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<p>It pleases Yahweh, for His righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law, and make it honourable- GNB"The LORD is a God who is eager to save, so he exalted his laws and teachings, and he wanted his people to honor them. But now his people have been plundered; they are locked up in dungeons and hidden away in prisons". The context speaks of God’s attempt to open the eyes of His people to His law; we could read this with GNB as meaning that God tried to make them obedient, but they refused. But we can read with AV that Yahweh"is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake", and the referent would be the blind and deaf righteous servant of :19, the representative Lord Jesus, who identified with their blindness but Himself was righteous."He will magnify the law"(AV) would then refer to His perfect obedience to the law and honouring it in His own person, whilst also representative of sinful Judah.</p>


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<p>But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become a prey, and no one delivers; and a spoil, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’- See on :21. They need not have remained in the holes and prisons of captivity, but they refused the saving work of the representative servant. And the exiles in Persia, as the book of Esther makes clear, didn’t perceive their prosperity as actually being in holes and prisons, spiritually snared by their own materialism. See on <a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>. Israel as a nation are often spoken of as being in prison in a Gentile world (<a href='B:230 79:11'>Psa 79:11</a>; <a href='B:230 102:20'>Psa 102:20</a>; <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>); just as Joseph was. Prison and death are often associated because a spell in prison was effectively a death sentence, so bad were the conditions. Israel being in prison is therefore a symbol of a living death.</p>


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<p>Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear bearing in mind the time to come?- In the first instance, this is an appeal to the exiles to repent."The time to come"could refer to their further suffering, or to the wonderful Kingdom which potentially they could have a part in if they repented (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:23'>Isa 41:23</a>). But they retained their deaf ears (see on :18), refusing to have them opened. And so the appeal becomes a timeless one, for all who would seek to have a part in the restored Kingdom.</p>


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<p>Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, and they disobeyed His law- LXX"For what did he give to Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to them that plundered him? Did not God do it against whom they sinned? and they would not walk in his ways, nor hearken to his law". This is in answer to the skepticism of the exiles encountered by Ezekiel, who considered they were suffering unjustly and the entire deportation had been unfair.</p>


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<p>Therefore He poured the fierceness of His anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know; and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart- See on :24. The tragedy was that those taken into captivity weren’t reformed by their sufferings, and now their children likewise refused to"take it to heart"and repent. Here we have another connection with Job, the book which appears to have been rewritten for the exiles with Job as representative of both the exiles and the righteous servant."Have you considered My servant::."(<a href='B:220 1:8'>Job 1:8</a>) is the same phrase here"take it to heart". The book of Job was therefore written as a way of appealing for the repentance of the exiles and for them to contextualize their own sufferings.</p>


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<h4>But now thus says Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel: Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you- The exiles feared they were not good enough to be redeemed. But Yahweh desperately wanted them; He had in prospect redeemed them, but it was now for them to respond. And this is how it is with His appeal to people today. He not only created us but"formed"us for the moment at which we accept His redemption. Our entire biography and genetic prehistory, even including our own sins, was all part of that formation of a person to come to an optimal point at which they can say"Yes"to Him. By saying"Yes"we realize that nothing was random, meaning was attached to every event, leading to that moment of Divine-human encounter.</h4><h4>I have called you by your name. You are Mine- God’s Name is over His people (<a href='B:50 28:10'>Deu 28:10</a>). So to bear God’s Name is to recognize His complete ownership and even conquest of us. And yet there’s a significant twist to all this in <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>:"I have called you by your name, because you are mine". It seems like a slip- we expect God to say that He has called us by His Name, because we are His. But no- He wishes us to bear both His Name and our own name, He doesn’t wish to subsume us beneath His ownership and manifestation to the point that we are not significant as persons. We expect the creator, owner and redeemer of someone or something to name it with His name. But God dashes that expectation- He says instead that we are called by our name. In this we see the extent to which God has created us so that we might have real, personal existence and salvation, not merely to as it were extend Himself. In this we see a profound insight into the utter depth of God’s outgiving grace.</h4>


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<p>When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you- Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>). Daniel’s friends were not burnt by the flames, and they were intended to be understood as representative of all the exiles.</p>


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<p>For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel your Saviour. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba in your place- Sheba is LXX Syene, confining the geographical areas to what we know as Egypt. Isaiah 40-66 is full of encouragement to Judah in Babylon to “fear not” and make the move back to the land. They are encouraged that “I have redeemed thee…thou art mine…for I am the Lord thy God… thy saviour; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee” (<a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 43:3'>Isa 43:3</a> AV). As a reward for allowing the Jews to return, the kings of Persia were given Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba. The Jews were doubtful as to whether God would really accept them now, after all their sin; and they were trapped in the good life, and the difficulty of uprooting from the world they were in. They were just like us! They had to be reminded that their Saviour had paid the ransom to redeem them, and therefore they must do their part and leave. And the blood of Jesus should work a like inspiration for us, all too loaded down with our burden of sin, unworthiness, spiritual dysfunction…</p>


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<p>Since you have been precious and honoured in My sight and I have loved you; therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life- As a reward for allowing the Jews to return, the kings of Persia were given Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba (:3). All this was by grace, for the exiles were not responsive. God’s grace is prevenient in the sense that He takes the initiative, as all true lovers do. Their preciousness was"in My sight", in the eyes of the lover, imputing righteousness to them which of themselves they didn’t have. To be ’precious in the sight’ of someone means to save them by grace (s:w. <a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>; <a href='B:120 1:13'>2Ki 1:13</a>; <a href='B:230 72:14'>Psa 72:14</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>Don’t be afraid; for I am with you- This is said so often, in allusion to Joshua and Israel being encouraged to re-enter the land and possess it. It was primarily relevant to the exiles in Babylon / Persia who feared to return and doubted Yahweh’s abiding presence with them. But it now is encouragement to all who wish to enter the Kingdom.</h4><h4>I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west- The ’bringing’ and ’gathering’ of the exiles (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in <a href='B:160 1:9'>Neh 1:9</a>). But most of the exiles remained in the lands of their captivity, just as people resist the Gospel’s call today. They had to themselves bring and gather themselves (<a href='B:290 45:20'>Isa 45:20</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:13'>Eze 34:13</a>; <a href='B:330 36:24'>Eze 36:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:21'>Eze 37:21</a>; <a href='B:450 10:10'>Zec 10:10</a>). And so today with all who wish to be in God’s Kingdom; our desire to be there and first moves towards it will be confirmed many times over by God’s work through His Spirit.</h4>


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<p>I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth- The points of the compass may just give the impression of a general regathering from all around. But we note the promise to regather the Jews from"the south", Egypt, to where they fled in faithless fear. And in Jeremiah’s time, against the specific commandment of God not to go there. We have here, therefore, an example of God saving people from holes which they themselves have dug.</p>


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<h4>each one who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made’- Yahweh speaks of the returnees as if they were a new creation, created by Him along with the heavens and earth of the temple which He had stretched out in Zion (<a href='B:290 43:7'>Isa 43:7</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>). He did not form this new land / heavens of the kingdom and temple of Israel in vain- He created it to be inhabited (<a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a>). But the Jews acted like the old creation. And the promise of new creation was deferred until the time of Jesus (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>). Judah for the most part declined to inhabit / dwell in the new heavens and earth [the same word in <a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a> is frequently used re. how the returnees dwelt in the cities of Judah]. Every one of the exiles was formed personally to return to the land; Gods formative hand likewise has been at work in the biography and genetic prehistory of everyone who encounters the Gospel.</h4><h4>Paul saw more potential in the Jewish mind for Christ than other races; thus he speaks in Romans 11 of how the natural branch which has been cut off [Israel] will be more effectively grafted back into the olive tree than the wild Gentile branches. This of course has similarities with the Lord’s teaching about Himself as the vine, whose unfruitful branches had been cut off (<a href='B:500 15:2'>Joh 15:2</a>). Israel “much more” than the Gentiles can be grafted back in, whereas Gentile converts do this “against nature” (<a href='B:520 11:24'>Rom 11:24</a>). In the context of Israel’s final repentance, God speaks of how every one of the Jewish people has been potentially created for His glory, because they carry His Name (<a href='B:290 43:7'>Isa 43:7</a>). Although Israel have been “quenched as a wick” for their sins (<a href='B:290 43:17'>Isa 43:17</a> RVmg:), we are to realize that the wick is still smouldering, and are to follow the Lord’s example of never totally quenching it but instead seek to fan the wick of Israel back into life (<a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a>).</h4>


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<p>Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears- See on <a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>. The servant-Messiah is described as being blind and deaf (<a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>)- just as those who returned from Babylon were called blind, yet having eyes; deaf, yet having ears (<a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>). They had the potential to see and hear; and the servant-Messiah likewise was at that time deaf and blind, but had the potential to see and hear with the vision and words of Messiah. It is hard to understand these words otherwise. They refused to allow the spiritual potential available to be unleashed upon them; see on <a href='B:290 42:18'>Isa 42:18</a>."Bring out"is the same word in <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>, and putting the passages together we get the idea that the exiles were as blind people, who were to be both freed from prison and also given their sight.</p>


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<h4>Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, That is true- Isaiah especially is full of restoration prophecies; but Isaiah especially carries repeated statements that God can predict the future, and that His prophetic word will surely come to pass. These repeated statements are surely to encourage Judah to believe the restoration prophecies, and to see that what was prophesied really would and could come to pass- but it required their response! And yet as discussed on <a href='B:290 41:22'>Isa 41:22</a>, the emphasis and flavour of the words used is not simply upon prediction but rather explanation, of attaching meaning to event. God alone can provide such explanation of both past and future events according to the far reaching narrative found in the prophets. The idol religions explained just a few isolated incidents. This is what is unique about the one true God- that He alone attaches meaning to event, both in personal and collective life, and indeed to all human history. Whether we correctly perceive it is another question, but He alone does this and holds the masterplan.</h4><h4>Thewonder of Israel’s God was not so much that He declared future things in a way that could be understood before they happened, but rather that He ‘declared’ the meaning of past events. There is a certain enigma to Israel’s history, both as history, and also sociologically, psychologically, indeed in every way. It is that enigma which is declared in God’s word, enabling Israel to make sense of what happens to them by their reflection, after the event, upon God’s word. Likewise it seems that only once the events have happened can we look back with true understanding into God’s word and understand. This was in fact the case with a number of the predictions of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:500 2:19'>Joh 2:19</a>; <a href='B:500 3:14'>Joh 3:14</a>; <a href='B:500 11:50'>Joh 11:50</a>; <a href='B:500 21:18'>Joh 21:18</a>). They would have remained enigmas, until after the event. And then, all would have been so clear.</h4>


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<p>You are My witnesses, says Yahweh, With My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither will there be after Me- This language alludes to the Babylonian god Marduk; the point being that Yahweh and not the god of Babylon is supreme. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>. The Jews only totally quit idolatry some time later; they liked to think, as we also tend to, that we can serve the gods of our world in the name of Yahweh worship. But Yahweh is presented as supreme, and Marduk as nothing. God’s people are here asked to believe very basic things about Yahweh; but those things would preclude belief in any other god. Their conversion was to be used to bring others to incorporation in God’s new, multiethnic people. Hence LXX"Be ye my witnesses, and I too am a witness, saith the Lord God". The invitation is to be witnesses.</p>


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<p>I Myself am Yahweh; and besides Me there is no saviour- This continues the appeal noted on :10 to quit belief in any other god. Yahweh’s Name is declared as His character- merciful, truthful, judging sin, patient etc. (<a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>); but above all, in being a personal saviour. This is why"Jesus", ’Yah saves’, is the quintessence of what God is all about. He who will be who He will be, manifesting His characteristics as He does so, must have His way in us too. Babylon and Nineveh were condemned for having the attitude that “I am, and there is none beside me” (<a href='B:290 47:8'>Isa 47:8</a>; <a href='B:430 2:15'>Zep 2:15</a>). Their self-perception was a parody on the Name and being of Yahweh: He alone can say “I am, and there is none else” (<a href='B:290 43:11'>Isa 43:11</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 45:6'>Isa 45:6</a>; <a href='B:290 45:21'>Isa 45:21</a>) and seek to be who He is. He alone can seek to articulate the characteristics that make up His Name onto the lives of others, and onto the things that comprise His Kingdom. We are not to be who we are; to ‘just be yourself’; to ‘just do it’, as foolish slogans and adverts encourage us. We are here to show forth His mercy, truth, judgment of sin, patient saving of the weak etc:, not our own personality. We are, in the very end, Yahweh manifested to this world, through our imitation of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<p>I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are My witnesses, says Yahweh, That I am God- See on <a href='B:290 44:26'>Isa 44:26</a>. The allusion is to Israel’s earlier salvation from Egypt. Although there were ’strange gods’ carried by them, clearly it was Yahweh alone who saved and who declared / showed the meaning of their entire history; see on :9.</p>


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<h4>Yes, since the day was I am He- The idea may be that"from this time forth I am he", i:e. they were to repent and never again have idols, but accept"Yahweh", ’I am who I am’, ’I am that I am’, for who He was and is; and not just in Name only.</h4><h4>And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?- Even the rumours the exiles must have heard of Samaritan opposition were to be discounted. Every conceivable encouragement was given to the people, to go up and be part of the Kingdom work; nothing could stand in their way, if only they would go forward in joyful faith. They had been redeemed, they simply had to believe this and act as if they had been saved from Babylon and translated into the Kingdom which was to be established. The similarities with us are exact. &nbsp;The dramatic story of Job thrice uses the same phrase as in <a href='B:290 43:13'>Isa 43:13</a>, concluding that"who can hinder:::?"God’s way (<a href='B:220 9:12'>Job 9:12</a>; <a href='B:220 11:10'>Job 11:10</a>; <a href='B:220 23:13'>Job 23:13</a>). The exiles were to understand that no human opposition or discouragement can turn back or hinder God’s purpose to save His people, even if they are as Job in suffering. His saving and restorative purpose will not be hindered, if we wish to identify with it.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing- The fall of Babylon was envisioned as happening so that the Jewish exiles might return to Judah. All in world geopolitics was to be for their sakes. But many of them remained there and prospered in the Persian administration which took over after Babylon’s fall. LXX"and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships". Babylon fell so that Persia would take over the administration of the 127 provinces where the Jews were scattered, and would allow them to return to Judah (<a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>). The cup of judgment which Judah drunk for 70 years was passed to Babylon (<a href='B:290 51:22'>Isa 51:22</a>). This accounts for Isaiah’s repeated and detailed emphasis on the coming fall of Babylon for Judah / Israel’s sake (e:g. Isaiah 47). Although they had sinned, Yahweh showed His gracious love for His people by bringing down Babylon (<a href='B:290 48:14'>Isa 48:14</a>). “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee [Cyrus] by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me “ (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). Likewise the iron curtain came down to allow preachers of God’s Truth to take it to those once in darkness. And English has become the lingua-franca of the world, enabling Christian preaching to now penetrate societies literally world-wide:&nbsp;See on <a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a>.</p>


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<p>I am Yahweh your Holy One, the Creator of Israel- your King- Because Yahweh God was Israel’s creator, therefore He ought to have been their King. They should not have remained in the lands of their exile under a human king. If we really believe His creative authority over us, then He will rule in every aspect of our lives. Realizing that God is a"faithful creator"should inspire us to commit the keeping of our lives to Him in time of suffering (<a href='B:670 4:19'>1Pe 4:19</a>).</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters- Again, the salvation of Israel from Egypt was to be believed in as a real prototype of their deliverance from exile; and when Israel refused that, of our deliverance from this world and into God’s Kingdom. What seems uncharted waters and an impossible, confusing journey will in fact become pain; a path and way appears, which we are to enthusiastically follow. The impression that the path to the Kingdom is hopelessly complex and hard to discern is only because of human lack of faith.</p>


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<p>who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick)- This recalls the glorying of the Song of Moses over the Egyptians. And so it could have been for God’s people in exile. No political nor military power could stand between them and restoration inGod’s Kingdom. And likewise in our path towards that same Kingdom which they refused.</p>


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<p>Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old- The returned exiles are encouraged to forget their former sins as God also has done. This was the basis for their lack of faith and need for constant assurance not to be afraid but to believe in God’s desire to restore them.</p>


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<h4>Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs forth now; don’t you perceive it?- <a href='B:290 40:1-2'>Isa 40:1-2</a> speaks a message of comfort to the exiles: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”. But [in full allusion to this prophecy], the exiles were like Rachael who refused to be comforted over her loss (<a href='B:300 31:15'>Jer 31:15</a>); they claimed they found “none to comfort” (<a href='B:310 1:2'>Lam 1:2</a>; <a href='B:310 1:16-17'>Lam 1:16-17</a>; <a href='B:310 1:21'>Lam 1:21</a>). But they were willfully refusing the comfort of God’s repeated word of hope and restoration. They didn’t grasp the plain teaching of the prophetic word because they didn’t want to- it demanded too much of them, and a giving up of the comfortable Babylon life. Hence <a href='B:290 43:19'>Isa 43:19</a> laments: “I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth [in the decree to return to Zion?], do you not perceive it?”. And do we"not perceive it?"time and again in our own lives, as to the potentials God is opening up, and His desire to save us?</h4><h4>I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert- See on <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>. The exiles’ fears about the way back were allayed: “I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (43:19). They were constantly encouraged that as God had redeemed His people from Egypt through the water, fire and desert, so He would and could redeem them from their Egypt. &nbsp;Water could have followed Judah through the desert journey from Babylon to Zion. But they hankered after a human army to protect them, and most of them wouldn’t even begin the journey.</h4>


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<h4>The animals of the field shall honour Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen- The water that came from that one rock tasted as if God had opened up fresh springs and torrents in the desert (<a href='B:230 74:15'>Psa 74:15</a> NAS). It always tasted as if it was just gushing out of the spring; and this wonder is commented upon by both David and Isaiah (<a href='B:230 78:15-16'>Psa 78:15-16</a>; <a href='B:230 78:20'>Psa 78:20</a>; <a href='B:230 105:41'>Psa 105:41</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>). It was as if the rock had just been struck, and the water was flowing out fresh for the first time. In this miracle, God clave the rock and there came out rivers (<a href='B:420 3:9'>Hab 3:9</a>; <a href='B:230 78:16'>Psa 78:16</a>; <a href='B:230 78:20'>Psa 78:20</a>; <a href='B:290 43:20'>Isa 43:20</a>). Each part of Israel’s encampment had the water as it were brought to their door. And so it is in our experience of Christ, and the blessing enabled by His sacrifice. The blessings that come to us are deeply personal, and directed to us individually. He died once, long ago, and yet the effect of His sacrifice is ever new.</h4><h4>This amazing redemption of Israel from exile was intended to elicit repentance from the areas of the Gentiles within the eretz promised to Abraham, whose cities were now inhabited by jackals. The intention was that they would return with God’s people. This didn’t happen, but will at the last day.</h4>


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<p>The people which I formed for Myself, that they might show forth My praise- Both as individuals and collectively, the whole biography and even genetic prehistory of God’s people has been prepared by God in their formation, so that they might encounter God’s salvation at an optimal point for them to give the maximum glory to Him (<a href='B:290 43:21'>Isa 43:21</a>)."Formed"is the word for the potter working on clay, used of how God fashions human hearts or psychologies, working on the deeply internal fabric of the human being (<a href='B:230 33:15'>Psa 33:15</a>). The ’forming’ in view is not only"in the womb"(<a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>) but throughout their whole psychological and genetic formation. It is possible to strive with our former or"maker"(<a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a>), to be unresponsive to His touch of us the clay. The Messiah figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus, was the ultimate case of being"formed"by Yahweh’s hand (<a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a> s:w:), implying He too was clay, of human and not Divine nature.</p>


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<p>Yet you have not called on Me, Jacob; but you have been weary of Me, Israel- Despite all the formative handling of the Divine potter, all the stimuli and potential granted by grace (:21), Jacob had refused to respond. They were weary of God, and God was wearied with their sins and insincere worship (s:w. :23,24). We have here the language of God and Israel falling out of love, despite such love on His side, and such wonderful potentials.</p>


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<p>You have not brought Me of your sheep for burnt offerings; neither have you honoured Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense- God had not given His people wearisome laws and regulations; but they were"weary of Me"(:22 s:w:). They perhaps made the complaint many do today- that God is boring, ritualistic, imposing of unreasonable demands and ceremonies. But actually that is but an excuse for personal unbelief and lack of commitment; for He insists here that His laws and principles are not like that. And if He says they are not, then it is not for us to claim otherwise. The exiles would have justified not sacrificing by saying there was no temple. But although God did not specifically command them [’burden them’] to keep the feasts in exile, He would have accepted their offerings. And there is evidence that there was a"little sanctuary"in Babylon where they could have offered sacrifice (see on <a href='B:330 11:16'>Eze 11:16</a>). But they didn’t offer them.</p>


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<h4>You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices- God didn’t demand incense nor offerings (:23), and yet He notes that they didn’t bring them to Him."Sweet cane"is what was burnt to create incense. It’s as if God still hoped they would thus express their love for Him, even in exile and away from the temple system. But they didn’t, and instead burdened Him with their sins.</h4><p>But you have burdened Me with your sins- God speaks of being burdened by Israel’s sins- and yet this is a prelude to the passages which speak of the Lord Jesus bearing our sins on the cross (<a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11-12'>Isa 53:11-12</a>). We even read of God being wearied by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 7:13'>Isa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>; <a href='B:330 24:12'>Eze 24:12</a>; <a href='B:460 2:17'>Mal 2:17</a>). Even though God does not"grow weary"(<a href='B:290 40:28'>Isa 40:28</a>) by nature, it seems to me that in His full entering into His people’s situation, He does allow Himself to grow weary with the sins of those with whom He is in covenant relationship. It was this kind of capacity which God has which was supremely revealed in His ’sharing in’ thecrucifixion of His Son.</p><h4>You have wearied Me with your iniquities- When Israel were weary of God, He wearied them (<a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:24'>Isa 43:24</a>). Because they turned their back on Him (<a href='B:300 2:27'>Jer 2:27</a>), He turned His back on them (<a href='B:300 18:17'>Jer 18:17</a>). At the very time Israel put God to the test at Marah (<a href='B:50 6:16'>Deu 6:16</a>), God responded by testing them (<a href='B:20 15:25'>Exo 15:25</a>).</h4>


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<h4>I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions- Yahweh here prophesied of what He would achieve through the crucified Christ: “I am, I am: He that blots out thy transgressions” (<a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a> LXX)."I am"alludes to the Yahweh Name. He declares His Name as being supremely demonstrated in His forgiveness of our sins through and in the Lord’s cross. We read in <a href='B:400 6:9'>Mic 6:9</a> that when the Lord’s voice calls to the city demanding repentance, “the man of wisdom shall see [perceive] thy name”- i:e. repent. We come to know God’s Name in practice through the cycles of sin-repentance-forgiveness by God which we all pass through. It is through this process that we come to know the very essence of God’s Name. Thus <a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a> LXX:"I am ’"I AM", who erases your iniquities". We come to know His Name, that it really is ("I am") all about forgiveness and salvation of sinners. Forgetting the Name of Yahweh was associated in David’s inspired thinking with a wrong attitude in “the secrets of the heart” (<a href='B:230 44:20-21'>Psa 44:20-21</a>). By contrast, remembering / being aware of the Name affects our innermost being, the secrets of our heart, the hidden self which others don’t see.</h4><p>For My own sake- The idea may be that He would forgive them by grace alone, and not because they had repented or somehow compensated for their sins. He was so zealous to almost force through His saving purpose with them that He would forgive them anyway. This kind of one sided forgiveness and outpouring of love is commonly seen in relationships where one party is far more deeply committed and loving than the other one.</p><p>And I will not remember your sins- God imputed His righteousness to them, because He had unconditionally forgiven them. Instead of calling upon them to mourn, as in first Isaiah, second Isaiah calls upon them to rejoice and accept His grace. They are to repent because God had forgiven them- not repent so that He might forgive them: “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake [i:e. not for the sake of your repentance or righteousness]… I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud [therefore] return [repent] to me, for I have [already] redeemed you” (<a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a>; <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a>). This is God’s grace in its essence. As they sat by the rivers of Babylon, even as they later became caught up in the politics and business of Babylon, God’s heart broke for His people. And He announced this utter grace- that He had forgiven them, even though they’d not really repented, and counted them as righteous. And therefore He begged them to “return”, not only to return to Him in repentance in their hearts, but to show this by ‘returning’ to the land. And, so tragically, they preferred to stay in Babylon, for the most part. His grace was poured out to them… and Israel would not. All we can resolve in our hearts is to feel for God in this tragedy, and to realize that these very same prophecies of grace have been applied to us. And it’s for us to respond to them.</p><h4>We read of God ‘remembering’ His covenant (<a href='B:20 2:24'>Exo 2:24</a>; <a href='B:30 26:42'>Lev 26:42</a>; <a href='B:300 14:10'>Jer 14:10</a>; <a href='B:300 14:21'>Jer 14:21</a>); and of God ‘not remembering’ or forgetting the sins of His covenant people (<a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a>; <a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>). If words mean anything, this surely implies that sins which God once remembered, He then stops remembering and ‘forgets’. Such language seems on one hand inappropriate to the God who by nature doesn’t have to forget and can recall all things. But He has willingly entered into the meaning of time which is experienced by those with whom He is in covenant relationship. He allows Himself to genuinely feel it like it is. The ’gap’ between God stating His plan and its actual fulfillment is the opportunity for men and women to plead with Him, as Moses did, as Abraham did regarding Sodom (<a href='B:10 18:17-22'>Gen 18:17-22</a>), as so many have done::. and He is most definitely open to human persuasion.</h4>


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<h4>Put Me in remembrance, let us plead together. Set forth your case, that you may be justified- LXX continues the connection with God not remembering their sins in :25:"But do thou remember, and let us plead together: do thou first confess thy transgressions, that thou mayest be justified". The stress would be on the idea that although God had forgotten their sins, they were not to forget them but to remain ever aware of His gracious forgiveness. God wants them to accept His forgiveness and justification of them; but for them to do so, they needed to first of all be convicted of their own lack of justification. And so He invites them to put forth a legal case that they are not sinners and don’t need justification by grace.</h4><h4><a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a> speaks of watchmen [= the prophets, <a href='B:330 3:17'>Eze 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 6:17'>Jer 6:17</a>; <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>] set upon Jerusalem’s walls as watchmen ’putting God in remembrance’, keeping no silence [in their prophesying] until Jerusalem was established. For the link between the prophets and standing on a watchtower, see <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>. Is this not a reference to Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah prophesying as the basis upon which the newly built walls of Jerusalem would be preserved, and the city develop into the Messianic Kingdom hoped for? Note that the rebuilt Jerusalem of Ezra’s time and the latter day Jerusalem are the same thing in Isaiah; the Kingdom could’ve come then. Watchmen upon the walls were looking for something- for the approach of the Messianic messenger with good tidings of Judah’s full return from captivity, of which Isaiah had spoken in <a href='B:290 52:7-8'>Isa 52:7-8</a>. But most of Judah preferred to stay in Babylon, took up a collection for the few who did return… and no Messiah could appear with that news. God had promised this- but He here asked to be put in remembrance of His promises (<a href='B:290 43:26'>Isa 43:26</a>), i:e. He asked for those watchmen to be His ‘rememberancers’, even though He cannot in that sense forget them (<a href='B:230 119:49'>Psa 119:49</a>; <a href='B:300 14:21'>Jer 14:21</a>). In all this we see an exquisite picture of how God works with men, how His promised faithfulness and omnipotence all the same has built into it a requirement for human prayerfulness and response. The reality was that the watchmen / prophets of Israel were blind, ignorant and sleepy (<a href='B:290 56:10'>Isa 56:10</a>).</h4>


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<p>Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against Me- This is in the context of God desperately appealing to Israel to accept His forgiveness and justification. He forgives them for His own sake (see on :25), &nbsp;He would forgive them by grace alone, and not because they had repented or somehow compensated for their sins. He was so zealous to almost force through His saving purpose with them that He would forgive them anyway. This kind of one sided forgiveness and outpouring of love is commonly seen in relationships where one party is far more deeply committed and loving than the other one. And so in line with this, God tries to help them as it were feel less bad about their sins, blaming the situation partly upon Adam their first father, and upon their bad teachers, and then in :28 upon their princes. This is desperate argument, but God comes over as that desperate for them to accept His love.</p>


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<p>Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult-"I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary"- put forth"as polluted from the priesthood"(Ezr 262). This is tacit proof enough that the restoration from Babylon failed to be the potential restoration prophesied. Indeed, the behaviour of the Jews at that time attracted further curses and judgment. LXX"And the princes have defiled my sanctuaries: so I gave Jacob to enemies to destroy, and Israel to reproach". As explained on :27, this blame of the princes is an almost desperate attempt to help Israel feel not quite so shamed for their sins and to get them by all means to accept God’s forgiveness.</p>


text:
<h4>Yet listen now, Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen- The appeal for Jacob to"listen"is asking for the exiles to repent. They had been chosen, but only their repentance would make that calling actual. It’s the same with those who hear the Gospel today, having been chosen from the beginning.</h4><h4>It is significant that Paul takes a passage from one of Isaiah’s servant songs here and applies it to us. The servant who suffered and witnessed to the world was evidently the Lord Jesus. And yet Isaiah is also explicit that the servant is the whole seed of Abraham, “Jacob”, the slowly-developing people of God (<a href='B:290 41:8'>Isa 41:8</a>; <a href='B:290 44:1'>Isa 44:1</a>). There are many connections within Isaiah between the servant songs, and the descriptions of the people of Israel into which the songs are interspersed. The saviour-servant was to bring out the prisoners from the dungeons (<a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>), so was every Israelite “to let the oppressed go free::. loose the bonds”, and to “undo the bands of the [heavy] yoke” (<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a>) as Christ did (<a href='B:470 11:28-29'>Mat 11:28-29</a>); His work of deliverance is to be replicated by each of us in our witness. Whoever is in Him will by this very fact follow Him in this work. In Isaiah’s first context, the suffering servant was King Hezekiah. Yet all Israel were to see themselves as ‘in’ him, as spiritual Israel are to see themselves as in Christ. “He was oppressed”, as Israel at that time were being “oppressed” by Assyria. As they were covered in wounds and spiritual sickness (<a href='B:290 1:5-6'>Isa 1:5-6</a>), so the suffering servant bore their diseases and rose again in salvation victory.</h4>


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<h4>This is what Yahweh who made you and formed you from the womb, who will save you, says- Yahweh speaks of the returnees as if they were a new creation, created by Him along with the heavens and earth of the temple which He had stretched out in Zion (<a href='B:290 43:7'>Isa 43:7</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>). He did not form this new land / heavens of the kingdom and temple of Israel in vain- He created it to be inhabited (<a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a>). But the Jews acted like the old creation. And the promise of new creation was deferred until the time of Jesus (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>). Judah for the most part declined to inhabit / dwell in the new heavens and earth [the same word in <a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a> is frequently used re. how the returnees dwelt in the cities of Judah].</h4><p>"Save"is more often translated"help". This Fatherly image of help offered to a nervous child was to encourage the weak minded exiles to return to Zion and accept Yahweh’s helping hand, just as His hand had ’helped’ Hezekiah against the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:8'>2Ch 32:8</a>). At the restoration, Ezra believed this"help"would enable the restoration to the extent that they didn’t need any human soldiers to help them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a> s:w:).</p><p>Don’t be afraid, Jacob My servant- The way God showed grace and imputed righteousness to Jacob even before his birth is shown here. From the womb, Jacob was chosen to be God’s servant; and yet Jacob coolly said that only if God did what He promised, would he agree to serve Yahweh, and have Him as his master. Earlier in the same servant prophecies, the servant Jacob is described as a useless servant:"Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect (Jacob was a perfect / plain man, <a href='B:10 25:27'>Gen 25:27</a>), and blind as the Lord’s servant?"(<a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>). Although the servant is worse than useless (a deaf messenger), he is seen as perfect by his Divine Master. And the servant prophecies are primarily based on Jacob (note, in passing, how often they associate the servant Jacob with idol worship, which seems to have been an earlier characteristic of Jacob). Consider too the allusions to Jacob in Isaiah 53; a man of sorrow and grief, despised of men, who would see his seed. As Christ felt a worm on the cross (<a href='B:230 22:6'>Psa 22:6</a>), so Jacob is described (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>). That even in his weakness, Jacob prefigured the Lord in his time of ultimate spiritual victory, shows in itself the way God imputed righteousness to him at the time.</p><h4>And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen- The uncommon title"Jeshurun", ’the upright one’, is used for Israel because they were being asked to repent and thereby live up to who they were intended to be; to realize their potential to which they have been chosen or called at the beginning.</h4>


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<p>For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring- Ezekiel 20 and Jeremiah 31 make it clear that the exiles were intended to accept a new covenant, seeing they had broken the old covenant. That new covenant involved the gift of the Spirit, a heart of flesh rather than of stone, the psychological working of God within them. This is symbolized here as water and streams. They were the"dry ground", and out of that dry ground there could have arisen the Messiah figure of <a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>. In the end, they refused the operation of that gift and Zerubbabel, the branch from Babylon (out of the dry ground) let the ball drop. And so these things were applied to the Lord Jesus and the gift of the Spirit in Him (<a href='B:500 7:38-39'>Joh 7:38-39</a>)."My Spirit"and"My blessing"are parallel. The blessing promised to Abraham was of Yahweh being their God, and not only an eternal inheritance of the land. That"blessing"is understood in <a href='B:510 3:25-26'>Act 3:25-26</a> and Galatians 3 as the gift of the Spirit, the transformation of the hearts of the seed of Abraham so that they might become like the singular seed, the Lord Jesus, and thereby be prepared and made appropriate for the blessing of eternal inheritance of the land.</p>


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<p>And they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses- LXX"And they shall spring up as grass between brooks, and as willows on the banks of running water". The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God’s restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>) to"spring up"on what had previously been dry ground (<a href='B:290 44:4'>Isa 44:4</a>). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a> s:w."bud"AV). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:10 2:5'>Gen 2:5</a>). This springing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s:w. <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:17'>Psa 132:17</a>). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were"in"the singular Messianic seed. And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). It is"righteousness"which would"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:290 61:11'>Isa 61:11</a>); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as"in"the"branch of righteousness"which will"spring up"(<a href='B:300 33:15'>Jer 33:15</a>). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine ’causing’ us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.</p>


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<h4>One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s’ and another will be called by the name of Jacob- And another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh’, and honour the name of Israel- Although at the time of the restoration not all knew their genealogy, they were accepted in any case, being surnamed with the Name of Jehovah and that of Jacob. And this has been applied to us in that “The Lord knows them that are His” (<a href='B:620 2:19'>2Ti 2:19</a>). See on <a href='B:290 48:1'>Isa 48:1</a>.</h4><p>It would be thanks to Cyrus that the seed of Abraham would be redefined- Gentiles could become part of the covenant seed by saying “I belong to Yahweh” or writing Yahweh’s Name on their hand (<a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>; <a href='B:290 44:5'>Isa 44:5</a>). See on <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>. This didn’t actually happen- but the prophecy was reapplied to the way that Gentiles became part of Abraham’s seed through baptism into the Name (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). The later servant poems / songs in Isaiah appear irrelevant to Cyrus, but applicable to the nation of Israel as God’s “servant”, or to one particular “servant”. Perhaps this is reflective of the way that Cyrus didn’t live up to his potential, and the ‘servant’ prophecies became capable of other potential fulfillments?&nbsp; And yet <a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a> states: “Of Cyrus he says, ‘He is my shepherd; he will fulfill all my purpose’”. This is typical of prophecy which is conditional, even though the conditions aren’t stated. It is observable that all the servant songs / poems have language and terms which repeat throughout them- it’s as if one person could have fulfilled them all, they could’ve been relevant to one person, but in reality this didn’t work out.</p><h4>The Name of Jacob / Israel is here paralleled with Yahweh. Remember how Jacob in his doubt promised God:"If God will be with me::. then shall Yahweh be my God"(<a href='B:10 28:20-21'>Gen 28:20-21</a>); and at the end, Yahweh was Jacob’s God. God seems to recognize this by describing Himself as the God of Jacob / Israel so very often. His joy, His sheer delight at Jacob’s spiritual achievement is recorded throughout the Bible. The way God describes Himself as"the God of Israel"(201 times) or"the God of Jacob"(25 times) infinitely more times than anyone else’s God is proof enough that God saw His relationship with Jacob as very special."God of Abraham"occurs 17 times;"God of Isaac"8 times;"God of David"4 times. Remember that whenever we read"Israel", we are reading of the man Jacob and his children. That God was the God of mixed-up, struggling Jacob is a sure comfort to every one of us. God is not ashamed to be surnamed the God of Jacob (<a href='B:650 11:16'>Heb 11:16</a> Gk:).</h4>


