Isaiah 44:4

And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. THEY - thy "seed" and "offspring;" literally, thy offshoots (). SHALL SPRING UP (AS) AMONG THE GRASS - as needlessly is inserted in the English version. Rather, 'they shall spring up among the grass (i:e., luxuriantly; because what grows in the midst of grass grows luxuriantly); as willows by the water-courses,' which makes the parallel clauses balanced (Maurer)....

4._And they shall spring up. _These words contain nothing more than what I quoted from Psalms 104:30, that, when the Spirit of God has been sent forth, the whole face of the earth is renewed, and those fields which formerly were burnt up with thirst are green and flourish, just as the herbs grow, after having been watered by the rains. By these metaphors he extends the view of this subject, and more fully shews that it is quite as easy for God to enlarge by additional offspring the Church, which was desolate, and which had been reduced to ruinous and frightful solitude, as to impart to the earth the power of bringing forth. Yet, though he does not speak of regeneration, still we may apply to it this statement; because he speaks of the restoration of the Church, the chief part of which is the new creature by which the Lord restores his image in the elect. This doctrine may indeed be

1-8 Israel is here called Jeshurun, which means "the upright one." Such only are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile. Those that serve God he will own. He will help them over difficulties, and in their services. Water is the emblem of the Holy Spirit; as water refreshes, cleanses, and makes the earth fruitful, so do his influences the soul. This gift of the Holy Ghost is the great blessing, the plentiful pouring out of which God kept for the latter days. Where God gives his Spirit, he will give all other blessings. Hereby shall be a great increase of the church; thus it shall be spread to distant places. Was there any other Rock, or Protector, that could defend them? None besides could foretell these things to come, of which God by his prophets gave notice. All was set in order in the Divine predictions, as well as in the Divine purposes. Could any other have done so? Who can compare...

Verse Isaiah 44:4. _THEY SHALL SPRING UP AS AMONG THE GRASS_ - "They shall spring up as the grass among the waters"] בבין חציר _bebeyn_ _chatsir_, "They shall spring up _in the midst of_, or rather, _in_ _among, the grass_." This cannot be right: _eleven_ MSS., and _thirteen_ editions, have כבין _kebeyn_, or כבן _keben_. Twenty-four MSS. read it without the י _yod_, בבן beben, in the son of the grass; and so reads the _Chaldee_; בבן beben, in the son of the grass. _Twenty-four_ MSS. of Dr. _Kennicott's, thirty-three_ of _De Rossi's_, and one of my own, with _six_ editions, have this reading. The _Syriac_, מבין mibbeyn. The true reading is in all probability כבין _kebeyn_; and the word מים _mayim_, which should have followed it, is lost out of the text: but it is happily supplied by the Sep

AND THEY SHALL SPRING UP - The idea is, that as plants and trees planted by water-courses, and in well-watered fields, grow and flourish, so should their children grow in virtue, hope, piety, and zeal. AS AMONG THE GRASS - They shall spring up and flourish as the grass does when abundantly watered from heaven. On the meaning of the unusual form of the word בבים _b__e__bēyn_, in the Hebrew (“in among”), see Vitringa and Rosenmuller. The ב (_b_) here is undoubtedly an error of the transcriber for כ (_k_) (“as”) - an error which, from the similarity of the letters, might be readily made. The Septuagint reads it, Ὡς _Hōs_ - ‘As.’ The Chaldee reads it, כ (_k_) (“as”)....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 44:1 A PROPHECY OF ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL RECOVERY AND REGENERATION. This section is closely connected with Isaiah 43:1; of which it ought to form the conclusion. The prophet cannot bear to leave Israel under a ban—its spiritual guides "profaned," and itself given over to "reproaches." He must end with a brighter prospect. Accordingly, he holds out, in the present passage, the double hope (1) of the blessing of an abundant outpouring of the Spirit, to take the place of the preceding "curse" (Isaiah 43:28); and (2)

AND THEY SHALL SPRING UP AS AMONG THE GRASS,.... That is, such on whom the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured with his gifts and grace, and with the blessings of it: by the "grass" may be meant common believers, comparable to green grass, for their numbers, being many; for their weakness in themselves; for their flourishing condition; like grass for its greenness, and verdure, and its springing up by clear shining after rain; see Psalms 72:6 and by those that "spring up among them" are intended the apostles and ministers of the word, who exceed common Christians in their gifts, and grace, and usefulness; grow up higher and taller than they, like palm trees and cedars in Lebanon; and as such exceed private saints as tall trees exceed the grass they grow among: AS WILLOWS BY THE WATER COURSES; a sort of trees well known, and which delight in watery places, and grow best on ban

Isaiah 44:1. _Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel._ There are different ways of making the same profession of attachment to the Lord. All do not acknowledge in the same way their faith in God, but it is a great blessing when our offspring do acknowledge it. Let us end our reading with th

CHAPTER 44 Jehovah Continues to Speak 1. _Spiritual blessings promised by the gift of the Spirit (Isaiah 44:1)_ 2. _Jehovah the First and the Last (Isaiah 44:6)_ 3. _Idolatry rebuked (Isaiah 44:9)_ 4. _Remember! Return! Sing! (Isaiah 44:21)_ 5. _The faithful Jehovah, the Redeemer (Isaiah 44:24)_ 6. _Cyrus named (Isaiah 44:28)_ The outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel's seed promised in the beginning of the chapter has not ye

ISAIAH 43:22 TO ISAIAH 44:5. YAHWEH'S INTERVENTION, NOT PURCHASED BY HIS PEOPLE BUT ENTIRELY OF HIS GRACE, SHALL BRING NEW LIFE TO ISRAEL. It is not that during the exile Israel has assiduously sought Yahweh's aid by prayer and sacrifice. Nor has He exacted gifts and incense. So far from requiring them to buy sweet-scented cane to make fragrant their choice sacrifices, He has been compelled to do service for them, in saving them from the consequences of their sins. (Of His grace He will pardon their sins. What plea can they advance?) Their ancestor, Jacob, and the prophets, the very men who should have mediated between Yahweh and Israel, sinned against Him; the princes profaned His sanctuary. So He had given His people to the ban. Yet He bids His chosen people, addressing them by the pet name Jeshurun the upri