Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 40:27
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
27. My way ] i.e. my circumstances, my lot (Psa 37:5). Israel feels that its hard lot is overlooked or ignored by Jehovah; far harder is the complaint of Job (Isa 3:23) that God Himself has hidden his way, setting a hedge across it.
my judgment God ] my right passes from my God, escapes His notice. In all its consciousness of guilt before God, the nation retained the consciousness of having “right” on its side against its oppressors. (See Appendix, Note II.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
27 31. The prophet now turns to his own people, drawing the lesson of hope and encouragement which lies in the true doctrine of God. Jehovah, whom Israel still calls “my God” ( Isa 40:27), is eternal and unchangeable, of infinite power and discernment (28), and the source of strength to those who have none in themselves (29) if only they will wait on Him in faith (31).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Why sayest thou? – This verse is designed to reprove the people for their want of confidence in God. The idea is, If God is so great; if be arranges the hosts of heaven with such unerring skill, causing all the stars to observe their proper place and their exact times, the interests of his people are safe in his hands. Piety may always find security in the assurance that He who preserves the unbroken order of the heavens will not fail to keep and save his people. The language in this verse is to be understood as addressed to the Jews sighing for deliverance in their long and painful captivity in Babylon. Their city and temple had laid waste for many years; their captivity had been long and wearisome, and doubtless many would be ready to say, that it would never end. To furnish an argument to meet this state of despondency, the prophet sets before them this sublime description of the faithfulness and the power of God.
O Jacob – A name often given to the Jews as the descendants of Jacob.
O Israel – Denoting the same. The name Israel was given to Jacob because he had power to prevail as a prince with God Gen 32:28; and it became the common name by which his descendants were known.
My way is hid from the Lord – That is, is not seen, or noticed. The word way here denotes evidently the state or condition; the manner of life, or the calamities which they experienced. The term is often thus employed to denote the lot, condition, or manner in which one lives or acts Psa 37:5; Isa 10:24; Jer 12:1. The phrase, is hid, means that God is ignorant of it, or that he does not attend to it; and the complaint here is, that God had not regarded them in their calamities, and would not interpose to save them.
And my judgment – My cause. The word here refers to their condition among the people where they were captive, and by whom they were oppressed. They are represented as being deprived of their liberty; and they here complain that God disregarded their cause, and that he did not come forth to deliver them from their oppressions and their trials.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 40:27-31
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord?
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The attributes of God: a reply to unbelief
I. THE UNIVERSAL DISPOSITION TO UNBELIEF. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel? etc.
II. THE ACCOUNT WHICH GOD HIMSELF GIVES OF THE GREATNESS OF HIS ATTRIBUTES. Well to Israel might the Almighty put the inquiry, Hast thou not known? He spake to His peculiar people. In Jewry is God known; His praise is great in Israel. How could they but know His attributes, to whom He had Himself manifested His glory? And to us the same upbraiding queries might well be put.
III. HOW THE LORD EMPLOYS ALL HIS MIGHTY ATTRIBUTES FOR THE CONSOLATION AND REFRESHMENT OF HIS PEOPLE WHO CALL UPON HIM. He giveth power to the faint, etc.
1. Consider the case of those who are convinced of their own natural sin and helplessness, but who have not as yet sought their Saviour.
2. The consolations of the text belong also to those who, after they have found their Saviour, are mourning under peculiar sin, or walking in peculiar darkness.
3. By temporal sorrows, too, He may sorely grieve thee, but much more mayest thou trust Him in them. (T. Scott, B. A.)
When the way seems hidden
I. THE WAY WHICH SEEMS HIDDEN. My way is hid from the Lord–what a common cry! Samuel Taylor Coleridge said he was sure the Bible was the Word of God because it found him at deeper depths than any other book. How surely and how deeply does this cry, My way is hid from the Lord, find each of us in many a mood!
1. It is into the future that the prophet is looking. Plainly, by the vision-giving Spirit, he discerns the great catastrophe which is to afflict the Jewish nation. The Babylonian captivity is to drag them into exile. By the severe chastisement of the captivity the Jews are to be cured of an almost uncheckable tendency towards idolatry. A human waywardness needs sometimes a bitter medicine to compel it back to paths of loyalty to God. But the prophet not only foresees the captivity, but also the way in which the exiled Hebrews are enduring it. It is as though he heard them talking together there in distant Babylon.
2. But that the way seems hidden from the Lord is not anything peculiar to those ancient captives. How surely and how deeply does that ancient cry find every one of us.
(1) Delayed answers to prayer sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord.
(2) The strangeness of the way makes our way sometimes seem hidden from the Lord.
(3) Our mistakes sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord.
(4) Our moods sometimes make our way seem hidden from the
Lord.
(5) Our sins sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord.
II. A GREAT AND ENDURING TRUTH ABOUT OUR WAY WHICH SOMETIMES SEEMS TO US HIDDEN FROM THE LORD. This is that our way is not and cannot be hidden from Him. And there are reasons firm and towering as the mountain peaks for this.
1. Our way cannot be hidden from the Lord because He is everlasting–His purpose cannot fail.
2. Because He is powerful–the Creator of the ends of the earth.
3. Because He is actively Lord He fainteth not, neither is weary.
4. Because He is actively wise–there is no searching of His understanding.
5. Because He is beneficent–He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.
III. SEIZE THE PRECIOUS PROMISE FOR YOUR HELP, even though your way may seem hidden from the Lord. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew, etc. God is coming to your help. Even while the captive Jews were crying, My way is hidden, etc., God was preparing Cyrus to be their deliverer. (Homiletic Review.)
Spiritual despondency
I. ISAIAHS DESPONDENCY. It arose from a two-fold source.
1. The sense of a Divine desertion. My way is hidden from the Lord. It was the necessary result of the prophets office that all the nations sorrows must press home on his spirit, and must wound with their keenest anguish his sensitive soul. Now, remembering this union of deep sympathy with the people, observe the tremendous power with which, for fifty years, the wickedness of the land, and Gods great judgment upon it, must have pressed on his large and tender heart. It made his very office often seem a vanity. Many men have had the same experience; perhaps all earnest men must undergo it.
2. The absence of Divine recompense. My judgment is passed over from my God. The prophet unquestionably spoke these words as a cry uttered only by himself. The people were buried in God-forgetting repose. The priests were dead in formalism. The spiritual life of the land was decaying; and thunders of woe were muttering in the nations future. What had his life been worth? Apparently nothing! All great men think that they die in failure. Is it not hard for a man who has given to God his all, and worn out his life in His service, to go out into the eternal silence and see no reward?
II. THE TRUTH THAT REMOVED ISAIAHS DESPONDENCY. In the verses following our text we perceive that the double manifestation of Gods greatness in Nature, and the tenderness of His revealed will, dispelled the gloom.
1. The greatness of God in Nature. He speaks not only of the unsearchable Creator, but of the everlasting God. Thy recompense is sure–thy work, and conflict, and toil are for eternity; then why sayest thou, O Jacob, that thy way is hidden from the Lord?
2. The tenderness of the revealed will. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. The revelation of Gods tenderness is far more full for the Christian man, and has, therefore, far greater power to remove our despondency. We know how the Great Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.
III. THE RESULTS OF ITS REMOVAL.
1. Strength in weakness. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Feebleness is transformed into power when God has taught His great lesson of glorying in infirmity.
2. Immortal youth. They shall mount up on wings as eagles. You have heard the old Jewish fable, that the eagle in dying recovered its youthful power. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
Faith in the living God
I. Isaiah here reaches and rests upon THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF THE FAITH, TRUST, AND HOPE OF MANKIND–the living God. Creation rests on His hand; man, the child of the higher creation, rests on His heart. What His power is to the material universe His moral nature and character are to the spiritual universe. Have faith in God. Creation lives by faith unconsciously, and all her voices to our intelligent ear iterate and reiterate Have faith in God.
II. WHAT DO WE KNOW OF GOD THAT WE SHOULD TRUST HIM? What aspects does He present to us? We have two sources of knowledge–what He has said to, and what He has done for, man.
1. There is something unspeakably sublime in the appeal in verse 26. It is heavens protest against mans despair. Nor is Isaiah the only sacred writer who utters it. There is something very strikingly parallel in Job (Job 38:1-41.). In both cases Gods appeal is to the grand and steadfast order of the vast universe, which He sustains and assures. God tells us that all the hosts of heaven are attendant on the fortunes of mankind. They all live that Gods deep purpose concerning man may be accomplished.
2. God declares here that we are not only involved inextricably in the fulfilment of His deepest and most cherished counsels, but that we are needed to satisfy the yearnings of His Fathers heart.
III. WE MAY APPLY THESE PRINCIPLES to the seasons of our experience when faith in the living God is the one thing which stands between us and the most blank despair.
1. The deep waters of personal affliction.
2. The weary search of the intellect for truth, the struggle to comprehend the incomprehensible, to know the inscrutable, to see the invisible, which is part, and not the least heavy part, of the discipline of a man and of mankind.
3. Dark crises of human history, when truth, virtue, and manhood seem perishing from the world. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
The unbelief of the Jews reproved
I. THE TITLES GOD HERE GIVES THEM WERE ENOUGH TO SHAME THEM OUT OF THEIR DISTRUSTS. O Jacob; O Israel! Let them remember–
1. Whence they took those names–from one who had found God faithful to him, and kind in all his straits.
2. Why they bore those names–as Gods professing people, a people in covenant with Him.
II. THE WAY OF REPROVING THEM IS BY REASONING WITH THEM. Why? Consider whether thou hast any ground to say so. Many of our foolish frets and fears would vanish before a strict inquiry into the cause of them.
