Isaiah

[Resource Manager]

40 (3). Good Tidings to Zion (v.9-11)

 

The prophets of the Lord — Isaiah, John the Baptist, the Elijah prophet of the Last Days — had been bidden (40:6) proclaim the message that before the Lord "all flesh is grass." Coupled with such a theme of apparent hopelessness is the most cheering of all good tidings — the coming of the Messiah: "Behold your God."

 

But in Isaiah's own day there was no Messiah. It was the Shekinah Glory of God which brought salvation in the hour of need. The might of Assyria was destroyed outside beleaguered Jerusalem in a night.

 

Here, truly, was "good news" to bring to Jerusalem and to Zion's high mountain and the temple there. There can be little doubt that verse 9 should read: "O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion...O thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem...". The Hebrew text can be read either way; but Isaiah 62:11, with its double allusion to 40:9,10 is decisive.

 

A prophetess?

 

A more serious problem is the feminine form of the words here. The commen­tators airily dismiss this as an idiom for the Lord's faithful viewed collectively. They cite "thou inhabitress of Zion" (12:6). But it is they who are to be comforted by the message. So, more likely, the one in Isaiah's day who spoke this good word was Isaiah's own wife, "the prophetess" (8:3; and cp. 5:1) — a word which must mean that she too shared heaven's inspiration. Is there any connection between this possibility and the remarkable number of references in "Second" Isaiah to such feminine topics as women and marriage and babies?

 

In the circumstances to which the prophecy at first alludes, there was need to exhort: "Be not afraid;" for, with these cruel and invincible Assyrian warriors at the gate, who could hold from trembling, least of all the women? The king passed on this good word to his people: "Be strong (hizku: be a Hezekiah!) and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria" (2 Chr. 32:7 and also v.8).

 

The assurance was for the "cities of Judah" as well — those "forty and six fenced cities" which (so Sennacherib boasted in his inscription) had been taken and destroyed. Now there is no need for fear. The waste places are to he built (61:4).

[Resource Manager]

In Isaiah's day

 

Salvation came not only in an overpowering display of heavenly might, but also in a man of God's choice and approval who shepherded the flock of God in their distress: "Behold, the Lord God will come in a Strong One (the Hebrew is almost 'in Hezekiah'!), and his arm shall rule for him."

 

The "reward" and "work" (Heb: recompense for service given) now assigned to this godly man was a nation given back to him as good as risen from the dead, so submerged had it been by a tide of terror and desolation. Now, again, they were Hezekiah's flock, at his bidding, to be nurtured and brought back to the providence and comfort of God. "The Lord saved Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem...and guided them (s.w. "gently lead") on every side" (2 Chr. 32:22).

 

That stirring history was the foundation of this part of the prophecy. Possibly written after the events had taken place, it really looked forward to greater fulfilment through the One whom Hezekiah so splendidly foreshadowed.

 

John the forerunner

 

There is no intimation that John the Baptist ever took his great appeal to Jerusalem and its mount Zion. But certainly men of all classes there heard his good tidings, for "there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judaea" (Mt. 3:5).

 

"The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings" (41:27).

 

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth salvation (Jesus!); that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (the kingdom of God is at hand)" (52:7; and see again 62:11).

 

John was indeed a worthy herald, saying: "Behold, your God! This is Immanuel."

 

But Isaiah's word for "bring good tidings" also means "flesh" — and John said that also: "All flesh is grass," the bad news of the kingdom, which all men must believe before the Good News can mean anything at all to them.

 

But the gospel he proclaimed (Mk. 1:1-4) was filled out, both in word and in practice, by Jesus who took literally the exhortation: "Get thee up into the high mountain." This is given pointed mention in the gospels: "He set his face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem" (Lk. 9:51). "When his brethren were gone up, then went he also up to the feast...In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood, and cried, saying..." (Jn. 7:10,37).

 

The Arm of the Lord

 

Then, if only the leaders of the people had wanted to recognize the fact, the Lord God was coming to them in a Strong One (Ps. 80:17), that He, the Arm of the Lord, might rule the flock for Him. Before he was born, the virgin Mary's song of rejoicing had interpreted this very Scripture as a prophecy of Christ: "He (Jehovah) hath shewed strength with his Arm" (Lk. 1:51).

 

Messiah as the Arm of the Lord is a recurring theme in Isaiah — seven times as a bringer of Jesus-salvation (33:2; 40:10,11; 51:5,9; 52:10; 53:1) and once wielding the rod of judgment (30:30).

 

"Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Both key words here refer to recompense for effort made or work done (cp. 49:4). With Jesus, as with his great forefather Jacob, the fruits of his labour were seen in a flock of sheep, his own possession.

[Resource Manager]

The Good Shepherd

 

How tenderly this Good Shepherd gives himself to this next phase of his labour! No flock, not even the flock of Moses (63:11) ever had such care. LXX is superb here: "Like a shepherd he shall shepherd his shepherding." Gospels and Acts teem with gracious examples of this, e.g. "My lamb, arise" (Mk. 5:41). "He leadeth me beside the still waters" (Ps. 23:2) — the word here is the same: "he shall gently lead those that are with young" (and also in Isaiah 49:10; 51:18). It is the same concern which Jacob showed for the flock which was his "reward" and "recompense" after long years of hard service (Gen. 33:13).

 

For "gently lead", LXX has "comfort" (parakaleo). Then did Jesus have this prophecy in mind when, after the promise of the Comforter, he spoke of the little community of faithful ones as like a woman coming near to childbirth ("those that are with young") and finding her sorrow and travail changed to joy because a Man is born into the world (Jn. 16:21)?

 

Like Master, like servant. Jesus the Good Shepherd must have worthy men to help "feed the flock" (1 Pet. 5:2). So, to match the triple emphasis in Is. 40:11, he thrice bade Peter:"Feed my sheep" (Jn. 21:15-17).

 

That three-fold command was not at all intended to rub in Peter's triple denial (a pathetic exposition, this) but was meant to underline the spiritual obligation which lies on all good shepherds to fulfil Isaiah's prophecy of the preaching of the gospel.

 

This prophecy is not yet filled-full, even with its emphasis on these gracious gospel truths. Any scribe instructed into the kingdom of God can readily perceive that. And the Lord's own exposition settles the point: "Behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me" (Rev. 22:12 = Is. 40:10 LXX). Then "the Lamb...shall be their shepherd, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters" (Rev. 7:17).

 

Future fulfilment

 

Then, once again — and this time in a far greater sense — "the Glory of the Lord will be revealed;" again, the compelling voice of an Elijah prophet, a second John the Baptist, shall cry: "Behold, your God." But not only he. Rather remarkably LXX turns some of Isaiah's imperatives into plurals: "Lift up thy voice with strength; lift ye it up; be not ye afraid." Who are these in the Last Days, who have to be heralds along with the Elijah-prophet? They are readily identifiable by their current fear to "lift up their voice"! But why should there be any fear? Because of persecution? Because they fear to be let down by non-fulfilment of the prophecy? (in other words, lacking faith in their message!)

 

Such a paltry attitude ill becomes the Lord's people. "Behold, the Lord God will come in a Strong One."

[Resource Manager]

40 (4). The Mighty One of Israel (v.12-17).

 

The prophets of the Lord — Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, the second Elijah prophet — have wonderful and comforting news for His New Israel. Their repen­tance will, without fail, bring them the comfort and leading of Messiah, the Good Shepherd.

 

Now comes the assurance that the God who promises this has the power to do it. The One whose might and wisdom framed the existing creation has not exhausted His resources. So faith in a promised New Creation is not misplaced.

