41.2 Victor from the east, Cyrus of Persia (44.28; 45.1). Summoned him to his service. God is the real power behind the rise of Cyrus, who is simply an agent in God’s service (10.5; Jer 27.6).
41.3 Scarcely touching the path, a reference to the speed of the Persian army.
41.4 First…last. The God of Israel controls history from beginning to end; the Lord has no rival (43.10; 44.6).
41.5–6 Terrified by the victorious advance of Cyrus, the nations try to encourage one another against him—a reference perhaps to the defensive treaties concluded between Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
41.7 Securing their idols is part of the nations’ defensive preparations.
41.8–10 Just as God is summoning Cyrus from the east, so God called Abraham and his descendants from the ends of the earth (Gen 12.1–3). That summons to be God’s special people still stands, so Israel, God’s servant, need not fear like the other nations.
41.11–20 God will protect Israel against its enemies and meet its needs in the wilderness.
41.11–13 Israel’s enemies will vanish, because God is with Israel.
41.14 Worm Jacob…insect Israel. Israel seemed insignificant in comparison to its powerful enemies (cf. Ps 22.6). Redeemer, the one who avenges or liberates an oppressed kinsman (cf. Lev 25.47–55). Holy One of Israel, an epithet for God (see note on 1.4).
41.15–16 Just as Cyrus treated his enemies as stubble (v. 2), so Israel will thresh its enemies. Mountains, hills suggest the strength of Israel’s enemies.
41.17–20 God will provide water and shade for Israel when it crosses the desert in its return from exile to its own land.
41.20 The hand of the LORD has done this. God’s care for Israel in the wilderness will prove that it was God who raised up Cyrus to defeat Babylon and bring about Israel’s restoration.
41.21–29 The idols of the nations are called upon to provide some proof that they are gods and that they, rather than the Lord, the God of Israel, control the destiny of nations.
41.21 King of Jacob, God.
41.22–23 The idols are called upon to cite their past prophecies that have now been fulfilled or to predict the outcome of present events in order to prove that they know and control the course of history. Do good, or do harm. A god that neither blesses nor harms humans is nothing of which humans need to be afraid or terrified; such a god can safely be ignored (see Zeph 1.12).
41.24 Nothing. An idol is a nonentity incapable of action. Abomination. The one who chooses such a god becomes as detestable as the idol chosen (see Hos 9.10).
41.25 God, in contrast, is the one who called Cyrus. From the north, here from the Medo-Persian territory north and east of Babylon; earlier used of enemies from Assyria (14.31) and Babylon (Jer 6.22).
41.26–27 No other god announced the rise of Cyrus; God proclaimed it first to Jerusalem.
41.28–29 The silence of the idols of the nations demonstrates their nonexistence.
ISAIAH 42
The Servant, a Light to the Nations
1Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,a
a light to the nations,
7to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8I am the LORD, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
9See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
A Hymn of Praise
10Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roarb and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the LORD,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13The LORD goes forth like a soldier,
like a warrior he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
I will gasp and pant.
15I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
“You are our gods.”
18Listen, you that are deaf;
and you that are blind, look up and see!
19Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf like my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,
or blind like the servant of the LORD?
20He sees many things, but doesc not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
Israel’s Disobedience
21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,
to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.
22But this is a people robbed and plundered,
all of them are trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with no one to rescue,
a spoil with no one to say, “Restore!”
23Who among you will give heed to this,
who will attend and listen for the time to come?
24Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the fury of war;
it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.
next chapter
* * *
a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Cn Compare Ps 96.11; 98.7: Heb Those who go down to the sea
c Heb You see many things but do
42.1–9 This text, or a part of this text (vv. 1–4), is one of four texts (49.1–7; 50.4–11; 52.13–53.12) that some schola
rs have identified as “servant songs.” Both the isolation of these songs from their larger context and the identification of the servant in them are disputed. Those who isolate the songs often identify the servant as an individual. The position taken here is that the songs should be read in context and that the servant is the nation Israel (see, e.g., note on 44.1–2).
42.1–4 The passage is cited as messianic prophecy in Mt 12.18–20.
42.1 My servant, whom I uphold, my chosen. The language points to the identification of Israel as the servant (41.8–10; 44.1–2; 44.21); God only used Cyrus for the sake of God’s servant Israel (45.1–4). Spirit, bring forth justice. Israel is equipped for (cf. 44.3) and given the task assigned to the ideal king in 11.1–5.
42.2–3 Unlike the ideal king, however, the servant neither strikes the earth nor kills the wicked with his royal command (11.4); his voice is not even heard. He brings forth justice in a different way.
42.4 Be crushed. It is the servant’s endurance of suffering that leads to the establishment of justice (see 53.11). Wait for his teaching. Cf. 11.10.
42.5–6a Despite appearances, Israel will not fail in its mission, for the one who called and sustains Israel is the creator and sustainer of the whole world.