III. THAT WHICH THEY ARE REPROVED FOR IS AN ILL-NATURED, ILL-FAVOURED WORD THEY SPOKE OF GOD, as if He had cast them off. There seems to he an emphasis laid upon their saying it. It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our mind, but it is worse to put an imprimatur to them, and turn them into evil words. David reflects with regret upon what he had said in his haste when he was in distress.
IV. THE ILL WORD THEY SAID WAS A WORD OF DESPAIR CONCERNING THEIR PRESENT CALAMITOUS CONDITION. They were ready to conclude–
1. That God would not heed them. My way is hid from the Lord.
2. That God could not help them. My judgment is passed over from my God, i.e., my case is so far past relief that God Himself cannot redress the grievances of it. (M. Henry.)
A challenge to despondent unbelief
Why sayest thou, etc., that all the dispensations of providence and grace with which you are connected appear so intricate and inexplicable that you cannot attain any comfortable acquaintance with them; that God doth not seem to regard your condition, and to manifest this tender care of you, but acts toward you as if your forlorn circumstances were unknown to Him? This mournful complaint is adopted by them that fear the Lord, on one or other of the three following accounts–
I. When they do not perceive THE PROCURING CAUSES from whence their troubles proceed. This perplexing circumstance greatly increases their uneasiness, and induces them to request with Job that God would show them wherefore He contendeth with them.
II. When they do not discover THE IMPORTANT PURPOSES to which they are especially directed. Uncertainty as to the particular ends which afflictions are sent to accomplish augments not a little the pressure of distress, and disposes good people to bemoan themselves in the language of the dejected Church, He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. I can neither see the reason nor the end of my affliction; my way seems to be hid from the Lord.
III. When they do not discern WHAT IS PRESENT DUTY. Notwithstanding the blessed God hath clearly taught in His word what He requires, yet there are particular situations wherein the best of men have been perplexed as to what course they ought to follow. In such cases they have said with the good King of Judah, we know not what to do; and have lamented that their way was hid from the Lord. (R. Macculloch.)
Doubt and encouragement
Israel had suffered inexile so long that there were many who thought that their case had escaped Gods eye, and that their judgment (i.e their cause)
had passed beyond His notice: the prophet replies, Jehovah is no local, limited God, as you imagine; His power embraces Babylon not less than Palestine; His strength is not exhausted; there is no searching of His understanding–some inscrutable purpose must guide Him in delaying, if He do delay, the redemption of His people; only continue to trust! (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
God the comfort of His people
Sorrow ever brings God nearer to us, if it do not bring us nearer to God; and whilst Isaiah was pondering the greatness of his apparent failure, God was preparing to chase away his darkness and to rekindle his hopes. Above him in the silent vault of night God was bringing out His solemn stars. And from that heaven where God numbered and named and watched over His stars, the eternal chorus swept down into the prophets soul–Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel? etc. Now, from a like despondency of heart, not one of us is entirely free. But some there are who dwell always in the region of gloom.
The language of their whole life is, My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. Or, perhaps, it is that the shadow of a long-past grief is upon their life. Or, maybe, it is that they walk in a labyrinth of difficulty. Or, like Isaiah, they mourn apparent failure; they see lifes highest purpose ingloriously defeated.
I. GODS POWER THE COMFORT OF HIS PEOPLE. Certain it is that our only true comfort is found in God. Life, when we can turn to God, is never cruel and hard; however full of trial it may be it never seems unkind; for we know that a hand of love appoints what a heart of love designs, and that all things must work together for good. And God has surrounded us on every side with reminders of what He is. When the heart is sad and low go out and be a witness of Gods power; go out in the quiet evening when the gold and fire and purple of the sunset have paled away, and see God bringing out His stars. And as you remember that the infinite mind, your Father, knows their number, calls them all by names, as the Eastern shepherd used to call his sheep, and so follows each with His love, surrounds each by His care, so bathes each in His smile that not one faileth–do they not with a loud shout of song pour down upon your soul the same consolation? Not only Gods power as manifested in the sky, but His power as seen on earth may be our hope. God is about you on every side. No star, no bird, no flower is hid from Him. Never, then, can we say, My way is hid from the Lord, etc.
II. But a further source of consolation is GODS TENDERNESS. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Gods tenderness is only rightly seen when viewed in conjunction with His greatness. We see the tender in contrast with the mighty. And this is real tenderness. Tenderness is strength in gentle action. When the power that might crush heals, uplifts, and strengthens, then we see tenderness. Gentleness is not weakness, but it is calm, quiet, loving strength. When the wind–which might wrench the oak from its moorings, snap the cables it has thrown around the rocks, and carry it away on its wings–lifts the hair and fans the cheek of the dying child, it is gentle. When the sun–mighty in his strength, pouring his scorching light on far-off worlds–shoots down a golden ray to cheer the drooping plant, or to increase strength in the little seedling which a raindrop would almost crush, it is gentle. And such is the God of whom we speak. The great Father has also a mothers tenderness. He giveth power to the faint. He who Himself is never weary stoops to those who have no might, that He may increase strength. The faint and weak, they are the children of the strong and mighty! And to the faint He giveth power–power to suffer, to endure. To the weak He giveth strength–strength to labour, to accomplish. There is nothing in this world so mighty as the weakness which takes hold of the Divine strength. Yonder the ocean is white with foam. Wave chases wave across the dark surface of the deep as cloud chases cloud across tile blackened sky. No ship could live in such a storm. The mightiest anchor ever forged could give no safety in such an hour. But out, where the storm is fiercest, on those dreadful rocks against which the waves dash themselves into clouds of spray, is a tiny, helpless shell-fish. Its very strength is weakness. It clings simply by its emptiness; but, clinging to that rock, not all the thunders of the ocean dislodge it thence. It is weakness taking hold of strength. Tender and yet mighty is our God, and His tenderness is His peoples comfort. Whilst we bow in reverence before that power which holds untold worlds in their shining courses, we bow in profounder reverence and love before that power when we behold it in gentle exercise, giving power to the faint.
III. There is a further source of consolation open to us–GODS WISDOM. There is no searching of His understanding. To say merely that man cannot understand God is to say very little; but the language is the statement of an eternal fact. There is no searching of His understanding; not by the brightest intellects of earth nor by the grandest intelligences of heaven. And Gods infinite wisdom is to us the needful complement of His infinite power. Power, uncontrolled by wisdom, is rather to be feared than worshipped and loved. And shall He who has conceived that mighty plan–that plan which embraces all worlds in its grand conception–notunderstand the plan of our short life? Never let us think our way is hid from the Lord; to Him every circumstance of our life is known. (H. Wonnacott.)
Providence
I. THE DOCTRINE OF A GENERAL PROVIDENCE. The doctrine of Providence in general is alike supported by reason and revelation.
1. It is necessary to creation. If the world were from eternity, then might it go on self-sustained, as it had ever been: if it were of chance, it might be supported by the same contingency which produced it. If a first cause was necessary to the production of these things, He is also essential to their preservation; and the same voice of nature which proclaims the being of a God, declares His Providence.
2. We must take the testimony of Scripture on this subject.
3. From prophecy.
II. THE DOCTRINE OF A PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE.
1. As consistent with the Divine character. The grand objection against a particular Providence has been, that it reduces the Deity to the necessity of superintending such minute concerns as are beneath His dignity–reduces the Deity to a necessity! What necessity can subsist but in His will? The objection proceeds upon principles entirely erroneous. It is an erroneous calculation to call anything great or little in such connection. All affairs are not to us of equal importance–the bursting of a bubble and the ruin of an empire. But, in reasoning thus, we are reducing the Deity to a finite standard, and making Him altogether such an one as ourselves. With Him the affairs of an empire and of individuals are equally manageable. The reasoning is false, also, upon the principle of dignity. It deteriorates nothing from the dignity of God to form a mite, with all the vessels and organs adapted to its existence: mere minuteness of operation surely cannot be deteriorating. What it was no degradation to God to create, it can be no degradation to God to preserve and manage.
2. As necessary to the general arrangements of Providence. Here we notice the operations of God, as demonstrating His government. The constitution of nature is of parts: systems compose the universe–worlds compose systems–a conglomeration of particles compose a world. Take the world of waters: seas form oceans–rivers, seas–streamlets, rivers–drops, streamlets–and the atom is infinitely divisible. Take the human frame; made up of that which every joint supplieth. Apply this scale of operations to Providence, and then we affirm that no concern can be so little as to be below the superintendence of God; for none can be so small as not to form a part of the grand scheme of Providence. Our ignorance on this subject can be no objection against its reality. I cannot, indeed, trace the link which knits my little concerns with the ways of eternal Providence; but neither can I trace the invisible chain which holds all created things together in its remotest parts: some of the larger links I discern, but more are invisible to me. He who admits the doctrine of a general providence and denies that of a particular one, is a being whose obliquity of intellect allows him to conceive of a whole, while he denies the existence of the parts of which that whole is composed.
3. As demonstrated in the course of providential dispensations. Review the circumstances of your separate lives. That life will furnish each of you with the desired evidences on this part of the subject. How frequently have the best concerted plans proved unavailing!
