INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 43 Is this chapter the Lord comforts his own people, under their afflictions, with many precious promises; asserts his deity against the idols of the nations; promises deliverance from Babylon, and a greater redemption than that; one branch of which is forgiveness of sin; and... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW THUS SAITH THE LORD THAT CREATED THEE, O JACOB,.... This prophecy is not concerning Cyrus, and the redemption of the Jews by him, as some have thought; nor of Sennacherib and his army, and of their deliverance from him, as Kimchi and his father interpret it; but of the Christian church, and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU PASSEST THROUGH THE WATERS; I WILL BE WITH THEE,.... The Targum and Jarchi apply this to the Israelites' passage through the waters of the Red sea, as a thing past; and Kimchi to Sennacherib's army, compared to the waters of a river strong and many, Isaiah 8:7. Jerom says, that the Jewish... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM THE LORD THY GOD, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, THY SAVIOUR,.... The Lord is the covenant God of his people, holy in himself, and the sanctifier of them, and their Saviour in time of trouble; and therefore need no doubt of his presence and support amidst all their afflictions; and besides they sh... [ Continue Reading ]
SINCE THOU WAST PRECIOUS IN MY SIGHT,.... As the saints are; not that they are valuable in themselves; they have no intrinsic worth in them; they are in no wise better than others; they are of the same mass and lump with others; they are of the fallen race of Adam, and are earthly and simple as he w... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH THEE,.... With thy ministers that preach the everlasting Gospel, to make it effectual to the conversion of many everywhere, as well as to bear thee up under all trials, and to cause thee to stand against all opposition: I WILL BRING THY SEED FROM THE EAST, AND GATHER THEE FR... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SAY TO THE NORTH, GIVE UP: AND TO THE SOUTH, KEEP NOT BACK,.... That is, give up, and not retain, those that belong to the Lord; here the winds are spoken to by a personification; or the inhabitants of the northern and southern climates are called upon to deliver up the Lord's people to him,... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN EVERYONE THAT IS CALLED BY MY NAME,.... That is called by the name of God, a son or daughter of his; or by the name of Christ, a Christian; whoever belongs to the Lord, whom he calls by his name; and who, being called by his grace, call upon his name, make a profession of his name, and serve an... [ Continue Reading ]
BRING FORTH THE BLIND PEOPLE THAT HAVE EYES, AND THE DEAF THAT HAVE EARS,.... The Targum applies this to the bringing of the people of Israel out of Egypt; and others understand it of their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; and some of the exclusion of them from the kingdom of heaven, and c... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ALL THE NATIONS BE GATHERED TOGETHER, AND LET THE PEOPLE BE ASSEMBLED,.... In one place, if it could be, in an open court of judicature; that their whole strength might be united together, and the most cogent arguments any of them are able to produce might be brought out; and that all might have... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE MY WITNESSES, SAITH THE LORD,.... The people of Israel, who could testify that the Lord had foretold their affliction in Egypt, their coming from thence, and settling in the land of Canaan, many hundreds of years before they came to pass, and which were exactly fulfilled; and so the apostles... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I, AM THE LORD,.... Jehovah, the self-existing, eternal, and immutable Being; this is doubled for the confirmation of it, and to exclude all others: AND BESIDES ME THERE IS NO SAVIOUR; either in a temporal or spiritual sense; the gods of the Heathens could not save them out of their present... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DECLARED, AND I HAVE SAVED, AND I HAVE SHOWED,.... The Targum is, "I have showed to Abraham your father what should come to pass; I redeemed you out of Egypt, as I swore to him between the pieces; and I caused you to hear the doctrine of the law at Sinai.'' But the sense is, that God had de... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, BEFORE THE DAY WAS I AM HE,.... Before there was a day, before the first day of the creation; that is, before time was, or from all eternity, I am he that resolved upon and contrived this method of saving men; "and ever since that day was" k, as it may be rendered, I am he that have spoken of i... