Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou [art] my servant: I have formed thee; thou [art] my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
21, 22. An admonition to Israel to lay these truths to heart and realise its special relation to the one living and true God.
Remember these ] i.e. these things (R.V.), the principles enforced in the preceding passage.
thou shalt not be forgotten of me ] The Heb. construction, a passive verb with accusative suffix, is abnormal. All the ancient versions and many commentators render “thou shalt (or wilt) not forget me”; but this is hardly defensible. The suffix must denote the indirect obj. (dative) as is sometimes the case with intransitive verbs. (See Davidson, Synt. 73 r. 4.) For the sense, cf. ch. Isa 40:27, Isa 49:14 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Remember these – Remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry, and the vanity of worshipping idols. The object of the argument is, to turn their attention to God, and to lead them to put their trust in him.
Thou art my servant – (See the notes at Isa 42:19; Isa 43:1).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 44:21-22
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel
Gods Israel not forgotten
This verse, standing in connection with the following, is a call to Jacob and Israel to return to the Lord.
Many are the arguments used to induce them to do so.
1. Remember these idolaters, their follies, their wickednesses, their wretched and miserable condition, and forget not that you were guilty once as they are. It is well to retrace our past history, often to do it, to be reminded of what we once were in the days of our unregeneracy.
2. Miserable and sad as your present condition is, yet I know thee by-name; thou art Mine, return unto Me. Thou art still Jacob, still Israel, still My servant. Is there one who has been departing from the living God? Can anything be more touching than this call to thee? Surely it is like the look which Jesus gave Peter when he went out and wept bitterly.
3. I have formed thee, formed thee with new and spiritual workmanship, formed thee a vessel to honour, formed thee for My glory.
4. Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. Thou hast forgotten Me, the mighty cost at which I redeemed thee. Thou hast forgotten the way by which I led thee in the wilderness, the miracles I wrought for thee, the manna with which I fed thee, the rock of which I made thee drink, the deliverances out of the hands of thine enemies; thou hast forgotten thy high calling, thy holy profession, thy truest happiness; but thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.
I. THE TRUE ISRAEL SOMETIMES THINK THEMSELVES FORGOTTEN OF GOD. Their utter insignificance and the deep consciousness of it lead to this. Sometimes dark and mysterious providences lead to this. Sometimes apparent delays in answers to prayer. What is the consequence? We loathe ourselves; instead of advancing we seem retrograding; instead of mounting we seem to be sinking. Here, too, sense takes too often the seat of judgment, and not only decides on what God is doing, but sometimes on God Himself; and is ready to cry out, My God hath forgotten me. There are seasons too, under a sense of unutterable vileness, when the soul responds to the solemn appeal (Isa 43:22-24), Thou hast not calledupon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel, &c. There are times when a man seems as if he stood alone among his fellow-men, as if he were the very chief of sinners. I will mention one more case–when we have by some wilfulness in disobedience grieved the Holy Spirit.
II. THE PEOPLE OF GOD NEVER ARE FORGOTTEN BY HIM. Tender are the ties that bind us to one another; the tenderest, the closest, the most indestructible of all ties, friends, brothers, relations, parents, even a mother. It is the instance selected (Isa 49:15). There is no tie like this bywhich Jehovah binds Himself to His people. The ties that bind man to man, in their purest actings, are but the ties of human nature in its feebleness, its fickleness.
III. THE MANIFOLD PROOFS THAT GOD HAS CONDESCENDED TO GIVE, THAT HIS ISRAELS SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. We too easily forget that the true basis of faith is the veracity of God. The believer too often acts, thinks, speaks, as if he did not believe God, though he mean not so. Were Jehovah to forget, He would violate every perfection of His nature. He sees all His in His Son; and when He forgets His Son, then and not till then will He forget His Israel. When Jesus forgets to intercede, when Jesus intercedes in vain, when God Himself changes, then will He forget. Look up then, ye Jacobs, ye Israels of God; let the past encourage you. What do thy reasonings say? What do thy humblings say? What thy upholdings in deep and heavy trouble? Thy special interpositions? Thy perseverance in the ways of God? (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Gracious mercy:
In the midst of idolaters this chapter speaks of a people who worship, love, serve God. Here is–
I. AN INVITATION. Return unto Me. This implies previous distance, wandering, unworthiness. Return.
1. How? The sinner says, I am bound, sin holds me chained, justly. God answers, I have redeemed thee, paid thy ransom, broken thy chains.
2. To whom? Unto Me. The sinner says, I am polluted, defiled. God answers, I have blotted out thy sins. Thou hast cleansing in the precious blood.
3. In what way? Not towards Me. Many are satisfied with appearance. But unto-into My very presence–to walk, dwell, commune with Me. All trace of former guilt gone.
II. A PRIVILEGE. Thou art My servant.
1. They serve Him. He fits them for this. I have formed thee, fitted by indwelling of the Spirit, giving new tastes, desires, &c. We are not made servants by serving; we are made servants that we may serve.
2. They serve acceptably, cheerfully, continually, purely. None are Christians who do not serve. Notice the repetition in text, also Isa 44:1,
2. God dwells lovingly on it.
3. They serve in hope. Gods servants have a gracious promise–Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. Others may forget, be removed, but God never. We may be in trouble, persecution, danger, weariness, death, never forgotten.
III. A CAUTION. Remember these. Gods people rejoice, but with trembling: walk surely, but not securely (1Co 10:12). Remember these–the world, careless, backsliders, self-seekers, heathens. Remember these–
1. That you may be humbled (Tit 3:3).
2. That you may honour God before them (Mat 5:16).
3. That you may do them good (Gal 6:1). Are your sins blotted out? If so, serve God; remember these. If not, return. (Homilist.)
O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.—
Gods remembrance of Israel
I. If we turn to some of the evidences of this statement, we may first look to the history of Israel, and to that of ourselves in a PROVIDENTIAL ASPECT.
1. As regards the Israelites in their national and personal relations.
2. But the special evidence of the text lies in the heart of Christian experience.
3. The evidence of this Divine declaration may be further shown by a reference to the works of creation.
II. Consider some of the REASONS which may be assigned for this Divine utterance.
1. One reason is to be found in the fact of mans redemption.
2. Another in the graciousness, in the love and mercy of the Divine purposes with regard to ourselves. (W. D. Horwood.)
Forget thee, I will not:
I. THE TITLE WHICH THE LORD GIVES TO HIS PEOPLE. My servant.
1. Notice what a practical title it is. It has to do with action and service; it has to do with the heart, but also with the hand, with the inner and with the outer life. There is no true Christian but the practical Christian. A servant is not always at work; but a servant is always a servant, and ever ready for work.
2. It is a personal title–Thou.
3. It is an exclusive title–My servant. These other people are servants of Baal or Ashtaroth; but thou art My servant. When a man has a servant, he expects him to serve him, and not to be in the employ of other people. Gods servants must serve God; not idols, not the world, not self, not sin, not Satan.
4. It is an honourable title. It must be so, for God uses the title in this verse twice over. Thou art My servant: I have formed thee; thou art My servant. To serve God, is truly to reign,
5. This is a title of acceptance. As God says, twice over, Thou art My servant, He means, I accept thee as My servant; I own thee as such. One reason why we are Gods servants is that He has forgiven us our trespasses (Isa 44:22).
II. THE PROMISE WHICH HE MAKES TO US. Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. Men forget us. And they turn against us. Those for whom you do the most are often those who will be most unkind, and most bitter against you. But God says, Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. What does this promise mean?
1. That God will never cease to love His servants.
2. That the Lord will never cease to think of His servants. The thoughts of God are wonderful. He can think of every individual saint as much as if there were no other saint in the universe.
III. SOME REASONS WHICH ASSURE US THAT GOD WILL NOT FORGET THOSE WHO ARE TRULY HIS SERVANTS.
1. The very best reason is that He says he will not forget us.
2. God cannot forget us, since He has made us. The former part of the verse says, Thou art My servant: I have formed thee. With His own fingers He has made us into vessels of mercy, so He cannot forget us.
3. He has blessed us; He has blessed us so much already that He cannot forget us now.
4. He has loved us so long already. Was there ever a time when the redeemed of the Lord were not written on the heart of Christ? He loved you before the first star began to dart its golden arrows through the darkness of space. Rest you then secure; love so ancient will never die out.
