In this part we will concentrate our attention on Isaiah 40-48. 49-55 will be dealt with in the next section.

In the light of what God had done for His people by His amazing and unforgettable deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (36-37), but having regard also to His warning of what was to happen to the house of Hezekiah at the hands of Babylon (39.6-7), Isaiah was now faced with two conflicting situations. On the one hand was the fact that God had triumphed, against all earthly odds, over a powerful enemy, who had been driven off in total disarray. His worship was now in the ascendant in Jerusalem, the people were filled with relief, expectancy and gratitude, and all false gods had for a time been thrust into the background. But on the other was his recognition that the house of David was rejected and awaiting severe punishment at the hands of Babylon because of their failure to trust wholly in Yahweh (39.6-7). For Yahweh’s servant ‘David’, as personified first in Ahaz and then in Hezekiah, had failed at the hour of need.

And he seemingly further recognised that because of the sins of God’s people (43.22-28) there had to be a future cleansing of Jerusalem and a replacement of the old Temple which had been so severely defiled by idolatry (44.26-45.7). The chapters that follow deal with both these situations.

So in chapter 40 we have an exalted description of the universal and triumphant power of God, which is followed in 41.1-44.23 by a description of how through Abraham, the man whom He called from the east, He has raised up His people, the seed of Abraham, as His servant to do His bidding. This is to result in the establishing of Yahweh’s righteous rule over the nations under His chosen King (42.1-9), the putting to flight of the rulers of Babylon (43.14), the final rejection of idolatry (44.9-20) and the praising of Yahweh by the whole of creation (44.21-23).

This section was probably first written not long after the humiliation of Assyria.

But in view of the people’s previous behaviour (43.22-28) this is then followed in 44.24 onwards by a recognition that as a result of that behaviour the Temple has been defiled and needs replacing, and that as a result Jerusalem is once more to suffer under the hands of the enemy so that it will need to be rebuilt. This is seen as necessary before the Servant can fulfil his role. These chapters may well have first been written some time after the previous chapters, once it had become established that Babylon was responsible for the oversight of Judah as representative of the Assyrian Empire and had begun to exercise its insidious influence over Judah, so that it would have to be destroyed (47).

There has also been brought home to him the fact that God will raise up a deliverer from the house of Cyrus I in Persia, whom he may well have met in his position as a prophet of Judah. The house of Cyrus was chosen as the one which was to fulfil all His will (44.26-45.7) Through it He will finally judge those who have so defiled Jerusalem (possibly having in mind 39.6-7) and through Cyrus He will arrange for their destruction, the rebuilding of Jerusalem once it has been ravaged, and the erection of a new undefiled Temple. This prophecy may well have resulted from a visit to Jerusalem by a group from the Persian court who on learning of the humiliation of Sennacherib by Israel’s God, and Isaiah’s part in it, had come bringing the good wishes of their monarch and a promise of support in the future, together with the news of the birth of the new prince, Cyrus. Or alternatively from an embassy sent from Judah to the Persian court for the same reason, in which Isaiah participated.

The Persian monarch at this time would be Achaemenes, whose grandson was Cyrus I, who was born during the lifetime of Isaiah, and his house was clearly seen by Isaiah as providing the future conqueror who would restore the Temple (44.28-45.1).

So as we move into these next chapters of Isaiah we can understand the feeling of exaltation and certainty that gripped him as he looked ahead, an exaltation that was, however, held in tension with the black cloud that hung over the house of David. On the one hand his expectations were positive, on the other there yet remained much that was to happen. We have here the same dichotomy between imminence and delay which characterises the New Testament. God will act, but meanwhile certain things must happen first.

The Condition of Judah.

We must remember that in spite of her glorious victory over the forces of Sennacherib (36-37), Jerusalem had not got away scot free. Her wealth had been hugely diminished by the fine that they had originally paid to Sennacherib to buy him off, prior to his second invasion of Judah (2 Kings 18.15-16), and her adjoining land and people had been totally devastated by the intrusion of the Assyrian armies. Her second city Lachish lay in ruins, and the whole land had become a wilderness. In the words with which Isaiah opens chapter 40, she had received ‘double for all her sins’.

Thus she is promised that now Yahweh will make a way for her, will raise her up as His Servant, establishing over her the righteous King promised in 7-11, and will restore what has become a wilderness and will fill it with pools of water (41.17-19; 43.19-20), so that she has a way to walk in. And along with this He will not only pour out His rain on them, but will also pour out His Spirit Who will transform the whole people (44.1-5), having removed the encroaching threat of Babylon (43.14).

The Continual Threat of Assyria.

He was, of course, aware that Assyria remained a threat. It was Assyria who had oppressed them in the past (52.4), and, even though it had at present withdrawn its forces, and was busy elsewhere (37.37-38), he probably had no doubt that they would attempt to do so again, indeed were probably already doing so under Manasseh. He must have been well aware that Assyria would not stay away permanently. Their threat, therefore, continued to loom large over God’s people. Their attempted overlordship, brought on Judah by the unbelief of Ahaz, had been a constant problem, and would continue to be so (7.17, 18, 20; 8.4, 7; 10.5, 12, 24; 11.11, 16; 14.25; 19.23-25; 20.6; 21.4, 6; 27.13; 30.31; 31.8; 36-39; 52.4). But it was not of too great a concern to him. God had shown what He could do with Assyria. So he did not see them directly as a matter of great concern, and indeed was informed that Yahweh would deal with the threat by giving Egypt, Cush and Seba to Assyria as a ransom for His people (43.3).

The Threat of Babylon.

Very different was the threat of Babylon. He could not overlook what Yahweh had revealed to him of what Babylon was going to do to Judah’s royal house (39.6-7), and he was disturbed by the fact that Babylon, having been yet again subjugated by Assyria, was ominously being re-established by them after its earlier defeat (23.13), with authority over Judah. He recognised therefore that, as in the past, it would no doubt in the future ill treat God’s people and be a menace to the world (14.3-4, 6; 39.7). Indeed he probably saw them as the greater problem. For as we have seen in chapters 13-14 he saw Babylon as supremely the enemy of God because of its proud boasts and high claims against God. It was the city that from the first had stood up against God and built a tower up to heaven which had resulted in the dividing of the world (Genesis 10.8-12; 11.1-9). It was the city whose king (Amraphel, king of Shinar) had invaded Canaan and seized Lot, Abraham’s nephew, along with much spoil, and against whom Abraham had to raise an army so as to recover both him and the spoils (Genesis 14). It was a city from which every superstition emanated. Thus Babylon was an ever present menace, and now that Assyria were re-establishing it he had no doubt that it would again encroach on God’s people. And that Assyria does indeed later appear to have administered its jurisdiction over Judah from Babylon, comes out, as we have seen, in the fact that Manasseh was taken there when arraigned by the Assyrian oppressors. So it was clear that if Judah was to be free from evil influences Babylon was a city which must be destroyed.

What later happened to Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33.11 quite clearly confirms that Assyria were at that time controlling Judah through Babylon, which itself was being ruled by a son of the king of Assyria, for when Manasseh was arraigned as a rebel he was dragged off to Babylon.

The Problem of Israel’s Scattered People.

But as he thought of God’s purposes for Israel Isaiah was also aware that many of God’s people were still scattered around the world. Exiles from both Israel and Judah were in Assyria, in Media, in Babylon (Shinar), in Egypt, and even further afield. See 11.11, 16; 27.13; 2 Kings 17.6; and compare 2 Kings 17.24 for regular movements of peoples under Assyria. (And this be it noted without any independent Babylonian invasion). Many of the people of God were far from their own land.

Among them would be Manasseh, who was later taken to Babylon by the Assyrians, no doubt with a number of other exiles from the royal house (2 Chronicles 33.11), as Isaiah had earlier warned (39.7). But it was nevertheless Assyria who still continued as the prominent oppressor (52.4), even though her teeth had temporarily been drawn.

So wanting to proclaim a message of encouragement and deliverance to his people, Isaiah, who knew that in the end Yahweh had promised to deliver His people from all outside influence, proclaimed the greatness of His power and what His future intentions were.

Let Judah, therefore, now consider what the deliverance of Jerusalem and departure of Sennacherib had revealed. It had demonstrated the sovereignty and overlordship of Yahweh in world affairs, so that now, if they would, they could seize their opportunity, rid themselves of all their enemies and become Yahweh’s Servant to the nations in accordance with His purpose established in Abraham.

The Coming Deliverer.

Furthermore he has in mind God’s promise of the raising of a Deliverer, one born miraculously from the house of David (7.14), who will rule the nations and bring peace and justice to the earth (9.6-7; 11.1-4; 42.1-4), and this in spite of the fact that he has seen the failure of the house of David to live up to expectations. For he knows that the One Who will come in the future, will be of a different stamp (7-11). Like ‘David My Servant’ (37.35) He will be God’s Servant, and He will be totally dedicated to fulfilling the purposes of Yahweh. But He will not be simply an earthly king like the others. They are too fallible. He will be miraculously born (7.14).

Does Isaiah Have the Future Exiles in Babylon In Mind?

Significantly there is no mention anywhere in Isaiah of exiles being taken to Babylon, apart from the king’s own ‘sons’ (39.7), and those taken there by the Assyrians, probably from the northern kingdom (11.11). Thus to make the return of Judean exiles from Babylon prominent in these chapters is to ignore what is actually written and to read into these chapters what is not there. It is to see them in the light of future events of which Isaiah was not necessarily aware. This is fine as long as we realise that what we are doing is seeing a fulfilment beyond Isaiah’s expectations. But whoever wrote these chapters does not speak as if aware of a large scale Babylonian exile resulting from a Babylonian invasion, does not speak of a Babylonian ‘world empire’, does not speak specifically of returning exiles from Babylon and in fact, while mentioning it, does not lay great stress on Babylon at all except as a city which must be destroyed, as described in chapters 13-14 and 23.13, because of what it is, the great Anti-God.

That does not mean that we ignore the later situation in Babylon. Only that we must not, if we are to be fair to the writer, interpret Isaiah 40 onwards solely as if he had the Babylonian exile under Nebuchadnezzar in mind. The impression actually given is that he did not. His mind was not on Babylon in that way. It is commentators who are obsessed with such a Babylon, who read Babylon in everywhere and interpret it in this way despite any lack of encouragement in the text, because it fits in with what they want to make the writer say, and with a future of which Isaiah was actually unaware. Isaiah in fact only mentions Babylon once in chapters 40-44 and twice in the following chapters (in 47 and 48.14, 20).

