Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–5 To assure the Jews of their deliverance against the…
To assure the Jews of their deliverance against the great tentations that they should abide, he nameth the person and the means.
To guide him in the deliverance of my people.
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Because Cyrus should execute the office of a deliverer, God called him his anointed for a time, but after another sort than he called David.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Isa 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed,…
Isa 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Ver. 1. To his anointed,] i.e., To his appointed and enabled one, to subdue many nations. Xenophon, in his first book De Cyropaed., gives us a list of them. Cyrus subdued, saith he, the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacians, Paphlagonians, Maryandines, and many other nations. He also had dominion over the Asiatics, Greeks, Cyprians, Egyptians, &c. He vanquished, saith Herodotus, {a} what country soever he invaded. And what wonder, when God himself, as here, "held," or "strengthened his right hand," and "loosed the loins of kings" that were his adversaries - that is, disarmed and disabled them; for it is he alone who strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party. {Eze 30:24} Et nemo vir magnus sine afflatu divine unquam fuit, saith Cicero. {b} God transferreth kingdoms, and setteth up kings. {Dan 2:21}
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To open unto him the two leaved gates.] Or, Doors. Whether doors of houses or gates of cities, all shall fly open before him. {as Act 12:10}
{a} Lib. i.
{b} De Nat. Deor., lib. ii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–5 His anointed, i.e. his king, whom God hath designed,…
His anointed, i.e. his king, whom God hath designed, and separated, and fitted, in all respects, for his work and service; in which and such-like respects divers persons are said to be anointed, who never had any material oil poured upon them, as the king of Tyrus, Eze 28:14, and Christ, Isa 61:1, and Zerubbabel, Zec 4:14, and Christians, 2 Cop. 1:21; 1Jo 2:27. And they are thus called by way of allusion to the practice of the Jews, whose kings were frequently anointed, 1Sa 10:1; 16:13, &c.
I have holden, or strengthened; whom I will powerfully assist, teaching his hands to war, as the phrase is, Psa 18:34, supporting and directing his right hand to strike home.
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Nations; the Babylonians, and those other nations which were confederate with them, and fought for them, as may be gathered from Jer 51:9.
I will loose the loins of kings; I will weaken them, for a man’s strength consists much in his loins, and receiveth some advantage by the girding of his loins: or, I will take away their girdle, which was about their loins, to wit, their power and authority, whereof that was an ensign, of which see on Job 12:18; Isa 22:21.
To open before him the two-leaved gates; the great and magnificent gates of their cities and palaces, which shall be opened to him as conqueror.
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Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 5 Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from…
Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from Astyages king of Media. The pagan writers are not agreed in their accounts of his origin. Some tell us that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed, and was saved from perishing by a herdsman's wife. However, it is agreed that, being a man of an active genius, he soon made himself very considerable, especially when Croesus king of Lydia made a descent upon his country, which he not only repulsed, but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he had gained against Croesus with such vigour that in a little time he took Sardis and made himself master of the rich kingdom of Lydia and the many provinces that then belonged to it. This made him very great (for Croesus was rich to a proverb) and enabled him to pursue his victories in many countries; but it was nearly ten years afterwards that, in conjunction with his uncle Darius and with the forces of Persia, he made this famous attack upon Babylon, which is here foretold, and which we have the history of Dan. 5. Babylon had now grown exorbitantly rich and strong. It was forty-five miles in compass (some say more): the walls were thirty-two feet thick and 100 cubits high. Some say, They were so thick that six chariots might drive abreast upon them; others say, They were fifty cubits thick and 200 high. Cyrus seems to have had a great ambition to make himself master of this place, and to have projected it long; and at last he performed it. Now here, 210 years before it came to pass, we are told,
I. What great things God would do for him, that he might put it into his power to release his people. In order to this he shall be a mighty conqueror and a wealthy monarch and nations shall become tributaries to him and help him both with men and money. Now that which God here promised to do for Cyrus he could have done for Zerubbabel, or some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and power of this world God has seldom seen fit to entrust his own people with much of, so many are the snares and temptations that attend them; but if here has been occasion, for the god of the church, to make use of them, God has been pleased rather to put them into the hands of others, to be employed for them, than to venture them in their own hands. Cyrus is here called God's anointed, because he was both designed and qualified for this great service by the counsel of God, and was to be herein a type of the Messiah. God engages to hold his right hand, not only to strengthen and sustain him, but to direct his motions and intentions, as Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands when he was to shoot his arrow against Syria, Kg2 13:16. Being under such direction,
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1. He shall extend his conquests very far and shall make nothing of the opposition that will be given him. Babylon is too strong a place for a young hero to begin with; and therefore, that he may be able to deal with that, great additions shall be made to his strength by other conquests. (1.) Populous kingdoms shall yield to him. God will subdue nations before him; when he is in the full career of his successes he shall make nothing of a nation's being born to him at once: yet it is not he that subdues them; it is God that subdues them for him; the battle is his, and therefore his is the victory. (2.) Potent kings shall fall before him: I will loose the loins of kings, either the girdle of their loins (divesting them of their power and dignity) or the strength of their loins, and then it was literally fulfilled in Belshazzar, for, when he was terrified by the handwriting on the wall, the joints of his loins were loosed, Dan 5:6. (3.) Great cities shall surrender themselves into his hands, without giving him or themselves any trouble. God will incline the keepers of the city to open before him the two-leaved gates, not treacherously nor timorously, but from a full conviction that it is to no purpose to contend with him; and therefore the gates shall not be shut to keep him out as an enemy, but thrown open to admit him as a friend. (4.) The longest and most dangerous marches shall be made easy and ready to him: I will go before thee, to clear the way, and to conduct thee in it, and then the crooked places, shall be made straight; or, as some read it, the hilly places shall be levelled and made even. Those will find a ready road that have God going before them. (5.) No opposition shall stand before him. He that gives him his commission will break in pieces the gates of brass that are shut against him, and cut asunder the bars of iron wherewith they are fastened. This was fulfilled in the letter, if that be true which Herodotus reports, that the city of Babylon had 100 gates all of brass, with posts and hooks of the same metal.
2. He shall replenish his coffers very much (Isa 45:3): I will give thee the treasures of darkness, treasures of gold and silver, that have been long kept close under lock and key and had not seen the light of many years, or had been buried under ground by the inhabitants, in their fright, upon the taking of the city. The riches of many nations had been brought to Babylon, and Cyrus seized all together. The hidden riches of secret places, which belonged either to the crown or to private persons, shall all be a prey to Cyrus. Thus God, designing him to do a piece of service to his church, paid him richly for it beforehand; and Cyrus very honestly owned God's goodness to him, and, in consideration of that, released the captives. Ezr 1:2, God has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and thereby has obliged me to build him a house at Jerusalem.
II. We are here told what God designed in doing all this for Cyrus. What Cyrus aimed at in undertaking his wars we may easily guess; but what God aimed at in giving him such wonderful success in his wars we are here told.
1. It was that the God of Israel might be glorified: "That thou mayest know by all this that I the Lord am the God of Israel; for I have called thee by thy name long before thou wast born." When Cyrus should have this prophecy of Isaiah shown to him, and should there find his own name and his own achievements particularly described so long before, he should thereby be brought to acknowledge that the God of Israel was the Lord, Jehovah, the only living and true God, and that he continued to own his Israel though now in captivity. It is well when thus men's prosperity brings them to the knowledge of God, for too often it makes them forget him.
2. It was that the Israel of God might be released, Isa 45:4. Cyrus knew not God as the God of Israel. Having been trained up in the worship of idols, the true God was to him an unknown God. But, though he knew not God, God not only knew him when he came into being, but foreknew him, and bespoke him for his shepherd. He called him by his name, Cyrus, nay, which was yet great honour, he surnamed him and called him his anointed. And why did God do all this for Cyrus? Not for his own sake, be it known to him; whether he was a man of virtue or no is questioned. Xenophon indeed, when he would describe the heroic virtues of an excellent prince, made use of Cyrus's name, and many of the particulars of his story, in his Cyropaedia; but other historians represent him as haughty, cruel, and bloodthirsty. The reason why God preferred him was for Jacob his servant's sake. Note, (1.) In all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, the sudden falls of the great and strong, and the surprising advancements of the weak and obscure, God is designing the good of his church. (2.) It is therefore the wisdom of those to whom God has given wealth and power to use them for his glory, by showing kindness to his people. Cyrus is preferred that Israel may be released. He shall have a kingdom, only that God's people may have their liberty; for their kingdom is not of this world, it is yet to come. In all this Cyrus was a type of Christ, who was made victorious over principalities and powers, and entrusted with unsearchable riches, for the use and benefit of God's servants, his elect. When he ascended on high he led captivity captive, took those captives that had taken others captives, and opened the prison to those that were bound.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,....…
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,.... Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed, not because he was anointed with material oil, as the kings of Israel and Judah were; but because he was appointed by the Lord to be a king, and was qualified by him for that office; and was raised up by him to be an instrument of doing great things in the world, and particularly of delivering the Jews from their captivity, and restoring them to their own land:
whose right hand I have holden; whom he raised up, supported, strengthened, guided, and directed to do what he did:
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to subdue nations before him; which was accordingly done. Xenophon (y) relates, that he subdued the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the countries of Phrygia, the Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, and Babylonians; also the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, the Sacae, Paphlagonians, and Megadinians; likewise the Greeks that inhabit Asia, Cyprians and Egyptians. Herodotus (z) says, that he ruled over all Asia: all which the Lord subdued under him; for it was he that did it rather than Cyrus; it was he that clothed him with strength and courage, gave him skill in military affairs, and success and victory:
I will loose the loins of kings; as Croesus king of Lydia, and Belshazzar king of Babylon, by divesting them of their dignity, power, and government; and particularly this was true of the latter, when, by the handwriting on the wall, he was thrown into a panic; "and the joints of his loins were loosed", Dan 5:6, "to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut"; the gates of cities and palaces wherever he came, which were opened to receive him as their conqueror and sovereign; this was very remarkably true of the gates of the palace of the king of Babylon, when the army of Cyrus by a stratagem had got into the city, and were come up to the king's palace, they found the gates shut; but a clamour and noise being made, the king ordered to see what was the matter; the gates being opened for that purpose, the soldiers of Cyrus rushed in to the king, and slew him (a); but, what is more remarkable, the gates of brass, which shut up the descents from the keys to the river, were left open that night Babylon was taken, while the inhabitants were feasting and revelling; which, had they been shut (b), would have defeated the enterprise of Cyrus; but God in his providence ordered it to be so.
(y) Cyropaedia, l. 1. p. 2. (z) Clio, sive l. 1. c. 130. (a) Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 22, 23. (b) Herodot. l. 1. c. 191.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Cyrus's work and strength foretold, ver. 1-4. God hath…
Cyrus's work and strength foretold, ver. 1-4. God hath all power, ver. 5-12. Will assist Cyrus, ver. 13, 14. The mystery of providence, ver. 15. Idols and their worshippers shall be destroyed, and God alone exalted, ver. 16-21. The Gentiles come in to Christ, ver. 22, 23.
His anointed - His king, whom God has designed, and separated, and fitted, in all respects, for this work. Loose - I will take away their girdle, which was about their loins; their power and authority, whereof that was an ensign. Gates - The great and magnificent gates of their cities and palaces, which shall be opened to him as conqueror.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Prophecy concerning Cyrus, the first king of the Persians.
CHAPTER XLV
Prophecy concerning Cyrus, the first king of the Persians.
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Every obstruction shall be removed out of his way, and the
treasures taken from his enemies shall be immense, 1-3,
To whom, and on what account, Cyrus was indebted for his
wonderful success, 4-6.
The prophet refutes the absurd opinion of the Persians, that
there were two supreme beings, an evil and a good one,
represented by light and darkness, here declared to be only the
operation of the ONE true God, 7;
and makes a transition to the still greater work of God
displayed in the dispensation of the Gospel, 8.
Great impiety of those who call in question the mysterious
providence of God towards his children, 9-12.
The remaining part of this chapter, interspersed with
strictures on the absurdity of idolatry and some allusions to
the dark lying oracles of the heathens, may partly refer to the
deliverance begun by Cyrus, but chiefly to the salvation by the
Messiah, which, it is declared, shall be of universal extent
and everlasting duration, 13-25.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLV
Verse 1. Loose the loins of kings - "ungird the loins of kings"] See Clarke on Isa 5:27. Xenophon gives the following list of the nations conquered by Cyrus: the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, the Sacae Paphlagones, and Mariandyni. - Cyrop., lib. i. p. 4, Edit. Hutchinson, Quarto. All these kingdoms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have been given to him by JEHOVAH, the God of heaven. Ezr 1:2.
