Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 41:21
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.
21. your strong reasons] Lit. “your strengths,” a military metaphor transferred to controversy; cf. Job 13:12. The related word ‘ima is used in the same way in Arabic.
the King of Jacob ] (Cf. ch. Isa 43:15, Isa 44:6), referring back, perhaps, to Isa 41:8 f., the King whose “servant” Jacob is.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
21 24. The argument of Isa 41:1-4 is resumed, but now the idols ( Isa 41:23), not their worshippers, are addressed. Foreknowledge is the test of divinity. Can the idols produce any instance whatever of their power to predict, or indeed any proof of life and activity at all?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Produce your cause – This address is made to the same persons who are referred to in Isa 41:1 – the worshippers of idols; and the prophet here returns to the subject with reference to a further argument on the comparative power of Yahweh and idols. In the former part of the chapter, God had urged his claims to confidence from the fact that he had raised up Cyrus; that the idols were weak and feeble compared with him; and from the fact that it was his fixed purpose to defend his people, and to meet and refresh them when faint and weary. In the verses which follow Isa 41:21, he urges his claims to confidence from the fact that he alone was able to predict future events, and calls on the worshippers of idols to show their claims in the same manner. This is the cause which is now to be tried.
Bring forth your strong reasons – Adduce the arguments which you deem to be of the greatest strength and power (compare the notes at Isa 41:1). The object is, to call on them to bring forward the most convincing demonstration on which they relied, of their power and their ability to save. The argument to which God appeals is, that he had foretold future events. He calls on them to show that they had given, or could give, equal demonstration of their divinity. Lowth regards this as a call on the idol-gods to come forth in person and show their strength. But the interpretation which supposes that it refers to their reasons, or arguments, accords better with the parallelism, and with the connection.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 41:21
Produce your cause
Heavens appeal to the reason of the sinner
The text implies–
I.
THAT THE SINNER HAS SOME REASONS FOR THE EVIL COURSE HE PURSUES.
II. THAT THESE REASONS HE IS BOUND TO STATE BEFORE HIS MAKER. Bring forth your reasons. Why bring them forth?
1. The question of a sinful course of conduct is a public question. The sinner has no right to say that his conduct concerns no one but himself.
2. Because it is the only way of exposing their moral absurdity. They will scarcely bear to be stated. Bring them out and they will frighten you.
III. THAT HIS MAKER WILL GIVE THE STATEMENT OF THEM HIS ATTENTION.
1. His readiness to attend to them shows that your conduct towards Him will not bear investigation.
2. His readiness to attend to them shows the existence of mediation. He does not attend to the reasons of the lost.
3. His readiness to attend to them shows His infinite condescension. (Homilist.)
Gods challenge to the sinner
These words are a challenge to such as serve not God. The study of this question may be a wise anticipation of the judgment day. Now we may search for our reasons; and if they be found to be unsound, we may put our conduct right; but when we stand before the judgment-seat of Christ it will be too late for repentance. To form a court now in which to hear this cause, it is only needful that we should remember that the great God can judge the very secrets of our hearts. The Judge of all the earth is upon His holy seat. Before Him we now stand. While the doom of each is not yet fixed, the voice of the Almighty is heard, Produce your cause, etc.
1. The great Searcher of hearts may come into the midst of such as are given to the love of present things, and say, Produce your cause. What such will bring forward is this: they are not persons addicted to any particular vice; they are amiable, kind, sincere; they live without strife with men; they live without hostility towards God. But they have great love for things as they are: they are powerfully influenced by things seen and temporal; they are contented with their earthly portion; and they seldom have any strong concern or desire about the things not seen and eternal. Their cause is that of listlessness about the things of the soul, of an unwillingness to admit what seem to be melancholy thoughts, as they cast a shadow over a fair scene of earthly comfort, with which they feel that they can remain content. It is that of the orderly members of society, towards whom our respect and our affection are so soon drawn. It seems almost unkind to wake up such out of their soft sleep. But God says, Bring forth your strong reasons to justify such a life. And reasons are given. It is so pleasant to be a peace, that we care not to be disturbed. Yes, if there were to be no sudden shock of death: if this loved world were to continue unchanged: if there were no cunning enemy plotting while the careless sleep: if there were no holy service to be done for God, no brotherly counsel to be given to man! But love of ease is no strong reason to justify a careless career, which is to end in unrest for ever. You may say, we are of the quieter sort; and may we not float in the eddies of life, without being hurried on by the current of evil? Why cannot our religion be of the passive order? But the answer comes at once, Are you so safe as you endeavour to think? Is there really the calm which your spirits in their drowsiness think there may be? There are, no doubt, beautiful Christian graces which bloom best in the shade. But do not such daily open their petals, and breathe out fragrance towards heaven? The cause of the careless, or the worldly-minded, of such as sit still in sloth as to spiritual concerns, will not stand in the judgment.
2. How much less will that other man prosper, whose cause may be thus produced. He is a man willing to admit that much may be said in favour of a religious life. Up to a certain point he is prepared to accept and to carry into effect the duties which rise because of a mans relation to God who made him. But religion has been made to ask too much: is pressed too indiscriminately upon every period and transaction of life. The law of God cannot be observed, and therefore it ought to be powered, or adapted to the condition of modern thought and feeling. The man will not pretend to justify all he does. But his strong reasons are that it cannot be otherwise. He lives in a world where perfect obedience is not to be expected. Other men sin, and their sinning involves sin in him. He is made with passions which do and will take fire, when temptation finds its convenient seasons. He is ready to listen to advice how he may avoid the grossest sins; but he is not prepared to care about opinions concerning a holiness which he never hopes to reach. Behind these strong reasons men entrench themselves, and seem to keep the conscience untouched by the arrow from the Lords bow. The cause so produced wants one great feature; there is no real sorrow for sin. The blame of sin is skilfully shifted from the sinner to his God. Why hast Thou made me thus? is the complaint which such a man makes. It is considered a misfortune rather than a fault, that he has not obeyed the commandment of the Lord. How can God justify a man who thus blames his Maker! How can a man justify himself, when it shall be brought out against him that if he had hated sin it might have been forgiven, if he had resisted sin it might have been overcome in the strength and according to the grace which God gives. Such reasons to support a cause will be weak in the day of the Lord.
3. A man will say, My life is not right, my conscience is not quiet, my position is not safe; but what am I to do? The religion of many so disgusts me that I have no faith to follow them. The opinions vary so much among those who call themselves Christs servants that I am at a loss what to believe. My cause is bad: but which shall I accept as a better? And my reasons for remaining as I am are strong, from the difficulty as to whether I may not move and only sink lower. And such arguments satisfy a man for a time: they excuse, if they do not justify. But are they really sound? Is it true that there are no sincere followers of Jesus? Is it true that there are no saving truths which stand out as a rock, notwithstanding all that party spirit has done to hide it by party walls? Is Christ so covered that He cannot be found? I boldly assert that no such difficulties exist. There are, it may be, hypocrites everywhere. Sincere Christians are inconsistent and weak in many things; but salvation, Gods grace, Divine life in the soul, is a real thing. The sinner who searches for a perfect Church or a perfect Christian, and stands aloof from Christ because such things are not to be found, may have grounds for finding fault with his neighbour, but he has no strong reason by which to defend himself. Such a cause, so supported, must fall to the ground, when the truthful test of Gods own touch shall show what manner of cause it was.
4. But it is time to produce another cause: that of a man who holds the truth in unrighteousness; who is orthodox in creed and incorrect in life; who has the form of godliness, but denies the power thereof. It is the case of many to be found in the house of God on each Sabbath day: professors of Christ, but followers of the world, its vanities, or its sins. Such men bring no objections against the truth or service of God; but they do not savingly believe, they do not honestly serve. Religion with them is a thing without life. They have a horror of over-zeal. The reasonable man is earnest. He is calm and self-contained; but he has been strongly moved at the sight of sin, he has been deeply moved by the power of grace, and he cannot but give himself, body, soul, and spirit, to do his Lords will. He, too, can produce his cause and bring forth his strong reasons. Is it not reasonable that, when God works by the Holy Ghost upon a sinners soul, the effect should be felt and seen t Conclusion–The believer has his strong reasons. He says the time is short, and the work is great. He says sin is too terrible to be trifled with: salvation is too great a thing to be dealt with carelessly. The devil is in earnest–Jesus is in earnest–the wicked are in earnest; why should the Lords people hang back, as from a cause they doubt or a conflict about which they feel afraid? And these reasons have the solidity of truth and the power of truth. They commend themselves to a mans judgment the more he weighs them well and the nearer he comes to the day of death. Let us all be warned. It is not a question about one man taking another mans advice. It is a far higher matter than a triumph of believer over unbeliever. As those who would not part when the Lord comes,–as those who cannot envy each other a place in heaven, inlet us give diligence to make our calling and election sure. (J. Richardson, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. Bring forth your strong reasons – “Produce these your mighty powers”] “Let your idols come forward which you consider to be so very strong.” Hieron. in loc. I prefer this to all other interpretations of this place; and to Jerome’s own translation of it, which he adds immediately after, Afferte, si quid forte habetis. “Bring it forward, if haply ye have any thing.” The false gods are called upon to come forth and appear in person; and to give evident demonstration of their foreknowledge and power by foretelling future events, and exerting their power in doing good or evil.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Produce your cause: the prophet having pleaded Gods cause against the idolatrous Gentiles, whom he challenged to a dispute, Isa 41:1, he now reneweth the challenge, and gives them liberty and invitation to speak whatsoever they can on the behalf of their idols.
