Isaiah 41:14-20

3. THE SERVANT OF GOD, WEAK AND LOWLY, YET IN GOD THE STRONG PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, RICHLY BLESSED WITH SALVATION AND DIVINE KNOWLEDGE

Isaiah 41:14-20

14          Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye 24men of Israel;

I 25will help thee, saith the Lord,

And thy redeemer, 26the Holy One of Israel.

15     Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument

Having 27teeth:

Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,

And shalt make the hills as chaff.

16     Thou shalt 28fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,

And the whirlwind shall scatter them:And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,

And shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17     29When the poor and needy 30seek water, and there is none,

And their tongue faileth for thirst,

I the Lord will hear them,

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18     I will open rivers in 31high places,

And fountains in the midst of the valleys:I will make the wilderness a pool of water,And the dry land springs of water.

19     I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the 32shittah tree,

And the myrtle and 33the oil tree;

I will set in the desert the 34fir tree,

And the 35pine, and the 36box tree together:

20     That they may see, and know,

And consider, and understand together,That the hand of the Lord hath done this,And the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

See the List for the recurrence of the words: Isaiah 41:14. קדושׁ ישׂראל–גָּאַל–נְאֻם י׳–מְתִים–תּוֹלַעַת. Isaiah 41:16 הָלַל–מְעָרָה–זָרָה Isaiah 41:18 מוֹצָא–אֲגַם. Isaiah 41:19. אֶרֶז בְּרוֹשׁ–הֲדַם–שִׁטָּה–. Isaiah 41:20. בָּרָא–שָׂכַל.

Isaiah 41:14. It is to be noted that the Lord addresses Israel as a weak woman, Isaiah 41:14-15 a in the second pers. fem.; whereas Isaiah 41:15 b, Isaiah 41:16, the one dashing down the enemies is right away addressed in the masculine as a man. [This seems over-refinement. The fern, form of the verb and suffixes are prompted by the principal noun תּוֹלַעַת; in the masculine forms following, the idea of the person addressed is resumed, according to common usage.—Tr.].

Isaiah 41:17. העניים והאביונים put first shows that they are to be regarded as casus absoluti. It is still uncertain whether נָשָׁ‍ֽתָּה is derived from &נָשַׁת נָשָׁה or from שָׁתַת. The latter seems to me the least likely, since it means ponere, fundare, stabilire, from which the meaning defecit, exaruit can be got only by straining. We must comp. Isaiah 19:5; Jeremiah 51:30. I had rather, with Olshausen, assume a root נָשַׁה=exaruit, defecit, kindred to נָשָׁה. Then נָשָֽׁתָּה would be third person fern. Kal, in pausal form, with Dagesch affectuosum.——In the second clause of Isaiah 41:17, אֲנִי is the common subject of the two clauses, with both יהוה and אלהי י׳ in apposition, and it is to be noted that the latter stands in parallelism for the former, as indeed the God of Israel is actually called Jehovah.

Isaiah 41:20. After יָשִׂימוּ is to be supplied, not only לֵב (comp. Isaiah 41:22), but עַל לֵב (Isaiah 42:25; Isaiah 47:7; Isaiah 57:1; Isaiah 57:11; comp. Isaiah 44:19). Thus the proper order of thought is restored: that they see, know, take to heart and gain an insight into. Moreover this form of expression occurs in Isaiah only in the places cited. The omission of לֵב occurs in various senses, Psalms 50:23; Job 4:20; Job 23:6; Job 34:23; Job 37:15; Judges 19:30.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Servant of God is here still the people Israel; but what is properly characteristic of this notion is made prominent, viz.: the suffering and lowliness. But at the same time the Prophet does not omit to say very emphatically that this poor servant of God will be also a mighty and irresistible instrument of judgment in the hand of Jehovah. Thus Israel is addressed “worm Jacob,” “little people” Israel,” and that with the use of a feminine verbal form, whom, however, the Lord will help to rid itself of its enemies (Isaiah 41:14-16), and will bless with abundance of good things (Isaiah 41:17-19), in order that all may know that He alone is God (Isaiah 41:20).