 

The creatures of God

 

He measures the waters in a cupped hand, and what matter if He, like Gideon's men, lose most of it in the process? But to think of it! — the mighty oceans of the world, with their titanic storms and their unplumbed depths, are like a mere mouthful to drink from the hollow hand of so great a God!

 

The casual span of His hand measures out the vast millions of light years to the remotest corners of His universe. It is a theme the prophet is to come back to with delight before he is through (v.22,26). But the same span measures also the breastplate of judgment worn by God's High Priest (Ex. 28:16 s.w.). There in his bosom (v.16) he carries the symbol of God's Israel. And the breastplate is doubled, not only for practical purposes (to carry the Urim and Thummim), but also to teach that God's elect come from Gentiles as well as from Israel.

 

Jeremiah similarly links together these aspects of God's creation. "If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I cast off all the seed of Israel" (31:37).

 

A third illustration: "Who hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure?" The great dust storms of the far-stretching plains, the overpowering waste of the vast desert sands, the thousands of miles of sandy beaches by the ocean — all these God, by an easy scoop of that mighty Hand, can gather together in a measure.

 

But again, the dust of the earth suggests the seed of Abraham, whom men cannot number (that is, cannot redeem; Ex. 30:12): "As the sand of the sea cannot be measured (by man), so will I multiply the seed of David my Servant" (Jer. 33:22).

 

Isaiah's characteristic double meanings come in here, leaving the student awe­struck with the possibilities in God's revelation: "Who hath comprehended the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7) in a Captain?" or even: "Who hath nourished the dust of the earth on the third day?"

 

And now a fourth reminder of the awesome power of God: "Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" In all nature, few things in God's creation are so effective in impressing on mere man his smallness and helplessness. This is specially true for those who have attempted climbing ex­peditions among the towering crags. Yet though "the mountains depart, and the hills be removed, God's kingdom shall not depart, nor His covenant of peace be remov­ed." The mightiest things in God's world are not so sure as His eternal purposes.

[Resource Manager]

Challenges to faith

 

There follows a catalogue of seven more assurances, again couched in the form of rhetorical questions. But whereas the four questions already posed answer "Who hath...?" with an indisputable "God has...!", now the leading "Who hath...?" (v.13) is answered with an equally emphatic, seven-fold "Nobody has!"

"Who has meted out* (RVm) the Spirit of the Lord?"	Nobody!
"Who, being his counsellor**, hath taught him?"	Nobody!
"With whom took he counsel?"	Nobody!
"Who instructed him?"	Nobody!
"Who taught him the path of judgment?"	Nobody!
"Who taught him knowledge?"	Nobody!
"Who shewed him the way of understanding?"	Nobody!

 

The first of these seven is specially impressive in its application to the Lord Jesus: "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him" (Jn. 3:34). And so also the last two in the sequence: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (Jn. 7:15).

 

Compared with the vastness of this knowledge and might, the nations of the world and all their concerns are an inconspicuous triviality.

 

They are "as a drop of a bucket", that unimportant drop which drains back into the bottom when the rest is poured away.

 

"As the small dust of the balance", also, which the seller of spices contemptuous­ly gets rid of with a quick puff from his pursed lips.

 

"He taketh up (more likely: He casts forth") the isles as a very little thing (RVm as the fine dust)". That spatter of islands looking so settled and peaceful in the sunset, so solid and unbudgeable in a raging storm, are no more than specks of dust that settle on a table-top.

 

All the nations before him are as nothing...less than nothing, and vanity." Here is the true worth of human nature, seen in proper perspective. All man's power and cleverness, yes, and his goodness too — are of no consequence whatever. In­deed, they are "vanity" — the Hebrew word is tohu, translated "without form" in Gen. 1:2. Here in a word the prophet puts his finger on the root of all this world's trouble — the nations are a creation in disorder, needing (as in Genesis) the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters which now cast up mire and dirt, that there might be a New Creation pronounced "very good" by its Maker.

 

In such a context, verse 16 is not out of place: "And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn (on God's altar), nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering." In other words, by giving themselves to dedicated religious exercises neither Israel nor the nations of the world can gain for themselves a better status than the contempt in which God presently holds them. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." If human nature is to be redeemed, re-created, it will assuredly not be done by giving back to God all the mighty cedars which He has grown and all the cattle which He has raised upon a thousand hills. "All flesh is grass." Only God can alter that.

 

---

* RVm. This is right, same word as in v. 12 (contrast Pr. 16:2; s.w. again).

** Here AVm is correct: "the man of his counsel" — a detail which would have been used with enthusiasm by those who hold to the pre-existence of Christ, if the answer were not obviously what it is.

[Resource Manager]

40 (5). God and god (v.18-26).

 

The second half of Isaiah 40 should surely have been a chapter to itself, for it has a simple and very effective structure:

 

A. How the idol is created (v. 19-20)

B. God's power to destroy (v.21-24)

A. What God creates (v.25-27)

B. God's power to make immortal (v.28-31).

 

Here the opening paragraph is the first of a sequence of diatribes in this part of Isaiah against the futility of idol-worship (cp. 44:9-20; 46:1-7). These withering censures were familiar to Jeremiah, who in later days wove together the sarcasms of Isaiah 40-46 into one sustained derisive exposure of all who seek to make God in their own image (Jer. 10:1 -16). The Isaiah chapters must have preceded Jer. 10 — a most inconvenient fact for those who put Deutero-Isaiah into the Babylonian captivity!

 

"To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" Man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). But the Fall turned man at his best into the likeness of his sinful and condemned forefather (Gen. 5:3). So until God has made a Man truly in His own likeness — God with us — there can be no answer to the prophet's apostrophe.

 

Idols and idol-makers

 

So Isaiah turned with contempt to survey the pathetic quality of human ideas of God-likeness: "The graven image, a workman melteth it, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold (it has no inner glory of its own), and casteth for it silver chains (to hinder the depredations of thieves!)".

 

At this point, two verses from the next chapter come in with remarkable fitness: "They (the workman and the goldsmith) helped each one his neighbour; and said to his brother, Be of good courage, So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering (i.e. of the finished job), He is good (cp. Ps. 136:1). And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved (toppling over, like Dagon before the glory of the Lord; 1 Sam. 5:4)".

 

"He who profits from the oblation (the priest making fat profits from the piety of the benighted worshipper) chooseth a tree that will not rot" — or so he hopes; but indeed there is no such tree, for even the Tree of Life withered and died in due time, when its ground was cursed (Gen. 3:17,22).

[Resource Manager]

The Creator

 

What a wholesome contrast in the words that follow! The piling up of rhetorical questions makes its point as nothing else could:

 

"Have ye not known?

Have ye not heard?

Hath it not been told you from the beginning?

Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?"

 

There is no missing the allusions here to the familiar Genesis account of creation.

 

These allusions continue through verse after verse: "That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain" (v.22). "Vanity" (v.23) is the Hebrew word tohu which describes the earth as "without form". "Who hath created these things?" (v.26) harnesses the familiar word bara' of Gen. 1:1. "The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not" (v.28) supplies adequate commentary on Gen. 2:2; "God rested from all his work which he had made." And in v.31 more than one phrase harks back to the description of the cherubim which became Adam's tokens of hope when shut out of Eden (Gen. 3:24). Consider also the creation echoes in earlier verses: "the grass of the field" (v.6), "the waters...heaven...the dust of the earth" (v.12), "the Spirit of the Lord" (v.13).

 

The apostrophe: "Have ye not known? Have ye not heard?" can have been addressed only to Israel. And this knowledge of the God of Power behind Creation was theirs from earliest days. What an immense advantage they had over the superstitious pagans around them whose priests fed them grotesque concoctions of debasing fable!

