Isaiah 43:16

he wild beasts, the serpents, the ostriches, and other animals that haunt those arid regions, shall be sensible of the blessing, and shall break forth into thanksgiving and praises to him for the unusual refreshment which they receive from his so plentifully watering the sandy wastes of Arabia Deserta, for the benefit of his people passing through them. Verse 22 But thou hast not called upon me - The connection is: But thou, Israel, whom I have chosen, whom I have formed for myself to be my witness against the false gods of the nations; even thou hast revolted from me, hast neglected my worship, and hast been perpetually running after strange gods. The emphasis of this and the following parts of the sentence, on which the sense depends, is laid on the words Me, on My Account, etc. The Jews were diligent in performing the external services of religion; in offering prayers, incense, sacrifices, oblations; but their prayers were not offered with faith; and their oblations were made more frequently to their idols than to the God of their fathers. The Hebrew idiom excludes with a general negative, in a comparative sense, one of two objects opposed to one another: thus, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," Hos 6:6. "For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices; but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice," Jer 7:22, Jer 7:23. And the meaning of this place of Isaiah seems to be much the same with that of Amos; who however has explained at large both parts of the comparison, and specified the false service opposed to the true: - "Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings, In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Nay, but you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, And Chiun, your images; The star of your god, which you made to yourselves." Amo 5:25, Amo 5:26. But thou hast been weary of me, O Israel "Neither on my account hast thou lahoured, O Israel" - For כי יגעת ki yagata, the Septuagint and Vulgate read ויגעת veyagata. - Houbigant. The negative is repeated or referred to by the conjunction ו vau, as in many other places. See note on Isa 23:4. Verse 25 I, even I, am he - The original is extremely abrupt: אנכי אנכי הוא anochi anochi hu, "I, I, He." Is there any mystery in this form? Does it refer to a plurality of persons in the Godhead? For mine own sake - In the pardon of sin God can draw no reason but from his own infinite goodness. Verse 27 Thy first father hath sinned - On this Kimchi speaks well: "How can ye say that ye have not sinned, seeing your first father, Adam, sinned; and man hath sin impressed on him through natural generation?" Verse 28 I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary "Thy princes have profaned my sanctuary" - Instead of ואחלל שרי vaachallel sarey, read ויחללו שריך vayechalelu sareycha. So the Syriac and Septuagint, και εμιαναν οἱ αρχοντες τα ἁγια μου, "the rulers have defiled my holy things." קדשי kodshi, Houbigant. Οἱ αρχοντες σου, "thy rulers, "MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 2 and Marchal. To reproaches "To reproach" - לגדופה ligeduphah, in the singular number; so an ancient MS. and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. And, alas! what a curse do they still bear, and what reproach do they still suffer! No national crimes have ever equalled those of the Jewish nation, for no nation ever had such privileges to neglect, despise, sin against. When shall this severity of God towards this people have an end? Answ. Whenever, with one heart, they turn to him, and receive the doctrine of the Lord Jesus; and not till then. Introduction This chapter, besides promises of redemption, of the effusion of the Spirit, and success of the Gospel, Isa 44:1-5, sets forth, in a very sublime manner, the supreme power and foreknowledge, and absolute eternity, of the one true God; and exposes the folly and absurdity of idolatry with admirable force and elegance, Isa 44:6-20. And to show that the knowledge of future events belongs only to Jehovah, whom all creation is again called to adore for the deliverance and reconciliation granted to his people, Isa 44:21-23, the prophet concludes with setting in a very strong point of view the absolute impotence of every thing considered great and insurmountable in the sight of men, when standing in the way of the Divine counsel; and mentions the future deliverer of the Jewish nation expressly by name, nearly two hundred years before his birth, Isa 44:24-28. Verse 20 He feedeth on ashes - He feedeth on that which affordeth no nourishment; a proverbial expression for using ineffectual means, and bestowing labor to no purpose. In the same sense Hosea says, "Ephraim feedeth on wind." Hos 12:1. Verse 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins "I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a cloud, and thy sins like a vapor" - Longinus admired the sublimity of the sentiment, as well as the harmony of the numbers, in the following sentence of Demosthenes: Τουτο το ψηφισμα τον τοτε τῃ πολει τερισταντα κινδυνον παρελθειν εποιησεν