XLVIII. (1) ARE COME FORTH OUT OF THE WATERS OF JUDAH. — The words limit the wider terms of Jacob and Israel to the Judæan exiles. For the phrase, comp. “ye that are of the fountains of Israel” (Psalms 68:26). The ideal attributes of Israel, “swearing by the name of Jehovah ...” are pressed in cont... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CALL THEMSELVES OF THE HOLY CITY... — The words of praise are spoken, as the preceding words show, with a touch of irony. Those who so boasted were not true citizens of Zion (Psalms 15:1; Matthew 3:9). They did not enter into all that was implied in their confession of Jehovah Sabaoth.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DECLARED... — Once more, for the seventh time, the prophet presses the fact of the Divine foreknowledge, not, as before, against the “no-faith” of the heathen, but against the “little faith” of Judah.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE I KNEW THAT THOU ART OBSTINATE... — The point is that Jehovah foresees not only the conquests of Cyrus, but the obduracy of His own people. In Egypt (Jeremiah 44) and in Babylon, as of old, they were still a stiff-necked people, inclined (Isaiah 48:5), to ascribe their deliverance to another... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST HEARD... — The appeal is to the conscience of the exiles. They had heard the prediction. They are bidden to consider it all. Should not they declare the impression it had made on them? I HAVE SHEWED THEE. — Better, _I shew thee,_ as a present incipient act. NEW THINGS. — The “new things”... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE CREATED NOW... — The verb is an unusual one, as applied to the events of history. What is meant is that the things which had been from the beginning in the mind of God are now, for the first time, manifested, through the prophet, as about to pass into act. What these are the prophet develop... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY NAME’S SAKE... — The thought is two-fold, in answer to the implied question why Jehovah had not punished so guilty a people: (1) after the manner of men, that had He destroyed His chosen people, the nations of the world would have thought Him changeable and capricious; (2) taking “name” as th... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE REFINED THEE, BUT NOT WITH SILVER... — The meaning is obscure, and perhaps depends on some unknown process in ancient metallurgy. Commonly the refining of silver is taken as a parable of God’s dealings with His people (Isaiah 1:25; Ezekiel 22:18; Malachi 3:3). Here the thought seems to be tha... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL I DO IT... — The neuter pronoun includes the whole work of redemption. FOR HOW SHOULD MY NAME BE POLLUTED? — The italics show that “my name” is not in the Hebrew, but the context requires its insertion as from Isaiah 48:9. or that of “my glory” from the clause that follows. The “pollution” or... [ Continue Reading ]
HEARKEN UNTO ME, O JACOB. — The prophet is drawing near to the end of the first great section of his book, and his conclusion takes the form of a condensed epitome of the great argument of Isaiah 40-47, asserting the oneness, the eternity, the omnipotence, the omniscience of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL YE, ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES. — The challenge is addressed as before (Isaiah 43:9) to the worshippers of idols. THE LORD HATH LOVED HIM. — Better, _He whom the Lord loveth will do his pleasure._ The context leaves it uncertain whether the “pleasure” and the “arm” are those of Cyrus or Jehovah. The l... [ Continue Reading ]
COME YE NEAR UNTO ME. — Here the address would seem to be made to Israel. At first Jehovah appears as the speaker, and as using much the same language as before. At the close the prophet appears abruptly, as speaking in his own person. Perhaps, indeed, the prophet is the speaker throughout. A paraph... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD THY GOD WHICH TEACHETH THEE TO PROFIT. — The words applied to the natural human, perhaps we may add, to the specially national, desire, to make a good investment. The question what was profitable? was one to which men returned very different answers. It was the work of the true Redeemer to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HAD THY PEACE BEEN AS A RIVER. — Literally, “as _the_ river,” _i.e.,_ the Euphrates, which for the Babylonian exiles was a natural standard of comparison. “Righteousness,” as elsewhere, includes the idea of the blessedness which is its recompense. United with “peace” it implies every element of... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE THE GRAVEL THEREOF. — Literally, _as the bowels thereof, i.e.,_ as that within the bowels of the sand, the living creatures that swarm in countless myriads in the sea. The two verses utter the sigh which has come from the heart of all true teachers as they contemplate the actual state of men an... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE FORTH OF BABYLON... — The sorrow and sighing are past, and the prophet speaks to the remnant that shall return. They are to act without fear on the promises of God, on the decree of Cyrus, and to start at once on their homeward journey, and as they go, to proclaim what great things God hath do... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAUSED THE WATERS TO FLOW... — A dead prosaic literalism makes men wonder that there is no record of such wonders on the return from Babylon. A truer insight recognises that the “water out of the rock” is, as ever, the symbol of spiritual refreshment (Isaiah 41:17; Isaiah 43:19; John 4:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NO PEACE. — The warning was needed even for the liberated exiles. There was an implied condition as to all God’s gifts. Even the highest blessings, freedom and home, were no real blessings to those who were unworthy of them.... [ Continue Reading ]