Isaiah 40:6-8

6-8. Cry Isaiah again hears a voice crying. Not the same voice. That was the herald’s cry. This one belongs to another subject.

He said ואמר , v’amar, is the true pointing of the text, according to the best authorities, though Lowth, Noyes, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and a few Hebrew manuscripts read, And I said, and this apparently helps the sense of what follows. But it is, too, apparent, on the other hand, that it is the prophet who is here hearing, and the voice seems to be that of God, or of an ideal person in behalf of God, to the prophet, because when the latter asks, What shall I cry? the answer is such as to exalt the divine Word above all that is conceivable of man. The answer is, therefore, the theme of the entire passage. He is commanded to proclaim the perishable nature of man and of all flesh, and the imperishable nature of the word of God. Why such a proclamation? Possibly for preparing the way in men’s minds to see the absolute nothingness of idols (as shown in chapters following) when compared with the infinite exaltation of the almighty God. But more probably, and more directly, to assure the confidence of men in the reliability of God’s word of promise that Zion, or the believing ones in exile, shall surely have the deliverance promised.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth Grass is “all flesh,” or man in the abstract. Then these predicates of man show him in infinite contrast with God. Man is impotent, limited, perishing: the blast of God’s breath upon man is his destruction. Whatever such an infinite One says, therefore, can never fail. His promise of consolation and comfort is sure. This is clearly the sense to Isaiah 40:9. See Psalms 10:15; Isaiah 1:10-11; 1 Peter 1:24-25.