성경 주석서

Verses 1-7. - A RENEWED PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF PROTECTION AND DELIVERANCE. Severe rebuke (Isaiah 42:18-25) is followed, as so often in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:25-27; Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 9:1-16, etc.), by comfort and consolation. Israel is assured that God has not cast him off, and promised the comfort of the Divine presence during the existing tribulation (ver. 2), and. a speedy restoration to Palestine (vers. 3-7). The scattered Israelites will be brought together from all quarters by the Divine omnipoteney. Verse 1. - But now. The words mark the strong contrast between the closing passage of the preceding chapter and the opening paragraph of the present one. Israel had undergone a severe punishment for his sins; he is still suffering, but now there is going to be an entire change. He is to be protected and delivered. Created thee... formed. thee redeemed thee... called thee by thy name. An ascending series of benefits. First, creation, like that of formless matter out of nought; then, formation, or putting of the formless matter into shape; thirdly, redemption, or making them all his own; lastly, calling them by their name, and so conferring on them a proud and enviable distinction. On this fourfold ground God claims Israel as his own.

Verse 2. - Through the waters... through the rivers; i.e. through troubles of any kind (comp. Psalm 66:12, "We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place"). There were, perhaps, special troubles to be endured connected with the final Babylonian struggle. There were certainly others connected with the tedious and dangerous journey from Babylonia to Palestine (Ezra 8:22, 31). There were others, again, after the Holy Land was reached, arising out of the jealousy and ill will of neighbouring nations (Ezra 4. and 5; Nehemiah 4-6.). Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. The literal fulfilment in the persons of the "three children" (Daniel 3:27) will be obvious to every reader. But the prophecy has, no doubt, a far wider scope.

Verse 3. - The Holy One of Israel (comp. Isaiah 41:14, 20, with the comment). Thy Saviour. He who had saved them front Pharaoh (Exodus 14:23-31), from Jabin (Judges 4.), from Midian (Judges 7.), from the Philistines (2 Samuel 8:1), from Zerah (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), from Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:36). The term is first used of God by David in 2 Samuel 22:3 and Psalm 106:21 (if that psalm be Davidical). It is also applied to God once in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:8), and once in Hosea (Hosea 13:4). With Isaiah, in these later chapters it is a favourite epithet, being used of God no fewer than eight times (see ver. 11; Isaiah 45:15, 21; Isaiah 47:15; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 63:8) With his eye fixed on the deliverance of Israel out of the double captivity of sin and of Babylon, he naturally had much before him this aspect of Jehovah. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, etc.; rather, I have given; that is to say, "In my counsels I have already assigned to the Persians, as compensation for their letting thee go free, the broad countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba." Even the latest date assigned by sceptical critics to "the Second Isaiah" would make this a most remarkable prophecy. Egypt was not reduced, nor was Ethiopia made tributary to Persia until several years after the death of Cyrus, whose son, Cambyses, effected the conquests about B.C. 527-6. Human foresight could not, in the lifetime of Cyrus, have predicted with any certainty what would be the result of collision between Egypt and Persia; much less could it have ventured on the improbable supposition that the remote Ethiopia would submit itself to the Achae-menisn yoke. Yet this was the result of the invasion of Cambyses, who made Egypt a Persian province, and forced the Ethiopians to submit to the payment of an annual tribute (see Herod., 3:97; 7:69). And Seba. If "Seba" is "the land of Meroe, which is enclosed between the White and Blue Niles" (Delitzsch), it may be questioned whether really this ever formed a portion of the Persian empire. But Isaiah has probably no very distinct knowledge of the geographical position of Seba, or of the relations between the Sabaeans and the rest of the Ethiopians. He couples the two together, both here and in Isaiah 45:14, as forming two portions of one nation. The subjection of the Ethiopians involves, in his eyes, the subjection of the Sabaeans. And we cannot say that he is wrong, since it is not at all clear that the Sabaeans were not generally spread through Ethiopia, or at any rate scattered in various parts of the country.

Verse 4. - Since thou wast precious. "Since" probably means "from the time that" (LXX., ἀφ οῦ), not "because," as Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne render. Israel became "precious" from the time that the promise was given to Jacob that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Genesis 28:14). Thenceforward God placed the interests of Israel above those of "men" generally, and markedly above those of any other "people." People; rather, peoples - as Mizraim, Cush, Seba (ver. 3).

Verse 5. - Fear not: for I am with thee (comp. Isaiah 41:10). I will bring thy seed from the east... from the west. The actual extent of the Jewish diaspora in Isaiah's day has been greatly exaggerated by some modern critics, who say that there were at that date "bands of Jewish exiles in the far lands of the Mediterranean, and even in China" (Cheyne). Israel had been carried captive into Mesopotamia and into Media (2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26), perhaps, also, into other regions belonging at the time to Assyria, as Babylonia, Assyria Proper, Syria. Two hundred thousand Jews had been taken to Nineveh by Sennacherib ('Eponym Canon,' p. 134), and planted probably by him m outlying portions of his dominions. But such transplantation would not carry the dispersion further than Cilicia and Cyprus towards the west, Armenia towards the north, Media towards the east, and the shores of the Persian Gulf towards the south. Any scattering of the nation into regions more remote than these, as into [Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam (Isaiah 11:11), and China - if Sinim is China (Isaiah 49:12) - must have been seen by Isaiah in vision, or made known to him by revelation. It had not taken place in his day. The expression, "ends of the earth" (ver. 6), must not be pressed in Isaiah any more than in Herodotus, where the ἐσχατίαι τῆς οἰκουμέης are India, Arabia, Ethiopia, and Scythia (3:106-116).

Verse 6. - Bring my sons. The nations are called upon, not merely to "let Israel go," but to conduct and escort them from the places of their abode to their own country. (On the need of such escort, see Ezra 8:22, 31. On the actual furnishing of an escort in one case by a Persian king, see Nehemiah 2:7, 8.)

Verse 7. - Every one that is called by my name. The very name of "Israel" meant "prince of God," or "soldier of God," and thus every Israelite was "called by God's name." Israelites were also known among the nations as Jehovah-worshippers (see the Moabite Stone, line 18). I have created... formed... made him (comp. ver. 1). "The three verbs describe the process of formation from the first rough cutting to the perfecting of the work" (Cheyne). The third verb would, perhaps, be best translated. "I have perfected," or "I have completed (him)." All three acts - creation, formation, and completion - are done by God for his own glory (comp. Proverbs 16:4).

Verses 8-13. - A RENEWED CHALLENGE TO THE NATIONS. The nations are once more challenged (comp. Isaiah 41:1, 21-26) to set forth the claims of their gods against those of Jehovah. Israel is summoned on the one hand (ver. 8); the nations on the other (ver. 9). What prophecy can the nations produce, either old or new? The Israelites can abundantly witness on behalf of Jehovah (ver. 10). Jehovah adds a further witness of himself (vers. 11-13). Verse 8. - Bring forth the blind people that have eyes. A tribunal is supposed to have been prepared, before which the contending parties are summoned to appear and plead. Israel is first summoned, as "a blind people that have eyes;" i.e. a people long blind (Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, 18, 19), who have now, to some extent, recovered their sight (Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5), and are ready to witness for God. Next, the nations are summoned (see the following verse).