Introduction
III.—THE SECOND PARTTHE TOTAL SALVATION TO COME, BEGINNING WITH REDEMPTION FROM THE BABYLONIAN EXILE AND CONCLUDING WITH THE CREATION OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
This second principal part is occupied with the redemption of Israel. And the Prophet contemplates this redemption as a total, although from its beginning, which coincides with redemption from the Babylonian exile, to its conclusion, it takes up thousands of years. For to the gaze of the Prophet, that, which in point of time, is most remote, is just as near as that which is nearest in point of time. He sees degrees, it is true; but the intervals of time that separate the degrees one from another he is unable to measure. Things of the same kind he sees along side of one another, although as to fact, the single moments of their realization take place one after another. Consequences that evolve out of their premises only after a long time he contemplates along with the latter. Thus it happens that the representations of the Prophet have often the appearance of disorder. To this is joined still another thing. Although, in general, the Prophet’s view point is in the midst of the people as already suffering punishment and awaiting their redemption out of it, thus the viewpoint of the Exile, yet at times this relative (ideal, prophetic) present merges into the absolute, i.e., actual history of his own time where both have an inherent likeness. But this inherent likeness becomes especially prominent where the punishment of sin is concerned, which is the concern of both epochs in common, that is the epoch in which the Prophet lived, and the epoch of the Exile.
These are the chief points of view, which must be held fast in order to make it possible to understand this grand cycle of prophecy.The twenty-seven chapters that compose this cycle subdivide into three parts containing each nine chapters. (This was first noticed by Friedrich Rueckert, Be. Propheten übers. u. erläutert, 1831.)
The first Ennead (chapters 40–48), has Kores1 (Cyrus) for its middle point; the second (chapters 49–57), the personal Servant of Jehovah; the third (chapters 58–66), the new creature.
In regard to the critical questions, see the Introduction.[In regard to the above division the following may be appropriate which Dr. J. A. Alexander says concerning the division proposed by himself, and which does not materially differ from the one above, though it makes three heads of what above is comprised in the first (40–48). “These are the subjects of the Prophet’s whole discourse, and may be described as present to his mind throughout; but the degree in which they are respectively made prominent is different in different parts. The attempts which have been made to show that they are taken up successively, and treated one by one, are unsuccessful, because inconsistent with the frequent repetition and recurrence of the same theme. The order is not that of strict succession, but of alternation. It is still true, however, that the relative prominence of these great themes is far from being constant. As a general fact, it may be said that their relative positions in this respect answer to those they hold in the enumeration above given. The character of Israel, both as a nation and a church, is chiefly prominent in the beginning, the Exile and the Advent in the middle, the contrast and change of dispensations at the end. With this general conception of the Prophecy, the reader can have very little difficulty in perceiving the unity of the discourse, and marking its transitions for himself. Abridged Ed. Vol. II. p. 18.].