4. As harmonising with our prescribed duties, it is supposed, in the prescription of prayer. Where would be the utility of prayer, or the propriety of prescribing it, if the world was governed by a fate superior to the will of the Supreme Being? The prescription of prayer supposes, on the part of the Deity, a will as well as a power to govern. And this doctrine is reconcilable with the use of means; nay, it requires them.
5. As revealed in the Scriptures.
6. As most consolatory. (W. Patten.)
Unbecoming speech
It is well in times when feeling is strong to say little, lest we speak unadvisedly with our lips, murmuring at our lot, or complaining against God, as though He had forgotten to be gracious, and had shut up His tender mercies in anger. Speech often aggravates sorrow. We say more than we mean; we drown in the torrent of our words the still small voice of the Holy Ghost whispering comfort; we speak as though we had not known or heard. It is wise, therefore, not to pass grief into words. Better let the troubled sea within rock itself to rest. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel? (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
My way hid from the Lord
The flower which follows the sun does so even in cloudy days: when it cloth not shine forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion of it. So the soul that moves after God keeps that course when He hides His face; is content, yea, is glad at His will in all estates, or conditions, or events. (T. Leighton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Why sayest thou in thy heart? why dost thou give way to such jealousies concerning thy God, of whose infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness there are such evident demonstrations given to all mankind, and to thee in a singular manner?
My way; the course and condition of my life. He takes no notice of my prayers and tears, and sufferings for his name, but suffers my enemies to abuse me at their pleasure, and doth not attempt to rescue me out of their hands. This complaint is uttered in the name of the people, being prophetically supposed to be in captivity.
My judgment; either,
1. My punishment; or rather,
2. My cause, as this word is most commonly used. God hath neglected to plead my cause, and to give judgment for me against mine enemies, as he hath formerly done.
Is passed over from my God; God hath dismissed it, and left it and me in the hands of mine enemies, and now our case is so desperate that God cannot help us; for which reason they compared themselves to dry bones lying in the grave, Eze 37;.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. Since these things are so,thou hast no reason to think that thine interest (“way,”that is, condition, Psa 37:5;Jer 12:1) is disregarded by God.
judgment is passed overfromrather, “My cause is neglected by my God; He passesby my case in my bondage and distress without noticing it.”
my Godwho especiallymight be expected to care for me.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel,…. The Jews, supposed to be in captivity, are here meant, according to Jarchi and Kimchi; whom the prophet reproves, for murmuring at the calamities and afflictions there endured by them; but it may be the church and people of God, in Gospel times, are here intended, being under suffering circumstances, either under Rome Pagan, or Rome Papal; not only inwardly repining, but openly complaining and uttering, as follows:
my way is hid from the Lord; meaning not their course of life, or their religious actions, their profession of the Gospel, their attendance on public worship, their prayers and other duties of religion; but their sufferings for his name’s sake, the tribulations they endured, the afflicted way they walked in, which they imagined God took no notice of, since no way was opened in Providence for their deliverance out of them:
and my judgment is passed over from my God; my cause and case are neglected by him; he does not undertake my cause, nor plead it against my enemies, or right my wrongs, and avenge the injuries done me, or deliver me out of the hands of those that contend with me. The answer to which complaint follows, and which clearly shows there was no just foundation for it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Such of the Israelites are required first of all to be brought to a consciousness of the folly of idolatry are not called Israel at all, because they place themselves on a part with the goym . But now the prophet addresses those of little faith, who nevertheless desire salvation; those who are cast down, but not in utter despair. “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hidden from Jehovah, and my right is overlooked by my God?” The name Jacob stands here at the head, as in Isa 29:22, as being the more exquisite name, and the one which more immediately recalled their patriarchal ancestor. They fancied that Jehovah had completely turned away from them in wrath and weariness. “My way” refers to their thorny way of life; “my right” ( m ishpat ) to their good right, in opposition to their oppressors. Of all this He appeared to take no notice at all. He seemed to have no thought of vindicating it judicially (on the double min, away from him, see Ges. 154, 3, c).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jehovah’s Grandeur and Compassion. | B. C. 708. |
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Here, I. The prophet reproves the people of God, who are now supposed to be captives in Babylon for their unbelief and distrust of God, and the dejections and despondencies of their spirit under their affliction (v. 27): “Why sayest thou, O Jacob! to thyself and to those about thee, My way is hidden from the Lord? Why dost thou make hard and melancholy conclusions concerning thyself and thy present case as if the latter were desperate?” 1. The titles he here gives them were enough to shame them out of their distrusts: O Jacob! O Israel! Let them remember whence they took these names–from one who had found God faithful to him and kind in all his straits; and why they bore these names–as God’s professing people, a people in covenant with him. 2. The way of reproving them is by reasoning with them: “Why? Consider whether thou hast any ground to say so.” Many of our foolish frets and foolish fears would vanish before a strict enquiry into the causes of them. 3. That which they are reproved for is an ill-natured, ill-favoured, word they spoke of God, as if he had cast them off. There seems to be an emphasis laid upon their saying it: Why sayest thou and speakest thou? It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our mind, but it is worse to put an imprimatur–a sanction to them, and turn them into evil words. David reflects with regret upon what he said in his haste, when he was in distress. 4. The ill word they said was a word of despair concerning their present calamitous condition. They were ready to conclude, (1.) That God would not heed them: “My way is hidden from the Lord; he takes no notice of our straits, nor concerns himself any more in our concernments. There are such difficulties in our case that even divine wisdom and power will be nonplussed.” A man whose way is hidden is one whom God has hedged in, Job iii. 23. (2.) That God could not help them: “My judgment is passed over from my God; my case is past relief, so far past it that God himself cannot redress the grievances of it. Our bones are dried.” Ezek. xxxvii. 11.
II. He reminds them of that which, if duly considered, was sufficient to silence all those fears and distrust. For their conviction, as before for the conviction of idolaters (v. 21), he appeals to what they had known and what they had heard. Jacob and Israel were a knowing people, or might have been, and their knowledge came by hearing; for Wisdom cried in their chief places of concourse. Now, among other things, they had heard that God had spoken once, twice, yea, many a time they had heard it, That power belongs unto God (Ps. lxii. 11), That is,
1. He is himself an almighty God. He must needs be so, for he is the everlasting God, even Jehovah. He was from eternity; he will be to eternity; and therefore with him there is no deficiency, no decay. He has his being of himself, and therefore all his perfections must needs be boundless. He is without beginning of days or end of life, and therefore with him there is no change. He is also the Creator of the ends of the earth, that is, of the whole earth and all that is in it from end to end. He therefore is the rightful owner and ruler of all, and must be concluded to have an absolute power over all and an all-sufficiency to help his people in their greatest straits. Doubtless he is still as able to save his church as he was at first to make the world. (1.) He has wisdom to contrive the salvation, and that wisdom is never at a loss: There is no searching of his understanding, so as to countermine the counsels of it and defeat its intentions; no, nor so as to determine what he will do, for he has ways by himself, ways in the sea. None can say, “Thus far God’s wisdom can go, and no further;” for, when we know not what to do, he knows. (2.) He has power to bring about the salvation, and that power is never exhausted: He faints not, nor is weary; he upholds the whole creation, and governs all the creatures, and is neither tired nor toiled; and therefore, no doubt, he has power to relieve his church, when it is brought ever so low, without weakness or weariness.
2. He gives strength and power to his people, and helps them by enabling them to help themselves. He that is the strong God is the strength of Israel. (1.) He can help the weak, v. 29. Many a time he gives power to the faint, to those that are ready to faint away; and to those that have no might he not only gives, but increases strength, as there is more and more occasion for it. Many out of bodily weakness are wonderfully recovered, and made strong, by the providence of God: and many that are feeble in spirit, timorous and faint-hearted, unfit for services and sufferings, are yet strengthened by the grace of God with all might in the inward man. To those who are sensible of their weakness, and ready to acknowledge they have no might, God does in a special manner increase strength; for, when we are weak in ourselves, then are we strong in the Lord. (2.) He will help the willing, will help those who, in a humble dependence upon him, help themselves, and will do well for those who do their best, Isa 40:30; Isa 40:31. Those who trust to their own sufficiency, and are so confident of it that they neither exert themselves to the utmost nor seek unto God for his grace, are the youth and the young men, who are strong, but are apt to think themselves stronger than they are. And they shall faint and be weary, yea, they shall utterly fail in their services, in their conflicts, and under their burdens; they shall soon be made to see the folly of trusting to themselves. But those that wait on the Lord, who make conscience of their duty to him, and by faith rely upon him and commit themselves to his guidance, shall find that God will not fail them. [1.] They shall have grace sufficient for them: They shall renew their strength as their work is renewed, as there is new occasion; they shall be anointed, and their lamps supplied, with fresh oil. God will be their arm every morning, ch. xxxiii. 2. If at any time they have been foiled and weakened they shall recover themselves, and so renew their strength. Heb. They shall change their strength, as their work is changed–doing work, suffering work; they shall have strength to labour, strength to wrestle, strength to resist, strength to bear. As the day so shall the strength be. [2.] They shall use this grace for the best purposes. Being strengthened, First, They shall soar upward, upward towards God: They shall mount up with wings like eagles, so strongly, so swiftly, so high and heaven-ward. In the strength of divine grace, their souls shall ascend above the world, and even enter into the holiest. Pious and devout affections are the eagles’ wings on which gracious souls mount up, Ps. xxv. 1. Secondly, They shall press forward, forward towards heaven. They shall walk, they shall run, the way of God’s commandments, cheerfully and with alacrity (they shall not be weary), constantly and with perseverance (they shall not faint); and therefore in due season they shall reap. Let Jacob and Israel therefore, in their greatest distresses, continue waiting upon God, and not despair of timely and effectual relief and succour from him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 27-31: ISRAEL SUSTAINED BY THE POWER OF THE CREATOR
1. How utterly foolish it is for Israel to moan that her way is hidden from the Lord! (vs. 37; Isa 49:14; Isa 54:8; Isa 59:1-2).
a. How brazenly insulting to complain that God has been unjust toward her! (Job 27:2; Job 34:5-6; Luk 18:7-8).
b. The prophet insists that God adequately supplies the needs of everything He has created, (Isa 34:16; Psa 145:16).
