Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 40:18
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
18 20. “To whom will ye liken God?” This question introduces the second distinct theme of the argument, the folly of idolatry. Although the prophet has in his mind the difficulties of Jews impressed by the fascinations of idolatry, his words are addressed not to them directly, but to men in general. The error he exposes is not the worshipping of Jehovah by images, but the universal error of thinking that the Deity ( ’l) can be represented by the works of human hands. His point of view is that of Paul’s speech to the Athenians: “we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and device of man” (Act 17:29). In order to see how absurd this is, one has but to observe how the images are manufactured; and the various processes are described with an unmistakeable irony. After Isa 40:19 Duhm and Cheyne (following out a hint of Lagarde’s) insert Isa 40:6-7 of the next chapter. The description would then fall into two unequal parts; first, the construction of a metal idol ( Isa 40:19, Isa 41:6-7), and second, that of a wooden idol ( Isa 40:20); each ending naturally with the fastening of the image to its pedestal.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To whom then will ye liken God? – Since he is so great, what can resemble him? What form can be made like him? The main idea here intended to be conveyed by the prophet evidently is, that God is great and glorious, and worthy of the confidence of his people. This idea he illustrates by a reference to the attempts which had been made to make a representation of him, and by showing how vain those efforts were. He therefore states the mode in which the images of idols were usually formed, and shows how absurd it was to suppose that they could be any real representation of the true God. It is possible that this was composed in the time of Manasseh, when idolatry prevailed to a great extent in Judah, and that the prophet intended in this manner incidentally to show the folly and absurdity of it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 40:18
To whom then will ye liken God?
—
The Trinity
I. THE CARNAL NOTIONS MEN ARE APT TO ENTERTAIN OF GOD.
1. We find that the knowledge of the true God soon faded from the minds of Noahs descendants. That patriarch had been favoured with a clear revelation; and he had offered a pure worship. But even among his sons depravity began to manifest itself. And in a generation or two very gross ideas prevailed. Men were not satisfied with the fact of a Being, pure and spiritual, dwelling in the highest heaven, apart from the mortal eye. And they chose to represent Him by sensible figures. Some practices of this kind are described in Isa 40:19-20.
2. We find the same temper at work in the Jews. They, too, imitated the heathen in desiring idols, gods whom they might see. They were continually prone to let their carnal reasonings interfere with their reception of the Divine Word.
3. We may trace similar consequences even down to our times. There have been men, of great natural parts too, who, because they never witnessed a miracle, have boldly denied that miracles were ever performed. He who will credit nothing that is not apparent to his senses, cripples himself with the most enervating chains. He who does not allow that the Deity is incomprehensible, is in truth the most irrational of reasoners: for he would make out that this vast universe was created and is upheld and governed by one whose mind he, a puny worm of the dust, is able to comprehend. And he that would reject the truth of the Trinity because it is higher than his thoughts, would compare the likeness of God to a finite creature. It is not intended to say that Scripture asserts or that the Church maintains anything that is contrary to reason. We are every day obliged to admit as truths things, the reasons of which we are unable to explain or account for; and no one imagines that this is irrational. Why should it appear so in spiritual things?
II. THERE IS THUS A WHOLESOME TRIAL OF OUR FAITH. God might, had He so pleased, have revealed His will so plainly that men could no more be ignorant of it than they can of the fact that the sun is shining in the heavens. To take the case of our blessed Saviour, He might have been shown openly to the world, and have been pointed out so evidently as the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, that none even of the Pharisees or the Sadducees could have denied it. Or, take the fact of His resurrection. It might have been performed before multitudinous witnesses, and Christ might again have lived openly as He did before His death, teaching and preaching. But where, in such a case, would have been the trial of faith?
The whole system of Gods dealings would have been changed; and we should have walked by sight and not by faith. In regard to providential circumstances it might have been the same. God might have disclosed to Abraham His purpose of providing a ram for a sacrifice instead of Isaac. Had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego learned at once that the fire would not kindle upon them, different indeed would their emotions have been; but what trial would there then have been of faith! Gods dealings are secret, because He would prove men, and make evident what is in their hearts. In no other way, it is clear, could the graces of humility and trust, of patience and faith and hope and long-suffering, of self-denial and spiritual-mindedness, be wrought out. And so with regard to the revelation of doctrines. The Scripture gives us this most remarkable announcement 1Pe 2:6-8). It is thus that God severs the precious from the vile: it is for this reason that He has allowed difficulties in His sacred Word, at which the worldly and the self-sufficient are offended; while they who with a humble spirit wait patiently upon Him, and meekly seek His guidance, are admitted into the secret place of the Most High. It is not that God throws difficulties into mens ways or delights to perplex them, but that in pursuing His great plan of moral government He does find it needful to train and lead onward by degrees, thus letting it be seen who will be teachable scholars in His school, and who rebelliously refuse His gracious lessons. There is a point, too, which must not be lost sight of. The revelation of the Gospel, such as we find it, is of expanding character. As ages roll on, more and more light beams upon it; and thus the Bible is seen to be the book not of untutored nations only, but of those farthest advanced in civilisation; not merely of the world in its infancy, but of the world come to matured age. Other books are soon exhausted. But in all those things to which I have adverted, there is spiritual food for the humble mind. The full development of Gods mysteries must patiently be waited for. Herein are some of the good things which He has prepared for those that love Him. Concluding reflections–
1. There is an unfair use made of human language by those who reject the doctrine of the Trinity. Language is always imperfect; more especially so when, by terms taken from human things, it is used to describe those that are Divine.