Bring forth your strong reasons, to prove the divinity of your idols.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. A new challenge to theidolaters (see Isa 41:1; Isa 41:7)to say, can their idols predict future events as Jehovah can(Isa 41:22-25, &c.)?
your strong reasonsthereasons for idol-worship which you think especially strong.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Produce your cause, saith the Lord,…. The Lord having comforted his people under their afflictions and persecutions from their enemies in the first times of Christianity, returns to the controversy between him and the idolatrous Heathens, and challenges them to bring their cause into open court, and let it be publicly tried, that it may be seen on what side truth lies:
bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob; or King of saints, the true Israel of God, who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God, and whom he rules over, protects and defends; and this title is assumed for the comfort of them, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an eminent and peculiar sense their King; and he does not style himself the God of Jacob, though he was, because this was the thing in controversy, and the cause to be decided, whether he was the true God, or the gods of the Gentiles; and therefore their votaries are challenged to bring forth the strongest reasons and arguments they could muster together, in proof of the divinity of their idols; their “bony” arguments, as the word x signifies; for what bones are to the body, that strong arguments are to a cause, the support and stability of it.
x os.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There follows now the second stage in the suit. “Bring hither your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your proofs, saith the king of Jacob. Let them bring forward, and make known to us what will happen: make known the beginning, what it is, and we will fix our heart upon it, and take knowledge of its issue; or let us hear what is to come. Make known what is coming later, and we will acknowledge that ye are gods: yea, do good, and do evil, and we will measure ourselves, and see together.” In the first stage Jehovah appealed, in support of His deity, to the fact that it was He who had called the oppressor of the nations upon the arena of history. In this second stage He appeals to the fact that He only knows or can predict the future. There the challenge was addressed to the worshippers of idols, here to the idols themselves; but in both cases both of these are ranged on the one side, and Jehovah with His people upon the other. It is with purpose that Jehovah is called the “King of Jacob,”as being the tutelar God of Israel, in contrast to the tutelar deities of the heathen. The challenge to the latter to establish their deity is first of all addressed to them directly in Isa 41:21, and then indirectly in Isa 41:22, where Jehovah connects Himself with His people as the opposing party; but in Isa 41:22 He returns again to a direct address. are evidences (lit. robara, cf., , 2Co 10:4, from , to be strong or stringent; mishn. , to contend with one another pro et contra ); here it signifies proofs that they can foresee the future. Jehovah for His part has displayed this knowledge, inasmuch as, at the very time when He threatened destruction to the heathen at the hands of Cyrus, He consoled His people with the announcement of their deliverance (Isa 41:8-20). It is therefore the turn of the idol deities now: “Let them bring forward and announce to us the things that will come to pass.” the general idea of what is in the future stands at the head. Then within this the choice is given them of proving their foreknowledge of what is afterwards to happen, by announcing either , or even . These two ideas, therefore, are generic terms within the range of the things that are to happen. Consequently cannot mean “earlier predictions,” prius praedicta , as Hitzig, Knobel, and others suppose. This explanation is precluded in the present instance by the logic of the context. Both ideas lie upon the one line of the future; the one being more immediate, the other more remote, or as the expression alternating with implies , ventura in posterum (“in later times,” compare Isa 42:23, “at a later period;” from the participle , radical form , vid., Ges. 75, Anm. 5, probably to distinguish it from ). This is the explanation adopted by Stier and Hahn, the latter of whom has correctly expounded the word, as denoting “the events about to happen first in the immediate future, which it is not so difficult to prognosticate from signs that are discernible in the present.” The choice is given them, either to foretell “ things at the beginning ” ( haggdu in our editions is erroneously pointed with kadma instead of geresh ), i.e., that which will take place first or next, “ what they be ” ( quae et qualia sint ), so that now, when the acharth , “the latter end” (i.e., the issue of that which is held out to view), as prognosticated from the standpoint of the present, really occurs, the prophetic utterance concerning it may be verified; or “things to come,” i.e., things further off, in later times (in the remote future), the prediction of which is incomparably more difficult, because without any point of contact in the present. They are to choose which they like ( from , like vel from velle ): “ye do good, and do evil,” i.e., (according to the proverbial use of the phrase; cf., Zep 1:12 and Jer 10:5) only express yourselves in some way; come forward, and do either the one or the other. The meaning is, not that they are to stir themselves and predict either good or evil, but they are to show some sign of life, no matter what. “ And we will measure ourselves (i.e., look one another in the face, testing and measuring), and see together,” viz., what the result of the contest will be. like in 2Ki 14:8, 2Ki 14:11, with a cohortative ah , which is rarely met with in connection with verbs , and the tone upon the penultimate, the ah being attached without tone to the voluntative in 2Ki 14:5 (Ewald, 228, c). For the chethib , the Keri has the voluntative .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Idolatry Exposed. | B. C. 708. |
21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. 24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you. 25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. 26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words. 27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. 28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word. 29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
The Lord, by the prophet, here repeats the challenge to idolaters to make out the pretentions of their idols: “Produce your cause (v. 21) and make your best of it; bring forth the strongest reasons you have to prove that your idols are gods, and worthy of your adoration.” Note, There needs no more to show the absurdity of sin than to produce the reasons that are given in defence of it, for they carry with them their own confutation.
I. The idols are here challenged to bring proofs of their knowledge and power. Let us see what they can inform us of, and what they can do. Understanding and active power are the accomplishments of a man. Whoever pretends to be a god must have these in perfection; and have the idols made it to appear that they have? No;
1. “They can tell us nothing that we did not know before, so ignorant are they. We challenge them to inform us,” (1.) “What has been formerly: Let them show the former things, and raise them out of the oblivion in which they were buried” (God inspired Moses to write such a history of the creation as the gods of the heathen could never have dictated to any of their enthusiasts); or “let the defenders of idols tell us what mighty achievements they can boast of as performed by their gods in former times. What did they ever do that was worth taking notice of? Let them specify any thing, and it shall be considered, its due weight shall be given it, and it shall be compared with the latter end of it; and if, in the issue, it prove to be as great as it pretended to be, they shall have the credit of it.” (2.) “We challenge them to tell us what shall happen, to declare to us things to come (v. 22), and again (v. 23), show the things that are to come hereafter. Give this evidence of your omniscience, that nothing can be hidden from you, and of your sovereignty and dominion. Make it to appear that you have the doing of all, by letting us know beforehand what you deign to do. Do this kindness to the world; let them know what is to come, that they may provide accordingly. Do this, and we will own that you are gods above us, and gods to us, and worthy of our adoration.” No creature can foretel things to come, otherwise than by divine information, with any certainty.
2. “They can do nothing that we cannot do ourselves, so impotent are they.” He challenges them to do either good or evil, good to their friends or evil to their enemies: “Let them do, if they can, any thing extraordinary, that people will admire and be affected with. Let them either bless or curse, with power. Let us see them either inflict such plagues such as God brought on Egypt or bestow such blessings as God bestowed on Israel. Let them do some great thing, and we shall be amazed when we see it, and frightened into a veneration of them, as many have been into a veneration of the true God.” That which is charged upon these idols, and let them disprove it if they can, is that they are of nothing, v. 24. Their claims have no foundation at all, nor is there any ground or reason in the least for men’s paying them the respect they do; there is nothing in them worthy our regard. “They are less than nothing, worse than nothing;” so some read it. “The work they do is of nought, and so is the ado that is made about them. There is no pretence or colour for it; it is all a jest; it is all a sham put upon the world; and therefore he that chooses you, and so give you your deity, and” (as some read it) “that delights in you, is an abomination;” so some take it. A servant is at liberty to choose his master, but a man is not at liberty to choose his God. He that chooses any other than the true God chooses an abomination; his choosing it makes it so.
II. God here produces proofs that he is the true God, and that there is none besides him. Let him produce his strong reasons.
