Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 41

Verses 1-7

Isa 41:1-7

Isaiah 41:1-7

GOD SUMMONS THE NATIONS AND THEIR IDOLS TO COURT

Isaiah 41:1-7

"Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near, then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment. Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot? he giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; he giveth them as dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow. He pursueth them, and passeth on safely, even by a way that he had not gone by his feet. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last, I am he. The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come. They help every one his neighbor; and everyone saith to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encourageth the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that it should not be moved."

"Here the call for silence opens the imaginary proceedings of a court, where God will face the heathen world with a test question (The call to renew their strength may be a warning that the encounter will be formidable).”

This type of an imaginary court session was a device frequently used by a number of God’s prophets, in Hosea, especially.

Isaiah 41:2, is interpreted by practically all of the present-day commentators as a reference to God’s raising up Cyrus the King of Persia as the deliverer of God’s people from their Babylonian bondage; but we do not accept that interpretation of this passage. Of course, there is no doubt whatever of Isaiah’s prophesying the rise of Cyrus and of his reporting his very name over a century before he appeared upon the historical scene; but that certainty, in our opinion, falls far short of injecting Cyrus into this particular passage. We have noted one commentator who mentioned Cyrus fifteen times in his writings on these seven verses, but the text does not even mention him at all!

Here are our reasons for applying Isaiah 41:2 to Abraham, rather than to Cyrus.

1. Cyrus is not mentioned here; and when Isaiah introduced him in Isaiah 45:1 ff, there is no notice whatever of his having already been introduced.

2. As noted above, there were three Great Servants of God who would figure prominently in the lifting of Israel’s captivity, these being Israel herself, Cyrus, and the Messiah; and there is no way that Cyrus qualifies for being mentioned first. He simply does not belong first in that triad.

3. As Douglas observed, "The Jewish writers and earlier Christian expositors applied this to Abraham.” What is it that "moderns" have learned that generations of earlier scholars did not know?

4. Righteousness is not a term that suggests Cyrus; and the KJV translates the opening clause here thus: "Who raised up the righteous man from the east, etc.?" Yes, they have been fiddling with this passage, and have rendered it differently; but we remain convinced that the KJV is correct, and that the attempts to change the meaning here are anchored in what may be described as translators trying to support a false interpretation.

5. Furthermore, the injection of Cyrus into this paragraph destroys the unity of the chapter. Note that the very next verse (Isaiah 41:8) speaks of Abraham and Israel. Douglas affirmed flatly that interpreting Isaiah 41:2 as a reference to Cyrus "breaks the unity of the chapter.”

6. Isaiah’s design of comforting the chosen people in their captivity is far better served by understanding this paragraph as a reference to Abraham, the great ancestor of Israel, than by a reference to one who would not even appear until the captivity was practically terminated already. To us, that makes no sense at all. On the other hand, think of Abraham. God called him, prophesied that his posterity would be a great nation, that they would endure captivity for four hundred years in Egypt, that God would deliver them with great wealth out of the land of Egypt, and that they would inherit the land of Palestine! All of those marvelous prophecies through Abraham, known to every Israelite on earth, were a thousand times more comforting than this passage could possibly have been if it were nothing more than an ambiguous prophecy of a ruler who would appear on earth near the very end of their captivity.

7. The last three verses of this paragraph introduce the idolatrous peoples as greatly alarmed about the great man God raised up (Isaiah 41:2); and they are represented as going to work and making or repairing idols as rapidly as possible. This can be a reference only to Abraham’s utter rejection of idols; because, "There was nothing in the character of Cyrus to cause any such alarm among idolaters."^[7] Abraham was called for the very purpose of casting the idolaters out of Canaan; and the success of the Hebrew people through the long generations had indeed put the fear of God upon all the idolatrous nations on earth (Joshua 2:8-11). There is nothing like this that may be said of Cyrus. He simply is not in this passage.

