Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 48

Verses 1-11

The Failure of Israel/Judah And His Intention For Them (Isaiah 48:1-11 ).

“Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel,

And are come forth out of the waters of Judah.

Who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel,

Not in truth nor in righteousness,

When they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel.

Yahweh of hosts is his name.”

God now calls through Isaiah to His sinful people as Jacob/Israel who come forth from the waters of Judah. This unusual description suggest he is speaking to people now living in Judah, not to people abroad. As a whole they make up Jacob and Israel. This distinction confirms that Isaiah is still in Palestine speaking to the remnants of Judah.

They are of the house of Jacob, and they are called by the name of Israel. Their credentials are good. And they have come from the waters of Judah. ‘The waters’ may refer to the waters that break in a woman prior to birth. Or it may see Judah as a spring from which flow his people. They live in Judah and bring forth their children there. Compare the waters of Shiloah that go softly (Isaiah 8:6).

And they are not only called by the name of Israel, but they swear by the name of Yahweh. This may refer to official oaths taken in court, stating that in such oaths the name of Yahweh is still used. Or it may simply indicate that old traditions die hard, and when they bind themselves with an oath they still do it in Yahweh’s name, just as a modern Atheist may say, ‘By God’. And they make mention of the God of Israel, that is keep Him in remembrance in their outward worship. Thus formally they still declare themselves to be Yahwists.

But there is a fatal flaw. All this is not in truth or in righteousness. It is not a genuine response, nor does it produce obedience to the covenant. In real terms it is a pretence.

‘When they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel.’ (For ki as ‘when’ see Isaiah 16:12) Even as they call themselves of the holy city and stay themselves on the God of Israel they are not being genuine. They are not holy. They are not really resting in Him. It is not in truth or in righteousness (see also Isaiah 48:4). In reality they have turned from Yahweh and His ways. Here was irony indeed. They boasted that they were the holy city, and they were anything but holy.

‘Yahweh of hosts is his name.’ This is a reminder to them of Who God is. They speak of Yahweh and the God of Israel, but are they aware of Whom they are speaking? Let them remember that He is Yahweh of hosts and thus God of the hosts of heaven and the hosts of earth.

Isaiah 48:3-5

“I have declared the former things from of old,

Yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them,

Suddenly I did them and they came about.

Because I knew that you are obstinate,

And your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze,

Therefore I have declared it to you from of old.

Before it came about I showed it to you,

Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,

And my graven image and my molten image has commanded them.’ ”

God now tells them why He always tells them and shows them clearly what He is about to do before He does things, and then does them suddenly. It is so that they will not be able to say, ‘My idol has done it’. For He knows that they are obstinate, and that their neck is of iron, totally unbending, and their brow is of bronze, firm and unyielding, so that given half a chance they will credit it to their idols and their images. (The graven image is one of wood, the molten image is one of wood plated in precious metal).

This exemplifies what we have seen in Isaiah 48:1-2. Outward conformity to Yahweh, but their real interest and concern is for their gods.

What the former things were that had been prophesied we are not told, but there are enough prophecies prior to this time to make a selection. They could include the promises to Abraham about his seed being many, and about the land becoming theirs, and about his descendants being kings. Multiplicity of children, land inheritance and relationships with a king were things that would be important to them. And it could include the deliverance from Egypt and earlier prophecies of Isaiah, some even exact to timing (Isaiah 16:14; Isaiah 21:16), and the defeat of Sennacherib (Isaiah 29:5-8; Isaiah 30:31-32; Isaiah 31:5-9; Isaiah 33:3-4), with many other examples in between. The point is that Yahweh has been able to declare what would happen when an idol could not, simply because it was He Who was going to bring it about. And as they all knew, these things had happened.

Isaiah 48:6-7

“You have heard it, behold all this,

And you, will you not declare it?

I have shown you new things from this time,

Even hidden things which you have not known,

They are created now and not from old,

And before this day you did not hear them,

Lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them’.”

Then God challenges them as to why they do not declare what they have heard about Him from the past. Why do they not give Him the honour due to Him and reveal it to the world? (That is what they should be doing as His witnesses - Isaiah 43:10).

But there is not only the past. He has shown them new things, the return of their exiles from all parts of the world, the rise of Cyrus, the destruction of Babylon, the coming of the day of Yahweh, the establishing of the everlasting kingdom in peace and righteousness, the coming of the greater David through Gods powerful and unique working. These are things that God has created now. They will happen because of His word. And they had not been told of these before lest they be self-complacent and self-congratulatory and say, ‘Look, I knew that already’.

Isaiah 48:8

“Yes, you did not hear. Yes, you did not know,

Yes, from of old your ear was not opened,

For I knew that you dealt very treacherously,

And were called a transgressor from the womb.”

He has just previously told them that they had heard (Isaiah 48:6) and known (Isaiah 48:6-7) about what He had declared and done, but now He admits that they had not really heard, they had not really known. Their ears are heavy, their eyes are closed (compare Isaiah 6:10). They have not allowed it to come home to them. And this is because they are so treacherous, because they are transgressors even from birth. This reference to them as transgressors is constant (Isaiah 46:8). And there are equally as many transgressors today.

The word for ‘treacherous’ means to do something contrary to the covenant (1 Samuel 14:33), it is used of a friend who fails in friendship (Job 6:14-15), and of family disloyalty (Jeremiah 12:6), and it signifies a failure to honour one’s word (Isaiah 33:1). All these were true of Israel. To be a transgressor from birth indicates that they have been set in sin and disobedience right from a young age (compare Psalms 51:5-6; Psalms 58:3). They were ‘born like it’.

