Isaiah 44:1
_Yet now_ BUT NOW; marking the contrast, exactly as in ch. Isaiah 43:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet now_ BUT NOW; marking the contrast, exactly as in ch. Isaiah 43:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 44:1. Once more the gloom of the present is lighted up by the promise of a brilliant future; the Divine spirit shall be poured out on Israel, and strangers shall esteem it an honour to attach themselves to the people of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
_formed thee from the womb_ See Isaiah 44:24, ch. Isaiah 49:5. _Jeshurun_occurs again only in Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 33:5; Deuteronomy 33:26; always as a synonym for Israel and a title of honour (hardly a diminutive, as the termination might suggest). It means the "Upright One," being formed... [ Continue Reading ]
On the first half of the verse see ch. Isaiah 41:17 ff. Here, however, a figurative sense predominates, as is shewn by what follows. The "spirit" is the agent both of physical and moral regeneration, as in ch. Isaiah 32:15 (cf. Ezekiel 37:11-14); the former idea being prominent; hence the parallelis... [ Continue Reading ]
_spring up as among the grass_ R.V., more accurately, omits "as"; but the text is unquestionably corrupt. There is no doubt that the LXX. preserves the true reading: SPRING UP AS GRASS AMONG THE WATERS. (Instead of the impossible בבן חציר, read כבין מים חציר.) _willows_ or POPLARS; see on ch. Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
The result of the Divine blessing manifested in Israel's restoration will be that foreigners shall attach themselves as proselytes to the Jewish community. The promise therefore goes far beyond ch. Isaiah 43:5-7. It is perhaps barely possible (with Dillmann) to understand this verse also of Israelit... [ Continue Reading ]
There is no God but Jehovah and Israel is His witness: this is the substance of the verses, and the proof is the familiar one from prophecy. _the King of Israel_ See on ch. Isaiah 41:21. _the Lord of hosts_ this solemn appellation (see on ch. Isaiah 1:9) occurs here for the first time in this prop... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 44:6-23. The Reality of Jehovah's Godhead, evinced by His Predictions, and contrasted with the manifold absurdities of Idolatry The passage, which is merely a restatement of ideas already expressed, consists of three divisions: i. _Isa 44:6-8_. A re-assertion and demonstration of the eterni... [ Continue Reading ]
The proof of Isaiah 44:6 is found in the incontestable fact of prophecy (as ch. Isaiah 41:22 ff., Isaiah 43:9; Isaiah 43:12; &c.). The verse as translated in A.V. and R.V. reads very awkwardly; it would have to be paraphrased thus: "And which of the other gods shall call etc., as I have done since I... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear ye not_ in the coming convulsions; the ground of confidence is that Jehovah has proved His control over these events by foretelling them. The verb for _be afraid_does not occur elsewhere. _from that time_ Rather BEFOREHAND, or, FROM OF OLD; as ch. Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 48:3; Isaiah 48:5; Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
The argument opens with the assertion of the nothingness alike of the idol and its makers. Fear on the part of Israel would be justified if other gods besides Jehovah had any power to influence the course of history. _a graven image_ for "image" in general, as ch. Isaiah 40:19. The writer assumes t... [ Continue Reading ]
now meditated were actually taken.... [ Continue Reading ]