2. Both the wisdom and strength of Israel’s God are inexhaustible, (vs. 28-29).
a. He is, in every way, superior to idols – the works of men’s hands; He is the Everlasting, Creator-God, (Psa 90:2).
b. He never grows weary or faint; and His understanding is beyond human comprehension, (Rom 11:33; Isa 41:10).
3. Such as learn to “wait on the Lord” will find their provision adequate, (vs. 30-31).
a. Their strength will be renewed daily, so that they may mount up as with the wings of an eagle, (Psa 103:5; 2Co 4:8-10; 2Co 4:16; Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11).
b. Their appointed race may be run without weariness or fainting, (Gal 6:9).
4. But, those who cannot draw upon the vast resources of divine grace (because they will not trust in God) will faint and fall by the wayside.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
27. Why wilt thou say? The Prophet now expostulates either with the Jews, because they were almost overcome by despair, and did not look to the promises of God, by which they ought, to have supported their minds; or he makes provision for posterity, that they may not sink under any distresses however long continued. The verbs are in the future sense, which might also be explained by the subjunctive mood, Why wouldst thou say? For Isaiah justly infers front the preceding statement, that the chosen people, whatever may happen, ought to wait patiently for God, till he give assistance in due time. He argues from the less to the greater: “Since God keeps every part of the world under his authority, it is impossible that he shall forsake his Church.” Yet it is probable that at that time there were heard among the people complaints, by which they murmured against God, as if he did not care about their salvation, or were slow in rendering assistance, or even shut his eyes and did not see their distresses. The fault which is now corrected is, that they thought that God did not care about them; as usually happens in afflictions, in which we think that God has forsaken us, and exposed us for a prey, and that he takes no concern about the affairs of this world. (128)
O Jacob and Israel! By these names he calls to their remembrance the Lord’s covenant, which had been ratified by promises so numerous and so diversified; as if he had said, “Dost thou not think that thou art that people which God hath chosen peculiarly for himself? Why dost thou imagine that he who cannot deceive does not attend to thy cause?”
My way is hidden from Jehovah. He employs the word way for “condition” and ‘cause,” and hidden, for “disregarded” or “unknown;” for if God delay his assistance for a short time, we think that his care does not extend to us. Some explain it differently, that is, that the people are here reproved for thinking that they would not be punished for sinning, and they think that this sentiment resembles such as, “The wicked man hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psa 14:1.) But the Prophets meaning unquestionably was, “Thinkest thou, O Israel, that the Lord taketh no concern about thine affairs?” For he exclaims against the distrust of the people, and chides them sharply, that he may afterwards comfort them, and may show that the Lord will continually assist his people whom he hath undertaken to defend.
And my judgment passeth away from my God. The word judgment confirms our interpretation of the preceding clause; for “judgment” is implored in affliction, when we are unjustly oppressed, or when any one does us wrong; and God is said to favor and undertake “judgment,” or “our right,” when, after having known our cause, he defends and guards us; and he is said to pass by it, when he overlooks us, and permits us to be devoured by our enemies. It is as if he had said, that the Jews act unjustly in complaining that God has disregarded their cause and forsaken them; and by that reproof he prepares them for receiving consolation, for they could not receive it while their minds were occupied with wicked or foolish thoughts. It was therefore necessary first to remove obstructions, and to open up the way for consolation.
(128) “ Et qu’il ne se soucie des choses de ce monde.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
c. PERSEVERE IN WAITING FOR THE LORD
TEXT: Isa. 40:27-31
27
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God?
28
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding.
29
He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength.
30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31
but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
QUERIES
a.
Why did Israel have such an attitude toward Jehovah?
b.
When would Jerusalem come to renew their strength?
PARAPHRASE
O Jacob, O Israel, how can you say, The difficult way I must travel is hidden from Jehovah, and God does not notice my trouble and take up my cause and defend my rights? You certainly have had plenty of opportunity to know this is not true of Jehovah, havent you? You have certainly heard the truth about Jehovah, havent you? Jehovah is the God of eternity. He was before creation and He is the Creator. He is eternal in all His attributes and eternally powerful and strong and vigilant. He never tires or grows weary. Finite men will not understand this eternality because it is impossible for men to fully comprehend the infinite. There is abundant evidence of Gods eternal power so men may believe even if they cannot understand it. Jehovah is the One who gives power and strength to everyone else! All men eventually grow weak and exhaust their strength, even the young, virile athletic-type men tire and grow weary. But those who believe in Jehovah will be given fresh strength, will rise up from their difficulties as if they were eagles soaring upward to the heavens, will run upon their course of life as steadily as a racer who never tires or as one who walks for miles and miles and never grows weary. Jehovah will give those who believe in Him a measure of the divine strength that He Himself has.
COMMENTS
Isa. 40:27-28 POWER IN JEHOVAH: If the people of the Lord (in this case Israel) are to receive the comfort He offers through the promised Servant, they must prepare, perceive and persevere. The people have, either unconsciously or deliberately, mentally reduced Jehovah to the level of their idol-gods. The influence of Baalism in Judah from the days of Isaiah to the captivity grew until the people practically called Jehovah Baal, and Baal Jehovah (cf. Isa. 66:17; Jer. 2:8; Jer. 12:16; Jer. 23:13; Jer. 23:27; Hos. 9:10; Hos. 13:1-2). When one reduces his concept of God to a wooden statue or a human philosophical system, one cannot help feeling his god is powerless to help himfor his god is nothing more than a creation of his own futility and frustration! Isaiahs people, however, had abundant teaching and evidence that Jehovah was eternal (see comments Isa. 40:21, etc.). Their complaint that Jehovah was unconcerned or unaware of their struggles was inexcusable. What their problems were at this time we are not told. It may refer to the political and military pressures being felt by the whole world as a result of the life-and-death struggle between the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Judah had become a political pawn on the geographical chess-board of these two great world empires. So Judah was complaining that Jehovah was either incapable of protecting her rights (Heb. mishepatyi; cause) or impervious to her situation.
Isaiah reminds the people that historically they have had prophet after prophet teach them of Jehovahs omnipotence and omniscience. Generation after generation they have had demonstrations of His constant concern for them and His repeated miraculous deliverances. Their fault was that of so many of usletting circumstances overwhelm us. Peter would have walked on wateruntil he saw the waves (Luk. 14:22-33). The people of Judah had another problemthey could not understand eternality, deity, supernaturalness. They understood (they thought) only the natural, experienceable. Like so many today, what cannot be understood or reduced to the experienceable cannot be believed. Isaiah confirms that Jehovah, being Eternal Creator, is fully understood by no human being. But that does not keep man from believing when he has sufficient evidence to believe. Man does not fully understand all the physical and material things he knows about (gravity, nuclear physics, tornados, etc.), but he forms certain fundamental beliefs from what evidence he does have and functions toward a purpose on that basis.
Isa. 40:29-31 PARTICIPATION BY FAITH: God is the source of all strength, physical and spiritual. But it is the spiritual, moral strength that is most important. God is able to fashion any kind of physical body He wishes (1Co. 15:35-58). But the glorified, immortal body will house only a demon if the spiritual is not reborn, renewed. That renewal, though supplied by God, is participated in only by faith on the part of man.
The promise of renewal here then looks forward to the coming of the Messiah (the consolation of Israel) (cf. Luk. 1:51-55; Luk. 2:25-32, etc.). The Hebrew word kivvah is translated wait but also means trust, hope. It seems paradoxical but the one who depends upon the Lord is the one who is strong (cf. 2Co. 12:9-10; Eph. 3:16; Col. 1:11; Php. 4:13; 2Ti. 4:17; 1Pe. 5:10, etc.). The most perfect specimen of human strength sooner or later exhausts his human resources. But the man who waits upon the Lord is strong and unmovable even when the physical body begins to deteriorate. Of course, the Lord is calling upon the people of Judah to trust Him presently in the midst of the circumstances which have caused them to doubt. They must believe now that He will fulfill what He has promised. Although they cannot understand His ways He is cognizant of their way and will supply spiritual and moral strength to them if they will participate by faith. He will not take away their circumstances, necessarily, but will supply them the spiritual strength to conquer their difficulties.
QUIZ
1.
Why did the people think Jehovah was unconcerned with their problems?
2.
Did they have a right to such an attitude?
3.
What was really their problem?
4.
When was the promise of renewed strength to be ultimately fulfilled?
5.
What is another meaning of wait for Jehovah?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(27) Why sayest thou, O Jacob.The eternity and infinity of God is presented not only as rebuking the folly of the idolater, but as the ground of comfort to His people. His is no transient favour, no capricious will. (Comp. Rom. 11:29-36.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel? Amid such proofs, as above, of the infinite incomparableness of Jehovah, the promiser and comforter, what ground for saying, My way is hid from the Lord? To the exiles, long brooding over their afflictions, temptation to fear and doubt was a most easy matter. The long hidings of God’s face from them led to assurances and re-assurances through the prophet that Jehovah had not forgotten to be again gracious.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:28
Rom 11:33, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30 Isa 40:30
Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isa 40:31
Isa 40:31 “they shall mount up with wings as eagles” Scripture References – Note a similar verse:
Exo 19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.”