2. But, after all, the best knowledge is a practical knowledge. And this we should strive to attain, especially in respect to such deep things of God. No one will stumble at the doctrine of the Trinity, who, enlightened and quickened by the Spirit, comes to the Father by the Son. Vain speculations will be cast aside as we become acquainted with what each blessed person in the Godhead has done, and is doing, for us. In this way seek to know the Triune God. The Fathers love, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, experimentally known, will be sure to be the Christians stable foundation and his richest joy. (J. Ayre, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
This is a proper inference from the foregoing discourse of Gods immense and infinite greatness; from whence he taketh occasion to show both the folly of those that make mean and visible representations of God, as not the Gentiles only, but even some of the Jews did; and the utter inability of men or idols to give any opposition to God in the doing of these great works. And this discourse of the madness of idolaters, prosecuted both here and in the following chapter, was designed by God, as a necessary antidote whereby the Jews might be preserved from the contagion of idolatry, to which God saw they now had strong inclinations, and would have many and great temptations when they were in captivity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Which of the heathen idols,then, is to be compared to this Almighty God? This passage, if notwritten (as BARNES thinks)so late as the idolatrous times of Manasseh, has at least aprospective warning reference to them and subsequent reigns; theresult of the chastisement of Jewish idolatry in the Babylonishcaptivity was that thenceforth after the restoration the Jews neverfell into it. Perhaps these prophecies here may have tended to thatresult (see 2Ki 23:26; 2Ki 23:27).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
To whom then will ye liken God?…. There is nothing in the whole creation that can bear any resemblance to him, or he to them; since all nations are as a drop of the bucket, as the small dust of the balance, as nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity: “or what likeness will ye compare unto him”, w order, ordain, and appoint for him? in what rank can he be placed? to what class of beings can he be likened? what similitude can be given of him? what is there that is fit to be named with him, or compared to him? this, with what follows, is mentioned as an antidote to prevent the Jews falling into idolatry in Babylon, where they would be exposed unto it; or rather to prevent Christians in Gospel times from going into the idolatry of the Papists; see Ac 17:28.
w “et quid similitudinis ponetis ei”, Pagninus; “ordinabitis”, Montanus; “disponetis”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The conclusion drawn from Isa 40:17, that Jehovah is therefore the matchless Being, shapes itself into a question, which is addressed not to idolaters, but to such of the Israelites as needed to be armed against the seductive power of idolatry, to which the majority of mankind had yielded. “And to whom can ye liken God, and what kind of image can ye place beside Him!” The before is conclusive, as in Isa 28:26, and the futures are modi potent.: with what can ye bring into comparison ( as in Isa 14:10) El , i.e., God, the one Being who is absolutely the Mighty? and what kind of d e muth (i.e., divine, like Himself) can ye place by His side?
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Vanity of Idols. | B. C. 708. |
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
The prophet here reproves those, 1. Who represented God by creatures, and so changed his truth into a lie and his glory into shame, who made images and then said that they resembled God, and paid their homage to them accordingly. 2. Who put creatures in the place of God, who feared them more than God, as if they were a match for him, or loved them more than God, as if they were fit to be rivals with him. Twice the challenge is here made, To whom will you liken God? v. 18, and again v. 25. The Holy One himself says, To whom will you liken me? This shows the folly and absurdity, (1.) Of corporal idolatry, making visible images of him who is invisible, imagining the image to be animated by the deity, and the deity to be presentiated by the image, which, as it was an instance of the corruption of the human nature, so it was an intolerable injury to the honour of the divine nature. (2.) Of spiritual idolatry, making creatures equal with God in our affections. Proud people make themselves equal with God; covetous people make their money equal with God; and whatever we esteem or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that creature we equal with God, which is the highest affront imaginable to him who is God over all. Now, to show the absurdity of this,
I. The prophet describes idols as despicable things and worthy of the greatest contempt (Isa 40:19; Isa 40:20): “Look upon the better sort of them, which rich people set up, and worship; they are made of some base metal, cast into what shape the founder pleases, and that is gilded, or overlaid with plates of gold, that it may pass for a golden image. It is a creature; for the workman made it; therefore it is not God, Hos. viii. 6. It depended upon his will whether it should be a god at all, and of what shape it should be. It is a cheat; for it is gold on the outside, but within it is lead or copper, in this indeed representing the deities, that they were not what they seemed to be, and deceived their admirers. How despicable then are the worst sort of them–the poor men’s gods! He that is so impoverished that he has scarcely a sacrifice to offer to his god when he has made him will yet not be without an enshrined deity of his own; and, though he cannot procure one of brass or stone, he will have a wooden one rather than none, and for that purpose chooses a tree that will not soon rot, and of that he will have his graven image made. Both agree to have their image well fastened, that they may not be robbed of it. The better sort have silver chains to fix theirs with; and, though it be but a wooden image, care is taken that it shall not be moved.” Let us pause a little and see, 1. How these idolaters shame themselves, and what a reproach they put upon their own reason, in dreaming that gods of their own making (Nehushtans, pieces of brass or logs of wood) should be able to do them any kindness. Thus vain were they in their imaginations; and how was their foolish heart darkened! 2. See how these idolaters shame us, who worship the only living and true God. They spared no cost upon their idols; we grudge that as waste which is spent in the service of our God. They took care that their idols should not be moved; we wilfully provoke our God to depart from us.
