Isaiah 41:21-29

No *idols can announce what is going to happen. That is something that only the *Lord God can do.

• See my note on Isaiah 44:9-20.

Lord ~ God’s personal name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s name ‘Lord’ means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
idol ~ home-made image of a god.
anvil ~ heavy metal object on which a worker beats other metal flat.'threshing-sledge ~ a heavy wooden board with nails; the farmer used it to beat corn to separate grain from the stem.
clay ~ kind of earth that a potter uses. Clay is soft when it is wet. But it becomes hard when it is dry.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.

1. Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

God’s Servant Saves God’s People

Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55

Gordon Churchyard

The words in square brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. Words in round brackets, (…) are explanations.

2. Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55: God’s servant saves God’s people

We can divide Isaiah’s book into 5 main sections. This is the fourth (4th) of these main sections:

• Chapter s 1 to 5 – Isaiah describes the people that live in Judah and Jerusalem.

• Chapter 6 – God makes Isaiah into a *prophet.
• Chapter s 7 to 40 – God’s king rules God’s people.
• Chapter s 41 to 55 – God’s servant saves God’s people.
• Chapter s 56 to 66 – God’s *messiah beats God’s enemies.

1. About the servant of the *LORD

Many Bible students, perhaps hundreds, have written about ‘the servant of the *LORD’. The phrase comes in other places in the *Old Testament, but it comes most importantly in Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55. The word *LORD, with 4 capital letters, translates the *Hebrew word YHWH. We usually pronounce it YAHWEH. Some people pronounce it JEHOVAH. Nobody is certain what YHWH means. It may mean the same as God’s name in Exodus 3:14. We can translate it two ways. (1) I am that I am. (2) I am because I am. It tells us that God is always alive! Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

There are 4 sections of Isaiah that Bible students call ‘Servant Songs’. They are 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and 52:13 to 53:12. In Acts 8:30-35, we can read part of the story of the official from Ethiopia. Philip heard the official who was reading from the fourth (4th) Servant Song. Philip asked him if he understood it. The official did not understand it, so Philip helped him. The official asked an important question. ‘Is the *prophet (Isaiah) speaking about himself, or about somebody else?’ Philip’s answer was somebody else, ‘Jesus’. Matthew also tells us that Isaiah wrote about Jesus. This was in the first Servant Song, Matthew 12:14-21.

But the servant in Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55 (not just the 4 Servant Songs) is not always Jesus. Also, *Jewish Bible students do not have the same answers as Christians. *Jewish Bible students still follow the religion of the *Old Testament. In addition, the servant in Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55 does not always mean the same person. In some places it is one person, but in other places it is another person. Here are some of the answers that Bible students have given:

1) *Jewish Bible students usually say that the servant is nearly always the nation called Israel. Christians agree that in some places, such as Isaiah 41:8, Israel is called the servant of the *LORD. Even in Babylon, after God has punished Israel, Israel continues to be God’s servant, as in Isaiah 43:21.

2) In Isaiah 44:28 and Isaiah 45:1 the servant is King Cyrus of Persia. Isaiah 44:28 calls him the *LORD’s ‘*shepherd’. Isaiah 45:1 calls Cyrus the *LORD’s ‘*anointed’. A *shepherd is a sheep farmer. But the Bible uses the word *shepherd as a word-picture for somebody who cares for and about his people. ‘*Anointed’ means someone that people have poured oil upon. That was part of the ancient ceremony to appoint a king. Oil is a description of God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives the *anointed person a special task to do. And the person also receives the authority and the strength to do it. The kings after Cyrus also carried out duties that God gave to them as his servants. They were called Darius and Artaxerxes.

3) But the Bible also calls Jesus a *shepherd (John 10:11) and *anointed by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16). And Christians believe that Isaiah chapter 53 can only refer to Jesus. Also, although Isaiah 42:1 may refer to both Israel and the *Persian kings, it refers best of all to Jesus.

Read the note below on Isaiah 41:3. There, it explains that the Bible is often ‘ambiguous’. This means that a verse can mean two (or more) different things. When we read the phrase ‘the servant of YHWH (the *LORD)’, it can mean several things.

• The nation called Israel.

• The *prophet Isaiah.

• The rulers of Persia.

• Jesus Christ.