What is in fact made quite clear is that Isaiah was not concentrating his attention on Babylon. That is to demean his prophecy which had a wider worldwide view. He looked rather for worldwide redemption, for that was why Yahweh was raising up His Servant. He was concerned for all the exiles scattered around the world, and was speaking to the people of his own time.

What is actually so surprising in the light of chapters 13-14 and the clear inference in 39.7 of a sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and of the expected Babylonian jurisdiction over Judah (which is why hostages would be taken), is that we have so little mention of Babylon (only in 43.14; 47; 48.14, 20), with nowhere a reference to exiles returning from there. In fact his non-reference to these latter is quite marked, arising from the fact that he never did realise that so much of Judah would in future be carried off into Babylon. For Babylon was nowhere his great concern except as something to be destroyed by God (chapter 47), and the taking of the sons of David as hostages by them would be seen as but one more in their long list of crimes.

What then was his concern for Babylon? Simply that for Isaiah Babylon was a symbol. Babylon had to be destroyed because it represented the great enemy of God (Genesis 10.9-12; 11.1-9), that boasted against God (13.19; 14.12-15) and ever threatened the people of God (39.7; Genesis 14.1). It was seen as the city that having been laid waste by the Assyrians (23.13), was being rebuilt to carry on its blasphemy, and was the one world city that must be finally destroyed, never to rise again. It should never have been rebuilt (13.19-20), and Yahweh will yet thus destroy it once again.

It is significant in this regard that in 40-47 regular diatribes against the gods are given, but, once the destruction of Babylon and its magicians is described, these diatribes cease, not to reoccur again until after chapter 55. Thus in 40-55 Babylon stands for all that the gods represent. It is the home of extreme evil. It is the very centre of idolatry. The destruction of Babylon is therefore the destruction of the very ‘centre’ of the gods without according them any status. And that is why all righteous people must flee from Babylon (48.20) (which the later returning exiles did not do, they marched out confidently). They must desert all that it stands for. For Babylon represents idolatry of the most heinous kind. It represents the anti-God. It would be seen as such to the end (Revelation 17-18).

The Importance of Abraham.

There is a further point that we should note, and that is the importance of Abraham to Isaiah. He is the one who loved God (41.8), he is the rock from which Israel was hewn (51.1-2), he is ‘the one’ who became ‘many’ (51.2), he is the one whom Yahweh redeemed and in whom his seed is therefore to be redeemed (29.22).

In our modern day, with our modern knowledge, we see things very differently from the ancients. We seek, for example, to set Abraham in his background, as historically a minimal and unimportant figure, a minor tribal leader compared with the great nations of the world. But it is doubtful if ancient Israel saw him in that way.

To the people of Israel/Judah Abraham was a colossus. He was an essential part of their history and they knew well the stories about him. They knew that at the call of God he had with his family tribe come down initially from the east, from Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11.31; Nehemiah 9.7), and then from the north (from Haran - 11.32-12.1), entering Canaan where he called on the name of Yahweh (Genesis 12.8; 13.4), and was God’s chosen, the one who loved Him (41.8). They knew that he had had many momentous experiences of God, great revelations and theophanies, and had had many powerful covenants made with Him by God that determined both their future and the future of the world for ages to come. They knew how he had grown in power so that even Pharaoh had had to yield to him and give him gifts (Genesis 12.10-20). And they knew how when the kings of Babylon and Elam, with their allies, invaded Canaan it was Abraham who pursued them and administered to them a resounding defeat as leader of an alliance against them (Genesis 14). They knew that he was closely involved with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and had indeed interceded for them (Genesis 18-19), that the king of the Philistines had made treaties with him (Genesis 21.32), that he was a redoubtable Prince (Genesis 23.6). And they would take it all as it stood without seeing it against the background of history as known to us today. Thus they would have had no doubt that had Abraham been alive Assyria and Babylon would have had to watch out. Abraham had been a ‘mighty one’.

When the little boys in Israel lay in their beds, they would say, ‘Mummy, tell us again how Abraham drove out the kings of the east from his land, and rescued Lot. Tell us how he fooled the Pharaoh of Egypt. Tell us how he prayed about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Tell us about his adventures with the king of Gerar. Tell us how the people called him a mighty prince’. To them Abraham was a hero.

So when Isaiah speaks of one who was raised from the east and came from the north (41.2, 25), who was called in righteousness to His foot (41.2) and who called on the name of Yahweh (41.25; Genesis 12.8; 13.4), who defeated nations and kings and pursued them (41.2-3; Genesis 14) and trod upon them as a potter treads the clay (41.25), and in a context where Jacob/Israel, who are addressed as God’s servant, are connected with, and yet contrasted with, Abraham, the one who loved God, we may safely assume that Abraham is in mind in the whole context. And the same probably applies to the bird of prey from the east who is ‘a man of His counsel’, brought from a far country, who brings near righteousness and salvation (46.11). To be described as a bird of prey would not have been seen as defamatory but as glorious. It is saying that he was magnificent, like a great eagle. And it was as a great eagle that Abraham had previously swooped on the king of Babylon (Shinar) (Genesis 14).

Furthermore in Hebrew thought when Abraham entered Canaan his seed entered with him. All entered triumphantly in his body. He came as the one who loved God, and as Yahweh’s servant (Genesis 26.24; Exodus 32.13; Deuteronomy 9.27; Psalm 105.6, 42), and in him came also God’s servant, Israel (41.8). In him came God’s servant David (37.35). And in him came also the greater David yet to come, God’s ultimate Servant (52.13-53.12). The whole future of the Servant entered Canaan with Abraham. Essentially the Servant was ‘the seed of Abraham’ (41.8) and incorporated all that seed from Isaac onwards. And as the Servant it was God’s purpose that they might transform the world

Final Comment.

But of course those who interpret the chapters as referring mainly to the Babylonian captivity, against all the pointers, see Cyrus everywhere instead of just in 44.28-45.6, and that despite of no mention of him prior to 44.28. They thus interpret verses which refer to Abraham in terms of Cyrus. One thing to be kept in mind here therefore is that translations often seem to support this case simply because the translators assumed that it was correct and translated accordingly, gliding over controversial verses, not out of a desire to deceive but in order to make them ‘clear’. The problem is that this then prevents fair assessment. For this purpose we would suggest in these passages reference to RV or ASV for a translation which has mainly remained close to the original text.

It is against this background and these warnings then that we must interpret these chapters for ourselves.

THE CALL TO DELIVERANCE: BEHOLD YOUR GOD! (Chapter 40).

Chapter 40 The Greatness of God and The Need To Return to Him.

Following immediately on the gloom resulting from the failure of the Davidic king in chapter 39, and the revelation of the future consequences in the taking of Jerusalem and removal of the Davidic line to a resurgent Babylon (which occurred under the Assyrians - 2 Chronicles 33.11), Isaiah now declares God’s certain final triumph. In the end, Isaiah tells Israel/Judah, God will triumph over all, whether Assyria or Babylon or anyone else, because of Who and What He is.

He sees before his eyes what God has done to Assyria, and how He has humiliated her, and he must have wondered why others did not see it as well. Did they not recognise that God was now on the verge of acting finally if only His people would respond? They had paid heavily for their sins in the invasion by Sennacherib, they had received double for all their sins. But now God was calling on them to forget Assyria, to forget Babylon, and to behold Him and trust Him. It is very similar to Jesus standing at the door in Revelation (Revelation 3.20). The moment of truth is here if only they are willing to trust in Yahweh and open the door.

Seized by his enthusiasm for the moment Isaiah now goes on to describe in detail the greatness and glory of God compared with this puny world. This, he says, is the One Who can make it all happen. Why do they not respond?

And then God Himself takes it up and confirms Isaiah’s words (verse 25). Let them but all but see Him and respond to Him, and they will be all conquering. Let them wait on Him and they will find that His strength is more than sufficient.

The Preparing of the Way (40.1-8).

The humiliation of Assyria has, in Isaiah’s eyes, opened up a new opportunity for the future for Judah/Israel. Yahweh has delivered His people, and awaits their response.

40.1-2

These are the words of the great Judge of all the world. The court has sat, the verdict has been reached and the sentence passed, and it is one of mercy. The words announce a change in Isaiah’s perspective. Previously he has mentioned quite regularly the deliverance and final blessing of Israel and Jerusalem, but here it takes centre stage. The time has come if only they will respond. The enemy has fled back to his own land (37.37). Now is the time to trust in Yahweh.

The verb ‘comfort’ is in the plural. Its repetition indicates the intensity with which it is spoken. The speaker is God, but this raises the question as to who are called on to comfort God’s people. There are two possible answers. Firstly that it is those who are to prepare the way of Yahweh (verse 3), the heavenly beings who speak to each other in verse 6. Or secondly that it is the small group of faithful Israelites gathered around Isaiah and his ministry, the faithful remnant. Or it may be a general command to be obeyed by both. The nations are withering, but the way is being prepared for Yahweh, the great King, to come, and Israel can therefore be comforted.

But the other question is, why can she be comforted? And the answer is, because, if she will accept it, all her tribulations are past, her iniquity is pardoned, she has received ‘double’ for all her sins. They have been ‘doubly paid’, paid in full. In other words she is now in a position where God can show His mercy because of her suffering.

But it was not to be so immediately and later in chapter 53 we will discover that this mercy is in fact shown because of One Who will suffer on her behalf. It is He Who will pay double for all her sins. Isaiah is not under any illusions. He is perfectly well aware that no man can pay for his own sins except by death. That is one of the things he was wrestling with. Thus he in the end comes to the conclusion that Jerusalem can only be delivered because of the price paid by the greatest of her sons. That is why her iniquity can be pardoned, because they will have been borne by Another (53.4, 8). And yet included within that is that she has also been purified through suffering (4.4). Compare the Psalm of Hezekiah (38.15-17). God’s activity has made her ready if only she will see it.

‘Her warfare is accomplished, ended.’ The word translated ‘warfare’ regularly means ‘host, army’ and is so used in ‘Yahweh of hosts’, but therefore it also came to mean ‘war’ or ‘battle’ (Joshua 4.13; 22.12, 33). Here therefore it depicts all Jerusalem’s trouble with which she has battled through the years. It has now been gone through to the full.

‘Her iniquity is pardoned.’ It is not that she has suffered undeservedly. It is because God has stepped in with a pardon (44.21-22). It is already so in the mind of God. The word for ‘pardoned’ is used of the acceptability of a sacrifice for atonement (Leviticus 1.4), and then for general acceptability (Deuteronomy 33.24), for reconciliation (1 Samuel 29.4), and thus for ‘being pleased with’. The idea is therefore that the barrier between God and His true people has been removed. But in the passive (as here) the verb only ever refers to the acceptability of a blood sacrifice (Leviticus 1.4; 7.18; 19.7; 22.23, 25, 27), which points strongly to that meaning here. Once again it connects with the Suffering Servant (53.10-11). They are pardoned through His sacrifice.

