Isaiah 41:25 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

The Lord, by the prophet, here repeats the challenge to idolaters to make out the pretentions of their idols: ?Produce your cause (Isa. 41:21) and make your best of it; bring forth the strongest reasons you have to prove that your idols are gods, and worthy of your adoration.? Note, There needs no more to show the absurdity of sin than to produce the reasons that are given in defence of it, for they carry with them their own confutation. I. The idols are here challenged to bring proofs of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 41:25

I have raised up one from the north ,.... Either one people, or one person; a mighty king, as the Targum; meaning either Cyrus, who might be said to come from the north, and from the rising of the sun, or the east, as in the next clause; since he was by birth a Medo-Persian, hence called a mule; by his mother a Mede, and the country of Media lay rather to the north of Babylon; and by his father a Persian, and Persia lay to the east of it; and the forces he brought with him against it were... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 41:25

I have raised up one from the north - "That is, "says Kimchi, "the Messiah. The king of Assyria placed the ten tribes in Chalach and Chabar by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings 17:6 , which lands lie northerly and easterly." He shall come upon princes "He shall trample on princes" - For יבא yabo , Le Clerc reads יבס yebes , from the Chaldee, who seems to read both words. "Forte legend. ויבס vaiyebes vel וירמס vaiyirmos : sequitur ס ." "This... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:17-29

The claims of Jehovah. The thought seems to resume the thread broken off at the beginning of the chapter. Jehovah appeals to what he has done and to what he is. I. HIS MERCIFUL DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE . The scene and state of exile is brought before us. They are dwelling in the "tents of Kedar." They are in the midst of a flourishing commercial empire; yet it is to them as a desert where no water is (cf. Psalms 63:1 ). The true desert is the soul without the sense of God's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

JEHOVAH 'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE NATIONS AND THEIR IDOL - GODS . The argument is now taken up from Isaiah 41:1-4 . Jehovah and his worshippers are on the one side; the idol-gods and their votaries on the other. The direct challenge, however, is given by Jehovah himself to the idols: 1 . What predictions of their own can they bring forward as proofs of supernatural knowledge? 2 . What indications can they give of power either to do good or to do evil ( Isaiah 41:22 ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

The futility and absurdity of false systems do not prevent them from keeping their hold on men. At the present day, men are apt to find it strange that the prophets should spend so much time, employ so many words, in confuting idolatry and showing it to be utter and absolute folly. To us of the present age the absurdity seems palpable and gross—therefore not worth arguing against. But systems of religion or of irreligion, whenever they have become established and have got possession of men's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

A true test of Divinity. When these words were written the question to be solved was—Which god, of all the rival deities, is worthy of human trust and worship? The question now is—What is the authority to which we shall submit our judgment and in which we shall rest?—is it human nature, or is it the forces of the material world, or is it the Lord God? The verses before us suggest to us that one criterion in this state of inquiry is to be found in the consideration that we cannot find rest in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:25

It remains for Jehovah to plead his own cause, to vindicate his own Divinity. He adduces, as proof of his power in action, the fact of his raising up Cyrus; as proof of his ability to predict, the fact that he has announced his coming. One from the north … from the rising of the sun . Both as a Persian, and as King of Elam, Cyrus might be considered to come from the east. In fact, however, when he attacked Babylon, he fell upon it mainly from the north. After his conquest of Astyages... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 41:25

I have raised up one - In the previous verses God had shown that the idols had no power of predicting future events. He stakes, so to speak, the question of his divinity on that point, and the whole controversy between him and them is to be decided by the inquiry whether they had the power of foretelling what would come to pass. He here urges his claims to divinity on this ground, that he had power to foretell future events. In illustration of this, he appeals to the fact that he had raised up,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 41:25

Isaiah 41:25. I have raised up, &c. You neither foreknow, nor can do any thing. But I do now fore-tel, and will certainly effect, a great revolution and change in the world, which you shall not be able to hinder; one from the north Cyrus might be said to come from the north, because he was a Mede by his mother, as he was a Persian by his father; or because a great part of his army was gathered out of Media, which was northward in reference to Judea, and because Darius the Mede was... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 41:25

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 41:25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:17-29

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:21-29

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 41:25

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 41:25

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 41:25

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