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<h4>This is what Yahweh the King of Israel and His Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says- As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.</h4><h4>I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God- The sense may be as in <a href='B:290 41:4'>Isa 41:4</a>:"I Yahweh, the first and with the last, I am He". First and last are terms used by the Lord Jesus of those who shall be in His Kingdom (<a href='B:470 20:16'>Mat 20:16</a>)."The last"would then refer to the last generation of God’s people. Yahweh would save the exiles along with the"first"of His people such as Abraham; for at the time of the restoration of that last generation, there would be a resurrection of all God’s true people, to form a new people would eternally inherit the reestablished Kingdom.</h4>


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<p>Who is like Me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen- The emphasis and flavour of the words used for"call::. declare::. set in order"is not upon prediction but rather explanation, of attaching meaning to event. God alone can provide such explanation of both past and future events according to the far reaching narrative found in the prophets. The idol religions explained just a few isolated incidents. This is what is unique about the one true God- that He alone attaches meaning to event, both in personal and collective life, and indeed to all human history. Whether we correctly perceive it is another question, but He alone does this and holds the masterplan.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is not. I don’t know any other Rock- LXX"ye are witnesses if there is a God beside me". The experiences with the Assyrian destruction ought to have demonstrated this. The gods of Assyria couldn’t save them, neither could the local deities whom Judah had trusted in at the time. Yahweh alone is the God of salvation. As developed on :9, this is the imagery of the courtroom. Israel are called as witnesses to Yahweh, and the idols are called as witnesses for the idolaters. We note the balance of the equation. Yahweh is not parallel with the idols, with the idolaters. Israel are called as Yahweh’s witnesses, and the idols are called as witnesses for the idolaters. Those idolaters were therefore making themselves God, by creating gods (:9).</p>


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<p>Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see nor know, that they may be disappointed- In the imagery of the court case, Israel are witnesses to Yahweh, and the idols are witnesses to themselves. See on :8.</p>


text:
<p>Who has fashioned a god or moulds an image that is profitable for nothing?- The verse runs on from :9; they are disappointed who fashion their own gods. In the context, the idols have been called as witnesses, but they are silent in the witness box. They are not profitable, they can give no helpful testimony to the case. See on :8. Yahweh is continually presented as the former, creator and moulder of His people; and Israel are thereby witnesses to Him and His work (:8). This is the problem with playing God, which is the modern form of idolatry. We set ourselves up as creator, rather than allowing His hand to form and mould us in His image and likeness rather than us creating things in our own likeness.</p>


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<h4>Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men- &nbsp;LXX"and all by whom they were made are withered". The reference is to the idol makers of the previous verse. There is an emphasis upon the idol maker having"fellows"and their being shamed"together", twice emphasized. The idea is that idolatry is because people group together, it is a group function; idolatry arises out of groups of people together.</h4><h4>Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together- This continues the courtroom analogy discussed on :8. They are to stand up to receive their judgment, and then go to the shame of condemnation together.</h4>


text:
<p>The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint-"Works"is the same word as"makes [a god]"(:15). In our days, the works of our hands are the equivalent of making gods and idols. The picture is of a man working hard to make, work, mould, shape and plan an idol. Isaiah has used all these ideas about God’s formative work with His people. Their strength failed in the work, whereas God’s power in working with us is limitless. His strength in working for us doesn’t fail.</p>


text:
<p>The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house- The contrast is with the description of Yahweh as having planned as a workman the entire cosmos, and then made it. See on <a href='B:290 40:12'>Isa 40:12</a>. Instead of allowing Him to work on them to make them after His mental image, they were creating gods in their own image and likeness. As they stretched out a line to plan an idol, Yahweh worked on a far grander scale, stretching out His line over the entire cosmos (<a href='B:220 38:5'>Job 38:5</a> s:w:). But the phrase ’stretching out a line’ is nearly always used about Yahweh’s condemnation of people (<a href='B:120 21:13'>2Ki 21:13</a>; <a href='B:290 34:11'>Isa 34:11</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>; <a href='B:450 1:16'>Zec 1:16</a>). As we will also see on :14, the idolaters were in fact measuring out condemnation to themselves.</p>


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<h4>He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak- I noted on :13 that the language of idol construction is also that of condemnation; their behaviour was their own condemnation. And here too, the Assyrians had threatened to cut down the cedars of the temple (<a href='B:290 37:24'>Isa 37:24</a>; <a href='B:290 2:13'>Isa 2:13</a>; <a href='B:290 10:34'>Isa 10:34</a>). And the Babylonians actually did this (<a href='B:290 14:8'>Isa 14:8</a>). For the Jews now to cut down cedars and make idols from them was therefore acting like the Babylonians, and ignoring the great grace shown in Yahweh’s averting of the threatened Assyrian destruction of the temple by cutting down its cedars. See on <a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>.</h4><h4>And strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it- Yahweh would strengthen His servant people, in contrast to the idols, which had to be strengthened by their makers (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>). The tree used for idolatry had been nourished by rain from Yahweh.</h4>


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<p>Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it- This whole account of idolatry seems to be poking fun at the foolishness of the worshipper. But this is all to lead up to the statements in :19,20, that the mind of the idolater refuses to perceive the obvious. And this is because they"did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate (or, undistinguishing) mind"(<a href='B:520 1:28'>Rom 1:28</a>; cp. <a href='B:290 29:10'>Isa 29:10</a>). This is in contrast to how the Spirit of God works to give a spiritually perceptive mind; and the promise of that Spirit has been offered earlier in this chapter. Now we are being shown the opposite process; how God works to confirm men in their blindness.</p>


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<p>He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire- The idea is that he uses part to make an idol (:17), and of the other part, he uses part of that for firewood for warmth and part for roasting a meal for himself. Or as ESV"Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat". See on <a href='B:290 46:6'>Isa 46:6</a>.</p>


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<p>The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships and prays to it and says, Deliver me; for you are my god!- See on :16. This is the word used by Rabshakeh in saying that no god could"deliver"from the Assyrians (<a href='B:140 32:13'>2Ch 32:13</a>). And yet the unfaithful Jews had trusted in those very gods for deliverance. It is therefore Jewish idolaters who are in view here. They were so self deceived that they could not deliver themselves (:20 s:w:) because those who worship idols become like unto them; dumb and unable to engage with the issues of eternity.</p>


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<p>Theydon’t know neither do they consider: for He has shut their eyes that they can’t see; and their hearts that they can’t understand- This is the situation in <a href='B:290 6:9-10'>Isa 6:9-10</a>. This is in contrast to how the Spirit of God works to give a spiritually perceptive mind; and the promise of that Spirit has been offered earlier in this chapter. Now we are being shown the opposite process; how God works to confirm men in their blindness. Such people are receiving now the essence of their condemnation, alluding to the Eastern custom of sealing up the eyes of offenders.</p>


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<h4>No one thinks neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire- We are programmed to shy away from the ultimate realities, in the same way as men hid their faces from the terror and dastardly horror of the crucifixion of God’s Son (<a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), and as"none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding"to realize the idiocy of worshipping a piece of wood as an idol (<a href='B:290 44:19'>Isa 44:19</a>).</h4><h4>Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?- The idolater failed to look at himself from outside of himself. This is an important ability to have, and it is the Biblical record which serves as a mirror, that we might see ourselves for who we really are (<a href='B:660 1:23'>Jas 1:23</a>). Yet the majority are so caught up in the narrative of their own lives which they spin in their own minds that they&nbsp; fail to achieve self-examination and self-awareness before God.</h4>


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<h4>He feeds on ashes- From a distance, the visual impression may have been of the man apparently eating the ashes from the coals upon which his bread was baked (:19).</h4><h4>A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?- The deceived heart can’t recognize that they are self-deceived. That seems to be the idea of"a lie in my right hand". See on :17.</h4>


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<h4>Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant. I have formed you; you are My servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me- Because God has not forgotten His people, they should remember Him. The fact He is so consciously aware of us ought to bring Him back to our consciousness in the course of the day. As explained on :19, Jacob was asked to"remember"the picture of the idolater, to see himself from outside of himself.</h4><h4>There is perhaps a purposeful ambiguity in the Hebrew text of <a href='B:290 44:21'>Isa 44:21</a>: “O Israel thou shalt not be forgotten of me” is rendered in the RVmg and LXX: “thou shouldest not forget me”. The fact God never forgets us should be inspiration to not forget Him in the daily round of life. To act as if God doesn’t see all our ways is to effectively deny His existence. Babylon acted as she did because she reasoned that"None seeth me::. I am, and there is none else beside me"(<a href='B:290 47:10'>Isa 47:10</a> RV). They appropriated the language of God to themselves, they played God in that they thought their ways were unseen by any higher power. And we all have a terrible, frightening tendency to do this.</h4>


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<h4>I have blotted out as a thick cloud your iniquities, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you- God imputed His righteousness to them, because He had unconditionally forgiven them. Instead of calling upon them to mourn, as in first Isaiah, second Isaiah calls upon them to rejoice and accept His grace. They are to repent because God had forgiven them (as in <a href='B:510 3:18-19'>Act 3:18-19</a>)- not repent so that He might forgive them: “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake [i:e. not for the sake of your repentance or righteousness]… I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud [therefore] return [repent] to me, for I have [already] redeemed you” (<a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a>; <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a>). This is God’s grace in its essence. Repentance and not just forgiveness is given by the Spirit (<a href='B:510 5:31'>Act 5:31</a>). As they sat by the rivers of Babylon, even as they later became caught up in the politics and business of Babylon, God’s heart broke for His people. And He announced this utter grace- that He had forgiven them, even though they’d not really repented, and counted them as righteous. And therefore He begged them to“return”, not only to return to Him in repentance in their hearts, but to show this by ‘returning’ to the land. And, so tragically, they preferred to stay in Babylon, for the most part. His grace was poured out to them… and Israel would not. All we can resolve in our hearts is to feel for God in this tragedy, and to realize that these very same prophecies of grace have been applied to us. And it’s for us to respond to them.</h4><p>It is our knowledge of God’s mercy to us which empowers us to confidently seek to share with others our knowledge, our relationship, our experience with God. Forgiveness inspires the preacher; and yet the offer of forgiveness is what inspires the listener to respond. God appeals for Israel to respond by pointing out that in prospect, He has already forgiven them: “I have [already] blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions::. [therefore] return unto me; for I have redeemed thee” (<a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a> AV). Likewise Elijah wanted Israel to know that God had already in prospect turned their hearts back to Him (<a href='B:110 18:37'>1Ki 18:37</a>). We preach the cross of Christ, and that through that forgiveness has been enabled for all men; but they need to respond by repentance in order to access it. Hence the tragedy of human lack of response; so much has been enabled, the world has been reconciled, but all this is in vain if they will not respond.</p><p>The prophets appeal for their people to repent to avert God’s judgments; and yet they proclaim a message of grace, that because “I have swept away your transgressions [therefore] Return&nbsp;[repent] to me, for I have redeemed you” (<a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a>). The fact of God’s forgiveness leads to repentance- by grace. And yet the prophets also appeal for Israel to repent so that they might be forgiven.</p><h4>And so Isaiah urged the Jewish exiles to return to the land by saying that God had forgiven them, and on this basis He appealed for them to both ‘repent’ and ‘return’ to the land. The two terms are related. Thus He showed His grace; forgiveness preceded, not followed, repentance. <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a> is clear about this: “I have swept away your transgressions like clouds [therefore] return to me, for I have [already] redeemed you”. God was angry with their sins, but kept no record of them- hence He could comfort Judah that there was actually no documentary evidence for their divorce (<a href='B:290 50:1'>Isa 50:1</a>) and therefore she could return to Him. As Paul put it, the goodness of God leads to repentance (<a href='B:520 2:4'>Rom 2:4</a>). And we are asked to show that same “goodness” of God to others, being “kind [s:w. ‘goodness’] one to another… forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” (<a href='B:560 4:32'>Eph 4:32</a>). We too are to show this grace of forgiveness-before-repentance; but perhaps in no other area has formalized, institutionalized Christianity failed worse. If XYZ shows us she’s repented of her divorce, then we’ll forgive her and accept her in fellowship [as if, in any case, we are the ones who need to forgive her]. These are graceless and yet terribly common attitudes. The Greek word translated “goodness” is rendered “gracious” in <a href='B:670 2:3'>1Pe 2:3</a> - newly converted babes in Christ taste of this gracious goodness, and it leads to repentance.</h4>


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<h4>Sing you heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify Himself in Israel- The same Hebrew words are used about the shout of joy which went up when the foundation of the temple was laid (<a href='B:150 3:11-13'>Ezr 3:11-13</a>). But at that same time, there was a loud sound of weeping from those who realized that what was being built was simply not the temple which Ezekiel had prophesied, and was not even as glorious as Solomon’s. The shout of joy was there, but wasn’t discernible (<a href='B:150 3:13'>Ezr 3:13</a>).</h4><h4>As the whole creation would share the joy of Hosea and Gomer’s remarriage (see on <a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a>), so <a href='B:290 44:23'>Isa 44:23</a> and <a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a> use similar terms to describe how all creation could have rejoiced in the reuniting of Yahweh with His people on their return from Babylon.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: I am Yahweh who makes all things, who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by Myself- This is in contrast to how the idol maker stretches out and spreads out his plans and materials to make his idol. Both as individuals and collectively, the whole biography and even genetic prehistory of God’s people has been prepared by God in their formation, so that they might encounter God’s salvation at an optimal point for them to give the maximum glory to Him (<a href='B:290 43:21'>Isa 43:21</a>)."Formed"is the word for the potter working on clay, used of how God fashions human hearts or psychologies, working on the deeply internal fabric of the human being (<a href='B:230 33:15'>Psa 33:15</a>). The ’forming’ in view is not only"in the womb"(<a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>) but throughout their whole psychological and genetic formation. It is possible to strive with our former or"maker"(<a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a>), to be unresponsive to His touch of us the clay. The Messiah figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus, was the ultimate case of being"formed"by Yahweh’s hand (<a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a> s:w:), implying He too was clay, of human and not Divine nature.</p>


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<h4>Who frustrates the signs of the liars- This is s:w. <a href='B:160 4:15'>Neh 4:15</a> about God frustrating the Samaritan opposition. But still the exiles didn’t make full use of all this help, in order to reestablish God’s Kingdom.</h4><h4>And makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish- it is the idolater who has just been portrayed as foolish and mad. But the wise men of the nations of those days were all idolaters.</h4>


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<h4>Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built’, and ‘I will raise up its waste places’- The word of His servant could refer to Isaiah or Jeremiah. Yahweh portrays Himself as open to the counsel or advice of His messengers. Perhaps the malak in view are the Angels, and those they represented. God is open to persuasion from both Angels and even men. Confirming and performing are parallel, as are"the word"and"the counsel"."His servant"(singular) is parallel with the plural"His messengers". The singular servant is equated with His “messengers”, whose “counsel” to others is the word which is Jesus, the true servant. This theme of declaring the word occurs repeatedly in this part of Isaiah. Because “I have declared… and I have shewed… therefore ye are my witnesses” (<a href='B:290 43:12'>Isa 43:12</a>). We are to witness / declare / shew, just as the Father has done. Our unity with the Father and Son is thus reflected in our witnessing in the way they witness; and thus their witness is through us. The unity between the preacher and his Lord is therefore wonderful. Truly He is with us in our life of witness, in our obedience to His command to preach world-wide, unto the end of the age.</h4><h4>Or the servant could refer to Cyrus and his will to rebuild Jerusalem. Yahweh “performs the counsel” of rebuilding Jerusalem. But the Samaritan opposition sought to frustrate Judah’s “purpose” / counsel (<a href='B:150 4:5'>Ezr 4:5</a> s:w:), and succeeded. Yahweh allowed Himself to be limited within how His people performed His purpose. His ‘purpose’ is therefore conditional upon those whom He allows to fulfill it. Many passages in the latter half of Isaiah exult how God has fulfilled prophecy in the decree of Cyrus and the return of the Jews (e:g. <a href='B:290 44:7'>Isa 44:7</a>; <a href='B:290 44:26-28'>Isa 44:26-28</a>). But this fulfilment of prophecy turned out to be limited by the Jews’ lack of obedience to the prophecies.</h4>


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<p>who says to the deep, ‘Be dry’, and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’- The reference is to the artificial irrigation canals from the Euphrates which were dried up by Cyrus, forming a lake forty miles square, in order for him to take Babylon. The prophets present the fall of Babylon as necessary for the return of the exiles. Babylon fell, but as the book of Esther makes clear, the bulk of the exiles chose to remain in exile.</p>


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<p>who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure’, even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid’- See on :5. Ezekiel 34 had predicted that at the restoration, God Himself would be a shepherd to His scattered flock and through the shepherd He would use, He would"deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day"(<a href='B:330 34:12'>Eze 34:12</a>). The cloudy and dark day was the day of judgment which came upon Judah, and which resulted in them being scattered into Babylon and Persia. The shepherd who was to deliver them and get them to return from the various places of their scattering was intended to be Cyrus. <a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a> is crystal clear about this. God"says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure’, even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid’". It was God’s intention that Cyrus repent and become a proselyte, and Yahweh would then use him to save His people"out of all places where they have been scattered". The decree of Cyrus was addressed to"Whoever is left [of the Jews], in any place where he lives"(<a href='B:150 1:4'>Ezr 1:4</a>)."Cyrus"literally means"sun"and so contrasts with the cloudy and dark day. But Cyrus let the ball drop and didn’t carry through the Divine purpose as he might have done and neither did the Jews respond as they should have done. Cyrus was Yahweh’s anointed (<a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>), and so the essence of these prophecies is to come true in the last days in the person of the Lord Jesus. We could say that the prophecies are transferred from Cyrus to the Lord Jesus. LXX"Who bids Cyrus be wise, and he shall perform all my will"suggests Cyrus had a choice; he was commanded, and it seems he partially obeyed, but not enough to the Messiah figure envisaged.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh to His anointed, to Cyrus- <a href='B:290 45:1-7'>Isa 45:1-7</a> concern Cyrus and really should be read as part of Isaiah 44.</h4><p>Whose right hand I have held- There is a juxtaposition of impressions here. Holding the right hand of a person suggests they are feeble (<a href='B:290 42:6'>Isa 42:6</a>). And so Cyrus for all his might was but a feeble person empowered by Israel’s God.</p><p>To subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armour; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not beshut- see on <a href='B:290 40:3-4'>Isa 40:3-4</a>. Isaiah 40-55 is packed full with allusion to the Marduk cult. All that Marduk claimed to do and be, Isaiah explained as actually true, and solely true, of Yahweh God of Israel. The descriptions of Cyrus as having been anointed etc. are allusions to the way Cyrus was held to have been anointed and raised up by Marduk. Yahweh is saying that actually He, and not Marduk, had done this. The Abu-Habba collection in the British museum actually has an inscription that claims Nabonidus dreamt that Marduk raised up Cyrus (See P:A. Beaulieu, The Reign Of Nabonidus King Of Babylon (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989) p. 108). Isaiah’s point is that actually it was the God of Israel who had done this. The references to Yahweh taking Cyrus by the hand, anointing him, pronouncing his name and giving him a throne (<a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:8'>Isa 45:8</a>) are almost word-for-word what Cyrus claimed about Marduk in his ‘Cyrus Cylinder’.</p><h4>Cyrus was a potential Messiah figure. Cyrus was the anointed one, the ‘Christ’ of God. Anointing is especially associated with being anointed as a king in the Davidic line (<a href='B:90 2:10'>1Sa 2:10</a>; <a href='B:90 2:35'>1Sa 2:35</a>; <a href='B:100 22:51'>2Sa 22:51</a>; <a href='B:100 23:1'>2Sa 23:1</a>; <a href='B:230 2:2'>Psa 2:2</a>). Could it be that God was willing for Cyrus to become Israel’s King? Whilst the chronology is admittedly difficult, it would appear that Daniel and his group of faithful friends, possibly Ezekiel, maybe Esther, and some other prophets were in close contact with Cyrus. The enigmatic reference to Cyrus making the decision to allow Nehemiah’s mission for the Jews to return with his queen sitting near him may suggest Jewish influence upon him (<a href='B:160 2:6'>Neh 2:6</a>). Could it be that potentially, he was enabled to convert to the God of Israel and fulfill the ‘servant’ prophecies? See on :9; <a href='B:290 44:5'>Isa 44:5</a>.</h4>


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<h4>I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth- This is the language of Isaiah 40 concerning the preparation for the coming of the Messianic saviour and reestablishment of the Kingdom in Zion. But Cyrus failed to fulfill this.</h4><h4>I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron- Herodotus (1:179) claims Babylon had 100 massive gates, 25 on each of the four sides of the city, all, as well as their posts, of brass.</h4>


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<p>I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel- The location of hidden treasure in conquered cities was typically attributed to magicians and wise men. But here, to Yahweh. God’s mention of Cyrus’ name 150 years beforehand was intended to be the clear proof to all that His prophetic word would really come true. But :4 seems to see his ’naming’ as not so much a case of predicting his name, but giving him a name in the sense of a purpose and intended path of character and behaviour. But he ultimately failed in fulfilling this.</p>


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<h4>For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My chosen, I have called you by your name. I have surnamed you, though you have not known Me- LXX suggests that despite all this Divine intention, Cyrus refused relationship with God by refusing to ’know’ Him:"For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel mine elect, I will call thee by thy name, and accept thee: but thou hast not known me".</h4><h4>The reason why there are no accusers against us, not even our own sins, is because we are “God’s elect” (<a href='B:520 8:33'>Rom 8:33</a>). The supreme chosen one of God was of course the Lord Jesus, “mine elect / chosen, in whom my soul delights” (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>). And yet here later on in the servant songs of Isaiah, “mine elect” or"My chosen"clearly refers to the people of Israel (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>; <a href='B:290 65:9'>Isa 65:9</a>; <a href='B:290 65:22'>Isa 65:22</a>). The true Israel of God are therefore those counted as somehow “in” the elect one, the singular servant of God, Messiah Jesus. Those baptized into Him are therefore His elect. And how do we know we are “God’s elect”? If we are baptized into Christ, “mine elect”, then for sure we are. And further, we have heard the call of the Gospel, we have been called- so, we are God’s elect, His chosen ones. Of course the objection can be raised that the whole idea of calling or election may appear unfair. Indeed, the Greek word for “elect” can carry the idea of ‘the favoured / favourite one’:&nbsp; There is no ultimate injustice here. The chosen One is the Lord Jesus, beloved for the sake of His righteousness, His spirit of life. Those who respond to the call to be “in Him” are counted likewise. And all this is the way, the method used, in order for God to be the one who counts us as right in the ultimate judgment- for “It is God that justifies”.</h4>


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<h4>I am Yahweh, and there is none else. Besides Me, there is no God- The preceding verse has spoken of Cyrus’ failure. It could be that this was related to his refusal to jettison his belief in the Persian gods of good and evil, refusing to accept that Yahweh could really be in control of all.</h4><p>This language (and in :6,12) alludes to the Babylonian god Marduk; the point being that Yahweh and not the god of Babylon is supreme. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>. The Jews only totally quit idolatry some time later; they liked to think, as we also tend to, that we can serve the gods of our world in the name of Yahweh worship. But Yahweh is presented as supreme, and Marduk as nothing.</p><h4>I will strengthen you, though you have not known Me- LXX"I strengthened thee, and thou hast not known me"continues the theme of lamenting that Cyrus refused relationship [’knowing’] with God, even though he was Divinely strengthened to do His will in restoring Judah.</h4>


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<p>That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides Me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else- See on :5. This was the intended outcome of the restoration which Cyrus was used to effect. But the returned exiles didn’t make Yahweh known; instead they mixed with the surrounding nations, as Ezra, Nehemiah and the restoration prophets make clear. And so these things are all reapplied to the final work of the Lord Jesus. As will be developed on :7, Yahweh’s existence as the sole God means there is no room for the idea of a personal cosmic Satan being, nor for the equivalent ideas amongst the Persians, which the Jews were accepting.</p>


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<h4>I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things- Yatzar,&nbsp;to give"form"to previously existing matter, and&nbsp;bara,&nbsp;to"create"from nothing the chaotic darkness, were all from God. Yahweh alone had given light and success to Cyrus,&nbsp;and darkness,"evil"or calamity&nbsp;to Babylon. There seems significant evidence for believing that the idea of a personal devil first entered Judaism through their contact with the Persian religions whilst in captivity there. Rabbinic writings don’t mention a personal satan until the Jews were in Babylon, and the references become more frequent as Persian influence upon Judaism deepened. This is why the monumental passages in Isaiah [e:g. <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>], addressed to the captive Jews, point out the error of the Persian idea that there is a good God in tension with an evil god. Classically, the devil is understood to be a being with horns and a pitchfork. If we research why this should be the case, we soon find that the Bible itself is absolutely without any such images of satan or the devil. But we do find these images in pagan mythology- Pan, Dionysius and other pagan gods were depicted as having horns, long tails etc. In the British isles, let alone ancient Rome and Greece, there were traditions of ’horned gods’ being the source of evil- e:g. the Cernunnos amongst the Celts, Caerwiden in Wales, etc. In so many ways, apostate Christianity adopted pagan ideas and brought them into its theology. These horned gods, with forks and long tails, became adopted into a false Christianity as ’the devil’. But the Bible itself is absolutely silent about this- nowhere is there any indication that satan or the devil is a personal being with horns etc.</h4><h4>Isaiah’s statement that Yahweh creates both good and evil / disaster, light and darkness, is not only aimed at criticizing the Babylonian dualistic view of the cosmos. It also has relevance to the false ideas which were developing amongst the Jews in Babylon, which would later come to term in the false view of Satan which most of Christendom later adopted. According to the Jewish Apocryphal writing The Visions of Amram, human beings choose to live under the control of one of two angels. Amram has a vision of the two opposing angels who have been given control over humanity (4Q544 frg. 1, <a href='B:580 2:10-14'>Col 2:10-14</a> [Visions of Amram-b] = 4Q547 frgs. 1–2, <a href='B:580 3:9-13'>Col 3:9-13</a>). The good angel supposedly has power “over all the light”, whereas the evil angel has authority “over all the darkness”. Thus the idea of dualism – which is so attractive to all people – was alive and well amongst the Jews; and thus <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a> was also aimed at the developing Jewish belief in Babylon in a dualistic cosmos.</h4><p>Of especially significant influence upon Judaism were the Persian views of Zoroastrianism. This was a philosophy which began in Persia about 600 B:C:, and was growing in popularity when Judah went to Babylon / Persia in captivity. This philosophy posited that there was a good god of light (Mazda) and an evil god of darkness (Ahriman). The well known passage in <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a> is a clear warning to the Jews in captivity not to buy into this – Israel’s God alone made the light and the darkness, the good and the “evil”. He alone had the power to give “the treasures of darkness” to a man (<a href='B:290 45:3'>Isa 45:3</a>), even though such “treasures” were thought to be under the control of the supposed ‘Lord of darkness’. But Isaiah is in fact full of other allusions to Zoroastrian ideas, seeking to teach Judah the true position on these things. See on <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>.</p><h4>Apart from seeking to justify themselves, the uninspired Jewish authors were struggling with the issue we all do- how can a good and kind God do negative things? But they took the easy way out, presuming to rewrite His word in order to pass blame into a Satan figure of their own imaginations. These uninspired Jewish writings from between the Testaments repeatedly seek to rewrite Biblical history and statements in order to accommodate the Persian ideas. <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a> is clear:"I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things". But 4 <a href='B:150 2:14'>Ezr 2:14</a> changes this to:"I have left out evil and created good, because I live, says the Lord". We have a stark choice- the inspired text of the Bible, or uninspired Jewish interpretations seeking to justify the adoption of pagan myths about Satan.</h4>


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<p>Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it- <a href='B:290 45:1-7'>Isa 45:1-7</a> concern Cyrus and really should be read as part of Isaiah 44. Because of the decree of Cyrus, the land of Israel could have opened and brought forth the Lord Jesus (“Yah’s salvation”). The LXX gives the picture of cosmic joy meeting the joy of the earth beneath, resulting in the gift of the Spirit, part of the new covenant offered to the exiles in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20, resulting in righteousness and spirituality within the people left on the earth / land of Israel:"Let the heaven rejoice from above, and let the clouds rain righteousness: let the earth bring forth, and blossom with mercy, and bring forth righteousness likewise: I am the Lord that created thee". The new creation envisioned was to be of spiritual characteristics. Judah refused all this, and it has been applied to those in Christ today (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>).</p>


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<h4>Woe to him who strives with his Maker- a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask Him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’- The Jews of Isaiah’s day would have had big problems with the idea of a pagan king like Cyrus becoming&nbsp; the King of Israel and being Yahweh’s special “servant” and even Messiah; see on <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>. Folk have the same problem and resistance to the idea today. But passages like <a href='B:290 45:9-13'>Isa 45:9-13</a>, <a href='B:290 48:14-16'>Isa 48:14-16</a> and much of the material that follows the servant songs, are in fact seeking to answer objections to this- e:g. by saying that God is the potter and men are mere clay, and He will raise up precisely whom He wishes- even pagan Cyrus- to be His man, the arm of His salvation, at least potentially. We all struggle with God’s hand in our lives, seeking ways to escape this or that touch of the Divine potter. But we are but striving with our maker. He wishes our salvation, and every touch of His hand is directed toward that glorious end. On one hand we are"a pot that is like all the others"(GNB); our appearances, life experiences and path can appear more or less identical to those of the unbeliever next door. But for us, there is meaning attached to event; even if those events are not dissimilar to those of our unbelieving neighbours.</h4><h4>Both as individuals and collectively, the whole biography and even genetic prehistory of God’s people has been prepared by God in their formation, so that they might encounter God’s salvation at an optimal point for them to give the maximum glory to Him (<a href='B:290 43:21'>Isa 43:21</a>). And this was potentially true for Cyrus."Formed"is the word for the potter working on clay, used of how God fashions human hearts or psychologies, working on the deeply internal fabric of the human being (<a href='B:230 33:15'>Psa 33:15</a>). The ’forming’ in view is not only"in the womb"(<a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>) but throughout their whole psychological and genetic formation. It is possible to strive with our former or"maker"(<a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a>), to be unresponsive to His touch of us the clay. The Messiah figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus, was the ultimate case of being"formed"by Yahweh’s hand (<a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a> s:w:), implying He too was clay, of human and not Divine nature.</h4>


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<p>Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’- We note how God likens Himself to both father and mother. I noted on :9 that the context here is the Jewish objection to God raising up a ’son’ like Gentile Cyrus to be the deliverer. And this challenge echoes down to our day, where we may have a gut level dislike to those clearly raised up to be Yahweh’s servants. It is not for us to thus speak to God about His children and servants.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh the Maker and Holy One of Israel: You can ask Me about the things that are to come, concerning My sons, and you command Me concerning the work of My hands!- In the context of God lowering Himself to plead with a proud and apostate Israel, God invites them to"command Me":"Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel::. concerning the work of my hands command ye me. 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"(<a href='B:290 45:11-12'>Isa 45:11-12</a> AV). Note the two uses of"command"and"hands". God commands the stars, His hands created them; but command ye me concerning my works, and I will answer you. We can command God and His hands will answer. The humility of the creator shows He is the creator. But we can perhaps more easily interpret this in the context of :10 along with GNB:"he LORD, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: "You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!".</p>


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<p>I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army- See on :5,11. The creation of the earth / land in view is specifically the new creation of His Kingdom restored in the land of Israel, the eretz promised to Abraham. He had created that land and had returned "man", His people, upon it. The same power which commands the stars (LXX) commanded each of the exiles to return. They were moved around from captivity to Judah just as the stars are moved. We see here again how "stars" represent Israel, a theme seen early on in Joseph’s dreams</p>


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<h4>I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways- LXX suggests this was more of a command, which he failed to obey fully: "I have raised him up to be a king with righteousness". He was to be the king of righteousness but wasn’t. And it was a prophecy reapplied to the Lord Jesus. For the picture of ways being made straight is that of Isaiah 40 about the preparation of Messiah’s path to the restored Zion.</h4><p>He shall build My city, and he shall let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says Yahweh of Armies- For no human benefit at all to Cyrus:&nbsp; This is as clear a prophecy as any could wish. God categorically stated that Cyrus would be raised up by Him in order to release the captives in Babylon, and to enable the building of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 45:12'>Isa 45:12</a>); all because God had formed the land [AV “earth”] of Israel to be inhabited and not to be left without His people dwelling upon it. And this happened; the captives were released (although most preferred to stay put in Babylon), and the building of Jerusalem was enabled (although the work was not done very enthusiastically by Judah, and they preferred to build their own houses rather than Yahweh’s).</p><h4>Cyrus operated "not for price nor reward", for no personal advantage. This helps explain <a href='B:290 52:3'>Isa 52:3</a>: "You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money". They were "sold for nothing" in that God had no personal benefit from the exile of His people; He did this to them for their spiritual benefit, not for any gain for Himself. Their redemption likewise would be according to His grace, and not because of any transaction between God and man. This was reflected in the way Cyrus commanded the Jews to return and provided all that was materially required to rebuild the temple, but "not for reward", for no personal benefit.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is none else. There is no other god- But the Egyptians and Ethiopians didn’t come and fall down before Judah, as the Queen of Sheba had before Solomon. Nor did they accept Yahweh as the only God, and ditch their idols. The idea was that the Jewish exiles in the lands of the South would return, and their captors would come with them, wishing to invert what had happened by showing themselves to now be servile to the Jews and their God. But instead, the returned Jews worshipped the idols of Egypt, and married their women (<a href='B:150 9:1'>Ezr 9:1</a>). And thus Israel were ashamed and confounded in the future (cp. :17). So the essence of these things is reapplied to the conversion of the Gentiles in the last day.</p>


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<p>Most certainly You are a God who has hidden Yourself, God of Israel, the Saviour’- <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would "see" the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (Jer 335) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was "hid from Yahweh" (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile "for a little moment" when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that "I hid me::. and he went on proudly in the way of his heart" (<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). See on :19.</p>


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<p>They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together- LXX "All that are opposed to him shall be ashamed and confounded, and shall walk in shame: ye isles, keep a feast to me". This walking in shame is applied to the rejection at the last day of those who have refused the things of the Lord Jesus and trusted in the equivalent of "idols" in their generation (<a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a>). It was to be the makers of idols who were "confounded" (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:11'>Isa 41:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be "confounded" (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment. See on :14.</p>


