Isaiah 40:30

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: THE YOUNG MEN (Hebrew, bachuwriym (H970)) - literally, those selected. men picked out on account of their youthful vigour for an enterprise. SHALL UTTERLY FALL - Hebrew, falling, shall fall....

30._The youths are wearied and faint. _By this comparison the Prophet illustrates more powerfully what he had formerly said, that the strength which God imparts to his elect is invincible and unwearied; for men’s strength easily fails, but God’s strength never fails. It is indeed certain that all the vigor which naturally dwells in us proceeds from God; but since men claim as their own what God has bestowed generally on all, the Prophet thus distinguishes between the strength of men which appears to be born with them, and that strength by which God peculiarly supports his elect; for God’s kindness, which is diffused throughout all nature, is not sufficiently perceived. And thus by “men’s strength” he means that which is generally possessed by mankind, and by “God’s assistance,”he means that by which he peculiarly assists us after our strength has failed; for the Prophet speaks of the gra...

27-31 The people of God are reproved for their unbelief and distrust of God. Let them remember they took the names Jacob and Israel, from one who found God faithful to him in all his straits. And they bore these names as a people in covenant with Him. Many foolish frets, and foolish fears, would vanish before inquiry into the causes. It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our minds, but worse to turn them into evil words. What they had known, and had heard, was sufficient to silence all these fears and distrusts. Where God had begun the work of grace, he will perfect it. He will help those who, in humble dependence on him, help themselves. As the day, so shall the strength be. In the strength of Divine grace their souls shall ascend above the world. They shall run the way of God's commandments cheerfully. Let us watch against unbelief, pride, and self-confidence. If we go forth in our...

EVEN THE YOUTHS SHALL FAINT - The most vigorous young men, those in whom we expect manly strength, and who are best suited to endure hardy toil. They become weary by labor. Their powers are soon exhausted. The design here is, to contrast the most vigorous of the human race with God, and to show that while all their powers fail, the power of God is unexhausted and inexhaustible. AND THE YOUNG MEN - The word used here denotes properly “those who are chosen or selected” (בחוּרים _bachûriym_, Greek ἐκλεκτοὶ _eklektoi_), and may be applied to those who were selected or chosen for any hazardous enterprise, or dangerous achievement in war; those who would be selected for vigor or activity. The meaning is, that the most chosen or select of the human family - the most vigorous and manly, must be worn down by fatigue,

PART III. ISAIAH'S LATER PROPHECIES (CH. 40-66.). SECTION I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD COMFORTED IN TRIBULATION (Isaiah 40:1.). EXPOSITION PREFATORY REMARKS THE Assyrian struggle is over. The prophet has accepted into the depths of his spirit God's announcement that the true spoiler, "the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation," is not Assyria, but Babylon. He has accepted the sentence that his people is to go into captivity. Into this future of his nation he throws himself with a faith, a fervour, and a power of realization, which are all his own. "The familiar scenes and faces, among w

EVEN THE YOUTHS SHALL FAINT AND BE WEARY,.... Such as are in the prime of their strength, and glory in it, yet through the hand of God upon them, by one disease or another, their strength is weakened in the way; or they meet with that which they are not equal to, and sink under, and are discouraged, and obliged to desist. Some think the Babylonians and Chaldeans are here meant, the enemies of Israel, and by whom they were carried captive. The Targum interprets this clause, as well as the following, of wicked and ungodly men; and so do Jarchi and Kimchi: it may be applied to the Heathen emperors, who persecuted the church of God, and were smitten by him, and found it too hard a work to extirpate Christianity out of the world, which they thought to have done; and also to all the antichristian states, who have given their power and strength to the beast: AND THE YOUNG MEN SHALL UTTERLY FAI...

Isaiah 40:1. _Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem._ The loss of comfort is no small loss. God would have his people happy. They are in the best condition for serving him, and less likely to be overcome by the temptations of the world, when the joy of the Lord is their strength. Therefore, three times over he bids his ministers comfort his people. O Triune Jehovah, help thy servant now to fulfill this commission! Isaiah 40:2. _And cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,_ After all beloved, you have not to fight your own battles. Under one aspect, you may have to do so; but the great fight is already over, that fight which is so much greater than all others, that the lesser ones are scarcely worthy of the name of w

II. THE LATER PROPHECIES OF COMFORT AND GLORY (40-66) Like the first part this second part of Isaiah has three sections. The three sections of the first part revealed the judgments to come upon the Jewish people, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth. The three sections of the second part reveal the great blessings in store for the people of Israel, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth, after the judgments are passed. These sections give the past, present, and the future history of the Jewish people. In the first section (40-48) they are seen prophetically in Babylon, but about to be delivered and brought back to the land. Cyrus is predicted as the chosen instrument. However, this section looks also beyond the return of the remnant from Babylon. Their present dispersion and coming restoration is predicted as well. In the second section (49-57) we find this period of their history more f...

AN EXPANSION OF THE TEXT SUGGESTED IN ISAIAH 40:6. Isaiah 40:12. The Majesty of God, in Whose Eyes the World is Insignificant. God is the Creator, disposing of earth and heaven as very small things. No adviser instructed Him. The nations in His sight are like the drop hanging from the bucket, or the dust on the scale, too small to count in the bulk. The forests of Lebanon and the many wild beasts that range them would not provide fuel and victims for a worthy sacrifice. ISAIAH 40:14. PATH OF JUDGEMENT: rather, the correct way. WAY OF UNDERSTANDING: how to do it. Isaiah 40:15. isles: properly coast

UTTERLY FALL. Note Figure of speech _Epizeuxis_ (App-6) for this emphasis. Hebrew "they fall, they fall"....