2. Fear not——of Israel.

Isaiah 41:14-16. The expressions “little worm,” “little people” are evidently intended to paint the wretchedness and weakness of Israel. The former recalls Psalms 22:6 “I am a worm, and no man,” and also the description of the suffering servant of God, Isaiah 53:2 sqq. Comp. too, Job 25:6. Yet one cannot but see in this “worm Jacob” the transition of the servant of God to the “form of a servant,” and thus recognize an intimation that the suffering people of God is also a type of the suffering Saviour. The expression מתי ישׂראל also, which recalls מְתֵי מִמְפָּר, i.e., a few people, that may be counted (Genesis 34:30; Deuteronomy 4:27; Psalms 105:12; 1 Chronicles 16:19, comp. שָׁוְאJob 11:11 : Psalms 26:4), involves the meaning of weakness, inconsiderableness, lowliness. גָּאַל is the antithesis of מָכַר (comp. Leviticus 25:25; Leviticus 25:48). The word frequently occurs in a juristic sense; but frequently, too, of Jehovah, who as next of kindred, so to speak, redeems His people that has been sold into the hand of their enemies.

Yet what a contrast! The Lord makes this worm Jacob a mighty instrument of judgment against the nations. חרוץ, that occurs Isaiah 10:22 in a figurative sense, and Isaiah 28:27 as designation of the threshing roller itself, signifies here a quality of the latter, viz.: the being sharp. Sharp, new, and double-edged (פיפיות only here in Isaiah, comp. Psalms 149:6) shall the roller be. As such a roller lacerates the bundles of grain, and as the similarly formed harrow crushes the clods, so shall Israel rend and crush mountains and make hills like chaff, etc. This prophecy has not been fulfilled by the fleshly Israel, or at least only in a meager way, the best example being the Maccabees. But by the spiritual Israel it has had glorious fulfilment in spiritual victories.

3. The poor——created it.

Isaiah 41:17-20. From the preceding Isaiah 41:14-16, which are parallel with these, it appears that these verses do not promise to the returning exiles merely the needful refreshment through the desert, thus connecting say with Isaiah 40:10-11.Isaiah 41:14-16; Isaiah 41:14-16 do not describe something that the exiles are to effect before they can betake themselves home; and just as little do Isaiah 41:17 sqq., speak of something relating only to the return. Isaiah 41:14-20 describe the condition of salvation in general, which Israel shall experience after the exile. Isaiah 41:17 sqq., can only refer to the return from exile so far as that belongs to that condition. Taking the wretched that seek water, etc., as parallel with “worm Jacob,” etc., we understand Isaiah 41:17-20 to describe all the conditions that caused the existence of Israel before its redemption to appear like a life in the desert. As in Isaiah 41:14 sq. the “worm” is suddenly transformed into a mighty threshing sled, so here dry places are suddenly transformed into richly watered places, covered with glorious vegetation.

Isaiah 41:18-19 say how the Lord will hear the prayers of the languishing. He will open the earth (comp. Psalms 105:41) (פָּתַח, by metonomy, the cause instead of the effect, as often, comp. Isaiah 14:17; Jeremiah 40:4) to let streams burst forth even on bald hills, and in valleys, etc. מוֹצָא “place of issue” Isaiah 58:11, comp. Psalms 107:35 and Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 35:7.