II. He describes God as infinitely great, and worthy of the highest veneration; so that between him and idols, whatever competition there may be, there is no comparison. To prove the greatness of God he appeals,
1. To what they had heard of him by the hearing of the ear, and the consent of all ages and nations concerning him (v. 21): “Have you not known by the very light of nature? Has it not been told you by your fathers and teachers, according to the constant tradition received from their ancestors and predecessors, even from the beginning?” (Those notices of God are as ancient as the world.) “Have you not understood it as always acknowledged from the foundation of the earth, that God is a great God, and a great King above all gods?” It has been a truth universally admitted that there is an infinite Being who is the fountain of all being. This is understood not only ever since the beginning of the world, but from and by the origin of the universe. It is founded upon the foundation of the earth. The invisible things of God are clearly seen from the creation of the world, Rom. i. 20. Thou mayest not only ask thy father, and he shall tell thee this, and thy elders (Deut. xxxii. 7); but ask those that go by the way (Job xxi. 29), ask the first man you meet, and he will say the same. Some read it, Will you not know? Will you not hear it? For those that are ignorant of this are willingly ignorant; the light shines in their faces, but they shut their eyes against it. Now that which is here said of God is, (1.) That he has the command of all the creatures. The heaven and the earth themselves are under his management: He sits upon the circle, or globe, of the earth, v. 22. He that has the special residence of his glory in the upper world maintains a dominion over this lower world, gives law to it, and directs all the motions of it to his own glory. He sits undisturbed upon the earth, and so establishes it. He is still stretching out the heavens, his power and providence keep them still stretched out, and will do so till the day comes that they shall be rolled together like a scroll. He spreads them out as easily as we draw a curtain to and fro, opening these curtains in the morning and drawing them close again at night. And the heaven is to this earth as a tent to dwell in; it is a canopy drawn over our heads, et quod tegit omnia clum–and it encircles all.–Ovid. See Ps. civ. 2. (2.) That the children of men, even the greatest and mightiest, are as nothing before him. The numerous inhabitants of this earth are in his eye as grasshoppers in ours, so little and inconsiderable, of such small value, of such little use, and so easily crushed. Proud men’s lifting up themselves is but like the grasshopper’s leap; in an instant they must stoop down to the earth again. If the spies thought themselves grasshoppers before the sons of Anak (Num. xiii. 33), what are we before the great God? Grasshoppers live but awhile, and live carelessly, not like the ant; so do the most of men. (3.) That those who appear and act against him, how formidable soever they may be to their fellow-creatures, will certainly be humble and brought down by the mighty hand of God, Isa 40:23; Isa 40:24. Princes and judges, who have great authority, and abuse it to the support of oppression and injustice, make nothing of those about them; as for all their enemies they puff at them (Psa 10:5; Psa 12:5); but, when the great God takes them to task, he brings them to nothing; he humbles them, and tames them, and makes them as vanity, little regarded, neither feared nor loved. He makes them utterly unable to stand before his judgments, which shall either, [1.] Prevent their settlement in their authority: They shall not be planted; they shall not be sown; and those are the two ways of propagating plants, either by seed or slips. Nay, if they should gain a little interest, and so be planted or sown, yet their stock shall not take root in the earth, they shall not continue long in power. Eliphaz saw the foolish taking root, but suddenly cursed their habitation. And then how soon is the fig-tree withered away! Or, [2.] He will blast them when they think they are settled. He does but blow upon them, and then they shall wither, and come to nothing, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. For God’s wrath, though it seem at first to blow slightly upon them, will soon become a mighty whirlwind. When God judges he will overcome. Those that will not bow before him cannot stand before him.
2. He appeals to what their eyes saw of him (v. 26): “Lift up your eyes on high; be not always poring on this earth” (O curv in terras anim et clestium inanes!–Degenerate minds, that can bend so towards the earth, having nothing celestial in them!), “but sometimes look up” (Os homini sublime dedit, clumque tueri jussit–Heaven gave to man an erect countenance, and bade him gaze on the stars); “behold the glorious lights of heaven, consider who has created them. They neither made nor marshalled themselves; doubtless, therefore, there is a God that gave them their being, power, and motion.” What we see of the creature should lead us to the Creator. The idolaters, when they lifted up their eyes and beheld the hosts of heaven, being wholly immerged in sense, looked no further, but worshipped them, Deu 4:19; Job 31:26. Therefore the prophet here directs us to make use of our reason as well as our senses, and to consider who created them, and to pay our homage to him. Give him the glory of his sovereignty over them–He brings out their host by number, as a general draws out the squadrons and battalions of his army; of the knowledge he has of them–He calls them all by names, proper names, according as their place and influence are (Ps. cxlvii. 4); and of the use he makes of them; when he calls them out to any service, so obsequious are they that, by the greatness of his might, not one of them fails, but, as when the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, every one does that to which he is appointed. To make these creatures therefore rivals with God, which are such ready servants to him, is an injury to them as well as an affront to him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 18-26: THE LIVING GOD CONTRASTED WITH LIFELESS IMAGES
1. An inquiry is made as to whom Judah will liken God (vs. 18, Isaiah 25; Isa 46:5), though Moses assured Pharaoh “that there is none like unto the LORD our God” (Exo 8:10; comp. 1Sa 2:2). Where, indeed, could one look for another to compare with Him?
a. The God of Israel is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders”, (Exo 15:11).
b. He is One Who “pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage”, and Who “retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy”, (Mic 7:18).