So the truth is that the Servant is in a sad state of disobedience and rebellion.

Isaiah 48:9-11

“For my name’s sake I will defer my anger,

And for my praise I will refrain for you,

That I do not cut you off.

Behold I have refined you, but not as silver,

I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake I will do it,

For how should it be profaned?

And my glory I will not give to another.”

But God will not allow His purposes to be frustrated like this. Somehow He will yet produce from them a righteous Servant. Let them not think that God is not aware of what they are. It is for His own name’s sake that He defers His anger, not punishing them as they deserve. It is so that He will finally receive the praise due to Him that He refrains from cutting them off, although it is something which is for their benefit too (‘for you’). For He will refine them, not as silver is refined in fire, but in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 4:4; compare Deuteronomy 4:20; Ezekiel 22:18-22). There His choice will come to fruition. From there will He produce His pure remnant (Isaiah 6:13). And He will do it for His own name’s sake (repeated for emphasis), so that no one else might receive His glory, and so that His name might not be sullied.

So here we see God’s determination to fulfil His sovereign purpose in spite of what His people have proved to be. And yet He will not do it without purifying them. For then He would deserve no praise. No, He will bring about their purification through affliction (and we learn later especially through the affliction of His own special Servant (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12)). And then He will accomplish His purpose through them.

Verses 1-22

YAHWEH IS ABOUT TO ACT SO AS TO ESTABLISH HIS PEOPLE AND PREPARE THE WAY FOR HIS SERVANT (Isaiah 44:24 to Isaiah 48:22 ).

As with what has gone before it is necessary for us to determine the viewpoint from which we will see these narratives, and in order to do so we must put ourselves in the shoes of Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 were mainly behind him, Hezekiah was dead, and what lay before him was the future in terms of Manasseh’s reign. That reign had not had a promising beginning. Manasseh had taken the people back to the old ways,and the ways of Assyria, and had thereby defiled the Temple (2 Kings 21:2-7; 2 Chronicles 33:2-10). The voice of Isaiah was silent (Isaiah 1:1). Judah was once more in subjection to Esarhaddon, the King of Assyria (Isaiah 37:38), who was overseeing Judah from Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11). The people were corrupted, the Temple was defiled, and Babylon was to be seen by Judah as the great enemy, as, in Isaiah’s eyes, it had always been.

Isaiah had already prophesied something of what the future held. He had informed Hezekiah that his sons would be carried off as trophies to Babylon (Isaiah 39:6-7), and had declared that God’s punishment must come on the personnel who ran the Temple (Isaiah 43:27-28), and the miserable fate of those who trusted in idols (Isaiah 43:27; Isaiah 44:11). (And this would in fact all actually happen in the near future (2 Chronicles 33:11). For invasion from Babylon would result in Manasseh and his entourage being taken captive to Babylon, the Temple inevitably being sacked, and the people being decimated in the warfare that accompanied it).

But the question now was, how did this fit in with what he had already been saying. How could the Servant whose future had looked so glowing be restored, and what was going to be Yahweh’s response to the situation. These chapters will now deal with that question.

As we have seen the problems were threefold. The first was that the condition of Yahweh’s people was in doubt because of their spiritual position and condition (Isaiah 42:19-25; Isaiah 43:22-28), the second was the persistent interference of false gods (Isaiah 42:17; Isaiah 44:9-20), especially those of Assyria and Babylon, and the third was that the nations were still preventing His people from coming home (Isaiah 41:11-12; Isaiah 42:13-16; Isaiah 43:1-7). So before the Servant could be restored, and in order that ‘he’ might fulfil his proper function, each of these matters would have to be dealt with. In this section therefore we will discover how Yahweh intends to deal with these questions.

· In the case of the first He will rebuild Jerusalem and re-establish (or lay the foundations of) a new Temple (Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 44:28), using the house of Cyrus as His instrument.

· In the case of the second He will destroy the daughter of Babylon who is responsible for all the lies and deceit connected with the occult and with false gods (Isaiah 46:1-2; Isaiah 47:1-15). But here Cyrus is not mentioned as involved.

· In the case of the third He will deal with all the nations whose lands contain exiles, so that His Servant might be restored in order that ‘he’ may begin again (Isaiah 44:27; Isaiah 45:1-7) in line with God’s promises to Abraham (Isaiah 41:8). This section will include prophecies concerning the subjection of Egypt/Ethiopia (Isaiah 45:14-17), the humbling of Babylon’s gods (Isaiah 46:1-2), and the destruction of the great enemy Babylon from which all men must flee (47; Isaiah 48:20).

In the terms of those days the restoration of Jerusalem and the building or restoration of the Temple were prerequisites if the Servant was to be able to do his work, and it had become necessary because the previous Temple had been defiled and those who served in it were rejected (Isaiah 43:28). Thus it was essential that God should make all things new. Equally important if the gods and the occult were to be dealt a bitter blow was the downfall of Babylon, because from there came all that was deceptive and evil, as it cultivated idolatry and the occult, and thought itself so superior that it could behave as though it was unobserved, even setting itself up against Yahweh (Isaiah 47:10; compare Isaiah 14:10-13), as it had always done (Genesis 11:1-9). And finally if His people who were exiled all around the world were to return, it would be necessary to find someone who could deal with the nations who held them captive, so that they could be enabled to do so.