‘Christ’ is the *Greek word for ‘*anointed’. For Christians, the servant of YHWH (the *LORD) is Jesus the *anointed! He is doing what Israel, Isaiah and Cyrus did 2700 years ago. But Jesus does it for the whole world!

3. Chapter 41

v1 ‘You islands, be silent in front of me. And let the people [in the nations] regain [their] strength. Let them move towards the front [of the court] and speak. Let us meet together for judgement.

v2 Who woke up somebody in the east [as if they were waking someone from sleep]? Who called him to [stand on] his feet? [And who called him to serve] *Righteousness? [The answer is the *LORD.]

• [The *LORD] gives nations over to him.

• [The *LORD] makes kings bend down on their knees in front of him.

• [The *LORD] makes [people] into dust with his sword.

• [The *LORD makes] them into *chaff that the wind blows away with his bow.

v3 He (the *LORD’s servant) pursues them; he moves on without injury. He goes on a path [very fast]. His feet [hardly touch the ground] as he travels.

v4 [It is I, the *LORD,] who has done this. And I have made it happen [says the *LORD]. [It is I] who announced everything from the beginning. I, the *LORD, am the first. I am he [who will be with] the last [people].’

v5 The [people on the] islands saw this and they were afraid. The [people at] the ends of the earth trembled [with fear]. They approached [each other] and they came together.

v6 Each [country] helped the other [country]. Each one said to his brother, ‘Be strong!’

v7 The skilful worker encouraged the gold-worker. [One] man had a hammer. He said [this] to the man that had the block to hammer metal on. ‘[You have] joined [the pieces of metal] together well!’ Then he fixed [the *idol] firmly with nails so that it could not fall over.

v8 ‘But you, Israel, are my servant. Jacob, I have chosen you. You are the *descendants of my friend Abraham.

v9 I brought you from the ends of the earth. I called you from its far corners. I said, “You are my servant. I have chosen you. I have not refused to accept you.”

v10 So do not be afraid, because I am with you. Do not be unhappy, because I am your God. I will make you strong and I will help you. Really, I will support you with my very good, fair, right hand.

v11 Everybody that is angry with you, will certainly be ashamed. [They will all] have no honour. Those people that oppose you, will become as nothing. And they will die.

v12 Even if you search for your enemies, you will not find them. The people that fight against you, will have disappeared.

v13 [This will happen] because I am the *LORD. [I am] your God. I will hold onto your right hand. And I will say to you, “Do not be afraid. I will help you.”

v14 Do not be afraid, you worm (tiny animal) Jacob, you little Israel. I myself will help you.’ This is what the *LORD says. He is your *Redeemer. [He is] the *Holy [God] of Israel.

v15 ‘Look! I will make you into a machine that *threshes. It will be new and sharp, with many teeth. You will *thresh the mountains, you will break the hills. You will destroy them. They will become [like] *chaff.

v16 You will separate them [into small pieces]. Then the wind will pick them up and a strong wind will blow them away. But you will be happy with the *LORD. You will [share in the] *glory of the *Holy [God] of Israel.

v17 Poor people search for water. And so do people that lack many things. But there is no [water]. Their tongues are dry because they need a drink. I, the *LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forget them.

v18 I will make rivers flow on hills where nothing grows. And [I will make] wells in the valleys. I will make pools of water in the desert and *springs where the ground is dry.

v19 I will put these trees into the desert: cedar, acacia, myrtle and *olive. And I will put together into the Arabah (a dry valley) these trees: pine, fir and cypress.

v20 Then people will see this. They will know that the hand of the *LORD has done it. They will consider it. And they will understand that the *Holy [God] of Israel has created it.’

v21 The *LORD says, ‘Tell me the reasons [for your opinions].’ Jacob’s king says, ‘Set out your beliefs.

v22 Bring [your *idols] into [court]. Let them tell us what will happen [in the future]. Tell us about past things. Then we can think about them. And we will know what will happen to them. Or tell us about events that will happen.

v23 Tell us what is in the future. Then we will know that [your *idols] are gods. Do something good or bad that will make us unhappy or afraid.

v24 But your [*idols] are less than nothing. And the things that you have made are worth absolutely nothing. Anybody that chooses you is really awful!’

v25 ‘I will wake up somebody from the north. And he will come from [the direction of] the rising sun. He will call on my name. He will walk on the rulers [of the nations] as if they were *mortar. And like a person that makes pots, he will shape the *clay (material to make the pots).

v26 Who told you [this] from the beginning, so that we would know [about these events]? Or [who told you this] before it happened? Then we could say, “He was right.” Nobody declared it. Nobody announced [these events before they happened]. Nobody heard your words.

v27 Remember, I [God] was the first [person] to tell *Zion, “Look, they are here!” I gave to Jerusalem somebody that brought good news.

v28 I looked, but there is nobody [among the nations]. There is nobody to advise them. There is nobody to answer [the questions that] I ask them.

v29 Look! All [the *idols] are false. What they do achieves nothing. Their images are just wind and confusion.’