 

But the God of Power is so great that he "sits (dwells) upon the circle of the earth" (i.e. the vault of heaven spread out over the earth; this is the picture in Ez. 1:26 and Ex. 24:10). "He stretches out heaven as a gauze" (RVm, "as a curtain"; Ps. 104:2) — as though the heavenly expanse were only "as a tent to dwell in", until the bless­ed day when He has a Temple on earth as His lasting abode (Rev. 21:4; 22:3).

[Resource Manager]

The smallness of men

 

By contrast with the immensity of this Being whose glory is above the heavens and Who humbles Himself to behold the heavens as well as the earth (Ps. 113:4,6), the men He has made are but grasshoppers. Israel came to the borders of the Land of Promise, hostile and envious, but overawed and dispirited at the prospect before them: "we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (Num. 13:33). And men at their mightiest are like that before the might of God!

 

He "brings princes of the earth to nothing" and "judges of the earth" are reduced to a disorderly rabble (tohu). These words look back to the horrific destruction of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem: "He blows upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble."

 

Again and again this is the type of language men of God harness, all so in­adequately, to that titanic occasion. "Behold, I will send a blast upon him" (37:7) — the Spirit of the Lord blowing so that men wither as grass and fade as flowers (40:7). "God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm" (17:13).

 

"The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod" (30:31; cp. Ps. 83:13-15).

 

All of these words are also like a prophecy of how God will deal with His enemies in the Last Days. "Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the ground." But Messiah's will. The "tender plant", the Lord's "root out of a dry ground," the "shoot out of the stem of Jesse" — he shall prosper. And so also "the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord," who shall glorify Him.

 

Against this background of powerful thought, the divine challenge is renewed: "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." Here the emphasis is not only on might but also on Holiness. "The Holy One of Israel" is the title Isaiah never tired of using. * It goes back to the overpowering vision of holiness which he saw in the Sanctuary of the Lord (ch.6). If the cleverness and might of man is dwarfed by the majesty of God, then how much more does His holiness shame mortal man, unclean and sinful!

 

---

* 15 times in "Proto-" and 16 times in "Deutero-"! A remarkable coincidence if these are not the same writer.

[Resource Manager]

The Heavenly Host

 

Then "lift up thine eyes on high, and behold! Who hath created these? Who bringeth out their host by number?" He counts that countless army (contrast Gen. 15:5). The mighty multitude that leaves man speechless with awe gives him implicit obedience. No wonder Hezekiah exhorted his people: "Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him" (2 Chr. 32:7).

 

God calls all His great host by name. Not one is lacking. ** "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names" (Ps. 147:4). But also, "he gathereth the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds"

(v.2,3).

 

But Isaiah also would fain have his reader see further meaning behind his in­spiration. Abraham was promised not only a seed as the sand of the sea but also as the stars of the heaven (Gen. 22:17). Here is not only Abraham's natural earthly seed but also a heavenly, spiritual multitude of descendants. These are "Jacob" and "Israel" (v.27). And any man who lifts up his eyes on high not only to see but also to perceive, qualifies for inclusion in the latter.

 

But alas, the sons of Jacob chose, against the explicit warning of their great prophet, to "lift up their eyes unto heaven...even all the host of heaven" and were drawn away to "worship and serve them which God hath divided to all the nations under the whole heaven" (Dt. 4:19). For the time being God will put up with Gentile worship of His works, whilst ignorant of Himself. But not so Israel.

 

With the coming of the gospel, all this is changed. God now commands all men everywhere to repent. Isaiah will, one day, live to see this happen.

 

---

** LXX: "Not one thing escapes His notice."

[Resource Manager]

40 (6). "They that wait upon the Lord" (v.27-31)

 

This last splendid section of Isaiah 40 raises a problem which runs through ten chapters: Are the frequent allusions to Jacob and Israel to be read with reference to the nation or to Hezekiah their king? to the New Israel, the elect, or to the Messiah who redeems them?

 

A simple clear-cut answer to these questions is not easy. A review of about fifteen places where these names come together in Isaiah 40-49 suggests that sometimes one meaning, sometimes the other, is intended. Indeed there is occasionally a rapid switch from one to the other — as in 49:3-6; "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified," this is the Messiah (Jn. 12:23; 14:13; 17:5; Phil. 2:7,11,16), and therefore Hezekiah also, his prototype. But then: "Saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered...It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel...".

 

Each case will have to be treated on its merits. And in some instances it will be found that either meaning, or both, will yield a valuable truth.

 

This first occurrence is a fair illustration: "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?"

 

Few men have found themselves up against the problem of evil more than Hezekiah did. Following a vicious, worthless father, he gave himself to the Lord with unquenchable zeal. The temple service was restored, the people were called to Jerusalem to renew observance of the Passover, in time of invasion there was a fine unwavering dependence on the God of Israel.

 

Yet naught but calamity befell. One after another, the nation's fortresses fell into the hands of the Assyrians. With satanic cruelty two hundred thousand captives were driven off to Nineveh and Babylon. Only Jerusalem was left, besieged and helpless. And Hezekiah himself was laid low with a vile incurable disease.

 

What had he done to deserve all this? Why should he, who had so zealously sought God's kingdom and God's righteousness, find himself swept away in a torrent of troubles? Was his way really hidden from the Lord? had God forgotten to be gracious?

 

The prophet's explanation of this tangle of "inconsistency" was a reminder that faith, even uncomprehending faith, in the great Creator of all is never misplaced: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?"

 

God has not forgotten, neither is He deaf, nor is He tired. Therefore, Hezekiah, hang on regardless. This is God's world, and He knows what He is doing.

 

But you don't, for "there is no searching of his understanding." So why should you either expect or even hope to make sense of His purposes? The One who "metes out heaven with a span, who comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure, who weighs mountains in scales, and hills in a balance" — what likelihood is there that yourself, less than "the small dust of the balance", will ever be able to keep in step with that mighty Mind? Can the beast being offered in sacrifice at God's altar understand, much less appreciate, the praise of God sung in a psalm of David by the temple choir? can a dog follow his master's manipulation of a laser beam?

[Resource Manager]

This very point, made in Isaiah's words, becomes the climax of Paul's great argument in Romans 9,10,11 about the place of Israel in God's purpose. Beloved for the fathers' sakes, cast off because of stubborn unbelief, hard hearts made harder, their high spiritual privileges taken over by outsiders, and yet — destined to a glorious future!

 

"O, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments (Is. 40:28), and his ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33).

 

At the time Paul wrote those words, many a devout Jew, both hostile and unbelieving, was puzzled and bewildered by the shape events were taking in Jewry. Paul's commentary was: "God knows what He is doing. We are too small to under­stand His ways. But they are sure to work out right for all men of faith. Faith — faith in God's great purpose in Christ — this is the answer. In Christ all things will fall into place.

 

And so it was in the days of Hezekiah. The faith and self-dedication of that fine man brought a marvellous deliverance both to himself and to all his people.

 

Isaiah's reassurance to the puzzled suffering king has proved equally heart­warming to many of his spiritual heirs:

 

"He giveth power to the faint (to those who acknowledge themselves to be such!) and to them that have no might* he increaseth strength."

 

Human power and might are of no avail: "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord (i.e. looking for aid and salvation from him) shall renew their strength."

 

There follows a stirring triple expansion of this assurance in terms which all evoke a mental picture of the cherubim of glory:

 

"They shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Ps. 103:5).

 

They shall run, and not be weary**. They shall walk, and not faint.**

 

At first sight this sequence appears to be a diminuendo — fly, run, walk. But it isn't really.