Alternately reference may be to Leviticus 26.43, ‘they will accept the punishment for their iniquity’, indicating that Jerusalem has accepted her guilt and whatever punishment has been meted out. But it still required that God would accept it too, which is what is in mind here.

‘She has received of the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.’ Even Israel would recognise that this could not be strictly true, unless there was more to it than just her own suffering. Isaiah will later point out that it was because One Who was unique would suffer for their sins that this could be so (52.13-53.12). The world for ‘double’ suggests a piece of something doubled up (it comes from the root ‘to fold’) so that both sides exactly match. Thus the exact punishment has been achieved.

It is not therefore out of context that verse 3-4 are cited in Matthew 3.3; Mark 1.2-3; Luke 3.4-6. In the end the preparing of the way was in order to prepare for the coming suffering Servant of the house of David, Who could be called the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (9.6).

There is no real reason for thinking that this passage should be applied to the ending of the so-called Babylonian captivity (which was only one of a number of captivities), of which Isaiah says nothing. No Babylonian captivity is mentioned and Babylon is only mentioned as a city that must be destroyed because of what it represents. It is unmentioned in chapters 40-42 and hardly prominent in the following chapters. The emphasis is rather on looking forward to the time when the Lord Yahweh Himself, having paid the price of sin through His Servant, will come as a Mighty One, to shepherd His flock and gather His lambs in His arms (verses 10-11), in the everlasting kingdom (compare Ezekiel 37.24).

40.3-5 ‘The voice of one who cries,

Different members of the heavenly court cry out for the carrying out of the verdict described in verse 1 (compare verse 6). The cry here is for another ‘coming out of the desert’ by God, another deliverance, when God will again come to act on behalf of His people. Compare 29.6; 30.27-28; Deuteronomy 33.2-5; Judges 5.3-5 where we have the same idea of God marching out of the desert into the land on His people’s behalf. He is the God of Sinai, coming to call His people back to the covenant, and coming to act on their behalf. And the way is to be prepared for Him. But by whom? Here by Isaiah and his followers, and in the New Testament days, by John the Baptiser.

The picture is of a great king making a journey, with his people going ahead so as to prepare the road and make the way smooth for him. Mountains were to be levelled off, valleys were to be filled in, crooked roads were to be straightened, rough places were to be made flat so that the king could take his journey with ease (this was often literally done). But here the great King is Yahweh, and thus the responders must be His subjects.

The Babylonians could speak similarly of preparing the way for a god. In a hymn to Nebo they said, ‘Make his way good, renew his road, make his path straight, hew him out a track.’ But the thought there was of making a processional way for the god as he was carried in his cart. There was no thought of the god as coming in person.

This call could thus be referring to His angel attendants, those who have already been told to comfort Jerusalem, who would go before Him, gladly serving Him. This would demonstrate heavenly activity on behalf of the people of God (compare Hebrews 1.14). Or it could be referring to the faithful among the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem as preparing the way by repentance and response, by an enthusiastic return to the covenant and the offering of true worship, and by acting as God’s servant towards the people. In the latter case the thought is that they should prepare the way by dealing with all that offends. Once they have removed sin and all that displeases God from their midst He will then come in glory and be revealed among them. This is probably the idea in its use in the Gospels, and in the light of what follows may well be in mind here.

But in general Isaiah sees the way as being prepared for His people, not by them. See 35.8 where it is for those made holy; 42.16 where it is for the blind, making darkness light before them, and crooked places straight; 43.19 where He makes a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert; 55.12 where it is for those led forth in peace. Thus it may well be that we are to see the way for God here as prepared primarily by the heavenly court. God does all. The angels go before Him to prepare the way. His people humbly receive the benefits. (Although this does not prevent man from having some humble part in it). When God acts, His own follow (compare here 62.10-12).

‘And the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.’ Once the way has been prepared Yahweh’s glory will be revealed (compare Exodus 16.10; 33.18, 22; 40.34). All flesh will behold it (compare Revelation 1.7). And Yahweh has declared it, and thus it will be so. (See 2.10, 19, 21; 4.5; 28.5; 33.17, 21; 60.1, 19-20). So His glory and splendour will be seen by all flesh, and some will wither before it (verses 6-8) and flee for a hiding place (compare 2.10, 19, 21) while His people will rejoice in it and enjoy its splendour (24.23; 60.19-20).

John saw this as fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. ‘And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1.14).

40.6a ‘The voice of one saying, “Cry out.” And one said, “What shall I cry?” ’

Compare here Daniel 12.5-6. Heavenly beings are involved in clarifying what is happening. They are here declaring doom on mankind in his frailty, and the certainty of the fulfilment of God’s word. A Qumran scroll supported by the Greek and Latin versions, has ‘I said’ but there is no known good reason for the change except that it is an obvious simplification.

40.6b-8

The heavenly voice is to declare the frailty of men in contrast with Yahweh. Man is as grass, his response to God and to his fellows (chesed - covenant love to God and neighbour) is as withering vegetation, and when the wind of Yahweh comes it withers and fades. Man is unreliable. So man is as vegetation, he withers and fades, but in contrast what God has said, the ‘word of God’, stands for ever. It never withers, it never fades. It is everlasting. In 37.27 this description of man as grass and vegetation is specifically referred to those too weak to stand against Assyria. In Psalm 103.15-16 it is referred to the brevity of life. It represents man in all his frailty.

The wind or spirit of Yahweh here indicates judgments (4.4). Once these come men are unable to stand against them, and their behaviour is badly affected by them. Their changeableness is made apparent. Here the thought is of the effect of the searing wind on vegetation in a hot country, causing it to wither, likening it to the effect of God acting on the generality of mankind.

But in contrast to their fickleness God’s word stands for ever. It never withers or fades. He is unchangeable (see James 1.17). His promises never fail, His purposes always come to completion. He is totally reliable.

The overall thought connects with verse 5 where all flesh sees the glory of Yahweh. But most are blasted over by it. It is only towards His own people that He acts in deliverance.

Jerusalem Is To Respond Like A Town Crier (40.9-11).

40.9

Those who have official responsibility for proclaiming good news when it comes, the ‘town criers’ of Jerusalem, are called on to get busy. They are go into a high mountain where all can hear, they are to shout loudly with their stentorian voices. They are to do it without fear, for it is certain of fulfilment. They are to go to all the cities of Judah and cry, “Behold, your God!”

The implication of this is that they are in Jerusalem and speaking to the people of Judah in Jerusalem’s name. There is no thought of exile here. The feminine verbs indicate that they take Zion and Jerusalem as their subjects. Note the progression from the beginning. In verse 1 God cries out. In verses 3, 6 the voices (of heavenly beings) cry out. Now it is Zion which is to cry out through its town criers. All participate in crying out God’s verdict.

‘Do not be afraid.’ This is regularly a preparation for a theophany (Genesis 15.1; 26.24).

40.10

This is the good news to be proclaimed to Judah. That Yahweh is coming as a Champion to His people. He will rule by His mighty arm (compare 30.30; 33.2). He has received His reward (His wage) in His people (the Hebrew brings out that it is the reward to Him that is being spoken of), and His recompense for what He has done is before Him. They are the fruits of His victory. For we know that they are His holy ones (4.3; 26.2), His elect on whom He has set His love (35.10 compare 1.27), the weak ones whom He has forgiven (33.23-24 compare 1.25-26). Thus He will reveal His gracious covenant love towards them.

Notice the threefold ‘behold’. They are to behold their God. They are to behold Him as their sovereign Lord Yahweh, their Champion with His mighty arm. They are to behold Him as the One Who has won them and Who treasures them as His reward.

And He has come as their Shepherd. He will feed them as a shepherd feeds his flock, He will gather the lambs in His protective arm where they are safe, He will carry them next to His heart, and have special care for the nursing mothers who are responsible to their lambs. The picture is one of love, concern and protection. He is the good Shepherd (contrast Ezekiel 34.12 where He is the seeking Shepherd).

The Greatness Of God Proclaimed (40.12-31).

And He will be able to do it because of His greatness. In this vital passage the greatness of God to do What He declares He will do is now revealed in all its fullness.

He Is Over Creation.

40.12

The first concentration is on the vastness of God as Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. He is the One Who takes the oceans in the palm of His hand to examine their size, He measures the heavens with the span of His fingers. He takes the dust of the whole earth into His measuring jug (literally ‘his third’), picks up the mountains and puts them in His scales, and weighs the hills in His balances.

Water, sky and earth were the three basic constituents of creation in Genesis 1. So all the basic things in creation are seen as coming under His survey, and He is seen to be vaster than them all.

He Is Omniscient.

40.13-14

The next thing about God is His omniscience. No one can teach Him anything. He is all wise, all knowing, all comprehending. No one has given directions to His Spirit, or has been appointed as His adviser and guided Him. He has never sought counsel from anyone, or needed to be taught how to make right judgments, or been given knowledge, or needed to be shown what is sensible and right. It is He alone Who directs the Spirit of Yahweh, and gives counsel and teaches men knowledge and understanding, and shows them what is right.

This is in contrast with the myths of the nations where the gods regularly make mistakes, consult and seek counsel, and have to learn and grow in knowledge and understanding. When the Babylonian god Marduk is depicted as wanting to ‘create’ he did not just act of himself, he sought the guidance of Ea, the all-wise. But they are to recognise that in reality all advice and counsel comes from Yahweh.

He Is Greater Than All.

40.15-17

Look! They should be aware that even the greatest nation is like a drop of water at the bottom of a bucket as God peers in to see whether it is dry, they are like the fine dust which a man flicks off his balances before using them, hardly noticeable and irrelevant. The furthest isles and coastlands are minute in His sight.

If a burnt offering is to be found worthy of God even all the forests of Lebanon are insufficient for fire, nor are all its cattle and small cattle sufficient for a burnt offering. Before Him all nations are but a thing of nought, they are less than a nothing, in comparison with Him they are totally empty of meaning. (The thought is one of comparison and contrast, not an indication that God does not care about them).

He Is Divinely Incomparable.

40.18-20

There is nothing that can compare with God. The gods of the nations certainly cannot be compared with God, for they are man-made. Such an idea is to be dismissed with contempt. They may be splendid, or they may be sturdy, but they will not be moved, either by themselves or by others. There they stay, lifeless and imprisoned on their bases. What care men take over them, and yet they are nothings. And their quality depends totally on whether their maker is rich or poor. (And besides, ‘the tree that will not rot’ will rot in the end). How then can they be compared with Him?