These are the matters that the narrative will now look at. The section opens with a declaration of Yahweh’s credentials:

1) He is their Redeemer Who formed them from the womb. Compare for this Isaiah 43:1 which demonstrates that it is describing Israel, ‘thus says Yahweh Who formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you’. For formation from the womb see Isaiah 44:2 where Yahweh, speaking to ‘Jacob my Servant, and Israel whom I have chosen’ says that He has ‘formed them from the womb and will help them.’ Compare also Isaiah 49:1 where The Servant, Who is identified as spiritual Israel (Isaiah 49:3 with 5-6), is ‘called from the womb’, and Isaiah 49:5 where he is ‘formed from the womb to be His Servant’. Clearly then He is also speaking to His Servant here.

2) He is the One Who, with none around to help, made all things, stretching out the heavens alone, and spreading out the earth when none was with Him. He alone is the Creator of all things.

3) He is the One Who oversets the occult world, frustrating and making fools of deceitful ‘diviners’, and showing up the recognised ‘magicians’, the ‘wise men’, by deliberately acting in order to show up their knowledge as foolish.

4) In contrast He is the One Who confirms the word of His true Servant and performs the counsel of His true messengers, that is He fulfils their prophecies so that all may be aware that they are His true prophets.

So Yahweh, the Creator of all things, Who opposes and countermands the exponents of the occult by making things happen in such a way as to make them look foolish, has chosen His Servant, the true Israel within Israel, from the womb (it is all in His divine sovereignty) in order that He might confirm his teaching and fulfil his prophecies. Whatever the true Servant is and does will be confirmed and carried into effect by Yahweh. He is the one who is to bear God’s message to the world (compare Isaiah 2:4).

But having done so He must prepare the way before them. And in doing this He will restore the situation for them. At present the nations hold many of them captive, Jerusalem has been laid waste, and the Temple is defiled, all of which prevent His Servant Israel from fulfilling their obligation. So now He declares how He is going to remedy matters.

It will be noted initially how firmly these ideas are introduced, and in each case they are introduced, not as concerned about a catastrophe but as a guarantee of their fulfilment. For above all they are introduced as being the work of Yahweh.

It is first made clear that the source of these actions is the One Who does everything according to His will, in fulfilment of His word.

1) He says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited”, and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built. And I will build up its waste places.”

2) He says to the deep, “Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers.”

3) He says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd and will perform all My pleasure.”

4) Even saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built”, and to the Temple, “You shall be established” (or ‘your foundations shall be laid.”

If we see this as a chiasmus with 1). and 4). going together, and 2). and 3). going together, there are two emphases. The first is the important one of the restoration of Jerusalem and Judah after its mauling by Sennacherib, and after its future destruction by Esarhaddon (hinted at in Isaiah 39:6-7; Isaiah 43:28), and as it later turns out again by Nebuchadnezzar, because Israel does not take advantage of the opportunity gained by Manasseh’s repentance. The guarantee given by His word is that Jerusalem will be reinhabited after its mauling, the cities of Judah will be rebuilt after their devastation caused by war, the waste places caused by war and famine will be restored (built up), and this will include the re-establishing (and as it later turns out the total rebuilding) of the Temple, all of which have been prepared for previously (Isaiah 41:17-18; Isaiah 43:19-20; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 43:28).

The second is Yahweh’s action in the drying up of the deep and the rivers, through the activities of His shepherd, Cyrus, who will do all His pleasure (further expanded on in Isaiah 45:1-7). Countries in those days were often defined in terms of their rivers (compare Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 7:18; Isaiah 7:20; Nahum 3:8), which were of such vital importance to them, and their drying up was seen as a judgment on them (Isa 19:45; Isaiah 42:15; Isaiah 50:2; Psalms 74:15; Jeremiah 50:38; Jeremiah 51:36; Ezekiel 30:12; Zechariah 10:11). The drying up of the deep and the rivers may well therefore signify the desolation of the land of The River, and therefore of both Assyria and Babylon, in which case this is the promise that both will be dealt with through this instrument whom Yahweh has chosen and anointed. But their drying up also reflects what Yahweh had previously done to Egypt when He dried up their deep (Isaiah 51:10; Isaiah 63:13; Joshua 2:10), and what He had done when He entered Canaan (Joshua 4:23; compare Psalms 114:3-5), and on top of that it parallels the boast of Sennacherib that with the sole of his feet he had dried up the rivers of all the places that he besieged (Isaiah 37:25). As he had done to others, so would be done to Assyria, and their accomplice Babylon. As a result restoration was promised to God’s people, which would include the opportunity of return from exile, the restoration of life in Judah, the reinhabiting of Jerusalem, the restoration of the Temple, and destruction to their enemies.

Noteworthy in this description is the total lack of mention of the enemies that Cyrus will deal with. The house of Cyrus has not been raised up in order to deliver them from the Babylonian empire, but to deliver them from all their enemies (Isaiah 45:1-7), whoever they may be, and to be God’s instrument as Yahweh fulfils His purpose to restore Judah and the Temple (Isaiah 44:26-28) in readiness for God’s outpouring of righteousness and salvation (Isaiah 45:8; compare Isaiah 44:1-5). Isaiah does not pretend to know the details, and shows no awareness of the activities of Nebuchadnezzar. He still thinks in terms of Assyrian Babylon..

