Isaiah 41:23

Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. DO GOOD, OR DO EVIL - give any proof at all of your power, either to reward your friends or punish your enemies (Psalms 115:2). THAT WE MAY BE DISMAYED, AND BEHOLD IT TOGETHER. Maurer translates, 'that we (Yahweh and the idols) may look one another in the face (i:e., encounter one another: ; ) and see' our respective powers by a trial. I prefer, with the English version, taking the same Hebrew as in , "be dismayed;" 'look at one another in dismay.' T...

23._Do good, or do evil. _It must not be supposed that _to do evil _denotes, in this passage, to commit injustice, which is contrary to the nature of God; but it means to inflict punishment, and to send adversity, which ought to be ascribed to the providence of God, and not to idols or fortune. In this sense it is very frequently found in Scripture. “Is there evil in a city which the Lord hath not done?” (Amos 3:6.) In like manner Jeremiah accuses the people of not acknowledging God to be “the author of good and of evil.” (Lamentations 3:38) By “evils” of that kind, therefore, such as wars, pestilence, famine, poverty, disease, and others of the same kind, the Lord punishes the sins of the people, and wishes to be acknowledged as the author of them all. Now

21-29 There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. Let the advocates of other doctrines than that of salvation through Christ, bring their arguments. Can they tell of a cure for human depravity? Jehovah has power which cannot be withstood; this he will make appear. But the certain knowledge of the future must be only with Jehovah, who fulfils his own plans. All prophecies, except those of the Bible, have been uncertain. In the work of redemption the Lord showed himself much more than in the release of the Jews from Babylon. The good tidings the Lord will send in the gospel, is a mystery hid from ages and generations. A Deliverer is raised up for us, of nobler name and greater power than the deliverer of the captive Jews. May we be nu...

Verse Isaiah 41:23. _THAT WE MAY BE DISMAYED, AND BEHOLD_ IT _TOGETHER_ - "Then shall we be struck at once with admiration and terror."] The word ונרא _venere_ is written imperfectly in the _Hebrew_ text; the Masoretes supply ה _he_ at the end; and so it is read in _twenty-two_ MSS. and _four_ editions; that is, ונראה _venireh_, and we shall _see_. But the true reading seems to be ונירא _venira_, and we shall _fear_, with י _yod_ supplied, from ירא _yara_....

THAT WE MAY KNOW THAT YE ARE GODS - The prediction of future events is the highest evidence of omniscience, and of course of divinity. In this passage it is admitted that if they could do it, it would prove that they were worthy of adoration; and it is demanded, that if they were gods they should be able to make such a prediction as would demonstrate that they were invested with a divine nature. YEA, DO GOOD, OR DO EVIL - Do something; show that you have some power; either defend your friends, or prostrate your foes; accomplish something - anything, good or bad, that shall prove that you have power. This is said in opposition to the character which is usually given to idols in the Scriptures - that they were dumb, deaf, dead, inactive, powerless (see Psalms 95:1) The command here to ‘do evil,’ means to punish their ene

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

SHOW THE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME HEREAFTER,.... From henceforward to the consummation of all things: so the Targum, "show what shall come to the end;'' or at the end, the end of all things; or show wonderful things, which shall be hereafter; so Jarchi interprets the word; a word like this having the signification of signs and wonders: THAT WE MAY KNOW THAT YE ARE GODS; as ye are said to be; that we may own and acknowledge you to be such, there being this clear proof of it, if it can be made out, foretelling things to come, both near and far off. The Targum is, "that we may know whether ye worship idols, in whom there is any profit;'' as if the words were spoken not to the idols, but to the worshippers of them: "yea, do good, or do evil"; not in a moral, but in a civil sense; do good to your friends, to your worshippers; bestow favours upon them, as I do on mine; or inflict punishmen...

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'S CHALLENGE TO THE GODS OF THE NATIONS. The nations are bidden to produce their case and bring forward their champions their idols (so emend strong reasons). Let the idols show that in days gone by they have foreseen the antecedents of present developments, or explain the events now happening and about to happen. They remain dumb, and Yahweh taunts them with their impotence. He has raised up Cyrus; who among them had foreseen the event? Not one; how patent, then, their nothingness! ISAIAH 41:22. LATTER END: issue. THINGS FOR TO COME: THE immediate development from the present situation. Isaiah 41:23. be dismayed: rather (_cf. mg._), open our eyes in wonder. Isaiah 41:2

The argument of Isaiah 41:1 is resumed, but now the idols (Isaiah 41:23), not their worshippers, are addressed. Foreknowledge is the test of divinity. Can the idols produce any instance whatever of their power to predict, or indeed any proof of life and activity at all?...