13. before--literally, from the time of the first existence of day.
let--Old English for "hinder" ([Is 14:27]). Rather, translate, "undo it" [Horsley].
14. sent--namely, the Medes and Persians ([Is 10:5], ; ).
brought down--"made to go down" to the sea ([Is 42:10]), in order to escape the impending destruction of Babylon.
nobles--rather, "fugitives," namely, the foreigners who sojourned in populous Babylon ([Is 13:14]), distinct from the Chaldeans [Maurer].
whose cry is in the ships--exulting in their ships with the joyous sailors--cry, boastingly; their joy heretofore in their ships contrasts sadly with their present panic in fleeing to them ([Is 22:2]; [Zep 2:15]). Babylon was on the Euphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed into the Persian Gulf. Thus it was famed for ships and commerce until the Persian monarchs, to prevent revolt or invasion, obstructed navigation by dams across the Tigris and Euphrates.
15. creator of Israel--([Is 43:1]).
your--proved to be specially yours by delivering you.
16-17. Allusion to the deliverance of Israel and overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, the standing illustration of God's unchanging character towards His people ([Ex 14:21], [22, 27], ).
18. So wonderful shall be God's future interpositions in your behalf, that all past ones shall be forgotten in comparison. Plainly the future restoration of Israel is the event ultimately meant. Thus the "former things" are such events as the destruction of Sennacherib and the return from Babylon. "Things of old" are events still more ancient, the deliverance from Egypt and at the Red Sea, and entry into Canaan [Vitringa].
19. new--unprecedented in its wonderful character ([Is 42:9]).
spring forth--as a germinating herb: a beautiful image of the silent but certain gradual growth of events in God's providence ([Mr 4:26-28]).
way in ... wilderness--just as Israel in the wilderness, between the Red Sea and Canaan, was guided, and supplied with water by Jehovah; but the "new" deliverance shall be attended with manifestations of God's power and love, eclipsing the old (compare [Is 41:17-19]). "I will open a way, not merely in the Red Sea, but in the wilderness of the whole world; and not merely one river shall gush out of the rock, but many, which shall refresh, not the bodies as formerly, but the souls of the thirsty, so that the prophecy shall be fulfilled: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation'" [Jerome]. "A way" often stands for the true religion ([Ac 9:2]; ). "Rivers" express the influences of the Holy Spirit ([Joh 7:37-39]). Israel's literal restoration hereafter is included, as appears by comparing [Is 11:15], .
20. beast--image of idolaters, defiled with blood and pollutions, dwelling like dragons, &c., in the wastes of Gentile ignorance: even they shall be converted. Or else, literally, such copious floods of water shall be given by God in the desert, that the very beasts shall (in poetic language) praise the Lord ([Psa 148:10]) [Jerome].
dragons--"serpents," or else jackals (see on [Is 13:22]).
owls--rather, "ostriches."
21. This people--namely, The same as "My people, My chosen" (see [Is 43:1], ; [Psa 102:18]).
my praise--on account of the many and great benefits conferred on them, especially their restoration.
22. But--Israel, however, is not to think that these divine favors are due to their own piety towards God. So the believer ([Tit 3:5]).
but--rather, "for."
weary of me--([Am 8:5], ; Mal 1:13), though "I have not wearied thee" ([Is 43:23]), yet "thou hast been weary of Me."
23. small cattle--rather, the "lamb" or "kid," required by the law to be daily offered to God ([Ex 29:38]; [Nu 28:3]).
sacrifices--offered any way; whereas the Hebrew for "holocaust," or "burnt offering," denotes that which ascends as an offering consumed by fire.
I have not caused thee to serve--that is, to render the the service of a slave ([Mt 11:30]; [Ro 8:15]; [1Jo 4:18]; ).
offering--bloodless ([Le 2:1], ).
wearied--antithetical to [Is 43:22], "Thou hast been weary of Me." Though God in the law required such offerings, yet not so as to "weary" the worshipper, or to exact them in cases where, as in the Babylonish captivity, they were physically unable to render them; God did not require them, save in subordination to the higher moral duties (Psa 50:8-14; 51:16, 17; [Mi 6:3], ).
24. bought--for "sweet cane" (aromatic calamus) was not indigenous to Palestine, but had to be bought from foreign countries ([Jr 6:20]). It was used among the Hebrews to make the sacred ointment ([Ex 30:23]). It is often offered as a mark of hospitality.
filled--satiated ([Jr 31:14]). God deigns to use human language to adapt Himself to human modes of thought.
made me to serve--though "I have not caused thee to serve" ([Is 43:23]). Our sin made the Son of God to become "a servant." He served to save us from servile bondage ([Php 2:7]; [He 2:14], ).
wearied me--Though I have "not wearied thee" ([Is 43:23]; see [Is 1:14]).
25. I, even I--the God against whom your sin is committed, and who alone can and will pardon. ([Is 44:22]).
for mine own sake--([Is 48:9], ). How abominable a thing sin is, since it is against such a God of grace! "Blotted out" is an image from an account-book, in which, when a debt is paid, the charge is cancelled or blotted out.
not remember ... sins--([Jr 31:34]). When God forgives, He forgets; that is, treats the sinner as if He had forgotten his sins.
26. Put me in remembrance--Remind Me of every plea which thou hast to urge before Me in thy defense. Image from a trial ([Is 1:18]; 41:1). Our strongest plea is to remind God of His own promises. So Jacob did at Mahanaim and Peniel ([Ge 32:9], ). God, then, instead of "pleading against us with His great power," "will put His strength" in us ([Job 23:6]); we thus become "the Lord's remembrancers" ([Is 62:6], Margin). "Declare God's righteousness" vindicated in Jesus Christ "that thou mayest be justified" ([Ro 3:26]; compare [Is 20:1-6], and [Psa 143:2]).
27. first father--collectively for "most ancient ancestors," as the parallelism ("teachers") proves [Maurer]. Or, thy chief religious ministers or priests [Gesenius]. Adam, the common father of all nations, can hardly be meant here, as it would have been irrelevant to mention his sin in an address to the Jews specially. Abraham is equally out of place here, as he is everywhere cited as an example of faithfulness, not of "sin." However, taking the passage in its ultimate application to the Church at large, Adam may be meant.
teachers--literally, "interpreters" between God and man, the priests ([Job 33:23]; Mal 2:7).
28. profaned the princes--([Psa 89:39]; [La 2:2], [6, 7]). I have esteemed, or treated, them as persons not sacred. I have left them to suffer the same treatment as the common people, stripped of their holy office and in captivity.
princes of the sanctuary--"governors of" it ([1Ch 24:5]); directing its holy services; priests.
curse--Hebrew, cherim, a "solemn anathema," or "excommunication."
reproaches--([Psa 123:3], ).
Chapter 44
Is 44:1-28. Continuation of the Previous Chapter
1-5. Yet--Though thou hast sinned, yet hear God's gracious promise as to thy deliverance.
chosen--([Is 41:8]).
6. Here follows an argument for Jehovah, as the only God, and against the idols, as vanity (see on [Is 41:4]; [Is 43:1]; [Is 43:10-12]).