As often when idols are mentioned the description is pragmatic. The idea is that the worshippers may sense something beyond the idols, but that really there is nothing. Both Old and New Testament however go further and say that what lies behind them is devils (1 Corinthians 10.19-20; Deuteronomy 32.17).

He Is Supremely Great Beyond All Things and All Men, King Over All.

40.21-24

The questions are put to mankind as a whole going back to the beginning of time. They have known, and heard and been told right from the beginning, even from the foundations of the earth, that He is the One Who sits on high, the One Who is ‘out of this world’, on His throne. And to them there was only one way of getting out of this world, and that was upwards. God was above and beyond all that they knew. What a contrast to the idols fixed to their bases.

The circle of the earth probably has in mind the course of the sun, rising from the east and setting in the west, and then going below the earth to arise again on the east. Or it could refer to the circle of the horizon. We should not read into this scientific ideas, even ancient scientific ideas. Few asked those kinds of questions. They described what they saw. Such questions were for Babylonian priests who did engage in such speculation, not for small country savants. No one in Judah would have a theory about the world, other than that they knew that God had made the world. They knew that He had made it as it was and they simply described it as they saw it without speculating.

‘Its inhabitants are as grasshoppers.’ This description may have arisen because they knew what the men below looked like from a mountain top, like a bunch of grasshoppers, and knew that God looked down from even higher. Or it may simply be a way of describing man as tiny compared with God.

‘Who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in. Who brings princes to nothing, He makes the judges of the earth as nought.’ That is, God uses the whole known universe as His tent, a temporary accommodation whenever He needs it. What is more, compared with Him great princes and judges are nothings. They count for nothing in the presence of the Judge of all the earth Who always does what is right and needs no assistance in judging (Genesis 18.25).

‘Yes, they have not been planted, yes, they have not been sown, yes, their stock has not taken root in the earth. What is more He blows on them and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.’ Such prince and judges are transitory, here today and gone tomorrow. They are hardly planted, or sown, or take root when God blows so that they wither, and then as stubble the whirlwind takes them away. He is permanent, they are temporary. It is His wind and breath that controls all things.

The main purpose behind all this is to describe the greatness of the Creator and the minuteness of those whom He has created, specially those whom men fear, and to put them into the context of the magnificence of God.

40.25 “To whom then will you liken me, that I should be equal to him?” says the Holy One.’

God challenges them to produce an equal to Him, someone whom they can remotely compare with Him. Someone who is as unique and set apart as He. There is no one that they can even begin to think of, for He is theHoly One.

40.26

He calls on them to survey the stars, the host of heaven. They are all His creation. He simply calls them ‘these’. We can compare how the creation story dismissed them in a phrase, ‘He made the stars also’ (Genesis 1.16). But when the sky is full of stars it is He Who has brought them out. And He has a name for every one of them (Psalm 147.4). The naming of a thing indicated ownership by the One Who named. Thus God is claiming that every one of the stars is His. And they are all there, with none missing, because of His mighty power. Whatever men may think and say, they are all His and He has named each one.

‘‘Lift up your eyes on high.’ Compare here Deuteronomy 4.19 where the verb is used of those who lift up their eyes to heaven to worship the star-gods. What folly! Here they are to lift up their eyes above the heavens to see the Creator of the stars, to Whom all the stars belong.

‘Who brings out their host.’ The word for ‘bring out’ is a military term, as is clear from 43.17 and 2Samuel 5.2. It is similarly applied the host of heaven in Job 38.32. The sense is that the stars are like an army which its leader ‘brings out’ and enumerates.

Israel Cannot Hide Their Ways from God.

40.27

We note the first use of Jacob/Israel in this chapter, which continues its use from earlier, and is characteristic of the next few chapters. Isaiah does not see God as addressing the refugees of Judah only, He is addressing all Israel wherever they may be. His people are declaring that God does not know their situation, that He has ceased to make judgments concerning them. That their case is continually disregarded by Him. That many of them are scattered in different parts of the world (11.11), and that God neither knows nor cares. The cities of Judah may have had declared to them what God is going to do, but, they ask, what about the remainder?

‘O Jacob -- O Israel.’ The combination of names is a reminder of how Jacob met God as he was returning to the land, and how he became Israel, of how Jacob the supplanter became Israel the prince with God. But now the people, whether Jacob or Israel are discouraged and discontented. They have lost their vision.

‘Why do you say?’ God is upset at their attitude, and He asks them why they say this in the light of the facts. It is in fact not He Who is at fault, but they. He points out that if they had waited on Him, had trusted in Him, it would be different.

40.28

His first challenge concerns Himself. Do they not recognise Whom He is? They should have known. They should have heard. But the implication is that they have not. Then He explains. He is the everlasting God, He is Yahweh the Creator of the ends of the earth. Thus He knows all that goes on in the world. And as the Everlasting One and the Creator of life itself He neither faints nor grows weary. He is always on the alert, always aware of what is going on. And He knows and understands everything. Nor can anyone even begin to search out His understanding. He is the all alive One, the living God.

40.29

If they had only trusted in Him and waited on Him (verse 31) they would have discovered that He did know their circumstances, and that He was there to act. For to those who are faint, and who trust in Him, He gives power. To those who have no might, but trust in Him, He gives strength. And they should have known it. And if they would only trust in Him now they would enjoy what He has promised, and He would be able to bring about His purposes through them.

40.30-31

What they must do is recognise the power of their God, and turn from sin, and seek Him. Let them wait on Him. And then, even when the youths are fainting and are weary, and the young men at the peak of their powers are failing under the pressure, those who are trusting God will discover that by waiting on God they will fly like eagles, they will run without losing strength, they will walk without fainting. The eagle was famous for the height to which it flew, mounting into the skies until it was only a dark speck. So would rise those who waited on Yahweh, above the world and all its problems, to share their lives with God (compare 60.8; Psalm 55.6). The runner was the messenger, enduring, keeping on running because he had an important message to take. The runner who ran in Yahweh’s name would never grow weary. And the walker was the one who went about the ordinary affairs of life. ‘Walk’ is regularly used to describe the path of the righteous. The one who waited on God would walk and not faint.

So the offer of God is available. They have been faced with God, ‘Behold your God’ (verse 9). He is there ready to reveal Himself, to come among men in His glory (verses 1-11). He has revealed the greatness of What He is (verses 12-26). Let them but respond and His final purposes will come about, and He will give them the strength needed to participate. And the offer is to all both near and far. The whole chapter is a call to Judah and Israel, both near and far, to repent and respond. It is also a vision of what one day will be. First when men behold God in Jesus Christ (John 1.14), and respond to Him. And then in the final day when they will truly mount up on wings as eagles, meeting the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18), ever to be with Him.

We may rightly see in this chapter an expansion of Isaiah 6. But here we have, not the Lord seated on His throne, but the Lord enthroned over all things,

THE HISTORY OF SALVATION AND THE SERVANT OF YAHWEH (41-55).

Having brought out the greatness of God these chapters will now describe Isaiah’s concept of the Servant of Yahweh through whom He seeks to bring about His purposes. They are split into two main sections each of which is opened by words addressed to ‘you coastlands/isles’ (41.1; 49.1). His message is seen as directed towards the world. The first main section is then split into two parts, 41.1-44.23 and 44.24-48.22.

So we can analyse it has follows:

• SECTION I.
• 1). The Rise of the Servant of Yahweh (40.1-44.23).
• 2). The Building of A New Temple and the Destruction of Babylon the Enemy of God In Readiness For the Servant’s Activity (44.24-48.22).
• SECTION II.
• 3). The Future Work of the Servant on Behalf Of Israel and the World (49.1-55.13).

It begins with the call of Abraham, God’s beloved and true servant, and the rise from him of the great Servant of the Lord. The rise of the Servant then continues, and included within his rise is God’s erection of a new Temple and His judgment on Babylon, and ends with the future activity of the Servant Whose great sacrifice of Himself will bring bout the redemption of His people (Mark 10.45), with, in chapter 55, a description of the establishing of the greater David yet to come, followed by an appeal for response and a declaration of the certainty that what Yahweh purposes will come about. The whole section could be headed by us ‘from Abraham to the Messiah’. It is a history of salvation.

1). The Rise of The Servant Of Yahweh (41.1-44.23).

The first section mainly sees the Servant as Israel. This is because they are ‘the seed of Abraham’ (41.8), although undoubtedly incorporating the idea of the new Davidic king in 42.1-7, for the Davidic king was central to Israel. Following the arrival of Abraham, God’s beloved, in the land (41.2-4, 25) (containing within him, in Hebrew thought, the seed of all his descendants), Israel/Jacob are announced as God’s Servant because they are his seed (41.8). Though they are weak Yahweh is going to raise them up, and make them strong (41.14 onwards). Thus He calls on all now to behold His Servant who will do His will (42.1-7). Here the Servant is, in context, Israel as descended from Abraham, but as headed by their glorious, future, victorious king, promised in chapters 7-11, Who will establish justice in the earth (42.4, 6; 9.7; 11.1-4).

However, at present all is not well. The Servant is revealed as blind and deaf (42.18). But God will redeem them (43.1) and they will then become His witnesses (43.10), for He is going to do a new thing (43.19). He will be with them continually (43.2), He will draw them together from the four corners of the earth (43.6), and as such they are to be His witnesses (43.10). He will rid them of the ever encroaching rulers of Babylon, the opponent of all that is of God (43.14), and will establish them prosperously in His ways (43.19-21). Then He is going to pour out on His Servant His Holy Spirit, totally transforming those whom He has chosen (44.1-5). And because they are His Servant they must remember that He has formed them from the womb that they might be so, and will not forget them (44.21). This part then ends with creation praising God because He has blotted out the sins of His true Servant whom He has redeemed, and rejoicing because He has glorified Himself in Israel (44.22-23).

So the vision is of a people who are the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3.29), who are drawn together by Him (Acts 2.5) and freed from their blindness (2 Corinthians 4.4; Ephesians 4.18), and who together under their King’s activity are to establish righteousness in the world and bring glory to God. It is God’s overall plan in history. It will fulfil His purposes as revealed in Exodus 19.5-6. It will begin with the restoration of His people to Palestine (something much more complicated than just a mere return of exiles from Babylon), will continue with their witness both there and in the Dispersion (the Jews scattered around the world), and find its ultimate fulfilment when the King comes and sends out His messengers to every part of the world (Acts 1.8) where they will proclaim the Kingly Rule of God (Acts 28.31).

2). The Building of A New Temple and the Destruction of Babylon the Enemy of God In Readiness For the Servant’s Activity (44.24-48.22).