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A.—KORES
The first Ennead of chaps. 40–46 has two characteristic elements that distinguish it from the two following Enneads: 1) The Promise of a Hero that will come from the east, that will redeem Israel out of the Babylonian captivity, and who in fact is called by his name “Kores” Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1 : 2) The affirmation that Jehovah, from the fulfilment of this fact predicted by Him, must also necessarily be acknowledged as the only true God, as also, on the other hand, from the inability of idols to prophesy and to fulfil must evidently be concluded that they are no gods. One sees from this that the Prophet wishes primarily to attain a double object by the first nine chapters of this book of consolation: First, Israel shall have the prospect presented of bodily deliverance by Cyrus; but Second, its deliverance also from the worship of idols shall be made possible by means of that promise. For the Lord intends to make it so evident that the deliverance by Cyrus is His work, and at the same time His victory over the idols that Israel can no longer resist acknowledging Him as alone divine. These two aims manifestly go hand in hand. But now a Third is added to them. Cyrus and Israel are themselves prophetic types that point to a third and higher one. Each of them represents one factor of the development of salvation. In that third both factors find their common fulfilment. Cyrus is only the initiator of the redemption. He brings to an end the seventy years’ exile, and opens up the era of salvation. But the salvation which he immediately brings is still only a faint twilight. On the other hand, in himself considered, Cyrus is a grand and glorious appearance. He beams like the sun in the heavens, that is unobscured by clouds, and that, indeed, not only in our prophecy, but also in profane history. In this respect he prefigures the element of glory that must appear in the fulfiller of redemption. In Isaiah 45:1 He is called מָשִׁיחַ (Messiah, anointed). He is therefore the messiah in a lower degree. Lowliness, reproach, suffering, nothing of this sort is found in him. On the contrary Israel is the lowly, despised, much enduring servant of Jehovah, who, however, in his lowliness is still strong, and in the hand of Jehovah a mighty instrument, partly to punish the heathen nations, and partly to save them. This particular also attains its conclusion in Him who fulfils the redemption. Therefore He is called Messiah and Servant of Jehovah in one person. He unites both in one: the glory and the lowliness, the kingly form and the servant form. Thus it happens, that in 40–48 beside the promise of Cyrus (as far as it relates to the deliverance out of the Babylonian exile), and the proof of divinity (drawn from prophecy and fulfilment) which form the peculiar subjects of these chapters, we see those two other elements appear in a preparative way; the element of glory represented by Cyrus, and the form of the servant of God by the people Israel. Those first named subjects are concluded in 40–48. For after 48 nothing more is said either about Cyrus or about prophecy and fulfilment. But that in Cyrus and in the people (regarded as the servant of Jehovah) which is typical has its unfolding in the two following Enneads, of which the former is chiefly devoted to the servant of God, and the latter to the glory of the new creation. Thus, therefore, we may say: the first Ennead forms the basis of the two that follow, in as much as it carries out to completion the two fundamental factors of the initiation of the redemption by Cyrus, and the proof of the divinity of Jehovah drawn therefrom, but partly, too, in that it lays the foundation for the representation of Him who in the highest degree is the Servant of God and King.
Let us now observe how the Prophet carries out in detail the plan which we have just sketched in its outlines.In chap. 40 after the prologue, the Prophet presents first the objective then the subjective basis of the redemption. For this chapter, after a general introduction (Isaiah 40:1-11) referring to the whole book, and thus also to the subsequent parts of chap. 40, contains first a presentation of the absolute power and wisdom of God, from which follows also the impossibility of representing Him by any natural image (Isaiah 40:12-26). If then redemption is objectively conditioned by the omnipotence and wisdom of God, so it is subjectively by that trust that Israel must repose in its God (Isaiah 40:27-31). This chap. contains, therefore, three parts, and has wholly the character of a foundation.
To chapter 41 we give the superscription: First appearance of the redeemer from the east and of the servant of Jehovah, as also the first and second realization of the prophecy relating to this as proof of the divinity of Jehovah. For in chapter 41 the Prophet begins by bringing forward as the principal person of his prophetic drama the form of him who as beginner of the redemption has to stand in the foreground of the first Ennead. He does not yet name him, but he draws him with traits not to be mistaken, and designates him as the one called of God, and his calling a test of divinity which it is impossible for idols to give (Isaiah 41:1-7). Immediately after the redeemer the Prophet lets the redeemed appear, viz.: the people Israel, whom he introduces as “servant of Jehovah” in contrast with the glorious potentate from the east, for in him must appear that other typical element, poverty and lowliness, which still does no detriment to his strength. The Prophet characterizes this servant of Jehovah primarily as the chosen one of God, whom God will not reject but will strengthen to victory (Isaiah 41:8-13), then again as poor and wretched, who, notwithstanding, will be a mighty instrument of judgment and rich in salvation and knowledge (Isaiah 41:14-20). After he has thus described the redeemer and the redeemed servant of God, he employs in conclusion precisely this prophecy of redemption a second time as the basis of an argument which has for its conclusion the sole divinity of Jehovah, and the nothingness of idols (Isaiah 41:21-29).
