Advent of Jesus to the children. Praise and thanks to God, there is much new life born in the period while those that are to be confirmed are under instruction, and much grows up in later time out of the seed scattered then. This time ought also to open the childrens mouths for them to confess their salvation and their Saviour. That poor yes that the children speak at their confirmation at the altar is not enough. Nor does it suffice for us to confess our being Christians by attending church and partaking of the Lords Supper. The congregation that has become dumb must learn to speak again. We must boast again the unspeakable benefit of free grace. We must have a confessing church again. The confession must go with us into our life. Ahlfeld, Das Leben im Lichte des Wortes Gottes, Halle, 1867, p. 150.
Footnotes:
[1]poplars.
[2]shall shout out the name of Jacob
V.THE FIFTH DISCOURSE
Prophecy as proof of divinity comes to the front and culminates in the name Kores
Isa 44:6-28
1. JEHOVAH GUARANTEES ISRAELS SALVATION BY HIS PROPHECY. IDOLATERS WHOSE MADE-GODS CANNOT PROPHESY COME TO SHAME
Isa 44:6-11
6Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel,
And his redeemer the Lord of hosts;
I am the first, and I am the last;
And beside me there is no God.
73And who, as I, shall call,
And shall declare it, and set it in order for me,
Since I appointed the ancient people?
4And the things that are coming, and shall come,
Let them shew unto them.
8Fear ye not, neither be afraid:
Have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it?
Ye are even my witnesses.
Is there a God beside me?
Yea, there is no 5God; I know not any.
9They that make a graven image are all of them vanity;
And their 6delectable things shall not profit;
And they are their own witnesses;
They see not, nor know;
That they may be ashamed.
10Who hath formed a God,
Or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed:
And the workmen, they are of men;
Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up;
Yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 44:8. . Isa 44:9. Hiph.
Isa 44:6-7. Isa 44:7 is related to Isa 44:6 b as the conclusion to the reason. But ver 7 is to be construed so that the words shall be taken together, and the words construed as a parenthesis. , agreeably to the context, and since it has nothing to do with teaching or with announcing past things, is=to proclaim, announce, call out aloud, publicly. As appears to me, is used partly for the sake of variety, the synonymous expressions having been used thrice in Isa 44:7-8, (comp. Isa 43:12) once at least, but partly and chiefly, because involves in a greater degree the notion of sounding. It is related to those other expressions named like our calling to giving notice, letting hear. The latter may take place by a very light voice or even without any use of the voice. , as we have said, is a parenthesis; but introduces the demonstrative conclusion after the relative premise (comp. e.g. Num 23:3). The premise is only interrupted for rhetorical reasons, being the result of the pathos with which the Prophet speaks. certainly has here, not merely the meaning to lay before, to lay down, but it involves also the notion of doing similarly. The Vav. before has as often, the meaning and indeed. after is dat. ethicus, with strong approximation to the dativ. commodi.
Isa 44:8. The question is equivalent to a denial (comp. questions with or Job 16:6; Job 31:1; Son 8:4, etc.).The expression does not occur again in Isaiah.
Isa 44:9. is exoptatum, deliciae (part. pass.; only here in Isaiah; comp. Job 20:20; Psa 39:12). But I construe the wished-for, desired, in the sense of jewel, valuable. recalls , thus it has hardly the merely negative meaning of inability, but also the positive meaning of something destructive, hurtful.The words are variously explained. The Masoretic points over denote that it is critically suspicious. But it suits the context very well, if only the idols themselves be not regarded the witnesses: they, the idols, are their own witnesses, i.e., they testify against themselves (Delitzsch). For the notion against themselves would need to be more clearly expressed. Rather the idol-makers are the witnesses for their idols as Israel is for Jehovah. Therefore is subject to the predicate , and not merely a resumption of construed as the subject, of .
Isa 44:10. is here, as often, at the point of passing from the interrogative to the relative sense, and hence acquires an iterative meaning. For the question who is there, who? which, as it were, challenges in every direction, has the sense of whosoever, quicunque. Comp. e.g. Exo 24:14; Jer 49:19.I construe as a conclusion, whose predicate is self-evident from the foregoing clause: whosoever forms a god (he does, forms or moulds it) for nothing. If be construed as a direct interrogative, it has the appearance as if the Prophet doubted whether there were such people. For if one understands the inquiry in the sense of reluctant wonder (Knobel), and makes the answer to be that no rational person would do this, then the question would not be who forms? but what rational person forms?
Isa 44:11. According to the context the clause must, it seems to me, be construed as causal. For is not the parallel of it does not express the notion of destruction, but of what is the explanation of the destruction. Therefore I translate: for they are (properly: they are in fact, comp. Isa 24:5; Isa 38:17 : Isa 39:1, etc.), smiths of men, i.e., of human origin.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet has announced (chap. 41), the first deliverer for the first time, and then along with him the one to be delivered, viz., the servant of God in the national sense. In contrast with both of these he has presented the second and greatest deliverer, the Servant of God in a personal sense (42). In chap. 43 he has portrayed the deliverance in its chief characteristics. Now in chap. 44 he gives the fullest effect to that element of his discourse, viz., the proof of divinity by means of prophecy, which so far he has produced already four times like a refrain, yet only as a prelude.
In three strophes Jehovah announces Himself in contrast with the dead idols as the true, living, omniscient, almighty God, who has predetermined Israels deliverance, and now foretells it so that Israel can no more doubt His divinity. For, at the close of this chapter the Prophet names with the greatest distinctness even the name of the prince who is called to be the deliverer of Israel. The first three strophes are but the substructure for this culmination that is to crown the building, that is, for the great prophetic act that is accomplished in naming the name Kores. In the first half of the present strophe (Isa 44:6-8) the Prophet makes prominent the difference between Jehovah and idols, by contrasting the omniscience and omnipotence of Jehovah with the nescience and impotence of idols. In the second half, also consisting of three verses (811), the Prophet exposes the folly of idolatry.
2. Thus saithknow not any.
Isa 44:6-8. The Lord justifies the consoling language fear ye not, etc., Isa 44:8, by first presenting Himself as the One that will help Israel, and can help. He is willing to help as being Israels King, He can help as being the eternal God who has proved this His eternal divinity. Note how the Lord encloses the predicates of His existence relative to Israel in the predicates of His divine existence. He first calls Himself Jehovah, the absolutely existent. For this is the foundation. Then He calls Himself Israels King and Redeemer. This is His historical revelation relative to time and salvation, which is enclosed by His eternal divine existence as by a ring. The latter is completed by the notion Jehovah of hosts. For by this is intimated that the Lord is not only God per se, but has revealed this divinity already in a super-terrestrial sphere of dominion. How consoling for Israel that He, who is God per se, but has shown already that He can be such also for others by a super-terrestrial kingdom of glory, calls Himself Israels King and Redeemer! The Lord was King of Israel while Israel existed as a nation (comp. Deu 33:5; Psa 74:12). The nations demand for a human king is expressly called an insult to Jehovah as heavenly King (1Sa 8:7; 1Sa 12:12). And also after Israel had received an earthly royalty, Jehovah still remains forever its proper, true and eternal King, from whom all earthly power of ruling emanates (Isa 33:22). But the king is the natural deliverer of his people. His own interest and honor demand that his people shall not be ruined (see e.g.Psa 79:9; Psa 106:8). This King has at His disposal for protecting Israel invisible powers, great in strength and numbers, viz., the heavenly hosts (comp. Deu 33:3, and Schroederin loc.; 2Ki 6:16 sqq.; Heb 1:14). After this preface the Lord proceeds with what He has in mind. He calls Himself the first and the last (Isa 41:4; Isa 48:12) beside whom there is no God (Isa 43:11; Isa 44:8; Isa 45:6; Isa 45:21). For only He can be God who is before all and after all. But the Lord assuredly does not call Himself the first and the last in the sense of temporal succession, as if He were only the first to come into existence and the last to remain; for that would only establish a difference as to degree, between Him and creatures. No, the Lord is at the same time beginning and end, Alpha and Omega. He encircles not only Israel (comp. on Isa 44:6 a), but all the worlds history as a ring. To Him everything, beginning and end, is absolutely present.
Therefore, too, He can prophesy, and therefore prophesying by means of a decree is proof of His eternity, i.e., of His divinity. (On the relation of Isa 44:7 to 6b see Text. and Gram.). everlasting people; [English Version ancient people.] I do not believe that this means the human race. The Lord describes Himself in the whole context as the God of Israel; He will comfort Israel. It may be said that God prophesied from the beginning of the world, and that humanity in a certain sense may be described as . Yet it is very doubtful whether in that case would not require a nearer definition as in Isa 42:5. Isa 40:7, to which appeal is made, refers decidedly to Israel, as we have shown. The dead may be called (Eze 26:20) because they are a special part of mankind, in respect to space dwelling in a land of their own, and in respect to time of immeasurable duration. But Israel, too, may be called an everlasting people, for to it alone, of all nations, is promised an everlasting covenant (Exo 31:16; Lev 24:8; Isa 24:5; Isa 55:3; Isa 61:8, etc.), an everlasting sanctuary (Eze 37:26), an everlasting priesthood (Exo 40:15; Num 25:13, etc.), and kingdom (2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16; Psa 89:4 sqq.); indeed it is expressly said thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever ( ) 2. Sam. Isa 7:24; comp. 1Ch 17:22. And in fact Israel is, in a good sense, the everlasting [wandering] Jew, the only nation that does not lose itself in the sea of nations, like a river, that does not mingle its waters with the lake through which it flows. And in the end the spiritual Israel will absorb all nations, and its sanctuary and priesthood and kingdom every other sanctuary, priesthood and kingdom, to the end that the throne and sanctuary of Israels King and High-priest may exist alone through eternity.
The Lord has challenged the idols in Isa 44:7 a to produce their ancient prophecies, if they had any to show; in the second half of the verse he challenges them to produce any new ones they have. These new ones are designated as and as such . I do not believe that by this immediate future and remoter future things are distinguished (see on Isa 41:22-23). But which will come is the nearer definition of . They are not to name any sort of so-called future thing, but such as shall also come, i.e., actually come to pass (see Text. and Gram.). They shall foretell for their own advantage ( see Text. and Gram.); for it were for the interest of those addressed to be able to perform what is asked of them.
Isa 44:8. If Jehovah, who calls Himself King and Redeemer of Israel, and who has founded this people for an everlasting existence, has furnished the proof of His divinity by a demonstration of His omniscience, then Israel need not fear. Jehovah has long in advance ( as in Isa 16:13; Isa 45:21; Isa 48:3 sqq., comp. 41:26) foretold their distress and the deliverance from it, and Israel must testify that such is the fact (Isa 43:10). Therefore the Lord can prophesy, and the fact (only affirmed Isa 44:6 b) is demonstrated, viz., His sole divinity. In the second clause of Isa 44:8 the Prophet seems to have in mind Psa 18:32.
2. They that makeashamed together.
Isa 44:9-11. The lash is now laid on the folly of those that make idols, and then themselves appear as their witnesses, whereas in fact they see nothing of the future, from which appears the powerlessness of the idols, and the inevitable result that their worshippers must come to shame. The words are throughout in contrast with what (Isa 44:6-8) the Lord affirms of Himself. The idols themselves are guiltless. How can the poor blocks help men making idols of them? But the makers of idols are guilty, hence the Lord addresses them (, the expression only here). See Text. and Gram. Jehovah is the Maker () of Israel (Isa 44:2); the idol-makers are the makers () of their gods. These idol-makers are vanity (), they sink back into chaos, or rather they produce nothing better than chaos; while Israel is the everlasting people ). The idol-makers are witnesses of their idols, i.e., they testify in their own case. Israel is the impartial witness of Jehovah; the idols are powerless, useless images; Jehovah is the Rock and Redeemer of His people. The idols themselves see and know nothing, consequently their worshippers and witnesses know nothing ( in the absolute sense=to have knowledge, as Isa 45:20; Isa 56:10); to Jehovah, as the first and last, all is present, the beginning and the end, and what lies between. Therefore Israel must not fear, for it knows with the greatest certainty that it has in prospect a glorious deliverance. Isa 44:10-11 form the transition to Isa 44:12 sqq. wherein idol-manufacture is described; Isa 44:10 already presenting the fundamental thought that a shaped and moulded god is a contradictio in adjecto, hence a useless thing. Isa 44:11 describes the proper fate of idol-makers, already intimated by profitable for nothing. By many understand the companions, helpers of the idol-makers. But are not they identical then; and why make them specially prominent? It is better to understand that the companions or followers of the idols are intended (comp. Hos 4:17). Yet I would restrict the meaning to those servants of idols that are at the same time their manufacturers. These are the actual allies of the idols. For by the quantity and quality of their productions idolatrous worship is made to flourish (e.g., Demetrius in Ephesus, Act 19:24). Against this sentence the idol-makers might fancy they could oppose successful resistance by harmoniously standing up together en masse. But they mistake. They will still lose heart, and, instead of one by one, will only come to shame together.
Footnotes:
[3]And who is as I, who proclaims aloudso he shall tell it and do it like mesince I set an everlasting people.
[4]And future things even what shall come to pass.
[5]Heb. Rock.
[6]Heb. desirable.
2. THE POWERLESSNESS OF IDOLS AND THE FOLLY OF THEIR WORSHIPPERS PROVED BY THE WAY THEY ARE PRODUCED
Isa 44:12-17
127The smith8 with the tongs
Both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers,
And worketh it with the strength of his arms:
Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth:
He drinketh no water, and is faint.
13The carpenter stretcheth out his 9rule; he marketh it out with a 10line;
He fitteth it with planes,
And he marketh it out with the compass,
And maketh it after the figure of a man,
According to the beauty of a man;
That it may remain in the house.
1411He heweth him down cedars,
And taketh the cypress and the oak,
12Which he 13strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest:
He planteth an 14ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
15Then shall it be for a man to burn:
For he will take thereof, and warm himself;
Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread;
Yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it;
He maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16He burneth part thereof in the fire;
With part thereof he eateth flesh;
He roasteth roast, and is satisfied:
Yea, he warmeth himself, and saith,
Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image:
He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it,
And prayeth unto it, and saith,
Deliver me; for thou art my god.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 44:12. The words as they now stand mock every effort at exposition. For if we take as a verb [so J. A. A.], which conflicts with the parallel Isa 44:13, and translate ex ferro bipennim facit (Targ.), or if we take connectedly as faber farrarius, and let depend on a latent verb (the smith prepares an axe, Gesen.), or on the following (the smitha hatchet he works up in the glowing coals, viz., into an idol, Hitzig), or let it be subject with supplied (the iron smith has a great chisel, Delitzsch), or if we connect the three words and translate: the master, in iron of the axe he works in the glowing coals, Hahn; the forger of edge-toolshe works with coals, Knobel,in any case we encounter grammatical difficulties, or we obtain an unsatisfactory sense. The LXX. translates: , . Now this is nothing else than the foregoing . For means to be pointed; Hiph. to point, sharpen. Now Cheyne thinks that a word such as has been lost from the beginning of Isa 44:12; Delitzsch believes that has dropped out. But nothing at all has fallen out. Only the Masoretic point Soph-pasuk is to be put after . Then is quite simply the imperf. Hiph. of , which imperf. occurs in only one other place, viz., Pro 27:17, where it reads:
, i.e., iron on iron sharpens, and a man sharpens the countenance of his neighbor. Of course, according to rule the consonants must be pointed . And it is quite possible that this, or (ad. f. Green, 140, 5) is the original reading of our text. As the imperf. Hiph. of is a very rare form, while una, is a very frequent word, confounding of the former with the latter is easily explained; and as does not suit in Isa 44:12, but does suit in Isa 44:11, it was natural to place the Soph-pasuk after it. In Pro 27:17, also, the Masorets have both times taken in the sense of una, (comp. Ewald, Lehrb., p. 559). But this construction is very harsh, because must then not only be taken as a preposition, but is, moreover, in a strange manner joined with the prefix (instead of or ). Most probably, therefore, we are to read in this place, or (less correctly as apocopated Hiph. from = , see Zoeckler on Pro 27:17) .
The , as remarked, is in parallelism with the Isa 44:13 (comp. Exo 28:11). Therefore is stat. constr. from (see List). (from the rad. inus. , which like in the dialects, , , , has the sense of cutting) is an edge-tool; not necessarily a hatchet. is used here absolutely=to do work; a use, indeed, that is rare, but comp. Isa 43:13=I effect. Moreover the word is mainly poetic, and hence a freer use of it is possible. (again only Isa 54:16; Pro 26:21) is the fire-coal. only here in Isaiah; comp. Isa 51:1.
Isa 44:13. . . . red chalk., . . from abscindere, therefore also an edge-tool; Targ. , , scalprum, tool of the sculptor. from circulare, . . the circle. is originally= circuire (hence of the course of the boundaries of the land, Jos 15:9; Jos 15:11; Jos 18:14; Jos 18:17). Piel is then circuitum facere, to make outlines, to outline. It occurs only here.If the reading at the end of the first clause, is correct, and there is therefore a difference between it and the same word following, then it seems to me very much to correspond with the context to take the latter as denominativum from in the sense of to make beautiful. Thus, e.g., to make roots (Isa 40:24) stands along with to eradicate, to make a storm (), to storm forth, along with to drive forth. In that case our form were decidedly to be pronounced j threhu.
Isa 44:14. I cannot believe that here is to be taken in the sense of the conjugatio periphrastica. Isa 44:14 describes how a forest is planted out and grown large. Thus also Hahn. This statement of the aim is simply put first, and in refers backwards. is said, not as if only cedars were planted. That would conflict with what follows where other sorts of trees are named. But only the noblest sort stands for all, as if one were to say: to have apples to eat I set out an orchard. The meaning there is not that the orchard consisted only of apple-trees. , . ., commonly supposed to mean the ilex, rock-oak (the evergreen oak of the south ). the oak generally. to make firm, fix, in the sense of choosing, comp. Isa 41:10; Psa 80:16; Psa 80:18. (with minusc.) also . . It is strange that the planting of trees is said to be for the purpose of felling cedars, and that then no cedars are named among the planted trees Hence one is tempted to conjecture that a was mistaken for finale minusc, and that it ought to read . But in Assyrian irini Labnna is the common designation for the Cedars of Lebanon. Along with that is found also for cedars irsi (Schrader, Keilinschr. u. d. A. T., p. 271 sq), so that in both languages and have kindred meaning, and the conjecture of Schrader seems well-founded, that both expressions signify only different species of the genus Pinus (the cedar resembles our larch). Hence those are right who, following the LXX. and the Vulg., prefer the meaning pinus to that of ornus.
Isa 44:15. According to what precedes, the notion tree in general is the subject of . again only Psa 78:21; Eze 39:9. see List. is used here as singular, as probably Isa 53:8; Deu 33:2. Comp. Ewald, 247, d.
Isa 44:16. as videre mortem, Psa 89:49; vitam, Ecc 9:9; somnum, Ecc 8:16; famem, Jer 5:12, etc.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The truth, already uttered in the foregoing strophe, that making a god is a senseless performance, is here put in the strongest light. The Prophet describes in a drastic manner what a monstrous contrast there is between the honor that men put upon the idol and the elements from which its originates. He first describes, briefly the origin of a metal idol. It is the product of the combined labor of edge-tools, hot-coals, hammering and human sweat. Hard work that, and such as makes one hungry and thirsty. What sort of a god is that which must be fashioned with bitter sweat and from such difficult, coarse and hard material! What a contrast with the God who is spirit (Isa 44:12). More particularly he describes how a wooden idol comes into existence. The artist in wood has easier work. He stretches the line so as to have a stick of the desired size. Next, with red chalk, he draws the outline of the figure, which he then executes with his tool, giving it, with the aid of the circle, beauty of form. Thus the block, by the art of the master, takes an outward human form, as is proper in order to live in human society. But the block cannot be elevated beyond this. Inwardly it remains still a block. in parallelism with seems to me to involve a progress in thought: not merely according to the human copy generally, but he makes it according to what is splendor, glory of mankind, i.e., the work of art may even represent the human form quite in its lofty ideal, still it gives only the external outline. Evidently the Prophet, by meant, not a bungler, but a real artist (Isa 44:13).
But now the Prophet goes back to the origin of the stuff itself of which the wood-idol is made.
He describes how trees are planted so as to make a forest, how the rain gives them increase (Isa 44:14): then how such a tree is felled, in order to make a fire with part of it, for heating and cooking, and with another to make an idol (Isa 44:15). Thus, recapitulating, of the tree, one half of which is used for heating, and the other half for preparing food, what remains is made into an idol that is worshipped and is summoned for aid as the only refuge. One would suppose that if one half were used for warming and the other for cooking, there would be nothing left. But Isa 44:17 speaks of a remnant (). By this the Prophet would manifestly intimate that not even one of the two chief halves of the trunk is applied to making the idol, but only spare wood, say, the stump in the ground. [This incongruity has no existence in the original: because, as all the other modern writers are agreed, the first and second of Isa 44:16 are one and the same half, and the other is not introduced till the next verse.J. A. A.] Earth-born block, watered by rain, essentially destined for heating and cooking, only formed into an idol image by the waysuch things gods!
All the interpreters since Calvin quote the striking parallel from Horace (Sat. I. 8):
Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,
Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
Maluit esse Deum.
Footnotes:
[7]The artist in iron sharpens his tool and worketh, etc.
[8]Or, with an axe.
[9]line
[10]red-chalk.
[11]To hew, etc., he took.
[12]Ana made choice.
[13]Or, taketh courage.
[14]a cedar.
2. CAUSE AND EFFECT OF IDOLATROUS NONSENSE
Isa 44:18-20
18They have not known nor understood:
For he hath 15shut their eyes, that they cannot see;
And their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19And none 16considereth in his heart,
Neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
I have burned part of it in the fire;
Yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof;
I 17have roasted flesh, and eaten it:
And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination?
Shall I fall down to 18the stock of a tree?
2019He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside,
That he cannot deliver his soul, 20nor say,
Is there not a lie in my right hand?
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 44:18. It seems strange that is pointed with Pattahh instead of Kametz. For no root from which might come is used; but from , which occurs often especially in Ezekiel, the third pers. perf. must sound (comp. Lev 14:42). The context gives no intimation of Jehovah being the author of the (comp. Romans 9). Hence it seems to me that we may take as a nominal form, which owing to the relation of the and , would then be pointed according to the type of derivatives from , to distinguish it from the verbal form . This might occur the more easily since the word does not stand in pause, but in the closest connection with the following word. The singular is to be explained from the neutral construction of the preceding predicate word.
Isa 44:19. The expression (rotrovertere in pectus, viz., the thing objectively noticed, occurs on the ground of Deu 4:39; Deu 30:1; 1Ki 8:47; Lam 3:21. It occurs again in Isa 46:8, where for makes no difference in the meaning.The substantives and repeat in another form the verbs of the same root in Isa 44:18.It need not occasion surprise that with the discourse suddenly makes a transition to the imperfect. For the saying of the idol-worshipper, which is introduced by falls in the moment where he warms himself and has baked bread. Now, he says, I will also roast meat and eat, and make the remnant of the wood into an idol.
Isa 44:20. to pasture, then vesci, nutriri, with accusative of the thing, is used here as in the expressions Hos 12:2; Psa 37:3; Pro 15:14, etc., relative clause; the word from , vilem esse. Hiph. ludificare, to mock.The general meaning of the Vav. in is specialized by the context in the sense of assigning a reason. So I feel obliged to explain it, because can neither be taken de conatu (Delitzsch), nor, (with Hahn) in the sense of the soul-saving knowledge.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In these verses the Prophet shows what is the cause and operation of that senseless idolatry. The cause is blindness and perversity of heart. The insane folly of what they do is not perceived by these men ( ,=to have knowledge, penetration; comp. Isa 44:9; Isa 32:4; Isa 45:20; Isa 56:10 : moreover, the entire expression is from Psa 82:4), for because their inward sense, the heart, is as if stuck together, as though smeared over with mortar and whitewash, so, too, the outward eye is stuck together, so that they cannot see. The stupidity is aggravated; hence the Prophet cannot find words severe enough for reproof. Hence in Isa 44:19 he begins anew to enumerate the bad products, after having, Isa 44:18, named the source of them., abomination, is an expression that the Prophet takes out of his own heart and ascribes to the idolater. This happens also elsewhere in another fashion (comp. Exo 8:22; Deu 27:15, which perhaps was in the mind of the Prophet; Jer 16:18; 2Ki 23:13, etc.). (only here in Isa.) according to its fundamental meaning is manare, fluere, profluere, and according to the meanings that occur elsewhere (Job 40:20, =products of the mountains; 1Ki 6:38, the rain-month Bul; comp. ), is not a piece of a tree, but a product of a tree.The conclusion is couched in an utterance that sounds like a judicial sentence. Ashes are the emblem of something that deceives; one thinks he is to eat and see something good, and behold it is ashes, Job 13:12. Therefore he that nourishes himself with ashes, a heart that is blind itself, has wrought misleadingly on his outward conduct. The second half of Isa 44:20 I regard with Hitzig as a conclusion, which names the effect of this insane idolatry. It is this: the man does not deliver his soul. He would save it did he awake in season to the conviction that a lie (so everything is called that belongs to idolatry) is in his hand (as a would-be staff).
Footnotes:
[15]Heb. daubed.
[16]Heb. setteth to his heart.
[17]I will roast.
[18]Heb. that which comes of a tree.
[19]He who feeds.
[20]as he says not.
4. JEHOVAH, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, CAN PROPHESY, ADN HE PROPHESIES THE DELIVERANCE OF HIS PEOPLE BY KORES
Isa 44:21-28
21Remember these, O Jacob and Israel;
21For thou art my servant:
I have formed thee; thou art my servant:
O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,
And, as a cloud, thy sins:
Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
23Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it:
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth:
Break forth into singing, ye mountains,
O forest, and every tree therein:
For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,
And glorified himself in Israel.
24Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer,
And he that formed thee from the womb,
I am the Lord that maketh all things;
That stretcheth forth the heavens alone;
That spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
25That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,
And maketh diviners mad;
That turneth wise men backward,
And maketh their knowledge foolish;
26That confirmeth the word of his servant,
And performeth the counsel of his messengers;
That saith to Jerusalem, 22Thou shalt be inhabited;
And to the cities of Judah, 23Ye shall be built,
And I will raise up24 the 25decayed places thereof:
27That saith to the deep, Be dry,
And I will dry up thy rivers:
28That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd,
And shall perform all my pleasure:
Even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built;
And to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words used, especially: Isa 44:23. . Isa 44:25. comp. 2Sa 15:21. Isa 44:26. Isa 44:27. ; and also verse 21, Jacob and Israel. Isa 44:26. Jerusalem and Judah in parallelism. Isa 44:28. .
Isa 44:21. After Israel supply, not , but simply . The other would make flat tautology. Of course the thing to be remembered is as little different as are Jacob and Israel. But parallelism requires the object to be named each time in different words. And this condition is met when we supply after Israel, and take as denoting the object, and not as causal., instead of simply repeated, would doubtless indicate the servant-relation of Israel to be not a mere outward relation of possession, but one of ethical ownership.I think that in the suffix has the meaning of , as in Eze 29:3, and as the suffix of the 2d per. in Isa 65:5 stands for . It is true that Niphal in its reflexive meaning often implies an ideal transitive notion on which an object may depend (comp. the verbs , , Jdg 19:22, Isa 59:5, Psa 109:3, etc.) But with this fundamental meaning is very doubtful, and moreover, whether it be removere or exarescere (comp. Isa 41:17; Jer 51:30), one does not see how the Niphal may be taken in a reflexive sense so as to acquire a meaning analogous to the transitive Kal (comp. Jer 23:39; Lam 3:17). And it seems to me, too, that would the Prophet express a forget-me-not, he would surely have used rather than the strict, legal .
