E H 1-. Israel created and called. J r -1. "Fear not". s 2. Preservation. K t 3-. Yehovah. Israel's Saviour. u -3. Ransom. K t 4-. Yehovah. Israel's Lover. u -4. Ransom. J r 5-. "Fear not". s -5-7-. Restoration. H -7. Israel called and created.
43)
603-588 B.C.
1 But now thus says Yehovah that created you (this is another Yehovah Title = Yehovah Boraaka = Yehovah your Creator), “O Jacob, and your Former, O Israel, (see Gen.32:28; 43:6; 45:26,28. See 42:24)
“<Fear not (cp. v.5): for I have redeemed you (see Ex.6:6), I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
2 Should you pass (the habitual sense of ki wth the future. See Deut.31:6,8) through waters, I will be with you; and through rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall flame pass over you. (Refers especially to 1st and 2nd tribulation. 1st tribulation - water,rivers - Satan's flood of lies - See Rev.17:15. 2nd tribulation - fire,flame - of God - no need to fear, He is only mad at his enemies. A general promise of future deliverences put by Fig., for troubles of any ad all kinds.)
3 For I Yehovah Am your Elohim (note the 3 titles. He is Israel's God by covenant [note the others in the next clause]), the Set Apart One of Israel (in contrast with false gods. See 1:4, and Ps.71:22), your Saviour:
I gave Egypt for your atonement price, Ethiopia and Seba for you. (= Egypt...Nubia [Cush], and Ethiopia. These were given to Persia as ransom-money [as it were] for the release of Israel by Persia through the successors of Cyrus [see Xenophon, Cyr.viii.6,20; and Herod.i.153;iii.25]. In the time of Isaiah these three were united under one dynasty)
4 Ever since you became precious in My sight, you have been honoured, and I have loved you:
therefore will I give a man for you (could this be Christ? Heb. ’adãm), and peoples for your soul.
5 Fear not: for I am with you:
I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give up;’ and to the south, ‘Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth;’ (This contemplates a wider and greater deliverance than that from Babylon, even from "the ends of the earth")
7 Even every one that is called by My name: (i.e. Christian)
for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8 Bring forth a blind People that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. (i.e. Israel.
I.e. Blinded to the ways of the world. See 6:10; 42:19,20. Jer.5:21. Ezek.12:2. Matt.13:14. Acts 28:26,27)
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among you can declare this, and show us former things? (foretold of things) let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, ‘It is truth.’
F v 10-. Yehovah's witnesses. w -10-12-. The only God. v -12-. Yehovah's witnesses. w -12,13. The only God.
10 You all are My witnesses,” is Yehovah's oracle, and My servant (i.e. Israel) whom I have chosen: (see 1:29)
that you all may know (i.e. be taught) and believe Me, and understand that I Am He [Who is]: before me there was no El formed, neither shall there be after Me.
11 I, even I, Am Yehovah; and beside me there is no saviour.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have foretold, when there was no strange god among you: (see Deut.32:12,16)
therefore ye are my witnesses,
says Yehovah, that I am El.
13 Yes, before the day was I Am He; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand: I will work, and who shall avert it?” (see Amos 1:3,6,9,11,13; 2:1,4,6)
14 Thus says Yehovah, your Kinsman-Redeemer (see Ex.6:6), the Set Apart One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon (= Confusion. First occ. of this name in Isaiah), and have brought down all of them in flight, and the Chaldeans, the ships which sesound with loud outcries. (cp. Lam.2:19. Num.24:24)
15 I Am Yehovah, your Set Apart One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Thus says Yehovah, which makes a way in the sea (see Ex.14:16,21,22. Ps.77:19), and a path in the mighty waters;
17 Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; “they shall lie down together (or, at once), they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick.
18 Remember you all not the former things (see 44:21), neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing (the future deliverance of Israel will be with greater marvels than at Exodus); now it shall spring forth; shall you all not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness (He will take care of you there. See Rev.12), and rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field shall honour Me, the dragons and the owls (He takes care of the unclean beasts why not you!?): because I give waters in the wilderness (see Ex.17:6. Num.20:11), and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My People, My chosen.