1. He has an irresistible power. This he will shortly make to appear in the raising up of Cyrus and making him a type of Christ (v. 25): He will raise him up from the north and from the rising of the sun. Cyrus by his father was a Mede, by his mother a Persian; and his army consisted of Medes, whose country lay north, and Persians, whose country lay east, from Babylon. God will raise him up to great power, and he shall come against Babylon with ends of his own to serve. But, (1.) He shall proclaim God’s name; so it may be read. He shall publish the honour of the God of Israel; so he did remarkably when, in his proclamation for the release of the Jews out of their captivity, he acknowledged that the Lord God of Israel was the Lord God of heaven, and the God: and he might be said to call on his name when he encouraged the building of his temple, and very probably did himself call upon him and pray to him, Ezr 1:2; Ezr 1:3. (2.) All opposition shall fall before him: He shall come upon the princes of Babylon, and all others that stood in his way, as mortar, and trample upon them as the potter treads clay, to serve his own purposes with it. Christ, as man, was raised up from the north, for Nazareth lay in the northern parts of Canaan; as the angel of the covenant, he ascends from the east. He maintained the honour of heaven (he shall call upon my name), and broke the powers of hell, came upon the prince of darkness as mortar and trod him down.
2. He has an infallible foresight. He would not only do this, but he did now, by his prophet, foretel it. Now the false gods not only could not do it, but they could not foresee it. (1.) He challenges them to produce any of their pretended deities, or their diviners, that had given notice of this, or could (v. 26): “Who has declared from the beginning any thing of this kind, or has told it before-time? Tell us if there be any that you know of, for we know not any; if there be any, we will say, He is righteous, he is true, his cause is just, his claims are proved, and he is in the right in demanding to be worshipped.” This agrees with Isa 41:22; Isa 41:23. (2.) He challenges to himself the sole honour of doing it and foretelling it (v. 27): I am the first (so it may be read) that will say to Zion, Behold, behold them, that will let the people of Israel know their deliverers are at hand (for there were those who understood by books, God’s books, the approach of the time, Dan. ix. 2), and I am he that will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings, these good tidings of their enlargement. This is applicable to the work of redemption, in which the Lord showed himself much more than in the release of the Jews out of Babylon: he it was that contrived our salvation, and he brought it about, and he has given to us the glad tidings of reconciliation.
III. Judgment is here given upon this trial. 1. None of all the idols had foretold, or could foresee, this work of wonder. Other nations besides the Jews were released out of captivity in Babylon by Cyrus, or at least were greatly concerned in the revolution of the monarchy and there transferring of it to the Persians; and yet none of them had any intelligence given them of it beforehand, by any of their gods or prophets: “There is none that shows (v. 26), none that declares, none that gives the least intimation of it; there is none of the nations that hears your words, that can pretend to have heard from their gods such words as you, O Israelites! have heard from your God, by your prophets,” Ps. cxlvii. 20. None of all the gods of the nations have shown their worshippers the way of salvation, which God will show by the Messiah. The good tidings which the Lord will send in the gospel is a mystery hidden from ages and generations, Rom 16:25; Rom 16:26. 2. None of those who pleaded for them could produce any instance of their knowledge or power that had in it any colour of proof that they were gods. All their advocates were struck dumb with this challenge (v. 28): “I beheld, and there was no man that could give evidence for them, even among those that were their most zealous admirers; and there was no counsellor, none that could offer any thing for the support of their cause. Even among the idols themselves there was none fit to give counsel in the most trivial matters, and yet there were those that asked counsel of them in the most important and difficult affairs. When I asked them what they had to say for themselves they stood mute; the case was so plain against them that there was none who could answer a word.” Judgment must therefore be given against the defendant upon Nihil dicit–He is mute. He has nothing to say for himself. He was speechless, Matt. xxii. 12. 3. Sentence is therefore given according to the charge exhibited against them (v. 24): “Behold, they are all vanity (v. 29); they are a lie and a cheat; they are not in themselves what they pretend to be, nor will their worshippers find that in them which they promise themselves. Their works are nothing, of no force, of no worth; their enemies need fear no hurt from them; their worshippers can hope for no good from them. Their molten images, and indeed all their images, are wind and confusion, vanity and vexation; those that worship them will be deceived in them, and will reflect upon their own folly with the greatest bitterness. Therefore, dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” 1 Cor. x. 14.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 21-24: A CHALLENGE TO THE IDOLS
1. In the presence of the nations Jehovah (the King of Jacob)
openly challenges the idols to justify their existence, vs. 21).
2. He challenges them to foretell future events, or even to explain from the past, things over which they exercise control – if they have any power at all! (vs. 22; comp. Isa 43:9; Isa 44:7; Isa 45:21; Isa 46:10-11).
3. If they are truly gods, surely they have both intelligence and authority!
a. Let them declare some future event if they want men to know that they are gods, (Isa 42:9; Isa 44:8; Isa 45:3; Joh 13:19).
b. Or, let them perform some act – either good or evil (Jer 10:5-6); either action would cause all observers to look at each other in surprise! (cs. 29; Isa 37:18-19; Isa 44:9).
4. Then the Lord flatly declares them to be worse than nothing (1Co 8:4), their effect worse than a viper; whoever chooses them is an abomination to the Lord! (Pro 3:32; Pro 28:9; comp. Deu 18:12).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. Plead your cause. There was also a necessity that this should be added to the former doctrine; for when we associate with wicked men, they pour ridicule on our hope and charge us with folly, as if we were too simple-minded and credulous. Our faith is attacked and frequently shaken by jeers such as the following, “These people hang on the clouds, and believe things that are impossible and contrary to all reason.” Since, therefore, the Jews, in their captivity, would hear such mockeries, it was of importance that they should be fortified by these warnings of the Prophet; and in order to give greater weight to this address, he comes forth of his own accord, for the sake of inspiring confidence, and challenges the Gentiles themselves, charging them to bring forward everything that could support their cause, as is usually done in courts of justice.
Saith the king of Jacob. When he calls himself “the king of Jacob,” he defies all idols, and shews that he undertakes the cause of his people, so as to be at length acknowledged to have vindicated his glory by delivering those who were unjustly oppressed. And yet the godly needed to possess a strong faith; for what was the aspect of the kingdom, when they were captives and so severely oppressed? This was also the reason why he formerly (verse 14) called them “the worm Jacob” and “dead men.” But they comforted their hearts by that promise by which he formerly said that their root was concealed under ground, when he compared the people to a tree that had been cut down.
“
A branch shall spring from the stock of Jesse, and a sprout from his roots shall yield fruit.” (Isa 11:1.)
They beheld by the eyes of faith that kingly power which lay concealed; for it could not be seen by the bodily eyes or comprehended by the human understanding.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
d. GOOD TIDINGS
TEXT: Isa. 41:21-29
21
Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22
Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.
23
Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
24
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
25
I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.
26
Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is right? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
27
I am the first that saith unto Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
28
And when I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word.
29
Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.
QUERIES
a.
Who is Jehovah challenging to produce cause?
b.
Who is being raised up from the north?
c.
Who is the one that bringeth good tidings?
PARAPHRASE
All you who have put your trust in idols, I, Jehovah challenge you to demonstrate causes and reasons for such trust. Bring forth your idols and let them declare what is going to happen. I challenge them to tell what has occurred in years gone by and what it all means; and I challenge them to tell what is yet to comepredict the future. Indeed, your idols may prove they are deities if they are able to predict the future and do supernatural works of deliverance and judgment which will astound us. As a matter of fact, your idols are less than nothing and they can do nothing at all. Men and women who choose to worship idols are disgusting and detestable. I, the Lord, am going to raise up one (Cyrus) to deliver My people from their enemies. He will come from the east by way of the north and he will do My will. He will tear down rulers and kingdoms as easily as he does mortared walls. As the potter is able to trample upon the clay with which he works, so will this deliverer trample under foot his opposition. Which of the pagan deities have predicted this so that when it comes to pass we may know they are gods? Not a one! No other god known has said anything at all about it! I, Jehovah, was the first and only One to tell My covenant people, Look! Look! Your deliverers. Furthermore, I will give to Jerusalem a prophet to announce this good news of deliverance. But when I look among all the pagan deities there is not a single one who can give any kind of counselnot a one of them answers My challenge. You see? they are all foolish, worthless things; these idols are all as empty as the wind.