Isa 40:31 Comments – Unless we wait upon God, we will not have the stamina or strength to resist Satan’s attacks. The amount of time we spend waiting upon God is a direct reflection of how much strength we will have. Note these insightful words from Frances J. Roberts:
“O My beloved, ye do not need to make your path (like a snow plow), for lo, I say unto thee, I go before you. Yea, I shall engineer circumstances on thy behalf. I am thy husband, and I will protect thee and care for thee, and make full provision for thee. I know thy need, and I am concerned for thee: for thy peace, for thy health, for thy strength. I cannot use a tired body, and ye need to take time to renew thine energies, both spiritual and physical. I am the God of Battle, but I am also the One who said: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And Jesus said, Come ye apart and rest a little while.
“I will teach you, even as I taught Moses on the back side of the desert, and as I taught Paul in Arabia. So will I teach you. Thus it shall be a constructive period, and not in any sense wasted time. But as the summer course to the school teacher, it is vital to thee in order that ye be fully qualified for your ministry.
There is no virtue in activity as such neither in inactivity. I minister to thee in solitude that ye may minister of Me to others as a spontaneous overflow of our communion. Never labor to serve, nor force opportunities. Set thy heart to be at peace and to sit at My feet. Learn to be ready, but not to be anxious. Learn to say ‘no’ to the demands of men and to say ‘yes’ to the call of the Spirit.” [57]
[57] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 145.
Isa 40:31 Scripture References – See a similar verse in Isa 30:15.
Isa 30:15, “For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.”
In contrast, an example of “fainting” is found in Isa 51:20.
Isa 51:20, “Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Isa 40:27-31. Why sayest thou, &c. The third, or consolatory part of this discourse begins at this verse, wherein the foregoing doctrine and prophesy are applied to the comfort of the church; who, in her various afflictions, complained that she had been neglected of the Lord. This complaint makes the basis of the consolation contained in this verse. The consolation itself follows; in the first part whereof it is shewn, that God is not faint or wearied with the care of his church; that it is not a burden to him; that his providence comprehends all things, and nothing is exempted from it; that his understanding is infinite; for this is the meaning of the last clause of Isa 40:28 which is parallel to Psa 147:5. The second part teaches that the same God was able to supply and would supply strength, to the faint and weary; to those among his people whose faith and hope were very low; which he would support in the faithful even until the manifestation of the great salvation: that the faithful should not fail, but persevere until the time of grace, and reassume new strength with that happy period. This doctrine or promise is proposed in Isa 40:29 and is explained and illustrated by a simile, Isa 40:30-31. See Psa 103:5. The spiritual sense of this passage is plain; namely, that God will never fail those who put their trust in him. In this prophetical sense it refers to those apostles and first preachers, who, with indefatigable ardour, and unwearied perseverance, ran, and were not weary, walked and fainted not, in the great business to which they were called; preaching Christ amid persecutions, perils, and martyrdom, and every where proclaiming the kingdom of God. See 1Co 4:11; 1Co 4:21 and Vitringa.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The conclusion of the prophet’s message in the former chapter spoke terror and conviction; the opening of this joy and consolation; for though it be a needful severity to wound, it is the more pleasing part of our office to bind up the broken-hearted, and to preach the Gospel of peace.
It would afford the pious Jews a beam of cheering hope amid the evils that were expected, and support the fainting spirits of the poor captives, to have these great and precious promises set before them, and to be assured that, whatever they suffered, there was hope in the end. We have here,
1. The commission given: Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, or, to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her. [1.] The persons addressed are my people; this is their character. [2.] The person speaking, your God, your reconciled God in Jesus Christ, in whose love his believing people are interested, and therefore may expect all that almighty power, boundless mercy, and infinite wisdom can bestow. [3.] The employment of God’s ministers is, to comfort his people, who are often greatly dejected through affliction, temptation, or corruption. [4.] The order is repeated, and they are commanded not only to speak, but cry aloud; for though it be the privilege of God’s people to rejoice, and his will concerning them that they should be happy in him, yet sometimes they are apt to write bitter things against themselves, and can then scarcely be persuaded to receive the blessings which God hath in store for them.
2. The mercies promised; and these are, [1.] The pardon of sin. Her iniquity is pardoned; however deep the die, and aggravated the guilt, it is pardoned freely and fully. The blood and infinite merit of Jesus have obtained the pardon for us, and there is no condemnation to them that believe. [2.] Victory over all our enemies. Her warfare is accomplished. Christ, the captain of our salvation, hath vanquished, for the faithful, sin, Satan, death, and hell; and hath entered into the land of glory, as a conqueror, to take possession. Though we have a warfare to maintain, while we are in the body, against flesh and blood, against the world and the devil; yet by his grace those who perseveringly cleave to Christ shall be more than conquerors, and see quickly all their enemies put under their feet. [3.] She hath received at the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. God speaks as a tender parent, whose love makes him think the corrections he had given his dear children beyond measure: or rather the words intimate the full satisfaction which God hath taken of Christ our surety, exacting from him to the uttermost the desert of our iniquities, and in consequence pouring down upon his church superabundant grace and blessings.
2nd, The scriptures of the New Testament have not left us uncertain of the person, whose voice should cry in the wilderness. John, like the morning-star, the harbinger of day, appears to usher in the Sun of Righteousness, and to awaken, by his preaching, the souls of sinners to turn their eyes towards the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.
1. The cry is, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Jehovah, our God, here spoken of, is the glorious Redeemer, whose eternal godhead is asserted. Our hearts are a desert, till his presence and love change the dreary scene. Where his footsteps tread, waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams of grace and consolation in the desert. The preparation for him must be from him; and he that commands must give the hearing ear, the contrite heart, and dispose us to welcome him into our souls; and then if we will open to him, he will enter in, and bless us with his presence.
2. Where Jesus comes, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Such will be the effects of his grace upon the souls of believers; those who were sunk into the lowest deep under the sense of guilt, shall be raised up by divine mercy and exalted: the proud, who in their own eyes before were high in conceit of their own worth and excellence, shall be brought low, and acknowledge their sin and vileness: the crooked and rough ways of men of perverse minds shall be made straight, their errors removed, their corrupt practices reformed, and their hearts renewed in holiness.
3. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, the Redeemer Jesus, the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, and all flesh shall see it together; he being the universal Saviour, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and therefore no jot or tittle of his promises shall fail.
4. A farther commission is given to the preachers and at his request he is instructed what to cry; which may refer to the weakness and impotence of the Babylonians, to detain the Jews in their captivity, when the Lord should arise to save them; or, more generally, may be applied to all men, where the word of the Gospel is preached, as an alarming motive to attend to the great and precious promises of a better world, seeing this is so frail and fading. All flesh is grass, weak and withering, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field, which, though it look more gay and beautiful, is as frail and feeble. Such are all human gifts and greatness, which, however specious, quickly fade. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; then drooping, dying, all our beauty and glory languish: health loses its bloom, our possessions fade away, and death closes the scene: or when the Spirit of Jehovah breathes upon us in conversion, our past doings and duties appear poor and wretched; and those things on which we prided ourselves we count loss, that we may win Christ. Surely the people is grass, all people of every age, rank, and degree; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, such perishing things are all merely natural excellencies; but the word of our God shall stand for ever; and therefore, when all beside perishes, and every earthly comfort or possession in death is for ever lost, they who make the great and precious promises of the Gospel their constant stay, will find, to their everlasting comfort, a portion which cannot fail them in the better world of glory.
3rdly, Great was the joy when, by the edict of Cyrus, once more the Jews were permitted to return to their own land, and loudly was it proclaimed by those who had at heart the prosperity of Zion. To this the prophesy may refer; but it was evidently designed for the days of Christ, and respects his incarnation.
1. His manifestation in the flesh is proclaimed to sinners, as their greatest happiness. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, when his ministry chiefly was exercised; or, O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, as addressed to John the Baptist, and all the ministers of the Gospel, whose office it is to proclaim the divine, glorious, and transcendent excellence of the Redeemer, in all his offices and undertakings for the salvation of sinners; get thee up into the high mountain, to the most public places, such as the mount of the Lord’s house. O Jerusalem, &c. or, O thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength: lift it up, be not afraid of the opposition and revilings of men, who would persecute the preachers of the Gospel. Say unto the cities of Judah, where Christ appeared, Behold your God incarnate, the promised Emmanuel; a man, and yet the eternal Jehovah, come with the most joyful tidings that can greet a sinner’s ears, to proclaim pardon, grace, and salvation, freely and to the uttermost.
2. His power and all-sufficiency are declared. Behold, the Lord God will come; that desire of all nations, and especially the glory of his Israel; he shall come with a strong hand, mighty to save his believing people and punish his enemies: or, against the strong one, to destroy the works of the devil, and break his hateful power in the hearts of men: and his arm shall rule for him, self-sufficient, and designing his own glory: or against or over him, the great enemy of souls, who must yield to this conqueror. Behold! with joy, ye people of God, his reward is with him, to bestow eternal life on all who faithfully stay on him: and his work before him, the glorious work of redemption: he came fully acquainted with the steps necessary thereto, and perfectly able and willing for the undertaking.