To open before him the two leaved gates, c. - "That I may open before him the valves and the gates shall not be shut"] The gates of Babylon within the city leading from the streets to the river, were providentially left open, when Cyrus's forces entered the city in the night through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated; otherwise, says Herodotus, i. 191, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and all destroyed. And the gates of the palace were opened imprudently by the king's orders, to inquire what was the cause of the tumult without; when the two parties under Gobrias and Gadatas rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king. - XENOPH., Cyrop. vii. p. 528.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4 Isa 45:1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,…
Isa 45:1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, &c. — Cyrus is called the Lord’s anointed, a title usually given to the kings of the Jews, who were God’s immediate deputies, not because material oil had been poured upon him when he was made king, as was the case with most of them, but because he was raised up, and ordained by the divine counsel, to perform God’s good pleasure, and furnished for that purpose with the necessary endowments; among which must be reckoned “his singular justice, his reverence toward the divine nature, his prudence, fortitude, and distinguished clemency and humanity:” to all which, and many other of his excellent qualities, his historian, Xenophon, bears testimony. Whose right hand I have holden — Or strengthened as החזקתיmay be properly rendered; whom I will powerfully assist, teaching his hands to war, as the phrase is Psa 18:34, supporting and directing his right hand, and enabling him to surmount all difficulties, and to overcome all opposition. To subdue nations before him — The nations conquered by him, according to Xenophon, were “the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phœnicians, Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, the Sacæ, Paphlagones, and Mariandyni.” All these kingdoms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have been given him by Jehovah, the God of heaven, Ezr 1:2. And I will loose the loins of kings — I will weaken them, and render them unprepared and unable to oppose Cyrus. “The eastern people, wearing long and loose garments, were unfit for action or business of any kind, without girding their clothes about them: when their business was finished, they took off their girdles. A girdle, therefore, denotes strength and activity; and to unloose the girdle is to deprive of strength, to render unfit for action.” To open before him the two-leaved gates — “The gates of Babylon, within the city, leading from the streets to the river, were providentially left open in the night when Cyrus’s forces entered the city through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated: otherwise, says Herodotus, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and all destroyed. And the gates of the palace were opened imprudently by the king’s orders, to inquire what was the cause of the tumult without, when two parties of Medes and Persians rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king.” See Xenoph. Cyrop., 7. p. 528; and Bishop Lowth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed - This…
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed - This is a direct apostrophe to Cyrus, though it was uttered not less than one hundred and fifty years before Babylon was taken by him. The word ‘anointed’ is that which is usually rendered “Messiah” (משׁיח mâshı̂yach), and here is rendered by the Septuagint, Τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ Tō christō mou Kurō - ‘To Cyrus, my Christ,’ i. e, my anointed. It properly means “the anointed,” and was a title which was commonly given to the kings of Israel, because they were set apart to their office by the ceremony of anointing, who hence were called οι χρυστοὶ Κυρίου hoi christoi Kuriou - ’The anointed of the Lord’ 1Sa 2:10, 1Sa 2:35; 1Sa 12:3, 1Sa 12:5; 1Sa 16:6; 1Sa 24:7, 1Sa 24:11; 1Sa 26:9, 1Sa 26:11, 1Sa 26:23; 2Sa 1:14, 2Sa 1:16; 2Sa 19:22-23. There is no evidence that the Persian kings were inaugurated or consecrated by oil, but this is an appellation which was common among the Jews, and is applied to Cyrus in accordance with their usual mode of designating kings. It means here that God had solemnly set apart Cyrus to perform an important public service in his cause. It does not mean that Cyrus was a man of piety, or a worshipper of the true God, of which there is no certain evidence, but that his appointment as king was owing to the arrangement of God’s providence, and that he was to be employed in accomplishing his purposes. The title does not designate holiness of character, but appointment to an office.
Whose right hand I have holden - Margin, ‘Strengthened.’ Lowth, ‘whom I hold fast by the right hand.’ The idea seems to be, that God had upheld, sustained, strengthened him as we do one who is feeble, by taking his right hand (see the notes at Isa 41:13; Isa 42:6)
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To subdue nations before him - For a general account of the conquests of Cyrus, see the notes at Isa 41:2. It may be added here, that ‘besides his native subjects, the nations which Cyrus subdued, and over which he reigned, were the Cilicians, Syrians, Paphlagonians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phenicians, Arabians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Bactrians, Saeae, and Maryandines. Xenophon describes his empire as extending from the Mediterranean and Egypt to the Indian Ocean, and from Ethiopia to the Euxine Sea, and conveys a physical idea of its extent by observing that the extremities were difficult to inhabit, from opposite causes - some from excess of heat, and others from excess of cold; some from a scarcity of water, and others from too great abundance.’ - (Pictorial Bible.)
And I will loose the loins of kings - The ancients dressed in a large, loose, flowing robe thrown over an under-garment or tunic, which was shaped to the body. The outer robe was girded with a sash when they toiled, or labored, or went to war, or ran. Hence, ‘to gird up the loins’ is indicative of preparation for a journey, for labor, or for war. To unloose the girdle, or the loins, was indicative of a state of rest, repose, or feebleness; and the phrase here means that God would so order it in his providence that the kings would be unprepared to meet him, or so feeble that they would not be able to resist him (compare Job 38:3; Jer 1:17). See also Job 12:21 :
He poureth contempt upon princes,
And weakeneth the strength of the mighty;
Margin, more correctly, ‘Looseth the girdle of the strong.’ There was a literal fulfillment of this in regard to Belshazzar, king of Babylon, when the city was taken by Cyrus. When the hand came forth on the walls of his palace, and the mysterious finger wrote his condemnation, it is said, ‘Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other’ Dan 5:6. The Vulgate renders this, ‘I will turn the backs of kings.’
To open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut - The folding gates of a city, or a palace. It so happened in the scene of revelry which prevailed in Babylon when Cyrus took it, that the gates within the city which led from the streets to the river were left open. The city was not only enclosed with walls, but there were walls within the city on each side of the river Euphrates with gates, by which the inhabitants had access to the water of the river. Had not these gates been left open on that occasion, contrary to the usual custom, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and could all have been destroyed. It also happened in the revelry of that night, that the gates of the palace were left open, so that there was access to every part of the city. Herodotus (i. 191) says, ‘If the besieged had been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected the total destruction of these troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, and to have manned the embankments on either side, and they might have enclosed the Persians in a net from which they could never have escaped; as it happened they were taken by surprise; and such is the extent of that city, that, as the inhabitants themselves affirm, they who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before the alarm was communicated to the center of the palace.’ None but an omniscient Being could have predicted, a hundred and fifty years before it occurred, that such an event would take place; and this is one of the many prophecies which demonstrate in the most particular manner that Isaiah was inspired.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Anointed, often implies one chosen for some great work.…
Anointed, often implies one chosen for some great work. Cyrus was to ruin the empire of Babylon, and to set the nations at liberty. He was a proof of the Deity by executing his decrees. --- Cyrus. Some copies of the Septuagint seem to have read Greek: kurio, "to the Lord," incorrectly. (St. Jerome) --- Though Cyrus was not anointed, he is styled thus, in allusion to the custom of the Jewish kings. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Crowning Point of the Prophecy. Cyrus and the…
VI.—THE SIXTH DISCOURSE
The Crowning Point of the Prophecy. Cyrus and the Effects of his Appearance
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Isaiah 45
1. THE DEEDS OF CYRUS. THEIR REASON AND AIM
Isa_45:1-7
1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have 1holden,
To subdue nations before him;
And I will loose the loins of kings,
To open before him the two leaved gates;
And the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before thee,
And make the 2crooked places straight:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass,
And cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
And hidden riches of secret places,
That thou mayest know that I, the Lord,
Which call thee by thy name,
Am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake,
And Israel mine elect,
I have even called thee by thy name:
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is none else,
There is no God beside me:
I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun,
And from the west, that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord, and there is none else.
7 3I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the Lord do all these things.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_45:1. רַד infin. for רֹד; only here in Isaiah; comp. Psa_144:2.—Regarding the structure of the sentence, notice that first the Prophet speaks, but immediately surrenders the word to the Lord; then both infinitive clauses לְרַד וגו׳ and לִפְתֹּחַ וגו׳ according to common usage change to the finite verb.
Isa_45:2. אושׁר, Piel as Isa_40:3; Isa_45:13; Pro_3:6; Pro_11:5; Pro_25:21; the reading of K’thibh אושֵׁר is suspected here, as in Psa_5:9, because the Jod in all other forms of this verb, (comp. Pro_4:25 and the foregoing citations) is treated, not as quiescent, but as a strong consonant.
Isa_45:3. אוצרות חשׁך and מטמני מסתרים are expressions that occur only here; see List.—In the last clause אני is subject, יהוה in apposition with it, הקורא בשׁמך is predicate and אלהי ו׳ supplemental apposition with the subject. All emphasis here rests on הקורא בשׁמך.
Vers, 4, 5. The imperfects אֲכַנְּךָ and אֲאַזֶּרְךָ stand with a past sense, because the whole context, dominated by ואקדא, translates the reader into the past, or because the Vav. Consec. in ואקרא also dominates the subordinate verbs.
Isa_45:6. ממזרח וגו׳ is subject; the ה at the end of מערבה is suffix, comp. Isa_23:17-18; Isa_34:17, since occidens elsewhere is always מַעֽרֲבָ.
Isa_45:7. The participles בורא ,עשׂה ,בורא ,יוצר stand in apposition with the subject of the foregoing clause.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. We are here pretty near the middle of the prophetic cycle, chapters 40–48. All that precedes was a gradual ascent to the culmination point, to which the name of Cyrus, Isa_44:28, immediately leads over. On this elevated point the Prophet pauses in chap. 45, in order to represent the deeds of Cyrus, the reason and aim of his calling, and in a comprehensive view to exhibit the effects of his appearance. He calls Cyrus the anointed of the Lord whom the Lord has grasped by the hand, and to whom He will bring in subjection nations and kings, Himself going before and removing all obstacles, and handing over to him all hidden treasures (Isa_45:1-2). This the Lord prophesies and fulfils for a threefold reason: 1) That Cyrus himself may know Jehovah, that the God of Israel, who centuries before called him to be His instrument, mentioning his name, is the true God (Isa_45:3); 2) that Israel might be delivered by him (Isa_45:4-5); 3) that all nations also might acknowledge Jehovah as the only God, Creator of light and darkness, good and evil (Isa_45:6-7).
2. Thus saith—secret places.
Isa_45:1-3 a. All that the Prophet from chap. 40 on has said concerning the infinite power, wisdom, and glory of Jehovah, and in contrast concerning the nothingness of idols, was intended to prepare for the great act that is accomplished by the mention of the name of Cyrus. And, when we recall the things there declared of Jehovah, shall not such an one be able to call Cyrus, as a particularly important and chosen instrument, centuries in advance, with the mention of his name? No one will deny that He can do this if He can do the other things the Prophet has affirmed of Him from chap. 40 on. Those who controvert the former because they also regard the other things affirmed as impossible, in other words: those who deny a personal, omniscient, and almighty God, must at least admit that the author of these discourses, whoever he may have been, believed in such a God. Therefore he represents his God as prophesying something great and quite extraordinary. Did he then write something not divinely prophesied, but something already happened ex eventu, would that not be a wicked sporting with the holy name of God? Is it not blasphemy? But does what we read in chapters 40–66 give the impression of having been the work of an impostor and blasphemer? If now the living, personal God could know the name of Cyrus centuries beforehand and put it on record, the only question is whether He can have willed to do this? Of this we will speak below in considering the three reasons the Prophet himself assigns for God’s so willing (comp. the לְמַעַן thrice, Isa_45:3-4; Isa_45:6).