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<h4>Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation- The "eternal age" of the Kingdom of peace could have come at that time, with the Messianic son of Isaiah as the father of that eternal age (see on <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>). But it didn’t. An eternal Messianic kingdom could then have been established; Judah were urged to repent and allow it to happen in <a href='B:290 26:4'>Isa 26:4</a>. And the same potential was there for the exiles who returned from Babylon (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>). And the "father" of that could have been a Messianic figure who arose in Jerusalem. But these potentials have been reapplied and rescheduled to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus to be established in Zion in the last days.</h4><p>You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting- Or, "ashamed". See on :14,16. Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way. Consider <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>: “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice [s:w. Ezra 1 :1 re the proclamation of Cyrus] of his servant [i:e. Cyrus, <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>], that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God”. Yet Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers to guard them on the journey only because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), as if he really did want the support but was ashamed to ask for it. He disallowed Isaiah’s prophesy that the restored Israel would never be ashamed [s:w. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>).</p><h4>The same Hebrew words for “ashamed [and] confounded” in :16,17 occur in <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>, where as a result of Ezra realizing that Judah had married the local women and broken covenant with Yahweh, he admits: “I am ashamed and blush [s:w. ‘confounded’] to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased:::.". The words of Isaiah 45 could have had their fulfilment in the time of Cyrus; the surrounding nations could have come and worshipped before Judah, and the whole earth quit their idols and look unto Yahweh as a just God and a saviour. But Judah would not. Judah in the new temple would not “defile” Yahweh’s Name any more (<a href='B:330 43:7-8'>Eze 43:7-8</a>); but they were lazy to keep the uncleanness laws, they did defile Yahweh by touching dead bodied and then offering the sacrifices (<a href='B:440 2:13-14'>Hag 2:13-14</a> s:w:), just as Israel previously had been defiled by touching the dead bodies of their kings and then offering sacrifices (<a href='B:330 43:7'>Eze 43:7</a>); but now, Judah thought they were above God’s law, and therefore did exactly the same things which had caused the temple to be destroyed in the first place. The promise that Yahweh would dwell in the new temple was conditional on them not touching dead bodies (<a href='B:330 43:9'>Eze 43:9</a>); but <a href='B:440 2:13'>Hag 2:13</a> makes it apparent that they did this very thing at the time of the restoration.</h4>


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<h4>For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is no other- Yahweh speaks of the returnees as if they were a new creation, created by Him along with the heavens and earth of the temple which He had stretched out in Zion (<a href='B:290 43:7'>Isa 43:7</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>). He did not form this new land / heavens of the kingdom and temple of Israel in vain- He created it to be inhabited (<a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a>). But the Jews acted like the old creation. And the promise of new creation was deferred until the time of Jesus (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>). Judah for the most part declined to inhabit / dwell in the new heavens and earth [the same word in <a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a> is frequently used re. how the returnees dwelt in the cities of Judah]. And we too can take the simple encouragement- that God has created His Kingdom, with all the careful planning involved, so that it should be inhabited. He is not playing hard to get, nor indifferent to the progress of His plans. He wants us to be there.</h4><h4>If "the earth" is ’the land’ of Israel and "the Heavens" refer to the temple (see <a href='B:110 8:30'>1Ki 8:30</a>; <a href='B:140 30:27'>2Ch 30:27</a>; <a href='B:230 20:2'>Psa 20:2</a>; <a href='B:230 20:6'>Psa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:230 11:4'>Psa 11:4</a>; <a href='B:650 7:26'>Heb 7:26</a>; <a href='B:100 15:15'>2Sa 15:15</a> etc:) then God is saying that if the temple and land remained uninhabited, His creation of them would be in vain- hence His plan of restoration. The references in Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration to God being the creator of Heaven and earth would therefore be reminders that it was equally in His power to create the new Heavens and earth of the people of Israel/the temple.</h4>


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<p>I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’. I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right- The idea of the first sentence may be that He had not spoken this word to the exiles in "the land of darkness", Babylon or ruined Judah, just for the sake of it. It was not "in vain", the prospect of the Kingdom was attainable. Perhaps this is God’s response to the complaint in :15 that He was hiding Himself. He is urging the exiles as He urges us- that His promise of eternal salvation is for real, He has promised it to us in "truth" ["right"] and for all our sin and dysfunction and separation from His ultimate perfection of holiness, His righteousness is not impugned by His wonderful offer to us.</p>


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<h4>Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations- The ’bringing / assembling’ and ’drawing near / gathering’ of the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in <a href='B:160 1:9'>Neh 1:9</a>). But most of the exiles remained in the lands of their captivity, just as people resist the Gospel’s call today. They had to themselves bring and gather themselves (<a href='B:290 45:20'>Isa 45:20</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:13'>Eze 34:13</a>; <a href='B:330 36:24'>Eze 36:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:21'>Eze 37:21</a>; <a href='B:450 10:10'>Zec 10:10</a>). And so today with all who wish to be in God’s Kingdom; our desire to be there and first moves towards it will be confirmed many times over by God’s work through His Spirit:&nbsp;The LXX and GNB suggest that the group in view are the minority of the peoples of the Babylonian empire who were to repent and turn to Yahweh: "people of the nations, all who survive the fall of the empire" (GNB). They were intended to join the repentant exiles in a restored, multiethnic Kingdom of God in Judah. This possibility of course didn’t happen, human impenitence was to such an extent, and so it looks forward to the final establishment of the Kingdom in the last days.</h4><h4>Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save- Again idols are characterized by being unable to save; Yahweh’s ultimate salvation of man from death is what makes Him God.</h4>


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<h4>Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together- This is legal language, inviting any opposed to God’s purpose with Jacob to present their hard evidence in court. But Isaiah’s lengthy prophecies of the restoration must be compared against the sad reality of what actually happened. The prophecies exude a wonderfully positive and joyful spirit, which contrasts with the defeatism of the returnees. And one cannot help but wonder whether we as individuals and therefore as a community have really lived the life of joy which the NT promises for those who truly believe. <a href='B:290 45:20-21'>Isa 45:20-21</a> is an example: “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations [i:e. Babylon and all the 127 provinces of Persia]:::Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together”. These are the very words used to describe how the local opposition ‘took counsel together’ to frustrate the work of the Jews (<a href='B:160 6:7'>Neh 6:7</a>). Yahweh is exultantly saying: ‘Let them do it::. let them get on with it, nothing can prosper against you and your work!’. But instead, the Jews took the opposition so seriously.</h4><h4>Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Saviour; There is no one besides Me- Justice and salvation were not part of the idol worship systems or theologies. And those idols had no histories of prophetic statements and intentions:&nbsp;</h4>


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<h4>Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other- LXX "ye that come from the end of the earth", as if referring to the exiles returning from the boundaries of the eretz promised to Abraham. They were to look to Yahweh in repentance, "turn to Me" (LXX) in repentance; and if they looked, then the blindness of their eyes would be removed by God’s Spirit acting in their hearts, according to the promise of the new covenant. But they continued to look / turn to other gods, and so Yahweh’s face remained hidden from them because they were not looking to Him (s:w. <a href='B:50 31:18'>Deu 31:18</a>), turning or ’looking’ to Yahweh the back and not the face, so that He would remain hidden from them (:15; <a href='B:300 32:33'>Jer 32:33</a> s:w:).</h4><h4>The altar "Jehovah-Nissi" connected Yahweh personally with the pole / standard / ensign of Israel (<a href='B:20 17:15'>Exo 17:15</a>). Yet nissi is the Hebrew word used for the pole on which the brass serpent was lifted up, and for the standard pole which would lift up Christ. Somehow Yahweh Himself was essentially connected with the cross of Christ. “There is no God else beside; a just God and a Saviour (Jesus)::. look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (<a href='B:290 45:21-22'>Isa 45:21-22</a>) is evident allusion to the snake on the pole to which all Israel were bidden look and be saved. And yet that saving symbol of the crucified Jesus is in fact God Himself held up to all men.</h4>


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<h4>I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness and will not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath- The Divine hope was that the repentant exiles would enter the new covenant, and take an oath to Him. But they didn’t, and so these things are reinterpreted with reference to the work of the Lord Jesus, and believers bowing before Him. Romans 14 quotes these words about how the new Israel will come from all nations to the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus at the last day. There’s one thing which the sheer height of the Lord’s exaltation leads us to. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him::. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow::. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord::. wherefore::. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Php_2:9-12). These words are alluding to <a href='B:290 45:23-24'>Isa 45:23-24</a>: ":::unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength". We all find humility difficult. But before the height of His exaltation, a height which came as a result of the depth of the degradation of the cross, we should bow our knees in an unfeigned humility and realization of our sinfulness, and thankful recognition of the fact that through Him we are counted righteous. We will be prostrated in the day of judgment before Him, and yet will be made to stand. We therefore ought not to judge our brother who will likewise be made to stand in that day- to his Master he stands or falls, not to us.</h4><h4>In Php_2:10, the Lord Jesus is said to have been given power over all beings in heaven, earth and the nether-world. The Romans understood the world to be divided into these three spheres of the cosmos. But this passage is based upon <a href='B:290 45:23'>Isa 45:23</a>, which says that God has total supremacy (see on :5-7)- and this has been granted to His Son. As I understand it, Paul is reasoning that if God is all powerful, and if that power has been given to the Lord Jesus, then whatever cosmology there is around, e:g. belief in a nether-world, well, in that case, Jesus has all power over that as well. The same argument applies to demons. If they exist, well the essence is that they are well and truly under the Lord’s control and aren’t essentially powerful. Paul doesn’t so much ridicule the idea of a nether-world, rather he takes the view, as Jesus did in His dealings with the demon issue, that God’s power is so great that their existence is effectively not an issue.</h4>


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<h4>They will say of Me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh’. Even to Him shall men come- These will be the thoughts of us each as we are bow before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus, which is in view in :24. Then we shall appreciate as never before the meaning of imputed righteousness.</h4><h4>And all those who were incensed against Him shall be disappointed- The Samaritans could have provided a fulfilment of all this, just as the prideful Assyrians were before. And yet Sanballat, Tobiah, the Ammonites and Ashdodites were “wroth” [s:w. ‘incensed’] against Judah (<a href='B:160 4:1'>Neh 4:1</a>; <a href='B:160 4:7'>Neh 4:7</a>). But they didn’t come to nothing, nor to shame, in that those very groups were the ones who married into Jewry, to the extent that Tobiah even shifted the tithes out of one of the chambers of the temple and et up his office there. But at the last day, all the Lord’s enemies shall be ashamed ["disappointed"] in the shame of condemnation.</h4>


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<p>In Yahweh shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory- <a href='B:290 45:20-25'>Isa 45:20-25</a> calls for the Jews to return from Babylon and come unto Him in Zion; but the majority remained in Babylon, and so these words were delayed in fulfilment; Romans 14 quotes them about how the new Israel will come from all nations to the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus at the last day. But had Jewry returned from Babylon as they had been asked, they would have come to their Messiah there and then. "All the seed of Israel" suggests the ten tribes also were intended to return; but they too preferred their exile to restoring the Kingdom in Zion.</p>


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<h4>Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary- This appears to be a vision of the gods of Babylon being removed from the city as the Persians advanced. Just as Merodach-Baladan packed his idols on boats, at the approach of Sennacherib. But as I have noted elsewhere, the fall of Babylon didn’t happen quite as predicted. Darius the Mede actually maintained the Babylonian gods; of whom Bel and Nebo were the popular ones; although "Bel" is the equivalent of Hebrew ’Baal’ and may be a generic name. And so the potential scenario presented elsewhere, of Babylon falling, being destroyed by the fire of Divine judgment Sodom-style, and the exiles returning to Judah- just didn’t come about. The various preconditions involving Judah’s repentance weren’t in place. And so the ’fall of Babylon’ prophecies will in essence, although maybe not in every detail, be fulfilled in the fall of latter day Babylon. And this is how we are to understand this picture of the gods of Babylon being put on animals, after being carried about in the various processions earlier. The weary burdened with idols are reapplied to all heavy burdened who can come to the Lord Jesus and be relieved (<a href='B:470 11:28'>Mat 11:28</a>).</h4><h4>So much of later Isaiah is taken up with mockery and criticism of the Babylonian gods and the Marduk cult. The book of Esther, with Mordecai as the joint hero, named as he was after Marduk, demonstrates how caught up were the Jews with the Babylonian gods. Ezekiel repeatedly reveals the idolatry of the captives. Isaiah was therefore an appeal for the Jews to quit the Marduk cult and believe in the radical prophecies about the overthrow of Babylon. The situation is analogous to how the New Testament is full of references to the Roman imperial cult of empire worship. So much of the Bible is like Isaiah and the New Testament- a radical, counter-cultural call to see our present world for what it is, and to perceive that the ways of God simply can’t be mixed in, watered down or compromised with the way of this world. Naturally such criticisms of Babylon and its gods would have been a very risky thing- for Babylon had shown grace to many Jews and they were doing well in rising up the social and economic ladder there. To speak of Babylon in the hostile way the prophets do was a brave and unpopular thing (Isaiah 13, 14, 21, 46; Jeremiah 50, 51; often in Zechariah). We know from Ezekiel 8, Jeremiah 44 and Zechariah 5 that many Jews had accepted the idols of their Babylonian conquerors, rather like Ahaz did after his defeat by Assyria (<a href='B:120 16:10'>2Ki 16:10</a>). The spirit of ridiculing the idolatry of Babylon whilst living in it, waiting the call to leave, is so relevant to modern Christians working, living and waiting in latter day Babylon.</h4>


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<p>They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves have been carried away into captivity- The idea as noted on :1 is that the idols were to be carried away out of danger; but now there is the picture of the idols having been captured and being now taken off into captivity. But as explained on :1, this isn’t what happened when Babylon fell to the Medes.</p>


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<p>Listen to Me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb- The remnant of the whole house of Israel refers to the repentant remnant of both Judah and the ten tribes, who were intended to repent and return to Zion together, united by their experience of repentance, grace and forgiveness. The contrast is with how the idols / false gods had to be carried by their people and beasts (:1,2), but Yahweh the true God has carried His people. This is where mere religion and true spirituality are shown to be so different; religion often involves making ourselves feel good by supposedly doing something for God, whereas salvation by grace through faith is about accepting His carrying of us.</p>


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<h4>And even to old age I am He, and even to grey hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver- An oft overlooked component of the promises to Abraham which are the core of the Gospel is that “I will be your God”. Land and eternal life in the future, blessings::. these are indeed wonderful. But the King of the Cosmos is my God. Oh how rich the promise. So often we read that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I take this to mean that He was there for them, through every moment, He was their God, He alone is without beginning and has immortality in Himself. This continuity in God over history is therefore an encouragement to us that He likewise is the continuous One in our lives too. Israel in captivity felt God had forgotten them; and so they are comforted that they are individuals “which have been borne by me from the belly, which have been carried from the womb: and even to old age I am he, and even to grey hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver” (<a href='B:290 46:3-4'>Isa 46:3-4</a>). Note how God, who is presented as male, likens Himself to a woman here. As He carried us n the womb, so He will carry us when we are old and grey haired. True to human parenting experience, the baby is always the father’s little baby, even in grey hairs. And this wonderful comfort is so simply because “I am he”. This is an evident reference to God’s Name, YHWH. The mystery of the Name is partly because the declaration of it in <a href='B:20 3:6'>Exo 3:6</a> implies grammatically that He is, was, and shall be. &nbsp;This was intended to be a great comfort to Israel in Egypt, who again had felt that God was somehow distant, looking the other way, leaving them in their aloneness. The same Name, the promise of God’s&nbsp; abiding presence and purpose with us, provides comfort to every one of His people.</h4><h4>God is likening Himself to a woman who carries a child in her womb, then bears it, and then carries it as a baby, but still carries it when the child is an old man. Incidentally, this simile is proof enough that God is not somehow ’anti-women’. The God of all knowledge is aware of a fundamental psychological phenomena in all men; the fear, however passive and buried, of being without their mother; the fear of loneliness, the fear of eternal separation from the woman who bore and carried them. From the president to the happy village grandfather, this sense is there. Perhaps David appreciated this when he referred to a man weeping at his mother’s funeral (not his father’s) as the ultimate cameo of grieving and desolation of soul (<a href='B:230 35:14'>Psa 35:14</a>). And yet God says that He is in some ways the eternal mother, the one who bore and carried us in babyhood, but the One who will yet carry us when we are gray headed and once again unable to walk. Yet He is also the everlasting Father, through His Son (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>). It’s a picture of exquisite beauty. Our relationship with God as the One who will never leave us is the only answer to what philosophers call ’the existential problem’; the awareness that has come to every thoughtful soul, the terror of being so alone as we get older, the dread of being without our human roots, of becoming the one to whom others (e:g. our children) look to as their background and root, whilst we ourselves have no tangible link with our past. This problem is defined by C:S. Lewis in The Inner Ring: "I believe that in all men’s lives at certain periods:::one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside":&nbsp; This horror of existential loneliness can only be met by our sure knowledge that we have a very personal relationship in the Kingdom of God with our Heavenly Father, who will never ever leave us, and will preserve us unto His eternal Kingdom.</h4>


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<p>To whom will you liken Me and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be alike?- This seems addressed to the idolaters within Judah, who were not denying Yahweh but making Him "equal" to the idols by claiming to worship Him through worshipping them.</p>


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<p>Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down- yes, they worship- The idea is that people pay in gold to a goldsmith, and he then makes that gold into a god, after keeping part of it for himself as wages. This explains the Divine cameraman zooming in on the handover of the gold pieces to the goldsmith. This recalls the picture in <a href='B:290 44:15-17'>Isa 44:15-17</a>, of a man cutting down a tree, using half for an idol and the other half for firewood. The purpose of presenting this bizarre picture was to enable the audience to perceive the utter foolishness of idolatry, although the person caught up in it can’t perceive it. And that is a feature of idolatry to this day.</p>


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<p>They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble- This sounds like the processions in Babylon where the idols were carried through the streets on the shoulders of men, and then placed in high places and worshipped. Clearly Isaiah 40-66 was addressed directly to the returning exiles who would’ve been familiar with this scene; Isaiah was prophesying all this after Hezekiah had sinned and the captivity had been prophesied in Isaiah 39. Isaiah has so many detailed allusions to Babylonian life and beliefs that it’s impossible to think that it was all written in Hezekiah’s time, with no reference to the Babylonians. We find the specific names of Babylonian idols (<a href='B:290 46:1-2'>Isa 46:1-2</a>), ceremonies and processions known only in Babylon (Isa 467), omens (<a href='B:290 44:25'>Isa 44:25</a>), magic and astrology (<a href='B:290 47:1-2'>Isa 47:1-2</a>; <a href='B:290 47:12-13'>Isa 47:12-13</a>). Time and again there is specific reference to leaving Babylon and returning to Judah (<a href='B:290 40:3-11'>Isa 40:3-11</a>; <a href='B:290 42:15-16'>Isa 42:15-16</a>; <a href='B:290 48:20-22'>Isa 48:20-22</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9-12'>Isa 49:9-12</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11-12'>Isa 52:11-12</a>).</p>


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<p>Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors- LXX has this as a call to repentance from idolatry by the exiles in Babylon: "Remember ye these things, and groan: repent, ye that have gone astray, return in your heart". They were to “remember this” that they already knew, and “bring it again to mind” that God is really the great eternal, and His Name is as it is, and they should have had no part in the idol processions spoken of in :7.</p>


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<p>Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me- The exiled Jews ought to have had no part in the idol worship of Babylon spoken of in :7. They should have perceived that the magnitude of Yahweh made all other gods and idols of no significance. Our strength against idolatry in its modern forms is likewise found from appreciating the greatness of our God.</p>


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<p>Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure- The emphasis on this (e:g. also <a href='B:290 41:26'>Isa 41:26</a>) is understandable seeing that such a specific prophecy regarding the 70 years captivity was to be given and fulfilled. But the emphasis and flavour of the words used is not upon prediction but rather explanation, of attaching meaning to event. God alone can provide such explanation of both past and future events according to the far reaching narrative found in the prophets. The idol religions explained just a few isolated incidents. This is what is unique about the one true God- that He alone attaches meaning to event, both in personal and collective life, and indeed to all human history. Whether we correctly perceive it is another question, but He alone does this and holds the masterplan.</p>


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<p>Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of My counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it- The servant songs or poems of Isaiah clearly have reference to a Messiah figure who was to appear at the time of the restoration from Babylon. The early songs clearly have reference to Cyrus- he is named as such. Expositors such as Harry Whittaker and J:W. Thirtle have sought to prove the naming of Cyrus as an interpolation, claiming that Isaiah has sole primary reference to the days of Hezekiah. This seems to me to be desperate. The naming of Cyrus, and the specific references to his military campaigns in the prophecies, simply can’t be gotten around. To brush all this off as uninspired interpolation and fiddling with the text of holy Scripture just won’t do. The references to Cyrus aren’t merely the mention of his name. <a href='B:290 41:1-5'>Isa 41:1-5</a> alludes unquestionably to the dramatic conquest of Sardis by Cyrus in 547 BC. The ‘servant’ is described as swooping down first from the east and then from the north, trampling local rulers beneath him (<a href='B:290 41:2-5'>Isa 41:2-5</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>; <a href='B:290 46:11'>Isa 46:11</a>). This ‘servant’ was to end the Babylonian empire (<a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 48:14-15'>Isa 48:14-15</a>), enable the captive Jews in Babylon to return to their land (<a href='B:290 42:6-7'>Isa 42:6-7</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5-7'>Isa 43:5-7</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), restore Jerusalem and the ruined cities of Judah (<a href='B:290 44:26-28'>Isa 44:26-28</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>). There can be no serious doubt that it was Cyrus who fulfilled these things. The servant is a “bird of prey from the east” (<a href='B:290 46:11'>Isa 46:11</a>)- according to Xenophon, the eagle was the emblem of Cyrus. The servant “victorious at every step” with lightning speed (<a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>) surely refers to how Cyrus conquered the Medes, the former Assyrian empire, and the Lydiansbefore taking Babylon in 539 BC. We should have no problem with a pagan king being described as God’s “servant”, for that very term is used of Nebuchadnezzar in <a href='B:300 25:9'>Jer 25:9</a>. See on :7. Cyrus failed to live up to his potential (see on <a href='B:290 45:4-5'>Isa 45:4-5</a>) and so the prophecies came to be applied to the Lord Jesus, who was far more fully "the word made flesh" (<a href='B:500 1:14'>Joh 1:14</a>), which is perhaps the idea of "the man of My counsel", the man who would fulfill God’s purposes and prophetic word in totality.</p>


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<p>Listen to Me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness- Despite this laboured and repeated assurance, the exiles were stout hearted, which is how they are described in <a href='B:330 2:4'>Eze 2:4</a>. Time and again in the restoration prophecies we encounter statements intended to answer the skepticism felt by the exiles about the promises of redemption from Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). See on <a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>. It was the invaders of Zion who were the stout-hearted who were to be destroyed (s:w. <a href='B:230 76:5'>Psa 76:5</a>); the hard hearted amongst God’s people were and are to&nbsp; be destroyed at the same time as them, facing the same judgment for having the same heart.</p>


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<h4>I bring near My righteousness, it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory- This connects back to <a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a>, where we read that the Jews mocked Isaiah and his God, saying "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!". There was clearly opposition to Isaiah’s prophecies. The idea of judgment coming would have been mocked in these kinds of words. But we wonder whether this is really a verbatim quotation from these people; or whether God read their thoughts as effectively saying this, and as being the real implication of their positions. For there is no evidence that Judah abandoned Yahweh; rather did they claim obedience and loyalty to Him, although they claimed the same about their idols whom they worshipped in His Name. But God was not deaf to their words, or the implications of their thoughts and actions. He in fact heard their mocking ’prayer’, because He here says that He will "come near" (s:w:) in fulfilment of His counsel or words.</h4><h4>But, perhaps intentionally, these words can be read another way. This idea of bringing salvation near is in the context of the hard hearted Jews being "far" from Yahweh’s righteousness. It’s as if God wishes to somehow force through His plan of saving them, bringing near the salvation which they pushed far from them. But even then, they refused it. He has the same enthusiasm for human salvation today.</h4>


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<p>Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate- The Ras Shamra texts include a section on the fall and death of Baal, another form of the Babylonian "Bel" of <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>. Although written in Ugaritic, this section has amazing similarities with the poem of Isaiah 14 about the fall of Babylon – e:g. “The death of Baal” includes lines such as “From the throne on which he sits::. how hath Baal come down, how hath the mighty been cast down!”. Isaiah’s message was therefore: ‘Forget those stories about Baal being cast down; what’s relevant for us is that mighty Babylon, which tempts us to trust in her rather than Yahweh God of Israel, is to be cast down, let’s apply the language of Baal’s fall to the kingdoms of this world which we know and liveamongst’. Another such example is to be found in <a href='B:290 47:1'>Isa 47:1</a>: “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne”. This is almost quoting [albeit through translation] from the ‘Death of Baal’ poem.</p>


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<p>Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers- As I have noted elsewhere (see on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>), the fall of Babylon didn’t happen quite as predicted. Darius the Mede actually maintained the Babylonian gods; of whom Bel and Nebo were the popular ones; although "Bel" is the equivalent of Hebrew ’Baal’ and may be a generic name. Many within Babylon supported him, and the Babylonians didn’t go into captivity across "the rivers", having to lift up their skirts and bare their legs to cross them. And so the potential scenario presented elsewhere, of Babylon falling, being destroyed by the fire of Divine judgment Sodom-style, and the exiles returning to Judah- just didn’t come about. The various preconditions involving Judah’s repentance weren’t in place. And so the ’fall of Babylon’ prophecies will in essence, although maybe not in every detail, be fulfilled in the fall of latter day Babylon. And this is how we are to understand this picture of Babylon being led into captivity.</p>


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<p>Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man- See on :2. This scenario didn’t totally come about when Babylon fell to the Medes. The population wasn’t destroyed, there was very little bloodshed. But the language of Babylon’s judgment here and in :2 is very similar to that of Israel’s judgment. The idea is that what Babylon did to Judah was to be done to them, finally. This is the theme of Revelation, where the judgments upon Israel are related to the final judgments upon the beast system which has judged her.</p>


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<h4>Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is His name, is the Holy One of Israel- The sad thing is that the redemption of Israel made possible through the fall of Babylon wasn’t accepted by them; and they remained in exile, for the most part. As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.</h4><h4>LXX "Thy deliverer is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name" would suggest that Yahweh was ready to deliver Babylon- this therefore could be read as a call for her to repent, which is also in view in <a href='B:300 51:9'>Jer 51:9</a>.</h4>


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<p>Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms- Darkness is the imagery of condemnation. "Mistress" implies she is a whore awaiting judgment. Again, the language of Judah’s judgment, ’sitting in silence’, is applied now to Babylon (<a href='B:310 2:10'>Lam 2:10</a>; <a href='B:310 3:28'>Lam 3:28</a>). But the mistress of kingdoms was to be destroyed as Sodom was (<a href='B:290 13:19'>Isa 13:19</a>); and that didn’t happen at the fall of Babylon to the Medes. This, as noted on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>, was a potential scenario that was delayed until the latter day fall of Babylon the whore as described in Revelation.</p>


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<p>I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke- Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant. Babylon were not condemned for executing God’s judgments upon Judah; but for their subsequent bloodlust and showing no mercy, and abusing those such as the elderly who were not the primary objects of the Divine judgment. This abuse of the elderly was particularly noted by God (<a href='B:310 4:16'>Lam 4:16</a>; <a href='B:310 5:12'>Lam 5:12</a>). It was their subsequent pride and pretending to Yahweh (:7) which were the reasons for judgment falling upon them.</p>


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<p>You said, ‘I shall be a mistress forever;’ so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the latter end of it- This also is the criticism made of Judah (<a href='B:460 2:2'>Mal 2:2</a>). Babylon was intended to reflect and repent; <a href='B:300 51:9'>Jer 51:9</a> suggests Babylon was only judged because she was offered a chance to repent which she refused. I noted on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a> that her fall to the Medes was not executed with the full extent of the judgments then pronounced upon her; and maybe that was because some of them did repent.</p>


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<h4>Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:’- The implication is that Babylon would hear the prophecies of her destruction and mock them; and apply the very language of Isaiah about Yahweh "I am, and there is none else" to themselves (<a href='B:290 45:6'>Isa 45:6</a>).</h4><h4>We bear the Name of Yahweh / Jehovah, by reason of our baptism into it. His Name is declared as His character- merciful, truthful, judging sin, patient etc. (<a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>). He who will be who He will be, manifesting His characteristics as He does so, must have His way in us too. Babylon and Nineveh were condemned for having the attitude that “I am, and there is none beside me” (<a href='B:290 47:8'>Isa 47:8</a>; <a href='B:430 2:15'>Zep 2:15</a>). Their self-perception was a parody on the Name and being of Yahweh: He alone can say “I am, and there is none else” (<a href='B:290 43:11'>Isa 43:11</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 45:6'>Isa 45:6</a>; <a href='B:290 45:21'>Isa 45:21</a>) and seek to be who He is. He alone can seek to articulate the characteristics that make up His Name onto the lives of others, and onto the things that comprise His Kingdom. We are not to be who we are; to ‘just be yourself’; to ‘just do it’, as foolish slogans and adverts encourage us. We are here to show forth His mercy, truth, judgment of sin, patient saving of the weak etc:, not our own personality. We are, in the very end, Yahweh manifested to this world, through our imitation of the Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<p>but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments- It could be argued that because the level of destruction spoken of here didn’t happen to the people and city of Babylon when the Medes took it, therefore the prophecies apply to the king and royal family of Babylon, who were slain by Darius the Mede. The queen was therefore left literally a widow. But even that was but a primary fulfilment; the final fulfilment would be in the destruction of the sorceries of latter day Babylon (<a href='B:730 18:23'>Rev 18:23</a>). But even that will only be because she refuses the invitation to repent of them (<a href='B:730 9:21'>Rev 9:21</a>).</p>


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<h4>For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart- The condemnation of Babylon’s wisdom and knowledge alludes to the contrast between the wisdom of Daniel in the court of Babylon compared to the false knowledge of Babylon’s wise men. God could have condemned Babylon for a whole host of sinful actions; but His essential, repeated reason was because of how they spoke in their hearts (<a href='B:290 47:10'>Isa 47:10</a>; <a href='B:430 2:15'>Zep 2:15</a>; <a href='B:730 18:17'>Rev 18:17</a>). And He gave the same reason for His condemnation of Tyre (<a href='B:330 28:2'>Eze 28:2</a>) and Edom (<a href='B:380 1:3'>Oba 1:3</a>).</h4><h4>I am, and there is none else besides me’- Babylon acted as she did because she reasoned that “None seeth me:::I am, and there is none else beside me” (<a href='B:290 47:10'>Isa 47:10</a> RV). They appropriated the language of God to themselves, they played God in that they thought their ways were unseen by any higher power. And we all have a terrible, frightening tendency to do this.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore evil will come on you; you won’t know when it dawns: and mischief will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don’t know- This sudden desolation refers only primarily to the sudden fall of Babylon to Darius as described in Daniel 5. As explained on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>, the city and people of Babylon weren’t suddenly destroyed. According to <a href='B:300 51:43'>Jer 51:43</a>, the king was already deeply concerned at the advance of the Medes and was feeble at the news of the enemy advance. Hence we should give due weight to the discovery by Layard of inscriptions which say that Babylon opened her own gates in surrender. There was much support for Darius the Mede within Babylon; both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Cyrus Cylinder describe Babylon being taken "without battle". So the main fulfilment of this must yet be future.</h4><h4>"Mischief" is literally ’wretchedness’. Paul in <a href='B:520 7:24'>Rom 7:24</a> felt “wretched” (s:w. LXX). The Greek word is elsewhere used about the feelings of the rejected before God’s judgment (<a href='B:660 5:1'>Jas 5:1</a>; <a href='B:730 3:17'>Rev 3:17</a>), likewise in the LXX (<a href='B:290 47:11'>Isa 47:11</a>; <a href='B:400 2:4'>Mic 2:4</a>; <a href='B:360 1:15'>Joe 1:15</a>; <a href='B:430 1:15'>Zep 1:15</a>). Paul feels as if he is even now standing before the judgment seat of God, and is condemned- yet suddenly he rejoices that he is in fact amazingly saved by Christ. This is the very theme of the earlier sections of Romans- that we are suddenly declared right, justified, as we stand condemned in the dock before God. This lends weight to the suggestion that Romans 7 is indeed autobiographical of Paul, declaring the process of his own conversion, yet telling the story, as it were, in terms which present him as personifying every Jew under the Law.</h4>


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<p>Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries in which you have laboured from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail!- See on :13. "Laboured" is literally "wearied", as AV. The way of the flesh is a weariness, both for Babylon and the unfaithful within Judah (<a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>).</p>


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<p>You are wearied in the multitude of your counsellors: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that shall come on you- Babylon ought to have learnt from the humiliation of her sorceries and wise men before the Divine wisdom of Daniel. We too see God working in the same way today; lessons are taught to people which they don’t learn, and therefore harder judgment comes.</p>


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<p>Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before- The fire would burn so totally that not a live coal would be left (as in <a href='B:290 30:14'>Isa 30:14</a>). This suggests a supernatural cataclysm bursting upon Babylon, after the pattern of Sodom’s destruction (<a href='B:290 13:19'>Isa 13:19</a>). But as explained on :1, this didn’t happen when the Medes took Babylon. The prophecy was reapplied to the final fall of Babylon described in Revelation.</p>


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<p>Thus shall the things be to you in which you have laboured: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander each one to his place; there shall be none to save you- The idea is that the people from the nations within the Babylonian empire would leave Babylon and return home- including the Jews. But this didn’t happen; see on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>. The Jews were intended to flee Babylon before she fell (<a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>), but they didn’t; and so God put another plan into operation, whereby the fall of Babylon was to lead to all the foreigners there, including the Jews, thereby being freed to return to their ancestral homelands. But still the Jews remained, as the book of Esther testifies. God tried then and tries now, by all means, to bring His chosen people to His Kingdom. Human resistance to His efforts is tragic. He must have pleasure in we weak sinners who have at least said "Yes" to His plans.</p>


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<p>Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness- The exiles did not reject Yahweh, but as explained on :5, they were heavily involved in idolatry as well, apparently justifying this as a form of Yahweh worship. They called themselves by the name of Israel and swore by the name of Yahweh, and identified themselves as the people of Zion (:2). The emphasis is upon their naming of themselves, whereas God had wanted to place His Name upon them; see on <a href='B:290 44:5'>Isa 44:5</a>. And so we have here a powerful warning to nominal Christians, who use the culture and nomenclature of the true faith and yet whose hearts may be far from it.</p>


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<p>(for they call themselves of the holy city, and rest themselves on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is His name)- As so often, form had dominated over content. As explained on :1, the exiles were very culturally loyal to Zion and proclaimed their "rest" or trust in Israel’s God; and yet as explained on :5, they were heavily involved in idolatry as well, apparently justifying this as a form of Yahweh worship. And they didn’t want to return to Zion and reestablish Yahweh’s Kingdom. And so He reminds them that He, the God of Israel, is Yahweh of Armies. His unlimited power articulated through His Angelic hosts could actually bring about in practice the restoration of the Kingdom.</p>


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<p>I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they happened- This sudden action of God may refer to the sudden fall of Babylon described in Isaiah 47. See on :5. This is being cited as an encouragement to the exiles to see the powerful hand of their God in human history, to realize this was in fulfilment of His prophetic program, and they could take it further. His prophetic words had come out of His mouth; this was the intimacy achieved in the Divine-human encounter through the words of inspired prophets. "The words of the prophets are written on the subway wall", read en passant, heard, treated as ordinary and incidental::. but the wonder of Divine inspiration, the fact these words and ideas dropped from the mouth of God was overlooked then as it is now.</p>


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<p>Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass- This hard hearted attitude of the Jews is commented upon by Ezekiel, who lived amongst these Jewish exiles in Babylon. God took into account their skepticism and hard hearts, and had therefore made amazing prophecies ahead of time, predicting Cyrus by name 150 years before (:5). We see here God’s earnest desire to convince even the hard hearted, and not to just turn away from them if they rejected Him, but to construct His purpose ("project" may be a better word) in order to somehow still incorporate them within His salvation purpose. It’s similar to how He mapped out the path of Israel through the wilderness lest they see war and be discouraged&nbsp; (<a href='B:20 13:17'>Exo 13:17</a>). He could have justifiably reasoned that what they had seen in the plagues and at the Red Sea ought to have been enough to motivate anyone to follow Him for the rest of their lives. But He was and is sensitive to our sins and unjustifiable weaknesses; and we should be likewise to others.</p>