It will be noted that in what follows, describing the activities of Cyrus, it is his destruction of nations and taking of their cities and treasures, ‘for Jacob my Servant’s sake and Israel my chosen’, that is emphasised (Isaiah 45:1-3). While he would also certainly play his part in giving permission for the building of a new Temple (Isaiah 44:28 with Ezra 1:1), on our reading of it that is here seen as a by-product of his activity. The raising up of the new Temple was to be the work of Yahweh. That was not, of course, to prevent Cyrus having a part in the process. But no heathen king could establish the Temple of Yahweh. (Apart from the lessons learned however, it actually matters little which view we take for Cyrus II was undoubtedly involved in both). Cyrus’ main assignment was to be the defeat and denuding of the nations for Israel’s sake (Isaiah 44:27-28 a; Isaiah 45:1-6).

So as we go into this new section we carefully note God’s promise of a restored Judah, a new or restored Temple, and a new or restored Jerusalem, alongside of which the idolatrous city of Babylon will be destroyed because of all that it represents. This latter is, however, not connected with Cyrus, which from the point of view of accuracy was a good job because Cyrus did not desolate Babylon. Rather having taken it easily, and being welcomed by the priests of Marduk, he restored it to its previous importance within his empire. The final demise of Babylon in fulfilment of Isaiah’s words took place much later.

Isaiah accepts these strands of information without flinching, and without trying to fit them together. He is very much lacking in the full details. What he is aware of are the principles involved. The Temple must be restored, the exiles must return from all over the world, Babylon must be destroyed. But it is important from our point of view to recognise that while Cyrus is very much involved in the general picture, he is not described as being involved with Babylon, and once he has made the world ready for Yahweh’s Servant, he departs immediately from the picture.

So the consequence is that, having in His eternal counsels, brought Abraham to the land like a ‘bird of prey’ (Isaiah 46:11), He will not allow Abraham’s seed to fail, but will restore them so that they might fulfil their task as His Servant..

This description of Abraham as a ‘bird of prey’ is interesting and significant. There can seem little doubt that in using it he has in mind that having originally, within the eternal purposes of God, arrived in the land, Abraham had, like a great bird of prey, descended on the king of Babylon and had driven him off and spoiled him (Isaiah 41:2; Genesis 14:0), just as his seed would later do with the Canaanites. Thus Isaiah is now to see the continued presence of Abraham in the land in his seed (Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 45:4) who are God’s Servant, as a guarantee that Babylon will again suffer through the hand of their Kinsman Redeemer as He acts on behalf of His people, as He did in the days of Abraham. Yahweh too will swoop on Babylon, but this time to destroy it completely.

Further Note on Babylon.

In view of all that he has previously said about Babylon (Isaiah 44:13-14) it is clear that Isaiah could have expected nothing less than its destruction. Nor could he have doubted that it was necessary. For the shadow of Babylon, the great Anti-God and proponent of the occult, continually hung over the world, and over the people of God, and had to be dealt with. Her evil spiritual influence was known throughout the Near Eastern world, and was affecting the future of Yahweh’s Servant. There was therefore no alternative to her permanent destruction.

And yet that has not been the theme of Isaiah’s message. Indeed Babylon has only been mentioned once, and that almost incidentally, in Isaiah 43:14. At this stage Isaiah is interested in the work of the Servant, not in Babylon. He does not see Babylon as the threat to Israel’s freedom and independence, (he does not even mention it in chapter 45), only as the centre of all that is devilish.

And this is despite the fact that Babylon had yet to appear in order to loot David’s house and take the errant sons of David to become eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon as God had already revealed through him (Isaiah 39:6-7). But that was a different issue dealing with the rejection of the current house of David. It said nothing about the destruction of the Temple or the future of the Servant.

So while, as we have gathered in Isaiah 43:28, he was becoming more and more aware that the Temple had been profaned and must be replaced, he does not make any claim that he knows how or when it will come about. Nothing is said about the way in which it will come to be in that state. He simply knows that it will necessarily be so because God’s people have defiled it (Isaiah 43:22-28). But at no stage, when speaking of the restoration of the Temple, does he mention Babylon as involved, or connected with its destruction in any way. Had he known specifically he would surely have said so. But that was something not revealed to him. While he knew that the Temple must be replaced because defiled, and may well have suspected who the culprit might be, he clearly did not see it as part of his message to Israel.

What he did know was that it was through the folly and unbelief of Ahaz that Assyria had come to tread Israel down (Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 52:4). And at this present time he sees that threat as slightly altered in that the direction of the threat now comes from a Babylon, through whom Assyria was operating. This is clear from the fact that later, when Manasseh was arraigned for misbehaviour against Assyria, it was to Babylon that he was carried off in chains to give account (2 Chronicles 33:11). And this involvement of Babylon in the affairs of Israel as acting on behalf of Assyria would chill Isaiah’s heart, for he knew what God had said about Hezekiah’s children and that Babylon was the permanent enemy of God from the beginning. Indeed it was he who had been called upon to demand its permanent destruction, never to be restored (Isaiah 13:19-20; see also 14; Isaiah 21:9; Isaiah 23:13). And he knew that through the folly of Hezekiah Babylon had been awakened to the prosperity of Judah and would one day come for her treasures (Isaiah 39:6-7). So when it began acting as broker on behalf of Assyria, in Isaiah’s eyes Babylon, the great Anti-God, came to the fore. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, rebuilt Babylon and appointed one of his sons there as crown representative and prince, and it would seem that Babylon was now the taskmaster acting on behalf of Assyria with regard to Judah. As the primeval rebellious city, and as the great Anti-God, it had even ingratiated itself with Assyria. It had to be destroyed

So that is why Babylon itself, with its encroaching ways, has to be got rid of, and Yahweh will now assure Israel from his own experience that the gods of Babylon, having been humiliated by the Assyrians, had been revealed as what they were (Isaiah 46:1-2). Babylon herself was thus doomed (47). All men are therefore to turn from any consideration of, or affinity, with Babylon and recognise the triumph of Yahweh in establishing His people (Isaiah 48:20). So physically Israel’s deliverance from the nations will be by the hand of a Persian king, but spiritually their spiritual life will be saved by the establishment of the new Temple (Isaiah 44:28) and by the destruction of Babylon (Isaiah 48:20), the great threat to Yahwism (47; compare Isaiah 14:13-15).

