Isaiah 40:1-11. The Prologue This first proclamation of glad tidings to Zion (see ch. Isaiah 41:27) is a passage of singular beauty, breathing the spirit of new-born hope and enthusiasm with which the prophet enters on his work. The announcement of a miraculous restoration of the exiles to their ow... [ Continue Reading ]
The term of Jerusalem's servitude is accomplished; she has suffered the full penalty of her transgressions. _Comfort ye_ The repetition of an emphatic opening word is characteristic of the writer's style; cf. ch. Isaiah 43:11; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 48:11; Isaiah 48:15; Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 51:12; Isai... [ Continue Reading ]
_speak ye comfortably to_ Lit. "speak to the heart of." To "speak to one's own heart" is to whisper or meditate (1 Samuel 1:13); to speak to the heart of another is to soothe, or persuade, or comfort. For the meaning of the phrase, see Genesis 34:3; Jdg 19:3; 2 Samuel 19:7; Hosea 2:14; and esp. Gene... [ Continue Reading ]
_The voice of him that crieth_ The word "voice" here and often has the force of an interjection; render accordingly: HARK! ONE CRYING. The voice is not that of God (on account of the following "our God"), neither is it a human voice; it comes from one of the angelic ministers of Jehovah and is addre... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet hears a voice calling on angelic powers to prepare the way of the Lord. It is doubtful whether Duhm is right in regarding this as a case of true prophetic "audition"; it is more naturally understood as a flight of poetic imagination.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND_ _the crooked …_ _PLAIN_] More literally: AND THE UNEVEN SHALL BECOME A PLAIN, AND THE RUGGED PLACES A VALLEY. _rough places_is a word of somewhat uncertain sense, which does not occur elsewhere. _straight_and _plain_are nouns in the original.... [ Continue Reading ]
In place of _it together_LXX. has "the salvation of God," borrowing apparently from ch. Isaiah 52:10. See Luke 3:6. _for the mouth … it_ This prophetic formula is nowhere else used by second Isaiah. The whole verse is deleted as a gloss by Duhm and Cheyne, but on grounds which seem insufficient.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The voice said, Cry_ Render (as before) HARK! ONE SAYING, CRY. "Cry" here evidently means "prophesy" as in Isaiah 40:2, ch. Isaiah 44:7; Isaiah 61:1 f.; Jeremiah 7:27. Hence the response, AND ONE SAID (R.V.) will naturally come from a prophet, the call being from the same quarter as in Isaiah 40:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
The second voice proclaims the double truth: all earthly might is transitory, the word of God is eternal. Logically the section interrupts the connexion between Isaiah 40:5 and Isaiah 40:9, and is itself a prelude to Isaiah 40:12 ff. But to transpose Isaiah 40:6, as is done by the two commentators j... [ Continue Reading ]
_the spirit of the Lord_ Better as R.V. THE BREATH OF THE LORD, i.e. the wind (Psalms 103:16), specially the scorching east-wind (Hosea 13:15) or Sirocco, which blows chiefly in the spring, blighting the fresh vegetation (see Smith, _Hist. Geog. of Palestine_, pp. 67 ff.). _surely the people is gras... [ Continue Reading ]
_the word of our God_ is the word spoken by the prophets to Israel, the announcement of Jehovah's immutable purpose in the world; this is the one permanent factor in human history. It is a mistake to limit the reference to the word of promise just declared by the prophet; the statement is general, a... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet announces the triumphal approach of Jehovah to Zion. _O Zion … tidings_ R.V. has O THOU THAT TELLEST GOOD TIDINGS TO ZION. Either translation is grammatically admissible; but the second is to be preferred, (1) because of the analogous passages Isaiah 41:27 and Isaiah 52:7, and (2) becaus... [ Continue Reading ]
_with strong_hand] R.V. AS A MIGHTY ONE; lit., "in (the capacity of) a strong one" (_Bêth essentiae_). The chief ancient versions vocalised the word as an abstract noun _běhôzeq_("with strength"), which yields an even better sense. _and his arm_shall _rule_ or HIS ARM RULING; the "arm," the symbol o... [ Continue Reading ]
These words are spoken by the prophet in his own person.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah as the Good Shepherd: an ideal picture of the homeward journey of the exiles, hardly of the permanent relations of Jehovah to His people in the final dispensation. The same image is used of the Restoration in Jeremiah 23:1 ff; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:11 ff.; Isaiah 49:9; cf. Isaiah 63:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Who can vie with Jehovah _in power?_The point of these questions lies in the smallness of the measures figured as being used by Jehovah in creating the universe, the hollow of the hand, the span, etc. Logically, the questions are not quite on the same line as those in Isaiah 40:13 f. There the answe... [ Continue Reading ]
The argument for the infinitude of God opens with a series of rhetorical questions, not needing to be answered, but intended to raise the thoughts of despondent Israelites to the contemplation of the true nature of the God they worshipped. For a different purpose, namely, to humble the pride of huma... [ Continue Reading ]
From the _POWER_ of Jehovah, the writer passes to expatiate on His perfect and self-sufficing _wisdom_. _Who hath directed_ The verb is the same as "meted out" in the previous verse, and the transition from the literal to the metaphorical use is somewhat uncertain. From the idea of "weighing out" ac... [ Continue Reading ]