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<p>Therefore I have declared it in advance to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them’- See on :4. This is a tragic reflection of the deep seated belief in idols amongst the exiles. It took some generations for them to quit idolatry, and I have noted throughout the book of Esther the extent of idolatry amongst the Jewish exiles. Ezekiel’s ministry was to the exiles already in Babylon, and he frequently condemns their idolatry. It seems that the decree of Cyrus for the restoration and the "sudden" fall of Babylon (:3) were ascribed by the Jews to their idols. Hence the repeated emphasis that God had predicted these things, and even named Cyrus, well in advance. He and His prophetic word were to be given the credit, and not the idols.</p>


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<p>You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known- LXX "Ye have heard all this, but ye have not known: yet I have made known to thee the new things from henceforth, which are coming to pass". As explained on :5, the exiles knew the prophetic words of Isaiah about the fall of Babylon and the decree of Cyrus and the restoration; but they attributed these events to their idols. They had heard but not known God’s word in their hearts. And this is the challenge to all Bible readers; as to whether we are just hearing or reading God’s word on a surface level, or whether we really know these things in the Hebraic sense of ’knowing’.</p>


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<p>They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you didn’t hear them; lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them’- see on <a href='B:560 1:9-10'>Eph 1:9-10</a>. LXX "say not thou, Yea, I know them". Their attitude to the prophecies was that ’Sure, we know all that stuff’. But it was surface level reading and hearing; they refused to perceive the wonderful reality, that the events connected with Cyrus, the fall of Babylon and the decree for restoration had all been foretold and were all part of Yahweh’s saving purpose. As noted on :3, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway wall", read en passant, heard, treated as ordinary and incidental::. but the wonder of Divine inspiration, the fact these words and ideas dropped from the mouth of God was overlooked then as it is now.</p>


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<h4>Yes, you didn’t hear; yes, you didn’t know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened- Their deafness to the real import of the prophetic word (see on :5-7) was their own fault, but they were confirmed in this by not having their ears and eyes opened by God. And yet He was willing and eager to open their ears (see on <a href='B:290 42:18'>Isa 42:18</a>; <a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>). But they didn’t hear or know as intended because they didn’t want to; they were unwilling for their narrative of life and self-identity in the prosperity of Babylon and Persia to be so radically interrupted.</h4><h4>For I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb- The allusion is to the naming of Jacob from the womb. He was a heel-catcher, and treacherous. Their treachery is described in the word used of Babylon and Assyria’s treachery against them (<a href='B:290 33:1'>Isa 33:1</a>; <a href='B:310 1:2'>Lam 1:2</a>). And it is used of their marital unfaithfulness against Yahweh (<a href='B:300 3:11'>Jer 3:11</a>; <a href='B:300 3:20'>Jer 3:20</a>; <a href='B:300 5:11'>Jer 5:11</a>). Knowing that this is how they would be, Yahweh had still entered a relationship with them, exactly as Hosea did with the unfaithful Gomer. Hosea’s relationship with her reflected that of God with an Israel who likewise were "treacherous" to Him (<a href='B:350 5:7'>Hos 5:7</a>; <a href='B:350 6:7'>Hos 6:7</a> s:w:). His foreknowledge of their sins was thereby an even greater display of His passionate love, hope and grace toward His people.</h4>


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<h4>For My name’s sake will I defer My anger, and for the sake of My praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off- "Cut off" is the word used of how the Assyrians had threatened to cut down the cedars of the temple (<a href='B:290 37:24'>Isa 37:24</a>; <a href='B:290 2:13'>Isa 2:13</a>; <a href='B:290 10:34'>Isa 10:34</a>). And the Babylonians actually did this (<a href='B:290 14:8'>Isa 14:8</a>). But the Jews then cut down cedars and made idols from them (<a href='B:290 44:14'>Isa 44:14</a> s:w:), acting like the Babylonians, and ignoring the great grace shown in Yahweh’s averting or deferring the threatened Assyrian destruction of the temple by cutting down its cedars. See on <a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>. But by not immediately judging His people for their unfaithfulness to Him (see on :8), God’s grace as it were earns yet more praise for Him; from us, the spiritually discerning.</h4><p>Even though so classically undeserving, Israel were saved "for His Name’s sake" (<a href='B:230 106:8'>Psa 106:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:9'>Eze 20:9</a>; <a href='B:330 36:22'>Eze 36:22</a> etc:)- and the same applies to the New Israel, baptized into the same saving Name of grace. They were not punished according to their sins for the Name’s sake which they carried, and so will it be with us (<a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>)- but we have to treat others baptized into the same covering Name in this same way as we are treated!</p><h4>The usage of the idea of restraining anger, like the use of the terms ’remembering’ and ’forgetting’, suggests that God is so fully willing to enter into our kind of time; for a Being cannot forget and remember simultaneously, an element of time is involved. Likewise at times we read of God being slow to anger (<a href='B:20 34:6'>Exo 34:6</a>), at others, of Him not restraining His anger, or restraining it (<a href='B:230 78:38'>Psa 78:38</a>; <a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:22'>Eze 20:22</a>), and holding His peace (<a href='B:290 57:11'>Isa 57:11</a>; <a href='B:230 50:21'>Psa 50:21</a>), and being provoked to anger by the bad behaviour of His covenant people (<a href='B:50 32:21'>Deu 32:21</a>; <a href='B:230 78:58'>Psa 78:58</a>; <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a>; <a href='B:300 8:19'>Jer 8:19</a>). God clearly has emotions of a kind which are not unrelated to the emotions we experience, as beings made in His image. But those emotions involve a time factor in order to be emotions. We read of the anger of God "for a moment" (<a href='B:230 30:5'>Psa 30:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7-8'>Isa 54:7-8</a>), and of His wrath coming and going, leaving Him "calm" and no longer angry (<a href='B:330 16:42'>Eze 16:42</a>). When we sin, we provoke God to anger- i:e. at a point in time, God sees our sin, and becomes angry. This is attested many times in Scripture. But it’s meaningless if God is somehow outside of our time and emotions.</h4>


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<p>Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction- LXX "I have rescued thee from the furnace of affliction", just as Daniel’s friends had been. They were representative of all the exiles. But despite that ’rescue’, they refused to leave Persia. Nor would they perceive their prosperity in Babylon / Persia as in fact a furnace, a living out of condemnation. They chose for the most part to remain in it. The idea may be that despite the refining fire of the affliction of exile, they had still not become as silver; the dross was not removed. This is the tragedy of Israel’s long history; so much fire, but the dross still held on to, and not removed. And it is so in the lives of so many associated with the new Israel.</p>


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<h4>For My own sake, for My own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be profaned? I will not give My glory to another- We sense here the struggle within God, which we see too throughout Hosea, especially in <a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>. They had been unfaithful and treacherous to Him, and His anger was kindled (:8,9); they needed to be judged. But He had refrained the expression of that anger (:9). On one hand, He cannot let His Name be profaned; but on the other, He will not give His glory to another. This conflict is at the very heart of His being, for His "own sake". The fact the pole of His grace and mercy emerges stronger than the pole of His anger and judgment is not to say that He is simply soft hearted. That triumph of mercy over judgment is the result of real conflict and tension within the heart of God Himself, at the very core of His character.</h4><h4>God will not let His Name be polluted by His people (<a href='B:290 48:11'>Isa 48:11</a>; <a href='B:330 20:9'>Eze 20:9</a>). But God polluted His people (<a href='B:290 47:6'>Isa 47:6</a>). They did pollute His Name (<a href='B:300 34:16'>Jer 34:16</a>; <a href='B:460 1:7'>Mal 1:7</a>). God invites us to see His efforts to stop His Name being polluted as somehow defeated by the extent of Israel’s pollutions. This theme comes out clearly in Ezekiel: they polluted Him, but He strove lest His Name should be polluted. Here is the extent of freewill which God gives man to sin- and also the extent of the hopefulness of God. It’s as if He didn’t imagine they would pollute Him as much as they did.</h4>


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<p>Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel My called: I am He; I am the first, I also am the last- The sense may be as in <a href='B:290 41:4'>Isa 41:4</a>: "I Yahweh, the first and with the last, I am He". First and last are terms used by the Lord Jesus of those who shall be in His Kingdom (<a href='B:470 20:16'>Mat 20:16</a>). "The last" would then refer to the last generation of God’s people. Yahweh would save the exiles along with the "first" of His people such as Abraham; for at the time of the restoration of that last generation, there would be a resurrection of all God’s true people, to form a new people would eternally inherit the reestablished Kingdom.</p>


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<h4>Yes, My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together- The idea of calling things which don’t exist into existence (<a href='B:520 4:17'>Rom 4:17</a>) has suggestions of creation (<a href='B:290 41:4'>Isa 41:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:13'>Isa 48:13</a>). The new, spiritual creation is indeed a creation ex nihilo, an act of grace. Incomprehensible to the modern mind, the natural creation involved the creation of matter from out of God, and not out of any visible, concrete matter which already existed. The physical creation therefore looked forward to the grace of the new creation- creating people spiritually out of nothing, counting righteousness to them which theydidn’t have, treating them as persons whom they were not.</h4><h4>In the same context of Babylon’s apparent might being brought down by God’s hand, God reasoned that He would perform His will against Babylon, and this should be believed because His hand had created the heavens and earth (<a href='B:290 48:13-14'>Isa 48:13-14</a>). Likewise He taught Job the futility of having such metaphysical doubts about Him, of the joy there is all around us in creation regardless of our personal suffering…through an exposition of His power as creator. All this is why the disciples were inspired to faith that their prayers for deliverance would be answered by the recollection of the fact that God has created all things and therefore nothing is too hard for Him (<a href='B:510 4:24'>Act 4:24</a> RV).</h4>


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<p>Assemble yourselves all of you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform His will on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans- Babylon fell so that Persia would take over the administration of the 127 provinces where the Jews were scattered, and would allow them to return to Judah. The cup of judgment which Judah drunk for 70 years was passed to Babylon (<a href='B:290 51:22'>Isa 51:22</a>). This accounts for Isaiah’s repeated and detailed emphasis on the coming fall of Babylon for Judah / Israel’s sake (e:g. Isaiah 47). Although they had sinned, Yahweh showed His gracious love for His people by bringing down Babylon. “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee [Cyrus] by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me “ (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). World geopolitics are manipulated for the sake of God’s people. And yet we can refuse to participate in the program, as the exiles did. Likewise the iron curtain came down to allow preachers of God’s Truth to take it to those once in darkness. And English has become the lingua-franca of the world, enabling Christian preaching to now penetrate societies literally world-wide:&nbsp;See on <a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a>. But "Israel would not". I explained on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a> and <a href='B:290 47:11'>Isa 47:11</a> that Cyrus did not particularly destroy "the Chaldeans" as envisaged in these prophecies. He did not respond to Yahweh’s love and refused to "know Him". And so these things are more fully to be realized in the fall of latter day Babylon at the hand of the Son of God’s love, the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<p>I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous- The Jews of Isaiah’s day would have had big problems with the idea of a pagan king like Cyrus becoming&nbsp; the King of Israel and being Yahweh’s special “servant” and even Messiah; see on <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>. Folk have the same problem and resistance to the idea today. But passages like <a href='B:290 45:9-13'>Isa 45:9-13</a>, <a href='B:290 48:14-16'>Isa 48:14-16</a> and much of the material that follows the servant songs, are in fact seeking to answer objections to this- e:g. by saying that God is the potter and men are mere clay, and He will raise up precisely whom He wishes- even pagan Cyrus- to be His man, the arm of His salvation, at least potentially. His way was made prosperous, potentially; the "way" to the restored Zion of Isaiah 40 had been potentially prepared.</p>


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<p>Come near to Me and hear this: ‘From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I’. Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, with His Spirit- The sending forth of Isaiah was the sending forth of God’s word to His people (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:8'>Isa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:290 9:8'>Isa 9:8</a>). Isaiah like the Lord Jesus and like us, was the word made flesh; his prophetic word about Cyrus and the restoration was published and not spoken in secret, and he was sent in the power of the Spirit to authenticate his message. And in Isaiah, the man became his message; there was a congruence between him personally and the word preached. In the immediate context, Isaiah himself was the servant messenger sent forth (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>; <a href='B:290 48:16'>Isa 48:16</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>); hence GNB "Now the Sovereign LORD has given me his power and sent me". But he was largely rejected, and Jewish tradition has it that Isaiah was sawn in two by Hezekiah’s son Manasseh (<a href='B:650 11:37'>Heb 11:37</a>). And so the messenger came to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel- As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.</h4><h4>I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go- LXX "I have shewn thee how thou shouldest find the way wherein thou shouldest walk". The way to Zion had been prepared (see on Isaiah 40), but they had to walk in it. They were being led in that way, potentially, just as many are today- but they refused to walk in it. The idols and the Gentile nations amongst whom they lived would not "profit" them (s:w. <a href='B:290 30:5-6'>Isa 30:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:9-10'>Isa 44:9-10</a>); but as the book of Esther makes clear, they were profiting well, apparently, from remaining amongst them. But the only real "profit" would be if they quit all that and returned to Zion. But they saw no "profit" in being forgiven and restored as God’s people (s:w. <a href='B:220 35:3'>Job 35:3</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Oh that you had listened to My commandments! then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea- This was the potential possible if they had repented and returned to Judah:&nbsp; The promises to Abraham (:19) and the coming of the Messianic seed of Abraham could have been fulfilled; but because Israel chose to be wicked, there was no such peace: “There is no peace… unto the wicked” (:22).</h4><h4>Because of His capacity to imagine, to see possible futures, God feels rejected both by His children and by His wife at the same time. Hence the poignancy behind His words of regret here, seeing what could have been. Likewise "Oh that they would have a mind such as this always" (<a href='B:50 5:29'>Deu 5:29</a>), "O Israel, if you would but listen to Me"(<a href='B:230 81:8'>Psa 81:8</a>; <a href='B:230 81:13'>Psa 81:13</a>). It’s as if He could see the potentially happy future which they could’ve had stretching out before Him.</h4>


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<p>your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before Me- The promises to Abraham and the coming of the Messianic seed of Abraham could have been fulfilled then, had they repented (:18). The offspring of their body could have been as sand grains; they really could have personally been as Abraham. Likewise for us, the receipt of the promises to Abraham means that we stand absolutely with him (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). But the LXX reads as if despite their refusal of these things, all the same God would not totally reject them: "Neither now shalt thou by any means be utterly destroyed, neither shall thy name perish before me".</p>


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<h4>Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, ‘Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob’- The idea in <a href='B:290 47:15'>Isa 47:15</a> was that the people from the nations within the Babylonian empire would leave Babylon and return home- including the Jews. But this didn’t happen; see on <a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>. The idea here is that the Jews were intended to flee Babylon before she fell, but they didn’t; and so God put another plan into operation, whereby the fall of Babylon was to lead to all the foreigners there, including the Jews, thereby being freed to return to their ancestral homelands. But still the Jews remained, as the book of Esther testifies. God tried then and tries now, by all means, to bring His chosen people to His Kingdom. Human resistance to His efforts is tragic. He must have pleasure in we weak sinners who have at least said "Yes" to His plans.</h4><p>“Come out from among them and be separate” (<a href='B:540 6:17'>2Co 6:17</a>) is picking up the language of <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:300 50:8'>Jer 50:8</a>; <a href='B:450 2:7'>Zec 2:7</a> concerning the return of the exiles from Babylon. The edict of Cyrus for the Jews to return to the land was reapplied to God’s command to us to leave the spirit of Babylon, the Gentile world, and go up to do His work. The returned exiles are us. God told His people to flee from Babylon, to come out of her and return to His land and Kingdom (<a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>; <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>; <a href='B:300 50:8'>Jer 50:8</a>; <a href='B:450 2:7'>Zec 2:7</a>). Babylon offered them a secure life, wealth, a society which accepted them (<a href='B:190 8:17'>Est 8:17</a>; <a href='B:190 10:3'>Est 10:3</a>), houses which they had built for themselves (<a href='B:300 29:5'>Jer 29:5</a>). And they were asked to leave all this, and travel the uncertain wilderness road to the ruins of Israel. They are cited in the NT as types of us in our exit from this world (<a href='B:540 6:17'>2Co 6:17</a>; <a href='B:730 18:4'>Rev 18:4</a>). Those who decided to obey God’s command and leave Babylon were confirmed in this by God: He raised up their spirit to want to return and re-build Jerusalem, and He touched the heart of Cyrus to make decrees which greatly helped them to do this (<a href='B:150 1:2-5'>Ezr 1:2-5</a>). And so the same Lord God of Israel is waiting to confirm us in our every act of separation from the kingdoms of this world, great or small; and He waits not only to receive us, but to be a Father unto us, and to make us His sons and daughters (<a href='B:540 6:18'>2Co 6:18</a>).</p><h4>The command to flee Babylon must be compared with <a href='B:290 52:12'>Isa 52:12</a>: "For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for Yahweh will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your vanguard". Although the exodus from Egypt was in many ways a pattern for the exiles to leave Babylon, in distinction from then, they would not "go out in haste" (s:w. <a href='B:50 16:3'>Deu 16:3</a>). They would not be persecuted in Babylon, leading them to flee. Rather they were to "flee" from Babylon spiritually (<a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>) of their own volition and desire.</h4>


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<h4>They didn’t thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock also, and the waters gushed out- Just as everything had been provided for them when they left Egypt, so they need not worry about the logistics of returning to Judah. The practical issues which loom in the minds of those confronted with the Gospel of the Kingdom will all likewise be dealt with by the God who desperately wants us to say "yes". But the exiles generally said "no", and so these things are reapplied and reinterpreted to&nbsp; new Israel who say "Yes" to the invitation to participate in the restored Kingdom of God in Judah. The Lord Jesus spoke of how out of Him would come "living water", not still well water, but bubbling water fresh from a fountain (<a href='B:500 4:11'>Joh 4:11</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38'>Joh 7:38</a>). And He invites His people to drink of it. It was this kind of water that bubbled out of the smitten rock. <a href='B:230 78:15-16'>Psa 78:15-16</a>; <a href='B:230 78:20'>Psa 78:20</a>; <a href='B:230 105:41'>Psa 105:41</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a> describe it with a variety of words: gushing, bursting, water running down like a high mountain stream, "flowed abundantly"::. as if the fountains of deep hidden water had burst to the surface ("as out of the great depths", <a href='B:230 78:15'>Psa 78:15</a>). So the Lord was saying that He was like the rock, and we like Israel drinking of what came out of Him.</h4><h4>We note here that the rock gave water throughout the wilderness journey (<a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>). This would surely necessitate that the giving of water at Horeb was not a one-off solution to a crisis. There is a word play in the Hebrew text of <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>: "He led them through the Horebs [AV ’desert places’]" by making water flow from the rock. The Horeb experience was repeated for 40 years; as if the rock went on being smitten. Somehow the water from that smitten rock went with them, fresh and bubbling as it was the first moment the rock was smitten, right through the wilderness. It was living, spring water- not lying around in puddles.</h4>


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<p>There is no peace, says Yahweh, for the wicked- "The wicked" are the Jewish exiles of :18 who refused the potential peace with God which was offered if they repented and returned to Judah to reestablish His Kingdom of peace.</p>


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<h4>Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has He made mention of my name- The previous chapter has concluded with a lament over the Jewish exiles’ refusal of the Gospel of the reestablished Kingdom in Judah. Now, "the servant" addresses the Gentiles. Cyrus had failed to "know Yahweh". And so the invitation to participate in the Kingdom is made to "your peoples", "the Gentiles" (LXX). The servant now takes on a different identity; it is "Israel" (:3), but this is clearly a title for a Messianic figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus. His personal preexistence is clearly ruled out here: "Before I was born, the LORD chose me and appointed me to be his servant" (GNB).</h4><p>But all those of the new Israel who are "in" Israel-the-Messiah also have the words of the servant songs relevant to them. For all true of Him becomes true of us. And so there are a number of instances of where these Old Testament Messianic Scriptures are applied to Paul in the context of his preaching Christ. The servant known from birth (<a href='B:290 49:1'>Isa 49:1</a>; <a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a>)= <a href='B:550 1:15-16'>Gal 1:15-16</a> [choice from birth, calling, ministry to the Gentiles]; “I have laboured in vain…” (<a href='B:290 49:3'>Isa 49:3</a>) = “That I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain” (Php_2:16; <a href='B:530 15:58'>1Co 15:58</a>); “Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord” (<a href='B:290 49:4'>Isa 49:4</a>) = “He that judgeth me is the Lord” (<a href='B:530 4:4'>1Co 4:4</a>); “Him whom man despiseth” (<a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>) = “We are despised” (<a href='B:530 4:9-10'>1Co 4:9-10</a>; <a href='B:540 4:9-10'>2Co 4:9-10</a>); “The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you” (<a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a> RSV)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= “A chosen vessel” (<a href='B:510 9:15'>Act 9:15</a>); <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a> = <a href='B:520 15:21'>Rom 15:21</a> [here Paul appropriates a prophecy of how the news of the crucified Christ would spread to those who had never heard it. He didn’t just read those verses as prophecy; he saw in them an imperative to fulfill them. This is an example of where prophecy depends to some extent upon us to fulfill it. The 19th century brethren understood the prophecies of Israel’s return to the land like this- they collected funds to enable it; <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a> “In an acceptable time have I heard thee” = <a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a>; <a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a> = <a href='B:520 10:16'>Rom 10:16</a>; <a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a> = <a href='B:510 13:47'>Act 13:47</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a> = <a href='B:510 18:9-10'>Act 18:9-10</a>.</p><h4>At times, the prophets are paralleled with Israel- Jeremiah was a&nbsp;“prophet to the nations” (<a href='B:300 1:5'>Jer 1:5</a>), and yet this was Israel’s role, as stated here in <a href='B:290 49:1'>Isa 49:1</a>. Both the prophets and Israel are described as “the servant of the Lord”. But God and Israel were in the process of divorce, as they knew. The prophets were both on God’s side, and Israel’s. They were torn men. Just as God Himself was. He appeared “like a man confused” (<a href='B:300 14:9'>Jer 14:9</a>).</h4>


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<h4>And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand has He hidden me: and He has made me a polished shaft; in His quiver has He kept me close- <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a> uses the same language about an individual who would restore Zion. Whatever primary application this may have had to Cyrus, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah etc:, they clearly failed. And so the words are reapplied to the Lord Jesus. It would appear from these statements that the Lord Jesus was protected and specially guided by the Angel in the first thirty years of his life: "In the shadow of His hand (an Angelic phrase) hath He hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid me". The word ’quiver’ comes from the word for an astrologer, in the sense of being something that conceals knowledge. Thus the Angel hid the true identity of Jesus, so that "flesh and blood" alone could not recognize that He was God’s Son (<a href='B:470 16:13-17'>Mat 16:13-17</a>). "The Lord" that passed by Moses and hid him with his hand in the cleft of the rock was an Angel.</h4><p>But as explained on :1, the Messianic Servant, ultimately the Lord Jesus, includes all who are "in" Him. Thus Paul’s description of each of us as the warrior of the Gospel in Ephesians 6 composites together various descriptions of Messiah’s clothing in the servant songs (<a href='B:290 11:5'>Isa 11:5</a> = “loins girded with truth”; <a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a> “mouth like a sharp sword”; <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> “bring good tidings / publish salvation” = “the preparation of the Gospel of peace”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “breastplate of righteousness”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “helmet of salvation”). We are to be Christ to the world.</p><h4>The idea of Messiah being "hidden" connects with other similar prophecies. The restoration prophecies continually refer to an individual called "the righteous one"- the references are somewhat masked in the English translations which speak simply of "righteousness", but it is evidently ’the righteous one’ who is being addressed rather than abstract righteousness. Consider the statements of intent about this Person: The righteous one would be prepared and kept hidden by Yahweh (<a href='B:290 42:6'>Isa 42:6</a>); he was to be raised up to rebuild Zion and release the captives from Babylon (<a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>); he is pictured as near / approaching (<a href='B:290 51:5'>Isa 51:5</a>), called to Yahweh’s footstool in Zion (<a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>); he was to be "brought in" to the temple at the end of the 70 weeks prophecy (Dan 924); then, Jerusalem would be known as the habitation of the righteous one (<a href='B:300 50:7'>Jer 50:7</a> and often- AV "habitation of justice"), the intention of <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> would be fulfilled, in that Jerusalem would be known as the city where Yahweh dwells; the righteous one of Yahweh would then "go out" in blessing to the surrounding nations. Hence <a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a>; <a href='B:300 23:6'>Jer 23:6</a> etc. outline God’s intention that after the restoration, the rebuilt Zion would be named "The Lord our righteous one" because Jerusalem would be the habitation of the righteous one (<a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>; <a href='B:300 50:7'>Jer 50:7</a>). This is similar language to the restoration prophecies of Isaiah- the surrounding Gentile world would see / perceive / believe in "the righteous one" who would reign in the rebuilt Zion (<a href='B:290 62:2'>Isa 62:2</a>). The impression seems inescapable that at the time of the restoration, God had prepared a Messiah-figure, hidden (as it were) in Yahweh’s quiver (<a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a>), not revealed to Israel, who could have restored Judah, rebuilt Zion and converted the surrounding Gentiles. It could be that this person was Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah or some other known historical figure. Or it could be that this person was prepared, waited in the wings, but was never used by God. He could have been revealed to Judah by the anonymous messenger of Isaiah 40. But all these prophecies had to be reapplied- to the Lord Jesus, with John the Baptist and later the latter day Elijah as the announcing messenger.</h4>


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<p>And He said to me, You are My servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified- As noted on :1, the servant is now no longer Cyrus, who had failed to "know Yahweh" and live up to his potential. And Israel had refused the potentials of responding to the Gospel. So now Yahweh was to be glorified in an individual servant, in whom "Israel" could be comprehended if they became in Him. It all looks forward to the entrance into the Lord Jesus of all baptized into Him, thereby becoming the true Israel of God and Abraham’s seed (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>).</p>


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<h4>But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity- The LXX makes the allusion to idolatry clearer: "I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing". The Messiah, "Israel", was totally representative of His people, even in their sinfulness. This representative identification with them was to be the basis of their ultimate salvation.</h4><h4>Yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God- The idea may be "my work should be my recompence". Even if we feel our work for God has not been successful, we were the ones rewarded by doing it, it was itself our blessing. "My reward is with my God" recalls the feelings of Nehemiah, who perhaps could have been this Messianic figure in an initial sense: "Remember me, O my God, for good" (<a href='B:160 13:31'>Neh 13:31</a>; "my God" is a common theme in Ezra and Nehemiah). <a href='B:290 49:4-6'>Isa 49:4-6</a> seems to foresee how the returnees would be discouraged in their work of rebuilding, and at the fact that not all God’s people had been gathered back. And yet even then, provided they had the right spirit, the Kingdom blessings could still come. Isaiah 49 goes on to comfort the servant that the remainder of Israel would be regathered, and that the broken down walls of Zion were continually before Yahweh (<a href='B:290 49:16'>Isa 49:16</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be His servant- The application of these words to the Lord Jesus precludes any idea of His personal preexistence. <a href='B:290 49:5-6'>Isa 49:5-6</a> contains a prophecy concerning Christ as the light of the world, which he fulfilled (<a href='B:500 8:12'>Joh 8:12</a>). He is described as meditating on “the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant”. Christ was therefore “formed” by God in Mary’s womb, through the power of His Holy Spirit. Mary’s womb was evidently the place of Christ’s physical origin.</h4><p>Both as individuals and collectively, the whole biography and even genetic prehistory of God’s people has been prepared by God in their formation, so that they might encounter God’s salvation at an optimal point for them to give the maximum glory to Him (<a href='B:290 43:21'>Isa 43:21</a>). "Formed" is the word for the potter working on clay, used of how God fashions human hearts or psychologies, working on the deeply internal fabric of the human being (<a href='B:230 33:15'>Psa 33:15</a>). The ’forming’ in view is not only "in the womb" (<a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>) but throughout their whole psychological and genetic formation. It is possible to strive with our former or "maker" (<a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a>), to be unresponsive to His touch of us the clay. The Messiah figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus, was the ultimate case of being "formed" by Yahweh’s hand (<a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a> s:w:), implying He too was clay, of human and not Divine nature.</p><h4>To bring Jacob again to Him, and that Israel be gathered to Him (for I am honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength)- LXX "I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord". Israel had refused to be regathered to the land, they had not obeyed the command to be gathered (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:9'>Isa 43:9</a>; <a href='B:360 2:16'>Joe 2:16</a>); but this individual servant would be, and thereby the true Israel "in Him" would be regathered. The verb for “gather” can be used in two senses, either “to gather in” or “to take away,” “gather off” (e:g. <a href='B:330 4:9'>Eze 4:9</a>). Response to the Messiah figure would lead to one of these two gatherings- to salvation, or condemnation.</h4>


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<h4>Yes, He says, It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel- This could have come true at the restoration. <a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a> speaks of the reestablishment of the tribes of Israel and the ‘establishing’ of the land (<a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>). The intended boundaries of the tribal cantons are given in Ezekiel 48. There was perhaps a renewed awareness of which tribe each captive was from, after the genealogical records were burnt at the fall of Jerusalem. Note the references to Judah (<a href='B:150 10:23'>Ezr 10:23</a>), Benjamin (<a href='B:160 3:23'>Neh 3:23</a>), Manasseh <a href='B:150 10:33'>Ezr 10:33</a>) and Joseph (<a href='B:150 10:42'>Ezr 10:42</a>; <a href='B:160 12:14'>Neh 12:14</a>). But the land wasn’t laid out again according to tribal boundaries as envisaged in the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel. The few who returned were content with their little farms, and didn’t rise up to a wider vision. And how much potential achievement for us as a community is disabled by our parochial, selfish, self-satisficing attitudes…?</h4><p>The servant was encouraged that although His mission was primarily to Israel and they had refused His work (:5), He was not to be discouraged because the project of salvation was to be extended to the Gentiles. The idea seems to suggest that the extent of this purpose had to be revealed to the Lord Jesus in order to save Him from disappointment with His mission to Israel, as if His conception of His work had to be enlarged. This would be appropriate for someone with human nature.</p><p>I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be My salvation to the end of the earth- The Lord was to save the Gentiles, even "the ends of the earth / land" promised to Abraham, where the exiles were located. And yet He died to save Israel rather than everyone in the Gentile world (<a href='B:290 49:5'>Isa 49:5</a>; <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>; <a href='B:550 4:4-5'>Gal 4:4-5</a>), He was “a servant to the circumcised"(<a href='B:520 15:8'>Rom 15:8</a>),"the consolation of Israel", unto them was born a saviour (<a href='B:490 2:11'>Luk 2:11</a>; <a href='B:490 2:25'>Luk 2:25</a>), and therefore He had to be exactly representative of them. For this reason it was theologically necessary for Jesus to be Jewish in order to achieve the work He did. We are only saved by reason of becoming in Christ and therefore part of the Israel of God (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). The Jewish basis of salvation is absolutely fundamental to a correct understanding of the Gospel.</p><h4>I explained earlier in this chapter that the Messiah as"Israel"was an individual in whom the true Israel of God would be found, through mutual identification of Him with them and they with Him. And so Paul takes this prophecy concerning how Christ personally would be the light of the whole world, and applies it to himself in explanation of why he was devoted to being a light to the whole world himself (<a href='B:510 13:47'>Act 13:47</a> - although <a href='B:510 26:23'>Act 26:23</a> applies it to Jesus personally). Paul even says that this prophecy of Christ as the light of the world was a commandment to him; all that is true of the Lord Jesus likewise becomes binding upon us, because we are inHim. Note that Paul says that God has commanded us to witness; it wasn’t that Paul was a special case, and God especially applied Isaiah’s words concerning Christ as light of the Gentiles to Paul. They apply to us, to all who are in Christ.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One- As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.</h4><p>To him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers- LXX"Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes". This Messianic servant would sacrifice His life and be abhorred by the nations; so that the nations would come to worship Him. This is exactly what was and shall be achieved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you- The leadership who had despised the suffering Servant would arise from their thrones and bow in homage before Him.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage-"The people"is"the nations", the Gentiles. Gentile salvation is however connected with restoring the land (of Israel; <a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>), and allotting (<a href='B:50 21:16'>Deu 21:16</a>) the desolate heritages. The latter chapters of Ezekiel stress how Israel were to “inherit” the land; yet the same word is used in other restoration prophecies, about Messiah causing Israel to “inherit” the land again after their return from “the north country” (<a href='B:450 2:12'>Zec 2:12</a>; <a href='B:450 8:12'>Zec 8:12</a>; <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:18'>Jer 3:18</a>). When Judah returned from the “north country”, then Jerusalem would be the universally recognized “throne of the Lord” (<a href='B:300 3:17-18'>Jer 3:17-18</a>). The Kingdom could have come when Judah returned from Babylon. It was therefore potentially possible for the returning exiles to inherit all the land outlined in <a href='B:330 47:13-21'>Eze 47:13-21</a> and share it out between the 12 tribes. But they grabbed every man for himself, his own farmstead, his own mini-Kingdom. They had no interest in the wider vision, nor in subduing extra land; and the majority of the Jews didn’t even want to inherit it; they preferred the soft life of Babylon, the Kingdom of men rather than the Kingdom of God. And thus the Kingdom made possible was never actually fulfilled at that time.</h4><h4>&nbsp;The vision is of a multiethnic people of God; the restoration of the Kingdom in Israel is connected with the salvation of Gentiles. The ’help’ and ’preservation’ of the Servant was ultimately through the strengthening and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. But all that is true of the Messianic Servant is true of those in Him; hence His Name is"Israel". And so this verse is quoted about us in <a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a> in the context of our being preachers, labouring with God. This is the language of the Lord’s preaching, which freed men from the prison house (<a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>). Yet because we are in Him, we too have His ministry; our words too can make men inherit the Kingdom, and free men from their bondage. “We are witnesses [through being] in him” (<a href='B:510 5:32'>Act 5:32</a> RVmg:). As the Lord in Isaiah’s servant songs was the suffering, saving, atoning servant, lifted up to give salvation world-wide- so are we. For we are in Him.</h4>


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<h4>Saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’- This is the same word as in <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>"Go forth of Babylon". But they chose to remain there.</h4><p>To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’- They could have had a deliverance similar to that of Israel from the darkness of Egypt (<a href='B:230 107:10'>Psa 107:10</a>; <a href='B:230 107:14'>Psa 107:14</a>), but they preferred darkness to light. Just as they did before the captivity, they put darkness for light (<a href='B:290 5:20'>Isa 5:20</a>). Thus they refused the work of the saving Servant, who wanted to bring them out of that darkness (<a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>), and preferred to remain in the darkness of condemnation (<a href='B:290 47:5'>Isa 47:5</a>).</p><p>And so these things have been reapplied to the work of the Lord Jesus. Those who are thankfully redeemed in Christ, now lovingly reconciled to Him, are described as blind, starving prisoners, bound in the darkness, awaiting execution (<a href='B:230 107:14'>Psa 107:14</a>; <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>; <a href='B:450 9:11'>Zec 9:11</a>). Our prayers should be like those of a man on death row in a dark dungeon, waiting to die, but groaning for salvation (<a href='B:230 102:17'>Psa 102:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:20'>Psa 102:20</a>):&nbsp; This is the extent of our desperation. We are “the poor” (Gk. ‘the crouchers’), cringing in utter spiritual destitution (<a href='B:470 5:3'>Mat 5:3</a>). The Lord in the Sermon on the Mount clearly understood this deliverance of the prisoners to refer to His work with a new Israel; since the Jews in Babylon had preferred to stay in their comfortable prison of exile, and didn’t perceive it as a place of spiritual darkness.</p><h4>They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture- The idea is that there would be abundant provision for them, with pasture even on the beaten paths and bare heights where usually there wouldn’t be. The idea here and in :10 was and is that absolutely all their needs would be abundantly provided for on the physical and spiritual journey to the restored Kingdom.</h4>