These then are now the matters with which Isaiah will deal, and the ideas that are mentioned are in huge contrast, and are all important for the work of the Servant, but he does not interconnect them. On the one hand there is to be the full restoration of a pure, new, and undefiled Temple, a place through which the Servant can operate if ‘he’ is willing, and on the other there is to be the destruction of the evil daughter of Babylon with all her false sorceries and idols. For until both these things have occurred the work of the Servant will continue to be hindered. However, this destruction of Babylon is more connected with Assyria (Isaiah 46:1-2) than with Cyrus.

Cyrus is rather seen as the one whose conquests will prepare the way for Israel by conquering the nations and acting on Israel’s behalf. For what Cyrus will do is to be ‘for Jacob, My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect’ (Isaiah 45:4). That is the specific reason why Yahweh has called him by name and put His own name on Him (surnamed him), even though he himself does not know Yahweh. It is because he is acting in order that the Servant might benefit. We must not confuse the two activities of preparing the way for the Servant, which was the purpose of raising up Cyrus, and the destruction of Babylon which will occur through the hand of Yahweh. Both were necessary but no connection is identified between them. To Isaiah they represented the good and the bad about the future as stunningly revealed by Yahweh.

There is no thought in these chapters that Isaiah is over-anxious. He is perfectly aware, on his pinnacle of faith and with his magnificent view of God (40), that the situation is no-contest. And once he has introduced the one who will restore the Servant (45), he puts the gods of Babylon firmly in their place as burdens on the backs of beasts which far from helping them can only make the weary beasts stumble (Isaiah 46:1-2), and proclaims the end of the daughter of the Chaldeans (47). Then, the great enemy having been dealt with, He reintroduces the Servant in his ministry to His people and to the world (49). It is clear that until Babylon is out of the way the Servant cannot finalise his ministry.

It should be noted how little detail is given with regard to these external threats. Isaiah is not necessarily aware of all the full ramifications of them, and is certainly not concerned about them. His whole thought is concentrated on what Yahweh is doing. It is those facts of which he is sure.

End of note.

Verses 12-19

Yahweh’s Plea To His People To Listen to the Voice Of Isaiah, And Take Their Place As God’s Servant (Isaiah 48:12-19 ).

“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, my called,

I am he, I am the first, I am also the last,

Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth,

And my right hand has stretched out the heavens,

When I call to them they stand up together.

Having assured them that in spite of all they are His called ones, God opens His further appeal to Israel by describing what He is, and demands that they listen. ‘Listen’ is here in the singular but in the plural in Isaiah 48:14; Isaiah 48:16, for here the plea is to Israel as a whole as God’s called one, while in Isaiah 48:14-16 it is to the people in general.

He is the One Who is, the First and the Last. He is prior to all things both in time and being, He sums up all things and will bring them to conclusion (compare Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; Isaiah 44:6). Because He is the first He has initiated all things. Because He is the last He brings them to their proper conclusion. He is over all history from beginning to end.

He is also the Creator, maker and establisher of heaven and earth, which both (unlike Israel) do His bidding. Let them therefore listen to Him.

Isaiah 48:14-15

“Assemble yourselves, all of you, and listen.

Who among them has declared these things?

Yahweh has loved him.

He will perform his pleasure on Babylon,

And his arm will be on the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called him.

I have brought him and he will make his way prosperous.”

Israel are called on to assemble themselves together to listen, all of them. Assemblies were usually held at the city gates where there was an open space. There judicial affairs would be settled, important issues considered and decisions made. Here they are to gather at their city gates to consider who it is ‘among them’ who has declared ‘these things’, the future that lies ahead.

The question then is, to whom does ‘them’ refer? Some would refer it to idols, but apart from Isaiah 48:5 idols are not mentioned in the context, and there the idols ‘did’ and ‘commanded’ rather than declaring, and it is a long way back to be referred to here. Furthermore the idea of idols is not prominent in the passage. But we are clearly told of someone who should have declared it, and have not and that is Israel. They have not declared it (Isaiah 48:6) because they are treacherous (Isaiah 48:8). Furthermore Israel are very prominent in the passage. As a similar change from ‘you’ to ‘them’ is reflected also in Isaiah 48:1-2, that is not a difficulty. So we may see ‘them’ here as probably referring to the decision makers among the assembled people. That being so there is only one who has ‘declared these things’ and that is Isaiah, or possibly Yahweh’s Servant, the faithful in Israel, the Isaianic core.

This being so the natural interpretation of ‘Yahweh has loved him’ is that it refers here to the one who ‘has’ declared these thing, either Isaiah or the Servant, the Isaianic core.

‘Yahweh has loved him.’ If what we have suggested is true we have here firmly asserted Yahweh’s love for His true prophet, even His Servant. He had chosen him and called him to his difficult task and he had proved faithful. Now God expresses His approval of him and His affection for him. ‘Who among them has declared these things?’ Isaiah has, and his disciples. ‘Yahweh has loved him.’ It fits perfectly.