Cyrus is not called “Servant of Jehovah,” although in a certain sense he was such. On the other hand Israel, both the nation in general and the spiritual Israel is never called “Messiah,” “anointed,” whereas the Saviour of Israel is called both. From this I must infer that in “Servant of the Lord” there lies as much the idea of lowliness as there lies the idea of royal dignity and elevation in “anointed” or Messiah. Hence Israel is called only “servant of the Lord,” Cyrus only “anointed,” but the Redeemer bears both names, inasmuch as He was both the lowly servant and the anointed king. Moreover Cyrus is the sole heathen king whom the Scripture calls “anointed.” We learn from this that the work of the Holy Spirit who gives the anointing, must in him have been, not merely indirect, but direct and especially intensive. The word משׁיה in fact occurs only here in Isaiah, and therefore only in reference to Cyrus. החזיק is used here as in Isa_41:9; Isa_41:13; Isa_42:6. Jehovah strengthens Cyrus by holding him by the right hand, and thereby he subdues the nations to him and thereby he looses the loins of kings. The latter expression is figurative. The girdle binds and holds the strength of the man (Isa_11:5; Pro_31:17). By removing the girdle the strength is weakened, and also the sword that hangs at the girdle is taken from the warrior. Moreover the expression “to open the loins” (comp. Isa_5:27) is metonymic like פָתַח אֲסִירִים (Isa_14:17). If the strength of men is broken, they can neither hold the doors of their houses, nor hold the gates of their cities closed against the hero, although it is not to be denied that the unclosed gates may have also other reasons. [Are not gates closed and barred the girdles that bind the loins of kings?—Tr.] J. Dav. Michaelis (Anmerk. f. Ungel p. 235) calls attention to the fact that Cyrus actually found the gates leading out to the river from the shore unclosed, and Herodotus remarks that had not this been the case, the Babylonians could have caught the Persians as in a weir-basket (I., 191). Notice that the words from לרד to מלכים אפתח recall the first half of Isa_41:2, b. I will go before thee, so the Lord begins his direct address to Cyrus, that of Isa_45:1 being in the 3d pers. This is probably an allusion to that promise that Moses gives Joshua (Deu_31:8), “the Lord He it is that doth go before thee,” and to Deborah’s word to Barak, Jdg_4:14. Certainly it is a great word that the Lord here speaks to Cyrus. By this He makes the cause of the latter His own. He will make level the loca tumida (הָדוּר again only Isa_63:1, “the swelled up, proud, self-inflated”), i.e., the obstacles that pile up like mountains, and will break down all resistance, even of brazen doors and bars of iron. Here too J. D. Mich. calls attention to the fact that Babylon had a hundred brazen doors, but not in Isaiah’s time. For Nebuchadnezzar was the first to fortify the city in this way (according to Megasthenes in Eusebius, Praep. ev. IX. 41, comp. Herod. I., 179). The second half of Isa_45:2 is reproduced in Psa_107:16.
Isa_45:3 a. The ancients give great accounts of the prodigious treasure that Cyrus obtained in Sardis and Babylon (Herod. 1:84, 88 sq., 183; Cyrop. VII. 2, 5 sqq., 4, 12 sq., 5, 57; VIII. 2, 15; Pliny, Hist. nat, 33, 2 sq., 15). Gesenius cites the Englishman Brerewood (in his book De ponderebus et mensuris, Cap. 10) as computing the sum of this gold and silver [taken from Crœsus of Sardis alone—Tr.] at £126,224,000. And Babylon was celebrated above all cities in point of riches (comp. Jer_50:37; Jer_51:13; Βαβυλών ἡ πολύχρυσος (Aesch. Pers. 2), but Sardis as the πλουσιωτάτη τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ μετὰ Βαβυλῶνα [Cyrop. VII. 2, 11).
3. That thou mayest know—these things. Isa_45:3 b–7. What we have read Isa_45:1-3 a is prophecy. The prophecy alone without fulfilment were empty talk. The fulfilment without the prophecy were a fact whose author could not be recognized. Only when the fact is previously announced by its author does it prove the author of the prophecy and fulfilment to be an omniscient and omnipotent being, and, accordingly, the true God. This chief aim is realized in a three-fold respect: 1) in reference to Cyrus, 2) to Israel, 3) to all nations. Hence למען follows thrice, introducing each time the statement of a purpose. First. We read Isa_45:3 b, that thou mayest know that I (am) the Lord which called thee by thy name, the God of Israel (see T. and Gr.). Therefore Jehovah had regard to Cyrus directly and personally. This man is so important to him that he makes a special arrangement for bringing him to the knowledge that the God of Israel is the true God. All the emphasis here is on “which call thee by thy name.” Precisely this fact, that he found his name in such a remarkable connection with grand events, must have made the deepest, impression on Cyrus. But the book containing this wonderful call to him must of necessity prove its antiquity. Cyrus would easily suspect deception, and would be aware of this being possibly a flattering imposture meant to purchase his favor for the Jews. The proofs of genuineness that he might demand could easily be presented, e.g. witnesses (comp. Isa_43:9-10; Isa_44:8-9), old men, not Jews, who fifty years and more before had read these prophecies in the books of the Jews. Cyrus then must regard it as a fact that the God of the Jews had him personally in view, and destined him to greatness, and had called him by name. Why may not divinity that knows all things, know also the names of all His creatures? Was that less possible than that Cyrus knew the names of all his soldiers (see Rambachin loc)? If the latter was a fact, then Cyrus knew by experience how valuable it is to a man, who fancies he is lost in the great mass, to be known by the one highest in authority, and to be called by name.
Second. Jehovah must be recognized by Cyrus as the true God in the interest of the people of Israel. For this distinction put on Cyrus of being named by God by all his names, name and surname, and that before he, Cyrus, could know anything of the Lord, this was to be for the special advantage of that people whom Jehovah here calls His servant and His elect (see on Isa_42:1). The construction וָאקרא is like וַיַּקּח, Isa_44:14, which see. קרּא בשׁם and כנח are conjoined as in Isa_44:5. If שֵׁם is the principal name, and כנה denotes an attributive, additional name, then may likely be meant the honorable predicates רֹעֶה and מָשִׁיחַ that are given to Cyrus, Isa_44:28; Isa_45:1.—לא ידעתני, which recurs Isa_45:4-5, like a refrain, stands, in a certain sense, in antithesis with למען תדע, Isa_45:3. The Lord knew and named Cyrus before Cyrus knew the Lord (or even could know, Jer_1:5) in order that Cyrus might learn to know the Lord. The chief object, which dominates the subordinate aims, appears in Isa_45:5. He who called Cyrus is with emphasis called Jehovah, the only true God. This is so done that אני יהוה is put as in apposition with the subject of ואקרא and אכבך of Isa_45:4. This אני יהוה stands parallel with the same words Isa_45:3; Isa_45:6, so that thus the assignment of the chief object recurs with each assignment of the subordinate object. In Isa_45:5יהוה and אלהים correspond in the parallelism; the former manifestly making prominent its appellative meaning: I the absolutely Existent (in the sense of Exo_3:14).—I girded thee is in antithesis with the ungirding of kings, Isa_45:1. Moreover, the Prophet had evidently in mind the passage, Hos_13:4. The third subordinate aim is (Isa_45:6-7) that all nations may know Jehovah as the only true God. Here, too, as already remarked, the chief object is made prominent in I am the LORD in both verses. East and west, i.e. all nations of the entire earth shall know the Lord. From this we see that Cyrus is conceived of as the medium of a world-historical progress of the true knowledge of God that shall be coincident with the rehabilitation of the Theocracy. The book of Daniel gives evidence of revelations of God that had the same object. As the appearance of Christ did not effect the entire disappearance of heathenism, just as little and even much less could those manifestations of the true God in the centres of heathenism produce any enduring effect. But they could operate inwardly and secretly, and prepare for the appearance of the Saviour of the world. The appearance of the Magi (Matthew 2) is a proof of this.
Most expositors admit that this strong emphasizing of monotheism has relation to the Persian dualism. Would the Lord bring Cyrus to a correct knowledge of him as the only true God, it could not be without pointing to the fundamental error of the Persian view of the world. If hence one would admit that Cyrus regarded the God of Israel as identical with his own chief divinity, and recognized in the name Jehovah only another word, and that a kindred one in sense, for Ahura-mazda (comp. Fr. W. Schultz on Ezr_1:2), and generally looked on the worship of the Israelites, with its absence of images, as being like that of the Persians, still one must beware of supposing that the Prophet of Jehovah would awake in the mind of Cyrus the view that Jehovah was the same as Ahura-mazda. Our passage shows plainly that to Cyrus it would be said, Jehovah stands high above Ahura-mazda. The latter was only creator of light. But Jehovah says of Himself here: I form the light, and create darkness. That primarily light and darkness in a physical sense are meant, appears from what follows. For it is more natural to think that peace and evil say something additional, than that they merely explain “light” and “darkness” (Isa_9:1). The latter moreover would not suit because “light” and “darkness” as designations of light-substance, are per se much more comprehensive notions than “peace” and “evil,” and it cannot be meant that the Lord creates light and darkness only in the sense of salvation and evil. On the other hand, from the fact that He does not say טוֹב and רָע, but שׁלום and רע, it is seen that nothing is meant to be affirmed concerning the origin of moral evil. The Lord would evidently present Himself, not as the absolute author of evil and good, but as the Judge of them, who prepares salvation for the pious, and destruction for the bad. To conclude, the Prophet once more emphasizes the fundamental thought of his discourse, with the words: I the LORD do all these things.
Footnotes:
[1]Or, strengthened.
[2]uneven.
[3]Forming—creating—making peace—creating—making.
2. THE FUTURE SALVATION FOUNDED THROUGH CYRUS IN CONTRAST WITH THE FAINT-HEARTEDNESS OF ISRAEL
Isa_45:8-13
8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness:
Let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together;
I the Lord have created it.
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!
4Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?
Or thy work, He hath no hands?
10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?
Or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
11 Thus saith the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,
Ask me of things to come 5concerning my sons,
And concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
12 I have made the earth,
And created man upon it:
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,
And all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will 6 7direct all his ways:
He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives,
Not for price nor reward,
Saith the Lord of hosts.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa_45:8. פָרָה–יֶשַׁע. Isa_45:11. יוצר–קְדוֹשׁ ישׂדאל.
Isa_45:8. The subject of יפרו is neither the יֶשַׁע taken collectively (Gesen., Ewald, Knobel, et al.), nor יֶשַׁע, together with the following צדקה (Hitzig, Delitzsch), but the before named heaven and earth. The heaven is treated as the masculine fructifying potency and the earth as the one conceiving and bearing.—בָּרָה does not mean provenire, but proferre (comp. φέρω, fero, baren, baeren, to bear).—הִצְמִיחַ, it is true, is elsewhere used either of God (Gen_2:9; Psa_104:14, etc.), or of the earth (Gen_3:18, etc.). But it is grammatically possible to use it in the sense of “to make צֶמַח, to germinate, to sprout,” and therefore to apply it to the sprouting plant itself (in a causative sense). The ancient versions, too, understood it so, if perhaps תִּצְמַח did not actually stand in the original text; thus the LXX. ἀνατειλάτω δικαιοσύνη (or δικαιοσύνην); Vulg, justitia oriatur; Syr. egerminet; Targ. reveletur; Ar. crescat. The meaning is similar to that in Psa_85:12. אֱמֶה מֵאֶרֶץ תִּצְמַח וְצֶדֶק מִשָׁמַיִם נִשְׁקָף.
Isa_45:9. Repeat היאמר before פעלך.
Isa_45:10. תחילין the sole example in Isaiah of the archaic feminine ending יִן: comp. Olshausen, § 262, e, Anm.; § 244, e.
Isa_45:11. שְׁאָלוִּני is imperative; comp. Psa_137:3, where the perfect form שְׁאֵלוּנוּ is used. The context altogether demands this.—Just so תְּצַוֻּנִי must be taken as imperative.—צִוָּה with accusative of the person and עַל of the object occurs Isa_10:6; 2Sa_7:11; 1Ch_22:12; Neh_7:2, etc. Comp. the somewhat extended construction 1Sa_13:14; 1Sa_25:30; 2Sa_6:21.
Isa_45:12. In אֲנִי יָדַי the personal pronoun is to be regarded as strengthening the suffix. For according to Eze_33:17 it is possible for the pron. separatum that intensifies the suffix to be put before.—צִוָּה stands partly with double accusative, partly with the accusative of the person and a preposition or an infinitive following (Genesis 1, 2) or לֵאמֹר. But when it stands with the simple accusative, with no mention of what is commanded, it means “to appoint, to order, to commission,” and is used both of persons and of things. Thus it could be said here כל צבאם צויתי, whether one thinks of the צבא of heaven personally (comp. Isa_24:21) or impersonally (Isa_48:5).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. With the mention of the name of Cyrus and the description of his doings the Prophet has attained the culmination of his prophetic cycle. He pauses now a while on this elevation, first to sum up the future that is to follow the appearance of Cyrus in a word of prophecy that presents a glorious Messianic prospect (Isa_45:8); but he contrasts with this Israel’s faint-hearted unbelief, that despairingly wrangles with the Creator (Isa_45:9-10). Opposed to this unbelief the Lord admonishes them to inquire of Him respecting the future, and to commend to Him the care of His people (Isa_45:11), urging this not with new grounds of comfort, but only repeating emphatically the old, viz.: that He who can make heaven and earth (Isa_45:12) has also raised up Cyrus to build His city and release His prisoners without receiving an outward reward (Isa_45:13).