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<h4>They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water He will guide them- It was the responsibility of the priests and religious leaders to"gently lead"the exiles back to their God and their land, but they failed in this (<a href='B:290 51:18'>Isa 51:18</a> s:w:); and so because their was none to guide / gently lead (s:w:), God Himself had to intervene and do this through His Son (<a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:290 49:10'>Isa 49:10</a>).</h4><h4>This repeats the assurance of <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>. Just as everything had been provided for them when they left Egypt, so they need not worry about the logistics or"the way"of returning to Judah. The practical issues which loom in the minds of those confronted with the Gospel of the Kingdom will all likewise be dealt with by the God who desperately wants us to say"yes". These words are repeated about the faithful of the new Israel in <a href='B:730 7:16'>Rev 7:16</a>.</h4>


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<p>I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted- This repeats the message of the highway to the restored Zion being prepared in <a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>.</p>


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<p>Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim-"Sinim"my simply refer to the uttermost border of the eretz promised to Abraham,"Sin"being on the southern border with Egypt (cp. <a href='B:10 10:17'>Gen 10:17</a>). LXX"And others from the land of the Persians", GNB"and from Aswan in the south". The tragedy of the book of Esther is that at its conclusion, the Jews were established in Persia in prosperity. They refused to use all this potential. The refusal of the exiles to respond led to the reapplication of this to the worldwide gathering in of Gentiles from all over the globe.</p>


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<h4>Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted His people, and will have compassion on His afflicted- The ‘singing’ of the heavens refers to Judah’s intended joy at the restoration (cp. <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>). See on <a href='B:290 54:2'>Isa 54:2</a>. As the whole creation would share the joy of Hosea and Gomer’s remarriage (see on <a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a>), so <a href='B:290 44:23'>Isa 44:23</a> and <a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a> use similar terms to describe how all creation could have rejoiced in the reuniting of Yahweh with His people on their return from Babylon.</h4><p>The temple still lay “waste” (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>; <a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>) just as it had lain “desolate” [s:w. <a href='B:300 33:10'>Jer 33:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:12'>Jer 33:12</a>] after the Babylonian destruction. The ‘restoration’ was in fact not really a restoration at all, in God’s eyes. Thus Ezra sat down desolate [AV “astonied”] at the news of Judah’s apostasy in marrying the surrounding women; using the very same word as frequently used to describe the ‘desolate’ Jerusalem that was to be rebuilt (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a> cp. <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; Isa 543; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). He tore his priestly garment (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s:w. <a href='B:330 42:14'>Eze 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 44:17'>Eze 44:17</a>; <a href='B:330 44:19'>Eze 44:19</a>). <a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Isa 58:12-13</a> prophesied that the acceptable rebuilding of Zion was dependent upon Judah keeping the Sabbath acceptably; and yet Nehemiah’s record makes clear their tragic abuse of the Sabbath at the time of the restoration; and this therefore meant that the rebuilding of the temple and city were not going to fulfill the Messianic prophecies about them which existed.</p><h4>Comfort and compassion from God can be given by Him, and yet refused. And again we have an abiding warning to us, as the new Israel, not to waste or disregard all the potential comfort there is from God, not least in our day through the ministry of"the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit".</h4>


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<h4>But Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me- See on :25. AV"my Lord", as if referring to Yahweh as her husband (<a href='B:290 50:1'>Isa 50:1</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a> cp. <a href='B:10 18:12'>Gen 18:12</a>). But as explained on :13, Yahweh had not forsaken them; it was they who refused to avail themselves of the comfort of His love.</h4><p>Reasoning back from the addresses to the captives in later Isaiah, it appears they thought that Yahweh was a God who just operated in the land of Israel. The captives felt they couldn’t sing the songs of Yahweh in a Gentile land (Psalms 137). They thought that now they were outside His land and far from His temple, they were forgotten by Him (<a href='B:290 49:14-15'>Isa 49:14-15</a>), their cause ignored by Him (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a>) and they were “cast off” from relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>). Hence Isaiah emphasizes that Yahweh is the creator and the God of the whole planet, and His presence is literally planet-wide. Likewise there is much stress in those addresses on the fact that Yahweh’s word of prophecy will come true. Remember that there had been many false prophets of Yahweh just prior to the captivity who predicted victory against Babylon and prosperity (<a href='B:310 2:9'>Lam 2:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:14'>Lam 2:14</a>; <a href='B:300 44:15-19'>Jer 44:15-19</a>). And the 70 years prophecy of Jeremiah appeared to not be coming true, or at best was delayed or re-scheduled in fulfilment [even Daniel felt this, according to his desperate plea for fulfilment in Daniel 9]. And so there was a crisis of confidence in the concept of prophecy, and Yahweh’s word and prophets generally. Isaiah addressed this by stressing the nature and power of that word, and urging faith in its fulfilment and relevance.</p><h4>The sufferings of Christ on the cross have connections with the punishments for Israel’s sins (e:g. being offered gall to drink = <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>; <a href='B:310 3:5'>Lam 3:5</a>). Israel were temporarily forsaken by God because of their sins (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>), and therefore so was Christ. Christ was chastened with the rod of men"and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross.</h4>


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<p>Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!- And yet in anger God said He would destroy Israel’s children and walk away from them and forget them (<a href='B:350 9:12'>Hos 9:12</a>). Unlike the stone faced gods of the Gentiles, Yahweh had emotion and passion, and internal conflicts. And His word reveals them to us. This"compassion"was only to be shown when Israel repented (s:w. <a href='B:50 30:3'>Deu 30:3</a>) and would not be shown if they were impenitent (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>; Isa 557). But although they had not repented, Yahweh still felt that fatherly"compassion"toward them (<a href='B:290 49:15'>Isa 49:15</a> s:w:). He is unafraid of appearing to contradict His word, such is the passion of His love.</p>


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<h4>Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands- The idea may be that Israel were as the lines graven on a man’s palm, with which he was born. Thus from absolute eternity, we were the great"all things"to Almighty God, intimately connected with Him, part of His very own person- He the God of all, all past and future creations. But God’s hands are His creative members; on those hands were the walls of Zion, and so all His actions were geared towards the final salvation of Israel. Their rejection of such great Divine passion and interest was and is the tragedy of the cosmos. And the marks in the palms of His Son will apparently remain eternally, He still appears looking like a lamb with the wounds of His slaughter upon Him (<a href='B:730 5:6'>Rev 5:6</a>). &nbsp;</h4><h4>Your walls are continually before Me- The broken down state of the walls was continually in God’s mind throughout the exile, as they were in Nehemiah’s mind too. Or perhaps the walls of a restored Zion, those spoken of in Revelation 21, are in view. The ultimate hope of Israel, of their restoration, was ever before God. But at the time of the restoration, very few of His people cared about the state of the walls; such was the distraction of materialism.</h4>


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<p>Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you- LXX"And thou shalt soon be built by those by whom thou were destroyed, and they that made thee desolate shall go forth of thee". The idea was that a repentant remnant of Gentiles would return with the repentant exiles and work in the rebuilding of Zion. But this didn’t happen. And so it is all given a reapplication to Gentiles building in Zion, the new Jerusalem.</p>


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<h4>Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you- All these prophecies of Isaiah were because when the Gentiles came to Zion after the Assyrians were destroyed, they were supposed to gather together to Judah’s God. But Hezekiah became influenced them, and therefore Judah went into captivity in Babylon and only after repentance were to be restored. Now the situation was to be repeated; and the Gentiles would again be gathered to Zion, but now they would permanently join themselves to Israel’s God.</h4><p>It is God who gathers His people (<a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:300 31:10'>Jer 31:10</a>; <a href='B:330 34:12'>Eze 34:12</a>), whereas the Gentiles gather themselves to Him (<a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>). His grace therefore appears the greater to His people, somehow forcing through His purpose with obstinate sheep. The ’bringing / coming’ and ’drawing near / gathering’ of the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in <a href='B:160 1:9'>Neh 1:9</a>). But most of the exiles remained in the lands of their captivity, just as people resist the Gospel’s call today. They had to themselves bring and gather themselves (<a href='B:290 45:20'>Isa 45:20</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:13'>Eze 34:13</a>; <a href='B:330 36:24'>Eze 36:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:21'>Eze 37:21</a>; <a href='B:450 10:10'>Zec 10:10</a>). And so today with all who wish to be in God’s Kingdom; our desire to be there and first moves towards it will be confirmed many times over by God’s work through His Spirit.</p><h4>As I live, says Yahweh, you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride- As if they were the girdle worn by a bride- which Judah had forgotten to wear, so slack were they in their attitude to their Heavenly husband (<a href='B:300 2:32'>Jer 2:32</a>). The conversion of the Gentiles was to be to the glory of God’s people.</h4>


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<p>For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away- This is exactly relevant to the situation in Judah after the first break in the rebuilding; the walls were broken down by the Samaritans, but Nehemiah was raised up to lead more back with him from Babylon and rebuild them. And yet sadly, this too failed, for Judah were still unwilling to completely forsake Babylon. “Thy walls are continually before me [even during the 70 years captivity]… [even while in captivity they were thinking that Yahweh had forgotten them, :14]…thy builders (RVmg:) make haste…thy land that hath been destroyed [by the Babylonian scorched earth policy] shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants…then shalt thou say, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am barren, an exile…?” (<a href='B:290 49:16'>Isa 49:16</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; <a href='B:290 49:21'>Isa 49:21</a> RV). This all implies there would be a population explosion at the time of the restoration. But there is no evidence this was the case. All this was potentially true; but it didn’t come to pass in reality.</p>


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<h4>The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears- LXX"For thy sons whom thou hast lost shall say in thine ears". The idea of receiving back children who had been once slain is clearly alluded to in Job’s experience (<a href='B:220 42:13'>Job 42:13</a>), who is set up as representative of the Jews in exile.</h4><h4>‘The place is too small for me; give more space to me that I may dwell!’- The implication is that eretz Israel will be too small for the restored people of God; and they will therefore have to go and live with the Gentiles. The implication is that the boundaries of the promised land will expand to encompass the entire planet.</h4>


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<p>Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?’- see on <a href='B:10 33:5'>Gen 33:5</a>. Children born through another were still reckoned as the wife’s children (<a href='B:10 16:1'>Gen 16:1</a>; <a href='B:10 30:1'>Gen 30:1</a>). The children of Zion were therefore suckled by the Gentiles (<a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>). The implication is that just as the eretz Israel will be expanded to include Gentile territories (see on :20), so ethnic Gentiles will be genuinely considered by the Jews to be their people.</p>


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<p>Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up My banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders- This banner or ensign lifted up in Zion is ultimately the pole of the cross of the Lord Jesus. Upon this will be predicated Yahweh’s extension of His covenant to the Gentile nations; for to ’lift up the hand’ is to enter into solemn covenant.</p>


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<p>Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for Me shall not be disappointed- Or"ashamed". Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way. Consider <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>: “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice [s:w. Ezra 1 :1 re the proclamation of Cyrus] of his servant [i:e. Cyrus, <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>], that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God”. Yet Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers to guard them on the journeyonly because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), as if he really did want the support but was ashamed to ask for it. He disallowed Isaiah’s prophesy that the restored Israel would never be ashamed [s:w. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>). And so these things are reapplied to the coming of Gentiles to the hope of Israel in Christ. Former enemies worshipping at the feet of repentant Jews becomes reapplied to all believers in Christ (<a href='B:730 3:9'>Rev 3:9</a>).</p>


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<h4>Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?- LXX"Will any one take spoils from a giant? and if one should take a man captive unjustly, shall he be delivered?". The Lord Jesus alludes here in saying that through His work, the house of the strong man has been taken and his spoils looted (<a href='B:480 3:27'>Mar 3:27</a>).</h4><h4>Or this can be read as the Jews remonstrating against God’s message of deliverance from captivity: “Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?”. They thought their salvation was too hard even for God. They made the same mistake as all who reason that their situation or personality is too far gone for God to redeem. For the ‘salvation’ of the exiles in Babylon is alluded to in the New Testament as a prototype of our salvation in Christ. The good news of potential deliverance from Babylon is quoted as the good news of salvation from sin (<a href='B:290 52:7-10'>Isa 52:7-10</a> = <a href='B:480 1:15'>Mar 1:15</a>; <a href='B:470 10:7-8'>Mat 10:7-8</a>; <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>; <a href='B:560 6:15'>Eph 6:15</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> = <a href='B:490 4:16-21'>Luk 4:16-21</a>). Time and again in the restoration prophecies we encounter statements intended to answer the skepticism felt by the exiles about the promises of redemption from Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). Passages like Ezekiel 18 and <a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a> imply a certain bitterness of Israel towards their God, considering that He had dealt with them unfairly, and inappropriately punished them for the sins of their fathers. Despite having enabled their exit from Babylon, they complained: “Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us” (<a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a>). This was an awful spurning of the great salvation enabled for them.</h4>


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<p>But thus says Yahweh, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children- LXX"If one should take a giant captive, he shall take spoils, and he who takes them from a mighty man shall be delivered". But when Babylon fell, the captives didn’t want to leave and preferred prosperity under the Persians, as the book of Esther makes clear. And so these things were reapplied and fulfilled in more abstract, spiritual terms. Thus the Lord Jesus alludes here in saying that through His work, the house of the strong man has been taken and his spoils looted (<a href='B:480 3:27'>Mar 3:27</a>).</p>


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<h4>I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine- The idea is as in GNB"I will make your oppressors kill each other", which will come true in the last days (<a href='B:330 38:21'>Eze 38:21</a>; <a href='B:440 2:22'>Hag 2:22</a>; <a href='B:450 14:13'>Zec 14:13</a>).</h4><h4>And all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob- The final triumph of God’s project of saving His people will be the parade witness to"all flesh"which finally brings about the spread of His Kingdom worldwide. The lovely story of Ruth speaks of our redemption. Her “kinsman redeemer” [Heb. Go’el] was the “mighty one”, Boaz. We find this word especially used in Isaiah’s prophecies to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, urging them to return from that Gentile land to Judah, and take the Gentiles with them. They had the impression there in Babylon that God had somehow forgotten them. The book of Ruth appears to have been written up [perhaps in Babylon] in order to encourage them to return- after the pattern of Naomi and Ruth returning to the land and being redeemed by their Go’el. But this Go’el is none less than God Himself. So many passages in Isaiah allude to the Ruth story: “I Yahweh am your Saviour and your redeemer [Go’el], the mighty one of Jacob” (<a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>). Judah were urged in <a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> to call upon God “While He is near”- the same Hebrew word translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our representative, of our nature. Judah in captivity were likewise encouraged by Jeremiah to return to the land- with full allusion to Ruth: “Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities::. for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall compass a man” (<a href='B:300 31:21-22'>Jer 31:21-22</a>). This refers to the way in which Ruth summed up the courage to ‘go after’ Boaz, to present herself to him for marriage- reflecting the spiritual ambition of all those who seek redemption and restoration in Christ.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, for which I have put her away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away- This can be read as God’s answer to the Jewish objection that God had as it were gotten rid of them as His wife for His own ends, such as getting cash benefit. And so He invites them to look again at the bill of divorce and remind themselves of the reasons for the divorce; LXX" Of what kind is your mother’s bill of divorcement?". It was because of their gross unfaithfulness. Ezekiel had to reason with the exiles in a similar way, arguing against their idea that God had been unreasonable to them.</h4><h4>But further, here Isaiah urged the Jews to return to the land by saying that God had forgiven them, and on this basis He appealed for them to both ‘repent’ and ‘return’ to the land. The two terms are related. Thus He showed His grace; forgiveness preceded, not followed, repentance. <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a> is clear about this: “I have swept away your transgressions like clouds [therefore] return to me, for I have [already] redeemed you”. Perhaps the question as to where the bill of divorce was could imply that it didn’t exist; God was angry with their sins, but kept no record of them- hence He could comfort Judah that there was actually no documentary evidence for their divorce and therefore she could return to Him. As Paul put it, the goodness of God leads to repentance (<a href='B:520 2:4'>Rom 2:4</a>). And we are asked to show that same “goodness” of God to others, being “kind [s:w. ‘goodness’] one to another… forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” (<a href='B:560 4:32'>Eph 4:32</a>). We too are to show this grace of forgiveness-before-repentance; but perhaps in no other area has formalized, institutionalizedChristianity failed worse. If XYZ shows us she’s repented of her divorce, then we’ll forgive her and accept her in fellowship [as if, in any case, we are the ones who need to forgive her]. These are graceless and yet terribly common attitudes. The Greek word translated “goodness” is rendered “gracious” in <a href='B:670 2:3'>1Pe 2:3</a> - newly converted babes in Christ taste of this gracious goodness, and it leads to repentance.</h4>


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<h4>Why, when I came, was there no man?- The Messiah figure was to appear at a time when the cities of Israel were desolate and needed rebuilding, and when the people had been told “Go forth” of Babylon, and Zion’s “builders” would hastily work, despite feeling themselves to be “exiles” (<a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>; <a href='B:290 49:17'>Isa 49:17</a> RVmg:,21 RV). There could have been a Messiah figure at the restoration. “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me” (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). They didn’t have the faith to believe that God’s grace was enough to really forgive them for the sins that had led them into captivity, and for their apostasy in Babylon, where they had been spiritually “marred” (<a href='B:300 13:7'>Jer 13:7</a>). And so the planned Messiah figure and Kingdom never fully happened. And God laments this: “Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer?” (<a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>). Nobody responded to the Divine call for a Messiah. No Messiah figure appeared; or the reference may also be to the paucity of response when Cyrus announced the possibility of returning to the land.</h4><h4>There even seems at times a difficulty on God’s part to understand why the people He had loved could hate Him so much:"Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, We will no more come to thee?"(<a href='B:300 2:31'>Jer 2:31</a>);"Why then has this people turned away?"(<a href='B:300 8:5'>Jer 8:5</a>);"Why have they provoked me to anger?"(<a href='B:300 8:19'>Jer 8:19</a>; <a href='B:300 2:14'>Jer 2:14</a>; <a href='B:300 30:6'>Jer 30:6</a>; <a href='B:290 5:4'>Isa 5:4</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>)."What more could I have done for my vineyard::. why did it yield wild grapes?"(<a href='B:290 5:1-7'>Isa 5:1-7</a>). This is so much the anguished cry of bewildered middle age parents as they reflect upon a wayward child. This Divine struggle to understand reflects the extraordinary depth of His love for them; and it warns us in chilling terms as to the pain we can cause God if we spurn His amazing love.</h4><p>When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem?- Here and in <a href='B:290 59:1'>Isa 59:1</a> the idea of Yahweh’s hand being shortened is used as an excuse not to repond to God’s call to quit Babylon for Zion. The idea was that His ability to act, His hand, was somehow limited or ’reaped down’. They assumed the fact they had been reaped in the harvest of judgment meant that their God had been (<a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:300 9:22'>Jer 9:22</a>; <a href='B:350 8:7'>Hos 8:7</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13'>Hos 10:13</a>). They simply refused to accept the repeated prophetic message that it was the God of Israel who brought judgment upon Israel. They treated Him as the surrounding peoples treated their gods- always saving them in trouble, and if they didn’t, then the god had died with them.</p><h4>Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst- God sent Hisprophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The word they heard was powerful, so powerful it could dry up the Red Sea in a moment (hence the dead fish; or a reference to <a href='B:20 7:21'>Exo 7:21</a>); but despite that power, the Jews didn’t respond to it, considering that God was unable to redeem from exile. So they didn’t return / repent, both to their God and to His land. Their impenitence was related to their disbelief that the Kingdom was really possible, even though they accepted Yahweh’s existence and were loyal to the culture of being His people. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son.</h4>


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<h4>I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering- This could refer to God’s deep mourning for all the wasted potential; He had empowered the people to return (:2), but they didn’t, and no Messiah figure arose as had been potentially possible. For the degree of unrealized or wasted potential is fundamentally connected to our depth of mourning.</h4><p>Isaiah’s constant references back to the Exodus deliverance are to make the point that what God had done then, He could just as easily do for the exiles as they left Babylon / Egypt. <a href='B:290 50:2-3'>Isa 50:2-3</a> could be read as a statement of God’s possibilities, bringing out the huge potential power which God could wield for the exiles:"If I were to rebuke the sea it would dry up! I could turn rivers into a wilderness::. I could clothe the heavens with blackness". All this conditional language and grammar shows the great potential which Israel could have tapped into had they wished.</p><h4>The reference may be to the plague of darkness coming upon Babylon or the Jews in judgment, just as it did upon Egypt. The final fulfilment of this will be in the last days, for it is alluded to in&nbsp; <a href='B:730 6:12'>Rev 6:12</a>,"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair".</h4>


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<h4>The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary- The previous verses have lamented Judah’s refusal to hear the call to repentance. But now the Saviour Servant speaks of how He was trained by Yahweh to teach people, Israel especially, the true way; and then to exemplify and embody that teaching in His own suffering and death (:6,7). Clearly these things refer to the Lord Jesus. The LXX speaks of His ability to teach and instruct us His people:"The Lord even God gives me the tongue of instruction, to know when it is fit to speak a word". But"those who are taught"is literally ’the disciples’, the taught ones. He spoke to them in their own tongue, in their own terms and language; and He was taught to do this. This would explain why the Lord used the language of demon possession rather than correcting those wrong ideas.</h4><p>He wakens me morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught-"Those who are taught"are literally ’the disciples’. He was taught by God, morning by morning, to hear as the disciples heard. He was progressively led to appreciate the perspective of those far less spiritual than Himself. He was taught the ability to hear as we hear, although as God’s Son He Himself heard with far quicker and deeper perception than we do.</p><p>The Lord Jesus “morning by morning” heard God’s word “as the learned” (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> AV); but the Hebrew words for “accustomed” in <a href='B:300 13:23'>Jer 13:23</a> and “learned” in <a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> are the same. God teaches by repetition- which may be out of vogue in the experience / problem based learning philosophy of current education, but it’s God’s way. Once habit solidifies, it becomes effectively part of our nature and almost impossible to change, at least in human strength- so <a href='B:300 13:23'>Jer 13:23</a> teaches us: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil”. The Hebrew translated “accustomed” carries the idea of repeated habit. The Hebrew idea of ‘teaching’ is connected to the words for ‘habit’ or ‘custom’; because teaching was by repetition.</p><h4>The Lord was noted for rising up early and praying (<a href='B:480 1:35'>Mar 1:35</a>). <a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> prophesies of the Lord Jesus that morning by morning, God awoke His ear"to learn as a disciple". That last phrase is surely to signal the intended similarities between the Lord’s path of growth, and that of all disciples. How we start our days is really so important. The next two verses go on to predict that because of this morning-by-morning teaching process,"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting"(<a href='B:290 50:5-6'>Isa 50:5-6</a>). Thus we come to the cross, the life of cross carrying, as the end result of our morning reflections. It was from His own experience that the Lord could bid us take up our cross- His cross- each morning. The unbelieving world is repeatedly characterized as walking in a crooked path (<a href='B:490 3:5'>Luk 3:5</a>; <a href='B:510 2:40'>Act 2:40</a>; Php_2:15 and often in Proverbs). Quietly starting every day right is part of our walking in a straight path, following the way of the cherubim; and by walking in that straight daily path we will not have opportunity to stumble (<a href='B:650 12:13'>Heb 12:13</a>).</h4>


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<p>The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward- The early morning teaching sessions between Father and Son resulted in His ear being opened to perceive the death of the cross. And He was not rebellious. He as"Israel"was representative of sinful Israel (see on <a href='B:290 49:1-3'>Isa 49:1-3</a>); it was the exiles who were to have their ears opened. But they refused, preferring to remain deaf (see on <a href='B:290 42:20'>Isa 42:20</a>; <a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>). But His ears were opened because He wanted to hear; unlike them He was not rebellious (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:20'>Isa 1:20</a>; <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>); He did not"turn away backward"as the idolaters of Judah did (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:17'>Isa 42:17</a>; <a href='B:300 38:22'>Jer 38:22</a>). He triumphed at every point where we as Israel fail. To be right with God, Israel had to identify with Him. We become in Him by baptism, and thus His righteousness is imputed to us (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>).</p>


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<h4>I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting- Time and again in the restoration prophecies we encounter statements intended to answer the skepticism felt by the exiles about the promises of redemption from Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). See on <a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>. The servant was called to sustain the “dispirited” by the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a>). And yet passages like <a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a> and even Isaiah 53 speak of how the servant met even physical abuse as well as rejection in his ministry to his fellow Jews. Indeed the servant feels that his mission to them has been a failure (<a href='B:290 49:1-6'>Isa 49:1-6</a>), a complaint met by God’s promise that his mission would be in some way reapplied to the Gentiles in their captivity to sin. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled out (<a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a>) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>; <a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>). The servant was spat at by his fellow Jews- an expression of utter contempt (<a href='B:220 30:10'>Job 30:10</a>). Whilst the servant prophecies find their later fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, it seems to me that in their first context, they speak of how a prophet or prophets at the time of the exile were rejected and even beaten up by their fellow Jews. Indeed, Isaiah ends on a negative note, describing the judgments to come upon the Jews who had rejected the message of deliverance from Babylon (<a href='B:290 66:24'>Isa 66:24</a>).</h4><p>As explained on :5, the cross was the end point of the Lord’s early morning teaching sessions with His Father. And so He unlike every other victim of crucifixion and torture willingly gave His body parts to His torturers.</p><h4>Jesus commanded us not to physically resist the forces of evil: “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also” (<a href='B:470 5:39-40'>Mat 5:39-40</a>). Christ is the example in this: “I gave My back to those who struck Me ::." (<a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>). The Lord gave His life, it wasn’t taken from Him. Likewise He gave His back to the smiters when they flogged Him; He gave His face to them when they spoke about pulling out His beard (<a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>).</h4><h4>The Lord would have meditated upon the way righteous men had taken upon themselves the sins of their people. Thus Jeremiah speaks as if he has committed Israel’s sins; Ezra rends his clothes and plucks off his hair, as if he has married out of the Faith (<a href='B:150 9:4'>Ezr 9:4</a> cp. <a href='B:160 13:25'>Neh 13:25</a>; the Lord received the same sinner’s treatment, <a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>). Moses’ prayer for God to relent and let him enter the land was only rejected for the sake of his association with Israel’s sins (<a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>).</h4>


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<h4>For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded- It was to be the makers of idols who were"confounded"(s:w. <a href='B:290 41:11'>Isa 41:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be"confounded"(<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment.</h4><p>Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed- This again is understandable in the context of the cross. The Lord set His face to go to Jerusalem, and the final sacrifice which would be there (<a href='B:490 9:51'>Luk 9:51</a>). He hardened His face like a rock; and yet the wicked similarly harden their faces like a rock to go in the way of the flesh (<a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>). We are hardened in our path, one way or the other. Jeremiah had his face hardened in response to his own hardening of face (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a>; <a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>), and the wicked in Israel likewise were hardened (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a>; <a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>).</p><h4>His whole life and heart direction was"set"in the way of the cross, and that eternity which He knew was beyond it. Perhaps His lack of destructive anger was because He didn’t let Himself be shamed by men, instead taking His self-worth and values from God’s acceptance of Him. To avoid"anger"in the wrong sense, we need to avoid being wrongly shamed. And we can do this by ensuring we ourselves aren’t led into shame, due to placing too great a value upon the opinions of men. Our shame should be before God for our sins against Him, and not before men. Hence the prophets often criticize Israel for not being ashamed of their sins before God (<a href='B:300 6:15'>Jer 6:15</a>). Our shame before men leads to anger; our shame before God is resolved in repentance and belief in His gracious forgiveness.</h4>


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<h4>He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me- As explored on :7, those who feel the real justification of the Spirit, the real power of imputed righteousness, will not be unsettled by human criticism or"charges"brought. For the nearness of God’s justification in Christ is more than sufficient. <a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a> is a parallel passage, speaking of how Yahweh’s righteousness (imputed to us by His justification of us in Christ) is"near to come", and His salvation soon to be revealed. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day. Keeping this hope in view means we shall ultimately have nobody and nothing charged against us, there will be no legal adversary in court with us at the last day. And this means that we handle accusation, both justified and false, in that perspective. And yet it is criticism and the shame which arises from it which can psychologically and spiritually destroy people in this life.</h4><h4>The songs of the suffering Servant are applied to us in <a href='B:520 8:31'>Rom 8:31</a>, where Paul exalts that"if God be for us, who is against us?"- alluding to <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>"The Lord God is helping me- who is he that would convict me?". If we are in Christ, we like Him cannot be condemned. In the legal context, if the judge of all is legally “for us”, then there effectively is no accuser, nothing and nobody standing against us. It’s as if Paul has rightly guessed his readers’ response: ‘OK Paul, I have nothing to say against your argument, but all the same you don’t know what a sinner I am, what a line of sins I have waiting there to condemn me’. And Paul’s exultant answer is that if God is “for us”- and he has demonstrated this time and again, that God quite simply wants to save us- then nothing and nobody, not even our own sins, can ultimately stand against us.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who shall condemn me?- As explained on :8, with God on our side in the final judgment, as both judge and advocate, there are no charges against us nor legal adversaries left in the court room. Yahweh had repeatedly offered the"servant"His"help"in order to encourage the weak minded exiles to return to Zion, just as His hand had ’helped’ Hezekiah against the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:8'>2Ch 32:8</a>). At the restoration, Ezra believed this"help"would enable the restoration to the extent that they didn’t need any human soldiers to help them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a> s:w:).</h4><h4>Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up- The"they"are any possible adversaries who might bring charges against us. This had particular relevance to all the adversaries to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. With Yahweh justifying the returned exiles, the court room was effectively empty of adversaries, all charges were to be seen in the perspective of God’s ultimate justification of His people (see on :8). These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth. We find the same ideas in <a href='B:290 51:6'>Isa 51:6</a>, where the"they"is the ’heavens and earth’ of any system, be it Persia / Babylon or an unbelieving Jewish system, which is adversarial toGod’s people and purpose. The contrast is with how the clothing of Israel in the wilderness did not"wax old"(s:w. <a href='B:50 8:4'>Deu 8:4</a>; <a href='B:50 29:5'>Deu 29:5</a>; <a href='B:160 9:21'>Neh 9:21</a>). The exodus and journey to the promised land is repeatedly alluded to in Isaiah as a pattern for the exiles to follow in returning to Judah, and for us in our exodus from this world and journey towards the Kingdom.</h4>


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<h4>Who is among you who fears Yahweh, who obeys the voice of His servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God- See on :11. The"darkness"initially was that of exile in Babylon; see on <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>. A Messianic figure was to arise, whose voice they were to obey, and thereby trust in their God. This didn’t happen at the time, and so it is all reapplied to the Lord Jesus as the servant. But the servant whose voice was to be obeyed was intended to be Cyrus."Who is among you who fears Yahweh::. his God?"is the language of <a href='B:150 1:3'>Ezr 1:3</a>. Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way."Voice"is s:w. <a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a> about the proclamation of Cyrus, the servant (<a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>). Yet Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers to guard them on the journey only because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), as if he really did want the support but was ashamed to ask for it. He disallowed Isaiah’s prophesy that the restored Israel would never be ashamed [s:w. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>).</h4><h4>The Yahweh Name is the most essential challenge to faith."I will be"is a challenge to believe that what is not yet seen will be on the basis of what has been and what is. We must trust / believe in the Name of Yahweh (<a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>).</h4>


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<p>Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow- Why this reference to paganism and idolatry immediately after the call to obey the voice of God’s servant Cyrus and leave Babylon (:10)? Isaiah frequently shows the folly of worshipping Babylonian idols. And yet it seems that it was Judah’s worship of these idols that kept them in Babylon. Those who feared Yahweh had none of the&nbsp; light provided by the Babylonian idols; but the majority preferred Babylon’s light to Zion’s.</p>


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<h4>Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh- Ponder the parallel between <a href='B:290 51:1'>Isa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:290 51:7'>Isa 51:7</a>: “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord… hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness”. To know God’s righteousness is to seek / follow it; of itself, it inspires us to ambitiously seek to attain it. The Messianic servant addresses the exiles again, specifically those who were seeking Yahweh rather than seeking idols . God was willing to push forward His salvation plan even with a remnant, but there is no evidence there was even a remnant of repentant, faithful ones at the time of the restoration.</h4><h4>Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from- The rock and pit were the feeble Abraham and Sarah (:2). The returning, repentant exiles could potentially have been the little stone cut out of the rocky mountain of Daniel 2, which would come to the eretz / land promised to Abraham and form the reestablished Kingdom of God. But they failed in this, and so Daniel 2 had a longer fulfilment. To liken Abraham and Sarah to a"pit"is strange, but GNB offers"quarry". The extra information of Daniel 2 is that they were cut out"without hands".</h4>


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<p>Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many- Abraham was called before he had children, and his wife barren; but from that feeble beginning God made a new nation. The tiny remnant of exiles who were faithful should not therefore consider that they were too few to become the revived Kingdom of God in Judah. All the time we sense they had so many fears and such weak faith, and God through Isaiah is patiently addressing them and encouraging them. <a href='B:330 33:24'>Eze 33:24</a> records how the exiles turned this reasoning on its head; they argued that they were many, and so seeing Abraham was few and received the land, so they ought moreso to be given it. They missed the point, that the repentant remnant would be very small indeed. But even if they were just two people like Abraham and Sarah, who also lived far away from Judah to the east, they could still be multiplied and have the Abrahamic blessing fulfilled in them.</p>


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<p>For Yahweh has comforted Zion; He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody- The past tense is used to bring out how this potential was so certain of fulfilment- if they wanted it. The appeal of Isaiah 40 to"comfort"God’s people was being repeated- but they had to accept it. I argued on Genesis 1, 2 that the garden of Eden was the eretz promised to Abraham; Eden could have been restored in the reestablished Kingdom of God which was now possible if they listened in obedience and repentance (:4). Adam like Judah had been exiled eastward, but was now being recalled. Instead of the sadness associated with the curse and moral failure, there would instead have been joy.</p>


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<p>Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, My nation: for a law shall go forth from Me, and I will establish My justice for a light of the peoples- The LXX better brings out the parallel between God’s people and the Gentiles. A remnant from both groups were being invited to repent and join in with a new, multiethnic people of God in the restored Kingdom:"Hear me, hear me, my people; and ye kings, hearken to me: for a law shall proceed from me, and my judgment shall be for a light of the nations". This is the envisaged"law"going forth from Zion in the reestablished Kingdom (<a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>), not the law of Moses, but a law which was to be"a light to the peoples". Ultimately this is the message of the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, the word / law made flesh.</p>


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<h4>My righteousness is near, My salvation is gone forth, and My arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for Me, and on My arm shall they trust- The Kingdom could have come very quickly had the exiles repented. God was so eager to fulfill His saving plan. Hence LXX"My righteousness speedily draws nigh". His enthusiasm and almost impatience to save His people reflects an eternal aspect of His character, which encourages us that He is far from indifferent as to the outcome of His saving purpose with us. See on :14.</h4><h4>Note the parallel between righteousness and salvation. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day.</h4>