 

"Mount up as eagles" suggests immortality.

 

"Run" is Paul's word for the preaching of the gospel to the nations (2 Th. 3:1 RV; Phil. 2:16; Ps. 147:15).

 

"Walk with me in white...in the midst of the candlesticks" (Rev. 2:1; 3:4) suggests high privilege in the kingdom, and powers of supervision.

 

Other scriptures continue this sequence.

 

Equal to the angels, they shall "stand in the presence of God" (Lk. 1:19; Rev. 5:6).

 

Exalted in Christ, they shall "sit with him in his throne" (Rev. 3:21).

 

All of these experiences make appropriate blessing for "the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful" (Ps. 1:1).

 

Hezekiah may have been the first to receive these matchless words, but he was by no means the last. The assurance they impart to flagging faith has been effective in the life of many a perplexed and struggling man of God.

 

And so it is, to this day.

 

---

* A double-meaning word! Aliter: "them that have no iniquity".

** Note how these words "weary, faint" run through v.28-31.

[Resource Manager]

41 (1). The man from the east (v.1-9)

 

"Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people...come near; then let them speak: let us come near to judgment" (42:1). In this part of Isaiah, one of the main themes is the contention between the God of Israel and the gods of the Gentile nations. An apostrophe of this kind recurs over and over again (e.g. 41:21-29; 44:8-20; 43:8-12; 45:20-25).

 

Sennacherib

 

The background to it is the bold and raucous challenge thrown down by Sennacherib and his emissaries before the beleaguered citizens of Jerusalem. It was more than a military challenge. The power of the God of Israel was being insistently and insolently defied (2 Kgs. 18:22,30,32-35; 19:4,10-13,16-19, 22-24,27,28,34,37). The memory of the mission of Jonah still rankled in many Assyrian minds, and now with what intense satisfaction did Sennacherib confidently declare: "Yet forty days and Jerusalem shall be overthrown" (Jon. 3:4).

 

Through Isaiah there came a faith-strengthening riposte to this sustained campaign of blasphemy (37:6,7). Yet a little while, and Jehovah would be vindicated.

 

The present section of the prophecy neatly and forcefully insists that Sennacherib's rampage and its cataclysmic conclusion were all entirely at the behest of Jehovah, not of the gods of Nineveh. From beginning to end, all was in His hand.

 

"Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness (RV) to his foot (as a servant; cp. 1 Sam. 25:42mg)? he giveth him rule over kings; he giveth them as the dust to his sword, as the stubble to his bow" (41:2RV).

 

This mighty warrior called to do God's work, is Sennacherib, "the ravenous bird from the east, the man from a far country that executeth my counsel" (46:11). It is the repetition of a staggering view of Israel's history which is constantly expounded by Isaiah — that God is in control; all events, even the direst evils, are framed by His wisdom and providence:

 

"Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the kings of Assyria, and all his glory" (8:7). "Ho, Assyrian, the rod of mine anger...I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge...Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few" (10:5-7).

 

Thus God directs and harnesses the ambition of evil men. Here, rather than in Assyrian prowess, is the explanation of the whirlwind success of that first (and last!) campaign against Judaea and its forty and six "fenced cities." "He pursued them, and passed on safely*; even by the way he had not gone (hitherto) with his feet".**

 

God's honour vindicated

 

The outcome of these frightening events was awe-inspiring in a completely un­expected way — the devastation of the Assyrian camp, the end of terror for Israel, and the glorifying of their God by amazed nations round about: "Many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all the nations from thenceforth" (2 Chr. 32:23).

 

Naturally! What king would not wish to be on good terms with a neighbour who could send the mighty monarch of Assyria scurrying back to Nineveh like a whipped cur?

 

In Isaiah's words, "the isles saw, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled, they drew near, and came" (v.5)***. This is the meaning of verse 1 also: "Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the peoples renew their strength (by reliance on the God of Israel; cp. 40:31)."

 

---

* There could be here a characteristic play on words by Isaiah, hinting at: "passed on to Salem."

** Here, the last phrase could read: "by (this) way — into Salem? — he will not come."

*** If verses 6,7 do belong in this place, then in very effective contrast they make a jibe at the futility of the gods of Nineveh.

[Resource Manager]

God's servant

 

The one who stands high in God's esteem above all these nations is called "Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend" (v.8). The reference here is not to the nation, but to Hezekiah, their leader, without whom the nation would have been lost: "Thou whom I have hezekiahed from the ends of the Land, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away" (v.9).

 

That final assurance, expressed both positively and negatively, was very necessary, for Hezekiah passed through the valley of the shadow, almost reaching the point of despair where he felt that all his loyalty to Jehovah counted for nothing. Yet how wonderfully did events prove ultimately the truth of that assurance: "I have not cast thee away."

 

Echoes of Genesis

 

The allusion to "Abraham my friend" triggers off another line of investigation in this prophecy.

 

One phrase after another takes the mind back to the experience of Abraham when the Promised Land was invaded by kings from Babylon and Assyria, and Abraham's own kith and kin were carried off as captives, only to be redeemed through a lightning God-guided campaign which sent the invaders back home crestfallen, whilst the friend of God returned to honour the Lord at Jerusalem and enjoy His blessing there (Gen. 14).

 

Now, by contrast, the prophet's message, like so many of his Hebrew phrases, runs to another and very different meaning. "The man raised up in righteousness from the east" is Abraham himself. There is verbal allusion to "nations...kings... pursuit" (Gen. 14:1,15,14). The Hebrew phrase for "passed safely" (v.3) might well echo the meeting of Abram the Hebrew with the priestly king of Salem* (Gen. 14:13,18). Thus, in very subtle fashion, is implied also the restoration of the 200,000 captives taken by Sennacherib, the blessing of God's high priest, and the renewed worship of God, as happened in Abram's experience. Should it not also be inferred that, as Abraham harried and pursued the retreating invaders to the very limits of the Land, so also Hezekiah's men did to the shattered remnants of the invader's army, their prisoners being used as hostages, for the redemption of their brethren in Assyrian bondage?

 

And now another phrase takes on a fresh meaning: "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?"

 

Immediately before that astonishing encounter, God promised the Land to Abraham in perpetuity (Gen. 13:14-17). Immediately after it, He promised him a multitudinous seed (Gen. 15:5,6), "calling the generations from the beginning".

 

So also with Hezekiah. It would seem that for the rest of his reign, Hezekiah did actually rule undisturbed over the Land promised to Abraham. And the Davidic promise of an unending line, fulfilment of which seemed to be much in jeopardy in Hezekiah's time, was also assured through the great events of that period.

 

---

* Cp. v.2. RVm: "whom Righteousness meeteth."

[Resource Manager]

Messiah foreshadowed

 

This is, however, only the beginning of the ramifications of this prophecy. The very fact that Hezekiah foreshadows the Messiah in so many respects makes it almost inevitable that a prophecy written about him should also be true of the Christ to come.*

 

There is NT. support for this conclusion. Those phrases: "the seed of Abraham... whom I have taken hold of (RV) from the ends of the earth..." are echoed in Heb. 2:16: "For verily not of angels doth he take hold, but he taketh hold** of the seed of Abraham."

 

Yet there is a change of subject, as a paraphrase readily brings out. In Isaiah, God "takes hold of" (saves) Hezekiah (and Messiah), because he is the seed of Abraham His friend. In Hebrews, the Messiah "takes hold of" the stricken seed of Abraham. Is the NT. writer misapplying the passage?

