Isaiah 41:17-20

God's Future Provision For His People In The Land (Isaiah 41:17).

Isaiah 41:17

‘The poor and needy seek water, and there is none,

And their tongue fails for thirst.

I, Yahweh, will answer them,

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.'

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 Isaiah 10:2), and needy, unable to face life's challenges (see Isaiah 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 (Isaiah 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 Isaiah 29:23 in a context where Jacob himself is pictured as watching them).

Isaiah 41:18

‘I will open rivers on the bare heights,

And copious springs in the midst of the valleys.

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

And the dry land springs of water.

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,

The acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree.

I will set in the desert the fir tree,

The pine, and the box tree together.

That they may see, and know, and consider,

And understand together,

That the hand of Yahweh has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it.'

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 (Isaiah 10:33), the streams dry up and the land becomes desert (Isaiah 34:9; Psalms 107:33). This thus has in mind the final blessing, as well as God's provision and protection along the way.