HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 264
43.21 See v. 7.
43.22–28 God did not wrong Israel; it was Israel who sinned against God and brought punishment upon itself.
43.22–23 Cf. Mic 6.3.
43.24 Sweet cane. See Ex 30.23; Jer 6.20.
43.25 God forgives Israel for God’s own sake, not because Israel is worthy of forgiveness.
43.26–28 If Israel wants to challenge this view of Israel’s history, Israel should present its evidence that God is the transgressor. For this point of view, see Ps 44.9–26.
43.27 First ancestor, Jacob (Gen 27–38; Hos 12.2–4). Interpreters, perhaps prophets and priests who were supposed to speak God’s word to the people (Hos 4.4–6; Jer 23.9–15).
43.28 Princes of the sanctuary, priests (2 Kings 25.18–21).
ISAIAH 44
God’s Blessing on Israel
1But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
2Thus says the LORD
who made you, who formed you in the womb and will help you:
Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my spirit upon your descendants,
and my blessing on your offspring.
4They shall spring up like a green tamarisk,
like willows by flowing streams.
5This one will say, “I am the LORD’s,”
another will be called by the name of Jacob,
yet another will write on the hand, “The LORD’s,”
and adopt the name of Israel.
6Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,
let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?a
Let them tell usb what is yet to be.
8Do not fear, or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
The Absurdity of Idol Worship
9All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know. And so they will be put to shame. 10Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good? 11Look, all its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans too are merely human. Let them all assemble, let them stand up; they shall be terrified, they shall all be put to shame.
12The ironsmith fashions itc and works it over the coals, shaping it with hammers, and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint. 13The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine. 14He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. 16Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!” 17The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
18They do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand. 19No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”
Israel Is Not Forgotten
21Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you, you are my servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it;
shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
and will be glorified in Israel.
24Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who by myself spread out the earth;
25who frustrates the omens of liars,
and makes fools of diviners;
who turns back the wise,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
26who confirms the word of his servant,
and fulfills the prediction of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”
and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,
and I will raise up their ruins”
27who says to the deep, “Be dry—
I will dry up your rivers”
28who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,
and he shall carry out all my purpose”
and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
next chapter
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a Cn: Heb from my placing an eternal people and things to come
b Tg: Heb them
c Cn: Heb an ax
44.1–5 Now, however, God will restore his blessings to his people.
44.1–2 My servant. Note the identification of the servant as Jacob/Israel, Jacob/Jeshurun.
44.2 Jeshurun (Deut 32.15; 33.5, 26), an old poetic name for Israel, perhaps meaning “upright one” in Hebrew.
44.3–4 God’s spirit causes the people to flourish like plants in a well-watered land (see 32.15).
44.5 Then the people will exult in their relationship to the Lord (cf. 4.3; Ps 87.5–6).
44.6–8 The Lord alone has demonstrated his control of history by the prophetic word; there is no other god to challenge the Lord (see 41.21–24).
44.8 Rock, an epithet for God as Israel’s protector (17.10; 26.4; 30.29; Deut 32.4, 18).
44.9–20 A prose satire on the absurdity of idolatry (cf. 40.18–20; 41.6–7).
44.18 Cf. 6.9–10; 42.18–20.
44.21–28 Reassurance to Israel.
44.21–23 These verses resume the theme of God’s redemption of Israel found in vv. 1–8.
44.21 My servant. Because of Israel’s special status as God’s uniquely created servant, God will never forget Israel.
44.22 God has swept away Israel’s sins as completely as the morning mists vanish before the sun.
44.23 All of nature is called upon to praise God for his redemption of Israel (cf. 42.10–12; Jer 51.48).
44.24–28 These verses summarize most of the themes in the preceding material.
44.24 Who alone…by myself. The Lord, the God of Israel, created the whole world without any assistance from any other deity (40.12–26; 42.5).
44.25–26 God by his guidance of history frustrates the predictions of the pagan diviners and confirms the predictions of the Israelite prophets who promised the restoration of Judah (cf. 41.21–29; 42.9; 43.8–13; 44.7–8).
44.27 Deep, double allusion to Babylon as the site of the new exodus from bondage and as the primordial sea of the cosmogonic myth
whose waters must be dried up so that Israel can return home (see 11.15–16; 51.10; Ps 74.12–17).
44.28 Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, identified as God’s agent for effecting Israel’s salvation. Shepherd, a standard metaphor for king (see Jer 23.1–6).
ISAIAH 45
Cyrus, God’s Instrument
1Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him
and strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him—
and the gates shall not be closed:
2I will go before you
and level the mountains,a
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches hidden in secret places,
so that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I surname you, though you do not know me.
