Commentari biblici

Isaiah 48:8. Yea, thou heardest not— These words may be taken in two senses; namely, as a confirmation of what is said in the preceding verse, that the Jews had no knowledge of these new things revealed to them before the revelation made by Isaiah: or, as containing a conviction of the inconsideration, incredulity, and prejudices of the Jewish people; who, notwithstanding the prophesies so clearly fulfilled among them, had neither duly attended to them, nor considered them, nor become obedient to God; which, he observes, was nothing strange, since this people, from the first time of their adoption, from their deliverance out of Egypt, which was as it were their birth, had been full of perfidy and transgression; and this, says Vitringa, appears to me to be the true sense of the passage. The words may be read, Yea, thou heardest not, yea, thou knewest not; neither did thine ear from that time open.

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Isaiah 48:13. When I call, &c.— Nothing can give us a more sublime idea of God than this passage. The idea is taken from servants, who, at the voice of their masters, instantly rise up, and stand ready to execute their commands. The whole creation, at the call of God, arises with prompt obedience, and is ready to execute his Sovereign will.

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Isaiah 48:16. Come ye near unto me— See chap. Isaiah 45:19-20. From the time that it was, there am I, means, "From the time that this expedition of Cyrus began first to exist:" And now the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit: "And now, when the event is hastening to its completion, Behold, I am present, sent by Jehovah, with the Spirit of the Father, to your succour and assistance." That now refers to the immediate time of their deliverance, appears from the 20th verse, and we have often observed, that the prophets speak of future events as if present. See Vitringa, and the more spiritual interpretation in the REFLECTIONS.

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