8. Isaiah 41:3-4 could have been said of Abraham, but not of Cyrus, there being no record whatever that he ever pursued anyone! On the other hand, Abraham defeated the coalition of the kings in Genesis 14 and pursued them beyond Damascus. Some pursuit! We fully agree that, "This passage does not very well suit Cyrus.”

9. The multitude of ancient interpreters who favored the view that this passage refers to Abraham is impressive. Although Barnes disagreed, he pointed out that:

"The Chaldee Paraphrast translates Isaiah 41:2, "Who has publicly led from the east Abraham, the chosen of the just"; and this translation has been adopted by Jewish writers generally. They say that it means that God had called Abraham from the east, that he conducted him to the land of Canaan, and enabled him to vanquish the people who resided there, and particularly that he vanquished the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and rescued Lot from their hands; and that the fact of God’s bringing Abraham from the east was a sure and comforting sign that God would also deliver Israel from their captivity in the east.”

10. Notice here, that this great man of God spoken of in Isaiah 41:2 would be from "the east." Cyrus, on the other hand was from "the north." Rawlinson quoted Herodotus as saying that, "When Cyrus attacked Babylon, he fell upon the city mainly from the north.” Of course, by misapplying Isaiah 41:25, some would attempt to make it appear that Cyrus came upon Babylon from the east, which is inaccurate. Thus, in order to support the Cyrus interpretation of this paragraph, men have not only changed the meaning of "righteous man" but also have perverted the truth on the direction from which Cyrus came. It appears to us that the Cyrus interpretation requires entirely too much fiddling with the Scriptures.

Isaiah 41:1-4 JEHOVAH REIGNS: Just as the predicted Comfort of chapter 40 was to come to the Jews after their exile but realized ultimately in the Messiah, so the Conquest of chapter 41 is to come to the Jews (through Cyrus) but will be realized ultimately in the Messiah. Both comfort and conquest are to come to God’s people through a servant. The Servant section (ch. 40–53) portrays three servants of Jehovah engaged in fulfilling His redemptive plan for mankind. Cyrus, Israel and the Suffering Servant, are the three servants of Isaiah’s message. Cyrus and Israel are apparently types of the Suffering Servant—Cyrus typifying the conquering, judging aspect of the Messiah’s work and Israel typifying the atoning, sanctifying aspect of the Messiah’s work. Isaiah intertwines or meshes the work of all these closely together in this Servant section until it is difficult to distinguish which one he is describing. At times it appears he is describing both the type and the Antitype (e.g., Cyrus and the Messiah) in the same passage—as in our present passage.

The word hkeriyshu is translated keep silence and means literally, “to be blunted, dull, dumb, silent,” or “to hold the peace.” Jehovah commands silence. He is going to issue an omnipotent, omniscient edict. He is going to predict providential events which will alter the destinies of all men and all nations. He is about to tell the world how He is going to “run things.” Mankind insists it is going to tell God how it is going to “run the world.” But God, through His prophet, commands, “Shut up, I’m going to tell you how I am going to run things.”

The “islands” are the islands of the Mediterranean and Aegean. The isthmus of Greece and the islands of the Aegean (known as Javan to the Hebrews) represented the remotest regions of heathendom to the Hebrews of Isaiah’s day. The Lord God is challenging the world that stands in opposition to His redemptive program to come before Him having clothed (hkeliyphu, Heb.) themselves in renewed strength and vigor and meet Him in a contest. The outcome of this contest will determine who “runs the world.” Similar challenges are made by Jehovah in Joel 3:1-15 and Ezekiel 38-39. Joel and Ezekiel are predicting the battle of God and the world through Jesus Christ at the cross and the resurrection. We suspect that Cyrus’ conquest of the world (bringing God’s judgment upon it) and Cyrus’ release of the Jews to return to their homeland (bringing God’s redemption to them) was typical of the same battle at Calvary and the empty tomb.

The present passage speaks of Cyrus, emperor of Persia (“one from the east.”). There can be little doubt about this when one sees the extended context of Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 48:14-16). It predicts events and persons at least 100 years or more before they happened. Isaiah died about 700–690 B.C. Cyrus conquered Astyages in 550 B.C. and became sole ruler of Elam (Persia). Cyrus was probably born about 590–580 B.C.