However, because Jerusalem and the Temple need to be re-sanctified, a necessity because of Yahweh’s anger (assumed in 39.6-7) and the previous defilement of the Temple (clearly indicated in 43.28), He will first raise up the house of Cyrus to restore both city and temple, which will be followed (at a time not described) by Israel’s everlasting deliverance and God’s appeal to the world to look to Him and be saved (45.14, 17, 22). Indeed this latter will come about because of the former things, which are revealed as having resulted in the coming of the bird of prey from the east, Abraham, the friend and servant of God, through whose seed all this will be accomplished (46.9-13).

As a result Babylon will be destroyed, with all its occult and religious practises (47). But tragically Israel will still be unrighteous, obstinate and stubborn (48.1-4). Yet in spite of that He will not utterly destroy them but will instead refine them through affliction (48.9-10). They are therefore to turn their backs on dependence on great cities, and on magic and the occult, and on all that Babylon has stood for, and all that it offers and represents, and are to flee from her and her magic and idolatry (48.20-21) because Yahweh has redeemed them, and they must no longer have dealings with such as Babylon, a doomed city. Chapter 48 then ends the section despondently because of the current state of Israel. In spite of all God’s Servant is in no state to act. We could head this whole section as, ‘from call to crisis’.

Meanwhile interspersed with all this are constant references to idols and their futility, which are finally to be dealt with by the destruction of Babylon.

That a new Temple would be required was a huge insight. The old was seen as defiled and no longer acceptable. But what Isaiah was not to know was that the new Temple would also prove to be fallible, so that in the end God would have to raise a further new Temple consisting first of His Son (John 2.21) and then of His people (1 Corinthians 3.16; 6.19; 2 Corinthians 6.16) through which His message would go to the world. But he was correct in his instinct that the old must be replaced by something better, and that it was only through such a new Temple that God’s cause could go forward.

At the same time Babylon, the bastion of idolatry, had to be destroyed with its malicious influence. It was not until men turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God that there could be hope for the future (1 Thessalonians 1.9).

3). The Future Work of the Servant on Behalf Of Israel and the World (49.1-55.13).

The next section from 49.1 to 55 begins with a further reference to the Servant. But the Servant is now no longer seen to be all Israel. Rather He has been formed in order to bring Jacob again to Him, and to gather Israel to Him (49.4). He is to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel (49.6), as well as being a light to the Gentiles and God’s deliverance to the end of the earth. He is to be raised up as a covenant of the people, to establish the land (or earth) and enable them to inherit the desolate heritages. And kings will see and arise and princes will worship. Yet He is still addressed in 49.3 as ‘Israel’.

Two possible reasons for this exist, not necessarily mutually exclusive. One is that this is speaking to the faithful in Israel, those responsive to God’s word through the prophets, whom God would indeed use as His servant in days to come. The other that it is the coming One, the future Davidic king Himself, the one person who could alone of all men be called ‘Israel’ for He is their representative and speaks in their name, the one to whom they look, the one who is their very life (Lamentations 4.20). And who else could establish the land? Besides there is no need to exclude either, for both are His Servant, both are the true seed of Abraham. We may thus see the Servant in chapter 49 as faithful Israel acting under and through their righteous king. Their work was then later carried on by the ‘congregation’ of Christ (Matthew 16.18) who became the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16) and the new Servant (Acts 13.47) and took His message out to the world (Acts 13.47).

But now we come across an interesting phenomenon. Concentration on an individual. In 50.2 we are asked, why was there not a man (’ish)? Why was there none to answer? And immediately comes the reply and description of One taught by Yahweh Who has gone through much personal, individual suffering at the hands of men but will be vindicated by Yahweh (50.4-9). He is Yahweh’s Servant (50.10). This is followed by the injunction to those who follow righteousness and seek Yahweh to look back to Abraham who was called when he was but one, who then became many (51.2). There is a strong implication here that now at least the Servant is again, like Abraham, one man who will become many, otherwise why the emphasis on the oneness of Abraham?

This is then followed by one who declares the good news to Zion that ‘Your God reigns’ (compare 40.9, but while in 40.9 it was Zion who spoke, here Zion is spoken to). And finally we have the description of one who is Yahweh’s Servant who will be exalted, and lifted up and be very high, who will sprinkle many nations and king’s will close their mouths at him (52.13,15) who will himself come from suffering (52.14), followed by a picture of that individual as enduring suffering and exaltation ‘for us’, and being offered as a guilt offering, so that ‘we’ may be delivered (chapter 53). As the ‘us’ and the ‘we’ are presumably the faithful in Israel, including Isaiah, this Servant cannot be them. The Servant has thus become one individual suffering on behalf of all God’s true people. Here finally we are brought to the fact that if salvation was to be offered it could only be through One who would Himself take on Himself the sins of the world (John 1.29). None other could be sufficient. Only through the offering of this One could eternal redemption be made available (Hebrews 9.12).

Immediately following the description of this crucial work of the Servant is the description of Israel once again being accepted as Yahweh’s wife (54.4) with a righteousness that comes from Yahweh (54.17), and the call to all to drink what is good so that they might enjoy the sure mercies of David and enter into the everlasting covenant (55.3) and everlasting blessing (55.10-13).

With this Davidic connection can we finally see in this Servant any other than the coming Davidic king who will establish righteousness and establish His everlasting kingdom (9.6-7; 11.1-10)? No wonder that when the Ethiopian Eunuch asked of whom Isaiah spoke, Philip preached unto him Jesus Christ (Acts 8.35).

THE RISE TO SUCCESS OF THE SERVANT AND SUBSEQUENT FAILURE (41.1-48.22).

Having declared the glory and power of God as the One Who is supreme over all things (chapter 40) , Isaiah now turns his attention to the way in which He is about to bring about what He has purposed from the very beginning. He has in mind God’s promise to Abraham when he called on him to flee from the land of the Chaldeans (Genesis 12.31) and go from there to the land of Canaan (48.20 is thus a repetition of this). ‘Get out from your country (in the east - Genesis 11.31) -- to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great -- and I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed’ (Genesis 12.1-3).

So as God’s servant (Genesis 26.24; Psalm 105.6, 42; see also Exodus 32.13; Deuteronomy 9.27) Abraham comes from the east (41.2) and possesses the land (41.2-3). After which ‘the seed of Abraham my servant’ (Psalm 105.6), the children of Jacob ‘His chosen ones’ (Psalm 105.6) themselves become His servant and are expected to fulfil the promises made to Abraham (41.8). And Yahweh declares that He will be with them in order that they might fulfil this purpose (41.10-20). Thus if the so-called gods want to prove what they are let them do it by themselves confirming what He is saying (41.21-24).

God’s servant has been raised up from the north (41.25), as Yahweh has declared from the very beginning, (although no one else has (41.26)), and he will fulfil all His will. But only Jerusalem will learn the good tidings through His messenger (41.27), for the gods are silent and are ‘vanity’ and in confusion (41.28-29).

And it is at this point that Yahweh’s true Servant will be revealed (42.1-9), consisting of Israel under her King, on whom will come His Spirit, Who will take His message to the Gentiles and will establish justice in the earth and rule over the furthest coastlands.

In the first analysis this Servant is Israel (41.8). But a second glance soon reveals that He is also Immanuel, in view of what He will achieve (42.1-4). For the Spirit will be on Him and He will establish justice in the earth and will rule the nations (42.2; compare 11.1-9; 9.6-7 with 7.14), and He will accomplish all God’s purpose (42.6-7). The Servant is thus both coming King and coming people. Here we have reach the climax of the description begun in 41.1, and of Yahweh’s achievement, and we now go back to see how it will be brought about.

As a result all the nations are to shout out because Yahweh is going forth as a man of war to deliver His people, who will turn back and be ashamed of their dreadful failure (42.10-17). For the fact is that Yahweh had wanted through His people to exalt His Instruction (Torah - 42.21), but Israel had been proved to be a blind servant (42.19) and had been humiliated into captivity by the spoilers and robbers (of Assyria) (42. 22-25). Now therefore Yahweh would begin His restoration of His servant (43.1-7) who were to be His witnesses (43.10). He will ransom them (deliver them from Assyria) by giving Egypt as their ransom and Cush and Seba will be given for them (43.3). And He will further redeem them by removing the influence of Babylon (43.14). And He will re-establish His people in an abundant land (43.19-21), although first He will have to deal with them because they have not called on Him. He will do this by profaning the princes of the Sanctuary and making Israel a curse and a reviling (43.22-28). Then, however, He will pour on them His Spirit and they will call themselves Yahweh’s (44.1-5), for He Who is the first and the last is Israel’s Redeemer (44.6). They therefore need not fear for He is the Rock and He will bring it about (44.7-8). And they need not fear other gods for they are but vanity and are blind (44.9-20).

So Israel is to remember all these things because Yahweh has chosen them to be His Servant, and has blotted out their transgressions and redeemed them, and waits now for them to turn to Him as His servant (44.21-23) which will bring great rejoicing to creation (44.23).

The Raising Up Of God’s Servant (41.1-44.23)

Chapter 41 Isaiah Urges Israel To Be Faithful as God’s Servant.

The first seven verses of this chapter continue the theme of appeal in chapter 40 but as applied to the nations. They are an appeal to the wider world to consider what God has done through Abraham and his descendants and respond to Him. Great emphasis is laid on Abraham. And in Isaiah’s vision they do respond and worldwide love is established.

This is then followed by an assurance to the faithful in Israel, the true Israel, that they are His servant because they are of Abraham, and that He will be with them where they are, enabling them in the fulfilling of their responsibility, and making full provision for them under all circumstances, if only they will respond. This is accompanied by a challenge to the gods of the nations to demonstrate their capabilities, which they cannot do because they are non-existent nothings, and the chapter finishes with one whom God has raised up, preparatory to the introduction to ‘My Servant’.

God’s Appeal To the People of the World (41.1-7).

41.1-3

Note God’s call to ‘the coastlands’. This call to the coastlands (the nations across the seas) is stressed in both sections (see 49.1) where He then describes the activity of the Servant. Clearly the activity of the Servant and the far off nations are closely involved.

God calls to the coastlands (the far off nations across the Great Sea and in the isles) and the peoples (those around Palestine near and far) to be silent before Him, in awe and readiness to hear. And then like His own true people, they are to renew their strength by waiting on Him (as in 40.31). They too are welcome to approach Him. He calls them to advance to His seat as world Judge and Ruler, and once they have come near to Him then they can speak to Him. Then they can consider things together and think over His past purposes and their significance. For He wants them to consider what He has done through Abraham His ‘loved one’ (friend) (verse 8). Let them look at Abraham, ‘the one who loved Him’, the one through whom the whole world will be blessed (Genesis 12.3).

