Isaiah 40:1-22

The hope of return is grounded by the prophet upon the fact that Jehovah is the only God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Disposer of the fate of nations, who guides the course of history according to His will. The tone of this section is argumentative, the respective claims of Jehovah and of the heathen gods being discussed as in a court of justice. The object of the argument is to encourage the Jews in their exile by showing that, since Jehovah is thus supreme, no obstacles will be able to interfere with the restoration to their own land which He has promised. With fine irony the prophet exhibits the infatuation of idol-makers and idol-worshippers; proving that, while the idols are senseless blocks and less than nothing (Isaiah 40:17), Jehovah is Lord of the world and controls all things. The Israelites can testify to His power, because through His prophets He has told them of things be fore they came to pass. Jehovah is, therefore, set forth as the deliverer of His people. But in the carrying out of His purposes He employs agents: (a) Cyrus, who is commissioned as His shepherd (Isaiah 44:28), His anointed (Isaiah 45:1), to perform all His pleasure in the overthrow of Babylon and deliverance of the Israelites from their exile; (b) the nation of Israel, which has its own work to do in the furthering of Jehovah’s purposes. The title ’servant of Jehovah,’ hitherto applied to individuals, is in these chapters (Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 44:1-2, Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 48:20) applied to the nation in its corporate capacity: perhaps also, though less directly, to the faithful Jews within the nation (Isaiah 42:1-7, Isaiah 42:18; Isaiah 43:8, Isaiah 43:10) on whom would devolve the fulfilment of God’s will. The name implies, in the first place, the fact of the nation’s election by Jehovah (Isaiah 48:8), and further the truth that Israel has a mission in the world, viz. to bring the knowledge of true religion to the Gentiles, and be a means of universal blessing (Isaiah 42:1 f).