Isaiah uses a word, leaumiym (root is loam), peculiar to his writings, which is translated peoples. It is less definite than either goiym or ’ammiym, two other Hebrew words translated peoples. Goiym stands for Gentiles; ’ammiym refers to a people as viewed by themselves, or, we people; loamiym stands for all races of people in general. God’s announcement that He is going to take another omnipotent, providential step in His program of redemption through Cyrus (bringing the world under the magisterial rule of Cyrus and return of the covenant people to their land) is not a provincial announcement—it is worldwide! Cyrus will be God’s servant for all races!

Persia (today’s Iran) was directly east of Palestine. In Isaiah’s day it was known as Elam. The Persian empire flourished for approximately 200 years (549–332 B.C.) until Alexander the Greek conquered the world and turned it into a semi-Greek culture. “One from the east” definitely means Cyrus but probably includes all succeeding Persian emperors since the restoration of the Jewish people proceeded under Cyrus’ successors. Tsedeq (translated righteousness) would be better translated justice. It may refer to the justice of God upon His enemies accomplished through Cyrus as a secondary agent, or, it may refer to the personal character of Cyrus. Both would be appropriate since God uses secondary agents to govern the world and administer justice and Cyrus (as well as most of his successors) was known for fair, honest and just treatment of his subjects. The Jews, especially, held the Persians in high esteem for the treatment they received at their hand.

God’s challenge to the races is: Which god of the races is able to withstand the one from the east whom I will send to execute My justice? Jehovah, the God of Israel, gives temporary rule of His world to whomever He pleases (cf. Isaiah 10:5-19; Jeremiah 27:1-11; Daniel 7:6; Daniel 9:24, etc.). When God’s providence is decreed and predicted, nothing can thwart it! Cyrus shall, as God’s servant, pound those who resist into dust and stubble with his weapons of war (sword and bow). Cyrus and his successors will conquer Asia Minor, Egypt, into India, and cross the Aegean and, for a time, occupy European soil in Greece. This is Cyrus II, or Cyrus The Great and few world conquerors have been regarded as highly as Cyrus. The Persians called him father. The Greeks regarded him as a master and lawgiver. When Alexander the Great found that Cyrus’ tomb had been rifled (by Greek soldiers and grave robbers), he ordered that the body be replaced and the contents of the tomb be restored as far as possible. To the Jews he was the Lord’s anointed who ended the Babylonian exile and opened a new era in the history of Israel. Cyrus did not force Persian ideas on his subjects, but rather formed a synthesis of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, the Greek cities, and parts of India. It is reported by some historians that he was a monotheist, which would have exalted his image in the eyes of the Jews.

Cyrus marched on and on in shalom (safety), into the far reaches of civilization unfamiliar and hostile to him, until he met his death in battle about 530 B.C. His body was carried back to Pasargadae, one of his capital cities. There his body was covered with wax, according to Persian custom, and placed in a stately, dignified tomb which was guarded by faithful priests for 200 years. The tomb is still standing, but its contents have long since been removed.

Who has wrought this? Are the passing events of history, the births of nations and their deaths, merely the results of chance arrangements of atoms? Is the governing of the world left to the whims of tyrants and anarchists? Is history cyclical and doomed to repeat itself forever—doomed never to reach the perfection it longs for? No! No nation exists apart from God. He calls the generations into existence. He makes rulers His servants. All of history, in one way or another, serves God’s purpose. His purpose is to create out of mankind a kingdom of His own, trusting in His sovereignty, depending upon His grace, sanctifying itself in His holiness. The majority of men and women are in rebellion against God’s purposes. The establishment of the kingdom of God (Christ as King, the church as the kingdom) began in a family (Seth, Noah and Abraham), expanded to a nation (the Israelites), then encompassed the world (the church). The very fact of the establishment of the kingdom program on earth, through men, pronounced the judgment of God upon all human governments and efforts to usurp God’s sovereignty over man. Our text is simply another announcement by God that He is going to act through Cyrus to preserve His covenant people and His work of establishing His kingdom. Thus, all races are called together for a demonstration of His sovereignty by the very fact that God is able, through His prophet, to predict the conquest of Cyrus one hundred years before Cyrus was born!