2. Drop down——created it.
Isa_45:8. These words characterize in general the consequences that will follow the appearance of Cyrus on the theatre of the world’s history. It is Messianic salvation that he will bring. It was not in vain that Isa_45:1 He was called Messiah. He is such really, though only in a lower, typical degree. If the Exile is the (relatively) lowest point of Israel’s humiliation, then deliverance out of Exile is the beginning of their salvation. And even if later the way of salvation still sinks down low, even below the level of the Babylonian exile, still on the whole it ascends. By the will and power of God, Cyrus is the pole on which this turning to salvation rests, and is accomplished. With one look the Prophet (Isa_45:8) surveys the entire future and observes, as the pith of it, an all-comprehending salvation, that involves also the regeneration of nature. For blessing is not to bloom only in single places of the earth, but all heaven is to influence fruitfully the whole earth, so that, therefore, all nature will, as it were, become a single field bearing the fruit of salvation. Under the figure of rain is represented, in oriental fashion, the fructifying influence of the heaven on the earth (comp. Deu_32:2). According to the laws of parallelism, that which operates from above is expressed by two notions—heaven and clouds. These two notions are not co-ordinated, but subordinated. For precisely by the clouds does heaven pour out its fructifying moisture. In the second clause, as often, there is a change in the person. Although in consequence of this, each of the two clauses stands independent, thus the construction does not point to a common object, still righteousnessmust be regarded as that which drops or drizzles down from above, especially as clouds is but a nearer definition of “heavens.” But by “righteousness” is not at all to be understood the fruits of blessing that appear on earth, but much rather the pure, spiritual, heavenly life-potencies that have their foundation in the holy being of God, and hence may be called “righteousness.” The earth, moistened and fecundated shall open up (causative Kal=to make an opening, viz.: for the germs awakened by fecundation, comp. Psa_106:17). Therefore heaven and earth are in common to bring forth salvation, i.e., good in the objective sense, and “righteousness,” i.e., subjective being good, moral salvation (compare the relationship of Heil and heilig) shall germinate. (See Text. and Gram.). The prospects opened up by the Prophet are as sure and reliable as they are glorious, as is intimated by I the LORD have created it.
3. Woe unto him—brought forth.
Isa_45:9-10.—The Prophet knows that this great salvation must develop slowly and with great alternations, and that hence many, in the moments of apparent standing still or even of retrogression, will become faint-hearted. Elsewhere also he reproves this despondency: Isa_40:27; Isa_51:12 sq. The whole book of the chapters 40–66 is a book of consolation. Hence it begins Isa_40:1 with the double “comfort ye.” But the Prophet knows the human heart too well not to know, that among those for whom this book of consolation is written, there are many who will be content neither with the quality nor quantity of the comfort that is offered, and who strive with their Maker as if no comfort were there. Against these he justly utters a woe, for nothing offends God so much as unbelief. Thus there is an incisive contrast between Isa_45:8 and Isa_45:9 sqq. In Isa_45:8 we see the future beaming in clear light. But this clear light exists not for those who, when things are not as they wish, immediately despair, because they see no human help, and will not see the divine help. Yet what is man in comparison with God? Nothing more than an image of clay in comparison with the potter (יוֹצֵר comp. Jer_18:1-5; Jer_19:1 sqq.). This comparison is all the more fitting in view of Gen_2:7, where man has just this resemblance. He is a הֶרֶשׂ אֲדָמָה “potsherd of earth,” and in fact this is the original and foundation stuff common to all men, and not of some specially weak one. In the weakness of others, each should become thoroughly conscious of his own weakness. Thus it is an aggravating circumstance in him who would strive with God that he is a potsherd among potsherds (comp. מֵאָדָם44:11), and not an isolated sherd. An isolated case might more easily be excused for self-deception. And if man is a potsherd and God his Maker, then he may as little strive with God as the clay, could it speak, may say to the potter what makest thou (i.e., thou makest not the right thing; thou misshapest me), or as any work which thou, O man, formest, may say: he hath no hands, i.e., no power or capacity to form. This clause generalizes the thought by extending it to any human work. The suffix ךּ assumes that God would involve him who would strive with Him in an absurdity by a demonstratio ad hominem: will then thy work, whatever it may be, say to thee whoever thou mayest be: he can do nothing? ידים “hands” by metonymy for that to which the hand is applied, viz., the exercise of power and skill (comp. Isa_28:2 : Psa_76:6; also the analogous use in passages like Jos_8:20, and of זְרוֹעַ comp. Isa_48:14). The expression seems to be of a proverbial nature. Delitzsch cites the Arabian lâ jadai lahu, it is not in his power. Paul makes a well known use of this passage Rom_9:20 sq. Comp. Wis_15:7 sq.
Isa_45:10. The Prophet, by another comparison, expresses the disconsolate murmuring of the desponding creature, which, like Isa_45:9, also consists of two members. It happens (comp. Job_3:1 sqq.; Isa_10:18 sq.; Jer_20:14 sqq.) that one oppressed by sufferings wishes he had never been born. This is also the idea of Isa_45:10, only modified so that to the despairing one is imputed a complaint against his parents that they have begotten him.
4. Thus saith the Lord——of hosts.
Isa_45:11-13. To this sinful, blasphemous conduct the Prophet now opposes what the true Israelite ought to do in times of the Theocracy’s apparent ruin: he ought to inquire of the Lord and commend to the Lord the destiny of his people. Yet the Lord will and cannot help this unbelief by new and would-be better grounds of comfort. He can only repeat the old, viz., that he who made the world has now in the person of Cyrus irrevocably appointed the instrument of the deliverance. The Holy One of Israel and his Maker.—So the Lord is named Isa_45:11 in a way well be-fitting the context. For it becomes His holiness to keep His word, and His character as Maker to remain consistent and not suffer His work to come to disgrace. Beside the expression יוצר, “former,” “Maker” is occasioned by the comparison of Isa_45:9. This holy God and Almighty Creator therefore commands the Israelite who is in deepest distress to turn to him in respect to the dark future, and to inquire of him.—For such was of old His will (Exo_33:7; Num_27:21; 2Ki_1:6; 2Ki_1:16), and also the custom and practice in Israel (Jos_9:14; Jdg_1:1; 1Sa_28:6; 1Sa_28:15, etc.) Even this may be done in a very improper way, Isa_58:2.—אתיות, comp. Isa_41:23; Isa_44:7. Concerning my children and the work of my hands (allusion to יוצרו) command ME (see Text. and Gram.). The commission, the office of caring for Israel they should give to the Lord.
Isa_45:12. That in these hands Israel will be well secured must appear from the fact that these same hands prepared heaven and earth. Thus here also, as constantly before and after (Isa_40:12; Isa_40:21; Isa_40:28; Isa_42:5; Isa_44:24; Isa_45:18; Isa_48:13; Isa_51:13) the Lord proves His ability to accomplish deliverance by a reference to His character as Creator. Doubtless in My hands there is an allusion to Isa_45:9 b (see Text. and Gram.). There it is assumed that no human workmanship can say of him that formed it: he has no hands. In allusion to this, the Lord calls Israel here (Isa_45:11) the work of His hands. It is impossible that it can mean: I, i.e., not My feet, mouth or other organ, but My hands have spread out the heavens; but He would say: not the hands of another, but My hands have done this (אני ידי and צִוִּה, see Text. and Gram.).
The almighty Creator is also the almighty Redeemer. And He is such through Cyrus, the raising up of whom (Isa_41:2; Isa_41:25) even now to Him stands as an accomplished fact. All faint-heartedness that comes from, any sinking of Israel in the world-power, whether apprehended or experienced, the Prophet represses by the announcement that the Lordhas raised up a deliverer in righteousness (comp. on Isa_42:6). Because this one shall realize all God’s intentions, the Lord, too, will make level all his ways (Isa_45:2). And so he will rebuild the holy city (Isa_44:26; Isa_44:28) and let the prisoners go (Isa_52:3). He will do so not for price or any outward advantage. In fact one cannot see what motive of policy, or of national economy or worldly motive of any kind could have determined Cyrus to restore the Israelitish nation and its religious worship. It has been said that he would make room for other exiles. But then why did he not send the latter to Judea? And why did he make the return of the Jews optional? This last consideration shows that he had no interest to promote by it. Indeed this restoration may be pronounced a political mistake. There was some truth in the reproach that Jerusalem was “a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and provinces—of old time” (Ezr_4:15). For the world-power must ever feel that the kingdom of God in the midst of it is a disturbing and hurtful element. Add to this the surrender of the holy vessels (Ezr_1:7 sqq.), and the requisition to help the Jews “with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts” (Ezr_1:4), and one must confess that the conduct of Cyrus was very surprising and inexplicable by natural causes. This sort of sending away reminds one very much of that from Egypt (Exo_12:31 sqq.). In both cases the letting go free was not man’s work, but God’s work.
Footnotes:
[4]A potsherd among the.
[5]put; after come.
[6]Or, make straight.
[7]level.
3. THE SOUTHERN WORLD-POWER IS ALSO CONVERTED TO JEHOVAH
Isa_45:14-17
14 Thus saith the Lord,
The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia
And of the Sabeans, men of stature,
Shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine:
They shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over,
And they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee,
Saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else,
There is no God.
15 Verify thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour,
16 They 8shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them:
9They shall go to confusion together
That are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation:
Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet having discharged the painful duty of reproving Israel’s pusillanimity (Isa_45:8; Isa_45:13), now turns to the pleasant task of showing what will be the effect of the salvation instituted in the northern world-power on the world-power lying south of Palestine. The holy nation lay in the middle between these two world-powers. Again and again it had suffered from the friendship and the enmity of both. It had oscillated back and forth between them both, seeking support against the enmity of the one in the friendship of the other. Both, too, had contended with each other for Palestine, and more or less made Palestine their battle-field. Recall Tirhaka and Sennacherib, Pharaoh Necho and Nebuchadnezzar. Now Israel is in bondage to Babylon as it was in its youth to Egypt. But it is to be delivered from the Babylonian bondage by Cyrus. Will it also thereby be delivered from the assaults of the sinful world-power? Already in Isa_43:3 the Prophet presented the prospect of the northern world-power being in a certain sense indemnified by the surrender of the southern for mildness displayed towards Israel. And in reality Egypt became a prey to Cambyses. But the Prophet sees still more. He sees Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba not merely in chains, but turning in their chains to Israel to worship the God of Israel (Isa_45:14). They [but see below, Tr.] recognize Him as the true God, who had hitherto remained hidden (Isa_45:15). They recognize that idolatry was a false way, and that all idol-makers have come to shame (Isa_45:16), whereas Israel may confidently expect through Jehovah everlasting salvation and honor (Isa_45:17). From this it appears that the Prophet makes the southern world-power join together with Israel in honoring Jehovah, and hence also with the northern world-power, just as happens in Isa_19:23 sqq. If the South and the North, united by Israel, have become brothers, then the chains fall of themselves.
2. Thus saith——in chains shall they come over.
Isa_45:14 a. To understand this passage we must take Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, not as representing the heathen world in general [Barnes, J. A. Alex., Delitzsch and others, Tr.], but as representing specially the southern world-power that was the rival of the northern. For why should just the nations about the Nile represent the heathen world? The general heathen world has its turn, Isa_45:22. The present text deals with an eminently important centre of the heathen world, viz., with that which corresponds to what in the south is now friendly to Israel. In Isa_43:3 the subjection of those nations of the Nile to Cyrus is announced. Hence they appear here as bearing chains. But the dominion of the messiah Cyrus is to be one of universal peace and blessing (Isa_45:8). In a prophetic sense, i.e., potentially it shall be such, in consequence of the influence that the world-power itself will experience from the spirit of the kingdom of God in the person of Cyrus. Hence the Prophet sees here in the subjugation of those nations of the Nile also the bridge to their conversion. They are the same thoughts that we find above, chap. 19, from Isa_45:19 on. There it is said, Isa_45:23, that Egypt shall serve Assyria. But Assyria denotes the northern world-power, which was then represented by Assyria, was later represented by Babylon, and then by Cyrus. But Egypt will also worship Jehovah. The Prophet only indicates in general how this will come about. We see in both passages that Israel is the medium. From our passage, in connection with Isa_43:3, we learn that, proceeding from Israel, first Cyrus comes to the knowledge of Jehovah, then from Cyrus (whether directly or indirectly does not appear) Egypt, so that these three, Israel in the middle, on the left the north (Assyria), on the right the south (Egypt), shall be as a glorious tritone and a blessing to the whole earth (Isa_19:24-25). As in general, taking spoil and receiving tribute are signs and fruits of victory, so in many places the Messiah or His types are represented as those to whom nations, hitherto hostile but now converted, bring their treasures or tribute (comp. Psa_45:13; Psa_68:30; Psa_68:32; Psa_72:10; Psa_72:15; Isa_60:6; Mat_2:11). Thus it is said here that Egypt’s acquisitions of labor (יְגִיַע, “labor,” metonym. for what is acquired; again only Isa_55:2), and Ethiopia’s and Seba’s acquisitions of commerce (מָחָר, “mercatura,” also metonym., comp. Isa_23:3), shall come to Israel. The Egyptians were originally strictly exclusive, hence from the first not a commercial people, but they had branches of industry, Isa_19:9. Ethiopia was of old famed for great riches, comp. Herod. III., 17 sqq., and Gesen.in loc. On Seba see Isa_43:3. There is no ground for separating Ethiopia and the Sabeans, and connecting “merchandize” only with the former. For 1) it is grammatically allowable to subordinate one word in the construct state to several words (Gen_14:19; Psa_115:15; 2Ch_2:7, etc.); 2) Ethiopia and Seba are the same people, both may equally be called “men of stature;” 3) the plural יעבדו does not conflict, because in compound subjects the predicate is very often ruled, not by the grammatical subject, but by the primary logical idea (comp. Isa_2:11 with Isa_5:15; Gen_4:10; Jer_2:34, etc.). Thus here, as undoubtedly appears from what follows, the chief matter with the Prophet is the passing over of the men, not of their treasures. Hence he says יעברו and hence he expresses still this thought by three verbs following. Concerning men of stature, comp. on Isa_18:2. Herod. III. Isaiah 20 : “The Ethiopians are said to be the tallest and finest-looking of all men.” Solin., cap. Isaiah 30 : Aethiopes duodecim pedes longi (Gesen.). The Egyptians and Ethiopians will, indeed, still come in chains. They are conquered, but precisely by their defeat they have learned to know the nothingness of their idols (Isa_45:16), and the divinity of Jehovah. But by their confession (Isa_45:14 b–17) they acquire a claim to release from the chains.