2. The prophet pictures the folly of those who attempt to fashion an effective substitute for the God of Israel, (vs. 19-20).
a. Though a graven image be one that is made for the rich, or the poor; be it of precious metal, or “of wood that will not rot” (Isa 44:14-17); it must have a broad foundation to keep it from falling (1Sa 5:3-4), and chains (or nails) to prevent thieves from stealing it, (Jer 10:3-7; Isa 41:7).
b. No such home-made god ever possessed life, or strength to defend itself – much less the ability to help its maker or devotees! (Isa 44:10; Psa 115:4-8; Hab 2:18-20; Isa 2:20-21).
3. Are the people of God completely ignorant of what the very creation has revealed of their Maker from the beginning? (vs. 21-15; Psa 19:1; Act 14:17; Rom 1:19-21).
a. He sits above “the circle of the earth” – a statement that may refer either to the spherical shape of the earth, or to the horizon, (vs. 22a; Job 22:14; Pro 8:27).
b. In the presence of His glorious majesty, the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers, (vs. 22b; comp. Num 13:28; Deu 1:28; Deu 9:2).
c. He has stretched out the heavens like curtains, or like a tent to dwell in, (Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Psa 104:2; Psa 19:4-5; Job 36:29).
d. He rules over all – shaping the destinies of men and nations, (vs. 23-24; Psa 103:19).
e. Will the people of Israel never realize that their God has no equal? There is no need for them to be afraid! His care is forever adequate!
4. If the people of God would know something of His true majesty and strength, they need only lift their eyes to the starry heavens and consider the greatness, wisdom and power of their divine Creator-God – who sees and knows all things, (vs. 26; Isa 49:12-13; Isa 51:6 Psa 89:11-13; Psa 147:4-5).
5. But, rejection of the evidence of God, as manifested in His creative work, leads to such darkening of one’s understanding as will hinder his discerning “the knowledge of His will” as set forth in the preaching and teaching of His word, (Col 1:9).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. To whom then have ye likened God? The Jews were in great danger from another temptation; for there was reason to believe that the Assyrians and Babylonians would not have obtained so many victories without their assistance; and hence they might naturally conclude, “Of what avail is it to us to have a peculiar manner of worshipping God which differs from other nations; for our enemies fight under the favor and protection of heaven, while we are not cheered by any assistance from the God whom we worship?” Neither can there be any doubt, that the captives were taunted by unbelievers, as is evident from other passages. (Psa 137:3; Lam 2:15.) That true religion may not be ruined among the Jews on account of the calamity which they had sustained, God rises up, and proclaims that a grievous injury is done to him, if believers, discouraged by adversity, turn aside to the idols and superstitions of the Gentiles. Thus he confirms them in the faith of the promises, that they may not sink under the weight of the punishments which they endure.
The Prophet, as we formerly suggested, does not address merely the men of his own age, but posterity, who would have a still severer contest with the mockeries of the nations whose captives they were, and likewise with bad examples and customs; for when, in consequence of being mingled with heathen nations, they daily beheld many corruptions of piety, it was more difficult for them steadily to persevere. That they might not entertain any foolish notion that high prosperity attended the worshippers of false gods, the Prophet meets this error, and reminds them that God, whom they and their fathers worshipped, ought not to be compared with the gods of the Gentiles; for these were made by men, and were composed of gold or silver, wood or stone; but God created all things; and therefore that the highest injury is done to God, not only by comparing his majesty with things of no value, but even by not, placing him far above all the angels and everything that is reckoned divine.
When Paul employs this passage (Act 17:29) as a proof against idolaters, or at least quotes the words of the Prophet, he does not wrest them from their true meaning. He infers, indeed, from them that to frame any image of God is exceedingly wicked, while the Prophet, in guarding the Jews against distrust, at the same time condemns the superstitions of the Gentiles, and declares that it is inconsistent with the nature of God to be represented by painting or by any kind of likeness. This shews clearly that Paul’s doctrine fully agrees with it; for the Prophet, after having shewn that the power of God is infinite, since he holds all things in his fist, at length concludes, “To whom then will ye liken me? for no image that is formed will have any likeness or resemblance to me.”
Or, what resemblance will you appoint to him? This is a useful doctrine, and worthy of observation; for were there nothing more than this single passage, it would be perfectly sufficient for refuting the inventions by which Papists deceive themselves, when they think that they have a right to represent God by outward figures. The Prophet declares that it is impossible to frame out of dead matter an image which shall have any resemblance to the glory of God. He openly rejects idols, and does not even speak of the worship of them, but affirms that to manufacture and set them up before God is wicked and abominable. The Scripture is full of such proofs. Moses warned a people prone to this vice,
“
Thou sawest no image or shape in the mountain, thou only heardest a voice. See then and beware that thou be not led astray so as to frame for thyself any image.” (Deu 4:12.)