21 This People have I formed for Myself (for Israel [as Birks puts it] "is the keystone of the whole arc of promise". See 44:7); they shall show forth My praise. (Honour Him)
22 But you have not called upon Me (Fig., put for all that has to do with, as deveoped in vv.23,24 worship), O Jacob (natural seed); but you have been weary of me, O Israel. (spiritual)
23 You have not brought Me (&c. These verses are quite opposed to the alleged indifference of the prophets to the Divine ritual) the small cattle of your burnt offerings; neither have you honoured Me with your sacrifices (i.e. your love. He is not going to force you to do anything). I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense.
24 You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices (God wanted all the fat. It is not good for you to eat): but (note the solemn antithesis) you have made Me to serve with your sins (fig., put for the judicial consequences of their sin), you have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25 I, even I, Am He that blots out your rebellions for My own sake (He does not go out of Himself for the reason which flows from grace), and will not remember your sins. (He remembers our infirmities, which man forgets, Ps.103.14, but will forget our sins, He will blot them out, which man reembers)
26 Put Me in remembrance (of His promises): let us plead together (talk to Him): recount [your works] (or, sins), that you may be justified. (be made right)
27 Thy first father has sinned (i.e. Jacob, as stated in the next verse. Cp. Deut.26:5.Ezek.16:3,45), and your teachers have transgressed against Me. (because they change things. See Hos.2:14-23)
28 Therefore I have profaned the priests of the sanctuary (whose great duty it was to "teach" the people the Law and Word of God. See Deut.17:11; 33:10), and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. (including the whole Nation: the subject of this prophecy concerning Yehovah's "servant")
44)
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant (see 37:35); and Israel, whom I have chosen:” (see 1:29)
2 Thus says Yehovah That made you, and fashioned you from the womb, Which will help you (Yehovah's first controversy with Israel closes. The second one ends in 48:22); “Fear not, O Jacob, My servant; and you, Jesurun (this is a direct reference to the Pentateuch, Deut.32:15; 33:5,26, the only 3 places where this names occ.), whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty (these promises all refer to the day of Israel's future restoration), and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My spirit upon you seed (for this promise, see Ezek.36:25-30; 39:29. Cp. Isa.32:15; 59:21. Joel 2:28. Zech.12:10. I began at Pentecost, Acts 2:16; but the kingdom was then rejected, Acts 28:25,26, and the promise is now in abeyance. Cp. Joel 2:28, "afterward"), and My blessing upon your offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. (see Num.24:6)
5 This one shall say, ‘I am Yehovah's; and that one shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and that one shall subscribe with his hand to Yehovah's, and surname himself by the name of Israel.”
F L 6. Yehovah. His Own Witness. M 7. Idolaters. Their own witness. Ignorance. L 8. Yehovah. His Own Witness. M 9-20. Idolaters. Their own witnesses. Impotence.
6 Thus says Yehovah the King of Israel (Note this Title (1) in connection with the O.T. manifestation of the kingdom; (2) the Gospels, the proclomation of the kingdom by the Son, Matt.27:42. Mark 15:32. John 1:49; 12:13. All were rejected, and the kingdom therefore is now in abeyance), and His Kinsman-Redeemer Yehovah Sabaioth (see 41:14); “I Am the first, and I am the last; (quoted in Rev.1:17, &c.) and beside Me there is no Elohim.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I established the everlasting Nation? (the nation of Israel is everlasting, like the Covenant. The nations which oppressed Israel [Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome] have passed away; but israel remains, and, when restored, will remain forever) and the things that are coming, and [which] shall come, let them show to them.
8 Fear you all not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you all are even My witnesses. Is there an Eloah beside Me? yes, there is no Rock (see Deut.32:4. Cp.Isa.26:4); I know not any.
M N 9-11. Idolaters. Their stupidity. O 12-17. The smith and the carpenter. N 18-20. Idolaters. Their stupidity.
