Isaiah 45 commentary

Cyrus is called God's anointed; he was designed and qualified for his great service by the counsel of God. The gates of Babylon which led to the river, were left open the night that Cyrus marched his army into the empty channel. The Lord went before him, giving entrance to the cities he besieged. He gave him also treasures, which had been hidden in secret places. The true God was to Cyrus an unknown God; yet God foreknew him; he called him by his name. The exact fulfilment of this must have shown Cyrus that Jehovah was the only true God, and that it was for the sake of Israel that he was prospered. In all the changes of states and kingdoms, God works out the good of his church.

There is no God beside Jehovah. There is nothing done without him. He makes peace, put here for all good; and creates evil, not the evil of sin, but the evil of punishment. He is the Author of all that is true, holy, good, or happy; and evil, error, and misery, came into the world by his permission, through the wilful apostacy of his creatures, but are restrained and overruled to his righteous purpose. This doctrine is applied, for the comfort of those that earnestly longed, yet quietly waited, for the redemption of Israel. The redemption of sinners by the Son of God, and the pouring out the Spirit, to give success to the gospel, are chiefly here intended. We must not expect salvation without righteousness; together the Lord hath created them. Let not oppressors oppose God's designs for his people. Let not the poor oppressed murmur, as if God dealt unkindly with them. Men are but earthen pots; they are broken potsherds, and are very much made so by mutual contentions. To contend with Him is as senseless as for clay to find fault with the potter. Let us turn God's promises into prayers, beseeching him that salvation may abound among us, and let us rest assured that the Judge of all the earth will do right.

Believers may ask in prayer for what they need; if for their good, it will not be withheld. But how common to hear God called to account for his dealings with man! Cyrus provided for the returning Jews. Those redeemed by Christ shall be provided for. The restoration would convince many, and convert some; and all that truly join the Lord, find his service perfect freedom. Though God be his people's God and Saviour, yet sometimes he lays them under his frowns; but let them wait upon the Lord who hides his face. There is a world without end; and it will be well or ill with us, according as it shall be with us in that world. The Lord we serve and trust, is God alone. All that God has said is plain, satisfactory, and just. As God in his word calls us to seek him, so he never denied believing prayers, nor disappointed believing expectations. He gives grace sufficient, and comfort and satisfaction of soul.

The nations are exhorted to draw near to Jehovah. None besides is able to help; he is the Saviour, who can save without the assistance of any, but without whom none can save. If the heart is brought into the obedience of Christ, the knee will cheerfully obey his commands. To Christ men shall come from every nation for blessings; all that hate his cause shall be put to shame, and all believers shall rejoice in him as their Friend and Portion. All must come to him: may we now come to him as the Lord our Righteousness, walking according to his commandments.

1. Thus saith Jehovah. He pursues the subject which he had begun to handle. He shews that not in vain did he promise deliverance to his people, since the manner of it was altogether decreed and appointed by him; “Estoit decrete et ordonne desia en son conseil.” “Was already decreed and appointed in his counsel.” for when the question relates to our salvation, we always inquire into the way and manner. Although God frequently chooses to hold us in suspense, and thus conceals from us the method which he has ready at hand, yet, in this instance he indulges the weakness of his people, and explains the method in which he will deliver them.

To Cyrus his anointed. He names the person by whose hand he will bring them back; for, since their faith would be sharply tried by other temptations, he wished in this respect to provide against doubt, that the difficulty of the event might not shake them. And in order to impart greater efficacy to this discourse, he turns to Cyrus himself: “I have chosen thee to be a king to me; I will take hold of thy hand, and will subject the nations to thy authority, so that they shall open up a passage for thee, and voluntarily surrender.” These words have greater effect than if the Lord spoke to his people.

Yet it might be thought strange that he calls Cyrus his Anointed; for this is the designation which was given to the kings of Israel and Judah, because they represented the person of Christ, who alone, strictly speaking, is “the Lord’s Anointed.” “The Lord went forth with his Anointed,” says Habakkuk, “for the salvation of his people.” (Habakkuk 3:13.) In the person of David a kingdom had been set up, which professed to be an image and figure of Christ; and hence also the prophets in many passages call him “David,” and “the Son of David.” (Ezekiel 37:24, 25.) It was indeed a special anointing, intended to distinguish that priestly kingdom from all heathen kingdoms. Since therefore this title belonged to none but the kings of Judea, it might be thought strange that it is here bestowed on a heathen king and a worshipper of idols; for although he was instructed by Daniel, yet we do not read that he changed his religion. True, he regarded with reverence the God of Israel, and considered him to be the Highest; but he was not prompted by a sincere affection of the heart to worship him, and did not advance so far as to forsake superstitions and idolatries.

Thus God deigns to call him his “Anointed,” not by a perpetual title, but because he discharged for a time the office of Redeemer; for he both avenged the Church of God and delivered it from the Assyrians, who were its enemies. This office belongs peculiarly to Christ; and this ordinary appellation of kings ought to be limited to this circumstance, that he restored the people of God to the enjoyment of liberty. This should lead us to observe how highly God values the salvation of the Church, because, for the sake of this single benefit, Cyrus, a heathen man, is called “the Messiah,” For an explanation of the meaning and use of the term “Messiah,” see Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 1, p. 92, n. 2, and p. 142, n. 2. — Ed. or “the Anointed.

Whose right hand I have taken hold of. By this mode of expression, he means that Cyrus shall prosper in all his undertakings, for he shall carry on war under God’s direction; and therefore Isaiah declares that, for the sake of the Church, in order that he may deliver her, God will grant to him prosperity in all things; while he again commends the providence of God, that the Jews may fully believe, amidst changes and troubles, that God on high governs all things in such a manner as to promote the benefit of his elect. Now, since it was not easy for Cyrus to penetrate as far as Babylon, because the whole of Asia had leagued together in order to frustrate his designs, the Prophet testifies that God will dissolve all the strength which men can bring against him.

I will loose the loins of kings. Because the whole strength lies in the reins, the Hebrew writers use the phrase “opening,” or “loosing the loins,” to denote “being deprived of strength.” We might also view it somewhat differently, that is, that the Lord will “make bare,” or “loose their loins,” according to the customary manner of Scripture, by which kings are said to be ungirded of the belt, namely, of the badge of royalty, when they are deprived of authority. Job (Job 12:18) employs this mode of expression, and Isaiah will afterwards employ it: Our author has already explained this allusion. See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 2, p. 135. — Ed. “I will gird thee.” (Ver. 5.) On this account I more readily adopt this sense, that the force of the contrast may be more evident. This shews clearly that kings have just as much strength and power as the Lord bestows on them for the preservation of each nation; for when he determines to convey their authority to others, they cannot defend their condition by any weapons or swords.

To open the gates before him. By this expression he means that no fortresses can resist God, which indeed is acknowledged by all, but yet they do not cease to place foolish confidences in bulwarks and fortresses; for, where cities are well surrounded by walls, and the gates are shut, men think that there they are safe. On the other hand the Prophet shews that all defences are useless, and that it serves no purpose to block up every entrance, when the Lord wishes to open up a way for the enemies. Although it is certain that the gates were shut and securely barred, yet, because Cyrus pushed his way as swiftly as if all the cities had been thrown open, the Prophet justly affirms that nothing shall be closed against him.

2. and 3. I will go before thee. These two verses contain nothing new; but, in general, he shews that Cyrus will gain an easy and rapid victory, because he will have the Lord for the leader of his expedition. Accordingly he promises that all crooked paths shall be made straight, because God will remove every obstruction. Now, since money is the sinews of war, and Cyrus came from the scorched and poor mountains of Persia, Jehovah says that treasures which were formerly hidden and concealed shall come into the hands of Cyrus, so that, laden with rich booty, he shall have enough for defraying any expenditure; for by the treasures of darkness he means those which lay concealed, and as it were buried in safe and deep places of defense. It is abundantly clear from history, that all these things happened; for by taking Croesus, king of Lydia, who was at that time the richest of all men, he obtained large sums of money. Nor would any one have expected that he would gain victories so easily; and the reason of so great success is now added, because the Lord called and directed him, that he might give in him an illustrious demonstration of his power; for he adds —

That thou mayest know that I am Jehovah. True, Cyrus, as we formerly said, though he acknowledged that the God of Israel is the true God, and was filled with admiration, yet was not converted to him, and never embraced his pure worship according to the standard of the Law. This was therefore special knowledge, that is, so far as he assisted the Church, for whose deliverance he was appointed; and therefore it was necessary that he should be under the influence of this knowledge, in order that he might execute this work of God. Thus he does not speak of that knowledge by which we are enlightened, or about the Spirit of regeneration, but about special knowledge, such as men destitute of religion “Les profanes et incredules.” “Heathens and infidels.” may possess.

Calling thee by thy name. From some commentators this mode of expression has received a trivial interpretation, that “before Cyrus was born, God called and described him by his name.” But we have seen in a former passage, (Isaiah 43:1,) that the Prophet, while he used the same form of expression, meant something different; for God is said to “call by name” those whom he has chosen, and whom he appoints to perform some particular work, that they may be separated from the multitude. This word denotes closer and more familiar intercourse. Thus a shepherd is said to “call his sheep by name,” (John 10:3,) because he knows them individually. This applies indeed, in the highest degree, to believers, whom God reckons as belonging to his flock, and to the number of the citizens of his Church. God did not bestow this favor on Cyrus; but because, by appointing him to be the leader of so excellent a deliverance, he engraved on him distinguished marks of his power; with good reason is the commendation of an excellent calling applied to him.

The God of Israel. This ought to be carefully observed; for superstitious men ascribe to their idols the victories which they have obtained, and, as Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:16) says, “They sacrifice every one to his god;” and therefore they wander in their thoughts, and conceive in their hearts any deity that they fancy, while they ought to acknowledge that Jehovah is the only and true God. What is said of Cyrus ought to be much more applied to us, that we may not fashion any knowledge of God according to our fancy, but may distinguish him from idols, so as to embrace him alone, and to know him in Christ alone, apart from whom nothing but an idol, or even a devil can be worshipped. In that; respect, therefore, let us surpass Cyrus, to whom the knowledge of God was revealed, so that we may lay aside superstitions and all false worship, and may thus adore him in a holy and upright manner.

4. For the sake of my servant Jacob. He shews for what purpose he would grant such happy and illustrious success to this prince. It is, in order that he may preserve his people; as if the Lord had said, “Thou shalt indeed obtain a signal victory, bur I will have regard to my own people rather than to thee; for it is for their sake that I subject kings and nations to thy power.” By these predictions, indeed, the Lord intended to encourage the hearts of believers, that they might not despair amidst those distresses; but undoubtedly he intended likewise to excite Cyrus to acknowledge that he owed to that nation all that he should accomplish, that he might he more disposed to treat them with all kindness.

And Israel mine elect. In this second clause there is a repetition which serves still farther to explain that reason; and at the same time he shews on what ground he reckons the Israelites to be “his servants.” It is because he condescended to choose them by free grace; for it is not in the power of men to make themselves “servants of God,” or to obtain so great honor by their own exertions. This clause is therefore added, “Ce mot d’ eleu est donc adjuste.” “This word elect is thus added.” as before, for the sake of explanation. But still it denotes also the end of election; for, since we are naturally the slaves of Satan, we are called in order that, being restored to liberty, we may serve God. Yet he shews that no man is worthy of that honor, as we have said, but he whom God hath chosen; for who will boast that he is worthy of so high an honor, or what can we render or offer to God? Thus “we are not sufficient of ourselves, but the Lord hath made us sufficient,” as Paul says. (2 Corinthians 3:5.) The beginning of our salvation, therefore, is God’s election by free grace; and the end of it is the obedience which we ought to render to him.

But although this is limited to the history of Cyrus, still we may draw from it a general doctrine. When various changes happen in the world, God secures at the same time the salvation of his people, and in the midst of storms wonderfully preserves his Church. We are indeed blind and stupid as to the works of God, yet we ought firmly to believe that, even when everything appears to be driven about at random, and to be tossed up and down, God never forgets his Church, whose salvation, on the contrary, he promotes by hidden methods, so that it is at length seen that he is her guardian and defender.

Josephus relates a memorable narrative about Alexander, who, while he was besieging Tyre, sent ambassadors to Jerusalem, to demand the tribute which the Jews were paying to Darius. Jaddus, the high-priest, who had sworn that he would pay that tribute, would not become subject to Alexander, and refused to pay him the tribute. Alexander was highly offended, and, swelling with pride and fierceness, determined to destroy Jerusalem, and, after having conquered Darius, marched to Jerusalem, for the purpose of consigning it to utter destruction. Jaddus went out to meet him, accompanied by other priests and Levites, wearing the priestly dress; and Alexander, as soon as he saw him, leapt from his horse, and threw himself down as a suppliant at his feet. Every person was astonished at a thing so strange and so inconsistent with his natural disposition, and thought that he had lost his senses. Parmenio, who alone of all who were present asked the reason, received a reply, that he did not adore this man, but God, whose servant he was; and that, before he left Dion, a city of Macedonia, a man of that appearance and dress, who appeared to have the form of God, presented himself to him in a dream, encouraged him to take Asia, and promised to be the leader of the army, so that he ought to entertain no doubt of victory, and therefore that he could not but be powerfully affected by seeing him. In this manner, therefore, was Jerusalem rescued from the jaws of that savage highwayman who aimed at nothing else than fire and bloodshed, and even obtained from him greater liberty than before, and likewise gifts and privileges. Joseph. Ant., Book 11, chap. 8.

I have quoted this example in order to shew that the Church of God is preserved in the midst of dangers by strange and unusual methods. Those were troublous times, and scarcely a corner of the earth was at rest; but above all other countries Judea might be said to be devoted to destruction. Yet behold the Church rescued in a wonderful and unusual manner, while other nations are destroyed, and nearly the whole world has changed its face!

And yet thou hast not known me. These words are added for the purpose of giving greater force to the statement, not only that Cyrus may learn that this is not granted on account of any of his own merits, but that he may not despise the God of Israel, though he does not know him. The Lord frequently, indeed, reminds us on this subject, that he anticipates all the industry that exists in men, in order that he may beat down all the pride of the flesh. But there is another reason, as regards Cyrus; for if he had thought that the Lord granted those things for his own sake, he would have disregarded the Jews and treated them as despicable slaves. For this reason the Lord testifies that it does not happen on account of Cyrus’s own merit, but only for the sake of the people, whom he determines to rescue out of the hands of enemies. Besides, nothing was more probable than that this man, in his blindness, would appropriate to his idols that which belonged to the true God; because, being entirely under the influence of wicked superstitions, he would not willingly have given place to a strange and unknown God, if he had not been instructed by this prediction.

5. I am Jehovah. He confirms the preceding statement, and the repetition is not superfluous; for it was proper that it should be often repeated to Cyrus, that there is one God, by whose hands all rulers and nations are governed, that he might be drawn aside from all delusions and be converted to the God of Israel. Besides, it is clearly stated that we ought not to try to find divinity in any other; as if he had said, “Beware of ascribing this victory to idols, or forming any confused idea of a god such as men imagine; know that the God of Israel is the only author of this victory.” Although Cyrus did not profit by this admonition to such an extent as to leave his idols and devote himself to the true God, yet it made so deep an impression on his heart that he acknowledged Jehovah to be God and to possess the highest authority. At the same time, it was proper that they who were members of the Church should embrace this doctrine, that they might boldly despise all pretended gods.

I have girded thee. That girding corresponds to the nakedness which he formerly mentioned, (verse 1,) when he said that he “opened” or “ungirded the loins of kings;” for he is said to “gird” those whom he supplies with strength and courage and renders victorious. Hence it ought to be inferred, that men have no courage but when the Lord imparts to them his power and strength, that neither weapons nor any military force can do anything unless he assist, and, in a word, that he presides over all wars, and gives victory to whomsoever he pleases, that none may think that it happens by chance. He again repeats, Though thou hast not known me, in order to make it still more certain that these things are granted to Cyrus for the sake of the Church, in order that he may give evidence that he remembers it with gratitude, and may shew kindness to the people of God in return for such a distinguished favor.

6. Therefore they shall know. He means that this favor shall be so remarkable as to be acknowledged and admired by all nations. This was not indeed immediately fulfilled; for, although the fame of that victory was spread far and wide, yet few understood that the God of Israel was the author of it; but it was immediately made known to the neighbors, and was communicated by one nation to another, till the report of it was spread throughout the whole world. He does not predict what shall happen immediately, but what shall happen afterwards, though these things were long concealed. God therefore did not permit the remembrance of this transaction to fade away, but determined that it should be handed down in permanent records, that it might be celebrated in all ages, and by the most distant nations, to the very end of the world. We must therefore remember what I formerly remarked, that the Prophet interweaves earlier and later events, because the return of the people was the prelude to a future redemption, and that he thus speaks of a perfect restoration of the Church. Besides, when it happens that the illustrious works of God are buried by the ingratitude and malice of men, still it does not cease to be true, that they shall be visible to the whole world; for they shine openly and brightly, though the blind do not see them.

7. Forming light. As if he had said, that they who formerly were wont to ascribe everything either to fortune or to idols shall acknowledge the true God, so as to ascribe power and the government and glory of all things, to him alone. He does not speak of perfect knowledge, though this intelligence is requisite for the attainment of it. But since the Prophet says that it shall be manifest even to heathens, that everything is directed and governed by the will of God, they who bear the Christian name ought to be ashamed, when they strip him of his power, and bestow it on various governors, whom they have formed according to their fancy, as we see done in Popery; for God is not acknowledged when a bare and empty name is given to him, but when we ascribe to him full authority.

Making peace, and creating evil. By the words “light” and “darkness” he describes metaphorically not only peace and war; but adverse and prosperous events of any kind; and he extends the word peace, according to the custom of Hebrew writers, to all success and prosperity. This is made abundantly clear by the contrast; for he contrasts “peace” not only with war, but with adverse events of every sort. Fanatics torture this word evil, as if God were the author of evil, that is, of sin; but it is very obvious how ridiculously they abuse this passage of the Prophet. This is sufficiently explained by the contrast, the parts of which must agree with each other; for he contrasts “peace” with “evil,” that is, with afflictions, wars, and other adverse occurrences. If he contrasted “righteousness” with “evil,” there would be some plausibility in their reasonings, but this is a manifest contrast of things that are opposite to each other. Consequently, we ought not to reject the ordinary distinction, that God is the author of the “evil” of punishment, but not of the “evil” of guilt.

But the Sophists are wrong in their exposition; for, while they acknowledge that famine, barrenness, war, pestilence, and other scourges, come from God, they deny that God is the author of calamities, when they befall us through the agency of men. This is false and altogether contrary to the present doctrine; for the Lord raises up wicked men to chastise us by their hand, as is evident from various passages of Scripture. (1 Kings 11:14, 23.) The Lord does not indeed inspire them with malice, but he uses it for the purpose of chastising us, and exercises the office of a judge, in the same manner as he made use of the malice of Pharaoh and others, in order to punish his people. (Exodus 1:11 and 2:23.) We ought therefore to hold this doctrine, that God alone is the author of all events; that is, that adverse and prosperous events are sent by him, even though he makes use of the agency of men, that none may attribute it to fortune, or to any other cause.

8 Drop down dew from above. Some think that a form of prayer is here added, which it was the duty of believers to use while they were waiting for the redemption which is here described; and they connect this verse with the preceding in the following manner, “The Lord will not so speedily deliver you, but still it is your duty to be diligently employed in prayer.” But I interpret it differently in this manner. The Prophet always speaks in the name of God, who, in the exercise of his authority, calls on heaven and earth to lend their services to the restoration of the Church.

This verse is fitted very powerfully to confirm the godly in the hope of future redemption; for the people, wherever they looked, saw nothing but despair. If they tumed their eyes towards heaven, there they beheld the wrath of God; if towards the earth, there also were beheld afflictions and chastisements; and therefore nothing fitted to lead them to entertain favorable hope was visible. On this account the Prophet confirms them, and enjoins heaven and earth, which held out nothing but threatentings and terrors, to bring forth salvation and “righteousness.” This is more emphatic than if he promised that it shall be, when all the elements, which are ready to yield obedience to God, receive orders as to what he wishes them to do. And thus the stream of the discourse will flow on continuously, which otherwise will be abruptly broken off, if we understand this passage to be a prayer. “This is what is usually called ‘a prophetic imperative,’ which supplies the place of the future tense; for the prophets command those things to be done which they promise, and which they know will certainly happen. Thus Elisha said to Naaman, ‘Wash thee seven times in Jordan, and be thou clean;’ that is, ‘And thou shalt be clean.’ (2 Kings 5:10.) See also Isaiah 23:1, and 26:19“ — Rosenmuller.

And let the clouds drop righteousness. This form of expression is frequently employed in Scripture; such as,

“And the mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills righteousness.” (Psalm 72:3.)

And again, “Piety and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other; truth shall spring from the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven;” where David describes the kingdom of Christ and its prosperity, and shews that in it “righteousness, peace, mercy, and truth, shall be joined together.” (Psalm 85:10, 11.) This passage treats of the same subject. There is an allusion to the ordinary food of men, who subsist on bread and other productions of the soil; for their life needs such aids. Now, in order that the earth may bring forth fruits, it must obtain its vigor from heaven and draw water from the clouds, that it may be rendered fertile, and then bring forth herbs and fruits both for men and for animals.

By the word righteousness he means nothing else than the fidelity with which the Lord defends and preserves his people. The Lord thus “drops down from heaven righteousness,” that is, well established order, of which salvation is the fruit; for he speaks of the deliverance of the people from Babylon, in which the Lord shews that he will be their protector. Yet while we understand the natural meaning of the Prophet, we must come down to the kingdom of Christ, to which these words undoubtedly bear a spiritual import; for God does not limit these promises to a few years, but continues his favors down to the coming of Christ, in whom all these things were abundantly fulfilled. There can be no doubt, therefore, that he likewise celebrates that eternal righteousness and salvation which is brought to us by Christ; but we ought first to observe that simple interpretation about the return from the captivity in Babylon.

9. and 10. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker! This passage is explained in various ways. Some think that it refers to King Belshazzar, who, as is evident from Daniel, haughtily defied God, when he profaned the vessels of the Temple. (Daniel 5:3.) But that is too forced an exposition. The second might appear to be more probable, that the Lord grants far more to his children than a man would grant to his sons, or an artisan to his work; for they suppose that a comparison of this kind is made. “If the son rise up against the father, and debate with him, he will not be listened to. The father will choose to retain his power, and deservedly will restrain his son; and in like manner, if the clay rise up against the workman. But the Lord permits questions to be put to him, and kindly offers to satisfy the people; nay, even bids them put questions to him.” And thus they join together the 10th and 11th verses, and think that God’s forbearance is manifested by treating us with greater kindness, and condescending to greater familiarity, than men usually exhibit towards their sons.

The latter exposition is indeed more plausible, but both are at variance with the Prophet’s meaning; and therefore a more simple view appears to me to be, to understand that the Prophet restrains the complaints of men, who in adversity murmur and strive with God. This was a seasonable warning, that the Jews, by patiently and calmly bearing the cross, might receive the consolation which was offered to them; for whenever God holds us in suspense, the flesh prompts us to grumble, “Why does he not do more quickly what he intends to do? Of what benefit is it to him to torture us by his delay?” The Prophet, therefore, in order to chastise this insolence, says, “Does the potsherd dispute with the potter? Do sons debate with their fathers? Has not God a right to treat us as he thinks fit? What remains but that we shall bear patiently the punishments which he inflicts on us? We must therefore allow God to do what belongs to him, and must not take anything from his power and authority.” I consider הוי, (hoi,) Wo! to be an interjection expressive of reproof and chastisement.

Potsherd to potsherds. That is, as we say in common language, (Que chacun se prenne a son pareil,) “Let each quarrel with his like,” “Let potsherds strive with potsherds of the earth.” “It seems to be a just observation of Hitzig, that earth is not mentioned as the dwelling of the potsherd, but as its material, which is indeed the predominant usage of אדמה, (adamah,) as distinguished from ארץ, (eretz.)” — Alexander. When he sends men to those who are like themselves, he reproves their rashness and presumption, in not considering that it is impossible to maintain a dispute with God without leading to destruction; as if he had said, “With whom do they think that they have to deal? Let them know that they are not able to contend with God, “Que Dieu sera plus fort qu’ eux.” “That God will be stronger than they.” and that at length they must yield. And if, unmindful of their frailty, they attack heaven after the manner of the giants, they shall at length feel that they did wrong in warring “Qu’ ils ont eu tort de guerroyer.” with their Maker, who can without any difficulty break in pieces, and even crush into powder, the vessels which he has made.