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<p>Lift up your eyes to the skies, and look on the land beneath; for the skies shall vanish away like smoke, and the land shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but My salvation shall be eternal, and My righteousness shall not be abolished- This is parallel in reference to <a href='B:290 50:9'>Isa 50:9</a>:"Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up". The"they"are any possible adversaries who might bring charges against us. This had particular relevance to all the adversaries to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. With Yahweh justifying the returned exiles, the court room was effectively empty of adversaries, all charges were to be seen in the perspective of God’s ultimate justification of His people (see on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>). These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth. We find the same ideas here in <a href='B:290 51:6'>Isa 51:6</a>, where the"they"is the ’heavens and earth’ of any system, be it Persia / Babylon or an unbelieving Jewish system, which is adversarial to God’s people and purpose. The contrast is with how the clothing of Israel in the wilderness did not"wax old"(s:w. <a href='B:50 8:4'>Deu 8:4</a>; <a href='B:50 29:5'>Deu 29:5</a>; <a href='B:160 9:21'>Neh 9:21</a>). The exodus and journey to the promised land is repeatedly alluded to in Isaiah as a pattern for the exiles to follow in returning to Judah, and for us in our exodus from this world and journey towards the Kingdom.</p>


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<h4>Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law- This is addressed to the righteous minority amongst the exiles, who although they couldn’t fully obey the law in exile, still had it in their hearts. And if they entered the new covenant, the Spirit would write that law in their hearts (<a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a>). But instead, the returned exiles refused to have the law in their hearts(<a href='B:450 7:12'>Zec 7:12</a>), and so these things are reapplied to Gentiles who are willing to have the essence of Divine law in their hearts (<a href='B:520 2:15'>Rom 2:15</a>).</h4><h4>Don’t fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults- See on :1,6. As explained on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>, we need not fear insults nor false accusation from men because we shall ultimately be justified, and even now have righteousness imputed to us. This had particular relevance to the returned exiles."Reproach"is s:w. <a href='B:160 1:3'>Neh 1:3</a>; <a href='B:160 2:17'>Neh 2:17</a>; <a href='B:160 4:4'>Neh 4:4</a>; <a href='B:160 5:9'>Neh 5:9</a> about the reproach of the Gentiles against the partially rebuilt Jerusalem. <a href='B:290 51:3-11'>Isa 51:3-11</a> is clearly in a restoration context. This passage seems to have foreseen the lagging of spirit in Zerubbabel and the builders, and the need to encourage them that a second group of exiles ought to have come with Nehemiah with great joy. A few came, but this yet further opportunity was again not realized by the returnees. See on :11.</h4>


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<h4>For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool- These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth, and also as a"worm". See on :6.</h4><h4>But My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation to all generations- Note the parallel between righteousness and salvation. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day. Keeping this hope in view means we shall ultimately have nobody and nothing charged against us, there will be no legal adversary in court with us at the last day. And this means that we handle accusation, both justified and false,"the reproach of men"(:7) in that perspective. And yet it is criticism and the shame which arises from it which can psychologically and spiritually destroy people in this life.</h4>


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<h4>Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh- This and :10 are perhaps God’s hopeful imagination of how the exiles would pray to Him; the kind of Divine fantasy which Hosea had about the repentance of Gomer and her return to him which he imagined to the point of fantasizing about. LXX"Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of thine arm", repeated in :17. The exiles are called"Jerusalem". They called themselves this (<a href='B:290 48:2'>Isa 48:2</a>); but they needed to do more than such merely external, legalistic, ritualistic identification of themselves with a name and culture. And that is an abiding challenge for God’s people today. They had to"awake", to allow God’s Spirit to act upon their hearts to"stir up"their spirits (s:w. <a href='B:130 5:26'>1Ch 5:26</a>; <a href='B:140 21:16'>2Ch 21:16</a>), just as He had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to let them return (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:22'>2Ch 36:22</a>). The spirit of the exiles was likewise awoken or stirred up to return (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it You who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?- If they allowed themselves to be ’awoken’ or ’stirred up’, then Yahweh would likewise awake for them and act miraculously as He had at the time of the exodus from Egypt. But they would not be stirred up, and so the stirring up or awaking of Yahweh’s arm had a longer term application. The arm of the Lord- a title of Christ- is described as awaking (cp:Christ’s resurrection), and as being"It which hath dried the (Red) Sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made a way for the ransomed to pass over"(<a href='B:290 51:9-10'>Isa 51:9-10</a>). This is describing the work of Christ in language applicable to the Angel of the Exodus who brought Israel through the Red Sea.</p><p>Marduk killed Tiamat in the waters and cut him in pieces. This is one of many mocking allusions to Marduk, showing Yahweh’s supremacy over him. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>. Marduk was formed- but Yahweh had no god before Him and will have none after Him (<a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>). Marduk had a counsellor, Ea, called in the inscriptions “the all-wise one”. But Yahweh has all wisdom and has no such counsellor (<a href='B:290 40:13-14'>Isa 40:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>). All this reference to the Marduk cult was in my opinion not merely a pointless mockery and poking of fun at the Persian culture. It was a very real appeal to the Jewish exiles to quit it, to come out and be separate; remember again and again that Mordecai [and perhaps Esther too] had adopted names reflective of the Marduk cult.</p><h4>Yahweh"Trod on the back of Sea", i:e. the supposed Satan figure called"Sea"(<a href='B:220 9:8'>Job 9:8</a>; <a href='B:50 33:29'>Deu 33:29</a>; <a href='B:370 4:13'>Amo 4:13</a>; <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a>; <a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a>). Even if such a being existed, he had been destroyed for good by Yahweh at the Red Sea."You split Sea::. cut Rahab in pieces::. didst pierce the dragon"(<a href='B:230 78:13'>Psa 78:13</a>; <a href='B:160 9:11'>Neh 9:11</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9-11'>Isa 51:9-11</a>). Thus the splitting of the Red Sea was understood as a splitting of the Satan figure or god known as"Sea". All this was what Moses had in mind when he sought to explain to his people what had happened at the Red Sea- even if there were such a being as the"Sea"god of evil, Yahweh their God had totally destroyed him and split him into pieces. And the real ’satan’ was Egypt, real men on a real earth who posed a danger to Israel.</h4>


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<h4>Isn’t it You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?- Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>).</h4><h4>The allusion is not only to the exodus, but to creation itself. The present world was created by a re-organization of things which existed in some form before. This means that when our own lives, or the collective life of God’s people, appears to be in chaos- then we can in faith reflect that God has brought beautiful order out of chaos, and He can likewise powerfully bring order to what seems hopeless. This is the context of the creation allusions in the laments of <a href='B:230 74:12-17'>Psa 74:12-17</a>; <a href='B:230 89:10-15'>Psa 89:10-15</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a> etc.</h4>


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<h4>The ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and weeping shall flee away- Isaiah had repeatedly prophesied that Judah would come with joy to Zion, and would continue there with an everlasting joy. But the records give little indication that they were joyful; <a href='B:160 8:9-10'>Neh 8:9-10</a> shows Nehemiah encouraging them to be joyful, because “the joy of the Lord is your strength”. They didn’t want to have all joy and peace through believing; and so the Kingdom of joy didn’t come. They didn’t live the Kingdom life of joy, and so they didn’t possess or experience the Kingdom. The lowness of their petty concerns deprived them of it.</h4><h4>There was great joy at the time of the first Purim in Esther’s time when sorrow was turned to joy (s:w. <a href='B:190 9:22'>Est 9:22</a>), but the people did not return. The restoration was intended to be the time when sorrow was turned to joy (<a href='B:300 31:13'>Jer 31:13</a> s:w:). But as we can, they forgot the price aid for their ransom and remained in slavery. And those who did return didn’t do so with the voice of joy, but with nervousness and then complaining about the famine, bad harvests and diseases they and their crops were smitten with on returning. The eternal joy spoken of here will come true only at the return of the Lord Jesus. Joy by its nature is temporal in this life, because of our emotional structure; we cannot maintain such experiences of joy in a permanent sense. But this is the wonderful nature of salvation."Sorrow and sighing"is the same phrase used about David’s feelings because of his sin with Bathsheba (<a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>). As noted throughout Isaiah 35, the essential theme is of internal spiritual transformation, and no longer experiencing the effects of sin; for that is the greatest"joy". The exiles refused all these things, and so they are reapplied to the final removal of sorrow and sighing at the return of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:730 21:3-4'>Rev 21:3-4</a>).</h4>


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<h4>I, even I, am He who comforts you- God is not distant; the God of the cosmos was eager to personally draw near to the hearts ("comfort") of the exiles. But they refused.</h4><p>Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die- <a href='B:290 40:6-8'>Isa 40:6-8</a> has the same basic message of comfort through the message of human mortality and weakness. For it is our fear of others, of their opinions and judgments, which causes so much discomfort to so many. And so here too, the mortality of humanity is used as a comfort to the downtrodden people of God. Because man is mortal::. don’t fear man, but rather God. And this is to be a comfort to us. God chose His message of comfort to be simply:"Man is mortal!". But the exiles and the potential"servant"figure feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom he thought would not allow their restoration; see on :16; <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a>. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked. But then God removed Belshazzar and Cyrus gave the decree for them to return. And they refused even that. But all their possible excuses for not responding to the call of the Gospel are dealt with in Isaiah’s prophecies; and mankind today is likewise without excuse for not responding.</p><h4>And of the son of man who shall be made as grass- In Hebrew thought, “the Son of man” meant an ordinary, mortal man (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>). Several times we are reminded that “God is not a man” (<a href='B:40 23:19'>Num 23:19</a>; <a href='B:350 11:9'>Hos 11:9</a>); yet Christ was clearly “the Son of man” or, as he is often called in the New Testament, “the man Christ Jesus”. The Greek text calls him “son of anthropos”, i:e. of mankind, rather than “son of aner” [husband, man].</h4>


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<h4>And have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy; and where is the fury of the oppressor?- LXX"because of the wrath of him that afflicted thee: for whereas he counseled to take thee away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted thee?". In the Isaiah context, this is clearly a reflection upon the boast of the Assyrians that they would take Zion into captivity in their land. The exiles were intended to remember this and to realize that the apparent strength of Babylon and its leadership was not going to hinder their restoration (see on :12).</h4><h4>Time and again, Isaiah’s restoration prophecies told Judah that they should not fear, as Yahweh would mightily be with them in their work (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>; <a href='B:290 41:13-14'>Isa 41:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8'>Isa 44:8</a>; <a href='B:290 44:11'>Isa 44:11</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>; <a href='B:290 54:14'>Isa 54:14</a>; <a href='B:290 59:19'>Isa 59:19</a>). But Judah feared the surrounding nations- Ezra and Nehemiah are full of this theme (<a href='B:150 3:3'>Ezr 3:3</a>). Nehemiah refused to be put in fear by the Samaritan opposition because of his faith in Isaiah’s promises (<a href='B:160 6:14'>Neh 6:14</a>). And Isaiah further spoke to Judah’s heart in <a href='B:290 51:12-13'>Isa 51:12-13</a>: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations [s:w. re. the foundation of the temple being laid] of the earth [‘heaven and earth’ often refers to the temple]; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” (AV). The fact they did fear meant that they had forgotten Yahweh who was so eager to re-establish their Kingdom.</h4>


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<h4>The captive exile shall speedily be freed- Again we note how"speedily"the deliverance and reestablishment of the Kingdom could have happened. The Kingdom was indeed very"near"; see on :5.</h4><p>And he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail- See on <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>. The exiles failed to discern that in spiritual terms Babylon was a prison cell from which the righteous should seek to hasten out of, to flee from; to shake off the yoke it put upon their necks (<a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>). Yet all they saw was a nice, comfy life, and they thought they were doing their bit by giving some silver and gold to those who wanted to return and build the temple, a desire which they would all have soberly nodded in agreement with as being ‘a great work’ (what similarities with ourselves?). Those who did return satisfied themselves with a small temple, disregarding the instructions which Ezekiel had given them in Babylon, they lacked the faith to believe that Yahweh would be a wall of fire around them and instead built their own wall, and got on with building their own ceiled houses (as Haggai lamented) rather than Yahweh’s house, marrying the local women, extorting wealth even from each other and enslaving their less fortunate brethren, trading on the Sabbath, allowing the local Arab leaders chambers even in the temple:::and so the Kingdom prophecies were deferred. The process that could have brought about Yahweh’s establishment of His Kingdom seems to have been centered around an attack from the surrounding nations, aimed against the wonderful new temple Judah were supposed to have built, which would be destroyed by Yahweh who dwelt in that temple [‘Zion’].</p><h4><a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>, speaking of the call to Judah to leave Babylon, sounds as if they were&nbsp; willing and eager to leave that spiritually dreadful place. But the reality was that Judah didn’t hasten to be loosed, they preferred the Babylon life, and didn’t perceive it for the spiritual pit that was killing them which it was. Most of them chose to remain there. So this passage is therefore a prophecy, a command, about how God wanted Judah to respond.</h4>


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<h4>For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of Armies is His name- The roaring of the waves is applied here to Yahweh’s victory at the roaring Red Sea, implying that this invasion is going to be destroyed as the Egyptians were. This didn’t happen at the Babylonian invasion, although potentially it could’ve done had Judah repented. <a href='B:290 17:12'>Isa 17:12</a> uses the phrase about the judgment upon Syria and Israel (and probably Judah is also in view here (see on <a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>), with the rushing of waters&nbsp; representing the various nations in the Assyrian or Babylonian confederacy. But this strange rush of nations against them would be strangely stopped (<a href='B:290 17:13'>Isa 17:13</a>), by grace."The roaring of the seas"is the term used for the Babylonian invasion of Judah (<a href='B:300 5:22'>Jer 5:22</a>; <a href='B:300 6:23'>Jer 6:23</a>). What began in Isaiah 17 as a prophecy of judgment against Syria and Israel at the hands of the Assyrians now morphs into judgment against Judah at the hands of the Babylonians; see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>.</h4><h4>There is Angelic reference here:"The Lord of Hosts (of Angels) is His Name::. I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand (an Angelic phrase- for the Angel hid Moses in the shadow of His hand), that I may::. say unto Zion, Thou art My people"(<a href='B:290 51:15-16'>Isa 51:15-16</a>).</h4>


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<h4>I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of My hand- This would be achieved if they accepted the Spirit, part of the package offered in the new covenant (<a href='B:290 59:21'>Isa 59:21</a>). His words would be written in their hearts too. Having Divine words put in the mouth meant they were to be as Aaron and Moses before Pharaoh (s:w. <a href='B:20 4:15'>Exo 4:15</a>); for it was also Moses who was covered in the shadow of Yahweh’s hand as He passed by. See on <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a>. Remember that they were bidden flee Babylon before she fell to the Medes. The servant figure need not have feared the king of Babylon, he was intended to go to him and plead as Moses"let My people go". But the exiles feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom they thought would not allow their restoration; see on :12. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are My people’- LXX renders this in the future tense:"I will put my words into thy mouth, and I will shelter thee under the shadow of mine hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth: and the Lord shall say to Sion, Thou art my people". But the confusion of tenses is because this is what Yahweh had already done for His people; He was about to make a new creation, with all the excitement of the creator; but they didn’t want to be recreated. They had to realize that potential. And it’s the same for us, called to leave Babylon and participate in the reestablished Kingdom of God.</p><h4>As God longed to pronounce the words “You are my people” to them (<a href='B:350 2:23'>Hos 2:23</a>), so here Isaiah speaks of how at the restoration God wished to use that very phrase to returned Judah; see on <a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a>. Hosea / God speak in the most shocking terms- “I will sow her… in the land” (<a href='B:350 2:23'>Hos 2:23</a>). This means, bluntly, they would have sex, in the land of God. But the Jews in Babylon just plain weren’t interested in returning to the land. They preferred to remain there where they were, and ‘worship’ God, criticizing others for their apostasy, but not really come back to Him with any passion. God wished that once again He would be with them in the wilderness as He was at the beginning of their national relationship, and then enter a new covenant with them, the joy of which would result in the physical transformation of the planet.</h4>


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<h4>Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem- The exiles are called"Jerusalem". They called themselves this (<a href='B:290 48:2'>Isa 48:2</a>); but they needed to do more than such merely external, legalistic, ritualistic identification of themselves with a name and culture. And that is an abiding challenge for God’s people today. They had to"awake", to allow God’s Spirit to act upon their hearts to"stir up"their spirits (s:w. <a href='B:130 5:26'>1Ch 5:26</a>; <a href='B:140 21:16'>2Ch 21:16</a>), just as He had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to let them return (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:22'>2Ch 36:22</a>). The spirit of the exiles was likewise awoken or stirred up to return (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>).</h4><p>God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be"raised up"[s:w:]- <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to"Awake!"- the same word translated"stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</p><p>Yahweh would"stir up"Cyrus (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), so this could have been fulfilled through that stirred up"mighty man"of <a href='B:290 42:13'>Isa 42:13</a>. But he failed. The"mighty man", the gibbor, therefore became reapplied to the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> s:w:). But He will act through the stirring up of a repentant Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>), seeing that no man would be ’stirred up’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). All the potential candidates had refused the Divine nudges to be stirred up.</p><h4>That has drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it- Taking the cup of wine is a double symbol: of blessing (<a href='B:530 10:16'>1Co 10:16</a>; <a href='B:530 11:25'>1Co 11:25</a>), and of condemnation (<a href='B:230 60:3'>Psa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:230 75:8'>Psa 75:8</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>; <a href='B:730 14:10'>Rev 14:10</a>; <a href='B:730 16:19'>Rev 16:19</a>). Why this use of a double symbol? Surely the Lord designed this sacrament in order to highlight the two ways which are placed before us by taking that cup: it is either to our blessing, or to our condemnation. Each breaking of bread is a further stage along one of those two roads. Paul realized this in pleading with the Corinthians to examine themselves before taking the emblems. He saw the ceremony and our self-examination there as a kind of foretaste of the judgment (<a href='B:530 11:29-32'>1Co 11:29-32</a>). If they wanted to accept it, judgment was over and done. But they didn’t, and so they were to many times more drink it.</h4>


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<h4>There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up- The LXX renders this in the past tense:"and there was none to comfort thee of all the children whom thou borest; and there was none to take hold of thine hand, not even of all the children whom thou has reared". Now Isaiah returns to the reality- that they would not respond to the call, and would have no servant figure who could in the spirit of Moses ask the king of Babylon to let them go; see on :16.</h4><h4>Zerubbabel, the ‘shoot out of Babylon’ as his name means, could have been the promised Messianic shoot out of the withered stem of Jesse. He could have been the Messianic shoot out of the dry ground of Babylon (<a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) who would accompany the return of the temple vessels from Babylon (<a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). But he disappears strangely out of the record. Thus the events of Nehemiah 8, where the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles as well as the dedication of the wall are all recorded, make no mention of the High Priest or Zerubbabel officiating. He, Joshua and indeed anyone who could have taken their place somehowdidn’t rise to the occasion. And so <a href='B:290 51:17-18'>Isa 51:17-18</a> lamented, prophetically: “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury [at the end of the 70 years captivity]::. [but] There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up”. It was the responsibility of the priests and religious leaders to"gently lead"the exiles back to their God and their land, but they failed in this (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a> s:w:); and so because their was none to guide / gently lead (s:w:), God Himself had to intervene and do this through His Son (<a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:290 49:10'>Isa 49:10</a>).</h4>


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<p>These two things have happened to you; who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?- God was eager to personally comfort them, but they refused. Hence this rhetorical question. The primary reference is to God seeking to comfort them over the desolation of Judah by the Babylonians. But also in view may be the withholding of agricultural blessing after the restoration which occurred several times- in <a href='B:160 5:2-3'>Neh 5:2-3</a> (as prophesied here in <a href='B:290 51:19'>Isa 51:19</a>), in Haggai’s time, and later in <a href='B:460 3:10'>Mal 3:10</a>; <a href='B:460 3:12'>Mal 3:12</a>; when the restored Zion could have been as the garden of Eden, i:e. paradise restored on earth (<a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>). Here we see frightening similarities with ourselves. We know, but often don’t do. We sense this cycle of failure, crying out for mercy, receiving it, failing again, crying for mercy, receiving it, failing again:::we see it in Israel, in our brethren and those around us, and in ourselves. We can expound it, lament it, feel the shame and tragedy of it all:::and yet continue to have a part in it. Eventually, the people stayed in this groove so long that they degenerated into how they were at the time of Malachi- self-righteous, with no sense of failure any more, living self-centered lives of petty materialism, earning wages as they did in Haggai’s time, to put into pockets with holes in, life without satisfaction, achieving nothing, passively angry. This is what Malachi clearly portrays. It’s a terrible picture, and one which we can sail dangerously close to identifying with.</p>


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<p>Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God- God recognizes here that He is not unaware of the desolation of Jerusalem. He uses the language of Lamentations to describe the scenes. He is not the judge who hands out judgments and sentences with no personal comprehension of what they involve. But these judgments had been legitimate; but they were now over, if they wanted them to be (:21,22).</p>


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<p>Therefore hear now this, you afflicted and drunken, but not with wine- They had drunk the cup of judgment (:17,20), but not the wine of final condemnation. Isaiah’s prophecies continually emphasize that God is fully aware of their"affliction", and would have mercy upon them in it (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p>Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of His people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of My wrath; you shall no more drink it again- Babylon fell so that Persia would take over the administration of the 127 provinces where the Jews were scattered, and would allow them to return to Judah (<a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>). The cup of judgment which Judah drunk for 70 years was passed to Babylon. This accounts for Isaiah’s repeated and detailed emphasis on the coming fall of Babylon for Judah / Israel’s sake (e:g. Isaiah 47). They had been asked to flee Babylon before that, but when they didn’t, God still worked with them; now reasoning as if their cup of judgment had passed to Babylon (:23), and they were now free to leave Babylon. Although they had sinned, Yahweh showed His gracious love for His people by bringing down Babylon so that they might leave (<a href='B:290 48:14'>Isa 48:14</a>). “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee [Cyrus] by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me “ (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). Likewise the iron curtain came down to allow preachers of God’s Truth to take it to those once in darkness. And English has become the lingua-franca of the world, enabling Christian preaching to now penetrate societies literally world-wide:&nbsp;See on <a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a></p>


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<p>And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over- See on :22. There were yet to be many times when the Gentiles would trample Zion underfoot. Here and in :22 is envisioned a time when this would never happen again. The Babylonian treading down of Jerusalem could have been the last time. But that potential was spurned by the exiles. And so there shall come one final time in the last days when Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (<a href='B:490 21:24'>Luk 21:24</a>), when these prophecies will come to their final term.</p>


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<h4>Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion-&nbsp; God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be"raised up"[s:w:]- <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to"Awake!"- the same word translated"stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</h4><p>Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city- The implication is that she was about to be married to Yahweh.</p><h4>For henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean- But the uncircumcised did come and live in the temple and marry the Jews. And Ezra and Nehemiah covered themselves with sackcloth in mourning because of these things. And thus they showed that this prophecy could not be fulfilled at their time. Tobiah the Ammonite was given a chamber in the temple for him to use as an office for undermining God’s people (<a href='B:160 13:7'>Neh 13:7</a>). This precluded the fulfilment of the restoration prophecies. There were to be “holy chambers” in the temple for the Levites (<a href='B:330 46:19'>Eze 46:19</a> and very often in Ezekiel 40-48). The uncircumcised Gentiles were not to be brought into the sanctuary (<a href='B:330 44:7'>Eze 44:7</a>). It was God’s intention that when Judah returned from Babylon, the uncircumcised would not come into Zion (the temple), and the Kingdom would be established (<a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). There was to be no Canaanite in the house of Yahweh (<a href='B:450 14:21'>Zec 14:21</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem!- God’s psychological stirring up of the exiles (:1) depended upon them being open to this- hence the verbs here suggest proactive action by the exiles themselves- shaking themselves, arising and sitting up."Arise"is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to"Arise::. Jerusalem!"(<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form of Yahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival. The word for"sit up"is in fact used of how both Ezra and Nehemiah"sat down"in grief at the apostasy of the Jews (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>; <a href='B:160 1:4'>Neh 1:4</a>):&nbsp;</h4><h4>Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!- The Jews didn’t perceive the soft life of Babylon as chains around their necks, and so they didn’t loose themselves and leave. See on <a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>. The same words are used in <a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> of how the exiles refused to release the bonds they had placed upon their brethren. And yet they were themselves in bondage, needing release, if only they would realize their true position. But God was simply so positive about His people- <a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a> appears to be a descriptive statement about the Jews, but in reality it wasn’t true: “The bound down one hastens to be loosed”. Sadly, they didn’t respond to the exhortation to loose themselves from the bands upon them (<a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>). They preferred to stay in bondage, as so many do today, despite God willing them to seek release as He did with the exiles.</h4>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh, You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money- They were"sold for nothing"in that God had no personal benefit from the exile of His people; He did this to them for their spiritual benefit, not for any gain for Himself. Their redemption likewise would be according to His grace, and not because of any transaction between God and man. This was reflected in the way Cyrus commanded the Jews to return and provided all that was materially required to rebuild the temple, but"not for reward", for no personal benefit (<a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>).</p>


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<p>For thus says the Lord Yahweh, My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause- If we take this translation, then this is amazing grace; for the prophets are full of reasons / causes as to why Israel were oppressed by Assyria. But God is prepared to impute righteousness to them to such an extent that this is seen as having been"without cause". But GNB is worth considering:"When you went to live in Egypt as foreigners [in disobedience, at the time of Jeremiah, with him pleading with them not to], you did so of your own free will; Assyria, however, took you away by force and paid nothing for you:&nbsp;And now in Babylonia the same thing has happened: you are captives, and nothing was paid for you".</p>


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<p>Now therefore, what do I do here, says Yahweh, seeing that My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock, says Yahweh, and My name continually all the day is blasphemed- See on :4. LXX"And now why are ye here?"would suggest that the Jews ought to have already returned. The Babylonians didn’t so much mock them, as their God. They were not unpopular in Babylon, and they were popular under Persian rule, as the book of Esther makes clear. They should not only have left Babylon, but quit worshipping the local idols and shown what Yahweh worship was really about; and He would have acted in a wondrous way to restore His Kingdom. But their impenitence precluded that from happening, and so the restoration project of Yahweh didn’t work out as planned, and so His Name was blasphemed. This verse seems to be behind &nbsp;the mention in <a href='B:520 2:24'>Rom 2:24</a> that God’s Name was blasphemed amongst the Gentiles because of Jewish impenitence and refusal to accept Messiah. Hence this prophesy continues to state that He would reveal His Name to His people as it is in His Son, and then they would ultimately accept Him and thus the blasphemy of God’s Name would cease.</p>


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<p>Therefore My people shall know My name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, it is I- See on :5. The lament in :5 that God’s Name was blasphemed may refer to blasphemy by the exiles, in that they bore His Name but worshipped idols. In the day of restoration, they would"know"the Name in truth which they had before blasphemed or caused to be blasphemed, and not just as a word or culture they adhered to. Knowing God’s Name is paralleled to knowing that He really speaks and His saving purpose expressed in that word is Him."It is I","the word was God", that word which for the exiles was all about their certain salvation in His Kingdom, was the essence of God. He is all about saving, and so His Son was rightly named ’Yah’s salvation’.</p>


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<h4>How beautiful on the mountains- This may refer as an intensive plural to the great mountain, of Zion. For it is Zion, the temple mount, which is addressed with the news that"Your God reigns".</h4><p>Are the feet of him who brings good news- The future reestablished Kingdom is called “good things” in <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> (quoted in <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>) and <a href='B:300 8:15'>Jer 8:15</a>. All things work together for good (<a href='B:520 8:28'>Rom 8:28</a>) doesn’t mean that somehow everything will work out OK for us in this life- for so often they don’t. We are asked to carry the Lord’s cross, to suffer now and be redeemed in glory later at His return, in the “good things” of the Kingdom.</p><p>Who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation- The"peace"in view is peace with God after all Israel’s conflict with Him.</p><p>Who says to Zion, Your God reigns!- The enthronement of Yahweh in Zion could have happened at the time of the restoration. So much potential was disallowed by Judah’s lack of faith, vision and repentance. And so these things are applied to the Lord Jesus, who is presented here as both the herald of the king and also the king. But all that is true of Him, the servant named"Israel", is true of all those in Him. Isaiah’s description of the beauty of Christ’s heralding or preaching in <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is quoted by Paul concerning every preacher of the Gospel (<a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>); the “he” of Isaiah 52 is changed to “them” in Romans 10. And Paul is quoting this Old Testament prophecy about Jesus to prove that we are all “sent” to preach the Gospel. The validity of our commission to preach is quite simply that Jesus Himself preached; in this way we are all personally “sent” to preach, simply because He was sent to preach. As the Father sent Him, so He sends us.</p><p>The whole latter part of Isaiah is full of descriptions of this preaching to Israel, appealing to them to repent, humble themselves, quit their materialism and idolatry, and accept the Lord Jesus as Messiah (e:g. 55:1-5). The preaching of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is the"report"concerning Christ’s cross of <a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>; the message of"peace"of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is the Gospel of peace with God through the sacrifice of Christ (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). And Isaiah 40 expands this message to include the mortality of man and the primacy of God’s word. All these things are distinctive Bible doctrines; it is surely we who ought to be making this witness!</p><h4>In <a href='B:520 15:21'>Rom 15:21</a>, Paul justifies his preaching by quoting from part of the suffering servant prophecy in Isaiah 52 / 53. That whole passage is set in a context of explaining “how beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings… all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (<a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>; <a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a> AV). The preaching of good tidings and the declaration ofGod’s salvation was through the crucifixion. Paul quotes <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>: “To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand”. This was Paul’s justification for taking the Gospel to where Christ has not been named. Note in passing how the Lord Jesus sees us as “beautiful” in our witness to Him (as in <a href='B:260 7:1'>Son 7:1</a>). Yet further into Isaiah 53, so much else jumps out at us as appropriate to Paul’s preaching: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high [cp. Paul knowing how to be exalted and abased, themes that occur in Isaiah 53 about Jesus’ death]. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man [cp. Paul’s thorn in the flesh?], and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for [that] which had not been told them shall they see; and [that] which they had not heard shall they consider”. Paul appeared before Agrippa, Festus, and one or two Caesars, with a visage marred by his evangelistic sufferings.</h4>


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<h4>The voice of your watchmen! They lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye- GNB perhaps gives the sense:"Those who guard the city are shouting, shouting together for joy. They can see with their own eyes the return of the LORD to Zion":&nbsp; <a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> and other passages suggest the literal dwelling of Yahweh in Zion, such as will happen at the establishment of the Kingdom when we shall see His face, and God Himself shall dwell amongst us (<a href='B:730 22:4'>Rev 22:4</a>). Such wonderful potentials were wasted by the exiles. For this could have happened then in some sense. This is a prophecy embedded between verses which speak of the command for Judah to leave Babylon: “Loose thyself from the bands… depart ye, go ye out from thence” (<a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). But most of them preferred to remain. Who are the watchmen? Surely they are the Angels, who potentially prepared the way for Judah to leave Babylon. Had the people of Judah followed the cherubim Angels above them and all returned to Zion, they would have as it were seen the Angels eye to eye, sung together with the Angels at the new creation of Zion… and God’s eyes are the Angels, so in that sense Judah would have seen eye to eye with God. But they didn’t utilize what God had prepared; they lazily preferred to stay within their comfort zones by remaining in Babylon. In our experience in Christ, the same is all true, day by day. The way is set up for us, and if we bravely and boldly go in the way which the Angels have prepared, the way God intends, then we will have the experience of truly walking with the Lord, singing with His Angels, seeing eye to eye, in foretaste of the final day when we shall finally see Him face to face. See on <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a>.</h4><h4>When Yahweh brings Zion back- Time and again, Jeremiah had prophesied how Yahweh would bring again His people and the vessels of the temple back to the land (<a href='B:300 28:3-4'>Jer 28:3-4</a>; <a href='B:300 28:6'>Jer 28:6</a>; <a href='B:300 30:3'>Jer 30:3</a>; <a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a>; <a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>); and this all had a fulfilment in the return from captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah. It was then that in some sense Yahweh ‘brought again Zion’ (<a href='B:290 52:8'>Isa 52:8</a>). The same word is to be found in <a href='B:330 38:8'>Eze 38:8</a> and <a href='B:330 39:27'>Eze 39:27</a>, where again, the invasion is to happen once Judah had been ‘brought again’ from captivity. Judah returned, and yet they didn’t rebuild the temple as they were commanded. Therefore the invasion didn’t come, and therefore the Kingdom wasn’t then established. As if knowing this, <a href='B:350 6:11'>Hos 6:11</a> had prophesied [otherwise strangely] that Judah would reap their punishment, when they returned from captivity. They returned [s:w. ‘bring again’], but not to the Most High (<a href='B:350 7:16'>Hos 7:16</a>). Joel 3, however, speaks from the perspective that Judah would be ‘brought again’ from Babylon under Ezra; and then&nbsp; <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a> “I will also gather all nations::. and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land”. This applies therefore to the last days.</h4>


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<p>Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem- The broken down wastes of Jerusalem suddenly bursting into joy suggests an immediate, in a moment transformation; rather than slow and partial rebuilding with many obstacles and difficulty shifting the rubble, as was experienced at the restoration. Such a rebuilding of the waste places as envisioned here would suggest miraculous Divine intervention and activity. It will finally come true when the heavenly Jerusalem and Zion descend from above, ready built, onto the site of Zion; as seen in the final visions of Revelation.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God- The past tense is used because this outcome was so certain- but it still depended upon the repentance and faith of the exiles. Had they returned, supported with the same kind of miraculous manifestations as seen at the exodus, then"the nations"amongst whom they were scattered, the 127 provinces of Persia, would have seen God’s arm revealed. The ends of the eretz were specifically those areas on the borders of the eretz promised to Abraham, which is where they had been taken into captivity.</h4><h4>But this didn’t happen. And so the arm of Yahweh which brings salvation is revealed now to the nations through the work of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>). We can reflect how an omnipotent God could have achieved salvation in a less painful way than He did- but He made bare His arm in the death of the cross (<a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a>), i:e. He expended Himself greatly. The same idea is present when we read of Yahweh paying a price for the redemption of His people from Egypt. He didn’t pay the Egyptians anything, but the figure is used to express the extensive effort He was involved in for His people.</h4>


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<p>Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the temple vessels of Yahweh- See on :1. “Come out from among them and be separate” (<a href='B:540 6:17'>2Co 6:17</a>) is picking up the language of <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:300 50:8'>Jer 50:8</a>; <a href='B:450 2:7'>Zec 2:7</a> concerning the return of the exiles from Babylon. The edict of Cyrus for the Jews to return to the land was reapplied to God’s command to us to leave the spirit of Babylon, the Gentile world, and go up to do His work. The returned exiles are us. <a href='B:330 40:42'>Eze 40:42</a> speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple [AV “instruments”] with the same word used for the temple vessels which were brought up out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (<a href='B:150 1:6-11'>Ezr 1:6-11</a>; <a href='B:150 8:25-33'>Ezr 8:25-33</a> cp. <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>). The restoration of the kingdom could potentially have happened at the time of Ezra. LXX"separate yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord"was not really obeyed by the Levites and priests at the time of the restoration, because Malachi as well as Ezra and Nehemiah often mention their lack of separation from the peoples of the land, even intermarrying with them.</p>


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<p>For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for Yahweh will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your vanguard- Although the exodus from Egypt was in many ways a pattern for the exiles to leave Babylon, in distinction from then, they would not"go out in haste"(s:w. <a href='B:50 16:3'>Deu 16:3</a>). They would not be persecuted in Babylon, leading them to flee. Rather they were to"flee"from Babylon spiritually (<a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>) of their own volition and desire. After the decree of Cyrus, they went with the King’s blessing and not in panic. Thepromise that Yahweh would go before and behind them suggests that He would be even more present with them than He was with the Israelites who left Egypt, for He went before them but not also behind them. Such a visible accompaniment of the exiles back to Zion was potentially possible.</p>