9 They that fashion (or, form) a graven image are all of them emptiness (Heb. tohu [without form], as in Gen.1:2. See 24:10); and the fashioners' delectable things shall not profit (fig., put for the things they have desired); and they are their own witnesses; they (i.e. the makers and the worshippers) see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. (as the Babylonians were when their city was taken by Medo-Persians)
10 Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of mankind: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
O x 12-. The smith and his god. y -12. His own informity. x 13-15. The carpenter and his god. y 16,17. His own infirmity.
12 The smith with the tongs both works in the coals ("The smith was more or les a sacred person, and the iron foundry ws an annex of heathen temples" Mounds of scoriœ and iron slag are found near many heathen temples. So writes Prof. Sayce in "The Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology" [1911. Note the contrast exhibited, apparently on purpose, in 1 Kings 6:7]), and fashioned it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms:
yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches out his rule; he marks it out with a line; he fitts it with planes, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He hews him down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain does nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take of the wood] thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto.
16 He burns part thereof in the fire; and with part thereof he eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied: yes, he warms himself, and says, ‘Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:’
17 And the residue thereof he makes into a god, even his graven image: he falls down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and says, ‘Deliver me; for you are my god.’
18 They have not taken note nor understood: for he has smeared their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none reflects in his heart (none brings back to his heart = mind), neither is there knowledge nor discernment to say, ‘I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to a log of wood?’
20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart (mind) has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’ (i.e. the maker's vain fancy)
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant: I have formed you; you are My servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of Me. (because of being the "everlasting Nation"[v.7])
22 I have blotted out (see 43:25), as a thick cloud, your rebllions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to Me; for I have redeemed you. (see Ex.6:6)
23 Sing, O all you heavens; for Yehovah has done it: shout, all you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing (see 14:7), ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Yehovah has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”
l P 44:24-26-. Yehovah's attributes. Q S 44:-26,27. Jerusalem. Rebuilding. T 44:28 - 45:5. Cyrus. R 45:6-10. Sovereignty. P 45:11,12. Yehovah's attributes. Q T 45:13-. Cyrus. S 45:-13,14. Jerusalem. Rebuilding. R 45:15. Inscrutability.
24 Thus says Yehovah, your Kinsman-Redeemer, and He That fashioned you from the womb, “I Am Yehovah That makes all things; That stretches forth the heavens alone; That spreads abroad the earth by Myself;
25 That frustrates the signs (see 7:11) of the liars (i.e. the false prophets of the heathen), and makes diviners mad (i.e. the astrologers, &c., of Assyria. See 47:13); That turns (accounted) wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 That confirms the word of His servant (i.e. His prophet Isaiah), and performs the counsel of His messengers;
That says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited;’ and to the cities of Judah (these named first because first built. See v.28), ‘You all shall be rebuilt, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:’
27 That says to the deep (i.e. the Euphrates, on which Babylon was built), ‘Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:’ (literally fulfilled, at the taking of Babylon, by Cyrus through his general, Gobryas. Cp. Jer.50:38; 51:31,32,36. "Rvers", plural of Majesty for the great river Euphrates)
28 That says of Cyrus (see 45:1), ‘He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: and saying to Jerusalem (i.e. Yehovah the Speaker from v.24, and in the preceding clause. It does not mean that Cyrus spoke of rebuilding Jerusalem [for he did not], but it records what Yehovah would say of Cyrus, and what He would say also to Jerusalem. Nehemiah must have obtained a copy of Isaiah on his visit to Jerusalem, or he could not have instructed Cyrus. "Jerusalem" named before the temple, because the city and its walls were first built, before the temple foundations were laid. See Neh.7:4), ‘You shall be built;’ and to the temple (named after Jerusalem, because the city walls were first built. See note above, and cp. Neh.7:4 with Hag.1:1-4), ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’