Some interpret חשים (charasim) to mean “workmen” or “potters,” and suppose the meaning to be, “Shall the potsherd rise up against the potter?” But those interpreters change the point and read ש (schin) instead of ש (sin). I acknowledge that such diversity and change may easily occur, but I prefer to follow the ordinary reading, and to adopt this simple meaning, “Shall the clay say to its maker? A potter is allowed to make any vessel of what form he pleases, a father is allowed to command his sons; will you not admit that God possesses a higher right?” Thus he reproves those who in adversity remonstrate with God, and cannot patiently endure afflictions.

We ought therefore to listen to the warning given by Peter, when he bids us learn to submit to God, and to “humble ourselves under his mighty hand,” (1 Peter 5:6,) so as to yield to his authority, and not to strive with him, if he sometimes tries us by various afflictions; because we ought to acknowledge his just right to govern us according to his pleasure. If we must come to debate, he will have such strong and decisive arguments as shall constrain us, being convicted, to be dumb. And when he restrains the insolence of men, it is not because he is destitute of argument, but because it is right and proper that we should yield and surrender ourselves to be wholly governed according to his pleasure; but at the same time he justly claims this right, that his own creatures should not call him to render an account. What can be more detestable than not to approve of his judgments, if they do not please men?

Paul makes use of the same metaphor, but on a higher subject; for he argues about God’s eternal predestination, and rebukes the foolish thoughts of men, who debate with God why he chooses some, and reprobates and condemns others. He shews that we ought, at least, to allow to God as much power as we allow to a potter or workman; and therefore he exclaims,

“O man, who art thou, that repliest against God? Shall the clay say to the potter, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20.)

“Who is so daring as to venture to oppose God, and to enter into debate with him?” Thus he perfectly agrees with the Prophet, though he makes use of this metaphor on a different and more intricate subject; for both affirm that God has full power over men, so as to permit themselves to be ruled and governed by him, and to endure patiently all adverse events. There is only this difference, that Isaiah reasons about the course of the present life, but Paul ascends to the heavenly and eternal life.

His work hath no hands. The Prophet speaks in ordinary language, as we say that one “puts the last hand,” when a thing is completed, and that “hands are wanting,” when a work is disorderly, confused, or imperfect. Thus, whenever men murmur against God for not complying with their wishes, they accuse him either of slothfulness or of ignorance.

11. Thus saith Jehovah. I have already said, that I do not agree with those who connect this verse with the preceding, as if God, abandoning his just right, gave permission to the Jews to put questions more than is allowed among men. There is another meaning not much different, that the Israelites are miserable, because they know not, and do not even wish to know the will of the Lord; that they do not seek and even do not accept of consolation; and, in short, that the deep sorrow with which they are oppressed arises from the fault of the people, that is, because they do not ask at the mouth of the Lord. If we adopt this exposition, we must arrive at the conclusion that this passage treats of a different kind of inquiry; for as it is unlawful to thrust ourselves into the secret decrees of God, so he graciously condescends to make known to his people, as far as is necessary, what he intends to do; and, when he opens his sacred mouth, he justly commands us to open our ears to him, and to hear attentively whatever he declares. Now, we also know by experience that which Isaiah brings as a reproach against the ancient people.

But it is more reasonable to view this statement as depending on the preceding, so as to be an application of the metaphor in this sense: “A son will not be allowed to enter into a dispute with his father, and the clay will not be permitted to strive with its potter; how much more intolerable is this liberty which men take, when they prescribe to God in what manner he ought to treat his sons?” For otherwise this sentence would be broken and imperfect, but those two clauses agree beautifully with each other. “The potter will make clay of any shape according to his pleasure, the son of a mortal man will not venture to expostulate with his father; and will you refuse to me, who am the supreme Father and Maker of all things, to have equal power over my sons and my creatures?” If the former meaning be preferred, the Prophet reproaches men with their slothfulness, in not deigning to put questions to God, and to learn from his mouth those things which related to their consolation; for they might have learned from the prophecies that God took care of them, and might have known the conclusion of their distresses. And indeed there is no better remedy in adversity than to ask at the mouth of God, so as not to fix our eyes on the present condition of things, but to embrace with the heart that future salvation which the Lord promises.

“The Lord is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tried beyond what we are able to bear; but with the temptation will also grant deliverance, and will increase his grace in us.” (1 Corinthians 10:13.)

Command ye me. This must not be understood as denoting authority; for it does not belong to us to “command” God, or to press upon him unseasonably; and it will not be possible for any person to profit by the word of God, who does not bring an humble heart. “Un esprit humble et modeste.” “An humble and modest mind.” But God presents himself to us, that we may ask from him what is of importance to us to know; as if he had said, “Order me; I am ready to reveal those things which are of the highest importance for you to know, that you may derive consolation from them.” But as that would be an unnatural mode of expression, I consider that the complaint which I have stated is more simple, that God is robbed of a father’s right, if he do not retain the absolute and uncontrolled government of his Church. Thus, in the clause, Ask me of things to come, the word ask is taken in a bad sense, when men, forgetting modesty, do not hesitate to summon God to their bar, and to demand a reason for anything that he has done. This is still more evident from the word command; as if he had said, “It will belong to you, forsooth, to prescribe what shape I ought to give to my work!”

In a word, the Prophet’s design is to exhort men to moderation and patience; for, as soon as they begin to dispute with him, they endeavor to drag him from his heavenly throne. Now, he does not address the Jews alone, for he needed to restrain the blasphemies which even at that time were current among infidels. It is as if God, wishing to maintain his right, thus refuted the slanders of the whole world: “How far shall your insolence carry its excesses, that you will not allow me to be master in my own workshop, or to govern my family as I think fit?”

12. I made the earth. He appears merely to maintain the power of God, as be had formerly done; so that there is an indirect contrast between God and idols, which superstitious persons worship. Foolish men ask counsel of idols, as if the world were governed at their pleasure. On the contrary, God calls us back to himself, when he says that he

“made the earth, and placed man upon it, and that his hands stretched out the heavens.” (Genesis 1:1, 6,26.)

But it will be more appropriate, in my opinion, to apply the whole of this discourse to the nature of the present subject. “Can anything be more foolish than that men shall uphold their own rank, and shall haughtily interrogate, and treat as a criminal, God, whose majesty is above the heavens?” Thus he indirectly censures the madness of men, who do not scruple to exalt themselves above the very heavens. Yet at the same time he reminds them that, if it must come to a strict examination, God will not want arguments to defend his cause; for, if he governs the whole world, he undoubtedly takes a peculiar care about his own people, and does not care for strangers, so as to allow the members of his family to be scattered and wander. Thus, then, I understand this verse. “Shall I, whose vast and inconceivable wisdom and power shine brightly in heaven and earth, not only be bound by human laws, but be degraded below the ordinary lot of men? And if there be any doubts of my justice, shall not I, who rule and govern all things by my hand, be careful of those whom I have adopted into my family? Shall I not watch over their salvation?”

Thus it is an argument from the less to the greater, and this meaning is agreeable to Scripture. We know that we have been adopted by God, in such a manner that, having been received under his protection, we are guarded by his hand; and none can hurt us, but by his permission. If “a sparrow,” as Christ tells us, “does not fall to the ground without his permission,” (Matthew 10:29,) shall we whom he values more than the sparrows be exposed by him at hazard to the rage and cruelty of enemies? And, therefore, since God upholds all the creatures by his providence, he cannot disregard the Church, which he prefers to the whole world. We must, therefore, betake ourselves to this providence, even in the most desperate affairs, and must not give way to any temptations by which Satan attacks us in various ways.

13. I have raised him up. He now continues the subject on which he had entered in the beginning of the chapter; for, having undertaken to soothe their affliction, which was exceedingly sharp and severe, Isaiah holds out the hope of deliverance, and stretches out his hand to them, that they may look for an absolutely certain redemption. Though you think that you are ruined, yet the Lord will protect you against destruction. Why the reproof which we have seen was intermingled with it, may be easily gathered from the event itself; for, if Isaiah had not abruptly made this digression, the Jews, in their vehement impatience, would have been hurried into despair.

In righteousness. This means “justly and truly,” and must be understood relatively; for it assigns the reason why God determined to raise up Cyrus, that is, because he is a faithful guardian of his Church, and does not disappoint his worshippers. Some explain it, “in justice,” that is, in order that he may punish the Babylonians; and others, “that he may reign justly;” but the Prophet meant nothing of this sort. But in the Scriptures, “righteousness” often signifies fidelity, (Psalm 5:8; 22:31), because the Lord manifests his “righteousness” by fulfilling his promises and defending his servants. The “righteousness” of God shines brightly in giving a display of exalted and perfect rectitude by saving his people; for, although there is no work of God on which a mark of righteousness is not engraven, yet a much more clear and striking proof is seen in the salvation of the Church. The meaning therefore is, that he “raised up” Cyrus, in order to manifest his “righteousness” in him, whom he has appointed to lead and conduct in bringing back his people.

He shall build my city. Jerusalem is meant, which he calls “his city,” because he wished that there the remembrance of his name should be preserved, and because he had consecrated it in a peculiar manner to himself. In like manner God himself had declared,

“Wherever I shall cause my name to be recorded, I will come to thee, and will bless thee.” (Exodus. 20:24.)

Now, there was no other city which he had appointed for sacrifices and vows, and for calling on his name; and, therefore, also it is called (Psalm 46:4, 5) “The city of God, the holy tabernacle of the Most High, for God is in the midst of her;” and in another place it is said, “This is my rest for ever and ever.” (Psalm 132:14.) Now, Cyrus did not build this city with his own hand, but by royal edicts forbade any one to hinder the rebuilding of it, and likewise supplied the people with provisions and money. (2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:2; 6:3.)

And shall release my captivity, not for a price, that is, “for nothing.” This was uncommon; for, if captives are released by a conqueror, either a price is demanded, or harsh conditions are imposed on them; but Cyrus did nothing of that kind. Hence it follows that this deliverance took place by the will of God, and not by the will of man. The word “captivity” is here used as a collective noun, denoting “captives.”

14. Thus saith Jehovah. He still speaks of the restoration which was afterwards effected under the conduct of Cyrus; but we must keep in remembrance what we formerly remarked, that those promises must be extended farther; for it includes the whole time which followed, down to the coming of Christ. Whoever shall duly consider and weigh this Prophet’s ordinary style will find in his words nothing extravagant, and will not look upon his language as exaggerated.

The labor of Egypt, the merchandise of Ethiopia. The Prophet alludes to the expenses which Cyrus contributed for building and adorning the temple. (Ezra 6:8) At that time was fulfilled what he says, that “the labor of Egypt” and “the merchandise of Ethiopia” came to the Jews; for “Egypt and Ethiopia” were tributaries and subjects of the king of Persia. From those tributes the temple of Jerusalem was rebuilt. But as that restoration was only the prelude to that which was accomplished by Christ, so likewise the homage which foreign nations rendered to the people of God was only the beginning of that homage which various nations rendered to the Church of God, after Christ had been revealed to the world.

Now, under the name of “Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sabeans,” who flourished at that time, he includes also the rest of the nations. It is as if he had said, “You are now oppressed by the tyranny of foreign nations, but the time shall one day come when they shall be subject to you.” This was not immediately fulfilled, but only at the time when Christ, by his coming, subdued their flinty and hitherto untameable hearts, so that they mildly submitted to the yoke that was laid upon them. But the Lord redeemed his people from Babylon, in order that he might preserve some Church till the coming of Christ, to whose authority all nations should be subject; and therefore we need not wonder, if the Prophet, when speaking of the return of the people, directs his discourse at the same time to God’s end and design, and makes it to be one redemption.

In chains they shall pass over. When he says that the Israelites shall be victorious over all the nations, this depends on the mutual relation between the Head and the members. Because the Only-begotten Son of God unites to himself those who believe in him, so that they are one with him, it frequently happens that what belongs to him is attributed to

“the Church, which is his body and fullness.” (Ephesians 1:23.)

In this sense also government is ascribed to the Church, not so as to obscure by haughty rule the glory of her Head, or even to claim the authority which belongs to him, or, in a word, so as to have anything separate from her Head; but because the preaching of the gospel, which is committed to her, is the spiritual scepter of Christ, by which he displays his power. In this respect no man can bow down submissively before Christ, without also obeying the Church, so far as the obedience of faith is joined to the ministry of doctrine, yet so that Christ their Head alone reigns, and alone exercises his authority.

Surely “Seulement.” “Only.” God is in thee. He relates what will be said by those who shall make respectful entrearies to the Church. They will acknowledge that “God is in her.” Some translate אך (ach) only, which I do not object to, and even acknowledge to be well adapted to express the Prophet’s meaning; yet it will not be inappropriate to explain it affirmatively, Surely God is in thee

And there is none besides God. “N’y en a point d’autre que Dieu.” “There is no other than God.” He explains the manner in which foreign nations shall be subject to the Jews; that is, by acknowledging that there is no other God than He whom the Jews worshipped. If it be objected, that this has nothing to do with the Jews, who are now alienated from the Church, I reply, The gospel nevertheless proceeded from them, and was diffused throughout the whole world; and thus we acknowledge Jerusalem to be the fountain from which pure doctrine flowed. (Psalm 76:2; Luke 24:47.) In ancient times there undoubtedly were none but the Jews who understood who is God, and what is the proper manner of worshipping him; the rest were devoted to trifles and delusions, and worshipped their own inventions. Hence also Christ, addressing the Samaritan woman, says, “We know what we worship.” (John 4:22.) Justly, therefore, is it here said, “God is in thee,” because other nations were ignorant of God. Yet as there is an implied contrast, I cheerfully admit the adverb only, so as to be a testimony of the repentance of the Gentiles, when they are satisfied with the one God and forsake their idols.

The meaning may be thus summed up, “They who formerly were haughty, and with lofty brow despised the Church, shall submit to her, when it shall be known that she is the sanctuary of the true God,” for, as we have said, when God extols his Church, he does not relinquish his own authority. And this is a Sign of true conversion, that we do not worship a God whom we have imagined, but him who is acknowledged in the Church. We ought also to observe this encomium pronounced on the Church, “God is in thee;” for, as we formerly quoted, “God is in the midst of her,” because he hath chosen her to be his habitation. (Psalm 46:5.) If we are the people of God, and are subject to his doctrine which bringeth salvation, it follows that he will assist, us; because he does not wish to forsake his people; for this promise is perpetual, and ought not to be viewed as referring solely to that time.

15. Truly thou art a God that hidest thyself. Isaiah now exclaims, that there is need of long exercise of patience, that we may enjoy the promises of God; for the people might have been prompted to despair, when the wicked had everything to their wish, and when everything adverse befell themselves. I am aware that some expound it differently. The Jewish writers commonly interpret it to mean, that the Lord will hide himself from the Gentiles, but will reveal himself to his people. Christian interpreters bring forward a different sense, but too far-fetched. There is ingenuity, indeed, in what they say, that Christ is a hidden God, because his divinity lies concealed under the infirmity of the flesh. But it does not agree with the Prophet’s meaning; for he calls himself “a hidden God,” because he appears to withdraw, By a reference to the human form ἀνθρωπομορφῶς God is said, in the ordinary language of Scripture, to hide himself when he refuses assistance, does not answer prayers, and withdraws himself, that is, withdraws his power from the wishes of men. There is, as Hensler has justly observed, a beautiful contrast between מסתתר,(mistatter,) hiding, and מושיע, (moshiang,) saving.” — Doederlein. and, in some measure, to conceal himself, when he permits his people to be afflicted and oppressed by various calamities; and, therefore, our hearts ought to be encouraged by hope. Now, as Paul says, (Romans 8:24,) “hope is not directed to those things which are seen;” and in this sense Isaiah calls him “a hidden God,” because those things which he promised are not immediately visible to our eyes.

Thus he intended that we should withdraw our minds from present objects, and raise them above the heavens, which we must do, “Ce qu’ aussi nous devons faire.” if we wish to receive and accept of his aid. There is “need of patience,” (Hebrews 10:36,) therefore, that we may continue to direct our desires towards him, when he delays the execution of his promises. He had said, a little before, that unbelievers, though at that time they were blind and stupid, would feel the presence of God; but, because the time of manifestation was not yet at hand, this exclamation is appropriately introduced, that God, before he displays his glory, conceals his power in order to try our faith.

God the Savior of Israel. That the Prophet does not speak of the essence of God, but of his assistance, may be easily inferred from the epithet which is now added, when he calls God “the Savior.” He explains that God “hides himself” in the method which he takes for saving his Church, because he conceals his hand for a time in such a manner as if he had intended totally to abandon them. He wishes that our salvation should remain, as it were, hidden in darkness, that, if we desire to enjoy it, we may know that we must go out of this world, “Hors de ce monde.” for it will not all at once present itself to us, or become visible to our eyes. We ought, therefore, to look for it with unshaken steadfastness; for it is highly advantageous that in this manner God should try and prove our faith, that, when we shall be oppressed by various afflictions on every hand, we may nevertheless rely on God and on his promises.

16. and 17. They shall all be put to shame. Here the Prophet compares the Jews with the Gentiles, in order to meet a grievous and dangerous temptation, by which they might be assailed, when they saw the Gentiles enjoying prosperity; “En voyant les Gentils avoir toutes choses a souhait.” “When they saw the Gentiles have everything to their wish.” for, amidst so great troubles, they might have suspected that God was favorable to the Gentiles, or that he had cast away the care of his people, or that everything was governed by the blind impulse of fortune. The Prophet, therefore, assures them that, although for a time the Gentiles flourish and appear to be exalted to heaven, “Et semblent estre elevees jusqu’ au ciel.” yet the result must be, that they shall perish and Israel shall be saved. In a word, he exhorts them not to judge of the power of God from the present condition of things, not to have their minds fixed on temporary happiness, but to raise them to eternal salvation, and, when struck by the hand of God, patiently to bear their condition, and, on the other hand, not to envy the prosperity of the wicked, which shall be followed by a moumful reverse, as it is excellently described by the Psalmist. (Psalm 37:1,2.)

This statement is added to the preceding; for whoever shall know that God, when he is a “Savior,” is “hidden,” will not wonder that wicked men enjoy prosperity, and that good men are poor, and despised, and tried by various afflictions. Thus the Lord makes trial of our faith and patience, and yet no part of our eternal salvation is lost; but they who now appear to be a thousand times safe and happy shall at length perish, and all the wealth which they possess shall plunge them in deeper ruin; because they abuse God’s benefits, and, like robbers, seize on what belongs to other men, even though they appear to possess all of them by a just title. Whenever, therefore, this thought arises in our minds, “Wicked men are at ease, and therefore God favors them, and the promises on which we rely are unworthy of credit;” let us betake ourselves to this declaration of the Prophet as the surest anchor, and let us fortify ourselves by it, “The Lord will not disappoint our expectation, but we shall at length be delivered, even though we be now exposed to the reproaches, slanders, mockings, and cruelty of the wicked.”

18. For thus saith Jehovah. This verse tends to confirm the preceding; for the Prophet means that the Jews are fully convinced that the Lord will at length deliver them, though they are oppressed by wretched bondage.

God the maker of the earth. Some think that by “the earth” is here meant Judea, but I consider it to be an argument from the less to the greater, as we said formerly on the twelfth verse, that, since the providence of God extends universally to the creatures, much more does it relate to those whom he has adopted to be his sons; for of them he has a special care. In short, the Prophet’s argument is this. “Since God created the earth, that men might have an abode and habitation in it, much more did he create it, that there might be a residence for his Church; for he takes a deeper concern about his Church than about all the rest.” If, therefore, he founded the earth, if he gave to it a shape and a fixed use, that men might be nourished by the fruits which it should produce, he has undoubtedly assigned to his children the first place and the highest rank of honor. This is not always visible to our eyes, and therefore our hearts ought to be encouraged and upheld by hope, that we may stand unmoved against all temptations.

In a word, as long as the earth shall endure, so long shall the Church of God exist; so long as the sun and moon shall last, it shall not fail. Afterwards the Prophet will use a still stronger argument. “If the covenant which God made with Noah, as to the settled order of this world, is stable, much more the covenant which he hath made concerning the Church must be stable. (Isaiah 54:9; Genesis 9:9.) The world is fading and corruptible; but the Church, that is, the kingdom of Christ, shall be eternal; and therefore it is reasonable to believe that the promises which relate to the Church shall undoubtedly be more stable and permanent than all the rest.

He did not create it empty. As it is the principal ornament of the earth that it is the abode of inhabitants, he adds, that it was not created in order that, by being empty, it might be waste and desolate. If it be objected, on the other hand, that the earth was “empty and void” when it was created, as appears from that passage in which Moses employs the same word that is here used by the Prophet, תהו, (tohu,) which means “shapeless and empty,” the answer is easy. The Prophet does not speak of the commencement of the creation, but of God’s purpose by which the earth was set apart for the use and habitation of men; and therefore, there is nothing here that is contrary to what is said by Moses, for Isaiah contemplates the end and use.

He formed it to be inhabited. This statement indeed extends to all mankind, because the earth was appointed to all, that they might dwell in it; for how comes it that God nourishes us and supplies us with everything that is necessary, and even supports wicked men, but because he intended that his decree should stand, by which he gave the earth to be inhabited by men? In any other point of view, it is strange that he bears with so many sins and crimes, and does not entirely destroy mankind; but he has regard to his own purpose, and not to our merit. Hence kingdoms and commonwealths are sustained, and hence ranks of society and forms of government are preserved even amidst barbarians and infidels; for, although God often reduces some countries to desolation on account of the sins of men, and sprinkles them, as it were, with “saltness,” (Psalm 107:34, It may be necessary to remind the reader, that, in the passage alluded to, the word commonly rendered “barrenness” literally means “saltness.” On this point our author’s version and commentary, and the editor’s instructive note, may be consulted with advantage. See Com. on the Psalms, vol. 4, p. 260. — Ed. ) that they may become barren, and may never again be able to support their inhabitants, yet he always adds this alleviation, “that the earth may be inhabited;” for this is his inviolable decree. Yet we must bear in remembrance what I have already said, that, so long as the earth shall be inhabited, it is impossible that God shall not support his worshippers who call upon him. Besides, from this passage all good men ought to derive the highest consolation, that, although they are despised by the world and are few and feeble, and although, on the other hand, wicked men surpass them in numbers, and power, and influence, while they are despised so as to be reckoned of less value than “the offscourings of the world,” (1 Corinthians 4:13,) yet they are precious in the sight of God, because he reckons them in the number of his children, and will never suffer them to perish.

I am Jehovah. When he repeats that he is God, this is not intended merely to assert his essence, but to distinguish him from all idols, and to keep the Jews in the pure faith; for even superstitious men acknowledge that there is one God, but conceive of him according to their fancy; and therefore we must acknowledge God, who revealed himself to the fathers, and who spoke by Moses. Thus, he does not speak merely of God’s eternal essence, as some think, but of all the offices which belong to him alone, that no part of them may be ascribed to creatures.

19. Not in secret have I spoken. He now recalls the people to the doctrine of the Law, because God cannot be comprehended by human faculties; but as he is concealed from carnal reason, so he abundantly reveals himself, and affords the remedy, by his word, which supplies what was wanting, that we may not desire anything more. If this had not been granted, we should have had no hope, and should have lost all courage. Now, he solemnly declares that he does not invite us in vain, though he delay his assistance; for what he has promised is most certain, and, as he plainly shewed to whom we ought to betake ourselves, and on whom we ought to rely, so he will give practical demonstration that the hope of those who relied on his word was not vain, or without foundation.

This enables us to see clearly how wicked are the speeches of those who say that no certainty can be obtained from the word, and who pretend that it is a nose of wax, in order to deter others from reading it; for thus do wicked men blaspheme, because the mere doctrine of the word exposes and refutes their errors. But we reply with David,

“Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our paths.” (Psalm 119:105.)

We reply with Isaiah and the rest of the prophets, that the Lord has taught nothing that is obscure, or ambiguous, or false. We reply also with Peter, that

“the prophetic word is more sure, and you do well if you take heed to it, as to a lamp buming in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the morning-star arise in our hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19.)

If these things were said concerning the Law and the prophets, what shall we say of the Gospel, by which the clearest light has been revealed to us? Shall we not say with Paul,

“If the Gospel is dark, it is dark to those who are lost, whom Satan, the prince of this world, hath blinded?” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4.)

Let blind and weak-sighted men therefore accuse themselves, when they cannot endure this brightness of the word; but, whatever may be the darkness by which they shall endeavor to clothe it, let us adhere firmly and steadfastly to this heavenly light.

Besides, the Prophet appears to allude to the predictions which were uttered out of the groves and tripods of the idols. “Vitringa, Lowth, Ewald, and Umbreit suppose an allusion to the mysterious and doubtful responses of the heathen oracles. The objections of Gesenius are of no more weight than in verses 1, 2, 3, the analogy of which places makes it not improbable that such an allusion to the oracles is couched under the general terms of the verse before us.” — Alexander. They are uncertain and deceitful, but nothing of this kind can be found in God’s answers; for he speaks openly, and utters nothing that is deceitful or ambiguous. But experience tells us that Scripture is somewhat dark and hard to be understood. This is indeed true, but ought to be ascribed to the dulness and slowness of our apprehension, and not to the Scripture; for blind or weak-sighted men have no right to accuse the sun, because they cannot look at him.