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<h4>Behold, My servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high- This continues the allusions to the exodus in :12 and throughout the servant songs. Moses was the great servant of Yahweh, and he"was very great"in the eyes of the Egyptians and their leaders (<a href='B:20 11:3'>Exo 11:3</a>). The servant figure had been intended to come before the king of Babylon as Moses came before Pharaoh, to demand freedom for God’s people, and then to lead them out of Babylon back to Judah, accompanied by Divine miracles, signs and logistical provision just as Israel had on their wilderness journey (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>; <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a>). The potential servant figures at the time of the restoration failed in this, and so the prophecies are reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His mediation for us on the cross, leading His people thereby out of Babylon into the restored Kingdom.</h4><p>Clearly a Messiah figure could have arisen at the restoration:"And their leader shall be one of them, and their ruler shall come forth from their midst; and I will bring him near, and he shall approach me; for who would dare to risk his life to approach me?’ declares the LORD” (<a href='B:300 30:18-21'>Jer 30:18-21</a> NAS). This leader who would come close to God in mediation would be willing to give his life to enable this. This must be connected with how Isaiah 53, describing Messiah’s death, is actually in a restoration context (beginning in Isaiah 52). Could it not be that a Messiah figure could have arisen and died a sacrificial death to bring his people to God? Daniel 9 likewise associates the rebuilding of Zion with the death of “Messiah the prince” to reconcile Israel to God- perhaps potentially possible within a literal 70 week period from Cyrus’ decree? Ezra’s prayer of Ezra 9 is full of reference to Daniel 9, as if he saw it as capable of fulfilment then.</p><h4>The glory "high and lifted up" which Isaiah saw in <a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a> is more specifically defined here in <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a> where "high and lifted up" is used of the exaltation of the suffering servant, the Messiah figure who could have been Hezekiah, had he responded rightly to his sufferings. But after God’s attempts to reapply it to Zerubbabel and others, it came to full term in the suffering of the Lord Jesus. <a href='B:290 6:10'>Isa 6:10</a> is quoted in John 12, with the information that "these things said Isaiah, because he foresaw his glory, and he spoke about him" (<a href='B:500 12:41'>Joh 12:41</a>). The hour of glory was the hour of crucifixion. The son of God, naked, covered in blood and spittle::. was the Son of man glorified. And likewise when we are fools for Christ’s sake, then we know His glory. <a href='B:500 12:37-41'>Joh 12:37-41</a> tells us that Isaiah 6 is a vision of the Lord Jesus in glory; and in this passage John quotes both Isaiah 6, 53 together, reflecting their connection and application to the same event, namely the Lord’s crucifixion. So it is established that Isaiah 6 is a vision of the crucified Lord Jesus, high and lifted up in glory in God’s sight, whilst covered in blood and spittle, with no beauty that man should desire Him. The point is, when Isaiah saw this vision he was convicted of his sinfulness: "Woe is me, for I am undone::.". And yet the same vision comforted him with the reality of forgiveness, and inspired him to offer to go forth and witness to Israel&nbsp;of God’s grace. Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord "high and lifted up", with the temple veil torn (<a href='B:290 6:4'>Isa 6:4</a> cp. <a href='B:470 27:51'>Mat 27:51</a>), and was moved to realize his sinfulness, and vow to spread the appeal for repentance (<a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a>; <a href='B:290 6:5'>Isa 6:5</a>). The high, lifted up Lord whom he saw was He of <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a> - the crucified Lord. And yet Isaiah saw Him enthroned in God’s glory, as it were on the cross. What was the nadir of shame in the eyes of men was the acme of exaltation in God’s eyes. So John links the visions of Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 52/53 as both concerning the crucifixion (<a href='B:500 12:37-41'>Joh 12:37-41</a>); there the glory and essence of God was revealed supremely. <a href='B:500 12:38-41'>Joh 12:38-41</a> draws a parallel between being converted, and understanding the prophecies of the glory of the crucified Christ. To know Him in His time of dying, to see the arm of Yahweh revealed in Him there, is to be converted.</h4>


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<h4>Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men)- see on <a href='B:10 39:6'>Gen 39:6</a>; <a href='B:220 17:7-8'>Job 17:7-8</a>. We are to be “conformed to the image of [God’s] son"(<a href='B:520 8:29'>Rom 8:29</a>)- to share His morphe, which was so marred beyond recognition that men turned away in disgust (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> cp. Php_2:7). The mind that was in Him then must be in us now (Php_2:5). This is proof enough that His"form"was not His essential nature. It is a form which we can share and reflect. The mixture of the Divine and human in the Lord Jesus is what makes Him so compelling and motivational. He was like us in that He had our nature and temptations; and yet despite that, He was different from us in that He didn’t sin. Philippians 2 explains how on the cross, the Lord Jesus was so supremely"in the likeness of men"; and yet the same ’suffering servant’ prophecy which Philippians 2 alludes to also makes the point that on the cross,"his appearance was so unlike the sons of Adam"(<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a>). There was something both human and non-human in His manifestation of the Father upon the cross. Never before nor since has such supreme God-likeness, ’Divinity’ , if you like, been displayed in such an extremely human form- a naked, weak, mortal man in His final death throes.</h4><p>There, on the cross, the Lord Jesus was the form of God, equal with God in that sense, the only begotten Son. And yet on the cross His form was marred more than that of any man, He finally had no form that could be desired (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a>; <a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>). And yet this was the form of God. He&nbsp; was contorted and marred more than ever, there was no beauty in Him that men should desire Him, in those hours in which His Son suffered there. The Lord Jesus then had the form of God, although in His mind He had taken the form of a servant. The Lord made Himself a servant in His mind; He looked not on His own things, but on those of others (Php_2:4; Php_2:7). This is the context of Philippians 2; that we should have the mind of Christ, who disregarded His own status as Son of God and humbled Himself, even to death on the cross, so that we might share His status. His example really is ours, Paul is saying.</p><h4>He was ‘lifted up’ in crucifixion and shame; and yet ‘lifted up’ in ‘glory’ in God’s eyes through that act. We read in <a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> that His face was more marred, more brutally transmogrified, than that of any man. And yet reflecting upon <a href='B:540 4:4'>2Co 4:4</a>; <a href='B:540 4:6'>2Co 4:6</a>, we find that His face was the face of God; His glory was and is the Father’s glory: “The glory of Christ, who is the image of God… the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Zenon Ziolkowski (Spor O Calun) discusses contemporary descriptions of the faces of the crucified, including Jehohanan the Zealot, whose crucifixion Josephus mentions. Their faces were renowned for being terribly distorted by pain. The Lord’s face was marred even more than that of any other, so much so that those who saw Him looked away (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> AV). This prophecy may suggest that for the Lord, the crucifixion process hurt even more.</h4>


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<h4>So shall he sprinkle many nations- Perhaps alluding to the ritual of sprinkling blood upon the leper to pronounce him clean (s:w. <a href='B:30 14:7'>Lev 14:7</a>). Men from all nations were in prospect sprinkled by His blood; and therefore we must extend the knowledge of this to all men, both in our collective and personal witness. <a href='B:490 24:48'>Luk 24:48</a> simply comments that the disciples were witnesses to the resurrection and the fact that forgiveness and salvation was therefore potentially available to all men. The parallel records in Mt. and Mk. say that they were told to go out and witness to the resurrection world-wide. Putting them together it is apparent that if we are truly witnesses of the resurrection in our own faith, then part and parcel of this is to take this witness out into our ownlittle worlds. If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, we will preach it world-wide. He died and rose as the representative of all men; and therefore this good news should be preached to all kinds and all races of people.</h4><p>Kings shall shut their mouths at him- As explained on :13, the servant was to witness before kings, and stun them into silence if they had any objection to the idea of the salvation of God’s people. But"shut their mouths"may also imply repentance by these"kings". I suggest this because the whole reason for the Law of Moses was “so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (<a href='B:520 3:19'>Rom 3:19</a>). Paul is quoting here from <a href='B:230 63:11'>Psa 63:11</a>: “the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped”. He’s reasoning that because we’re all sinners, we’re all liars- for untruth is the essence of sin. We are not being true to ourselves, to God, to His word, to our brethren… we profess covenant relationship with God, to be His people, and yet we fail to keep the terms of that covenant. And the Law of Moses convicted all God’s people of this, and in this way led them to the need for Christ. Yet <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a> prophesied that the crucified Jesus would result in men shutting their mouths. The righteousness and perfection displayed there in one Man, the very human Lord Jesus, has the same effect upon us as the Law of Moses- we shut our mouths, convicted of sin.</p><h4>For that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand- Paul read “…for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (<a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>) as a prophecy which required him to fulfill it, by taking Christ to those who had not heard (<a href='B:520 15:21'>Rom 15:21</a>). It was because they of themselves would not"consider"/ ’understand’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:3'>Isa 1:3</a>) that they were psychologically confirmed in their attitudes and blinded so that they would not understand / consider (<a href='B:290 6:9-10'>Isa 6:9-10</a>). And so God operates to this day. It was the suffering of the servant, the Lord Jesus upon the cross, which was designed to as it were jolt them into considering / understanding (s:w. <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>). So GNB"They will see and understand something they had never known".</h4>


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<h4>Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?- The context of this arm of Yahweh is found in <a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a>"Yahweh has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God". The past tense was used because this outcome was so certain- but it still depended upon the repentance and faith of the exiles. Had they returned, supported with the same kind of miraculous manifestations as seen at the exodus, then"the nations"amongst whom they were scattered, the 127 provinces of Persia, would have seen God’s arm revealed; the revelation (s:w:) of His salvation (<a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a>). The ends of the eretz were specifically those areas on the borders of the eretz promised to Abraham, which is where they had been taken into captivity. But this didn’t happen. The message of these things was not generally believed by the exiles, despite all the appeals to them to believe it (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a> s:w:). And so the arm of Yahweh which brings salvation is revealed now to the nations through the work of the Lord Jesus.</h4><h4>Note the pronouns in Isaiah 53. The “we” who preach the Gospel of the cross are the “we” who rejected and condemned the Saviour, and the “we” whose sins are forgiven and who are reconciled to God. These are the reasons why we preach the crucified Christ in zeal and humility (<a href='B:290 53:1-3'>Isa 53:1-3</a>; <a href='B:290 53:5-6'>Isa 53:5-6</a>). Grace is the motive power for witness; we preach the word of His grace as it has been to us. We aren’t&nbsp; little sinners. It was our race who crucified the Lord of glory, and we have some part in their behaviour.</h4><h4>h laments that despite the wonder of the atonement God would work out on the cross, scarcely any would believe it, and men would turn away their faces from the crucified Christ (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>; Isa 533). And so it happened. Men and women went out that Friday afternoon to behold it, they saw it for a few moments, beat their breasts and returned to their homes (<a href='B:490 23:48'>Luk 23:48</a>). My sense is that most of that crowd still died in unbelief, untouched by what they saw that day. And so it is with us. We break bread, and we rise up and go on our way, we return to the pettiness of our lives, to a spirituality which often amounts (at its best) to little more than a scratching about on the surface of our natures. But let’s not look away, and change the subject; let’s see the love of Christ, behold it, and by this very act be changed into that same image, from glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (<a href='B:540 3:18'>2Co 3:18</a>).</h4><h4>And we didn’t respect him- We are programmed to shy away from the ultimate realities, in the same way as men hid their faces from the terror and dastardly horror of the crucifixion of God’s Son (<a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), and as"none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding"to realize the idiocy of worshipping a piece of wood as an idol (<a href='B:290 44:19'>Isa 44:19</a>).</h4>


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<h4>For he grew up before Him as a tender plant- Isaiah 53 is prefaced in chapter 52 by the command to return from Babylon and to proclaim the good news of the Messianic Kingdom which Cyrus’ decree could have brought in; as if it could have come true then. He shall “grow up” as a root from a dry land (<a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) uses the word frequently used about the ‘going up’ from Babylon to Jerusalem.</h4>&nbsp;<p>When Zedekiah was taken into captivity (<a href='B:330 17:20'>Eze 17:20</a>), it was prophesied that “a tender one” (Messiah- <a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>; <a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) would be planted “upon an high mountain”, and grow into a tree in whose shadows all animals would live (<a href='B:330 17:21-22'>Eze 17:21-22</a>). This is clearly the Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:490 13:19'>Luk 13:19</a>). This young twig at the time of the captivity was surely Zerubabbel, and the “high mountain” upon which his Kingdom could have been established is surely the “high mountain” of <a href='B:330 40:2'>Eze 40:2</a> where the temple could have been built. Yet the prophecy had to suffer a massive deferment until its fulfilment in Christ. See on <a href='B:290 51:18'>Isa 51:18</a>.</p><p>And as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty; when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him- This is possibly a window onto the question of whether the Lord was handsome, or otherwise. But the essential point is that He grew up tender and sensitive in a hard environment. We cannot therefore blame our dry, unspiritual environments for our lack of spirituality. The Lord arose from such dry ground, green and tender, ultimately sensitive in an insensitive world. The thirsty land surrounding Him represented spiritually barren Israel (<a href='B:230 42:1-3'>Psa 42:1-3</a>); but the Lord Jesus so took His people upon Him, into His very soul, that His soul became a thirsty land (<a href='B:230 143:6'>Psa 143:6</a>); He felt as spiritually barren as they were, so close was His representation of us, so close was He to sinful man, so fully did He enter into the feelings of the sinner. In the same way as the Lord really did feel forsaken as Israel were because of their sins, so He suffered thirst, both literally and spiritually, which was a punishment for Israel’s sins.</p><h4><a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a> speaks of Messiah, in a restoration context beginning in Isaiah 52, as ‘growing up’, the same word used to describe the ‘coming up’ from the dry ground of Babylon. This potential Messiah could have been Zerubbabel, but when he failed to fulfill the prophecies, there was the possibility that another man could have fulfilled his role. Nehemiah ‘came up’ from Babylon, and was “the servant” who ‘prospered’Yahweh’s work (<a href='B:160 1:11'>Neh 1:11</a>; <a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a>), just as the servant prophecies required (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>; <a href='B:290 48:15'>Isa 48:15</a>); and he was thereby the redeemer of his brethren (<a href='B:160 5:8'>Neh 5:8</a>). He encouraged the singing of praise on the walls of Zion (<a href='B:160 9:5'>Neh 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 12:46'>Neh 12:46</a>), surely in a conscious effort to fulfill the words of <a href='B:290 60:18'>Isa 60:18</a> - that Zion’s gates in Messiah’s Kingdom would be praise. He was “despised” as Messiah would be (<a href='B:160 2:19'>Neh 2:19</a>; <a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a> s:w:). He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, as Messiah would (<a href='B:160 2:12'>Neh 2:12</a> cp. <a href='B:450 9:9'>Zec 9:9</a>); and <a href='B:160 2:16'>Neh 2:16</a> sounds very much like “of the people there was none with me” (<a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a>). The Gentiles round about came to sit at Nehemiah’s table to eat and drink (<a href='B:160 5:17'>Neh 5:17</a>), just as Isaiah had prophesied could happen on a grander scale at the restoration of the Kingdom. One wonders if the potential fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies was transferred to&nbsp; him? And yet Nehemiah returned to Babylon at least once, and there is no record that on his second visit he stayed on, but rather, the implication seems to be, he returned again to the service of Babylon. The total lack of Biblical information about his later life may reflect this disappointing decision. This train of thought enables us to appreciate the joy and pleasure which the Father had when finally His beloved Son lived up to all that He sought and expected.</h4>


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<h4>He was despised- The same word occurs in <a href='B:340 4:17'>Dan 4:17</a>, concerning how Yahweh will exalt the basest, the least esteemed, to be King over the kingdoms of this world. That made-basest man was a reference to the Lord Jesus. He humbled Himself on the cross, that He might be exalted. Peter had his eye on this fact when he asks us to humble ourselves, after the pattern of the Lord, that we might be exalted in due time (<a href='B:670 5:6'>1Pe 5:6</a>). He desired greatness in the Kingdom, and so can we;&nbsp; for the brighter stars only reflect more glory of the Sun (<a href='B:530 15:41'>1Co 15:41</a>):&nbsp;This very thought alone should lift us up on the eagle wings of Spirit above whatever monotony or grief we now endure.</h4><h4>And rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face- LXX"for his face is turned from us"would connect with how Hezekiah turned his face to the wall during his illness (<a href='B:290 38:2'>Isa 38:2</a>). His whole life was a being acquainted with grief (<a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a> AV); and yet we read in this same context that He was put to grief in His death (:10). The grief of His death was an extension of the grief of His life. “Who hath believed our report?" (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>) was fulfilled by the Jewish rejection of Him in His life, as well as in His death (<a href='B:500 12:38'>Joh 12:38</a>)."He bore the sin of many" (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>) is applied by <a href='B:500 1:29'>Joh 1:29</a> to how during His ministry, the Lord Jesus bore the sin of the world.</h4>


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<h4>Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering- God speaks of being burdened by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 43:24'>Isa 43:24</a>)- and yet this is a prelude to the passages which speak of the Lord Jesus bearing our sins on the cross (<a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11-12'>Isa 53:11-12</a>). We even read of God being wearied by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 7:13'>Isa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>; <a href='B:330 24:12'>Eze 24:12</a>; <a href='B:460 2:17'>Mal 2:17</a>). Even though God does not "grow weary" (<a href='B:290 40:28'>Isa 40:28</a>) by nature, it seems to me that in His full entering into His people’s situation, He does allow Himself to grow weary with the sins of those with whom He is in covenant relationship. It was this kind of capacity which God has which was supremely revealed in His ’sharing in’ the crucifixion of His Son.</h4><p>The Lord Jesus during His ministry fulfilled the prophecy of <a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> that on the cross He would ‘take our infirmities’ (<a href='B:470 8:17'>Mat 8:17</a>). These “infirmities” according to <a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> were our sins, but sin’s effect is manifested through sickness. The moral dimension to these “infirmities” is established by Paul in Romans, for in <a href='B:520 5:6'>Rom 5:6</a> he uses the word to describe how “when we were yet weak [s:w. ‘infirm’], Christ died for the ungodly; and he explains his sense here as being that “when we were yet sinners” (<a href='B:520 5:8'>Rom 5:8</a>). Jesus as the Lord the Spirit engages with our infirmities, on the plane of the spirit, the deep human mind and psyche. What He did on the cross in engaging with our moral infirmity He did in His life, and He continues to do for us in essence.</p><h4>Yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted- "We esteemed him [as He hung on the cross] smitten of God" (<a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> AV). It was in a sense God who "clave the rock" so that the waters gushed out (<a href='B:230 78:15'>Psa 78:15</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>). "Clave" or "struck" / "smitten" implies that the rock was literally broken open; and in this we see a dim foreshadowing of the gaping hole in the Lord’s side after the spear thrust, as well as a more figurative image of how His life and mind were broken apart in His final sacrifice. See on <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>.</h4>


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<h4>But he was pierced for our transgressions- We are to reconstruct in our own minds the process of the crucifixion. As the nails pierced His skin and flood flowed::. this was for my transgressions.</h4><p>He was crushed for our iniquities- AV "bruised". Note that the Lord was beaten up at least three times: by the Jewish guards, by Herod’s men and by the Roman soldiers. In a literal sense He was bruised for our iniquities, and chastised for us to obtain the peace of sin forgiven (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). The Father surely foresaw all this back in <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>, where the promised seed was to be bruised. He was bruised "and by his bruises we are healed" (LXX). The Lord Jesus was “wounded in the heel” through his death. <a href='B:290 53:4-5'>Isa 53:4-5</a> describes Him as being ‘bruised’ by God through his death on the cross. This&nbsp;plainly alludes to the prophecy of <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a> that the serpent would bruise Christ. However, ultimately God worked through the evil which Christ faced, He is described here as doing the bruising (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>), through controlling the forces of evil which bruised His Son. And so God also works through the evil experiences of each of His children.</p><p>The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed- Many have pointed out the connections between the promises to David in 2 Samuel 7 about Jesus, and the later commentary upon them in Psalms 89 and Isaiah 53, with reference to the crucifixion.</p><p>If he [Jesus] commit iniquity = If his children [us] forsake my law… = The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all</p><h4>I will chasten him with the rod of men = Then will I visit their transgression with the rod = For the transgression of my people was he stricken</h4><p>And with the stripes of the children of men = And their iniquity with stripes = With his stripes we are healed.</p><p>The point of all this is to show how our sins were somehow carried by the Lord Jesus, to the extent that He suffered for them. But how was this actually achieved? It is one thing to say it, but we must put meaning into the words. I suggest it was in that the Lord&nbsp; so identified with us, His heart so bled for us, that He felt a sinner even though He of course never sinned. The final cry “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” clearly refers back to all the many passages which speak of God forsaking the wicked, but never forsaking the righteous. The Lord, it seems to me, felt a sinner, although He was not one, and thus entered into this sense of crisis and fear He had sinned. He so identified with us. In the bearing of His cross, we likewise must identify with others, with their needs and with the desperation of their human condition… and this is what will convert them, as the Lord’s identification with us saved us.</p><h4>The Lord was chastened with the rod of men "and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross. But punishment with rod and stripes was to be given if Messiah sinned (<a href='B:100 7:14'>2Sa 7:14</a>). Yet the Lord Jesus received this punishment; because God counted Him as if He were a sinner. His sharing in our condemnation was no harmless piece of theology. He really did feel, deep inside Him, that He was a sinner, forsaken by God. Instead of lifting up His face to Heaven, with the freedom of sinlessness, He fell on His face before the Father in Gethsemane (<a href='B:470 26:39'>Mat 26:39</a>), bearing the guilt of human sin.</h4>


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<h4>All we like sheep have gone astray; each one has turned to his own way- The Bible is in one sense a very long history book, recording human behaviour over time from God’s perspective. One thing at least is clear from that history- the majority are usually wrong. People go astray “like sheep”, in that they follow each other into sin. Time and again we see that the minority position was the right and Godly one, and the majority position was wrong. We each sin in our own unique and personal ways; but we do so because we follow the flock. And the context of Isaiah 53 is that the crucifixion of the Lord was necessary exactly because of this. He was the ultimate strong man psychologically, who ultimately went the Father’s way when no other human ever did.</h4><p>In the short term, the sheep were scattered by the wolf, even though the Lord died so this wouldn’t happen. And He knew in advance that this would happen (<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:480 14:27'>Mar 14:27</a>; <a href='B:500 16:32'>Joh 16:32</a>). The Lord faced His final agony with the knowledge that in the short term, what He was dying in order to stop (i:e. the scattering of the sheep) wouldn’t work. The sheep would still be scattered, and He knew that throughout the history of His church they would still keep wandering off and getting lost (according to <a href='B:490 15:3-6'>Luk 15:3-6</a>). Yet He died for us from the motive of ultimately saving us from the effect of doing this. He had clearly thought through the sheep / shepherd symbolism. Unity and holding on to the faith were therefore what He died to achieve (cp. <a href='B:500 17:21-23'>Joh 17:21-23</a>); our disunity and apostasy, each turning to his own, is a denial of the Lord’s sufferings. And this is why it causes Him such pain.</p><h4>And Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all- see on <a href='B:490 15:4-6'>Luk 15:4-6</a>. That piece of wood that was laid upon the Lord by the Father, however the Lord physically took it up, represented our sins, which were laid upon Him; your laziness to do your readings early this morning, my snap at the woman in the bus, his hatred of his mother in law::. that piece of wood was the symbol of our sins, every one of them. This is what we brought upon Him. It was our laziness, our enmity, our foolishness, our weak will::. that necessitated the death of Jesus in this terrible way. It was Yahweh who laid on the Lord the iniquity of us all, as if He was present there when the soldiers laid the cross upon the Lord’s shoulders(<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>).</h4>


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<h4>He was taken away- Much study has been done of the crisis many males go through around the age of 30, the desire to stop experimenting and settle down, to cease being cared for and instead seeking to build up something permanent, the sense that life is passing by:::it has all been very well summed up by Daniel Levinson in his study of the"age thirty transition". All this energy was released by the Lord into His three year ministry which changed human destiny, so intense and far reaching and successful was it."I go to prepare a place for you:::."is surely an allusion to the Palestinian tradition that the wife came to live with the new husband after a year and a day, whilst He ’prepared the place’ for her. The cross was His purchase of us as His bride. The bridegroom was “taken away” from the wedding guests (<a href='B:480 2:20'>Mar 2:20</a>)- the same word used in the LXX of <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> for the ‘taking away’ of the Lord Jesus in His crucifixion death. But the groom is ‘taken away’ from the guests- because he is going off to marry his bride. The cross, in all its tears, blood and pain, was the Lord’s wedding to us.</h4><p>By oppression and judgement- LXX"In his humiliation his judgment was taken away". But if as the MT, in what sense did the oppression and lack of justice take away His life? The Lord poured out His soul unto death;"he was taken away by distress"(<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> AVmg:) suggests that it was the mental crisis in the brain of Christ on the cross which resulted in His death. This is why Pilate marvelled that He died so quickly. It is evident from this that the physical process of crucifixion did not kill Christ, but rather the heart burst (both figurative and literal) which it brought upon Him. Do we not sense that striving in our minds as we fellowship His sufferings? Surely we do, but from a great distance. Yet we should sense it more and more, it should make us get out of this sense of drifting which we all too often have, day by day drifting along with very little stirring up our minds.</p><p>And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living- “Cut off" is Heb. ‘excluded’, "from the land of the living” (s:w. ‘the congregation’- of Israel). And this was for the transgression of His people. This is undoubtedly reference to the self-sacrificial exclusion of Moses from the land, that Israel might enter. The Lord died the death of a sinner, He chose like Moses to suffer affliction with us, that we might be saved.</p><h4>And stricken for the disobedience of My people?- see on <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>. The darkness that came down at the crucifixion would have recalled <a href='B:300 33:19-21'>Jer 33:19-21</a> - when day and night no longer follow their normal sequence, God is breaking His covenant. Israel’s condemnation would be that “even at midday you will grope like a blind man in the dark" (<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>). And yet the Lord would have known that He was suffering for Israel, treated as an apostate Israel, and thus He was the more inspired to pray for their ultimate forgiveness and salvation, seeing He had borne their condemnation. The Lord suffered “for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due"(<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> RVmg:). There are therefore elements of the crucifixion sufferings of Jesus in every suffering of natural Israel.</h4>


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<p>They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth- see on <a href='B:50 34:6'>Deu 34:6</a>. Sin is likened to violence in <a href='B:290 53:9'>Isa 53:9</a> cp. <a href='B:670 2:22'>1Pe 2:22</a>. There is a clear fulfilment in the Lord’s burial in the graveyard belonging to the rich man Joseph of Arimathea. But this obvious fulfilment of prophecy isn’t noted in the New Testament. A hallmark of God’s Hand in the record is that what to us are the most obvious OT prophecies are not quoted; e:g. <a href='B:290 53:7'>Isa 53:7</a>:"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth". A human author would have made great capital from such detailed fulfillments. But not so the Almighty. Hebrew, along with all the Semitic languages, has no superlatives. God doesn’t need them. And the record of the cross is a classic example. The record of the resurrection reflects a similar culture. The actual resurrection isn’t ever described [in marked contrast to how it is in the uninspired‘gospels’]. Instead we read of the impact of His resurrection upon His disciples.</p>


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<h4>Yet it was Yahweh’s will to bruise him- It was God who ’bruised’ the Lord on the cross. <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a> says it was the seed of the serpent who bruised Him. Conclusion: God worked through the seed of the serpent, God was [and is] totally in control. The serpent is therefore not a symbol of radical, free flying evil which is somehow outside of God’s control, and which ’bruised’ God’s Son whilst God was powerless to stop His Son being bruised. Not at all. God was in control, even of the seed of the serpent. However we finally wish to interpret"the seed of the serpent", the simple fact is that God was in powerful control of it / him.</h4><p>He has caused him to suffer. When You make his soul an offering for sin- <a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a> NIV describes the Lord’s death as a"guilt offering". Ignorance is no atonement for sin, as the Law taught."Forgive them for they know not what they do"sounds as if the Lord felt that He was the offering for ignorance, which was required for both rulers and ordinary Israelites (cp. how Peter and Paul describe both the rulers and ordinary people as"ignorant", implying they had a need for the ignorance offering of Christ, <a href='B:510 3:17'>Act 3:17</a>; <a href='B:510 13:27'>Act 13:27</a>). And significantly, <a href='B:650 5:2'>Heb 5:2</a> describes Christ as a good priest who can have compassion on those (i:e. us) who have sinned through ignorance and want reconciliation. As we come, progressively, to realize our sinfulness, we need to make a guilt offering. But that guilt offering has already been made, with the plea"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". All our sin, false guilt and real guilt, has been dealt with. We perhaps cannot ultimately decide, at least not by any intellectual process, what parts of our sense of"guilt"are false guilt, and which are legitimate and needful guilt. Whatever, the Lord’s guilt offering has removed all this.</p><h4>The Lord’s soul was sorrowful unto death in Gethsemane, as if the stress alone nearly killed Him (<a href='B:480 14:34'>Mar 14:34</a>)."My soul is full of troubles, and my life (therefore) draweth nigh unto the grave"(<a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>). <a href='B:290 53:10-12'>Isa 53:10-12</a> speaks of the fact that the Lord’s soul suffered as being the basis of our redemption; the mind contained within that spat upon head, as it hung on that tortured body; this was where our salvation was won. Death is the ultimately intense experience, and living a life dedicated to death would have had an intensifying effect upon the Lord’s character and personality.</h4><p>The LXX is very relevant to Hezekiah:"The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed".</p><p>He shall see his seed- It seems to me that in some sense the Lord Jesus had a vision of us in the Kingdom just before his death (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>; <a href='B:650 12:2'>Heb 12:2</a>; <a href='B:230 22:17'>Psa 22:17</a>; <a href='B:230 22:20'>Psa 22:20</a> cp. <a href='B:560 5:30'>Eph 5:30</a>)."When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed::. he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied"(<a href='B:290 53:10-11'>Isa 53:10-11</a> AV)."When"would suggest that the Lord had some kind of vision of those He was offering Himself for, especially in their future, forgiven state.</p><p>Another take is that when God made His soul sin on the cross [AV “offering for sin" is not in the Hebrew text- it’s an interpretation], then He saw [Heb. to perceive / discern] His seed (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). This all seems to mean that it was through this feeling as a sinner deep within His very soul, that the Lord Jesus came to‘see’, to closely identify with, to perceive truly, us His sinful seed / children. And He did this right at the very end of His hours of suffering, as if this was the climax of His sufferings- they led Him to a full and total identity with sinful men and women. And once He reached that point, He died. The total identity of the Lord with our sinfulness is brought out in passages like <a href='B:520 8:3'>Rom 8:3</a>, describing Jesus as being “in the likeness of sinful flesh"when He was made a sin offering; and <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>, which speaks of how He “his own self…in his own body" bore our sins “upon the tree". Note that it was at the time of His death that He was especially like this. I believe that these passages speak more of the Lord’s moral association with sinners, which reached a climax in His death, than they do of His ‘nature’.</p><p>He shall prolong his days- The victory of the Lord Jesus is described as Him ’prolonging his days’, in allusion back to the way <a href='B:50 17:20'>Deu 17:20</a> teaches that the King of Israel must study the word all the days of his life, with the result that he would"prolong his days". The almost unbelievable victory of the man Christ Jesus against every aspect of the flesh was due to His saturation with the spirit of God’s word.</p><h4>And the will of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand- The pleasure or will of our loving Father is that we should share His Kingdom (<a href='B:490 12:32'>Luk 12:32</a>), and that pleasure / will prospered through the cross of Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). God isn’t indifferent. He wants us to be there. That’s why He gave His Son to die. It’s as simple as that. The deepest longings we feel in our earthly lives, as parents, as lovers, are mere flickers of the hungering desire God feels for us. It is a desire that cost Him His very own crucified son. He willed (not"pleased", as AV) this bruising, and this putting to grief (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). The parallel here between the bruising, beating and putting to grief may suggest that the beatings up (’bruisings’) really grieved the Lord. And note that the final sacrifice of which Isaiah 53 speaks was not only achieved by the hours spent hanging on the cross. This earlier beating and abusing was just as much a part of His final passion, as, in essence, His whole life was a living out of the principles of the cross.</h4>


