Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 42:10-17
A Further Song of Deliverance And Judgment (Isaiah 42:10).
Following on the revelation of the Servant comes the joy of the nations in seeing God at work though Him. In this brief section movement is rapid. The righteous will sing for joy at their deliverance, but God will shout His battlecries against the ungodly. He will introduce judgment with the earnestness of a woman in labour, and will bring drought upon the world. He will make easy the way of His chosen ones, but those who trust in idols will be turned away and be greatly ashamed.
In one sense this is the process of history, the advancement of God's good news, and God's continuing acts of judgment against unrighteousness. But in the final analysis it looks to the final triumph, and the final judgment of the wicked.
The Song Of Triumph and Praise (Isaiah 42:10).
‘Sing to Yahweh a new song,
And his praise from the end of the earth.
You who go down to the sea,
And all that is in it,
The isles and its inhabitants.
Let the wilderness and its cities lift up (their voices),
The villages that Kedar inhabits,
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,
Let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory to Yahweh,
And declare his praise in the islands.'
The certain success of the Servant is now made clear. The whole world is called on to give praise. Those who are at the end of the earth (north), those who go down to the sea, and those who are in the distant coastlands across the Great Sea and beyond (west), those who dwell in the cities in the wilderness, and those who live in Kedar's tent villages (east), and those who dwell in the rocky clefts (south - probably Sela in Edom. Obadiah 1:3 in his burden against Edom speaks of those who dwell in the clefts of Sela). The point is that all will be rejoicing, north, west, east and south, in every furthest and most obscure place, even the dry places in the wilderness, because of the work of the Servant.
They will sing to Yahweh a new song. It is a new song because of the new things that are happening. They will give Him praise, they will lift up their voices, they will sing, and those in the clefts of the rocks will shout from the top of the mountains and give glory to Yahweh, while those in the islands and coastlands will declare His praise. For the Servant is triumphant and his words and work will hold sway over the whole world, and they rejoice in it together. We may rightly see this as the result of the spreading of the Gospel by the early church, as the peoples rejoiced over the Good News that they had received (Acts 13:52), and as occurring through His church today, but in the end it depicts the introduction of the heavenly reality in the new heaven and the new earth, the everlasting kingdom. The one leads into the other.
The Judgment That Is Inevitably Coming (Isaiah 42:13).
‘Yahweh will go forth as a mighty man,
He will stir up zeal like a man of war,
He will cry, yes, he will shout aloud,
He will prove how mighty he is against his enemies.'
As often in Isaiah we move to the contrast. On the one hand glory, on the other judgment. While the Servant is bringing about the Kingly Rule of God, and the redeemed are singing their song, and shouting in rejoicing from the mountains, God will also be visiting the world in judgment, and shouting out His battlecries. It is described in terms of a Champion going out to war. He will go out like a warrior, He will stir up zeal in Himself, like soldiers stir up each other's zeal before the battle, He will call out against the enemy, yes, He will shout His battlecries, and then He will battle mightily against His enemies, bringing them to destruction and defeat. Again it will occur through history but find its final fulfilment at the end of time, for Isaiah is not depicting particular events, he is describing what God will do when He chooses to act.
“I have held my peace from the distant past (everlasting),
I have been still and refrained myself,
Now will I cry out like a woman in labour,
I will gasp and pant together.'
From the moment when man first fell, and even from before, from His awareness of that in eternity, God has waited for this moment. He has been still and restrained Himself from acting, but now the time has come to bring judgment to birth, and like a woman in labour He cries out, He pants, He gasps, all at once. The end of all things is at hand, and God is constrained until it is fulfilled. Never was moment so important.
‘I will make waste mountains and hills,
And dry up all their vegetation,
And I will make the rivers, islands,
And will dry up the pools.'
Compare the description of the judgment of the earth in Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 24:3, and of Eden in Isaiah 34:9 and contrast Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 35:7. Here the cause of it all is drought. The vegetation in the mountains and hills will be dried up and the mountains made like a waste place, the river levels will drop resulting in large islands where once there was water, and the pools will dry up and become empty. The rain has not come and the land is bare and desolate. So, while for the people of God there is blessing, (often described in terms of the exact opposite of this), for the unbelieving world there is only final judgment.
But The Chosen Will Be Led Into The Light By God Through The Servant (Isaiah 42:16).
‘And I will bring the blind by a way that they do not know,
And in paths that they do not know will I lead them,
I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight,
These things I will do and I will not forsake them.'
While God is going forward in judgment He will not forget His own. This is God's preparation for that day, and describes God at work through the Servant (see Isaiah 49:9). The blind will be led by him safely through their darkness in ways and paths that they do not know because they cannot see. The visual image of blind men being led along was a common one, and is used here of the guiding of men towards light by the Servant. For walking in the way compare Isaiah 35:8. Life before God is often spoken of in such terms. It is a daily walk. And then at last the darkness will be made light before them, and they will see.
In Isaiah 42:19 the question is, ‘Who is blind but My servant?'. So here the Servant also is ministering to that part of Israel who were blind, just as in Isaiah 49:6 he will ‘raise up the tribes of Jacob'.
‘And the crooked ways will be made straight.' This latter is the same as happened to the route that Yahweh took in Isaiah 40:4. It is a way prepared for conquerors. It is a way made easier by the Servant. And over all is the promise that He will do this and will not forsake them. God's deep concern for them is revealed.
There may be behind this a reference to the Exodus. Then Israel stumbled along like deaf and blind people, led by His servant Moses, and God made darkness light before them, leading them in a pillar of fire, and He straightened the crooked way, and brought them safely through, never forsaking them in spite of their deserts. And He will ever do the same for those whom He draws to Him.
Idolaters Will Be Turned Back And Will Be Greatly Ashamed (Isaiah 42:17).
‘They will be turned back,
They will be greatly ashamed,
Who trust in graven images,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods”.'
In contrast to those who see are those who are idolaters. To the cry ‘behold your God' (Isaiah 40:9) they reply ‘you idols are our gods'. God does not so much have deep concern for them (they have forfeited that), but deep concern about them. Their end can only be disastrous for they are trusting in nothings. This can only result in their discomfort and shame. Instead of going forward confidently like the blind led by the Servant they will be turned back and discomfited.