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;
24 28. Jehovah, the God of creation and of prophecy, has chosen Cyrus to execute his purpose with regard to Israel.
thy redeemer ] See on ch. Isa 41:14. formed thee from the womb ] as in Isa 44:2.
that stretcheth alone ] Cf. ch. Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Job 9:8.
by myself ] The A.V. here follows the reading presupposed by the vowel-points ( Qr ). The R.V. rightly goes back to the consonantal text ( Kthb) which is preserved in the LXX. and Vulg. and some Hebrew MSS. Render accordingly: who was with me? i.e. there was none to help me.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thy Redeemer – (See the note at Isa 43:1).
And he that formed thee from thee womb – (See the note at Isa 44:2).
That stretcheth forth the heavens – (See the note at Isa 40:22).
That spreadeth abroad the earth – Representing the earth, as is often done in the Scriptures, as a plain. God here appeals to the fact that he alone had made the heavens and the earth, as the demonstration that he is able to accomplish what is here said of the deliverance of his people. The same God that made the heavens is the Redeemer and Protector of the church, and therefore the church is safe.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 44:24
I am the Lord that maketh all things
The Maker of heaven and earth
Our object is, not so much to discover from the creation the truth of the being and character of the Creator, as to see how the Christian belief in Him as Maker must influence us about the world He has made.
Trust Him as the Fatherly God, who is indeed Maker of heaven and earth, and what will follow?
I. SUCH A TRUST WILL ENSURE YOUR RIGHT ATTITUDE WITH REGARD TO SCIENCE.
1. It will free you from all alarm as to the contradictions between science and the Scripture.
2. But our Christian belief should not only take away all dread of science, it should inspire its earnest pursuit. For it is the study of the work of God; a solution of His problems. The stars gleam with the glory of God, the flowers are fragrant with His sweetness; so that astronomy and botany, as well as all the sciences, have been well called sections of theology.
II. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD AS THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH QUALIFIES YOU FOR RIGHT USE AND ENJOYMENT OF NATURE. He who believes in the Creator with all his heart will be altogether a different man in trade or travel, in manufacture of the earths productions, search into her secrets, or enjoyment of her scenery, from the man who darkly doubts–not to say from the man who impiously denies. For such a belief excludes the Manichaean heresy, that matter is the creation of evil. It gives to man that vision and voice about nature that were vouchsafed to Peter when he was taught to call nothing common or unclean. He who has the spirit of Jesus Christ, who is reconciled by Him and taught by Him about God, will cherish Christs spirit about nature.
III. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD INSPIRES WITH HOPE ABOUT THE DESTINY OF CREATION. There is much that is saddening and bewildering in some of the aspects of creation. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain. In the midst of such reflections, a great hope glows in the heart that believes in God as the maker of heaven and earth. For then He is not only seen as a Redeemer mercifully interposing to alleviate misfortune and to restore some from ruin; but He is known to be the utterly good God, whose goodness is over all His works, over creation as much as over redemption. He is a faithful Creator. He will care for His own; will bring it to the destiny for which He made it.
IV. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD IS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Jesus has to do with nature, with us, and with God. He is the Door into nature. Connect all with Jesus, and we shall connect all with God. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. By myself] Thirteen MSS., six ancient, confirm the reading of the Keri, meittai.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That formed thee from the womb; of which phrase See Poole “Isa 44:2“.
That maketh all things, & c.; and therefore I can save thee without the help of any other gods or men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24-28. Confirmation of Hispromises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of Hisomnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
aloneliterally, “Whowas with Me?” namely, when I did it; answering to “byMyself,” in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases,Hos 8:4; Joh 5:30)[MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer,…. These are the words of the Son of God, of Christ, the Redeemer of his people; and the following show him to be the mighty God, and so able to redeem them, and therefore was appointed to this work, and undertook it:
and he that formed thee from the womb; that formed thee in it, and brought thee out of it, separated thee from it, and called thee by his grace:
I am the Lord that maketh all things; that made all things out of nothing at first; for without Christ was not anything made that was made; all things in heaven, and earth, and sea, were made by him; and he continues all creatures in their being, and provides for them, and governs all by his power; he works hitherto, and continues working with his divine Father, Joh 1:1:
that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; not to the exclusion of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but of all creatures, angels and men; of himself, and by his own strength and power, and, without the help of these, he stretched out the vast space of the heavens as a curtain, and spread out the earth in its length and breadth, and the large surface of it, to that great circumference which it has; a full proof of his proper deity! A man cannot stretch out a curtain, or piece of tapestry, of any size, without the help of another; and much less can a creature stretch out the heavens and the earth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The promise takes a new turn here, acquiring greater and greater speciality. It is introduced as the word of Jehovah, who first gave existence to Israel, and has not let it go to ruin. “Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I Jehovah am He that accomplisheth all; who stretched out the heavens alone, spread out the earth by Himself; who bringeth to nought the signs of the prophets of lies, and exposeth the soothsayers as raging mad; who turneth back the wise men, and maketh their science folly; who realizeth the word of His servant, and accomplisheth the prediction of His messengers; who saith to Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited! and to the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and their ruins I raise up again! who saith to the whirlpool, Dry up; and I dry its streams! who saith to Koresh, My shepherd and he will perform all my will; and will say to Jerusalem, She shall be built, and the temple founded!” The prophecy which commences with Isa 44:24 is carried on through this group of vv. in a series of participial predicates to (I) Jehovah is oseh kol , accomplishing all ( perficiens omnia ), so that there is nothing that is not traceable to His might and wisdom as the first cause. It was He who alone, without the co-operation of any other being, stretched out the heavens, who made the earth into a wide plain by Himself, i.e., so that it proceeded from Himself alone: , as in Jos 11:20 (compare , Isa 30:1; and m immenn in Hos 8:4), chethib , “who was with me,” or “who is it beside me?” The Targum follows the keri; the Septuagint the chethib, attaching it to the following words, . Isa 44:25 passes on from Him whom creation proves to be God, to Him who is proving Himself to be so in history also, and that with obvious reference to the Chaldean soothsayers and wise men (Isa 47:9-10), who held out to proud Babylon the most splendid and hopeful prognostics. “ Who brings to nought ( m epher , opp. m eqm ) the signs,” i.e., the marvellous proofs of their divine mission which the false prophets adduced by means of fraud and witchcraft. The lxx render baddm , , Targ. bdn (in other passages = ‘ob , Lev 20:27; ‘oboth , Lev 19:31; hence = ). At Isa 16:6 and Job 11:3 we have derived it as a common noun from = , to speak at random; but it is possible that may originally have signified to produce or bring forth, without any reference to , then to invent, to fabricate, so that baddm as a personal name (as in Jer 50:36) would be synonymous with badda’m , mendaces . On qos e mm , see Isa 3:2; on yeholel , (Job 12:17, where it occurs in connection with a similar predicative description of God according to His works.
In Isa 44:26 a contrast is draw between the heathen soothsayers and wise men, and the servant and messengers of Jehovah, whose word, whose etsah , i.e., determination or disclosure concerning the future (cf., yaats , Isa 41:28), he realizes and perfectly fulfils. By “his servant” we are to understand Israel itself, according to Isa 42:19, but only relatively, namely, as the bearer of the prophetic word, and therefore as the kernel of Israel regarded from the standpoint of the prophetic mission which it performed; and consequently “his messengers” are the prophets of Jehovah who were called out of Israel. The singular “his servant” is expanded in “his messenger” into the plurality embraced in the one idea. This is far more probable than that the author of these prophetic words, who only speaks of himself in a roundabout manner even in Isa 40:6, should here refer directly to himself (according to Isa 20:3). In Isa 44:26 the predicates become special prophecies, and hence their outward limits are also defined. As we have and not , we must adopt the rendering habitetur and oedificentur , with which the continuation of the latter et vastata ejus erigam agrees. In Isa 44:27 the prophecy moves back from the restoration of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah to the conquest of Babylon. The expression calls to mind the drying up of the Red Sea (Isa 51:10; Isa 43:16); but here it relates to something future, according to Isa 42:15; Isa 50:2 -namely, to the drying up of the Euphrates, which Cyrus turned into the enlarged basin of Sepharvaim, so that the water sank to the depth of a single foot, and men could “go through on foot” (Herod. i. 191). But in the complex view of the prophet, the possibility of the conqueror’s crossing involved the possibility or the exiles’ departing from the prison of the imperial city, which was surrounded by a natural and artificial line of waters (Isa 11:15). (from = , to whiz or whirl) refers to the Euphrates, just as m e tsulah in Job 41:23; Zec 10:11, does to the Nile; is used in the same sense as the Homeric . In Isa 44:28 the special character of the promise reaches its highest shoot. The deliverer of Israel is mentioned by name: “That saith to Koresh, My shepherd (i.e., a appointed by me), and he who performs all my will” ( c hephets , , not in the generalized sense of ), and that inasmuch as he (Cyrus) saith to (or of) Jerusalem, It shall be built ( tibbaneh , not the second pers. tibban ), and the foundation of the temple laid ( hekhal a masculine elsewhere, here a feminine). This is the passage which is said by Josephus to have induced Cyrus to send back the Jews to their native land: “Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfil what was so written” (Jos. Ant. xi. 2). According to Ctesias and others, the name of Cyrus signifies the sun.But all that can really be affirmed is, that it sounds like the name of the sun. For in Neo-Pers. the sun is called c h ar , in Zendic hvare ( kare ), and from this proper names are formed, such as c hars’d (Sunshine, also the Sun); but Cyrus is called Kuru or Khuru upon the monuments, and this cannot possibly be connected with our chur , which would be uwara in Old Persian (Rawlinson, Lassen, Spiegel), and Koresh is simply the name of Kuru ( – ) Hebraized after the manner of a segholate. There is a marble-block, for example, in the Murghab valley, not far from the mausoleum of Cyrus, which contained the golden coffin with the body of the king (see Strabo, xv 3, 7); and on this we find an inscription that we also meet with elsewhere, viz., adam . k’ur’us . khsaya | thiya . hakhamanisiya , i.e., I am Kuru the king of the Achaemenides.