‘He will perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm will be on the Chaldeans.’ And because of His love for His prophet Yahweh will perform what Isaiah has shown to be his pleasure in chapters 13-14, what he has declared (compare Isaiah 44:26). He will bring about the promised judgment of Babylon. We may see it as being of either Isaiah’s or the Servant’s pleasure (or both. Isaiah is an integral part of the Servant). Isaiah has previously made emphatically clear what he sees as needing to happen to Babylon, so that it could certainly be described as being his pleasure, referring to what he sees as needing to be done. Alternately we may see it as being of Yahweh’s pleasure. In either case it will be achieved by His arm, the arm of Yahweh. Thus will both He and His prophet be vindicated.

We should note that in Isaiah the arm active in power always represents the arm of Yahweh (Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 40:10-11; Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 62:8; Isaiah 63:5; Isaiah 63:12).

So the loved one may be seen as His true Servant, as personified in Abraham and Isaiah and spiritual Israel, with in this case Isaiah or the Isaianic core prominent. It is ‘he’ who has declared ‘these things’ For in Isaiah 41:8 Abraham is His loved one and in Isaiah 43:4 spiritual Israel is His loved one. On the other hand, nowhere in the Old Testament is Yahweh ever said to love someone other than His own.

‘I, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he will make his way prosperous.’ Isaiah’s true calling and the true calling of the Servant is now affirmed. Yahweh has spoken, Yahweh has called him, Yahweh has brought him to this day, and he will truly make his way prosperous. For he has achieved great things for God and even in what Isaiah is writing at this time the whole world will be blessed.

Note Re ‘Yahweh has loved him’.

In interpreting these verses of Isaiah and the Servant we recognise that we are going against the majority interpretation. Most, strangely, refer these verses to Cyrus. In our view this is untenable. Firstly because nowhere in the Old Testament is God ever said to ‘love’ someone not His own. Cyrus may have been His shepherd and His anointed, but there is no question of him being His beloved. Indeed Cyrus himself declared himself the friend of Marduk. It was Abraham who loved Yahweh (Isaiah 41:8). Secondly the context contains not the slightest hint of Cyrus. He rose to prominence and departed in Isaiah 44:28 to Isaiah 45:13, having accomplished his purpose of ensuring the rebuilding of the temple and of Jerusalem, and having been rewarded with the treasures of an empire. And in fact Cyrus is nowhere specifically connected with Babylon in Isaiah. Thirdly he who loves Yahweh has been stated elsewhere in Isaiah to be Abraham (Isaiah 41:8 - same root) and he who Yahweh loves is spiritual Israel (Isaiah 43:4). Fourthly the phrase ‘Yahweh has loved him’ comes unexpectedly out of the blue if it is spoken of Cyrus, while if it is spoken of the one who alone declared the truth it fits right into the context. Fifthly the only ‘arm’ active in Isaiah is always that of Yahweh (Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 40:10-11; Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 62:8; Isaiah 63:5; Isaiah 63:12). Thus the arm is not likely to be that of Cyrus.

This seems conclusive against Cyrus.

End of note.

Isaiah 48:16

‘Come near to me, hear this,

From the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

From the time that it was, there am I,

And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.’

The interpretation we have given now clarifies who is speaking here. These are either the words of Isaiah as representative of God’s Servant, or more possibly the Servant himself as here represented by Isaiah (this would tie in better with ‘from the beginning’, that is, from the call of Abraham). He is the one who has ‘declared these things’ (Isaiah 48:14), God’s faithful servant. He calls on Israel to come near and listen, and consider. He has at no time ever spoken in secret right from the beginning. When each thing ‘was’, there was He declaring it openly.

But if Israel as a whole is the Servant, how can we see the Servant as talking to them? The fact that we can is revealed in chapter 49. That is exactly what we have in Isaiah 49:3 compared with Isaiah 49:6, the distinction between Israel as a whole, and the true and faithful Israel.

And now he has a further task assigned to him. He has been sent by the Sovereign Lord Yahweh and His Spirit. This can surely only signify the future activity of the Servant shortly to be declared (Isaiah 49:1-13). Through him the Spirit of Yahweh will continue to act (compare Isaiah 42:1), declaring the words of Yahweh.

Isaiah 48:17-19

‘Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the Holy One Of Israel,

“I am Yahweh, your God, who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you by the way that you should go,

Oh that you had listened to my commandments,

Then had your peace been as a river,

And your righteousness as the waves of the sea.

Your seed also would have been as the sand,

And the offspring of your bowels like its grains,

His name would not be cut off,

Nor be destroyed from before me.” ’

The suggestion that the last verse is spoken by the Servant fits well with this reply here. Yahweh is giving all Israel the opportunity to be part of the Servant in his ministry. It clearly stresses that potentially all Israel is the Servant, with the opportunity of serving Him if they are willing, while it will shortly in fact be made clear that the actual Servant is faithful Israel (Isaiah 49:3), (commencing from Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and continuing through to the greater David yet to come - see on Isaiah 41:1 onwards).

Here Yahweh Himself makes His appeal as their Redeemer and as the Holy One of Israel. The title Redeemer signifies One Who saves by the payment of a price. At first sight it is speaking here of God redeeming by exerting His power on behalf of those whom He redeems (although chapter 53 will give it a deeper meaning). But whose Redeemer is He? The answer is that He is the Redeemer of Israel as an entity, as His ‘firstborn’. It may be that the title is to be seen as referring back to the redemption from Egypt, but we can hardly doubt that it is intended to have a present meaning too. He Who redeemed them from bondage in Egypt can now redeem them from the bondage of sin and from the bondage of their enemies.

