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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 43:14-21

To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly. I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he will redeem them, but will take it upon him as... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 43:22-28

This charge (and a high charge it is which is here exhibited against Jacob and Israel, God's professing people) comes in here, 1. To clear God's justice in bringing them into captivity, and to vindicate that. Were they not in covenant with him? Had they not his sanctuary among them? Why then did the Lord deal thus with his land? Deut. 29:24. Here is a good reason given: they had neglected God and had cast him off, and therefore he justly rejected them and gave them to the curse (Isa. 43:28);... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:18

Remember ye not the former things ,.... Just now referred to, the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in it; for though these things were worthy to be remembered with thankfulness and praise, and to the glory of God, and for the encouragement of faith, yet not in comparison of what was hereafter to be done; meaning, not the redemption from Babylon, unless as a type of spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ; for otherwise... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I will do a new thing ,.... A wonderful and unheard of thing, and therefore introduced with a "behold", as a note of admiration; the same with the new thing created in the earth, Jeremiah 31:22 , the incarnation of the Son of God; who took flesh of a virgin, appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, and was made sin and a curse for his people, in order to obtain eternal redemption for them; which blessing, though not newly thought of, resolved on, contrived, and agreed upon, that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:20

The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons, and the owls ,.... Which is not to be understood literally of these creatures, who as they had honoured the Lord, when Israel passed through the wilderness, so would again in their way praise the Lord, when they came through the deserts from Babylon, for giving them water to drink in such dry and thirsty places, to which there may be an allusion; but spiritually of the Gentiles, compared to those creatures for the savageness, fierceness,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:21

This people have I formed for myself ,.... The Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, wild and uncultivated, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God, and redeemed by Christ, are formed anew by the Spirit of Christ, made new creatures, regenerated, and transformed by the renewing of their minds, and conformed to the image of Christ, and having him formed in their souls, and principles of grace... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:22

But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob ,.... The Jews, though they were the posterity of Jacob, a praying person, yet did not tread in his steps, but were more like the Heathens that called not on the name of the Lord; though there is no necessity of restraining this to prayer, it may regard the whole worship of God, which is sometimes included in the invocation of his name; and so the Targum, "and ye come not to my worship, O ye of the house of Jacob.' The Jews, in Christ's time, did... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:23

Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings ,.... The kids and the lambs, which, according to the law, should have been brought for burnt offerings daily, morning and evening; and much less did they bring the larger cattle of burnt offerings, as oxen and bullocks. The Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "the rams of thy burnt offerings"; the Septuagint version, "the sheep"; and the Syriac and Arabic versions, "the lambs"; and these were not brought to him, but to their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:24

Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money ,.... Or "calamus" F18 קנה "calamum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "calamum odoratum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Vitringa. , which was used in the anointing oil, and for the perfume or incense, Exodus 30:7 , this they thought too expensive, and so left it out of the composition, or neglected the whole this being put a part for the whole. Jarchi gives it as the sense, that they had no need to buy it, since it grew in great... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 43:25

I, even I am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake ,.... The same with "sins" in the next clause; original sin, and actual sins; which are transgressions of the law of God, of which the law accuses, for which it pronounces guilty, curses, and condemns; which are contrary to the nature of God, strike at his deity, and must be abominable to him; they are many, yea infinite, and yet all pardoned for Christ's sake; which is here expressed by a "blotting" them out, in... read more

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