Isa 44:24. Kthibh is to be read ; and the LXX. and Vulg. have so read. Kri has , which is for sense about the same as = out from me, mea vi(Targ. ) (comp. e.g., Eze 33:30; Jos 11:20) means the same as (e.g., Isa 8:18; Psa 121:2), but neither of these occur again in exactly the sense demanded here. Consider, moreover, that the abruptness of were strange, and that an original were much easier changed into than vice versa, because the former is the more difficult reading, and it results that we must give the Kthibh the preference. It manifestly corresponds to the passage Isa 40:13; Who hath directed (comprehended) the Spirit of the Lord, etc., with whom took he counsel, etc.?
Isa 44:26-27. In this long sentence, and are the only verbs in which the Prophet returns from the participle to the principal form. As far as I know there is not another example of such an extended participial construction. The great animation of the Prophet renders this long-continued tension possible.
Isa 44:28. As is always construed elsewhere as masc., must be taken as 2d pers., unless one prefers to assume that the form is, as it were, attracted by , and that accordingly as a quarter of the city is conceived of as fem. The latter is grammatically not impossible.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The cycle of prophecy which embraces chapters 4048 has its culmination in this strophe, which represents about the middle. All that precedes Points to this crowning summit which is concentrated in the mention of the name of Kores or Cyrus.26 The strophe consists of a general and of a particular part. In the first we have a recapitulation in general of the foundations of Israels deliverance, and heaven and earth are summoned to manifest their joy at that deliverance (Isa 44:21-23). In the second particular these foundations and guaranties of the deliverance are specified more exactly. At the same time it is to be remarked that this part forms a single period, which as by steps leads up to the crowning point, the name of Cyrus (Isa 44:24-28).
2. Remember thesein Israel
Isa 44:21-23. These verses are closely connected with Isa 44:24-28. They are, so to speak, a prelude to them, an introduction that presents in nuce the fundamental thoughts. That the short section, Isa 44:24-28, should be so prefaced ought to occasion no surprise in view of its immense importance. For in it is to be accomplished the great transaction of the Lord by which He would show and demonstrate how He differs from idols, and that He alone has the power to deliver Israel out of the Exile, and thereby to stablish also the principle of the everlasting deliverance ( ) 45. 17. That is nothing else than the mention of the name of Cyrus (see below). Remember these cannot possibly relate merely to what immediately precedes, in view of the contents of Isa 44:21-28. The Prophet, in what follows, recapitulates all the primary ideas of chapters 4044, therefore Israel is to remember just that, and, in fact, all that the Prophet now endeavors to call to mind. The servant of Jehovah is one of the chief notions in our section (Isa 41:8-9; Isa 42:1; Isa 42:19; Isa 43:10; Isa 44:1-2). Let Israel remember that it is the servant of God, and it will remember the pith and central point of all of which chapters 40 and 44 discourse, and, in so far for thou art my servant is essentially identical with these (). The words I have formed thee, thou art my servant, are not only an emphatic repetition meant for confirmation, but also a proof of that fundamental idea. For Israel did not become the servant of Jehovah by accident, but by reason of a well-considered decree carried out in the most methodical manner. Comp. Isa 43:1; Isa 43:7; Isa 43:10; Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2, and see Text. and Gram. Therefore Israel shall not be forgotten (Isa 49:14 sq.) , thou shalt be unforgotten to me, at the end of the verse, stands in intentional and artistic contrast with Remember, with which the verse begins. At the-same time it forms a fitting transition to what follows. See Text. and Gram.
Isa 44:22 a. I have blotted out, etc., calls to mind a second foundation of Israels promised salvation. It looks back to Isa 43:25. While the cloud of Israels guilt is still between them and the countenance of the Lord, Israel must still fear His wrath. But let it disappear and nothing remains to restrain the Lords display of grace. Then he says: return unto me. This cannot mean the inward, moral return. For that is presupposed by the blotting out of sin. What the Prophet means is the return from the Exile to the place where the Lord has His fire and hearth (Isa 31:9). Thus Jeremiah also uses the word in a variety of senses. See remarks on Jer 31:21. For I have redeemed thee involves the idea: the purchase price for thee (comp. on Isa 43:4), is paid, therefore thou art free and canst return home. Sing, O ye heavens,etc., Isa 44:23. The deliverance of Israel must interest the whole world, not only because all that the Lord does is important to all, but also because all must see in that the guaranty of their own salvation. Hence the heights and depths should burst forth in praise. The heavens represent the heights above the earth, the (only here in Isa., comp. Psa 63:10; Psa 139:15, etc.), are the depths of the earth in the broadest sense. Thus what is highest above man and lowest beneath him shall rejoice, and that in union with what is highest on the earth itself. These last are the mountains (Isa 49:13); to which in the parallelism there is no antithesis because the deeps of the earth have for antithesis, not only the heavens, but also the mountains. Yet, in order to preserve the pairs of clauses, that is named that gives animation to the mountains and serves them instead of hands to clap with, viz., the trees (Isa 55:12). (comp. Isa 10:13; Isa 41:4) has as its ideal object what is held up to view in Isa 44:21-22, or what is intimated by I have redeemed thee. This appears additionally from: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob: for these words stand parallel with: for the Lord hath done, repeating and explaining the latter expression only in a different form. We had a similar declaration of praise, Isa 42:10 sqq. (comp. Isa 49:13), which, however, appealed to a more limited sphere. This call on heaven and earth (as Isa 1:2) shows that we stand at a very important turning point. And glorified himself in Israel.By redeeming Israel the Lord glorifies Himself. But whereas the redemption is set forth as an accomplished fact, the glorifying of Jehovah is something that lasts forever. Hence the perf. , and the imperf. .
3. Thus saithbe laid.
Isa 44:24-28. In reference to this verse Delitzsch says: the prophecy takes a new flight, becoming ever more distinctive. This is true, indeed; especially in relation to Isa 44:21-23. And yet also it only recapitulates the chief thoughts of chaps, 4054 These it builds up step on step, which lead up to the apex on which the name of Cyrus shines out to us. The discourse begins with Jehovahs being Israels Redeemer and Former (Isa 44:24), (comp. Isa 44:21-22). For it treats of Israels salvation, and what follows is to demonstrate that none but Israels God can effect this, and that He will effect it. The first stone of this proof is laid by the Lords declaring Himself to be the One who makes all, who spreads out the heavens alone, that extends the north without any one being there as a helper ( see Text. and Gram.). That stretcheth forth the heavens is a repetition from Isa 40:22; that spreadeth abroad the earth, is from Isa 42:5. Thus the Prophet comprehends in brief what he had said in the course of the preceding chapters about Gods creative omnipotence (Isa 40:12-14; Isa 40:21-26; Isa 41:4; Isa 42:5). In those representations he had brought out the nothingness of idols, in the strongest light of contrast (Isa 40:15-20; Isa 41:6-7; Isa 42:8; Isa 42:17; Isa 44:8-20). He had also represented Jehovahs omnipresence and omniscience and eternity, and in Isa 41:1-4 we have, as the first test of Jehovahs power to foretell the (relative) future, an obscure announcement of Cyrus, the name concealed, and of Israels destined deliverance by him (Isa 41:8-20). The heathen idols were challenged to produce their prophecy, but are put to shame (Isa 41:21-29; Isa 43:9-13; Isa 44:6 sqq.). Opposed to this pitiable inability of the idols, the Lord prepares to announce something far more glorious, viz., a far more glorious Redeemer and Saviour in a yet more remote future. To all this, therefore, that the Lord from 40 on had said, especially of the ignorance of idols and their followers in regard to the future, our Isa 44:25 refers in brief recapitulation: Who frustrateth the lying-signs, and makes the divinersfools, etc. Comp. Isa 40:17; Isa 41:21-24; Isa 41:29; Isa 42:17; Isa 44:11. Our text serves to complete in one respect the passages cited. That the servers of idols, or heathen diviners had even made attempts to prophesy is not said in these passages, nor is it denied. Only their incapacity and coming to shame are spoken of. But in our passage it is presupposed that they have actually attempted to prophesy. Hence it reads Heathen divination was in great part the interpretation of signs. These signs (auguria) are the . But as they are lying signs (comp. Isa 16:6), which, therefore, as idle counsel (2Sa 15:34), or as a broken covenant (such is the most frequent use of , Isa 33:8; Gen 17:14; Exod. 26:25, 44, etc.) come to nothing. The wizards (3:2) He makes appear fools (properly delusive glitter, Job 12:17; Ecc 7:7); He repels the wise so that their counsel and work make no progress but go backwards (Isa 42:17), and their prudence must prove to be folly ( comp. 2Sa 15:31).
But how totally different is it with the prophecy proceeding from the omnipotent and omniscient God by His servants and messengers! Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth (germinate) I tell you of them, Isa 42:9. To these words and also Isa 43:12 our passage corresponds. Yea, the Lordcauses the word of his servant to receive continuance and reality ( in this sense, only this once in Isa.; comp. Deu 9:5; 1Sa 1:23, etc.), and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, i.e., the counsel that He took and has announced by His messengers. According to the context a prophetic word is meant. Hence servant and messengers must be prophets. And it is, to me, quite probable that servant designates that prophet who first and chiefly, as the foundation and corner-stone of his successors, prophesied these things of the Exile; and that is Isaiah. and are conjoined here as in Isa 42:19, though in another sense. That saith to Jerusalem, etc., Isa 44:26. Now is declared wherein this fulfilment of the word announced by the prophets shall consist. The Lord shall say to Jerusalem thou shalt be inhabited (Isa 5:8), and to the cities of Judah ye shall be built, and her ruins I will raise. In reference to Isa 44:27Delitzsch says that primarily it points to the drying up of the Euphrates to the advantage of Cyrus (Herod. I. 189), and only secondarily, in the complex view of the Prophet, to the way in which the exit of the exiles was made possible out of the prison of the metropolis which was surrounded by a natural and artificial rampart of water. This relation I would reverse. As has been remarked, the Prophet has the contents of the preceding chapters in mind. Of these he makes prominent the main points to serve as the foundation of a prophetic transaction. Now heretofore there has been no mention of the conquest of Babylon. But the thought has been repeatedly uttered (Isa 42:15; Isaiah 43; Isaiah 2, 16) that water-deeps shall be no obstacle to the returning people, in saying which the Prophet has in mind the example of the Red Sea (Isa 43:17). For this reason I believe that is not just alone the deep of the Euphrates, but any deep through which returning Israel will have to pass. But I will not deny that, in the complex way intimated, the word may be referred also to the Euphrates which Cyrus was to pass.
At Isa 44:28 we stand on the apex of the pyramid. The God who created the world, and who is first and last, therefore eternal, can prophesy also. What is nearest as well as what is most remote is equally present to Him. By this He is distinguished from idols that can create nothing and know nothing. Now let us consider that the Prophet on this account, from chap. 40 on, points unceasingly to this distinction between Jehovah and idols. What representation can one make to himself of the morality of a man who continually affirms: Jehovah alone is God because He alone foreknows the future, which He evinces by naming the name Cyrus,but who by fraudulent conversion of a res acta as a res agenda abstracts the very ground under his feet in reference to his argumentation, in fact transforms it into a proof of the contrary. What a hypocrite he must have been, who, knowing well that no divine communication had been imparted to him, still gives out that he is a prophet, who therefore rests his proof for the existence of God on a fact which he well knows does not exist! Does the author of our chapter make the impression of such a hypocrite? No! what he says of the distinction between Jehovah and idols in regard to power and knowledge, is his full and inward convictions and what he says is just in order to establish this prophecy concerning Cyrus. In the name and by commission of his God he foretells this name, first in order that afterwards one may not give the honor to idols but to Jehovah (Isa 48:5), but furthermore in order that, when Cyrus comes, Israel may know that now the day of its deliverance dawns, and that Cyrus may be conscious of his divine destiny and willing to obey it.
The native pronunciation of the name of Cyrus is Kurus (Schrader, l. c. p. 214). According to Spiegel (Cyrus u. Kuru; Cambyses u. Kamboja, in Kuhn u. SchleichersBeitr z. vergl. Sprachforschung. I. 1858, p. 32 sqq.) the name was in ancient Persian pronounced Kuru. The same author with others says, the ancient opinion, that meant in Persia, the sun (Plut. Artax. 1), is incorrect. But the name Kuru coincides exactly with the river-name Cyrus, that is still called Kur, and with the ancient Indian royal name Kuru. Strabos remark (XV. 6), Cyrus was first called Agradates, and changed his name into that of the river, Spiegel regards as a mere addition of the geographer. On the other hand he is not disinclined to admit the change of name, but would refer it to a mythical Kuru of the Persians cognate with that of the Indians. The Hebrew pronunciation , Koresh, favors the inference that Kurus was pronounced as a paroxyton with a very short final syllable. This explains the Hebrew pronunciation as a Segholate form, and the consequent change of the vowel u into o in the first syllable (comp. Ewald, 89 g). According to all historical witnesses Cyrus was an extraordinary appearance. He was solitary in his way (comp. Doctrinaland Ethical on Isa 45:1). Only once beside the present is there found in the Old Testament the special prediction of a name, viz., 1Ki 13:2 comp. 2Ki 23:16. But 1 Kings 13 is critically suspicious, partly because of its peculiar contents, partly because of the mention of the name Samaria 5:32 at a period when there was no Samaria (comp. Baehrin loc.). And we do not need any parallel for the name of Cyrus. For the name stands solitary in history, and the previous announcement of it is not paltry prediction of something unimportant, but a prophetic act which for an extraordinary object makes use of extraordinary means. For it concerned transforming the head of the world-power into a friend of the Theocracy, and thus bringing about the great winter-solstice of the history of salvation. That the surest means of attaining this great object was the direct appeal to Cyrus with mention of his name, it seems to me, calls for no proof. Would Cyrus otherwise have begun his decree (Ezr 1:2) with the words: The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build Him an house, etc.?
It is seen, from the foregoing, that I attach no value to the exegetical expedients, such as that Kores was a title of dignity like Pharaoh (Haevernick, Hengstenberg), or that, in the appellative meaning sun, it was a figurative designation (Keil, Introd.), or that it is a gloss (Henneberg, Schegg.).
Jehovah calls Cyrus my shepherd, because Israel is His flock (Jer 23:1), and Cyrus for that time when no national ruler existed, is destined to pasture them.
Footnotes:
[21]That.
[22]She.
[23]they.
[24]Her.
[25]Heb. waste places.
[26][The Author, with little exception, uses the form Kores, yet quite frequently also Cyrus, without explanation of his preference. The translation does not follow him in this, but adheres to Cyrus, except in a few instances that explain themselves.TR.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
7. On Isa 44:6. . , , ; , , , .Theoderet.
2. On Isa 44:7. . The incomparableness of Jehovah is declared in opposition to all that beside Him is called god, whether the idols that are falsely co-ordinated with Him, or whether the angels which are indeed related to Him, but properly subordinated ( Job 1:6; Psa 29:1), or, finally, men also, who by unusual wisdom soar above their fellow-men and seem to approach the gods (Jer 10:7). Comp. Caspari, Micha d. Morastite, p. 14 sq.
3. On Isa 44:8-20. Extat hic sedes ordinaria loci de idololatria, cui similes huc referantur ex Psalms 115 et 116, nec non e Jesaia c. 40, 41, 46, 48, ex Jeremia c. 10, maxime vero capp. 13 et 14 Sapientiae, quae vicem loculenti commentarii in hunc prophetae locum supplere facile possunt.Foerster.
4. On Isa 44:14 [And the rain doth nourish it. Men even in their schemes of wickedness are dependent on God. Even in forming and executing plans to oppose and resist Him, they can do nothing without His aid. He preserves them, clothes them; and the instruments which they use against Him are those which He has nurtured. On the rain of heaven; on the sunbeams and the dew; on the turning earth and on the elements which He has made, and which He controls, they are dependent; and they can do nothing in their wicked plans without abusing the bounties of His Providence, and the expressions of His tender mercies.Barnes].
5. On Isa 44:20. The Holy Ghost says of idolatrous people who make an idol of wood which they worship, they feed themselves on ashes, because they trust and build on that which is as easily made ashes of as the chips that fall from wood. The case is not different with the wicked in general: they feed themselves with ashes, they comfort themselves with that which some heat or unforeseen fire speedily reduces to ashes, which are afterwards scattered by the wind. Scriver, Seelenschatz, IV. Th. 18, Predigt. 35.
6. On Isa 44:21. He, whose creature Israel is, and who therefore might order and demand, tenderly, begs like a lover: forget me not! That ought to be the right forget me not, that we consider that we are in Gods commission and His servants. And that in many ways: 1) for we are bought by Him; 2) He obtained us by a struggle in battle; 3) we have surrendered and covenanted ourselves to Him for service.Cramer.
7. On Isa 44:22. Israel has sins and great sins, which He likens to the clouds and the fog. How shall Israel be quit of them? As little as thou canst take captive a cloud in a bag, or spread out a cloth and take it away when it stands before the sun, so little canst thou lay off thy sin or do away with it. For all thou canst do, it remains and cleaves everlastingly to thee, so that thou canst not see life and the sun Christ. If the clouds and fog are to be removed, the glorious, beautiful sun must come. It devours fog and clouds that have taken possession of the heavens, so that no one knows where they have gone. Therefore, the Lord says, He alone it is who blots out our sins, and transgressions as the sun devours the clouds and fog.Veit Dietrich.
8. On Isa 44:28. Josephus (Antiqq. XI. 1, 1 and 2) writes that Cyrus made proclamation through all Asia. , , . , . What Josephus adds, that Cyrus knew this , , and that then ,has nothing at all improbable in it. Either the book of Isaiah existed in both parts already in the first year of Cyrus reign; then it is altogether credible that he got a sight of it. The Jews had not only the strongest interest in bringing it to the kings notice, but it must also have been easy for them to find ways and means of doing so. Or the book of Isaiah at that time did not exist in its second part; then let it be explained how it came about, that Cyrus, immediately after the conquest of Babylon, had nothing that he was more in haste to do than to summon the Jews to return into their land, and to take measure for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 44:6-8. This text may be used for a sermon on the being of God, directed against the modern heathenism. 1) God is a person (here as everywhere else in Scripture He speaks with 1 to our I). 2) God is alone and incomparable (Isa 44:6 b, and 7 a). 3) God is the omnipotent and omniscient (He sets up the nations of the world and announces what shall come). 4) God is therefore our only safe refuge (Isa 44:8).
2. On Isa 44:21. The call of Jesus from off His cross to His Christian people: Forget me not. This call we ought 1) to answer by sincerely humbling ourselves before the Lord on account of our forgetfulness; 2) to let serve as a summons to most intimate remembrance. Carl. Fr. Hartmanus, Passionspredigten, Heilbronn, 1872, p. 372.
3. [On Isa 44:22. Returning to God. I. The obstacle to return is sin and guilt. 1) a thick cloud between us and the sun; they interpose between God and us, and suspend and intercept the correspondence between the upper and the lower world (sin. separates, etc., Isa 59:2). They threaten a storm, a deluge of wrath, as thick clouds do, Psa 11:6. 2) As a cloud or fog they cause darkness all around us, and, worse still, within us (Mat 6:23), so that the benighted effort at return ends in bewilderment. II. God removes the obstacle. 1) Only He can do it, as only He can reach the high clouds. It must be done by influences from above the fog and the clouds, as the sun dispels both. 2) He removes it effectually: blots them out; not a speck of cloud in the sky, not a vapor even in the valley of death. Again God looks down upon the soul with favor; the soul looks up to Him with pleasure, Jer 50:20; 2Sa 23:4. III. For I have redeemed thee. The obstacle is not removed by a fiat but by a redeeming work. The comparison of the cloud has one point, viz.: the utter disappearance. Redemption costs a Redeemer, Joh 3:16; Rom 8:32. See M. Henry, Gill, J. A. A.Tr.].
4. On Isa 44:23-28, The Lord His churchs secure retreat. 1) As He prepares heaven and earth, so He does past, present and future; 2) He promises His church a future full of salvation (Isa 44:26; Isa 44:28); 3) He will fulfil this promise and so confirm the word of His messengers, but the wisdom of the wise of this world He will put to shame (Isa 44:25-26).
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 935
THE OUT-POURING OF THE SPIRIT PROMISED
Isa 44:1-5. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lords; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
THERE is a striking analogy between the things which take place in the natural and in the moral world. As, in addition to the genial warmth of the sun, the showers are necessary to promote the progress of vegetation, so, in addition to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon us, the influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary, to soften our hearts, to water the seed that has been sown in them, and to produce in us those fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. In this the office of the Holy Spirit consists. By his gracious operations on the soul, he applies to men that redemption which Jesus Christ has obtained for them; and by his sanctifying power he makes them meet for that inheritance which their Redeemer purchased for them by his blood. Whenever therefore we behold in the Scriptures a promise of the Holy Spirit, we should treasure it up in our minds, and seek not only to understand its import, but also to experience the accomplishment of it in our souls.
In discoursing on the words which we have just read, we shall consider,
I.
The glorious promise here given us
The manner in which the promise is introduced, is particularly deserving of our attention
[In the last verse of the preceding chapter, the state of Israel is represented as altogether desperate: they were given up by God to the curse and to reproaches. Nevertheless God would not have any of them to despair; for, if they had but a desire to obtain mercy, he had mercy in reserve for them. He still regarded them as his servants, whom he had chosen and formed for his peculiar people, whom he had helped hitherto, and was still ready to help on every occasion that should arise: he calls them by the endearing names of Jacob, and Israel, and Jesurun; and bids them to dismiss their fears, and to expect from him all that their hearts could desire.
And is it not in the same way that he addresses us? Yes: notwithstanding all the judgments he has denounced against us for our sins, he says, Yet hear now this, O Jacob my servant; remember thy relation to me; consider how free and rich has been my grace towards thee, in that I have formed thee from the womb, and chosen thee from all eternity, to be my most favoured servant: put away thy fears: entertain worthy thoughts of thy best Friend: limit not my tender mercies: enlarge thine expectations to the utmost extent of thy necessities; and thou shalt never be disappointed of thy hope.
It is of great importance to notice the tender and affectionate manner in which God addresses his people; because it is from thence that we collect the most just conceptions of his condescension and grace, and derive the richest encouragement to wait upon him. It is also of great importance to observe what use God makes of the doctrine of election. Twice does he call them his chosen; because in that term is contained every thing that is endearing and encouraging. Only let us reflect on the state we were in when he chose us, and we shall see that there is nothing too great for us to expect at the hands of such a gracious God [Note: Eze 16:3-6.].]
But the promise itself is most glorious
[The gift of the Holy Ghost is that peculiar blessing which the Church in all ages was taught to look for under the Christian dispensation. A measure indeed of the Spirit was vouchsafed to the godly at all times; but the fuller effusion was reserved for the times of the Apostles; as it is said, The Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified [Note: Joh 7:39.]. If we go back as far as to the days of Abraham, we shall find, that the promise of the Spirit was made to him, not so much for his descendants after the flesh, as for his spiritual progeny among the Gentiles, to whom it was fulfilled in the Apostles days [Note: Gal 3:14.]. And the prophets taught the Jews, in every successive period, to look forward to the same time for the full enjoyment of this privilege. The prophet Joel in particular spoke strongly on this subject: and St. Peter refers to his words, as accomplished on the day of Pentecost [Note: Compare Joe 2:28-29. with Act 2:1-4; Act 2:16-18.]. Our blessed Lord also, both before and after his resurrection, instructed his disciples to expect a more abundant measure of the Spirit than had ever yet been vouchsafed to the world; and to that very instruction of his did St. Peter refer, when the Spirit was first poured out upon the Gentiles [Note: Compare Mat 3:11 and Luk 24:49 and Act 1:4-5. with Act 11:15-16.]. The measure in which this blessing was to be imparted to the Church, is also particularly marked in the words of our text: I will pour (not merely sprinkle, but pour) water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; even such abundance, as shall be sure to reach the roots, and produce, not a transient change, like that of grass upon the house-top, but a radical and permanent change, both of heart and life.
That we may estimate the change aright, we have it exhibited in two striking images; that of grass, growing up after a season of extreme drought; and that of willows, watered by perennial streams. Here are images familiar to every eye, and calculated to convey a just idea of the effects universally produced by the operations of the Spirit of God upon the soul. A new principle of life begins to shew itself; and a new beauty and excellency to adorn the whole character: the appropriate fruits of every season, and of every condition, are brought forth, and the whole soul appears as a well-watered garden. Partial changes may be produced by natural means: but the supernatural operation of the Spirit invariably causes a total surrender of the soul to God. The unconverted man in his best estate conceives himself to have some right over himself: but the true convert says, yea, and delights to say, I am the Lords: I am his rightfully; I am his willingly and deliberately; I am his unreservedly and for ever. It is for this very end that the Spirit is promised; and these are its effects, wherever that promise is fulfilled.]
Now then let all the house of Israel hear,
II.
The duties and privileges resulting from it
Every promise brings with it correspondent duties as well as privileges: and most assuredly this promise is replete with instruction and consolation,
1.
To the Church at large
[Think of Israel when under the curse of God, and overwhelmed by the reproaches of their enemies: What comfort must the words of our text have administered to them, especially to all who believed the prophets testimony respecting them! And shall it afford less comfort to us at this time? Certainly this is a season of lamentable drought, when compared with the apostolic age. Though God does not leave us altogether without witness, yet the effect of our ministrations is very small and partial. But we look forward to a period, yea, and we hope that the clouds are even now gathering, when the Spirit shall be poured out again, and showers of blessings descend upon our thirsty land [Note: Eze 34:26.]. We look for the time, when the Church, which is now but as a slender plant, shall become a tree, in whose branches the fowl of every wing shall lodge [Note: Eze 17:23. Mar 4:31-32.]. Then shall converts be as the morning dew; they shall fly in immense multitudes as a cloud, and with the speed and velocity of doves to their windows [Note: Psa 110:3. Isa 60:8.]. The Church itself will be perfectly astonished at the vast increase, of her members [Note: Isa 49:18-21.]; for a nation shall be born in a day; the most dreary regions of the earth shall, equally with ourselves, participate the blessing; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. O what joy should such glorious prospects afford us! Did Abraham rejoice when he obtained but a glimmering view of the day of Christ; and shall not we, who have already seen him risen on our horizon, and behold him now rapidly advancing to his meridian height? Was the birth of Jesus announced by angels as glad tidings of great joy to all people; and shall not his universal reign, now speedily approaching, be hailed with joy? Yes; blessed be God! we not only see the cloud of the bigness of a mans hand, but we behold the commencement of those showers, which shall refresh and fertilize the whole earth.]
2.
To the weak and disconsolate in particular
[What mercy can be in reserve for me, may one say, who am given over to the curse of God, and to the reproaches of my own conscience? Were I like the earth that drinketh in the rain, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, I might hope for a blessing from God: but bearing, as I do, only briers and thorns, 1 am rejected, and nigh unto cursing; and my end is to be burned [Note: Heb 6:7-8.]. But what room is there for such desponding apprehensions, when we contemplate the state of Israel as described in the preceding chapter [Note: Isa 43:28.], and in the very words of our text? The thirsty and the dry ground is that to which the promise is made: and who may not find his character designated by those terms? But if these be not sufficiently humiliating, to warrant our hope of an interest in the promise, let us reflect on the description of persons for whom our blessed Saviour, on his ascension to heaven, received the gift of the Holy Ghost: it was for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them [Note: Psa 68:18.]. Surely the most self-condemning person in the universe may venture to place himself in that class, and consequently to expect under that character what he could not venture to hope for as promised to the righteous. And, if a very extraordinary measure of grace be thought necessary for us, more than for others, we may surely find a sufficiency in the floods which are contained in the promise before us. Fear not then, whoever thou art; for God has said, that the poorest, even in the most destitute and desponding state, shall, on looking to the Saviour, have floods and fountains of grace, unbounded in their measure, irresistible in their efficacy, and endless in their duration [Note: Isa 41:17-18.].]
3.