5. We have cost Him so much.
6. He is too good a Lord to cast us off. He is a wretch of a man who casts off an old servant simply because he is old. The Lord does not turn His old servants adrift; but says, Even to your old age, I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Remember these; either these men; or, which comes to one, these things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters; which may be a warning to thee.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me; I will not forget nor forsake thee; and therefore thou shalt have no need of idols. Or, as the ancient interpreters and divers others render it, do not forget me; what I am, and what I have done, and can and will do, for thee; the forgetting whereof is the ready way to idolatry.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Remember“Be not likethe idolaters who consider not in their heart” (Isa44:19).
thesethings just saidas to the folly of idol-worship.
my servantnot like theidolaters, slaves to the stock of a tree (Isa44:19). See Isa 44:1; Isa 44:2.
thou . . . not . . .forgotten of meTherefore thou oughtest to “remember”Me.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Remember these, O Jacob, O Israel,…. Remember these persons, these idolaters before spoken of; or these things, the gross idolatries they were guilty of, and loath and abhor them, shun and avoid them, and not imitate them, and do the same things: or remember that this was formerly your case, and admire the distinguishing grace of God, in turning you from idols to serve him: for by Jacob and Israel may be meant the spiritual Israel of God, or those from among the Gentiles called by the grace of God, and incorporated into Christian churches; see Isa 44:5:
for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: and therefore should serve the Lord, and him only, and not idols, for no man can serve two masters; moreover, these were formed by the Spirit and grace of God in regeneration for his service, and therefore ought cheerfully to engage therein, and abide in it, and never serve any other:
O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me; such as remember the Lord, and remember to serve him, he will remember, and not forget them, his love to them, his covenant with them, and the promises he has made them; he will not forget their persons, nor their service, their work and labour of love, which they have showed to his name. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, “do not forget me”; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
“do not forget my fears;”
to fear, serve, and worship the Lord, and him only; but Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, it should be rendered as it is by our translators.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The second half of the prophecy commences with Isa 44:21. It opens with an admonition. “Remember this, Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art servant to me, O Israel: thou art not forgotten by me.” The thing to which the former were blind – namely, that idolatry is a lie – Jacob was to have firmly impressed upon its mind. The words “and Israel,” which are attached, are a contract for “and remember this, O Israel” (compare the vocatives after Vav in Pro 8:5 and Joe 2:23). In the reason assigned, the tone rests upon my in the expression “my servant,” and for this reason “servant to me” is used interchangeably with it. Israel is the servant of Jehovah, and as such it was formed by Jehovah; and therefore reverence was due to Him, and Him alone. The words which follow are rendered by the lxx, Targum, Jerome, and Luther as though they read , though Hitzig regards the same rendering as admissible even with the reading , inasmuch as the niphal has the middle sense of , oblivisci . But it cannot be shown that nizkar is ever used in the analogous sense of , recordari . The niphal, which was no doubt originally reflective, is always used in Hebrew to indicate simply the passive endurance of something which originated with the subject of the action referred to, so that nisshah could only signify “to forget one’s self.” We must indeed admit the possibility of the meaning “to forget one’s self” having passed into the meaning “to be forgetful,” and this into the meaning “to forget.” The Aramaean also signifies to be forgotten and (with an accent following) to forget, and the connection with an objective suffix has a support in in Psa 109:3. But the latter is really equivalent to , so that it may be adduced with equal propriety in support of the other rendering, according to which is equivalent to (Ges., Umbr., Ewald, Stier). There are many examples of this brachyological use of the suffix (Ges. 121, 4), so that this rendering is certainly the safer of the two. It also suits the context quite as well as the former, “Oh, forget me not;” the assurance “thou wilt not be forgotten by me” (compare Isa 49:15 and the lamentation of Israel in Isa 40:27) being immediately followed by an announcement of the act of love, by which the declaration is most gloriously confirmed. – Isa 44:22 “I have blotted out thy transgressions as a mist, and thy sins as clouds: return to me; for I have redeemed thee.” We have adopted the rendering “mist” merely because we have no synonym to “cloud;” we have not translated it “thick cloud,” because the idea of darkness, thickness, or opacity, which is the one immediately suggested by the word, had become almost entirely lost (see Isa 25:5). Moreover, is evidently intended here (see Isa 19:1), inasmuch as the point of comparison is not the dark, heavy multitude of sins, but the facility and rapidity with which they are expunged. Whether we connect with the idea of a stain, as in Psa 51:3, Psa 51:11, or that of a debt entered in a ledge, as in Col 2:14, and as we explained it in Isa 43:25 (cf., m achah , Exo 32:32-33), in any case sin is regarded as something standing between God and man, and impeding or disturbing the intercourse between them. This Jehovah clears away, just as when His wind sweeps away the clouds, and restores the blue sky again (Job 26:13). Thus does God’s free grace now interpose at the very time when Israel thinks He has forgotten it, blotting out Israel’s sin, and proving this by redeeming it from a state of punishment. What an evangelical sound the preaching of the Old Testament evangelist has in this passage also! Forgiveness and redemption are not offered on condition of conversion, but the mercy of God comes to Israel in direct contrast to what its works deserve, and Israel is merely called upon to reciprocate this by conversion and renewed obedience. The perfects denote that which has essentially taken place. Jehovah has blotted out Israel’s sin, inasmuch as He does not impute it any more, and thus has redeemed Israel. All that yet remains is the outward manifestation of this redemption, which is already accomplished in the counsel of God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Encouragement to the People of God. | B. C. 708. |
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. 23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. 24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; 25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; 26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: 27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
In these verses we have,
I. The duty which Jacob and Israel, now in captivity, were called to, that they might be qualified and prepared for the deliverance designed them. Our first care must be to get good by our afflictions, and then we may hope to get out of them. The duty is expressed in two words: Remember and return, as in the counsel to Ephesus, Rev 2:4; Rev 2:5. 1. “Remember these, O Jacob! Remember what thou hast been told of the folly of idolatry, and let the convictions thou art now under be ready to thee whenever thou art tempted to that sin. Remember that thou art my servant, and therefore must not serve other masters.” 2. Return unto me, v. 22. It is the great concern of those who have backslidden from God to hasten their return to him; and this is that which he calls them to when they are in affliction, and when he is returning to them in a way of mercy.
II. The favours which Jacob and Israel, now in captivity, were assured of; and what is here promised to them upon their remembering and returning to God is in a spiritual sense promised to all that in like manner return to God. It is a very comfortable word, for more is implied in it than is expressed (v. 21): “O Israel! thou shalt not be forgotten of me, though for the present thou seemest to be so.” When we begin to remember God he will begin to remember us; nay, it is he that remembers us first. Now observe here,
1. The grounds upon which God’s favourable intentions to his people were built and on which they might build their expectations from him. He will deliver them out of captivity; for, (1.) They are his servants, and therefore he has a just quarrel with those that detain them. Let my people go, that they may serve me. The servants of the King of kings are under special protection. (2.) He formed them into a people, formed them from the womb, v. 24. From the first beginning of their increase into a nation they were under his particular care and government, more than any other people; their national constitution was of his framing, and his covenant with them was the charter by which they were incorporated. They are his, and he will save them. (3.) He has redeemed them formerly, has many a time redeemed them out of great distress, and he is still the same, in the same relation to them, has the same concern for them. “Therefore return unto me, for I have redeemed thee, v. 22. Whither wilt thou go, but to me?” Having redeemed them, as well as formed them, he has acquired a further title to them and propriety in them, which is a good reason why they should dutifully return to him and why he will graciously return to them. The Lord has redeemed Jacob; he is about to do it (v. 23); he has determined to do it; for he is the Lord their Redeemer, v. 24. Note, The work of redemption which God has by his Son wrought for us encourages us to hope for all promised blessings from him. He that has redeemed us at so vast an expense will not lose his purchase. (4.) He has glorified himself in them (v. 23), and therefore will do so still, John xii. 28. It is matter of comfort to us to see God’s glory interested in the deliverances of the church; for therefore he will certainly redeem Jacob, because thus he will glorify himself. And this assures us that he will perfect the redemption of his saints by Jesus Christ, because there is a day set when he will be glorified and admired in them all. (5.) He has pardoned their sins, which were the cause of their calamity and the only obstruction to their deliverance, v. 22. Therefore he will break the yoke of captivity from off their necks, because he has blotted out, as a thick cloud, their transgressions. Note, [1.] Our transgressions and our sins are as a cloud, a thick cloud; they interpose between heaven and earth, and for a time suspend and intercept the correspondence between the upper and lower world (sin separates between us and God, ch. lix. 2); they threaten a storm, a deluge of wrath, as thick clouds do, which God will rain upon sinners. Ps. xi. 6. [2.] When God pardons sin he blots out this cloud, this thick cloud, so that the intercourse with heaven is laid open again. God looks down upon the soul with favour; the soul looks up to him with pleasure. The cloud is scattered by the influence of the Sun of righteousness. It is only through Christ that sin is pardoned. When sin is pardoned, like a cloud that is scattered, it appears no more, it is quite gone. The iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for, and not found, Jer. l. 20. And the comforts that flow into the soul when sin is pardoned are like the clear shining after clouds and rain.
2. The universal joy which the deliverance of God’s people should bring along with it (v. 23): Sing, O you heavens! This intimates, (1.) That the whole creation shall have cause for joy and rejoicing in the redemption of God’s people; to that it is owing that it subsists (that it is rescued from the curse which the sin of man brought upon the ground) and that it is again put into a capacity of answering the ends of its being, and is assured that though now it groans, being burdened, it shall at last be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The greatest establishment of the world is the kingdom of God in it, Psa 96:11-13; Psa 98:7-9. (2.) That the angels shall rejoice in it, and the inhabitants of the upper world. The heavens shall sing, for the Lord has done it. And there is joy in heaven when God and man are reconciled (Luke xv. 7), joy when Babylon falls, Rev. xviii. 20. (3.) That those who lay at the greatest distance, even the inhabitants of the Gentile world, should join in these praises, as sharing in these joys. The lower parts of the earth, the forest and the trees there, shall bring in the tribute of thanksgiving for the redemption of Israel.
3. The encouragement we have to hope that though great difficulties, and such as have been thought insuperable, lie in the way of the church’s deliverance, yet, when the time for it shall come, they shall all be got over with ease; for thus saith Israel’s Redeemer, I am the Lord that maketh all things, did make them at first and am still making them; for providence is a continued creation. All being, power, life, emotion, and perfection, are from God. He stretches forth the heavens alone, has no help nor needs any; and the earth too he spreads abroad by himself, and by his own power. Man was not by him when he did it (Job xxxviii. 4), nor did any creature advise or assist; only his own eternal wisdom and Word was by him then as one brought up with him, Prov. viii. 30. His stretching out the heavens by himself denotes the boundless extent of his power. The strongest man, if he has to stretch a thing out, must get somebody or other to lend a hand; but God stretched out the vast expanse and keeps it still upon the stretch, himself, by his own power. Let not Israel be discouraged then; nothing is too hard for him to do that made the world, Ps. cxxiv. 8. And, having made all things, he can make what use he pleases of all, and has it in his power to serve his own purposes by them.