ὡσπερ νεφος. "This decree made the danger then hanging over the city pass away like a cloud." Probably Isaiah alludes here to the smoke rising up from the sin-offering, dispersed speedily by the wind. and rendered invisible. He who offered his sacriflce aright was as sure that the sin for which he offered it was blotted out, as that the smoke of the sacrifice was dispersed by the wind, and was no longer discernible. Verse 24 By myself - Thirteen MSS., six ancient, confirm the reading of the Keri, מאתי meittai. Verse 27 That saith to the deep, Be dry "Who saith to the deep, Be thou wasted" - Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also noted by Jeremiah, Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36. "A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: - I will lay her sea dry And I will scorch up her springs." It is proper here to give some account of the means and method lay which the stratagem of Cyrus was effected. The Euphrates in the middle of the summer, from the melting of the snows on the mountains of Armenia, like the Nile, overflows the country. In order to diminish the inundation, and to carry off the waters, two canals were made by Nebuchadnezzar a hundred miles above the city; the first on the eastern side called Naharmalca, or the Royal River, by which the Euphrates was let into the Tigris; the other on the western side, called Pallacopas, or Naharaga, (נהר אגם nahar agam, The river of the pool), by which the redundant waters were carried into a vast lake, forty miles square, contrived, not only to lessen the inundation, but for a reservoir, with sluices, to water the barren country on the Arabian side. Cyrus, by turning the whole river into the lake by the Pallacopas, laid the channel, where it ran through the city, almost dry; so that his army entered it, both above and below, by the bed of the river, the water not reaching above the middle of the thigh. By the great quantity-of water let into the lake, the sluices and dams were destroyed; and being never repaired afterwards, the waters spread over the whole country below, and reduced it to a morass, in which the river is lost. Ingens modo et navigabilis, inde tenuis rivus, despectus emoritur; et nusquam manifesto exitit effluit, ut alii omnes, sed deficit. "And thus a navigable river has been totally lost, it having no exit from this morass. No wonder then that the geographical face of this country is completely changed;" Mela Jer 3:8; Herod. 1:186, 190; Xenophon, Cyrop. vii.; Arrian vii. Verse 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd "Who saith to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd" - Pastor meus es; Vulg. The true reading seems to be רעי אתה roi attah; the word אתה attah, has probably been dropped out of the text. The same word is lost out of the text, Psa 119:57. It is supplied in the Septuagint by the word ει, thou art. Saying to Jerusalem - For ולאמר velemor, the Septuagint and Vulgate read האומר haomer. And to the temple - ולהיכל uleheychal, as לירושלם lirushalayim, before; the preposition is necessary, and the Vulgate seems to read so. - Houbigant. That saith of Cyrus, He is, or thou art, my shepherd - Saying to Jerusalem, "Thou shalt be built;" and to the Temple, "Thy foundation shall be laid." - There is a remarkable beauty and propriety in this verse. 1. Cyrus is called God's shepherd. Shepherd was an epithet which Cyrus took to himself; and what he gave to all good kings. 2. This Cyrus should say to the temple: "Thy foundation shall be laid." Not - thou shalt be built. The fact is, only the foundation was laid in the days of Cyrus, the Ammonites having prevented the building; nor was it resumed till the second year of Darius, one of his successors. There is often a precision in the expressions of the prophets which is as honorable to truth, as it is unnoticed by careless readers. Verse 2 Jesurun - Jeshurun means Israel. This name was given to that people by Moses, Deu 32:15; Deu 33:5, Deu 33:26. The most probable account of it seems to be that in which the Jewish commentators agree; namely, that it is derived from ישר yashar, and signifies upright. In the same manner, Israel, as a people, is called משלם meshullam, perfect, Isa 42:19, They were taught of God, and abundantly furnished with the means of rectitude and perfection in his service and worship. Grotius thinks that ישרון yeshurun is a diminutive of ישראל yishrael, Israel; expressing peculiar fondness and affection; Ισραηλιδιον, O little Israel. Verse 4 They shall spring up as among the grass "They shall spring up as the grass among the waters" - בבין חציר bebeyn chatsir, "They shall spring up to the midst of, or rather, in among, the grass. "This cannot be right: eleven MSS., and thirteen editions, have כבין kebeyn, or כבן keben. Twenty-four MSS. read it without the י yod, בבן beben, in the son of the grass; and so reads the Chaldee; בבן beben, in the son of the grass. Twenty-four MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's, thirty-three of De Rossi's, and one of my own, with six editions, have this reading. The Syriac, מבין mibbeyn. The true reading is in all probability כבין kebeyn; and the word מים mayim, which should have followed it, is lost out of the text: but it is happily supplied by the Septuagint, ὡς ανα μεσον ὑδατος, as among the water "In every place where there is water, there is always grass; for water makes every thing grow in the east." Sir John Chardin's note on 1Kgs 17:5. Harmer's Observations 1:64. Verse 5 Shall call himself "Shall be called" - Passive, יקרא yikkare; κληθησεται, Symmachus. Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord "This shall inscribe his hand to Jehovah" - Και ἑτερος επιγραψει χειρι (χειρα, Ag., Sym.) αυτου, Του Θεου ειμι· "And another shall write upon his hand, I belong to God." - Sept. They seem to have read here, as before, ליהוה אני laihovah ani, I belong to Jehovah. But the repetition of the same phrase without any variation is not elegant. However, they seem to have understood it rightly, as an allusion to the marks, which were made by punctures rendered indelible, by fire or by staining, upon the hand or some other part of the body, signifying the state or character of the person, and to whom he belonged. The slave was marked with the name of his master, the soldier, of his commander; the idolater, with the name or ensign of his god: Στιγματα επιγραφομενα δια των στρατευομενων εν ταις χερσιν· "Punctural inscriptions made by the soldiers on their hands." Aetius apud Turnebum Advers. Isa 24:12. Victuris in cute punctis milites scripti et matriculis inserti jurare solent. "The soldiers having indelible inscriptions on their skin, and inserted in the muster-rolls, are accustomed to make oath." Vigetius, Isa 2:6. And the Christians seem to have imitated this practice, by what Procopius says on this place of Isaiah: Το δε ΤΗ ΧΕΙΡΙ, δια το στιζειν ισως πολλους επι καρπων, η βραχιονων, η του σταυρου σημειον, η την Χριστου προσηγοριαν. "Because many marked their wrists, or their arms, with the sign of the cross, or with the name of Christ." See Rev 20:4; Spencer, De Leg. Hebr. lib. ii., cap. 20. Verse 7 Let them show unto them "Let them declare unto us" - For למו lamo, unto them, the Chaldee reads לנו lanu, unto us The Septuagint read לכם lachem, unto you; which is preferable to the reading of the text. But למו lamo,

Promises to God's People. ( b. c. 708.) 14 Thus saith the Lord , your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. 15 I am the Lord , your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. 16 Thus saith the Lord , which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; 17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. 18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. 21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise. To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly. I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he will redeem them, but will take it upon him as his office and make it his business to do so. If he be their God, he will be all that to them which they need, and therefore, when they are in bondage, he will be their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Israel ( v. 14 ), and again ( v. 15 ), their Holy One, and therefore will make good every word he has spoken to them. He is the Creator of Israel, that made them a people out of nothing (for that is creation), nay, worse than nothing; and he is their King, that owns them as his people and presides among them. II. He assures them he will find out a way to break the power of their oppressors that held them captives and filled up the measure of their own iniquity by their resolution never to let them go, ch. xiv. 17 . God will take care to send a victorious prince and army to Babylon, that shall bring down all their nobles, and lay their honour in the dust, and all their people too, even the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships (for seamen are apt to be noisy), or whose cry is to the ships, as their refuge when the city is taken, that they may escape by the benefit of their great river. Note, The destruction of Babylon must make way for the enlargement of God's people. And in the prediction of the fall of the New-Testament Babylon we meet with the cries and lamentations of the sailors, Rev. xviii. 17, 18 . And observe, It is for Israel's sake that Babylon is ruined, to make way for their deliverance. III. He reminds them of the great things he did for their fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; for so it may be read ( v. 16, 17 ): " Thus saith the Lord, who did make a way in the sea, the Red Sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh's chariot and horse, that they might lie down together in the bottom of the sea, and never rise, but be extinct. He that did this can, if he please, make a way for you in the sea when you return out of Babylon, and will do so rather than leave you there." Note, For the encouragement of our faith and hope, it is good for us often to remember what God has done formerly for his people against his and their enemies. Think particularly what he did at the Red Sea, how he made it, 1. A road to his