3. And they shall fall——without end. Isa_45:14 b—17. “And they shall fall,” etc., does not say that they shall worship Israel, but that they shall worship in the direction of the land of Israel, for they know the Temple and the throne of the true God to be there (comp. Dan_6:10). In what follows we learn the contents of their prayer. The three brief but weighty words אַךְ בָּד אֵל, “surely God is in thee, form the fundamental thought. It is understood of course that “in thee” refers to the same person as the feminine suffixes in עליך and אליך, viz.: to Israel or Zion. The knowledge that the right God is in Zion (Psa_84:8) is herewith expressed positively. 1Co_14:25, is a quotation of our text. The same is expressed negatively and there is none else, there is no God. But this last thought must be made very emphatic. Hence אֶפֶם is added to strengthen ואין עוד, of which the present is the only instance. If אפם (comp. אָפֵם16:4; Isa_29:20 and אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ Isa_45:22, etc.), means cessatio, finis, then, beside other modifications of this meaning, it can be construed, as acc. localis, and may also have the sense of in fine. But then it says (comp. on Isa_47:8; Isa_47:10): “That not at that (unthinkable) point where God ceases, does another appear.” In other words: אֶפֶם involves, indeed, the sense of praeter, praeterea. Therefore one does not need to take אפם אלהים as a genitive relation; but construe: “and there is not still in fine or in loco cessandi (viz.: of the before mentioned אֵל) a God.”
In Isa_45:15 the heathen address the God of Israel directly. [“It is far more natural to take the verse as an apostrophe, expressive of the Prophet’s own strong feelings in contrasting what God had done and would yet do, the darkness of the present and the brightness of the future. If these things are to be hereafter, then O Thou Saviour of Thy people, Thou art indeed a God that hides Himself, that is to say, conceals His purposes of mercy under the darkness of His present dispensations.”—J. A. Alex. So, too, Barnes, and Delitzsch. The latter says “The exclamation in Rom_11:33, ‘O the depth of the riches,’ etc., is a similar one.”—Tr.]. They now pray to Him themselves as was intimated by ישתחוו and יתפללו. First of all they utter the conviction that Jehovah is a God who hides Himself (comp. Isa_29:14; 1Sa_23:19; 1Sa_26:1), i.e., a God who has hitherto been hidden from them. [The LXX. favors this interpretation. It reads: “for thou art God, though we did not know it, O God of Israel the Saviour.”—Tr.]. In that lies a trace of the knowledge never quite extinguished among the heathen, that beyond and above the multitude of gods representing the forces of nature, there is a highest Being ruling over all. The language recalls, at least as to sense, the θεὸς ἅγνωστος of the Athenians, Act_17:23. It seems to me, therefore, that the designation of God as מסתתר suits much better in the mouth of the heathen than of Israel. אָבֵן see List. This hitherto concealed God is identical with the God of Israel (thus for the latter no concealed God), and also a “saving” God, i.e., that is willing to help and can help and actually does help. In verse 15אַתָּה is subject, אל מסתתר predicate, אלהיישׂראל apposition with the subject, and מושׁיע as second predicate put after in the form of an apposition. In מושׁיע (see List) there lies also an antithesis to the heathen idols and in so far a transition to Isa_45:16.
The necessary reverse side of the correct knowledge of God is to know the false gods as such. Isa_45:16 expresses this knowledge by emphasizing that they come to confusion. The gods of Egypt could not help Egypt; for Egypt succumbed to that power that opposed it by the commission and power of the God of Israel. They are ashamed and also confounded, see Isa_45:17; Isa_41:11 and the borrowed passages Jer_31:19; Ezr_9:6. The expression they go to confusion (which equally affirms their going into disgrace, and going about in disgrace) occurs only here. ציר (from צָר = יָצַר), “the image,” occurs in this sense only here, and Psa_49:15. The Lord having been called “Saviour” in Isa_45:15, and Isa_45:16 having said that idols are not this, it is now said, Isa_45:17, of Israel that Jehovah has showed Himself such a Saviour and how He has done so. For Israel is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation (acc. modalis;Heb_9:12). Finally the speakers turn their discourse to Israel as in the beginning of it (“surely God is in thee”). These shall not experience what the others have with their idols: Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. The plural עולמים occurs Isa_26:4; Isa_51:9, and excepting Psa_77:6, only in later writings. The expression עד עולמי עד occurs only here. Shall those who have learned so to speak be still kept in chains by Israel?
Footnotes:
[8]are.
[9]They go.
4. AFTER THE WORLD-POWERS, ISRAEL, TOO, FINALLY RENOUNCES IDOLS AND GIVES ITSELF WHOLLY TO ITS GOD, SO THAT NOW ALL HUMAN KIND HAS BECOME A SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
Isa_45:18-25
18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens;
10God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it,
He created it not 11in vain, he formed it to be inhabited;
I am the Lord ; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth:
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain:
I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations:
They have no knowledge that 12set up the wood of their graven image,
And pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near;
Yea, let them take counsel together:
Who hath declared this from ancient time?
Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me;
A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 13Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
For I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself,
The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That unto me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall swear.
24 14 15Surely, shall one say,
In the Lord have I 16righteousness and strength:
Even to him shall men come;
And all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified,
And shall glory
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for recurrence of the words used, particularly: Isa_45:20. נָנַשׁ Hithp.—פָלַל—פֶסֶל Hithp. see Isa_45:14.
Isa_45:23. צדקה דבר may not be construed as one notion (“word of truth”), for then it must read דְּבַר צ׳. Nor may one take צדקה as nominative in an attributive sense (“as righteousness, a word”) connecting it with דָּבָר, for that would be a contorted, unnatural expression. “Out of the mouth of righteousness” [J. A. Alex., Del.], is indeed grammatically correct, but this personifying of righteousness and this distinction of it as a speaking person from Jehovah Himself were something very peculiar. For are not the one swearing and the one speaking this word that cannot be frustrated one and the same? We must construe פִי parallel with בִּי and נשׁבעתי as a noun with the suffix of the first person. But then צדקה must be taken as accusative. It is the accusat. adverbialis, that stands for the substantive with a preposition and expresses the modality, of whatever sort it may be. Thus, as is well known, substantives often stand, as אֱמֶת (Jer_23:28), שֶׁקֶד (Psa_119:78), חֵטְא (Isa_31:7), הֶבֶל (Job_21:34), מֵישָׁרִים (Psa_75:3), etc.—יצא and ישׁוב stand in pointed antithesis. וְ before ישׁוב stands according to the peculiar Hebrew paratactic mode of expression. In our idiom we would say: which will not go back,—or, less exactly: that will not go back.
Isa_45:24. לִי=“in regard to me,” comp. Isa_5:1; Isa_41:7; Gen_20:13.—אָמַר = “they say,” comp. Isa_25:9; Isa_65:8, etc.—יָבוֹא = “let one come.” It is the same impersonal construction as in אָמַר comp. Isa_6:10; Isa_10:4; Isa_14:32; Isa_18:5; Isa_33:20, etc. It is indeed not impossible that a וְ before יבוא has fallen out because of the following ו before יבשׁו; but grammatical reasons by no means compel such an assumption.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. With these words the Prophet concludes his contemplation of the future salvation that is connected with Cyrus. It is assuredly not an accident that only after Cyrus and the northern world-power represented by him and after the southern world-power are noticed, does he turn to Israel in order to announce also to it what shall be its part in that future salvation. Here, too, the chief point is again the knowledge of Jehovah as the only true God. Jehovah, who made the heavens, even that suffices to prove Him to be the God; Jehovah, who also formed the earth, of which He is also the orderer and disposer, but who according to His goodness prepared the earth as a friendly dwelling for men, justly says of Himself: I am the absolute Being, and another beside Me there is not (Isa_45:18). But this same Jehovah has chosen a people out of mankind for His particular inheritance and property, and from the first He has clearly and publicly proclaimed what He purposes to do with this people. And He has in that plainly expressed that, as with the creation He had in mind the salvation of mankind, so, too, He had in mind the salvation of this people, as the reward that a just and right thinking lord gives his servants, when He made those arrangements in which this people were to serve as means and instrument (Isa_45:19). This people is to receive salvation through Cyrus. This having happened, Israel delivered from the heathen may be summoned to acknowledge idolatry to be a foolish and ruinous error (Isa_45:20). After being summoned, too, to give information and to settle by consultation what they have lived through and experienced, they must confess: Jehovah foretold all that would come about; as He foretold so it has turned out. Jehovah alone is the true God (Isa_45:21). The world-powers and Israel having so acknowledged Jehovah, He can now call to all mankind: turn to Me as to Him who blesses you (Isa_45:22). Thus will be fulfilled what the Lord hath sworn and announced as not to be frustrated, that to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear (Isa_45:23). All will then acknowledge that only in Jehovah is salvation, and that hostility to Him brings only ruin (Isa_45:24). All mankind, become one in the glory and praise of the Lord, will then have become “seed of Israel.”
2. For thus saith the Lord——none beside Me.
Isa_45:18-21. “For,” beginning Isa_45:18, connects with Isa_45:17. There it is said “Israel is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.” This, spoken by the heathen, is here confirmed by the Lord as correct, by saying that of course He did not call Israel to a fruitless service (לא תהו בקשׁוני Isa_45:19), but promised him a just reward. For now the Lord turns to Israel to say to him wherein the blessing promised to them in Cyrus will culminate. The Prophet knows that Israel still inclines to idolatry, that fundamental evil of the natural man. But he also knows that Israel, utterly broken by the Exile, and wholly convinced, by the way of prophecy and fulfilment, of Jehovah’s being the only God, will, from the time of their deliverance by Cyrus, renounce idolatry. We know that the Exile made a decisive turning-point in the religious life of the Israelites. Coarse idolatry they renounced from that time on. Yet the inward as well as the outward deliverance by Cyrus was only a beginning. But in this beginning the Prophet sees already the completion, according to his complex way of regarding history. Thus in Isa_45:18 he tells how that “everlasting salvation” will come about. A fundamental condition is for Israel to attain to the lively knowledge expressed by the words: I am the Lord, and there is none else. The foundation of this is double; what pertains to the history of the world and what to the history of salvation. The former consists in this, that Jehovah before all made the heavens, which is proof enough that He alone is God. For He who made the world to come, the abode of spirits, of elohim, must He not Himself be Elohim? yea, as the Creator of the elohim world, he is exalted above all elohim, therefore the Elohim κατ’ ἐξοχήν (comp. e.g., Psa_97:9). Such is the sense of the parenthesis: “He is God,” Isa_45:18. In the second place the Lord proves His sole divinity by the fact that He formed the earth, and made it (ready), comp. Isa_43:7. As to “that created the heavens” there is added in parenthesis a nearer definition, so there is to “that formed the earth and made it.” In both cases the parenthesis begins with הוּא. The first consists of two words; the second of two words הוא כוננה, “He established it,” and a nearer explanation. For at first sight this כּוננה seems redundant after יצר and עשה. But we learn from the following words to יְצָרָה that כּוֹנֵן is not used in the sense of fundare, which is its common meaning elsewhere, but in the sense of ἑτοιμάζειν (LXX.) “to equip, prepare” (comp. Deu_32:6, where, too, כונן follows עשׂה; and especially the Hiphil of like meaning, Isa_14:21; Gen_43:16; 1 Kings 5:32; 6:19, etc.). By this is expressed the final equipment or adaptation to an object, in contrast with the original making. That such is the sense is expressly said by the words לא תחו ונו׳ “not empty did He create it.” For these words affirm that the object of “creating” and “forming” was not that the earth might remain תהו “empty,” but that it might become fit for dwelling, and the Prophet designates by כּוֹנֵן the activity that prepares, sets in order the product of the “creating,” “forming,” “making.” Thus men prepare a friendly dwelling for their children, friends, dear guests. Therefore this “preparation” is a proof of the goodness and kindness of our God.