4. The confusion which this would put upon the oracles of Babylon, by the confutation it would give them, v. 25. God, by delivering his people out of Babylon, would frustrate the tokens of the liars, of all the lying prophets, that said the Babylonian monarchy had many ages yet to live, and pretended to ground their predictions upon some token, some sign or other, which, according to the rules of their arts, foreboded its prosperity. How mad will these conjurors grow with vexation when they see that their skill fails them, and that the contrary happens to that which they so coveted and were so confident of. Nor would it only baffle their pretended prophets, but their celebrated politicians too: He turns the wise men backward. Finding they cannot go on with their projects, they are forced to quit them; and so he makes the judges fools, and makes their knowledge foolish. Those that are made acquainted with Christ see all the knowledge they had before to be foolishness in comparison with the knowledge of him. And those that are adversaries to him will find all their counsels, like Ahitophel’s, turned into foolishness, and themselves taken in their own craftiness, 1 Cor. iii. 19.
5. The confirmation which this would give to the oracles of God, which the Jews had distrusted and their enemies despised: God confirms the word of his servant (v. 26); he confirms it by accomplishing it in its season; and performs the counsel of the messengers whom he hath many a time sent to his people, to tell them what great blessings he had in store for them. Note, The exact fulfilling of the prophecies of scripture is a confirmation of the truth of the whole book and an incontestable evidence of its divine origin and authority.
6. The particular favours God designed for his people, that were now in captivity, v. 26-28. These were foretold long before they went into captivity, that they might see reason to expect a correction, but no reason to fear a final destruction. (1.) It is here supposed that Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, should for a time lie in ruins, dispeopled and uninhabited; but it is promised that they shall be rebuilt and repeopled. When Isaiah lived, Jerusalem and the cities of Judah were full of inhabitants; but they will be emptied, burnt, and destroyed. It was then hard to believe that concerning such strong and populous cities. But the justice of God will do that; and, when that is done, it will be hard to believe that ever they will recover themselves again, and yet the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do that to. God has said to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; for, while the world stands, God will have a church in it, and therefore he will raise up those who shall say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; for, if it be not built, it cannot be inhabited, Psa 69:35; Psa 69:36. When God’s time shall have come for the building up of his church, let him alone to find both houses for his people (for they shall not lie exposed) and people for his houses, for they shall not stand empty. The cities of Judah too shall again be built. The Assyrian army under Sennacherib only took them, and then, upon the defeat of that army, they returned undamaged to the right owners; but the Chaldean army demolished them, and by carrying away the inhabitants left them to go to decay of themselves; for, if less judgments prevail not to humble and reform men, God will send greater. Yet these desolations shall not be perpetual. God will raise up the wastes and decayed places thereof; for he will not contend for ever. The city of strangers, when it is ruined, shall never be built (ch. xxv. 2), but the city of God’s own children is but discontinued for a time. (2.) It is here supposed that the temple too should be destroyed, and lie for a time rased to the foundations; but it is promised that the foundation of it shall again be laid, and no doubt built upon. As the desolation of the sanctuary was to all the pious Jews the most mournful part of the destruction, so the restoration and re-establishment of it would be the most joyful part of the deliverance. What joy can they have in the rebuilding of Jerusalem if the temple there be not rebuilt? for it is that which makes it a holy city and truly beautiful. This therefore was the chief thing that the Jews had at heart and had in view in their return; therefore they would go back to Jerusalem, to build the house of the Lord God of Israel there, Ezra i. 3. (3.) It is here supposed that very great difficulties would lie in the way of this deliverance, which it would be impossible for them to wade through; but it is promised that by a divine power they shall all be removed (v. 27): God saith to the deep, Be dry; so he did when he brought Israel out of Egypt, and so he will again when he brings them out of Babylon, if there be occasion. Who art thou, O great mountain? Dost thou stand in the way? Before Zerubbabel, the commander-in-chief of the returning captives, thou shalt become a plain, Zech. iv. 7. So, Who art thou, O great deep? Dost thou retard their passage and think to block it up? Thou shalt be dry, and thy rivers that supply thee shall be dried up. When Cyrus took Babylon by draining the river Euphrates into many channels, and so making it passable for his army, this was fulfilled. Note, Whatever obstructions lie in the way of Israel’s redemption, God can remove them with a word’s speaking. (4.) It is here supposed that none of the Jews themselves would be able by might and power to force their way out of Babylon but it is promised that God will raise up a stranger from afar off, that shall fairly open the way for them, and now at length he names the very man, many scores of years before he was born or thought of (v. 28): That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd. Israel is his people, and the sheep of his pasture. These sheep are now in the midst of wolves, in the hands of the thief and robber; they are impounded for trespass. Now Cyrus shall be his shepherd, employed by him to release these sheep, and to take care of their return to their own green pasture again. “In this he shall perform all my pleasure, shall bring about what is purposed by me and will be highly pleasing to me.” Note, [1.] The most contingent things are certain to the divine prescience. He knew who was the person, and what was his name, that should be the deliverer of his people, and, when he pleased, he could let his church know it, that, when they heard of such a name beginning to be talked of in the world, they might lift up their heads with joy, knowing that their redemption drew nigh. [2.] It is the greatest honour of the greatest men to be employed for God as instruments of his favour to his people. It was more the praise of Cyrus to be God’s shepherd than to be emperor of Persia. [3.] God makes what use he pleases of men, of mighty men, of those that act with the greatest freedom; and, when they think to do as they please, he can overrule them, and make them do as he pleases. Nay, in those very things wherein they are serving themselves, and look no further than that, God is serving his own purposes by them and making them to perform all his pleasure. Rich princes shall do what poor prophets have foretold.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 21-28: THE COVENANT PEOPLE CALLED BACK TO JEHOVAH
1. The Lord’s servant, whom He has formed, should remember his Maker; the Lord surely will not forget Israel! (vs. 21; Isa 49:14-15).
2. Since He has blotted out her sin and transgression, Israel is called upon to RETURN to her Redeemer – involving genuine repentance! (vs. 22).
a. There can be no restoration without repentance.
b. But, the nation WILL REPENT, and in an extraordinary way, (Mic 7:15-20).
1) It will be accomplished through divine discipline, (Isa Isa 30:18-19; Hos 5:15).
2) It will be connected with the return of the King, (Eze 20:33-44; Mic 2:12-13).
3) It will be such as proves the faithfullness of God, (Isa 43:25; Eze 36:22).
4) A marvelous transformation will take place in the land of their fathers, (Eze 36:24-35; Jer 32:37-44; Jer 33:7-16).
5) Israel’s repentance and restoration are closely associated with the establishment of Messiah’s reign, (Jer 23-3-8; Eze 34:23-31).
3. The commands of verse 23 come in response to Israel’s repentance and restoration.
a. The heavens, mountains, and forests are called to singing, the lower part of the earth to shouting, (vs. 23a).
b. The reason: “the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel” (vs. 23b; Isa 43:1; Isa 49:3; Isa 60:21; Isa 61:3).
4. The supremacy of Jehovah is manifested in His mighty works, (vs. 24-28).
a. In the work of creation, (vs. 24; Psa 19:1-3; Psa 8:3-4; Psa 89:11; Psa 102:25; Joh 1:3; Col 1:17).
b. In the frustration of liars and the humiliation of proud pretenders, (vs. 25; Isa 47:13-15; Isa 29:14; Psa 33:10-11; Jer 51:57; 1Co 1:20; 1Co 1:27-30).
c. In confirming the word of His servant and performing the counsel of His messengers, (vs. 26a; Isa 55:11; Zec 1:6).
d. In returning the exiles to Jerusalem and rebuilding the cities of Judah, (vs. 26b; Isa 48:7-20; Jer 32:15; Jer 32:44).
e. In drying up the deep with a word of command, (vs. 27; Isa 42:15; Isa 43:16; Isa 50:2; Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36) possibly suggesting that He inspired the engineering device whereby Cyrus was enabled to take Babylon by surprise.
f. In His summoning of Cyrus to act as His shepherd -accomplishing His will, (vs. 28; Isa 45:1).
1) In the rebuilding of Jerusalem, (Isa 14:32; Isa 45:13; Isa 54:11-13; 2Ch 36:22-23).
2) And in laying the foundation for a new temple therein, (Ezr 1:1-4).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. Remember these things, O Jacob. He now applies to the use of the people what he had so often said about the superstitions and falsehoods of the Gentiles, by which men who are not well instructed are deceived in the worship of God. Nor does he write these things solely for the men of his own age, but chiefly for their posterity, who were to be carried away into Babylon, and might have been corrupted by long intercourse with the Babylonians, and drawn aside from the true worship of God, if the Lord had not laid upon them those restraints. The Prophet therefore exhorts them, while they were held captive, to bring those exhortations to remembrance, and by means of them to strengthen their hearts amidst those grievous calamities.
For thou art my servant. I have formed thee. He adds this reason why they ought to remember these promises, and to beware of the general contagion of other men; for it would have been intolerable that the elect people, whom God had surrounded by the barriers of his Law, that they might be separated from others, should freely and indiscriminately mingle with the pollutions of the Gentiles. As if he had said, “It is not wonderful that the Babylonians should wander in their errors, but thou oughtest to be unlike them; for ‘I have formed thee,’ that thou mightest ‘serve me;’ I have regenerated and sanctified thee, that thou mightest be an heir of eternal life.”
