Isaiah 41:17

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. (WHEN) THE POOR AND NEEDY - primarily the exiles in Babylon. SEEK WATER - fig., refreshment, prosperity after their affliction. The language is so constructed as only very partially to apply to the local and temporary event of the restoration from Babylon; but fully to be realized in the waters of life and of the Spirit under the Gospel (; ; John 7:37; ). God performed no miracles that we read of, in any wilderness, during the return from Babylon....

17._The needy and poor shall seek water. _Here he follows out the subject which he had begun to handle at the beginning of the fortieth chapter; for he describes the wretched and afflicted condition in which the Jews should be in Babylon, till at length God should have compassion on them and render assistance. He therefore prepares them for enduring extreme poverty, by saying that they will be _thirsty; _for this figure of speech, by which a part is taken for the whole, is better adapted to express the severity of the affliction. We know that nothing gives men greater distress than the want of water when they are “thirsty.” _I Jehovah will listen to them. _God declares that he will relieve them, when they are brought to this necessitous condition; and hence we ought to learn to whom this promise belongs, namely, to those who, having been reduced to extremity, are as it were, parched with...

10-20 God speaks with tenderness; Fear thou not, for I am with thee: not only within call, but present with thee. Art thou weak? I will strengthen thee. Art thou in want of friends? I will help thee in the time of need. Art thou ready to fall? I will uphold thee with that right hand which is full of righteousness, dealing forth rewards and punishments. There are those that strive with God's people, that seek their ruin. Let not God's people render evil for evil, but wait God's time. It is the worm Jacob; so little, so weak, so despised and trampled on by every body. God's people are as worms, in humble thoughts of themselves, and in their enemies' haughty thoughts of them; worms, but not vipers, not of the serpent's seed. Every part of God's word is calculated to humble man's pride, and to make him appear little in his own eyes. The Lord will help them, for he is their Redeemer. The Lor...

WHEN THE POOR AND NEEDY SEEK WATER - Water is often used in the Scriptures as an emblem of the provisions of divine mercy. Bursting fountains in a desert, and flowing streams unexpectedly met with in a dry and thirsty land, are often also employed to denote the comfort and refreshment which the gospel furnishes to sinful and suffering man in his journey through this world. The ‘poor and needy’ here, doubtless refer primarily to the afflicted captives in Babylon. But the expression of the prophet is general, and the description is as applicable to his people at all times in similar circumstances as it was to them. The image here is derived from their anticipated return from Babylon to Judea. The journey lay through a vast pathless desert (see the notes at Isaiah 40:3). In that journey when they were weary, faint and thirsty, God would meet and refresh them as if he

SECTION II.—RECOVERY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD FROM THEIR SIN, AND FROM THEIR BONDAGE IN BABYLON (CH. 41-48.). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 41:1 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DELIVERER, AND EFFECT ON THE SURROUNDING NATIONS. Isaiah returns to the standpoint of Isaiah 40:9. A deliverer of Israel is about to appear. The nat

WHEN THE POOR AND NEEDY SEEK WATER, AND THERE IS NONE, AND THEIR TONGUE FAILETH FOR THIRST,.... This is to be understood not literally, but spiritually; not of their outward circumstances, though the people of God are for the most part the poor of the world, and in need of the good things of it, hungry and thirsty, and naked; but of their spiritual estate: as in Christ they need nothing; but in themselves, and at different times, and in different frames, want many things; as larger discoveries of the love of God, fresh supplies of grace from Christ, more spiritual light and liveliness, fresh strength and comfort, fresh views of pardon and righteousness, fresh food for faith, and more grace of every sort to help them in their time of need; and which they seek for at the throne of grace, and in public ordinances, and sometimes they can find none, or it is a long time ere they obtain any: t...

God enters into a controversy with those who had fallen into the worship of idols. Isaiah 41:1. _Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment._ He challenges them to a debate. He gives them breathing time bids them prepare themselves, and come with the best arguments that their minds could find. Isaiah 41:2. _Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet._ Who was it that raised up Cyrus, and who made him str

CHAPTER 41 Jehovah's Challenge 1. _The address to the islands and the peoples (Isaiah 41:1)_ 2. _Jehovah's question, Cyrus and his ways predicted (Isaiah 41:2)_ 3. _Nations troubled on account of Cyrus (Isaiah 41:5)_ 4. _Israel as Jehovah's servant (Isaiah 41:8)_ 5. _The message of comfort and assurance of restoration (Isaiah 41:9)_ 6. _Jehovah's second challenge: He alone can declare things to come (Isaiah 41:21)_ 7. The future t

YAHWEH WILL PROVIDE MIRACULOUS WATER AND SHADE IN THE DESERT FOR THE RETURNING EXILES. This continues Isaiah 41:10. It perhaps combines metaphor with a more literal meaning, and it must be confessed that the reference to the return through the desert is not obvious. The vindicating hand of Yahweh will so wonderfully meet the needs of His people on their homeward way that the nations probably the subject in Isaiah 41:20 will recognise in the miracle the power of Israel's God. ISAIAH 41:19. The kinds of tree named are not certainly identified (_cf. mg.)._...

POOR. wretched. Hebrew. _'anah._ See note on Proverbs 6:11. FAILETH. See note on Isaiah 19:5. HEAR. answer. THE GOD OF ISRAEL. See note on Isaiah 29:23. FORSAKE. See note on Isaiah 1:4....