Isaiah 41:20

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. THAT THEY MAY SEE ... AND CONSIDER - literally, lay it (to heart); turn (their attention) to it. "They" refers to all lands (; ; ). The effect on the Gentiles of God's open interposition hereafter in behalf of Israel shall be, they shall seek Israel's God (; Zechariah 8:21)....

20._Therefore let them see and know. _While God leads us by all his works to adore him, yet when the restoration of his Church is the matter in question, his wonderful power is manifested, so as to constrain all to admire him. As we have seen elsewhere, and as he will afterwards repeat frequently, when he brought back his people from banishment, he gave a proof fitted for being remembered in all ages, as he declares in this passage that he will do. But because we are either sluggish or careless in considering his works, and because they quickly pass away from our view in consequence of our giving so little attention to them, he repeats the same statement in many forms. We give our attention to vain and useless matters, instead of admiring these works of God; and if at any time they excite our admiration, yet we quickly forget them, because we are speedily led aside to different and very...

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...

Verse Isaiah 41:20. _AND CONSIDER_] The verb ישימו _yasimu_, without לב _leb_ added, cannot signify _to apply the heart_, or _to attend_ to a thing, as _Houbigant_ has observed; he therefore reads ישמו _yashshemu_, they shall _wonder_. The conjecture is ingenious; but it is much more probable that the word לב _leb_ is lost out of the text; for all the ancient versions render the phrase to the same sense, as if it were fully expressed, ישימו לב _yasimu leb_; and the _Chaldee_ renders it paraphrastically, yet still retaining the very words in his paraphrase, ושוון דחלתי על לבהון _vishavvun dechalti_ _al lebehon_, "that they may put my fear in their heart." See also Isaiah 41:22, where the same phrase is used....

THAT THEY - The Jews, the people who shall be rescued from their long captivity, and restored again to their own land. So rich and unexpected would be the blessings - as if in a pathless desert the most beautiful and refreshing trees and fountains should suddenly spring up - that they would have the fullest demonstration that they came from God. HATH CREATED IT - That is, all this is to be traced to him. In the apocryphal book of Baruch there is an expression respecting the return from Babylon remarkably similar to that which is used here by Isaiah: ‘Even the woods and every sweet-smelling tree shall overshadow Israel by the commandment of God’ Isaiah 5:8....

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

THAT THEY MAY SEE, AND KNOW, AND CONSIDER, AND UNDERSTAND TOGETHER,.... Not the nations of the world, as Kimchi; but rather, as Aben Ezra, the poor and needy; who in all this, by subduing kingdoms and states, their enemies, supplying their wants when in the greatest distress, and in a marvellous manner, and converting sinners, might easily perceive, and so frankly own and acknowledge, as well as lay it to heart, and lay it up in their minds, and get understanding from it: THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD HATH DONE THIS, AND THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL HATH CREATED IT; for the things before said to be done carry in them plain marks of the hand of the Lord, and are as clear proofs of his almighty power, as what was done in the creation of all things; such as a worm to be made a threshing instrument, to beat down mountains and hills, kingdoms and states, and make them as chaff; rivers to be opened in...

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._ God invites people to argue with him. He bids them first «listen» to him, and then speak to him. They had been worshipping idols, so the Lord shows them that the idols are nothing, and that all worship paid to them is a lie. He begins by asking a question:? Isaiah 41:2. _Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his east, 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._ These words are supposed to allude to Cyrus, wh

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.)._...