‘Who has raised up one from the east, whom he calls in righteousness to his foot.’ He calls on them to consider Abraham, who was raised up by Him from Ur of the Chaldees in the east (Genesis 11.31; Nehemiah 9.7), the one who believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15.6), so that He called Him ‘in righteousness’ to His immediate service (to His foot). Abraham was the one who kept his charge, and walked in accordance with all His commandments and laws (Genesis 26.5), walking in righteousness (Genesis 15.6).

In the light of no further information being given and the reference to Abraham in verse 8 the one called ‘from the east’ and ‘in righteousness to His foot,’ would to Israel naturally mean Abraham, (especially as he is mentioned in the context in verse 8). He loomed large in their history and they would regularly hear at their festivals of his arrival from the east (Genesis 11.31; 12.1, 5), coming as God’s Champion, to reveal his power in Canaan against the kings from the north and despoil them (Genesis 14) and to finally conquer Canaan through his descendants, with nations coming from him (Genesis 17.20) and kings coming from his loins (Genesis 17.6, 16; 35.11)

While the word ‘righteousness’ can signify ‘deliverance’ and is often used in parallel with it, it is righteous deliverance that is in mind. Its basic meaning of true goodness and justice, conformity to the norm of God’s Law is so prevalent in Isaiah, along with its meaning of salvation deliverance, that it can hardly be excluded here. Abraham was seen by God as righteous (Genesis 15.6; 26.5). The true Servant was also called in righteousness (42.6). The purpose of both was to bless the nations (Genesis 12.3).

‘He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.’ Nations and kings were not able to stand before Abraham. This applies first to Genesis 14 when the warrior Abraham defeated the four kings from the north led by Amraphel King of Shinar (Babylon), and including the King of the Nations, and also the kings of Elam and Eliasar, (and his readers would not make the distinctions that we would make) and then to the fact that his descendants, and especially David, conquered Canaan and beyond, defeating nations and ruling over kings, with the prospect of worldwide rule (Psalm 2). For his descendants, including David, were seen as having entered Canaan in the loins of Abraham and what they did would be seen as done by Abraham. And Yahweh made Abraham and them glorious so that their sword and bow were very powerful, with the result that the nations melted before them, becoming like dust and stubble.

‘As the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.’ Both sword and bow are connected with Abraham’s seed in Genesis 27.3, 40, as common weapons of his day in use by the family tribe.

‘He pursues them and passes on safely, even by a way that he has not gone with his feet.’ Abraham pursues them and goes on safely in a way that he has not gone with his feet. The way that he had not gone with his feet may indicate that the way he took was not one he had previously travelled when he entered Canaan, for this time he went up the King’s Highway; or it may indicate the speed with which he went, without as it were his feet touching the ground, which would fit his speedy chase of the four kings from the four powerful nations admirably. And he came away safely, because God was with him. Or it may refer to ‘going’ in his descendants, thus himself not passing that way with his feet. In that case it was Abraham in the mind of God who did it, although the feet of those who did it were not his own but his seed. Abraham was victorious through his descendants.

41. 4

This confirms that God has both Abraham and his descendants in mind. He is speaking of a number of generations, all of them called from the very first beginning of the history of salvation (compare Genesis 21.12 and see verse 8 here). Although He may be looking back even further to the first call of man (Genesis 3.9; 4.26). And Who has done all this? Why, Yahweh, the One Who exists over time from beginning to end. Indeed He is the first before all, and He acted through Abraham in the beginning on his first entry into Canaan, and He is ‘with the last’ as is revealed in the victory of Israel/Judah over Sennacherib. Compare His claim in 44.7, where as the First and the Last He is the One Who appointed both the ancient people and the things that are coming.

So Yahweh calls on the nations to recognise the wonderful work He has done through Abraham right up to His people of this day (41.8). Beginning with one man and his family tribe and increasing them until under David ‘he’ became a large empire. And He is with the descendants of Abraham even to this day, driving away Sennacherib by His power. The corollary is that they should respond in awe and follow Him, and recognise that He is Yahweh, the One Who is and the One Who is there.

‘I am Yahweh, the first, and with the last.’ So let the nations recognise Who He is, The One Who is, the One Who is first before all things. The One Who is always there at the end.

‘I am he.’ Not ‘I am’ but literally ‘I he’ (although LXX has ego eimi). Thus not the name revealed to Moses, although hinting at it. It is declaring that He is the One Who has wrought it and done it, the One Who is Yahweh. It is a regular Isaianic phrase.

41.5-7

There are two possible ways of looking at these verses. The first is to see them as the nations finally responding to the work of God begun through Abraham, possibly at first in the empire of David, where they used their skills to good account instead of making gods with them (see 40.19-20) and then by entering into God’s kingdom of worldwide peace, a vision of the future The second is to see them as the nations cowering before the coming of Abraham and fleeing to their man-made gods.

Taking the first interpretation we find the picture as follows. In vision the nations responded. They saw, were afraid and trembled. And then they drew near to Yahweh and came (compare verse 1). This resulted in a new harmony among men. All rivalry vanished and they encouraged each other, all jealousies ceased, all worked together for the good of the whole, all commended each other, all became good neighbours (Leviticus 19.15-18) and brothers. In this case there is a deliberate contrast to the making of idols. Instead of making idols they make what is good (see Exodus 31.3-5; 35.31-35). Idolatry is replaced by skilful workmanship, and it is quality work, fastened securely. It is 11.5-10 in another form, but this time the concentration is on the human, not the animal kingdom.

Many, however, follow the second interpretation and see this as referring to a flight to idolatry, a combined effort of the nations against God. They ‘drew near and came’, but then their response was a decisive ‘no’. Then they combined and sustained and strengthened each other by making idols which ‘could not be moved’, a pathetic attempt to parallel the permanence of the First and the Last. But they were lifeless. Those who interpret in this way see ‘it is good’ as demonstrating that the gods are seen as needing man’s approval (so much for their pre-eminence), and the combined working as proof of the effort that went into idol making, and of the united front of the world against God. Note that they had to strengthen each other in doing it for they received no help from the gods.

This case would be supported by the words ‘that it should not be moved’ in comparison with 40.20, (see also Jeremiah 10.3-4), but it could equally be argued that that is a deliberate contrast, that now what they ‘fasten with nails that it should not be moved’ is that which is good. For the whole atmosphere is one of neighbourliness, of brotherliness, of encouragement, and of skilful workmanship, giving the impression of the transformation of mankind.

The main argument that supports the second interpretation would be that here we have the pattern of what follows, a contrast between, on the one hand, the activity of the Servant, of Abraham and his seed, and on the other the futility of the gods.

God’s Assurance of Success To His People, Weak Though They Are (41.8-16).

41.8

He now declares Israel’s unique position. They are His chosen, but not because of what they themselves are, but because they are the seed of Abraham, the one who loved Him, the one who came from the east. They are His chosen ones in Abraham. They are begotten through Jacob. Thus do they enjoy the unique position of being the servant of Yahweh because they are ‘in Abraham’. They are the seed of Abraham His servant (Psalm 105.6). We have already had ‘David my servant’ (37.35). Now we have ‘Israel my servant’. But both come below Abraham, who was ‘the one who loved Him’ (compare 2 Chronicles 20.7 also see John 15.15) and had had directly revealed to him what God was going to do. Abraham is also constantly described as His servant in the tradition (Genesis 26.24; Psalm 105.6, 42; see also Exodus 32.13; Deuteronomy 9.27).

This confirms that the previous verses referred to Abraham. Why else bring Abraham’s name in here? It would not be like Isaiah to suddenly bring his name in and then include nothing further. These words make the most sense if we see them as following a detailed reference to Abraham in verse 2-4.

The use of ‘Jacob’ here (in contrast with Israel) may be intended to indicate their unworthiness. In verse 14 he is called ‘you worm Jacob’, and Jacob was the double-dealer who became Israel, the prince with God. This may especially be being brought out here in the reversion of the names. Always elsewhere in this whole section (40.1-49.26) when the two are in parallel Jacob comes first. But here Israel comes first (contrast this with 44.1 where an almost identical phrase has the usual order). Jacob was chosen because he was the seed of Abraham, but it was in order to manifest himself as Israel, God’s servant. (But see 10.20 where there appears no reason for the order).

Of course the people of Israel were not all literally descended from Jacob. Far from it. Many had originally been adopted into his ‘household’, his family tribe, which itself was composed largely of people, his household servants, not descended from him. They further came from a conglomerate people, from many nations (Exodus 12.38, 48), and were united in Jacob by the covenant at Sinai. So God’s people were made up of people of many nations, as ‘adopted’ by Abraham. But as so adopted they were seen as his seed, and the implication is that they too should love God. Love was at the heart of the covenant (Deuteronomy 6.4-5).

This brings out Israel’s unique privilege. They were called to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19.5-6). It was they who should have taken His word to the nations (2.3), and one day would through the Dispersion (Israel scattered among he nations), and then through the Apostles and the foundation Jewish church, but it was dependent on their obedience.

We are already getting the seeds of the idea of ‘the Servant’. David is His servant, chosen by Him to rule over His people who are also called upon to be His servant (37.35). Israel is His servant, chosen to be a witness to the nations. Thus the Servant is one yet many, king and people, fulfilling the purposes of God revealed to Abraham, who was His servant par excellence. Indeed the nation of Israel would have agreed with this way of seeing things. They certainly saw themselves as ‘in David’. He was their very breath (Lamentations 4.20), and this was why the status of the king, whether good or bad, was so important in the books of Kings. And they saw themselves as ‘in Jacob/Israel’ the patriarch, as looking back to Abraham.

41.9

Israel has been taken hold of from the ends of the earth and called from its furthest reaches. The primary thought is first of the call of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees far away, then of the return of Jacob from Haran, and then of their deliverance from Egypt to be called to be His holy nation, His kingdom of priests (Exodus 19.6), so that Yahweh’s purpose through them might be fulfilled. And then of the fact that He will reach out to scattered Israel worldwide and call them to His service (11.11-12). What He has done before He will do again. They are His chosen servant to the nations, and in spite of what they have done He has not cast them away. They are seen in their totality as His servant if only they are willing.

This idea of the oneness of the nation must not, however, be overpressed. They are seen as one because within the covenant, but they are only so because they are in the covenant. Thus in the end the true servant is the body of those who reveal themselves as within the covenant by obedient response to it. They are the true Israel within Israel (Romans 9.6). As with the remnant, it is only the righteous who will survive, the unrighteous will in the end have been pared away (6.13). The fruitbearing branches will be pruned, the unfruiful will be removed (John 15.1-6).