Of this creation we have stated largely, on former occasions, that it relates to the renewal of the soul. Scripture frequently employs this argument, “Ye have been called to sanctification and not to uncleanness,” (1Th 4:7,) “Walk as the children of light” (Eph 5:8) “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,” (Phi 2:15,) and in other passages of the same kind. Here we ought to infer that we shall be doubly punished, if it shall be found that we have quenched by neglect or indifference the light by which the Lord hath enlightened us; for our criminality will be far greater than that of others on whom he has not bestowed a similar favor. Heathens shall indeed be punished, and no excuse of ignorance shall be of any avail to them; but far heavier shall be the punishment of those who shall abuse the grace of God.
Do not thou forget me. He means that it is impossible for any who have once entered into the right path to be led aside from it, if they are not chargeable with forgetfulness of God; for error and delusions can never prevail, so long as the remembrance of God is rooted in our hearts. Let every one, therefore, who turns aside from God, and falls into superstition and impiety, lay the blame on his own wickedness. We ought thus to observe carefully the cause of apostasy, that is, forgetfulness of God, which gradually withdraws us from the right path, till we leave it altogether. Besides, he reminds them that by this remedy they will be secure against revolt, if they be employed in constant meditation; for our minds, through their sluggishness, easily contract rust, so to speak, which infects and corrupts all knowledge of God till it be entirely destroyed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE BLESSEDNESS AND DUTY OF GODS PEOPLE
Isa. 44:21-22. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, &c.
God contrasts the happy condition of His chosen people with that of the poor blind idolaters whom He had been describing in the verses before.
I. All who have come to Christ are forgiven (Isa. 44:22).
1. The completeness of their forgiveness. Shown in many ways in the Bible (H. E. I. 23322337).
2. It is present forgiveness. I have. Some say, I hope, &c.; I dont know, &c.; It is impossible to tell, &c.
3. It is Divine.
(1.) Some try to blot out their own sins.
(2.) Some hope that Christ will blot out their sins. Speak to unforgiven souls.
II. All that have come to Christ are Gods servants. Two reasons are given:
1. Because redeemed.
2. Because formed by God.
III. Souls in Christ shall not be forgotten of God. His children often think He has forgotten them.
1. So it was with Moses in the land of Midian.
2. So it was with David (Psalms 77, 13, 21)
3. So it was with Hezekiah when God told him he must die (Isa. 38:14). But God said, I have heard thy prayer, &c.
4. So shall it be with Gods ancient people (Isa. 49:14-15).
5. So it is in the text. The world may forget theethy friends, &c. Yet thou shalt not be forgotten of me. The Lord cannot forget you.
IV. A redeemed soul should return unto God. The sin and misery of every natural soul is in going away from God.
1. Come into the arms of His love.
2. Come into communion with Him.
3. To the backslider. You have done worse than the world, yet He says, Return, &c.R. M. MCheyne: Sermons and Lectures, pp. 6065.
GODS REMEMBRANCE OF ISRAEL
Isa. 44:21. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me
1. This promise was addressed, literally and primarily, to the natural descendants of Jacob: a people whom Jehovah had deigned to call into special relation with Himself, and whom He had distinguished by various privileges from all other nations of the earth. But we are abundantly warranted in extending it also to the Christian Church, the spiritual Israel, of which the literal Israel was an instructive type (cf. Exo. 19:5-6, and 1Pe. 2:9-10). It belongs also to every individual believer in Jesus, as a lively member of that body.
2. More is intended in this declaration than is expressed. Thou shalt not be forgotten of me; that is, I will not overlook thy interests, or neglect thy welfare, or withhold anything that will promote thy real and permanent advantage (Isa. 49:13-16).
I. Consider this promise as it applies to the ancient Jewish Church. The literal posterity of Jacob were separated from all other nations by a covenant which conferred on them peculiar privileges. But they proved themselves a foolish people and unwise, by the manner in which they requited His love. As a just expression of His displeasure, He had determined that they should be carried away into captivity at Babylon (Isa. 42:22-25; Isa. 43:27-28). But the prophetic denunciations of chastisement and desolation were coupled with assurances of fatherly regard, and with promises of ultimate deliverance. Even among this degenerate people there were some truly pious individuals who mourned over the iniquities of their countrymen and trembled at Gods word. For their support and encouragement Isaiah subjoins to the threatenings he has delivered the comfortable words of our text. To the righteous individuals of the community it gave a pledge that it should be well with them at all times and in all circumstances; and it also conveyed an assurance that in due time the collective Israel should be released from captivity, brought home again, and indulged with another period of national trial (chap. Isa. 44:22; Isa. 44:24; Isa. 44:26-28). The accomplishment of these gracious promises in the actual return from Babylon is recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Though the national independency and prosperity of the Jews suffered occasional suspension and decline, yet they were not finally scattered till the measure of their iniquities was filled up by their murder of the Messiah, and their obstinate rejection of the glorious gospel. Then wrath came upon them to the uttermost (P. D. 2063, 2080, 2082). But, low and degraded as is their present situation, God can yet lift them up. Israel is not yet totally forgotten of God. He remembers His ancient covenant with Abraham His friend. These natural branches, at present cut off and rejected, will be grafted again into their own olive-tree.
II. Consider the promise of our text as it applies to the Christian Church of the present age. Gods Church at large is not and cannot be forgotten of Him. Many have been her afflictions and persecutions, but out of them all He hath delivered her. The attacks of her enemies He has over-ruled for her ultimate increase and establishment. Many are the promises given for her encouragement. They may be arranged under four general classes:
1. He has promised at all times to afford to His Church the means of grace, and to give His blessing with the means (Isa. 30:20-21; Jer. 3:15; Isa. 12:3; Isa. 48:17; Mat. 18:20.)
2. He has promised to His Church a great increase of her internal purity, tranquillity, and glory (Isa. 11:9; Isa. 65:25; Isa. 11:13; Isa. 60:21; Zec. 14:20; Isa. 32:15; Isa. 4:5).
3. Another class of promises relates to the external peace and victory which God has destined His Church to enjoy in the latter days (Isa. 41:11). The prophetical part of the Book of Revelation is sublimely explicit in its declaration on this head.
4. A fourth class relates to the future enlargement and extension of the Church (Isa. 2:2; Isa. 49:6; Zec. 14:9; Mal. 1:11).
These promises are an ample comment on the more general and laconic declaration of our text. God is now in the very act of accomplishing these gracious engagements. The interests of the Church are safe, for they are in the hands of God. The cause which lies so near your hearts occupies a distinguished place in His. Tremble not for the ark of God (H. E. I. 12461251; P. D. 518).
III. Consider the import of the text in its application to individual Christians. What the Lord says of His Church at large He says to every member of it in particular. Only ascertain your right to the character of an Israelite indeed, and then you will also have ascertained your right to be comforted by the assurance that you shall not be forgotten of God.
1. He will not forget those circumstances in your situation which may at any time render necessary His special help and interference. Trust in Him always (H. E. I. 40494053).
2. He will not forget the intimate and endearing relations which He bears toward you, nor the claims which these relationships give you on His friendship. He will not forget that He is your Creator, your Redeemer, your God in covenant.
3. He will not forget the exceeding great and precious promises by which He is explicitly pledged to help and save you. Men often forget their promises, but God never!
4. He will not forget your prayers. They are all duly filed and registered, ready to be answered in that time, in that way, which will be most for your good and so for His glory (H. E. I. 38843886). What a blessed counter-action of those uneasy apprehensions as to our future lot and circumstances, which we are too prone to indulge. We may apply the same consideration as an antidote to our natural dread of dying. Many sincere Christians, though not afraid of what shall be after death, feel considerable apprehension as to the act of dying. They shrink from the prospect of dissolving agonies and parting pangs. But you have unbosomed your feelings and fears on this subject before the Throne. Your prayers will surely be answered to your souls comfort when your appointed time shall come (H. E. I. 1642, 1643).
5. God will not forget to confer upon you, if faithful unto death, the reward of glory. He will not forget your services in His righteous cause, your active zeal in doing His will, your patient resignation in suffering it (Heb. 6:10; Mat. 10:42; Gal. 6:7-8; Mat. 5:12; Mat. 25:23; Mat. 25:34-40). THEREFORE, 1Co. 15:58.Jabez Bunting, D.D.: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 438452.
I. THE EXPERIENCE HERE ADDRESSED. It is that of a soul in doubt of Gods goodness and faithfulness. Few, if any, of Gods people go through life without knowing something of this state of mind (cf. Isa. 49:14; Psa. 77:7-9).
1. We may feel thus when God is less in our thoughts than is our wont. It very often happens that we attribute to the want of thoughtfulness in a friend what is really due to nothing more nor less than our own forgetfulness of him; and so when we are tempted to think less of God, we fancy He has forgotten us.
2. We may feel thus when we are less active than is our wont in Christs service. Work for God keeps the sense of His presence and sympathy alive and strong. When we diminish aught of our work, or do it with less intensity of feeling, we suffer a corresponding loss of Gods presence and favour, &c.
3. When we are unusually tried and afflicted. We find it hard always to persuade ourselves this does not mean a distant, if not an angry God. It is only when sunshine returns that we are able to see love and chastening hand in hand.
4. When our prayers seem unanswered. Nothing so helps the feeling that God has forgotten us as delayed answers to prayer, &c.
5. When we lack the signs of prosperity in our work for Christ. Some natures are exceedingly sensitive on this point, and when the harvest is long coming we think ourselves forgotten, &c.
II. THE PROMISE HERE GIVEN. O Israel, &c. Every promise is based on the promiser. This is Gods word to His people.
1. He will not forget our persons. We are not known before God in the aggregate, but as individuals (Isa. 49:16). He knew what house and street Peter was in at Joppa. He will not forget our persons.
