Isaiah 41:1-7

2. CONQUEST, CHAPTER 41
a. GENTILES SILENCED

TEXT: Isaiah 41:1-7

1

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the peoples renew their strength; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.

2

Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot? he giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; he giveth them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.

3

He pursueth them, and passeth on safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

4

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I Jehovah, the first, and with the last, I am he.

5

The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come.

6

They help every one his neighbor; and every one saith to his brother, Be of good courage.

7

So the carpenter encourageth the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that it should not be moved.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the one from the east raised up by God?

b.

Which isles fear, tremble and encourage one another?

PARAPHRASE

Shut up and listen to Me, all you heathen enemies of Mine. I challenge all My enemies to clothe themselves in all the power they can muster and present themselves before Me. Then, when they have all the strength they can muster, let them speak and we will enter into contest together. I want to ask you ahead of time, Who do you think is raising up from the east your conqueror and My executioner of justice? It is I, Jehovah, whose sovereign providence gives you into My servant's hand. I give all your kings to be ruled over by him and I give your people to be ground into dust and smashed into pieces like stubble by the sword and bow of his warfare. He chases all My enemies away and goes wherever he wishes in safetyeven through territory unfamiliar and hostile to him. Who is capable of such omnipotence? It is He who, ever since there has been a human history, has called into existence the generations of meneven Jehovah, the Eternal, Uncaused First Cause. He is, I AM! The pagan peoples see and fear. My servant will strike trembling terror into the hearts of all people. Still they will draw together with one another and unite in their opposition to him to help and encourage one another insisting he is not capable of overcoming them all. They will feverishly engage themselves in the production of new and more ornate idols. The craftsmen will urge one another saying, We are doing a good job on these idolsthese will surely be great enough and permanent enough to keep us safe from him.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 41:1-4 JEHOVAH REIGNS: Just as the predicted Comfort of chapter 40 was to come to the Jews after their exile but realized ultimately in the Messiah, so the Conquest of chapter 41 is to come to the Jews (through Cyrus) but will be realized ultimately in the Messiah. Both comfort and conquest are to come to God's people through a servant. The Servant section (ch. 40-53) portrays three servants of Jehovah engaged in fulfilling His redemptive plan for mankind. Cyrus, Israel and the Suffering Servant, are the three servants of Isaiah's message. Cyrus and Israel are apparently types of the Suffering ServantCyrus typifying the conquering, judging aspect of the Messiah's work and Israel typifying the atoning, sanctifying aspect of the Messiah's work. Isaiah intertwines or meshes the work of all these closely together in this Servant section until it is difficult to distinguish which one he is describing. At times it appears he is describing both the type and the Antitype (e.g., Cyrus and the Messiah) in the same passageas in our present passage.

The word hkeriyshu is translated keep silence and means literally, to be blunted, dull, dumb, silent, or to hold the peace. Jehovah commands silence. He is going to issue an omnipotent, omniscient edict. He is going to predict providential events which will alter the destinies of all men and all nations. He is about to tell the world how He is going to run things. Mankind insists it is going to tell God how it is going to run the world. But God, through His prophet, commands, Shut up, I-'m going to tell you how I am going to run things.

The islands are the islands of the Mediterranean and Aegean. The isthmus of Greece and the islands of the Aegean (known as Javan to the Hebrews) represented the remotest regions of heathendom to the Hebrews of Isaiah's day. The Lord God is challenging the world that stands in opposition to His redemptive program to come before Him having clothed (hkeliyphu, Heb.) themselves in renewed strength and vigor and meet Him in a contest. The outcome of this contest will determine who runs the world. Similar challenges are made by Jehovah in Joel 3:1-15 (see our comments in Minor Prophets, College Press, pgs. 193-196) and Ezekiel 38-39. Joel and Ezekiel are predicting the battle of God and the world through Jesus Christ at the cross and the resurrection. We suspect that Cyrus-' conquest of the world (bringing God's judgment upon it) and Cyrus-' release of the Jews to return to their homeland (bringing God's redemption to them) was typical of the same battle at Calvary and the empty tomb.

The present passage speaks of Cyrus, emperor of Persia (one from the east.). There can be little doubt about this when one sees the extended context of Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 48:14-16). It predicts events and persons at least 100 years or more before they happened. Isaiah died about 700-690 B.C. Cyrus conquered Astyages in 550 B.C. and became sole ruler of Elam (Persia). Cyrus was probably born about 590-580 B.C.

Isaiah uses a word, leaumiym (root is loam), peculiar to his writings, which is translated peoples. It is less definite than either goiym or -'ammiym, two other Hebrew words translated peoples. Goiym stands for Gentiles; -'ammiym refers to a people as viewed by themselves, or, we people; loamiym stands for all races of people in general. God's announcement that He is going to take another omnipotent, providential step in His program of redemption through Cyrus (bringing the world under the magisterial rule of Cyrus and return of the covenant people to their land) is not a provincial announcementit is worldwide! Cyrus will be God's servant for all races!

Persia (today's Iran) was directly east of Palestine. In Isaiah's day it was known as Elam. The Persian empire flourished for approximately 200 years (549-332 B.C.) until Alexander the Greek conquered the world and turned it into a semi-Greek culture. One from the east definitely means Cyrus but probably includes all succeeding Persian emperors since the restoration of the Jewish people proceeded under Cyrus-' successors (see our comments Daniel, College Press, pages 347-349). Tsedeq (translated righteousness) would be better translated justice. It may refer to the justice of God upon His enemies accomplished through Cyrus as a secondary agent, or, it may refer to the personal character of Cyrus. Both would be appropriate since God uses secondary agents to govern the world and administer justice and Cyrus (as well as most of his successors) was known for fair, honest and just treatment of his subjects. The Jews, especially, held the Persians in high esteem for the treatment they received at their hand.