But for this I am Jehovah and there is none beside there is also a foundation in what pertains to the history of salvation. God had sought out Israel as a peculiar treasure to be the medium of His thoughts of salvation, and lifted them high up and then cast them down. He did not choose them that they might end in wild chaos, any more than He made the earth to be empty. He had never required this people to seek Him in vain, for nothing, as it were in the emptiness (so to speak, to trace out, find out the hidden, Isa_45:15). But He had said: “what is right and proper, shall be to you.” צֶדֶק here is not the abstract, subjective righteousness, but the concrete, objective right, as in the expressions פָעַל צדק (Psa_15:2, etc.) עָשׁה צדק (lsa. Isa_64:4, etc). דבר comp. Isa_33:15. Also מישׁרים is to be taken in the concrete and objective sense (comp. Isa_33:15). This promise: “what is right shall be yours,” God did not make in secret (בַּסֵּתֶר48:16; Psa_139:15) so that it can come under no investigation, and cannot be proved to have actually happened. For He did not speak in, say, caves and hiding-places, such as the heathen oracles let themselves be heard from, but He spoke before all the world. If now the Lord has given His people the promise of a good time and happy dwelling after the chaos, and the promise is fulfilled exactly as it runs, there is the proof that Jehovah is omniscient. As by the creation He has shown Himself the Almighty and the All-good to all mankind, so, by the promise given to Israel and by its fulfilment He showed Himself to the people whose history is that of redemption to be the Omniscient and All-good. But as the All-good, All-mighty and All-knowing He is the God, Jehovah, the Absolute.
According to Isa_45:19 the Prophet assumes that all will come to pass as promised so publicly, and that by means of Cyrus. For Isa_45:20 sqq. we find ourselves translated into the time after the emancipation. Hence the Israelites are called escaped of the nations, and he that helped them to this title can be no other than Cyrus. Therefore in the time of the deliverance effected by Cyrus the redeemed are to assemble, and come and draw near in order to elicit the facts resultant from the preceding course of history. The resultant is negative and positive. The negative is stated Isa_45:20 b, viz.They know nothing those carrying the wood of their graven image, and praying to a god that will not save.—יָדַע, comp. Isa_44:9; Isa_44:18; Isa_56:10, a kind of causative Kal, comp. on תפתח Isa_45:8, therefore properly: not to exercise knowledge. נָשָׂא, comp. Isa_46:1; Isa_46:7. יוֹשׁיַע, comp. Lam_4:17.——By this is expressed, that after the deliverance by Cyrus Israel will at last definitely come to the knowledge of the folly and nothingness of idolatry.——We learn in Isa_45:21 the positive result of that counseling. But the announcement of it is again introduced by a solemn summons to use the needful deliberation (comp. Isa_41:22-23). Tell ye, and bring near means as much as bring on information. The thought is completed by adding another verb. The necessary facts must first be produced; then counsel may be taken about them (change of person as in Isa_45:8; Isa_41:1, etc.). The Lord himself announces the result. In the consultation he made his right felt, and what he said must be accepted, for it was the truth. It was as follows: Who has caused this (viz. what is intimated Isa_45:19, and whose fulfilment, after Isa_45:19, is assumed) to be heard of old, and long ago declared it? Not I, Jehovah?etc., Isa_45:21. Therefore, here again the Lord proves His divinity from His omniscience. One might say, that this is that divine attribute that can be most easily inspected even by those not eye-witnesses. For let the prophecy as such and the fulfilment be verified, and the necessary conclusion for every one is a superhuman knowing, willing and ability, even for such as are ever so remote in respect to time and place. When the Lord designates Himself here especially as a just God, it is with reference to Isa_45:13; Isa_45:19. He calls Himself Saviour in contrast with a god that cannot save, Isa_45:20.
3. Look unto me——shall glory, Isa_45:22-25. In this concluding word the Lord, by the expression all ye ends of the earth, comprehends all previously named, viz. the nations of the northern (Isa_45:6) and of the southern (Isa_45:14 sqq.) world-power, along with Israel. One might be tempted to take Isa_45:22-25 as an independent section, parallel with Isa_45:14-21. But then it would doubtless have begun, like the others mentioned, with “thus saith the Lord.” Moreover we see from all the seed of Israel, Isa_45:25, that after Israel has been entirely converted to the Lord, the Prophet sees in all mankind still only a seed of Israel. It is perhaps highly significant that only after the northern and southern world-power, or after the fulness of the Gentiles represented by them, does he let the escaped of the nations become partakers of the salvation inaugurated by Cyrus. Is that not an intimation of the fact so emphatically confirmed by Paul (Romans 11)? Thus by all the ends of the earth we are not to understand those nations that remained beside those mentioned in Isa_45:6; Isa_45:14 sqq. and 18 sqq. For those thus mentioned by the Prophet represented already all mankind. Therefore the same are meant, only here they are mentioned comprehensively instead of singly as before. All together they constitute the entire (all the) seed of Israel in a spiritual sense. To all of these, after salvation is prepared for them and they for salvation, the Lord addresses the final, decisive word of calling: turn unto me and be saved. Of the Imperatives the first is commanding, the second promissory. The inviting call reminds of Mat_22:4 : “I have prepared my dinner, etc.,——all things are ready, come unto the marriage.”——הושׁעו (comp. Isa_30:15) is=be saved, become partakers of the perfect and everlasting salvation (Isa_45:17).—The causative clause: for I am God,etc., Isa_45:22 b, proves the possibility, yea the necessity of the salvation, by reference to the irrefragable truth, doubted since the fall, but now acknowledged on all hands (Isa_45:6; Isa_45:14 sqq., 21) that Jehovah alone is God. Only God can warrant everlasting salvation. Jehovah alone is God. Ergo!——When all turn to Jehovah and find in Him salvation, then, too, the eternal decree of God is fulfilled that all shall bow to him and serve him.—This decree has great importance as appears from: I have sworn by myself, and he could swear by no greater (Heb_6:13 sqq.). The oath thus acquires an abstract right, so that under no circumstances can it go back, be revoked or declared null. בי נשׁבעתי as in Gen_22:16; Jer_22:5; Jer_49:13; comp. Isa_44:26.——I had rather translate צדקה (see Text. and Gram.): “for the sake of righteousness,” or “of right.” This word, being an emanation of the divine righteousness, bears in itself the guaranty of its realization, and therefore cannot go back (comp. the very similar passage, Isa_55:11). The contents of the oath is that every knee shall bow to the Lord, and to Him (לִי belongs also to the second clause; comp. Isa_19:18) every tongue shall swear. Therefore the προσκύνησις, as outward expression of homage (Psa_95:6), and the ἐξομολόγησις (Rom_14:11; Php_2:10-11), as expression of the confession that God is the All-wise, All-righteous and Almighty, shall be accorded to Him as His divineright, that He does not suffer to be wrested from him. But every oath by God involves the confession, not only that there is a God, but also that this God knows the truth, and has the will and the power to avenge the untruth. An oath is, indeed, a divine worship (Goeschel).——The Prophet, moreover, is very far from believing that (to say it with one word) the conversion of the heathen and of Israel will be sudden and universal. Rather this conversion will progress by successive stages, and many—will make decided resistance. To this Isa_45:24 refers.
Isa_45:24. In this verse we perceive the cheering call of the converted to their still hesitating or even decidedly resisting brethren (see Text, and Gram.). First, they point to their own experience: Only in Jehovah are righteous deeds and strength.צדקות (comp. Isa_33:15; Isa_64:5 and Psa_11:7; Psa_103:6; Jdg_5:11, etc.), are juste facta. The speaker would say, therefore: displays of righteousness (i.e., of a disposition conformed to the will of God) and strength (i.e., the power to do great things and bear hard things) are only in Jehovah, i.e., are only possible where God gives ability. Second, there is joined to this the exhortation to come to Jehovah as the only source of right inward life. Regarding the expressions עָדָיו and אֵלָיו, the Prophet would evidently intimate by עַד that Jehovah represents the loftiest goal of human effort, and that it concerns us to penetrate as far as to Him. The notion of “progredi ad fastigium quoddam” (Gesen.), is expressed in many modifications by עַד. Comp. 2Sa_23:19; Job_11:7; Nah_1:10; 1Ch_4:27, etc. Finally, those converted do not fail to add a threat for those that oppose themselves: and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed. The same expression again only Isa_41:11; Son_1:6. It seems to me that the expression “those inflamed with anger” points to the psychological fact, that in the hearts of those filled with hatred the display of love provokes anger and not love. Compare Judas, Joh_13:27.
Isa_45:25 is not to be regarded as either the word of Jehovah or of the converted Isa_45:23. In the former case we would have בִּי; in the latter ביהוה יצדקו would say only what had been already said in ביהוה צדקות. Hence I regard this verse as the word of the Prophet, added in conclusion by way of confirming, explaining and also of praise. By shall be justified he verifies that men are not able to find the grounds of their justification in themselves, but only in God. This is a New Testament evangelical thought, that well befits “the Evangelist of the Old Testament.” And shall glory contains a doxology as an ingredient. It is as a finger board to the praising choir of which John speaks in Rev_4:8 sqq.; Rev_5:9 sqq.; Rev_7:9 sqq.; Rev_11:16; Rev_12:10 sqq, etc. Finally, all the seed of Israel is an explanation, showing us that we are to construe verses 22–25, not as a new co-ordinate member of the discourse, but as the sum of the whole discourse, so that the “ends of the earth” are not new nations hitherto unmentioned, but the totality of those previously named. All those who according to Isa_45:6; Isa_45:14 have been converted to Jehovah are become Israel, i.e., spiritual Israel. All “they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham.” Gal_3:7.
Footnotes:
[10]He is God—who formed the earth and made it—he ordered it.
[11]to he empty.
[12]carry.
[13]Turn.
[14]Or, Surely he shall say of me, In the LORD is all righteoueness and strength
[15]Only.
[16]Heb. righteousnesses.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On 45. The Egyptian and the Babylonian captivities correspond to one another. Both times the holy nation were outside of the Holy land and in the service of a heathen world-power. In each case, too, this happened in the resplendent period of the world-power concerned. Egypt, at the time it was compelled to let Israel go, stood foremost among all nations in respect to culture and political power. “Those were the most glorious times of all Egyptian history” (Lepsius, Chronology of the Egyptians, I. p. 359). Cyrus was the conqueror of the Babylonian kingdom, which itself had conquered the old Assyria, and he had appropriated its power so that he represented the northern world-power in, as it were, its third power or degree. In both instances the inconsiderable, despised Jews were slaves without power or rights in the territory and service of the world-power. Yet how superior the powerless appears in contrast with the mighty! God declared it to be His express purpose, in leading His people miraculously out of Egypt, “to show His power to Pharaoh, and that His name might be declared throughout all the earth; and to execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt” (Exo_9:16; Exo_12:12, comp. Isa_8:10; Isa_8:19; Isa_14:4; Isa_14:17-18; Isa_14:25). The entire first half of Daniel informs us of those miraculous measures of God whose common object and effect was that confession of Nebuchadnezzar: “Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings” (Dan_2:47; comp. Dan_3:28 sqq.; Dan_4:31 sqq.; Dan_4:25 sqq.). Therefore, twice in that period between the apostacy from the true God (Gen_11:8) and the appearance of Christ, there took place grand testimonies from the Lord to the heathen world. And in both instances the medium of testimony was an exile of Israel, and it was received by the world-power that at the time was dominant: first Egypt the southern world-power, and then the northern, the Babylonian-Persian kingdom of which Cyrus must be regarded as the head. The object of this revelation to the heathen world was in general, not the extermination of idolatry (for then the object were not attained), but the preservation and revival of the remembrance of the highest Creator, Ruler and Judge, of the One ruling over all that is visible and invisible, a remembrance ever present in the most secret part of the human breast. This remembrance may not be extinguished, for it is the connecting point for the final and highest revelation that is accomplished by the Son of God becoming man for the purpose of redemption. But especially the testimony imparted to Cyrus was intended to free, from the Exile, the nation that was to be the medium of salvation and thereby to make shine the first beams of Messianic salvation to Israel and the world.
2. On 45. Pressel (in Herz. R.-Enc. III. p. 231) gives a list of the data of the Old Testament in regard to Cyrus, which, with some modification, is as follows: 1) He was a Persian (Dan_6:28); 2) he was king in Persia (2Ch_36:22; Ezr_1:1 sq.; Ezr_4:5); 3) he was king of Media and Babylon (Ezr_5:13; Ezr_5:17; Ezr_6:2-3); 4) he was a conqueror and founder of a world-monarchy (Isa_45:1-3; Isa_45:14); 5) he was the fourth ruler before Xerxes (Dan_11:2); 6) he was the destroyer of the Babylonian dynasty and of the Chaldean idolatry (Isa_46:1; Isa_48:14; Dan_2:39; Dan_8:3-4; Dan_8:20); 7) he was a worshipper of the true God (2Ch_36:23; Ezr_1:2); 8) he was the liberator of the Jews, and promoted the building of the city and Temple (Isa_44:28; Isa_45:13; 2Ch_36:23; Eze_1:2 sqq.; Isa_5:13; Isa_6:3 sqq.); 9) he was a shepherd of God who was to fulfil God’s will concerning Israel, yea, an anointed of the Lord (Isa_44:28; Isa_45:1), whose spirit the Lord raised up (2Ch_36:22 sq.; Ezr_1:1; Isa_45:13).