2. He will not forget our prayers. If not what we ask, He will give us an equivalent good.
3. He will not forget His work in us.
4. He will not forget our work for Him.
Some reasons for thus speaking:
1. His nature will not allow Him to forget us.
2. Nor His promises.
3. Nor His redeeming work in Christ.
4. Nor His honour (see vol. i. p. 267).
CONCLUSION:
1. We forget God. Let this promise rebuke us.
2. When we think God forgets us, let this promise encourage us.James Hoyle: The Study and Homiletic Monthly, vol. iv. new series, pp. 231, 232.
The bane of friendship, the canker worm of human life, is suspicion and distrust. Confidence in the character and reliance upon the attachment of those we love form principal ingredients in the cup of human happiness; if these be withdrawn, affection has no resting-place. Every one wishes for some firm object on which he may repose his confidence; a mind endued with any portion of proper sensibility feels equal pain at distrusting or being distrusted. Mutual good faith is the cement of society,the bond which binds man to man (H. E. I. 18821888). A willingness to confide, where no cause for hesitation or demur can reasonably be presumed to exist, is a characteristic of a noble mind; a readiness to distrust without sufficient reason marks an uncertain and unstable character.
As suspicion is the bane of human friendship, unbelief is the destruction of religious hope. It is equally dishonourable to God and injurious to ourselves. To guard us against distrust, in regard to Gods providence and grace, is one great design of Holy Scripture. For this purpose God mercifully gives us such promises and assurances as our text.
I. WHAT THIS PROMISE SUPPOSES.
When God says to us, Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me, it is implied,
1. That we set a high value upon Gods gracious remembrance. The wicked deem it no sorrow to be forgotten of God; He is not in all their thoughts, and they have no wish to have any share in His. But those who are born of God attach great importance to His gracious remembrance of them; they know it secures happiness in all circumstances, victory over all enemies, support under all trials, a saving interest in all spiritual blessings (Psa. 25:7; Psa. 106:4, &c.)
2. That we have some apprehensions that it is not extended to us. Thus it was with Israel, and with some apparent reason. Thus it is with ourselves when the promise is very long delayed (Isa. 49:14); when Providences wear a frowning aspect (Psa. 31:12); when conscience is awake to the number and aggravation of our offences; when our enemies appear to triumph over us (Psa. 74:10; Psa. 74:22-23); when our religious state is after all doubtful; when we experience a sensible decline of consolation (Psa. 77:9).
3. That God is concerned, not only for the safety, but also for the happiness of His people. He anticipates the objection, and answers it. He loves to see the harp taken down. You may be forgotten by your dearest earthly friends; many unexpected things happen (Gen. 40:23; Jer. 2:32; Isa. 49:15), but God will never forget His people, nor leave them long under the delusion that He has forsaken them.
II. ON WHAT GROUND DOES THIS PROMISE REST?
Anxiety would be becoming if the fact were doubtful. Some anxieties concerning men are reasonable; some of the securities they put into our hands are worthless. But in this promise we should trust unfalteringly, for it rests
1. On a perfection that cannot be tarnished. Remember who is the speaker; Him in whom all perfections centre as their birthplace, their residence, their home.
2. On a covenant that cannot be broken. The covenant of grace made with Christ is immutable (2Co. 1:20).
3. On a relationship that cannot be destroyed. The union that subsists between Christ and believers is the great guarantee of its fulfilment: I in them.
Besides, we have for our encouragement unimpeachable records of the manner in which God has dealt with His other promises to His people (1Ki. 8:56).
III. WHAT CORRESPONDING FEELINGS IT DEMANDS.
1. Confidence.
2. Gratitude, which manifests itself in loving remembrance of all His loving-kindness to us, and in cheerful obedience to all His commandments.Samuel Thodey.
SIN AND MERCY
Isa. 44:22. I have blotted out, &c.
There are some representations of the character of God which strike us, when we think of them, only with awe. But there are others infinitely more tender and consoling. Such are the contemplations suggested by this passage.
I. There is the thought of sin. The individuals to whom these words were originally addressed were guilty of crimes of great enormity and aggravation, crimes that had gathered themselves up until they were black and dense as a thick cloud (Isa. 1:2-15). But, passing from this particular case to the general application, the substance of these terms applies to us all. Who can say, I have made my heart clean; I am pure from sin? Sin is everywhere (Rom. 5:12). By pseudo-philosophers and benevolent idealists this doctrine is deemed unpopular and repulsive, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence This fancied exemption from the ruin of the Fall, this clinging to the unaided perfectibility of human nature, is a dangerous error, and must be confronted and exposed. Man goeth astray even from the womb, and every imagination of the heart is only evil continually. The gospel proceeds upon the basis of universal depravity, which is so repulsive to human pride. The Scriptures recognise only two varieties of condition. There may be the purest and most beautiful morality without godliness (Joh. 5:42). The true minister of Christ must set forth the personal guilt and danger of every member of his charge. There is sinsin as a cloud, and as a thick cloud.
II. If that were all, this would be a melancholy message; but I now come to the second thoughtthere is mercy. It might seem strange, and it does seem strange, that after this declaration of apostacy and of impenitence the prophet should not have gone away after pronouncing sentence of doomgone away without leaving any hope of mercy. Premising that this method of reconciliation must provide somehow for the purity of God, and of the vindication of the honour of His throne, and that all that has come about by the atonement of Jesus, we proceed to observe
1. That the character of God, as the God of mercy, is the great Bible theme. The whole tale of the Bible is a tale of grace. The last words of the Bible are words of grace (Rev. 22:17). Grace is everywhere (Rom. 5:18). This gift of grace was not known in the world until the entrance of sin. There had been many attributes of God before; but grace was, so to speak, a new idea, a new fountain struck out of the heart of the Deity. There was no room for grace in a universe where there was no room for sin; but when sin came into the world, grace came into the world. This was the first stoop of the Divinity. God can be just, and yet, &c., Christ died for you all.
2. Look at the sufficiency with which the salvation is invested. As aggravated as your sins have been, so abundant is the mercy of the Lord. Men do not sin and finally perish because they are appointed thereunto by an irreversible decree of God. There can be no responsibility where there is no power. There is no barrier to your own present and eternal salvation except the barrier which your own hands have piled. There is mercy for you. Search the Bible through from the beginning to the end, you find frequent, explicit, and continual declarations of mercy. If you are a sinner, not all the morbid ingenuity of human unbelief, and not all the sophistry of the old demon of the pit, can prevent you from entering, if you will, into the charter of liberty wherewith Christ waits to make His people free. You may tell your own tale if you will, I do not care. Let the wicked, &c. There is mercy for all, mercy for you.W. M. Punshon, LL.D.: Penny Pulpit.
FORGIVENESS A PRESENT MERCY
Isa. 44:22. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, &c.
I. THE PROPHETS SIMILE. Our sins may well be likened unto clouds, as to,
1. Their number. Who can count the clouds which chase each other across the winter sky? And has not one of the holiest men who ever lived left upon record the humiliating confession that his sins were not less numerous (Psa. 40:12).
2. Their nature. The clouds are all exhalations from the land and sea, the earthly portion of the universe, and our sins are all the produce of our corrupt and earthly nature; they all ascend out of the soil of the natural heart (Mat. 15:19).
3. Their effects. The clouds shut out from us the suns clear and shining light and the bright blue sky, and when they greatly thicken they augur storms and tempests; so our sins, &c.
4. Their situation. The clouds are hung out in mid-heaven, high above our heads, and although it appears the simplest thing in nature to dissolve and dissipate them, for ofttimes while we look the rays of the sun are melting them away, so that the figure which we have just delighted to trace in them is, even while we gaze, changed, and loosened, and scattered, and then gone for ever, yet they are so placed that, weak and transient as they are, not all the efforts of all the men that ever dwelt upon the wide worlds surface could avail to blot one cloud out of existence. So is it with our sins. Man may punish sin, but he cannot pardon it; he may pardon the crime, that is, the portion of a transgression which affects himself, but he can never pardon the sin. No man can dissipate the smallest sin that hangs between us and our Maker. There is but one Being in the universe who can do this, I, even I, &c.
II. THE PROPHETS DOCTRINE: that forgiveness is a present mercy. I have blotted out, &c. The idea of blotting out a cloud seems to be an allusion to that dissolving of these vapours which is continually taking place in the atmosphere, when the heat of the summer sun draws up the moisture of the cloud, and renders it completely invisible. As completely does God dissipate the sins of the believing penitent. It is as impossible to bring them forth again to judgment as it would be to reconstruct the clouds, with all their varied shapes and hues and tints which we looked upon last summer, and which never outlived the day we gazed upon them. Blessed consideration for the souls of Gods believing and pardoned people. It is the teaching of Scripture, not that God will forgive the penitent at the day of judgment, nor even in the hour of death, but in the very moment that they turn to Him. The forgiveness which He bestows is full and free, and it is bestowed at once and for ever. The Scriptures abound with instances of men who could rejoice in a present pardon (2Sa. 12:13; Isa. 6:7; Isa. 38:17; Mat. 9:2; Eph. 4:32; 1Jn. 2:12; Psa. 32:1-2).
III. THE DIVINE ARGUMENT. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee. Gods method of dealing with His fallen and rebellious creatures is the very reverse of what we would naturally expect. The great argument which He employs to bring them back to Himself is, not what He will do for them, but what He has done for them (Rom. 5:8; Rom. 12:1; 2Co. 5:18-21). So here, He does not encourage the penitent by telling them that if they attain to a sufficiently deep and poignant repentance He will forgive them, but by assuring them that they are already forgiven; that in the very first moment when sorrow for sin sprang up within them, He blotted out their sins. Surely this argument should prevail to turn us from our iniquities, to encourage us to accept the offers of Divine mercy, and to begin to serve God with that holy devotedness which can be inspired only by grateful love.
