Deeper Commentary
There is huge significance in the "Yet...". For it follows right on from God's terrible condemnation of Jacob in Is. 43:28 (see notes there). We note the parallel of "Jacob... Israel", suggesting God's hope that Jacob would yet eventually mature to Israel as did the historical Jacob. "The God of Jacob / Israel" is Yahweh's most frequently used title. There is quite some stress on Israel having been "chosen" (Is. 41:8-20; 43:1-13,19-21; 44:1-5; 49:1-7). They were "chosen" not because of their goodness but simply because of Divine grace (Dt. 7:6,7; 14:2). This chosing or election of Israel is much laboured by Paul in Romans; the "chosen" are not chosen for their righteousness, in fact, quite the opposite. So many 'good' and nice secular people were not chosen, but we were. The apparently random [to human eyes] 'chosing' is to be seen as a sign of God's utter grace. We cannot doubt that we have been chosen, for whoever is chosen is called, and we have all heard the call of the Gospel. Paul connects the idea of being chosen with grace, and being counted righteous as a result of that grace. Isaiah here does the same. Israel have just been bitterly condemned by God at the end of Is. 43; "yet" they are chosen, and in :2 they will be called "Jeshurun", the upright one. This was by imputed righteousness alone, and would be effected by the gift of the Spirit (:3). Paul's argument in Romans is so clearly an exposition, or almost a repeat, of what we have in Is. 44. Conviction of sin (at the end of Is. 43), nuanced by our calling / election, after the pattern of Jacob, objects of God's sovereign love and grace, the work of the Spirit and imputed righteousness through being "in" the suffering, perfect servant.
It is significant that Paul takes a passage from one of Isaiah’s
servant songs here and applies it to us. The servant who suffered and witnessed
to the world was evidently the Lord Jesus. And yet Isaiah is also explicit
that the servant is the whole seed of Abraham, “Jacob”, the
slowly-developing people of God (Is. 41:8; 44:1). There are many
connections within Isaiah between the servant songs, and the descriptions
of the people of Israel into which the songs are interspersed. The
saviour-servant was to bring out the prisoners from the dungeons (Is.
42:7), so was every Israelite “to let the oppressed go free... loose the
bonds”, and to “undo the bands of the [heavy] yoke” (Is. 58:6) as Christ
did (Mt. 11:28,29); His work of deliverance is to be replicated by each of
us in our witness. Whoever is in Him will by this very fact follow Him in
this work. In Isaiah’s first context, the suffering servant was King
Hezekiah. Yet all Israel were to see themselves as ‘in’ him, as spiritual
Israel are to see themselves as in Christ. “He was oppressed”, as Israel
at that time were being “oppressed” by Assyria. As they were covered in
wounds and spiritual sickness (Is. 1:5,6), so the suffering servant bore
their diseases and rose again in salvation victory.
Isaiah 44:2 This is what Yahweh who made you and formed you from the womb,
who will save you, says-
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on
the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing on
your offspring- Ez. 20 and Jer. 31 make it clear that the exiles were
intended to accept a new covenant, seeing they had broken the old
covenant. That new covenant involved the gift of the Spirit, a heart of
flesh rather than of stone, the psychological working of God within them.
This is symbolized here as water and streams.
This is the time spoken of in Is. 32:15 when "the Spirit is poured on us
from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the
fruitful field is considered a forest".
They were the "dry ground",
and out of that dry ground there could have arisen the Messiah figure of
Is. 53:1. In the end, they refused the operation of that gift and
Zerubbabel, the branch from Babylon (out of the dry ground) let the ball
drop. And so these things were applied to the Lord Jesus and the gift of
the Spirit in Him (Jn. 7:38,39). "My Spirit" and "My blessing" are
parallel. The blessing promised to Abraham was of Yahweh being their God,
and not only an eternal inheritance of the land. That "blessing" is
understood in Acts 3:25,26 and Gal. 3 as the gift of the Spirit, the
transformation of the hearts of the seed of Abraham so that they might
become like the singular seed, the Lord Jesus, and thereby be prepared and
made appropriate for the blessing of eternal inheritance of the land.