In order to know God, therefore, we must not frame a likeness of him according to our own fancy, but we must betake ourselves to the Word, in which his lively image is exhibited to us. Satisfied with that communication, let us not attempt anything else of our own. Other ways and methods, such as idols and images, teach us vanity and falsehood, and not truth, as Jeremiah beautifully says, “The wood is the instruction of vanities,” (Jer 10:8,) and Habakkuk, “His graven image is falsehood.” (Hab 2:18.) When the Lord sometimes compares himself to a lion, a bear, a man, or other objects, this has nothing to do with images, as the Papists imagine, but by those metaphors either the kindness and mercy of God, or his wroth and displeasure, and other things of the same nature, are expressed; for God cannot reveal himself to us in any other way than by a comparison with things which we know. In short, if it were lawful to frame or set up an image of God, that would be a point of resemblance to the gods of the Gentiles, and this declaration of the Prophet could not be maintained.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
GOD INCOMPARABLE
(For Trinity Sunday.)
Isa. 40:18. To whom then will ye liken God? &c.
The extreme point which has ever been reached by objectors to the doctrine of the Trinity is the point of incomprehensibleness, not the point of impossibility. The doctrine, though incomprehensible as to the manner, can never be proved impossible as to the fact (H. E. I. 48114814). The same may be said of the Deity, or any of His attributes, e.g., Eternity, Omnipresence. Reason is required to submit to Revelation when she cannot comprehend. We might almost say that until truth is beyond (not opposed to) Reason, it does not strictly belong to Revelation (H. E. I. 537, 1087, 20222024).
The text is a simple but energetic assertion, couched in the form of a question, of the impossibility of finding any likeness or resemblance to God.
I. The Creator is distinguished from every creature by being self-existent.
1. No way of accounting for the origin of anything except by supposing something which never had an origin. It was an ancient inscription in a heathen temple, I am whatsoever was, is, or shall be; and who is he that shall draw aside my veil?
2. The existence of a Creator is a necessary existence. This should prepare us to find God inscrutable. To depict an Archangel, one has but to remodel himself; but how begin to depict God, the Uncreated?
II. Hence the vanity of all attempts to explain or illustrate the Trinity in Unity.
1. If we could produce an exact instance of three in one, we should have no right to point to it as at all parallel with the union in the Godhead (H. E. I. 48164821). Man was made in the moral image of his Maker. It is the image of the nature which the text says it is impossible to find. Still some use may be made of illustration.
III. Is it possible that there may be three persons in the Godhead, consistently with that unity which Scripture unreservedly ascribes to the Divine Being?
1. Observe mans constitution. All confess he is made up of a body and a soul. Apart from seeing this union effected, we might have thought it impossible. It is a union of quite different natures. Why should he not unite two things of the same nature, e.g., two spirits? If with two, then with three; the possibility does not depend upon the number. Thus we admit the incomprehensible, but we disprove the impossible.
2. The foregoing illustration shows no unmindfulness of the truth that we cannot find a likeness to the everlasting God. It shows from what is possible in created being the unreasonableness of pronouncing a certain constitution impossible in the uncreated Being. Wonderful Being! who has only to tell what He is to make Himself more inscrutable.
IV. Note the practical character of the doctrine of the Trinity.
1. The whole of Christianity falls to pieces, if you destroy this doctrine. If this doctrine be false, Christ Jesus is nothing more than a man, and the Holy Ghost a creature of quality. That truth cannot be a barren speculation which may not be believed or disbelieved without affecting the Christian character.
2. Reflect upon prayer. Prayer must be prescribed and regulated by the doctrine of the Trinity. It is a false god whom man worships, if he adores Unity in which there is no Trinity. The heathen bows down before a stock or a stone, the Socinian before a Godhead in which there is no Son and no Holy Spirit. Without a Trinity, man must save himself; with a Trinity, he is to be saved through Christ.
3. Our duty. Whilst no likeness can be found to the invisible uncreated God, we are to study conformity to the image of His Son. Resemblance to Christ is the nearest approach to resemblance to God (Col. 3:4). See Outline: THE TRINITY IN UNITY, vol. i. pp. 133, 134.Henry Melvill, B.D.: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 284308.
The passage suggests:
I. That the greatest things in the material world are nothing to God. The ocean, the heaven, the earth (Isa. 40:12; Psa. 33:8-9).
II. That the greatest minds in the spiritual universe are nothing to Him (Isa. 40:13-14). He is uninstructible: the only Being in the universe who is so. He is absolutely original: the only such Being. We talk of original thinkers; such creatures are mere fictions. He being so independent of all minds:
1. His universe must be regarded as the expression of Himself. No other being had a hand in it (H. E. I. 14911497; P. D. 631).
2. His laws are the revelation of Himself. No one counselled Him in His legislation.
3. His conduct is absolutely irresponsible. He is answerable to no one. He alone is irresponsible, and He alone can be trusted with irresponsibility.
III. That the greatest institutions in human society are nothing to Him. Nations are the greatest things in human institutions. Nations, with their monarchs, courts, armiesBabylon, Persia, Greece, Romethese are great things in history (Isa. 40:15). Islands (Isa. 40:15-17).
IV. That the greatest productions of human labour are nothing to Him. Perhaps in all ages the highest productions of human genius have been in connection with religion. Religion has had the finest architecture, carvings, sculpture, paintings, &c. But what are they to Him? (Isa. 40:18-20).