 

Perhaps the primary reference to Hezekiah helps here. In saving that good and great leader, God also saved the people of whom he was the representative and spiritual mainstay. God did not save Assyrians or Egyptians for Hezekiah's sake. Nor does He save those who do not belong to Christ. Those redeemed are not only "partakers of flesh and blood" (Heb. 2:14), are not only "subject to bondage" (the phrase looks back to that multitude of Jewish captives freed from Assyrian slavery), but are also "his brethren" (Heb. 2:17).

 

This redemption in Christ has been the one great purpose of God from the very first, "calling the generations from the beginning; I the Lord, the first One, and with the last ones; I am He." It is a purpose involving not only faithful men of Israel but also (as in Hezekiah's day) Gentiles afar off who tremble at the majesty and loving­kindness of Jehovah: "The isles see, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble, draw near, and come." "The peoples renew their (spiritual) strength" by "waiting on the Lord" (40:31).

 

More than this, the day is coming when the spiritual defeat of the Enemy will be consummated in a physical discomfiture. As Hezekiah's subjects, apparently lost for ever, were brought back from the land of the Enemy, so it will be in the day when "gates of brass" and "bars of iron" give way before the authority of Christ. And as all human power marshalled against the city of God was driven off, battered and beaten, so it will yet be in days to come.

 

---

* Perhaps that statement should be written the other way round: The prophecy is about Messiah, but is conveniently framed out of Hezekiah's experience.

** The Greek verb here is not precisely the same as Is. 41:9 LXX, perhaps because of the change of reference.

[Resource Manager]

41 (2). "I will uphold thee" (v.10-20)

 

One constantly recurring problem in this part of Isaiah is the question: Were these words prophecies about Hezekiah in the first instance, looking past him to the greater fulfilment in Messiah? Or, were these chapters a series of prophecies starting from the known experiences of Hezekiah and using them as a basis for Messianic inspiration of a much higher order?

 

This is an issue not easy to resolve. Perhaps it doesn't matter much provided the multiple-purpose character of these prophecies is well recognized. Reference to the nation of Israel (and to the New Israel also) is certainly involved (see the plurals in v.17,20), but it is clear that heaven's blessings come on the people, only because of the Man of Righteousness who is their highly-esteemed representative before God.

 

Allusions to Moses

 

The allusiveness of this passage switches from Abraham (v.2-9) to Moses and the deliverance he brought to Israel.

 

"Fear not...Be not dismayed" (v.10) was spoken not only to Abraham, but also to Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:13), and when they stood on the borders of the Land of Promise; (Dt. 31:6,8 addressed the same exhortation to the people and also to their new leader Joshua-Jesus).

 

"I am with thee" (v. 10) not only picks out Hezekiah as the prototype of Immanuel, but also repeats the angel's assurance to Moses (Ex. 4:12).

 

"I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (v. 10) echoes the experience of Moses when Joshua-Jesus led Israel's struggle for survival against Amalek (Ex. 17:12).

 

"They that strive with thee shall perish" denounces the fate of Pharaoh's army (Ex. 14:13) upon other comparable enemies of God's people.

 

The promise of "a pool of water" and "springs of water" (v.18) is only one of many allusions to the smitten rock in the wilderness (Ex. 17:6; Is. 30:25; 32:2; 35:6,7; 43:19; 44:3; 48:21; 49:10; 55:1; contrast also the nation in the time of their apostasy; Is. 5:13).

 

First fulfilment

 

The moderns make the confident assumption that this "Isaiah" prophecy was written at the end of the Babylonian captivity, being apparently blind to the marvellous inappropriateness of the language to such a time. For example, "thou worm Jacob...thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them...they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought" (v. 12,14,15). What meaning could these promises have in the struggling times of Ezra? But reference to the great deliverance from Sennacherib could hardly be easier (cp.29:5,6; 17:13).

 

So also the reassurance: "I the Lord thy God will hezekiah thy right hand*" (v. 13).

 

The exhortation: "Fear not...be not dismayed...I will uphold thee" (v. 10) is precisely that with which Hezekiah in his turn sought to strengthen the spirit of the threatened men of Jerusalem (2 Chr. 32:7).

 

"Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff" (v. 15); e.g. Zion was a threshing floor (2 Sam. 24:18), and had itself suffered a severe threshing (Is. 21:10; 28:28).

 

The promise of lush growth (v. 19) in God's Land, which had been reduced to wilderness by the ravaging invader, harmonizes excellently with Isaiah's inspired promise of twin years of prosperity and abundance to make God's Jubilee of deliverance (2 Kgs. 19:29-31). The cedar, myrtle, and the rest, which made such phenomenal growth, were "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" (61:3) in a time when Israel depended entirely on God for all that grew (Lev. 25:21), whilst they turned resolutely to the re-building of devastated homes (61:4).

 

Those years were evidently blessed with a specially lavish rainfall, so that, without any effort on their part, the ground brought forth plentifully for the survivors of in­vasion. More than this, the multitude of captives sent home from Nineveh and Babylon by their awed and frightened conquerors were refreshed on their weary journey homeward by "rivers in high places...fountains in the midst of valleys...springs of water" (v. 18; and cp. Ps. 107:35, another Hezekiah psalm). It was God's pro­vidence for His redeemed people, as for their forefathers when they faced the rigours of the wilderness of Sinai (cp. especially 49:10 and context).

 

---

* "The right hand of my righteousness" (v.10); cp. Ps. 48:10 (a Hezekiah psalm).

[Resource Manager]

Messiah again

 

Impressive as these correspondences with Hezekiah's day are, the real im­portance of the prophecy centres in Christ. He is "the man of thy right hand...the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself" (Ps. 80:17, yet another Hezekiah psalm!). This language of psalm and prophecy expresses a very delightful Father-and-child relationship.

 

At a time when "men of strife...men of contention...men of war" (see AVm in v. 11,12) range themselves against this Servant of Jehovah, there appears an angel from heaven strengthening him (Lk. 22:43; LXX s.w.; Heb: making him like Hezekiah), with the staunch words: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee (thou art Immanuel), be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (v. 10).

 

Therefore, "fear not, worm Jacob" (v.14). There can be no manner of doubt that this strange expression was designed to recall the prophecy in Ps. 22 of Messiah's sufferings: "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people" (22:6).

 

But the "worm Jacob" became Israel, the man of faith whom God vindicated and blessed. The caterpillar-worm becomes the lovely gracious butterfly, a new and heavenly creature. This coccus worm also provides the royal scarlet, but it dies in the process.

 

Through this man, His Servant, the Holy One of Israel becomes also the redeemer (v. 14) of the "mortal men"* of Israel. But in the Law of Moses the responsibility and privilege of redemption lay with one who was near of kin (the word "redeemer" means that). So, implied in this lovely passage is the divine truth that the Holy One makes Himself next-of-kin to the "worm Jacob" whom He strengthens and to the "mortal men of Israel" whom He saves out of bondage.

 

The Baptist's message

 

John the Baptist valued this Scripture as a prophecy of the Messiah. Its phrases were superbly woven into his teaching, and their origin recognized with chagrin by the learned men who joined the throng of listeners.

	Isaiah 41.		Luke 3.
8.	The seed of Abraham my friend.	8.	Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
15.	Make the hills as chaff.	17.	The chaff he will burn.
16.	Thou shalt fan them.	17.	Whose fan is in his hand.
18.	The wilderness a pool of water.	4,16.	A voice in the wilderness. I in­deed baptise you with water.
19.	I plant in the wilderness (trees of God).	9.	Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
42:1	Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.	22.	My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit descended upon him.

 

(Other details in chapter 9).

 

Nor is this all. Luke's account of the healing of the bent woman in the synagogue is rounded off with a near-quotation from Is. 41:11 LXX: "and all his adversaries were ashamed" (cp. v. 11 here) — this after the restoring of "a daughter of Abraham," one who was "the seed of Abraham, my friend" (Lk. 13:16,17).