3. His grace and love are tenderly displayed under the character of a watchful shepherd. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: his believing people are his sheep, and therefore with tenderest regard he feeds them in the green pastures of his ordinances; bestows on them the waters of consolation; and watches over them night and day, defending them from every danger. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom; as when the cold is ready to kill the new-cast lamb, or it is so weak that it cannot follow the dam, the shepherd in his bosom bears and cherishes it; so does Christ the lambs of his flock, pitying their weakness, helping their infirmities, and in the bosom of his love cherishing and strengthening their souls: and shall gently lead those that are with young, whose circumstances are embarrassed, and trials difficult; he leads them gently as they are able. Let the under-shepherds learn of their chief shepherd to partake of his spirit, and tread in his steps, consulting the weakness, and ministering to the wants, of those sheep and lambs of his flock intrusted to their care.
4thly, The prophet speaks consolation to God’s people, and declares the infinite power and wisdom of their God. The captives in Babylon need not fear Jehovah’s ability to compass their deliverance; and faithful souls may ever be assured, that he, who in his condescension is their shepherd, suffers no diminution of his uncreated glory thereby. The description here given of our Redeemer is unutterably grand. Such his immensity, the vast abyss of waters to him are but as a few drops in the hollow of his hand; the expanded heaven to him is but a span; the ponderous globe but as a few particles of dust; and the mountains and hills, so prodigious in height and breadth, weighed in his scales, appear as grains of sand, and all nicely proportioned for the purposes they were designed to serve. In his amazing work of creation he needed no adviser; himself the fountain of wisdom, all receiving from him, none capable of adding to him. Before him the mightiest nations are but as a drop of the bucket, or the small dust of the balance; so light, as not to turn the poised scale. The isles he taketh up, or casteth away, as chaff, or the down of thistles. Were Lebanon with all its forests hewn down for fuel, and the innumerable herds which feed thereon slain for a sacrifice, utterly insufficient would they have been to expiate the sins of men: no less than the incarnate Jehovah could offer the propitiation, before whom all nations are as nothing, and, as if words were wanting to express their insignificance, they are counted less than nothing, and vanity. Note; (1.) The more we see of the Redeemer’s greatness and glory, the more should our hearts be established in him. (2.) The less we are in our own eyes, and the more we see our own vanity, the more shall we admire the infinite love and condescension of our Immanuel.
5thly, The sin and folly of idolaters are here upbraided.
1. The absurdity of idolatry is here described. Mad in the pursuit of idol vanities, the founder casts the figure; and, lavish of their riches, they deck the senseless image; it is overlaid with plates of gold, or adorned with chains of silver. Yea, he that cannot afford an offering will have a god, though carved from a tree; and, choosing the wood which is most incorruptible, has it fashioned into shape, and fixed in its place. Amazing stupidity! to pay adoration to a senseless log, or expect support from that which cannot stand without being fastened. Note; (1.) The idolatry which hath prevailed so universally is a striking proof of the fall of man, and of the dreadful darkness of the human understanding. (2.) The continuance of this abominable practice in the church of Rome is among the strong proofs of her utter apostasy. (3.) Beware of spiritual idolatry: to place a confidence in gold, or set up the creature above God in our affections, is equally criminal as to bow the knee to a stock or a stone.
2. The prophet expostulates with them, 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? From the visible creation the great Author’s eternal power and godhead might be clearly seen, and traditionary notices of his being were handed down from the beginning; yet they degraded him into an image made like to a corruptible man, and worshipped him not as God; so that they were without excuse. See Rom 1:20. A glorious description then follows of the great Jehovah: on the circle of the heavens he sitteth, by his power find providence upholding all things: on this terrestrial ball he looks, an atom in the vast expanse, and puny mortals appear but as grasshoppers or locusts before him. As a curtain he stretches out the firmament, and in the heavens, hid from mortal eye, spreads his radiant tabernacle. In his view earth’s mightiest princes shrink into nothing; their persons, counsels, power, are all vanity. Fixed as their thrones appear, and great as they seem to worms like themselves, one breath of his displeasure blasts them as grass, and hurls them from the earth as stubble before the whirlwind.
3. He directs them whither to turn their eyes, nor more attempt to liken God, the eternal Spirit, to any corporeal form. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things; read, in the expanded volume above, the legible characters of the Creator’s glory; that bringeth out their host by number, marshalled in exact order: he calleth them all by names suited to their position and influence: by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth; bound by omnipotent power, each in his several orbit performs his revolution, and uses his influence according to his Creator’s will. Since then God is so infinitely above the highest creatures, and all these the works of his hands, every representation of him by them must be a debasement of his glory.
6thly, Their long captivity was ready to discourage the hearts of the Jews; and some of them, under the power of unbelief, were ready to conclude themselves forgotten and forsaken of God; for which the prophet here reproves them; and their rebuke is designed for our admonition, who, are ready to faint when we are corrected of him.
1. He exposes their impatience and unbelief. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord; he disregards my afflictions; and my judgment is passed over from my God? he hears not my appeals, nor gives me the expected redress. Note; (1.) Such questions as our impatience utters, must be silenced. Why and wherefore do we complain? God is not slack in his promises, but we are hasty in spirit. The vision is for an appointed time. (2.) It argues our folly, as well as sin, to suppose that God does not see our distress, or is not able to relieve us.
2. He reminds them of two things, which they ought to have known and considered: the infinite power, and unsearchable wisdom of God? Hast thou not known? after all the wonders displayed in behalf of his people; hast thou not heard, from the experience of past ages, as well as the oracles of truth, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His power is never exhausted, nor his government enfeebled: he is from eternity unchangeably the same, and, as the Creator of all, must needs be able to govern the work of his own hands; and therefore, however low his church may be reduced, it is not owing to weakness or weariness that he does not appear for their relief. He will save his faithful people to the uttermost, nor can be at a loss for the means, when infinite wisdom is joined with almighty power; for there is no searching of his understanding; therefore we are bound at all times to trust him, and patiently expect the salvation of God.
3. When we do so, we are sure of being holpen. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength: such as, seeing their own spiritual weakness and helplessness, apply to him, find him a very present help. When I am weak, then am I strong. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: such as trust on an arm of flesh, and, self-confident, think they are able to extricate themselves from their difficulties, or, by the strength of their own natural endeavours, to overcome the powers of their corruptions; these shall prove their insufficiency, and utterly fail: but they that wait upon the Lord, both for righteousness and strength, and in every trial cast their care upon him, sensible of their own ignorance and weakness, these shall renew their strength, be enabled to stand in the evil day, supported under the sore burden of their temptations, afflictions, and corruptions: yea, more than supported, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, so swift and strong; and their trials shall serve to strengthen their graces, and lift up their souls farther from earth, and nearer heaven: they shall run, and not be weary, in the way of God’s commandments, pleased in his happy service, and accounting it perfect freedom: and they shall walk, and not faint; though long their journey, and difficult the way, the everlasting arms of Jesus’s love shall bear the faithful up, and bring them safe at last to their eternal home. Hold out then, faith and patience!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 924
THE DESPONDING ENCOURAGED
Isa 40:27-31. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
THE human mind is prone to extremes. Before a man comes to the knowledge of himself, he is filled with presumption, and accounts himself as safe as if there were no judgments denounced against him: but, when he begins to feel his guilt and helplessness, he is ready to run into the opposite extreme of despondency, and to account his state as irremediable, as if there were not a promise in the Bible suited to his condition. Such were the feelings of the Jews before their captivity in Babylon, and under the pressure of the troubles which they experienced in their bondage. The prophet, by anticipation, views them us already in Babylon, and reproves the desponding apprehensions which there depressed their souls.
The words I have read, will afford me a fit occasion to set before you,
I.
The discouragements which the Lords people suffer
It is really no uncommon thing for even pious souls to utter the complaint mentioned in my text. They do this on a variety of occasions:
1.
Under a sense of unpardoned guilt
[Sin, which in an unenlightened state appears so small an evil, to an awakened soul appears exceeding sinful, insomuch that he is ready to imagine it can never be forgiven. Hear David under these distressing apprehensions: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure! for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as an heavy burthen, they are too heavy for me [Note: Psa 38:1-4.]. Even good men will, at times, adopt the language of Cain: Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven [Note: Gen 4:13. See the marginal version.]. Nor is this to be wondered at: for when we view sin with all its aggravations, and especially as committed against the love of Christ and the strivings of his good Spirit, it does assume a character most odious, and justly deserving of Gods heaviest indignation.]
2.
Under the assaults of indwelling corruption
[These continue long after a man is turned to the Lord. They have indeed received a check; but often, like water obstructed by a dam, they rise and swell the more for the opposition that is made to them. St. Pauls experience in this respect has kept thousands from utter despondency. How bitterly he complains of the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin that was in his members! From hence, like a man bound with chains to a lothesome carcase, from which he cannot get loose, he cries, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death [Note: Rom 7:23-24.]? He indeed saw that deliverance was laid up for him in and through Christ. But many are driven almost to despair: their conflicts with sin and Satan are so frequent and so violent, and sometimes, in appearance at least, so ineffectual, that they are ready to imagine that God has given them up, and that it is in vain for them to contend any more. In this state they are strongly tempted to say, There is no hope: I have loved strangers; and after them will I go [Note: Jer 2:25.].]
3.