(Note: See the engraving of this tomb of Cyrus, which is now called the “Tomb of Solomon’s mother,” in Vaux’s Nineveh and Persepolis (p. 345). On the identity of Murghb and Pasargadae, see Spiegel, Keil-inschriften, pp. 71, 72; and with regard to the discovery of inscriptions that may still be expected around the tomb of Cyrus, the J ournal of the Asiatic Society, x. 46, note 4 (also compare Spiegel’s Geschichte der Entzifferung der Keil-schrift, im “Ausland,” 1865, p. 413).)
This name is identical with the name of the river Kur ( – ); and what Strabo says is worthy of notice – namely, that “there is also a river called Cyrus, which flows through the so-called cave of Persis near Pasargadae, and whence the king took his name, changing it from Agradates into Cyrus” (Strab. xv 3, 6). It is possible also that there may be some connection between the name and the Indian princely title of Kuru.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
24. Thus saith Jehovah. The Prophet will immediately describe in his own manner the strength and power of God; because the bare promises would have little authority and weight, if the power of God were not brought forward, in order to remove all doubt from our hearts. By our distrust and obstinacy we are wont to lessen the power and goodness of God, that is, to ascribe to it less than we ought; and, therefore, the Prophet, by remarkable commendations, which we shall soon afterwards see, will encourage believers to learn to hope beyond hope.
Thy Redeemer. He begins by praising the goodness and fatherly kindness with which God has embraced his Church, and which he intends to exercise till the end; for the declaration of his power and strength would have little influence on us, if he did not approach to us and assure us of his kindness. We ought not therefore to begin with his majesty, nor to ascend so high, lest we be thrown down; but we ought to embrace his goodness, by which he gently invites us to himself. The name Redeemer in this passage refers to past time, because the Jews, who had once been brought out of Egypt, as from a gulf, by an incredible miracle, ought to have been strengthened by the remembrance of that “redemption” to expect continual advancement. (Exo 12:51.)
And thy Maker. He calls himself the “Maker,” in the same sense which we formerly explained; that is, because he regenerates by his Spirit those whom he adopts, and thus makes them new creatures; and therefore he mentions, in passing, the former benefits which they had received, that they may conclude from them, for the future, that God will abide by his promises. When he added from the womb, it was in order that the people might acknowledge that all the benefits which they had received from God were undeserved; for he anticipated them by his compassion, before they could even call upon him. By this consolation David comforted his heart in very severe distresses,
“
Thou art he who brought me out of the womb; I trusted in thee while I was hanging on my mother’s breast; I was thrown on thee from my birth; thou art my God from my mother’s womb.” (Psa 22:9.)
Yet here he does not speak of the favor generally bestowed, by which God brings any human beings into the world, but praises his covenant, by which he adopted the seed of Abraham to a thousand generations; for they were not at liberty to doubt that he would wish to preserve his work even to the end.
Who alone stretcheth out the heavens. Now follow the commendations of his power, because he has measured out at his pleasure the dimensions of heaven, and earth. By the word “stretcheth out” he means that he has in his hands the government of the whole world, and that there is nothing that is not subject to him; for the power of God ought to be united to his word in such a manner as never to be separated.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(24) Thus saith the Lord.A new section begins, which is carried on to the end of Isaiah 45. The contrast between the foreknowledge of Jehovah and the no-knowledge of the worshippers of idols culminates in the proclamation, in Isa. 44:28, of the name of the deliverer and his restoration of the Temple.
That spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.The Hebrew written text gives the more emphatic reading: that spreadeth forth the earth; who was with me? (Comp. Isa. 40:13; Isa. 63:3; and Job. 9:8.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24-28. The remaining verses of the chapter virtually make a single paragraph, unbroken in sense; the sense being a confirmation of the divine promises to Israel that is, to the Church by instances cited of God’s omnipotence exercised in Israel’s peculiar behalf. They are the original forming of Israel by the Maker of all things, who made the heavens, (as well as man,) and phenomenally spread them out; and the earth also.
By myself That is, by himself alone, no one being in existence besides him.
Frustrateth the tokens of the liars Putting diviners to flight and shame; but, on the other hand, aiding his servants the prophets to foretell that Jerusalem shall be built, and Zion again occupied.
That saith to the deep, Be dry Removeth all barriers to the return, seas and rivers opening dry passages therefor, (referring to Israel’s history, first at the Red Sea and the Jordan, and last at the Euphrates,) and who, at last, names the deliverer, Cyrus, God’s fold-builder for the flock.
CONTINUATION IN REGARD TO CYRUS.
The mention of Cyrus by name at the close (Isa 44:28) of an array of divine titles and perfections is no trivial circumstance no dim prediction of this personage one hundred and seventy years before his coming. There is significance in his coming and in his reign at such a time of the greatest importance to the world’s civilization. The character of Cyrus is variously drawn in the fragments of the old histories, but in none of them is there any thing otherwise than what, in the hands of divine providence, he could have been with full free will shaped to be a coadjutor of Jehovah the Lord’s servant. Prior to his connexion with the Jews he is represented as a great conqueror and organizer, but not wanting in humane and noble feelings toward his subjects to the Jews especially: who, both as colonists in Palestine and as citizens and residents in the East, adhered patriotically to him amid all attempted revolts.
The liberation from exile was a thing small, indeed, in itself, when compared with the other great events of his reign, yet it ranks with the greatest events as seen in its issues to mankind. Naturally endowed with great special gifts, and these sanctified measurably by the divinity which rules over as well as in men, he was prepared to be thus “the anointed of Jehovah” in the special work of furthering the redemption of mankind.
Speculations as to the name Cyrus, from Kur or Kuru, (Persian,) and this Hebraized in Koresh, may be waived; but the ancient references to him may well be noted as to his character. Eschylus (Persae) says, “He was naturally gentle;” Plutarch and Diodorus preserve traditions greatly favourable. Josephus also. Thus he was eminently fitted to facilitate the progress of the redemptive work of Christ. Melchizedec and Cyrus (both of them Gentiles outside the sacred enclosure from Abraham) were certainly proper to be called types of Christ at points in which they shadowed the Christ-like character. How came Cyrus to so touch at those points? By direct providential ordering leading to his consent to be so fashioned of God.
God “raised him up in righteousness.” (Isa 45:13.) God chose him “ to perform his will in Babylon.” (Isa 48:14.) See also 2Ch 36:22-23, and first verse in Ezra 1. Not unlikely Cyrus was in direct communication with Daniel (So Josephus.) Doubtless Cyrus was not a polytheist. His religion, (if that were Zoroastrianism,) did not allow it as heathenism allows it. It is conceivable that, through Daniel, those chapters in Isaiah were exhibited to Cyrus. Daniel, though then, it may be, in his last years, could not but be serviceable and influential with the young conqueror; for Daniel was a sage, a statesman, a tried man as to his own religion, and so far himself also a conqueror.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh Will Raise Up Cyrus To Rebuild Jerusalem And Lay The Foundations of A New Temple ( Isa 44:24 to Isa 45:13 ).