Lastly, if we yield to this Divine argument, and grasp firmly the prophets doctrine, the firmament that bends above us will speak to us evermore of the abounding grace of God. If in the clouds that pass over it we behold symbols of our many, our daily, our dark, our desperate sins, the blue vault of heaven through which they sail will speak to us still more eloquently of the Divine mercyimmeasurable in height, and length, and depth, and breadth, all infinite in love. Sinner as I am, why should I despond? why should I fear? why should I for a moment doubt? As easy that one vast cloud should shroud both hemispheres, should shut out for ever sun, moon, and stars, as that my sins, however great, however numerous, should surpass in magnitude Gods pardoning love, that abounding grace, that infinite forgiveness which is treasured up for me in Christ Jesus my Lord.H. Blunt, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 2239.
Sin and iniquity are represented here under the figure of clouds. True, in some respects they are not like clouds. Clouds do good service. They are reservoirs to store up the excessive moisture of the earth, and in due season to return it to the earth for refreshment and fertility (Psa. 65:2.) They serve as conductors of the electric fluid from one part of heaven to another. They are sometimes welcome as screens to moderate the excessive heat of a burning sun. But sin and iniquity produce nothing but evil; no good either to mans interest or happiness. Yet there are points of resemblance between clouds and human sin. Clouds veil the sun, and sins hide from us the face of God, and darken our view of heaven. Clouds narrow our prospect, and sin prevents us from looking clearly and cheerfully into the great future world, blinding us to everything except the lower things in the world that now is. Clouds, when they are fully charged, bring down the fury of the storm; and sin, when it is finished, brings upon the sinner the tempest of Gods righteous anger, in full and just retribution for every evil word and deed. Lastly, clouds are quite beyond our control; the power to disperse cloud, or blot out sin, rests with God alone.
1. Carefully consider this last point of likeness. God removes the clouds, and He alone. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins. Man can make many changes and removals; in the physical world in which he lives, in the world of humanity of which he forms part. But not one sin can he blot out. God has reserved to Himself that power and and prerogative:
(1.) Because the dispensing of pardon is too precious to be entrusted either to men or angels. Not having the power of omniscience to read the heart, they might not dispense it wisely. What mistakes they might make!
(2.) All sin, whoever may be injured by it, is ultimately against God (H. E. I. 4480). Therefore all punishment is in His hands, and the dispensation of pardon is His prerogative.
2. It is a great thing we do when we ask Him to exercise it on our behalf. This appears when we consider a further point of likeness between wickedness and clouds. Clouds are used in Bible language to express a vast number (Heb. 12:1; Isa. 60:8). Can we deny that in this respect this figure is sadly applicable to us? How terribly all our life longevery day!our sins have been massing themselves into thick clouds, which are only awaiting the word to come down in the storms of retribution (Psa. 11:6).
3. For some God has done this great thing. To them He has said plainly, I have blotted out, &c. To whom has He said this? To those who have obeyed the latter part of the text: Return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee. These have found that God has provided a full and perfect redemption. Clouds, be they ever so thick, ever so fully charged with the wrath of future punishment, are blotted out: and the forgiven soul stands before God, and looks up into the cloudless sky of His love.
4. For any one whose conscience is not stone-dead, such a change as this must appear of all things most desirable and full of blessing. It is so, but it can never be yours, until you get rid of that thick cloud of unrepented, unforgiven sin which always abides between you and the Father of Mercies. How to get rid of it you know.
5. The sins which form that cloud are yoursThy sins, thy transgressions. You cannot shift them from your own shoulders to some one else; they belong to you, and you only. You may shut your eyes to them: but there they are, like a heavy cloud. You can no more drive them away than you can disperse it. You may try so to colour this or that evil deed as to give it a better look; just as the thunder-cloud sometimes gets touched by a transient light, till the skirts of the terrible thing look bright with crimson and gold. But it is a terrible thing, in spite of all that fleeting brightness which does not belong to it. God looks through all the gay colouring you would lay upon your sins, and sees them as they are. They are the cause of your separation from Him now, and will be the cause of your separation from Him in eternity, if they be not blotted out while you are on this side of the grave.Edward Baines, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 1325.
What becomes of the believers sins?
1. They are forgiven (Eph. 4:32; 1Jn. 2:12).
2. Not to be even mentioned unto him (Eze. 33:16).
3. Blotted out (I have blotted out, &c., and chap. Isa. 43:25).
4. Covered (Psa. 85:2; Psa. 32:1).
5. Removed (Psa. 103:12).
6. Cast into the sea (Mic. 7:19).
7. Hid (Hos. 13:12).
8. Behind Gods back (Isa. 38:17, see vol. i. p. 438).
9. Forgotten (Isa. 43:25; Heb. 10:17).
Believer, ponder these precious figures. If they do not teach full, perfect, complete, and present salvation, what language can teach it?
CONCLUSION: Isa. 1:18.Bible Readings, edited by Briggs & Elliott.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
c. SHOWS THE FRUSTRATION OF FOOLISH COUNSEL
TEXT: Isa. 44:21-28
21
Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have found thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
23
Sing, O Ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
24
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone: that spreadeth abroad the earth (who is with me?);
25
that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
26
that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof;
27
that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers;
28
that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
QUERIES
a.
What things are to be remembered by Israel?
b.
Who are the liars of Isa. 44:25?
c.
Why mention Cyrus again?
PARAPHRASE
As you contemplate the idiocy of idolatry, remember the following things too, O Jacob, and Israel. First, you are mine. I chose you and I created you as a people, to be My servant in a divine destiny. Second, I could never forget you Israel, for it was I who blotted out your transgressions and sins. You must return to Me and never forget Me, Israel, for I purchase you with the price of redemption. Indeed, your redemption is so glorious it involves the heavens, mountains, and the forests. The whole universe will sing and shout Jehovahs praise. Jehovahs redemption of Israel will, in its completion, redound to His glory in Israel. This is what Jehovah, your Redeemer and Progenitor says: I am Jehovah-the-Faithful. I am Jehovah, Creator of all things. I alone formed the heavens and the earth. Who could say they helped Me? I frustrate the fulfillments of the false prophets and expose them as liars and make the soothsayers appear to be mad men. I refute the wisdom of unbelieving counselors and demonstrate it to be foolishness. But when My servants, the prophets, predict that Jerusalem shall be inhabited and the cities of Judah shall be built and that the waste places shall be populated, I make their predictions come to pass! When I say to what opposes My redemptive people, Be gone! it shall be gone! And when I say Cyrus shall be My shepherd to fulfill My purposes by giving permission for the building of Jerusalem and the Temple, that is exactly what shall come to pass.
COMMENTS
Isa. 44:21-23 FORGIVENESS Is IN JEHOVAH: The message of this section is that Israel is to remember (Heb. zekar) who Jehovah is. We remind the reader, this is the very essence of biblical religionthe realization of the objective Personhood of God. Biblical religion is not how man feels, but what man acknowledges about who God is and what God has said. Especially Israel is admonished to remember who Jehovah is in view of the foregoing expose of the idiocy of idolatry, All men are vulnerable to idolatry if they do not acknowledge the objective reality of the eternal, supernatural Personhood of Jehovah. Men must have a god. He will make one of wood or stone, of science or government, of fame or fortuneor even of himself, Israel must remember that Jehovah chose her and created her for Himself. He evidenced His special claim upon her in ages past by miraculous powers of deliverance, sustenance, subjugations and revelations. He demonstrated that He was a living God, capable and willing to guide and guard Israel over thousands of years. He never forgot her!
The blotting out of Israels sin is apparently in promise here. We know from the New Testament that the actual, historical event which blotted out sin and accomplished redemption was the atoning death of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb. 10:1-18). The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. The Hebrew who offered his sacrificial lamb lived in faith that God would, someday, accomplish the act which would atone for his sins and thus fulfill His promises. The point being stressed in Isa. 44:22 is willingness and mercifulness of God in promising to blot out Israels sin and offering her, even then, a way to believe in that promise. The redemption spoken of in Isa. 44:22-23 cannot refer to the return from the exile, for there was no permanence to that. The Hebrew word goal is repeated in this text and it implies more than forgiveness of sins; it implies that a price has been paid to purchase Israel. That price was Gods dear Son on Calvary. Certainly, the redemptive plan included Gods deliverance of Israel from her captivity so she might bring forth the Suffering Servant. And this is exactly what Israel needed to remember nowher redemptive servanthood. She needed to remember that God had called her and promised her (in type and prophecy) redemption. Gods promises are as good as done! God can direct His prophets to predict the future as if it were accomplished!
All nature is bound up with the destiny of mankind. When man sinned, God cursed nature so man would not, in his sinful state, fall in love with this earth. When Christ died on the cross suffering the curse upon man and earning mans redemption, He also suffered the curse upon nature and earned natures redemption. Therefore, in view of the certainty of Gods redemption of Israel, all of Gods creation can rejoice and sing and shout because all of Gods creation is equally certain of its redemption. The true Israel of God is destined for dominion over a redeemed and recreated Eden (cf. Rom. 8:18-25; Heb. 2:5-9; 2Pe. 3:13). Israel must remember that and repent of idolatry!
Isa. 44:24-28 FAITHFULNESS IS IN JEHOVAH: Another aspect of Jehovahs nature Israel is to remember is His absolute faithfulness. He alone is sovereign. He alone knows the future. He alone speaks and it comes to pass. Who dares challenge His claim that He created everything? Who can bring forth evidence to dispute His claim? Job learned a lesson he probably never forgot (Job 38-40) about challenging the sovereign wisdom of God. Many alleged scientific explanations of the formation of the universe are posited today but they are moral evasions, not verifiable scientific demonstrations.
