whirlwind ... scatter them--([Job 27:21]; ).
17. poor and needy--primarily, the exiles in Babylon.
water--figuratively, refreshment, prosperity after their affliction. The language is so constructed as only very partially to apply to the local and temporary event of the restoration from Babylon; but fully to be realized in the waters of life and of the Spirit, under the Gospel ([Is 30:25]; ; Joh 7:37-39; 4:14). God wrought no miracles that we read of, in any wilderness, during the return from Babylon.
faileth--rather, "is rigid" or parched [Horsley].
18. Alluding to the waters with which Israel was miraculously supplied in the desert after having come out of Egypt.
high places--bare of trees, barren, and unwatered ([Jr 4:11]; ). "High places ... valleys" spiritually express that in all circumstances, whether elevated or depressed, God's people will have refreshment for their souls, however little to be expected it might seem.
19. ([Is 32:15]; ).
shittah--rather, the "acacia," or Egyptian thorn, from which the gum Arabic is obtained [Lowth].
oil tree--the olive.
fir tree--rather, the "cypress": grateful by its shade.
pine--Gesenius translates, "the holm."
box tree--not the shrub used for bordering flower beds, but [Gesenius] a kind of cedar, remarkable for the smallness of its cones, and the upward direction of its branches.
20. consider--literally, "lay it (to heart)"; turn (their attention) to it. "They" refers to all lands ([Is 41:1]; [Psa 64:9]; ). The effect on the Gentiles of God's open interposition hereafter in behalf of Israel shall be, they shall seek Israel's God ([Is 2:3]; [Zec 8:21-23]).
21. A new challenge to the idolaters (see [Is 41:1], ) to say, can their idols predict future events as Jehovah can ([Is 41:22-25], &c.)?
your strong reasons--the reasons for idol-worship which you think especially strong.
22. what shall happen--"Let them bring near and declare future contingencies" [Horsley].
former things ... the latter end of them--show what former predictions the idols have given, that we may compare the event ("latter end") with them; or give new prophecies ("declare things to come") ([Is 42:9]), [Maurer]. Barnes explains it more reconditely, "Let them foretell the entire series of events, showing, in their order, the things which shall first occur, as well as those which shall finally happen"; the false prophets tried to predict isolated events, having no mutual dependency; not a long series of events mutually and orderly connected, and stretching far into futurity. They did not even try to do this. None but God can do it ([Is 46:10]; , ). "Or ... things to come" will, in this view, mean, Let them, if they cannot predict the series, even predict plainly any detached events.
23. do good ... evil--give any proof at all of your power, either to reward your friends or punish your enemies ([Psa 115:2-8]).
that we may be dismayed, and behold it together--Maurer translates, "That we (Jehovah and the idols) may look one another in the face (that is, encounter one another, [2Ki 14:8], ), and see" our respective powers by a trial. Horsley translates, "Then the moment we behold, we shall be dismayed." "We" thus, and in English Version, refers to Jehovah and His worshippers.
24. of nothing--(See on [Is 40:17]). The Hebrew text is here corrupt; so English Version treats it.
abomination--abstract for concrete: not merely abominable, but the essence of whatever is so ([De 18:12]).
chooseth you--as an object of worship.
25. raised up--in purpose: not fulfilled till a hundred fifty years afterwards.
north--In [Is 41:2], "from the East"; both are true: see the note there.
call ... my name--acknowledge Me as God, and attribute his success to Me; this he did in the proclamation ([Ezr 1:2]). This does not necessarily imply that Cyrus renounced idolatry, but hearing of Isaiah's prophecy given a hundred fifty years before, so fully realized in his own acts, he recognized God as the true God, but retained his idol (so Naaman, [2Ki 5:1-27]; compare [2Ki 17:33], ; [Da 3:28]; [4:1-3], 34-37).
princes--the Babylonian satraps or governors of provinces.
mortar--"mire"; He shall tread them under foot as dirt ([Is 10:6]).
26. Who--of the idolatrous soothsayers? When this prophecy shall be fulfilled, all shall see that God foretold as to Cyrus, which none of the soothsayers have.
beforetime--before the event occurred.
He is righteous--rather, "It is true"; it was a true prophecy, as the event shows. "He is righteous," in English Version, must be interpreted, The fulfilment of the idol's words proves that he is faithful.
showeth, &c.--rather, "there was none (of the soothsayers) that showed ... declared--no one has heard your words" foretelling the event.
27. Rather, "I first will give to Zion and to Jerusalem the messenger of good tidings, Behold, behold them!" The clause, "Behold ... them" (the wished-for event is now present) is inserted in the middle of the sentence as a detached exclamation, by an elegant transposition, the language being framed abruptly, as one would speak in putting vividly as it were, before the eyes of others, some joyous event which he had just learned [Ludovicus De Dieu] (compare [Is 40:9]). None of the idols had foretold these events. Jehovah was the "first" to do so (see [Is 41:4]).
28. no counsellor--no one of the idolatrous soothsayers who could inform ([Nu 24:14]) those who consulted them what would take place. Compare "counsel of His messenger" ([Is 44:26]).
when I asked--that is, challenged them, in this chapter.
29. confusion--"emptiness" [Barnes].
Chapter 42
Is 42:1-25. Messiah the Antitype of Cyrus
God's description of His character ([Is 42:1-4]). God addresses Him directly ([Is 42:5-7]). Address to the people to attend to the subject ([Is 42:8], ). Call to all, and especially the exile Jews to rejoice in the coming deliverance ([Is 42:10-25]).
1. my servant--The law of prophetic suggestion leads Isaiah from Cyrus to the far greater Deliverer, behind whom the former is lost sight of. The express quotation in [Mt 12:18-20], and the description can apply to Messiah alone ([Psa 40:6]; with which compare [Ex 21:6]; [Joh 6:38]; [Php 2:7]). Israel, also, in its highest ideal, is called the "servant" of God ([Is 49:3]). But this ideal is realized only in the antitypical Israel, its representative-man and Head, Messiah (compare [Mt 2:15], with [Ho 11:1]). "Servant" was the position assumed by the Son of God throughout His humiliation.
elect--chosen by God before the foundation of the world for an atonement ([1Pe 1:20]; [Re 13:8]). Redemption was no afterthought to remedy an unforeseen evil ([Ro 16:25], ; [Ep 3:9], ; [2Ti 1:9], ; [Tit 1:2], ). In [Mt 12:18] it is rendered "My beloved"; the only beloved Son, beloved in a sense distinct from all others. Election and the love of God are inseparably joined.
soul--a human phrase applied to God, because of the intended union of humanity with the Divinity: "I Myself."
delighteth--is well pleased with, and accepts, as a propitiation. God could have "delighted" in no created being as a mediator (compare [Is 42:21]; ; [Mt 3:17]).
spirit upon him--([Is 11:2]; ; [Lu 4:18]; [Joh 3:34]).
judgment--the gospel dispensation, founded on justice, the canon of the divine rule and principle of judgment called "the law" ([Is 2:3]; compare [Is 42:4]; ; ). The Gospel has a discriminating judicial effect: saving to penitents; condemnatory to Satan, the enemy ([Joh 12:31]; ), and the wilfully impenitent ([Joh 9:39]). [Mt 12:18] has, "He shall show," for "He shall bring forth," or "cause to go forth." Christ both produced and announced His "judgment." The Hebrew dwells most on His producing it; Matthew on His announcement of it: the two are joined in Him.
2. Matthew [Mt 12:19] marks the kind of "cry" as that of altercation by quoting it, "He shall not strive" ([Is 53:7]).