CONCLUSION.How great is God! Well might the Moslems cry in their prayers, Allah hakbar!God is great. There is, said an eloquent French preacher, nothing great but God (P. D. 1493, 1502, 1508).David Thomas, D.D.: The Homilist, Editors Series, vol. xi. p. 167.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(18) To whom then will ye liken God . . .The thought of the infinity of God leads, as in St. Pauls reasoning (Act. 17:24-29), to the great primary argument against the folly of idolatry. It is characteristic, partly of the two men individually, partly of the systems under which they lived, that while the tone of Isaiah is sarcastic and declamatory, that of St Paul is pitying, and as with indulgent allowance for the times of ignorance. We must remember, of course, that the Apostle speaks to those who had known nothing better than the worship of their fathers, the prophet to those who were tempted to fall into the worship of the heathen from a purer faith.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18, 19. To whom will ye liken God The conclusion is, the impossibility of adequately conceiving Jehovah’s greatness and exaltation. Likeness of him to any thing is beyond any human conception. Hence image representation is a thing in the highest degree absurd. An image! an image of metal! (not wooden as yet, and so cut and carved, as the idea is in English!) the smith casts it; the melter plates it with gold, and forms silver chains for it a process picture, with the describer as spectator; this thing to be a likeness of the incomprehensible God! So much for the metal image.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 40:18-26. To whom then will ye liken God? To whom, &c. or what resemblance will ye contrive for him? Isa 40:19. The workman casts an image; and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and worketh silver chains: Isa 40:20. He who is thrifty in his oblation, chooses wood that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare him an image which will not start. Latter end of Isa 40:21. Have ye not considered the foundations of the earth? Isa 40:22. Him that sitteth, &c. Isa 40:26. Who bringeth out their host by number, calleth them all by name, through the multitude of his virtues, [or abilities,] and the strength of his power: not one faileth. The sum of the preceding period is, that human wisdom ought to yield to divine; that the mutilated Dagon should fall before the ark, and be thrust by from its seat to the threshold of the temple. Yet it might be objected, that idolatry was not only received, but also established among all nations, and that the princes of the world were extremely powerful who supported it. Such was the case; and it might seem impossible, according to human estimates, that such idolatry and superstition, thus supported, should be overthrown by such means as the Gospel professed to apply. The prophet therefore, occurring to these doubts, shews, first, the vanity of idolatry, and what folly there was in it, both from the matter and form of idols, and the manner of making them, compared with the nature, excellence, and greatness of the true Divinity, the Creator of the universe; using nearly the same arguments which the first preachers of the Gospel used: Isa 40:18-22. Secondly, the vanity and weakness of the princes supporting idolatry, compared with the most powerful and wise Creator and Ruler of the universe: Isa 40:23-26. In demonstrating the vanity of idolatry, he first sets forth the crime which was committed in forming idols, Isa 40:18-20. Then follows the reproof of it, Isa 40:21-22 which the prophet treats in such a manner, as if he himself was among the apostles of Jesus Christ; of whom indeed he was a true type, if you take the word in its full extent. The same spirit was in them, the same zeal: they were preachers of the same grace, promoters of the same glory of Christ; and they had the same earnest desire to bring the nations to the communion of the kingdom of God. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Ver. 18. To whom then will ye liken God? ] A sin which the Jews were exceeding prone unto, and would be tempted to, when in captivity at Babylon; here therefore they have an antidote provided beforehand. The voice of the gospel is, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1Jn 5:21 See Trapp on “ 1Jn 5:21 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 40:18-20
18To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter.
Isa 40:18-20 This section deals with the folly of idolatry similar to Isa 44:9-20; Isa 46:1-7.
To whom then will you liken God This is the expression (cf. Isa 40:25; Isa 46:5; Exo 8:10; Exo 15:11; 1Sa 2:2; Mic 7:18) of the Jews’ major theological affirmation which we call monotheism (cf. Deu 6:4-5). See Special Topic: Monotheism .
Isa 40:19
NASBfashions
NKJV, NRSV,
NJBcasts
TEVset
REBfits
JPSOAforging
This VERB (BDB 864,, KB 1057) is used twice and refers to smelting metal into a specific form (cf. Isa 41:7; Isa 46:6). The NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 1000 prefers forging rather than the common translation casting, because of the Hebrew synonymous parallelism (see Special Topic: Hebrew Poetry ).
Isa 40:20 a tree This word (BDB 781) is used of a type of wood out of which idols are made (cf. Isa 44:19; Isa 45:20; Hos 4:12). It may have been an especially hard wood but in time it will decay!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Isa 40:18-26
Isa 40:18-26
“To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains. He that is too impoverished for such an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skillful workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: yea, he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.”
The first few verses here speak of the utter foolishness of idolatry. Idols simply cannot be compared to God. An idol is not a person, it cannot see, it cannot think, it cannot hear, it cannot move, it cannot feel, it cannot “know” anything, it cannot move, it cannot “do” anything! How, then could it even remind anyone of God? Isaiah here emphasizes all of this by speaking of the manner in which idols are manufactured. As objects of worship, idols are “nothing,” indeed “less than nothing.” This writer once visited a pagan temple in Japan. It was the great temple of the Diabutso; and there were dozens of niches around the outer part of the great enclosure where many lesser gods were honored with statues; but on the day when this writer visited, there were large signs in black and red letters declaring that, “These gods are out for repair”!