1. Notes

Here is the structure of this chapter.

What God does	The judge’s decision	What *idols do
	Verse 1 God, as the judge, calls the nations in the world to his court.
Verses 2-4 God, as a lawyer, asks the question, ‘Who controls history?’
		Verses 5-7 The nations say that they trust in their *idols.
Verses 8-20 God, both as master and as *redeemer, promises to help his people.
		Verses 21-24 God, as a lawyer, says that the *idols can explain nothing.
	Verses 25-29 God, as judge, will send someone from the north to rule the nations.

The notes explain the words ‘*idols’ and ‘*redeemer’.

Verse 1 We must imagine ourselves in court. God is the judge and the lawyer. He tells the islands to be silent, so that they can listen to him. ‘Islands’ here probably means places that you go to on a ship. The islands are any places with coasts. As the first two sentences probably mean similar things, ‘islands’ is a word, therefore, for ‘people in the nations’. The chapter makes it clear that they are not *Jews. God made an offer to the *Jews in Isaiah 40:31 to ‘regain (their) strength’. He makes the same offer here to people that are not *Jews. It is an important part of Isaiah’s message that God will deal with everybody in the same way. Read Isaiah 2:2-4 and 19:24-25. ‘Judgement’ here does not mean ‘punishment’. It means a decision by somebody with authority.

Verse 2 Here and in verses 3-4, God speaks as a lawyer and not as a judge. Every ‘who’, ‘his’ and ‘him’ complicates verse 2. Every ‘who’ is probably the *LORD God; and every ‘him’ and ‘his’ may be King Cyrus of Persia. Not all Bible students agree with this, so the names are not in the translation above. But if these names are correct, then the verse tells us this.

• God woke up Cyrus. God called Cyrus to serve *Righteousness. God gives nations to Cyrus. God makes kings kneel in front of Cyrus. God makes people into dust with the sword of Cyrus. God makes nations into *chaff that Cyrus blows away with his bow.

But this note must emphasise that ‘him’ and ‘his’ could be somebody else. It could be Joshua. He came into the country that became Israel from the east, through the Arabah. The Arabah is a desert, a dry valley that is east from Jerusalem. Joshua defeated many of the kings that ruled in the country. The *Jews have a tradition that ‘him’ and ‘his’ refer to Abraham. So no translation can say who ‘him’ and ‘his’ are! *Righteousness means ‘very great goodness’. Here, ‘Very Great Goodness’ may be a name for God himself. There is a note on King Cyrus in the notes on Isaiah 45:1.

Verse 3 Here, ‘he’ may refer to Cyrus, Joshua or Abraham. It could mean all three of them! Many words in the Bible may mean two or more things. ‘Them’ refers to the enemy. ‘Without injury’ is just ‘peace’ in the *Hebrew Bible. The last sentence seems to say that he moves very fast. He moves so fast that his feet hardly touch the ground!

Verse 4 This verse starts with 2 questions: ‘Who has done this? Who announced everything?’ If we include the words in … […] … then we find the answers! Then God himself answers. He says that he is the first. And in the beginning, nobody else was with him. But at the end, he will be with the last people; ‘last’ is plural in the *Hebrew Bible. This finishes what God says as a lawyer, until verse 21. Verses 5-7 give the legal answer of the people on the islands (look at the note on verse 1).

Verse 5 The people on the islands saw what Cyrus (or Joshua, or Abraham, or whoever) did. So they came together from many nations. They did not come to God. Instead, they made new *idols! An *idol is an image of a false god. The earth, of course, has no ends. ‘The ends of the earth’ mean ‘places that are very far away’.

Verses 6-7 There are three reactions to fear. One is to turn to God. Another is to other people. The last is to turn to false gods. The false gods 2700 years ago were images. Today they are ideas. People hammered things on a large block (or iron called an anvil). The anvil was a base on which they could work.

