Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 40

Verses 1-11

COMMENTARY Isaiah 40-66

Isaiah 40:1-11

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHECY

Isaiah 40:1-31

The Call of the Prophet (40:1-11)

The interpretation of 40:1-11 has been somewhat a matter of debate. The discovery of the complete scroll of the prophecy of Isaiah in Cave 1 at Qumran, however, presents us with a text very much like that of the traditional Hebrew text, but which has in verse 6 b, “And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ” instead of the reading in the text which was translated in the King James Version, “And he said . . This reading focused attention on certain of the ancient versions which have the same reading. It is now accepted, therefore, as in the Revised Standard Version, that the verse is to be interpreted as the prophet’s own response to a voice which calls him to prophesy.

The second perspective that has become much clearer through recent study, and that now makes certain the interpretation of this section, concerns the prophetic vision of the heavenly council from which each prophet received his summons to the vocation of announcing the decisions of the heavenly court (see Introduction to Isaiah 1-39 and the comment on ch. 1). Thus in 40:1, God addresses some hearers and commands them to give comfort to “my people.” In verse 3 one of those who has been commanded issues a proclamation calling for the preparation of a highway through the desert for the coming God. In verse 6 a second voice gives the prophet his call and continues with the message that he is to proclaim to Israel. There can be no doubt that the voices in verses 3 and 6 are those of messengers or angels from the heavenly court, and it is they who are addressed in verses 1-2. We have here, therefore, the call of the prophet and the announcement of God’s new and dramatic intervention in historical affairs for purposes of salvation. The call of Second Isaiah is closely parallel to that of First Isaiah recounted in chapter 6 , except that the situation and the content of the prophecy are completely different.

For Second Isaiah, God’s message is that the judgment of Israel is past; “her warfare”—that is, her period of draft into military service—is at an end. She has been punished more than enough, and her sin is now pardoned. Now God is going to come as Deliverer! The announcement in verses 3-5, ta kin g the form of a command to prepare a highway for the coming God, is a theme found also in chapter 35, in which verses 8-10 indicate that “the ransomed of the Lord,” the people of Israel scattered among the nations, shall walk along that highway through the wilderness back to the Promised Land. The common imagery is that of the journey through the wilderness from Egypt under the direction of Moses. In this event God’s “glory”—that is, the revelation of himself in the world—will be revealed, and it will be seen by all mankind (40:5).

In verses 6-11 the message which the prophet is to proclaim is sum m arized by the heavenly messenger. It speaks of the transitoriness of all things on earth, which are like grass and flowers that quickly wither and fade, and contrasts this with the permanence and stability of the promise of God.

This note is followed by the joyous and triumphant proclamation of the God who now is to come with power and mercy. For beauty, the portrayal of God as the Good Shepherd (vs. ID is surpassed nowhere in Scripture and is equaled only by Psalms 23. In verse 9 there is some textual uncertainty as to whether the prophet as the herald of good tidings is addressed (see margin). The interpretation that Zion or Jerusalem herself is the herald who is to proclaim the great news to the world is probably the correct one.

Behind the words of this prophetic call one can sense the exultation, the joy, and the triumph in the prophet’s mind and voice. The stage is now set for the remarkable portrayal in the following chapters of the meaning of the events of current history and the proclamation of the great eschatological program of God.

Verses 12-31

Proclamation of God’s Saving Power (40:12-31)

The remaining part of chapter 40 is not in the form of prophecy, but is rather the prophet’s discussion and proclamation of the creative power of God. The reason this is placed before the prophecy proper which begins in chapter 41 is to be inferred from verse 27. The people of Israel have been broken, their cities have been destroyed and their leading groups scattered in exile. They are thus dispirited and can be expected to give little response to any prophecy until or unless a lively faith is restored. The prophet hears them saying, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” It is as though God had cast them aside and forgotten them. To counter such a lack of faith the composition in this section was drafted. It deals with “the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,” who alone can give “power to the faint” and “to him who has no might . . . increases strength” (vss. 28-29).

The first section, in verses 12-17, draws attention to God as the Creator, who is directed by no one, who needs to consult with no one, who does not need to be taught by anyone. He is complete in himself, and is of such majesty, power, and greatness that “the nations are like a drop from a bucket” before him (vs. 15). All of those who are mighty in their own eyes on earth are very small indeed in the total perspective of God.

This then raises the question in verses 18-20 as to how one can properly talk about such a Deity. Both in these verses and again in verses 25-26 the prophet makes clear that there is nothing in the whole range of heaven and earth that can be said to be like God. No human categories of thought or of language can possibly depict him as he is in himself. God’s eternal being is something completely hidden from man. It is his own mystery, and he has given no one the ability to penetrate that mystery. Our minds are too small to have any comprehension whatever of what God is really like as he is in himself. That is the basic mystery of time, of space, and of human existence. Consequently, those who engage in the ordinary religiosity of earth generally manufacture their own gods to suit their taste. Thus, in verses 19-20 the prophet pours scorn on those who manufacture for themselves idols. To the typical Hebrew the great religions of the ancient world were simply idolatry, the worship of man-made fetishes.

In verses 21-24 and in verses 27-31 the prophet answers his own problem. Has it not been revealed to Israel from the beginning that the true God is he who is enthroned as Sovereign, not inside his creation but outside it? The creation is like a tent stretched over a space in which people may live. He who created this world is one before whom its inhabitants are very small indeed and its great rulers as nothing. The reference here, as in Genesis 1, is to the Hebrew understanding of the world. It was not a world like our own, with cosmic space filled with galaxies of stars and their planets. Instead, heaven was a semicircular globe resting over the earth and keeping out the waters of the great deep, so that man and all living things might have a free place in which to multiply and live in generation after generation. The fresh and salt water rivers and oceans on the earth were connected with their sources in the great deep beyond. The sun and moon, the planets and stars, were lights which God had hung in the firmament of the sky to furnish light by day and by night and to set the times and the seasons by which men could measure and divide their days and years (Genesis 1:6-19). However, while this to us seems to be a very limited universe, people in subsequent ages have found in the picture a symbolic expression that can be a conveyer of profound religious truths to those living with a very different understanding of the universe. The basic point remains valid even in our time: what God is in himself is beyond all our human knowing because we are too small and he is too great. Yet all that exists is in complete dependence upon him. The whole heavenly host is his creation, and he has made and named them all (vss. 25-26).

At this point the prophet then asks Israel in effect: How is it possible for you to believe that such a God as this has disregarded you? Have you not been taught from of old that this God “does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable”? (vs. 28). This, then, is the God who actually possesses the power to raise up the fainthearted and the exhausted. Those who place their hope and their confidence in this God may “run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (vs. 31). This God has the power to do what he wants. If he says that he will do a thing, he can be relied upon to do it. He alone is worthy of deep respect, faith, and devotion. Those who give it will never be disregarded or cast away.