Delitzsch says of verse four, “It is the full meaning of the name Jehovah (Yaweh) which is unfolded here; for God is called Jehovah as the absolute I, the absolutely free Being, pervading all history, and yet above all history, as He who is Lord of His own absolute being, in revealing which He is purely self-determined; in a word, as the unconditionally free and unchangeably eternal personality.”

Isaiah 41:5-7 JAVAN REELS: One has only to read the history of Persian conquests to see the fulfillment of these verses. The isles of the Mediterranean and the Aegean reeled and trembled under the warfare of Persian armies. They formed alliances and coalitions against the Persians. By the summer of 539 B.C. the Persian armies were ready to attack Babylon. Nabonidus, sensing the situation, brought the gods of the outlying regions into his capital, trusting that they would aid him in his time of need. This antagonized the people whose gods were displaced and brought further resentment to the priests of Babylon. This appears to be a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 41:5-7.

All during the Persian rule there were those segments of the empire resisting Persian friendship to the Hebrews (cf. Ezra 4:3-16). After the Persian empire, the Syrians (under the Seleucids) and the Egyptians (under the Ptolemies) opposed the work of God by persecuting the Hebrew people. Daniel predicts all these “times of trouble.”

What Isaiah is predicting in Isaiah 41:5-7 is that although Cyrus and the Persians shall be raised up by God to execute His judgment upon the heathen opposition to God’s kingdom work, the heathen will tremble but they will not repent. They will unite, encourage one another, and continue to trust in gods of gold and wood. They will make newer and more gods, complimenting themselves that they have done a good job and that they have made gods that will survive the Servant of Jehovah.

Of course, new and better gods did not stop Cyrus. The Lord used him to fulfill that portion of the plan of divine redemption for which Cyrus was needed. Then, when the Lord needed Alexander the Great and all that his hellenization of the world could contribute to that redemptive plan, He permitted the Greeks to serve Him. Jehovah “runs the world” and there are not any gods of any race to usurp His sovereignty. Jehovah has silenced them all! Ultimately God silenced all His opposition at the cross and the empty tomb. Perhaps, in type, His work through Cyrus points to that ultimate moment!

Verses 8-16

Isa 41:8-16

Isaiah 41:8-16

THE FIRST SERVANT INTRODUCED

"But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away; fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed; 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. Behold, all that are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel."

In these verses (including also the text through Isaiah 41:20) Israel is assured (1) of the faithfulness of God, Isaiah 41:8-9; (2) that they will receive strength from God, Isaiah 41:10, (3) that weakness will afflict their enemies, Isaiah 41:11-12; (4) that God will raise up aid for them, Isaiah 41:13-14; (5) that their enemies shall be scattered, Isaiah 41:15-16; (6) and that they shall receive spiritual refreshment during their worst experiences, Isaiah 41:17-19.

As Kidner observed, "This long chain of promises (future verbs) is characteristically anchored in the facts (present and past), a pledged relationship, and an irrevocable choice and call.” Note that this usage of past blessings as a pledge of future support for Israel supports the view that Isaiah 41:2 is not a reference to a future "righteous man," but to a former one, Abraham.

"Jacob is called `a worm’ in Isaiah 41:14; and `men’ should perhaps be rendered `lice’ in the same passage." It is believed that such derogatory words represent, not God’s opinion of Israel, but their discouraged and pitiful opinion of themselves during the times that lay ahead of them.

The metaphor here of Israel’s threshing the mountains and hills, all nations great and small, large as it is, does not exaggerate the influence of Judaic-born Christianity over all the nations of mankind.