Isaiah 44:4 And they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the
watercourses-
Isaiah 44:5 One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s’ and another will be called by
the name of Jacob- And another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh’, and
honour the name of Israel- If we apply this to the Jewish
exiles, the idea may be that they quit idolatry and their Babylonians
names like "Mordechai" or "Esther", and renamed themselves with Hebrew
names that included "Yah".
It would be thanks to Cyrus that the seed of Abraham would be
redefined- Gentiles could become part of the covenant seed by saying “I
belong to Yahweh” or writing Yahweh’s Name on their hand (Is. 44:3,5). See
on Is. 45:1. This didn’t actually happen- but the prophecy was reapplied
to the way that Gentiles became part of Abraham’s seed through baptism
into the Name (Gal. 3:27-29). The later servant poems / songs in Isaiah
appear irrelevant to Cyrus, but applicable to the nation of Israel as
God’s “servant”, or to one particular “servant”. Perhaps this is
reflective of the way that Cyrus didn’t live up to his potential, and the
‘servant’ prophecies became capable of other potential fulfillments?
And yet Is. 44:28 states: “Of Cyrus he says, ‘He is my shepherd; he will
fulfill all my purpose’”. This is typical of prophecy which is conditional,
even though the conditions aren’t stated. It is observable that all the
servant songs / poems have language and terms which repeat throughout
them- it’s as if one person could have fulfilled them all, they
could’ve been relevant to one person, but in reality this didn’t work out.
The Name of Jacob /
Israel is here paralleled with Yahweh. Remember how Jacob in his doubt promised
God: "If God will be with me... then shall Yahweh be my God" (Gen.
28:20,21); and at the end, Yahweh was Jacob's God. God seems to recognize
this by describing Himself as the God of Jacob / Israel so very often. His
joy, His sheer delight at Jacob's spiritual achievement is recorded
throughout the Bible. The way God describes Himself as "the God of
Israel" (201 times) or "the God of Jacob" (25 times) infinitely more
times than anyone else's God is proof enough that God saw His relationship
with Jacob as very special. "God of Abraham" occurs 17 times; "God of
Isaac" 8 times; "God of David" 4 times. Remember that whenever we read "Israel", we are reading of the man Jacob and his children. That God was
the God of mixed-up, struggling Jacob is a sure comfort to every one of
us. God is not ashamed to be surnamed the God of Jacob (Heb. 11:16 Gk.).
Isaiah 44:6 This is what Yahweh the King of Israel and His Redeemer,
Yahweh of Armies, says-
Isaiah 44:7 Who is like Me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it
in order for Me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare
the things that are coming, and that will happen-
Isaiah 44:8 Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you
long ago, and shown it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is not. I don’t know any other Rock- LXX "ye are
witnesses if there is a God beside me". The experiences with the Assyrian
destruction ought to have demonstrated this. The gods of Assyria couldn't
save them, neither could the local deities whom Judah had trusted in at
the time. Yahweh alone is the God of salvation. As developed on :9, this
is the imagery of the courtroom. Israel are called as witnesses to Yahweh,
and the idols are called as witnesses for the idolaters. We note the
balance of the equation. Yahweh is not parallel with the idols, with the
idolaters. Israel are called as Yahweh's witnesses, and the idols are
called as witnesses for the idolaters. Those idolaters were therefore
making themselves God, by creating gods (:9).
The court case is
over whether Yahweh can indeed save His people. There was no God like
Yahweh who forgave and saved His people by grace. God was a rock to Israel
in that He was faithful to them- the allusion is to Dt. 32:4 "[He is] the
Rock... for all His ways are justice; a God of faithfulness". God's
faithfulness to Israel despite their unfaithfulness is what makes Him rock
like. No other god was such a "Rock" to their people.
Isaiah 44:9 Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that
they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see nor know,
that they may be disappointed- In the imagery of the court case,
Israel are witnesses to Yahweh, and the idols are witnesses to themselves.
See on :8. The witnesses, the
idols, cannot see nor understand anything. As discussed on Is. 43, Israel are also a silent
witness- blind, deaf and dumb. But their very existence is a testament to
God's saving grace and abiding desire to save Israel. The silence of the
idols is different. After all, God is in the dock, accused of being unable
to save. But no witnesses can say anything to condemn Him nor prove the
case- that He is in fact unable to save. Indeed the idols are mocked,
along with those who make them and trust in them. We can get in the spirit
of this- considering anything else than God and His salvation to be a
laughable, pathetic and absurd thing. Even though the world worships such
idols.