Notice the way in which Isaiah laughs at false gods. Men have to use nails so that the images will not fall over! Their false gods do not even have the power to stand up!

Verse 8 Israel and Jacob are names for God’s people, the *Jews. Before Assyria took the people from Israel into *exile, both Israel and Jacob meant the northern part of the country of the *Jews. The southern part was called Judah. But after the northern part went into *exile, the names began to mean all God’s people. This included the southern country called Judah. So here, God is talking to all his people. A ‘descendant’ is somebody in your family who lives a long time after you (a son, grandson and so on). As this verse refers to Abraham, it may be evidence that verses 2-3 are about Abraham. Actually, the word for ‘descendant’ in the *Hebrew Bible is ‘seed’. That word is important in the *New Testament too. There we learn that the ‘seed’ does not mean all Abraham’s *descendants. It means Jesus. And it means those people that trust in Jesus. Number 1 in the section ‘Something to do’ has some verses about ‘seed’. There is a longer note on the ‘seed’ in Isaiah 65:23.

Also, notice that ‘servant’ in the *Old Testament does not mean ‘slave’. A slave had no rights, but a servant did. He had the right to claim his master’s protection. So in verses 8-20, God is promising to be a good master to his servants.

Verse 9 ‘Ends of the earth’ and ‘its far corners’ mean places like Ur (where Abraham came from) and Egypt (where the *Israelites came from). They were distant places.

Verse 10 The *Hebrew word for ‘unhappy’ means ‘you do not know where to look for a safe place’. Only God is really very, very good, so a ‘good, fair, right hand’ means ‘God’s right hand’. Even as ‘the arm of the *LORD’ is a picture of Jesus (Something to do number 3, Isaiah Chapter s 39 and 40), ‘the hand of the *LORD’ is a picture of God’s Holy Spirit.

Verses 11-12 Notice the increase of feeling: anger, oppose, enemies, fight. Oppose is a word for what happens in a court of law. Fight is a word for what happens in a war. But as a result of God’s help (verse 10) the enemies disappear!

Verse 13 This verse repeats the promises in verse 10. God gives these promises because the people from Israel (Jacob’s *descendants) are his servants. Remember the note on verse 8: a servant has a right to claim his master’s protection.

Verses 14-16 These verses are about something that is as small as a worm (tiny animal). But it destroys a huge mountain! God can help his servants to do what seems impossible. A ‘worm’ is a small animal that lives below the ground. It is like a tiny snake and it may grow to 15 centimetres long. In English nowadays, the word ‘worm’ can mean something nasty. You call someone a ‘worm’ if they are really awful. But here it does not have that meaning. It just means ‘small’. We know this because ‘you worm Jacob’ means the same as ‘you little Israel’. The two words mean that Israel is not important.

The word ‘*redeemer’ means ‘someone who buys back’. But it does not just mean that God is buying his people back from an enemy. As in the Book of Ruth, a *redeemer is a member of your family. Here, God says that his people are part of his family. That is what ‘*redeemer’ means here. There is a note on the name ‘*Holy’ in Isaiah 40:25. There is a note on *redeemer in Isaiah 43:1.

A machine that *threshes breaks up corn plants. It separates the grain from the stems. Here God says that it will break mountains. It will do this although his people are merely like worms (tiny animals). In other words, they are a small nation. ‘Mountains’ here means important nations, ‘‘little’ means unimportant nations. ‘*Chaff’ is the dead parts of plants that farmers burn. Or, farmers allow the wind to blow it away. God will scatter the enemies of his people, even as wind blows *chaff away. ‘*Glory’ is something that shines very much. It is a picture of the importance of the God of Israel.

Verses 17-20 The poor are people to whom the world has not been kind (Isaiah 10:2). The people that lack many things want help to deal with problems (Isaiah 14:30). Those people were searching for water. That reminds us about the journey that Israel’s people made through the desert. They too needed shade. In Exodus 15:27, we read this. ‘And they came to Elim, where there were 12 wells of water. Also, there were 70 palm trees (trees that grow in hot countries).’ In verse 19, only the *olive tree produces fruit that people can eat. But the other trees have leaves during the entire year. So they are ideal trees to give shade. One Bible student has said that those trees do not normally grow all together. So that is another wonderful thing that God promised his people! When people see that, they will see God’s power. They will know that the *LORD has done it by his ‘hand’ (his ‘power’). Again, as in verses 11-12, notice the increase in feeling in these four words from verse 20: see, know, consider, understand.