In Chapter 42 the third principal person appears on the scene, viz., the personal Servant of God to whom both the chief personages before mentioned pointed; the first of them prefiguring His glory, the second His lowliness. He is represented first as meek, who at the same time will be a strong refuge of righteousness (Isaiah 42:1-4); then as the personal representative of a new covenant, who shall mediate for all nations light and right; and at the same time this is the third prophecy which the Lord presents as pledge of His divine dignity (Isaiah 42:5-9). These two strophes are like a ladder that leads up to the culmination. For chapter 42 is a pyramidal structure. In verses 10–17 the Prophet has reached the point of the pyramid. In them the expression “Servant of God” is no longer used. And yet the discourse is concerning the same that Isaiah 40:1 was designated as the Servant of Jehovah. He appears here in His unity with Jehovah in which He Himself is El-Gibbor [God a mighty one]. As such, He issues out of Israel into the blind heathen world in order partly to judge, partly to bring them to the light of knowledge and of salvation. From this elevation the following strophes recede again. And in Isaiah 40:18-21 the Servant of Jehovah, who appears here again under this name, is portrayed as one, who can indeed make others see and hear, but Himself, as one blind and deaf, goes to meet His destruction, yet precisely thereby secures the favor of God, and becomes the founder of a new Tora (law). Unhappily this new institution of salvation is not accepted by unbelieving Israel. For this reason the Prophet sees Israel as a people robbed, plundered, and languishing in kennels and prisons (Isaiah 42:22-25). From his heart he wishes that Israel might take warning from this threatening in time, and the sooner the better. But, alas, the Prophet knows that Israel, spite of the Exile, in which it has already so emphatically experienced the chastening hand of its God, will not yet lay to heart this warning. With this the second discourse concludes.
Having in 41–42 introduced especially the chief persons of the redemption, viz.: the redeemer from the east, then the redeemed or servant (people) of God, finally the personal Servant of God, in whom the two former combine, the Prophet now portrays in 43 chiefly the redemption itself. He gives first a survey of the chief particulars of the redemption (Isaiah 40:1-8). Having Isaiah 40:1 assigned the reason for the redemption, he depicts it, Isaiah 40:2, as one that shall come to pass spite of all difficulties; in Isaiah 40:3-4, as such that it must come to pass though even heathen nations must be sacrificed for the sake of it; in Isaiah 40:5-7 as all-comprehending, i.e., as such that it will lead back into their home out of all lands of the earth the members of the people of Israel; finally, in Isaiah 40:8, is indicated the condition that Israel must fulfill in order to partake of this salvation, viz.: that it must have open eyes and ears in a spiritual sense. To this representation of the redemption in general, the Prophet adds (Isaiah 40:9-13) the statement, that recurs thus for the fourth time, that prophecy and fulfilment are a test of divinity, and that Israel in its capacity as servant of God is called to be witness by furnishing this test. After carrying out this thought, that recurs so like a refrain, the Prophet turns again to the chief thought of chapter 43. He describes the return home of Israel especially out of the Babylonian captivity. Yet not without finding in the Lord’s manner of bringing this about a reference to the distant Messianic salvation, in respect to its exercising also a transforming influence upon nature (Isaiah 40:14-21). In the fourth strophe of the chapter (Isaiah 40:22-28) the Prophet treats the thought of the inward, moral redemption, viz.: the redemption also from sin. He lets it be known here that this inward redemption will by no means follow close on the feet of the outward redemption from exile. For Israel has never kept the law. The Lord has already hitherto borne Israel’s sin, and will in future blot out the guilt of it. But the Israel that contemns the grace of God in proud self-righteousness will have to be destroyed. The Lord, however, will break the power of sin by the rich effusion of the holy and holy-making Spirit upon that seed of Israel that shall be chosen to serve the Lord as His servant; and this is the thought of the fifth strophe that includes Isaiah 44:1-5.