5I am the LORD, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you, though you do not know me,
6so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe;
I the LORD do all these things.
8Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,b
and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
I the LORD have created it.
9Woe to you who strive with your Maker,
earthen vessels with the potter!c
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
or “Your work has no handles”?
10Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”
11Thus says the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Will you question med about my children,
or command me concerning the work of my hands?
12I made the earth,
and created humankind upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
13I have aroused Cyruse in righteousness,
and I will make all his paths straight;
he shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,
says the LORD of hosts.
14Thus says the LORD:
The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,f
and the Sabeans, tall of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours,
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying,
“God is with you alone, and
there is no other; there is no god besides him.”
15Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16All of them are put to shame and confounded,
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17But Israel is saved by the LORD
with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.
18For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
19I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
“Seek me in chaos.”
I the LORD speak the truth,
I declare what is right.
Idols Cannot Save Babylon
20Assemble yourselves and come together,
draw near, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge—
those who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the LORD?
There is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is no one besides me.
22Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
“To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.”
24Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
all who were incensed against him
shall come to him and be ashamed.
25In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory.
next chapter
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a Q Ms Gk: MT the swellings
b Q Ms: MT that they may bring forth salvation
c Cn: Heb with the potsherds, or with the potters
d Cn: Heb Ask me of things to come
e Heb him
f Or Nubia; Heb Cush
45.1–8 God’s commission to Cyrus.
45.1 Cyrus is the only non-Israelite designated in the OT as God’s anointed (i.e., messiah), a term usually reserved for Israel’s kings or high priests. The closest parallel is found in Jeremiah, where the prophet has God refer to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” (Jer 25.9; 27.6; 43.10).
45.2–3 God will assist and reward Cyrus for carrying out God’s commission, so that Cyrus will recognize that God is responsible for his success.
45.4–5 Though Cyrus does not know the Lord, the God of Israel, it is the Lord who has summoned and armed Cyrus for the sake of God’s servant Israel.
45.6–7 The Lord is doing this so that the whole world will recognize that the Lord alone is God, creator of nature and controller of history.
45.7 Light…darkness, weal…woe. God is in control of all the twists and turns of history, whether good or bad from a human standpoint.
45.8 Concluding command to heaven and earth to bring forth God’s salvation.
45.9–19 As the creator and lord of history, God is free to save Israel however God pleases.
45.9–12 There is no logical basis for Israel to challenge God’s way of working in the world (see 29.15–16; Rom 9.20), since Israel was created by God just like heaven and earth and the rest of humanity.
45.13 God is the one who raised up Cyrus, and he will free Israel and rebuild Jerusalem for God.
45.14 The nations will bring their wealth to Israel as tribute, will serve Israel, and will acknowledge that Israel’s God alone is God (49.22–23; 60.4–16;61.5–6).
45.15 Hides himself, a reference to God’s penchant for temporarily withdrawing from visible involvement in the world (8.17) and working in strange ways (28.21) that suggests that God’s use of Cyrus is totally in character.
45.16–17 Those who make idols will be put to shame, but Israel will be saved.
45.18–19 Israel’s exile in Babylon is not God’s final purpose for Israel. As the creator, God did not intend Israel to
live in a disordered and chaotic universe, but in a habitable one of order, truth, and right. Chaos, the disordered state prior to creation (Gen 1.2).
45.20–25 The remnant of the nations is summoned to gather and recognize the Lord as the only God in order that it may be saved.
45.20 Carry about their wooden idols. Just prior to Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon the Babylonian king Nabonidus had the images of the Babylonian gods carried from their local shrines to Babylon for safekeeping.
45.21 Unlike the Lord, the pagan gods did not predict the rise of Cyrus or the fall of Babylon.
45.22–23 The pagans are invited to acknowledge God and be saved.
45.23 By myself. God swears by himself since there is no higher power (cf. Heb 6.13). Every knee shall bow. Cf. Rom 14.11; Phil 2.10.
45.24 All who were incensed against him, all who were hostile to Israel (see 41.11–13; cf. Gen 12.1–3).
ISAIAH 46
1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops,
their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
as burdens on weary animals.
2They stoop, they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but themselves go into captivity.
3Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from your birth,
carried from the womb;
4even to your old age I am he,
even when you turn gray I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
5To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, as though we were alike?
6Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales—
they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!
7They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries out to it, it does not answer
or save anyone from trouble.
8Remember this and consider,a
recall it to mind, you transgressors,