I have not said in vain to the seed of Jacob, Seek me. This continues to be a fixed principle, that they who shew themselves to be submissive and obedient, do not spend their labor in vain; because God faithfully performs the office of a teacher towards poor and little ones. Now, though all do not rise in the highest degree, yet the labor of those who shall sincerely seek God will never be unprofitable. By this expression, Seek me, Isaiah points out the principal end and use of the Law, to invite men to God; and, indeed, their true happiness lies in being united to God, “C’est leur vraye felicite d’estre conjoints a leur Sauveur.” “It is their true happiness to be united to their Savior.” and the sacred bond of union is faith and sincere piety.

In this second clause he not only asserts that he has spoken clearly and without ambiguity, but declares the certainty and steadfastness of his word; as if he had said, that he does not promise largely with an intention to deceive, or amuse hungry men by words, but actually performs what he has promised. This demonstrates the ingratitude of those who, when they are called, do not answer; since God has no other design than to make us partakers of all blessings, of which we are otherwise empty and destitute.

I Jehovah speaking righteousness. This is added for the sake of explanation; as if he had said that the word by which he draws his elect to himself, is not soiled by any stain of fraud, but contains the most perfect holiness. “The words of the Lord,” as David says, “are clean, like silver purified in an earthen fumace, seven times refined.” (Psalm 12:6.) Thus, in the word of God we have bright righteousness, which instantly shines into our hearts, when the darkness has been removed.

20. Assemble yourselves, He challenges all superstitious persons, and, as it were, appoints a day that they may submit to a righteous judgment, as we have formerly seen in expounding other passages, in order to shew that they can plead nothing which shall not be speedily overtumed. Now, indeed, they delight in their superstitions; but all their smoke shall be dispelled, when they come to plead their cause, and without any difficulty they shall be convicted. Let them then “assemble” in crowds, let them conspire and make every effort by fraud, and threatenings, and terrors; the truth shall at length be victorious. This confirmation was highly necessary for the Jews, because in every nation and in every place they beheld the spread of wicked errors which buried the worship of the true God. We also ought to betake ourselves to this refuge, when we see how few and how feeble we are. The Mahometans possess a large portion of the world, the Papists, with elevated crest, triumph far and wide, while we are but a handful of people, “Qui ne sommes qu’une poignee de gens.” and are scarcely reckoned in the number of men. But truth shall at last prevail, and shall cast down all that loftiness which now dazzles the eyes of men.

Ye rejected of the nations “Ye (that are) escaped of the nations.” — Eng. Ver. This interpretation, though set aside by our author, is approved by able commentators. “Escaped of the nations has been variously explained to mean the Jews who had escaped from the oppression of the Gentiles, and the Gentiles who had escaped from the dominion of idolatry. But these last would scarcely have been summoned to a contest. On the whole, it seems most natural to understand the nations who survived the judgments sent by God upon them. The Hebrew phrase is in itself ambiguous, the noun added to פליטי (pelite) sometimes denoting the whole body, out of which a remnant has escaped, sometimes the power from which they are delivered. Compare Judges 12:4; Ezra 6:9; 7:16; Obadiah 11, with Jeremiah 44:28; Ezra 6:8. The predominant usage and the context here decide in favor of the first interpretation.” — Alexander. פליטי (pelite) is translated by some “rejected,” by others “exiles,” or “those who have escaped;” and the address is supposed to be made to the Jews who had retumed from the captivity. But that is too forced a sense. The more generally received interpretation is, “Rejected of the nations,” because פלט (palat) means “to reject.” Not that he describes the meaner sort, or the refuse of men; but, on the contrary, he directs his discourse to those who were the highest in rank, and wealth, and power, and learning among the Gentiles. He calls them “rejected,” because they are of no value in the sight of God, though they are highly esteemed by men; for

“that which ranks high among men is detestable in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15.)

Yet if it be thought preferable to translate it “distant,” I have no objection; as if he had said, “Let them assemble from the farthest parts of the earth.”

That carry the wood of their graven image. He shews how great is the madness which seizes idolaters, who worship images, which they bear on their shoulders and carry round on waggons. Or we may take נשיים (nesum) as denoting “to place on a lofty and elevated spot,” as it was a crafty device of Satan to erect statues on pillars and lofty places, in order to excite the admiration of men, and to lead men to pay honor and reverence by merely looking at them. But we may interpret it simply as denoting all worship that is rendered to images, so as to convict them of vanity and madness. Superstitious persons know that idols need the aid and assistance of men, instead of men needing the aid and assistance of idols, which cannot even be made to stand upright without the agency of men. “Lesquelles ne pourroyent demeurer debout si les hommes n’y mettoyent la main.” “Which could not stand upright, if men did not put their hand to them.” And this is the meaning of what next follows, to pray to a god that cannot save; for what can be more foolish than to address vows and prayers to wood and stone? and yet infidels run about to dead statues, for the purpose of seeking salvation from them.

21. Tell ye. He again challenges all those who might have annoyed the Jews and shaken their faith by their taunts; for he always keeps this object in view, to fortify the faith of the people against all the assaults of the Gentiles. Amidst temptations so numerous and so severe, there was danger lest the Jews should sink under their terrible afflictions, if there had not been powerful arguments on the other side to induce them still to worship and trust the true God; and therefore he permits heathens to produce and bring forward everything that they can find in support of their cause.

Let them also take counsel together. These words are added, in order to inspire greater confidence; for the Prophet means, as we have already said, that they will gain nothing, though they “take counsel” among themselves and enter into a conspiracy. Yet, perhaps, he intended also to make it evident that there is nothing but groundless pretense and falsehood in all that infidels contrive for excusing their errors. Whatever then may be the gaudy ostentation with which they plume themselves on their inventions, the Prophet shews that the word of God will be abundantly strong to support the faith of believers. He challenges them to a strict examination, in order to compare with the Law and the prophets all that infidels boast of as having been foretold by their idols. I cheerfully admit what is generally believed, that the Prophet speaks of the redemption of the people; but as the overthrow of the Babylonian monarchy was likewise connected with it, I think that it is also included.

Who hath proclaimed this from the beginning? Because there is a repetition of the same statement, מקדם (mikkedem) and מאז (meaz) mean the same thing; as if he had said, “from the beginning,” or, “from of old;” for this prophecy was published long before the event happened. Hence believers might with certainty conclude that God had spoken.

And a savior. To foreknowledge he adds power, as in a former passage. Yet he likewise describes for what purposes he exerts his power, that is, for “saving” his people.

22. Look unto me. Hitherto he addressed the Jews alone, as if to them alone salvation belonged, but now he extends his discourse farther. He invites the whole world to the hope of salvation, and at the same time brings a charge of ingratitude against all the nations, who, being devoted to their errors, purposely avoided, as it were, the light of life; for what could be more base than to reject deliberately their own salvation? He therefore commands all “to look to him,” and to the precept adds a promise, which gives it greater weight, and confirms it more than if he had made use of a bare command.

And ye shall be saved. Thus we have a striking proof of the calling of the Gentiles; because the Lord, after having broken down “the partition-wall” (Ephesians 2:14) which separated the Jews from the Gentiles, invites all without exception to come to him. Besides, we are here reminded also what is the true method of obtaining salvation; that is, when we “look to God,” and tum to him with our whole heart. Now, we must “look to him” with the eye of faith, so as to embrace the salvation which is exhibited to all through Christ; for “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish.” (John 3:16.)

For I am God. When he exhorts all the ends of the earth, he at the same time shews that all men have hitherto wandered, and have not “looked to” the true God; for where infidelity exists, there cannot be a distinct looking towards God, so as to distinguish him from empty masks. In a word, he declares that the ruin of all has been occasioned by their being driven about by their wicked inventions, and thus revolting from the true God, from the knowledge of whom certain and eternal salvation flows. The Lord therefore stretches out his hand, in order to rescue all and point out the method of obtaining salvation.

This makes it evident that it was not at random that the doctrine of the Gospel was preached to all nations, but by the decree of God, by whom it had been long ago ordained. Yet, as I remarked a little before, he accuses the Gentiles of stupidity, in allowing their senses to be tumed and whirled about in all directions, wherever their fancy led them. Though by nature they could not approach to God, and though they even sucked in with their milk the superstitions by which they were blinded, yet God might have justly reproached them with wicked contempt of his grace; for ignorance always implies hypocrisy, when men choose rather to be deceived by empty flatteries than to go straight to God.

23. I have sworn by myself. He adds a clearer confirmation of the preceding statement; for, in consequence of this calling being unusual and marvellous, he adds an oath, as is usually done in what is new and hard to be believed. The Jews might have objected, that they alone were called by the name of the elect people; but, when he confirms it by an oath, this removes all debate. The Prophet still, indeed, aims at the same object, namely, that the glory of God shall be so visible in the restoration of the Church as to arouse the whole world to the admiration of it from the rising to the setting of the sun, or, to express it more briefly, that this demonstration of the power of God shall be so splendid and illustrious as to strike all nations with fear. Yet from these words we may justly infer what I have remarked, that the Gentiles shall be admitted to an equality with the Jews, so that God shall be the common Father of all, and shall be worshipped in every country.

Now, God “swears by himself,” because he cannot have another equally competent witness of the truth; for he alone is the truth. “Men,” as the Apostle says, “swear by a greater than themselves; but God, because he had no greater, hath sworn by himself.” (Hebrews 6:16.) We ought to observe the reason why he “swears.” It is because he intended to aid the weakness of his people, that they might not be tossed about in uncertainty. This certainly is wonderful condescension, that, in order to remedy the fault of our distrust, he does not scruple to bring forward his own name as holding the place of a pledge; and the more base and disgraceful must be our unbelief, if even an oath does not satisfy us. Besides, since God claims for himself all confirmation of the truth, we ought to be exceedingly careful, when we appeal to him by an oath, not to mingle any other names either of saints or of any creature, but, by using his name with all becoming reverence, to preserve the honor due to him entire and unabated.

The word hath gone out of my mouth in righteousness. He means that all that he has commanded to be published by his Prophet is firm and lasting, as if he had said that this commandment did not proceed “out of his mouth” rashly or unadvisedly. And in this sense the word righteousness is often used in Scripture, that is, for a word that is not deceitful, which shall clearly appear to be perfectly true; and thus he says that the decree cannot be revoked.

And shall not return. This is another mode of expression conveying the same idea. It means that the word of God shall continue to make progress, till the actual result shall make manifest that it has proceeded from a just and true and almighty God. A person is said to return, when some obstacle hinders him from proceeding farther; but, because nothing can prevent God from executing what he has decreed, the Prophet justly infers that nothing can interrupt or retard the course of this word. The particle כי, (ki,) that, must be viewed as introducing an explanatory clause; as much as to say, “This is the word,”

That to me every knee shall bow. By this mode of expression he means that all the Gentiles shall be suppliants to God, because the astonishing deliverance of the Church shall strike terror upon all. Yet hence also it follows, that his worship shall be spread among all nations; for we cannot truly “bend the knee” before God till he hath been made known to us. To an unknown God, indeed, men may render some kind of worship; but it is false and unprofitable. But here he speaks of a true profession, which proceeds from a knowledge of God deeply seated in our hearts; for, where there is no faith, there can be no worship of God, and faith is not directed to a thing unknown or uncertain. Accordingly, he has made use of the sign to express the thing itself, as is frequently done.

Hence it ought to be observed, that God demands also external worship; for the Prophet does not separate an external profession of religion from the inward feelings of the heart. In vain, therefore, do fanatics boast that in some manner they worship God and do homage to him, while they bow down before idols. In vain, I say, do they pretend that their heart is upright towards God; for the worship of the heart cannot be separated from an external profession. In like manner the soul cannot be dedicated and consecrated to God, while the body is consecrated to the devil; for both ought to be consecrated to God, and thus the worship of the heart ought also to be accompanied by an external profession.

“With the heart we believe to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.” (Romans 10:10)

Hence also the Lord, approving of the piety and uprightness of his people, says, “that they have not bowed a knee before Baal.” (1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:4.)

Paul applies this passage of Isaiah to the last judgment, when he says (Romans 14:10, 11) that “we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ;” although the subject here treated of is, the redemption of the people, the publication of the gospel, and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. But he takes for granted (what all ought to know) that those statements which relate to the kingdom of Christ must not be limited to any part of it, but extend to the whole of its course, till it arrive at full perfection. The knee is bent to Christ, when his doctrine is obeyed, and when the preaching of the gospel is accepted. But many still oppose and boldly despise him; Satan contrives many schemes and incessantly carries on war with him; and therefore we are at a great distance from the full accomplishment of this prophecy. Then shall every knee be truly bent to Christ, when he shall triumph over vanquished and utterly ruined adversaries, and shall render visible to all men his majesty, which Satan and wicked men now oppose. Thus Paul teaches that, when Christ shall ascend his judgment-seat to judge the world, then shall be fully accomplished that which began to be done at the commencement of the gospel, and which we still see done from day to day.

Every tongue shall swear. By a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, the word swear is put for worship, reverence, or subjection. “Swearing” is one department of the honor which is due to God; for by it we confess and acknowledge that he is the Author and Father and lawful defender of the truth, and that “all things are naked and open to him.” (Hebrews 4:13.) Whenever therefore this honor is bestowed on idols, the majesty of God is dishonored by abominable sacrilege; and consequently they who worship him purely swear exclusively by his name. But on this subject we have spoken See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 2, p. 70. in the exposition of another passage. (Isaiah 19:18.)

24. Surely in Jehovah. He shews what is the nature of true faith and of the true worship of God; that is, when we not only acknowledge, or perceive by the understanding, that there is a God, but likewise feel what he wishes to be towards us. Whoever shall be satisfied with a bare knowledge departs very widely from faith, which must invite us to God in such a manner that we shall feel him to be in us. In like manner Paul wishes that

“Christ should dwell in the hearts of believers through faith.” (Ephesians 3:17.)

He who imagines that God sits unemployed in heaven either will not humble himself sincerely before him, or will not make an open and sincere profession.

Righteousness and strength. As these are the two principal parts of our salvation, when believers acknowledge that they receive both of them from God, they ascribe to him the undivided praise of a happy life, and testify that by nature they do not possess that which they acknowledge that they owe to his grace. Thus they own that in themselves they have nothing either of “righteousness” or of “strength,” but seek them in God alone, that he may not be defrauded of his right.

To him shall he come. Here commentators differ; but, for my own part, I take a simple view of this passage as relating to believers who submit themselves to God, so as to enable us to perceive the nature of the contrast between them and rebels, who do not cease obstinately to resist God. I explain it thus: “They who shall confess that their righteousness is placed in God will approach to him.” He means that we obtain access to God through faith, so that they who perceive that their righteousness is placed in him, feel that he is present; and indeed no man, if he be not reconciled to God, will ever approach to him willingly, but, on the contrary, all who dread his majesty will fly to the greatest possible distance from him. Thus the Prophet applauds the very delightful result of grace, because it will unite to God those men who were formerly driven away from him by their wickedness; and to this corresponds what is said by the Psalmist,

“Thou art the God that heareth prayer; to thee shall all flesh come.” (Psalm 65:2.)

But all who defy him shall be ashamed. After having testified that God wishes to gather strangers from their dispersion, that he may bring them into a state of intimate friendship with himself, he threatens vengeance against despisers, who, being without God, and despising God, give the reins to their wicked passions, and wallow in the enjoyments of the world. As it is only by faith that we obey God, so it is by unbelief alone that Isaiah declares his anger to be provoked; while he distinguishes all unbelievers by this mark, that they are disobedient to God, and even challenge him to a contest. Although they now use the language of triumph, the Prophet declares that they shall be clothed with shame and disgrace.

25. In Jehovah shall be justified. He now makes a brief reply to an objection which might be urged, that it appeared absurd to say, that the Lord called the Gentiles, who had always been alienated from him. “Is it in vain that the Lord hath chosen the seed of Abraham? Is his promise void, which he so frequently repeated?” (Genesis 15:5, and 17:7.) In order to remove this doubt, he declares that the Lord will nevertheless stand by his promises; that, though he choose the Gentiles, yet the covenant which he made with the fathers shall not fall to the ground, because the elect people shall enjoy the privileges of their rank. Nor does he in this passage, as in many others, speak of the rejection of that nation; but the Prophet simply shews that the grace of God, which shall be diffused throughout the whole world, shall flow from that fountain.

As to the greater number having been rejected by God, still this did not set aside God’s covenant; because the remnant of adoption were always the true and lawful Israel; and although they were few in number, yet they were the first-born in the Church. Besides, all those among the Gentiles who had been ingrafted into that body began also, as we have formerly seen, to be accounted children of Abraham.

“One shall say, I belong to Jacob; another shall subscribe with his band, I am a descendant of Israel.” (Isaiah 44 5.)

And on this ground we are now reckoned the genuine Israel of God, though we are not the descendants of Israel. The Prophet therefore added this, both that the Jews might not think that the Lord’s covenant had failed, and that they might not boast of their birth and despise the Gentiles.

All the seed of Israel. He extends this seed farther, that they may not suppose that it ought to be limited to the family of Abraham; for the Lord gathers his people without distinction from among Jews and Gentiles, and here he speaks universally of the whole human race.

Shall be justified and shall glory. It ought to be observed that the Prophet says that we “are justified and glory in the Lord,” for in none else ought we to seek “righteousness” or “glory.” He has joined to it “glory,” which depends on “righteousness,” and is added to it. Hence also Paul says,

“Where is thy glorying? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.” (Romans 3:27.)

And, again,

“If Abraham was justified by works, he hath glory, but not before God.” (Romans 4:2.)

It follows, therefore, that they alone deservedly glory who seek their righteousness in God, and acknowledge that in themselves they have no ground for glorying.

CHAPTER 46

Isaiah 46:1-13

1. Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.

1. Incurvatus est (vel, prostratus est) Bel; depressus est Nebo. Simulachra eorum bestiae et jumento erunt, gestantia vos a vobis onerata, pondus ad lassitudinem.

2. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

2. Incurvata sunt, depressa sunt pariter, (et) non potuerunt se subtrahere oneri; et anima eorum in captivitatem abiit.

3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

3. Audite me, domus Iacob, omnes reliquiae domus Israel, qui gestamini ab utero, qui portamini a vulva.

4. And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you

4. Et usque ad senium ego idem, et usque ad caniciem ego portabo. Ego feci, et ego feram, ego portabo et servabo.

5. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

5. Cui similem me facitis, et aequatis, et comparatis me, ut similis sim?

6. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

6. Promentes aurum ex sacculis, argentum in statera ponderantes, conducent aurifabrum, ut ex eo faciant Deum, cui se incurvent, et quem adorent.

7. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

7. Portabunt super humerum, deferent, ponent in loco suo; illic stabit, loco suo non movebitur. Adhaec, si quis clamet ad eum, non respondebit, neque ex tribulatione ejus liberabit eum.

8. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.

8. Recordamini hoc, et erubescite (vel, roboramini;) redite, praevaricatores ad cor.

9. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me;

9. Recordamini priora a seculo; quia ego Deus, et nullus praeterea Deus, et nihil mihi simile.

10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

10. Nuntians ab initio novissimum, et a vetustate quae nondum facta erant; dicens, Consilium meum stabit, et quicquid voluero faciam.

11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

11. Vocans ab Oriente avem (vel, cogitationem,) e terra longinqua virum consilii mei. Loquutus sum, ideo adducam hoc; cogitavi, idem faciam.

12. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

12. Audite me praefracti corde, qui procul estis a justitia.

13. I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

13. Appropinquare faciam justitiam meam, nec elongabitur, et salus mea non morabitur. Et ponam in Sion salutem, et in Ierusalem gloriam meam.

CHAPTER 45

Is 45:1-25. The Subject of the Deliverance by Cyrus Is Followed Up.

Is 45:1-7. These seven verses should have been appended to previous chapter, and the new chapter should begin with Is 45:8, "Drop down," &c. [Horsley]. Reference to the deliverance by Messiah often breaks out from amidst the local and temporary details of the deliverance from Babylon, as the great ultimate end of the prophecy.

1. his anointed--Cyrus is so called as being set apart as king, by God's providence, to fulfil His special purpose. Though kings were not anointed in Persia, the expression is applied to him in reference to the Jewish custom of setting apart kings to the regal office by anointing.

right hand ... holden--image from sustaining a feeble person by holding his right hand (Is 42:6).

subdue nations--namely, the Cilicians, Syrians, Babylonians, Lydians, Bactrians, &c.; his empire extended from Egypt and the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and from Ethiopia to the Euxine Sea.

loose ... girdle loins--that is, the girdle off the loins; and so enfeeble them. The loose outer robe of the Orientals, when girt fast round the loins, was the emblem of strength and preparedness for action; ungirt, was indicative of feebleness (Job 38:3; 12:21); "weakeneth the strength of the mighty" (Margin), "looseth the girdle of the strong." The joints of (Belshazzar's) loins, we read in Da 5:6, were loosed during the siege by Cyrus, at the sight of the mysterious handwriting on the palace walls. His being taken by surprise, unaccoutred, is here foretold.

to open ... gates--In the revelry in Babylon on the night of its capture, the inner gates, leading from the streets to the river, were left open; for there were walls along each side of the Euphrates with gates, which, had they been kept shut, would have hemmed the invading hosts in the bed of the river, where the Babylonians could have easily destroyed them. Also, the gates of the palace were left open, so that there was access to every part of the city; and such was its extent, that they who lived in the extremities were taken prisoners before the alarm reached the center of the palace. [Herodotus, 1.191].

2. crooked ... straight--(Is 40:4), rather, "maketh mountains plain" [Lowth], that is, clear out of thy way all opposing persons and things. The Keri reads as in Is 45:13, "make straight" (Margin).

gates of brass--(Psa 107:16). Herodotus (1.179) says, Babylon had a hundred massive gates, twenty-five on each of the four sides of the city, all, as well as their posts, of brass.

bars of iron--with which the gates were fastened.

3. treasures of darkness--that is, hidden in subterranean places; a common Oriental practice. Sorcerers pretended to be able to show where such treasures were to be found; in opposition to their pretensions, God says, He will really give hidden treasures to Cyrus (Jr 50:37; 51:13). Pliny (Natural History,, 33:3) says that Cyrus obtained from the conquest of Asia thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vases, and five hundred thousand talents of silver, and the goblet of Semiramis, weighing fifteen talents.

that thou mayest know--namely, not merely that He was "the God of Israel," but that He was Jehovah, the true God. Ezr 1:1, 2 shows that the correspondence of the event with the prediction had the desired effect on Cyrus.

which call ... thy name--so long before designate thee by name (Is 43:1).

4. (See on Is 41:8; Is 43:14).

surnamed--that is, designated to carry out My design of restoring Judah (see on Is 44:5; Is 44:28; Is 45:1). Maurer here, as in Is 44:5, translates, "I have addressed thee by an honorable name."

hast not known me--previous to My calling thee to this office; after God's call, Cyrus did know Him in some degree (Ezr 1:1-3).

5. (Is 42:8; 43:3, 11; 44:8; 46:9).

girded thee--whereas "I will loose (the girdle off) the loins of kings" (Is 45:1), strengthening thee, but enfeebling them before thee.

though ... not known me--(Is 45:4). God knows His elect before they are made to know Him (Ga 4:9; Joh 15:16).

6. From the rising to the setting of the sun, that is, from east to west, the whole habitable world. It is not said, "from north to south," for that would not imply the habitable world, as, "from east to west" does (Ezr 1:1, &c.). The conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon, the capital of the world, and the overthrow of Babylon and restoration of the Jews by Cyrus, who expressly acknowledged himself to be but the instrument in God's hands, were admirably suited to secure, throughout the world, the acknowledgment of Jehovah as the only true God.

7. form ... create--yatzar, to give "form" to previously existing matter. Bara, to "create" from nothing the chaotic dark material.

light ... darkness--literally (Ge 1:1-3), emblematical also, prosperity to Cyrus, calamity to Babylon and the nations to be vanquished [Grotius] ... Isaiah refers also to the Oriental belief in two coexistent, eternal principles, ever struggling with each other, light or good, and darkness or evil, Oromasden and Ahrimanen. God, here, in opposition, asserts His sovereignty over both [Vitringa].

create evil--not moral evil (Jas 1:13), but in contrast to "peace" in the parallel clause, war, disaster (compare Psa 65:7; Am 3:6).