“Have ye not known, have ye not heard, hath it not been told you, etc …” (Isa 40:21). This refers to the basic knowledge that has been handed down to successive generations of the human race concerning God’s creation of the world and related truth.
Isa 40:22-23 speak of God in terms stressing his incomparable greatness and power.
“Be sitteth above the circle of the earth …” (Isa 40:22). We are somewhat annoyed by some writers who hasten to explain to us that this has no reference to the earth’s being a sphere, because Isaiah, of course, could not have known that. Do such writers not know that it was not Isaiah who declared this, but God gave the words through Isaiah? Certainly the passage is compatible with the fact of the earth’s being round.
“That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in …” (Isa 40:22). Here is another scientific fact, utterly unknown to Isaiah, but apparent nevertheless in the words which God delivered through Isaiah to mankind. Are the atmospheric heavens indeed a curtain and a tent? Assuredly! Take a look at detailed photographs of the moon, where there is no atmosphere (heavens) like that which protects the earth, and it will be at once apparent what God’s “curtain, or tent” has done for our earth. That curtain, composed of earth’s atmosphere, traps and destroys millions of meteorites which otherwise would long ago have destroyed our world without God’s “heavens” spread out like a curtain or a tent to dwell in!
Such an omnipotent, ubiquitous, omniscient God could indeed behold the inhabitants of the earth as “grasshoppers.” The mention here of princes that “have not been planted” suggests that great men do not even have the stability and permanence of a tree. All men, even the great ones, are “here today and gone tomorrow”!
How can such a great God be compared, or “likened” to anything on earth? Even the starry hosts of heaven are deployed and commanded by God’s authority. He made them; and he has a definite plan for every single one of them; and he even calls every one of the billions of trillions of stars by their names! Feeble, mortal, men do not have the slightest idea of how many stars there actually may be.
Isa 40:18-20 STUPID CREATURES: Since God is infinitely powerful, infinitely wise and unsearchable, it is sheer stupidity for the creature to attempt, in his finite limitations, to carve a likeness in wood or stone and think he has reproduced the totality of God. It is also sheer stupidity for men to devise political, ethical and philosophical systems and assume they have reproduced the totality of God, Man is limited to the experienced. God is beyond the experienced. The only possibility of man reaching beyond the experienced is that the Unexperienceable One shall reveal Himself in mans experience. This He did in Jesus Christ. God can create man in His image-but man cannot create God in his image. Edward J. Young says it succinctly, Isaiahs question (Isa 40:18) brings us to the heart of genuine theism. There can be no comparison between the living, eternal God (el) and any man, for man is but a creature. Man is limited, finite, temporal; God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all His attributes and perfections. In our thinking about God the infinite distance between God and the creature must ever be kept in mind. To break down this distinction is to fall into the sin of idolatry.
The Hebrew word pesel is translated image or graven image and is the thing Israel was forbidden to have in the Decalogue (Exo 20:4). Moses was warned that God cannot be represented by any form (Deu 4:12-24). Men seem to have an insatiable desire to see some form of God (Joh 14:8-11), yet no one has ever seen Him (Joh 1:18; Joh 6:46; Col 1:15; 1Ti 1:17; 1Ti 6:16; Mat 11:27; 1Jn 4:20). Christians are to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29; 2Co 3:18; Col 3:10), but this does not mean the flesh and blood body of Jesus (cf. 1Co 15:49-50). It is therefore a dangerous practice to make statues and pictures of Jesus and depend upon them for our concept of the Son of God (besides the fact no one actually knows today the precise physical features of Jesus). It is the thinking and acting of Jesus we are to adore and recreate in us-not His human body. Perhaps this is why God saw fit to obliterate from history any exact description of Jesus. Perhaps this is why God has seen fit to erase any precise location of Jesus birth, home, etc., lest men be more tempted than they are to worship things and places rather than the Person.
The silliness of attempting to fashion a Creator out of that which is created is best exemplified by Isa 44:9-20. There the idol-maker cuts down a tree and with half he builds a fire and cooks his food and with the other half he makes himself a god. How ridiculous! It is a fundamental principle of life that men take on the character of that which they worship (Psa 115:3-8; Hos 9:10; Rom 1:18-32). Idolatry produces stupidity, degradation and death. Carving images of men and animals from wood and stone to adore and worship is not the only form of idolatry. Disobedience and rebellion against Gods commands (1Sa 15:23) and covetousness (Col 3:5) are both forms of idolatry.
Even the poor people of Isaiahs day refused to be deprived of indulging in idolatry. They could not afford gold and silver so they had a craftsman carve them an idol from hard wood. Making of idols was taken seriously by those who worshipped them. Only the best craftsmen fashioned them lest the production be an unworthy representation of the god or goddess. They must be made substantially of endurable materials. The larger they were and the longer lasting, the more prestige and power the idols supposedly retained.
Isa 40:21-26 SENSIBLE CONSIDERATION: There are two sources from which these stupid people should have perceived the sovereignty of Jehovah and prepared for His coming-the word of God and the world of God. Isaiahs questions are rhetorical. Only one answer is possible-yes! Over and over, through His spokesmen (the patriarchs and the prophets), the existence and nature of the Creator was proclaimed to Israel. Day by day Israel could see the Creator in nature and providence. Have they heard? have they known? Yes! There is no excuse for their stupidity. They could not plead ignorance as the cause for their idolatry. Their sin is deliberate and in spite of their knowledge.