God's challenge to the races is: Which god of the races is able to withstand the one from the east whom I will send to execute My justice? Jehovah, the God of Israel, gives temporary rule of His world to whomever He pleases (cf. Isaiah 10:5-19; Jeremiah 27:1-11; Daniel 7:6; Daniel 9:24, etc.). When God's providence is decreed and predicted, nothing can thwart it! Cyrus shall, as God's servant, pound those who resist into dust and stubble with his weapons of war (sword and bow). Cyrus and his successors will conquer Asia Minor, Egypt, into India, and cross the Aegean and, for a time, occupy European soil in Greece. This is Cyrus II, or Cyrus The Great and few world conquerors have been regarded as highly as Cyrus. The Persians called him father. The Greeks regarded him as a master and lawgiver. When Alexander the Great found that Cyrus-' tomb had been rifled (by Greek soldiers and grave robbers), he ordered that the body be replaced and the contents of the tomb be restored as far as possible. To the Jews he was the Lord's anointed who ended the Babylonian exile and opened a new era in the history of Israel. Cyrus did not force Persian ideas on his subjects, but rather formed a synthesis of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, the Greek cities, and parts of India. It is reported by some historians that he was a monotheist, which would have exalted his image in the eyes of the Jews.

Cyrus marched on and on in shalom (safety), into the far reaches of civilization unfamiliar and hostile to him, until he met his death in battle about 530 B.C. His body was carried back to Pasargadae, one of his capital cities. There his body was covered with wax, according to Persian custom, and placed in a stately, dignified tomb which was guarded by faithful priests for 200 years. The tomb is still standing, but its contents have long since been removed.

Who has wrought this? Are the passing events of history, the births of nations and their deaths, merely the results of chance arrangements of atoms? Is the governing of the world left to the whims of tyrants and anarchists? Is history cyclical and doomed to repeat itself foreverdoomed never to reach the perfection it longs for? No! No nation exists apart from God. He calls the generations into existence. He makes rulers His servants. All of history, in one way or another, serves God's purpose. His purpose is to create out of mankind a kingdom of His own, trusting in His sovereignty, depending upon His grace, sanctifying itself in His holiness. The majority of men and women are in rebellion against God's purposes. The establishment of the kingdom of God (Christ as King, the church as the kingdom) began in a family (Seth, Noah and Abraham), expanded to a nation (the Israelites), then encompassed the world (the church). The very fact of the establishment of the kingdom program on earth, through men, pronounced the judgment of God upon all human governments and efforts to usurp God's sovereignty over man. Our text is simply another announcement by God that He is going to act through Cyrus to preserve His covenant people and His work of establishing His kingdom. Thus, all races are called together for a demonstration of His sovereignty by the very fact that God is able, through His prophet, to predict the conquest of Cyrus one hundred years before Cyrus was born!

Delitzsch says of verse four, It is the full meaning of the name Jehovah (Yaweh) which is unfolded here; for God is called Jehovah as the absolute I, the absolutely free Being, pervading all history, and yet above all history, as He who is Lord of His own absolute being, in revealing which He is purely self-determined; in a word, as the unconditionally free and unchangeably eternal personality.

Isaiah 41:5-7 JAVAN REELS: One has only to read the history of Persian conquests to see the fulfillment of these verses. The isles of the Mediterranean and the Aegean reeled and trembled under the warfare of Persian armies. They formed alliances and coalitions against the Persians. By the summer of 539 B.C. the Persian armies were ready to attack Babylon. Nabonidus, sensing the situation, brought the gods of the outlying regions into his capital, trusting that they would aid him in his time of need. This antagonized the people whose gods were displaced and brought further resentment to the priests of Babylon. This appears to be a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 41:5-7.

All during the Persian rule there were those segments of the empire resisting Persian friendship to the Hebrews (cf. Ezra 4:3-16). After the Persian empire, the Syrians (under the Seleucids) and the Egyptians (under the Ptolemies) opposed the work of God by persecuting the Hebrew people. Daniel predicts all these times of trouble.

What Isaiah is predicting in Isaiah 41:5-7 is that although Cyrus and the Persians shall be raised up by God to execute His judgment upon the heathen opposition to God's kingdom work, the heathen will tremble but they will not repent. They will unite, encourage one another, and continue to trust in gods of gold and wood. They will make newer and more gods, complimenting themselves that they have done a good job and that they have made gods that will survive the Servant of Jehovah.

Of course, new and better gods did not stop Cyrus. The Lord used him to fulfill that portion of the plan of divine redemption for which Cyrus was needed. Then, when the Lord needed Alexander the Great and all that his hellenization of the world could contribute to that redemptive plan, He permitted the Greeks to serve Him. Jehovah runs the world and there are not any gods of any race to usurp His sovereignty. Jehovah has silenced them all! Ultimately God silenced all His opposition at the cross and the empty tomb. Perhaps, in type, His work through Cyrus points to that ultimate moment!

QUIZ

1.

Who are the three Servants of this section?

2.

Why does God command the peoples to be silent?

3.

Where else does God challenge the world to meet Him in contest?

4.

How does God call Cyrus in righteousness?

5.

How great was Cyrus?

6.

What is the point in God predicting through Isaiah, 100 years before, these events concerning Cyrus?

7.

Did the people of the isles actually try to make new and better gods to stop Cyrus? When?