COMMENTS
Isa. 41:21-24 CHALLENGE: Now Jehovah is going to prove His previous claims that His covenant people need not fear the threats of their enemies (Assyria and Babylon). There were many in Israel and Judah listening to the alleged prophecies of false prophets and the oracles of pagan gods. These false prophecies predicted the obliteration of the Jews and the downfall of the Jewish God, Jehovah. It seems astonishing that the Jews, with all their history of miraculous deliverances from the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, etc., could ever doubt Jehovahs power. They had become so engrossed in politics, economics, pagan philosophies and just plain sensuality, they had no time for God and His Word. As a result when it became apparent they were going to be invaded by the awesome, terrifying hordes of Assyria and Babylon, they could not turn to Jehovah. They did not know Him! Most of the Jews turned to pagan soothsayers and idol-priests (cf. Isa. 8:16-22, etc.). But God, through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing that He will deliver His people from these terrible enemies. Positive, empirical, proof that Jehovah is their only Deliverer is demonstrated once and for all in fulfillment of prophecy. When history is predicted before it happens it is a claim to omniscience and omnipotence. When that prediction comes to pass it demonstrates deity. The authority of a prophet was proved by the fulfillment of his predictions (Deu. 18:21-22). Jehovah challenges all the pagan gods to give proof of their divine power by divulging the future. Jehovah challenges the idols and their priests to declare the former things which is a call to interpret past history. They cannot even do this! Then He calls them to show us things to come. God does not want credulous worshipers. Preaching without proof and evidence is scarcely preaching at all. It encourages naked credulity and shallow conviction. So, when God sent Isaiah to produce faith in His deliverance, He gave proof and evidence of His power. That proof was that Jehovah could foretell, through His prophet, the future. Pagan deities could not. This same confrontation (between Gods prophets and pagan idols) recurs over and over again in history (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul). God does not shrink from the demand of authenticating credentials for His Word. What Jehovah predicts has already been recorded in Isa. 41:2 ff in the one from the east. The prediction is repeated in Isa. 41:25 ff. But for now, Jehovahs challenge goes unanswered and the conclusion is inevitableidols are not gods! As a matter of fact, idols are less than nothing. The verdict is: idols are a totally minus-quantity and so is their work. They cannot do good nor can they do evil. Missionaries have found in modern pagan tribes demonstrations of the power the mind has over the body when the mind is psyched or hypnotized by superstition and fear. But they have also found that once the idol-worshipper sees a demonstration that their idol is nothing he is at once healed of his physical malady. Abomination is from the Hebrew word tuaivah which means abhorrent, disgusting, detestable, repugnant. Those who deliberately choose to worship idols soon become like the thing they worship (cf. Hos. 9:10; Psa. 115:3-8).
Isa. 41:25-29 CONFUTATION: The one from the north . . . from the rising of the sun is the same one from the east in Isa. 41:2, Cyrus, king of Persia (cf. comments Isa. 41:2 ff). The massive armies of the great Mesopotamian empires (Assyria, Babylon, Persia) all swooped down on Palestine from the north. One only has to look at a map of the Near East to see that ancient armies could not march west over the Arabian desert since they had to sustain themselves by daily forage for food and water. So they marched north and came across the fertile crescent and entered Palestine from the north. Cyrus will be irresistible. He will do with the enemies of Gods people what a potter does with his clay. Now, says Jehovah, which pagan idol or pagan prophet foreknew any events to show they knew Israels destiny or the future history of Mesopotamian empires? Have any of their words ever been fulfilled so that men were obliged to say, That idol was right? Not a one! Not one word about Israels deliverance through the one from the east ever came from the heathen oracles. Jehovah, through His prophets, was first and only to make such a declaration. He announced that the Deliverer would come to Zion. Even in the midst of all His announcements of the future captivity He announces deliverance from it by the one from the east. This would be good news to Jerusalem. Of course, it would be good news only to those who believed. That was always a minority. The majority of the people never even recognized the promises of deliverance because they refused to believe the predictions of judgment in the first place. And when one looked toward the pagan gods and prophets one could find no intimation whatsoever of this great deliverance. There is only stupid silence. They do not know the future. So they are nothing. They are powerless. They are just wind. Finis! The contest is overGod is victor. Jehovah conquers all for His people.
QUIZ
1.
Why did the Jews listen to pagan prophets?
2.
Why does God give proof and evidence for His omniscience?
3.
Why are those who choose idols an abomination?
4.
Why did the Mesopotamian armies come from the north?
5.
How much did the pagan oracles say about Israels deliverance?
6.
What is the conclusion of the contest between God and idols?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) Produce your cause.The scene of Isa. 41:1 is reproduced. The worshippers of idols, as the prophet sees them in his vision hurrying hither and thither to consult their oracles, are challenged, on the ground not only of the great things God hath done, but of His knowledge of those things. The history of Herodotus supplies some striking illustrations. Crus and the Cumans, and the Phocans, and the Athenians are all sending to Delphi, or consulting their seers, as to this startling apparition of a new conqueror.
Your strong reasons.Literally, bulwarks, or strongholds. So we speak of impregnable proofs.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Produce your cause Jehovah’s address is here again to the idolaters. He demands that they do their best in bringing proofs of the power of their so-called gods.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh’s Challenge To The Gods of the Nations ( Isa 41:21-24 ).
Isa 41:21-23
“Produce your cause,” says Yahweh.
“Bring forth your strong reasons,” says the King of Jacob.
“Let them bring them forth and declare to us what will happen.
Declare the former things, what they are,
That we may consider them and know the latter end of them,
Or show us things that are to come.
Declare the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that you are gods.”
Yahweh now lays down His challenge to the nations and to their gods. Let them come as it were before the court and prove their case. Let them bring out their idols. (Note that the idols have to be brought out. They cannot come of themselves). Let them prove themselves, and produce their strong arguments. Let them declare the future, and show what is to happen. Let them explain the past and its significance, and show what will be its results. Let them declare the significance and impact of the coming of Abraham. Let them show the things that are to come from it. Then all will know that they really are gods. This is what God has been doing. Let them do it as well.
This confirms that in this passage God has been speaking of what has happened in the past as well was what is to happen in the future, and the title ‘the King of Jacob’ ties it in closely with the time of the patriarchs, thus confirming that the coming one from the east was Abraham.
‘The King of Jacob’ is a significant title. God is not ashamed to be the king of the patriarch Jacob, to be the king of the worm (Isa 41:14). Indeed He boasts about it. So the nations see His people as nothing, as unimportant, as having something of a past history but as now no longer counting? Well, this is proof that they cannot see the future. Why, He declares, He is their King. Their past is significant. And from that worm will He produce glorious things. And only a ‘God Who is’ could use a worm to establish the everlasting kingdom. But had the gods really been gods, they would have known of it.
Isa 41:23
“Yes, do good or do evil,
That we may be dismayed (bewildered) and behold it together.’
The challenge is expanded. These gods not only know nothing, they do nothing. He is going to do something, so let these also at least do something, anything, whether good or evil. Then at least all would be able to be bewildered and dismayed, and behold it. ‘Do good or do evil’ is often seen as the equivalent of ‘do anything at all’.
Isa 41:24
“See, you are of nothing, and your work of nought.
An abomination is he who chooses you.”
The assumption is made that nothing will happen, and the argument is now applied. These gods are of nothing, and their work is nothing. Thus anyone who chooses them is an abomination, because they choose an abomination. We are what we choose. Note the strength of language. They are hateful to God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Coming of the Deliverer
v. 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord, v. 22. Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, v. 23. Show the things that. are to come hereafter, v. 24. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught; an abomination is he that chooseth you, v. 25. I have raised up one from the North, v. 26. Who hath declared from the beginning that we may know, v. 27. The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them, v. 28. For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, v. 29. Behold, they are all vanity,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 41:21. Produce your cause The prophet here returns to that part whence he had digressed, and makes a similar address to that in the first verse, to which we refer.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
4. THE SECOND CONVERSION OF PROPHECY INTO A TEST OF DIVINITY
Isa 41:21-29
2137Produce your cause, saith the Lord;
Bring forth your 38strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen:
Let them show the former things, what they be,
That we may 39Consider them, and know the latter end of them;
Or 40declare us things for to come.
23Show the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that ye are gods:
Yea, do good, or do evil,
41That we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
24Behold, ye are 42of nothing,
And your work 43of 44nought:
An abomination is he that chooseth you.
25I have raised up one from the north, and he 45shall come:
Prom the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name:
And he shall come upon 46princes as upon mortar,
And as the potter treadeth clay.
26Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And beforetime, that we may say, 47He is righteous?
Yea, there is none that 48showeth, yea, there is none hthat declareth,
Yea, there is none that hheareth your words.
2749The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them:
And I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
2850For I beheld, and there was no man;
Even among them, and there was no counsellor,
That, when I asked of them, could 51answer a word.
29Behold they are all vanity;
Their works are nothing:
Their molten images are wind and confusion.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurring of the words: Isa 41:21. . Isa 41:22. . ver.23. . Isa 41:25. . Ver 26. Isa 41:28. Isa 41:29.
Isa 41:21. is . . The root meaning is robora, comp. strong, strength, might, Psa 10:10, fires, Ps. 68:36.
