Isaiah 45:1-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 45:1-4

Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from Astyages king of Media. The pagan writers are not agreed in their accounts of his origin. Some tell us that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed, and was saved from perishing by a herdsman's wife. However, it is agreed that, being a man of an active genius, he soon made himself very considerable, especially when Croesus king of Lydia made a descent upon his country, which he not only repulsed, but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 45:5-10

God here asserts his sole and sovereign dominion, as that which he designed to prove and manifest to the world in all the great things he did for Cyrus and by him. Observe, I. How this doctrine is here laid down concerning the sovereignty of the great Jehovah, in two things:?1. That he is God alone, and there is no God besides him. This is here inculcated as a fundamental truth, which, if it were firmly believed, would abolish idolatry out of the world. With what an awful, commanding, air of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 45:11-19

The people of God in captivity, who reconciled themselves to the will of God in their affliction and were content to wait his time for their deliverance, are here assured that they should not wait in vain. I. They are invited to enquire concerning the issue of their troubles, Isa. 45:11. The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, though he does not allow them to strive with him, yet encourages them, 1. To consult his word: ?Ask of me things to come; have recourse to the prophets and their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:1

Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus ,.... Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed, not because he was anointed with material oil, as the kings of Israel and Judah were; but because he was appointed by the Lord to be a king, and was qualified by him for that office; and was raised up by him to be an instrument of doing great things in the world, and particularly of delivering the Jews from their captivity, and restoring them to their own land: whose right hand I have holden ; whom... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:2

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight ,.... Or, "level the hilly places" F3 The Septuagint render the word by ορη , mountains; Gussetius by eminences, high places, such as stood in the way of passage into countries. The Vulgate Latin interprets it of glorious persons; and Abendana says it is right to understand it in this way; and applies it to Zerubbabel, and those that went up with him to Jerusalem, with the leave of Cyrus, who were good men, and honourable in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:3

And I will give thee treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places ,.... What had been laid up in private places, and had not seen the light for many years. The Jewish Rabbins say F6 Vide Abendana in Miclol Yophi in Ioc. , that Nebuchadnezzar having amassed together all the riches of the world, when he drew near his end, considered with himself to whom he should leave it; and being unwilling to leave it to Evilmerodach, he ordered ships of brass to be built, and filled them... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:4

For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name ,.... Not so much for the sake of Cyrus, and to do honour to him, was it that he so long before he was born called him by his name; but to assure the people of the Jews, the Lord's chosen people, and who were his servants, of the certainty of their deliverance, their deliverer being mentioned by name; and it was for their sakes, and not his, that he called him, and raised him up to do such great things as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:5

I am the Lord, and there is none else ,.... Whom thou, O Cyrus, for the words are directed to him, ought to own, serve, and worship: there is no God besides me ; in heaven or earth, in any of the countries conquered by thee, and thou rulest over; for though there were gods and lords many, so called, these were only nominal fictitious deities; not gods by nature, as he was; of which the following, as well as what is before said, is a proof: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:6

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west ,.... That all the inhabitants of the world, from east to west, which takes in the habitable part of the world, that from north to south not being entirely so; that all within this compass, by hearing what great things God did by Cyrus, and for his people, might know, own, and acknowledge, that there is none besides me: I am the Lord, and there is none else ; or, "besides me there is nothing" F12 ואין עוד "quod... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 45:7

I form the light, and create darkness ,.... Natural light, or that light which was produced at the first creation, and of which the sun is the fountain and source; or day which is light, and night which is darkness, the constant revolutions of which were formed, appointed, and are continued by the Lord, Genesis 1:3 , moral light, or the light of nature, the rational understanding in man; spiritual light, or the light of grace, by which things spiritual and supernatural are known; the light... read more

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