8. Drop--namely, the fertilizing rain (Psa 65:12).

skies--clouds; lower than the "heavens."

righteousness--that is, the dews of the Holy Spirit, whereby "righteousness" shall "spring up." (See latter end of the verse).

earth--figuratively for the hearts of men on it, opened for receiving the truth by the Holy Ghost (Ac 16:14).

them--the earth and the heavens. Horsley prefers: "Let the earth open, and let salvation and justice grow forth; let it bring them forth together; I the Lord have created him" (Is 45:13). Maurer translates, "Let all kinds of salvation (prosperity) be fruitful" (Psa 72:3, 6, 7). The revival of religion after the return from Babylon suggests to the prophet the diffusion of Messiah's Gospel, especially in days still future; hence the elevation of the language to a pitch above what is applicable to the state of religion after the return.

9. Anticipating the objections which the Jews might raise as to why God permitted their captivity, and when He did restore them, why He did so by a foreign prince, Cyrus, not a Jew (Is 40:27, &c.), but mainly and ultimately, the objections about to be raised by the Jews against God's sovereign act in adopting the whole Gentile world as His spiritual Israel (Is 45:8, referring to this catholic diffusion of the Gospel), as if it were an infringement of their nation's privileges; so Paul expressly quotes it (Ro 9:4-8, 11-21).

Let ... strive--Not in the Hebrew; rather, in apposition with "him," "A potsherd among the potsherds of the earth!" A creature fragile and worthless as the fragment of an earthen vessel, among others equally so, and yet presuming to strive with his Maker! English Version implies, it is appropriate for man to strive with man, in opposition to 2Ti 2:24 [Gesenius].

thy ... He--shall thy work say of thee, He ... ?

10. If it be wrong for a child, born in less favorable circumstances, to upbraid his parents with having given him birth, a fortiori, it is, to upbraid God for His dealings with us. Rather translate, "a father ... a woman." The Jews considered themselves exclusively God's children and were angry that God should adopt the Gentiles besides. Woe to him who says to one already a father, Why dost thou beget other children? [Horsley].

11. Ask ... command--Instead of striving with Me in regard to My purposes, your wisdom is in prayer to ask, and even command Me, in so far as it is for My glory, and for your real good (Mr 11:24; Joh 16:23, 13, latter part of the verse; 1Jo 3:22).

sons--(Is 54:13; Ga 3:26).

work of my hands--spiritually (Ep 2:10); also literal Israel (Is 60:21). Maurer translates, instead of "command," Leave it to Me, in My dealings concerning My sons and concerning the work of My hands, to do what I will with My own. Lowth reads it interrogatively, Do ye presume to question Me and dictate to Me (see Is 45:9, 10)? The same sense is given, if the words be taken in irony. But English Version is best.

12. The same argument for prayer, drawn from God's omnipotence and consequent power, to grant any request, occurs in Is 40:26-31.

I, even my hands--so Hebrew (Psa 41:2), "Thou ... thy hand" (both nominatives, in apposition).

13. him--Cyrus, type of Messiah, who redeems the captives of Satan "without money and without price" (Is 55:1), "freely" (gratuitously) (Is 52:3; 61:1; Zec 9:11; Ro 3:24).

in righteousness--to fulfil My righteous purpose (see on Is 41:2; Is 42:6; Jr 23:6).

14. The language but cursorily alludes to Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, being given to Cyrus as a ransom in lieu of Israel whom he restored (Is 43:3), but mainly and fully describes the gathering in of the Gentiles to Israel (Ac 2:10, 11; 8:27-38), especially at Israel's future restoration (Is 2:2; 14:1, 2; 19:18-22; 60:3-14; 49:23; Psa 68:31; 72:10, 11).

labour--wealth acquired by labor (Jr 3:24).

Sabeans ... of stature--the men of Meroe, in Upper Egypt. Herodotus (3.30) calls the Ethiopians "the tallest of men" (see on Is 18:2; 1Ch 11:23).

thee--Jerusalem ("my city," Is 45:13).

in chains--(Psa 149:8). "The saints shall judge the world" (1Co 6:2) and "rule the nations with a rod of iron" (Zec 14:12-19; Re 2:26, 27). The "chains," in the case of the obedient, shall be the easy yoke of Messiah; as "the sword of the Spirit" also is saving to the believer, condemnatory to the unbeliever (Joh 12:48; He 4:12; Re 19:15).

God is in thee--(Jr 3:19).

15. God that hidest thyself--Horsley, after Jerome, explains this as the confession of Egypt, &c., that God is concealed in human form in the person of Jesus. Rather, connected with Is 45:9, 10, the prophet, contemplating the wonderful issue of the seemingly dark counsels of God, implies a censure on those who presume to question God's dealings (Is 55:8, 9; De 29:29). Faith still discerns, even under the veil, the covenant-keeping "God of Israel, the Saviour" (Is 8:17).

16. ashamed--"disappointed" in their expectation of help from their idols (see on Is 42:17; Psalm 97. 7).

17. in the Lord--(Is 45:24, 25), contrasted with the idols which cannot give even temporary help (Is 45:16); in Jehovah there is everlasting salvation (Is 26:4).

not ... ashamed--opposed to the doom of the idolaters, who, in the hour of need, shall be "ashamed" (see on Is 45:16).

18. (See on Is 45:12).

not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited--Therefore, Judah, lying waste during the Babylonish captivity, shall be peopled again by the exiles. The Jews, from this passage, infer that, after the resurrection, the earth shall be inhabited, for there can be no reason why the earth should then exist in vain any more than now (2Pe 3:13).

19. not ... secret--not like the heathen oracles which gave their responses from dark caverns, with studied obscurity (Is 48:16). Christ plainly quotes these words, thereby identifying Himself with Jehovah (Joh 18:20).

I said not ... Seek ... in vain--When I commanded you to seek Me (Jehovah did so, Is 45:11, "Ask Me," &c.), it was not in order that ye might be sent empty away (De 32:47). Especially in Israel's time of trial, God's interposition, in behalf of Zion hereafter, is expressly stated as about to be the answer to prayer (Is 62:6, 7-10; Psa 102:13-17, 19-21). So in the case of all believers, the spiritual Israel.

righteousness--that which is veracious: not in the equivocal terms of heathen responses, fitly symbolized by the "dark places" from which they were uttered.

right--true (see on Is 41:26).

20. escaped of the nations--those of the nations who shall have escaped the slaughter inflicted by Cyrus. Now, at last, ye shall see the folly of "praying to a god that cannot save" (Is 45:16). Ultimately, those that shall be "left of all the nations which shall come against Jerusalem" are meant (Zec 14:16). They shall then all be converted to the Lord (Is 66:23, 24; Jr 3:17; Zec 8:20-23).

21. Challenge the worshippers of idols (Is 41:1).

take counsel together--as to the best arguments wherewith to defend the cause of idolatry.

who ... from that time--(Is 41:22, 23; see on Is 44:8). Which of the idols has done what God hath, namely, foretold, primarily as to Cyrus; ultimately as to the final restoration of Israel hereafter? The idolatry of Israel before Cyrus' time will have its counterpart in the Antichrist and the apostasy, which shall precede Christ's manifestation.

just ... and ... Saviour--righteous in keeping His promises, and therefore a Saviour to His people. Not only is it not inconsistent with, but it is the result of, His righteousness, or justice, that He should save His redeemed (Is 42:6, 21; Psa 85:10, 11; Ro 3:26).

22. Look ... and be ye saved--The second imperative expresses the result which will follow obedience to the first (Ge 42:18); ye shall be saved (Joh 3:14, 15). Nu 21:9: "If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived." What so simple as a look? Not do something, but look to the Saviour (Ac 16:30, 31). Believers look by faith, the eye of the soul. The look is that of one turning (see Margin) to God, as at once "Just and the Saviour" (Is 45:21), that is, the look of conversion (Psa 22:27).

23. sworn by myself--equivalent to, "As I live," as Ro 14:11 quotes it. So Nu 14:21. God could swear by no greater, therefore He swears by Himself (He 6:13, 16).

word ... in righteousness--rather, "the truth (see on Is 45:19) is gone forth from My mouth, the word (of promise), and it shall not return (that is, which shall not be revoked)" [Lowth]. But the accents favor English Version.

tongue ... swear--namely, an oath of allegiance to God as their true King (see on Is 19:18; Is 65:16). Yet to be fulfilled (Zec 14:9).

24. Rather, "Only in Jehovah shall men say of me (this clause is parenthetical), is there righteousness" (which includes salvation, Is 45:21, "a just God and a Saviour," Is 46:13), &c. [Maurer].

strength--namely, to save.

shall men come--Those who have set themselves up against God shall come to Him in penitence for the past (Is 19:22).

ashamed--(Is 45:16; Is 54:17; 41:11).

25. all ... Israel--the spiritual Israel (Ro 2:29) and the literal Israel, that is, the final remnant which shall all be saved (Is 45:17; Ro 11:26).

justified--treated as if they were just, through Christ's righteousness and death (Jr 23:5).

glory--literally, "sing" in His praise (Jr 9:24; 1Co 1:31).

Loose the loins of kings "ungird the loins of kings" - See the note on Isa 5:27. Xenophon gives the following list of the nations conquered by Cyrus: the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, the Sacae Paphlagones, and ldariandyni. - Cyrop., lib. 1 p. 4, Edit. Hutchinson, Quarto. All these kingdoms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have been given to him by Jehovah, the God of heaven. Ezr 1:2.

To open before him the two leaved gates, etc. "That I may open before him the valves; and the gates shall not be shut" - The gates of Babylon within the city leading from the streets to the river, were providentially left open, when Cyrus's forces entered the city in the night through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated; otherwise, says Herodotus, 1:191, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and all destroyed. And the gates of the palace were opened imprudently by the king's orders, to inquire what was the cause of the tumult without; when the two parties under Gobrias and Gadatas rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king. - Xenoph., Cyrop. 7 p. 528.

The crooked places "The mountains" - For הדורים hodurim, crooked places, a word not easily accounted for in this place, the Septuagint read הררים hararim, τα ορη, the mountains. Two MSS. have הדרים hadarim, without the ו vau, which is hardly distinguishable from the reading of the Septuagint. The Divine protection that attended Cyrus, and rendered his expedition against Babylon easy and prosperous is finely expressed by God's going before him, and making the mountains level. The image is highly poetical: -

At vos, qua veniet, tumidi subsidite montes,

Et faciles curvis vallibus este viae.

Ovid, Amor. 2:16. "Let the lofty mountains fall down, and make level paths in the crooked valleys."

The gates of brass "The valves of brass" - Abydenus, apud, Euseb. Praep. Evang. 9:41, says, that the wall of Babylon had brazen gates. And Herodotus, i, 179. more particularly: "In the wall all round there are a hundred gates, all of brass; and so in like manner are the sides and the lintels." The gates likewise within the city, opening to the river from the several streets, were of brass; as were those also of the temple of Belus. - Herod. i., 180, 181.

I will gave thee the treasures of darkness - Sardes and Babylon, when taken by Cyrus, were the wealthiest cities in the world. Croesus, celebrated beyond all the kings of that age for his riches, gave up his treasures to Cyrus, with an exact account in writing of the whole, containing the particulars with which each wagon was loaded when they were carried away; and they were delivered to Cyrus at the palace of Babylon. - Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. 7 p. 503, 515, 540.

Pliny gives the following account of the wealth taken by Cyrus in Asia. Jam Cyrus devicta Asia, pondo 34 millia auri invenerat; praeter vasa aurea, aurumque factum, et in eo folia, ac platanum, vitemque. Qua victoria argenti quingenta millia talentorum reportavit; et craterem Semiramidis, cuius pondus quindecim talents colligebat. Talentum autem Aegyptium pondo lxxx. patere 50 capere Varro tradit. - Nat. Hist. 33:15. "When Cyrus conquered Asia, he found thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vessels and articles in gold; and leaves, (folia, perhaps solia, bathing vessels, Hol.), a plane, and vine tree, (of gold.) By which victory he carried away fifteen thousand talents of silver; and the cup of Semiramis, the weight of which was fifteen tatents. The Egyptian talent, according to Varro, was eighty pounds." This cup was the crater, or large vessel, out of which they filled the drinking cups at great entertainments. Evidently it could not be a drinking vessel, which, according to what Varro and Pliny say, must have weighed 1, 200 pounds!

The gold and silver estimated by weight in this account, being converted into pounds sterling, amount to one hundred and twenty-six millions two hwndred and twenty-four thousand pounds. - Brerewood, De Ponderibus, cap. x.

Treasures of darkness may refer to the custom of burying their jewels and money under the ground in their house floors, fearing robbers.

I form the light, and create darkness - It was the great principle of the Magian religion, which prevailed in Persia in the time of Cyrus, and in which probably he was educated, that there are two supreme, co-eternal, and independent causes always acting in opposition one to the other; one the author of all good, the other of all evil. The good being they called Light; the evil being, Darkness. That when Light had the ascendant, then good and happtness prevailed among men; when Darkness had the superiority, then eviI and misery abounded. An opinion that contradicts the clearest evidence of our reason, which plainly leads us to the acknowledgment of one only Supreme Being, infinitely good as well as powerful. With reference to this absurd opinion, held by the person to whom this prophecy is addressed, God, by his prophet, in the most significant terms, asserts his omnipotence and absolute supremacy: - "I am Jehovah, and none else;

Forming light, and creating darkness,

Making peace, and creating evil:

I Jehovah am the author of all these things."

Declaring that those powers whom the Persians held to be the original authors of good and evil to mankind, representing them by light and darkness, as their proper emblems, are no other than creatures of God, the instruments which he employs in his government of the world, ordained or permitted by him in order to execute his wise and just decrees; and that there is no power, either of good or evil, independent of the one supreme God, infinite in power and in goodness.

There were, however, some among the Persians whose sentiments were more moderate as to this matter; who held the evil principle to be in some measure subordinate to the good; and that the former would at length be wholly subdued by the latter. See Hyde, De Relig. Vet. Pers. cap. xxii.

That this opinion prevailed among the Persians as early as the time of Cyrus we may, I think, infer not only from this passage of Isaiah, which has a manifest reference to it, but likewise from a passage in Xenophon's Cyropaedia, where the same doctrine is applied to the human mind. Araspes, a noble young Persian, had fallen in love with the fair captive Panthea, committed to his charge by Cyrus. After all his boasting that he was superior to the assaults of that passion, he yielded so far to it as even to threaten violence if she would not comply with his desires. Awed by the reproof of Cyrus, fearing his displeasure, and having by cool reflection recovered his reason; in his discourse with him on this subject he says: "O Cyrus, I have certainly two souls; alld this piece of philosophy I have learned from that wicked sophist, Love. For if I had but one soul, it would not be at the same time good and evil, it would not at the same time approve of honorable and base actions; and at once desire to do, and refuse to do, the very same things. But it is plain that I am animated by two souls, and when the good soul prevails, I do what is virtuous; and when the evil one prevails, I attempt what is vicious. But now the good soul prevails, having gotten you for her assistant, and has clearly gained the superiority." Lib. 6 p. 424.

I make peace, and create evil - Evil is here evidently put for war and its attendant miseries. I will procure peace for the Israelites, and destroy Babylon by war. I form light, and create darkness. Now, as darkness is only the privation of light, so the evil of war is the privation of peace.

Drop down, ye heavens - The eighty-fifth psalm is a very elegant ode on the same subject with this part of Isaiah's prophecies, the restoration of Judah from captivity; and is, in the most beautiful part of it, a manifest imitation of this passage of the prophet: - "Verily his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring from the earth,

And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Even Jehovah: will give that which is good,

And our land shall yield her produce.

Righteousness shall go before him,

And shall direct his footsteps in the way."

Psalm 85:10-14.

See the notes on these verses.

These images of the dew and the rain descending from heaven and making the earth fruitful, employed by the prophet, and some of those nearly of the same kind which are used by the psalmist, may perhaps be primarily understood as designed to set forth in a splendid manner the happy state of God's people restored to their country, and flourishing in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue; but justice and salvation, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, and glory dwelling in the land, cannot with any sort of propriety, in the one or the other, be interpreted as the consequences of that event; they must mean the blessings of the great redemption by Messiah.

Let the earth open, etc. - Jonathan, in his Targum, refers this to the resurrection of the dead; the earth shall be opened, ויחון מיתיא veyechon meiteiya, and the dead shall revive. A plain proof that the ancient Jews believed in a future state, and acknowledged the resurrection of the dead.

Let them bring forth salvation "Let salvation produce her fruit" - For ויפרו vaiyiphru, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac read ויפרה vaiyiphrah; and one MS. has a rasure close after the latter ו vau, which probably was ה he at first.

Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker "To unto him that contendeth with the power that formed him" - The prophet answers or prevents the objections and cavils of the unbelieving Jews, disposed to murmur against God, and to arraign the wisdom and justice of his dispensations in regard to them; in permitting them to be oppressed by their enemies, and in promising them deliverance instead of preventing their captivity. St. Paul has borrowed the image, and has applied it to the like purpose with equal force and elegance: "Nay, but, O man! who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor?" Rom 9:20, Rom 9:21. This is spoken says Kimchi, against the king of Babylon, who insulted the Most High, bringing forth the sacred vessels, drinking out of them, and magnifying himself against God.

Or thy work, He hath no hands "And to the workman, Thou hast no hands" - The Syriac renders, as if he had read, ולא היתי פעל ידיך velo hayithi pheal yadeycha, "neither am I the work of thy hands;" the Septuagint, as if they had reads ולא פעלת ואין ודים לך velo phaalta veeyn yaadim lecha, "neither hast thou made me; and thou hast no hands." But the fault seems to be in the transposition of the two pronouns; for ופעלך uphoolcha, read ופעלו uphoolo: and for לו lo, read לך lecha. So Houbigant corrects it; reading also ופעלו uphoolo; which last correction seems not altogether necessary. The Septuagint, in MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 2 have it thus, και το εργον ουκ εχεις χειρας, which favors the reading here proposed.

Ask me of things to come "And he that formeth the things which are to come" - I read ויוצר veyotser, without the ו vau suffixed; from the Septuagint, who join it in construction with the following word, ὁ ποιησας τα επερχομενα. "Do ye question me." - תשאלוני tishaluni, Chald. recte; praecedit ת tau; et sic forte legerunt reliqui Intt. - Secker. "The Chaldee has, more properly, תשאלוני tishaluni, with a ת tau preceding; and thus the other interpreters probably read." The learned bishop therefore reads the passage thus: - "Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel;

And he that formeth the things which are to come;

Do ye question me concerning my children?

And do ye give me directions concerning the work of my hands?"

I have raised him up - This evidently refers to Cyrus, and to what he did for the Jews; and informs us by whom he was excited to do it.

The labor of Egypt "The wealth of Egypt" - This seems to relate to the future admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God. Compare Psa 68:32; Psa 72:10; Psa 60:6-9. And perhaps these particular nations may be named, by a metonymy common in all poetry, for powerful and wealthy nations in general. See note on Isa 60:1.

The Sabeans, men of stature "The Sabeans, tall of stature" - That the Sabeans were of a more majestic appearance than common, is particularly remarked by Agatharchides, an ancient Greek historian quoted by Bochart, Phaleg, 2:26, τα σωματα εστι των κατοικουντων αξιολογωτερα. So also the Septuagint understand it, rendering it ανδρες ὑψηλοι, "tall men." And the same phrase, אנשי מדה anshey middah, is used for persons of extraordinary stature, Num 13:32, and 1Chr 20:6.

They shall make supplication unto thee "They shall in suppliant guise address thee" - The conjunction ו vau is supplied by the ancient Versions, and confirmed by fifteen MSS. of Kennicott's, (seven ancient), thirteen of De Rossi's, and six editions, ואליך veelayich. Three MSS. (two ancient) omit the ו vau before אליך elaylch at the beginning of the line.

Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself - At present, from the nations of the world.

O God of Israel, the Savior - While thou revealest thyself to the Israelites and savest them.

They shall be ashamed "They are ashamed" - The reader cannot but observe the sudden transition from the solemn adoration of the secret and mysterious nature of God's counsels in regard to his people, to the spirited denunciation of the confusion of idolaters, and the final destruction of idolatry; contrasted with the salvation of Israel, not from temporal captivity, but the eternal salvation by the Messiah, strongly marked by the repetition and augmentation of the phrase, to the ages of eternity. But there is not only a sudden change in the sentiment, the change is equally observable in the construction of the sentences; which from the usual short measure, runs out at once into two distichs of the longer sort of verse. See Prelim. Dissert. p. 66, etc. There is another instance of the same kind and very like to this, of a sudden transition in regard both to the sentiment and construction in Isa 42:17. "His adversaries" - This line, to the great diminution of the beauty of the distich, is imperfect in the present text: the subject of the proposition is not particularly expressed, as it is in the line following. The version of the Septuagint happily supplies the word that is lost: οἱ αντικειμενοι αυτῳ, "his adversaries," the original word was צריו tsaraiv. - L.

He formed it to be inhabited "For he formed it to be inhabited" - An ancient MS. has כי ki before לשבת lashebeth; and so the ancient Versions.

I have not spoken tn secret, in a dark place of the earth - In opposition to the manner in which the heathen oracles gave their answers, which were generally delivered from some deep and obscure cavern. Such was the seat of the Cumean Sybil: -

Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum.

Virg. Aen. 6:42. "A cave cut in the side of a huge rock."

Such was that of the famous oracle at Delphi; of which, says Strabo, lib. ix., φασι δ' ειναι το μαντειον αντρον κοιλον μετα βαθους, ου μαλα ευρυστομον. "The oracle is said to be a hollow cavern of considerable depth, with an opening not very wide." And Diodorus, giving an account of the origin of this oracle, says "that there was in that place a great chasm or cleft in the earth; in which very place is now situated what is called the Adytum of the temple." Αδυτον· σπηλαιον, η το αποκρυφον μερος του ἱερου. Mesych. "Adytum means a cavern, or the hidden part of the temple."

I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right "I am Jehovah, who speak truth, who give direct answers" - This also is said in opposition to the false and ambiguous answers given by the heathen oracles, of which there are many noted examples; none more so than that of the answer given to Croesus when he marehed against Cyrus, which piece of history has some connection with this part of Isaiah's prophecies. Let us hear Cicero's account of the Delphic answers in general, and of this in particular: Sed jam ad te venio,

O sancte Apollo, qui umbilicum certum terrarum obsides,

Unde superstitiosa primum saeva evasit vox fera.

Tuis enim oraculis Chrysippus totum volumen implevit, partim falsis, ut ego opinor; partim casu veris, ut fit in omni oratione saepissime; partim flexiloquis et obscuris, ut interpres egeat interprete, et sors ipsa ad sortes referenda sit; partim ambiguis, et quae ad dialecticum deferenda sint. Nam cum sors illa edita est opulentissimo regi Asiea, Croesus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim: hostium vim sese perversurum putavit; pervertit autem suam. Utrum igitur eorum accidisset, verum oraculum fuisset. De Divinat. 2:56. Mountainous countries, and those which abounded in chasms, caves, and grottos, were the places in which oracles were most frequent. The horror and gloom inspired by such places were useful to the lying priests in their system of deception. The terms in which those oracles were conceived, (they were always ambiguous, or equivocal, or false, or illusory), sometimes the turn of a phrase, or a peculiarity in idiom or construction which might be turned pro or con, contained the essence of the oracular declaration. Sometimes, in the multitude of guesses, one turned out to be true; at other times, so equivocal was the oracle, that, however the thing fell out, the declaration could be interpreted in that way, as in the above to Croesus, from the oracle at Delphi, which was: If Croeses march against Cyrus, he shall overthrow a great empire: he, supposing that this promised him success, fought, and lost his own, while he expected to destroy that of his enemy. Here the quack demon took refuge in his designed ambiguity. He predicted the destruction of a great empire, but did not say which it was; and therefore he was safe, howsoever the case fell out. Not one of the predictions of God's prophets is conceived in this way.

Bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together - For יועצו yoatsu or yivvaatsu, let them consult, the Septuagint read ידעו yedau, let them know. but an ancient MS. has יועדו yoedu, let them come together by appointment; which may probably be the true reading.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, etc. - This verse and the following contain a plain prediction of the universal spread of the knowledge of God through Christ; and so the Targum appears to have understood it; see Rom 14:11; Phi 2:10. The reading of the Targum is remarkable, viz., אתפנו למימרי ithpeno lemeymri, look to my Word, ὁ Λογος, the Lord Jesus.

I have sworn by myself - במימרי bemeymri, by my Word: and the word - פתגם pithgam, or saying, to distinguish it from the personal substantial Word meymra, mentioned before. See the Targum.

The word is gone out of my mouth "Truth is gone forth from my mouth; the word" - So the Septuagint distinguish the members of the sentence, preserving the elegance of the construction and the clearness of the sense.

Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength "Saying, Only to Jehovah belongeth salvation and power" - A MS. omits לי li, unto me; and instead of לי אמר li amar, he said or shall say unto me, the Septuagint read, in the copy which they used, לאמר lemor, saying. For יבא yabo, He shall come, in the singular, twelve MSS. three ancient) read יבאו yabeu, plural; and a letter is erased at the end of the word in two others: and so the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read it. For צדקות tsedakoth plural, two MSS. read צדקת tsidkath, singular; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee.

Probably these are the words of Cyrus, who acknowledged that all his success came from Jehovah. And this sentiment is in effect contained in his decree or proclamation, Ezr 1:2 : "Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, "etc.

His anointed - His king, whom God has designed, and separated, and fitted, in all respects, for this work. Loose - I will take away their girdle, which was about their loins; their power and authority, whereof that was an ensign. Gates - The great and magnificent gates of their cities and palaces, which shall be opened to him as conqueror.

Go - To remove all obstructions, to destroy all them that oppose thee, and carry thee through the greatest difficulties.

The treasures - Such as have been long kept in dark and secret places.

I have - I knew, and called thee by thy name, when thou didst neither know nor think of me; nay, when thou hadst no being.

I girded - I made thee strong and active, and disposed thee for these great and warlike enterprizes.

That - That all nations may know it by my foretelling these things so long before, and by the wonderful success that I shall give thee, and by my over - ruling thine heart and counsels, to the deliverance of my people.

Light - All mens comforts and calamities come from thy hand.

Drop - The righteous and gracious acts of God for his people, shall be so many, as if God rained showers of righteousness out of heaven. Open - Open itself to bring forth those fruits which may be expected from such showers. Them - The heavens and the earth conspiring together. Together - Together with salvation. It - This great work of salvation and righteousness; whereof, tho' Cyrus is the instrument, I am the author.

Woe - As God here makes many glorious promises to Cyrus, so he pronounces a curse upon them, who should endeavour to hinder him. Contend - Contend, if you please, with your fellow creatures, but not with your creator. Or - He turns his speech to the potter.

Thus saith - Will you not allow me that liberty which yourselves take, of disposing of my own children and works, as I see fit?

Him - Cyrus. In righteousness - Most justly, to punish the wicked Babylonians, to plead the cause of the oppressed ones, to manifest my righteousness, and truth, and goodness.

The labour - The wealth gotten by their labour. Thee - Jerusalem shall not only be rebuilt, but the wealth and glory of other countries shall be brought to it again. This was in part verified in Jerusalem; but it was much more fully accomplished in the church of the gospel, in the accession of the Gentiles to that church which began in Jerusalem, and from thence spread itself into all the parts of the world. Come over - They shall be taken captive by thee, and willingly submit themselves to thee.

Verily - These are the words of the prophet, on contemplation of the various dispensations of God towards his church, and in the world. Hidest - Thy counsels are deep and incomprehensible, thy ways are past finding out.

In secret - The Heathen idols deliver oracles in obscure cells and caverns: but I have delivered my oracles to Israel publickly and plainly. In vain - Serve and worship me for nought. As I appointed them work, so from time to time I have given them abundant recompence. Right - I require nothing of my people which is not highly just and good.

Draw near - To hear what I have said, and am now about to say. Of the nations - The remnant of the Gentiles, who survive the many destructions, which I am bringing upon the Heathen nations.

Take counsel - To maintain the cause of their idols. This - This great work, Babylon's destruction, and the redemption of God's people.

In righteousness - It is what I will faithfully perform. Return - Without effect. It is a metaphor from ambassadors, who sometimes return to their princes without any success in their business. Every tongue - Not only the Jews, but all nations.

In the Lord - By or from God alone, or the Messiah, who is the true Jehovah as well as man. Righteousness - To justify me from all things which I could not be justified by the law of Moses. Strength - Support and assistance to bear all my burdens, overcome all my enemies, and perform all my duties. Men - The Gentiles shall come to Christ. Ashamed - But all his implacable enemies shall be brought to shame.

All - All Israelites indeed, whether Jews or Gentiles.

1. THus saith the LORD to his anointed , to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden , to subdue nations before him: and I will loose the loyns of kings to open before him the two leaved gates , and the gates shall not be shut.

i. e. His King, whom God hath designed, and separated, and fitted, in all respects, for his Work and Service; in which, and such like Respects, divers Persons are said to be Anointed, who never had any material Oyl poured upon them, as the King of Tyrus, Ezek. 28. 14. and Christ, Isa. 61. 1. and Zerubbabel, Zech. 4. 14. and Christians, 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Ioh. 2. 27. And they are thus called by way of allusion to the practice of the Iews, whose Kings were frequently Anointed, 1 Sam. 10. 1. and 16. 13. &c.

Or, Strengthned: whom I will powerfully assist, teaching his Hands to War, as the Phrase is, Psal. 18. 34. supporting and directing his right Hand to strike home.

The Babylonians, and those other Nations which were Confederate with them, and fought for them, as may be gathered from Ier. 51. 9.

I will weaken them, for a Mans strength consists much in his Loyns, and receiveth some advantage by the girding of his Loyns: Or, I will take away their Girdle, which was about their Loyns; to wit, their Power and Authority, whereof that was an Ensign, of which, see on Iob. 12. 18. Isa. 22. 21.

The great and magnificent Gates of their Cities and Palaces, which shall be opened to him as Conqueror.

Marginal references: Or, strengthened.; Dan. 5. 6.

2. I will go before thee , and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron .

To remove all obstructions, and to prepare the Way for thee, as it follows.

I will Destroy all them that oppose thee, and carry thee through the greatest difficulties.

3. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness , and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know , that I the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Such as have been stored up, and long kept in dark and secret Places, as well in Babylon, Ier. 50. 37. and 51. 13. as in other Countries, which Cyrus Conquered; and from which he took infinite Treasures, as Pliny and others relate.

By the accomplishment of these Predictions.

Marginal references: Or, name thy name, Chap. 44. 2.

4. For Jacob my servants sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name : I have sirnamed thee, though thou hast not known me .

I have called thee to this Honour, and that by name; not for thy sake, but for Israels sake: Therefore do not despise them, thou wilt find them a poor and inslaved People, neither be puffed up into a great Opinion of thy self.

I knew, and called thee by name, when thou didst neither know nor think of me; nay, when thou hadst no Being.

5. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I girded thee , though thou hast not known me.

I made thee strong and active, and fitted, and disposed thee for these great and warlike Enterprizes. For these were the uses and significations of girding in Scripture: See 1 Kings 20. 11. Psal. 18. 32. and 45. 3.

Marginal references: Deut. 4. 35, 39. & 32 39. Chap. 44. 6.; Ver. 14, 18, 21.

6. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me, I am the LORD, and there is none else.

That all Nations may know it by my foretelling of these things so long before-hand; and by the wonderful Success that I shall give thee, and by my over-ruling thine Heart, and Counsels, and Victories, to the deliverance of my People according to my Promise.

7. I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

All mens Comforts and Calamities come from my Hand.

Marginal references: Amos 3. 6.

8. Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness ; let the earth open , and let them bring forth salvation , and let righteousness spring up together : I the LORD have created it .

The righteous and gracious Acts of God for his People, shall be so many and illustrious, as if God rained down showers of righteousness out of Heaven.

Open it self either to receive those showers of righteousness be poured down from Heaven; or to bring forth those Fruits which might be expected from such Showers.

The Heavens and the Earth conspiring together

The Redemption of God's people.

Together with Salvation. Whereas Persons or People are sometimes delivered from their Troubles by unjust Courses; this shall be effected with Righteousness, both on God's part, who will hereby assert his own Justice and Faithfulness to his People; and on Cyrus his part, who will do a most righteous and worthy Action in rescuing a righteous and oppressed Nation from cruel Tyrants and Oppressors.

This great Work of Salvation and Righteousness; whereof, though Cyrus is the Instrument, I am the chief Author.

Marginal references: Chap. 51. 11.

9. Wo unto him that striveth with his maker : let the potsherd strive with the potsherds. of the earth : shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work , He hath no Hands ?

This wo is denounced; Either 1. against those Iews who hearing this and many other Prophecies, and Promises of their deliverance out of Captivity, and yet continuing in Captivity, were ever prone to distrust God, and to murmure at him for punishing them so grievously, and for not making more speed to deliver them. Or 2. against the Babylonians, the great opposers of Cyrus, and of the deliverance of God's People, whom they were resolved to keep in Bondage, in spight of God and Men. And therefore, as God here makes many glorious Promises to Cyrus, in order to this Work, so he pronounceth a Curse upon them, who should indeavour to hinder it; and admonisheth the Babylonians, That they did not onely fight against Cyrus, a Man like themselves, but against God, the Maker and Governor of the World. For what Nebuchadnezzar spoke with respect to those three Jews, Dan. 3. 15. the Babylonians spoke in their Hearts, in reference to the People of the Iews, Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

Contend, if you please, with your fellow Creatures, but not with your Creator.

He turneth his Speech to the Potter, of whom he spake in the Third Person in the foregoing Clause; such sudden Changes of Persons being usual in Prophetical Writings.

The Potter that made me, had no hands, i. e. no ability or skill to make good Work.

Marginal references: Chap. 29. 16. Jer. 18. 6. Rom. 9. 20.

10. Wo unto him that saith unto his Father, What begettest thou? or unto the woman, What hast thou brought forth ?

As it were an absurd and impudent Thing, for a Child to quarrel with his Parents, either simply for Begetting him, or for Begetting him of this or that Sex, contrary to his desire; no better is it for any Persons to quarrel with God the Maker and Father of all things, as God is called, 1 Cor. 8. 6. for disposing of them and their Affairs, by his Providence, as he sees fit, and otherwise than they desire or expect; as the Iews quarrelled with God, for bringing them into Captivity; and the Babylonians, for Translating the Empire from them to the Persians.

11. Thus saith the LORD, the holy One of Israel, and his maker ; Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me .

Israels Maker, who not onely Created him, as I did all others, but made him a new Creature, and a peculiar People to my self.

The Words thus rendred, contain a concession or permission; and the Sence may be this, Although the Potter doth not give an account to the Clay, nor Parents to their Children; yet I will so far condescend to you, as to be at your Command in this matter, to give you an account of these great Actions of mine, for which you quarrel with me. As for the Expression, Command ye me, though it seem to be harsh, yet there are instances in Scripture of such wonderful Condescentions, as when it is said, that The Lord will make his People in Heaven to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them, Luk. 12. 37. But the Words seem to be better rendred interrogatively, as they are in the Margent, and by some other Interpreters, Do you, or, will you ask me of things to come concerning my Sons, and concerning the work of mine hands will ye command me? Will you not allow me that Liberty which your selves take, of disposing of my own Children and Works, as I see fit? Must I give you an account of, these matters? Will you set Bounds to me by your commands, that I shall do this, and not that according to your good pleasure? This is intolerable boldness in you; and yet I am able to give a good account of my Actions. And the Account is given in the following Verse.

Marginal references: Heb. do they ask me of things to come concerning my Sons, and concerning the work of my hands will ye command me?

12. I have made the earth, and created man upon it : I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded .

They are wholly and solely my Creatures, and therefore absolutely at my disposal.

I have commanded them to be, or made them by my Command, or the Word of my Power: Compare Psal. 148. 5.

13. I have raised him up in righteousness , and I will direct all his ways : he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward , saith the Lord of hosts.

Cyrus, who was named before, ver. 1.

Not in a way of absolute Soveraignty, as I might have done, but most justly, to punish the wicked Babylonians, to plead the Cause of the innocent oppressed Ones, to manifest my own Righteousness, and Truth, and Goodness.

Guide and assist him in all his Travels and Marches, in all his Attempts, and Battels, and Sieges, crowning him with Success in all his undertakings.

Freely without requiring any Ransome for or from them, as is usual in such cases. Such an exact Prediction of these things which depended wholly upon the Mind and Will of Cyrus, is mentioned here, as an infallible Evidence of the certainty of God's foreknowledge, and of his being the onely true God; because Idols could discover no such things, at such a distance of time.

Marginal references: Or, make straight.; 2 Chron. 36. 22, 23. Ezra 1. 1. Chap. 44. 28.; Chap. 52. 3.

14. Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt , and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature shall come over unto thee , and they shall be thine, they shall come after thee, in chains they shall come over : and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee saying, Surely God is in thee , and there is none else, there is no God .

The wealth gotten by their labour.

A tall and strong people, who yet shall use their strength not to oppose thee but to serve thee, and to bring their labour to thee.

Either, 1. To thee O Cyrus: Because thou wast so generous as to dismiss my people freely, I will give thee another, and a better recompence, even the labour of Egypt, &c. Or, 2. to thee, O my City, or my Captivity or Captive People. For it is not to be neglected, that there are no less than six pronouns in this verse, all which are of the feminine gender; which seems not to agree to Cyrus. It is true which is objected by the most learned Author of this part of the English Annotations, that the Scripture oft speaks of States and Kingdoms in the Feminine gender; but when it speaks of any particular King or Emperour, it constantly speaks of him in the Masculine gender, as it doth of Cyrus in this very Chapter, ver. 1. and elsewhere. And thus the sence of the place seems to be this, Ierusalem shall not onely be rebuilt, but the Wealth and Glory of other Countryes shall be brought to it again, as it was in former times. Which although it was in part verified in Ierusalem, yet it was much more fully accomplished in the Church of the Gospel, which is oft expressed in Scripture under the name of Ierusalem; and in the Accession of the Gentiles to that Church which began in Ierusalem, and from thence spread it self into all the parts of the World. And this sence seems best to agree with the latter part of this and with the following verse, as we shall see.

They shall be taken captive by thee, and willingly submit themselves to thee. Which was accomplished in the Conversion of the Gentiles, whose Subjection to Gods Church is oft expressed in Scripture under such Metaphors as this; as Psal. 45. 5. and 149. 8, &c. Psal. 68. 18. compared with Eph. 4. 8.

To obtain thy favour and society.

Or, with thee. We plainly discern that God is on thy side, or in the midst of thee; and therefore we desire to joyn our selves with thee.

We are now convinced, that thou art the onely true God, and that Idols are vain and empty nothings. Which was but very obscurely fulfilled in Cyrus his time, but was most evidently and eminently accomplished in the days of the Messiah, of whom Cyrus was a Type; as also this deliverance of the Iews from Babylon by Cyrus, was a Type of the Redemption of Gods People by Christ.

Marginal references: Or, and the Sabeans, men of stature, so Gr.; Chap. 60. 14; 1 Cor. 14. 25 Ver. 5.

15. Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self , O God of Israel the Saviour.

These are the words of the Prophet drawn from him by the contemplation of the great and various works and dispensations of God towards his Church, and in the World.

To wit, from thy people for a season: Thy counsels are deep and incomprehensible, thy wayes and carriages are past finding out, and full of beautiful variety: Sometimes thou hidest thy face, and withdrawest thy help from thy people, and sometimes thou dost shew thy self to be their God and Saviour, as it follows. And therefore it is meet that we should patiently wait for the accomplishment of these glorious things here promised to us. And this admonition is most fitly inserted here, to prevent the mistakes of Gods people, and to intimate, that these promises were not to be speedily executed, but that they must expect and prepare for many and sharp afflictions, before that time should come, which yet should end in their Salvation.

Marginal references: * Chap. 8. 17.

16. They shall be ashamed, and also confounded all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of Idols.

The Idolatrous Gentiles, as it is explained in the end of the verse, opposed to Israel in the beginning of the next verse.

Either the artificers, or the chief masters who set them on work, and consequently all their Worshippers; although the Makers being most guilty, and the cause of the sins of others, might justly expect an higher degree of confusion.

Marginal references: Chap. 44. 11.

17. But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting Salvation : ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

Not for a short time, as it was in the dayes of the Judges and of the Kings, under whom their dangers and calamities did frequently return upon them; but unto all ages, as it follows. Whence it appears, that he speaks not onely nor chiefly of their Deliverance out of Babylon, which was far from being compleat or perpetual, as appears both from Scripture, as Ezra 9. 8. and elsewhere, and from other Authors; but of their Redemption by Christ, by which this was truly and fully verified, unto a great number of Israelites after the Flesh, and especially unto the mystical, Gods Church and People, who are frequently called in Scripture by that name; as the Ordinances and Priviledges of the Gospel, are commonly discribed in the Old Testament, by expressions borrowed from the Levitical dispensation. And that this is the meaning of the place is evident from ver. 22. wherein all the ends of the Earth are said to be sharers in this Salvation.

Marginal references: [Or by]

18. For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, & made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited, I am the LORD, and there is none else .

This description of God is here added, Either 1. To detect the vanity of Idols, by asserting, that none was to be owned as the tr[illegible: 1+ letters]e God, besides that one God who made the Heavens and the Earth, and the Inhabitants thereof: Or, 2. To demonstrate Gods Sufficiency to fulfil all these glorious promises made to his Church, because he made the World out of nothing, and upholds it by the word of his Power; and withal to discover Gods goodness to mankind, inasmuch as he did not Create the Earth in vain, but for the use and comfort of men, that it might be a fit habitation for them: whence it was easy to infer, that God would much more be gracious to his own People.

Marginal references: Chap. 42. 5.; ver. 5.

19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth : I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain : I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right .

The Heathen Idols deliver their Oracles darkly and doubtfully, in obscure Cells and Caverns of the Earth, or out of the bellies of their Priests: but I have delivered my Oracles to Israel publickly and plainly, as one that was neither afraid nor ashamed to utter my mind, least I should be convinced of folly and falshood; which was the case of Idols.

Serve and Worship me for nought. As I appointed them work, so I promised, and from time to time have given and shall give them, abundant recompence for their service. Whereas the Gentiles seek to their Idols in vain, for they can do them no good, as is observed in the next verse.

I require nothing of my people which is not highly just and good; whereas the Idols commanded their Worshippers to do many sinful and shameful things, [illegible: 1+ letters]ven in their worship, as is notoriously known.

Marginal references: Deut. 30. 11.; * Chap. 48. 16.

20. Assemble your selves and come: draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations : they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven Image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

To debate the business with me concerning the Divinity of your Idols, and hear what I have said, and am now about to say again in that matter.

The remnant of the Gentiles, which shall survive those great and many destructions, which I am bringing upon the heathen Nations, for their abominable Idolatries and other wickedness. Let these dreadful judgments upon others, and Gods singular mercy in sparing you, awaken you to a more impartial and serious consideration of this point, and cast off those Idols, which have now discovered their own vanity and inability, to help those who serve them, and trust in them.

They hereby discover their deep ignorance and stupi[illegible: 1+ letters]ity.

In an high place where it may be seen and worshipped.

Marginal references: Chap. 44. 9, 17, 18. &c.

21. Tell ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together : who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour , there is none beside me.

To maintain the cause of their Idols.

This great work of which I have spoken, concerning Babylons destruction and the redemption of Gods people.

Whereas the Gods of the Heathens are neither Just nor Saviours to their people, but wicked and the Authors and abetters of all sorts of wickedness; and so far from being either able or willing to save their worshippers, that they are the chief occasion of their utter destruction.

Marginal references: Chap. 41 22. & 43. 9. & 44. 7. & 46. 10. & 48. 14.; Ver. 5, 14, 18

22. Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else.

Upon these considerations, I advise all people upon earth, from one end to the other, to cast away their Idols, and to turn their eyes and hearts to me, expecting Salvation from me, and from me onely; and their labour shall not be in vain; for they shall be saved: the imperative being put for the future, as Gen. 42. 18. and oft elsewhere. And this is not onely an exhortation to the Gentiles to turn from Idols to God, but a Prediction that they shall turn to him and look upon Christ, who shall be the Authour of Salvation to all that obey him, whether Iews or Gentiles, which is confirmed by the following verse.

23. I have sworn by my self , the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness , and shall not return , that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear .

Which is the highest and most solemn oath that is possible, Heb. 6. 13. and therefore signifies, that the matter here sworn is of an extraordinary importance.

It is not a vain word rashly uttered, and afterwards never remembred nor observed, but what I sincerely speak, and will most faithfully and infallibly perform.

To wit, unto me voyd, or without effect, as this phrase is more fully delivered, Isa. 55. 11. It is a metaphor from Ambassadours, who sometimes return to their Princes without any success in their business.

Not onely the Iews, but a people of all Nations shall worship me, and submit to my laws; which is signified by an outward act, the bowing of the knee, which is a posture of reverence and subjection; and by one eminent part of Gods worship, which is swearing by his name.

Marginal references: Chap. 55. 11; Rom. 14. 11. Phil. 2. 10.

24. Surely, shall one say , In the LORD have I righteousness , and strength : even to him shall men come , and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed .

Or, shall he say, each or every one of those, whom he now said, that they should bow their knees to God, and swear by him, ver. 23. Or, it shall be said, such active verbs being oft used impersonally.

By or from God alone, or the Messiah, who is the true Iehovah as well as man.

To justifie me from all things from which I could not be justified by the Law of Moses, as is said, Act. 13. 39. This plainly points us to the Messiah, whose very name is, the Lord our Righteousness, Ier. 23. 6. and whose great business it was to bring in everlasting Righteousness, Dan. 9. 24. and who is made unto us of God Righteousness, 1 Cor. 1. 30.

Support and assistance to bear all my burdens, and overcome all my enemies, and perform all my duties. The sence is, The Gentiles shall expect and obtain from Christ both Justification, or forgiveness of sins by his blood, and Sanctification by his Spirit.

The Gentiles shall come to God and Christ, either 1. By constraint, or necessity to be judged by him at the last day: Or, 2. willingly by prayer to seek, and by faith to receive, Righteousness and Strength from him: Which seems better to agree with the foregoing clause, which speaks of true believers onely. Coming to Christ is put for believing on him. Mat. 11. 28. Iohn 5. 10. and 6. 35, 36, 37. and elsewhere.

Or, but (as this particle is oft rendred) all that are, &c. But all his implacable enemies shall be brought to shame and punishment.

Marginal references: Or, surely he shall say of me, In the LORD is all righteousness & strength.; Heb. righteousnesses.

25. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel * be justified , and shall glory .

All Israelites indeed, whether Iews or Gentiles; all Believers, who are frequently called Gods Israel in Scripture, as Psal. 24. 6. Rom. 9. 6. and 11. 26. Gal. 6. 16.

Acquitted both from real guilt before God, and from all false aspersions before the world; for this justification of the true Israel is opposed to their enemies being ashamed, ver. 24. which seems to design their publick shame and condition before God and men.

Shall not onely receive him, but shall rejoyce and triumph in him as their God and portion.

Marginal references: [Or at]

Isa 45:1-3

The first strophe of the first half of this sixth prophecy (Isa 44:24.), the subject of which is Cyrus, the predicted restorer of Jerusalem, of the cities of Judah, and of the temple, is now followed by a second strophe (Isa 45:1-8), having for its subject Cyrus, the man through whose irresistible career of conquest the heathen would be brought to recognise the power of Jehovah, so that heavenly blessings would come down upon the earth. The naming of the great shepherd of the nations, and the address of him, are continued in Isa 45:1-3 : “Thus saith Jehovah to His anointed, to Koresh, whom I have taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him; and the loins of kings I ungird, to open before him doors and gates, that they may not continue shut. I shall go before thee, and level what is heaped up: gates of brass shall I break in pieces, and bolts of iron shall I smite to the ground. And I shall give thee treasures of darkness, and jewels of hidden places, that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am He who called out thy name, (even) the God of Israel.” The words addressed to Cyrus by Jehovah commence in Isa 45:2, but promises applying to him force themselves into the introduction, being evoked by the mention of his name. He is the only king of the Gentiles whom Jehovah ever meshı̄chı̄ (my anointed; lxx τῷ χριστῷ μου). The fundamental principle of the politics of the empire of the world was all-absorbing selfishness. But the politics of Cyrus were pervaded by purer motives, and this brought him eternal honour. The very same thing which the spirit of Darius, the father of Xerxes, is represented as saying of him in the Persae of Aeschylus (v. 735), Θεὸς γὰρ οὐκ ἤχθησεν ὡς εὔφρων ἔφυ (for he was not hateful to God, because he was well-disposed), is here said by the Spirit of revelation, which by no means regards the virtues of the heathen as splendida vitia. Jehovah has taken him by his right hand, to accomplish great things through him while supporting him thus. (On the inf. rad for rōd, from râdad, to tread down, see Ges. §67, Anm. 3.) The dual delâthaim has also a plural force: “double doors” (fores) in great number, viz., those of palaces. After the two infinitives, the verb passes into the finite tense: “loins of kings I ungird” (discingo; pittēăch, which refers primarily to the loosening of a fastened garment, is equivalent to depriving of strength). The gates - namely, those of the cities which he storms - will not be shut, sc. in perpetuity, that is to say, they will have to open to him. Jerome refers here to the account given of the elder Cyrus in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia. A general picture may no doubt be obtained from this of his success in war; but particular statements need support from other quarters, since it is only a historical romance. Instead of אושׁר (אושׁר)? in Isa 45:2, the keri has אישּׁר; just as in Psa 5:9 it has הישׁר instead of הושׁר. A hiphil הושׁיר cannot really be shown to have existed, and the abbreviated future form עושׁר would be altogether without ground or object here. הדּורים (tumida; like נעיימם, amaena, and others) is meant to refer to the difficulties piled up in the conqueror’s way. The “gates of brass' (nedhūshâh, brazen, poetical for nechōsheth, brass, as in the derivative passage, Psa 107:16) and “bolts of iron” remind one more especially of Babylon with its hundred “brazen gates,” the very posts and lintels of which were also of brass (Herod. i. 179); and the treasures laid up in deep darkness and jewels preserved in hiding-places, of the riches of Babylon (Jer 50:37; Jer 51:13), and especially of those of the Lydian Sardes, “the richest city of Asia after Babylon” (Cyrop. vii. 2, 11), which Cyrus conquered first. On the treasures which Cyrus acquired through his conquests, and to which allusion is made in the Persae of Aeschylus, v. 327 (“O Persian, land and harbour of many riches thou”), see Plin. h. n. xxxiii. 2. Brerewood estimates the quantity of gold and silver mentioned there as captured by him at no less than £126,224,000 sterling. And all this success is given to him by Jehovah, that he may know that it is Jehovah the God of Israel who has called out with his name, i.e., called out his name, or called him to be what he is, and as what he shows himself to be.