Isa 41:23. with in the second clause appears not merely to have the meaning sivesive, but there lies in something intensive in relation to what precedes, that we may best express by yea.That acquires the meaning or, appears from alternative questions whetheror, numan being regularly expressed in Hebrew by , and also that, exceptionally, simply connects the two clauses (Jer 44:28; Ewald 352 b).The Kal (so Kthibh is to be read, whereas Kri is to be pronounced ) occasions surprise. Perhaps we should read (first pers. plur. imperf. Niph., comp. Exo 34:3; Gen 12:7; Gen 17:1, etc.). As this first pers. plur. imp. Niph. happens not to occur again in the Old Testament, perhaps the Masorets preferred to point the consonants like the first pers. plur. imperf. Kal., which often occurs in the full form, but which also fails to occur in the apocopated form.
Isa 41:24. I translate , here out of the nothing, whereas Isa 40:17 I maintained the comparative meaning of 1 think that we are justified in this by the difference of the verbs used in the two places. There was predicate, here it is the notion of being. There the rhetorical, exaggerated more than nothing was more suitable; here it suits better to take as indicative of origin.There is no need of treating as a copyists error for as many recent commentators do. The serpent name (Isa 30:6; Isa 59:5) i.e., sibilans, the whistler, is proof enough that there is a verb , kindred in sense to , breath, wind (see on Isa 42:14). From this may be derived , from which , like from , from .
Isa 41:25. contracted from , occurs only here, whereas the form (from Pro 1:27; Job 37:22) occurs Deu 33:21. is undoubtedly used in the sense of calling on God in worship. In itself the expression means to call with the name, not in the name; for is used here as instrumental. This appears from the fact that the expression elsewhere means a) to call, name (one) with their name: Exo 35:30; Num 32:42; Isa 45:4 (I called to thee by means of thy name), or, with omission of the personal object, Isa 43:1; Isa 45:3, etc.b) to shout, proclamare, proclamationem facere, , to give an announcing, instructing call by means of the name. Thus, as I think, in those obscure passages, Exo 33:19; Exo 34:5, with which also Isa 45:5 connects. Here God sends forth a call in Moses ears, which is done by naming the Jehovah-name and giving its meaning, ibid Isa 41:6.I do not think that is a specific Persian word. The word schihne, to which appeal is made, is modern Persian. The word is used Jer 51:23; Jer 51:28; Jer 51:57; Eze 23:6; Eze 23:12; Eze 23:23, and occurs in these passages as designation for Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian dignitaries. Thus the word appears to have been, I may say, international. Ezra uses it once Ezr 9:2; Nehemiah oftener: Neh 2:16; Neh 4:8; Neh 5:7, etc. Later it even passed over into the vocabulary of recent Hebrew. Since Ezekiel speaks of Assyrian , we may assume that there were such, and as Babylon and Persia obtained dominion after Assyria, we may conjecture that the name came to them from Assyria. Then it cannot seem strange that Isaiah uses the word. is, however, really an Assyrian word. The root sakan (), connected with , is in Assyrian the usual word for to place, appoint,. Sakan, accordingly, denotes properly the one appointed, commissioned, then the. representative, vicegerent. Thus Schrader l. c. p.270. Moreover, the word corresponds to the and . For one sees also from , that the raised-up ruler will be one who issues from the region of the Iranian tongue.
Isa 41:26. only here.
Isa 41:28. is constr. Prgnans: for the preposition depends on a verb that is only ideally present. We must derive the notion seeking out from .
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. We showed above that with our Prophet the promise of deliverance out of exile, and the turning of this promise to account as proof of divinity, go hand in hand. Having now described in Isa 41:1-20 the redeemer (Isa 41:2-3) and the redeemed (Isa 41:8-16) and the destined salvation (Isa 41:17-20), the Prophet goes on here to turn them to account in the way referred to. He had made a beginning of this in Isa 41:4-7 after the first mention of the saviour from the East, but did not carry out the thought there. It appears as if he would there content himself with a passing reference in contrast with the fright of the heathen at the alarming demands made on their faith in idols. But now, having presented all that related to the deliverance from exile, he proceeds in earnest. He pays no more regard to that reluctance proceeding from a bad conscience. He sets forth with all seriousness that the Lord regards His prediction of the deliverance as a proof of His divinity, and the inability of idols to predict anything, or in fact to do anything, as a proof of their nothingness. The more exact development consists in this, that here Jehovah challenges the idols themselves directly to a contest, and that, more plainly than in Isa 41:2 sq., He proffers His prediction as a proof of His divinity. Although the idols do not at all relish the contest, still they must come on and take up the gauntlet (Isa 41:21-23). On their failure to tell anything they are pronounced to be nothing (Isa 41:24). Then Jehovah repeats the prediction of a deliverer from the East (Isa 41:25), and again shows that not the idols have foretold this (Isa 41:26), but that He, Jehovah, would give this deliverer to His people for a saviour, and at the same time as a pledge of the fulfilment of further promises that reach into a still more remote future (Isa 41:27). Finally the Prophet himself resumes the discourse, in order to establish the nothingness of his idolatrous quasi colleagues. For if the idols are nothing, so, too, must their interpreters show that they are know-nothings.
2. Produce your causechooseth you.
Isa 41:21-24. The Lord challenges the idols to come on and bring to a practical decision this cause, long pending in thesi, and produce the proofs that they have for their cause. One thinks involuntarily of Elijahs challenge to the priests of Baal, 1Ki 18:21 sqq. Jehovah is often called King of the chosen people (comp. on Isa 43:15); but the expression King of Jacob occurs only here (comp Gen 49:24; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16; Psa 132:2; Psa 132:5, and Psa 59:14). In Isa 41:22 the Lord addresses Israel, claiming them for His side, and identifying His and their cause. connects as repetition with Isa 41:21. What they shall produce is their bulwarks. In what this producing proof shall consist is further explained by the words (see Isa 45:21). By commentators understand either prius praedicta (Gesenius: say what ye have formerly prophesied), or the immediate future in contrast with the more remote, which they say is expressed by and . But in my opinion the former conflicts with the article, and the latter with usus loq. which forbids the distinction between and as near and remote future. I think that in contrast with can mean nothing but the past contrasted with the future. The immediate and proper meaning of the word is undoubtedly first, beginning, original things. Thus Gen 41:20 are the cows that first appeared. Thus everywhere are the first or beginning things or facts; whether prophecies or other things must be determined in each case by the context. Comp. Isa 42:9; Isa 43:9; Isa 43:18; Isa 46:9; Isa 48:3. Here the Lord demands of the idols, that they shall either give correct information of the past, thus, as it were, of the roots or foundations of the course of the world, so that one may thereby infer what the future will be, or they shall foretell the future directly. The Prophet, as appears to me, assumes here that we may foretell the future directly and indirectly, as e.g., it is the same whether I say: the fruit of this tree will be apples; or the roots are those of an apple tree. For if the latter be true, then the fruit must be apples. The correct knowledge of the future depends on a correct knowledge of the past. Both have riddles revealed only to the omniscience of God, and hence both are tests of divinity. Such, I think, is the Lords meaning when He calls on the idols to produce the fundamental things of the past, and that according to their inmost being ( ). If they do this correctly, then it will be possible for attentive reflection ( only here in Isaiah; comp. Exo 9:21; Job 1:8; Job 2:3; Eze 44:5) to know correctly the issue, thus the conclusion that falls in the future. Comp. especially Isa 46:10 sq., where the Lord names as a prerogative of His divinity the power to foretell from the beginning he final issue, from ancient time what has not yet come to pass. By , or else, the alternatives offered to the idols to foretell the future directly, if they will.
Isa 41:23, the Prophet proceeds, summing up the idea of and , both which relate to he future; Shew the things that are to be hereafter, i.e., whose realization is fixed for a more remote period. The concluding clause and we will know, etc., states ironically what must result if the idols meet the demand: they will then be recognized as gods. But the Lord proceeds, moderating His demand to the utmost, in order to strike his opponents only the harder: yea, do good or do evil (a proverbial expression, comp. Jer 10:5; Zep 1:12). Let them anyway do something. It is not meant; let them prophesy good or bad. The idea of their prophesying at all is dismissed with that we may know, etc. The clause (to look eye in eye in conflict, like 2Ki 14:8; 2Ki 14:11) presents the conclusion from what precedes. If the idols accept the challenge, then there may be a contest. If not, then eo ipso they are defeated. The idols neither accept nor decline; hence the Lord concludes with the contemptuous words of Isa 41:24. Are the idols nothings, then of course, those that choose them (comp. on Isa 41:8) are an abomination to the Lord. The expression , especially combined with , is very frequent in Deut. (Deu 12:31; Deu 17:1; Deu 18:12; Deu 22:5, etc.) especially in reference to idolatry.
