God’s promises to His servants 41:1-42:9The intent of this unit of material was to assure Israel that God had both the power and the desire to deliver her and to bring salvation to the whole world. It contains three basic themes: the pagans’ inability to refute Yahweh’s sovereignty, the promise to deliver fearful Israel, and the divine plan to use an ideal servant as redeemer. read more
"Behold" concludes this passage as it began it, forming an inclusio (cf. Isaiah 42:1). The former things that God had predicted through the prophets-that had come to pass already-provided assurance that the new things that Yahweh just revealed, about Cyrus and Messiah, would also happen. Another view is that the former things are the predictions concerning Cyrus, and the new things are the things having to do with the restoration of Israel. [Note: Delitzsch, 2:180.] Yahweh had revealed them... read more
A new song arises in Scripture when someone has learned of something powerful and good that God has done or will do (cf. ch. 12; Psalms 33:3; Psalms 40:3; Psalms 96:1; Psalms 98:1; Psalms 144:9; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3). Here it is salvation through the Servant that prompts this song of praise (cf. Isaiah 6:3). Isaiah called on everyone to praise the Lord because the Servant’s ministry would benefit the whole earth. People living on the farthest seacoasts and in the desert lands should... read more
God’s purposes for His servants 42:10-44:22The section of Isaiah that I have titled "God’s promises to His servants" (Isaiah 41:1 to Isaiah 42:9) sets the stage and introduces themes that Isaiah proceeded to develop in this section. Those themes are the certainty of redemption (Isaiah 42:10 to Isaiah 43:7), the witness to redemption (Isaiah 43:8 to Isaiah 44:20), and the memory of redemption (Isaiah 44:21-22). read more
The Ideal Servant1-9. The characteristics and functions of Israel as the ideal Servant of Jehovah. 10-17 A song of praise to Jehovah. 18-25. The deficiencies of the actual Israel, considered as Jehovah’s Servant.1. My servant] On the conception of these chapters see Intro. Judgment] or ’right.’ The Servant’s office is to teach the world true religion. 2, 3. He will not be ostentatious nor unduly severe. How Christ corresponded to the ideal is noted in Matthew 12:17-21; 3. Smoking flax] RM... read more
(8, 9) I am the Lord. . . .—The prophet grasps the full meaning of the name revealed in Exodus 3:15. It follows from that meaning that God cannot look with indifference on the transfer to the “graven image” of the worship due to Him. With his vision of Cyrus still present to his thoughts, the prophet again presses the unique point of prediction as distinguishing the religion of Israel from that of the heathen. The “former things” refer probably not to the remote past, but to Isaiah’s earlier... read more
(10) Sing unto the Lord a new song.—The words are familiar in the Psalms (Psalms 33:3; Psalms 40:3; Psalms 98:1) and are probably quoted from them. The only touch of definite localisation is found in the mention of Kedar. (See Note on Isaiah 21:16.) Starting from this, the other terms gain a more defined significance. The proclamation seems to be addressed to the nations of the Eastern, not the Western world, as if to the ships that sailed from Elath or Ezion-geber down the Elanitic Gulf. The... read more
The Smoking Flax Isaiah 42:3 Let us try to gather up the thoughts contained in these two images. They are slightly different, but one thought underlies them both. The one refers chiefly to God, the other to man. I. The idea of the first is taken from one of the shepherd's pipes one of those little musical pipes crushed and trampled under foot. The other picture is taken from the lamp in the temple, burning feebly and dimly, giving forth black smoke rather than light. 1. The 'bruised reed'. A... read more
CHAPTER XVONE GOD, ONE PEOPLEIsaiah 41:8-20; Isaiah 42:1-25; Isaiah 43:1-28WE have been listening to the proclamation of a monotheism so absolute, that, as we have seen, modern critical philosophy, in surveying the history of religion, can find for it no rival among the faiths of the world. God has been exalted before us, in character so perfect, in dominion so universal, that neither the conscience nor the imagination of man can add to the general scope of the vision. Jesus and His Cross shall... read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 42:10
10. new song—such as has never before been sung, called for by a new manifestation of God's grace, to express which no hymn for former mercies would be appropriate. The new song shall be sung when the Lord shall reign in Jerusalem, and all "nations shall flow unto it" (Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 26:1; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3). ye that go down to the sea—whose conversion will be the means of diffusing the Gospel to distant lands. all . . . therein—all the living creatures that fill the sea... read more