Thus God aims to be the Redeemer of the entity Israel. But as always those who will may drop out by refusing to submit to Him. While He will heavily influence men and seek to deliver them, He will not force them. He sees Israel as an entity. They are His firstborn. And men can unite within that entity by submitting to the covenant or can withdraw by rejecting the covenant. He will redeem the Israel who want to be Israel. (This was in fact always the choice in Israel. Men could choose to opt in or opt out of the covenant and take the consequences).

Not all those who thought of themselves as Israel would be redeemed even in the wildest dreams of the Jews. Isaiah knew full well that many were lost among the nations by choice, that many had sinned grievously and had died, that many still stood firm against Him and clung to idols, and did not want to respond to Him under any circumstances, and would not. They would refuse any call. They would not be redeemed. So it is a plea to all physical Israel from their potential Redeemer. They had the opportunity as the sons of Abraham to respond if they willed it. It came from One Who wanted to be their Redeemer, and Who would be the Redeemer of those whom He had chosen, who would be revealed in the fact that they responded. (Compare the way that in the New Testament salvation is offered to all and He wants to be their Redeemer and Saviour, and yet it is clearly stated that redemption and salvation is finally only for God’s elect).

For we should note that He was also the Holy One of Israel. Should they desire redemption they must be willing to be made holy, acceptable to Him and set apart in righteousness as He is righteous. God cannot redeem without making holy. It is part of the essence of His redemption (see Isaiah 4:2-3).

‘“I am Yahweh, your God, who teaches you to profit (teaches you what is profitable for you), who leads you by the way that you should go. Oh that you had listened to my commandments.’ He introduces Himself as their God Who teaches them what is profitable for them, what is truly best for them. He is the One Who has sought to lead them in the way that they should go, especially through His Torah (His Law, His Instruction). And He expresses His yearning, His longing that they might have kept His commandments. If only they had! What consequences would follow.

‘Then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea. Your seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like its grains.’ If only they had kept His commandments and walked in His ways, then they would have had peace, flowing smoothly like a river, and their righteousness would have been as the waves of the sea lapping gently against the shore, continuing peacefully on and on. What is more they would have grown into a large nation, their children as abundant as grains of sand, just as God had promised Abraham (Genesis 22:17).

‘His name would not be cut off, nor be destroyed from before me.’ There is here an implied, if theoretical, threat. Should it reach a stage where none of His people obeyed His commandments then they would be cut off and destroyed, and ‘his name would be cut off’. Of course it would not happen because of God’s faithfulness to Abraham, and the working of His Spirit. But nevertheless they must beware.

‘His name.’ But the question is whose name will be cut off? In view of the sand of the sea comparison the probable answer is Abraham’s name, for it was to him that the promise was given. If his ‘sand of the sea seed’ are cut off it is Abraham’s name that is cut off. If this be so we have even more reason for seeing the one whom Yahweh has loved as identified in some way with Abraham. The loved one being the Servant, with Abraham as the prime Servant and of course those who are the sand of the sea being potentially a part of that corporate Servant which was in Abraham’s loins.

Verses 20-22

The Call To Flee From Babylon (Isaiah 48:20-22 ).

As we come to the end of the section from chapter 40 to 48 we find God’s final charge. It is to ‘flee from Babylon.’ Babylon with all that it stood for was the opposite of the Servant. It represented all that was at enmity with God. That was why it had to be destroyed for ever, and why all men had to flee from it as from danger and peril (compare Revelation 18:4). After this Babylon will not again be mentioned. Her influence is over.

But the question must arise as to whom the call comes to flee. Who are the ones who are to flee from it and to testify to what Yahweh has done? Most see it as referring to the exiles from Judah. But if it is spoken of them (referred to as ‘His servant Jacob’) then this is the only example in the whole book of Isaiah where speakers speak of themselves indirectly in the third person, i.e. ‘saying Yahweh has redeemed (not ‘us’ but) His servant Jacob’. This would give weight to the suggestion that these words are not spoken by Jacob/Israel themselves but by third parties (compare Isaiah 47:13), who are fleeing from Babylon and testifying in amazement to the deliverance of His servant Jacob as they are filled with wonder at the coming destruction of Babylon and realise why it has happened (see Isaiah 45:6 where the activities of Cyrus were to cause just such an effect, and Isaiah 44:23 where the whole world is to sing at the redemption of God’s Servant Jacob).

And this is especially so in view of the fact that return from exile is never spoken of in terms of fleeing (the word used generally signifies fleeing from danger). Always when return from exile is mentioned we are given the idea of Yahweh’s activity (Isaiah 11:11-12; Isaiah 56:8) and/or of a triumphant homecoming (Isaiah 14:1-2; Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 49:22-23; Isaiah 60:9), often with the nations giving their assistance. Note also the contradictory ‘you will not go out in haste, nor will you go by flight’ (Isaiah 52:12), if that is taken to mean the return from exile. So if this was directly referring to return from exile it would be doing so in a unique and even contradictory way. This therefore tends to emphasise that the idea is rather of Babylon being deserted by its ‘friends’ as they become aware of the disaster that is looming, who sing of Jacob’s deliverance because they have recognised in what is happening the hand of Yahweh.

Indeed it is probably intended to be symbolic. All men everywhere must flee from what Babylon is, and from its pernicious influence. And so we may see this as an appeal to all men to flee from Babylon and all that it means. It does of course include any exiles from Israel but they are only indirectly in mind. Rather it is they who are being redeemed by what is happening.