Having portrayed in 41. the first redeemer and then the redeemed, i.e., the servant (people) of God, then in 42 the antitype of both, the second Redeemer and Servant of God in a personal sense, then in 43 the redemption itself, and all this in such a way that, interspersed, He has appealed four times, in a refrain like repetition, to the ability of Jehovah to prophesy in contrast with the inability of idols, as proof of His divinity, the Prophet now Isaiah 44:6 sqq., makes a decided use of this last element for which He has made such preparation. This entire chapter is an edifice whose substructure consists of the members of just that argumentation, that whoever can prophesy is God, and the crowning point of which appears to us in naming the name “Kores” (Cyrus), the way for naming it being now well prepared, and the motive sufficient. That is to say, in Isaiah 44:6-20, for the fifth time, in a drawn-out recapitulation extending through three strophes, it is set forth that Jehovah, as the only true God, can alone prophesy, and that He is God He will now prove by a grand prophetic transaction for the salvation of Israel. Accordingly, in the first strophe (Isaiah 44:6-11) the Prophet shows that Israel possesses the stronghold of its salvation in its living, everlasting God, who can prophesy, and has prophesied, which Israel also as a witness must testify to, whereas the senseless makers of idols must go to destruction. In the second strophe (Isaiah 44:12-17), in order to set forth the senselessness of idol worship most convincingly, the manufacture of idols is described in a drastic way. In the third strophe (Isaiah 44:18-20) in order on the one hand to explain the possibility of such senseless acts as making idols, the deep reason of it is pointed to, viz.: the blindness of men’s hearts and minds; on the other hand however the Prophet points to the destructive effects of this insane behaviour. In the fourth strophe (Isaiah 44:21-28) the Prophet attains finally the culmination. He first deduces briefly the consequences from the foregoing. Before all he reminds that Israel is Jehovah’s servant, i.e., property, which the Lord has bought for Himself by graciously blotting out his guilt. This ransomed servant may return home (note the highly significant שׁוּכָה Isaiah 44:22). Then there is a second brief reminder of Jehovah’s omnipotent divinity, and, in contrast with it, of the necessary disgrace of idols and their soothsayers. In contrast with the latter it is finally declared with all emphasis: Jehovah makes true the word of His prophets. Therefore Israel will and must have a happy return home, and Cyrus shall the prince be called who shall accomplish this decree of Jehovah.
With this we have the culmination of the cycle of prophecy in chapters 40–48 and in respect of space have reached the middle of it. For, if, we leave aside 40, as a general laying of a foundation, and remember that the prophecy relating to Cyrus begins with 41, we have here at the close of 44, four discourses behind us, and still four discourses before us.In chapter 45, the prophecy remains at the elevation which it attained at the close of chapter 44. We may therefore designate this discourse as the culmination of the cycle of prophecy in 40–48 and its contents as “Cyrus and the effects of his appearance.” For we are informed in Isaiah 45:1-7 what shall he brought about by Cyrus, whom the Lord has chosen and designates as His anointed (מָשִׁיחַ), and what three-fold object will be secured thereby. But we learn Isaiah 45:8-13 that Cyrus is the beginner and founder of the era of salvation promised to Israel, although according to appearance this seems not to be, and the faint-heartedness of Israel requires the assurance that Cyrus is certainly called to accomplish the outward restoration of the holy people and of the holy city. The Prophet even gives the further assurance, that, beside that northern world-power directly ruled by Cyrus, even the southern, i.e., Egypt with the lands of its dominion, convinced by the salvation accruing to Israel from Cyrus, shall be converted to Jehovah and will join itself to His people (Isaiah 45:14-17). Finally, however, in consequence of the saving effect proceeding from Cyrus, this greatest advantage shall eventuate, viz.: that Israel, when it sees the heathen north and south converted to Jehovah, shall at last and definitively