The prophet implores his people to come back to a sensible consideration of the sovereignty of Jehovah based on more evidence from creation and history. One thing is certain from mans experience-man is not supernatural and omnipotent. Compared to the eternal, sovereign Jehovah, who sits enthroned upon the circle (zenith) of the earth, men are like grasshoppers. Get all the millions and millions of grasshoppers together and they cannot hold the world in its course, All the men of the world are like that. Some interpreters see in the word hkoog (circle) an indication that ancient people knew the world was round. Others think it merely means the highest part of the horizon or the zenith. God is pictured as sitting over the highest part of the earth to watch over His creation. The emphasis of the context is on comparing the power of God and the weakness of man. God also stretched out the heavens as effortlessly and quickly as a man in Isaiahs day would stretch out a curtain. These vast, endless, majestic heavens are His dwelling place. Light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second. The estimated distance to the extent of the known universe is 6,000,000 light years! Multiply the number of seconds in a year by six million and you get the estimate of the known universe. But there are areas beyond that!
Proud, haughty, presumptuous human potentates and rulers strut through history pretending they rule the earth. But it is Jehovah who gives and takes away (cf. Dan 2:20-23; Jer 27:5-11; Isa 45:1-7). God plants and sows and lets them take root only as long as He wishes. Some men scarcely are sown and hardly take root before He takes them away like the whirlwind takes chaff away. All flesh is like grass (1Pe 1:24-25). Our years are soon gone and we fly away (cf. Psa 90:9-10; Mat 6:27; Jas 4:13-17), but God is forever.
The prophet repeats his challenge. There is no being to whom one may liken Jehovah. No one in all His creation is His equal. He is the Incomparable One. He has created the stars and planets. He knows how many there are and has a name for each of them. Man cannot even count the stars, let alone create one. Someone has pointed out that while God formed other animals to look downwards for pasture and prey, he made man alone erect, and told him to look at what may be regarded as his own habitation, the starry heavens. When man seriously contemplates the heavens he is pointed to the Creator (Psa 19:1-6). Charles A. Lindbergh was 25 years old when he took off from Roosevelt Field, New York, at 7:52 a.m. on May 20, 1927. After more than 3600 miles and 33 hours, he landed at LeBourget Field near Paris, France. When he had flown his trusted plane, Spirit of St. Louis, midway on its transatlantic flight he began to think of the smallness of man and the deficiency of his devices, and the greatness and marvels of Gods universe. He mused, Its hard to be an agnostic here in the Spirit of St. Louis when so aware of the frailty of mans devices. If one dies, all Gods creation goes on existing in a plan so perfectly balanced, so wondrously simple and yet so incredibly complex that it is beyond our comprehension. Theres the infinite detail, and mans consciousness of it all-a world audience to what, if not to God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Everlasting God the Giver of Strength
Isa 40:18-31
Day changes to night, and as the twilight deepens, the stars come out in their myriads, Isa 40:26. To the poetic eye of the watcher, they appear as a vast flock following the shepherd, who calls each by its name. Not one falls out of its place, or is lacking. Will Jehovah do so much for stars and nought for men? Will He not have a name for each? Will He not guard and guide each? If He has sustained the orbs of light in their mighty rounds, will He fail the poor soul that clings to His feet?
They that wait on God change their strength. In their earliest days they rely on the energy and vigor of youth, on their blameless, unstained character, in the consciousness of their glorious manhood; but as years pass, they come to count all these as refuse in comparison with Jesus Christ the Lord, Php 3:8. Notice the order in Isa 40:31! At first sight we should have expected that it would advance from walking to running, and so to flying. But that order is reversed. It is more difficult to walk than to mount! Every cyclist will tell you that the hardest task is to keep your cycle at walking pace.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Isa 40:25, Isa 46:5, Isa 46:9, Exo 8:10, Exo 9:14, Exo 15:11, Exo 20:4, Deu 33:26, 1Sa 2:2, Job 40:9, Psa 86:8-10, Psa 89:6, Psa 89:8, Psa 113:5, Jer 10:6, Jer 10:16, Mic 7:18, Act 17:29, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3
Reciprocal: Exo 32:4 – These Num 12:8 – similitude Deu 3:24 – what God Deu 4:12 – no similitude Deu 4:15 – of similitude Deu 4:16 – the likeness Jdg 17:3 – a graven image 2Sa 7:22 – none 1Ki 8:23 – no God 1Ch 17:20 – none Psa 35:10 – who Psa 71:19 – who is like Psa 77:13 – who Psa 106:20 – into Jer 50:44 – for who Rom 1:23 – an image
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 40:18. To whom then will ye liken God? This is a proper inference from the foregoing discourse of Gods infinite greatness; from whence he takes occasion to show both the folly of those that make mean and visible representations of God, and the utter inability of men or idols to give any opposition to God. And this discourse, concerning the madness of idolaters, prosecuted both here and in the following chapter, was designed by God as a necessary antidote, whereby the Jews might be preserved from the contagion of idolatry, to which God saw they now had strong inclinations, and would have many and great temptations while they were in captivity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
40:18 To whom then {u} will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare to him?
(u) By this he arms them against the idolatry with which they would be tempted in Babylon.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The transcendent God (Heb. ’el) is incomparable; no one and nothing approaches Him in His greatness and glory.