Jehovah demonstrates His omnipotence and omniscience over and over again by frustrating the alleged signs of the liars (Heb. baddim, feigners, fakers, false prophets). The Lord may expose the false prophet immediately or He may take a long time to do so, but eventually the false prophet is exposed and the Lords Word is vindicated. Isaiah was one of those prophets of the Lord whose word was confirmed publicly (cf. Isaiah 36-38). Jeremiah (Jer. 28:5-17) was another! The list goes on and on. The Lord is still frustrating the fakers and confirming the veracity of His Word today! But this text is directed especially to Israel. She must remind herself of Gods omniscience and not listen to the oracles of the idolatrous false-prophets. When God says Jerusalem would be inhabited and the cities of Judah (although many of them had been made desolate by the Assyrian armies) would be built, Isaiahs contemporaries must believe it will surely come to pass. Ultimately, Jehovah is going to confound the wisdom of the wise in His Suffering Servant. God will use the Foolishness of the cross to save those who believe (1Co. 1:18 f). The idea of a crucified Messiah was utterly foreign to the Jewish concept. Isaiah predicted that (Isa. 53:1-9)! Peter confirms the Jewish revulsion at the concept of a dying Messiah (cf. Mat. 16:21-23, etc.). The total absence of any specific reference to a personal, dying Messiah in the Jewish Apocrypha confirms this.
The point of these verses is the way in which Jehovah confirms His sovereign will. He confounds and frustrates the vain predictions and philosophies of men and fulfills the predictions of His commissioned prophets. Many said Jehovahs program to redeem mankind and form a redeemed people on earth would not survive. Great empires and powerful emperors opposed it. They overran Jerusalem, tore down His temple and slaughtered His people, but God preserved a remnant through the centuries. Out of that remnant (Jerusalem and Judah) God produced Jesus Christ and His church. No river was deep enough to stop God from keeping His promise of redemption. No empire was large enough, cruel enough, rich enough to keep God from preserving those who remained faithful to Him. God was able even to use Cyrus, a pagan ruler of Persia, to shepherd His people and send them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. God used Nebuchadnezzar and many others to fulfill His purposes (cf. our comments in Daniel, College Press, chapters 712). We will have much more to say of Cyrus in the next chapter.
Israel is to renew its divine destiny as the servant of Jehovah on the basis of Jehovahs faithfulness. Jehovah will keep His promises, and no amount of opposition will stand in His way. As a matter of fact, Jehovah will use His opposition as servants and shepherds to carry out His plan. Israel is more than a conqueror through Him who loves her! The church must daily renew its divine destiny as Gods Zion in the world today on the basis of Christs faithfulness to keep His promises. Let the church focus its preaching on the nature of Christwho He is and what He promises, and this will build the kingdom of God. Man has many questions, but Jesus cuts through all our irrelevancies and goes to the very heart of our problem when He asks, Whom do you say that I am? (Mat. 16:15). For in this question He asks for conviction, confession and commitment to the only thing that mattersthe deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Once that is settled, all else falls into proper place.
QUIZ
1.
Why is it important to remember who God is?
2.
How was Israels sin blotted out?
3.
Why is God able to direct His prophets to predict the future as if it were already accomplished?
4.
Why direct the heavens to sing?
5.
How does God frustrate the signs of the liars?
6.
In what or whom did God ultimately confound the wisdom of the wise?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) Remember these.Better, these thingsi.e., the whole argument against idolatry. In contrast with the blind worshippers of idols, Israel is addressed in its ideal character as the servant of Jehovah with all the emphasis of iteration.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.The LXX., Vulg., and some other versions take the verb as middle, thou shalt not forget, but the evidence for the passive sense preponderates, to say nothing of its greater fitness in connection with the next verse, and its bearing upon complaints like those of Isa. 40:27; Isa. 49:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. This sarcasm he turns into admonition of God’s people. For them chiefly he has drawn the foregoing picture, and from it he turns to the contrast.
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel Note your own condition in comparison.
Thou art my servant That is, one co-operating with me in establishing a kingdom of truth and salvation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh Calls On Israel To Remember Their Status And What He Has Done For Them ( Isa 44:21-23 ).
Having contemptuously dismissed the gods that men worship Yahweh now calls on His people to recognise how different He is.
Isa 44:21
“Remember these things, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are my servant.
I have formed you, you are a servant of mine,
O Israel, you will not be forgotten of me.”
God’s people are now told to remember all that He has said to them. For all will come about. And especially let them remember that they are His chosen servant, shaped and fashioned by Him. They do not shape their God, their God shapes them. And let them remember that they are a servant of His, and that He would never forget them. They do not serve branches of trees, they serve Yahweh the living God, Who formed and shaped them to be His servant. What a purpose was theirs, and what resources they had, and what a certain hope. Now they could go forward to fulfil their function. They could be sure He would not forget them. (But alas, by many of them it was He Who would be forgotten).
Isa 44:22
“I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions,
And as a cloud your sins.
Return to me for I have redeemed you.”
Indeed God has potentially removed all their transgressions and sins (and has done it actually for those who are committed to Him). They have been blotted out as by a thick cloud. They will no longer be remembered. So let them return to Him because He has redeemed them. The potential for complete forgiveness is before them because of the price He has paid in order to deliver them, both in their redemption from Egypt and in their subsequent deliverances, and in what it costs Him to bring about their cleansing through a multitude of sacrifices. For He has even constantly given up some of His creation to death, so that they might live. And we will learn shortly of an even greater sacrifice yet to be paid (Isa 53:1-12).
Isa 44:23
‘Sing, O you heavens, for Yahweh has done it,
Shout you lower parts of the earth,
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it.
For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,
And will glorify himself in Israel.’
So let the whole of creation unite in singing about what Yahweh has done and intends to do. The heavens, the earth down below, the mountains and forests, yes, and every tree, let them all join together in shouting and singing because of what God’s purpose is, and what He will accomplish in Israel. For Yahweh’s plan for His Servant will yet come to glorious fulfilment. We note here that the very trees from which idols are so foolishly made, themselves give praise to Yahweh. They know Who is Lord and Creator. Here then Yahweh declares that He will bring about His sovereign will in His own.
We are reminded of another time when creation was called on to worship, and that was when the Lamb was revealed in order to open the seven-sealed scroll of the future (Rev 5:13), when the destiny of the world was unfolded.
Thus ends in the song of creation a section of the book which began in Isa 41:1 depicting Yahweh’s Servant, raised up in Abraham and ending in the certainty of what Yahweh will do for His servant so that all creation can give Him the praise. He will redeem them and glorify Himself through them.
Note on Isa 40:1 to Isa 44:23 .
The reader who is familiar with commentaries on Isaiah will have noted how little reference we have made to Babylon up to this point, and that is because that is precisely in line with Isaiah’s own words. There has in fact only been one reference to Babylon in Isaiah’s prophecy in the whole section, and that almost as a side issue. Now take note of how many times Babylon has been mentioned in any other commentary that you are using. It is called ‘reading in’. To Isaiah up to this point Babylon has been unimportant. What has been important is God’s intentions through His Servant. And this lack of mention of Babylon will continue on through chapter 45. It is clearly not the centre of Isaiah’s focus, even when dealing with the activities of Cyrus. And even in chapter 46 it is only its humiliation, and the humiliation of its gods, by Assyria that is mentioned (Isa 46:1-2). It is a salutary reminder that the writer does not appear to be aware of Nebuchadnezzar and his empire. The Babylonian empire at its zenith might possess the minds of the commentators. It does not possess the mind of Isaiah.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 44:21-22. Remember these This whole exhortation, which is subjoined to the preceding reproof, is founded on this presumption, that, according to the prediction of Moses and the prophets, the Jewish and Israelitish nation, when carried into captivity, would turn themselves to God; namely, the faithful of that nation, the seed of the future church, after God had punished the contumacious transgressors of his law. These are the persons here addressed, and the address, together with the epithets here used, are also reasons urged by God to persuade them to the principal subject of this exhortation, subjoined to the 22nd verse; Return unto me. The first argument for their conversion is taken from the preceding detection of the folly of idolatry: Remember these; the folly and madness of this idolatry and superstition. The second, from their relation to, and covenant with God: Thou, who art Jacob and Israel. The third, from their calling to God’s immediate service; Thou art my servant. The fourth, from God’s formation of them to be his peculiar people; I have formed thee. We have a sentence in chap. Isa 43:25 very similar to that in the 22nd verse. There is great beauty in the metaphor made use of in this verse: For, as the sun arising disperses the clouds, so God, arising for the salvation of his believing people, with the light of his grace causes their sins to disappear, as the thickest clouds are dispersed before the rays of the sun. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader! methinks I can never say enough in calling up your attention, with my own, to observe in what endearing terms the Lord is pleased to recommend his grace, and love, an mercy to his Israel! And do not forget that what is here said, is said, to the person of our Lord: first to him, and then, in him, to all his people. And be not hurt that the promise is, of blotting out as a thick cloud his transgressions; for when Jesus stood as Israel, and, as such, the surety and representative of Israel, his Church; he stood as defiled with the filthy garments of our poor fallen polluted nature. He saith himself, by the spirit of prophecy, that his iniquities were gone over his head, as a heavy burden too heavy for him, Psa 38:4 . And is it not the express doctrine of the Bible, that Jehovah laid on him the iniquity of all his people? Indeed, had this not been the case, how would our sins have been taken away? See, I pray you, those scriptures in confirmation, and may the Holy Ghost give both you and me a right understanding in them: Isa 53:4-6 ; Gal 3:13 . And hear the holy Jesus, in his cries under the weight and burden of our sins, Psa 69:1-4 . When you have duly pondered this solemn, but most blessed of all subjects, then look well for your own interest in these promises of Jehovah, from your oneness and union with Christ, and see that you have redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of all your sins, according to the riches of God’s grace; Eph 1:6-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou [art] my servant: I have formed thee; thou [art] my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Ver. 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, ] i.e., Remember these abominable idolaters, and enjoy their madness: learn wisdom by their folly.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 44:21-23
21Remember these things, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant,
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.