Under the pressure of long-continued afflictions
[These will oppress and overwhelm the strongest man, if he be not succoured from above with strength according to his day. Under these, David frequently complains, as if God had left him and forsaken him: Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted: thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off [Note: Psa 88:14-16.]. The patient Job [Note: Job 3:1; Job 27:2.], the pious Jeremiah [Note: Jer 20:1-18.], the intrepid Elijah, all fainted through their troubles: the two former cursed the day of their birth; and the latter, scarcely less excusable, prayed impatiently to God to take away his life, in order to liberate him from his troubles [Note: 1Ki 19:4.]. Even the Saviour himself, in his afflictions, adopted the language of the Psalmist, My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring [Note: Psa 22:1.]? And no doubt the hands of the strongest will hang down, and the heart of the stoutest faint, if God strengthen them not to drink the cup which men and devils concur to put into their hands.]
But it would not be thus with them, if they used aright,
II.
The antidote provided for them in the Scriptures
In the Scriptures, Jehovah is represented as ordering and overruling all things; and as being a God,
1.
Of almighty power
[There is nothing in the whole universe which did not derive its existence from his all-creating hand; nor is any thing left to its own operations without his sovereign control. Be it either good or evil, it subsists only through his permission; as God himself has told us: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things [Note: Isa 45:7.]. Even the murderers of our blessed Lord, though perfectly free agents in all that they did, effected only what the hand und counsel of Jehovah himself had determined before to be done [Note: Act 4:28.]. Be it so then: our guilt lies heavy on our souls; our corruptions work with almost irresistible force; our troubles of divers kinds threaten utterly to destroy us: but is there no power able to deliver? Cannot He who created all things by a word, and spake them into existence, accomplish for us whatever our necessities require? Is his ear heavy, that he cannot hear; or his arm shortened, that he cannot save [Note: Isa 59:1.]? Were we left to the uncontrolled power of our spiritual enemies, we might well despair: but whilst God is seated on his throne, we need never fear but that he will interpose for our relief, if only we cast our care on him. If we cast our burthen upon him, he will sustain us.]
2.
Of unerring wisdom
[Because God does not exert his Almighty power for us at the first moment that we implore his aid, we suppose that our way is hid from him, and our judgment is passed over from him, or, in other words, that he has utterly cast us off. But we forget that he has gracious designs to accomplish; and that he accomplishes them in ways of which we have no conception, and which appear calculated only to defeat his ends. We measure his wisdom by the scanty line of our own reason; forgetting that his ways are in the great deep, and past finding out by any finite intelligence: that there is no searching of his understanding. Now let this be considered: let the afflicted saint contemplate Jehovah as ordering and overruling every thing for the good of his people and for the glory of his own name; let him say, I have cried long, and not been heard: but perhaps the purposes of Jehovah are not yet ripe for accomplishment: there is more of humiliation to be produced in my soul; more of a preparation of mind for discerning; of his mighty hand; more depression to be caused in order to a more glorious exaltation. Let him recollect the ways in which Josephs dreams were realized; and bear in mind, that the same God sitteth at the helm, and directs the vessel amidst all the storms, the very storms and winds all fulfilling his sovereign will and pleasure. This were abundantly sufficient to compose the mind under the most afflictive circumstances that can be imagined: for where there is unerring wisdom to direct, and Almighty power to execute, no difficulty can exist, which shall not be overruled for good [Note: Rom 8:28.].]
But let the text declare,
III.
The happy state of those who duly improve this antidote
To wait on God in prayer is necessary, in order to the obtaining of help from him
[He has said that he will be inquired of, in order that he may do for us the things that he has promised [Note: Eze 36:37.]. This is indispensable in every view: for without it there would be no acknowledgment of him on our part, nor any readiness to give him glory, when he had interposed for our relief. Nor is it only in a way of importunity that we are to wait upon him, but in a way of humble dependence also, and of meek submission to his will. We must leave every thing to his all-wise disposal; tarrying his leisure, and waiting his time, however long the vision may be delayed [Note: Hab 2:3.]. He that believeth must not make haste [Note: Isa 28:16.].]
To all who comply with this requisite, the most effectual relief is secured
[It is Gods delight to succour his people in the time of need: He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. This, I say, is his habit and delight: and one great end of his delaying the communication! of his aid is, to make men more sensible of their dependence on him, and more thankful for his gracious interpositions. Till he vouchsafe his answers to prayer, all human efforts are vain; even the youths will faint and be weary; and the young men, how strong soever they imagine themselves to be, will utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. Like the eagle, when moulting, they may be greatly reduced; but in due season, like him, with his renovated plumage, they shall soar on high, above all the trials and temptations with which they have been oppressed. Their course may be yet long and difficult; the opposition which they may have to encounter may be exceeding violent; but, through the Divine aid, they shall run and not be weary; they shall march onward [Note: Bishop Lowths translation.], and not faint.]
Address
1.
In a way of tender expostulation
[Such a state of mind as Gods people of old indulged, is approved by many, as characteristic of humility. But it is a mark of pride rather, and of unbelief; and it is calculated only to excite Gods heavy displeasure. This appears from the manner in which it is here reproved. In fact, it argues a forgetfulness of all our principles as men acknowledging a Supreme Being. Have we not known, that there is a God who ordereth all things both in heaven and in earth? Have we not heard, that without him not so much as a sparrow falleth to the ground? How then can we imagine that he is inattentive to his suffering or conflicting people, or that he is at a loss for means whereby to effect their deliverance? Have we not heard that he has given us his only dear Son to die for us? What, then, will he withhold from those who seek him? Still further; Have we not heard that he has made with us an everlasting covenant, a covenant ordered in all things and sure? And is not a supply of all our wants there provided for? Be ashamed, then, my Brethren, that, with such principles, you can give way to any disquietude. You have only to commit yourselves, and all your concerns, into his hands; and be sure that he will bring to pass whatever shall eventually advance your best interests.]
2.
In a way of affectionate encouragement
[See to what all your fears are really owing. The pious Asaph was harassed with them, like you: but, on reflection, he said, This is mine infirmity [Note: Psa 77:7-10.] Be assured, that not all the powers of earth or hell can prevail against you, if only, in the exercise of faith and patience, you wait on God. Take courage, then, and call yourselves to an account, as David did, for such unworthy fears and such unhallowed depression: Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God [Note: Psa 42:5; Psa 42:11; Psa 43:5.]. If you need some specific promise for your support, take that which God has given to such as are in your very state: Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness [Note: Isa 41:10.]. Rest on this, and you shall soon add your testimony to that of David: I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and ordered my goings: and he hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise and thanksgiving to my God [Note: Psa 40:1-3.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 40:27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Ver. 27. How sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, &c., ] q.d., Fie for shame, what unbecoming language is this for such! Doth God know and order the stars, and hath he cast away the care of his people Never think it; let it be enough, and too much, for a heathen to say, –
“ Saepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem,
Curarent super; terras, an nullus inesset
Rector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu. ”
– Claudian
And my judgment is passed over, NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 40:27-31
27Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God?
28Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
29He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
30Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isa 40:27 My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God The Jews (i.e., O Jacob. . .O Israel) felt that YHWH had abandoned them (cf. Isa 49:14). YHWH had hid His face from them for a period (cf. Isa 1:15; Isa 8:17; Isa 54:8; Romans 9-11).
Isa 40:28 Notice the titles for God.
1. the Everlasting God – Gen 21:33 and note Exo 15:18; Deu 32:40; Psa 90:2; Jer 10:10
2. the LORD – YHWH (see Special Topic: Names for Deity )
3. the Creator – (this has been the thrust of chapter 40)
4. also called the Holy One in Isa 40:25
The God of promise is now again the God of presence!
Does not become weary or tired This is a Hebrew idiom which means He does not lose patience.
There is a word play related to tiredness, weariness in Isa 40:28-31.
1. Isa 40:28 – weary, BDB 419, KB 421
tired, BDB 388, KB 386
2. Isa 40:30 – weary, BDB 419, KB 421
tired, BDB 388, KB 386
3. Isa 40:30 – stumble, INFINITIVE and IMPERFECT VERB (BDB 505, KB 502)
4. Isa 40:31 – tired, BDB 388, KB 386
weary, BDB 419, KB 421
YHWH brings strength and stability to those who wait and trust! The vitality of YHWH is transferred to His people (cf. Isa 40:29-31). They are potent because He is potent!
NASBinscrutable
NKJVno searching His understanding
NRSVunsearchable
NJBbeyond fathoming
The Hebrew word (BDB 350) basically means to search out. Here it is negated (cf. Job 5:9; Job 9:10; Job 36:26; Psa 145:3). Paul expresses the same truth in Rom 11:33 and quotes Isa 40:13-14.
God is in control! His ways are sure and thought through. There are no surprises, no mistakes! He loves us, He is with us, He is for us (cf. Isa 40:29-31)!
Isa 40:29 He gives strength to the weary YHWH comforts the very ones He judged (cf. Isa 41:10; Psa 107:9; Jer 31:25). This is very similar to Jesus’ statement, Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest in Mat 11:28-30.
Isa 40:30 vigorous young men This refers to the young men chosen for military service.
stumble badly This is a Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and a Niphal IMPERFECT of the same root (BDB 505, KB 502), which intensifies the concept.
Isa 40:31 wait This is a Hebrew word (BDB 875, KB 1082) that speaks of active anticipation. It is used of farmers waiting for a crop (cf. Isa 5:4; Isa 5:7). It is used of robbers waiting in ambush (cf. Psa 56:6; Psa 119:95). God’s people wait for Him (cf. Isa 8:17; Isa 25:9; Isa 30:18; Isa 33:2).