3. I have raised upconfusion.
Isa 41:25-29. Having proved the inability of idols to prophesy, the Lord produces a prophecy, that is a pledge of His divinity. Thus He risks all on this prophecy. His honor perishes if it is not fulfilled. As He does not fear the latter, but utters it with absolute confidence, He gives for the present, not indeed a judicial proof of His divinity, but still He raises a legal presumption in favor of it (prsumtio juris, which, as is known, is something very different from a presumption (conjecture) in the common sense). And that even is something great, for it suffices for those that are honestly willing to know the truth. In Isaiahs time still the people wavered between Jehovah and idols. Isaiahs endeavor was to bring them to a decision for the Lord. These prophecies (4066), meant for future consolation, were intended to affect also the present, i.e., to move the nation to believe in the Lord. If, then, Isaiah in Hezekiahs time stood up so confidently for Jehovah, as he does here, every one at all susceptible of the truth must have said to himself: the Prophet would not dare so to speak were he not conscious of being warranted to do so. For he risks the utter ruin of his and his Gods cause, if this prophecy turn out to be an imposture. The prophecy, Isa 41:25, is somewhat oracular in form. In contents it has that obscurity peculiar to all images of the future, which rise so distant from the beholder that one is unable to detect their connection with the present, and thus the successive, organic genesis of their forms. It is further worthy of notice that the prophecy, Isa 41:25, connects with Isa 41:2-3. I have raised up, Isa 41:25, is like an answer to who raised up, Isa 41:2; from the north and from the rising define more particularly the simple from the rising, Isa 41:2; he shall call on my name corresponds to called him to his foot, Isa 41:2; and the following words that begin with , as Isa 41:3 closes, describe the irresistibleness of him that is called essentially in the same way as Isa 41:2 b, 3, with only this difference, that Isa 41:2 speaks of nations and kings in general, whereas Isa 41:25 the word (satraps) points even more plainly to the theatre where the one called performs. That , Isa 41:25, is without an object, corresponds to the terseness proper to the oracular style. The object is easily supplied, partly from Isa 41:2, partly from the following, . That the one promised is called from the North, but comes from the East, is not to be pressed. The Prophet would only intimate that his point of departure is not merely the East, as might appear from Isa 41:2, but also from the North. We know how this occurred in the case of Cyrus. He arose as ruler of the (by him) united kingdoms of Media and Persia, the former of which lay north, the latter east of Babylon. , He shall call on my name (see Text. and Gram.) mentions another characteristic of the one called. That Cyrus actually did this appears from 2Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:2 sqq. He must have received vivid impressions of the reality of the God of Israel. Comp. on this Pressel in Herz., R.-Enc. III, p. 232. We will not inquire whether Cyrus, in calling Jehovah the God of heaven, identified Him with Ahuramazda or not (comp. Zoeckler on 2Ch 36:23). But it is historically attested in the most credible manner, and is in itself perfectly comprehensible, that God, who in general let the heathen go their own way (Act 14:16), should in an exceptional way give them extraordinary revelations of His being. In the period preceding the Christian era He did this in two significant epochs through Israel, in consequence of its missionary vocation, viz., in the two exiles, the Egyptian and the Babylonian. In both instances the revelation came to the dominant world-power at the moment of its highest prosperity. In regard to Egypt comp., e.g., Lepsius (Chronol. d. Egypter, I., p. 359), who calls the period of Moses and of the departure of the Israelites the most illustrious time of all Egyptian history. In regard to Babylon the same thing appears from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar is designated as the golden head (Dan 2:38). The Lord would not let Himself be without witness to those who knew no limits to their power, for their own sakes partly, partly for His own names sake, partly for the sake of mankind in general, partly for the sake of Israel. The Lord would show His power to Pharaoh, that His name might be declared throughout all the earth, and to accomplish His judgments on all the gods of Egypt (Exo 9:16; comp. Isa 8:10; Isa 8:19; Isa 14:4; Isa 14:17-18; Isa 14:25). And that this purpose was achieved appears from the confessions of Pharaoh himself, of his servants, and of his army (Exo 9:20; Exo 9:27; Exo 10:7; Exo 10:16; Exo 14:25). As regards the Babylonian Exile, the entire first half of the book of Daniel is meant to show how Jehovah so marvellously glorified Himself on those nations and their kings, that they cannot escape acknowledging Him as the true God (comp. my work: Jeremiah and Babylon, p. 2 sqq.), at least for the moment (for we know nothing of any outward, observable abiding effectat most the adoration of the Magi, Matthew 2, might be appealed to here. What (according to Dan 2:47; Dan 3:28 sq.; Dan 4:34; Dan 5:17 sqq.; Dan 6:25 sqq.), Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius the Mede knew, was any way preliminary to the knowledge on the basis of which Cyrus issued his edict, Ezr 1:2 sqq. Certainly we cannot impute to Cyrus less knowledge than that ascribed to his predecessors in the passages cited. If we were right in saying that he shall call on my name corresponds to has called him to his foot, Isa 41:2, then this is to be defined, that according to Isa 41:2 the Lord called Cyrus, and according to Isa 41:25 Cyrus called on the Lord. It is further said of Cyrus that he will come on satraps as on mortar, etc. , in the sense of hostile coming like Isa 28:15; Psa 35:8; Job 15:21; Job 20:22; Pro 28:22. In all these passages stands with the accusative (localis).
The Prophet, Isa 41:26, assumes the standpoint of the fulfilment. He represents to himself that then the inquiry will naturally arise: who hath declared this from the beginning, that we may know, i.e., that we might know beforehand the coming of these things (Isa 41:22-23)? And who announced it from early time, so that now we might say: right? is what corresponds to a norm: not only a moral, or some special juridical norm, but also the norm of truth. Hence , Isa 43:9, stands in a precisely similar connection. Yet the last-named meaning is supported by no other example. Hence it seems to me likely that the Prophet joins with it the sense of moral Rightness. A god whose prophecy fails is morally condemned. But if it comes to pass, he is morally justified; he is no liar, but truly what he gives himself out to be (comp. Isa 14:21). But again there has never been any announcement and bringing to the ears on the part of the idols, nor hearing on the part of men (Isa 41:22-23). (comp. Isa 40:24), recurring thrice, paints with a certain breadth the absence on every hand of what was requisite.
Isa 41:27, the Prophet defines more particularly the salvation that the one called of God shall bring to the people of God. It was said, Isa 41:25, in general, that he would call on the name of the Lord, and destroy the hostile powers. Now he is defined to be the first-fruit of the salvation destined for Zion. The LXX. translate . Peschito: primordia Sionis haec sunt. As far as I can see, all expositors construe as nominative and relating to Jehovah; and either supply , or connect with . The words are by some put in the mouth of Jehovah, by others in Zions mouth, by others in that of the , and the suffixes (pronouns) are referred now to the exiles, now to the deliverer, now to facts of redemption, now to the idols. I refer to Cyrus. In an eminent sense he was the beginner of the redemption. Israels decline lasted till the close of the Exile. With difficulty (Dan 9:25), slowly, and with great alternations, it mounts up; but still it mounts up. The believers that looked for the restitution of Israel in all its promised glory directly after the seventy years, under the anointed son of David, struggle with many assaults of doubt, as they observe only very meagre beginnings of a redemption (comp. Dan 10:1-3, and Auberlen, D. Proph. Daniel, p. 132 sq.) But the laws of prophetic perspective were hid from them, which sees the end already in the beginning, though long periods of vicissitude separate one from the other. Cyrus is called , Isa 45:1. He was not the proper and true Messiah, but he was the first after the great period of judgment. He was the first-fruitmessiah, the beginner of the restoration of Israel. His edict, Ezr 1:2 sqq., was the first step toward realizing for Israel that (return), that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all their successors represent as the sum total of bodily and spiritual redemption for Israel. I construe as an exclamation of the Prophet, by which he points to the consequences of that first-fruitredemption. For the notion first includes that of following or consequences. In spirit the Prophet sees these before him, and points to them with a brief . He calls Cyrus a : what more joyful news could the Lord propose for His people than that they may return home to rebuild Jerusalem? , comp. on Isa 40:9.