There is another term in Isaiah 41:14, namely, Redeemer, that has been seized upon by some as indicating a new author for this part of Isaiah. Yes, it is true that this word, from Leviticus 25:47-54 is a technical word found a number of times in the Old Testament. A man’s [~go’el] was his next of kin; and in case a man sold himself into captivity, his `redeemer’ or [~go’el] was under obligation to purchase his freedom. Critics quickly point out that, "This word never appears in Isaiah 1-39; but it is found 13 times in the final 27 chapters of Isaiah. No other Biblical writer ever used the word, except Jeremiah, and he did so only once.” So what? In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, there was never another occasion when Israel was in a status of captivity, as envisioned here; and thus the word would never have been appropriate until these later chapters. Furthermore, it is a fact beyond all dispute that Isaiah knew the word, as indicated by his utmost familiarity with the Pentateuch. The desperate status of the `Deutero Isaiah’ theory is indicated by its advocates’ pressing into service such a meaningless point as this one.

Archer pointed out that Isaiah 41:8 in this paragraph is the "first mention of the momentous figure of `Servant of the Lord,’ the `Servant’ here being the believing nation of Israel as opposed to the Gentiles ... Even though no exiled nation had ever before in history been brought back to start life anew in their former homeland, God here promises to bring about such a seeming impossibility.” There is also in this the type of that Far Greater Servant, Jesus Christ, the True Israel, the True Vine (as distinguished from the corrupt vine (the old Israel) (John 15:1 ff), the Old Israel being most certainly a type of the True Israel, as extensively indicated in the Book of Jonah. We agree with Archer that the primary reference here is not the antitype but the type. The Greater Israel, under the figure of the Suffering Servant, will be more prominent in later chapters.

Isaiah 41:8-10 SERVANTHOOD OF ISRAEL: God chose the Hebrews for special servanthood. They were to serve Him as a consecrated, holy priesthood. (cf. Exodus 19:5-6; Leviticus 25:55; Deuteronomy 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18-19) By their consecration to His commandments they would be the human agency through which God could send the Redeemer in human flesh. They would also serve as witnesses to the glory of Jehovah to the nations round about them. The Lord did not choose Israel according to human standards, i.e., Israel was not large in population or wealth (Deuteronomy 7:7). He chose Israel by His sovereign grace—because He loved her (Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 10:12-22).

The point of this passage, however, is to allay the fears of the people of Isaiah’s day. Isaiah’s contemporaries were filled with terror at the threats of Assyria and Babylon. They began to despair that God would ever be able to fulfill His covenant to them. So Isaiah reminds them that if God could take a man like Abraham from a background of heathen idolatry, make him a friend of God and protect, sustain and multiply him into a nation, God can protect His people in Isaiah’s day! If God can take that nation, from Abraham’s loins, and deliver them from the power and temptations of Egypt, He can certainly deliver Isaiah’s Judah from the threats of Assyria and Babylon. And if Isaiah’s people will serve God and trust Him, He will fulfill His covenant with them. He is the same God who was with them in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the day of the Judges and in David’s day.

Isaiah 41:11-13 SUBJUGATION OF ISRAEL’S ENEMIES: Now the process by which God fulfills His covenant involves the preparation of a people to make them capable of receiving its fulness! This preparation involves discipline, repentance and holiness. The Lord did not take Moses and his people directly from Egypt to Canaan. They demonstrated they were not mature enough for that, so they were disciplined forty years in the wilderness. In Isaiah’s day it was apparent God’s covenant people needed some severe discipline and serious penitence. Isaiah is attempting to prepare his people spiritually for the coming captivity. He is trying to reorient their thinking about who God is and what He does that they may have faith in Him in spite of the circumstances of the imminent exile.