45)
1 Thus says Yehovah to His anointed, to Cyrus (= the sun. "The Persian", the founder of the Persian empire - see 2 Chron.36:22,23. Dan.6:28; 10:1,13 - was a Persian of the royal family Achæmenidæ. When he grew up to manhood his courage and genius placed him at the head o the Persians. His conquests were numerous an brilliant. He defeated and captured the Median king. He defeated Crœsus, and the kingdom of Lydia was the prize of his success. Babylon fell before his army, and the ancient dominion of Assyria were added to his empire. The prophet Daniel's home for a time was at his court. Dan.6:28. The edict of Cyrus for the rebuiding of the temple, 2 Chron.36:22,23. Ezra 1:1-4; 3:7; 4:3; 5:13,17; 6:3, was in fact the beginning of Judaism; and the great changes by which the nation was transformed into a church are clearly marked. His tomb is still shown at Pasagadæ, the scene of his first decisive victory. In the Cuniform Cylinder account of the capture of Babylon, Cyrus states:- "I am Cyrus the king...the great king, the mighty king, king of Tintir [Babylon], king of Sumir, and Akkad, king of the regions of the earth, the son of Chambyses the great king, king of the city of Anzan, grandson of Cyrus, the great king, king of the city of Anzan, great-grandson of Teispes, the great king of the city of Anzan, of the ancient seed of royalty, whose dominion [reign, i.e. of Cyrus himself] Bel and Nebo had exhalted according to the benefcence of their hearts" [E. Wallis Budge, "Babylonian Lfe and History", p.87]. Here we have the statement of Cyrus that his father was know as Cambyses, his grandfather as Cyrus, and his great-grandfather under the name [or title], common to the Behistun Inscription and the Cylinder alike, of Theispes.), whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings (Idiom for weakening. Cp. Job 12:21. The opposite of "girding" [v.5]), to open before him the two leaved gates (i.e. of Babylon, as described by Herodotus. See "Records of the Past", Part V,p.162; and cp. Jer.51:30,31); and the gates shall not be shut; (they were found open, and Gobryas and the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting)
2 I will go before you, and make the crooked places level: I will shiver the gates of brass (Herodotus [i.180] tells us that the gates leading to the river were of brass), and smash the bars of iron:
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, Yehovah, Which call you by your name (only 4 named by Divine prophecy before birth: Isaac [Gen.17:19]; Solomon [1 Chron.22:9]; Josiah [1 Kings 13:2; and Cyrus, 137 years before his birth), am the Elohim of Israel.
4 For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name: I have surnamed you (Cyrus was the additional name Divinely given. His Persian name is said to have been Agradates [Strabo, xv.3,6]), when you did not know Me.
5 I Am Yehovah, and there is none else, there is no Elohim beside Me: I girded you (contrast "loose" v.1, and see 8:9), when you did not know Me
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me (see5:8). I Am Yehovah, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and bring about disturbances (God brings calamity about as the inevitable consequence of sn): I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, all you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation (when the earth opened up before it brought destruction [Nu.16:32; 26:10 and Ps.106:17), and let righteousness spring up together; I Yehovah have created it.
9 Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the ground (i.e. here, clay). Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, ‘What do you make? or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
10 Woe to him that says to his father, ‘What do you beget?’ or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”
11 Thus says Yehovah, the Holy (Set Apart) One of Israel, and his Fashioner, “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command you all of Me.
12 I have made the earth (see Gen. 1:1), and created mankind (or, humans) upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up (i.e. raised Cyrus up) in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways:
he shall build My city (Nehemiah rebuilt only the walls. See Neh.7:4. The city was not rebuilt until after the return under Zerubbabel, and the emanciation by Cyrus), and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward,” says Yehovah Sabaioth.
14 Thus says Yehovah, “The labour of Egypt (fig., put for that which is produced by it), and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, ad they shall come over to you, and they shall be yours: they shall come after you; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down to you, they shall make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely El is in you; and there is none else, there is no Elohim.’ ”
15 Verily You are an El that hides Yourself, O Elohim of Israel, the Saviour.