What was it that made so deep an impression on Cyrus, and one so favorable for the knowledge of the truth? Pressel (l. c.) in answer to this question mentions in substance the following: 1) The part that Daniel played in the downfall of the Babylonian kingdom, by foretelling the event the very night of its taking place (Dan_5:28; Dan_5:30); 2) the high position that Daniel occupied, with miraculous divine support, at the court of Darius the Mede, whose general Cyrus was still at that time (Daniel 6); 3) the experience Cyrus might have of the nothingness of idolatry in contrast with the faith of Daniel, in respect to which less account must be made of the history of Bel and the Dragon than of the inability of the heathen idols to protect their nations against Cyrus, who acted under commission from Jehovah (Isa_45:1-3); 4) the reading of Isaiah’s prophecies in respect to himself, according to the testimony of Josephus cited above; see Doct. and Eth. on Isa_44:24-28.
But if it be further asked: how does it come that the descriptions of profane authors are far from coming up to the picture of Cyrus that we get from Daniel and Isaiah? I would reply, by a modification of Pressel’s views: 1) the fact that Cyrus, as soon as he began to reign, extended to the captive Jews special favor, and exhibited a lively interest in the restoration of the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem is a notorious proof that he must have received a strong impulse in this direction (comp. Oehler, in Herz., R.-Enc. Xii. p. 230 sq.). For how otherwise may it be explained, that this mighty ruler, whose sway was so extended, and who was busied with great plans for war and peace, gave his attention to this matter long since settled, and took measures that from his stand-point were inconsistent and a mistake? 2) That profane history says nothing about those mysterious transactions between Cyrus and his God (we may surely be allowed, in an objective sense, to call the Lord so), is to be explained partly from the nature of the subject in itself, partly from these extraordinary manifestations of divinity—apart from the restoration of the Jews—not being intended for outward effects that could have been the subject of historical writing, but only for such inward effects as spin out their mysterious threads in the depths of human consciousness, and withdraw themselves from outward observation and representation. Notwithstanding what has been remarked, profane history still gives us so far an indirect testimony, that it draws a remarkably grand, and even unique picture of Cyrus. Thus Herodotus relates (III, 89) that the Persians called “Darius a merchant, Cambyses a despot, but Cyrus a parent. Darius seemed to have no other object than the acquisition of gain; Cambyses was negligent and severe; whilst Cyrus was of a mild and gentle temper, ever studious of the good of his subjects.” He further mentions in the account of the taking of Babylon by the cunning of Zopyrus: “With respect to the merit of Zopyrus, in the opinion of Darius, it was exceeded by no Persian of any period, unless by Gyrus; to him, indeed, he thought no one of his countrymen could possibly be compared” (III, 160). Notwithstanding Herodotus speaks so highly of Cyrus, he is still sharply called to account for making it appear that Cyrus was “tutored and corrected” (παιδαγωγεῖσθαι και νουθετεῖσθαι) by Croesus, which latter he had yet previously described as an “uncultivated, boastful, absurd” man, as Cyrus “φρονήσει καὶ ἀρετῇ καὶ μεγαλονοία πολν̀ πάντων δοκεῖ πεπρωτενκέναι τῶν βασιλέων.” Diodor. Siculus (Hist. XIII., p. 342) relates that the Syracusan Nikolaos recommended his countrymen to use gentleness toward the captive Athenians, citing for example the εν̓γνωμοσν́νη of Cyrus, of whom he proceeds to say: “τοιγαροῦν διαδοθείσης εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς ἡμερότητος ἅπαντες οί κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν άλλήλονς φθάνοντες εἰς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως σνμμαχίαν παρεγίνοντο”—Justinus (I., 8) calls Cyrus “admirabiliter insignis.” Ammianus (XXIII., 6) says: “Antiquior Cyrus rex amabilis.” See Vitringa on Isa_42:2; Isa_45:1. But especially it is to be emphasized here, that Xenophon did not write his Cyropaedia in order to present his ethico-political ideals in the form of a romance, choosing Cyrus for the hero, because his historical reality most agrees with those ideals, and needed only a little idealizing embellishment. On the contrary he was astounded by the fact that Cyrus found it so easy to rule over so many nations differing so extraordinarily from one another, easier than any other ruler had ever found it, whereas ruling over men, even a few and those of the same kind, had else been proved to be harder than ruling over beasts. And he notices as an especially important circumstance, that even the most remote nations would willingly and voluntarily have obeyed Cyrus. It was this wonder at such extraordinary facts that determined him to investigate the circumstances of parentage, nature, and education, that made it possible for Cyrus to distinguish himself so as a ruler of men. Such is the occasion and object of his writing, that Xenophon himself gives in the introduction to it. Does not this remarkable fact that Xenophon thus singles out find its proper explanation in the words of our Prophet: “whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him,” Isa_45:1?
3. On Isa_45:1 sqq. Unbelieving Israel is judged by the Lord, and it appears to be given up by the Exile to ruin forever. But the Exile is only momentary, and must itself serve to bring it about that Israel shall lastingly penetrate to the light of true knowledge of God. It shall not only do so itself, but also, as servant of Jehovah, it shall become the means of the heathen receiving this light. But the latter shall chiefly happen by a heathen prince of eminent power and importance being brought to the knowledge of the true God and to the consciousness of having received from Him a grand religious mission. As this prince on the one hand terminates the deepest humiliation of Israel and prepares the way for its being lifted up again, and on the other hand introduces into the heathen world, at least as to principle, the first rays of the true knowledge of salvation, he is a forerunner and type of the Messiah, and stands under quite a peculiar guidance of God, who equips him and makes the way even before him. So far Cyrus is no disconnected, unnecessary and hence incredible miracle, but he is an appearance organically connected with the development of salvation. It was he that was to restore Israel from physical and spiritual estrangement to its centre of salvation, and prepare the heathen for faith in God and his Saviour. For this double purpose the nothingness of idolatry must be made patent and brought to the consciousness of Jew and Gentile. As regards Israel, it is of special importance here for it to see this prince announced beforehand, indeed named beforehand, and to hear from his mouth and that of his predecessor the confession that the idols are nothing, and that Jehovah alone is God. How far the effect on the heathen was real and lasting, we can, of course, not determine, on account of the inwardness of the effect and the want of witnesses concerning it. Yet we will not err if we assume that the later readiness of the heathen to accept the apostolic preaching, indeed the precedence of the heathen world in this respect to the Jews rested on that preparatory influence. It is especially to be noted in this respect that the Magi that came from the East openly inquired in Jerusalem for the stopping place of the new-born King, whose birth they took for granted, whereas in Israel itself this birth appears to have been treated as a secret in the narrow circle of the initiated. Else why had Herod heard nothing of it?
4. On Isa_45:7. “Fanatici homines hanc mali vocem detorquent, acsi Deus mali, i.e, peccati auctor esset. Sed facile apparet, quam praepostere hoc prophetae testimony) abutantur. Antithesis enim id satis explicat, cujus membra inter se referri debemt. Nam opponit pacem malo i.e. aerumnis, bellis, rebusque omnibus adversis. Quod si justitiam malo opponeret, aliquid haberent coloris; verum haec contrarium inter se rerum oppositio aperta est. Ideo vulgaris distinctio non improbanda est, Deum mali esse auctorem, non culpae sed poenae.” Calvin. “Aἰτία τοῦ ἑλομένον Θεὸς δὲ ἀναίτιος Plato. “Is all in the world well-ordered and sure, then not a single thing can be taken away without all collapsing or losing its harmony, just as little as in a well-ordered building. Therefore the Scripture has often declared that misfortune as well as fortune, evil as well as good is under the government of God. ‘I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.’ Says another Prophet: “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?’ Amo_3:6. Comp. also Lam_3:37-38. So, too, in the New Testament the Lord and His disciples declare in the case of the blackest iniquity, that all happens according to the will of God. ‘For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,’ Act_4:27-28.” Tholuck.
5. On Isa_45:8. “Celeber hic locus est in ecclesia Papistarum et illustre argumentum ignorantiae, quod ad beatam virginem eum accomodarunt. Nos autem scimus, agi in hoc capite de promissa liberatione per Cyrum. Hic igitur locus mimeticus est …. Quasi dicant Israelitae: Ecce sumus privati sacerdotio et regno, templo et omni cultu Dei, translati sumus in gentes. Ibi respondent nobis peccata nostra. … Quare O coeli rorate et depluite justitiam, quae nisi desuper in nos effundatur, actum est.” Luther. The Roman Catholic church, on the 18th of December (the Festival of “the expectation of the lying-in of Mary”) celebrates the so-called Rorate-mass, named thus from the introductory words: Rorate Coeli desuper, etc. Comp. Herz. R.-Enc. I. p.134.
6. On Isa_45:11. “The peculiar and greatest gift that parents can bestow on their children is the discipline of the inner man and a bringing up to God’s word. It is written: ‘And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment,’ Gen_18:17-19. So highly did God esteem in His servant Abraham the nurture of his children in piety! Thus parents may deserve heaven or hell merely by the education of their children. And when the apostle says of the woman: ‘Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety’ (1Ti_2:15), he means not merely that she bear, but also, as essentially a part of it, that she educate, if she therefore herself continue in the faith, and thus also may understand how to bring her children up to faith.” Tholuck.
7. [On Isa_45:14. “The idea indicated by this is, that there would be a condition of anxious solicitude among heathen nations on the subject of true religion, and that they would seek counsel and direction from those who were in possession of it. Such a state has already existed to some extent among the heathen; and the Scriptures, I think, lead us to suppose that the final spread and triumph of the gospel will be preceded by such an inquiry prevailing extensively in the heathen world. God will show them the folly of idolatry; He will raise up reformers among themselves; the extension of commercial intercourse will acquaint them with the comparative happiness and prosperity of Christian nations; and the growing consciousness of their own inferiority will lead them to desire that which has conferred so extensive benefits on other lands, and lead them to come as suppliants and ask that teachers and the ministers of religion may be sent to them. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the present time is, that heathen nations are becoming increasingly sensible of their ignorance and comparative degradation; that they welcome the ministers and teachers sent out from Christian lands; the increased commerce of the world is thus preparing the world for the final spread of the Gospel.” Barnes. Some of the most wonderful illustrations of the foregoing remarks have occurred since they were penned, e.g., Japan.—Tr.].
8. On Isa_45:15. “As God the Lord is Himself a hidden God, and said He will dwell in darkness, it has therefore seemed good to Him to hide His children in this world under so much affliction, contumely, contempt, poverty, sickness, simplicity, weakness, sin, etc., that often not only the world, but believers themselves cannot reconcile themselves to it.” Scriver, Seelenschatz, Theil II. 10, Pred.§ 26.
9. On Isa_45:17. “Even the ancient Jews explained this to refer to the Messiah. But what is said here of Israel applies, according to the quality of the New Testament, to the whole human race (Isa_43:24). The grace on Israel shall be everlasting, and as it has been from everlasting, so through the Messiah it shall be continued to everlasting. For the religion of the Messiah leads everything out of time into the blessed eternity. Hence He is called the Rock of Ages (Isa_26:4) that gives to the redeemed everlasting joy (Isa_35:10), an everlasting name that shall not be cut off (Isa_56:5), everlasting glory (Isa_60:15), the ground of which is the everlasting righteousness (Dan_9:24).” Starke.
10. On Isa_45:19. “The heavenly wisdom would have itself proclaimed in clear light, and not in the darkness. Hence Christ also said that what his disciples heard in the ear they should proclaim from the house-top (Mat_10:27). As, on the contrary, all false teachers are sneaks, they do not go straight forward, but cloak their doing and doctrine with a false appearance and sheep-clothing (Mat_7:15).” Cramer.——[“In the language here, there is a remarkable resemblance to what the Saviour said of Himself, and it is not improbable that he had this passage in His mind: ‘I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.’ Joh_18:20.” Barnes.]
11. On Isa_45:22-25. “This text is one of the most important in Isaiah. The person that speaks in it is the Messiah, the Son of God, because He calls Himself in the context (Isa_45:15) the Saviour and attributes to Himself the everlasting redemption (Isa_45:17); because through Him all the ends of the earth shall be blessed (Joh_3:16; Act_4:12); because what is said here in Isa_45:23 of the oath, the Son of God certifies of Himself (Gen_22:16); because in Christ we have righteousness and strength (Isa_45:24; 1Co_1:30); because that every knee shall bow to Him is declared to refer to Christ (Php_2:9 sqq.). Starke.