22I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud
And your sins like a heavy mist.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
23Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it!
Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it;
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob
And in Israel He shows forth His glory.
Isa 44:21-23 In light of the false witness of idolatry, the true witness of YHWH’s people is crucial! They are commanded to
1. remember, Isa 44:21 – BDB 269, KB 269, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. return, Isa 44:22 – BDB 996, KB 1427, Qal IMPERATIVE
YHWH’s creation is also to witness
3. shout for joy, O heavens, Isa 44:23 – BDB 943, KB 1247, Qal IMPERATIVE
4. shout joyfully O depths of the earth, Isa 44:23 – BDB 929, KB 1206, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
5. break forth with a shout of joy you mountains and forests, Isa 44:23 – BDB 822 KB 953, Qal IMPERATIVE
It is ironic that the idol makers burn and form the trees, but the trees rejoice over YHWH’s redemption and Israel’s witness to His glory.
Isa 44:21
NASB, NKJV,
NRSVyou will not be forgotten by Me
REB, LXX,
Peshitta,
JPSOAnever forget me
The difference is in vocalization only. The UBS Text Project gives option #1 (NASB) a C rating (considerable doubt).
Isa 44:22 This is another tremendous promise of complete forgiveness. The VERB wipe out (BDB 562, KB 567, Qal PERFECT) is also used in Isa 43:25; Psa 51:1-2; Psa 51:9. When God forgives, God forgets (cf. Isa 1:18; Isa 38:17; Isa 43:25; Isa 44:22; Mic 7:19).
The bases for this complete blotting out of our transgressions are
1. YHWH’s redemption
2. a believer’s repentance
SPECIAL TOPIC: REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Isa 44:23
NASB, NKJVlower parts of the earth
NRSV, JPSOAdepths of the earth
TEVdeep places of the earth
NJBunderworld
LXX,
PESHITTAfoundations of the earth
This apparently refers to Sheol (BDB 982).
SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
O Israel. Some codices, with one early printed edition (Rabbinic, 1517), read “And Israel”, The reference is to Gen 32:26.
not be forgotten. Because of being the “everlasting Nation” (Isa 44:7).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 44:21-23
Isa 44:21-23
“Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto me for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.”
God did indeed glorify himself in Israel throughout those long ages while the time was being fulfilled for the revelation of the Holy Messiah. There were many defeats for Israel during that period, but none for God. He maintained the continuity of that people through long ages till Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and cradled in the manger at Bethlehem. The Old Israel was intended and expected to recognize and love the Holy Christ, and to receive him with joy and proclaim him as the Saviour of all mankind for the whole world. Israel, through their leaders, refused to do that; but Jesus Christ became the principal Person of all time in spite of Israel’s failure. All history is dated from his birth; and history itself shall be concluded in his second advent, at which time he will judge all nations.
Isa 44:21-23 FORGIVENESS Is IN JEHOVAH: The message of this section is that Israel is to remember (Heb. zekar) who Jehovah is. We remind the reader, this is the very essence of biblical religion-the realization of the objective Personhood of God. Biblical religion is not how man feels, but what man acknowledges about who God is and what God has said. Especially Israel is admonished to remember who Jehovah is in view of the foregoing expose of the idiocy of idolatry, All men are vulnerable to idolatry if they do not acknowledge the objective reality of the eternal, supernatural Personhood of Jehovah. Men must have a god. He will make one of wood or stone, of science or government, of fame or fortune-or even of himself, Israel must remember that Jehovah chose her and created her for Himself. He evidenced His special claim upon her in ages past by miraculous powers of deliverance, sustenance, subjugations and revelations. He demonstrated that He was a living God, capable and willing to guide and guard Israel over thousands of years. He never forgot her!
The blotting out of Israels sin is apparently in promise here. We know from the New Testament that the actual, historical event which blotted out sin and accomplished redemption was the atoning death of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb 10:1-18). The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. The Hebrew who offered his sacrificial lamb lived in faith that God would, someday, accomplish the act which would atone for his sins and thus fulfill His promises. The point being stressed in Isa 44:22 is willingness and mercifulness of God in promising to blot out Israels sin and offering her, even then, a way to believe in that promise. The redemption spoken of in Isa 44:22-23 cannot refer to the return from the exile, for there was no permanence to that. The Hebrew word goal is repeated in this text and it implies more than forgiveness of sins; it implies that a price has been paid to purchase Israel. That price was Gods dear Son on Calvary. Certainly, the redemptive plan included Gods deliverance of Israel from her captivity so she might bring forth the Suffering Servant. And this is exactly what Israel needed to remember now-her redemptive servanthood. She needed to remember that God had called her and promised her (in type and prophecy) redemption. Gods promises are as good as done! God can direct His prophets to predict the future as if it were accomplished!
All nature is bound up with the destiny of mankind. When man sinned, God cursed nature so man would not, in his sinful state, fall in love with this earth. When Christ died on the cross suffering the curse upon man and earning mans redemption, He also suffered the curse upon nature and earned natures redemption. Therefore, in view of the certainty of Gods redemption of Israel, all of Gods creation can rejoice and sing and shout because all of Gods creation is equally certain of its redemption. The true Israel of God is destined for dominion over a redeemed and recreated Eden (cf. Rom 8:18-25; Heb 2:5-9; 2Pe 3:13). Israel must remember that and repent of idolatry!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Promise of Redemption
Isa 44:21-28
What divine comfort there is in these gracious words! Notwithstanding all their wanderings and sins, the Chosen People were Jehovahs elect race. Nothing could make Him forget them; He had redeemed them with the saving strength of His right hand. He could never forget them, but He would forget their sins. Their transgressions had melted into the blue azure of His love. If sought for, they could not be found. Nature was asked to be one great orchestra of praise. And notice that our redemption brings more glory to Jehovah than our undoing would.
In Isa 45:1-25 the people are assured that they would return from captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem and reinhabit the cities of Judah. They probably expected that their return would be marked by miracles as marvelous as those through which their fathers emerged from Egyptian bondage. But God never repeats Himself; and His purposes would work out through a heathen monarch, Cyrus, whom God was preparing as the executor of His purpose, Isa 44:28. Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, and works His sovereign will.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Remember: Isa 42:23, Isa 46:8, Isa 46:9, Deu 4:9, Deu 4:23, Deu 31:19-21, Deu 32:18
thou art: Isa 44:1, Isa 44:2, Isa 41:8, Isa 41:9, Isa 43:1, Isa 43:7, Isa 43:15
thou shalt: Isa 49:15, Isa 49:16, Rom 11:28, Rom 11:29
Reciprocal: Neh 9:19 – in thy Psa 78:38 – But he Psa 115:12 – hath Isa 14:1 – the Lord Isa 27:11 – therefore Isa 29:22 – who redeemed Isa 46:3 – Hearken Isa 64:8 – all are Jer 51:5 – Israel Luk 1:54 – General Act 27:23 – and Eph 2:10 – we are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 44:21-23. Remember these These things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten I will not forget nor forsake thee; therefore thou shalt have no need of idols. I have blotted out as a cloud, &c. As the sun arising disperses the clouds, and causes them to vanish and disappear, so have I, arising for thy salvation, with the light and influence of my grace, scattered and removed thy transgressions, that there is no remnant or appearance of them left: a beautiful and expressive metaphor. Return unto me From thine idolatry, and other sinful practices. For 1 have redeemed thee Therefore thou art mine, and obliged to return and adhere to me. Sing, O ye heavens, &c. The prophet here, by an elegant apostrophe, calls upon all creatures to glorify God for his singular blessing to his people in delivering them from their captivity in Babylon; which also has a further respect to the great and spiritual deliverance of mankind by the Messiah; a mercy so transcendent, that, as he intimates, it is sufficient, were it possible, to make even the stones break forth in praises to God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
44:21 {a} Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou [art] my servant: I have formed thee; thou [art] my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by me.
(a) Showing that man’s heart is most inclined to idolatry, and therefore he warns his people by these examples, that they should not cleave to any but to the living God, when they should be among the idolaters.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The memory of redemption 44:21-22
This brief section is a call to God’s people to embrace God’s promises. It concludes this section of the prophecy (Isa 42:10 to Isa 44:22) by affirming that God would not abandon the Israelites because of their sins, but would deliver them, and even use them to demonstrate His unique deity.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
This chiastic verse reiterates a theme from Deuteronomy, namely, remembering what God has revealed (cf. Deu 8:2; Deu 8:11; Deu 8:18; Deu 9:7). God called His people to remember the truths about Himself that this section of the book emphasizes: He is the only God who foretells and then creates history, and the idols of the nations are nothing. Bearing these truths in mind would enable Israel to fulfill her purpose in the world, namely, to be the Lord’s servant. The nation had not yet fulfilled that purpose, and the Lord would not forget her but would enable her to fulfill it. He would not cast her off.
"Within the immediate context the call to ’remember’ (21) forges a link with what has preceded: (i) the idolater has been busy ’fashioning’ (9-10, 12) his idol, but Israel has been ’fashioned’ (21; NIV made) by the Lord; (ii) the idolater is bound to his idol (18-20), but Israel is the Lord’s bondman (servant; 21); (iii) the idolater prayed pathetically Save me (17), but to Israel the Lord says I have redeemed you (22-23); (iv) the idolater bowed to a block of wood/’tree stump’ (bul ’es; 19), but now every tree (kol ’es) is summoned to rejoice in the Lord (23)." [Note: Motyer, p. 349.]