This will become clearer later. In 49.3 ‘my servant Israel’ will minister to Jacob/Israel seeking to restore them to Yahweh (49.6), the remnant thus clearly being distinguished from unbelieving Israel, and in 53 there is only One Who is qualified to represent Israel, a unique personality representing them all in His own person.

There may be implicit within this also the thought that those who have since been dispersed to every corner of the earth may also be confident that they too can be His servant and a witness both where they are and by returning. For they can be sure that He has not forgotten them (contrast 40.27). And certainly those who were faithful among the dispersed did cause many Gentiles to seek God. But Isaiah also expected many of them to finally return to the land of God’s inheritance (11.11; 27.12-13), which must literally have occurred with the faithful once the opportunity arose durint the inter-testamental period, because of the strength of their beliefs.

But the main idea behind the promise is that they will be gathered to Himself. First in the coming of the righteous son of David calling them under the Kingly Rule of God, and finally in the new heaven and the new earth (65.17).

41.10

Yahweh encourages His people in their service. If they are faithful they can be sure of His strength and help wherever they are. For He is with them in their situation and those who look to Him will be upheld. Notice, however, that the hand that will uphold them is the right hand of His righteousness. These promises are only made to those who seek to be righteous in His sight. The righteous right hand will only uphold those desirous of righteousness (1.27; 3.10; 10.22; 24.16; 32.17; 33.5, 15), just as He called Abraham in righteousness (verse 2). These promises remain true today. The righteous may look for help to the Righteous One. (The right hand is the hand of power).

41.11-13

The opponents of God’s people will be thwarted. Those who are enraged against them will become ashamed of their rage and will find themselves confounded, those who strive with them will achieve nothing and will perish, so that if they are sought for no one will be able to find them. Those who war against them will be nonentities. And this will be because Yahweh is holding His people’s right hand, assuring them of His constant help so that they need not be afraid. The picture is one of complete protection. But the holding of the right hand is not just for comfort. It is in order to impart strength. His people may go through tribulation but they can be sure that He is always with them. ‘Fear not you worm Jacob, center> And you few men of Israel.

Even though Jacob is but a worm, he need not fear, for the One Who will help him is Yahweh, and the One Who will redeem him is the Holy One of Israel. Though he is worth nothing, God, as the Holy One of Israel, is willing to pay a price for his deliverance, even as ‘Jacob’. So Jacob is but a worm and the men of Israel are few, that is, they are inconsequential. His people are both the worm Jacob and the few men of Israel. They are as nothing, but they need not fear for if only they will trust Him they will bring the world to nought (verse 13) because God will help them.

The idea of a worm is of one who is totally unworthy (Job 25.6), one who is a reproach (Psalm 22.6). The word used for men regularly means ‘few’, and thus inconsequential, unable to deal with the problem in hand.

41.15-16 ‘See, I will make you a threshing instrument,

But the worm will turn. Yahweh will make him like a threshing instrument, sharp, new and with teeth. The mountains and the hills will be turned into dust and chaff by them. The mountains are their opponents, and they will not only be turned into chaff, they will also be blown away. Then His people will rejoice and glory in the One Who has done it, for He is Yahweh, He is the Holy One of Israel.

Threshing instruments were heavy sledges of timber with stones and sharp metals underneath. They were dragged over the grain to divide it up and separate grain from chaff, ready for fanning with the winnowing fans which would blow away the chaff leaving the good grain.

The final idea is that God’s true people will become triumphant overcoming all obstacles.

God’s Future Provision For His People In The Land (41.17-20).

41.17

We have already seen the stress on God’s people as a worm and as inconsequential, now they are seen as poor, crushed under the weight of things (see 10.2), and needy, unable to face life’s challenges (see 14.30). They are like those who seek water and cannot find it so that their thirst takes over, and their tongue is parched and useless. The background may be the journey through the wilderness from Egypt when Israel constantly faced shortages of water, but in hot countries shortage of water is always a problem, especially when it was dependent on rain which was not always abundant, and when invasion may well have destroyed their wells. Thus it refers to their present experience and may well be only a general statement from their own experience. But at this time Yahweh will answer them, and the God of Israel will not forsake them (32.15).

Note that while the stress has been on His people as like Jacob, He Himself is constantly seen to be the God or the Holy One of ‘Israel’. He is not to be looked on by them as the God of the devious Jacob but as the God of the noble Israel (although He is called the Holy One of Jacob in 29.23 in a context where Jacob himself is pictured as watching them).

41.18-20

When His people are in want He will make copious provision for them wherever they may be. The bare heights will become full of water, the valleys full of copious springs, even in the desert and wilderness areas there will be oases and springs. And in those areas abundant trees will grow, provision for God’s people to rest under and find shade. (None of these trees would be well known in Babylon, for Babylon was short of trees. They are trees of Palestine, even if identification is uncertain. They were not uncertain to the early reader because he knew the trees. Thus the writer is in Palestine). And the wonder of it is that they will all be found together. This is fruitfulness indeed, a most unusual situation demonstrating the creative power of the One Who has done it.

And the purpose of it all is that His people might thoroughly know Who and What God is. That they might see in it all, the hand of Yahweh. That they might be aware of His creative power. This reminds us that if we are His all our experiences have this purpose, that we might learn of Him and know Him more deeply.

This picture is the exact opposite of those which depict God’s judgment on the nations. Then the trees are hewn down (10.33-34), the streams dry up and the land becomes desert (34.9-10; Psalm 107.33-34). This thus has in mind the final blessing, as well as God’s provision and protection along the way.

Yahweh’s Challenge To The Gods of the Nations (41.21-24).

41.21-23a

Yahweh now lays down His challenge to the nations and to their gods. Let them come as it were before the court and prove their case. Let them bring out their idols. (Note that the idols have to be brought out. They cannot come of themselves). Let them prove themselves, and produce their strong arguments. Let them declare the future, and show what is to happen. Let them explain the past and its significance, and show what will be its results. Let them declare the significance and impact of the coming of Abraham. Let them show the things that are to come from it. Then all will know that they really are gods. This is what God has been doing. Let them do it as well.

This confirms that in this passage God has been speaking of what has happened in the past as well was what is to happen in the future, and the title ‘the King of Jacob’ ties it in closely with the time of the patriarchs, thus confirming that the coming one from the east was Abraham.

‘The King of Jacob’ is a significant title. God is not ashamed to be the king of the patriarch Jacob, to be the king of the worm (verse 14). Indeed He boasts about it. So the nations see His people as nothing, as unimportant, as having something of a past history but as now no longer counting? Well, this is proof that they cannot see the future. Why, He declares, He is their King. Their past is significant. And from that worm will He produce glorious things. And only a ‘God Who is’ could use a worm to establish the everlasting kingdom. But had the gods really been gods, they would have known of it.

41.23b

The challenge is expanded. These gods not only know nothing, they do nothing. He is going to do something, so let these also at least do something, anything, whether good or evil. Then at least all would be able to be bewildered and dismayed, and behold it. ‘Do good or do evil’ is often seen as the equivalent of ‘do anything at all’.

41.24

The assumption is made that nothing will happen, and the argument is now applied. These gods are of nothing, and their work is nothing. Thus anyone who chooses them is an abomination, because they choose an abomination. We are what we choose. Note the strength of language. They are hateful to God.

The Coming One (41.25-42.9).

The theme of the failure of the idols to tell the past and the future continues. They do not know of ‘the one from the north’. Identity of the ‘one from the north’ has produced widely differing ideas. In context there are good grounds for arguing that he must be the servant of 42.1, for the theme of the servant immediately follows.

Some see it as referring to Cyrus in the light of 44.28-45.1. But there Cyrus is God’s shepherd, not His servant, and it would be meaningless to the reader until he came to that chapter. For the idea here is that He is describing someone who is known, someone who is therefore evidence of what He has done. Far better is it to see it as Abraham in the light of verse 2. Certainly Abraham came from both the north (Haran) and from the east (Ur of the Chaldees). And he is specifically described as one who called on the name of Yahweh (Genesis 12.8; 13.4 compare 26.25). And he was certainly disastrous for rulers (Genesis 12.10-20; 14 all; 20 all), including the king of Elam and the king of Shinar (Babylon) (Genesis 14.1, 9). He seems well represented in this description.

(Actually anyone who came from the east in Mesopotamia would come from the north through Syria. It was only Arabs like the Midianites coming across the Jordan who came only from the east).

Opting therefore for Abraham as being clearly described, we must, however, recognise that it is not just as simple as that. Strictly it is talking about Yahweh’s Servant, thus about Abraham and his seed who came into the land in him. It is summing up salvation history in Abraham. Abraham came, and all who came from Abraham were in Abraham when he came. Thus as he entered the land in him came Isaac and Jacob, His servants (Exodus 32.13; Deuteronomy 9.27), and Moses and Joshua (both officially called ‘the servant of Yahweh’), and David his servant (37.35; Psalm 89.3, 20), and in him came the greater David yet to come. As he entered the land they all entered it in his loins. (This was Israel’s way of thinking).

We should note especially that the term ‘my servant’ is used regularly in Isaiah as depicting various descendants of Abraham, and is used of no others. Thus Isaiah is ‘my servant’ (20.3), Eliakim the viceroy is ‘my servant’ (22.20), David is ‘my servant’ (37.35), Israel is ‘my servant’ (41.8, 9), all are His servants in Abraham. And included under the name of David is David’s greater son, Immanuel. For He is the fulfilment of the Davidic hope. (Nebuchadnezzar is called it by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 27.6), but not by Isaiah, and then only as a temporary function, not as a permanent status. Thus application of the title to an outsider would be contrary to Isaiah’s whole usage).

41.25-29

One has come from the north who has been raised by God. Abraham entered the land from the north and ‘went on southwards’ (strictly ‘towards the Negeb’), emphasising that he came from the north (Genesis 12.5-9). So it was Abraham who came, and yet also those who came in Abraham. It was in essence a whole army of descendants. As Abraham advanced on the land he was Yahweh’s Servant, and Yahweh’s future Servant was in him, comprising all who would be servants of Yahweh in the fulfilling of His purposes. In him came Isaac and Jacob. In him came Moses and Joshua. In him came David. In him came Isaiah and Eliakim and Israel. But always having in mind the Servant of Yahweh par excellence Whom Yahweh had promised. He has been spoken of beforetime, even from ‘the beginning’ by Yahweh. But no one else has spoken of him, or has taken heed of Isaiah’s words about him. No one else has recognised Him. He is one who brings good tidings (61.1-2).