abjure idols, and give itself up wholly and entirely to its God, so that from that time on humanity entire shall have become a spiritual Israel (Isaiah 45:18-25). In the seventh discourse (chapter 46), as also in the eighth (chapter 47) the obverse side of this picture of the future brought about by Cyrus is shown. In 46. namely, we have presented first the downfall of the Babylonian idols; but connected with this, also the gain that Israel shall derive from this, for its knowledge of God. That is to say, Israel will come to see that there is a great difference between Jehovah who carries His people, and those idols that are carried by beasts of burden into captivity (Isaiah 46:1-4). In fact Israel will know, too, which just such a difference exists between Jehovah and the images that are meant to represent Him (of which Isaiah 40:18; Isaiah 40:25 has discoursed), for the latter also are idols that need to be carried (Isaiah 46:5-7). Israel will actually draw the conclusion that the Lord here presses home for the sixth time, viz.: that the God who can prophesy and fulfill, who, in particular, has correctly announced beforehand the ravenous bird from the east, must be the right God (Isaiah 46:8-11). But the Prophet foresees that not all Israelites will draw from the facts so far mentioned that advantage for their religious life that, according to Jehovah’s intention, they ought. Will not this make problematical the realization of the promised salvation? He replies to this question, “No.” For the righteousness and salvation of God must come in spite of the hard-heartedness of Israel (Isaiah 46:12-13). The eighth discourse is occupied wholly with Babylon. It paints in drastic images the deep downfall of it, exposes the reasons (the harshness against Israel transcending the measure that God would have, and the secure arrogance Isaiah 47:1-7), and shows the uselessness of all the means employed to rescue Babylon, both those derived from the worship of demons and those which the connections with other nations seem to offer (Isaiah 47:8-15). The ninth discourse, finally, (48) is recapitulation and conclusion. After an address to Israel that displays the motives that prompt Jehovah’s interest in the nation (Isaiah 48:1-2) the Prophet makes prominent for the seventh time the importance of prophecy for the knowledge of God. He points Israel to the fulfilment of the old prophecies, that they had experienced and verified in order to move them to faith in the new that concern the redemption from exile (Isaiah 48:3-11). Then the chief contents of this new prophecy is repeated: what idols cannot, Jehovah can do, for He promises and brings on a redeemer that shall accomplish the will of God on Babylon (Isaiah 48:12-15). But Israel is summoned to go out of Babylon as out of an opened prison house, and to proclaim to all the world that the Lord by Cyrus has led His people out of Babylon and home, as He did by Moses out of Egypt (Isaiah 48:20-21). We join these verses close on Isaiah 40:15 because the contents of both passages demand it. The verses 16 and 17–19 are two insertions. The first, which is very obscure, appears to be a side remark of the Prophet’s, to the effect that the wonderful things discoursed in 40–47 were to himself not known from the beginning, but learned only in the moment of their creation (in a prophetic sense, comp. on Isaiah 48:6), but now by the impulse of the Spirit he has made them known. Verses 17–19 are of a retrospective nature. They contain the lament of the Lord that Israel did not sooner give heed to His commands; for thereby it would have partaken of the blessing given to the patriarchs without the chastening agency of the Exile. Isaiah 40:22 finally (which occurs again as to the words at the close of chap. 58, and in respect to sense at the close of chap. 66) is a refrain-like conclusion intended (in contrast with the consolatory words that begin the entire book of consolation chapters 40–66 and its principal parts) to call to mind the important truth, that this consolation is not unconditionally offered to all. For the wicked can have no share in it.
This, in its essentials, is my opinion of the plan and order of chapters 40–48.
Footnotes:
[1][The Author uses this Hebrew form of the name throughout the following context. We substitute for it the common form.—TR.].
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