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<h4>After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied- I prefer AV"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied". He will and does now see in us the [result of] the travail of His soul. We note that His travail was so much internal,"of his soul". The term"travail / suffering of [the] soul"effectively means ’His life’s work’ (<a href='B:250 2:24'>Ecc 2:24</a>; <a href='B:250 4:8'>Ecc 4:8</a>; <a href='B:250 6:7'>Ecc 6:7</a> s:w:). As we die, one by one, and He knows that for sure He will resurrect and save us at the last day::. this verse comes true, time and again. He sees the result of His life’s work and His final death::. and is"satisfied".</h4><p>My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself- “Raised for our justification’ (<a href='B:520 4:25'>Rom 4:25</a>) is an allusion to the LXX of <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>, which speaks of “the righteous servant” (Jesus) “justifying the righteous”. The repetition of the word “righteous” suggests that on account of the Lord’s death, and resurrection, His righteousness becomes ours, through this process of justification. But how and why, exactly, does Christ’s death and resurrection enable our justification? Paul has explained that faith in God brings justification before Him. Now Paul is explaining how and why this process operates Jesus died and rose again to eternal life as our representative. If we believe into Him (which Romans 6 defines as involving our identification with His death and resurrection by baptism), then we too will live for ever as He does, as we will participate in His resurrection to eternal life. Our final justification, being declared in the right, will be at the day of judgment. We will be resurrected, judged, and declared righteous- and given eternal life, never again to sin and die. This is the end result of the status of ‘justified’ which we have now, as we stand in the dock facing God’s judgment.</p><p>Through the cross, the Lord Jesus would"justify the many". Yet this phrase is picked up in <a href='B:340 12:3'>Dan 12:3</a> and applied to those who preach the Gospel- and thereby become"those who justify the many". The implication is plain enough. Through preaching, we live out the Lord’s death for others in practice, we placard Him crucified before the world’s eyes. We are not simply"Him"to them; we are Him crucified to them. The honour of this is surpassing.</p><h4>And he will bear their iniquities- He was a sin bearer; and the idea of sin bearing was almost an idiom for being personally guilty and sinful (<a href='B:40 14:34'>Num 14:34</a>; <a href='B:20 28:43'>Exo 28:43</a>). The Lord was our sin bearer and yet personally guiltless. This is the paradox which even He struggled with; no wonder we do, on a far more abstract level. As He bore away our iniquities (<a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), so “we then that are strong ought to bear the iniquities of the weak” (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). The Lord Jesus didn’t sin Himself but He took upon Himself our sins- to the extent that He felt a sinner, even though He wasn’t. Our response to this utter and saving grace is to likewise take upon ourselves the infirmities and sins of our brethren. If one is offended, we burn too; if one is weak, we are weak; we bear the infirmities of the weak (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). But in the context of that passage, Paul is quoting from <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>, about how the Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross. We live out the spirit of His cross, not in just bearing with our difficulties in isolation, but in feeling for our weak brethren. The description of the believer as a “living sacrifice” (<a href='B:520 12:1'>Rom 12:1</a>) alludes to the scapegoat, the only living sacrifice, which was a type of the risen Lord (<a href='B:30 16:10'>Lev 16:10</a> LXX = <a href='B:510 1:3'>Act 1:3</a>). As the Lord ran free in His resurrection, bearing away the sins of men, so we who are in Him and preach that salvation can do the same. As He bore away our iniquities (<a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), so “we then that are strong ought to bear the iniquities of the weak” (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). We live out the spirit of His cross, not in just bearing with our difficulties in isolation, but in feeling for our weak brethren.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong- The idea of the Lord binding Satan (the"strong man"), stealing his goods and sharing them with His followers is a picture of His victory on the cross. It is full of allusion to <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>, which says that on account of the fact that the Christ would pour out His soul unto death and bear our sins,"he shall divide the spoil with the strong (Heb. ’those that are bound’)". This dividing of the spoils to us by the victorious Lord (<a href='B:490 11:22'>Luk 11:22</a>; <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>) recalls how the Lord divided all His goods between His servants (<a href='B:470 25:14'>Mat 25:14</a>), the dividing of all the Father’s goods between the sons (representing the good and bad believers, <a href='B:490 15:12'>Luk 15:12</a>). We have elsewhere shown that these goods refer to the various aspects of the supreme righteousness of Christ which are divided between the body of Christ. The spoils divided to us by the Lord are the various aspects of righteousness which He took for Himself from Satan. The picture of a bound strong man having his house ransacked before his eyes carries with it the idea of suspense, of daring, of doing something absolutely impossible. And so the idea of Christ really taking the righteousness which the Satan of our very natures denies us, and giving these things to us, is almost too much to believe.</h4><p>Because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors- There would have been a loss of lymph and body fluid to the point that Christ felt as if He had been"poured out like water"(<a href='B:230 22:14'>Psa 22:14</a>); He"poured out his soul to death", as if His sense of dehydration was an act He consciously performed; He felt that the loss of moisture was because He was pouring it out Himself. This loss of moisture was therefore due to the mental processes within the Lord Jesus, it was a result of His act of the will in so mentally and emotionally giving Himself for us, rather han just the physical result of crucifixion.</p><p>In the Lord’s death we see the heart that bleeds, bared before our eyes in the cross. It is written of Him in His time of dying that He"poured out his soul unto death"(<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>). The Hebrew translated"poured out"means to make naked- it is rendered as"make thyself naked"in <a href='B:310 4:21'>Lam 4:21</a> (see too <a href='B:30 20:18-19'>Lev 20:18-19</a>; <a href='B:290 3:17'>Isa 3:17</a>). The Lord’ sensitivity was what led Him to His death- He made His soul naked, bare and sensitive, until the stress almost killed Him quite apart from the physical torture. To be sensitive to others makes us open&nbsp;and at risk ourselves. A heart that bleeds really bleeds and hurts within itself. And this was the essence of the cross.</p><h4>The Lord poured out His soul unto death as a conscious act performed to enable our redemption (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>). Materially, this may refer to the way in which every respiration of the Lord would have scraped His sensitive skin against the rough wood, so that there would have been constant blood flow from His back. This was sometimes a cause of death through crucifixion: blood loss through repeated agitation of the wounds by lifting up the body to breathe and exhale. In this sense He poured out His soul unto death. Muscle cramps would have tended to fix the muscles and make respiration difficult without a wilful yanking of the body weight upwards on the wounded nerves.</h4><p>The Lord Jesus Christ “made himself of no reputation”, or “emptied himself” (Php_2:7 R:V:), alluding to the prophecy of his crucifixion in <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>: “He poured out his soul unto death”. He “took upon himself the form (demeanour) of a servant” by his servant-like attitude to his followers (<a href='B:500 13:14'>Joh 13:14</a>), demonstrated supremely by his death on the cross (<a href='B:470 20:28'>Mat 20:28</a>). <a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> prophesied concerning Christ’s sufferings that on the cross “his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men”. This progressive humbling of himself “unto death, even the death of the cross” was something which occurred during his life and death, not at his birth. The context of Philippians 2 relates to the mind of Jesus, the humility of which is being held up to us as an example to copy. These verses must therefore speak of Jesus’ life on earth, in our human nature, and how he humbled himself, despite having a mind totally in tune with God, to consider our needs.</p><p>Yet he bore the sin of many- The Lord knew from Isaiah 53 that He was to bear Israel’s sins, that the judgments for their sins were to fall upon Him. Israel ‘bore their iniquities’ by being condemned for them (<a href='B:40 14:34-35'>Num 14:34-35</a>; <a href='B:30 5:17'>Lev 5:17</a>; <a href='B:30 20:17'>Lev 20:17</a>); to be a sin bearer was therefore to be one condemned. To die in punishment for your sin was to bear you sin. There is a difference between sin, and sin being laid upon a person. <a href='B:40 12:11'>Num 12:11</a> brings this out: “Lay not the sin upon us… wherein we have sinned”. The idea of sin being laid upon a person therefore refers to condemnation for sin. Our sin being laid upon Jesus therefore means that He was treated as if He were a condemned sinner. He briefly endured within Him the torment of soul which the condemned will feel.</p><p>And made intercession for the transgressors- On the cross, the Lord prayed for men to be forgiven. This was a fulfilment of this prophecy that He would"justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities", be wounded for our transgressions, be bruised for our iniquities, make a sin offering for His seed, heal us through His stripes, achieve our peace with God through His chastisement, bear the sin of many, be numbered with the transgressors, be stricken"for the transgression of my people", and make"intercession for the transgressors". These are all broadly parallel statements."The transgressors"are primarily"my people", Israel, who despised and rejected him. And yet they also refer to us, insofar as we become identified with Israel in order to be saved. The prophesy that Christ would make"intercession for the transgressors"in His time of dying was surely fulfilled when He prayed"Father forgive them".</p><p>The risen and exalted Lord is spoken of as being shamed, being crucified afresh, as agonizing in prayer for us just as He did on the cross (<a href='B:520 8:24'>Rom 8:24</a> cp. <a href='B:650 5:7-9'>Heb 5:7-9</a>). On the cross, He made intercession for us; but now He ever lives to make such intercession (<a href='B:650 7:25'>Heb 7:25</a>). There He bore our sins; and yet now He still bears our sins (<a href='B:290 53:4-6'>Isa 53:4-6</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>). Somehow, the cross is still there. The blood of Jesus cleanses us, in the present tense, from all our sins; the Lord Jesus loves us and frees us from our sins by His blood (<a href='B:690 1:7'>1Jn 1:7</a>; <a href='B:730 1:5'>Rev 1:5</a>). We are cleansed by an ever ’freshly slain’ sacrifice (<a href='B:650 10:20'>Heb 10:20</a> Gk:).</p><h4>LXX"and was delivered because of their iniquities"is alluded to in <a href='B:520 4:25'>Rom 4:25</a>: “Handed over because of our trespasses”. The Gospel accounts of the crucifixion give special emphasis to the moment of the Lord being handed over to those who would crucify Him. Paul is going on to show the mechanics, as it were, of how God has chosen to operate. His scheme of justifying us isn’t merely a case of Him saying ‘So you are declared right by Me’. He can do as He wishes, but He prefers to work through some kind of mechanism. We are declared right by God although we are sinners; which raises the obvious question: So what becomes of our sins? And so Paul explains that by talking about the crucial role of the death of Christ. Because He was of our nature, He is our representative. Although He never sinned, He died, yet He rose again to eternal life. Through connection with Him, we therefore can be counted as in Him, and thereby be given that eternal life through resurrection, regardless of our sins. In this sense, Jesus had to die and resurrect because of our sins.</h4>


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<h4>Sing, barren, you who didn’t bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child- The allusion is to Sarah, to whom the exiles had earlier been bidden to"look"for inspiration (<a href='B:290 51:2'>Isa 51:2</a>). Sarah in her time of child-birth is likened to us all as we enter the Kingdom, full of joy (<a href='B:290 54:1-4'>Isa 54:1-4</a>); and yet at that time she was eaten up with pride and joy that she could now triumph over her rival; see on <a href='B:10 21:10'>Gen 21:10</a>. And yet Sarah at that time is seen from a righteous perspective, counted as righteous, in that she is a type of us as we enter the Kingdom:&nbsp;God’s mercy to Sarah and Abraham is repeated to us daily.</h4><p>It could also be that what is in view here are spiritual children. The Divine hope was that the lack of spiritual ’children’ amongst the exiles, repentant converts to the prophetic message, was going to be replaced by such"children"from among the Gentiles.</p><p>For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says Yahweh- The two women represent Zion past and present. When she had been married to Yahweh she was barren; but the paradox is that now she was"desolate"she was going to have children, and she would do so without going through"travail"for them (<a href='B:550 4:27'>Gal 4:27</a>). <a href='B:550 4:27'>Gal 4:27</a> confirms this interpretation and develops it, connecting unbelieving Israel with the barren woman and the largely Gentile church with the fruitful one.</p><h4>The idea of God being destroyed in the destruction of His people (see on <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>) may be the basis of the descriptions of Zion as being left widowed (<a href='B:310 1:1'>Lam 1:1</a>; <a href='B:290 54:1-8'>Isa 54:1-8</a>). We ask the question- if she was a widow, who died? Her husband, God, was as it were dead. The very idea of the death of God&nbsp;is awful and obnoxious. But this was and is the depth of God’s feelings at His peoples’ destruction.</h4>


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<h4>Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes- They would need more space for all the children- the Gentile converts who would be made seeing that the Jews were unresponsive (:1). This extension of her tents meant enlarging the boundaries of the land (:3). The implication could even be that the further they lengthened their tent cords, the more Gentile converts would come in."The place"of the tent, the territory where it was pitched, had to be expanded. God’s redeemed family was to be extended beyond the limits of the eretz promised to Abraham.</h4><h4>Isaiah so often uses the idea of ‘stretching out’ the Heavens with reference to His creation of His new Kingdom (<a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a>; <a href='B:290 42:5'>Isa 42:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:290 51:13'>Isa 51:13</a>; Isa 6517-18). <a href='B:450 1:6'>Zec 1:6</a> cp. 12:1 show that to stretch out Jerusalem is parallel with stretching out the ‘heavens’. The ‘singing’ of the heavens refers to Judah’s intended joy at the restoration (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a> cp. 48:20). Israel were being told to peg out their tent as wide and far as they could; because this would be the extent of their Kingdom. The Kingdom would be as ‘large’ for them as they had vision for in this life.</h4>


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<h4>For you shall spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall possess the nations- See on :2. GNB"You will extend your boundaries on all sides; your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy". The idea is that Israel would possess all the nations within the eretz promised to Abraham, and yet expand those borders. The Abrahamic promise was that the seed would possess the gate of their enemies- the nations on the edges of and bordering on the eretz (<a href='B:10 22:17'>Gen 22:17</a>; <a href='B:10 24:60'>Gen 24:60</a>).</h4><h4>And make the desolate cities to be inhabited- At the restoration the temple still lay “waste” (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>; <a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>) just as it had lain “desolate” [s:w. <a href='B:300 33:10'>Jer 33:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:12'>Jer 33:12</a>] after the Babylonian destruction. The ‘restoration’ was in fact not really a restoration at all, in God’s eyes. Thus Ezra sat down desolate [AV “astonied”] at the news of Judah’s apostasy in marrying the surrounding women; using the very same word as frequently used to describe the ‘desolate’ Jerusalem that was to be rebuilt (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a> cp. <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; <a href='B:290 54:3'>Isa 54:3</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). He tore his priestly garment (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s:w. <a href='B:330 42:14'>Eze 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 44:17'>Eze 44:17</a>; <a href='B:330 44:19'>Eze 44:19</a>). <a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Isa 58:12-13</a> prophesied that the acceptable rebuilding of Zion was dependent upon Judah keeping the Sabbath acceptably; and yet Nehemiah’s record makes clear their tragic abuse of the Sabbath at the time of the restoration; and this therefore meant that the rebuilding of the temple and city were not going to fulfill the Messianic prophecies about them which existed.</h4>


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<h4>Don’t be afraid; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be disappointed- Harmonizing with the second half of the verse, LXX has"Fear not, because thou has been put to shame, neither be confounded, because thou was reproached". The shame of the Babylonian captivity was strong in their reasoning; they feared leaving Babylon lest such shame be repeated. It was to be the makers of idols who were"confounded"(s:w. <a href='B:290 41:11'>Isa 41:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be"confounded"(<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment.</h4><h4>Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way. Consider <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>: “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice [s:w. Ezra 1 :1 re the proclamation of Cyrus] of his servant [i:e. Cyrus, <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>], that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God”. Yet Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers to guard them on the journey only because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), as if he really did want the support but was ashamed to ask for it. He disallowed Isaiah’s prophesy that the restored Israel would never be ashamed [s:w. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>).</h4><h4>For you shall forget the shame of your youth; and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more- Their widowhood implied their husband Yahweh had as it were died; see on :1.</h4>


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<h4>For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is His name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall He be called- As explained on :2,3, the entire eretz promised to Abraham would convert to Yahweh. LXX"He that delivered thee, He is the God of Israel, and shall be called so by the whole earth":&nbsp; And this could have potentially happened had the exiles returned in faith and repentance:&nbsp;"The Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth"- a phrase used in Zechariah regarding the Angel co-ordinating the restoration.</h4><h4>Israel is so often set up as the bride of God (<a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4-5'>Isa 62:4-5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:2'>Jer 2:2</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:350 2:19-20'>Hos 2:19-20</a>). This is why any infidelity of theirs to God is spoken of as adultery (<a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:30 17:7'>Lev 17:7</a>; <a href='B:30 20:5-6'>Lev 20:5-6</a>; <a href='B:50 31:16'>Deu 31:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:17'>Jdg 2:17</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:70 8:33'>Jdg 8:33</a>; <a href='B:350 9:1'>Hos 9:1</a>). The very language of Israel ’selling themselves to do iniquity’ uses the image of prostitution. This is how God feels our even temporary and fleeting acts and thoughts of unfaithfulness. This is why God is jealous for Israel (<a href='B:20 20:15'>Exo 20:15</a>; <a href='B:20 34:14'>Exo 34:14</a>; <a href='B:50 4:24'>Deu 4:24</a>; <a href='B:50 5:9'>Deu 5:9</a>; <a href='B:50 6:15'>Deu 6:15</a>)- because His undivided love for them is so exclusive. He expects them to be totally His.</h4>


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<p>For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, says your God- see onZec 11:10-11. God speaks as if He died, and therefore Israel was left as a widow (<a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>); see on :1."Cast off"is the term found later in the prophets: “My God will cast them away” (<a href='B:350 9:17'>Hos 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>); the same Hebrew word occurs when God says He would “reject” Israel (<a href='B:350 4:6'>Hos 4:6</a>). But even when Israel were to be in the land of their enemies as punishment for their sins, “I will not cast them away” [s:w:] (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>). God will not cast away Israel (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>). Only if Heaven can be measured will God cast away Israel (<a href='B:300 31:37'>Jer 31:37</a>). God has not cast away His people (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). We see here the deep tension within God’s mind as He considers His status and position toward His unfaithful people. He here compares Himself to a young man hopelessly in love with a woman (Israel) who was really no good, a man who took the blame when it was undoubtedly her fault (<a href='B:290 54:6-7'>Isa 54:6-7</a>), grieving that she wouldn’t return to Him (<a href='B:370 4:8'>Amo 4:8</a> etc:)."I am broken with their whorish heart::. I am crushed"(<a href='B:330 6:9'>Eze 6:9</a>; <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a> NIV). God likens Himself to a broken man because of Israel’s fickleness. He went through the pain of the man who knows He has been forgotten by the woman he still desperately remembers (<a href='B:350 2:13'>Hos 2:13</a>).</p>


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<h4>For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you- But even in this small moment [intended to be 70 years], He was watering them and caring for them. He is involved"every moment"in the life of His people; Job, presented as the suffering exiles, came to realize this (<a href='B:290 27:3'>Isa 27:3</a> cp. <a href='B:220 7:18'>Job 7:18</a> s:w:).</h4><p>The sufferings of Christ on the cross have connections with the punishments for Israel’s sins (e:g. being offered gall to drink = <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>; <a href='B:310 3:5'>Lam 3:5</a>). Israel were temporarily forsaken by God because of their sins (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>), and therefore so was the Lord. He too was chastened with the rod of men"and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross.</p><h4>The deathless love of Hosea for Gomer, the very intensity and height of it, in itself highlights the tragedy of God. That His love, yes, the passion and longing of God Himself, was rejected by His people. There are some reasons to think that the book of Hosea was rewritten (under inspiration) during the captivity. Isaiah had explained here that although God and Israel had departed from each other, they would come together again by Israel being regathered- i:e. by their return from Babylon to the land. And perhaps Hosea was rewritten at the same time, as an appeal for the Jews to ‘return’ to their God, i:e. to return to Judah. And yet, so tragically, whilst they all avowed their allegiance to Yahweh, generously supported the few who did return… the majority of the Jews didn’t return to their God. They chose the soft life in Babylon, where they remained. It’s why the close of the book of Esther is so sad- the Jews are there in prosperity and popularity in Babylon, no longer weeping by the rivers of Babylon.</h4>


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<h4>In overflowing wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you- We read of the anger of God"for a moment"(<a href='B:230 30:5'>Psa 30:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7-8'>Isa 54:7-8</a>), and of His wrath coming and going, leaving Him"calm"and no longer angry (<a href='B:330 16:42'>Eze 16:42</a>). When we sin, we provoke God to nger- i:e. at a point in time, God sees our sin, and becomes angry. This is attested many times in Scripture. But it’s meaningless if God is somehow outside of our time and emotions. The very use of the terms ’remembering’ and ’forgetting’ suggest God is so fully willing to enter into our kind of time; for a Being cannot forget and remember simultaneously, an element of time is involved. Likewise at times we read of God being slow to anger (<a href='B:20 34:6'>Exo 34:6</a>), at others, of Him not restraining His anger, or restraining it (<a href='B:230 78:38'>Psa 78:38</a>; <a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:22'>Eze 20:22</a>), and holding His peace (<a href='B:290 57:11'>Isa 57:11</a>; <a href='B:230 50:21'>Psa 50:21</a>), and being provoked to anger by the bad behaviour of His covenant people (<a href='B:50 32:21'>Deu 32:21</a>; <a href='B:230 78:58'>Psa 78:58</a>; <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a>; <a href='B:300 8:19'>Jer 8:19</a>). God clearly has emotions of a kind which are not unrelated to the emotions we experience, as beings made in His image. But those emotions involve a time factor in order to be emotions.</h4><p>The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>; <a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will He be angry for ever?” (<a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>). It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded, no time to look at it, too busy sowing my seeds, weeding my garden, having coffee…</p><h4>Says Yahweh your Redeemer- As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slaveryweren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren</h4>


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<p>For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you- LXX offers"From the time of the water of Noe this is my purpose". The idea is that out of judgment comes a new creation, where the wrath of God doesn’t figure because it has as it were been dealt with through the judgments. What is in view is a time when His judgments shall never again need to be revealed upon His people. This could have happened at the restoration but it evidently didn’t, and all this is therefore reapplied to the time of the Lord’s return.</p>


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<h4>For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but My loving kindness shall not depart from you- The departure of the mountains may refer to the huge geological changes at the time of the flood, but the mountains also figuratively refer to the nations and kingdoms which would be subsumed beneath the mountain of Yahweh’s Kingdom- which could have come when the little stone of the exiles were cut out of the mountain of Babylon / Persia and returned to the land. But another, longer term fulfilment of the image prophecy of Daniel 2 had to come into play. As discussed there, the metals of the image initially represented"kings", and the application to"kingdoms"was brought about by the refusal of the exiles to repent and act as the little stone destroying the image of Babylon.</h4><h4>Neither shall My covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh who has mercy on you- Every Israelite was intended to be a priest; they were to be"a Kingdom of priests". The"covenant of my peace"was with both Israel (<a href='B:290 54:10'>Isa 54:10</a>) and the priesthood (<a href='B:460 2:5'>Mal 2:5</a>). The same is true of spiritual Israel;"a spiritual house, an holy priesthood"(<a href='B:670 2:5'>1Pe 2:5</a>). But the covenant in view was likely the new covenant of peace with God which the exiles could have accepted (Ezekiel 20; Jeremiah 31).</h4>


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<h4>You afflicted- This is the word usually translated"poor"in the material sense. It was the poor who were to enthuse about the reestablishment of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a>; <a href='B:290 41:17'>Isa 41:17</a>; <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> s:w:). The book of Esther makes clear that there were many wealthy Jews in Babylon / Persia. It was the simple pull of materialism which kept many of them from responding to the Gospel of quitting all that for the sake of the restored Kingdom of God. And it is the same today where"to the poor the Gospel is preached"with most response.</h4><p>Tossed with storms- The usual word for"whirlwind", the symbol of God’s judgment which had scattered them in exile. It is also the term used for Jonah’s experience in the storm (<a href='B:390 1:11'>Jon 1:11</a>; <a href='B:390 1:13'>Jon 1:13</a>); and he is to be read as representative of a disbelieving Israel.</p><p>And not comforted- The"comfort"of Isaiah 40 had been offered to them, but they had refused. But here God as it were feels sorry for them even in their"not comforted"position, which was due to their refusal of His comfort. Such is His grace and His earnest&nbsp; desire to as it were force through, as far as legitimate, His saving purpose with His people.</p><h4>Behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colours, and lay your foundations with sapphires- The “stones” were laid (<a href='B:160 4:2'>Neh 4:2</a> s:w:), but not with colours, as could have been (<a href='B:290 54:11-14'>Isa 54:11-14</a>). And neither were the foundation stones gemstones, as could have been. This prophecy was therefore reapplied in Revelation to the things of the Kingdom to be established at the Lord’s return.</h4>


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<p>I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones- LXX"and thy gates crystal"; GNB"and the wall around you with jewels"; see on :11. This is all alluded to in the description of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21, 22. It could’ve come true at the time of the exiles, had they repented; but is deferred to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<p>All your children shall be taught of Yahweh; and great shall be the peace of your children- Their children were not taught of Yahweh, because the priests were lazy to do so (Malachi 2). And so Yahweh Himself (who is speaking here) will teach them; hence GNB"I myself will teach your people". eaching was envisaged as going forth from the restored Zion (<a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>). But many of the exiles preferred to remain in exile because they likely excused themselves with the argument that remaining would be better for their children.</p>


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<p>In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not be afraid; and from terror, for it shall not come near you- This could be an appeal for the exiles to act rightly and justly so that the Kingdom could come about. Hence LXX"abstain from injustice, and thou shalt not fear; and trembling shall not come nigh thee".</p>


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<p>Behold, they may gather together, but not by Me: whoever shall gather together against you shall fall because of you- The idea may be that whoever now attacks Judah, would not be doing so under God’s direction as had previously been the case. And they would therefore face His wrath and destruction (:17). LXX"Behold, strangers shall come to thee by me, and shall sojourn with thee, and shall run to thee for refuge".</p>


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<p>Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy- This leads on to the statement in :17 that the forming of any weapon against Israel is doomed. The creators were themselves created, by God- including those who had been created to destroy God’s people in judgment. Both evil and good were from God (<a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>). These who were created by God to destroy contrast with the category noted in :15, who were not sent by God in this mission.</p>


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<h4>No weapon that is formed against you will prevail- The"weapon"is that of :16. The exiles imagined all manner of opposition if they were to accept the prophetic call to quit Babylon / Persia and return to Judah. But God’s promise was that they would leave in peace, be led by His visible presence and have the natural creation bursting into applause on the way (see on <a href='B:290 55:12'>Isa 55:12</a>). But they doubted that, focusing upon all the human devices ["weapons"] which they imagined might stand in the way. So many today likewise resist the call of the Gospel of the restored Kingdom of God for the same reasons. The word for"prevail"is used four times in the record of Rebekah’s journey from the east (where the exiles were) to the land of promise; it was indeed made prosperous (<a href='B:10 24:21'>Gen 24:21</a>; <a href='B:10 24:40'>Gen 24:40</a>; <a href='B:10 24:42'>Gen 24:42</a>; <a href='B:10 24:56'>Gen 24:56</a>). And their journey to the land of the Kingdom likewise would have been made prosperous, and no opposition to it could have prospered with God on their side. The prophetic word of the restoration was to prosper and achieve their return and revival (<a href='B:290 55:11'>Isa 55:11</a>).</h4><p>And you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgement- See on <a href='B:290 51:1'>Isa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:290 51:6-7'>Isa 51:6-7</a>. As explained on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>, we need not fear insults nor false accusation from men because we shall ultimately be justified, and even now have righteousness imputed to us. And the exiles were invited to believe that, as they imagined all the verbal opposition they might encounter by returning to Judah.</p><h4>This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their righteousness which is of Me, says Yahweh- This again refers to what Paul would term imputed righteousness, counting right those who believe in God’s grace. LXX"ye shall be righteous before me".</h4>


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<h4>Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price- LXX"wine and fat", associated with the offerings. No longer would poverty or lack of resources mean that sacrifice could not be offered. One by one, every possible excuse in the minds of the exiles was dealt with. God would provide all and overcome every possible fear and imagined problem in responding to the call of the Kingdom, just as He does today. Cyrus even decreed that he would meet the costs of all sacrifices; he let the people go"without price"(s:w. <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), for no personal reward. The same phrase"without money and without price"is found in <a href='B:220 28:15'>Job 28:15</a> regarding the value of wisdom; see on :2. The book of Job is full of connections to Isaiah, as it was rewritten to encourage the exiles in captivity. The greatest wisdom was to leave Babylon / Persia and return to Judah, with all the inversion of values this required. But this&nbsp; appeal to the exiles wasn’t responded to. And so these ideas were reapplied to the Lord Jesus, in His appeal to us:"If any man thirst, let him come unto me"(<a href='B:500 7:37-38'>Joh 7:37-38</a>).</h4><h4><a href='B:290 55:1-6'>Isa 55:1-6</a> bids Israel seek the Lord, and then comments that His word will accomplish what He wants it to achieve; the earth / land will respond to the rain of His word which He sends upon it (:11). This seems to be saying that somehow there will always be response from Israel to the Gospel. And the following verses hint that this may e specifically so in the last days, for :12 says that the result of the land’s response to the word will be that “ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing”. Their response to the word in the last days ushers in the Kingdom.</h4>


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<h4>Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?- LXX"Wherefore do ye value at the price of money?". This invites them to a radical revulation of life and the things which comprise it. The monetarization and capitalisation of everything was going on even in ancient societies. God’s people are asked to a radical revaluation of all things.</h4><p>And your labour for that which doesn’t satisfy?- But they continued to do so; they were as greedy dogs who could ’not be satisfied’ (<a href='B:290 56:11'>Isa 56:11</a> s:w:), obsessed with personal gain. Again we detect that it was a love of the soft life of materialism in Persia which was the root cause for the exiles not responding to the invitation, and the book of Esther therefore has a sad ending, portrayin the Jews as wealthy and popular.</p><p>Listen diligently to Me- I noted on :1 an allusion to the appeal of wisdom in Job 28, and this here is a repeat of wisdom’s call in the Proverbs. The way of wisdom was to accept the invitation to the free feast of fat things which Yahweh had prepared in Judah for those who quit Babylon.</p><h4>And eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness- This refers to the banquet awaiting them on return to Zion, the feast of fat things of <a href='B:290 25:6'>Isa 25:6</a> - if they would say"Yes"to the Kingdom program. The Messianic banquet could then have come. It has now been reapplied, to our experience in the breaking of bread now, and ultimately to the marriage supper of the lamb when the Lord returns.</h4>


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<h4>Turn your ear, and come to Me- The invitation therefore was to the great feast of :1,2- all for free. The parable of the great suppor therefore alludes to <a href='B:290 55:1-3'>Isa 55:1-3</a>; and thereby would suggest that we can interpret the call to the supper as the call of the Gospel, and the hungry people sitting down to a fine meal as our ecclesial experience now (although this isn’t to say that we can’t read it as concerning the future Kingdom too).</h4><p>Hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David- This everlasting covenant refers to the new covenant offered to the exiles in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20, but it would only be iven if they ’heard’ in obedience and repentance. The promises to David are described as the mercy of God (<a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>; <a href='B:230 89:33-34'>Psa 89:33-34</a>). God having a son is the sign of His love for us, and this must elicit a response in us. David himself marvelled that such mercy had been shown to him:"Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house…thou knowest thy servant"(<a href='B:100 7:18-20'>2Sa 7:18-20</a>). And yet in the very next chapters, we read of how David made a renewed attempt to show mercy to the house of Saul. Mephibosheth says that he is"thy servant…what is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such… as I am?"(<a href='B:100 9:8'>2Sa 9:8</a>). Mephibosheth is using the very words which David used to God; David is showing mercy to Mephibosheth in the very way in which the promises of God to him were the"mercies"shown to David. Appreciating that the promises concern us personally, and that they reveal such loving grace from the Father, can only lead to a similar response in showing love and grace through entering into the lives and destinies of others. Having expounded the deeper aspects of the promises to Abraham in Romans 9-11, Paul spins the argument round to practical issues:"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [a technical term for the promises- ’the sure mercies of David’, <a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>], that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice"(<a href='B:520 12:1'>Rom 12:1</a>). The"him"of :4 is the"sure mercies of David"of :3, perhaps an intensive plural for the great mercy shown to David, which was in the promise of his Messianic seed, the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>“The sure mercies of David” result in the wicked man forsaking his way (<a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>; <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>). The description of the promises to David as “sure mercies” (<a href='B:130 17:13'>1Ch 17:13</a>) may perhaps be with a reference to his sin withBathsheba; his forgiveness in that incident is typical of that which we all receive (<a href='B:520 4:6-8'>Rom 4:6-8</a>). The very existence of the “mercies of / to David” therefore inspire us in forsaking sinful thoughts and wicked ways (<a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>).</h4>


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<p>Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples- LXX understands"the peoples"here as"the Gentiles". As noted on :3, the"him"is the"sure mercies of David", an intensive plural for the great mercy shown to David, which was in the promise of his Messianic seed, the Lord Jesus. The eternal covenant offered to the exiles was also going to be offered to the Gentiles, who would form a new multiethnic people of God (:5).</p>


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<h4>Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know- As explained in :4, a new multiethnic people of God was to be formed around the new covenant being offered to all. The Jews would"call"the Gentiles by the name of their own nation, Israel. They would ’know’ them in the Hebraic sense of knowing, i:e. having a spiritual relationship with them:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>And a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you- Again, the Hebraic sense of ’knowing’ includes the idea of having a spiritual relationship with the other party. The remnant of the Gentile nations in the land would see how Yahweh had glorified the returned exiles, and would eagerly ["run to::."] wish to accept this God as theirs. But in reality, the exiles returned to the land and mixed with the Gentiles, worshipping their gods and marrying their women as they had done in the lands of their exile.</h4>


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<h4>Seek Yahweh while He may be found; call you on Him while He is near- The offer of the Messianic banquet (:1-3) and new covenant (:3) was not going to be on the table for ever. The exiles had to repent, leave exile and return to the land in order to reestablish and rebuild the things of God’s Kingdom. There was no such repentance. And those who did return were motivated by personal gain and were not spiritual people, as the restoration prophets and the historical records in Ezra and Nehemiah make clear. So the window of opportunity closed, and the things of the new covenant, Messianic banquet and restored Kingdom became reapplied and deferred. The offered salvation was"near"to them, about to come (see on <a href='B:290 46:13'>Isa 46:13</a>; <a href='B:290 51:5'>Isa 51:5</a>); but it swooped close to them, but they refused to catch it. But the same Hebrew word for"near"is translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our representative, of our nature. See on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. The appeal is therefore urgent, because for the exiles, the amazing offer was time limited. It is therefore an appeal for repentance, hence LXX:"Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, let the ungodly leave his ways::.".</h4><h4>Like Israel we can seek God daily, taking delight in approaching unto Him; and yet need the exhortation to urgently seek Him (<a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> cp. 58:2). We can appear to seek unto Him in prayer and attendance at our meetings, and yet not seek Him in the real sense at all. Likewise men came to Jesus physically, at quite some effort to themselves, and yet He tells them that they have not truly come to Him at all (<a href='B:500 6:24'>Joh 6:24</a> cp. 35-37). We can draw near with our mouth, honour Him with our lips, “but have removed [our] heart far from me” (<a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh- We note that the way of a man is his thoughts. The appeal for repentance was and is essentially a call to change our thinking, our self talk; and to adopt God’s thoughts, which at that time were not Judah’s thoughts (:8). The return to Yahweh was to be reflected in a return to the land. We might have expected a call to forsake idolatry and other specific sins, but the appeal is to change their thinking. For that is the essential issue. We note the same juxtaposition of ideas in <a href='B:290 57:15'>Isa 57:15</a> - the exalted lofty one, dwelling in the hearts of men.</h4><p>And He will have mercy on him; and to our God-"Mercy"is s:w."compassion". Unlike the stone faced gods of the Gentiles, Yahweh had emotion and passion, and internal conflicts. And His word reveals them to us. This"compassion"was only to be shown when Israel repented (s:w. <a href='B:50 30:3'>Deu 30:3</a>) and would not be shown if they were impenitent (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>; <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>). But although they had not repented, Yahweh still felt that fatherly"compassion"toward them (<a href='B:290 49:15'>Isa 49:15</a> s:w:). He is unafraid of appearing to contradict His word, such is the passion of His love.</p><h4>For He will abundantly pardon- This is the same word as often used in the law; when sacrifice was offered,"it shall be forgiven him"(<a href='B:30 4:31'>Lev 4:31</a>; <a href='B:30 4:35'>Lev 4:35</a> etc:). But in exile there was no opportunity to offer acceptable sacrifice. A forsaking of thoughts was what was required; for our hearts are the essential sacrifice. This"pardon"would have been given had the exiles had accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 33:8'>Jer 33:8</a>).</h4>


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<p>For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says Yahweh- This is not a statement about the inability of humanity to think as God does. Rather is it a lament that Judah didn’t do this, when they could have done (:7). Note the parallel between the wicked’s" way"and" his thoughts"; they are unrelated to God’s thoughts/ ways (<a href='B:290 55:8'>Isa 55:8</a>). <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a> is therefore saying that after conversion there must most importantly be a change of mind, an aspiring after God’s unattainable thoughts / ways.</p>


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<p>For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts- This is not to say that His thoughts are unattainable. The whole idea of :7,8 is that Judah could have God’s thoughts. They are here being inspired to touch the sky, to rise above the mundane, earthly thoughts of the flesh. <a href='B:290 55:6-7'>Isa 55:6-7</a> implies that we can find God in this life, we can return to Him. But <a href='B:290 55:9'>Isa 55:9</a> then says that" as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (God’s) ways higher than your ways". This seems to be one of the many Isaiah allusions to the book of Job:"Canst thou by searching find out God?", the answer being ’No’. This shows that although ultimately we cannot find God by our searching, such is His moral infinity, yet if we seek to find Him, He will count us as if we have found Him; and we can think His thoughts (:7). Thus God will impute complete forsaking of human thinking to us. Our least response is to impute forsaking of sin to our brethren, and to think as Yahweh does:&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky and doesn’t return there but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater- This statement about the power of God’s word is in the context of urging Judah that they can in fact repent, and think God’s thoughts (:7-9). The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God’s restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>) to"spring up"on what had previously been dry ground (<a href='B:290 44:4'>Isa 44:4</a>). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a> s:w."bud","spring up"). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:10 2:5'>Gen 2:5</a>). This sringing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s:w. <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:17'>Psa 132:17</a>). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were"in"the singular Messianic seed, who would think God’s thoughts (:7). And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). It is"righteousness"which would"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:290 61:11'>Isa 61:11</a>); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their mental, spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as"in"the"branch of righteousness"which will"spring up"(Jer 3315). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine ’causing’ us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.</h4><h4>Repeatedly, later Scripture alludes to the fact that it was by the word of God that the world was created; and that same powerful, re-forming, saving word was and is that heard by His people still (<a href='B:230 33:6'>Psa 33:6</a>; <a href='B:230 33:9'>Psa 33:9</a>; <a href='B:230 104:7'>Psa 104:7</a>; <a href='B:230 147:15-18'>Psa 147:15-18</a>; <a href='B:230 148:3-5'>Psa 148:3-5</a>; <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a>; <a href='B:290 44:23'>Isa 44:23</a>; <a href='B:290 48:13'>Isa 48:13</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a>). A. Heidel comments: “The word of the Babylonian deities was not almighty. On the contrary, the word of the creator in Genesis 1 is almighty. He commands and the result is in perfect conformity to his command…there is a profound difference between the Bible and non-biblical religions” [on this point of the word being the agency of creation] (Alexander Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 126).</h4>