Isaiah 44:10 Who has fashioned a god or moulds an image that is profitable
for nothing?- The verse runs on from :9; they are
disappointed who fashion their own gods. In the context, the idols have
been called as witnesses, but they are silent in the witness box. They are
not profitable, they can give no helpful testimony to the case. See on :8.
Yahweh is continually presented as the former, creator and moulder of His
people; and Israel are thereby witnesses to Him and His work (:8). This is
the problem with playing God, which is the modern form of idolatry. We set
ourselves up as creator, rather than allowing His hand to form and mould
us in His image and likeness rather than us creating things in our own
likeness.
Isaiah 44:11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen
are mere men- LXX "and all by whom they were made are
withered". The reference is to the idol makers of the previous verse.
There is an emphasis upon the idol maker having "fellows" and their being
shamed "together", twice emphasized. The idea
is that idolatry is because people group together, it is a group function;
idolatry arises out of groups of people together.
Isaiah 44:12 The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it
with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his
strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint- "Works" is the same
word as "makes [a god]" (:15). In our days, the works of our hands are the
equivalent of making gods and idols. The picture is of a man working hard
to make, work, mould, shape and plan an idol. Isaiah has used all these
ideas about God's formative work with His people. Their strength failed in
the work, whereas God's power in working with us is limitless. His
strength in working for us doesn't fail. The "strong arm" of the
idol maker contrasts ironically and pathetically with the "strong arm" of
Yahweh who saves His people, and the descriptions of God found in Isaiah:
His strength never fails nor does He ever grow faint. Nor is He in need of
food and water (Is. 40:10 etc.).
Isaiah 44:13 The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a
pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and
shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in
a house-
The contrasts are not simply between Yahweh and the idols, but specifically between Yahweh and the creators of idols. The issue at stake is 'Who has creative power? And what is the nature of their creation?'. Yahweh is presented as natural and spiritual creator of His people through forgiveness and gace, and of a new heavens and new earth, a restored Kingdom of God on earth. The wonder of all that is so magnifident compared to the creation of the idol creators- a dumb piece of carved wood, which cannot speak nor save its creator.
The creation of idols was something done only under the supposed command of the gods. It seems there is extensive allusion to Marduk here, the Babylonian god whom many of the Jewish exiles had worshipped. We recall "Mordecai", named after Marduk. The ninth to the eighth century Babylonian Erra Epic has Marduk listing the necessary elements for the remaking of his living image: the help of the carpenter-god Nin-ildu, the smith-god Ninagal and Gushkin-banda, 'Creator of god and man', the god of gold working. The entire Babylonian mythology is being mocked here. And it was exactly the cult of Marduk which the Jewish exiles were still involved with.
"To reside in a house" refers to an idol shrine or even a "temple" (CEV). The contrast is with Yahweh who would dwell within His own temple.
Isaiah 44:14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and
the oak- I noted on :13 that the language of idol construction is
also that of condemnation; their behaviour was their own condemnation. And
here too, t
And strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it- Yahweh would strengthen His servant people, in contrast to the idols, which had to be strengthened by their makers (s.w. Is. 41:10). The tree used for idolatry had been nourished by rain from Yahweh.
Isaiah 44:15 Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it,
and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god,
and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it-
This whole account of idolatry seems to be poking fun at the foolishness
of the worshipper. But this is all to lead up to the statements in :19,20,
that the mind of the idolater refuses to perceive the obvious. And this is
because they "did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
up to a reprobate (or, undistinguishing) mind" (Rom. 1:28; cp. Is. 29:10).
This is in contrast to how the Spirit of God works to give a spiritually
perceptive mind; and the promise of that Spirit has been offered earlier
in this chapter. Now we are being shown the opposite process; how God
works to confirm men in their blindness.
Isaiah 44:16 He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats
meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says,
Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire- The idea is that he uses part to
make an idol (:17), and of the other part, he uses part of that for
firewood for warmth and part for roasting a meal for himself. Or as ESV
"Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat". See on Is.
46:6.
Isaiah 44:17 The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image.