To parents more especially
[The covenant made with Abraham, was made with him and with his seed [Note: Gen 17:7-9. with Isa 59:21.]; and this very promise, which holds forth to us the chief blessing of that covenant, is expressly said to be unto us, and to our children, and to as many as are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call [Note: Act 2:38-39.]. Let not any then be satisfied with having it fulfilled to themselves alone: let all consider the interest which their children also have in it; let them plead it with God in behalf of their offspring: and let them remember, that, whatever measure of grace they themselves possess, it is given them, not for their own good only, but for the good of their children after them [Note: Jer 32:39.]. O Parents, bear in mind, that the gift of the Spirit is more to be desired in behalf of your children than thousands of silver and gold: let it be your daily prayer, that they may be endued with this precious gift: and, whilst you look for their growth in bodily nature and intellectual attainments, look to see them growing up as willows by the water-courses, and manifesting to all around them, how richly they are watered by the grace of God. That there is a great neglect of these things amongst religious professors, is but too true; but if the grace of God really exist in us, it will shew itself by an unwearied solicitude for the welfare of our offspring; as the prophet clearly intimates, when he says of the converts in the latter day, They shall bring their sons in their arms, and their daughters (in litters) upon their shoulders [Note: Isa 49:22.]. O that every mother might be as Hannah, and every father as Abraham [Note: 1Sa 1:22-28. Gen 18:19.]! and that none of you would give rest unto your God [Note: Isa 62:7.], till you have prevailed, like wrestling Jacob [Note: Hos 12:4.], and constrained him, as it were, to shed forth his Holy Spirit abundantly upon your offspring through Jesus Christ our Saviour [Note: Tit 3:5-6.]!]
4.
To young people, above all
[Of whom is it said, that they shall, with such zeal and unanimity, devote themselves to God, and glory in the appellation of his people? Is it not of the young, who are springing up as willows by the water-courses? See then what is the first duty, and the highest privilege of the young! and see what all young people will do, as soon as they have received the grace of God in truth! And are there none amongst you who feel your obligations to God for the gift of his only dear Son to die for you? are there none so penetrated with his redeeming love, as to say in the fulness of your hearts, What shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me? Come then to the table of the Lord, and surrender up yourselves to him there! Think it not too early to wait upon him in that ordinance: if you truly desire to be the Lords, that is the ordinance at which in a more especial manner the surrender of yourselves to him should be made; and in that ordinance you may confidently expect that the Lord will more especially accept and bless you. In that ordinance too you form a closer union with the people of the Lord, who will delight to see you added to their society, and to help you forward by their counsels and their prayers. Come then, and subscribe with your hand unto the Lord; or rather, as soldiers, and slaves, and idolaters were used to inscribe on their flesh, in some indelible characters, the name of the general, or the master, or the idol, whom they served, so do you get inscribed on your heart, and on your arm, the name of your adorable Saviour, and give yourselves up to him in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten [Note: Jer 50:4-5, 2Co 8:5.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
This Chapter is but a continuation of the same subject as that of the former. The Lord is comforting and encouraging his church; and pronouncing judgment against her enemies.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Nothing can be more lovely or blessed than what is contained in these gracious promises, if read, as they are evidently designed, as made, first, to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Mediator; and, secondly, to all his seed in him. I hope the Reader is, by this time, so well acquainted with his Bible, as not only to hear Jesus called Jehovah’s servant, without being offended at the Son of God’s humiliation; but also to see and enjoy a blessedness in the name. Had not the Lord Jesus, when he took our name and nature, put himself into covenant engagements to stand in our law-room and place, as Jehovah’s servant, never would our redemption by his blood and righteousness, have been accomplished. But now, in fulfilling all righteousness, and coming down to the lowest state of humbleness, for the purpose of obedience. He hath been made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; 2Co 5:21 ; Phi 2:11Phi 2:11 . And how truly blessed is it to behold, in all things, and in all offices, what the Lord Jesus became, as the sinner’s Surety and Saviour, by God the Father’s own appointment! All the promises here made to the Head of the Church, and his people, are by Him who made and formed the human nature of Christ, when giving him a body for the purposes of redemption, and engaging to help him through the whole of the vast undertaking; see Psa 139:13-16Psa 139:13-16 ; Heb 5:4-5 . Then follow the promised blessings to Christ and his seed; and oh! how truly blessed is it to see the barren, dry, and wilderness state of poor perishing souls, made flourishing and fruitful, in and through their union with Christ Jesus? And when God the Father remembers his everlasting covenant with his dear Son, and pours out his Spirit from on high; then all those blessings follow, which are here described. One saith, another confirms it, and all deliberately make a voluntary surrender of themselves to be the Lord’s, when once the Holy Ghost hath brought them to see and know who Christ is, and what Christ is, and hath made them willing in the day his power? Son 2:16 ; 1Co 6:19-20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Immanence of God
Isa 44:8
In the Christian view of God there are two attributes which it is not easy for the human reason to combine. One of them we call the transcendence of God; to the other we give the name of immanence.
I. What do we mean by the Divine transcendence? We mean that apart from and above the universe there lives and reigns a personal Creator.
And what do we mean by the immanence of God? We mean the presence of the Almighty in creation. A God transcendent, like some mighty sculptor, models with His deft hand the human form; but a God who is immanent looks through human eyes, and thinks in the thinking of the human brain.
At different times in the history of man these differing attributes have received special prominence. Today it is the immanence of God that is claiming the chief thought of Western Christendom. The chief causes of this change are two. The one is the devotion of our age to science, and the other is the modern delight in nature.
II. The immanence of God is a great truth to be grasped firmly by the believing soul; but to say that the immanence of God is everything is to be a traitor to tomorrow.
1. When we deny transcendence, we cease to have a God who is a person. The God of the pantheist may be a flowing stream; He certainly is not a living spirit.
2. The popular pantheism of Today is also fatal to human personality. Slip the anchor of the living God, and you slip the anchor of accountability.
3. The popular pantheism of Today is certain to put our moral life in jeopardy, for it destroys, and must inevitably destroy, the sharp distinction between good and evil. The moral power of the cross of Christ has operated in a twofold way. It has not only made goodness very beautiful. It has also made sin exceeding sinful.
4. It is a bad thing to vilify humanity; I believe it is even worse to deify it. If the life of God be the life of the human race, and the activity of God be man’s activity, where is your standard to tell that this is right, and to say with authority that that is wrong?
But some one may perhaps say what about con-science is there not always left the voice of conscience? To which we would answer, as Knox did to Mary, ‘Conscience, madam, requires to be educated’. We may picture conscience as a simple thing, but conscience is very far from being simple. It is no more simple than the ear is simple that outward organ for the voice of God. It has been educated through the stress of years; and it still responds for a period of time to the calling of a faith that is disowned. But the day must come when conscience will grow weak, and fail to pronounce its verdict with authority, unless it is fed again with that same nourishment that has kept it strong and tender to this hour. There is nothing in an exclusive immanence that has any power to reinforce the conscience. And not only so, but, as has often been noted, the logical outcome is this, that might is right. If God and the life of His universe be one, then the mightier the life, the more of God. There is no room for the baffled and the weak no place for the useless, the beaten, and the fallen in a world whose God is but a stream of being which neither can pity nor can love.
III. From all such thoughts, whatever be their charm, let us come back to the Fatherhood of God. There is transcendence in the thought of fatherhood the sweet and perfect sovereignty of love. And in fatherhood no less is immanence, for the father’s life is in the child, and in ways not less real because they are undefinable, father and child are one.
G. H. Morrison, The Wings of the Morning, p. 183.
References. XLIV. 17. Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. 1900, p. 170. W. Boyd Carpenter, ibid. vol. lxvi. 1904, p. 113.
Isa 44:20
Dr. Eugene Stock, in his history of the Church Missionary Society, mentions that this was the text chosen by the Rev. Daniel Corrie when he preached one of the early sermons for the Society in 1816. The text was suggested by his personal experiences of Indian religion. He spoke at a time when suttee, child murder, and other crimes were rife.
References. XLIV. 20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2686. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 307. Henry Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, p. 299. XLIV. 21. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xl. No. 2384. XLIV. 21-23. W. A. Moberly, The Old Testament in Modern Light, p. 122. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii. No. 1895.
Clouds Removed
Isa 44:22
The bestowing of spiritual blessings is a warrant for the expectation of all needful temporal blessings. This passage is the foundation on which God caused His ancient people to rest. He had blotted out their transgressions, and therefore they might look to Him, as the true object of worship, for consolation, and for deliverance.
I. Clouds the Result of Transgressions. As the natural clouds are formed by the vapours drawn up from the sea, so, in a degree, those clouds which darken our skies are the effects of our transgressions. Our metaphorical clouds, which produce real misery, are the projected results of our disordered condition. Moral disorder is the consequence of sinful conditions. By our sins we make the clouds, which darken the skies, obscure the landscape, take the sunlight out of existence, and make our days wretched. Our miseries are often our own making. Ideal troubles are very numerous, and very real. Sin disorders the brain, and leads to dread forebodings.
II. Clouds the Ministers of God’s Mercy. The natural clouds are the ministers of God’s mercy, the testimonies of His faithful care, of His loving thoughtfulness for the children of men. But how wonderful that the clouds of our sins should be the ministers of His mercy! The misery of sin may be followed by the great blessing of forgiveness. The clouds lead us to appreciate the glorious sunlight.
III. Clouds Dispersed. There are laws in the natural world, and there must be laws in the moral world. Clouds move in obedience to nature’s laws; and the clouds of our sins cannot be blotted out in an arbitrary method. God is a Father, but He is a King and moral Governor. Even He has only a right to blot out transgressions, because He has redeemed. This redemption may refer to temporal deliverance; but Isaiah breathes the very spirit of the Gospel. God blots out sin by devising the method of redemption, and by not sparing His Son. God is not vindictive. God did not force the Son to the work. And yet God did not spare. That last word tells the story of God’s love for the Son, and tender pity for sinning men.
IV. After Cloud the Sunshine. God’s forgiving, redeeming love scatters the clouds. The sunlight rejoices our hearts. We are gladdened by the sweet light of trustfulness. The life of the Christian is the bright sunshine of an ever-increasing and ever-developing trustfulness. How pleasant thus to dwell! How glorious to feel its sweet and kindly rays playing about our natures, gently but surely nourishing us up to spiritual health and beauty. Hope cannot nourish under a cloud. When the Sun of Righteousness arises and scatters the clouds, then there will be in the soul answering fruitfulness. The very clouds of our sins should make us fruitful when we stand in the sunlight. What return shall we make for love so vast? The forgiven man should be the hopeful, trustful, and fruitful man. When sin is blotted out, then the soul is started on a career of never-ending fruitfulness.
V. Clouds as Pathetic Preachers. ‘Return unto Me.’ Every time we see the clouds sweeping across the heavens, let us listen to their still small voice; let us hear their persuasive, pathetic entreaty. The Almighty bases His appeal upon the blessed work He has accomplished. He beseeches by means of the departing clouds of our sins. Return! God woos us as if our happiness were necessary to His own happiness. Let all return unto God, the true soul-rest; for all live too much in the cloud, while we might rejoice in the sunlight.
References. XLIV. 22. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliv. No. 2563; vol. xlix. No. 2847. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 317; see also Greed and Conduct, p. 170. XLIV. 22, 23. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. ii. p. 7. XLIV. 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1240; vol. xlii. No. 2450. XLIV. 28. A. H. Bradford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. 1901, p. 156. XLV. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No. 2815; vol. 1. No. 2867.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XXVII
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.
Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.
In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.
In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.
In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.
The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.
In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.
In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.
In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.
In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).
The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7
In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:
1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.
2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.
3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .
In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.
In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.
The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.
In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”
Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .
The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”
So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?
In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”
The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”
The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23
QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?
2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?
3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?
4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?
5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?
6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?
7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?
8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?
9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?
10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?
11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?
12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?
14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?
15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?
16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?
17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?
18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?
19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?
20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?
21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?
22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?
23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?
24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?
25. Where is the great invitation and promise?
26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?
27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?
28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?
29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?
30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?
31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XIX
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 11
Isaiah 43-45
The theme of these three chapters is the conflict with the forces of idolatry outside of Israel and arrayed against Israel. The special theme of Isa 43:1-44:5 is, “The Free Grace of Jehovah Brings Redemption.”
Jehovah, speaking to Israel in Isa 43:1 , contrasts the curse spoken of in the closing part of the preceding chapter with his free grace of protection. He says, “But now thus saith Jehovah.” Then follows a statement of his relation to Jacob. He was Israel’s Creator, Former. Redeemer, and Caller. He created Israel, i.e., brought Israel into being, and when Israel was chaotic, he formed it into an organized nation. When Israel was in bondage to Egypt, he redeemed it, and throughout its history he has called it by name and with special favor he has nourished it.
“Waters,” “rivers,” and “fire” in Isa 43:2 mean troubles of various kinds through which Israel must yet pass. It is a back reference to the Red Sea incident and the crossing of the Jordan, and a prophecy literally fulfilled in the case of the Hebrew children in the furnace of fire. But it has a strong and impressive symbolical meaning. They were yet to pass through the floods and fires of persecutions in their captivity, and dispersion which was to come later on in their history.
Jehovah had saved Israel from Pharaoh, from the Amalekites, from Jabin, from Midian, from the Philistines, from Zerah, and from Sennacherib. The term. “Saviour.” is quite a favorite with Isaiah in these last chapters of his book. The prophet had his eyes fixed on the deliverance of Israel from the rouble captivity of sin and of Babylon and thus he saw Jehovah not only as their Saviour in the past but their future Saviour as well. The thought is extended in the expression, “I have given Egypt as thy ransom,” which means, “In my counsels I have already assigned to the Persians, as a compensation for letting thee go free, the broad countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba.” This was fulfilled when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus effected the conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia about 527-6 B.C. This is a marvelous prediction and for its fulfilment, goes far beyond the date of this part of Isaiah assigned by the critics.
In the prophecy of Isa 43:5-6 Isaiah saw a greater dispersion than the one of his day and also a greater gathering than the return from the captivity. Though there was a primary fulfilment in the restoration from Babylon, that does not by any means fulfil the conditions herein set forth. They were to come from the north and the south, the east and the west. But no such gathering of the Jews has yet been witnessed. We look to the future for the glories of this prophecy.
In Isa 43:8-13 we have a challenge to the nations to try their hand on prophecy, either old or new, and to set forth the claims of their gods against Jehovah. He challenges them to produce the evidence in their case or acknowledge the truth as revealed by Jehovah. Israel is Jehovah’s witness, and also his chosen Servant. Therefore the conclusion is that they have no god; that Jehovah is the only true God. Not only his predictions prove him superior to the other gods, but his power to bring them to pass is beyond all power to hinder.
Israel was Jehovah’s witness (Isa 43:10 ), thus:
1. Israel was Jehovah’s witness to the truth of the proposition that he was the only God as shown in the records of its history. A look at the records proves them to be genuine and in them are found the many predictions and their fulfilments which are unquestioned. These may be mentioned: the overthrow of Jeroboam’s altar at Bethel by Josiah, David’s descendants on the throne of Judah, the long continuance of the house of Jehu, and many others. These are outstanding witnesses of the power of Jehovah to predict the future, as no other god can do.
2. Israel is yet one of the most powerful witnesses for the truth of revelation. No other nation has been so preserved in its dispersion. But all this is found in the prophecy concerning Israel. The proposition of the “Jew” is the one unanswerable argument for the inspiration of the Bible with all infidels. On all other questions they can find a fairly satisfactory answer to themselves but they cannot get by the “Jew.” He is the one unanswerable argument for the truth of our religion to the skeptic. “That Jew, that Jew; what shall we do with that Jew?”
The “servant” of Isa 43:10 is an added witness and is distinct from Israel though of Israel. This refers to the Messiah, the true servant of chapter Isa 42:1-7 whose work was largely witnessing for the Father. He is called the “Faithful Witness” (Rev 1:5 ; Rev 3:14 ), who “came into the world that he might bear witness of the truth” (Joh 18:37 ).
The counterpart to this picture of Israel’s redemption as stated in Isa 43:14-21 is the destruction of Babylon, with several correspondences between this deliverance and the deliverance from Egypt.
There are several of these back references here. “The way in the sea,” “path in the mighty waters,” “the chariot and horse,” “the army and the mighty man” are references to the incidents of the Exodus from Egypt and correspond to the power of Babylon and the way in the desert by which God will deliver them from Babylon. The “rivers in the desert” is a reference to the supply of water by Jehovah on the journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. But this deliverance is to be so much greater than the former one they are asked not to mention that one at all: to blot it out of their memory. But did the return from Babylon under Zerubbabel and Joshua fulfil this prophecy? It could not be claimed that this return was sufficient to fill out such an outline. But when we consider the typical aspect of this event as it related both to Israel and Babylon we get the spiritual deliverance of Israel from Babylon. This is impressively pictured in Revelation where the Israel of God is delivered from the mystical Babylon. So in its far-reaching application, the future of Israel so eclipsed the past that they were not to remember the former things.
In Isa 43:22-28 the Lord reproves Jacob for his sin and shows that Israel had never done anything to merit this deliverance but on the other hand, his father, Abraham, and his teachers, the priests and prophets, had all gone out of the way and there was no reason for his deliverance except for Jehovah’s own sake, purely an act of grace.
The passage (Isa 44:1-5 ), is set over against the closing verses of Isa 43 to which it really belongs as a conclusion, and in which Jehovah states that he had profaned the princes of the sanctuary, i.e., the priesthood had been deprived of its function, as a part of the punishment of Israel’s sin, and that he had made Israel a curse and a reviling. In the opening verses of Isa 44 the prophet again strikes the joyful note of promise: that the thirsty land should be refreshed; that the Spirit would be poured upon the seed of Jacob, and there would come the blessings of a matchless prosperity, at which time the Gentiles would come to take the name of Jacob and Israel.
“Jeshurun” in Isa 44:2 is one of Israel’s proper names. It is found in only four places, viz: Deu 32:15 ; Deu 33:5 ; Deu 33:26 , and here in Isa 44:2 . Of these proper names given to Israel it is well for us to note some of them in this connection. “Hebrew” is derived from Heber, the ancestor of Abraham. “Jacob” marks them as descendants of the patriarch by the same name. “Israel” marks their militant character, as soldiers for God. So when we speak of them from the standpoint of their origin, we say, “Hebrews”; when we take the standpoint of the founder, we say, “Jacob”: when we refer to their militant character it is “Israel”; when we think of their standard of moral excellence, it is “Jeshurun, the upright.”
The promise here of the outpouring of the Spirit connects back with Joe 2:28 ; Isa 32:15 , and is enlarged upon in the promises of John the Baptist and Christ, and has its fulfilment in Act 2 .
The import of Isa 44:5 is that Israel in that day will be so flourishing that the Gentiles will not be ashamed to own her, but rather, they will seek to take the name of Jehovah and his people. One will say, “I am Jehovah’s; another, “I am of Jacob”; and another, “I am of Israel.”
The special theme of Isa 44:6-23 is the “Contrast Between the Living God and Powerless Idols.” The prophet introduces this theme (Isa 44:6-8 ) by exalting Jehovah as king and redeemer of Israel, and the one eternal living God, who founded Israel and revealed himself to him as his impregnable Rock. The prophet then shows the shame of idol makers. The ones who make them are “confusion,” or “darkness”; there is no profit to their idols; their own witnesses, the idols, do not know; they expect something from them; the failure affects the whole guild of idol makers; all their efforts working together cannot save them from the fear of Jehovah. Their utter failure is their shame.
The whole process of image-making is here reviewed. First comes the making of the adz, or graving tool. The smith works and hammers, and is hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. Then follows the carpenter, lining off the idol and shaping it with various tools into the form and beauty of man. But these idols must be made of cedars or other trees, which have to be planted, which also have to be watered by the rain from Jehovah, the purpose of which is to be burnt by man. But the idol maker divides the tree, making part into a god, taking part to burn for warming himself, and cooking his food. Then bowing down before his handmade god he worships it, prays unto it and says, “Deliver me; for thou art my god.” A strange god is such a contrivance as this!
The reason for all this perversion is summed up in one sentence in Isa 44:20 , thus: “A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” The paragraph, as a whole, throws much light on their condition. They do not know because God “hath shut their eyes.” But they once could see and turned away from the light. Then God turned them over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind (see Rom 1:18-32 ). This is the judicial blindness that comes to those who have the light and reject it. Such is the condition of the heathen world today, except where the gospel has been proclaimed. One of the greatest results of gospel light is the destruction of idols. The Jews are also under judicial blindness today because they rejected the Messiah when he came. The lesson for us is a missionary one. There is but one thing that can dispel the ignorance here described, and that is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is in line with Paul’s commission, to open the eyes of the Gentiles, that they might turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, etc.” (Act 26:16-18 ).
The cheering message to Jacob and Israel in Isa 44:21-23 is the message of forgiveness and redemption, with a call upon all nature to rejoice in the salvation of Jehovah, “for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob and will glorify himself in Israel.”
The special theme of Isa 44:24-25 is “The Mission of Cyrus.” Jehovah here introduces himself, and the introduction is in this form: “Thus saith Jehovah,”
1. Thy redeemer;
2. That formed thee from the womb;
3. That maketh all things;
4. That stretcheth forth the heavens alone;
5, That spreadeth abroad the earth (by myself) ;
6. That frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad:
7. That turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
8. That confirmeth the work of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers;
9. That saith to Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof;
10. That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers;
11. That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure;
12. Even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and of the Temple) Thy foundation shall be laid.
Some of this language is plain enough but several of these items need special comment. In the sixth item occur the words, “signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad,” which is a reference to the prognostications of the astrologers and soothsayers, that pretended, falsely, to have a knowledge of future events.
In the eighth item occur the words, “servant” and “messengers.” “Servant” refers to Isaiah himself and “messengers” to the prophets generally. This means that God attested his prophets in their work just as he did the Lord and his apostles in their work, bringing to pass their predictions.
In the tenth item the words, “Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers,” refers to the action of Cyrus in drawing off the water of the Euphrates when he took Babylon.
In the eleventh item are found the terms, “Cyrus” and “shepherd,” a term applied to Cyrus with the statement, “and shall perform all my pleasure.” The occurrence of “Cyrus” here is very largely responsible for the theory of two Isaiahs, which is amply discussed in the introduction. Suffice it to say here that the giving of Cyrus’ name in this passage is not inconsistent with God’s method of revelation. For instances of names given beforehand by inspiration, see introduction. “Shepherd” here applied to Cyrus places him above the ordinary Oriental monarch in his mission. Cyrus was under a special commission of the Almighty, though he was, in a large measure, unconscious of divine direction. He may have had this prophecy pointed out to him, as Josephus claims and his statements in Ezr 1:2 indicate. In doing the pleasure of Jehovah Cyrus was executing the orders of the unseen hand behind his throne and of the Great Governor of the universe, who exalts kings and deposes them at his own will.
The prediction concerning Jerusalem in the twelfth item is a marvelous prophecy, the fulfilment of which is as certain and definite as history can possibly make it.
The message of Cyrus (Isa 45:1-7 ) was that he was to be especially anointed to subdue the nations before him, as Hazael and Jehu were anointed for their work. He was to take Babylon and liberate Jehovah’s people, build their temple and establish them in the land. The purpose herein expressed was threefold: (1) That Cyrus himself might know that it was Jehovah who had called him by name; (2) That Israel should reap the benefit and advantage of his labor; (3) That the whole world might be taught the unity of God.
It seems most probable that there is a reference in Isa 45:7 to the dualism of Zoroastrianism, which advocated two external principles, light and darkness which were perpetually at war with each other. This verse seems to have supplied a corrective to that error, making God the Creator of all things.
The final aim of all God’s providential acts (Isa 45:8 ) was that of the kingdom of heaven and therein righteousness and salvation, should be planted upon earth. The two words for righteousness in this verse are different. The first is rather the norm, or the principle of righteousness; the second, the embodiment of this principle and character and conduct. The living principle descends from heaven and the quickened earth shoots forth “trees of righteousness.”
The prophet shows the folly of striving with one’s Maker (Isa 45:9-13 ). It would be absurd for the clay in the hands of the potter to say, “What makest thou?” or the unborn babe to question and find fault with its parents. So in this wonderful thing that Jehovah is about to do, he assured Israel that it is done in righteousness, and his purpose in Cyrus is the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the exiles. In Isa 45:13 Jehovah says, “I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways.” This refers to Cyrus as an instrument of God’s righteous purposes, but the question arises here with respect to his character and his attititude toward religion. The character of Cyrus has been admitted by both ancient and modern writers to have been singularly noble. There is none like him in the ancient world. The explanation of it all is found in this passage in Isaiah. He was God’s “anointed.” He had a special vocation from the God of Israel, was raised up by him in righteousness, was loved by him and chosen to perform his will on Babylon. As to his attitude toward the religion of Jehovah, it was friendly, but there is no evidence, positive, that he ever embraced it or even became a monotheist. In Ezr 1:2-4 he talks like a believer, but this may have been due to his acquaintance with this prophecy, rather than any personal acquaintance with Jehovah. In addressing Cyrus (Isa 45:4-5 ) Jehovah says, “I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.”
The far-reaching effect of the work of Cyrus (Isa 45:14-17 ) was to be that -the heathen, put to shame, should confess Jehovah to be the Saviour of Israel. Isa 45:15 shows the mysterious ways of God’s providence, and Isa 45:17 is an expression of the highest faith in Israel’s everlasting salvation by Jehovah.
After declaring himself creator and the only God, Jehovah Bays (Isa 45:19 ), “I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I, Jehovah, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” The exposition of this text presents some exceedingly broad views of the government of God. The prophet viewed the children of Judah here as captives in Babylon, with their city and temple destroyed, and Babylon the world empire and the invincible, as holding them. This caused many difficulties in the way of this text, which seemed to make vain the commandment to seek his face. First there was the seeming invincible power of the world empire, Babylon. This Jehovah was taking care of through his own unconscious instrument of power, Cyrus, whom he raised up, endowed, and prepared. Secondly, their own degraded condition was a most serious difficulty in the way of building a nation. But Jehovah would put away their sins and restore the nation for his own name’s sake. (For a full discussion of this text see the author’s sermon, “Encouragement to Prayer,” in Evangelistic Sermons, p. 183.)
Jehovah here challenges all the nations, that have escaped, to try their hand with their gods and see if they can match this proceeding of Jehovah, and after again asserting that he is the only just God and Saviour, he throws out the broad invitation to all the earth to come and be saved, in view of the decrees which had gone forth by the oath of God, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess. Here, then, back of all human exertion, and back of all kaleidoscopic presentations of seemingly chaotic views of men and purposes, is the great purpose of God, to bring this whole world under the domination of his Son, Jesus Christ (see Phi 2:5-11 ).
In a little chapel, a primitive Methodist chapel, an exceedingly ordinary building, there is in one of the pews on the right hand side of the church from the pulpit, a tablet which says that right under that tablet, Aug. 6, 1850, Charles H. Spurgeon heard an ignorant preacher, who seemed to occupy the pulpit that day by accident, read this forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, and heard the words, “Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved,” and he was saved right then and there. This is an illustration of the power and application of this broad invitation. Surely it is not in vain to seek God.
QUESTIONS
1. What the general theme of these three chapters?
2. What the special theme of Isa 43:1-44:5 ?
3. How does Jehovah here in Isa 43:1 express his relation to Jacob, or Israel?
4. What the meaning of “waters,” “rivers,” and “fire” in Isa 43:2 ?
5. When had Jehovah been Israel’s Saviour, what the meaning of “I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead” and when was this prophecy fulfilled?
6. What the fulfilment of the prophecy of Israel’s gathering in Isa 43:5-6 ?
7. What the challenge by Jehovah in Isa 43:8-13 and what the results as herein forecast?
8. How was Israel Jehovah’s witness and who the servant in Isa 43:10 ?
9. What is the counterpart to this picture of Israel’s redemption as stated in Isa 43:14-21 ?
10. What back references do we find here to the former exodus from Egypt and how is this exodus to compare with that?
11. How is this deliverance of Israel shown to be purely of grace?
12. What new contrast in Isa 44:1-5 ?
13. Who was Jeshurun and what the significance of the different names of God’s people in the Old Testament, when was the promise here of the outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled, and what the import of Isa 44:5 ?
