WHO FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB: God nourished and brought
up children -- ie Israel (Isa 1:2).
JESHURUN: Sig "straight, upright" -- "the Righteous
One". Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deu 32:15;
33:5,26.
Isa 44:3
THE THIRSTY LAND: "Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Mat 5:6).
Isa 44:4
SPRING UP: Heb "tzamach" -- related to the Messiah, the
Branch (tzamach) in Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zec 3:8; 6:12.
LIKE GRASS IN A MEADOW: Like new growth after rain,
springing up among the dry, dead old grass. A renewal of life.
LIKE POPLAR TREES BY FLOWING STREAMS: Ref to the
captives, set free from the poplars (sw) by the water courses of Babylon (Psa
137:1,2), to come thankfully home to God and His servant in Jerusalem.
Isa 44:5
WILL WRITE ON HIS HAND: The sign of a slave tied to his
master (as in Rev 13:16). Paul rejoiced that he bore in his body the marks of
Jesus: Gal 6:17. But, extraordinarily, the "master" becomes the "slave" in Isa
49:16.
Isa 44:6
THE LORD: Heb "Yahweh". Notice the //s between this v
and Rev 1:8 -- all the names are reproduced or alluded to. And "Yahweh" is
interpreted there as "who is, and who was, and who is to come"!
KING: Yahweh is the true king in Jerusalem: Hezekiah is
only His representative!
REDEEMER: Heb "goel", near-kinsman.
THE LORD ALMIGHTY: Yahweh Tzvaoth: the God of the army
of angels, who overthrew Sennacherib's army!
I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST: That is, the One who
foretells the future (cp v 7 here as well as Rev 1:1; 22:6: "what must soon take
place"), and the One who brings it to pass!
"Men may accept the proposition that God exists in the same
way that they believe that things equal to the same thing are equal to one
another, or that the circumference of a circle is approximately three times its
diameter; but such cold assent will bring no yearning for His name to be
hallowed. Worse still, 'God' may mean for men no more than a personification of
their own ideas of right and good will. In that case 'God' is for them the dream
of an ideal. They retain the dream because life would be rather more drab if it
faded, just as life would be duller without the occasional beauty of a sunset;
yet doubtless they could live well enough if they had to in a climate where no
sunset was ever seen. Such a God is really subordinate to themselves. And if God
depends on men, they may violate every principle of goodness He is supposed to
embody in order to defend their ideal" (TM 183).
Isa 44:7
Another 'court room' appeal: cp Isa 41:1,21-29; 43:8-13;
45:20-25.
LET HIM FORETELL WHAT WILL COME: "No other religion
makes this challenge, or responds to it. Today's fashionable enthusiasm for
Islam and Buddhism and what-not is so much hot air, for none of these cults,
hoary though they may be, can point to unmistakable divine vindication in past
history, and none of them can offer a single prophecy, either fulfilled or for
the future" (WIsa 391).
Isa 44:8
DO NOT TREMBLE, DO NOT BE AFRAID: "With the God of
their fathers behind them, Israel may face every test of faith with relaxed
confidence... All such exhortations in Isaiah have the same point. In those days
there was no terror to compare with the paralysing dread of invasion by cruel
pitiless Assyrians (cp Isa 10;24; 31:4; 37:6; 41:10-14; 43:1,5; 51:7,12)" (WIsa
391).
YOU ARE MY WITNESSES: Cp Isa 43:8-10.
IS THERE A GOD BESIDES ME?: The only instance of
"Eloah" in Isaiah -- as if to contrast with the Sennacherib's boast in 2Ch
32:15: "No god [Eloah] of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his
people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your god
deliver you from my hand!"
Isa 44:12
HUNGRY... FAINT: Is he required by his religion to fast
while doing this work? Or is simply so eager to finish that he neglects his food
and drink? Obvious question: if the one who makes such a god has such evidently
failing powers, what of that which he "creates"? (What a ct with Isa
40:28,29!)
Isa 44:16
'First a batch of bread... then (v 17) a batch of
gods!'
Isa 44:18
THEIR EYES... THEY CANNOT SEE: Cp words of Jesus in Joh
9:39. Also see 2Th 2:11; Isa 6:9,10 -- judicial blindness.
Isa 44:21
REMEMBER THESE THINGS: That is, the long drawn-out
castigation of idolatry (vv 6-20).
Isa 44:22
LIKE A CLOUD: See Lev 16:13: Day of Atonement language.
Quoted by Peter in Act 3:19: "repent... and then... your sins will be BLOTTED
OUT."
The sins of God's people: "Covered" (Psa 32:1), "Removed" (Psa
103:12), "Cast behind God's back" (Isa 38:17), "Blotted out" (Psa 51:1; Isa
44:22), "Washed away" (Psa 51:2,7), "Remembered no more" (Jer 31:34), "Sought
for but not found" (Jer 50:20), "Cast into the depths of the sea" (Mic
7:19).
Isa 44:26
OF JERUSALEM, 'IT SHALL BE INHABITED': In ct to the
threats of Sennacherib: ISA 36:16,17.
OF THEIR RUINS, 'I WILL RESTORE THEM': The 46 fenced
cities of Judah, decimated by Sennacherib (Isa 36:1).
Isa 44:28
"Cyrus" is Elamite for "shepherd". His orig name was
Agrodates. But Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd... all that came before me
were thieves" (Joh 10:11,8), incl Cyrus!
Use of name of "Cyrus": How? (1) Misguided rabbinical comment
which has crept into text; (2) Misreading of Heb for "God's workman", suggested
by JWT; (3) Deliberately inserted by Jews to influence the real Cyrus; and/or
(4) "To Cyrus", by slight change = "to thee, the heir". See Isaiah's "Cyrus".
AND WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT I PLEASE: Quoted (from
LXX) by Paul with ref to DAVID (Act 13:22), a detail entirely in harmony with OT
usage. But if this phrase really belonged to Cyrus, what right did Paul have to
appropriate it to bolster up his argument about David?
LET ITS FOUNDATION BE LAID: Not necessarily about the
rebuilding of the whole temple, in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. What is
referred here is, specifically, the altar of burnt offering, removed by Ahaz
(2Ki 16:10-16), but replaced by Hezekiah. Cp Isa 28:16. Furthermore, there may
well have been damage left over from the devastating earthquake in the days of
Uzziah (Amo 1:1; 3:14,15; 9:1-6,14; 8:8; Zec 14:4,5; Isa 2:10-22; 64:1) -- which
would need to be repairs and rebuilt (cp Isa 22:9,10; 2Ch 32:5).