In the Near East of Isaiah’s day there were not many major powers. Egypt had been silenced by Assyria, Babylon was continually the enemy of God, sometimes independent, and sometimes under the control of Assyria, Assyria was the one who demanded subservience and tribute, Media and Elam at different times assisted in the invasion of Israel. But among those who remained separate from all this, at this stage, was Persia. How Isaiah came to a knowledge that the king of Persia had a son called Cyrus (an earlier Cyrus) we do not know, but it is very possible that he formed part of a royal party which visited Persia on the occasion of Cyrus’ birth, or alternatively assisted in the welcoming of Persian ambassadors who came bringing the good news. The famed prophet Isaiah who had foretold the miracle of Jerusalem would be eagerly sought for by the Persians whose interest in such matters was well known, and he may well have been called on to make his contribution to the birthday celebrations. (We are here speaking of Cyrus I, not the Cyrus II who conquered Babylon). And while they were together there may well have been promises of mutual aid, trade and assistance. Furthermore if Isaiah saw the infant babe for himself, there may well have come to him the certainty as he looked at him, that he was looking at the one whose house would be Yahweh’s shepherd, for there is no doubt that Isaiah possessed the prophetic gift.
Whether Isaiah lived long enough to see Cyrus I of Persia come to the throne we do not know, but he would certainly have continued to know of him, the young promising prince of the kingdom of Persia whose dynasty would one day see the deliverance of Jerusalem. And it is very possible that as the famed prophet of Israel Isaiah continued to have communications with his house. (If Moab could seek out Balaam (Num 22:5), Persia could certainly seek out Isaiah). And this was possibly how God showed him that in the dynasty of Cyrus lay the earthly solution to Israel’s seemingly insoluble problems.
It should be noted how briefly the situation is dealt with. No explanation is given for the condition of Jerusalem and its Temple which Cyrus’ grandson (Cyrus II) will have his part in rebuilding, or how it got into that condition. Possibly it was assumed from Isa 39:6-7, but that is unlikely, for the need for rebuilding is not what is actually prophesied there. It seems more probable that Isaiah had come to see that the replacement of the Temple was necessary because it had been defiled (Isa 43:28), and that therefore it must happen, and that until it had occurred the Servant could not be raised up to do his work.
It is especially noteworthy that there is nowhere any suggestion in the narrative of who Cyrus will deliver Jerusalem from. All that matters to Isaiah is that the house of Cyrus will become the restorer of Jerusalem and will bring about the building of the new Temple and will subsequently take his reward from the nations, and indirectly bring glory to Yahweh..
It is in fact difficult to see why, if Isaiah knew the answer as to who would destroy Jerusalem he did not reveal it, for in view of Isa 43:14; Isaiah 47 and Isa 48:20 he could hardly be said to be trying to keep Babylon’s name out of matters.
Isa 44:24
‘Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer,
And he who formed you from the womb,
“I am Yahweh, who makes all things,
Who stretches forth the heavens alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth.
Who is with me?” ’
This new section begins with confirmation of what has gone before. Yahweh is Israel’s Redeemer, and as the One Who formed them from the womb and as their Kinsman Redeemer with a special interest in their welfare, because He had formed them from the beginning as His own in a special relationship. He had brought them to birth. And He now stresses that He alone is the Creator of all things, and that He has done it all alone, with none other with Him. He, and He alone, had stretched out the heavens, He had spread abroad the earth. None was there with Him. It was all His work. Thus there is no limit to what He can do. The whole earth is His.
Note that ‘He who formed you from the womb’ immediately makes the connection with the Servant (Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24; Isa 49:5; see also Isa 44:21; Isa 49:1).
Isa 44:25
“Who frustrates the tokens of the deceivers,
And makes diviners mad.
Who turns wise men backwards,
And makes their knowledge foolishness.”
He also makes a fool of those who seek to discern the future. When those deceivers, the soothsayers, make use of their different methods of foretelling, He makes their tokens say the wrong thing, and He affects the minds of the diviners so that they continually err. The wise men (men wise in the occult) He turns back on themselves, and what they say is finally revealed as foolish. This is the constant experience of man. None know the future apart from Him. (Babylon is therefore already being thwarted by His power, see Isa 47:12-13).
Isa 44:26
“Who confirms the word of his servant,
And performs the counsel of his messengers.
In contrast He Himself confirms the word of His own prophets, and ensures the fulfilment of what His own messengers declare and advise. Thus men can determine Who to believe in, because it is only His prophets who reveal the truth, and whose words are fulfilled (compare Deu 18:21-22). This is one of the central thoughts in Isaiah, that what Yahweh has said, He does.
Isa 44:26
“Who says of Jerusalem, ‘she will be inhabited’,
And of the cities of Judah, ‘they will be rebuilt’,
I will raise up its waste places.”
In support of His prophets’ words He declares the certainty of the continuation of Jerusalem. Whatever happens, she will be inhabited. The parallel with the cities of Judah may indicate an expectancy that there will also be a necessity for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and if so it suggests that Isaiah had a premonition of what was going to happen to it. On the other hand the contrast between Jerusalem ‘being inhabited’ while the remaining cities of Judah would have to ‘be rebuilt’ may point to the situation after the relief of Jerusalem, when only Jerusalem was left standing. Unlike the cases of Babylon (Isa 13:19-20) and Edom (34), however, Yahweh wants all to know that her future is secure. Whatever happens she will be inhabited. And He guarantees also the rebuilding of the cities of Judah, and the restoration of the waste places. As promised He will make a way in these wildernesses (Isa 43:19). While Judah may have been devastated by Assyria (see Isa 37:26), it will be re-established, and God will ensure that His Servant has a base to work from for the sending out of His Law (Isa 2:3).
Isa 44:27
“Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,
And I will dry up your rivers’.”
In contrast to what Assyria has done, not only can Yahweh ensure the inhabiting and building of cities, but He can also dry up nations and peoples. Here the point is that He is so mighty that not only can He ensure the inhabiting of cities, but He can also remove the very lifeline of all nations. He can even dry up the sea, and the rivers that flow from it. This may again refer to the Reed Sea (Isa 11:15; Isa 19:5; Isa 51:10; Psa 66:6; Psa 106:9), and the Nile and its tributaries, as well as the rivers of Mesopotamia (Isa 11:15) but it looks beyond that to all seas (e.g. Nah 1:4). He is the controller of the seas, and of the water supplies of nations, and thus He determines the future of those nations. Compare the boast of Sennacherib, ‘with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt’ (Isa 37:25). The difference is that Yahweh can really do it. There was little that Israel feared more than ‘the deep’, but Yahweh assures them that even such an enemy is putty in His hands. And He Who could dry up the rivers of the world had the world at His mercy. And this was not only true of the seas. It was true of the mighty nations that were often depicted in terms of the seas and rivers, Egypt as the Nile, Assyria/Babylon as The River. For all is in His hands.
We note here how constantly throughout Isaiah when Yahweh blesses He causes rivers to flow (Isa 43:19; Isa 44:3-4; Isa 30:25; Isa 32:2; Isa 33:21; Isa 41:18; Isa 66:12), and when He judges the rivers cease flowing (Isa 42:15; Isa 50:2; Isa 19:5). He controls the lifeblood of all peoples.
But the special emphasis to be drawn from this continues in Isa 45:1-3, where Cyrus is to act as His anointed against the nations.
Isa 44:28
“Who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd,
And will perform all my pleasure.”
Within all His control Yahweh has a special purpose for Cyrus. Suddenly in the midst of generalities, even though important generalities, there comes a specific, like a bolt from the Isaianic blue. Isaiah speaks of ‘Cyrus’ (Coresh), whom Yahweh calls ‘My shepherd’, who will do His will, and will ‘perform all My pleasure’. The use of ‘shepherd’ suggests a deliberate avoidance of the word ‘servant’. Cyrus’ relationship with Yahweh is not to be seen as close enough for that. What His pleasure for Cyrus is, is described in Isa 45:1-4.
Isa 44:28
“Even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt’,
And to the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ”
While there may be an indirect indication here of Cyrus’ connection with the building of the new Temple it is not specific, for these are the words of Yahweh. Isa 44:28 a and 28b are not necessarily directly parallel with each other (see analysis above), and it is significant that in what follows it is Cyrus’ activities over the nations that are stressed and not the building of the new Temple. However, there is undoubtedly a link between the two. The coming of Cyrus did result in a new Temple.
But we must not limit Isaiah’s thinking by seeing this as just the forecasting of a bland historical event. The coming of Cyrus at God’s command is in order to introduce a new situation. It will result in a new beginning for the Servant with the foundation of a new, undefiled and pure Temple, and the rendering powerless of the nations by the ‘drying up of the deep’. It will forward the work of the Servant (Isa 45:4). Isaiah’s vision of the new Temple here can be compared with that of Ezekiel 40-48. He has in mind a Temple raised up by God Himself which will fulfil the ministry of the Servant. It will be a new spiritual initiative.
