Isaiah 44:7

Since I appointed the ancient people... — Literally, the people of the age, or of eternity. The phrase is used of the dead in Ezekiel 26:20. Here it has been referred either to the antediluvian fathers of mankind (Job 22:15) or to the patriarchs of Israel, or, more fitly, to Israel, as having before it a far-off future as well as a far-off past, and, therefore, an everlasting people. The same phrase is used for the “perpetual covenant” of Exodus 31:16. (Comp. Exodus 40:15; 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16.)