Isaiah 40

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:17

All nations ; rather, all the nations ; i.e. all the nations of the earth put together. In Isaiah 40:15 single "nations" had been declared to be of no account; now the same is said of all the nations of the earth collectively. They are accounted of God as 'ephes , nothingness, and tohu , chaos or confusion. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18

Is more the complement of what precedes than the introduction to what follows (comp. Isaiah 40:25 ). If God be all that has been said of him in Isaiah 40:12-17 , must he not be wholly unique and incomparable? Then, out of this, the thought arises of the strange, the poor, the mean "likenesses" of God, which men have in their folly set up in various times and places. It has been said that Israel in captivity did not need to be warned against idolatry, of the inclination to which the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18

Wanted, a likeness for God. "What similitude can ye place beside him?" This and similar appeals in the later portion of Isaiah bear directly upon the idolatries with which Israel was surrounded in Babylon, and exerted a most important influence on the delivery of Israel, once and for ever, from idolatrous sentiments and sympathies. Isaiah's plea is, "How should the image-deities of idolatrous Babylon be compared to the almighty and unsearchable God of Israel?" The incomparableness and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18-26

The degradation of the Divine. The holy indignation of the prophet is aroused as he sees the Godhead so pitifully presented to the mind, so shamefully represented to the eyes of men. He has in view the power and majesty of the Supreme One, and places in contrast the creatures of human imagination, the fabrications of the human hand. We have the degradation of the Divine— I. AS IT APPEARED TO THE HEBREW PROPHET . He beheld: 1 . The power and the majesty of God , ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:19

The workman melteth a graven image ; rather, the workman casteth an image (comp. Isaiah 41:7 ; Isaiah 44:9-17 ; Isaiah 46:6 , Isaiah 46:7 ). Israel's tendency to idolatry has been touched on in the earlier prophecies once or twice ( Isaiah 2:8 , Isaiah 2:20 ; Isaiah 31:7 ); but in the later chapters idolatry is assailed with a frequency, a pungency, and a vigour that are new, and that imply a change, either in the prophet's circumstances or in his standpoint. Perhaps it is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:19-26

Idolatry ridiculous. A strong tone of irony and ridicule runs through the description; and nothing could better illustrate by contrast that sublime faith which has just been presented to our view. I. THE IMAGE CONTRASTED WITH JEHOVAH . All our thought is composed of images, but what a descent from that image in the mind and solely there on which we have been dwelling, to yonder thing of metal, which the craftsman casts, and the goldsmith overlays with gold, and for which he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:20

He that is so impoverished , etc.; rather, he that can only make a poor offering , i.e. that cannot spend much on religion. Chooseth a tree ; rather, chooseth wood—goes to the carpenter, and selects a good sound block of wood, out of which his idol shall be made. After this he has to find a skilful workman, who will carve his image for him and set it up, so that it shall not shake. As Delitzsch observes, "The thing carries its own satire" in the mere plain description of it. Is such... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:20

The distinguishing love of God. "He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might "for that he is strong in power." The infinitude of God is no argument at all against his observance of the individual and the minute; rightly regarded, it is a strong inference in favour of it. Because he is infinite in wisdom he compasses all that is most vast and extensive; and for the same reason , "by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power"—he has a perfect mastery over... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:21

Have ye not known? Hitherto the prophet has restrained himself, and confined himself to quiet sarcasm. Now he bursts out. Is there any one so insensate, so devoid of natural reason and understanding, as not to know what has been known to all from the beginning—yea, from the foundations of the earth—by "the light that is in them," viz. that God is something wholly different from this?—that he is such a One as the prophet proceeds to describe in Isaiah 40:22-24 , alike above nature and above... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:22

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth ; rather, above the vault of the earth ; above the vault of sky which seems to arch over the earth. As grasshoppers; i.e. minute, scarcely visible (comp. Numbers 13:33 ). That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain. So in Psalms 104:2 , only that here the "curtain" is represented as one of thin gauze. The idea is common to Isaiah with Job ( Job 9:8 ), Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 10:12 ; Jeremiah 51:15 ), and Zechariah ( Zechariah... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:17

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:18-26

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:19

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:19-26

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:20

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:20

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:21

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 40:22

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