The troubles of the Jews (called “indignation” by Daniel) did not cease with the Babylonian exile. Great and powerful enemies opposed the Jews ever after (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Rome, etc.). So, this passage has its fulfillment, not in genetic, national, Israel, but in the children of Abraham according to faith (Romans 4:1-25; Galatians 3:6-9; Galatians 3:15-29). It is readily apparent from the New Testament that God’s deliverance of His covenant people from their enemies was not intended to be fulfilled physically, but spiritually (which is more important) (cf. Luke 1:46-55; Luke 1:68-79; Ephesians 6:10-18; Colossians 2:12-15, etc.). It is true, God preserved a physical nation, the Jews, until about 70 A.D. when they were scattered all over the world by the Romans. They are still a dispersed and dispossessed people today (in spite of the fact that a very small percentage of Jews maintain a very tenuous occupation of a portion of Palestine). But even this preservation of a physical nation until 70 A.D. was possible only because a small minority (remnant) of that nation trusted God and hoped in the messianic promises. Now that the Messiah’s kingdom has been established physical, national relationship is no longer efficacious with God. Within the Messiah’s kingdom there is neither Jew nor Gentile. God has always been interested in the spiritual man (Romans 2:28-29), not just his nationality. The true Israel of God walks by the rule that neither circumcision (Jew) nor uncircumcision (Gentile) counts for anything, but a new creation (Galatians 6:15-16).

If Israel of Isaiah’s day will serve the Lord by believing and obeying, He will deliver them from those who would oppose the redemptive work of God in the world. God will deliver the Jews from Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Syria, Egypt and, in the days of the Roman empire He will fulfill His covenant through the Messiah. The Messiah will defeat once and for all the power of the devil. The Messiah will demonstrate historically that God is able to defeat even death. All the promises of God find their Yea! in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Isaiah 41:14-16 WORM WINS: The Hebrew word tola’ath is translated worm and is the name of the coccus worm which was the worm used in making scarlet dye. It is the same word used in Psalms 22:6 in reference to the scorn and despite men will show the Messiah. Jacob (Israel) is called a worm by Isaiah to describe the scorn with which the nation is looked upon by its enemies. Assyria considers Judah with contempt (see comments Isaiah 36:8-9). It is interesting that God’s covenant people are called “worm” and the Messiah calls Himself “worm” (Psalms 22:6). God is going to give the covenant people victory over their adversaries. They may go into captivity but eventually they will return, by the Spirit of God, to resume their service of messianic destiny. Their enemies will, one by one (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome) be ground to chaff (cf. Daniel 2:31-45, esp. Daniel 2:35), and blown away. A threshing sledge was a flat plank or planks of wood with rollers underneath studded with metal spikes for thrashing wheat. They were sometimes put to use by armies to torture and execute prisoners of war. This prediction of covenant victory over enemies ultimately was fulfilled in the Messiah. The Messiah’s victory will usher in a universal kingdom of God (the church) and men of all nations will rejoice and give glory to the Holy One of Israel who accomplished it all (cf. Isaiah 2:1-5; Isaiah 19:16-25; Zechariah 14:16-21, etc.).

Verses 17-20

Isa 41:17-20

Isa 41:17-20

"The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst; I Jehovah will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open the rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together: that they may see, and know, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."

Isaiah had just prophesied that the captivity would be in Babylon; and every Israelite knew where Babylon was located and that the passage from Babylon back to Canaan was possible only by transversing what was, to all practical purposes, a nearly impassable desert. The promise that Judah should indeed return to Palestine seemed like an utter impossibility. "These verses, Isaiah 41:17-20, seek to remedy the exiles’ fears about the difficulties of the journey home. The God who had long ago supplied all the needs of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai would work even greater miracles now," that is, when the time arrived when God would bring them home.