This idea that the Temple must be replaced would come as a shock to Israel, but Isaiah, whose first inauguration as a prophet came in the old Temple where he had a glorious vision of Yahweh (Isa 6:1-6), has recognised that it has been defiled (Isa 43:28), as Ezekiel would after him, and therefore that it must be replaced. And this will spring out from the new beginning commenced as a result of the activity of Cyrus.
Like much prophecy this sees the short and the long view. In the short term a new Temple was built in the decades following the rise of Cyrus II. It was at a time of great expectation. Zechariah portrayed it in terms of the powerful activity of the Spirit (Zec 4:6-10), and Haggai saw it as resulting in the shaking of all nations and the coming of ‘the desire of the nations’ (Hag 2:7). The glory of this house would be greater than that of the former. And that Temple undoubtedly did continue the witness of the Servant and enable the reestablishment of the worship of Yahweh in the land, and its glory was greater because it retained its purity from idolatry. Moreover in His own way God did shake the nations through it and from it was proclaimed the Name of the One Who was the desire of all nations, with the result (we must not judge its accomplishments by men’s standards) that His Law went out to the nations through the Dispersion. But that Temple also would fail, as would the one that followed, and ‘the princes of the Sanctuary’ would once again be removed and be desanctified.
Neither, however, fulfilled Isaiah’s dream, for this new Temple spoken of by Isaiah symbolised what he saw as the task to be accomplished through the Servant, and it therefore finds its ultimate fulfilment in the new Temple of the Servant through which, in accordance with Isa 2:1-4, His message was taken out to the world. This was the Temple of Jesus Himself (Joh 2:19-21) and of His people (1Co 3:16; 1Co 6:19; 2Co 6:16; Eph 2:13-22). Yet its foundation was undoubtedly first laid by means of Yahweh’s activity though Cyrus in restoring His people, His Servant.
No indication is given by Isaiah of why the Temple would need to be rebuilt. He does not see any need to explain it. To him it is as clear as day that until that has happened the work of the Servant cannot go forward. He may in his own mind have seen the old Temple as being destroyed in an earthquake or through the activities of invaders but he does not speculate on the matter. All that he is sure of is that there must be a new Temple. Like the period of thirty eight years in the wilderness inflicted on an unbelieving Israel, it was an indication that Yahweh was displeased with the present generation.
(Strictly speaking the language does not demand the destruction of the Temple, for it could be translated as ‘You will be firmly established.’ But in view of what did happen the point need not be pressed further).
That the inauguration of the new era was to be brought about by Cyrus, a Persian king, was indeed a new prophecy and remarkable. And the question would be asked, why should a king of Persia be interested in such things? The brief answer given here is that it is because Yahweh the great Shepherd (Isa 40:11; Psa 23:1; Psa 80:1) has appointed him as His under-shepherd. He Who is sovereign over the nations can do what He will. He Who could use Assyria as the rod of His anger (Isa 10:5), could now use the house of Cyrus as His shepherd to watch over His people’s interests.
“Even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt’, and to the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ” Was it God or Cyrus who said this? The first part is almost a repetition of Isa 44:26. It is therefore probably God Who is to be seen as speaking. Although some see it as indicating that Cyrus was made to speak and do the will of God.
But this must then raise the question as to who was this Cyrus? And with that question we must briefly stop at this point and consider the problem of Cyrus, a question which has filled many books and produced many theories.
Note on Cyrus (Hebrew Coresh).
The first question that arises is, whom did Isaiah have in mind when he spoke of Cyrus? Persia was situated east of the Persian Gulf in the Iranian plateau. Achaemenes ruled there from about 700 to 675 BC, being followed by his son Teispes (about 675-640 BC), who was again followed by one of his sons Cyrus I (about 640-600 BC). Cyrus was strong enough to oppose Ashurbanipal of Assyria for a time (a considerable feat), but in the end had to submit to him. Isaiah prophesied from the year of the death of Uzziah (about 740 BC) into the reign of Manasseh (687/6 BC to 642/1 BC, having been co-regent from 696/5 BC).
So if he lived to a good old age Isaiah may well have heard of the birth of the young Cyrus who would become Cyrus I, and may even have been present at celebrations accompanying his birth. It may have been then that through a flash of prophetic inspiration from God he saw him and his coming dynasty as the future hope of Israel, especially if Persia had made an offer of assistance if ever Israel required it. And as far as we know Persia was never involved in activities against Israel. It was probably the only powerful nation in the area in Isaiah’s time not to be connected with military activity against Israel. Thus Persia would not be seen as an enemy. It may even have been that the aged Isaiah, as a highly respected and revered prophet, visited Persia and received assurances of support from Cyrus’ father if ever such support was needed. Furthermore ‘Cyrus’ may well have been the dynastic name, and could even have applied to the whole dynasty from Achaemenes onwards, although there is no archaeological evidence for such an idea. Thus by speaking of ‘Cyrus’ Isaiah may have been referring to ‘the house of Cyrus’, just as ‘David’ could mean the Davidic heir (1Ki 12:16). This would be even more in line with expectation if the Persian kings at this time revealed something of the same enlightened approach as Cyrus II would do later.
Cyrus I’s son was Cambyses I (about 600-559 BC), who was followed by Cyrus II the Great (about 559-530 BC). It was Cyrus II the Great who established the Persian Empire, defeating the Medes, and then defeating Babylon in 539 BC and decreed the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple and the return of its vessels and paraphernalia (Ezr 1:1-4; Ezr 1:7-11; Ezr 6:3-12).
Cyrus II was a great believer in supporting local religions and their gods, and in supporting the restoration of exiled people to their homeland and of their stolen idols to their temples, his only requirement being that prayers be offered for him to their gods, and he regularly even provided money for the purpose. He restored the religion of Marduk in Babylon which gained him the support of the powerful priests of Marduk, and in the Cyrus cylinder he himself acknowledged the help of Marduk in his battles. In a text found at Ur it is Sin, the moon-god, whom he credited with his victories. He thus acknowledged all gods and saw them as on his side. This may well have been a known Persian policy even before his time.
So there are a number of possible views about the use of the name of Cyrus by Isaiah, of which we will briefly consider five:
1) That the prophecy was that of Isaiah, and the reference is to ‘the house of Cyrus’ which was known to him through the prince who would become Cyrus I, or through his father.
2) That the prophecy was that of Isaiah and that the naming of Cyrus was prophetic foresight, with or without Isaiah having any other knowledge of the name of Cyrus (compare1Ki 13:2 for a similar idea re Josiah). Of course this could also be combined with 1).
3) That the prophecy was that of Isaiah but that the name of Cyrus was added by a scribe later once the name of the deliverer was known, possibly by way of marginal notes that became incorporated in the text. It is noted that the name of Cyrus could easily be an added postscript and if dropped out, would hardly disturb the remainder of the text. However, altering the text without manuscript evidence is always a dangerous procedure, and mainly unjustified.
4) That the prophecy was that of an Isaianic disciple in Babylon who saw in Cyrus a solution to the hopes of the exiles to return to the land and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. But in this case why does he limit his reference to the restoration of the Temple to five words throughout his whole book and his references to Babylon in 44-66 to three brief mentions and one chapter, and never clearly mention the exiles in Babylonia?
5) That the word coresh (Cyrus) should rather be read as ‘ caresh’ meaning ‘the crushed one’ (or something similar) , and therefore as referring to the house of David in its humiliation, or even to the humiliation and subsequent glorification of the Servant (Isa 50:4-9; Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12). This would tie in with ‘coresh’ being Israel’s shepherd and Yahweh’s anointed one. The main problem with this interpretation would be the coincidence of names, for coresh certainly indicates the name of Cyrus in the book of Ezra.
The fourth solution, while highly favoured by many scholars who read Babylon in everywhere in Isaiah 40-55, ignores the fact that Babylon does not feature strongly in the account at all. Indeed reading the immediate section one would not gain the impression that Babylon was in mind. It is strange that if someone was preaching in Babylon and anticipating deliverance they would only mention Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sabeans (Isa 45:14) and that the defeat of Babylon is nowhere connected directly with Cyrus. (Although those who support this view see it as described clearly in chapter 47. But that by itself is an unjustified assumption as there is no clear connection between that chapter and chapter 45).
Of the first three suggestions any is possible, but there is no actual good reason for eliminating the name of Cyrus, apart from the theory. Thus one of the first two would appear to be the more favourable. The fifth solution is not one that has as yet made much impact on commentators, but is very worth considering. How we make our decision will probably depend not so much on the evidence but on how we view prophecy. However, apart from 4). each is compatible with Isaianic authorship.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
YAHWEH IS ABOUT TO ACT SO AS TO ESTABLISH HIS PEOPLE AND PREPARE THE WAY FOR HIS SERVANT ( Isa 44:24 to Isa 48:22 ).