14. What the special theme of Isa 44:6-23 ?
15. How does the prophet introduce this theme (Isa 44:6-8 )?
16. How does the prophet then show the shame of idol makers?
17. What the prophet’s sarcastic description of the process of idol making (Isa 44:12-17 ) and what the point of ridicule?
18. What the reason for all this perversion as here assigned by the prophet (Isa 44:18-20 ) and what the lesson?
19. What the cheering message to Jacob and Israel in Isa 44:21-23 ?
20. What the special theme of Isa 44:24-45:25 ?
21. How does Jehovah here introduce himself and what the interpretation of each item of introduction?
22. What the message to Cyrus (Isa 45:1-7 ) and what the purpose expressed?
23. What the interpretation of Isa 45:7 ?
24. What the final aim of all God’s providential acts (Isa 45:8 )?
25. How does the prophet show the folly of striving with one’s Maker (Isa 45:9-13 )?
26. What the character of Cyrus and his relation to the religion of Jehovah?
27. What was to be the far-reaching effect of the work of Cyrus (Isa 45:14-17 )?
28. What encouragement to prayer in this connection (Isa 45:18-19 ) and what the difficulties to be overcome?
29. What the outcome and application of all this discussion about Cyrus?
30. What great preacher was converted by accepting this great invitation and what the circumstances of his conversion?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Isa 44:1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
Ver. 1. Yet now hear. ] Hear a word of comfort after so terrible a thunder crack. Isa 43:28 But there it is bare “Jacob” and “Israel” who are threatened; here it is “Jacob my servant,” and “Israel whom I have chosen”; it is “Jeshurun,” or the “righteous nation,” who are comforted. And because we forget nothing so soon as the consolations of God, as is to be seen in Christ’s disciples, and those believing Hebrews; Isa 12:5 therefore doth the prophet so oft repeat and inculcate them, like as men use to rub and chafe in ointments into the flesh, that they may enter and give ease.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah Chapter 44
The opening verses (1-5) seem to be the proper conclusion of the foregoing chapter. The salvation of God is worthy of Himself, even as it springs from His own grace, and can have no end short of His own glory. Hence it is that not only God blots out His people’s transgressions for His Son’s sake, and will not remember their sins, but that He would banish their fear and fill them to overflowing with His blessing. “And now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, [who] helpeth thee, Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; r will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I [am] Jehovah’s; and another shall call [himself] by the name of Jacob; and another shall inscribe [with] his hand, [I am] Jehovah’s, and surname [himself] by the name of Israel” (vv. 1-5). There is not the slightest need, nay, nor even room, for diverting these exceeding precious promises from Israel to the Gentile. It is quite true of course that the wild olive graft enjoys now all this too; but the word of Jehovah is pledged and sure to Jacob His servant. The express object is to banish the dread of the conscience-stricken Jews after their long departure from the true God. Elsewhere express allusions to the call of the Gentiles during that interval appear, as notably in Isa 65:1 ; Rom 10:20 , but the point here is the consolation of the ancient people when grace is at work on their behalf.
Some, like Fry, from whose general teaching better might have been expected, were led into this misconception by not understanding how the next sections could have any just bearing on the future ways or dangers of the Jew. But this is to overlook a large part of scripture, and a solemn portion of that people’s wonderful destiny. For two thousand years idolatry has not been their snare, but other characters of evil, leading to and consequent on the rejection of their Messiah. This, as we shall find, has its place in our prophecy from Isa 49 to Isa 57 ; as the general picture of their moral condition is portrayed with signal precision in Hos 3:4 . But it is certain, both from the Old Testament and the New, that in the latter day they will fall once more into their old love of idols, along with the acceptance of the Antichrist, thus finally reproducing together the two sins of the past which had, each of them, brought on them such stern judgement providentially from God’s vengeance. And “there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Cp. Mat 24:15 with ver. 21) There is thus no ground for turning aside these plain predictions of Isaiah from the literal Israel, of whom he speaks so often and emphatically, to the apostate churches of Christendom. Idol-worship is here too, no doubt, and will surely not go unpunished; but the mass of the Jews in future days will fall for the last time into that besetment and worse. Hence, while the remonstrance of the prophet bore on the evil of his own days, there need be no question of its being requisite for the Jew up to the end.
And who can assert the glory of the true God, who expose the folly of false gods, like the Holy Ghost? “Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer Jehovah of hosts; I [am] the first, and I [am] the last; and besides me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear not, neither be afraid: have not I caused thee to hear long ago, and showed [it]? And ye [are] my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock: I know not [any]” (vv. 6-8).
Next follows a withering exposure of idolatry. If Israel were witnesses of the true God, Jehovah, the idols themselves bore witness by their powerlessness against their foolish devotees. “They that make a graven image [are] all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they [are] their own witnesses: they see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image [that] is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen [are] but men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together. The smith [hath] tongs (or axe), and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; but he is hungry and his strength faileth he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with chalk; he fitteth it with adzes, and he marketh it out with the compass (or, chisel), and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of man, to remain in the house. When he heweth him down cedars, he also taketh a holm-oak and a terebinth, and he maketh one strong for himself among the trees of the forest; he planteth a mountain-ash, and the rain nourisheth [it]. And it shall be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; he kindleth [it] also, and baketh bread; he maketh also a god, and worshippeth [it]; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth Himself], and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the light. And with the residue thereof he maketh a god, his graven image; he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth [it], and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou [art] my god. They have no knowledge and understand not: for he hath plaistered their eyes, that they see not; [and] their hearts that they understand not. And none taketh it to his heart, neither [is there] knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire, and also have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten [it]: and with the residue thereof shall I make an abomination? shall I bow down to a block of wood? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [Is there] not a lie in my right hand?” (vv. 9-20). The sarcastic shafts of classic poets are poor in comparison for beauty or power, not to speak of their worthlessness morally; for mere ridicule, which ends in leaving the satirist at the shrine of his despised divinities, is the mirth of a fool which ends in sorrow and shame without end.
Not so Isaiah: “Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel; for thou [art] my servant: I have formed thee; thou [art] my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done [it]; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, the forest, and every tree therein. For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I [am] Jehovah the maker of all [things]; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise [men] backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish: that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof; that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (vv. 21-28).
And how comes it to pass after so lofty and striking an assertion of Jehovah’s glory and wisdom and power that men wonder He by His interpreter discloses to His people the conqueror of Babylon, and the restorer of the remnant? What more pertinent than to proclaim the name of Cyrus at this point? So did the man of God out of Judah name Josiah at Jeroboam’s altar in Bethel (1Ki 13:2 ) three centuries and more before the event. When will they be ashamed thus to belittle either God and His word, or His care for His people? Alas! if the night be far spent, the darkness is not less but more. And we know that the darkest hour is not yet come, though the day is at hand. But it will not be, except the falling away, the apostasy, come first, and “the man of sin” be revealed. Truly coming events cast their shadows before; which may sadly and satisfactorily account for the wave of incredulity, and against prophecy in particular, that now overspreads Christendom. But God does not leave Himself without witness; and He has wrought by His Spirit in many a land and tongue that there should be faithful men who have a Spirit-given confidence in the living oracles. These, not content with having learnt by grace what the church of God is in union with its glorified Head, are awaiting Him from the heavens and proclaim the coming of His universal kingdom over the earth. Hence they look with unwavering faith for a deep and gracious work in a remnant of the Jews first and of Israel afterwards, to be united at length as one people of Jehovah under the true Beloved, their Messiah once despised and crucified, their one Shepherd and Prince, yea withal the Lord Jehovah of Israel. All the earth in that day shall be filled with His glory, and with the knowledge of it and of Himself, when the heavens shall show it forth still more wondrously in the glorified saints, especially in the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Isaiah
JACOB-ISRAEL-JESHURUN
Isa 44:1 – Isa 44:2
You observe that there are here three different names applied to the Jewish nation. Two of them, namely Jacob and Israel, were borne by their great ancestor, and by him transmitted to his descendants. The third was never borne by him, and is applied to the people only here and in the Book of Deuteronomy.
The occurrence of all three here is very remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not accidental. The prophet begins with the name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name of nature, which contained some indications of character. He passes on to the name which commemorated the mysterious conflict where, as a prince, Jacob had power with God and prevailed. He ends with the name Jeshurun, of which the meaning is ‘the righteous one,’ and which was bestowed upon the people as a reminder of what they ought to be.
Now, as I take it, the occurrence of these names here, and their sequence, may teach us some very important lessons; and it is simply to these lessons, and not at all to the context, that I ask your attention.
I. I take, then, these three names in their order as teaching us, first, the path of transformation.
But in the mid-path of his life there came that hour of deep dejection and helplessness, when, driven out of all dependence on self, and feeling round in his agony for something to lay hold upon, there came into his nightly solitude a vision of God. In conscious weakness, and in the confidence of self-despair, he wrestled with the mysterious Visitant in the only fashion in which He can be wrestled with. ‘He wept and made supplication to Him,’ as one of the prophets puts it, and so he bore away the threefold gift-blessing from those mighty lips whose blessing is the communication, and not only the invocation, of mercy, a deeper knowledge of that divine and mysterious Name, and for himself a new name.
That new name implied a new direction given to his character.
Hitherto he had wrestled with men whom he would supplant, for his own advantage, by craft and subtlety; henceforward he strove with God for higher blessings, which, in striving, he won. All the rest of his life was on a loftier plane. Old ambitions were dead within him, and though the last of these names in our text was never actually borne by him, he began to deserve it, and grew steadily in nobleness and beauty of character until the end, when he sang his swan-song and lay down to die, with thanksgiving for the past and glowing prophecies for the future, pouring from his trembling lips.
And now, brethren, that is the outline of the only way in which, from out of the evil and the sinfulness of our natural disposition, any of us can be raised to the loftiness and purity of a righteous life. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character, if there is to be transformation.
Have you ever been beaten out of all your confidence, and ground down into the dust of self-disgust and self-abandonment? Have you ever felt, ‘there is nothing in me or about me that I can cling to or rely upon’? Have you ever in the thickest of that darkness had, gleaming in upon your solitude, the vision of His face, whose face we see in Jesus Christ? Have you ever grasped Him who is infinitely willing to be held by the weakest hand, and who never ‘makes as though He would go further,’ except in order to induce us to say, with deeper earnestness of desire, ‘Abide with us, for it is dark’? And have you ever, in fellowship with Him thus, found pouring into your enlightened mind a deeper reading of the meaning of His character and a fuller conception of the mystery of His love? And have you ever-certainly you have if these things have preceded it, certainly you have not if they have not -have you ever thereby been borne up on to a higher level of feeling and life, and been aware of new impulses, hopes, joys, new directions and new capacities budding and blossoming in your spirit?
Brethren! there is only one way by which, out of the mire and clay of earth, there can be formed a fair image of holiness, and that is, that Jacob’s experience, in deeper, more inward, more wonderful form, should be repeated in each one of us; and that thus, penitent and yet hopeful, we should behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and draw from Him our righteousness. That is the path of transformation. The road passes through Peniel, and Jacob must become Israel before he is Jeshurun. He must hold communion with God in Christ before he is clothed with righteousness.
How different that path is from the road which men are apt to take in working out their own self-improvement! How many forms of religion, and how many toiling souls put the cart before the horse, and in effect just reverse the process, and say practically-’first make yourselves righteous, and then you will have communion with God’! That is an endless and a hopeless task. I have no doubt that some of you have spent-and I would not say wasted, but it has been almost so-years of life, not without many an honest effort, in the task of self-improvement, and are very much where you were long ago. Why have you failed? Because you have never been to Peniel. You have never seen the face of God in Christ, You have not received from Him the blessing, even righteousness, from the God of your salvation.
Dear friends, give up treading that endless, weary path of vain effort; and learn-oh! learn-that the righteousness which makes a soul pure and beautiful must come as a gift from God, and is given only in Jesus Christ.
This sequence too, I think, may very fairly be used to teach us the lesson that there is no kind of character so debased but that it may partake of the purifying and ennobling influence. All the Jacobs may be turned into righteous ones, however crafty, however subtle, however selfish, however worldly they are. Christianity looks at no man and says, ‘That is too bad a case for me to deal with.’ It will undertake any and every case, and whoever will take its medicines can be cured ‘of whatsoever disease he had.’
To all of us, no matter what our past may have been, this blessed message comes: ‘There is hope for thee, if thou wilt use these means.’ Only remember, the road from the depths of evil to the heights of purity always lies through Peniel. You must have power with God and draw a blessing from Him, and hold communion with Him, before you can become righteous.
How do they print photographs? By taking sensitive paper, and laying it, in touch with the negative, in the sun. Lay your spirits on Christ, and keep them still, touching Him, in the light of God, and that will turn you into His likeness. That, and nothing else will do it.
II. And now there is a second lesson from the occurrence of these three names, viz., here we may find expressed the law for the Christian life.
For the same end all God’s mercy of forgiveness and deliverance from guilt and punishment in Jesus Christ is given to you, not merely in order that you may escape the penalties of your evil, but in order that, being pardoned, you may in glad thankfulness be lifted up into an enthusiasm of service which will make you eager to serve Him and long to be like Him. He sets you free from guilt, from punishment, and His wrath, in order that by the golden cord of love you may be fastened to Him in thankful obedience. God’s purpose in redemption is that ‘we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.’
And in like manner, righteousness, by which, in the present connection, we mean simply the doing of the things, and the being the character, which a conscience enlightened by the law of God dictates to us to be and to do-righteousness is the intention and the aim of all religious emotion and feeling. It is all very well to have the joy of fellowship with God in our inmost soul, but there is a type of Christianity which is a great deal stronger on the side of devout emotion than on the side of transparent godliness; and although it becomes no man to say what Jesus Christ could say to those whose religion is mainly emotional, ‘Hypocrites!’ it is the part of every honest preacher to warn all that listen to him that there does lie a danger, a very real danger, very close to some of us, to substitute devout emotion for plain, practical goodness, and to be a great deal nearer God in the words of our prayers than we are in the current and set of our daily lives. Take, then, these three names of my text as flashing into force and emphasis the exhortation that the crown of all religion is righteousness, and as preaching, in antique guise, the same lesson that the very Apostle of affectionate contemplation uttered with such earnestness:-’Little children! let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.’ An ounce of practical godliness is worth a pound of fine feeling and a ton of correct orthodoxy. Remember what the Master said, and take the lesson in the measure in which you need it: ‘Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me.’ And the proof that I never knew you, nor you Me, is: ‘Ye that work iniquity.’
III. Then there is another lesson still which I draw from these words, viz. the merciful judgment which God makes of the character of them that love Him.
All wrong-doing is inconsistent with Christianity, but, thank God, it is not for us to say that any wrong-doing is incompatible with it; and therefore, for ourselves there is hope, and for our estimate of one another there ought to be charity, and for all Christian people there is the lesson-live up to your name. Noblesse oblige! Fulfil your ideal. Be what God calls you, and ‘press toward the mark for the prize.’
If one had time to deal with it, there is another lesson naturally suggested by these names, but I only put it in a sentence and leave it; and that is the union between the founder of the nation and the nation. The name of the patriarch passes to his descendants, the nation is called after him that begat it. In some sense it prolongs his life and spirit and character upon the earth. That is the old-world way of looking at the solidarity of a nation. There is a New Testament fact which goes even deeper than that. The names which Christ bears are given to Christ’s followers. Is He a King, is He a Priest? He ‘makes us kings and priests.’ Is He anointed the Messiah? God ‘hath anointed us in Him.’ Is He the Light of the World?
‘Ye are the lights of the world.’ His life passeth into all that love Him in the measure of their trust and love. We are one with Jesus if we rest upon Him; one in life, one in character, approximating by slow degrees, but surely, to His likeness; and blessed be His name! one in destiny. Then, my friend, if you will only keep near that Lord, trust Him, live in the light of His face, go to Him in your weakness, in your despair, in your self-abandonment; wrestle with Him, with the supplication and the tears that He delights to receive, then you will be knit to Him in a union so real and deep that all which is His shall be yours, His life shall be the life of your spirit, His power the strength of your life, His dominion the foundation of your dignity as a prince with God, His all-prevailing priesthood the security that your prayer shall have power, and the spotless robe of His righteousness the fine linen, clean and white, in which arrayed, you shall be found of Him, and in Him at last, in peace, ‘not having your own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 44:1-5
1But now listen, O Jacob, My servant,
And Israel, whom I have chosen:
2Thus says the LORD who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you,
‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant;
And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants;
4And they will spring up among the grass
Like poplars by streams of water.’
5This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s’;
And that one will call on the name of Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the LORD,’
And will name Israel’s name with honor.
Isa 44:1 listen This is an IMPERATIVE (BDB 1033, KB 1570) which characterizes many oracles in Isaiah (cf. Isa 1:2; Isa 1:10; Isa 6:8-10; Isa 7:13; Isa 28:14; Isa 32:9; Isa 33:13; Isa 34:1; Isa 36:13; Isa 39:5; Isa 42:18; Isa 46:3; Isa 46:12; Isa 47:8; Isa 48:1; Isa 48:12; Isa 48:14; Isa 48:16; Isa 51:1; Isa 51:7; Isa 51:21; Isa 55:2-3; Isa 59:1; Isa 66:5).
This word means to hear so as to perform. It became the name (the Shema) of the famous Jewish prayer in Deu 6:4-5.
O Jacob, My servant Notice the parellelism between lines 1 and 2. YHWH is addressing corporate Israel.
whom I have chosen YHWH
1. chose Israel, Isa 44:1-2
2. made Israel, Isa 44:2
3. formed Israel, Isa 44:2
4. helped Israel, Isa 44:2
Isa 44:2 Notice the parallelism between lines 1 and 2.
1. made you – BDB 793, KB 889, Qal PARTICIPLE, line 1
2. formed you – BDB 427, KB 428, Qal PARTICIPLE, line 2
There are several Hebrew words used to describe YHWH’s creative acts.
Isa 44:3 Do not fear This phrase (BDB 431, KB 432, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense) is used often in chapters 40-66 (cf. Isa 40:9; Isa 41:10; Isa 41:13-14; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:5; Isa 44:3; Isa 51:7; Isa 54:4; Isa 54:14; Isa 57:11). They were not to fear because
1. they were God’s people
2. He was with them
3. their punishment was over
4. He would provide all they needed
Jeshurun This (BDB 449) was a rare title for Israel meaning the upright one (cf. Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26). It is parallel to O Jacob My servant.
Isa 44:3 I will pour This VERB (BDB 427, KB 428, Qal IMPERFECT) is often used in connection with anointings or sacrifices. In this verse it is repeated twice.
1. once for the miraculous water of abundance
2. once for the Spirit (cf. [1] Isa 32:15, different word [BDB 788]; [2] Joe 2:28, different word [BDB 1049])
YHWH is the source of blessings and for desert people water was the symbol of life and abundance (cf. Isa 44:4).
on your offspring Blessings, like curses, moved through families (cf. Deu 5:9-10; Deu 7:9).
These future generations will know who they are in YHWH and rejoice in it (Isa 44:5).
Isa 44:5 The textual question is to whom this verse refers.
1. proud descendants of Abraham
2. foreigners who claim and extol Israel’s God (cf. Isa 56:3-6)
The VERB call (BDB 894, KB 1128, Qal IMPERFECT) is translated
1. PASSIVE in the Aramaic Targums, shall be called
2. REFLEXIVE (Niphal) in the LXX and the Peshitta, shall call himself
3. ACTIVE in the Hebrew, shall call on (i.e., act of worship)
It seems to me from the context of the parallelism of lines 2 and 3 that it is talking about foreigners. If so, then this is one of those texts that assures non-Jews of access to the one true God! Not only is the servant a light to the nations, but a savior of the nations! Gen 3:15 is fulfilled, as well as Isa 12:3!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
My servant. The subject of these members. See note on Isa 37:35.
chosen. See note on Isa 1:29.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 44
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun ( Isa 44:1-2 ),
Now Jeshurun means upright.
whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel ( Isa 44:2-5 ).
God speaks of a real revival among the young Israelis, among the young people. As they begin to claim, “I am the Lord’s and my name is Jacob.” And another will say, “My name is Israel.”
Thus saith Yahweh the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Yahweh of hosts ( Isa 44:6 );
The Father and the Son.
I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. Now they that make graven images it’s all such emptiness; and their delectable things, they shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all of his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The smith with his tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, he works on it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretches out his ruler; he marks it out with a line; he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with the compass, and then he makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house ( Isa 44:6-13 ).
And so he’s talking about these people making their gods, making their gods in the form of men. Some of them making them of molten gods out of the metals and others making gods with wood, carving them to look like a man so that they can set it up in their houses.
In recent archaeological diggings, on the hill of Ophel, which was the city of David which is above the springs of Gihon there in Jerusalem, they have recently uncovered houses that were destroyed by the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar. And as they have uncovered these houses there on the hill of Ophel, they have found multitudes of graven images that the children of Israel had made. Some of them of iron, some of them of other types of metal, some of them, of course, of wood. And they have found multitudes of these graven images in the homes of the people. Which, of course, just brings to life this prophecy of Isaiah as he is speaking out against these very things. Talking about how the carpenter will take his ruler, measure the thing out, take his compass and make a circle. And then the plane and carve the thing out and make it look like a man. But here’s the inconsistency. Here’s the stupidity of the whole thing.
He cuts down the cedars, he takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and bake bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burns part of the tree in the fire; with part of it he heats his oven to bake his bread; and with part of it he makes his god ( Isa 44:14-17 ).
All of the same piece of wood. They take a tree. You cut it down. And you take part of the tree and you carve your little god out of it. But you take the rest of the tree and you burn it in your fire and you warm yourself. You say, “Aha, I’ve seen the light, you know.” And part of it you break your bread and part of it you bow down and worship and you say, “Oh, you’re my god.” How totally illogical and inconsistent. And God points this up how foolish man is when he seeks to create his own god, when he makes his own god like himself. So he burns part of it in the fire, verses Isa 44:16 . With part he eats his flesh, he roasts his meat and he’s satisfied. He warms himself and he says, “Aha, I’m warm. I’ve seen the fire.”
And the rest of it he makes a god out of it, even a little graven image: they fall down unto it, and he worships it, and prays unto it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god ( Isa 44:17 ).
Oh, how foolish!
They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; their hearts, that they cannot understand ( Isa 44:18 ).
Tragic when a person has gone so far in his rebellion against God that God just allows him the blindness of his own folly. Shuts his eyes that he cannot see. Therefore, Jesus said, as Isaiah the prophet spake of them declaring, “Therefore they could not believe.” It is possible for a person to reject the Lord so much that he’ll come to a place in his life where he cannot believe. In John’s gospel Joh 12:38 ,it doesn’t say, “Therefore, they would not believe.” It says, “Therefore they could not believe, as Isaiah the prophet said, ‘Having eyes to see they cannot see; ears to hear, they cannot hear.’ Therefore they could not believe” ( Joh 12:39-40 ).
There is a time, we know not when, a line, we know not where, that marks the destiny of man twixt sorrow and despair. There is a line, though by men unseen, once it has been crossed even God himself and all of His love has sworn that all is lost. It’s possible for a man to go over that point of no return. Where God gives him up to his own blindness and his own folly. Turns him over to his own folly and allows him to go. And they cannot believe. Very tragic condition indeed. That they cannot understand. Not, it’s no longer will not, they cannot.
And none considers in his heart, neither is there any knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of this in the fire; and I have also baked my bread on the coals; and I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? and fall down to the stock of a tree? ( Isa 44:19 )
Now nature does reveal God to man. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the earth shows His handiwork. And day unto day they utter their speech, night unto night their voice goes forth. And there is not a speech nor a language, where their voice is not heard” ( Psa 19:1-3 ). But there is an illogical way of observing nature and there is a logical way of observing nature. There is a logical way of looking at a tree. Admiring the blossoms, enjoying the beauty. Admiring the capacities of reproduction that are there in the tree. The seed that develops. It falls into the ground; the new tree that forms. The way the seeds are propagated by little fins of propellers or by hooks or whatever, as a tree is capable of propagating itself. And to look at all of these processes and say, “Oh my, that’s God.” No, no, that isn’t God. That tree isn’t God. That’s stupid.
The logical way to look at the tree is to see it, to admire it, to enjoy its beauty, and to say, “That is a part of God’s handiwork. That’s a creation of God.” And to worship the God who created the tree rather than to worship the tree. But many people get hung up at the tree. And they never get beyond the tree. And so Paul says, “Who worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever more” ( Rom 1:25 ). And this is a common mistake that men often make. They get bound up in the creation and they worship the creation rather than the Creator. But the creation was always intended to point us to the Creator. But men get hung up here on the material level and they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. And yet God says, “They don’t have any understanding.” Part of this tree I’ve warmed myself with in the fireplace. Part of it I roasted my meat. Part of it I baked my bread. And the rest I’m falling down and worshipping saying, “You’re my God, deliver me.” “Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?”
He feeds on the ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish ( Isa 44:20-25 );
All you have to do is read the scientific textbooks of the first of this, scientific textbooks of 1890. And the knowledge of men in those days and you read it today. Did you know that when bathtubs were first introduced in the United States that they were outlawed by many of the cities? And doctors were predicting all kinds of dire consequences if a person bathed every day. And because of the tremendous danger, the health hazard the bathtubs posed, many cities and all outlawed bathtubs in the beginning. Because the doctors were warning of the dangers of taking baths too often. Oh, yes. As Paul said, “Professing themselves to be wise, they’ve become fools” ( Rom 1:22 ). Any time a man leaves God out of his life or out of his consideration, that man has become a fool. The Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God'” ( Psa 14:1 ). “I am the God who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish.” The knowledge of man.
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus ( Isa 44:26-28 ),
“Now I’m the Lord, I’m the One.” And now He is naming a man a hundred and fifty years before this man is born. So now God gets really specific. He said,
That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid ( Isa 44:28 ) “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Isa 44:1-2. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chose: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
He comes back to that point again, you see: Israel whom I have chosen, Thus saith the Lord that made thee. See the deep argument for infinite love. God will not forsake the work of his own hands. I have formed thee, and chosen thee; therefore, fear thou not, but come to me anew, and serve me henceforth with all thine heart.
This exposition consisted of readings from Isa 43:1-7; Isa 43:18-28; and Isa 44:1-2.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 44:1-5
Isa 44:1-5
An analysis of this chapter is as follows:
I. (Isa 44:1-5) Despite the fact of Israel’s sin and their condemnation to seventy years of captivity, God was by no means through with Israel. He would restore Israel to his favor and to their homeland. Their posterity would turn to God and actually receive the Spirit of the Lord.
II. (Isa 44:6-20) The most powerful and effective condemnation of idolatry to be found anywhere.
III. (Isa 44:24-26) God will confound the wisdom of the astrologers, the soothsayers and the diviners and at the same time confirm the word of his servants the holy prophets by bringing about the delivery of Israel from captivity and their return to Jerusalem, even naming the great King who would be a prominent figure in accomplishing this tremendous deliverance about 150 years after Isaiah prophesied this.
Isa 44:1-5
“Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen: Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am Jehovah’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel.”
Practically all present-day commentators would connect this passage with the previous chapter, basing their reason upon the expression “Yet now hear.” However, in our view, the chapter division is appropriate enough where it stands. It is true of course that there is a connection, because Isaiah always placed in close juxtaposition his prophecies of doom for wicked Israel and redemption for upright Israel; and so it is here. The closing verses of Isaiah 43 left Israel under the curse and under the ban; but here the help and redemption of Israel are the glorious theme.
This, of course, is fully in keeping with the “two Israels,” visible on every page of this great prophecy. But the words, “Yet now hear” emphasize not a continuation of the same theme, but a dramatic change to a new one, just as the word “now” in Rom 8:1 signals a dramatic switch from the deadness of Romans 7 to the eternal life of chapter 8, the significant word in each place being “now.” Just so it is here, the dramatic shift is from the fleshly, rebellious, condemned Israel who would rot in captivity to their seed, their offspring, who would receive God’s great blessings and even experience the infusion of God’s Spirit.