Isaiah 41:17-20 WATER IN THE WILDERNESS: Isaiah describes the destitution of the covenant people under another figure. They are “poor and needy” seeking water and there is none. They appear to be helpless and hopeless. We think this applies to their spiritual destitution. At no time has God ever physically watered all the wastelands of Palestine. This passage undoubtedly refers to the spiritual water of life to be supplied by the Messiah (cf. John 4 and John 7). This passage is parallel to Isaiah, chapter 35 (see our comments there). The point is that God is going to completely reverse their spiritual situation from destitution to abundance. Edward J. Young comments: “The emphasis upon water and trees had also been found in the account of Eden in Genesis 3. Through the entrance of sin into the world, however, the garden was forfeited, and man entered a world where thorns and thistles would grow and he would labor by the sweat of his brow. In picturing the future age of blessing, the eschatological period when the restoration will occur, Isaiah uses the combined figures of water and trees. It is as though a bit of heaven had come down to earth; and indeed, those who one day will be blessed of these rivers and these trees are in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” And the objective for all this spiritual regeneration is to bring glory to the Holy One of Israel who shall do it. Israel, the worm, the poor and needy, is incapable of changing its despicable condition. God will, by His grace, send His Servant the Messiah to create the new order. Isaiah’s contemporaries are called upon to believe the Lord’s promise and wait upon Him in faith.

Verses 21-24

Isa 41:21-24

Isaiah 41:21-24

"Produce your cause, saith Jehovah, bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come to pass hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of naught; an abomination is he that chooseth you."

The chapter in these verses takes up the imaginary court scene again; and God challenges the pagan gods to show that they are really gods. Let them predict future events, or explain the significance of past events; let them actually do anything at all, either good or evil. Their utter inability to meet such a challenge entitles them to the vehement denunciation that God here made of pagan gods. They are nothing, of no account, helpless, and incapable of doing anything whatsoever, either of good or of evil!

There is a powerful assertion here that God, of course, is able to do what no pagan god could possibly do, the principal thing God here claims being that of the ability to "declare the things that are to come to pass hereafter," in short, the power to give men the revelation of predictive prophecies! The critical denial of this is the complete and irrevocable condemnation of their whole system of Biblical studies. For any person whomsoever to be deceived by so-called Bible scholars who have accepted the dictum of men who follow such satanic rules, that person must first become an unbeliever himself; and afterward from that he will inevitably receive the hardening, blinding, and deluding of his central nervous system, the brain itself. One would be just as wise to ask the devil himself what a given scripture may mean as to accept the comment of such "scholars."

"The word `abomination’ transferred to the worshipper of idols in this passage shows how corrupting is the choice of a lie for one’s ultimate allegiance." See Romans 1:18-32, where Paul spelled this out in detail.

God’s challenge here for the idol gods to predict future events really touched the heathen world on a very sensitive spot, since divination was a major preoccupation of idol gods. Croesus of Lydia was to pay dearly for trusting such gods.

"Croesus of Lydia consulted the famous oracle at Delphi over his prospects of success against Cyrus; and the pagan oracle told him that he would destroy a great empire. He attacked Cyrus all right and destroyed a great empire, but it was his own.”

Isaiah 41:21-24 CHALLENGE: Now Jehovah is going to prove His previous claims that His covenant people need not fear the threats of their enemies (Assyria and Babylon). There were many in Israel and Judah listening to the alleged prophecies of false prophets and the oracles of pagan gods. These false prophecies predicted the obliteration of the Jews and the downfall of the Jewish God, Jehovah. It seems astonishing that the Jews, with all their history of miraculous deliverances from the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, etc., could ever doubt Jehovah’s power. They had become so engrossed in politics, economics, pagan philosophies and just plain sensuality, they had no time for God and His Word. As a result when it became apparent they were going to be invaded by the awesome, terrifying hordes of Assyria and Babylon, they could not turn to Jehovah. They did not know Him! Most of the Jews turned ‘to pagan soothsayers and idol-priests (cf. Isaiah 8:16-22, etc.). But God, through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing that He will deliver His people from these terrible enemies. Positive, empirical, proof that Jehovah is their only Deliverer is demonstrated once and for all in fulfillment of prophecy. When history is predicted before it happens it is a claim to omniscience and omnipotence. When that prediction comes to pass it demonstrates deity. The authority of a prophet was proved by the fulfillment of his predictions (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). Jehovah challenges all the pagan gods to give proof of their divine power by divulging the future. Jehovah challenges the idols and their priests to “declare the former things” which is a call to interpret past history. They cannot even do this! Then He calls them to “show us things to come.” God does not want credulous worshipers.