As Isa 41:26 is related to Isa 41:25, so Isa 41:28-29 are related to Isa 41:27. Each of these prophetic lamps shines in strong contrast with the picture of the nothingness of idols that acts as a foil. Only it seems to me that so far there is a difference, in that Isa 41:26 the Prophet has in mind the idols themselves, whereas in Isa 41:28-29 he has in mind their worshippers, especially their priests (see below). Isa 41:28 has three gradations. The first clause is obscure; it speaks only of the looking around and the non-existence of something, but one knows not what one has looked about for. The second clause makes known those among whom the Prophet has looked, and what he was looking for. He seeks a counsellor, one, however, that can prophetically resolve the riddles of the future. This is made plain in the third clause: but there was no counsellor of whom I could inquire and who could give me answer. The reason of this is given Isa 41:29 : the gods that should inspire the answer in their worshippers are no gods but the manufacture of those who worship them. Thus Isa 41:29 speaks of those that make the idols, and not of the idols themselves. And because they all () are identical with the (them) of Isa 41:28, among whom no counsellor is found, therefore Isa 41:28 speaks not of the idols, but of their servants, and especially of those who, on account of their office, should be qualified to give counsel and render a decision, thus the priests and prophets. And because it is not to be supposed that the Lord looks for a counsellor and giver of decrees, therefore the subject of (I looked about) Isa 41:28, is not Jehovah, but the Prophet. Thus the chapter concludes with an apostrophe of the true Prophet to the false ones, and is said . With this reference to the manufacture of idols, the Prophet returns to the thought with which he also closed the first strophe (Isa 41:6-7).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The second part of Isaiah lays unusual stress on the inability of idols to prophesy. As this, on the one hand, is a proof of the nothingness of idols, so on the other, Jehovahs ability to foretell the future is made a proof of His divinity. Hence, when the Lord challenges the idols to a contest in prophesying, and then on His part stands forth with an imposing prophetic performance, that has for its subject the deliverance of Israel from the Exile, one sees that two objects are combined, viz.: He comforts His people, and He proves His divinity. Thus we see that the Prophets view-point is partly at the end of the Exile and partly before the Exile. The former because he sees the deliverer quite clearly and distinctly before him; the latter because it is all important for him to display his Lord as knowing the remote future, and thus as true God. Thus he would win Israel by representing on the one hand the omniscence of their God, and on the other His faithful love and power. And this object was attained. Israel would assuredly not have buried their gross idolatry in the Exile, had they not verified both the threatenings and the promises of Jehovahs Prophet in the most signal manner. But this grand effect could only be produced by the promises being recognized on all sides as genuine, old prophecies. Prophecies that gave themselves out for old, but hitherto hidden must have raised doubts, and contradicted themselves. For it is expressly said Isa 45:19; Isa 48:16 that these things were not spoken in secret.
2. [On Isa 41:1. The same reasons will apply to all approaches which are made to God. When we are about to come before Him in prayer or praise; to confess our sins and to plead for pardon; when we engage in argument respecting His being, plans, or perfections; or when we draw near to Him in the closet, the family, or the sanctuary, the mind should be filled with awe and reverence. It is well, it is proper, to pause and think of what our emotions should be, and of what we should say before God. Comp. Gen 28:16-17.Barnes.
3. On Isa 41:6-7. Do sinners thus animate and quicken one another in the ways of sin? And shall not the servants of the living God both stir up one another to, and strengthen one another in, His service?M. Henry.]
4. On Isa 41:8 sqq. The Lord here founds His comforting promise on the election in Abraham. Compare with this the saying of John Baptist: Begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, etc., Luk 3:8-9. This sounds contradictory. But one must distinguish between the individual and the whole. Not every individual generation, in general no individual part, great or small, of the totality of Israel can insist on the election of Abraham, and regard itself as exempt and unimpeachable on that account. For history teaches that great judgments have come on individuals and on the nation almost to their annihilation. But, of course, a remnant will always remain, if only just large enough to afford seed for a new generation. The Lord says this expressly in the great inaugural vision, Isa 6:11-13, and such, too, is the meaning of that significant Shear-Jashub (Isa 10:20 sqq.). The Apostle Paul has this meaning when he says: The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Rom 11:29.
5. On Isa 41:9-10. A rich treasure of manifold comfort: 1) that God strengthens us; 2) that God calls us; 3) that He accepts us as servants; 4) that He chooses us; 5) that He does not reject us; 6) that He is with us; 7) that He is our God; 8) that He helps and preserves us. This ought to be turned to good account by everyone whatever may chance to be His need.Cramer.
6. On Isa 41:14 sqq. What a contrast! A poor little worm, and a new threshing instrument with double-edged points that rends mountains to pieces! When was the church of either the Old or New Testament ever such a threshing instrument? First of all, the Babylonian Empire was threshed to pieces that Israel might be free. Afterwards many kingdoms and nations were threshed in pieces and made subject to the Roman Empire that the church of the New Testament might grow and spread abroad. Afterwards the Roman Empire itself was threshed in pieces to gain for the church a new, fresh, healthy soil in the Germanic nations. But finally the Germanic nations will in turn be threshed in pieces that the church may become the free, pure kingdom of Christ ruling over all. So the church, the poor little worm Jacob, rends in pieces one form of the world-power after another, until it issues from the last as the glorious bride of the Lord.
7. On Isa 41:21 sqq. It was customary to expect of seers and prophets such a deep look into the obscurity of the past and present, as Saul imputed to his Seer (1 Samuel 9), as well as prevision into the future; which, in the Hellenic world, is illustrated in the Homeric Kalchas, as a knower of what exists, of what was, as well as of what will be (Hom. Ilias. I. 70) Ed. Mueller. Parallelen zu den Weiss. u. Typen des A. T. aus dem hell. Alterth. in Jahrbcher d. Klass. Philol. VIII. Suppl. Band. I. Heft. p. 108.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 41:8-13. God chose Abraham, and in Abraham the Israel of the Old Testament, and in Israel of the Old Testament the Israel of the New Testament. This fact of the election certifies to the church the sure pledge of its final conquest, for 1) the Lord cannot forsake the congregation of the elect; 2) He must make an end of those that contend against them.
2. On Isa 41:14-16. The church as it seems, and as it Isaiah 1) It seems to be a worm, a poor crowd; 2) It is really a. strong in the Lord (Isa 41:14 b16 a); b, joyful in the Lord (Isa 41:16 b).
3. On Isa 41:17-20. He that is exposed to trials, who trusts in God, is not to be bewailed, since for Him; 1) life is indeed a desert; 2) but the desert becomes a paradise by the miraculous hand of God; 3) the miraculous hand of God summons him to grateful recognition.
4. On Isa 41:21-29. Against the modern heathenism, that in the place of the living, personal God would set abstractions that operate mechanically and unconsciously, one may prove the existence of the personal God by reference to the prophecies that were undoubtedly given and have been fulfilled. Only the living God can prophesy and fulfil. For 1) Divine omniscience is needed to foreknow the future; 2) Divine omnipotence and wisdom are needed to fulfil what has been foretold.
5. On the entire 41 chapter see Johann Christian Holzhen, Pastor in Mortitz, Pastor divinitus electus et legitime vocatus, the divinely elected and legitimately called preacher. A sermon, or rather tract in twelve chapters. Lbeck, 1695, 8vo.
Footnotes:
[37]Heb. Cause to come, near.
[38]bulwarks.
[39]Heb. set our heart upon them.
[40]make us hear.
[41]And we will confront one another, and inspect with one another.
[42]Or, worse than nothing.
[43]Or, worse than a viper.
[44]wind.
[45]has
[46]satraps.
[47]Right.
[48]showed: declared: heard.
[49]A first-fruit to Zionsee, see it comesa messenger of joy I will give to Jerusalem.
[50]But.
[51]Heb. return.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Here is a solemn and unanswerable appeal to the despisers of God and his Christ, to show cause wherefore such mercy; as is in the covenant of redemption, is slighted? What the Apostle closeth one of his sermons with, is to the same amount; and, without all doubt, the final condemnation of such men will be on this very account. Act 13:38-41 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.
Ver. 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord. ] He had dealt with the heathens, and convinced them; now have at their gods: and their best proofs are called for.
Bring forth your strong reasons.
Saith the king of Jacob.
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 41:21-24
21Present your case, the LORD says.
Bring forward your strong arguments,
The King of Jacob says.
22Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the former events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24Behold, you are of no account,
And your work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.
Isa 41:21 This is a court scene (cf. Isa 41:1).
The King of Jacob says This title occurs only here. YHWH was the ideal King of the Covenant people (cf. Isa 44:6; 1Sa 8:7). Jacob’s name (i.e., Israel) represents all the Covenant people, all thirteen tribes (cf. Isa 45:4).
Isa 41:22-24 This refers to the national gods. God calls on them to act or predict or do anything, but they cannot because they are vanity or nothingness (Isa 41:24; Isa 41:28-29).
Isa 41:23 This verse is one of the places where the compilers of the MT recognized a Hebrew variant and suggested a change.
The MT has see, 23c (qere, , BDB 906, Qal IMPERFECT, NKJV, Leupold), but they suggest fear (ketiv, , BDB 431, Qal IMPERFECT, NASB). The UBS Text Project gives see a B rating (some doubt).
Isa 41:24 abomination See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ABOMINATION
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
saith the LORD. See note on Isa 1:11.
strong = strong (for weight or importance). Hebrew. azam Not same word as in verses: Isa 41:1, Isa 41:10. Hebrew. ‘amaz.
the King of Jacob. This title occurs only here. Heathen kings were the gods of their people. So Jehovah, the King of Jacob, was the God of Israel.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 41:21-24
Isa 41:21-24
“Produce your cause, saith Jehovah, bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come to pass hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of naught; an abomination is he that chooseth you.”