He bows down to it and worships and prays to it and says, Deliver me; for
you are my god!- See on :16. This is the word used by Rabshakeh in
saying that no god could "deliver" from the Assyrians (2 Chron. 32:13).
And yet the unfaithful Jews had trusted in those very gods for
deliverance. It is therefore Jewish idolaters who are in view here. They
were so self deceived that they could not deliver themselves (:20 s.w.)
because those who worship idols become like unto them; dumb and unable to
engage with the issues of eternity.
Isaiah 44:18 They don’t know neither do they consider: for He has shut
their eyes that they can’t see; and their hearts that they can’t
understand- This is the situation in Is. 6:9,10:
"Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed". But that was
spoken about the Jews; the suggestion is that now it is idol makers
amongst the Jewish exiles who are being addressed. And yet to daub or seal
the eyes alludes to the custom of the bride having her eyes sealed or
daubed, and then unsealed by the bridegroom as he stands before her. This
was particularly done in arranged marriages. So again we see the silver
lining; their eyes were closed in judgment, but so as to be opened to see
the bridegroom before them. This is the meaning of Israel's eyes being
opened to the Lord Jesus as their Christ.
Isaiah 44:19 No one thinks neither is there knowledge nor understanding to
say, I have burned part of it in the fire-
The idol makers of Is. 44:19 are criticized because "No one takes
this to heart" [NEV "no one thinks"]. The idol makers of Is. 46:8 are
asked "You transgressors, take it to heart". The appeal for repentance
suggests it is the Jewish exiles who are in view; they were making the
idols. Man is asked to be mindful, to take things to heart, rather than
live life spiritually numb, acting and thinking without taking anything to
heart. "Thinks" is literally 'to call to mind'; and it is God's people who
were asked to 'call to mind' their folly in the land of their exile (Dt.
4:39; 30:1; 1 Kings 8:47). It is the exiles who were intended to see the
folly of their making of idols when they had such a wonderful one true God.
Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes- From a distance, the visual
impression may have been of the man apparently eating the ashes from the
coals upon which his bread was baked (:19).
Isaiah 44:21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are My
servant. I have formed you; you are My servant. Israel, you will not be
forgotten by Me- The Hebrew more implies a desperate plea:
"May you not forget Me!". The amazing offer of redemption was not to be
forgotten but always remembered by God's people; and we therefore do the
communion service to remember the price paid for our redemption, unlike
Israel who were unmoved by the wonder of it all and forgot it.
Because God has not forgotten His people, they
should remember Him. The fact He is so consciously aware of us ought to
bring Him back to our consciousness in the course of the day. As explained
on :19, Jacob was asked to "remember" the picture of the idolater, to see
himself from outside of himself.
There is perhaps a purposeful ambiguity in the Hebrew text of Is. 44:21:
“O Israel thou shalt not be forgotten of me” is rendered in the RVmg and
LXX:
“thou shouldest not forget me”. The fact God never forgets us should be
inspiration to not forget Him in the daily round of life. To act as if God
doesn’t see all our ways is to effectively deny His existence.
Babylon
acted as she did because she reasoned that "None seeth me... I am, and
there is none else beside me" (Is. 47:10 RV). They appropriated the
language of God to themselves, they played God in that they thought their
ways were unseen by any higher power. And we all have a terrible,
frightening tendency to do this.
"Blotted out" is an economic term, meaning to blot out a debt, erasing the sum from the ledger of the book keeper. It is related to the fact that "I have redeemed you", paid the debt to release Israel from their debt slavery. Again we find debt as metaphor for sin. "As a cloud" suggests something transitory (Hos. 6:4; 13:3; Job 7:9; 30:15), something that will be blown away by the wind / Spirit, so that sin is not ultimately a permanent problem.
It is our knowledge of God's mercy to us which empowers us to
confidently seek to share with others our knowledge, our relationship, our
experience with God. Forgiveness inspires the preacher; and yet the offer
of forgiveness is what inspires the listener to respond. God appeals for
Israel to respond by pointing out that in prospect, He has already
forgiven them: “I have [already] blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy
transgressions... [therefore] return unto me; for I have redeemed thee”
(Is. 44:22 AV). Likewise Elijah wanted Israel to know that God had already in
prospect turned their hearts back to Him (1 Kings 18:37). We preach the
cross of Christ, and that through that forgiveness has been enabled for
all men; but they need to respond by repentance in order to access it.