Preaching without proof and evidence is scarcely preaching at all. It encourages naked credulity and shallow conviction. So, when God sent Isaiah to produce faith in His deliverance, He gave proof and evidence of His power. That proof was that Jehovah could foretell, through His prophet, the future. Pagan deities could not. This same confrontation (between God’s prophets and pagan idols) recurs over and over again in history (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul). God does not shrink from the demand of authenticating credentials for His Word. What Jehovah predicts has already been recorded in Isaiah 41:2 ff in the “one from the east.” The prediction is repeated in Isaiah 41:25 ff. But for now, Jehovah’s challenge goes unanswered and the conclusion is inevitable—idols are not gods! As a matter of fact, idols are less than nothing. The verdict is: idols are a totally minus-quantity and so is their work. They cannot do good nor can they do evil. Missionaries have found in modern pagan tribes demonstrations of the power the mind has over the body when the mind is “psyched” or hypnotized by superstition and fear. But they have also found that once the idol-worshipper sees a demonstration that their idol is “nothing” he is at once healed of his physical malady. Abomination is from the Hebrew word tuaivah which means abhorrent, disgusting, detestable, repugnant. Those who deliberately choose to worship idols soon become like the thing they worship (cf. Hosea 9:10; Psalms 115:3-8).

Verses 25-29

Isa 41:25-29

Isaiah 41:25-29

"I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, he is right? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that heareth your words. I am the first that saith unto Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. And when I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word. Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and naught; their molten images are wind and confusion."

This passage applies to Cyrus, a fact inherent in the strong intimation just given that God is able to predict future events. Cyrus is the second of the three Great Servants of God to be introduced in this section. There is a common error here in the allegation that Cyrus is from the "rising of the sun," usually understood as the "direction" from which Cyrus would come to destroy Babylon. However, that is incorrect. To construe that reference to sunrising as a reference to the direction (east) would contradict the statement just made that Cyrus would come from the "north." On the other hand, it is a time-reference, meaning that the mighty ruler who would come and free Israel would call upon God’s name "from the sunrising," that is, continually, all day, from "the sun rising." See our Introduction to this entire Prophecy of Isaiah, where this prophecy of Cyrus is discussed more fully.

In the last two verses here, God again returns to his arraignment and his taunting of the idol goods. As the New Testament declares, "an idol is nothing at all." An idol is a nonentity, less than nothing, vanity, and an abomination.

Isaiah 41:25-29 CONFUTATION: The “one from the north . . . from the rising of the sun” is the same one from “the east” in Isaiah 41:2, Cyrus, king of Persia (cf. comments Isaiah 41:2 ff). The massive armies of the great Mesopotamian empires (Assyria, Babylon, Persia) all swooped down on Palestine from “the north.” One only has to look at a map of the Near East to see that ancient armies could not march west over the Arabian desert since they had to sustain themselves by daily forage for food and water. So they marched north and came across the “fertile crescent” and entered Palestine from the north. Cyrus will be irresistible. He will do with the enemies of God’s people what a potter does with his clay. Now, says Jehovah, which pagan idol or pagan prophet foreknew any events to show they knew Israel’s destiny or the future history of Mesopotamian empires? Have any of their words ever been fulfilled so that men were obliged to say, “That idol was right”? Not a one! Not one word about Israel’s deliverance through the “one from the east” ever came from the heathen oracles. Jehovah, through His prophets, was first and only to make such a declaration. He announced that the Deliverer would come to Zion. Even in the midst of all His announcements of the future captivity He announces deliverance from it by the “one from the east.” This would be good news to Jerusalem. Of course, it would be good news only to those who believed. That was always a minority. The majority of the people never even recognized the promises of deliverance because they refused to believe the predictions of judgment in the first place. And when one looked toward the pagan gods and prophets one could find no intimation whatsoever of this great deliverance. There is only stupid silence. They do not know the future. So they are nothing. They are powerless. They are just wind. Finis! The contest is over—God is victor. Jehovah conquers all for His people.