In Isaiah’s day, the two Israels were a single people, intermingled, and indistinguishable; and therefore, it was absolutely necessary that a single noun or pronoun refer to Jacob, or Israel, no matter which Israel was addressed. Failure to distinguish which Israel was addressed has often led to extravagant statements about how God’s totally unmerited and undeserved grace went ahead and saved Israel no matter what they did. A littie thought on what actually happened will do much to temper such extravagant statements.
Payne, for example, on this paragraph noted that, “The big point here is that Israel has a future; she is still God’s servant with a mission to perform. Her future will be one of material and spiritual prosperity, so much so that non-Jews will voluntarily attach themselves to Israel and to her God. Yes, yes, this is true; but it should be noted that the blessings promised in no sense whatever applied to that fleshly Israel under the ban and condemned to captivity, but to their children of far distant generations, and particularly among those, only to the obedient. Note what this little paragraph actually promises:
“The outpouring of the Spirit (Isa 44:3) is a glimpse of the new covenant as in Jer 31:31 ff; Eze 36:26; Joe 2:28, and Acts 2. ; Isa 44:5 is a foretaste of Gentile conversion. These verses promise redemption and the reception of the Spirit through the success of the Gospel of Christ. Here God explicitly predicts that future Israel who was to receive the Living Water and the Holy Spirit poured out upon them pre-eminently on Pentecost (Acts 2). Mention of Israel’s `seed’ in Isa 44:3 refers primarily to Israel after the Spirit, the true `Israel of God'” (Gal 6:16).
The single word in this very first verse which should have opened the eyes of the blind and deaf Israel is that word Jeshurun, a word derived from a Hebrew root meaning “upright,” and also interpreted by some as a diminutive. “It occurs only here and in Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26.” “Whether explained as a diminutive, as `dear little Israel,’ or as a reference to their call to be an upright nation as Hebraists generally suppose,” it spelled out the special love of God for Israel and at the same time stressed the great requirement of their holiness; but there is little evidence that the captive Israel paid very much attention. Kelley believed that this word Jeshurun, “Is a title of honor and is perhaps intended to describe the transformed character of Israel in the eschatalogical age (the current dispensation).”
Isa 44:1-5 INVIGORATES: Although the chastening judgment of Jehovah is predicted with absolute certainty (chapter 43) upon Israel, still Israel is the chosen of the Lord. They were not even a nation when God chose them. He took them as nomadic sheepherders and formed them as an instrument of His from nothing! God molded them from useless clay into a vessel for His purpose (cf. Rom 9:19 f). They should surely know that God desired with all His heart to help them and favor them. But God could not help them become the vessel they were chosen to be because they did not want to be that vessel! The Lord knew, and predicted through His prophet here, there would be a remnant formed from the chastening captivity which would believe and surrender to its chosen purpose. This remnant, even now being formed by Isaiahs preaching, need not fear the impending judgment. Gods purpose will survive through this remnant called Jeshurun (the name means: right, upright, esteemed, righteous). The prophet suddenly makes a dramatic shortening of perspective in verse three. From the promise of help to the remnant of Israel formed from the chastening captivity Isaiah focuses his prophetic telescope down on the time when God will pour my Spirit upon thy seed . . . and thine offspring. Gods redemptive purpose will be accomplished ultimately in the seed and offspring of Israel. What is this pouring out of the Spirit? Is it the special, miraculous Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost (cf. Joe 2:28 f; Act 2:14 f), or is it the promise of the Holy Spirit to all obedient believers (Isa 32:14; Act 2:38-39)? Isaiah could be making a general prophecy in which both were intended since without the miraculous revelation of the gospel covenant terms of salvation through the Spirit to the apostles there could have been no indwelling presence of the Spirit. Whatever the case, we feel certain Isaiahs prophecy of the Spirit here is intended to be fulfilled in the new covenant believer. Christ is the seed and offspring (cf. Gal 3:15-29) and Christians are offspring by being in Him. So, Isaiah has skipped from the Captivity to the New Covenant without any mention of the centuries between. Keil and Delitzsch think the threefold zeh (demonstrative pronoun) (one . . . another . . . another) indicates verse five is speaking of the heathen (cf. Psa 87:4-5). Gentiles will take pride in belonging to Jehovah. They will confess their allegiance orally and yiketov (from kathav, to subscribe) in writing. The emphatic willingness of the Gentile to allow himself to be surnamed Israel is an astounding prophecy in view of the contempt most of the heathen world had for the Hebrew and his God. Nothing short of conversion and rebirth could fulfill this prophecy!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The beginning of this chapter (verses Isa 44:1-5) contains the gracious promise of the outpouring of the Spirit of God, and a description of the blessing of refreshment and renewal which will come to Israel, and the consequent influence on other people.
In this message the power of Jehovah is compared with that of idols. Jehovah begins by declaring Himself to be the first and the last, the only God, knowing, and declaring, and appointing. Because these things are so, appeal is made to the people not to fear. Then follows a remarkable passage setting forth the folly of idolatry. Those who make the graven image are vanity, and their work is unprofitable. With fine satire, the whole method is described. Men put their strength into fashioning an idol of metal, and yet become hungry, and there is none to feed them. Others work in wood, making gods out of the residue spared from burning. All are so blind that they do not see the folly of their procedure. Israel is called on to remember and turn to Jehovah, who is the God of redemption as well as the God of creation.
The fourth message (verses Isa 44:24-28) is a brief one, which yet majestically sets forth the might of Jehovah. He is powerful in the material realm, He governs in the moral, and moves forward toward the restoration of His people, appointing His servant, and declaring His purpose.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Besides Me There Is No God
Isa 44:1-11
What gracious promises are given throughout Scripture, not only to Gods children, but to their seed! Here the thirsty soul, longing for love, sympathy, God, is promised an abundant supply. See Joh 4:13-14; Rev 22:17. But notice the extreme beauty of the further response, which shall be made by the young followers of our Lord:
One shall say, I am the Lords, Isa 44:5. What ecstasy such a declaration causes to a parents heart! Young friends, do not be satisfied till you have confessed Christ. Say, I am the Lords. Another shall write on his hand, unto the Lord; that is, he shall dedicate his hand to do Gods work in the world. Oh, to write a similar declaration on every member of our body! Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord; that is, shall write these words on a blank sheet of paper, and his own name beneath them.
Again we have the conflict with the idols of the heathen, Isa 44:6-11. But what chance have their votaries when confronted by the glad and assured testimony of those who have seen the King in His beauty!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
EXPOSITORY NOTES ON
THE PROPHET ISAIAH
By
Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.
Copyright @ 1952
edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago
ISAIAH CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
GOD’s UNCHANGING PURPOSES OF BLESSING
GOD continues this theme in a very precious and wonderful way.
“Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring . . . Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God, besides me? yea, there is no God; I know not any” (verses 1-3, 8).
Then comes His promise to pour His Spirit upon Israel from on high. That has not taken place yet, and is not to be confused with the day of Pentecost. It is the prophecy of Joel (2:28, 29) which we have here.
Next comes the Lord’s direct word in regard to idolatry.
“They that take a graven image are all of them. vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed . . . He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I
have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (verses 9, 14-20).
The idol-makers are said to be their own witnesses (verse 9) to their own folly. Isaiah satirically pictures a man going out into the forest and finding a noble tree. He cuts it down, takes off all the branches and begins to fashion it with his tools. By-and-by he has the figure of a man, and he gathers up the chips as they fly, the parts that are not wanted to make the image, and he uses them as fuel. He cooks his food and says, “This is fine! I have warmed myself at the fire and have a god to worship, all out of the same tree.”
Isaiah’s remarkable satire and ridicule show the folly of idolatry. The prophet Jeremiah also uses similar language as to this (Jeremiah 10).
What folly for the people of Israel, after all that GOD had done for them, to turn aside to dumb idols! Yet how senseless people are! On different occasions the kings in Chronicles – even when the people of Israel or Judah went out against some of their foes and overcame them – brought back the gods of the nations they had conquered and set up shrines for them and worshiped them though those gods had proved powerless to defend their own worshipers.
Idolatry seems inherent in the heart of man. Today, men do not worship idols of gold and silver, and brass and iron, but every man who turns away from GOD sets up some kind of an idol in his heart. He either worships himself or some folly, pleasure, or fame.
An esteemed servant of CHRIST spoke aptly when introduced on one occasion as a “self-made man.” He said he regretted he had been so termed, though he appreciated the kindly thought, “for,” he said, “I’ve noticed that these self-made men always worship their own creation.” He knew that if men do not know the one living and true GOD, they set up the great god self, and worship him.
“Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, o forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself” (verses 21-24).
GOD tells Israel what He has in store for them, the Redeemer who was still to come, the forerunner who would announce His coming, the comfort He has for them who believe His word and put their trust in Him. He has foreseen the dangers and sorrows that Israel must pass through – the deep waters through which they will have to go. But where there is real faith on their part, He has promised to be with them in all their sorrows and all their troubles.
Then in the closing words of the chapter there is an abrupt change, and He speaks of one who was yet to come to be the deliverer of Israel from the power of the Chaldeans, calls him by name, though he has not known Him – that is Cyrus, King of Persia.
“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (verse 28).
Isaiah wrote these words long before the Babylonian captivity of seventy years, so that many decades would elapse before Cyrus himself was to appear. He was foretold so long before that when he did come, Israel would know it was the hour of the Lord’s deliverance.
Sometimes the divisions in the chapters and verses come in the wrong places in our English Bible. Its division into chapters and verses is not a question of inspiration. It was simply a matter of accommodation on the part of human editors who thought it would help us to separate the subjects and define certain passages. And while it has been very helpful to have chapters and verses, on the other hand sometimes it is misleading, and may keep us from getting the full content of the passage if it is broken up in the middle. At times the editors seem to have used poor judgment in doing so.
For instance, take the break between John 7 and 8. The last words of John 7 are: “And every man went to his own house.” The opening words of John 8 are: “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” They failed to translate one little word that should have been rendered “but,” and the omission has broken a sentence right in two.
“Every man went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives,” He had no house. He was the homeless stranger in the world His own hands had made. And when others went to their comfortable homes that night, He went out to the mountainside, perhaps to the Garden of Gethsemane, and spent the night there, lying upon the bare ground and communing with His Father.
It is very evident here that there should be no break between the last verse of chapter forty-four and the first verse in chapter forty-five.
~ end of chapter 44 ~
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Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Isa 44:1-2
The occurrence of the three names, “Jacob, Israel, Jesurun,” together is very remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not accidental. The prophet begins with the name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name of nature, which contained some indications of character. He passes on to the name which commemorated the mysterious conflict where, as a prince, he had power with God and prevailed. He ends with the name of Jesurun, of which the meaning is “the righteous one,” and which was bestowed upon the people as a reminder of what they ought to be.
I. These three names in their order teach us, first, the path of transformation. Every Jacob may become a righteous one, if he will tread Jacob’s road. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character if there is to be transformation. Jacob must become Israel before he is Jesurun; he must hold communion with God in Christ before he is clothed with righteousness.
II. Here we may find expressed the law for the Christian life. The order of these names here points the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is righteousness. The object for which the whole majestic structure of revelation has been builded up is simply to make good men and women.
III. Notice the merciful judgment which God makes of the character of them that love Him, Jesurun means “the righteous one.” How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. Although they have done so many sins, yet He calls them by His name of righteous. And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls us saints. He who sees not as men see beholds the inmost tendencies and desires of the nature, as well as the facts of the life, and discerning the inmost and true self of His children, and knowing that it will conquer, calls us “righteous ones,” even while the outward life has not yet been brought into harmony with the new man, created in righteousness after God’s image.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Feb. 5th, 1885.
References: Isa 44:1-5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 564. Isa 44:3.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 102; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 311. Isa 44:3, Isa 44:4.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 407. Isa 44:3-5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1151.
Isa 44:6
I. “I am the first.” (1) We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of a Supreme God, the Creator of all things. (2) This reminds us, further, that as God is the supreme cause, He must also be the supreme end of all that exists, the centre of the thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. (3) This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity, to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him.
II. “I am the last.” By this we must understand (1) that God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world. (2) This means, further, that God remains the Supreme Judge, and that consequently the hour of justice shall certainly strike. (3) This reminds us again that God is the supreme refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which remains standing when all others have disappeared.
E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 350.
References: Isa 44:7.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1377. Isa 44:8.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 319; Bishop Walsham How, Plain Words, 2nd series, p. 39.
Isa 44:20
These two thoughts act and re-act upon each other. The lie in the right hand fetters, hopelessly fetters, the soul, while the enslaved soul, because it is enslaved, cannot discover “the lie” of its hand.
I. Consider what is the force of that expression, “a lie in the right hand.” A lie in the hand must mean a lie concealed-a lie inside the hand, held, but covered. And as the right hand is the emblem of strength in a man, it conveys that the lie is strongly and resolutely held. The right hand is what God has promised to hold, therefore the right hand shadows out that by which God apprehends us, and by which we apprehend God. But how shall God hold that which is preoccupied? How shall God guide or comfort or uphold a man who has a lie in his right hand? Such a man shuts himself out, at once, of all contact with God, and therefore out of all blessing; and leaving himself to himself, necessarily falls.
II. The religion of many of us is, simply, a passive thing-that is, it begins and ends in impressions and feelings which we have received; or if it go further at all, it is only in acts of worship and devotion. It does not lead to self-denying acts of love-it does not include separation from the world-it is the same sort of religion which heathen religions generally are, religions of worship and feeling, and not religions that affect the life. But while you only so worship and feel, while the kingdom of God is never advanced by you, you may indeed call yourselves religious, but that word is a lie in that idle right hand of yours. It needs but very little to be honest in the search of truth, and you will find truth; it needs very little else but simplicity of faith, with earnestness to be saved; it needs nothing but to be true to God, to receive His blessing, and to be admitted into all His promises.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 360.
References: Isa 44:20.-H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. i., p. 299; J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned-Forearmed, p. 163. Isa 44:21, Isa 44:22.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 18. Isa 44:21-23.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1895.
Isa 44:22
I. We find in these words a wonderful teaching as to the inmost nature of sin. I refer especially here to the two words for sin which are employed here. That translated “transgression”literally means “treachery” or “rebellion;” and that translated sin “missing a mark.” All sin is treacherous rebellion. That is to say, it has relation not only to a law, but to a lawgiver. It is not merely a departure from what is right, it is treason against God. And then, still further, the other word which is employed here conveys a profound and a tragic lesson. All sin misses the mark. Whoever transgresses against conscience and God misses the true aim and scope of his life. Every sin is a deflection from that which ought to be the goal of all that we do. And more than that, not only does each transgression miss the true aim of life, but it also misses what it aims at. All iniquity is a blunder as well as a crime.
II. The second thought is one conveyed by the form in which the promise is given us, viz., the permanent record of sin-“I have blotted out.” That points, of course, to something that has been written, and which it promises shall be erased. There is a book written, a permanent record of our evil-doing. Where is it written? Where, rather, is it not written? Written on character, written to a very large extent on circumstances, written above all in the calm, perfect memory of the all-judging God. The book is written by ourselves, moment by moment, and day by day.
III. There is another thought, and that is the darkening power of sin. “I have blotted out as a thick cloud,” says the text. Like a misty veil drawn across the face of the heavens are man’s sins. That emblem has a double truth in it, viz., that every evil deed tends to obscure and to hide from us the face of God; and also that every evil deed tends to unfit us for the reception of the blessings that come down from above.
IV. The last thought is the removal of the sin. “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” The erasure implies the making a clean sheet of the blurred page; the cancelling of the whole long formidable column that expresses the debt. The blotting out as a cloud implies the disappearing of the misty vapour, as some thin fleecy film will do in the dry Eastern heavens, melting away as a man looks. God treats all my iniquity of the past as nonexistent, and He pours Himself upon me in order that all the evil that still haunts my spirit may be utterly expelled and driven forth.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Nov. 19th, 1885.
I. Notice, first, the divineness of forgiveness. God removes the clouds, and God alone. The dispensation of pardon is too precious to be entrusted either to men or to angels. The Father has given authority to pardon to His Son, but to none other.
II. Look at the completeness of pardon. In the country which Isaiah knew the clouds were entirely blotted out during four months of the year, and the clearness of the atmosphere enabled the prophet to appreciate this illustration to an extent impossible to us. When God pardons a man there is not a sin to be seen.
III. Look at the assurance which God gives the pardoned that they are forgiven. God might forgive without telling us now that He has pardoned us. He might pardon secretly, but He pardons, giving knowledge of forgiveness, to those whose transgressions He covers. Now what profit is there in this? (1) Knowledge of pardon is a particular knowledge of God. (2) Knowledge of pardon is a source of joy and peace. (3) Knowledge of pardon is a power awakening love. (4) Knowledge of pardon is a motive to the pursuit of holiness. (5). Knowledge of pardon encourages us to bring others to God.
IV. Who are the assured? (1) Those who confess their sins. (2) Those who forsake their sins. (3) Those who turn to God. “Let him turn to the Lord and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 3rd series, No. 11.
I. In this text there is recognised the existence of sin. The individuals to whom this gracious promise was addressed had been guilty of enormous and aggravated rebellion; their transgressions had gathered blackness and density; they were “as a thick cloud,” and as a “cloud.” The Gospel proceeds altogether upon the basis of an entire and universal depravity. “It assimilates all varieties of human character into one common condition of guilt, need, and helplessness.” It recognises but two varieties of character here, and but two varieties of condition in the world beyond the grave.
II. There is affirmed the existence of mercy. Scarcely had the fall defiled the world and entailed its heritage of wrath and shame before the first promise of grace was breathed. When man sinned, perverted his nature, corrupted his way, bereft himself of every love-compelling quality, became utterly defiled and unworthy, then grace came in a new fountain struck out of the Godhead, a new idea for the wonder and homage of the universe. All former displays which God had made of Himself were ascents to higher elevation. This was a mightier putting forth of His perfections, inasmuch as it showed not only how high the love of God could rise, but how deeply the mercy of God could go down; not only the glorious fellowship of angels which it could fill with its rejoicing, but the branded and downtrodden outcasts to whom it could stoop and uplift them from hell into heaven.
W. Morley Punshon, Sermons, p. 205; see also Penny Pulpit, No. 3896.
References: Isa 44:22.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 41; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 555. Isa 44:23.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1240.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 44
Jehovah Continues to Speak
1. Spiritual blessings promised by the gift of the Spirit (Isa 44:1-5) 2. Jehovah the First and the Last (Isa 44:6-8) 3. Idolatry rebuked (Isa 44:9-20) 4. Remember! Return! Sing! (Isa 44:21-23) 5. The faithful Jehovah, the Redeemer (Isa 44:24-27) 6. Cyrus named (Isa 44:28)The outpouring of the Spirit upon Israels seed promised in the beginning of the chapter has not yet taken place. Compare with Isa 32:15 and Isa 59:21. Verses 21-23 look forward to the coming age of blessing. Then Israel will be Jehovahs servant on the earth; then their transgressions will be blotted out. Then the heavens, the earth, the mountains and the trees will break forth in singing. In Isa 44:28 Cyrus is mentioned by name. This great Persian King was then in the distant future an unborn being. Jehovah knew him and named him through Isaiah. He calls him my shepherd and predicts his work. Josephus declares that when Cyrus found his name in the book of Isaiah, written 220 years before, an earnest desire laid hold upon him to fulfil what was written.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
now: Isa 42:23, Isa 48:16-18, Isa 55:3, Psa 81:11-13, Jer 4:7, Luk 13:34, Heb 3:7, Heb 3:8
O Jacob: Isa 41:8, Isa 43:1, Gen 17:7, Deu 7:6-8, Psa 105:6, Psa 105:42, Psa 105:43, Jer 30:10, Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:6
Reciprocal: Isa 13:1 – of Babylon Isa 44:21 – thou art Isa 45:4 – Jacob Isa 46:3 – Hearken Eze 20:5 – In the Zec 13:9 – It is my people Act 13:17 – God 1Pe 2:9 – a chosen
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 44:1-2. Yet now hear, O Jacob Although I have chastised thee for thy sins, and had just cause utterly to destroy thee, yet in judgment I will remember mercy, and will still own thee for my servant and chosen people. Thus saith the Lord, that formed thee from the womb He speaks of the Jewish people under the character of a single person; and as God sometimes designed certain persons for particular offices, from their birth, or conception, so he set apart the posterity of Abraham to be his people from the very original of the family; and formed and fashioned them for himself, by laws, ordinances, teachers, promises, threatenings, corrections, and many other ways. Jesurun is another name for Jacob or Israel, given to them by Moses, Deu 32:15, (where see the note.) and 33:5, 26.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 44:5. Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord. This phrase is somewhat obscure; it is not said whether they signed a covenant, or imprinted some mark on their hand. The latter sense is preferred by the critics. Vide Poli Synopsis. Slaves were branded in the hand with their masters name; the cruel Assyrians branded their forehead. The heathen generally imprinted on their children, the mark or the sign of the god to which they were devoted. The worshippers of the antichristian beast are said to have his mark in their foreheads, which Peter Jurieu understands of their chrisms. Many christians, of early times, marked their arms with the cross, or with the name of Christ. Be the subscription what it might, it is pleasing to the Lord when we boldly profess his name before the unregenerate world; and the whole of this verse appears to contain a lively description of the nature of true religion, and especially of the conversion and accession of the gentiles to the church of God, who though they were not of the seed of Abraham, should take upon them the name of Jacob and of Israel.
This consecration of ourselves to God must be cordial, and with the whole heart, including the renunciation of every idol, and an unreserved devotedness of all to the Lord, who always had a right to our hearts, though we had sinfully given them to another. True conversion will constrain us to say, I am the Lords, and him only will I serve. Some of fair exterior, decent and respectable in the eyes of men, but eagerly devoted to the acquisition of wealth, and worshippers of the unrighteous mammon, have at length yielded to the love of God, and made an unreserved surrender of themselves to him. Some who have been conscious of a secret and unavowed hostility to the gospel, and to every thing spiritual and holy, to whom both family and public worship was a great burden, from which they were anxious to be delivered, have been reconciled and made nigh by the blood of the cross, and have now cheerfully subscribed with their hand to the Lord.
It is also of the nature of true religion to take a decided character, as is strikingly exemplified in this brief description of gentile conversion. The party is not represented as forming resolves and purposes, as to what is to be done in future, but as making a personal and immediate surrender of himself to God. The language is not, I will sometime or other be the Lords, but I am the Lords. I am no longer my own but his. Many remain long in a state of suspense, undecided betwixt God and the world; they have had many convictions, and want to put them off to a more convenient season. The kingdom of heaven is come nigh to them, and they themselves are not far from the kingdom; yet they have gone back to the world to see whether they cannot make something better of it than they have done, and so are still undecided. Others cleave to their own righteousness, and cannot wholly give it up, nor consent to the sacrifices which true religion requires. Genuine conversion however puts an end to all this indecision; it teaches us to make Gods cause our own, to join ourselves to him in a perpetual covenant never to be forgotten, saying as Ruth did to Naomi, thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Isa 44:6. Besides me there is no God, or no Elohim. The unity of the Godhead is here asserted, in opposition to idols, who are only called gods, as more largely noted in Deu 6:4. St. Paul takes the same ground. 1Co 8:5. Consequently, there is nothing here to favour the Unitarian apostasy. He only is God who foretels the future; he only is God who brings his counsels to perfection. Messiah created the heavens, as in Isa 48:12-19. Joh 1:3. The whole Divinity is here understood.
Isa 44:9. They that make a graven image. Horace, it is likely, had never read Isaiah, yet he takes the same ground of satire on idols, and puts this most mortifying language into the mouth of Priapus, the most obscene of all the gods.
Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum, &c. I was formerly the trunk of an old figtree, reckoned useless wood. For sometime, the carpenter was undecided what to do with me, whether to make me into a bench, or a god. At length he preferred my being a god,so I am a god, and the very great terror of birds and thieves. The latter I frighten away with my cap of reeds, and the former with my staff, so that they dare not approach. Lib. 1. Sat. 8. See also a satire by Minutius Felix, cited in the reflections on Psalms 115.
Isa 44:24-25. I am the Lordthat maketh diviners mad. With the revival of idolatry all sorts of obah, or obee, or divinations were practised. One presumes to prophesy, another invokes Hecate, a third cries in doleful tones to Tisiphone, a fourth, like a ventriloquist, talks out of his belly to those about him. St. Paul is justified in asserting that all those prayers were addressed to devils. 1Co 10:20.
Isa 44:28. Cyrusmy shepherd. Homer calls Hypsnor the shepherd of his people.Iliad 13. Cyrus, as a shepherd, gathered the Hebrew flock together, and protected them from the wolves of Chaldaic and Persian governors: he led them to green pastures in Judea and Galilee. Such is the Lord Messiah to his people, as described by Ezekiel 34. Now Isaiah foretold this of Cyrus one hundred and fifty years, at least, before it occurred; and God prolonged Daniels life to show the conqueror the parchments. The Lord, as Isa 44:26, would confirm his word to his servants, while he made diviners frantic with mortification and shame.
REFLECTIONS.
Isaiah continues to console the church, greatly depressed by the evils impending on their country. He calls her by all the hallowed names borne by her fathers, in the days of her espousals to the Lord. Jacob, he calls his servant, and the Hebrews his Jeshurun. God, as is fully implied, would make her worthy of her titles, and never forsake her in the time of trouble.
The covenant in all its plenitude of grace he extends to the gentiles, the dry lands of the deserts; and to the children of Zion, throughout all generations. I will pour the reviving waters of the Spirit on the thirsty, and on the dry land. The Holy Spirit which shall become a fountain of life in every believers heart. Joh 7:37. These, and these only are the divine influences, which can turn the earth to a paradise, and fill the world with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
In that happy age, men are to be very bold and emulous to enrol themselves under the banners of the Lord, and to call themselves by his name. So it was when they were purged from idols and sins on their return from Babylonia, and from other countries whither they had been driven. But it was more especially true of the hundred and forty four thousand who had the name of God in their foreheads, and of the gentile church whom no man could number. Revelation 7. These were virgins to Christ, who went without the camp, hearing his reproach.
From the ninth verse, we have a fine satire on the process of making an idol. The apostate Hebrew having both the choice, and the making of his god, discovers his prudence in choosing a cedar, a cypress, or an oak, neither of which would rot so soon as softer wood. With the branches and chips he roasts his meat, and reserves the rest for a cheerful fire; but the trunk he consecrates, and worships as his protector.
God, calling things that are not as though they were, for his counsel is sure, says, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. I have redeemed thee from the Babylonian captivity. Therefore the heavens and the earth are called to rejoice, for faith in the sure mercies of God anticipates salvation and future glory. Hence the Lords counsel shall stand, while that of diviners shall be put to confusion. And seeing the Messiah was named from the beginning as the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; so Cyrus, prince of Persia, is designated by name to dry up the Euphrates, to destroy Babylon, and restore the temple of the Lord. Prophecy being so luminous, distinct and clear, the Jews might well be cured of idolatry; and no wonder they afterwards built so splendidly the sepulchres of the prophets whom their fathers slew. And if a sight of this prediction carried conviction to the breast of Cyrus, a heathen prince, oh forbid it that we should be slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 43:22 to Isa 44:5. Yahwehs Intervention, not Purchased by His People but Entirely of His Grace, shall Bring New Life to Israel.It is not that during the exile Israel has assiduously sought Yahwehs aid by prayer and sacrifice. Nor has He exacted gifts and incense. So far from requiring them to buy sweet-scented cane to make fragrant their choice sacrifices, He has been compelled to do service for them, in saving them from the consequences of their sins. (Of His grace He will pardon their sins. What plea can they advance?) Their ancestor, Jacob, and the prophets, the very men who should have mediated between Yahweh and Israel, sinned against Him; the princes profaned His sanctuary. So He had given His people to the ban. Yet He bids His chosen people, addressing them by the pet name Jeshurunthe upright onefear not. Upon them He will pour out His quickening life-spirit like rain on the thirsty ground. Their vigour shall be renewed, and they shall flourish like grass that grows amid waters (LXX) or willows on the banks of streams. Unto them, to share their prosperity, shall come men from the nations, giving their adherence to Yahweh, and marking on their hands the inscription, Yahwehs (cf. mg.), as a sign that they have become naturalised Israelites.