As with what has gone before it is necessary for us to determine the viewpoint from which we will see these narratives, and in order to do so we must put ourselves in the shoes of Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 were mainly behind him, Hezekiah was dead, and what lay before him was the future in terms of Manasseh’s reign. That reign had not had a promising beginning. Manasseh had taken the people back to the old ways,and the ways of Assyria, and had thereby defiled the Temple (2Ki 21:2-7; 2Ch 33:2-10). The voice of Isaiah was silent (Isa 1:1). Judah was once more in subjection to Esarhaddon, the King of Assyria (Isa 37:38), who was overseeing Judah from Babylon (2Ch 33:11). The people were corrupted, the Temple was defiled, and Babylon was to be seen by Judah as the great enemy, as, in Isaiah’s eyes, it had always been.
Isaiah had already prophesied something of what the future held. He had informed Hezekiah that his sons would be carried off as trophies to Babylon (Isa 39:6-7), and had declared that God’s punishment must come on the personnel who ran the Temple (Isa 43:27-28), and the miserable fate of those who trusted in idols (Isa 43:27; Isa 44:11). (And this would in fact all actually happen in the near future (2Ch 33:11). For invasion from Babylon would result in Manasseh and his entourage being taken captive to Babylon, the Temple inevitably being sacked, and the people being decimated in the warfare that accompanied it).
But the question now was, how did this fit in with what he had already been saying. How could the Servant whose future had looked so glowing be restored, and what was going to be Yahweh’s response to the situation. These chapters will now deal with that question.
As we have seen the problems were threefold. The first was that the condition of Yahweh’s people was in doubt because of their spiritual position and condition (Isa 42:19-25; Isa 43:22-28), the second was the persistent interference of false gods (Isa 42:17; Isa 44:9-20), especially those of Assyria and Babylon, and the third was that the nations were still preventing His people from coming home (Isa 41:11-12; Isa 42:13-16; Isa 43:1-7). So before the Servant could be restored, and in order that ‘he’ might fulfil his proper function, each of these matters would have to be dealt with. In this section therefore we will discover how Yahweh intends to deal with these questions.
In the case of the first He will rebuild Jerusalem and re-establish (or lay the foundations of) a new Temple (Isa 44:26; Isa 44:28), using the house of Cyrus as His instrument.
In the case of the second He will destroy the daughter of Babylon who is responsible for all the lies and deceit connected with the occult and with false gods (Isa 46:1-2; Isa 47:1-15). But here Cyrus is not mentioned as involved.
In the case of the third He will deal with all the nations whose lands contain exiles, so that His Servant might be restored in order that ‘he’ may begin again (Isa 44:27; Isa 45:1-7) in line with God’s promises to Abraham (Isa 41:8). This section will include prophecies concerning the subjection of Egypt/Ethiopia (Isa 45:14-17), the humbling of Babylon’s gods (Isa 46:1-2), and the destruction of the great enemy Babylon from which all men must flee (47; Isa 48:20).
In the terms of those days the restoration of Jerusalem and the building or restoration of the Temple were prerequisites if the Servant was to be able to do his work, and it had become necessary because the previous Temple had been defiled and those who served in it were rejected (Isa 43:28). Thus it was essential that God should make all things new. Equally important if the gods and the occult were to be dealt a bitter blow was the downfall of Babylon, because from there came all that was deceptive and evil, as it cultivated idolatry and the occult, and thought itself so superior that it could behave as though it was unobserved, even setting itself up against Yahweh (Isa 47:10; compare Isa 14:10-13), as it had always done (Gen 11:1-9). And finally if His people who were exiled all around the world were to return, it would be necessary to find someone who could deal with the nations who held them captive, so that they could be enabled to do so.
These are the matters that the narrative will now look at. The section opens with a declaration of Yahweh’s credentials:
1) He is their Redeemer Who formed them from the womb. Compare for this Isa 43:1 which demonstrates that it is describing Israel, ‘thus says Yahweh Who formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you’. For formation from the womb see Isa 44:2 where Yahweh, speaking to ‘Jacob my Servant, and Israel whom I have chosen’ says that He has ‘formed them from the womb and will help them.’ Compare also Isa 49:1 where The Servant, Who is identified as spiritual Israel (Isa 49:3 with 5-6), is ‘called from the womb’, and Isa 49:5 where he is ‘formed from the womb to be His Servant’. Clearly then He is also speaking to His Servant here.
2) He is the One Who, with none around to help, made all things, stretching out the heavens alone, and spreading out the earth when none was with Him. He alone is the Creator of all things.
3) He is the One Who oversets the occult world, frustrating and making fools of deceitful ‘diviners’, and showing up the recognised ‘magicians’, the ‘wise men’, by deliberately acting in order to show up their knowledge as foolish.
4) In contrast He is the One Who confirms the word of His true Servant and performs the counsel of His true messengers, that is He fulfils their prophecies so that all may be aware that they are His true prophets.
So Yahweh, the Creator of all things, Who opposes and countermands the exponents of the occult by making things happen in such a way as to make them look foolish, has chosen His Servant, the true Israel within Israel, from the womb (it is all in His divine sovereignty) in order that He might confirm his teaching and fulfil his prophecies. Whatever the true Servant is and does will be confirmed and carried into effect by Yahweh. He is the one who is to bear God’s message to the world (compare Isa 2:4).
But having done so He must prepare the way before them. And in doing this He will restore the situation for them. At present the nations hold many of them captive, Jerusalem has been laid waste, and the Temple is defiled, all of which prevent His Servant Israel from fulfilling their obligation. So now He declares how He is going to remedy matters.
It will be noted initially how firmly these ideas are introduced, and in each case they are introduced, not as concerned about a catastrophe but as a guarantee of their fulfilment. For above all they are introduced as being the work of Yahweh.
It is first made clear that the source of these actions is the One Who does everything according to His will, in fulfilment of His word.
1) He says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited”, and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built. And I will build up its waste places.”
2) He says to the deep, “Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers.”
3) He says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd and will perform all My pleasure.”
4) Even saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built”, and to the Temple, “You shall be established” (or ‘your foundations shall be laid.”
If we see this as a chiasmus with 1). and 4). going together, and 2). and 3). going together, there are two emphases. The first is the important one of the restoration of Jerusalem and Judah after its mauling by Sennacherib, and after its future destruction by Esarhaddon (hinted at in Isa 39:6-7; Isa 43:28), and as it later turns out again by Nebuchadnezzar, because Israel does not take advantage of the opportunity gained by Manasseh’s repentance. The guarantee given by His word is that Jerusalem will be reinhabited after its mauling, the cities of Judah will be rebuilt after their devastation caused by war, the waste places caused by war and famine will be restored (built up), and this will include the re-establishing (and as it later turns out the total rebuilding) of the Temple, all of which have been prepared for previously (Isa 41:17-18; Isa 43:19-20; Isa 44:3; Isa 43:28).
The second is Yahweh’s action in the drying up of the deep and the rivers, through the activities of His shepherd, Cyrus, who will do all His pleasure (further expanded on in Isa 45:1-7). Countries in those days were often defined in terms of their rivers (compare Isa 27:1; Isa 7:18; Isa 7:20; Nah 3:8), which were of such vital importance to them, and their drying up was seen as a judgment on them (Isa 19:45; Isa 42:15; Isa 50:2; Psa 74:15; Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36; Eze 30:12; Zec 10:11). The drying up of the deep and the rivers may well therefore signify the desolation of the land of The River, and therefore of both Assyria and Babylon, in which case this is the promise that both will be dealt with through this instrument whom Yahweh has chosen and anointed. But their drying up also reflects what Yahweh had previously done to Egypt when He dried up their deep (Isa 51:10; Isa 63:13; Jos 2:10), and what He had done when He entered Canaan (Jos 4:23; compare Psa 114:3-5), and on top of that it parallels the boast of Sennacherib that with the sole of his feet he had dried up the rivers of all the places that he besieged (Isa 37:25). As he had done to others, so would be done to Assyria, and their accomplice Babylon. As a result restoration was promised to God’s people, which would include the opportunity of return from exile, the restoration of life in Judah, the reinhabiting of Jerusalem, the restoration of the Temple, and destruction to their enemies.