42.6b–7 The light imagery used here is traditional imagery for a king’s establishment of justice. God’s servant will be a model to make that justice clear to all the nations.
42.6b A covenant to the people (49.8), a difficult expression, perhaps better “a cleansing for the people.”
42.7 To open the eyes…to bring out…from the dungeon. The subject of the infinitives is not the servant, but God, better conveyed by, “that I might open the eyes that are blind, bring out the prisoners from the dungeon.” The same Hebrew construction is found in 51.16, where stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth clearly refers to God’s actions, not those of Israel.
42.8 The LORD, Yahweh, the name of the only true God, a God who will allow no rival (Deut 4.23–24).
42.10–17 A song of victory to be sung by the whole world for God the warrior (Pss 96; 98).
42.11 Kedar. See note on 21.16. Sela, a city of Edom. This city is different from the Sela mentioned in 16.1.
42.13 Soldier, warrior. See Ex 15.3.
42.14–17 These verses quote God’s shout referred to in v. 13.
42.14 For a long time, during the long period of Israel’s punishment and exile. Held my peace…restrained myself. God’s silence is a metaphor for his failure to intervene in history (see Hab 1.13).
42.15–16 God’s work of destruction is to provide a path for his people to return to their land in a new exodus (11.15–16; Ex 13.21–22).
42.17 Having seen this intervention of the true God, idolaters will be ashamed of their misplaced trust in dead images.
42.18–25 Israel has not understood the significance of all that has befallen it in its history.
42.18–20 Cf. 6.9–10.
42.21–22 Though God wanted to glorify his teaching among the nations (2.3), blind and deaf Israel, God’s intended messenger, sits in exile as a pathetically plundered and helpless people.
42.23–25 Why is Israel languishing in exile? It has been punished for transgressing God’s teaching, though it did not understand.
42.24 Law, rendered teaching in v. 21.
42.25 Israel’s failure to learn from the fire of God’s judgment is a recurring motif in First Isaiah (1.5–7; 9.18–21).
ISAIAH 43
Restoration and Protection Promised
1But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopiaa and Seba in exchange for you.
4Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
6I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
8Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
9Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, “It is true.”
10You are my witnesses, says the LORD,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
11I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior.
12I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses, says the LORD.
13I am God, and also henceforth I am He;
there is no one who can deliver from my hand;
I work and who can hinder it?
14Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I will send to Babylon
and break down all the bars,
and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation.b
15I am the LORD, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.
16Thus says the LORD,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.
22Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, O Israel!
23You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,
or honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
or wearied you with frankincense.
24You have not bought me sweet cane with money,
or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have wearied me with your iniquities.
25I, I am He
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26Accuse me, let us go to trial;
set forth your case, so th
at you may be proved right.
27Your first ancestor sinned,
and your interpreters transgressed against me.
28Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
I delivered Jacob to utter destruction,
and Israel to reviling.
next chapter
* * *
a Or Nubia; Heb Cush
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
43.1–7 Now this period of punishment is ended, and God will redeem Israel.
43.1 Israel need not fear, for God its creator (44.2, 21, 24) and redeemer (41.14;48.17; 49.7) has claimed Israel as his own (Ex 19.5–6). By name indicates the intimate personal relationship to God (45.3–4; Ex 33.17).
43.2 God will protect his people through all the dangers they encounter (Ps 66.12).
43.3–4 God will give Egypt, Ethiopia, and the kingdom of Seba in Arabia to Cyrus as a ransom for his people.
43.5–7 God will gather the exiles of his people from the four corners of the world (11.11–12).
43.7 For my glory. Israel was created to bring glory to God (cf. 43.21).
43.8–13 Though they have been blind and deaf, the people of Israel will be God’s witnesses to the nations that the Lord is the only true God.
43.9 The nations are called upon to bring proof that their gods predicted the course of history (41.21–24).
43.10 My witnesses. Israel will testify on behalf of God. My servant. Note that the collective Israel is referred to in the plural as God’s witnesses and in the singular as God’s servant (see note on 42.1–9).
43.11–13 God has no rival or opponent worthy of the name.
43.14–21 God will break Israel out of its Babylonian exile in a new exodus.
43.14 The mention of Babylon and the Chaldeans shows that this oracle presupposes the Babylonian exile (597–539 BCE). Bars, the wooden or metal crosspieces that held gates shut; to break them was to open the gates, allowing Israel to leave Babylon.
43.15 God was Israel’s king (52.7).
43.16–17 An allusion to the exodus from Egypt (Ex 14–15; cf. Isa 51.9–11).
43.18–19 The new exodus from Babylon, when God will lead Israel home to Palestine through the wilderness, will be even more glorious than the former exodus.
43.20 Water in the wilderness. See Ex 15.22–25; 17.1–7; Num 20.2–13.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 263