Isa 43:22 b. Read, nor hast thou wearied thyself over me, O Israel.
Isa 43:25 f. Probably a gloss. The connexion would be improved by its removal.plead: as in a law-court.
Isa 43:28 a. Read (cf. LXX), Thy princes profaned my holy sanctuary; a succeeding parallel clause may have been lost.will make: read mg.curse: devoted to destruction (p. 99).
Isa 44:2. Jeshurun: Deu 32:15*, Deu 33:5; Deu 33:26, cf. Num 23:10*.
Isa 44:3 a Metaphorical; read mg.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Lord again summoned His chosen servant Israel to pay attention to what He was about to say (cf. Isa 43:1). Judgment was not Yahweh’s final word to His people. This new word would be good news in contrast to what had immediately preceded (cf. Isa 43:28).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
-31
CHAPTER I
THE DATE 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24
THE problem of the date 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 is this: In a book called by the name of the prophet Isaiah, who flourished between 740 and 700 B.C., the last twenty-seven chapters deal with the captivity suffered by the Jews in Babylonia from 598 to 538, and more particularly with the advent, about 550, of Cyrus, whom they name. Are we to take for granted that Isaiah himself prophetically wrote these chapters, or must we assign them to a nameless author or authors of the period of which they treat?
Till the end of the last century it was the almost universally accepted tradition, and even still is an opinion retained by many, that Isaiah was carried forward by the Spirit, out of his own age to the standpoint of one hundred and fifty years later; that he was inspired to utter the warning and comfort required by a generation so very different from his own, and was even enabled to hail by name their redeemer, Cyrus. This theory, involving as it does a phenomenon without parallel in the history of Holy Scripture, is based on these two grounds: first, that the chapters in question form a considerable part-nearly nine-twentieths-of the Book of Isaiah; and second, that portions of them are quoted in the New Testament by the prophets name. The theory is also supported by arguments drawn from resemblances of style and vocabulary between these twenty-seven chapters and the undisputed oracles of Isaiah but, as the opponents of the Isaian authorship also appeal to vocabulary and style, it will be better to leave this kind of evidence aside for the present, and to discuss the problem upon other and less ambiguous grounds.
The first argument, then, for the Isaian authorship of chapters 40-66 is that they form part of a book called by Isaiahs name. But, to be worth anything, this argument must rest on the following facts: that everything in a book called by a prophets name is necessarily by that prophet, and that the compilers of the book intended to hand it down as altogether from his pen. Now there is no evidence for either of these conclusions. On the contrary, there is considerable testimony in the opposite direction. The Book of Isaiah is not one continuous prophecy. It consists of a number of separate orations, with a few intervening pieces of narrative. Some of these orations claim to be Isaiahs own: they possess such titles as “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz.” But such titles describe only the individual prophecies they head, and other portions of the book, upon other subjects and in very different styles, do not possess titles at all. It seems to me that those who maintain the Isaian authorship of the whole book have the responsibility cast upon them of explaining why some chapters in it should be distinctly said to be by Isaiah, while others should not be so entitled. Surely this difference affords us sufficient ground for understanding that the whole book is not necessarily by Isaiah, nor intentionally handed down by its compilers as the work of that prophet.
Now, when we come to chapters 40-66, we find that, occurring in a book which we have just seen no reason for supposing to be in every part of it by Isaiah, these chapters nowhere claim to be his. They are separated from that portion of the book, in which his undisputed oracles are placed, by a historical narrative of considerable length. And there is not anywhere upon them nor in them a title nor other statement that they are by the prophet, nor any allusion which could give the faintest support to the opinion, that they offer themselves to posterity as dating from his time. It is safe to say, that, if they had come to us by themselves, no one would have dreamt for an instant of ascribing them to Isaiah; for the alleged resemblances, which their language and style bear to his language and style, are far more than overborne by the undoubted differences, and have never been employed, even by the defenders of the Isaian authorship, except in additional and confessedly slight support of their main argument, viz., that the chapters must be Isaiahs because they are included in a book called by his name.
Let us understand, therefore, at this very outset, that in discussing the question of the authorship of “Second Isaiah,” we are not discussing a question upon which the text itself makes any statement, or into which the credibility of the text enters. No claim is made by the Book of Isaiah itself for the Isaian authorship of chapters 40-66.
A second fact in Scripture, which seems at first sight to make strongly for the unity of the Book of Isaiah, is that in the New Testament, portions of the disputed chapters are quoted by Isaiahs name, just as are portions of his admitted prophecies. These citations are nine in number. {Mat 3:3, Mat 8:17, Mat 12:17, Luk 3:4, Luk 4:17, Joh 1:23, Joh 12:38, Act 8:28, Rom 10:16-20} None is by our Lord Himself. They occur in the Gospels, Acts, and Paul. Now if any of these quotations were given in answer to the question, Did Isaiah write chapters 40-66 of the book called by his name? or if the use of his name along with them were involved in the arguments which they are borrowed to illustrate as, for instance, is the case with Davids name in the quotation made by our Lord from Psa 110:1-7, then those who deny the unity of the Book of Isaiah would be face to face with a very serious problem indeed. But in none of the nine cases is the authorship of the Book of Isaiah in question. In none of the nine cases is there anything in the argument, for the purpose of which the quotation has been made, that depends on the quoted words being by Isaiah. For the purposes for which the Evangelists and Paul borrow the texts, these might as well be unnamed, or attributed to any other canonical writer. Nothing in them requires us to suppose that Isaiahs name is mentioned with them for any other end than that of reference, viz., to point out that they lie in the part of prophecy usually known by his name. But if there is nothing in these citations to prove that Isaiahs name is being used for any other purpose than that of reference, then it is plain-and this is all that we ask assent to at the present time-that they do not offer the authority of Scripture as a bar to our examining the evidence of the chapters in question.
It is hardly necessary to add that neither is there any other question of doctrine in our way. There is none about the nature of prophecy, for, to take an example, chapter 53, as a prophecy of Jesus Christ, is surely as great a marvel if yon date it from the Exile as if you date it from the age of Isaiah. And, in particular, let us understand that no question need be started about the ability of Gods Spirit to inspire a prophet to mention Cyrus by name one hundred and fifty years before Cyrus appeared. The question is not, Could a prophet have been so inspired?-to which question, were it put, our answer might only be, God is great!-but the question is, Was our prophet so inspired? does he himself offer evidence of the fact? Or, on the contrary, in naming Cyrus does he give himself out as a contemporary of Cyrus, who already saw the great Persian above the horizon? To this question only the writings under discussion can give us an answer. Let us see what they have to say.
Apart from the question of the date, no chapters in the Bible are interpreted with such complete unanimity as 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. They plainly set forth certain things as having already taken place-the Exile and Captivity, the ruin of Jerusalem, and the devastation of the Holy Land. Israel is addressed as having exhausted the time of her penalty, and is proclaimed to be ready for deliverance. Some of the people are comforted as being in despair because redemption does not draw near; others are exhorted to leave the city of their bondage, as if they were growing too familiar with its idolatrous life. Cyrus is named as their deliverer, and is pointed out as already called upon his career, and as blessed with success by Jehovah. It is also promised that he will immediately add Babylon to his conquests, and so set Gods people free.
Now all this is not predicted, as if from the standpoint of a previous century. It is nowhere said-as we should expect it to be said, if the prophecy had been uttered by Isaiah-that Assyria, the dominant world-power of Isaiahs day, was to disappear and Babylon to take her place; that then the Babylonians should lead the Jews into an exile which they had escaped at the hands of Assyria; and that after nearly seventy years of suffering God would raise up Cyrus as a deliverer.
There is none of this prediction, which we might fairly have expected had the prophecy been Isaiahs; because, however far Isaiah carries us into the future, he never fails to start from the circumstances of his own day. Still more significant, however-there is not even the kind of prediction that we find in Jeremiahs prophecies of the Exile, with which indeed it is most instructive to compare 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 Jeremiah also spoke of exile and deliverance, but it was always with the grammar of the future. He fairly and openly predicted both; and, let us especially remember, he did so with a meagreness of description, a reserve and reticence about details, which are simply unintelligible if 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 was written before his day, and by so well-known a prophet as Isaiah.
No: in the statements which our chapters make concerning the Exile and the condition of Israel under it, there is no prediction, not the slightest trace of that grammar of the future in which Jeremiahs prophecies are constantly uttered. But there is a direct appeal to the conscience of a people already long under the discipline of God; their circumstance of exile is taken for granted; there is a most vivid and delicate appreciation of their present fears and doubts, and to these the deliverer Cyrus is not only named, but introduced as an actual and notorious personage already upon the midway of his irresistible career.
These facts are more broadly based than just at first sight appears. You cannot turn their flank by the argument that Hebrew prophets were in the habit of employing in their predictions what is called “the prophetic perfect”-that is, that in the ardour of their conviction that certain things would take place they talked of these, as the flexibility of the Hebrew tenses allowed them to do, in the past or perfect as if the things had actually taken place. No such argument is possible in the case of the introduction of Cyrus. For it is not only that the prophesy, with what might be the mere ardour of vision, represents the Persian as already above the horizon and upon the flowing tide of victory; but that, in the course of a sober argument for the unique divinity of the God of Israel, which takes place throughout chapters 41-48, Cyrus, alive and irresistible, already accredited by success, and with Babylonia at his feet, is pointed out as the unmistakable proof that former prophecies for a deliverance for Israel are at last coming to pass. Cyrus, in short, is not presented as a prediction, but as the proof that a prediction is being fulfilled. Unless he had already appeared in flesh and blood, and was on the point of striking at Babylon, with all the prestige of unbroken victory, a great part of Isa 41:1-29 – Isa 48:1-22 would be utterly unintelligible.
This argument is so conclusive for the date of Second Isaiah, that it may be well to state it a little more in detail, even at the risk of anticipating some of the exposition of the text.
Among the Jews at the close of the Exile there appear to have been two classes. One class was hopeless of deliverance, and to their hearts is addressed such a prophecy as chapter 40: “Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people.” But there was another class, of opposite temperament, who had only too strong opinions on the subject of deliverance. In bondage to the letter of Scripture and to the great precedents of their history, these Jews appear to have insisted that the Deliverer to come must be a Jew, and a descendant of David. And the bent of much of the prophets urgency in chapter 45 is to persuade those pedants, that the Gentile Cyrus, who had appeared to be not only the biggest man of his age, but the very likely means of Israels redemption, was of Jehovahs own creation and calling. Does not such an argument necessarily imply that Cyrus was already present, an object of doubt and debate to earnest minds in Israel? Or are we to suppose that all this doubt and debate were foreseen, rehearsed, and answered one hundred and fifty years before the time by so famous a prophet as Isaiah, and that, in spite of his prediction and answer, the doubt and debate nevertheless took place in the minds of the very Israelites, who were most earnest students of ancient prophecy? The thing has only to be stated to be felt to be impossible.
But besides the pedants in Israel, there is apparent through these prophecies another body of men, against whom also Jehovah claims the actual Cyrus for His own. They are the priests and worshippers of the heathen idols. It is well known that the advent of Cyrus cast the Gentile religions of the time and their counsellors into confusion. The wisest priests were perplexed; the oracles of Greece and Asia Minor either were dumb when consulted about the Persian, or gave more than usually ambiguous answers. Over against this perplexity and despair of the heathen religions, our prophet confidently claims Cyrus for Jehovahs own. In a debate in chapter 41, in which he seeks to establish Jehovahs righteousness-that is, Jehovahs faithfulness to His word, and power to carry out His predictions – the prophet speaks of ancient prophecies which have come from Jehovah, and points to Cyrus as their fulfilment. It does not matter to us in the meantime what those prophecies were. They may have been certain of Jeremiahs predictions; we may be sure that they cannot have contained anything so definite as Cyrus name, or such a proof of Divine foresight must certainly have formed part of the prophets plea. It is enough that they could be quoted; our business is rather with the evidence which the prophet offers of their fulfilment. That evidence is Cyrus. Would it have been possible to refer the heathen to Cyrus as proof that those ancient prophecies were being fulfilled, unless Cyrus had been visible to the heathen, -unless the heathen had been beginning already to feel this Persian “from the sunrise” in all his weight of war? It is no esoteric doctrine which the prophet is unfolding to initiated Israelites about Cyrus. He is making an appeal to men of the world to face facts. Could he possibly have made such an appeal unless the facts had been there, unless Cyrus had been within the ken of “the natural man”? Unless Cyrus and his conquests were already historically present, the argument in 41-48 is unintelligible.
If this evidence for the exilic date 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 -for all these chapters hang together-required any additional support, it would find it in the fact that the prophet does not wholly treat of what is past and over, but makes some predictions as well. Cyrus is on the way of triumph, but Babylon has still to fall by his hand. Babylon has still to fall, before the exiles can go free. Now, if our prophet were predicting from the standpoint of one hundred and forty years before, why did he make this sharp distinction between two events which appeared so closely together? If he had both the advent of Cyrus and the fall of Babylon in his long perspective, why did he not use “the prophetic perfect” for both? That he speaks of the first as past and of the second as still to come, would most surely, if there had been no tradition the other way, have been accepted by all as sufficient evidence, that the advent of Cyrus was behind him and the fall of Babylon still in front of him, when he wrote these chapters.
Thus the earlier part, at least, 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 -that is, chapters 40-48-compels us to date it between 555, Cyruss advent, and 538, Babylons fall. But some think that we may still further narrow the limits. In Isa 41:25, Cyrus, whose own kingdom lay east of Babylonia, is described as invading Babylonia from the north. This, it has been thought, must refer to his union with the Medes in 549, and his threatened descent upon Mesopotamia from their quarter of the prophets horizon. If it be so, the possible years of our prophecy are reduced to eleven, 549-538. But even if we take the wider and more certain limit, 555 to 538, we may well say that there are very few chapters in the whole of the Old Testament whose date can be fixed so precisely as the date of chapters 40-48.
If what has been unfolded in the preceding paragraphs is recognised as the statement of the chapters themselves, it will be felt that further evidence of an exilic date is scarcely needed. And those, who are acquainted with the controversy upon the evidence furnished by the style and language of the prophecies, will admit how far short in decisiveness it falls of the arguments offered above. But we may fairly ask whether there is anything opposed to the conclusion we have reached, either, first, in the local colour of the prophecies: or, second, in their language; or, third, in their thought – anything which shows that they are more likely to have been Isaiahs than of exilic origin.
1. It has often been urged against the exilic date of these prophecies, that they wear so very little local colour, and one of the greatest of critics, Ewald, has felt himself, therefore, permitted to place their home, not in Babylonia, but in Egypt, while he maintains the exilic date. But, as we shall see in surveying the condition of the exiles, it was natural for the best among them, their psalmists and prophets, to have no eyes for the colours of Babylon. They lived inwardly; they were much more the inhabitants of their own broken hearts than of that gorgeous foreign land; when their thoughts rose out of themselves it was to seek immediately the far-away Zion. How little local colour is there in the writings of Ezekiel! 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 has even more to show; for indeed the absence of local colour from our prophecy has been greatly exaggerated. We shall find as we follow the exposition, break after break of Babylonian light and shadow falling across our path, -the temples, the idol-manufactories, the processions of images, the diviners and astrologers, the gods and altars especially cultivated by the characteristic mercantile spirit of the place; the shipping of that mart of nations, the crowds of her merchants; the glitter of many waters, and even that intolerable glare, which so frequently curses the skies of Mesopotamia. {Isa 49:10} The prophet speaks of the hills of his native land with just the same longing, that Ezekiel and a probable psalmist of the Exile {Psa 121:1-8} betray, -the homesickness of a highland-born man whose prison is on a flat, monotonous plain. The beasts he mentions have for the most part been recognised as familiar in Babylonia; and while the same cannot be said of the trees and plants he names, it has been observed that the passages, into which he brings them, are passages where his thoughts are fixed on the restoration to Palestine. Besides these, there are many delicate symptoms of the presence, before the prophet, of a people in a foreign land, engaged in commerce, but without political responsibilities, each of which, taken by itself, may be insufficient to convince, but the reiterated expression of which has even betrayed commentators, who lived too early for the theory of a second Isaiah, into the involuntary admission of an exilic authorship. It will perhaps startle some to hear John Calvin quoted on behalf of the exilic date of these prophecies. But let us read and consider this statement of his: “Some regard must be had to the time when this prophecy was uttered; for since the rank of the kingdom had been obliterated, and the name of the royal family had become mean and contemptible, during the captivity in Babylon, it might seem as if through the ruin of that family the truth of God had fallen into decay; and therefore he bids them contemplate by faith the throne of David, which had been cast down.”
2. What we have seen to be true of the local colour of our prophecy holds good also of its style and language. There is nothing in either of these to commit us to an Isaiah authorship, or to make an exilic date improbable; on the contrary, the language and style, while containing no stronger nor more frequent resemblances to the language and style of Isaiah than may be accounted for by the natural influence of so great a prophet upon his successors, are signalised by differences from his undisputed oracles, too constant, too subtle, and sometimes too sharp, to make it at all probable that the whole book came from the same man. On this point it is enough to refer our readers to the recent exhaustive and very able reviews of the evidence by Canon Cheyne in the second volume of his Commentary, and by Canon Driver in the last chapter of “Isaiah: His Life and Times,” and to quote the following words of so great an authority as Professor A. B. Davidson. After remarking on the difference in vocabulary of the two parts of the Book of Isaiah, he adds that it is not so much words in themselves as the peculiar uses and combinations of them, and especially “the peculiar articulation of sentences and the movement of the whole discourse, by which an impression is produced so unlike the impression produced by the earlier parts of the book.”
3. It is the same with the thought and doctrine of our prophecy. In this there is nothing to make the Isaian authorship probable, or an exilic date impossible. But, on the contrary, whether we regard the needs of the people or the analogies of the development of their religion, we find that, while everything suits the Exile, nearly everything is foreign both to the subjects and to the methods of Isaiah. We shall observe the items of this as we go along, but one of them may be mentioned here (it will afterwards require a chapter to itself), our prophets use of the terms righteous and righteousness. No one, who has carefully studied the meaning which these terms bear in the authentic oracles of Isaiah, and the use to which they are put in the prophecies under discussion, can fail to find in the difference a striking corroboration of our argument-that the latter were composed by a different mind than Isaiahs, speaking to a different generation.
To sum up this whole argument. We have seen that there is no evidence in the Book of Isaiah to prove that it was all by himself, but much testimony which points to a plurality of authors; that chapters 40-66 nowhere assert themselves to be by Isaiah; and that there is no other well-grounded claim of Scripture or doctrine on behalf of his authorship. We have then shown that chapters 40-48 do not only present the Exile as if nearly finished and Cyrus as if already come, while the fall of Babylon is still future; but that it is essential to one of their main arguments that Cyrus should be standing before Israel and the world, as a successful warrior, on his way to attack Babylon. That led us to date these chapters between 555 and 538. Turning then to other evidence, -the local colour they show, their language and style, and their theology, -we have found nothing which conflicts with that date, but, on the contrary, a very great deal, which much more agrees with it than with the date, or with the authorship, of Isaiah.
It will be observed, however, that the question has been limited to the earlier chapters of the twenty-seven under discussion, viz., to 40-48 Does the same conclusion hold good of 49 to 66? This can be properly discovered only as we closely follow their exposition; it is enough in the meantime to have got firm footing on the Exile. We can feel our way bit by bit from this standpoint onwards. Let us now merely anticipate the main features of the rest of the prophecy.
A new section has been marked by many as beginning with chapter 49. This is because chapter 48, concludes with a refrain: “There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked,” which occurs again at the end of chapter 57, and because with chapter 48. Babylon and Cyrus drop out of sight. But the circumstances are still those of exile, and, as Professor Davidson remarks, chapter 49 is parallel in thought to chapter 42, and also takes for granted the restoration of Israel in chapter 48, proceeding naturally from that to the statement of Israels world-mission. Apart from the alternation of passages dealing with the Servant of the Lord, and passages whose subject is Zion – an alternation which begins pretty early in the prophecy, and has suggested to some its composition out of two different writings-the first real break in the sequence occurs at Isa 52:13, where the prophecy of the sin-bearing Servant is introduced. By most critics this is held to be an insertion, for Isa 54:1 follows naturally upon Isa 52:12, though it is undeniable that there is also some association between Isa 52:13 – Isa 53:1-12, and chapter 54. In chapters 54-55, we are evidently still in exile. It is in commenting on a verse of these chapters that Calvin makes the admission of exilic origin which has been quoted above.
A number of short prophecies now follow, till the end of chapter 59 is reached. These, as we shall see, make it extremely difficult to believe in the original unity of “Second Isaiah.” Some of them, it is true, lie in evident circumstance of exile; but others are undoubtedly of earlier date, reflecting the scenery of Palestine, and the habits of the people in their political independence, with Jehovahs judgment-cloud still unburst, but lowering. Such is Isa 56:9 – Isa 57:1-21, which regards the Exile as still to come, quotes the natural features of Palestine, and charges the Jews with unbelieving diplomacy-a charge not possible against them when they were in captivity. But others of these short prophecies are, in the opinion of some critics, post-exilic. Cheyne assigns chapter 56 to after the Return, when the temple was standing, and the duty of holding fasts and sabbaths could be enforced, as it was enforced by Nehemiah. I shall give, when we reach the passage, my reasons for doubting his conclusion. The chapter seems to me as likely to have been written upon the eve of the Return as after the Return had taken place.
Chapter 57, the eighteenth of our twenty-seven chapters, closes with the same refrain as chapter 48, the ninth of the series: “There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.” Chapter 58, has, therefore, been regarded, as beginning the third great division of the prophecy. But here again, while there is certainly an advance in the treatment of the subject, and the prophet talks less of the redemption of the Jews and more of the glory of the restoration of Zion, the point of transition is very difficult to mark. Some critics regard chapter 58, as post-exilic; but when we come to it we shall find a number of reasons for supposing it to belong, just as much as Ezekiel, to the Exile. Chapter 59 is perhaps the most difficult portion of all, because it makes the Jews responsible for civic justice in a way they could hardly be conceived to be in exile, and yet speaks, in the language of other portions of “Second Isaiah,” of a deliverance that cannot well be other than the deliverance from exile. We shall find in this chapter likely marks of the fusion of two distinct addresses, making the conclusion probable that it is Israels earlier conscience which we catch here, following her into the days of exile, and reciting her former guilt just before pardon is assured. Chapters 60, 61, and 62 are certainly exilic. The inimitable prophecy, Isa 63:1-6, complete within itself, and unique in its beauty, is either a promise given just before the deliverance from a long captivity of Israel under heathen nations (Isa 63:4), or an exultant song of triumph immediately after such a deliverance has taken place. Isa 63:7 – Isa 64:1-12 implies a ruined temple (Isa 63:10), but bears no traces of the writer being in exile. It has been assigned to the period of the first attempts to rebuild Jerusalem after the Return. Chapter 65 has been assigned to the same date, and its local colour interpreted as that of Palestine. But we shall find the colour to be just as probably that of Babylon, and again I do not see any certain proofs of a post-exilic date. Chapter 66, however, betrays more evidence of being written after the Return. It divides into two parts. In Isa 66:1-4 the temple is still unbuilt, but the building would seem to be already begun. In Isa 66:5-24, the arrival of the Jews in Palestine, the resumption of the life of the sacred community, and the disappointments of the returned at the first meagre results, seem to be implied. And the music of the book dies out in tones of warning, that sin still hinders the Lords work with His people.
This rapid survey has made two things sufficiently clear. First, that while the bulk of chapters 40-66 was composed in Babylonia during the Exile of the Jews, there are considerable portions which date from before the Exile, and betray a Palestinian origin; and one or two smaller pieces that seem-rather less evidently, however-to take for granted the Return from the Exile. But, secondly, all these pieces, which it seems necessary to assign to different epochs and authors, have been arranged so as to exhibit a certain order and progress-an order, more or less observed, of date, and a progress very apparent (as we shall see in the course of exposition) of thought and of clearness in definition. The largest portion, of whose unity we are assured and whose date we can fix, is found at the beginning. Chapters 40-48 are certainly by one hand, and may be dated, as we have seen, between 555 and 538-the period of Cyrus approach to take Babylon. There the interest in Cyrus ceases, and the thought of the redemption from Babylon is mainly replaced by that of the subsequent Return. Along with these lines, we shall discover a development in the prophecys great doctrine of the Servant of Jehovah. But even this dies away, as if the experience of suffering and discipline were being replaced by that of return and restoration; and it is Zion in her glory, and the spiritual mission of the people, and the vengeance of the Lord, and the building of the temple, and a number of practical details in the life and worship of the restored community, which fill up the remainder of the book, along with a few echoes from pre-exilic times. Can we escape feeling in all this a definite design and arrangement, which fails to be absolutely perfect, probably, from the nature of the materials at the arrangers disposal?
We are, therefore, justified in coming to the provisional conclusion, that Second Isaiah is not a unity, in so far as it consists of a number of pieces by different men, whom God raised up at various times before, during, and after the Exile, to comfort and exhort amid the shifting circumstance and tempers of His people; but that it is a unity, in so far as these pieces have been gathered together by an editor very soon after the Return from the Exile, in an order as regular both in point of time and subject as the somewhat mixed material would permit. It is in this sense that throughout this volume we shall talk of “our prophet,” or “the prophet”; up to chapter 49, at least, we shall feel that the expression is literally true; after that it is rather an editorial than an original unity which is apparent. In this question of unity the dramatic style of the prophecy forms, no doubt, the greatest difficulty. Who shall dare to determine of the many soliloquies, apostrophes, lyrics, and other pieces that are here gathered, often in want of any connection save that of dramatic grouping and a certain sympathy of temper, whether they are by the same author or have been collected from several origins? We must be content to leave the matter uncertain. One great reason, which we have not yet quoted, for supposing that the whole prophecy is not by one man, is that if it had been his name would certainly have come down with it. Do not let it be thought that such a conclusion, as we have been led to, is merely a dogma of modern criticism. Here, if anywhere, the critic is but the patient student of Scripture, searching for the testimony of the sacred text about itself, and formulating that. If it be found that such a testimony conflicts with ecclesiastical tradition, however ancient and universal, so much the worse for tradition. In Protestant circles, at least, we have no choice. Litera Scripta manet. When we know that the only evidence for the Isaiah authorship of chapters 40-66 is tradition, supported by an unthinking interpretation of New Testament citations, while the whole testimony of these Scriptures themselves denies them to be Isaiahs, we cannot help making our choice, and accepting the testimony of Scripture. Do we find them any the less wonderful or Divine? Do they comfort less? Do they speak with less power to conscience? Do they testify with more uncertain voice to our Lord and Saviour? It will be the task of the following pages to show that, interpreted in connection with the history out of which they themselves say that Gods Spirit drew them, these twenty-seven chapters become only more prophetic of Christ, and more comforting and instructive to men, than they were before.
But the remarkable fact is that anciently tradition itself appears to have agreed with the results of modern scholarship. The original place of the Book of Isaiah in the Jewish canon seems to have been after both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, a fact which goes to prove that it did not reach completion till a later date than the works of these two prophets of the Exile.