Will gain new strength This VERB (BDB 322, KB 321, Hiphil IMPERFECT) means
1. to exchange – Lev 27:10
2. to change – Gen 31:7; Gen 31:41; Gen 35:2
3. to cause to succeed – Isa 40:31
like eagles The Jewish Study Bible (p. 864) says there was a popular belief that when eagles molted they gained new strength (cf. Psa 103:5).
Why . . . ? Note the Figure of speech Erotesis, to emphasize the conclusion drawn from Isa 40:26.
Isa 40:27-31
Isa 40:27-31
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest thou, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Kelley and others suppose that these words of reproach coming here in Isa 40:27 from the Jews and directed against Jehovah were due to the terrible anguish the people were suffering in their captivity. However, there is not even a hint of such things in the text. This attitude on the part of the chosen people was characteristic of nearly any period in their long history of distrust and rebellion against God and by no means was confined to the captivity. As a matter of truth, the Jews fared very well in Babylon; and the vast majority of them found it so good there that they even refused to go back to Jerusalem when the opportunity finally came. Remember, it was only a “remnant,” and a very pitifully small one, that returned.
Of course, Isaiah designed these words to be of special comfort to Israel during the captivity who had prophesied in the preceding chapter; and the big admonition here is that Israel should stabilize and comfort herself by leaning “Upon God, (1) the everlasting; (2) the Creator; (3) the unwearied; and (4) the unsearchable.
The word “wait” (Isa 40:31) is of unusual interest. Kelley informs us that:
“The basic word from which `wait’ is derived means `to wind’ or `to twist,’ the word `rope’ being a noun that comes from this term. The meaning here is that the believer should let the Lord be his lifeline, his cord of escape.
Some are tempted to view the last clauses of Isa 40:31 as an anticlimax, that is, in the words flying, running, and walking; but as Kelley noted:
“The man of faith may sometimes soar on eagles’ wings, or run without wearing; but most of the time he will merely walk. And the real test of his faith comes, not when he flies or runs, but when he must plod along. It is in the monotony of everyday life that the man of faith reveals his true character.
As Hailey noted, “`They that wait for Jehovah’ is another favorite expression of Isaiah.” As we have already observed, the vocabulary, style, and favorite expressions of this great prophet are so abundantly used in this chapter that they are as valuable in the identification of Isaiah as the author of it, as would be a half dozen signatures!
It is curious that Lowth rendered a portion of Isa 40:31 thus, “They shall put forth fresh feathers.” His comment on this tells of a common and popular opinion, “that the eagle lives and retains his vigor to a great age; and that beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. Psa 103:5 has this: `Thou shalt renew thy youth like the eagle.’
Isa 40:27-28 POWER IN JEHOVAH: If the people of the Lord (in this case Israel) are to receive the comfort He offers through the promised Servant, they must prepare, perceive and persevere. The people have, either unconsciously or deliberately, mentally reduced Jehovah to the level of their idol-gods. The influence of Baalism in Judah from the days of Isaiah to the captivity grew until the people practically called Jehovah Baal, and Baal Jehovah (cf. Isa 66:17; Jer 2:8; Jer 12:16; Jer 23:13; Jer 23:27; Hos 9:10; Hos 13:1-2). When one reduces his concept of God to a wooden statue or a human philosophical system, one cannot help feeling his god is powerless to help him-for his god is nothing more than a creation of his own futility and frustration! Isaiahs people, however, had abundant teaching and evidence that Jehovah was eternal (see comments Isa 40:21, etc.). Their complaint that Jehovah was unconcerned or unaware of their struggles was inexcusable. What their problems were at this time we are not told. It may refer to the political and military pressures being felt by the whole world as a result of the life-and-death struggle between the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Judah had become a political pawn on the geographical chess-board of these two great world empires. So Judah was complaining that Jehovah was either incapable of protecting her rights (Heb. mishepatyi; cause) or impervious to her situation.
Isaiah reminds the people that historically they have had prophet after prophet teach them of Jehovahs omnipotence and omniscience. Generation after generation they have had demonstrations of His constant concern for them and His repeated miraculous deliverances. Their fault was that of so many of us-letting circumstances overwhelm us. Peter would have walked on water-until he saw the waves (Luk 14:22-33). The people of Judah had another problem-they could not understand eternality, deity, supernaturalness. They understood (they thought) only the natural, experienceable. Like so many today, what cannot be understood or reduced to the experienceable cannot be believed. Isaiah confirms that Jehovah, being Eternal Creator, is fully understood by no human being. But that does not keep man from believing when he has sufficient evidence to believe. Man does not fully understand all the physical and material things he knows about (gravity, nuclear physics, tornados, etc.), but he forms certain fundamental beliefs from what evidence he does have and functions toward a purpose on that basis.
Isa 40:29-31 PARTICIPATION BY FAITH: God is the source of all strength, physical and spiritual. But it is the spiritual, moral strength that is most important. God is able to fashion any kind of physical body He wishes (1Co 15:35-58). But the glorified, immortal body will house only a demon if the spiritual is not reborn, renewed. That renewal, though supplied by God, is participated in only by faith on the part of man.
The promise of renewal here then looks forward to the coming of the Messiah (the consolation of Israel) (cf. Luk 1:51-55; Luk 2:25-32, etc.). The Hebrew word kivvah is translated wait but also means trust, hope. It seems paradoxical but the one who depends upon the Lord is the one who is strong (cf. 2Co 12:9-10; Eph 3:16; Col 1:11; Php 4:13; 2Ti 4:17; 1Pe 5:10, etc.). The most perfect specimen of human strength sooner or later exhausts his human resources. But the man who waits upon the Lord is strong and unmovable even when the physical body begins to deteriorate. Of course, the Lord is calling upon the people of Judah to trust Him presently in the midst of the circumstances which have caused them to doubt. They must believe now that He will fulfill what He has promised. Although they cannot understand His ways He is cognizant of their way and will supply spiritual and moral strength to them if they will participate by faith. He will not take away their circumstances, necessarily, but will supply them the spiritual strength to conquer their difficulties.
sayest: Isa 49:14, Isa 49:15, Isa 54:6-8, Isa 60:15, 1Sa 12:22, Job 3:23, Psa 31:22, Psa 77:7-10, Jer 33:24, Eze 37:11, Rom 11:1, Rom 11:2
my judgment: Isa 49:4, Job 27:2, Job 34:5, Mal 2:17, Luk 18:7, Luk 18:8
Reciprocal: 1Sa 27:1 – And David Job 23:14 – many such Psa 42:9 – Why hast Psa 44:24 – forgettest Psa 77:9 – God Mar 4:38 – carest 1Pe 4:19 – a faithful
Isa 40:27-28. Why sayest thou, O Jacob The consolatory part of the prophets discourse begins at this verse, wherein the foregoing doctrine and prophecy are applied to the comfort of the church, complaining, amid her various afflictions, that she had been neglected of the Lord; which complaint makes the basis of the consolation contained in this period. Why dost thou give way to such jealousies concerning thy God, of whose infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness, there are such evident demonstrations? My way is hid He takes no notice of my prayers, and tears, and sufferings, but suffers mine enemies to abuse me at their pleasure. This complaint is uttered in the name of the people, being prophetically supposed to be in captivity. My judgment is passed over from my God My cause. God has neglected to plead my cause, and to give judgment for me against mine enemies. Hast thou not known? Art thou ignorant, wilt thou not consider; that the everlasting God Who had no beginning of days, and will have no end of life; who was from eternity, and will be to eternity, and with whom therefore there is no deficiency, no decay; the Lord Hebrew, JEHOVAH, the self-existent Being; the Creator of the ends of the earth That is, of the whole earth, to its utmost bounds, and of all that is in it; fainteth not, neither is weary With the care of his church, or of the world? He is not by age or labour become weak and unable to help his people, as men are wont to be; nor is the care of them any burden to him. There is no searching of his understanding His providence comprehends all things, and nothing is exempted from it: and the counsels by which he governs all the world, and, in an especial manner, the affairs of his people, are far above the reach of any human understanding; and therefore we act ignorantly and foolishly if we pass a rash judgment upon the ways of the infinitely wise God.
40:27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, {c} My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over by my God?
(c) He rebukes the Jews because they did not rest on the providence of God, but thought that he had forsaken them in their troubles.
The dependable Lord 40:27-31
Isaiah now applied this knowledge of God to the discouraging prospect that the Judahites faced, namely: Babylonian captivity (cf. Isa 39:6). Even though Isaiah spoke to the nation from the perspective of the captivity being past, he still addressed his pre-exilic contemporaries. He encouraged them by pointing to the sufficiency of their God. Since the Creator knows the name of everything in His complex creation, how could He, the God of Israel, possibly forget His covenant people? Since He is as powerful as He is, how could He be incapable of helping them?
The Judahites kept saying: "How can God do this to us? He has forgotten us and no longer cares about us." They questioned God’s nature (He could not see them) and His dealings with them (He would not defend them).
Perhaps the double names "Jacob" and "Israel" are more than poetic synonyms. Isaiah may have been implying that the Judahites, God’s covenant people, were in a position as desperate in their own eyes as was Jacob, when he came to the end of himself, and God changed his name (Gen 32:22-32). [Note: Motyer, p. 307.] This happened, they would remember, after his exile in Mesopotamia.
God is not too great to care. He is too great not to care (cf. Gen 18:25).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)