Verses 21-24 These verses remind us that we are in court. The *LORD, as a lawyer, asks the nations to bring their *idols into court. Then the *idols can speak for themselves. Notice the special humour in the *LORD’s words. He is actually saying the opposite of what he means here. The *LORD knows that the *idols cannot say anything. They certainly cannot explain what happened in the past. They cannot know what will happen in the future. An *idol is an image of a false god.

Verse 25 If these words refer to Cyrus, then note that:

• People from the east travelled by a road that finally came into Jerusalem from the north.

• Cyrus started his career east of Babylon, but later moved north.

‘Call on my name’ does not always mean ‘serve God’. It can mean three other things in the *Old Testament.

• Name the person who made you do something, Exodus 35:30;

• Name the person who has a special love for you, Isaiah 43:1;
• Say who the person with a name is, Exodus 33:19.

Here it is probably the first one among those three meanings.

People use ‘*mortar’ to stick bricks together when they make walls. And they use ‘*clay’ to make pots. Both words can remind us about the way that a person works with a soft substance. That substance cannot prevent what the person does to it.

Verses 26-29 God, as judge, says that he knew about everything ‘from the beginning’. The *idols are just ‘wind and confusion’. ‘Wind’ here probably means ‘hot air’. That is a special English way to say that it is ‘rubbish!’ Bad advice (rubbish) will confuse people.

2. Something to do

1. Study the use of the word ‘seed’ (verse 8) in the *New Testament. Read John 8:33; Romans 4:16 and Galatians 3:16. Also read the note on Isaiah 65:23.

2. Learn to say Isaiah 41:13 by heart. That is, from your memory. If you are a servant of God, this verse is about you!

4. heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
   Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
   prophet ~ someone who says what God is saying.
   messiah ~ a leader such as a king. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’), it means Jesus for Christians.
   LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
   lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
   Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.

   'Old Testament ~ the earlier part of the Bible.
   Jewish ~ a description of something that has a relationship to the Jews.
   Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
   shepherd ~ a person who looks after sheep.
   anoint ~ to pour oil on someone. This is an ancient ceremony to appoint someone to do an important task (for example, to be a king or a priest). That person is then called ‘the anointed’, ‘the messiah’ (in Hebrew) or ‘the Christ’ (in Greek).
   messiah ~ a leader such as a king. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’), it means Jesus for Christians.
   Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
   Greek ~ the language that people spoke in Greece.
   anoint ~ to pour oil on someone. This is an ancient ceremony to appoint someone to do an important task (for example, to be a king or a priest). That person is then called ‘the anointed’, ‘the messiah’ (in Hebrew) or ‘the Christ’ (in Greek).
   messiah ~ a leader such as a king. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’), it means Jesus for Christians.
   Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
   Greek ~ the language that people spoke in Greece.
   Persian ~ someone from the country called Persia; or a description of anything that has a relationship with Persia.
   Greek ~ the language that people spoke in Greece.
   righteousness ~ great goodness.
   chaff ~ the dead bits of a plant after people have taken the grain from it.
   idol ~ a false god that people made.
   descendants ~ future members of a family.
   holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
   thresh ~ to break up something, especially grain plants. Farmers do this in order to clean the grain and to separate it from chaff.
   chaff ~ the dead bits of a plant after people have taken the grain from it.
   glory ~ something that shines and is wonderful. Especially, it is God’s splendid beauty.
   spring ~ a place where water comes from the ground.
   olive ~ a fruit that gives oil.
   mortar ~ a substance that people use when they build walls. The purpose of the mortar is to stick the bricks together firmly.
   clay ~ the soft, sticky earth that people use to make pots.
   Zion ~ a name for Jerusalem.
   Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
   exile ~ a person whom enemies force to live away from his own home or country. Or, the place where that person has to live.'New Testament ~ the later part of the Bible.
   Israelites ~ people from Israel. Sometimes this word means just the northern part of the country called Israel. But sometimes it means the people from Judah too.
   chaff ~ the dead bits of a plant after people have taken the grain from it.
   glory ~ something that shines and is wonderful. Especially, it is God’s splendid beauty.