If now it be asked, Why should a series of prophecies written in the Exile be attached to the authentic works of Isaiah? that is a fair question, and one which the supporters of the exilic authorship have the duty laid upon them of endeavouring to answer. Fortunately they are not under the necessity of falling back, for want of other reasons, on the supposition that this attachment was due to the error of some scribe, or to the custom which ancient writers practised of filling up any part of a volume, that remained blank when one book is finished, with the writing of any other that would fit the place. The first of these reasons is too accidental, the second too artificial, in face of the undoubted sympathy which exists among all parts of the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah himself plainly prophesied of an exile longer than his own generation experienced, and prophesied of a return from it (chapter 11). We saw no reason to dispute his claims to the predictions about Babylon in chapters 21 and 39 Isaiahs, too, more than any other prophets, were those great and final hopes of the Old Testament – the survival of Israel and the gathering of the Gentiles to the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem. But it is for the express purpose of emphasising the immediate fulfilment of such ancient predictions, that 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 were published. Although our prophet has “new things to publish,” his first business is to show that the “former things have come to pass,” especially the Exile, the survival of a Remnant, the sending of a Deliverer, the doom of Babylon. What more natural than to attach to his utterances those prophecies, of which the events he pointed to were the vindication and fulfilment? The attachment was the more easy to arrange that the authentic prophecies had not passed from Isaiahs hand in a fixed form. They do not bear those marks of their authors own editing, which are borne by the prophecies both of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It is impossible to be dogmatic on the point. But these facts-that our chapters are concerned, as no other Scriptures are, with the fulfilment of previous prophecies; that it is the prophecies of Isaiah which are the original and fullest prediction of the events they are busy with; and that the form, in which Isaiahs prophecies are handed down, did not preclude additions of this kind to them-contribute very evident reasons why 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24, though written in the Exile, should be attached to Isa 1:1-31; Isa 2:1-22; Isa 3:1-26; Isa 4:1-6; Isa 5:1-30; Isa 6:1-13; Isa 7:1-25; Isa 8:1-22; Isa 9:1-21; Isa 10:1-34; Isa 11:1-16; Isa 12:1-6; Isa 13:1-22; Isa 14:1-32; Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14; Isa 17:1-14; Isa 18:1-7; Isa 19:1-25; Isa 20:1-6; Isa 21:1-17; Isa 22:1-25; Isa 23:1-18; Isa 24:1-23; Isa 25:1-12; Isa 26:1-21; Isa 27:1-13; Isa 28:1-29; Isa 29:1-24; Isa 30:1-33; Isa 31:1-9; Isa 32:1-20; Isa 33:1-24; Isa 34:1-17; Isa 35:1-10; Isa 36:1-22; Isa 37:1-38; Isa 38:1-22; Isa 39:1-8.
Thus we present a theory of the exilic authorship 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 within itself complete and consistent, suited to all parts of the evidence, and not opposed by the authority of any part of Scripture. In consequence of its conclusion, our duty, before proceeding to the exposition of the chapters, is twofold: first, to connect the time of Isaiah with the period of the Captivity, and then to sketch the condition of Israel in Exile. This we shall undertake in the next three chapters.
NOTE TO CHAPTER I
Readers may wish to have a reference to other passages of this part, in which the questions of the date, authorship and structure 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; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24, are discussed. See: Introduction to Book III; opening paragraphs of chapter 18, and of chapter 19, etc.
CHAPTER II
FROM ISAIAH TO THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
701-587 B.C.
AT first sight, the circumstances of Judah in the last ten years of the seventh century present a strong resemblance to her fortunes in the last ten years of the eighth. The empire of the world, to which she belongs, is again divided between Egypt and a Mesopotamian power. Syria is again the field of their doubtful battle, and the question, to which of the two shall homage be paid, still forms the politics of all her states. Judah still vacillates, intrigues, and draws down on herself the wrath of the North by her treaties with Egypt. Again there is a great prophet and statesman, whose concern is righteousness, who exposes both the immorality of his people and the folly of their policies, and who summons the “evil from the North” as Gods scourge upon Israel: Isaiah has been succeeded by Jeremiah. And, as if to complete the analogy, the nation has once more passed through a puritan reformation. Josiah has, even more thoroughly than Hezekiah, effected the disestablishment of idols.
Beneath this circumstantial resemblance, however, there is one fundamental difference. The strength of Isaiahs preaching was bent, especially during the closing years of the century, to establish the inviolableness of Jerusalem. Against the threats of the Assyrian siege, and in spite of his own more formidable conscience of his peoples corruption, Isaiah persisted that Zion should not be taken, and that the people, though cut down to their roots, should remain planted in the land, -the stock of an imperial nation in the latter days. This prophecy was vindicated by the marvellous relief of Jerusalem on the apparent eve of her capture in 701. But its echoes had not yet died away, when Jeremiah to his generation delivered the very opposite message. Round him the popular prophets babbled by rote Isaiahs ancient assurances about Zion. Their soft, monotonous repetitions lapped pleasantly upon the immovable self-confidence of the people. But Jeremiah called down the storm. Even while prosperity seemed to give him the lie, he predicted the speedy ruin of Temple and City, and summoned Judahs enemies against her in the name of the God on whose former word she relied for peace. The contrast between the two great prophets grows most dramatic in their conduct during the respective sieges, of which each was the central figure. Isaiah, alone steadfast in a city of despair, defying the taunts of the heathen, rekindling within the dispirited defenders, whom the enemy sought to bribe to desertion, the passions of patriotism and religion, proclaiming always, as with the voice of a trumpet, that Zion must stand inviolate; Jeremiah, on the contrary, declaring the futility of resistance, counselling each citizen to save his own life from the ruin of the state, in treaty with the enemy, and even arrested as a deserter, -these two contrasting figures and attitudes gather up the difference which the century had wrought in the fortunes of the City of God. And so, while in 701 Jerusalem triumphed in the Lord by the sudden raising of the Assyrian siege, three years after the next century was out she twice succumbed to the Assyrians successor, and nine years later was totally destroyed.
What is the reason of this difference which a century sufficed to work? Why was the sacredness of Judahs shrine not as much an article of Jeremiahs as of Isaiahs creed, -as much an element of Divine providence in 600 as in 700 B.C.? This is not a very hard question to answer, if we keep in our regard two things, -firstly, the moral condition of the people, and, secondly, the necessities of the spiritual religion, which was identified for the time with their fortunes.
The Israel which was delivered into captivity at the word of Jeremiah was a people at once more hardened and more exhausted than the Israel, which, in spite of its sin, Isaiahs efforts had succeeded in preserving upon its own land. A century had come and gone of further grace and opportunity, but the grace had been resisted, the opportunity abused, and the people stood more guilty and more wilful than ever before God. Even clearer, however, than the deserts of the people was the need of their religion. That local and temporary victory-after all, only the relief of a mountain fortress and a tribal shrine-with which Isaiah had identified the will and honour of Almighty God, could not be the climax of the history of a spiritual religion. It was impossible for monotheism to rest on so narrow and material a security as that. The faith, which was to overcome the world, could not be satisfied with a merely national triumph. This time must arrive-were it only by the ordinary progress of the years and unhastened by human guilt-for faith and piety to be weaned from the forms of an earthly temple, however sacred: for the individual-after all, the real unit of religion-to be rendered independent of the community and cast upon his God alone; and for this people, to whom the oracles of the living God had been entrusted, to be led out from the selfish pride of guarding these for their own honour-to be led out, were it through the breaches of their hitherto inviolate walls, and amid the smoke of all that was most sacred to them, so that in level contact with mankind they might learn to communicate their glorious trust. Therefore, while the Exile was undoubtedly the penance, which an often-spared but ever more obdurate people had to pay for their accumulated sins, it was also for the meek and the pure-hearted in Israel a step upwards even from the faith and the results of Isaiah-perhaps the most effectual step which Israels religion ever took. Schultz has finely said: “The proper tragedy of history-doom required by long-gathering guilt, and launched upon a generation which for itself is really turning towards good-is most strikingly consummated in the Exile.” Yes: but this is only half the truth. The accomplishment of the moral tragedy is really but one incident in a religious epic-the development of a spiritual faith. Long-delaying Nemesis overtakes at last the sinners, but the shock of the blows, which beat the guilty nation into captivity, releases their religion from its material bonds. Israel on the way to Exile is on the way to become Israel after the Spirit.
With these principles to guide us, let us now, for a little, thread our way through the crowded details of the decline and fall of the Jewish state.
Isaiahs own age had foreboded the necessity of exile for Judah. There was the great precedent of Samaria, and Judahs sin was not less than her sisters. When the authorities at Jerusalem wished to put Jeremiah to death for the heresy of predicting the ruin of the sacred city, it was pointed out in his defence that a similar prediction had been made by Micah, the contemporary of Isaiah. And how much had happened since then! The triumph of Jehovah in 701, the stronger faith and purer practice, which had followed as long as Hezekiah reigned, gave way to an idolatrous reaction under his successor Manasseh. This reaction, while it increased the guilt of the people, by no means diminished their religious fear. They carried into it the conscience of their former puritanism-diseased, we might say delirious, but not dead. Men felt their sin and feared Heavens wrath, and rushed headlong into the gross and fanatic exercises of idolatry, in order to wipe away the one and avert the other. It availed nothing. After an absence of thirty years the Assyrian arms returned in full strength, and Manasseh himself was carried captive across the Euphrates. But penitence revived, and for a time it appeared as if it were to be at last valid for salvation. Israel made huge strides towards their ideal life of a good conscience and outward prosperity. Josiah, the pious, came to the throne. The Book of the Law was discovered in 621, and king and people rallied to its summons with the utmost loyalty. All the nation “stood to the covenant.” The single sanctuary was vindicated, the high places destroyed, the land purged of idols. There were no great military triumphs but Assyria, so long the accepted scourge of God, gave signs of breaking up; and we can feel the vigour and self-confidence, induced by years of prosperity, in Josiahs ambition to extend his borders, and especially in his daring assault upon Necho of Egypt at Megiddo, when Necho passed north to the invasion of Assyria. Altogether, it was a people that imagined itself righteous, and counted upon a righteous God. In such days who could dream of exile?
But in 608 the ideal was shivered. Israel was threshed at Megiddo, and Josiah, the king after Gods own heart, was slain on the field. And then happened what happened at other times in Israels history when disillusion of this kind came down. The nation fell asunder into the elements of which it was ever so strange a composition. The masses, whose conscience did not rise beyond the mere performance of the Law, nor their view of God higher than that of a patron of the state, bound by His covenant to reward with material success the loyalty of His clients, were disappointed with the results of their service and of His providence. Being a new generation from Manassehs time, they thought to give the strange gods another turn. The idols were brought back, and after the discredit which righteousness received at Megiddo, it would appear that social injustice and crime of many kinds dared to be very bold. Jehoahaz, who reigned for three months after Josiah, and Jehoiakim, who succeeded him, were idolaters, The loftier few, like Jeremiah, had never been deceived by the peoples outward allegiance to the Temple or the Law, nor considered it valid either to atone for the past or now to fulfil the holy demands of Jehovah; and were confirmed by the disaster at Megiddo, and the consequent reaction to idolatry, in the stern and hopeless views of the people which they had always entertained. They kept reiterating a speedy captivity. Between these parties stood the formal successors of earlier prophets, so much the slaves of tradition that they had neither conscience for their peoples sins nor understanding of the world around them, but could only affirm in the strength of ancient oracles that Zion should not be destroyed. Strange is it to see how this party, building upon the promises of Jehovah through a prophet like Isaiah, should be taken advantage of by the idolaters, but scouted by Jehovahs own servants. Thus they mingle and conflict. Who indeed can distinguish all the elements of so ancient and so rich a life, as they chase, overtake, and wrestle with each other, hurrying down the rapids to the final cataract? Let us leave them for a moment, while we mark the catastrophe itself. They will be more easily distinguished in the calm below.
It was from the North that Jeremiah summoned the vengeance of God upon Judah. In his earlier threats he might have meant the Scythians; but by 605, when Nebuchadrezzar, Nabopolassar of Babylons son, the rising general of the age, defeated Pharaoh at Carchemish, all men accepted Jeremiahs nomination for this successor of Assyria in the lordship of Western Asia. From Carchemish Nebuchadrezzar overran Syria. Jehoiakim paid tribute to him, and Judah at last felt the grip of the hand that was to drag her into exile. Jehoiakim attempted to throw it off in 602; but, after harassing him for four years by means of some allies, Nebuchadrezzar took his capital, executed him, suffered Jehoiachin, his successor, to reign only three months, took Jerusalem a second time, and carried off to Babylon the first great portion of the people. This was in 598, only ten years from the death of Josiah, and twenty-one from the discovery of the Book of the Law.
The exact numbers of this first captivity of the Jews it is impossible to determine. The annalist sets the soldiers at seven thousand, the smiths and craftsmen at one thousand; so that, making allowance for other classes whom he mentions, the grown men must alone have been over ten thousand; but how many women went, and how many children-the most important factor for the period of the Exile with which we have to deal-it is impossible to estimate. The total number of persons can scarcely have been less than twenty-five thousand. More important, however, than their number was the quality of these exiles, and this we can easily appreciate. The royal family and the court were taken, a large number of influential persons, “the mighty men of the land,” or what must have been nearly all the fighting men, with the necessary artificers; priests also went, Ezekiel among them, and probably representatives of other classes not mentioned by the annalist. That this was the virtue and flower of the nation is proved by a double witness. Not only did the citizens, for the remaining ten years of Jerusalems life, look to these exiles for her deliverance, but Jeremiah himself counted them the sound half of Israel-“a basket of good figs,” as he expressed it, beside “a basket of bad ones.” They were at least under discipline, but the remnant of Jerusalem persisted in the wilfulness of the past.
For although Jeremiah remained in the city, and the house of David and a considerable population, and although Jeremiah himself held a higher position in public esteem since the vindication of his word by the events of 598, yet he could not be blind to the unchanged character of the people, and the thorough doom which their last respite had only more evidently proved to be inevitable. Gangs of false prophets, both at home and among the exiles, might predict a speedy return. All the Jewish ability of intrigue, with the lavish promises of Egypt and frequent embassies from other nations, might work for the overthrow of Babylon. But Jeremiah and Ezekiel knew better. Across the distance which now separated them they chanted, as it were in antiphon, the alternate strophes of Judahs dirge. Jeremiah bade the exiles not to remember Zion, but “let them settle down,” he said, “into the life of the land they are in, building houses, planting gardens, and begetting children, and seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto Jehovah for it, for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace-the Exile shall last seventy years.” And as Jeremiah in Zion blessed Babylon, so Ezekiel in Babylon cursed Zion, thundering back that Jerusalem must be utterly wasted through siege and famine, pestilence and captivity. There is no rush of hope through Ezekiel. His expectations are all distant. He lives either in memory or in cold fancy. His pictures of restoration are too elaborate to mean speedy fulfilment. They are the work of a man with time on his hands; one does not build so colossally for tomorrow. Thus reinforced from abroad, Jeremiah proclaimed Nebuchadrezzar as “the servant of Jehovah,” and summoned him to work Jehovahs doom upon the city. The predicted blockade came in the ninth year of Zedekiah. The false hopes which still sustained the people, their trust in Egypt, the arrival of an Egyptian army in result of their intrigue, as well as all their piteous bravery, only afforded time for the fulfilment of the terrible details of their penalty. For nearly eighteen months the siege closed in-months of famine and pestilence, of faction and quarrel and falling away to the enemy. Then Jerusalem broke up. The besiegers gained the northern suburb and stormed the middle gate. Zedekiah and the army burst their lines only to be captured on an aimless flight at Jericho. A few weeks more, and a forlorn defence by civilians of the interior parts of the city was at last overwhelmed. The exasperated besiegers gave her up to fire-“the house of Jehovah, the kings house, and every great house”-and tore to the stones the stout walls that resisted the conflagration. As the city was levelled, so the citizens were dispersed. A great number-and among them the kings family-were put to death. The king himself was blinded, and, along with a host of his subjects, impossible for us to estimate, and with all the temple furniture, was carried to Babylon. A few peasants were left to cultivate the land; a few superior personages-perhaps such as, with Jeremiah, had favoured the Babylonians, and Jeremiah was among them-were left at Mizpah under a Jewish viceroy. It was a poor apparition of a state; but, as if the very ghost of Israel must be chased from the land, even this small community was broken up, and almost every one of its members fled to Egypt. The Exile was complete.
CHAPTER III
WHAT ISRAEL TOOK INTO EXILE
BEFORE we follow the captives along the roads that lead to exile, we may take account of the spiritual goods which they carried with them, and were to realise in their retirement. Never in all history did paupers of this world go forth more richly laden with the treasures of heaven.
1. First of all, we must emphasise and define their monotheism. We must emphasise it as against those who would fain persuade us that Israels monotheism was for the most part the product of the Exile; we must analyse its contents and define its limits among the people, if we would appreciate the extent to which it spread and the peculiar temper which it assumed, as set forth in the prophecy we are about to study.
Idolatry was by no means dead in Israel at the fall of Jerusalem. On the contrary, during the last years which the nation spent within those sacred walls, that had been so miraculously preserved in the sight of the world by Jehovah, idolatry increased, and to the end remained as determined and fanatic as the peoples defence of Jehovahs own temple. The Jews who fled to Egypt applied themselves to the worship of the Queen of Heaven, in spite of all the remonstrances of Jeremiah; and him they carried with them, not because they listened to him as the prophet of the One True God, but superstitiously, as if he were a pledge of the favour of one of the many gods, whom they were anxious to propitiate. And the earliest effort, upon which we shall have to follow our own prophet, is the effort to crush the worship of images among the Babylonian exiles. Yet when Israel returned from Babylon the people were wholly monotheist; when Jerusalem was rebuilt no idol came back to her.
That this great change was mainly the result of the residence in Babylon and of truths learned there, must be denied by all who remember the creed and doctrine about God, which in their literature the people carried with them into exile. The law was already written, and the whole nation had sworn to it: “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God; Jehovah is One, and thou shalt worship Jehovah thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.” These words, it is true, may be so strictly interpreted as to mean no more than that there was one God for Israel: other gods might exist, but Jehovah was Sole Deity for His people. It is maintained that such a view receives some support from the custom of prophets, who, while they affirmed Jehovahs supremacy, talked of other gods as if they were real existences. But argument from this habit of the prophets is precarious: such a mode of speech may have been a mere accommodation to a popular point of view. And, surely, we have only to recall what Isaiah and Jeremiah had uttered concerning Jehovahs Godhead, to be persuaded that Israels monotheism, before the beginning of the Exile, was a far more broad and spiritual faith than the mere belief that Jehovah was the Sovereign Deity of the nation, or the satisfaction of the desires of Jewish hearts alone. Righteousness was not coincident with Israels life and interest; righteousness was universally supreme, and it was in righteousness that Isaiah saw Jehovah exalted. There is no more prevailing witness to the unity of God than the conscience, which in this matter takes far precedence of the intellect; and it was on the testimony of conscience that the prophets based Israels monotheism. Yet they did not omit to enlist the reason as well. Isaiah and Jeremiah delight to draw deductions from the reasonableness of Jehovahs working in nature to the reasonableness of His processes in history, -analogies which could not fail to impress both intellect and imagination with the fact that men inhabit a universe, that One is the will and mind which works in all things. But to this training of conscience and reason, the Jews, at the beginning of the Exile, felt the addition of another considerable influence. Their history lay at last complete, and their conscience was at leisure from the making of its details to survey it as a whole. That long past, seen now by undazzled eyes from under the shadow of exile, presented through all its changing fortunes a single and definite course. One was the intention of it, one its judgment from first to last. The Jew saw in it nothing but righteousness, the quality of a God, who spake the same word from the beginning, who never broke His word, and who at last had summoned to its fulfilment the greatest of the world-powers. In those historical books, which were collected and edited during the Exile, we observe each of the kings and generations of Israel, in their turn, confronted with the same high standard of fidelity to the One True God and His holy Law. The regularity and rigour, with which they are thus judged, have been condemned by some critics as an arbitrary and unfair application of the standard of a later faith to the conduct of ruder and less responsible ages. But, apart from the question of historical accuracy, we cannot fail to remark that this method of writing history is at least instinct with the Oneness of God, and the unvarying validity of His Law from generation to generation. Israels God was the same, their conscience told them, down all their history; but now as He summoned one after another of the great world-powers to do His bidding, -Assyria, Babylon, Persia, -how universal did He prove His dominion to be! Unchanging through all time, He was surely omnipotent through all space.
This short review-in which, for the sake of getting a complete view of our subject, we have anticipated a little-has shown that Israel had enough within themselves, in the teaching of their prophets and in the lessons of their own history, to account for that consummate expression of Jehovahs Godhead, which is contained in our prophet, and to which every one allows the character of an absolute monotheism. We shall find this, it is true, to be higher and more comprehensive than anything which is said about God in pre-exilic Scriptures. The prophet argues the claims of Jehovah, not only with the ardour that is born of faith, but often with the scorn which indicates the intellect at work. It is monotheism, treated not only as a practical belief or a religious duty, but as a necessary truth of reason; not only as the secret of faith and the special experience of Israel, but also as an essential conviction of human nature, so that not to believe in One God is a thing irrational and absurd for Gentiles as well as Jews. Gods infinitude in the works of creation, His universal providence in history, are preached with greater power than ever before; and the gods of the nations are treated as things, in whose existence no reasonable person can possibly believe. In short, our great prophet of the Exile has already learned to obey the law of Deuteronomy as it was expounded by Christ. Deuteronomy says, “Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.” Christ added, “and with all thy mind.” This was what our prophet did. He held his monotheism” with all his mind.” We shall find him conscious of it, not only as a religious affection, but as a necessary intellectual conviction; which if a man has not, he is less than a man. Hence the scorn which he pours upon the idols and mythologies of his conquerors. Beside his tyrants, though in physical strength he was but a worm to them, the Jew felt that he walked, by virtue of his faith in One God, their intellectual master.
We shall see all this illustrated later on. Meantime, what we are concerned to show is that there is enough to account for this high faith within Israel themselves-in their prophecy and in the lessons of their history. And where indeed are we to be expected to go in search of the sources of Israels monotheism, if not to themselves? To the Babylonians? The Babylonians had nothing spiritual to teach to Israel; our prophet regards them with scorn. To the Persians, who broke across Israels horizon with Cyrus? Our prophets high statement of monotheism is of earlier date than the advent of Cyrus to Babylon. Nor did Cyrus, when he came, give any help to the faith, for in his public edicts he owned the gods of Babylon and the God of Israel with equal care and equal policy. It was not because Cyrus and his Persians were monotheists, that our prophet saw the sovereignty of Jehovah vindicated, but it was because Jehovah was sovereign that the prophet knew the Persians would serve His holy purposes.
2. But if in Deuteronomy the exiles carried with them the Law of the One God, they preserved in Jeremiahs writings what may be called the charter of the individual man. Jeremiah had found religion in Judah a public and a national affair. The individual derived his spiritual value only from being a member of the nation, and through the public exercises of the national faith. But, partly by his own religious experience, and partly by the course of events, Jeremiah was enabled to accomplish what may be justly described as the vindication of the individual. Of his own separate value before God, and of his right of access to his Maker apart from the nation, Jeremiah himself was conscious, having belonged to God before he belonged to his mother, his family, or his nation. “Before I found thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest out of the womb I consecrated thee.” His whole life was but the lesson of how one man can be for God and all the nation on the other side. And it was in the strength of this solitary experience, that he insisted, in his famous thirty-first chapter, on the individual responsibility of man and on every mans immediate communication with Gods Spirit; and that, when the ruin of the state was imminent, he advised each of his friends to “take his own life” out of it “for a prey.” {Jeremiah 65} But Jeremiahs doctrine of the religious value and independence of the individual had a complement. Though the prophet felt so keenly his separate responsibility and right of access to God, and his religious independence of the people, he nevertheless clave to the people with all his heart. He was not, like some other prophets, outside the doom he preached. He might have saved himself, for he had many offers from the Babylonians. But he chose to suffer with his people-he, the saint of God, with the idolaters. More than that, it may be said that Jeremiah suffered for the people. It was not they, with their dead conscience and careless mind, but he, with his tender conscience and breaking heart, who bore the reproach of their sins, the anger of the Lord, and all the agonising knowledge of his countrys inevitable doom. In Jeremiah one man did suffer for the people.
In our prophecy, which is absorbed with the deliverance of the nation as a whole, there was, of course, no occasion to develop Jeremiahs remarkable suggestions about each individual soul of man. In fact, these suggestions were germs, which remained uncultivated in Israel till Christs time. Jeremiah himself uttered them, not as demands for the moment, but as ideals that would only be realised when the New Covenant was made. Our prophecy has nothing to say about them. But that figure, which Jeremiahs life presented, of One Individual-of One Individual standing in moral solitude over against the whole nation, and in a sense suffering for the nation, can hardly have been absent from the influences, which moulded the marvellous confession of the people in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where they see the solitary servant of God on one side and themselves on the other, “and Jehovah made to light on him the iniquities of us all.” It is true that the exiles themselves had some consciousness of suffering for others. “Our fathers,” cried a voice in their midst, when Jerusalem broke up, “Our fathers have sinned, and we have borne their iniquities.” But Jeremiah had been a willing sufferer for his people; and the fifty-third chapter is, as we shall see, more like his way of bearing his generations guilt for loves sake than their way of bearing their fathers guilt in the inevitable entail of sin.
3. To these beliefs in the unity of God, the religious worth of the individual, and the virtue of his self-sacrifice, we must add some experiences of scarcely less value rising out of the destruction of the material and political forms-the temple, the city, the monarchy-with which the faith of Israel had been so long identified.
Without this destruction, it is safe to say, those beliefs could not have assumed their purest form. Take, for instance, the belief in the unity of God. There is no doubt that this belief was immensely helped in Israel by the abolition of all the provincial sanctuaries under Josiah, by the limitation of Divine worship to one temple and of valid sacrifice to one altar. But yet it was well that this temple should enjoy its singular rights for only thirty years and then be destroyed. For a monotheism, however lofty, which depended upon the existence of any shrine, however gloriously vindicated by Divine providence, was not a purely spiritual faith. Or, again, take the individual. The individual could not realise how truly he himself was the highest temple of God, and Gods most pleasing sacrifice a broken and a contrite heart, till the routine of legal sacrifice was interrupted and the ancient altar torn down. Or, once more, take that high, ultimate doctrine of sacrifice, that the most inspiring thing for men, the most effectual propitiation before God, is the self-devotion and offering up of a free and reasonable soul, the righteous for the unrighteous-how could common Jews have adequately learned that truth, in days when, according to immemorial practice, the bodies of bulls and goats bled daily on the one valid altar? The city and temple, therefore, went up in flames that Israel might learn that God is a Spirit, and dwelleth not in a house made with hands; that men are His temple, and their hearts the sacrifices well-pleasing in His sight; and that beyond the bodies and blood of beasts, with their daily necessity of being offered, He was preparing for them another Sacrifice, of perpetual and universal power, in the voluntary sufferings of His own holy Servant. It was for this Servant, too, that the monarchy, as it were, abdicated, yielding up to Him all its title to represent Jehovah and to save and rule Jehovahs people.
4. Again, as we have already hinted, the fall of the state and city of Jerusalem gave scope to Israels missionary career. The conviction, that that had inspired many of Isaiahs assertions of the inviolableness of Zion, was the conviction that, if Zion were overthrown and the last remnant of Israel uprooted from the land, there must necessarily follow the extinction of the only true testimony to the living God which the world contained. But by a century later that testimony was firmly secured in the hearts and consciences of the people, wheresoever they might be scattered; and what was now needed was exactly such a dispersion, -in order that Israel might become aware of the world for whom the testimony was meant, and grow expert in the methods by which it was to be proclaimed. Priesthood has its human as well as its Godward side. The latter was already sufficiently secured for Israel by Jehovahs age-long seclusion of them in their remote highlands-a people peculiar to Himself. But now the same Providence completed its purpose by casting them upon the world. They mixed with men face to face, or, still more valuably to themselves, on a level with the most downtrodden and despised of the peoples. With no advantage but the truth, they met the other religions of the world in argument, debating with them upon the principles of a common reason and the facts of a common history. They learned sympathy with the weak things of earth. They discovered that their religion could be taught. But, above all, they became conscious of martyrdom, the indispensable experience of a religion that is to prevail; and they realised the supreme influence upon men of a love which sacrifices itself. In a word, Israel, in going into exile, put on humanity with all its consequences. How real and thorough the process was, how successful in perfecting their priesthood, may be seen not only from the hopes and obligations towards all mankind, which burst in our prophecy to an urgency and splendour unmatched elsewhere in their history, but still more from the fact that when the Son of God Himself took flesh and became man, there were no words oftener upon His lips to describe His experience and commission, there are no passages which more clearly mirror His work for the world, than the words and the passages in which these Jews of the Exile, stripped to their bare humanity, relate their sufferings or exult in their destiny that should follow.