Isa 45:4-7

A second and third object are introduced by a second and third למען. “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I called thee hither by name, surnamed thee when thou knewest me not. I Jehovah, and there is none else, beside me no God: I equipped thee when thou knewest me not; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and its going down, that there is none without me: I Jehovah, and there is none else, former of the light, and creator of the darkness; founder of peace, and creator of evil: I Jehovah am He who worketh all this.” The ואקרא which follows the second reason assigned like an apodosis, is construed doubly: “I called to thee, calling thee by name.” The parallel אכנּך refers to such titles of honour as “my shepherd” and “my anointed,” which had been given to him by Jehovah. This calling, distinguishing, and girding, i.e., this equipment of Cyrus, took place at a time when Cyrus knew nothing as yet of Jehovah, and by this very fact Jehovah made known His sole Deity. The meaning is, not that it occurred while he was still worshipping false gods, but, as the refrain-like repetition of the words “though thou hast not know me” affirms with strong emphasis, before he had been brought into existence, or could know anything of Jehovah. The passage is to be explained in the same way as Jer 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee” (see Psychol. pp. 36, 37, 39); and what the God of prophecy here claims for Himself, must not be questioned by false criticism, or weakened down by false apologetics (i.e., by giving up the proper name Cyrus as a gloss in Isa 44:28 and Isa 45:1; or generalizing it into a king’s name, such as Pharaoh, Abimelech, or Agag). The third and last object of this predicted and realized success of the oppressor of nations and deliverer of Israel is the acknowledgement of Jehovah, spreading over the heathen world from the rising and setting of the sun, i.e., in every direction. The ah of וּממּערבה is not a feminine termination (lxx, Targ., Jer.), but a feminine suffix with He raphato pro mappic (Kimchi); compare Isa 23:17-18; Isa 34:17 (but not נצּה in Isa 18:5, or מוּסדה in Isa 30:32). Shemesh (the sun) is a feminine here, as in Gen 15:17, Nah 3:17, Mal 4:2, and always in Arabic; for the west is invariably called מערב (Arab. magrib). In Isa 45:7 we are led by the context to understand by darkness and evil the penal judgments, through which light and peace, or salvation, break forth for the people of God and the nations generally. But as the prophecy concerning Cyrus closes with this self-assertion of Jehovah, it is unquestionably a natural supposition that there is also a contrast implied to the dualistic system of Zarathustra, which divided the one nature of the Deity into two opposing powers (see Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studien, p. 135). The declaration is so bold, that Marcion appealed to this passage as a proof that the God of the Old Testament was a different being from the God of the New, and not the God of goodness only. The Valentinians and other gnostics also regarded the words “There is no God beside me” in Isaiah, as deceptive words of the Demiurugs. The early church met them with Tertullian’s reply, “de his creator profitetur malis quae congruunt judici,” and also made use of this self-attestation of the God of revelation as a weapon with which to attack Manicheesism. The meaning of the words is not exhausted by those who content themselves with the assertion, that by the evil (or darkness) we are not to understand the evil of guilt (malum culpae), but the evil of punishment (malum paenae). Undoubtedly, evil as an act is not the direct working of God, but the spontaneous work of a creature endowed with freedom. At the same time, evil, as well as good, has in this sense its origin in God - that He combines within Himself the first principles of love and wrath, the possibility of evil, the self-punishment of evil, and therefore the consciousness of guilt as well as the evil of punishment in the broadest sense. When the apostle celebrates the glory of free grace in Rom 9:11., he stands on that giddy height, to which few are able to follow him without falling headlong into the false conclusions of a decretum absolutum, and the denial of all creaturely freedom.

Isa 45:8

In the prospect of this ultimate and saving purpose of the mission of Cyrus, viz., the redemption of Israel and the conversion of the heathen, heaven and earth are now summoned to bring forth and pour down spiritual blessings in heavenly gifts, according to the will and in the power of Jehovah, who has in view a new spiritual creation. “Cause to trickle down, ye heavens above, and let the blue sky rain down righteousness; let the earth open, and let salvation blossom, and righteousness; let them sprout together: I Jehovah have created it.” What the heavens are to cause to trickle down, follows as the object to יזּלוּ. And what is to flower when the earth opens (pâthach as in Psa 106:17; compare aprilis and the Neo-Greek anoixis, spring), is salvation and righteousness. But tzedek (righteousness) is immediately afterwards the object of a new verb; so that וּצדקה ישׁע, which are thought of as combined, as the word יחד (together) shows, are uncoupled in the actual expression. Knobel expresses a different opinion, and assumes that ישׁע is regarded as a collective noun, and therefore construed with a plural, like אמרּה in Psa 119:103, and חמדה in Hag 2:7. But the use of yachad (together) favours the other interpretation. The suffix of בּראתיו points to this fulness of righteousness and salvation. It is a creation of Jehovah Himself. Heaven and earth, when co-operating to effect this, are endowed with their capacity through Him from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, and obey now, as at the first, His creative fiat. This “rorate caeli desuper et nubes pluant justum,” as the Vulgate renders it, is justly regarded as an old advent cry.

Isa 45:9-10

The promise is now continued in the third strophe (Isa 45:9-13), and increases more and more in the distinctness of its terms; but just as in Isa 29:15-21, it opens with a reproof of that pusillanimity (Isa 40:27; cf., Isa 51:13; Isa 49:24; Isa 58:3), which goes so far to complain of the ways of Jehovah. “Woe to him that quarreleth with his Maker - a pot among the pots of earthenware? Can the clay indeed say to him that shapeth it, What makest thou? and thy work, He hath no hands? Woe to him that saith to his father, What begettest thou? and to the woman, What bringest thou forth?” The comparison drawn between a man as the work of God and the clay-work of a potter suggested itself all the more naturally, inasmuch as the same word yootseer was applied to God as Creator, and also to a potter (figulus). The word cheres signifies either a sherd, or fragment of earthenware (Isa 30:14), or an earthenware vessel (Jer 19:1; Pro 26:23). In the passage before us, where the point of comparison is not the fragmentary condition, but the earthen character of the material ()'adâmâh), the latter is intended: the man, who complains of God, is nothing but a vessel of clay, and, more than that, a perishable vessel among many others of the very same kind.The Septuagint reads shin for sin in both instances, and introduces here the very unsuitable thought already contained in Isa 28:24, “Shall the ploughman plough the land the whole day?”

The questions which follow are meant to show the folly of this complaining. Can it possibly occur to the clay to raise a complaint against him who has it in hand, that he has formed it in such and such a manner, or for such and such a purpose (compare Rom 9:20, “Why hast thou made me thus”)? To the words “or thy work” we must supply num dicet (shall it say); pō‛al is a manufacture, as in Isa 1:31. The question is addressed to the maker, as those in Isa 7:25 are to the husbandman: Can the thing made by thee, O man, possibly say in a contemptuous tone, “He has no hands?” - a supposition the ridiculous absurdity of which condemns it at once; and yet it is a very suitable analogy to the conduct of the man who complains of God. In Isa 45:10 a woe is denounced upon those who resemble a man who should say to his own father, What children dost thou beget? or to a wife, What dost thou bring forth? (techı̄lı̄n an emphatic, and for the most part pausal, fut. parag., as in Rth 2:8; Rth 3:18). This would be the rudest and most revolting attack upon an inviolably tender and private relation; and yet Israel does this when it makes the hidden providential government of its God the object of expostulation.

Isa 45:11-12

After this double woe, which is expressed in general terms, but the application of which is easily made, the words of Jehovah are directly addressed to the presumptuous criticizers. Isa 45:11 “Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker, Ask me what is to come; let my sons and the work of my hands be committed to me!” The names by which He calls Himself express his absolute blamelessness, and His absolute right of supremacy over Israel. שׁאלוּני is an imperative, like שׁמעוּני in Gen 23:8; the third person would be written שׁאלוּני. The meaning is: If ye would have any information or satisfaction concerning the future (“things to come,” Isa 41:23; Isa 44:7), about which ye can neither know nor determine anything of yourselves, inquire of me. צוּה with an accusative of the person, and על of the thing, signifies to commit anything to the care of another (1Ch 22:12). The fault-finders in Israel were to leave the people of whom Jehovah was the Maker (a retrospective allusion to Isa 45:10 and Isa 45:9), in the hands of Him who has created everything, and on whom everything depends. Isa 45:12 “I, I have made the earth, and created men upon it; I, my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I called forth.” ידי אני, according to Ges. §121, 3, is equivalent to my hands, and mine alone - a similar arrangement of words to those in Gen 24:27; 2Ch 28:10; Ecc 2:15. Hitzig is wrong in his rendering, “all their host do I command.” That of Ewald is the correct one, “did I appoint;” for tsivvâsh, followed by an accusative of the person, means to give a definite order or command to any one, the command in this case being the order to come into actual existence (= esse jussi, cf., Psa 33:9).

Isa 45:13

He who created all things, and called all things into existence, had also raised up this Cyrus, whose victorious career had increased the anxieties and fears of the exiles, instead of leading them to lift up their heads, because their redemption was drawing nigh. “I, I have raised him up in righteousness, and all his ways shall I make smooth: He will build my city, and release my banished ones, not for price nor for reward, saith Jehovah of hosts.” All the anxieties of the exiles are calmed by the words “in righteousness,” which trace back the revolutions that Cyrus was causing to the righteousness of Jehovah, i.e., to His interposition, which was determined by love alone, and tended directly to the salvation of His people, and in reality to that of all nations. And they are fully quieted by the promise, which is now expressed in the clearest and most unequivocal words, that Cyrus would build up Jerusalem again, and set the captivity free (gâlūth, as in Isa 20:4), and that without redemption with money (Isa 52:3) - a clear proof that Jehovah had not only raised up Cyrus himself, but had put his spirit within him, i.e., had stirred up within him the resolution to do this (see the conclusion to the books of Chronicles, and the introduction to that of Ezra). This closes the first half of our sixth prophecy.

Isa 45:14

The second half is uttered in the prospect, that the judgment which Cyrus brings upon the nations will prepare the way for the overthrow of heathenism, and the universal acknowledgment of the God of Israel. The heathen submit, as the first strophe or group of vv. (Isa 45:14-17) affirms, to the congregation and its God; the idolatrous are converted, whilst Israel is for ever redeemed. With the prospect of the release of the exiles, there is associated in the prophet’s perspective the prospect of an expansion of the restored church, through the entrance of “the fulness of the Gentiles.” “Thus saith Jehovah, The productions of Egypt, and gain of Ethiopia, and the Sabaeans, men of tall stature, will come over to thee, and belong to thee: they will come after thee; in chains they will come over, and cast themselves down to thee; they pray to thee, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else; no Deity at all.” Assuming that יעברוּ has the same meaning in both cases, the prophet’s meaning appears to be, that the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Meroites (see Isa 43:3), who had been enslaved by the imperial power of Persia, would enter the miraculously emancipated congregation of Israel (Ewald). But if they were thought of as in a state of subjugation to the imperial power of Asia, who could the promise be at the same time held out that their riches would pass over into the possession of the church? And yet, on the other hand, the chains in which they come over cannot be regarded, at least in this connection, where such emphasis is laid upon the voluntary character of the surrender, as placed upon them by Israel itself (as in Isa 60:11 and Psa 149:8). We must therefore suppose that they put chains upon themselves voluntarily, and of their own accord, and thus offer themselves spontaneously to the church, to be henceforth its subjects and slaves. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saba are the nations that we meet with in other passages, where the haereditas gentium is promised to the church, and generally in connection with Tyre (vid., Psa 68:32; Psa 72:10; compare Isa 18:7; Isa 19:16., Isa 23:18). Whilst the labour of Egypt (i.e., the productions of its labour) and the trade of Ethiopia (i.e., the riches acquired by trade) are mentioned; in the case of Saba the prophecy looks at the tall and handsome tribe itself, a tribe which Agatharchides describes as having σώματα ἀξιολογώτερα. These would place themselves at the service of the church with their invincible strength. The voluntary character of the surrender is pointed out, not only in the expression “they will come over,” but also in the confession with which this is accompanied. In other cases the words hithpallēl 'el are only used of prayer to God and idols; but here it is to the church that prayer is offered. In the prophet’s view, Jehovah and His church are inseparably one (compare 1Co 12:12, where “Christ” stands for the church as one body, consisting of both head and members; also the use of the word “worship” in Rev 3:9, which has all the ring of a passage taken from Isaiah). אך is used here in its primary affirmative sense, as in Psa 58:11. There can be no doubt that Paul had this passage of Isaiah in his mind when writing 1Co 14:24-25, ἀπαγγέλλων ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ὄντως ἐν ὑμῖν ἐστί, or, according to a better arrangement of the words, ὅτι ὄντως (= אך) ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ὑμῖν ἐστίν. 'Ephes does not signify praeter (as a synonym of בּלעדי, זוּלתי) either here or anywhere else, but is a substantive used with a verbal force, which stands in the same relation to אין as “there is not at all (absolutely not)” to “there is not;” compare Isa 5:8; Isa 45:6; Isa 46:9, also Deu 32:36 (derivative passage, 2Ki 14:26), and Amo 6:10; 2Sa 9:3; vid., Isa 47:8.

Isa 45:15

What follows in Isa 45:15 is not a continuation of the words of the Gentiles, but a response of the church to their confession. The nations that have been idolatrous till now, bend in humble spontaneous worship before the church and its God; and at the sight of this, the church, from whose soul the prophet is speaking, bursts out into an exclamation of reverential amazement. “Verily Thou art a mysterious God, Thou God of Israel, Thou Savour.” Literally, a God who hides Himself (mistattēr: the resemblance to μυστηρ-ιώδης is quite an accidental one; the ē is retained in the participle even in pause). The meaning is, a God who guides with marvellous strangeness the history of the nations of the earth, and by secret ways, which human eyes can never discern, conducts all to a glorious issue. The exclamation in Rom 11:33, “O the depth of the riches,” etc., is a similar one.

Isa 45:16-17

The way in which this God who hides Himself is ultimately revealed as the God of salvation, is then pointed out in Isa 45:16, Isa 45:17 : “They are put to shame, and also confounded, all of them; they go away into confusion together, the forgers of idols. Israel is redeemed by Jehovah with everlasting redemption: ye are not put to shame nor confounded to everlasting eternities.” The perfects are expressive of the ideal past. Jehovah shows Himself as a Savour by the fact, that whereas the makers of idols perish, Israel is redeemed an everlasting redemption (acc. obj. as in Isa 14:6; Isa 22:17; Ges. §138, 1, Anm. 1), i.e., so that its redemption is one that lasts for aeons (αἰωνία λύτρωσις, Heb 9:12) - observe that teshū‛âh does not literally signify redemption or rescue, but transfer into a state of wide expanse, i.e., of freedom and happiness. The plural ‛ōlâmı̄m (eternities = αἰῶνες aeua) belongs, according to Knobel, to the later period of the language; but it is met with as early as in old Asaphite psalms (Psa 77:6). When the further promise is added, Ye shall not be put to shame, etc., this clearly shows, what is also certain on other grounds - namely, that the redemption is not thought of merely as an outward and bodily one, but also as inward and spiritual, and indeed (in accordance with the prophetic blending of the end of the captivity with the end of all things) as a final one. Israel will never bring upon itself again such a penal judgment as that of the captivity by falling away from God; that is to say, its state of sin will end with its state of punishment, even עב עד־עולמי, i.e., since עד has no plural, εἰς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.

Isa 45:18-19

The second and last strophe of this prophecy commences with Isa 45:18. By the fulfilment of the promise thus openly proclaimed, those of the heathen who have been saved from the judgment will recognise Jehovah as the only God; and the irresistible will of Jehovah, that all mankind should worship Him, be carried out. The promise cannot remain unfulfilled. “For thus saith Jehovah, the creator of the heavens (He is the Deity), the former of the earth, and its finisher; He has established it (He has not created it a desert, He has formed it to be inhabited): I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Into the desert seek ye me! I Jehovah am speaking righteousness, proclaiming upright things.” The athnach properly divides Isa 45:18 in half. Isa 45:18 describes the speaker, and what He says commences in Isa 45:18. The first parenthesis affirms that Jehovah is God in the fullest and most exclusive sense; the second that He has created the earth for man’s sake, not “as a desert” (tōhū: the lxx, Targum, and Jerome render this with less accuracy, non in vanum), i.e., not to be and continue to be a desert, but to be inhabited. Even in Gen 1:2, chaos is not described as of God’s creation, because (whatever may be men’s opinions concerning it in other respects) the creative activity of God merely made use of this as a starting-point, and because, although it did not come into existence without God, it was at any rate not desired by God for its own sake. The words of Jehovah commence, then, with the assertion that Jehovah is the absolute One; and from this two thoughts branch off: (1.) The first is, that the prophecy which emanates from Him is an affair of light, no black art, but essentially different from heathen soothsaying. By “a dark place of the earth” we are to understand, according to Psa 139:15, the interior of the earth, and according to Job 10:21, Hades; the intention being to point out the contrast between the prophecies of Jehovah and the heathen cave-oracles and spirit-voices of the necromancists, which seemed to rise up from the interior of the earth (see Isa 65:4; Isa 8:19; Isa 29:4). (2.) The second thought is, that the very same love of Jehovah, which has already been displayed in the creation, attests itself in His relation to Israel, which He has not directed to Himself “into the desert” (tōhū), just as He did not create the earth a tōhū. Meier and Knobel suppose that baqshūnı̄, which is written here, according to a well-supported reading, with Koph raphatum (whereas in other cases the dagesh is generally retained, particularly in the imperative of biqqēsh), refers to seeking for disclosures as to the future; but the word דרשׁוּני would be used for this, as in Isa 8:19. He has not said, “Seek ye me (as in Zep 2:3) into the desert,” i.e., without the prospect of meeting with any return for your pains. On the contrary, He has attached promises to the seeking of Himself, which cannot remain unfulfilled, for He is “one speaking righteousness, declaring things that are right;” i.e., when He promises, He follows out the rule of His purpose and of His plan of salvation, and the impulse of sincere desire for their good, and love which is ever true to itself. The present word of prophecy points to the fulfilment of these promises.

Isa 45:20-21

The salvation of Israel, foretold and realized by Jehovah, becomes at the same time the salvation of the heathen world. “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye escaped of the heathen! Irrational are they who burden themselves with the wood of their idol, and pray to a god that bringeth no salvation. Make known, and cause to draw near; yea, let them take counsel together: Who has made such things known from the olden time, proclaimed it long ago? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no Deity beside me; a God just, and bringing salvation: there is not without me!” The fulness of the Gentiles, which enters into the kingdom of God, is a remnant of the whole mass of the heathen: for salvation comes through judgment; and it is in the midst of great calamities that the work of that heathen mission is accomplished, which is represented in these prophecies on the one hand as the mission of Cyrus, and on the other hand as the mission of Jehovah and His servant. Hence this summons to listen to the self-assertion of the God of revelation, is addressed to the escaped of the heathen, who are not therefore the converted, but those who are susceptible of salvation, and therefore spared. By “the heathen” (haggōyı̄m) Knobel understands the allies and auxiliaries of the Babylonians, whom Cyrus put to flight (according to the Cyropaedia) before his Lydian campaign. But this is only an example of that exaggerated desire to turn everything into history, which not only prevented his seeing the poetry of the form, but obscured the fact that prophecy is both human and divine. For the future was foreshortened to the telescopic glance of the prophet, so that he could not see it in all its length and breadth. He saw in one mass what history afterwards unrolled; and then behind the present he could just see as it were the summit of the end, although a long eventful way still lay between the two. Accordingly, our prophet here takes his stand not at the close of any particular victory of Cyrus, but at the close of all his victories; and, in his view, these terminate the whole series of catastrophes, which are outlived by a remnant of the heathen, who are converted to Jehovah, and thus complete the final glory of the restored people of God. Throughout the whole of these prophecies we see immediately behind the historical foreground this eschatological background lifting up its head. The heathen who have been preserved will assemble together; and from the fact that Jehovah proves Himself the sole foreteller of the events that are now unfolding themselves, they will be brought to the conviction that He is the only God. The hithpael hithnaggēsh does not occur anywhere else. On the absolute ידע לא, see at Isa 44:9 (cf., Isa 1:3). To the verb haggı̄shū we must supply, as in Isa 41:22, according to the same expression in Isa 45:21, עצּמתיכם (your proofs). “This” refers to the fall of Babylon and redemption of Israel - salvation breaking through judgment. On mē'âz, from the olden time, compare Isa 44:8. God is “a just God and a Saviour,” as a being who acts most stringently according to the demands of His holiness, and wherever His wrath is not wickedly provoked, sets in motion His loving will, which is ever concerned to secure the salvation of men.

Isa 45:22-23

It is in accordance with this holy loving will that the cry is published in Isa 45:22 : “Turn unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and none else.” The first imperative is hortatory, the second promising (cf., Isa 36:16 and Isa 8:9): Jehovah desires both, viz., the conversion of all men to Himself; and through this their salvation, ad this His gracious will, which extends to all mankind, will not rest till its object has been fully accomplished. Isa 45:23 “By myself have I sworn, a word has gone out of a mouth of righteousness, and will not return, That to me every knee shall bend, every tongue swear.” Swearing by Himself (see Gen 22:16), God pledges what He swears with His own life (compare Rom 14:11, “as I live”). Parallel to נשׁבּעתּי בּי is the clause ישׁוּב ולא דּבר צדק מפּי יצא. Here Rosenmüller connects דבר צדקה together as if with a hyphen, in the sense of a truth-word (Jerome, justitiae verbum). But this is grammatically impossible, since it would require צדקה דּבר; moreover, it is opposed both to the accents, and to the dagesh in the Daleth. Hitzig’s rendering is a better one: “Truth (lxx δικαιοσύνη), a word that does not return,” - the latter being taken as an explanatory permutative; but in that case we should require לא for ולא, and tsedâqâh is not used in the sense of truth anywhere else (compare tsaddı̄q, however, in Isa 41:26). On the other hand, צדקה might be equivalent to בצדקה “in righteousness;” cf., Isa 42:25, חמה = בּהמה), if it were not incomparably more natural to connect together צדקה מפי as a genitive construction; though not in the sense in which הגבורה מפי is used in post-biblical writings - namely, as equivalent to “out of the mouth of God” (see Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. Col. 385) - ) - but rather in this way, that the mouth of God is described attributively as regulated in its words by His holy will (as “speaking righteousness, Isa 45:19). A word has gone forth from this mouth of righteousness; and after it has once gone forth, it does not return without accomplishing its object (Isa 55:11). What follows is not so much a promising prediction (that every knee will bend to me), as a definitive declaration of will (that it shall or must bend to me). According to Isa 19:18; Isa 44:5, “to me” is to be regarded as carried forward, and so to be supplied after “shall swear” (the Septuagint rendering, ὀμεῖται … τὸν Θεόν, is false; that of Paul in Rom 14:11, ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ, is correct; and in this case, as in others also, the Cod. Al. of the Sept. has been corrected from the New Testament quotations).