Noteworthy in this description is the total lack of mention of the enemies that Cyrus will deal with. The house of Cyrus has not been raised up in order to deliver them from the Babylonian empire, but to deliver them from all their enemies (Isa 45:1-7), whoever they may be, and to be God’s instrument as Yahweh fulfils His purpose to restore Judah and the Temple (Isa 44:26-28) in readiness for God’s outpouring of righteousness and salvation (Isa 45:8; compare Isa 44:1-5). Isaiah does not pretend to know the details, and shows no awareness of the activities of Nebuchadnezzar. He still thinks in terms of Assyrian Babylon..
It will be noted that in what follows, describing the activities of Cyrus, it is his destruction of nations and taking of their cities and treasures, ‘for Jacob my Servant’s sake and Israel my chosen’, that is emphasised (Isa 45:1-3). While he would also certainly play his part in giving permission for the building of a new Temple (Isa 44:28 with Ezr 1:1), on our reading of it that is here seen as a by-product of his activity. The raising up of the new Temple was to be the work of Yahweh. That was not, of course, to prevent Cyrus having a part in the process. But no heathen king could establish the Temple of Yahweh. (Apart from the lessons learned however, it actually matters little which view we take for Cyrus II was undoubtedly involved in both). Cyrus’ main assignment was to be the defeat and denuding of the nations for Israel’s sake (Isa 44:27-28 a; Isa 45:1-6).
So as we go into this new section we carefully note God’s promise of a restored Judah, a new or restored Temple, and a new or restored Jerusalem, alongside of which the idolatrous city of Babylon will be destroyed because of all that it represents. This latter is, however, not connected with Cyrus, which from the point of view of accuracy was a good job because Cyrus did not desolate Babylon. Rather having taken it easily, and being welcomed by the priests of Marduk, he restored it to its previous importance within his empire. The final demise of Babylon in fulfilment of Isaiah’s words took place much later.
Isaiah accepts these strands of information without flinching, and without trying to fit them together. He is very much lacking in the full details. What he is aware of are the principles involved. The Temple must be restored, the exiles must return from all over the world, Babylon must be destroyed. But it is important from our point of view to recognise that while Cyrus is very much involved in the general picture, he is not described as being involved with Babylon, and once he has made the world ready for Yahweh’s Servant, he departs immediately from the picture.
So the consequence is that, having in His eternal counsels, brought Abraham to the land like a ‘bird of prey’ (Isa 46:11), He will not allow Abraham’s seed to fail, but will restore them so that they might fulfil their task as His Servant..
This description of Abraham as a ‘bird of prey’ is interesting and significant. There can seem little doubt that in using it he has in mind that having originally, within the eternal purposes of God, arrived in the land, Abraham had, like a great bird of prey, descended on the king of Babylon and had driven him off and spoiled him (Isa 41:2; Genesis 14), just as his seed would later do with the Canaanites. Thus Isaiah is now to see the continued presence of Abraham in the land in his seed (Isa 41:8; Isa 45:4) who are God’s Servant, as a guarantee that Babylon will again suffer through the hand of their Kinsman Redeemer as He acts on behalf of His people, as He did in the days of Abraham. Yahweh too will swoop on Babylon, but this time to destroy it completely.
Further Note on Babylon.
In view of all that he has previously said about Babylon (Isa 44:13-14) it is clear that Isaiah could have expected nothing less than its destruction. Nor could he have doubted that it was necessary. For the shadow of Babylon, the great Anti-God and proponent of the occult, continually hung over the world, and over the people of God, and had to be dealt with. Her evil spiritual influence was known throughout the Near Eastern world, and was affecting the future of Yahweh’s Servant. There was therefore no alternative to her permanent destruction.
And yet that has not been the theme of Isaiah’s message. Indeed Babylon has only been mentioned once, and that almost incidentally, in Isa 43:14. At this stage Isaiah is interested in the work of the Servant, not in Babylon. He does not see Babylon as the threat to Israel’s freedom and independence, (he does not even mention it in chapter 45), only as the centre of all that is devilish.
And this is despite the fact that Babylon had yet to appear in order to loot David’s house and take the errant sons of David to become eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon as God had already revealed through him (Isa 39:6-7). But that was a different issue dealing with the rejection of the current house of David. It said nothing about the destruction of the Temple or the future of the Servant.
So while, as we have gathered in Isa 43:28, he was becoming more and more aware that the Temple had been profaned and must be replaced, he does not make any claim that he knows how or when it will come about. Nothing is said about the way in which it will come to be in that state. He simply knows that it will necessarily be so because God’s people have defiled it (Isa 43:22-28). But at no stage, when speaking of the restoration of the Temple, does he mention Babylon as involved, or connected with its destruction in any way. Had he known specifically he would surely have said so. But that was something not revealed to him. While he knew that the Temple must be replaced because defiled, and may well have suspected who the culprit might be, he clearly did not see it as part of his message to Israel.
What he did know was that it was through the folly and unbelief of Ahaz that Assyria had come to tread Israel down (Isa 10:5; Isa 52:4). And at this present time he sees that threat as slightly altered in that the direction of the threat now comes from a Babylon, through whom Assyria was operating. This is clear from the fact that later, when Manasseh was arraigned for misbehaviour against Assyria, it was to Babylon that he was carried off in chains to give account (2Ch 33:11). And this involvement of Babylon in the affairs of Israel as acting on behalf of Assyria would chill Isaiah’s heart, for he knew what God had said about Hezekiah’s children and that Babylon was the permanent enemy of God from the beginning. Indeed it was he who had been called upon to demand its permanent destruction, never to be restored (Isa 13:19-20; see also 14; Isa 21:9; Isa 23:13). And he knew that through the folly of Hezekiah Babylon had been awakened to the prosperity of Judah and would one day come for her treasures (Isa 39:6-7). So when it began acting as broker on behalf of Assyria, in Isaiah’s eyes Babylon, the great Anti-God, came to the fore. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, rebuilt Babylon and appointed one of his sons there as crown representative and prince, and it would seem that Babylon was now the taskmaster acting on behalf of Assyria with regard to Judah. As the primeval rebellious city, and as the great Anti-God, it had even ingratiated itself with Assyria. It had to be destroyed
So that is why Babylon itself, with its encroaching ways, has to be got rid of, and Yahweh will now assure Israel from his own experience that the gods of Babylon, having been humiliated by the Assyrians, had been revealed as what they were (Isa 46:1-2). Babylon herself was thus doomed (47). All men are therefore to turn from any consideration of, or affinity, with Babylon and recognise the triumph of Yahweh in establishing His people (Isa 48:20). So physically Israel’s deliverance from the nations will be by the hand of a Persian king, but spiritually their spiritual life will be saved by the establishment of the new Temple (Isa 44:28) and by the destruction of Babylon (Isa 48:20), the great threat to Yahwism (47; compare Isa 14:13-15).
These then are now the matters with which Isaiah will deal, and the ideas that are mentioned are in huge contrast, and are all important for the work of the Servant, but he does not interconnect them. On the one hand there is to be the full restoration of a pure, new, and undefiled Temple, a place through which the Servant can operate if ‘he’ is willing, and on the other there is to be the destruction of the evil daughter of Babylon with all her false sorceries and idols. For until both these things have occurred the work of the Servant will continue to be hindered. However, this destruction of Babylon is more connected with Assyria (Isa 46:1-2) than with Cyrus.
Cyrus is rather seen as the one whose conquests will prepare the way for Israel by conquering the nations and acting on Israel’s behalf. For what Cyrus will do is to be ‘for Jacob, My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect’ (Isa 45:4). That is the specific reason why Yahweh has called him by name and put His own name on Him (surnamed him), even though he himself does not know Yahweh. It is because he is acting in order that the Servant might benefit. We must not confuse the two activities of preparing the way for the Servant, which was the purpose of raising up Cyrus, and the destruction of Babylon which will occur through the hand of Yahweh. Both were necessary but no connection is identified between them. To Isaiah they represented the good and the bad about the future as stunningly revealed by Yahweh.
There is no thought in these chapters that Isaiah is over-anxious. He is perfectly aware, on his pinnacle of faith and with his magnificent view of God (40), that the situation is no-contest. And once he has introduced the one who will restore the Servant (45), he puts the gods of Babylon firmly in their place as burdens on the backs of beasts which far from helping them can only make the weary beasts stumble (Isa 46:1-2), and proclaims the end of the daughter of the Chaldeans (47). Then, the great enemy having been dealt with, He reintroduces the Servant in his ministry to His people and to the world (49). It is clear that until Babylon is out of the way the Servant cannot finalise his ministry.