Thus he is a figure in the future, and yet he is in the past. When Abraham came into the land of God’s inheritance the future Servant came in him, One who was as it were in his loins (Genesis 35.11). He came as God’s Servant. And no one recognised Him except Yahweh and Isaiah. But Isaiah has proclaimed Him. He will be Immanuel, God with us (7.14), coming in the name of Israel and representing Israel. Thus the Servant is Israel, and especially Immanuel as representing and summing up Israel, the final focal point of the call of Abraham. That is why sometimes we have the idea of a group and sometimes of an individual (50. 4-9; 52.13-53.12). He will fulfil Israel’s destiny.

‘I have raised up one from the north, and he is come, from the rising of the sun one who calls on my name.’ The sun rises in the east, so that this one came from the east and the north. As we have seen this was Scripturally true of Abraham. He was called by God from Ur of the Chaldees in the east, proceeded to Haran in the north, on which he entered the land from the north, and called on the name of Yahweh, and went on going towards the south (Genesis 12.1-9).

‘And he will come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads the clay.’ This is a remarkably picturesque description of the Bible’s account of Abraham’s victory over the four kings (Genesis 14), which included the kings of Babylon (Shinar) and Elam. They were trodden down by him as men tread down mortar, and as a potter treads the clay. To use a more modern idiom, they were as putty in his hands and as the dust beneath his feet. And in him has come his descendants.

So we may also see it as indicating also Abraham’s victories through his descendants, God’s servant Joshua (‘the servant of Yahweh’ - Joshua 24.29; Judges 2.8) when he conquered the land and God’s servant David (37.35) when he trod down the Philistines and all the nations round about. The one whom God had raised up was strong.

‘Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know, and beforetime that we may say, ‘He is in the right’. Yes, there is no one who declares, there is no one who shows, yes, there is no one who hears your words.’ So Yahweh now issues a challenge as to who else has been able to speak of the significance of Abraham, and of his seed, and of the One Who is coming Who is the seed of Abraham. But there is no one. The so-called gods are unaware of either. They do not know what is happening. No one declares it, no one reveals it and there is even no one who has absorbed the words of Isaiah about Him. They manifest total ignorance.

‘First to Zion, behold them, behold them, and I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.’ So now the attention is turned on Zion. Yahweh’s first words are concerning Zion. Let all ‘behold ‘them’. These are the ones whom God has raised up to fulfil His purposes. And it was to Jerusalem that He would give one who would bring good tidings (compare 61.1-2). Jerusalem was to be the bearer of good news (2.2-4), and especially through the one whom He sent. But now, Isaiah asks, where is that one? (41.28). There is no one. Among them there is no Counsellor (compare 9.6). The king has failed. The leaders have failed. There is no one who can reply to Isaiah’s searching words, and speak up. They are all show and pretence, and their idols are as bad as they are (41.29).

‘And when I look there is no man, even among them there is no counsellor, who when I ask of them can answer a word. Behold all of them are vanity, their works are nothing, their molten images are wind and confusion.’ So, sadly, among the people of Jerusalem there is as yet no one who can counsel on these matters, and who can speak to God about them. This comment may be in the words of Isaiah as he has sought to find those who will receive his prophecies and teach them. Or it may be God’s condemnation of the people. Either way the matter is summed up simply. They are vain and empty, what they do is worth nothing and accomplishes nothing, and their idols simply produce messages which are empty wind or total confusion. What is therefore required is a new Servant of God Who will be able to give counsel and fully reveal the truth of what Isaiah has been speaking about, acting on behalf of Israel (see 50.2-9).

Note the parallel to this in 50.2-9. Then too there is ‘no man’ and there too the idea introduces the Servant of Yahweh.

It is interesting to consider the significance of the word ‘behold’ in this passage.

• 1). Behold their enemies will fail and perish (41.11).
• 2). Behold Jacob will become a sharp threshing instrument with teeth (41.15).
• 3). Behold the gods are nothing (41.24).
• 4 & 5). Behold, behold them. Zion are to be doubly beheld as the ones who are the hope for the future, and who are to bring forth those who proclaim good tidings. But Zion has failed, as is evidence by the fact that there is no one (41.27).
• 6). Behold all of them, their words speak and are empty, as are their idols, which are merely wind and confusion (41.29)
• 7). Behold My Servant! (42.1). Here is God’s answer.

Note that at each point the enemies of Israel (verse 11), their false gods (verse 24) and the ‘gods of the nations’ (verse 29) are contrasted with Jacob made mighty by God (verse 15), the powerful words of those who were to arise from Zion (verse 27), and finally with God’s Servant who will fulfil all His will (42.1). The seventh behold indicates the divine perfection of this Servant.

Chapter 42 The Coming Of The Servant of Yahweh

Having stressed God’s gift to the world in Abraham and of His coming to the land of God’s inheritance with the purpose that through his seed all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12.3 and often) there is now revealed one who will fulfil that function to the world, one who had been, as it were, in the loins of Abraham (41.8).

In a very real sense Abraham is the original from which the Servant of Yahweh comes (see 41.8). The Servant is a representation of him and those who were in his loins. The Servant will fulfil the promises given to Abraham. But the ministry of the Servant would not be fulfilled through Abraham directly. The Servant is the later expression of Abraham through his descendants (41.8), and especially through the One who will be the greatest of them all. Thus the Servant is Abraham’s descendants as they fulfil his ministry. He is God at work through history in those called God’s servant, and especially, as the culmination is seen to be approaching, by Isaiah. And He is finally God’s Servant supreme, His coming King.

On the one hand therefore the Servant is potentially depicting Israel. But Israel had failed in its calling and in its potential (41.27-28) and was failing (42.18-25). They were only the potential Servant of Yahweh. Then he is depicting the faithful in Israel (49.3 compare 49.6), the actual Servant of Yahweh, who quietly and faithfully will partly fulfil that potential. Without the faithful in Israel, Israel would not have continued. But finally he is depicting the coming One, Immanuel, in whom all that was good and faithful in Israel would be summed up), the representative of Israel par excellence, the greater David, the focus of the future (9.5-6; 11.1-4). He and He alone could finally fulfil God’s purposes promised through Abraham (52.13-53.12).

The title ‘servant of Yahweh’ (only ever used of Moses and Joshua and in 42.19) or ‘My servant’ (used more often) is a title of great honour. It was reserved for those who distinguished themselves in God’s service. But even the greatest of God’s servants had had their weak points, and they were His servants in spite of it. Thus Israel can be God’s servant even though they are partially blind (42.19). They have a destiny to fulfil. (And Jeremiah could even temporarily call Nebuchadnezzar His servant because he also had a specific destiny to fulfil under God (Jeremiah 27.6). This last remarkable use, although not Isaianic, emphasises the connection of the term with the fulfilling of God’s purposes. But it must be stressed that Isaiah never uses the term Servant of anyone who did not claim descent from Abraham. Nebuchadnezzar was not the Isaianic Servant).

And yet that Immanuel and the Servant described here are in the end identical comes out in the ministry of the Servant. Yahweh will put His Spirit on Him (compare 11.2) He is to set justice/judgment in the earth (compare 9.7; 11.4) and the isles are to wait for His law. He is to be a covenant to the people (compare 55.3) and a light to the Gentiles (compare 9.1-7). This does not exclude the reference to the faithful in Israel, it confirms it. Just as in Daniel 7 the son of man is the covenant people of God, the holy ones of the Most High (7.27), but is also their representative, their Prince, Who comes before the throne of God to receive everlasting dominion (7.13), so is the Servant the faithful in Israel (49.3 compare 49.6), the holy nation of Yahweh (Exodus 19.5-6), but is also the great One Who will represent them and fulfil their function (52.13). No Israelite would have denied this combination. They saw their prince as Yahweh’s anointed, as their very breath, and they would have accepted that he was seen as summing up all that they were. He was them!

This is confirmed in the New Testament. The Servant there is Jesus (Luke 22.37; Mark 10.45; Mark 1.11 compare Isaiah 42.1) and the idea is applied to Him in Matthew 12.17-21; Luke 2.32; 9.35 RV/RSV; 23.35. But the idea is also applied to the early church ministry in Acts 13.47. They too are the Servant of the Lord.

But it may be asked. Why, if the Davidic king is meant here, is there no specific mention of the fact? The answer firstly lies in the fact that the Servant is more than just the house of David. He is the seed of Abraham. Thus he is the fulfiller of all God’s purposes in the seed of Abraham. But secondly it is because of what has been revealed in Isaiah 1-39. One of the prominent messages of those chapters is the failure of the Davidic line (see also Jeremiah 33.26). Isaiah has ceased to have faith in the house of David as currently constituted. Thus in the Servant he presents the spirit of what the house of David should have been, while isolating him from it. They are not to look for a Davidic king on the throne of Judah, but for One Who will come fulfilling the Davidic potential, the Immanuel of Whom he has spoken, the seed of David, but also his root (11.10). And this he makes manifestly clear.

The Servant of Yahweh (42.1-4).

42.1

‘Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.’ It is not a coincidence that this is the seventh ‘Behold’ in the passage from 41.8. Divine perfection has been reached.

As we have seen, as the last in the series this ‘behold’ connects back with what has gone before. The gods are as nothings, and all are called on to ‘behold’ this fact (41.24, 29). But God has raised up one who will act in His Name, one who has come from the north and trodden down rulers (Abraham - 41.25). And from him has sprung Zion. Thus eyes are turned on them, ‘behold them’ (41.27). But no one has arisen from them in order to give counsel or answer a word (41.28). So now God turns their eyes on one who will arise in the future, and says, ‘Behold My Servant’ (42.1).

But who is ‘My Servant’? Israel/Jacob are declared by Isaiah to be His servant and chosen one in 41.8-9; 43.10, 20; 44.1-2; 45.4; 48.10 (compare Deuteronomy 7.6; 14.2; Psalm 33.12; 135.4) because they were in Abraham His servant and are his seed (41.8; Psalm 105.6) These words can hardly therefore be denied to Israel. But it is clear in these passages that Israel as a whole have come short, and that the reference is therefore to the faithful in Israel (at this present time Isaiah and his disciples). It is they who are the true Israel (49.3; see 65.9). In this particular song therefore this is where the emphasis lies. God visualises the faithful in Israel as fulfilling their ministry to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19.5-6). For they stand in for, and spring from, Abraham, God’s chosen servant and friend, as fulfillers of the promises.

But the description also demands that the Servant be their righteous king. No Israelite at this time would have imagined this destiny of setting judgment in the earth and establishing the law of God among the nations unless it were to be under the rule of the mighty Davidic king who was to rule over them for ever as promised by God (2 Samuel 7.13-17; Psalm 2.7-9; 89.3-4, 27-29, 36-37). And in the light of the earlier teaching of Isaiah this meant Immanuel (7.14). The destiny of God’s true king and God’s true people wen