 

---

* The Hebrew word is cognate with the word for "death".

[Resource Manager]

Gospel message

 

The Targum (in part, rightly) interprets the promised water as divine teaching (cp. Jn. 7:37-39). The valleys of blessing are what Ezekiel describes as full of dry bones! (same word in 37:1,2). And "the Holy One of Israel hath created it" (v.20); Heb. bara points to a New Creation.

 

Apply all this language to the gospel preaching of Christ, and there emerges an impressive figurative picture of both blessing and judgment. In this respect, the gospel was two-edged (v.15 Heb. = Rev. 1:16). Those who deem themselves to be as big and imposing as mountains (as mount Zion) are beaten small. But the gracious message for those who heed and want it is delightfully emphasized with a play on words:

 

"The poor (ani) and needy seek water, and there is none ('ayin); I (ani) the Lord will answer ('anah) them" (v.17).

 

And thus, with a change of figure, dry forbidding country is transformed into fertile loveliness, and the trees of righteousness spring up to praise the Lord...the shittah tree which framed His Tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex. 25:5), the cedar, fir, and oil-tree, which adorned His temple (1 Kgs. 6:15,16,23,31), the myrtle which graced His Feast of tabernacles (Neh. 8:15), and the pine and the box tree (plane and cypress?) will one day glorify His New Jerusalem (Is. 60:13).

Yet, all that has happened hitherto in the work of Christ is only the prelude to greater blessing, for the Lord is the First and with the last ones.

 

As the Assyrian was swept into oblivion, so he will be once again: "All that were angered against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing, they...shall perish." He who was a mere "worm" shall "thresh" and "fan" the ad­versaries, and "the whirlwind (of the Lord) shall scatter them."

 

In that day those who thirst after righteousness shall be satisfied. "The (spiritual) wilderness shall become a pool of water." In nature and in the life of the spirit there will be a lush growth such as this cursed world cannot know.

 

And men will "SEE, and KNOW, and CONSIDER, and UNDERSTAND that the Holy One of Israel (Jn. 6:69RV) hath created it."

[Resource Manager]

41 (3). On trial (v.21-29)

 

The court case between the God of Israel and the idols of the pagan nations now comes to a second hearing:

 

"Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob" (41:21). The prophet chose first a masculine noun, and then a feminine, as though to intimate that gods and goddesses alike are all arraigned for judgment.

 

There is here also a typical Isaiah juggle with words: "Bring forth the tree of your deaths," with possible allusion to the inane choosing of timber from which to fashion the idol (see 40:20), and in contrast with the flourishing trees of righteousness (41:19) which God himself fashions.

 

"Let them bring forth, and declare unto us (to God and to Israel, who are his witnesses; 43:8-10) what shall happen: declare ye the former things...and...the latter end of them...things for to come" (v.22).

 

This is the challenge which rings out time and again in this part of the prophecy (e.g. 42:9; 44:7,8). If the gods really are in control of the world, then they know what they intend to do with it, so let them say beforehand what their purpose is, so that fulfilment may vouch for their truth and authority.

 

The "Former" and the "Latter"

 

But what "former" and "latter" things did Isaiah have in mind?

 

Did he mean: Give us an account of Creation, how everything came into being, and tell us also of a wonderful New Creation when all things, now awry, shall be ordered aright? This is certainly one of the great themes of this prophecy. And what a challenge it would be to ask that the Genesis story be set alongside the ferocious and childish fantasies of Assyrian and Babylonian tradition.

 

Or was Abraham still in mind, with the early promise of the Land (Gen. 13:14-17), and the later promise of a multitudinous Messianic seed (Gen. 15:5; 22:17,18)?

 

Or was it the shaping of Israel's history, both in the past and in the remote glorious future?

 

Or, was there allusion to recent vivid experience? — the foretelling of an irresist­ible, utterly successful, Assyrian invasion (8:7; 10:6,7), followed by a sudden awe-inspiring devastation of the invader's forces (14:24,25; 1 7:13,14).

 

The appeal was specially for an announcement beforehand of impressive divine action: "Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." A god incapable of this, is a not-god. "Yea, do good, or do evil" — do something, instead of sitting there, a silent still useless block of wood or metal.

 

It was an appeal Jeremiah was to echo with caustic contempt: "Upright as a palm tree, they speak not: they must needs be borne because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good" (10:5).

 

Isaiah was determined that his main point should go right home in the simplest minds: "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work (achievement) that of the serpent" (v.24; see AVm) — an allusion probably to Moses' brazen serpent to which Israel had given superstitious worship, but now smashed to bits by Hezekiah's reforming zeal (2 Kgs. 18:4).

 

All such idols were an abomination in the sight of the Lord, and the worshipper as well: "an abomination is he that chooseth you (idols)".

 

The tone of contempt intensifies: "There is none (of these idols) that sheweth, yea, none that declareth, yea, none that heareth your words (of petition)...Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and con­fusion (tohu; Gen. 1:2)"

[Resource Manager]

"One from the North"

 

By contrast, it is easy to see that the God of Israel is at work: "I have raised up one from the north, and he is come: from the rising of the sun one that calleth on my name (or, that is called by my name): and he shall come upon princes as mortar, and as the potter treadeth the clay".

 

There are few more difficult verses in the entire prophecy than this. It has been expounded with reference to Abraham, Jacob, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Hezekiah, and the Messiah. But Jacob never did trample princes; Sennacherib was a bitter enemy of Jehovah and blasphemed His Name; any prophecy about Cyrus is irrelevant unless "Isaiah" was a Babylonian captive; Abraham was too completely in past history to furnish a convincing example of how Jehovah can declare "the latter end...from the beginning" (and this, especially, is what the prophet's argument re­quires); and nothing is known about Hezekiah which makes any sense of these allusions to the north and east.

 

The most likely explanation is that this recalls the work of the angel of the Lord. Michael, the great prince who stands up for the children of God's people, was at work for Jehovah: "I have raised up (the Assyrian) from the north* (10:28-32), and he is come; from the rising of the sun he is called by my Name (mi-cha-EI); cp. Ex. 23:20,21)." This was the work of the angel of the Lord, decreed before it came to pass (8:7; 10:6,7). Sennacherib was "a ravenous bird from the east" (46:11).

 

But the rebuking of the invaders' pride was also assigned to the same angel: "He shall come upon princes (Assyrian s'ganim) as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth the clay." This also was declared beforehand, and was duly fulfilled: "The angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians" (37:36).**

 

God said He would do it, and He did it. The challenge to produce both prophecy and action, which exposed the inane futility of all idol-worship, also triumphantly vindicated the God of Israel.

 

"First to Zion (the warning): Behold, behold them (the invaders): and (after that) I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings" (v.27).

 

Read in this way, the last paragraph of Isaiah 41 follows the previous twenty verses with a ready application to the prophet's own day.

 

---

* Rev. 9:13,14 gives details of other angels in control of an army of the north.

** It is possible that "from the rising of the sun" should also be linked with this destruction, "the day of the east wind" (27:8). Psalm 48, certainly a Hezekiah psalm, has this: "Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind" (v.7; and note v.4-6). Cp. also Is. 30:27: "behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger."

[Resource Manager]

Messianic fulfilment

 

But once again, and this time against all seeming possibility, the New Testament requires its reader to go back and find Christ even in such an apparently impossible setting.

 

"Bring forth the tree of your deaths," demands the King of Jacob of all false religions (v.21), and in due time He rises to His own challenge with the cross of Christ.