It should be noted how little detail is given with regard to these external threats. Isaiah is not necessarily aware of all the full ramifications of them, and is certainly not concerned about them. His whole thought is concentrated on what Yahweh is doing. It is those facts of which he is sure.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Promise to have Jerusalem Rebuilt
This section, according to a careful analysis, belongs to the next chapter, for it takes up the deliverance of Israel as effected in consequence of the decree of Cyrus.
v. 24. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, v. 25. that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, v. 26. that, v. 27. that saith to the deep, v. 28. that saith of Cyrus,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 44:24-27. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, &c. The prophet here continues the discourse of God, after having called upon the whole creation, in the preceding verse, to praise him for the blessing of that great redemption from Babylon, concerning which he treats in these verses; and therefore he prefixes to this period a new and solemn preface, Thus saith the Lord, &c. The false prophets and diviners, mentioned in Isa 44:25 are those astrologers, with whom Chaldea particularly abounded; though, in a secondary sense, and, referring to the Gospel, the wise men of this world, of whom the apostle speaks, 1Co 1:20 may be meant. The word of his servant and messengers, Isa 44:26 means, the word of Isaiah particularly, and the subsequent prophets who declared this great event. In the 27th verse there is an historical and a mystical sense; the historical refers to the drying up of the Euphrates by Cyrus; (see ch. Isa 14:22-23.) in a mystical sense, by the deep, and rivers of Babylon, are to be understood the great wealth and affluence wherewith that kingdom abounded. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here is a renewed instance of Jehovah’s claiming the distinguishing prerogative of his sovereignty; and a most blessed one it is. And when we consider the reasons for which the Lord thus reveals himself, in holding it forth for the confirmation of his love to his people, nothing can be more blessed, both as it serves to display the divine glory, and to encourage the minds of the people. The Lord here first introduceth Cyrus by name, who in after-ages was to be raised up for the deliverance of his people: concerning whom the succeeding chapter speaks more largely.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 44:24 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;
Ver. 24. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. ] All this God had said oft before, see Isa 42:5 ; but, for the further confirmation of some who were unsettled by the contrary predictions of some vain diviners and wizards, he saith it over again.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 44:24-28
24Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,
I, the LORD, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone,
25Causing the omens of boasters to fail,
Making fools out of diviners,
Causing wise men to draw back
And turning their knowledge into foolishness,
26Confirming the word of His servant
And performing the purpose of His messengers.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’
And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’
And I will raise up her ruins again.
27It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’
And I will make your rivers dry.
28It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd!
And he will perform all My desire.’
And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’
Isa 44:24-28 This is one sentence in Hebrew. It is a series of relative clauses which are translated by the NIV as who. . . It is significant that this is a structured unit because the climax is found in the mention of Cyrus by name in Isa 44:28. It is basically a unit dealing with the God who can versus the idols who cannot. YHWH announces beforehand what will occur to prove His existence and power (cf. Isa 41:22-23; Isa 44:7; Isa 44:26).
Notice the list of who. . . in NIV (i.e., Qal PARTICIPLES).
1. who formed you in the womb, Isa 44:24
2. who has made all things, Isa 44:24
3. who alone stretched out the heavens, Isa 44:24
4. who spread out the earth by Myself, Isa 44:24
5. who foils the signs of false prophets, Isa 44:25
6. who overthrows the learning of the wise, Isa 44:25
7. who carries out the words of his servants, Isa 44:26
8. who says of Jerusalem, it shall be inhabited, Isa 44:26
9. who says to the watery deep, Be dry, Isa 44:27
10. who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, Isa 44:28
Isa 44:24 Redeemer This is the term Go’el, which has the same definition as ransom with the added idea of a near kinsman as the agent. It is often a title for God; it is used in this personal sense to reveal God’s character. See Special Topic: Ransom/Redeem .
the one who formed you from the womb This primarily refers to the formation of the nation of Israel (cf. Isa 45:2). It is used uniquely of the Exodus experience. This concept of birthing also lends itself to the concept of the people of God as the children of God.
I, the LORD, am. . . This is literally the phrase, I am YHWH, which is a key phrase in the OT. It is a play on the covenant name for God, from the VERB to be (cf. Exo 3:14). Its basic meaning is I am the ever-existing, only-existing God. See Special Topic: Names for Deity .
maker of all things This is the emphasis of God as both Creator and Redeemer (cf. Isa 45:12; Isa 45:18).
Stretching out the heavens by Myself Here again is God as Creator. This phraseology is used in Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 45:12; Isa 45:18; Isa 51:13. See , see Special Topic: The Heavens and the Third Heaven .
spreading out the earth all alone The English all alone (qere, NEB) is literally a rhetorical question, Who was with Me? (ketiv, DSS, LXX, NRSV). This is an emphasis, like the phrase above, by Myself, on God’s unique position. He is the one and only Creator God (cf. Job 38:4 ff). See Special Topic: MONOTHEISM .
Isa 44:25 omens. . .diviners. . .wise men This verse is an exposure of the occult practices of the surrounding nations, particularly Babylon. It is a foil for God to discuss His true prophets in Isa. 45:26. Biblically, the way to determine a true prophet is found in Deu 13:1-3; Deu 18:22. The false prophets and the true prophets are going to be contrasted in order to reveal that God is the only God.
It is possible that the Hebrew word boasters can mean
1. liars, vain talkers (BDB 95 III)
2. soothsayers, from an Akkadian root (AB, vol. 20, p. 72), which would make it parallel to diviners (line 2). Note how similar the Hebrew words are.
#1 to #2
The Barim priests of Babylon were known for their predictions (Leupold, p. 133).
Isa 44:26 Confirming the word of His servant God is in control of history. His forth-telling of future events is one way to prove to all mankind that God is the only Creator, Redeemer God (cf. Isa 41:22-23; Isa. 45:7, 26). Throughout this section of Isaiah prophecy is used as a means of God demonstrating His ability over against the inability of the occult practices to determine future events.
The words servant (BDB 712) and messenger (BDB 521) are parallel. The first is SINGULAR and the second PLURAL. Is this meant to refer to
1. the Servant
2. the prophets
or are both to be understood as the prophet? Thereby, servant would be a way to characterize all prophets.
This verse may be an allusion to Isa 2:2-4 or Mic 4:1-4.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘she shall be inhabited’ This is a very specific prophecy of not only the restoration of Jerusalem but also of the cities of Judah (cf. Isa 2:2-4; Mic 4:1-3).
Isa 44:27 There has been much discussion on the meaning of this verse. These are the theories:
1. YHWH controls the waters of chaos (cf. Genesis 1; Psa 74:12-17; Isa 51:10).
2. It is a reference to God’s splitting of the Red Sea and the Jordan River and, therefore, is a reference to the Exodus.
3. It shows that God can overcome any barrier and is used in the sense of God drying up or overcoming the Euphrates River (i.e., note Isa 11:15-16) so that Cyrus can defeat Babylon.
4. This is used in some sense that God is the controller of moisture which proves that he is the fertility God and not Ba’al.
Isa 44:28 It is I who says of Cyrus Cyrus is mentioned by name for the first time in this context. He is also mentioned by name in Isa 45:1. Josephus, in his book, Antiquities of the Jews, 11.1.2, says that Jewish tradition believes that prophecies were shown to Cyrus and that he allowed the Jews to return to Judah. We also learn that Cyrus was impressed by these prophecies in 2Ch 36:22-23.
He is My shepherd This term primarily speaks of a leader or administrator. There are two very strong kingly terms used here, shepherd (BDB 944 I) in Isa 44:28 and anointed one (BDB 603) in Isa 45:1. Both of these terms show that God will use Cyrus to accomplish His purposes. This does not imply that Cyrus became a believer (cf. Isa 45:5 c), but that God uses human instrumentality in order to accomplish His purposes (i.e., Exo 3:7-10).
Your foundation will be laid The fulfillment of this prophecy, related to both the city of Jerusalem and the temple, is found in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Isa 44:24-28
Isa 44:24-28
THE PROPHECY REGARDING CYRUS
“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?); that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith 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; that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”
This paragraph is the place where critics generally refuse to acknowledge any possibility of Isaiah’s having written these verses; but they have nothing whatever upon which to base any logical objection. Nothing ever known in the history of Biblical interpretation is as thoroughly discredited and repudiated by all thoughtful persons as is the vain, arrogant, and ridiculous postulations of the critics.
This mention of Cyrus in this place was shown to Cyrus when he came to the throne of Persia, according to the historian Josephus; and it was his seeing this passage in the Hebrew Bible and having it identified to him as a valid prophecy of Isaiah that caused him to take the lead in the restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem and in the laying of the foundation of their temple. Josephus’ testimony here is independent of the Bible, and is also verified in the Bible. Now let the critics produce one line, or even a single word, of historical testimony about their imaginative “Deutero-Isaiah.” Where is it? See our Introduction to Isaiah for further comment on this.