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, YOUR REDEEMER,.... That redeemed Israel out of Egypt, and would redeem the Jews from Babylon in a short time, and be the author of a greater redemption to his people than either of these, even a spiritual and eternal one: THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL; see Isaiah 43:3, holy in himself... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM THE LORD, YOUR HOLY ONE,.... And therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: THE CREATOR OF ISRAEL, YOUR KING; and therefore both able and willing to protect them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, WHICH MAKETH A WAY IN THE SEA,.... Who did make a way in the Red sea, when he led Israel through it as on dry land; this, with what follows, is observed to encourage the faith of the Lord's people in the performance of what he had promised, to bring them out of Babylon; for he t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH BRINGETH FORTH THE CHARIOT AND THE HORSE, THE ARMY AND THE POWER,.... Who brought forth the chariots and horses, and the mighty army of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, to pursue the Israelites into the Red sea, where they were drowned. The present tense is put for the future, as in the preceding verse;... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER YE NOT THE FORMER THINGS,.... Just now referred to, the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in it; for though these things were worthy to be remembered with thankfulness and praise, and to the glory of God, and for the encourage... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL DO A NEW THING,.... A wonderful and unheard of thing, and therefore introduced with a "behold", as a note of admiration; the same with the new thing created in the earth, Jeremiah 31:22, the incarnation of the Son of God; who took flesh of a virgin, appeared in the likeness of sinful... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEAST OF THE FIELD SHALL HONOUR ME, THE DRAGONS, AND THE OWLS,.... Which is not to be understood literally of these creatures, who as they had honoured the Lord, when Israel passed through the wilderness, so would again in their way praise the Lord, when they came through the deserts from Babylo... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS PEOPLE HAVE I FORMED FOR MYSELF,.... The Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, wild and uncultivated, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God, and redeemed by Christ, are formed anew by the Spi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU HAST NOT CALLED UPON ME, O JACOB,.... The Jews, though they were the posterity of Jacob, a praying person, yet did not tread in his steps, but were more like the Heathens that called not on the name of the Lord; though there is no necessity of restraining this to prayer, it may regard the w... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST NOT BROUGHT ME THE SMALL CATTLE OF THY BURNT OFFERINGS,.... The kids and the lambs, which, according to the law, should have been brought for burnt offerings daily, morning and evening; and much less did they bring the larger cattle of burnt offerings, as oxen and bullocks. The Targum and... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST BOUGHT ME NO SWEET CANE WITH MONEY,.... Or "calamus" r, which was used in the anointing oil, and for the perfume or incense, Exodus 30:7, this they thought too expensive, and so left it out of the composition, or neglected the whole this being put a part for the whole. Jarchi gives it as t... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I AM HE, THAT BLOTTETH OUT THY TRANSGRESSIONS FOR MINE OWN SAKE,.... The same with "sins" in the next clause; original sin, and actual sins; which are transgressions of the law of God, of which the law accuses, for which it pronounces guilty, curses, and condemns; which are contrary to the n... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT ME IN REMEMBRANCE,.... Of this gracious promise of free remission of sins, and of all others of the same kind; not that God ever forgets any of his promises, but he may sometimes seem to do so; wherefore he would have his people put him in mind of them, that he may by his good Spirit make a comf... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FIRST FATHER HATH SINNED,.... Either Adam, as Kimchi, in whom all have sinned, and from whom all derive a sinful and corrupt nature; or Abraham, as Jarchi, the father of the Jewish nation, of whom they boasted, and in whom they trusted, as being of his seed, and through whose merits and worthine... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I HAVE PROFANED THE PRINCES OF THE SANCTUARY,.... Or will do it; the past tense for the future, common in prophetic writings; these are not Moses and Aaron, or the kings, but the priests of the temple, who had the care and government of things there, and therefore called "princes"; these,... [ Continue Reading ]