Isa 45:24-25

This bending of the knee, this confession as an oath of homage, will be no forced one. Isa 45:24 “Only in Jehovah, do men say of me, is fulness of righteousness and strength; they come to Him, and all that were incensed against Him are put to shame.” The parenthetical insertion of אמר לי ל, with reference to, as in Isa 41:7; Isa 44:26, Isa 44:28) is the same as in Psa 119:57. אך has a restrictive sense here, which springs out of the affirmative (cf., Psa 39:7; Psa 73:1), just as, in the case of raq, the affirmative grows out of the primary restrictive sense. The “righteousness” is abounding (superabundant) righteousness (Rom 5:15.). עז is the strength of sanctification, and of the conquest of the world. The subject to יבוא (which is not to be changed, according to the Masora, into the more natural יבאּוּ, as it is by the lxx, Syr., and Vulg.) is, whoever has seen what man has in Jehovah, and made confession of this; such a man does not rest till he has altogether come over to Jehovah, whereas all His enemies are put to shame. They separate themselves irretrievably from the men who serve Him, the restoration of whom is His direct will, and the goal of the history of salvation. Isa 45:25 “In Jehovah all the seed of Israel shall become righteous, and shall glory.” Ruetschi has very properly observed on this verse, that the reference is to the Israel of God out of all the human race, i.e., the church of the believers in Israel expanded by the addition of the heathen; which church is now righteous, i.e., reconciled and renewed by Jehovah, and glories in Him, because by grace it is what it is.

This brings the sixth prophecy to a close. Its five strophes commence with “Thus saith the Lord;” at the same time, the fifth strophe has two “woes” (hoi) before this, as the ground upon which it rests.

Prophecies Concerning Cyrus. (b. c. 708.)

1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord , which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from Astyages king of Media. The pagan writers are not agreed in their accounts of his origin. Some tell us that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed, and was saved from perishing by a herdsman's wife. However, it is agreed that, being a man of an active genius, he soon made himself very considerable, especially when Crœsus king of Lydia made a descent upon his country, which he not only repulsed, but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he had gained against Crœsus with such vigour that in a little time he took Sardis and made himself master of the rich kingdom of Lydia and the many provinces that then belonged to it. This made him very great (for Crœsus was rich to a proverb) and enabled him to pursue his victories in many countries; but it was nearly ten years afterwards that, in conjunction with his uncle Darius and with the forces of Persia, he made this famous attack upon Babylon, which is here foretold, and which we have the history of Dan. 5. Babylon had now grown exorbitantly rich and strong. It was forty-five miles in compass (some say more): the walls were thirty-two feet thick and 100 cubits high. Some say, They were so thick that six chariots might drive abreast upon them; others say, They were fifty cubits thick and 200 high. Cyrus seems to have had a great ambition to make himself master of this place, and to have projected it long; and at last he performed it. Now here, 210 years before it came to pass, we are told,

I. What great things God would do for him, that he might put it into his power to release his people. In order to this he shall be a mighty conqueror and a wealthy monarch and nations shall become tributaries to him and help him both with men and money. Now that which God here promised to do for Cyrus he could have done for Zerubbabel, or some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and power of this world God has seldom seen fit to entrust his own people with much of, so many are the snares and temptations that attend them; but if here has been occasion, for the god of the church, to make use of them, God has been pleased rather to put them into the hands of others, to be employed for them, than to venture them in their own hands. Cyrus is here called God's anointed, because he was both designed and qualified for this great service by the counsel of God, and was to be herein a type of the Messiah. God engages to hold his right hand, not only to strengthen and sustain him, but to direct his motions and intentions, as Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands when he was to shoot his arrow against Syria, 2 Kings xiii. 16. Being under such direction,

1. He shall extend his conquests very far and shall make nothing of the opposition that will be given him. Babylon is too strong a place for a young hero to begin with; and therefore, that he may be able to deal with that, great additions shall be made to his strength by other conquests. (1.) Populous kingdoms shall yield to him. God will subdue nations before him; when he is in the full career of his successes he shall make nothing of a nation's being born to him at once: yet it is not he that subdues them; it is God that subdues them for him; the battle is his, and therefore his is the victory. (2.) Potent kings shall fall before him: I will loose the loins of kings, either the girdle of their loins (divesting them of their power and dignity) or the strength of their loins, and then it was literally fulfilled in Belshazzar, for, when he was terrified by the handwriting on the wall, the joints of his loins were loosed, Dan. v. 6. (3.) Great cities shall surrender themselves into his hands, without giving him or themselves any trouble. God will incline the keepers of the city to open before him the two-leaved gates, not treacherously nor timorously, but from a full conviction that it is to no purpose to contend with him; and therefore the gates shall not be shut to keep him out as an enemy, but thrown open to admit him as a friend. (4.) The longest and most dangerous marches shall be made easy and ready to him: I will go before thee, to clear the way, and to conduct thee in it, and then the crooked places, shall be made straight; or, as some read it, the hilly places shall be levelled and made even. Those will find a ready road that have God going before them. (5.) No opposition shall stand before him. He that gives him his commission will break in pieces the gates of brass that are shut against him, and cut asunder the bars of iron wherewith they are fastened. This was fulfilled in the letter, if that be true which Herodotus reports, that the city of Babylon had 100 gates all of brass, with posts and hooks of the same metal.

2. He shall replenish his coffers very much (v. 3): I will give thee the treasures of darkness, treasures of gold and silver, that have been long kept close under lock and key and had not seen the light of many years, or had been buried under ground by the inhabitants, in their fright, upon the taking of the city. The riches of many nations had been brought to Babylon, and Cyrus seized all together. The hidden riches of secret places, which belonged either to the crown or to private persons, shall all be a prey to Cyrus. Thus God, designing him to do a piece of service to his church, paid him richly for it beforehand; and Cyrus very honestly owned God's goodness to him, and, in consideration of that, released the captives. Ezra i. 2, God has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and thereby has obliged me to build him a house at Jerusalem.

II. We are here told what God designed in doing all this for Cyrus. What Cyrus aimed at in undertaking his wars we may easily guess; but what God aimed at in giving him such wonderful success in his wars we are here told.

1. It was that the God of Israel might be glorified: "That thou mayest know by all this that I the Lord am the God of Israel; for I have called thee by thy name long before thou wast born." When Cyrus should have this prophecy of Isaiah shown to him, and should there find his own name and his own achievements particularly described so long before, he should thereby be brought to acknowledge that the God of Israel was the Lord, Jehovah, the only living and true God, and that he continued to own his Israel though now in captivity. It is well when thus men's prosperity brings them to the knowledge of God, for too often it makes them forget him.

2. It was that the Israel of God might be released, v. 4. Cyrus knew not God as the God of Israel. Having been trained up in the worship of idols, the true God was to him an unknown God. But, though he knew not God, God not only knew him when he came into being, but foreknew him, and bespoke him for his shepherd. He called him by his name, Cyrus, nay, which was yet great honour, he surnamed him and called him his anointed. And why did God do all this for Cyrus? Not for his own sake, be it known to him; whether he was a man of virtue or no is questioned. Xenophon indeed, when he would describe the heroic virtues of an excellent prince, made use of Cyrus's name, and many of the particulars of his story, in his Cyropædia; but other historians represent him as haughty, cruel, and bloodthirsty. The reason why God preferred him was for Jacob his servant's sake. Note, (1.) In all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, the sudden falls of the great and strong, and the surprising advancements of the weak and obscure, God is designing the good of his church. (2.) It is therefore the wisdom of those to whom God has given wealth and power to use them for his glory, by showing kindness to his people. Cyrus is preferred that Israel may be released. He shall have a kingdom, only that God's people may have their liberty; for their kingdom is not of this world, it is yet to come. In all this Cyrus was a type of Christ, who was made victorious over principalities and powers, and entrusted with unsearchable riches, for the use and benefit of God's servants, his elect. When he ascended on high he led captivity captive, took those captives that had taken others captives, and opened the prison to those that were bound.

The Divine Dominion. (b. c. 708.)

5 I am the Lord , and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord , and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. 8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? 10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

God here asserts his sole and sovereign dominion, as that which he designed to prove and manifest to the world in all the great things he did for Cyrus and by him. Observe,

I. How this doctrine is here laid down concerning the sovereignty of the great Jehovah, in two things:— 1. That he is God alone, and there is no God besides him. This is here inculcated as a fundamental truth, which, if it were firmly believed, would abolish idolatry out of the world. With what an awful, commanding, air of majesty and authority, bidding defiance, as it were, to all pretenders, does the great God here proclaim it to the world: I am the Lord, I the Lord, Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God besides me, no other self-existent, self-sufficient, being, none infinite and eternal. And again (v. 6), There is none besides me; all that are set up in competition with me are counterfeits; they are all vanity and a lie, for I am the Lord, and there is none else. This is here said to Cyrus, not only to cure him of the sin of his ancestors, which was the worshipping of idols, but to prevent his falling into the sin of some of his predecessors in victory and universal monarchy, which was the setting up of themselves for gods and being idolized, to which some attribute much of the origin of idolatry. Let Cyrus, when he becomes thus rich and great, remember that still he is but a man, and there is no God but one. 2. That he is Lord of all, and there is nothing done without him (v. 7): I form the light, which is grateful and pleasing, and I create darkness, which is grievous and unpleasing. I make peace (put here for all good) and I create evil, not the evil of sin (God is not the author of that), but the evil of punishment. I the Lord order, and direct, and do all these things. Observe, (1.) The very different events that befal the children of men. Light and darkness are opposite to each other, and yet, in the course of providence, they are sometimes intermixed, like the morning and evening twilights, neither day nor night, Zech. xiv. 6. There is a mixture of joys and sorrows in the same cup, allays to each other. Sometimes they are counterchanged, as noonday light and midnight darkness. In the revolution of every day each takes its turn, and there are short transitions from the one to the other, witness Job's case. (2.) The self-same cause of both, and that is he that is the first Cause of all: I the Lord, the fountain of all being, am the fountain of all power. He who formed the natural light (Gen. i. 3) still forms the providential light. He who at first made peace among the jarring seeds and principles of nature makes peace in the affairs of men. He who allowed the natural darkness, which was a mere privation, creates the providential darkness; for concerning troubles and afflictions he gives positive orders. Note, The wise God has the ordering and disposing of all our comforts, and all our crosses, in this world.

II. How this doctrine is here proved and published. 1. It is proved by that which God did for Cyrus: "There is no God besides me, for (v. 5) I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. It was not thy own idol, which thou didst know and worship, that girded thee for this expedition, that gave thee authority and ability for it. No, it was I that girded thee, I whom thou didst not know, nor seek to." By this it appears that the God of Israel is the only true God, that he manages and makes what use he pleases even of those that are strangers to him and pay their homage to other gods. 2. It is published to all the world by the word of God, by his providence, and by the testimony of the suffering Jews in Babylon, that all may know from the east and from the west, sunrise and sun-set, that the Lord is God and there is none else. The wonderful deliverance of the Israel of God proclaimed to all the world that there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, that rides on the heavens for their help.

III. How this doctrine is here improved and applied.

1. For the comfort of those that earnestly longed, and yet quietly waited, for the redemption of Israel (v. 8): Drop down, you heavens, from above. Some take this as the saints' prayer for the deliverance. I rather take it as God's precept concerning it; for he is said to command deliverances, Ps. xliv. 4. Now the precept is directed to heaven and earth, and all the hosts of both, as royal precepts commonly run—To all officers, civil and military. All the creatures shall be made in their places to contribute to the carrying on of this great work, when God will have it done. If men will not be aiding and assisting, God will produce it without them, as he does the dews of heaven and the grass of the earth, which tarry not for man, nor wait for the sons of men, Mic. v. 7. Observe, (1.) The method of this great deliverance that is to be wrought for Israel. Righteousness must first be wrought in them; they must be brought to repent of their sins, to renounce their idolatries, to return to God, and reform their lives, and then the salvation shall be wrought for them, and not till then. We must not expect salvation without righteousness, for they spring up together and together the Lord hath created them; what he has joined together, let not us therefore put asunder. See Ps. lxxxv. 9-11. Christ died to save us from our sins, not in our sins, and is made redemption to us by being made to us righteousness and sanctification. (2.) The means of this great deliverance. Rather than it shall fail, when the set time for it shall come, the heavens shall drop down righteousness, and the earth shall open to bring forth salvation, and both concur to the reformation, and so to the restoration, of God's Israel. It is from heaven, from above the skies, that righteousness drops down, for every grace and good gift is from above; nay, since the more plentiful effusion of the Spirit it is now poured down, and, if our hearts be open to receive it, the product will be the fruits of righteousness and the great salvation.

2. For reproof to those of the church's enemies that opposed this salvation, or those of her friends that despaired of it (v. 9): Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! God is the Maker of all things, and therefore our Maker, which is a reason why we should always submit to him and never contend with him. (1.) Let not the proud oppressors, in the elevation of their spirits, oppose God's designs concerning the deliverance of his people, nor think to detain them any longer when the time shall come for their release. Woe to the insulting Babylonians that set God at defiance, as Pharaoh did, and will not let his people go! (2.) Let not the poor oppressed, in the dejection of their spirits, murmur and quarrel with God for the prolonging of their captivity, as if he dealt unjustly or unkindly with them, or think to force their way out before God's time shall come. Note, Those will find themselves in a woeful condition that strive with their Maker; for none ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. Sinful man is indeed a quarrelsome creature; but let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Men are but earthen pots, nay, they are broken potsherds, and are made so very much by their mutual contentions. They are dashed in pieces one against another; and, if they are disposed to strive, let them strive with one another, let them meddle with their match; but let them not dare to contend with him that is infinitely above them, which is as senseless and absurd as, [1.] For the clay to find fault with the potter: Shall the clay say to him that forms it, "What makest thou? Why dost thou make me of this shape and not that?" Nay, it is as if the clay should be in such a heat and passion with the potter as to tell him that he has no hands, or that he works as awkwardly as if he had none. "Shall the clay pretend to be wiser than the potter and therefore to advise him, or mightier than the potter and therefore to control him?" He that gave us being, that gave us this being, may design concerning us, and dispose of us, as he pleases; and it is impudent presumption for us to prescribe to him. Shall we impeach God's wisdom, or question his power, who are ourselves so curiously, so wonderfully, made? Shall we say, He has no hands, whose hands made us and in whose hands we are? The doctrine of God's sovereignty has enough in it to silence all our discontents and objections against the methods of his providence and grace, Rom. ix. 20, 21. [2.] It is as unnatural as for the child to find fault with the parents, to say to the father, What begettest thou? or to the mother, "What hast thou brought forth? Why was I not begotten and born an angel, exempt from the infirmities of human nature and the calamities of human life?" Must not those who are children of men expect to share in the common lot and to fare as others fare? If God is our Father, where is the honour we owe to him by submitting to his will?

The Power of God; Encouragement to the People of God. (b. c. 708.)

11 Thus saith the Lord , the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts. 14 Thus saith the Lord , The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. 15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord ; and there is none else. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

The people of God in captivity, who reconciled themselves to the will of God in their affliction and were content to wait his time for their deliverance, are here assured that they should not wait in vain.

I. They are invited to enquire concerning the issue of their troubles, v. 11. The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, though he does not allow them to strive with him, yet encourages them, 1. To consult his word: "Ask of me things to come; have recourse to the prophets and their prophecies, and see what they say concerning these things. Ask the watchmen, What of the night? Ask them, How long?" Things to come, as far as they are revealed, belong to us and to our children, and we must not be strangers to them. 2. To seek unto him by prayer: "Concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, which as becomes them submit to the will of their Father, the will of their potter, command you me, not by way of prescription, but by way of petition. Be earnest in your requests, and confident in your expectations, as far as both are guided by and grounded upon the promise." We may not strive with our Maker by passionate complaints, but we may wrestle with him by faithful and fervent prayer. My sons, and the work of my hands, commend to me (so some read it), bring them to me and leave them with me. See the power of prayer, and its prevalency with God: Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am; what would you that I should do unto you? Some read it with an interrogation, as carrying on the reproof (v. 9, 10): Do you question me concerning things to come? and am I bound to give you an account? And concerning my children, even concerning the work of my hands, will you command me, or prescribe to me? Dare you do so? Shall any teach God knowledge, or give law to him? Those that complain of God do in effect assume an authority over him.

II. They are encouraged to depend upon the power of God when they are brought very low and are utterly incapable of helping themselves, v. 12. Their help stands in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth, which he mentions here, not only for his own glory, but for their comfort. The heavens and earth shall contribute, if he please, to the deliverance of the church (v. 8), for he created both, and therefore has both at command. 1. He made the earth, and created man upon it, for it was intended to be a habitation for man, Ps. cxv. 16. He has therefore not only authority, but wisdom and power sufficient to govern man here on this earth and to make what use he pleases of him. 2. His hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts he commanded into being at first, and therefore still governs all their motions and influences. It is good news to God's Israel that their God is the creator and governor of the world.

III. They are particularly told what God would do for them, that they might know what to depend upon; and this shall lead them to expect a more glorious Redeemer and redemption, of whom, and of which, Cyrus and their deliverance by him were types and figures.

1. Liberty shall be proclaimed to them, v. 13. Cyrus is the man that shall proclaim it; and, in order hereunto, God will put power into his hands: I have raised him up in righteousness, that is, in pursuance and performance of my promises and to plead my people's just but injured cause. He will give him success in all his enterprises, particularly that against Babylon: I will direct all his ways; and then it follows that he will prosper him, for those must needs speed well that are under a divine direction. God will make plain the way of those whom he designs to employ for him. Two things Cyrus must do for God:—(1.) Jerusalem is God's city, but it is now in ruins, and he must rebuild it, that is, he must give orders for the rebuilding of it, and give wherewithal to do it. (2.) Israel is God's people, but they are now captives, and he must release them freely and generously, not demanding any ransom, nor compounding with them for price or reward. And Christ is anointed to do that for poor captive souls which Cyrus was to do for the captive Jews, to proclaim the opening of the prison to those that were bound (ch. lxi. 1), enlargement from a worse bondage than that in Babylon.

2. Provision shall be made for them. They went out poor, and unable to bear the expenses of their return and re-establishment; and therefore it is promised that the labour of Egypt and other nations should come over to them and be theirs, v. 14. Cyrus, having conquered those countries, out of their spoils provided for the returning Jews; and he ordered his subjects to furnish them with necessaries (Ezra i. 4), so that they did not go out empty from Babylon any more than from Egypt. Those that are redeemed by Christ shall be not only provided for, but enriched. Those whose spirits God stirs up to go to the heavenly Zion may depend upon him to bear their charges. The world is theirs as far as is good for them.

3. Proselytes shall be brought over to them: Men of stature shall come after thee in chains; they shall fall down to thee, saying, Surely God is in thee. This was in part fulfilled when many of the people of the land became Jews (Esther viii. 17), and said, We will go with you, humbly begging leave to do so, for we have heard that God is with you, Zech. viii. 23. The restoration would be a means of the conviction of many and the conversion of some. Perhaps many of the Chaldeans who were now themselves conquered by Cyrus, when they saw the Jews going back in triumph, came and begged pardon for the affronts and abuses they had given them, owned that God was among them and that he was God alone, and therefore desired to join themselves to them. But this promise was to have its full accomplishment in the gospel church,—when the Gentiles shall become obedient by word and deed to the faith of Christ (Rom. xv. 18), as willing captives to the church (Ps. cx. 3), glad to wear her chains,—when an infidel, beholding the public worship of Christians, shall own himself convinced that God is with them of a truth (1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25) and shall assay to join himself to them,—and when those that had been of the synagogue of Satan shall come and worship before the church's feet, and be made to know that God has loved her (Rev. iii. 9), and the kings of the earth and the nations shall bring their glory into the gospel Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 24. Note, It is good to be with those, though it be in chains, that have God with them.

IV. They are taught to trust God further than they can see him. The prophet puts this word into their mouths, and goes before them in saying it (v. 15): Verily, thou art a God that hidest thyself. 1. God hid himself when he brought them into the trouble, hid himself and was wroth, ch. lvii. 17. Note, Though God be his people's God and Saviour, yet sometimes, when they provoke him, he hides himself from them in displeasure, suspends his favours, and lays them under his frowns: but let them wait upon the Lord that hides his face, ch. viii. 17. 2. He hid himself when he was bringing them out of the trouble. Note, When God is acting as Israel's God and Saviour commonly his way is in the sea, Ps. lxxvii. 19. The salvation of the church is carried on in a mysterious way, by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working on men's spirits (Zech. iv. 6), by weak and unlikely instruments, small and accidental occurrences, and not wrought till the last extremity; but this is our comfort, though God hide himself, we are sure he is the God of Israel, the Saviour. See Job xxxv. 14.

V. They are instructed to triumph over idolaters and all the worshippers of other gods (v. 16): Those who are makers of idols, not only who frame them, but who make gods of them by praying to them, shall be ashamed and confounded, when they shall be convinced of their mistakes and shall be forced to acknowledged that the God of Israel is the only true God, and when they shall be disappointed in their expectations from their idols, under whose protection they had put themselves. They shall go to confusion when they shall find that they can neither excuse the sin nor escape the punishment of it, Ps. xcvii. 7. It is not here and there one more timorous than the rest that shall thus shrink, and give up the cause, but all of them; nay, though they appear in a body, though hand join in hand, and they do all they can to keep one another in countenance, yet they shall go to confusion together. Bind them in bundles, to burn them.

VI. They are assured that those who trust in God shall never be made ashamed of their confidence in him, v. 17. Now that God was about to deliver them out of Babylon he directed them by his prophet, 1. To look up to him as the author of their salvation: Israel shall be saved in the Lord. Not only their salvation shall be wrought out by his power, but it shall be treasured up for them in his grace and promise, and so secured to them. They shall be saved in him; for his name shall be their strong tower, into which they shall run, and in which they shall be safe. 2. To look beyond this temporal deliverance to that which is spiritual and has reference to another world, to think of that salvation by the Messiah which is an everlasting salvation, the salvation of the soul, a rescue from everlasting misery and a restoration to everlasting bliss. "Give diligence to make that sure, for it may be made sure, so sure that you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world with out end. You shall not only be delivered from the everlasting shame and contempt which will be the portion of idolaters (Dan. xii. 2), but you shall have everlasting honour and glory." [1.] There is a world without end; and it will be well or ill with us according as it will be with us in that world. [2.] Those who are saved with the everlasting salvation shall never be ashamed of what they did or suffered in the hopes of it; for it will so far outdo their expectations as to be a more abundant reimbursement. The returning captives owned that to them did belong confusion of face (Dan. ix. 7, 8); yet God tells them that they shall not be confounded, but shall have assurance for ever. Those who are confounded as penitents for their own sin shall not be confounded as believers in God's promise and power.

VII. They are engaged for ever to cleave to God, and never to desert him, never to distrust him. What had been often inculcated before is here again repeated, for the encouragement of his people to continue faithful to him, and to hope that he would be so to them: I am the Lord, and there is none else. That the Lord we serve and trust in is God alone appears by the two great lights, that of nature and that of revelation.

1. It appears by the light of nature; for he made the world, and therefore may justly demand its homage (v. 18): "Thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens and formed the earth, I am the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, and there is none else." The gods of the heathen did not do this, nay, they did not pretend to do it. He here mentions the creation of the heavens, but enlarges more upon that of the earth, because that is the part of the creation which we have the nearest view of and are most conversant with. It is here observed, (1.) That he formed it. It is not a rude and indigested chaos, but cast into the most proper shape and size by Infinite Wisdom. (2.) That he fixed it. When he had made it he established it, founded it on the seas, (Ps. xxiv. 2), hung it on nothing (Job xxvi. 7) as at first he made it of nothing, and yet made it substantial an hung it fast, ponderibus librata suis—poised by its own weight. (3.) That he fitted it for use, and for the service of man, to whom he designed to give it. He created it not in vain, merely to be a proof of his power; but he formed it to be inhabited by the children of men, and for that end he drew the waters off from it, with which it was at first covered, and made the dry land appear, Ps. civ. 6, 7. Be it observed here, to the honour of God's wisdom, that he made nothing in vain, but intended every thing for some end and fitted it to answer the intention. If any man prove to have been made in vain, it is his own fault. It should also be observed, to the honour of God's goodness and his favour to man, that he reckoned that not made in vain which serves for his use and benefit, to be a habitation and maintenance for him.