The chapter in these verses takes up the imaginary court scene again; and God challenges the pagan gods to show that they are really gods. Let them predict future events, or explain the significance of past events; let them actually do anything at all, either good or evil. Their utter inability to meet such a challenge entitles them to the vehement denunciation that God here made of pagan gods. They are nothing, of no account, helpless, and incapable of doing anything whatsoever, either of good or of evil!
There is a powerful assertion here that God, of course, is able to do what no pagan god could possibly do, the principal thing God here claims being that of the ability to “declare the things that are to come to pass hereafter,” in short, the power to give men the revelation of predictive prophecies! The critical denial of this is the complete and irrevocable condemnation of their whole system of Biblical studies. For any person whomsoever to be deceived by so-called Bible scholars who have accepted the dictum of men who follow such satanic rules, that person must first become an unbeliever himself; and afterward from that he will inevitably receive the hardening, blinding, and deluding of his central nervous system, the brain itself. One would be just as wise to ask the devil himself what a given scripture may mean as to accept the comment of such “scholars.”
“The word `abomination’ transferred to the worshipper of idols in this passage shows how corrupting is the choice of a lie for one’s ultimate allegiance.” See Rom 1:18-32, where Paul spelled this out in detail.
God’s challenge here for the idol gods to predict future events really touched the heathen world on a very sensitive spot, since divination was a major preoccupation of idol gods. Croesus of Lydia was to pay dearly for trusting such gods.
“Croesus of Lydia consulted the famous oracle at Delphi over his prospects of success against Cyrus; and the pagan oracle told him that he would destroy a great empire. He attacked Cyrus all right and destroyed a great empire, but it was his own.
Isa 41:21-24 CHALLENGE: Now Jehovah is going to prove His previous claims that His covenant people need not fear the threats of their enemies (Assyria and Babylon). There were many in Israel and Judah listening to the alleged prophecies of false prophets and the oracles of pagan gods. These false prophecies predicted the obliteration of the Jews and the downfall of the Jewish God, Jehovah. It seems astonishing that the Jews, with all their history of miraculous deliverances from the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, etc., could ever doubt Jehovahs power. They had become so engrossed in politics, economics, pagan philosophies and just plain sensuality, they had no time for God and His Word. As a result when it became apparent they were going to be invaded by the awesome, terrifying hordes of Assyria and Babylon, they could not turn to Jehovah. They did not know Him! Most of the Jews turned to pagan soothsayers and idol-priests (cf. Isa 8:16-22, etc.). But God, through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing that He will deliver His people from these terrible enemies. Positive, empirical, proof that Jehovah is their only Deliverer is demonstrated once and for all in fulfillment of prophecy. When history is predicted before it happens it is a claim to omniscience and omnipotence. When that prediction comes to pass it demonstrates deity. The authority of a prophet was proved by the fulfillment of his predictions (Deu 18:21-22). Jehovah challenges all the pagan gods to give proof of their divine power by divulging the future. Jehovah challenges the idols and their priests to declare the former things which is a call to interpret past history. They cannot even do this! Then He calls them to show us things to come. God does not want credulous worshipers.
Preaching without proof and evidence is scarcely preaching at all. It encourages naked credulity and shallow conviction. So, when God sent Isaiah to produce faith in His deliverance, He gave proof and evidence of His power. That proof was that Jehovah could foretell, through His prophet, the future. Pagan deities could not. This same confrontation (between Gods prophets and pagan idols) recurs over and over again in history (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul). God does not shrink from the demand of authenticating credentials for His Word. What Jehovah predicts has already been recorded in Isa 41:2 ff in the one from the east. The prediction is repeated in Isa 41:25 ff. But for now, Jehovahs challenge goes unanswered and the conclusion is inevitable-idols are not gods! As a matter of fact, idols are less than nothing. The verdict is: idols are a totally minus-quantity and so is their work. They cannot do good nor can they do evil. Missionaries have found in modern pagan tribes demonstrations of the power the mind has over the body when the mind is psyched or hypnotized by superstition and fear. But they have also found that once the idol-worshipper sees a demonstration that their idol is nothing he is at once healed of his physical malady. Abomination is from the Hebrew word tuaivah which means abhorrent, disgusting, detestable, repugnant. Those who deliberately choose to worship idols soon become like the thing they worship (cf. Hos 9:10; Psa 115:3-8).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Produce: Heb. Cause to come near, Job 23:3, Job 23:4, Job 31:37, Job 38:3, Job 40:7-9, Mic 6:1, Mic 6:2
Reciprocal: Job 5:1 – and to which Job 13:3 – I desire Isa 1:18 – and let us Isa 41:1 – let the people Isa 43:9 – who among Isa 45:20 – yourselves Isa 50:8 – let us Jer 12:1 – talk Act 24:25 – he 1Pe 3:15 – a reason 2Pe 1:19 – a more
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 41:21-24. Produce your cause He renews his challenge to the idolaters to plead the cause of their idols, and give convincing proof of their divinity: see on Isa 41:1. Bring forth your strong reasons Hebrew, , which Bishop Lowth renders, Produce these your mighty powers; and Jerome, Accedant idola vestra, qu putatis esse fortissima, let those of your idols, whom you think most powerful, approach. I prefer this, says the bishop, to all other interpretations of this place. The false gods are called upon to come forth and appear in person, and to give evident demonstration of their foreknowledge and power, by foretelling future events, and exerting their power in doing good or evil. Let them Either the idols, or the idolaters in the name and by the help of their idols; show us what shall happen All future events, which he divides into two sorts in the following clause, the former and the latter. Let them show the former things Let the idols, or you their worshippers, prove that they ever uttered any true oracles or prophecies relating to former times, and, that the event hath exactly answered the prediction, and this will give credit to any predictions they shall deliver relating to things yet future. Or, by the former things, may be meant such things as should shortly come to pass, which might be better discerned than those things which were yet at a greater distance. So understood, he proposes the easiest part first. Let us try whether they can foretel those things which are even at the door, and, if so, we will try them further. Let them tell us what things shall happen, and in what order; which first and which last. That we may consider them Hebrew, , and we will set our heart to it. We will allow the argument its due weight, and either fairly answer it, or give up our cause against idols; and know That we may know; the latter end of them The consequence of them, as may be rendered, whether the events answer to their predictions. Or declare us things for to come Namely, after a long time. That we may know that ye are gods That we may have, if not a certain proof, yet a probable argument of your deity. Yea, do good or do evil Protect your worshippers, whom I intend to destroy, or destroy my people, whom I intend to save; that we may be dismayed, &c. That I and my people may be astonished, and forced to acknowledge your godhead. Behold, ye are of nothing You lately were nothing, without any being at all; and your work of naught Your operations are like your beings; there is no reality in your beings, nor efficacy in your actions. An abomination is he that chooseth you He that chooseth you for his gods is most abominable for his folly, as well as his wickedness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 41:21-29. Yahwehs Challenge to the Gods of the Nations.The nations are bidden to produce their case and bring forward their championstheir idols (so emend strong reasons). Let the idols show that in days gone by they have foreseen the antecedents of present developments, or explain the events now happening and about to happen. They remain dumb, and Yahweh taunts them with their impotence. He has raised up Cyrus; who among them had foreseen the event? Not one; how patent, then, their nothingness!
Isa 41:22. latter end: issue.things for to come: the immediate development from the present situation.
Isa 41:23. be dismayed: rather (cf. mg.), open our eyes in wonder.
Isa 41:25. come upon: read, trample upon.
Isa 41:26. He is righteous: render, Right!is . . . declareth: render, was . . . declared, so in the two following clauses.
Isa 41:27-29. Read, perhaps, At the beginning I announced it to Zion, and to Jerusalem I gave a herald of good news. But among these gods there was none, among them no counsellor was found. Lo! all of them are nothing, none of them utters a word. Their works, eta
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
41:21 {r} Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.
(r) He bids the idolaters to prove their religion and to bring forth their idols, that they may be tried whether they know all things, and can do all things, which if they cannot do, he concludes that they are not gods, but vile idols.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord, through Isaiah, challenged the idolaters to prove that their gods were truly deity. The Lord presented Himself as the King of Jacob, from the nations’ perspective no more than one national god among many, but He is really the King of Kings.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The ministering servant, Messiah 41:21-42:9
How is it clear that Yahweh, and not the idols, directs world history? Yahweh alone can predict the future and then bring it to pass (Isa 41:21-29). Since Yahweh is the God of Israel, does He have any regard for the Gentile nations? Yes, a servant of the Lord will bring forth justice to the nations (Isa 42:1-9). The court case with the nations-begun in Isa 41:1, but interrupted with comfort for the Lord’s servant Israel in Isa 41:8-20 -now resumes. Before it ends, however, the Lord will explain the ministry of His Servant, Messiah (Isa 42:1-9).