In describing the vegetation seven trees in all are named, which perhaps is not accidental. אֶרֶז, “cedar” is generic: שִׁטָּה (from שָׁנָט, “to be pointed, to prick “Arabic sant, Egyptian schonte, comp. Herz. R.-Encycl. XV p. 95, and Jerome on our passage) “the acacia;” only here in Isa. הֲדַם “the myrtle,” that grows as a tree in Anterior-Asia, and in Greece (see Victor Hehn, Kulturplanzen u. Hausthiere, p. 143 sqq.: Herz. R.-Encycl. X. 142). By עֵץ שֶׁמֶן, in contrast with זֵית שׁמן (Deuteronomy 8:8), is commonly understood the wild olive, oleaster, ἀγριέλαιος (Romans 11:17; Romans 11:24). The LXX. translates κυπάρισσον; Celsus supposes resinous trees in general. This last would be a good way of getting over the difficulty, seeing the expression is strange for the wild olive. For it gives no oil, being partly without fruit (see Hehn, l. c. p. 45) partly yields fruit that is applicable for making salve and not oil (Herz. B.-Encycl. X p. 547). But as in Nehemiah 8:15עֲלֵי זַיִת and עֲלֵי עֵץ שֶׁמֶן are mentioned together as needful for constructing the leafy booths, one must suppose the wild olive is meant. The expression occurs only 1 Kings 6:23; 1 Kings 6:31-33, where the עצי שׁמן are mentioned as material for the cherub-figures, and the doors and posts of the Holiest. The following words “the fir,” etc., occur verbatim Isaiah 60:13. בְּרוֹשׁ “the cypress” (according to MoversPhoen. I. p. 575 sqq. Berot, Berut is the name of the divinity of nature that was supposed to dwell in trees). Comp. Hehn, l. c. p.192 sqq. The words תדהר and תאשׁור remain to the present unexplained. They occur again only 60. 13 which is to be regarded as a repetition of the present passage, דָּהַר is a Hebrew word. We read מוּם דֹהֵר “the galloping horse,” Nahum 3:2, and Judges 5:22 paints מִדַּֽהְַרוֹת דַּ‍ֽהְַרוֹת אַבִּירָיו almost like quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum. But dahr in Arabic means “tempus, seculum.” It is the Hebrew דּוֹר (comp. מוּל and &מוּר מָֹהַל and &נוּר מָהַר and נָהַר, etc.). However one may mediate the notions “currere, cursus” and “tempus, seculum,” whether by the notion of haste or that of circuit, still the meaning of lasting, continuance, longevity seems also to belong to the sphere of the root דָּהַר. And perhaps this is still more the case in the dialects than in Hebrew itself; comp. the Chaldee תְּדִּירָאcircuitus, perpetuitas=תָּמִיד, with which it would agree that תדהר, which does not elsewhere occur in Hebrew, is probably a cognate foreign word, i.e., belonging to a kindred dialect. The plane-tree appears not to be indigenous in Palestine, for it is no where mentioned among trees that grow there. If ערמון is really the plane-tree, it signifies a tree not growing in Palestine as appears from the context of the two places of its occurrence (Genesis 30:37; Ezekiel 31:8). תדהר might thus, in the Prophet’s day, be a name for the plane-tree borrowed from some kindred dialect, and that was given to it because of its longevity. Descriptions of giant specimens of the plane-tree such as that of Hehn, l. c. p.198 sqq., prove that it attains a great age, and prodigious size. Hehn says: “The praise of the plane-tree fills all antiquity.” Again: “Greece received the plane-tree and the fashion of esteeming it from Asia, where the plane-tree like the cypress from ancient times was regarded with religious veneration by the tree-loving Iranians and the Iranian races of Asia-Minor.” According to this, one might almost think it strange if the plane-tree were omitted from mention with the cypress in an enumeration of the glorious trees that were to adorn the desert road of Israel returning from the Iranian territory (for that we may include also the idea of the return was mentioned above). Hence I am inclined, until better instructed, to regard the תדהר, with Saadia, Gesenius, Delitzsch and others, as the planetree. תְּאַשּׁוּר, from אָשַׁר “rectus, erectus fuit, is held by the ancients to be either “the box-tree “or “the sherbin cedar.” Hehn, against the meaning box-tree, appeals to Theophrast who ranks the πύξος among the φιλόψυχρα, i.e., among the vegetation that cannot endure a warm climate. A designation like “recta, erecta” suits the cedar admirably, and as the name sherbin undoubtedly stands for the cypressus oxycedrus (see Gesen. Comm.; Niebuhr, Description of Arabia, p. 149; Delitzschin loc.), we may for the present be content with the meaning “Sherbin.”

All these glorious acts will the Lord accomplish for the purpose of bringing His people to the full, deep and abiding knowledge that He has effected such things, and that thus He alone is to be revered as God. The Lord had often before wonderfully delivered His people, and they had often returned to Him then as their God. But this knowledge had never been right comprehensive and thorough. They had always in a little while turned again to idols. When the Lord terminates the great Babylonian captivity, then the nation will renounce idols forever and serve the Lord alone. This also came to pass. יַחְדָּו (comp. Isaiah 40:5) relates to the subject: all shall know it. But if the Prophet means by these “all” primarily the redeemed, those poor and wretched (Isaiah 41:17) that needed these wonders of God, still in this emphatic יחדו there seems to be also a reference to all in the widest sense to whom this knowledge would be proper. בראח comp. Isaiah 45:8.

Footnotes:

[24]Or, few men.

[25]omit will.

[26]supply is.

[27]Heb. mouths.

[28]scatter.

[29]omit When.

[30]seeking.

[31]bare hills.

[32]acacia.

[33]wild olive.

[34]cypress.

[35]plane-tree.

[36]sherbin-cedar.