2. It appears by the light of revelation. As the works of God abundantly prove that he is God alone, so does his word, and the discovery he has made of himself and of his mind and will by it. His oracles far exceed those of the Pagan deities, as well as his operations, v. 19. The preference is here placed in three things:—All that God has said is plain, satisfactory, and just. (1.) In the manner of the delivery of it it is plain and open: I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. The Pagan deities delivered their oracles out of dens and caverns, with a low and hollow voice, and in ambiguous expressions; those that had familiar spirits whispered and muttered (ch. viii. 19); but God delivered his law from the top of Mount Sinai before all the thousands of Israel, in distinct, audible, and intelligible sounds. Wisdom cries in the chief places of concourse, Prov. i. 20, 21; viii. 1-3. The vision is written, and made plain, so that he who runs may read it; if he be obscure to any, they may thank themselves. Christ pleaded in his own defence what God says here, In secret have I said nothing, John xviii. 20. (2.) In the use and benefit of it it was highly satisfactory: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, who consulted these oracles and governed themselves by them, Seek you me in vain, as the false gods did to their worshippers, who sought for the living to the dead, ch. viii. 19. This includes all the gracious answers that God gave both to those who consulted him (his word is to them a faithful guide) and to those that prayed to him. The seed of Jacob are a praying people; it is the generation of those that seek him, Ps. xxiv. 6. And, as he has in his word invited them to seek him, so he never denied their believing prayers nor disappointed their believing expectations. He said not to them, to any of them, Seek you me in vain; for, if he did not think fit to give them the particular thing they prayed for, yet he gave them such a sufficiency of grace and such comfort and satisfaction of soul as were equivalent. What we say of winter is true of prayer, It never rots in the skies. God not only gives a gracious answer to those that diligently seek him, but will be their bountiful rewarder. (3.) In the matter of it it was incontestably just, and there was no iniquity in it: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right, and consonant to the eternal rules and reasons of good and evil. The heathen deities dictated those things to their worshippers which were the reproach of human nature and tended to the extirpation of virtue; but God speaks righteousness, dictates that which is right in itself and tends to make men righteous; and therefore he is God, and there is none else.

The Folly of Idolatry; Salvation in Christ. (b. c. 708.)

20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. 21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord ? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24 Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. 25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

What here is said is intended, as before,

I. For the conviction of idolators, to show them their folly in worshipping gods that cannot help them, and neglecting a God that can. Let all that have escaped of the nations, not only the people of the Jews, but those of other nations that were by Cyrus released out of captivity in Babylon, let them come, and hear what is to be said against the worshipping of idols, that they may be cured of it as well as the Jews, that Babylon, which had of old been the womb of idolatry, might now become the grave of it. Let the refugees assemble themselves and come together; God has something to say to them for their own good, and it is this, that idolatry is a foolish sottish thing, upon two accounts:—

1. It is setting up a refuge of lies for themselves: They set up the wood of their graven image; for that is the substratum. Though they overlay it with gold, deck it with ornaments, and make a god of it, yet still it is but wood. They pray to a god that cannot save; for he cannot hear, he cannot help, he can do nothing. How do those disparage themselves who give honour to that as a god which cannot, as a god, give good to them! How do those deceive themselves who pray for relief to that which is in no capacity at all to relieve them! Certainly those have no knowledge, or are brutish in their knowledge, who take so much pains, and do so much penance, in seeking the favour of a god that has no power.

2. It is setting up a rival with God, the only living and true God (v. 21): "Summon them all; tell them that the great cause shall again be tried, though once adjudged, between God and Baal. Bring them near, and let them take counsel together what to say in defence of themselves and their idols. It shall, as before, be put upon this issue: let them show when any of their gods did with any certainty foretel future events, as the God of Israel has done, and it shall be acknowledged that they have some colour for their pretensions. But None of them ever did; their prophets were lying prophets; but I the Lord have told it from that time, long before it came to pass; therefore you must own there is no other God besides me." (1.) None besides is fit to rule. He is a just God, and rules in justice, and will execute justice for those that are oppressed. (2.) None besides is able to help. As he is a just God, so he is the Saviour, who can save without the assistance of any, but without whom none can save. Those therefore have no sense of truth and falsehood, good and evil, no, nor of their own interest, that set up any in competition with him.

II. For the comfort and encouragement of all God's faithful worshippers, whoever they are, v. 22. Those that worship idols pray to gods that cannot save; but the God of Israel says it to all the ends of the earth, to his people, though they are scattered into the utmost corners of the world and seem to be lost and forgotten in their dispersion, "Let them but look to me by faith and prayer, look above instruments and second causes, look off from all pretenders, and look up to me, and they shall be saved." It seems to refer further to the conversion of the Gentiles that live in the ends of the earth, the most distant nations, when the standard of the gospel is set up. To it shall the Gentiles seek. When Christ is lifted up from the earth, as the brazen serpent upon the pole, he shall draw the eyes of all men to him. They shall all be invited to look unto him, as the stung Israelites did to the brazen serpent; and so strong is the eye of faith that by divine grace it will reach the Saviour and fetch in salvation by him even from the ends of the earth; for he is God, and there is none else. Two things are here promised, for the abundant satisfaction of all that by faith look to the Saviour:—

1. That the glory of the God they serve shall be greatly advanced; and this will be good news to all the Lord's people, that, how much soever they and their names are depressed, God will be exalted, v. 23. This is confirmed by an oath, that we might have strong consolation: I have sworn by myself (and God can swear by no greater, Heb. vi. 13); the word has gone out of my mouth, and shall neither be recalled nor return empty; it has gone forth in righteousness, for it is the most reasonable equitable thing in the world that he who made all should be Lord of all, that, since all beings are derived from him, they should all be devoted to him. He has said it, and it shall be made good, I will be exalted, Ps. xlvi. 10. He has assured us, (1.) That he will be universally submitted to, that the kingdoms of the world shall become his kingdom. They shall do him homage—Unto me every knee shall bow; and they shall bind themselves by an oath of allegiance to him—Unto me every tongue shall swear. This is applied to the dominion of our Lord Jesus, Rom. xiv. 10, 11. We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ and give account to him, for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God; and it seems to be referred to, Ps. ii. 9, 10. If the heart be brought into obedience to Christ, and made willing in the day of his power, the knee will bow to him in humble adorations and addresses, and in cheerful obedience to his commands, submission to his disposals, and compliance with his will in both; and the tongue will swear to him, will lay a bond upon the soul to engage it for ever to him; for he that bears an honest mind never startles at assurances. (2.) That he will be universally sought unto, and application shall be made to him from all parts of the world: Unto him shall men of distant countries come, to implore his favour. Unto thee shall all flesh come with their request, Ps. lxv. 2. And, when Christ was lifted up from the earth, he drew all men to him. (3.) That it will be to no purpose to make opposition to him. All that are incensed against him, that rage at his bonds and cords—the nations that are angry because he has taken to himself his great power and has reigned, that have been incensed at the strictness of his laws, the success of his gospel, and the spiritual nature of his kingdom—they shall be ashamed; some shall be brought to a penitential shame for it, others to a remediless ruin. One way or other, sooner or later, all that are uneasy at Christ's government and victories will be made ashamed of their folly and obstinacy. Blessed be God for the assurance here given us that, whatever becomes of us and our interests, the Lord will reign for ever!

2. That the welfare of the souls they are concerned for shall be effectually secured: Surely shall one say, and another shall learn by his example to say the same, so that all the seed of Israel, according to the Spirit, shall say, and stand to it, (1.) That God has a sufficiency for them and that in Christ there is enough to supply all their needs: In the Lord is all righteousness and strength (so the margin reads it); he is himself righteous and strong. He can do every thing, and yet will do nothing but what is unquestionably just and equitable. He has also wherewithal to supply the needs of those that seek to him and depend upon him, upon the equity of his providence and the treasures of his grace; nay, we may say, not only "He has it," but, "In him we have it," because he has said that he will be to us a God. In the Lord the captive Jews had righteousness (that is, grace both to sanctify their afflictions to them and to qualify them for deliverance) and strength for their support and escape. In the Lord Jesus we have righteousness to recommend us to the good-will of God towards us, and strength to begin and carry on the good work of God in us. He is the fountain of both, and on him we must depend for both, must go forth in his strength, and make mention of his righteousness, Ps. lxxi. 16. (2.) That they shall have an abundant bliss and satisfaction in this. [1.] The people of the Jews shall in the Lord be justified before men and openly glory in their God. The oppressors reproached them, loaded them with calumny, and boasted even of a right to oppress them, as abandoned by their God; but, when God shall work out their deliverance, that shall be their justification from these hard censures, and therefore they shall glory in it. [2.] All true Christians, that depend upon Christ for strength and righteousness, in him shall be justified and shall glory in that. Observe, First, All believers are the seed of Israel, an upright praying seed. Secondly, The great privilege they enjoy by Jesus Christ is that in him, and for his sake, they are justified before God, Christ being made of God to them righteousness. All that are justified will own it is in Christ that they are justified, nor could they be justified by any other; and those who are justified shall be glorified. And therefore, Thirdly, The great duty believers owe to Christ is to glory in him, and to make their boast of him. Therefore he is made all in all to us, that whose glories may glory in the Lord; and let us comply with this intention.

CHAP. XLV.

Ver. 1. TO his anointed] i. e. To his appointed and enabled one, to ſubdue many Nations. Xenophon in his firſt book de Cyropaed. gives us a lift of them, Cyrus ſubdued, ſaith he, the Syrians, Aſſyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phenicians, Babylonians: the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Lib. 1. Sacians, Paphlagonians, Maryandines, and many other Nations. He alſo had dominion over the Aſiatikes, Greekes, Cyprians, Egyptians, &c. He vanquiſhed, ſaith Herodotus what Country ſoever he invaded. And what wonder when God himſelf, as here, held or ſtrengthened his right hand, and looſed the loyns of Kings that were his adverſaries; that is, diſarmed and diſabled them: for it is he alone who ſtrengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party,De nat. deor. lib. 2. Ezek. 30.24. Et nemo vir magnus ſine afflatu divino unquam fuit, ſaith Cicero. God transferreth Kingdomes, and ſetteth up Kings, Dan. 2.21.

To open unto him the two-leaved gates] Or doores: whether doores of houſes or gates of Cities, all ſhall fly open before him, as Act. 12.10.

Ver. 2. And make the crooked places even] Or the hilly places level.

I will break in peices the gates of braſſe] This God would do, that his Temple might be built; confer chap. 44.28. but in the New Teſtament, Chriſt throweth the gates of hell off their hinges (like another Sampſon) that he may build his Church, Mat. 10.18. And it is this Aedificabo Eccleſiam meam that hath made all the ſtir in the world.

Ver. 3. And I will give thee the treaſures of darkneſſe] All that Craeſus (that rich King) had amaſſed, and other Princes, but eſpecially Babylon, Jer. 50.37. and 51.1[illegible: 1 letter]. See Strabo lib. 15. Plin. 33. c. 3. Dan 5.3. Pliny ſaith that Cyrus brought out of Aſi[illegible: 1 letter], Juſtin. lib. 1. which he had ſubdued, as much treaſure as amounteth in our money to three hundred millions. And yet this ſame Cyrus was within few years after, made as poor as Irus: for being in Scythia, and there making ſhew of his great riches at a feaſt, he was on the ſudden ſlain and ſpoiled of all by Tomyris Queen of that Coun[illegible: 1 letter]rey.

Ver. 4. For Jacob my ſervants ſake] That the enemies of my people being ſubdued, they may have ſome breath[illegible: 1 letter]ng-while, and liberty to live quietly in their own Country. For which purpoſe alſo, it was the will of God, that this Prophecy of Iſaiah ſhould be made known to Cyrus for the good of the Jews, that he might favour them: and ſo it was, as appeareth by Ezra 1.2. and by Joſephus, Antiq. lib. 11. cap. 1.

H. Stephan. I have even called thee by thy Name] Thy name of honour: for Cyrus ſignifieth the Sun, ſaith Plutarch: Lord, ſay others, in the Perſian: as in Hebrew it ſeemeth to ſignifie an heir, or poſſeſſour. Some derive our word Sir from it. Cyrus was at firſt called Achzadat and Space, being the ſon of Cambyſes a noble Perſian, and Mandane the daughter of Aſtyages King of Medes. De Cyro fluvio ſcricit trabo l. 15. The name of Cyrus he took when he entred upon the Kingdom; and that from Cyrus a river of Perſia, as ſome hold.

I have ſirnamed thee] Or, I have entitled thee, ſc. My Shepherd, mine annointed, &c.

Though thou haſt not known me] ſc. Savingly. For albeit he knew the true God in part, and acknowledged him to be great above other gods; yet he forſook not his Idols, ſaith Hierom: Scultet. and therefore periſhed miſerably by the hands of the Scythian[illegible: 1 letter]. Nevertheleſs others are of opinion, that he was inſtructed by Daniel, and brought to a true belief: as was alſo Darius.

Ver. 5. I am the Lord and none elſe] None of thy Perſian gods to whom thou didſt offer ſolemn ſacrifice,Xenoph. Cyr. lib. 1. & 8. both at the beginning of thy raigne, and likewiſe at thy death (if Xenophon may be beleeved) ſaying, Jupiter patriae & Sol, &c. magnas ago vobis gratias, quod veſtram de me curam intellexi, &c.

Though thou haſt not known me] Or, when as yet thou waſt altogether ignorant of me. That he afterwards beleeved the immortality of the ſoul, Tully teſtifieth in his Cato Major; and that he beleeved in Chriſt for the ſalvation of his ſoul, Scultetus thinketh, becauſe he was a type of Chriſt; as was alſo Solomon, ſaith he; which to me is one good argument, that he was ſaved.

Ver. 6. That they may know from the riſing of the Sun] i. e. All the world over, by thy Proclamation, Ezra 1.1, 2.

That there is none beſides me] Quia nihilum praeter me: ego Dominus & nihil [illegible: 1 letter]iltra; ſo Oecolampaedius rendreth it; and ſaith further, that it is oppido profunda ſententia, a very profound ſentence, teaching us that where God is not, there is nothing: for in him we are, move and live: and it is he who worketh all in all things.

Ver. 7. I form the light and create darkneſſe] ſc. By withdrawing the light, whence darkneſs ſucceedeth; ſo doth miſery when God withholdeth mercy. But what an odd or rather mad conceit was that of the Manichees, that there were two beginnings of things, a good one, and an evil! that the latter was the God of the Old Teſtament, and the former of the New! that the God of the Old Teſtament did good by accident and occaſionally, but created evil of himſelf, even evil of ſin! for ſo they miſtook this text, which is to be underſtood of evil of puniſhment only, (ſee Am. 3.6. Lam. 3.38) which he inflicteth on evil-doers for the manifeſtation of his juſtice and power, ac propterea recte, Vide Aug. contra Julian. l. 3. c. 8. & non male eo pacto quo per nos mala male fiunt.

I make peace and create evil] Evil, that is, war, by a ſpecialty, and [non-Latin text not transcribed]. O mega noſtrorum Mors eſt, Mars Alpha malorum. Sin, Satan and War have all one name: evil is the beſt of them. The beſt of ſin is deformity, of Satan enmity, of War miſery.

Ver. 8. Drop down ye heavens from above] A prayer of the poor captives in Babylon, ſay ſome, for a ſpeedy performance of their promiſed deliverance: and this the rather, becauſe elſe Chriſt could not come of them, teach in their Country, work miracles, and fulfill the office of a Mediatour, as the Prophets had foretold. Whereunto God immediately anſwereth: I the Lord have created him, or will create him; that is, ſend him in due time, doubt ye not. Others make it a deſcription of Cyrus his juſt and happy raign; ſee the like of Solomon, Pſal. 72.6, 7. And indeed Cyrus is famous in Heathen Hiſtories for his wiſdom, juſtice, temperance, magnanimity and liberality; It is not the cuſtome of Cyrus to hoard up money,Cyrop. l. 8. ſaith Xenophon; for he taketh more delight in giving than in getting or poſſeſſing. But it ſeemeth rather to be a command from God of plenty and proſperity, oppoſite to that countermand, chap. 5.6. The Papiſts apply it to Chriſt, and his Mother: and hence their roaring out of Rorate, in their ſolemn ſervice, a moneth before the feaſt of the Nativity, and then they call for their carouſing cups.

Ver. 9. Woe unto him that ſtriveth with his Maker] That chats againſt him, Rom. 9.20. or preſumes to preſcribe to him, as ſome impatient ſpirits among the Captives may ſeem to have done. We may not meaſure Gods dealings by our Models, nor murmur againſt his counſels; ſith his holy will is the moſt perfect rule of right.

Let the potſherd ſtrive with the potſherds of the earth] And not daſh againſt the Rock of ages: Let him meddle with his match, and not contend with a mightier than he, Eccleſ. 6.10. What though God create him darkneſſe and evil, as ver. 7. let him wait upon God for better times; and not think to mend himſelf by murmuring againſt his Maker as too ſevere.

Shall the clay ſay, &c.] q. d. This were an intolerable petulancy.

Or thy work, it hath no hands?] Or, he hath no hands, ſc. to faſhion me aright. Thus the work ſeemeth to make anſwer to the clay: for as the clay ſaid to the Potter Quid feciſti, what haſt thou made? So the work ſaith, by way of jear, He had no hands, ſc. to make me as he ſhould have done.

Ver. 10. Wo unto him that ſaith to his Father] Are theſe fit words to a Father? Is it not an impious moroſity to talk unto him in this ſort, Why haſt thou begotten me at all? or if at all, why not rich, fair, wiſe, &c.

And to the woman] i. e. To his Mother, as chap. 49.15. but ſuch as he can hardly find in his heart to call Mother.

Ver. 11. Thus ſaith the Lord, &c.] q. d. Leave off ſuch inſolent and unbecoming language; and learn of me about what ye ſhould rather buſie your ſelves.

Ask me of things to come] Me, and not your Wizzards. Have recourſe to my Prophets, beleeve them and ye ſhall prosper. Let your patient mind be known to all men, the Lord is at hand for your deliverance.

Command ye me] This is a wonderful expreſſion, and doth notably ſet forth the power of prayer.Mr. Burr. Luther, it ſeemeth, well underſtood the latitude of this royal Charter, ſaith One, when praying for the recovery of a godly uſeful Preacher who was far gone in a conſumption, amongſt other paſſages he let fall this tranſcendent rapture of a daring faith, Let my will be done: but then he falls off ſweetly, My will, Lord, becauſe thy will.

Ver. 12. I have made the earth] q. d. I am the mighty Maker and Monarch of the world; therefore pray on, and patiently wait for a gracious anſwer: he that beleeveth, maketh not haſte.

Ver. 13. I have raiſed him up] i. e. Cyrus, Ezra 1.1.

And I will direct all his wayes] ſc. When he cometh againſt the Babylonians, Lydians, &c. on mine errand. But when moved by his ambition, he invaded Scythia, and cruelly waſted the Country, God took no further charge of him, as I may ſay: He that is out of Gods precincts, is out of his protection.

Ver. 14. Thus ſaith the Lord, the labour of Egypt] Here he turneth his ſpeech to Cyrus, promiſing him that he ſhould be no loſer by his generous carriage toward the poor people of God, his captives, whom he freely diſmiſſed without ranſom, ver. 13. Gods retributions are more than bountiful.

Agatharch. lib. 5. cap. 20. vel proceri, i. e. potentiſſimi agro & mercib. Trem. In Pſal. 37. Men of ſtature] The Arabians are reported to have been goodly perſonable men by Agatharchides an ancient writer, from whom Plutarch and Pliny borrowed much.

They ſhall come over unto thee] Commodiſſime dicemus promiſſionem hanc referendam ad tempus revelati Evangelii. This was fulfilled chiefly when the Goſpel was preached, and Nations thereby converted. See Pſal. 45.5. and 149.6.—8. The bonds of the holy Spirit are ſtronger than Adamant, ſaith Ambroſe.

Surely God is in thee] Or, with thee: and hence thou (O Cyrus) ſo prevaileſt, and proſpereſt. Thus theſe conquered Kings ſhall ſupplicate and ſay to Cyrus.

And there is none elſe, there is no God] Hence Mahometans ſeem to have taken that, which out of their Alchoran, they dayly proclaim in their Moſchies or meeting-houſes, There is no god but God, and Mahomet his Counſellour. Thus thoſe Kings: but what ſaith the Prophet?

Hac approbatio eſt Prophetae. Scultet. Ver. 15. Verily thou art a God that hideſt thy ſelf] As thou art inviſible and dwelleſt in light inacceſſible: ſo in thy diſpenſations thou goeſt a way by thy ſelf, and thy judgements are unſearchable. Thou hideſt thy ſelf, and ſtandeſt off a while ſometimes from the help of thy poor people, but wilt appear to them and for them in due time. The Septuagint here tranſlate Tues Deus & neſcitbamus. Thou art God, and we knew thee not: And this the Fathers interpret concerning Chriſt: and hence the Jews ſeem to have drawn that ſpeech of theirs, Chriſt when he cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.

Ver. 16, That are makers of Idols] The Word rendred Idols, ſignifieth properly Tormina, cruciatus, paines and throws, and ſtraits: Idolaters heap up ſorrows to themſelves and terrours of conſcience. See Pſal. 16.4. with the Note.

Ver. 17. But Iſrael — with an evelaſting ſalvation] By Cyrus they were not ſo: for not long after, Antiochus afflicted them, Herod gat the Scepter from them, the Romans came and took away both them and their Nation: But the Iſrael of God were, and are ſtill, ſaved by Jeſus, with an everlaſting ſalvation.

Ver. 18. He created it not in vain] Therefore never think that he will forſake it, or not take care of his Church therein, for whoſe ſake he made it at firſt and ſtill upholdeth it by the word of his power, 1 Cor. 3.22, 23. Now if God created not the earth in vain, much leſs the heavens (wherein he hath ſhewed his greater skill, Heb. 11.10. See the Note there) but that his people might there inhabit for ever. And here it is that they ſhall be ſaved in the Lord with an everlaſting ſalvation: Yea they ſhall not be aſhamed or confounded world without end. ver. 17.

Ver. 19. I have not ſpoken in ſecret] As the Sibylls did out of their dens; as the Idol-prieſts did out of their holes, and under-ground vaults; as hereticks and ſeducers, who creep into corners and there vent their falſe wares, as Vincentius Lirinenſis long ſince obſerved: (Epiphanius fitly compareth them to Mouls, who do all their miſchief by working under ground:) But God as he delivered his Law openly on Mount Sina: ſo his Goſpel he commanded to be preached on the houſe-top, and in Mount Zion. Chriſt ſpoke openly to the world, Joh. 18.20. Truth ſeeketh no corners: I am not aſhamed of the Goſpel of Chriſt, Rom. 1.16. But what was this word that was delivered ſo plainly and peſpicuouſly?

Seek ye me] And for your encouragement, ye ſhall not do it in vain: for I am a rewarder of all thoſe that diligently ſeek me, Heb. 11.6. Let Heathen deities diſappoint and delude thoſe that ſeek to them; Jacobs God ſcorneth the motion: he is better to his people then their prayers, better then their hopes: and when with Gehezi they ask but one talent, he, like Naaman, forceth them to take two.

I the Lord ſpeak righteouſneſſe, I declare the things that are right] Or, even: ſo doth not the Devil, but things ſinful and obſcene; as humane ſacrifices, promiſcuous uncleanneſſes, ut in nefariis Priapi & Veneris ſacris. Contrariwiſe, all the words of Gods mouth are in righteouſneſſe; ther is nothing froward or perverſe in them, Prov. 8.8.

Ver. 20. Ye that are eſcaped of the Nations] That have eſcaped the ſword of Cyrus: and well proved how little your gods can do for you.

That ſet up the wood of their graven Image] Qui levant lignum, carrying them in pomp and proceſſion upon their ſhoulders, as Papiſts now do their pictures, their breaden god eſpecially, and crying to it Holy, holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth.

Ver. 21. Who hath declared this] ſc. that the people of God ſhould be ſet at lilerty by Cyrus.

Ver. 22. Look unto me and be ye ſaved] Whiles the Moon looketh directly upon the Sun, ſhe is bright and beautiful: but if ſhe once turn aſide and be left to her ſelf, ſhe looſeth all her glory, and enjoyes but only a ſhadow of light, which is her own: ſo while men look to Chriſt the Sun of righteouſneſſe, and toward the ſtars in his right-hand, &c.

For I am God and none elſe] This, Judas Maccabeus acknowledged in his Enſigne wherein this Motto was written Mi Camoca Belohim Jehovah, Godw. Heb. Antiqu. i. e. Who is like unto thee among the Gods O Lord? from the capital letters of which Motto he took his name Maccabi.

Ver. 23. That unto me every knee] I will be known and obeyed all the world over, ſc. by Chriſtians. Of the Jews Hierom noteth, quod mentis ſuperbiam demonſtrantes genu non flectunt, that they bow not the knee in Gods ſervice, but only ſtand up at times.

Ver. 24. Surely ſhall one ſay] This ſhall be the Chriſtian Confeſſion, In the Lord have I righteouſneſſe, &c. righteouſneſſe. i. e. Mercy to thoſe that come over to him, and ſtrength to enable them to come; as the Sea ſendeth out waters to fetch us to it, &c.

Ver. 25. Shall be juſtified] by faith in Chriſt, Rom. 5.1.

And ſhall glory] Having peace of Conſcience they ſhall glory in tribulation, Rom. 5.1, 3. Note this againſt Meritmongers.