This chapter is evidently a continuation of the subject discussed in the previous chapters, and refers mainly to the promised deliverance from Babylon. The people of God are still contemplated by the prophet as suffering the evils of their long and painful captivity, and his object is to comfort the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW - This expression shows that this chapter is connected with the preceding. The sense is, “Though God has punished the nation, and showed them his displeasure Isaiah 42:24, yet now he will have mercy, and will deliver them.’ THAT CREATED THEE - The word ‘thee’ is used here evidently in a coll... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU PASSEST THROUGH THE WATERS - This is a general promise, and means that whenever and wherever they should pass through water or fire, he would protect them. It had been true in their past history as a people; and the assurance is here given in order that they might be comforted in view of t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM THE LORD THY GOD - This verse continues the statement of the reasons why he would protect them. He was Yahweh their God. He was not only the true God, but he was the God who had entered into solemn covenant with them, and who would therefore protect and defend them. THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL... [ Continue Reading ]
SINCE THOU WAST PRECIOUS IN MY SIGHT - This verse contains another reason why God would defend and deliver them. That reason was, that he had loved them as his people; and he was willing, therefore, that other people should be overcome in order that they might be saved. THOU HAST BEEN HONORABLE - T... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT - (see the note at Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 41:14; compare Isaiah 43:1). I WILL BRING THY SEED - Thy children; thy descendants. The sense is, I will re-collect my scattered people from all parts of the world. The passage appears to have been taken from Deuteronomy 30:3, where God promises to ga... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SAY TO THE NORTH, GIVE UP - Give up my people, or restore them to their own land. BRING MY SONS ... - Bring all my people from the distant lands where they have been driven in their dispersion. This is a beautiful passage. As if all lands were under the control of God, and he could at once c... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY ONE THAT IS CALLED BY MY NAME - To be called by the name of anyone, is synonymous with being regarded as his son, since a son bears the name of his father (see Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 48:1). The expression, therefore, means here, all who were regarded as the children of God; and the promise is, th... [ Continue Reading ]
BRING FORTH THE BLIND PEOPLE - Many have understood this of the Jews. So Vitringa, Rosenmuller, Grotius, and others understand it. But Lowth, more correctly, regards it as referring to the Gentiles. It is designed as an argument to show the superiority of God over all idols, and to demonstrate that... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ALL THE NATIONS BE GATHERED TOGETHER - Let them be assembled to give evidence, or to adduce proofs that their idols are worthy of confidence Isaiah 41:1. WHO AMONG THEM CAN DECLARE THIS? - Who among them hath predicted this state of things? Who has foretold the events which are now occurring? I... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE MY WITNESSES - They were his witnesses, because, first, he had given in them predictions of future events which had been literally fulfilled: secondly, by his power of delivering them so often manifested, he had shown that he was a God able to save. Neither of these had been done by the idol-... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I, AM THE LORD - The repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ makes it emphatic. The design is, to affirm that there was no other being to whom the name ‘Yahweh’ pertained. There was no other one who had the attributes which the name involved; there was, therefore, no other God. On the meanins of the w... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DECLARED - I have announced or predicted future events; I have warned of danger; I have marked out the path of safety. He had thus shown that he was the true God (see the note at Isaiah 41:22). AND HAVE SAVED - I have delivered the nation in former times of danger, and have thus shown that I... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, BEFORE THE DAY WAS - Before the first day, or before the beginning of time; from eternity. The Septuagint renders it correctly, Ἀπ ̓ ἀρχης _Ap'_ _archēs_, and the Vulgate (_Ab initio_), ‘From the beginning.’ I AM HE - I am the same Isaiah 43:10. I WILL WORK - I will accomplish my designs.... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD YOUR REDEEMER - This verse commences another argument for the safety of his people. It is the assurance to the Jews in Babylon that he had sent to them a deliverer, and would bring down the pride of the Chaldeans, and demolish their city. YOUR REDEEMER - (See the note at Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM THE LORD - I am Yahweh - proved to be such, as the connection demands that we should interpret this, by sending to Babylon and bringing down your oppressors. This interposition in destroying Babylon would be a demonstration that he was Yahweh, the only true God, and their God. THE CREATOR OF I... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD - This verse contains a reference to the deliverance from Egyptian servitude - the great storehouse of argument and illustration with the sacred writers; the standing demonstration of God’s merciful interposition in behalf of their nation, and proof that he was their God. WHICH... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH BRINGETH FORTH THE CHARIOT AND HORSE - The reference here is, undoubtedly, to the occurrences which are recorded in Exodus 14:4, following, when Pharaoh and his host are said to have followed the Israelites, but were all submerged in the sea. God is said to have brought them forth in accordanc... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER YE NOT ... - So great and wonderful shall be God’s future interpositions in your behalf, that what he has done, great as that was, shall be comparatively forgotten. THE FORMER THINGS - The deliverance from Egypt, and the overthrow of his enemies there. THE THINGS OF OLD - The things that... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL DO A NEW THING - Something that has not hitherto occurred, some unheard of and wonderful event, that shall far surpass all that he had formerly done (see the note at Isaiah 42:9). NOW IT SHALL SPRING FORTH - (See the note at Isaiah 42:9). It shall spring up as the grass does from the earth;... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEAST OF THE FIELD SHALL HONOR ME - The sense of this passage is plain, and the image is highly poetical and beautiful. God would pour such copious floods of waters through the waste sandy deserts to supply his people, that even the wild beasts would be sensible of his abundant goodness, and wou... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS PEOPLE HAVE I FORMED FOR MYSELF - To preserve the remembrance of my name; to transmit the knowledge of the true God to future times, and to celebrate my praise (see the notes at Isaiah 43:1). THEY SHALL SHOW FORTH MY PRAISE - They shall celebrate my goodness; or, by their restoration to their... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU HAST NOT CALLED UPON ME - The design of this and the following verses, is to show them that they were indebted to the divine mercy alone for their deliverance from bondage. It was not because they had been either meritorious or faithful; it was not because they had deserved these favors at... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST NOT BROUGHT ME - As a people you have witcheld from me the sacrifices which were commanded. They had not maintained and observed his worship as he had required. THE SMALL CATTLE - Margin, ‘Lambs,’ or ‘kids.’ The Hebrew word (שׂה _s'eh_) denotes properly one of a flock - a sheep or a goat.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST BOUGHT ME - You have not purchased this - implying that it was not produced in Palestine, but was an article of commerce. It was to be obtained only from abroad. This is expressly affirmed in Jeremiah 6:20 : ‘To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from af... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I, AM HE - This verse contains a gracious assurance that their sins would be blotted out, and the reason why it would be done. The pronoun ‘I’ is repeated to make it emphatic, as in Isaiah 43:11. Perhaps also God designs to show them the evil of the sins which are mentioned in the previous v... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT ME IN REMEMBRANCE - That is, urge all the arguments in your own defense which you can urge. State everything in self-vindication which can be stated. The language here is taken from the practice of courts when a cause is on trial; and God urges them on their side, to urge all in self-vindication... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FIRST FATHER HATH SINNED - This is the argument on the side of God, to show that they were neither unjustly punished, nor punished with undue severity. The argument is, that their rulers and teachers had been guilty of crime, and that therefore it was right to bring all this vengeance upon the n... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I HAVE PROFANED - The princes of the sanctuary, that is, the priests, were by their office regarded as sacred, or set apart to the service of God. To depose them from that office, to subject them to punishment, and to send them into captivity, was, therefore, regarded as profaning them. Th... [ Continue Reading ]