 

"The former things" and "the latter end" all centre in Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega. From the foundation of the world he is "the lamb slain".

 

At his trial before the Sanhedrin, both "former things" and "the latter end" were evidence against him when the enemies of the Lord (seed of Abraham by birth, but Assyrians in temper) were determined to "produce their cause" against Jehovah and Jehovah's Son:

 

"This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days" — the latter things (Mt. 27:63); "even the same that I said unto you from the beginning" (Jn. 8:25; cp. 41:26: "who hath declared from the beginning.")

 

"Hereafter (41:23) shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Mt. 26:64) — the latter end.

 

"Declare us things for to come" is the challenge in Isaiah (v.22,23). So, with his disciples as well as with his enemies, Jesus gave clear and ample warning beforehand: "Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he" (Jn. 13:19).

 

It has already been shown that John the Baptist quarried much of his message from Isaiah 40,41. Here now is another example. "First, to Zion (the message was), Behold, behold them (Jesus and the disciples gathering unto him)". Always John's message was: Not me, but Him. "Behold, the Lamb of God." And in Jesus God gave one bringing good tidings to Jerusalem (v.27).

 

"Show...that ye are 'gods' "

 

But besides good news there was also the withering exposure of men who were the idols and false gods of Israel.

 

"Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are elohim." But either they could not or they would not. Presented with a prophecy which pointed unmistakably to Jesus, rather than say a word of faith in him, they retreated in vexation and silence. Bidden say "Yea" or "Nay" regarding John the Baptist (the former things) they fell back on "We cannot tell" (Mk. 11:33; 12:35-37).

 

Thus they became, spiritually, a write-off: "Behold, they are all vanity; their works (of righteousness, painstakingly wrought according to the best rabbinic tradition) are nothing: their drink offerings* are wind and confusion (tohu, chaos — until the Spirit of God moves; Ez. 36:26,27).

 

The leaders of Israel did nothing to show that they were gods (elohim; v.23), and Jesus castigated them accordingly: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods**?" That scripture continues: "But ye shall die like men (like Adam?), and fall like one of the princes (of this world)." Over against this: "Arise (LXX: anasta!), O God, judge the earth: for (in Jesus) thou shalt inherit all nations" (the latter end).

 

This is what the Isaiah prophecy says — that One raised up from the north (Galilee), who is called by God's Name, will come from the rising of the sun (like the Glory of the Lord on the mount of Olives; Acts 1:11; Zech. 14:4; Mal. 4:2); and he will display divine power against Gentile princes, as the potter treads the clay (v.25).

 

---

* Another of Isaiah's double-meaning words!

** Ps. 82:6, another Hezekiah psalm!

[Resource Manager]

42 (1). "Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth" (v.1-9)

 

The first thing to observe about this section of Isaiah's prophecy is how remarkably it is integrated with the preceding chapter and also with ch.49. The following tabulation shows this:

	Isaiah 42:1-9	Isaiah 41	Isaiah 49
1.	Behold	11,27,29
	my servant	8	3,5
	Israel, Jacob (LXX)	8
	whom I uphold	10
	mine elect	8,9
	in whom my soul delighteth		8 s.w.
	my spirit upon him (and v.5)		44:3
	judgement to the Gentiles (and v.3,4)		4,6,8
2.	not cry nor lift up...	Contrast
3.	bruised reed, smoking flax	2,15,25; 43:17	7
4.	not fail, nor be discouraged	14 (and 40:27)
	isles wait for his law	5	7
5.	God Jehovah, creator of heavens,
	spread forth the earth	40:22	13
6.	called thee in righteousness	2
	hold thine hand	10, 13
	keep thee		6 (s.w. twice)
	a covenant of the people		8
	a light to the Gentiles		6
7.	blind eyes, prisoners		9
8.	Jehovah is my name	25	1
	graven image	29
9.	former, new things	22,23
	spring forth	43:19

 

From the foregoing it follows readily enough that these repeated expressions must be similarly understood in the various places where they occur. Therefore, whatever chapter 41 was about must decide the interpretation of 42:1-9 (and the same will be found to hold for ch.49).

[Resource Manager]

Hezekiah once again

 

Just as Hezekiah, the servant of the Lord, is called Jacob and Israel (the two natures in the child of God!), so also here, for the LXX version has "Jacob my servant...Israel my chosen" (v.1).

 

But in what sense was it true of Hezekiah that God "put his spirit in him"? Two passages further on suggest prophetic inspiration:

 

"My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth..." (59:21).

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings...to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (61:1,2).*

 

The idea of prophetic inspiration is not usually associated with Hezekiah. But the researches of J.W. Thirtle ("Old Testament Problems") have made it very evident that a big proportion of the 150 psalms had their origin or extension in the time of Isaiah, not a few being by Hezekiah himself. There is also the familiar "writing of Hezekiah, when he...was recovered of his sickness" (Is. 38:9-20). "Therefore we will sing my songs all the days of our life in the house of the Lord" (v.20).

 

But is it true that he "brought forth judgment to the Gentiles"? In the sense of imposing the judgment of God upon them, no! However, this word mishpat has other associated meanings. It includes the idea of "the rule of God", and especially of "the right religion" (e.g. 56:1; 58:2; 59:8-15; and its frequent use in Ps. 119). In this sense Hezekiah was a true prototype of Messiah:

 

"And many brought gifts unto the Lord at Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth" (2 Chr. 32:23). A king from whom an Assyrian army reeled back, cowed and shat­tered, was one to keep friends with! This political and religious development in Hezekiah's reign is the basis of most of Isaiah's delightful passages about the con­version of the Gentiles (e.g. v. 11,12; 45:14; 49:7; 60:3,9,14; 62:2).

 

In this sense Hezekiah "brought forth judgment unto truth" (v.3), he "set judg­ment in the Land" (v.4). Those last fifteen years were an epoch not only of God-blessed prosperity but also of devotion to the honour of the God of Israel.

 

Nor was this achieved by the dictation of brute force. "He shall not cry, nor lift up**, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street" (v.2). After the rout of the Assyrians, the representatives of the nations came to him of their own accord, glad to be on good terms with such a king and such a God.

 

"He shall not fail nor be discouraged." But indeed, he was, almost! "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judge­ment is passed over from my God" (40:27); and there was prophetic remonstration against the fears of "thou worm Jacob" (41:14).

 

"Bruised reed...smoking flax"

 

Yet Hezekiah came through his trials successfully***: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." This figure of speech is very apt to describe the king's character. It is illustrated by the understanding and sym­pathy with which he handled the defects of the reformation which he inaugurated: (a) The law of the "Little Passover" (Num. 9:10) was "stretched" to cover their Passover celebration in the wrong month (2 Chr. 30:13). (b) The Levites, instead of the heads of families, slew the lambs (v. 15,17). (c.) The people ate the passover "unclean" (v. 18). (d) The feast was kept for two full weeks (v.23). Nevertheless, "Hezekiah prayed for them saying, The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God...and the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people" (2 Chr. 30:18,19,20).

 

This reed-and-flax figure may have another, more specialised, reference. The word for "reed" describes a branch of a candlestick (s.w. Ex. 25:31 -35), of which the flax would be the wick. The frequent figure of David always having a light (or, lamp) in Jerusalem is readily understood as referring to the permanence of David's dynasty (.1 Kgs. 15:4; Ps. 132:17; Is. 62:1).

 

---

* This sequence of impressive "spirit" passages is worth attention: Is. 40:7,24; 41:29; 42:1,5; 44:3.

** (Contrast v.11; 33:10).

*** (All except 39:1-3)

[Resource Manager]

In that case the reed-and-flax allusion is a prophetic assurance to Hezekiah, childless at the time of his acute sickness, that he will live to continue the Davidic line (note 38:5,19).