Hence the tragedy of human lack of response; so much has been enabled, the
world has been reconciled, but all this is in vain if they will not
respond.
The prophets appeal for their people to repent to avert God’s
judgments; and yet they proclaim a message of grace, that because “I
have swept away your transgressions [therefore] Return [repent] to me,
for I have redeemed you” (Is. 44:22). The fact of God’s forgiveness
leads to repentance- by grace. And yet the prophets also appeal for Israel
to repent so that they might be forgiven.
And so Isaiah urged the Jewish exiles to return to the land by saying that
God had
forgiven them, and on this basis He appealed for them to both ‘repent’ and
‘return’ to the land. The two terms are related. Thus He showed His grace;
forgiveness preceded, not followed, repentance. Is. 44:22 is clear about
this: “I have swept away your transgressions like clouds [therefore]
return to me, for I have [already] redeemed you”. God was angry with their
sins, but kept no record of them- hence He could comfort Judah that there
was actually no documentary evidence for their divorce (Is. 50:1) and
therefore she could return to Him. As Paul put it,
the goodness of God
leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). And we are asked to show that same
“goodness” of God to others, being “kind [s.w. ‘goodness’] one to another…
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you”
(Eph. 4:32). We too are to show this grace of
forgiveness-before-repentance; but perhaps in no other area has
formalized, institutionalized Christianity failed worse.
If XYZ
shows us
she’s repented of her divorce,
then we’ll forgive
her and accept her in fellowship [as if, in any case, we are the ones who
need to forgive her]. These are graceless and yet terribly common
attitudes. The Greek word translated “goodness” is rendered “gracious” in
1 Pet. 2:3- newly converted babes in Christ taste of this gracious
goodness, and it leads to repentance.
This seems to be Isaiah's interjection of praise as he considers the amazing good news for Israel. "Yahweh has done it!", they were redeemed from Babylon, they would be saved. But just like "It is finished!", uttered by the Lord as He died, this amazing news that all is in fact done for man... is shrugged off because of human short sightedness and pride.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, and He who formed you from
the womb: I am Yahweh who makes all things, who alone stretches out the
heavens; who spreads out the earth by Myself-
This is in contrast to
how the idol maker stretches out and spreads out his plans and materials
to make his idol.
am the Lord the one doing all". Time and again, the Babylonian
metanarrative is deconstructed; just as God's purpose to redeem and
re-create us deconstructs the metanarratives of our worlds. The exiles
were surrounded by Babylonian culture and had absorbed into it. They were
being asked to break free of that and have another worldview, that of the
restoration of God's Kingdom and their part in it- just as we are likewise
invited.
Isaiah 44:25 Who frustrates the signs of the liars-
This is s.w. Neh. 4:15 about God frustrating the Samaritan opposition. But still
the exiles didn't make full use of all this help, in order to reestablish
God's Kingdom.
Isaiah 44:26 Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the
counsel of His messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built’, and ‘I will raise up its
waste places’-
This 'confirmation' contrasts with how He 'frustrates' the word of the magicians of Babylon in :25. This is how God works- confirming one path and frustrating another.
Isaiah 44:27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry’, and ‘I will dry up your
rivers;’- The reference is
But there is also allusion here to how although Marduk was the
senior god, there was unders
Isaiah 44:28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and shall perform all
My pleasure’, even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the
temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid’-
took with his very hand Cyrus... and calling his name, he appointed him to
be king of the entire world... And all the people that (Marduk) had given
into his hands, (Cyrus) tended most carefully like a shepherd in truth and
righteousness". Yahweh is saying that He and not Marduk had used Cyrus in
this way. Once we appreciate the allusions, it is easier to understand the
apparent 'righteousness' associated with Cyrus in Isaiah (Is. 45:13).
We can only shake our heads in sorrow that in the second year of Cyrus, the Jewish exiles decided that the time had not come to built Yahweh's temple- because they were more interested in building their own houses (Hag. 1:1-4). God had staked His divinity on predicting Cyrus by name, and predicting his edict about Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple. It came true. But God's people shrugged, because such is the power of immediate self-interest.
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