5. But with their temple in ruins, and all the world before them for the service of God, the Jews go forth to exile upon the distinct promise of return. The material form of their religion is suspended, not abolished. Let them feel religion in purely spiritual aspects, unassisted by sanctuary or ritual; let them look upon the world and the oneness of men; let them learn all Gods scope for the truth He has entrusted to them, -and then let them gather back again and cherish their new experience and ideas for yet awhile in the old seclusion. Jehovahs discipline of them as a nation is not yet exhausted. They are no mere band of pilgrims or missionaries, with the world for their home; they are still a people. with their own bit of the earth. If we keep this in mind, it will explain certain apparent anomalies in our prophecy. In all the writings of the Exile the reader is confused by a strange mingling of the spiritual and the material, the universal and the local. The moral restoration of the people to pardon and righteousness is identified with their political restoration to Judah and Jerusalem. They have been separated from ritual in order to cultivate a more spiritual religion, but it is to this that a restoration to ritual is promised for a reward. While Jeremiah insists upon the free and immediate communication of every believer with Jehovah, Ezekiel builds a more exclusive priesthood, a more elaborate system of worship. Within our prophecy, while one voice deprecates a house for God built with hands, affirming that Jehovah dwells with every one who is of a poor and contrite spirit, other voices dwell fondly on the prospect of the new temple and exult in its material glory. This double line of feeling is not merely due to the presence in Israel of those two opposite tempers of mind, which so naturally appear in every national literature. But a special purpose of God is in it. Dispersed to obtain more spiritual ideas of God and man and the world, Israel must be gathered back again to get these by heart, to enshrine them in literature, and to transmit them to posterity, as they could alone be securely transmitted, in the memories of a nation, in the liturgies and canons of a living Church.
Therefore the Jews, though torn for their discipline from Jerusalem, continued to identify themselves more passionately than ever with their desecrated city. A prayer of the period exclaims: “Thy saints take pleasure in her stones, and her dust is dear to them.” {Psa 102:14} The exiles proved this by taking her name. Their prophets addressed them as “Zion” and “Jerusalem.” Scattered and leaderless groups of captives in a far-off land, they were still that City of God. She had not ceased to be; ruined and forsaken as she lay, she was yet “graven on the palms of Jehovahs hands; and her walls were continually before Him.” {Isa 49:15} The exiles kept up the register of her families; they prayed towards her; they looked to return to build her bulwarks; they spent long hours of their captivity in tracing upon the dust of that foreign land the ground plan of her restored temple.
With such beliefs in God and man and sacrifice, with such hopes and opportunities for their world-mission, but also with such a bias back to the material Jerusalem, did Israel pass into exile.
CHAPTER IV
ISRAEL IN EXILE
FROM 589 TILL ABOUT 550 B.C.
IT is remarkable how completely the sound of the march from Jerusalem to Babylon has died out of Jewish history. It was an enormous movement: twice over within ten years, ten thousand Jews, at the very least, must have trodden the highway to the Euphrates; and yet, except for a doubtful verse or two in the Psalter, they have left no echo of their passage. The sufferings of the siege before, the remorse and lamentation of the Exile after, still pierce our ears through the Book of Lamentations and the Psalms by the rivers of Babylon. We know exactly how the end was fulfilled. We see most vividly the shifting panorama of the siege, -the city in famine, under the assault, and in smoke; upon the streets the pining children, the stricken princes, the groups of men with sullen, famine-black faces, the heaps of slain, mothers feeding on the bodies of the infants whom their sapless breasts could not keep alive; by the walls the hanging and crucifixion of multitudes, with all the fashion of Chaldean cruelty, the delicate and the children stumbling under heavy loads, no survivor free from the pollution of blood. Upon the hills around, the neighbouring tribes are gathered to jeer at “the day of Jerusalem,” and to cut off her fugitives; we even see the departing captives turn, as the worm turns, to curse “those children of Edom.” But there the vision closes. Was it this hot hate which blinded them to the sights of the way, or that weariness and depression among strange scenes, that falls upon all unaccustomed caravans, and has stifled the memory of nearly every other great historical march? The roads which the exiles traversed were of immemorial use in the history of their fathers; almost every day they must have passed names which, for at least two centuries, had rung in the market-place of Jerusalem-the Way of the Sea, across Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, round Hermon, and past Damascus; between the two Lebanons, past Hamath, and past Arpad; or less probably by Tadmor-in-the-Wilderness and Rezeph, -till they reached the river on which the national ambition had lighted as the frontier of the Messianic Empire, and whose rolling greatness had so often proved the fascination and despair of a people of uncertain brooks and trickling aqueducts. Crossing the Euphrates by one of its numerous passages-either at Carchemish, if they struck the river so high, or at the more usual Thapsacus, Tiphsah, “the passage,” where Xenophon crossed with his Greeks, or at some other place-the caravans must have turned south across the Habor, on whose upper banks the captives of Northern Israel had been scattered, and then have traversed the picturesque country of Aram-Naharaim, past Circesium and Rehoboth-of-the-River, and many another ancient place mentioned in the story of the Patriarchs, till through dwindling hills they reached His-that marvellous site which travellers praise as one of the great viewpoints of the world-and looked out at last upon the land of their captivity, the boundless, almost level tracts of Chaldea, the first home of the race, the traditional Garden of Eden. But of all that we are told nothing. Every eye in the huge caravans seems to have been as the eyes of the blinded king whom they carried with them, -able to weep, but not to see.
One fact, however, was too large to be missed by these sad, wayworn men; and it has left traces on their literature. In passing from home to exile, the Jews passed from the hills to the plain. They were highlanders. Jerusalem lies four thousand feet above the sea. From its roofs the skyline is mostly a line of hills. To leave the city on almost any side you have to descend. The last monuments of their fatherland, on which the emigrants eyes could have lingered, were the high crests of Lebanon; the first prospect of their captivity was a monotonous level. The change was the more impressive, that to the hearts of the Hebrews it could not fail to be sacramental. From the mountains came the dew to their native crofts-the dew which, of all earthly blessings, was likest Gods grace. For their prophets, the ancient hills had been the symbols of Jehovahs faithfulness. In leaving their highlands, therefore, the Jews not only left the kind of country to which their habits were most adapted and all their natural affections clung; they left the chosen abode of God, the most evident types of His grace, the perpetual witnesses to His covenant. Ezekiel constantly employs the mountains to describe his fatherland. But it is far more with a sacramental longing than a mere homesickness that a psalmist of the Exile cries out, “I will lift up mine eyes to the hills: from whence cometh mine help?” or that our prophet exclaims: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.”
By the route sketched above, it is at least seven hundred miles from Jerusalem to Babylon-a distance which, when we take into account that many of the captives walked in fetters, cannot have occupied them less than three months. We may form some conception of the aspect of the caravans from the transportations of captives which are figured on the Assyrian monuments, as in the Assyrian basement in the British Museum. From these it appears as if families were not separated, but marched together. Mules, asses, camels, ox-waggons, and the captives themselves carried goods. Children and women suckling infants were allowed to ride on the waggons. At intervals fully-armed soldiers walked in pairs.
I.
Mesopotamia, the land “in the middle of the rivers,” Euphrates and Tigris, consists of two divisions, an upper and a lower. The dividing line crosses from near Hit or His on the Euphrates to below Samarah on the Tigris. Above this line the country is a gently undulating plain of secondary formation at some elevation above the sea. But lower Mesopotamia is absolutely flat land, an unbroken stretch of alluvial soil, scarcely higher than the Persian Gulf, upon which it steadily encroaches. Chaldea was confined to this Lower Mesopotamia, and was not larger, Rawlinson estimates, than the kingdom of Denmark. It is the monotonous level which first impresses the traveller; but if the season be favourable, he sees this only as the theatre of vast and varied displays of colour, which all visitors vie with one another in describing: “It is like a rich carpet”; “emerald green, enamelled with flowers of every hue”; “tall wild grasses and broad extents of waving reeds”; “acres of water-lilies”; “acres of pansies.” There was no such country in ancient times for wheat, barley, millet, and sesame; tamarisks, poplars, and palms; here and there heavy jungle; with flashing streams and canals thickly athwart the whole, and all shining the more brilliantly for the interrupting patches of scurvy, nitrous soil, and the grey sandy setting of the desert with its dry scrub. The possible fertility of Chaldea is incalculable. But there are drawbacks. Bounded to the north by so high a tableland, to the south and southwest by a super-heated gulf and broad desert, Mesopotamia is the scene of violent changes of atmosphere. The languor of the flat country, the stagnancy and sultriness of the air, of which not only foreigners but the natives themselves complain, is suddenly invaded by southerly winds, of tremendous force and laden with clouds of fine sand, which render the air so dense as to be suffocating, and “produce a lurid red haze intolerable to the eyes.” Thunderstorms are frequent, and there are very heavy rains. But the winds are the most tremendous. In such an atmosphere we may perhaps discover the original shapes and sounds of Ezekiels turbulent visions-“the fiery wheels; the great cloud with a fire infolding itself; the colour of amber,” with “sapphire,” or lapiz lazuli, breaking through; “the sound of a great rushing.” Also the Mesopotamian floods are colossal. The increase of both Tigris and Euphrates is naturally more violent and irregular than that of the Nile. Frequent risings of these rivers spread desolation with inconceivable rapidity, and they ebb only to leave pestilence behind them. If civilisation is to continue, there is need of vast and incessant operations on the part of man.
Thus, both by its fertility and by its violence, this climate-before the curse of God fell on those parts of the world-tended to develop a numerous and industrious race of men, whose numbers were swollen from time to time both by forced and by voluntary immigration. The population must have been very dense. The triumphal lists of Assyrian conquerors of the land, as well as the rubbish mounds which today cover its surface, testify to innumerable villages and towns; while the connecting canals and fortifications, by the making of them and the watching of them, must have filled even the rural districts with the hum and activity of men. Chaldea, however, did not draw all her greatness from herself. There was immense traffic with East and West, between which Babylon lay, for the greater part of antiquity, the worlds central market and exchange. The city was practically a port on the Persian Gulf, by canals from which vessels reached her wharves direct from Arabia, India, and Africa. Down the Tigris and Euphrates rafts brought the produce of Armenia and the Caucasus; but of greater importance than even these rivers were the roads, which ran from Sardis to Shushan, traversed Media, penetrated Bactria and India, and may be said to have connected the Jaxartes and the Ganges with the Nile and the harbours of the gean Sea. These roads all crossed Chaldea and met at Babylon. Together with the rivers and ocean highways, they poured upon her markets the traffic of the whole ancient world.
It was, in short, the very centre of the world-the most populous and busy region of His earth-to which God sent His people for their exile. The monarch, who transplanted them, was the genius of Babylonia incarnate. The chief soldier of his generation, Nebuchadrezzar will live in history as one of the greatest builders of all time. But he fought as he built – that he might traffic. His ambition was to turn the trade with India from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, and he thought to effect this by the destruction of Tyre, by the transportation of Arab and Nabathean merchants to Babylon, and by the deepening and regulation of the river between Babylon and the sea.
There is no doubt that Nebuchadrezzar carried the Jews to Babylon not only for political reasons, but in order to employ them upon those large works of irrigation and the building of cities, for which his ambition required hosts of labourers. Thus the exiles were planted, neither in military prisons nor in the comparative isolation of agricultural colonies, but just where Babylonian life was most busy, where they were forced to share and contribute to it, and could not help feeling the daily infection of their captors habits. Do not let us forget this. It will explain much in what we have to study. It will explain how the captivity, which God inflicted upon the Jews as a punishment, might become in time a new sin to them, and why, when the day of redemption arrived, so many forgot that their citizenship was in Zion, and clung to the traffic and the offices of Babylon.
The majority of the exiles appear to have been settled within the city, or, as it has been more correctly called, “the fortified district,” of Babylon itself. Their mistress was thus constantly before them, at once their despair and their temptation. Lady of Kingdoms she lifted herself to heaven from broad wharves and ramparts, by wide flights of stairs and terraces, high walls and hanging gardens, pyramids and towers-so colossal in her buildings, so imperially lavish of space between! No wonder that upon that vast, far-spreading architecture, upon its great squares and between its high portals guarded by giant bulls, the Jew felt himself, as he expressed it, but a poor worm. If, even as they stand in our museums, captured and catalogued, one feels as if one crawled in the presence of the fragments of these striding monsters, with how much more of the feeling of the worm must the abject members of that captive nation have writhed before the face of the city, which carried these monsters as the mere ornaments of her skirts, and rose above all kingdoms with her strong feet upon the poor and the meek of the earth?
Ah, the despair of it! To see her every day so glorious, to be forced to help her ceaseless growth, -and to think how Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion, lay forsaken in ruins! Yet the despair sometimes gave way to temptation. There was not an outline or horizon visible to the captive Jew, not a figure in the motley crowds in which he moved, but must have fascinated him with the genius of his conquerors. In that level land no mountain, with its witness of God, broke the skyline; but the work of man was everywhere: curbed and scattered rivers, artificial mounds, buildings of brick, gardens torn from their natural beds and hung high in air by cunning hands to please the taste of a queen; lavish wealth and force and cleverness, all at the command of one human will. The signature ran across the whole, “I have done this, and with mine own hand have I gotten me my wealth”; and all the nations of the earth came and acknowledged the signature, and worshipped the great city. It was fascinating merely to look on such cleverness, success, and self-confidence; and who was the poor Jew that he, too, should not be drawn with the intoxicated nations to the worship of this glory that filled his horizon? If his eyes rose higher, and from these enchantments of men sought refuge in the heavens above, were not even they also a Babylonian realm? Did not the Chaldean claim the great lights there for his patron gods? were not the movements of sun, moon, and planets the secret of his science? did not the tyrant believe that the very stars in their courses fought for him? And he was vindicated; he was successful; he did actually rule the world. There seemed to be no escape from the enchantments of this sorceress city, as the prophets called her, and it is not wonderful that so many Jews fell victims to her worldliness and idolatry.
II.
The social condition of the Jews in exile is somewhat obscure, and yet, both in connection with the date and with the exposition of some portions of “Second Isaiah,” it is an element of the greatest importance, of which we ought to have as definite an idea as possible.
What are the facts? By far the most significant is that which faces us at the end of the Exile. There, some sixty years after the earlier, and some fifty years after the later, of Nebuchadnezzars two deportations, we find the Jews a largely multiplied and still regularly organised nation, with considerable property and decided political influence. Not more than forty thousand can have gone into exile, but forty-two thousand returned, and yet left a large portion of the nation behind them. The old families and clans survived; the social ranks were respected; the rich still held slaves; and the former menials of the temple could again be gathered together. Large subscriptions were raised for the pilgrimage, and for the restoration of the temple; a great host of cattle was taken. To such a state of affairs do we see any traces leading up through the Exile itself? We do.
The first host of exiles, the captives of 598, comprised, as we have seen, the better classes of the nation, and appear to have enjoyed considerable independence. They were not scattered, like the slaves in North America, as domestic bondsmen over the surface of the land. Their condition must have much more closely resembled that of the better-treated exiles in Siberia; though of course, as we have seen, it was not a Siberia, but the centre of civilisation, to which they were banished. They remained in communities, with their own official heads, and at liberty to consult their prophets. They were sufficiently in touch with one another, and sufficiently numerous, for the enemies of Babylon to regard them as a considerable political influence, and to treat with them for a revolution against their captors. But Ezekiels strong condemnation of this intrigue exhibits their leaders on good terms with the government. Jeremiah bade them throw themselves into the life of the land; buy and sell, and increase their families and property. At the same time, we cannot but observe that it is only religious sins, with which Ezekiel upbraids them. When he speaks of civic duty or social charity, he either refers to their past or to the life of the remnant still in Jerusalem. There is every reason to believe, therefore, that this captivity was an honourable and an easy one. The captives may have brought some property with them; they had leisure for the pursuit of business and for the study and practice of their religion. Some of them suffered, of course, from the usual barbarity of Oriental conquerors, and were made eunuchs; some, by their learning and abstinence, rose to high positions in the court. (The Book of Daniel) Probably to the end of the Exile they remained “the good figs,” as Jeremiah had called them. Theirs was, perhaps, the literary work of the Exile; and theirs, too, may have been the wealth which rebuilt Jerusalem.
But it was different with the second captivity, of 589. After the famine, the burning of the city, and the prolonged march, this second host of exiles must have reached Babylonia in an impoverished condition. They were a lower class of men. They had exasperated their conquerors, who, before the march began, subjected many of them to mutilation and cruel death; and it is, doubtless, echoes of their experience which we find in the more bitter complaints of our prophet, This is a people robbed and spoiled; all of them snared in holes, and hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and for a spoil. “Thou” (that is, Babylon), “didst show them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.” {Isa 42:22; Isa 47:6} Nebuchadrezzar used them for his building, as Pharaoh had used their forefathers. Some of them, or of their countrymen who had reached Babylonia before them, became the domestic slaves and chattels of their conquerors. Among the contracts and bills of sale of this period we find the cases of slaves with apparently Jewish names.
In short, the state of the Jews in Babylonia resembled what seems to have been their fortune wherever they have settled in a foreign land. Part of them despised and abused, forced to labour or overtaxed: part left alone to cultivate literature or to gather wealth. Some treated with unusual rigour-and perhaps a few of these with reason, as dangerous to the government of the land-but some also, by the versatile genius of their race, advancing to a high place in the political confidence of their captors.
Their application to literature, to their religion, and to commerce must be specially noted.
1. Nothing is more striking in the writings of Ezekiel than the air of large leisure which invests them. Ezekiel lies passive; he broods, gazes, and builds his vision up, in a fashion like none of his terser predecessors; for he had time on his hands, not available to them in days when the history of the nation was still running. Ezekiels style swells to a greater fulness of rhetoric; his pictures of the future are elaborated with the most minute detail. Prophets before him were speakers, but he is a writer. Many in Israel besides Ezekiel took advantage of the leisure of the Exile to the great increase and arrangement of the national literature. Some Assyriologists have lately written, as if the schools of Jewish scribes owed their origin entirely to the Exile. But there were scribes in Israel before this. What the Exile did for these, was to provide them not only with the leisure from national business which we have noted, but with a powerful example of their craft as well. Babylonia at this time was a land full of scribes and makers of libraries. They wrote a language not very different from the Jewish, and cannot but have powerfully infected their Jewish fellows with the spirit of their toil and of their methods. To the Exile we certainly owe a large part of the historical books of the Old Testament, the arrangement of some of the prophetic writings, as well as-though the amount of this is very uncertain-part of the codification of the Law.
2. If the Exile was opportunity to the scribes, it can only have been despair to the priests. In this foreign land the nation was unclean; none of the old sacrifice or ritual was valid, and the people were reduced to the simplest elements of religion-prayer, fasting, and the reading of religious books. We shall find our prophecy noting the clamour of the exiles to God for “ordinances of righteousness”-that is, for the institution of legal and valid rites. {Isa 58:2} But the great lesson, which prophecy brings to the people of the Exile, is that pardon and restoration to Gods favour are won only by waiting upon Him with all the heart. It was possible, of course, to observe some forms; to gather at intervals to inquire of the Lord, to keep the Sabbath, and to keep fasts. The first of these practices, out of which the synagogue probably took its rise, is noted by our prophet, {Isa 58:13-14} and he enforces Sabbath-keeping with words that add the blessing of prophecy to the laws ancient sanction of that institution. Four annual fasts were instituted in memory of the dark days of Jerusalem-the day of the beginning of Nebuchadrezzar’s siege in the tenth month, the day of the capture in the fourth month, the day of the destruction in the fifth month, and the day of Gedaliahs murder in the tenth month. It might have been thought, that solemn anniversaries of a disaster so recent and still unrepaired would be kept with sincerity; but our prophet illustrates how soon even the most outraged feelings may grow formal, and how on their days of special humiliation, while their captivity was still real, the exiles could oppress their own bondsmen and debtors. But there is no religious practice of this epoch more apparent through our prophecies than the reading of Scripture. Israels hope was neither in sacrifice, nor in temple, nor in vision nor in lot, but in Gods written Word; and when a new prophet arose, like the one we are about to study, he did not appeal for his authorisation, as previous prophets had done, to the fact of his call or inspiration, but it was enough for him to point to some former word of God, and cry, “See! at last the day has dawned for the fulfilment of that.” Throughout Second Isaiah this is what the anonymous prophet cares to establish that the facts of today fit the promise of yesterday. We shall not understand our great prophecy unless we realise a people rising from fifty years close study of Scripture, in strained expectation of its immediate fulfilment.
3. The third special feature of the people in exile is their application to commerce. At home the Jews had not been a commercial people. But the opportunities of their Babylonian residence seem to have started them upon those habits, for which, through their longer exile in our era, the name of Jew has become a synonym. If that be so, Jeremiahs advice “to build and plant.” {Jer 29:1-32} is historic, for it means no less than that the Jews should throw themselves into the life of the most trafficking nation of the time. Their increasing wealth proves how they followed this advice, -as well as perhaps such passages as Isa 55:2, in which the commercial spirit is reproached for overwhelming the nobler desires of religion. The chief danger, incurred by the Jews from an intimate connection with the commerce of Babylonia, lay in the close relations of Babylonian commerce with Babylonian idolatry. The merchants of Mesopotamia had their own patron gods. In completing business contracts, a man had to swear by his idols, and might have to enter their temples. In Isa 65:11, Jews are blamed for “forsaking Jehovah, and forgetting My holy mountain; preparing a table for Luck, and filling up mixed wine to Fortune.” Here it is more probable that mercantile speculation, rather than any other form of gambling, is intended.
III.
But while all this is certain and needing to be noted about the habits of the mass of the people, what little trace it has left in the best literature of the period! We have already noticed in that the great absence of local colour. The truth is that what we have been trying to describe as Jewish life in Babylon was only a surface over deeps in which the true life of the nation was at work-was volcanically at work. Throughout the Exile the true Jew lived inwardly. “Out of the depths do I cry to Thee, O Lord.” He was the inhabitant not so much of a foreign prison as of his own broken heart. “He sat by the rivers of Babylon; but he thought upon Zion.” Is it not a proof of what depths in human nature were being stirred, that so little comes to the surface to tell us of the external conditions of those days? There are no fossils in the strata of the earth, which have been cast forth from her inner fires; and if we find few traces of contemporary life in these deposits of Israels history now before us, it is because they date from an age in which the nation was shaken and boiling to its centre.
For if we take the writings of this period-the Book of Lamentations, the Psalms of the Exile, and parts of other books-and put them together, the result is the impression of one of the strangest decompositions of human nature into its elements which the world has ever seen. Suffering and sin, recollection, remorse and revenge, fear and shame and hate-over the confusion of these the Spirit of God broods as over a second chaos, and draws each of them forth in turn upon some articulate prayer. Now it is the crimson flush of shame: “our soul is exceedingly filled with contempt.” Now it is the black rush of hate; for if we would see how hate can rage, we must go to the Psalms of the Exile, which call on the God of vengeance and curse the enemy and dash the little ones against the stones. But the deepest surge of all in that whirlpool of misery was the surge of sin. To change the figure, we see Israels spirit writhing upward from some pain it but partly understands, crying out, “What is this that keeps God from hearing and saving me?” turning like a wounded beast from the face of its master to its sore again, understanding as no brute could the reason of its plague, till confession after confession breaks away and the penalty is accepted, and acknowledged guilt seems almost to act as an anodyne to the penalty it explains. “Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? If Thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquity who shall stand?” No wonder, that with such a conscience the Jews occupied the Exile in writing the moral of their delinquent history, or that the rest of their literature which dates from that time should have remained ever since the worlds confessional.
But in this awful experience, there is still another strain, as painful as the rest, but pure and very eloquent of hope-the sense of innocent suffering. We cannot tell the sources, from which this considerable feeling may have gathered during the Exile, any more than we can trace from how many of the upper folds of a valley the tiny rivulets start, which form the stream that issues from its lower end. One of these sources may have been, as we have already suggested, the experience of Jeremiah; another very probably sprang with every individual conscience in the new generation. Children come even to exiles, and although they bear the same pain with the same nerves as their fathers, they do so with a different conscience. The writings of the time dwell much on the sufferings of the children. The consciousness is apparent in them, that souls are born into the wrath of God, as well as banished there. “Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we bear their iniquities.” This experience developed with great force, till Israel felt that she suffered not under Gods wrath, but for His sake; and so passed from the conscience of the felon to that of the martyr. But if we are to understand the prophecy we are about to study, we must remember how near akin these two consciences must have been in exiled Israel, and how easy it was for a prophet to speak-as our prophet does, sometimes with confusing rapidity of exchange-now in the voice of the older and more guilty generation, and now in the voice of the younger and less deservedly punished.
Our survey of the external as well as the internal conditions of Israel in Exile is now finished. It has, I think, included every known feature of their experience in Babylonia, which could possibly illustrate our prophecy-dated, as we have felt ourselves compelled to date this, from the close of the Exile. Thus, as we have striven to trace, did Israel suffer, learn, grow, and hope for fifty years-under Nebuchadrezzar till 561, under his successor Evil-merodach till 559, under Neriglassar till 554, and then under the usurper Nabunahid. The last named probably oppressed the Jews more grievously than their previous tyrants, but with the aggravation of their yoke there grew evident, at the same time, the certainty of their deliverance. In 549 Cyrus overthrew the Medes, and became lord of Asia from the Indus to the Halys. From that event his conquest of Babylonia, however much delayed, could only be a matter of time.
It is at this juncture that our prophecy breaks in. Taking for granted Cyrus sovereignty of the Medes, it still looks forward to his capture of Babylon. Let us, before advancing to its exposition, once more cast a rapid glance over the people, to whom it is addressed and whom in their half century of waiting for it we have been endeavouring to describe.
First and most manifest, they are a people with a conscience-a people with the most awful and most articulate conscience that ever before or since exposed a nations history or tormented a generation with the curse of their own sin and the sin of their fathers. Behind them, ages of delinquent life, from the perusal of the record of which, with its regularly recurring moral, they have just risen: the Books of Kings appear to have been finished after the accession of Evil-merodach in 561. Behind them also nearly fifty years of sore punishment for their sins-punishment, which, as their Psalms confess, they at last understand and accept as deserved.
But, secondly, they are a people with a great hope. With their awful consciousness of guilt, they have the assurance that their punishment has its limits; that, to quote Isa 40:2, it is a “set period of service”: a former word of God having fixed it at not more than seventy years, and having promised the return of the nation thereafter to their own land.
And, thirdly, they are a People with a great opportunity. History is at last beginning to set towards the vindication of their hope: Cyrus, the master of the age, is moving rapidly, irresistibly, down upon their tyrants.
But, fourthly, in face of all their hope and opportunity, they are a people disorganised, distracted, and very impotent-“worms and not men,” as they describe themselves. The generation of the tried and responsible leaders of the days of their independence are all dead, for “flesh is like grass”; no public institutions remain in their midst such as ever in the most hopeless periods of the past proved a rallying-point of their scattered forces. There is no king, temple, nor city; nor is there any great personality visible to draw their little groups together, marshal them, and lead them forth behind him. Their one hope is in the Word of God, for which they “wait more than they that watch for the morning”; and the one duty of their nameless prophets is to persuade them that this Word has at last come to pass, and, in the absence of king, Messiah, priest, and great prophet, is able to lift them to the opportunity that Gods hand has opened before them, and to the accomplishment of their redemption.
Upon Israel, with such a Conscience, such a Hope, such an Opportunity, and such an unaided Reliance on Gods bare Word, that Word at last broke in a chorus of voices.
Of these the first, as was most meet, spoke pardon to the peoples conscience and the proclamation that their set period of warfare was accomplished; the second announced that circumstances and the politics of the world, hitherto adverse, would be made easy to their return; the third bade them, in their bereavement of earthly leaders, and their own impotence, find their eternal confidence in Gods Word; while the fourth lifted them, as with one heart and voice, to herald the certain return of Jehovah, at the head of His people, to His own City, and His quiet, shepherdly rule of them on their own land.
These herald voices form the prologue to our prophecy, Isa 40:1-11, to which we will now turn.