This may then also be seen as the reversal of what was declared in Isaiah 39:6-7. There a part of the Servant would be dragged off to Babylon. Now the Servant must be made complete (‘His Servant Jacob’). For we have already seen the profound effect that Hezekiah’s failure had had on Isaiah. It is reflected in chapters 13-14. And he knew the consequences of it. Thus he would know that he could have no peace until those exiles returned. They were a necessary part of the completeness of the Servant. Here then in the light of Yahweh having promised to deal with Babylon (Isaiah 48:14) he is possibly including in his words a call to any exiles to return. But that is secondary to the main significance. The flight from all that Babylon is, with its licentious, good-time living and its deep died idolatry was required of all people, because of what Babylon was, and what was about to happen to it. All must flee from Babylon.

Isaiah 48:20

‘Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans,

With a voice of singing make your declaration,

Tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth.

Say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

The impression given here is not of an orderly return from exile under the command of an overlord, but of the people in mind fleeing for their lives. They are to go forth, they are to flee, for as Yahweh deals with Babylon in apocalyptic judgment all who would be saved must flee. And as they flee they are to sing, to let the whole world know, that Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob by restoring them to be His Servant. He has saved them from all that Babylon represents, and the world is filled with wonder. Compare Isaiah 44:23 where all are to sing because Yahweh has redeemed Jacob. See also Isaiah 55:12.

So this is not just depicting the return of the exiles from Babylon to make up the new Israel (and note here that those who flee are to flee from the city Babylon, not from the surrounding countryside. It is Babylon in its pride that must be avoided). Isaiah’s prophecies elsewhere clearly suggest that he expected exiles to come from all over the known world, but their return is never depicted in these terms. And he knew full well that many men of Israel and Judah were still in their own land, and that many were scattered among the nations. So as far as Isaiah was concerned any actual returnees from Babylon (and we know that men of the northern kingdom had been exiled there - Isaiah 11:11) would only play a small part in the whole. Any who would come would simply be seen as part of a whole and as redressing the failure of Hezekiah so that the Servant may be made complete.

But we may add further the thought that this verse is depicting what all men everywhere must do. They must ‘flee from Babylon’, what it signifies and the hold that Babylonian licentiousness and belief in the occult has on them. Wherever they are they must flee from their sources of wealth that hold them back, they must flee from their comfortable living, they must flee from their compromises. For that apocalyptic moment when final judgment comes on Babylon is approaching and all who are His people must flee from the very idea of it (compare Revelation 18:4).

The picture presented is thus precisely that of one looking far ahead and seeing an apocalyptic event taking place without actually having first hand knowledge of it. It is true that what mattered to him was the completing of the Servant for his worldwide task, and that would involve remedying the disaster of Isaiah 39:6-7, but that was secondary. Primary was for all men to escape from mythical Babylon, the great enemy of God.

We can again compare here what God had said to Abraham. He too had been called on to leave the land of the Chaldees in order to go to where he could fulfil the purposes of God. Thus was it now necessary for his seed to do so also, along with all men. For until they had done so they could not fulfil their ministry as the Servant.

For ‘My Servant Jacob’ compare Isaiah 44:1-2; Isaiah 45:4. For the redemption of Jacob see Isaiah 44:23 with 21, where the redemption is through the blotting out of their sins. This would suggest that the ‘redemption of His Servant Jacob’ is more in terms of God’s work in them which has freed them from the grip of what Babylon stands for, than having anything to do with exile.

Note the voice of singing and compare Isaiah 12:5; Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 24:14; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:9-13; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 52:9; Isaiah 55:12.

Isaiah 48:21

‘And they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts,

He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them,

He split the rock also and the waters gushed out.’

The fact that Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob reminds Isaiah of their previous great deliverance when God had brought His people through the wilderness and had done all that was necessary to prevent them from thirsting.

Exiles from all over the world would come as fugitives, (‘fleeing from what Babylon stood for’), as Israel had come as fugitives out of Egypt, and so Yahweh would deliver them as He had His fugitives from Egypt (Isaiah 49:9-13). For them He had caused waters to flow from the rock, He had even ‘cleaved’ the rock for them to bring those waters out (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11). Thus would He preserve all His own from thirst on their way through any deserts they may cross, even deserts in their own land. But comparison with the next verse, and with Isaiah 48:18, suggests that this is to be interpreted spiritually as in Isaiah 44:1-5. It is probably therefore saying that just as those who went through the wilderness were provided with water from a rock, so will the Rock Himself provide spiritual water to all who have found themselves in a spiritual desert and turn to Him so that they might have peace (Isaiah 48:18). In contrast with the wicked He would give them peace in their hearts (compare Isaiah 48:18 and Isaiah 48:22).

Isaiah 48:22

“There is no peace, says Yahweh, to the wicked.”

But for the wicked there is no peace, under any circumstances. Not for them the peace which is like a river (Isaiah 48:18). Compare Isaiah 57:21. This comment sums up the whole section from 40-48. With all the glorious truths and promises that had been revealed and given, the hearts of the majority of Israel were still not at peace. This was what chapter 48 has emphasised. The people are not at peace (Isaiah 48:18). And now Yahweh sums up why. Even with the worldwide exiles returning there is no peace to the wicked. Total reformation will be needed if they are to find peace. But who is there who can bring it about? The answer lies in the chapters that follow as he describes the One Who will come to bring peace, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).