people, a straight way, a near way, nay, a refuge to them, into which they fled and were safe the waters being a wall unto them. 2. A grave to his enemies. The chariot and horse were drawn out by him who is Lord of all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together; howbeit, they meant not so, Mic. iv. 11, 12 . IV. He promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in the days of old; so that they should not have reason to ask, in a way of complaint, as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? for they should see them repeated, nay, they should see them outdone ( v. 18 ): " Remember not the former things, from them to take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present things, as if the former days were better than these; no, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them, and yet know enough by the events of your own day to convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, behold, the Lord will do a new thing, no way inferior, both for the wonder and the worth of the mercy, to the things of old." The best exposition of this is, Jer. xvi. 14, 15 ; xxiii. 7, 8 . It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; that is an old thing, the remembrance of which will be in a manner lost in the new thing, in the new proof that the Lord liveth, for he brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north. Though former mercies must not be forgotten, fresh mercies must in a special manner be improved. Now it springs forth, as it were a surprise upon you; you are like those that dream. Shall you now know it? And will you not own God's hand in it? V. He promises not only to deliver them out of Babylon, but to conduct them safely and comfortably to their own land ( v. 19, 20 ): I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; for, it seems, the way from Babylon to Canaan, as well as from Egypt, lay through a desert land, which, while the returning captives passed through, God would provide for them, that their camp should be both well victualled and under a good conduct. The same power that made a way in the sea ( v. 16 ) can make a way in the wilderness, and will force its passage through the greatest difficulties. And he that made dry land in the waters can produce waters in the dryest land, in such abundance as not only to give drink to his people, his chosen, but to the beasts of the field, also the dragons and the ostriches, who are therefore said to honour God for it; it is such a sensible refreshment, and yields them so much satisfaction, that, if they were capable of doing it, they would praise God for it, and shame man, who is made capable of praising his benefactor and does not. Now, 1. This looks back to what God did for Israel when he led them through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan, and fetched water out of a rock to follow them; what God did for them formerly he would do again, for he is still the same. And, though we do not find that the miracle was repeated in their return out of Babylon, yet the mercy was, in the common course of Providence, for which it became them to be no less thankful to God. 2. It looks forward, not only to all the instances of God's care of the Jewish church in the latter ages of it, between their return from Babylon and the coming of Christ, but to the grace of the gospel, especially as it is manifested to the Gentile world, by which a way is opened in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; the world, which lay like a desert, in ignorance and unfruitfulness, was blessed with divine direction and divine comforts, and, in order to both, with a plentiful effusion of the Spirit. The sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as the beasts of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stupid as the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to honour God for the extent of his grace to his chosen among them. VI. He traces up all these promised blessings to their great original, the purposes and designs of his own glory ( v. 21 ): This people have I formed for myself, and therefore I do all this for them, that they may show forth my praise. Note, 1. The church is of God's forming, and so are all the living members of it. The new heaven, the new earth, the new man, are the work of God's hand, and are no more, no better, than he makes them; they are fashioned according to his will. 2. He forms it for himself. He that is the first cause is the highest end both of the first and of the new creation. The Lord has made all things for himself, his Israel especially, to be to him for a people, and for a name, and for a praise; and no otherwise can they be for him, or serviceable to him, than as his grace is glorified in them, Jer. xiii. 11 ; Eph. i. 6, 12, 14 . 3. It is therefore our duty to show forth his praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service. As he formed us, so he feeds us, and keeps us, and leads us, and all for himself; for every instance therefore of his goodness we must praise him, else we answer not the end of the beings and blessings we have.