_and_who _instructed_ Or, SO THAT HE INSTRUCTED. _path of judgment_ PATH OF RIGHT (_mishpâṭ_). See ch. Isaiah 28:26, where the word means orderly procedure; here the reference is to the order of nature, or else the transition is already made from creation to providence (Isaiah 40:15). _way of unde... [ Continue Reading ]
The insignificance of collective humanity before Jehovah. The meditation passes from Nature to History, with the same design of encouraging those who doubted Jehovah's power to save. _a drop of a bucket_ Rather: A DROP FROM THE BUCKET; which falls away without appreciably lessening the weight. _th... [ Continue Reading ]
So infinitely great is Jehovah that the forests of Lebanon would not yield fuel enough, nor its wild animals victims enough, for a holocaust worthy of Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_less than nothing_ Better: OF NOUGHT; "belonging to the category of nothingness" (Cheyne). _vanity_ The Hebr. is _tôhû_, a word which means primarily "a waste," and is applied in Genesis 1:2 to the primeval chaos (A.V. "without form"). See on ch. Isaiah 29:21; Isaiah 34:11. Here and in many other... [ Continue Reading ]
"To whom will ye liken God?" This question introduces the second distinct theme of the argument, the folly of idolatry. Although the prophet has in his mind the difficulties of Jews impressed by the fascinations of idolatry, his words are addressed not to them directly, but to men in general. The er... [ Continue Reading ]
_melteth a graven image_ R.V. THE GRAVEN IMAGE, A WORKMAN MELTED IT. The word _péṣel_means strictly a "graven image," but is used several times as here of an image in general. OVERLAYETH IT _with gold_ The idol consists of a core of brass which is cast by the "workman," and then handed over to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that is so … oblation_ R.V. HE THAT IS TOO IMPOVERISHED FOR SUCH AN OBLATION (lit. impoverished with respect to an oblation). If the text be sound this seems the only possible interpretation, although the whole sense turns on the word "such" which is in no way expressed. Moreover the technical _... [ Continue Reading ]
The next section (21 26) again commences with a series of questions driving home the force of the whole previous argument. The appeal seems to be still to mankind at large. _have ye not heard?_Rather: DO YE NOT KNOW? DO YE NOT HEAR? The two avenues by which the knowledge of God reaches the mind are... [ Continue Reading ]
The majesty of the God who reveals Himself in Creation and Providence is described in interjectional participial clauses, the force of which should not be blunted by the superfluous "It is" of E.V. _upon_(rather: ABOVE, R.V. marg.) _the circle of the earth_ i. e. the horizon, where earth and heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
The majesty of God displayed in Providence. _princes_ DIGNITARIES (a poetic word), "potent, grave and reverend signiors." _as vanity_ "as nothingness," lit. "chaos"; see on Isaiah 40:17. For _he maketh_, render WHO MAKETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, they shall not be_ Render: SCARCELY HAVE THEY BEEN PLANTED, SCARCELY HAVE THEY BEEN SOWN, SCARCELY HAS THEIR STOCK STRUCK ROOT IN THE EARTH, WHEN HE BLOWETH etc. (see R.V. marg.). _their stock_ The same word as "stem" in ch. Isaiah 11:1, but in a different sense. see the note there. 25, 26 f... [ Continue Reading ]
_To whom then_ Exactly as in Isaiah 40:18, and following a similar idea. _or shall I be equal?_ Or, as R.V., "that I should be equal _to him?"_ the Holy One Qâdôsh, without the art., almost like a proper name. So Job 6:10; Habakkuk 3:3, and perhaps Psalms 22:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and behold who hath created_ Better as R.V. marg.: AND SEE: WHO HATH CREATED THESE? The word "create" occurs fifteen times in ch. 40 55 and five times in the Chapter s which follow; perhaps not more than nine times in the whole of the _earlier_literature. No other language possesses a word so exclu... [ Continue Reading ]
_My way_ i.e. my circumstances, my lot (Psalms 37:5). Israel feels that its hard lot is overlooked or ignored by Jehovah; far harder is the complaint of Job (Isaiah 3:23) that God Himself has hidden his way, setting a hedge across it. _my judgment … God_ MY RIGHT PASSES FROM MY GOD, escapes His not... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet now turns to his own people, drawing the lesson of hope and encouragement which lies in the true doctrine of God. Jehovah, whom Israel still calls "my God" (Isaiah 40:27), is eternal and unchangeable, of infinite power and discernment (28), and the source of strength to those who have no... [ Continue Reading ]
that _the everlasting God, the Lord_ Better: AN EVERLASTING GOD IS JEHOVAH. HE _fainteth not_ a new sentence. there is _no searching_ Therefore it must be for wise reasons that Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill He treasures up His bright designs, etc. 29 should be joined in one... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even the youths shall faint_ Better: AND THOUGH YOUTHS FAINT AND ARE WEARY AND CHOICE YOUNG MEN STUMBLE (the protasis to Isaiah 40:31). Natural strength at its best is exhausted, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_they that wait upon the Lord_(shall) _renew_(lit. "exchange" cf. ch. Isaiah 9:10) their _strength_. _mount up with wings_ although an excellent sense, is doubtful grammatically. The authorities are divided between the Targ. on the one hand, and LXX. and Vulg. on the other. The former has "lift up... [ Continue Reading ]