One of the most brilliant young scholars of our generation is Homer Hailey, and we are happy to join him in his affirmation concerning this genuine predictive prophecy:
“Without hesitation or apology, this writer stands with the older commentators who ascribed the whole prophecy, the entire Book of Isaiah, to but one man, the prophet Isaiah; and we believe that by the inspiration of Jehovah’s Spirit, God foretold, through Isaiah, events far in the future.”
Rawlinson pointed out that the prophecy of so minute a thing as the name of man so long before he was born is not, by any means, a unique thing. “Three centuries before Josiah was born, God prophesied his birth, the name he would bear, and the fact that Josiah would burn the bones of men upon the altar at Bethel (1Ki 13:2).” Not only so, did not the angel of God announce the name of Jesus before he was born; and to Almighty God is that anything different from announcing Cyrus a hundred fifty years before he was born? As Barnes said, “That this passage of Isaiah was seen by Cyrus is the testimony of Josephus; and it is morally certain from the nature of the case, since, otherwise it is incredible that Cyrus should have aided the Jews to return and rebuild their city and the temple.”
What could possibly have been any more incredible than the prophecy that the Jews would be liberated from captivity by a pagan ruler who would also aid financially in their return and rebuilding of Jerusalem? “Yet it was done by Cyrus 150 years after Isaiah prophesied it.”
The critics have something much more difficult to explain than the mere fact of this prophecy’s having been written 150 years before Cyrus fulfilled it, and that is the incredible wonder of why Cyrus did it at all, unless the Biblical explanation of it is allowed.
The Holy Scriptures affirm that Cyrus himself uttered the following decree and proclamation during the very first year of his reign:
“Now, in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever is left in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1-4).
This remarkable edict by Cyrus is also mentioned in the last two verses of 2Chronicles.
Several of God’s prophets had foretold the fall of Babylon, and remarkably, they all indicated that it would be due to a drought upon the waters of the Euphrates; as this passage here puts it, “I will dry up thy rivers.” This was quite different from the prophecy of the fall of Nineveh, which, according to Nahum, was prophesied to take place as the result of a flood!
The most exact and circumstantial fulfillment of the prophecy of Babylon’s fall occurred on October 12,539 B.C.
Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, was drinking himself drunk with his lords, ladies, and concubines in the great banquet hah of the palace, an immense place 50 feet by 160 feet in size, quite unaware that the Euphrates River had been diverted by Cyrus, and that the entire Medo-Persian military force would fill the city before daylight, having their access under the walls and gates as the waters of the Euphrates sank lower and lower. That was the night when Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall, the last night before “Darius the Mede took the kingdom.” See Daniel 5, and the commentary on Daniel.
Barnes has this:
“Cyrus took the city of Babylon after having besieged it a long time in vain, by turning the waters of the river into a vast lake, forty miles square, which had been constructed to carry off the superfluous waters in times of a flood. By doing this, he laid the channel of the Euphrates almost dry, enabling him to enter the city and take it by surprise.”
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. Daniel, chapters 7-12). 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 Christ-who 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 matters-the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Once that is settled, all else falls into proper place.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
thy redeemer: Isa 44:6, Isa 43:14, Isa 48:17, Isa 49:7, Isa 49:26, Isa 54:5, Isa 54:8, Isa 59:20, Isa 60:16, Isa 63:16, Psa 78:35, Jer 50:34, Rev 5:9
and he: Isa 44:2, Isa 43:1, Isa 43:7, Isa 46:3, Isa 46:4, Isa 49:1, Job 31:15, Psa 71:6, Psa 139:13-16, Gal 1:15
I am: Isa 40:22, Isa 42:5, Isa 45:12, Isa 48:13, Isa 51:13, Job 9:8, Job 26:7, Psa 104:2, Jer 51:15
by myself: Joh 1:3, Eph 3:9, Col 1:16, Col 1:17, Heb 1:2, Heb 1:10-12
Reciprocal: Gen 1:1 – God 1Ki 8:60 – the Lord 1Ch 16:26 – the Lord Job 37:18 – spread Psa 136:6 – General Isa 27:11 – therefore Isa 37:16 – thou hast Isa 40:26 – who hath Isa 41:14 – saith Isa 64:8 – all are Jer 10:12 – stretched Jer 27:5 – made Jer 32:17 – thou Zec 12:1 – which Luk 1:71 – we Joh 5:19 – for Act 7:50 – General 1Co 8:4 – there is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 44:24-27. I am the Lord that maketh all things And therefore I can save thee without the help of any other gods, or any creature; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars Of the magicians and astrologers, who were numerous and greatly esteemed in Babylon, and who had foretold the long continuance and prosperity of the Chaldean empire. And maketh the diviners mad With grief for the disappointment of their predictions, and their disgrace which followed it. That turneth wise men backward Stopping their way, and blasting their designs. That confirmeth the word of his servants The prophets, as appears from the next clause, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, whom God sent to foretel the destruction of Babylon, and the redemption of his people. The connection of this with Isa 44:25, is, As God discovers the folly and madness of such false prophets, so he punctually fulfils the predictions of his own prophets. That saith to the deep, Be dry That with a word can dry up the sea and rivers, and remove all impediments. Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night, through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also noted by Jeremiah. A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: I will lay her sea dry; and I will scorch up her springs, Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36. It is proper here to give some account of the method by which the stratagem of Cyrus was effected. The Euphrates, in the middle of summer, from the melting of the snows on the mountains of Armenia, like the Nile, overflows the country. In order to diminish the inundation, and carry off the waters, two canals were made by Nebuchadnezzar a hundred miles above the city; the first on the eastern side, called Naharmalca, or the Royal river, by which the Euphrates was let into the Tigris; the other on the western side, called Pallacopas, or Naharaga, (Hebrew, , the river of the pool,) by which the redundant waters were carried into a vast lake, forty miles square, contrived, not only to lessen the inundation, but for a reservoir, with sluices to water the barren country on the Arabian side. Cyrus, by turning the whole river into the latter lake, laid the channel, where it ran through the city, almost dry; so that his army entered it both above and below by the bed of the river, the water not reaching above the middle of the thigh. By the great quantity of water let into the lake, the sluices and dams were destroyed; and being never repaired afterward, the waters spread over the whole country below, and reduced it into a morass, in which the river is lost. Bishop Lowth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 44:24 to Isa 45:8. Yahwehs Commission to Cyrus.Yahweh reminds Israel of His power as sole Creator of the universe. What He created He still controls, so that He falsifies the predictions deduced by the soothsayers from the omens, and makes the diviners look foolish, while He fulfils the predictions of His servants (read plural), the prophets. He it is who has decreed the restoration of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the cities of Judah. The hindrances are compared to a flood, which He will dry up (Exodus 14). He it is who calls Cyrus the shepherd of His people. To Cyrus, whom He has anointed for this commission, whom He supports in his career of victory, delivering to him all fortified cities, He has promised that He will go before him, smoothing difficulties from his path. Brazen gates and the iron bars that strengthen them He will shatter. He will give him the treasures hoarded in secret chambers, Babylons spoils of conquest. Yet not for his own sake, but for Israels, has Yahweh called him, though he knew Him not, and given him a title of honour. He, the only God, will gird Cyrus with strength, but kings who oppose him He will disarm, that all men may know He is Yahweh, sole controller of the fates of mankind. Let the heavens flood the earth with righteousness: from the womb of the earth let deliverance and prosperity spring forth, and let the earth produce the triumph of His people.
Isa 44:24. is: rather was, i.e. at the creation.
Isa 44:25. liars: render, soothsayers.
Isa 44:28. Oriental rulers often styled themselves shepherd of the nation.
Isa 45:1. loose the loins of: i.e. ungird, and consequently disarm.
Isa 45:7. peace: render, prosperity.create: delete as repetition from preceding clause.[If a dualistic doctrine is tacitly attacked here, whose doctrine was it? J. H. Moulton (Early Zoroastrianism, p. 220) says it was that of teachers essentially akin to the Magi. He adds: The existence of such a dualistic tendency within the field from which he drew his observations does not prove any nexus between the Magi and Babylon, unless in their accepting Babylonian ideas as they accepted Persian. But the dualism in question may quite well have been Magian and not Babylonian at all.evil: calamity, not moral evil.A. S. P.].
Isa 45:8. Drop down: transitive, having same object as pour down.righteousness: victory.together: render, also.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Lord prefaced His stunning prediction with a reminder of who was making it. He was Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God who had redeemed her and would yet redeem her. He had brought her into existence by Himself, as He had created all things including the heavens and the earth (cf. Isa 40:12-14; Isa 40:21-22). The often repeated phrase "Thus says the LORD" in this part of Isaiah engenders confidence in the promises of redemption that follow (cf. Isa 45:1; Isa 45:11; Isa 45:14; Isa 45:18).