 

The ensuing verses have a series of verbal contacts with Psalm 146 such as can hardly be written off as accidental:

	Psalm 146		Isaiah 42
4.	his breath goeth forth	5.	He giveth breath unto the people
5.	The God of Jacob for his help...	6.	I the Lord...will keep thee (v.1 LXX: Jacob)
6.	made heaven, earth, and sea	5.	created the heavens...spread forth the earth
6.	keepeth truth for ever	3.	judgment unto truth
7.	executeth judgment for the oppressed	3.	bring forth judgment
7.	looseth the prisoners	7.	bringeth out the prisoners from the prison
8.	openeth the eyes of the blind	7.	to open the blind eyes

 

So perhaps Psalm 146 is by Isaiah. Its phraseology has a marvellous relevance to events of his time.

 

This assertion of God's mighty powers is introduced by: "thus saith the God (ha-El) Jehovah." It is a declaration that He is the true, the only, God. "My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" (v.8).

 

This Jehovah, who is the lord of Creation, is also a God nigh at hand to his Ser­vant: "I will hezekiah thine hand...and give thee for a covenant of the people (those who came to keep the Passover all unprepared were accepted for Hezekiah's sake), for a light of the Gentiles...to bring out the prisoners from the prison..." (v.6,7). Even this last phrase found literal fulfilment in the Year of Jubilee (2 Kgs. 19:29) which followed the destruction of Sennacherib's army. Jubilee meant release from bondage, and the king of Assyria was only too glad to send all his Jewish captives back to their homes.

[Resource Manager]

Twofold fulfilment

 

Thus, once again, the prophecy appears to have been written as a commentary on the life and experiences of good king Hezekiah, but also, most emphatically, as a prophecy of the Messiah whom that fine servant of the Lord foreshadowed. This is probably the meaning of the declaration:

 

"Behold, the former things are come to pass (already fulfilled in Hezekiah), and new things do I declare (i.e. a further fulfilment in the life and work of the Messiah): before they spring forth I tell you of them" (v.9); and cp. 43:18,19; 48:3,5,6).

 

This verb "spring forth" (tzamach) is one which the prophets delight to use about the Messiah, the scion of the house of David (61:11; 4:2; Ps. 132:17; Jer. 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12). and the New Testament concurs by quoting this prophecy (v.1 -4; Mt. 12:18-21)* to describe the quiet unsensational kindly nature of Jesus' ministry. He sought to emulate the unaggressive patient spirit of Hezekiah, carefully nursing the flickering spirit of true godliness in the nation by an unostentatious en­couragement of the faithful remnant among the meek of the earth.

 

But in Matthew the context is also this: "Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence...that it might be fulfilled..." In other words, Jesus who could have demolished a Pharisee in a head-on collision, chose rather to cam­paign quietly among the uninfluential but more truly devout section of the nation.

 

"In whom my soul delighteth" (v.1) uses a Hebrew verb (ratzah) which, with its cognate noun (ratzōn), very frequently describes an acceptable sacrifice (hence the LXX reading). What a contrast with Isaiah 1:11; "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord.../ delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats."

 

The Lord's gracious endowment with the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit had already been foretold (11:1-4, seven-fold), and was to be emphasized again in words which Jesus made his own:"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek..." (61:1; Lk. 4:18).

 

Notwithstanding his concentration on a ministry of preaching and quiet appeal, and a steadfast rejection of pomp and circumstance (Mt. 4:8-10; Jn. 6:15), the Davidic hope, symbolized by the reed and flax of David's lamp in Jerusalem, was not to suffer "It shall not be dimmed nor crushed" (v.4).**

 

Nay rather, it was to be given a greater power, a wider scope: "the isles shall wait for his law" — in him who is the Hope of Israel, the Gentiles also shall set their hope (2:3; Jn. 12:21).

 

---

* See appendix to this chapter.

** The same verbs as in v.3: "break...quench."

[Resource Manager]

The New Creation

 

Thus, there comes into existence a New Creation, instead of the Old across which men have written their own curse:

 

"Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness...and will give thee for a covenant of the people" (v.5,6).

 

Here is Isaiah's constantly repeated idiom of the New Creation. The God who made all things by His might and power can and will make all things new by His righteousness in Christ. It is a wonderful theme, of which Isaiah never tires. The splendid dual purpose of his copious allusions to the creative might of the God of Israel is, first, to sweep out of the arena the futilities of idol-worship, and, second, to assert with untiring enthusiasm God's wondrous purpose to fashion in Christ a New Creation of men and women glorifying His Name with a righteousness not their own. It is a theme enunciated with unwearied eloquence and enthusiasm (40:26,28; 41:20; 42:5,6; 43:1,7,15,18,19; 45:7,8,12,18; 48:7; 51:6,16; 57:19; 65:17,18; 66:22; and also in Psalms of the Isaiah period: 102:18; 104:30; 148).

 

Paul, so often accused of attempting to talk philosophy to philosophic Athenians, actually shaped his Mars Hill argument on these words of Isaiah: "God that made the world and all things therein...Lord of heaven and earth...giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:24,25). Even his quote from Aretas: "we are also his off­spring" (v.28), was suggested by Isaiah's phrase: "that which cometh out of it" (s.w. 44:3: offspring). And then Paul went on appropriately to develop the doctrine of the New Creation.

 

The Servant's great work

 

But here, in Isaiah, the emphasis is continued on the Servant of the Lord as the unique instrument of this grand design: "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness", so that a righteousness of God may be revealed on a faith basis to every man of faith; Rom. 1:17. "I will keep thee (s.w. Branch; 11:1), and will give thee for a covenant of the people (Israel), for a light of the Gentiles."

 

Here is yet another of Isaiah's absorbing Messianic themes — the prospect of a New Covenant with God through His suffering Servant (49:8; 54:10; 55:3; 59:21; 61:8).

 

But there can be no covenant without sacrifice. So here is an often-unrecognized prophecy that except the Servant of the Lord declare God's righteousness and salvation in a sacrificial death, there is no redemption. "This cup is the New Cove­nant in my blood" (Lk. 22:20). Jeremiah took up the theme with intense expectant zeal: "A New Covenant...my law in their inward parts...they shall all know me...I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (31:31-34).

 

His emphasis was on a covenant with Israel, but Isaiah, with grand contemporary events as the springboard of his inspiration, took in the nations also: "a light to the Gentiles" (cp. 49:5,6; 45:4-6; 51:3-5).

 

The aged Simeon learned it from Isaiah: "A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel" (Lk. 2:32), but he did not live to hear Jesus teach the same things with increasing emphasis in the end of his ministry (Mt. 21:43; 22:9; 24:14; Mk. 11:17; Jn. 8:12; 9:5; 12:20-23).

 

The eyes of the blind are to be opened, and the prisoners brought forth from their dungeon (v.7). These figures of speech are also blended together: they "that sit in darkness (and are blinded by it) are brought out of the prison house." Here the blindness of Israel and the ignorance of the benighted Gentiles are woven together. All alike need the illumination Messiah brings.

 

All this is declared beforehand. Not only have "the former things come to pass" which God had revealed through His prophets, but also "new things (of the New Creation) do I declare" (v.9). Thus God affirms His authority and control: "My glory will I not give to another" (v.8). It is an assertion which makes all the more powerful Matthew's quote from this prophecy, for they said about Jesus: "This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Baalzebub" (Mt. 12:24). The glory of those mighty works God does not give to another god, neither His praise to graven images. But the Son inherits by right that glory and power which is His Father's (Jn. 17:24; 12:23).