12. On Isa_45:23. “Concessum est homini christiani jurare. Fundamenta adversus Anabaptistas haec sunt: 1) Mandatum Dei: Deu_6:13; Deuteronomy 2) Exempla a. Jehovae: Gen_22:16; Jer_22:5; Jer_51:14; Amo_6:8; b. Christi: hoc loco itemque, Joh_16:23; c. Angeli: Rev_10:6; d. Sanctorum: Abrahami, Gen_14:22; Davidis, 1Ki_1:13; Pauli, 2Co_1:23. 3) Ratio, quia juramentum est species cultus Dei ut iterum hoc loco et infra cap. Isa_48:1 et quidem talis, qui maxime commendatur (Ps. 63:12).” Foerster.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa_45:1-7. The missionary work of Cyrus a type of our own. 1) The task of Cyrus is also our own. For Cyrus was a. to lead back Israel inwardly to its God, and also to restore outwardly the service of the Lord among the people that returned home. So, too, must we convert Israel inwardly to its Saviour (the testimony of the heathen must provoke Israel to zeal, Rom_11:11), and contribute to the restoration of the true worship of Jehovah (Joh_4:23 sq.) and of the spiritual kingdom of David. Cyrus was to bring also the heathen, East and West, to the knowledge of the true God (Isa_45:6-7). We should do the same by bringing to them the knowledge of the Triune God and of salvation, that is come to all men by the Son becoming man.—2) The promise given to Cyrus in regard to the execution of his task. All opponents will bow before him, all gates open, etc., Isa_45:1-3. So, too, our work, as the cause of God, will conquer in spite of all resistance; the doors of hearts will open, and we shall gain those hearts that are born of God and made susceptible of the truth as precious spoil.
[“Now that which God here promised to do for Cyrus, He could have done for Zerubbabel or some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and power of this world God has seldom seen fit to entrust His own people with much of, so many are the snares and temptations that attend them. But if there has been occasion, for the good of the Church, to make use of them, God has been pleased rather to put them into the hands of others, to be employed for them, than to venture them in their own hands.” M. Henry.]
2. On Isa_45:8. A great favorite in the Roman Catholic Church as an Advent text (on account of their reference of the Rorate to the Virgin Mary), but which has been much and variously used by Protestant preachers. Comp. e.g. the Rorate propheticum of Joh. Fortumannus (in Wernigerode) three Advent sermons on Isa_45:8, Wittenberg, 1625.—The salvation of men depends on heaven and earth continuing in right relation to one another. They must not be separated, but must co-operate. The heaven must incline to the earth, fructifying it; the earth must open up receptively. As fruits of the field are conditioned on the ground being fruitful and well plowed, while the heaven gives rain and sunshine; so the salvation of souls depends on hearts rightly opening themselves to the fructifying influences from above. This thought is especially brought home to us by the Advent. The Lord’s Advent is heavenly dew for a thirsty land. 1) The Lord came once with His holy person as Lamb of God and Second Adam. 2) He comes continually with His Spirit and gifts, a. by the daily bread of His grace in the word and sacrament; b. by the annual bread of the Church’s feasts, especially now of the feast of the Advent, by which He quite especially extends to us the blessing of His personal coming. 3) We only become truly partakers of this blessing if we are “a thirsty land,” i.e. if we hunger and thirst after righteousness. Conclusion: Therefore where heaven above drops down and the clouds rain righteousness, and the earth on the other hand opens itself up, there righteousness grows and salvation will be brought forth.
3. On Isa_45:9-13. In great distress and conflict one is often tempted to strive with his Maker and to say: Ah, why was I born? This is wrong. We ought never, even in the greatest distress, to forget that we have a God that can help and will help. 1) God can help, for a. He made heaven and earth (Isa_45:12); b. He especially made known His power to the people of Israel in their greatest distress by raising up the heathen prince himself, in whose land they were captives, to be their friend and deliverer (Isa_45:13). 2) He will help, for we are His children and the work of His hands (Isa_45:11). Therefore in every distress we ought believingly to let ourselves be pointed to Him.
4. [On Isa_45:15. “1) God hid Himself when He brought them into the trouble, hid Himself and was wroth, Isa_57:17. Note: Though God be His people’s God and Saviour, yet sometimes, when they provoke Him, He hides Himself from them in displeasure, suspends His favors, and lays them under His frowns: but let them wait upon the Lord that hides His face, Isa_8:17. 2) He hid Himself when He was bringing them out of the trouble. Note: When God is acting as Israel’s God and Saviour commonly . His way is in the sea, Psa_77:19. The salvation of the Church is carried on in a mysterious way, by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working on men’s spirits (Zec_4:6), by weak and unlikely instruments, small and accidental occurrences, and not wrought till the last extremity; but this is our comfort, though God hide Himself, we are sure He is the God of Israel, the Saviour. See Job_35:14. M. Henry.]
5. [On Isa_45:18-19. That the Lord we serve and trust in is God alone appears by the two great lights, that of nature and that of revelation. I. By the light of nature: for He made the world, and therefore may justly demand its homage. 1) He formed it. It is not a rude and indigested chaos, but cast into the most proper shape and size by Infinite Wisdom 2) He fixed it, Psa_24:2; Job_26:7. 3) He fitted it for use and for the service of man. He did not create it to be empty. Psa_8:2. It appears by the light of revelation. His oracles far exceed those of Pagan deities, as well as His operations (Isa_45:19). The preference is here placed in three things: All that God has said is plain, satisfactory and just. 1) In the manner of its delivery it is plain and open. Not in mutterings and ambiguities issuing from dens and caverns (Isa_8:19), but like the law was given from the top of Mt. Sinai. Pro_1:20; Pro_8:1-3; Hab_2:2; Joh_18:20. 2) In the use and benefit of it it was highly satisfactory. I said not: Seek ye me in vain. 3) In the matter of it it was incontestably just, consonant to the eternal rules and reasons of good and evil. The heathen deities dictated those things to their worshippers which were the reproach of human nature and extirpated virtue. See Comm. above on Isa_45:19, last clause. Comp. Rom_3:26. After M. Henry.—Tr.]
6. On Isa_45:22-25. Missionary Sermon. “Whither must every missionary anniversary turn our eyes? 1) To the interior of Christendom for proper examination; 2) to the heathen world for urgent warning; 3) to Israel for cheering comfort.” Langbein. [On Isa_45:22. “The invitation proves, 1) That the offers of the gospel are universal; 2) That God is willing to save all, or He would not give the invitation; 3) That there is ample provision for their salvation—since God would not invite them to accept of what was not provided for them. 4) That it is His serious and settled purpose that all the ends of the earth shall be invited to embrace the offers of life (Mar_16:15). And now it appertains to His Church to bear the glad news of salvation around the world, and on it rests the responsibility of seeing this speedily executed.” Barnes.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–5 crooked . . . straight-- (Isa 40:4), rather, "maketh…
crooked . . . straight-- (Isa 40:4), rather, "maketh mountains plain" [LOWTH], that is, clear out of thy way all opposing persons and things. The Keri reads as in Isa 45:13, "make straight" (Margin).
gates of brass-- (Psa 107:16). HERODOTUS (1.179) says, Babylon had a hundred massive gates, twenty-five on each of the four sides of the city, all, as well as their posts, of brass.
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bars of iron--with which the gates were fastened.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5 Sec. 4. (2) THE TIMES OF CYRUS AND MESSIAH.
Sec. 4. (2) THE TIMES OF CYRUS AND MESSIAH.
1. This subdivision of section four presents more in detail the relations of Cyrus to Immanuel.
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To his anointed, to Cyrus — Jehovah’s “anointed” in the typical aspect of kingship and royal command, relating to Israel in particular. For Israel’s sake Cyrus was anointed king. He subdued all nations within and contiguous to Babylon — Medes, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hyrcanians, and the nations of account in Asia Minor.
I will loose the loins of kings — This means, to weaken, as “to gird up” the loins, means to put strength into one.
To open… two leaved gates — By which Cyrus entered the city of Babylon. Herodotus speaks of the gate by the river (Euphrates) having been left accidentally unclosed on the night of the attack. To the same effect says Xenophon. (See HERODOTUS 1:191, and XENOPHON’S Cyrop., vii, Isa_5:10.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Isa_45:1-7. The apostrophe to Cyrus expresses dramatically the purpose…
Isa_45:1-7. The apostrophe to Cyrus expresses dramatically the purpose of Jehovah in raising up the Persian conqueror. The idea that the true God has made a personal revelation of Himself to the mind of Cyrus is not implied; Cyrus is to learn the religious significance of his mission from its results (Isa_45:3), just as mankind at large comes to understand it (Isa_45:6). The direct address to Cyrus (Isa_45:2 ff.) is prefaced in Isa_45:1 by a series of clauses describing his invincible career, which has already attracted the attention of the world. There is a startling resemblance between some of the expressions here used of Jehovah’s choice of Cyrus, and some of those employed by the Babylonian writer of the “Annalistic Tablet” in describing him as the favourite of Merodach. We read there that “Merodach … appointed a prince who should guide aright the wish of the heart which his hand upholds, even Cyrus …” that he “has proclaimed his title; for the sovereignty of all the world does he commemorate his name,” and that he “beheld with joy the deeds of his vicegerent, who was righteous in hand and heart,” and that “like a friend and comrade he went at his side.” (See Introduction, p. xviii.)
to his anointed, to Cyrus] The Hebr. word for “anointed” (mâshîǎḥ), when used as a substantive, is almost confined to the kings of Israel; although in later times there was a tendency to employ it in a wider sense (e.g. of the Patriarchs in Psa_115:15, of the people in Hab_3:13). Unless Psa_2:2 be an exception it is never used in the O.T. of the future ideal king (the Messiah); hence the idea that the rôle of the Messianic king is by the prophet transferred to Cyrus is not to be entertained. The title simply designates him as one consecrated by Jehovah to be His agent and representative. This, however, is the only passage where the title is bestowed upon a foreign ruler; Nebuchadnezzar is called the “servant” of Jehovah (Jer_25:9; Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10), but the more august designation of “His Anointed” is reserved for one who as the Deliverer of Israel and the instrument of the overthrow of polytheism, stands in a still closer relation to Jehovah’s purpose. Comp. “My Shepherd” in ch. Isa_44:28; also ch. Isa_46:11, Isa_48:14.
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to subdue &c.] Render: to subdue before him nations, and to loose the loins of kings; to open before him doors, and that gates should not be shut; the infinitive construction is resolved into the finite verb. To loose (lit. “open”) is to ungird, or disarm; see 1Ki_20:11, where the same verb forms the contrast to “gird.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–5 (1) To his anointed . . .—The name is…
XLV.
(1) To his anointed . . .—The name is none other than the Messiah, the Christ, with which we are familiar, here and here only applied to a heathen king. It has to be remembered that the words had not yet received the special application given to it in Dan_9:26, and had been used of the theocratic kings, of Saul (1Sa_26:9; 1Sa_26:11; 1Sa_26:16), of the house of David (2Sa_22:51; 2Sa_23:1), and of the patriarch Abraham (Psa_105:15). What is meant, therefore, is that Cyrus, the future deliverer, would be as truly a king “by the grace of God” as David had been, not only, like Nebuchadnezzar, “a servant of Jehovah” (Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10), but “fulfilling all his pleasure,” whom He grasps by the right hand and guides.
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I will loose the loins.—Literally, I will ungird, either as a general symbol of weakening, or specifically for disarming, the sword being suspended from the girdle. The “two-leaved gates” are those of kingly palaces; the “gates,” those of cities, which will have to open to him. The words here, and in the next verse, may have been used with a special reference to the “hundred brazen gates” of Babylon (Herod. i. 179).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Vers. 1-7. GOD"S WILL CONCERNING HIM ANNOUNCED TO CYRUS.…
Vers. 1-7. GOD"S WILL CONCERNING HIM ANNOUNCED TO CYRUS. This direct address of God to a heathen king is without a parallel in Scripture. Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Abimelech, were warned through dreams. Nebuchadnezzar was even promised Divine aid. (Eze_30:24, Eze_30:25) But no heathen monarch had previously been personally addressed by God, much less called "his anointed," and spoken to by his name (ver. 4). Three motives are mentioned for this special favour to him:
(1) that he might acknowledge Jehovah to be the true God;
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(2) that Israel might be benefited and advantaged by him;
(3) that the attention of the whole world might be attracted, and the unity of God made manifest far and wide (vers. 3-6).
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed. The "anointed of Jehovah" is elsewhere always either an Israelite king, or the expected Deliverer of the nation, "Messiah the Prince". (Dan_9:25) This Deliverer, however, was to be of the line of David, (Isa_11:1) and of the city of Bethlehem, (Mic_5:2) so that we can scarcely suppose Isaiah to have seen him in Cyrus. But he may have seen in Cyrus a type of the great Deliverer, as he saw in the release of Israel from the power of Babylon a type of their deliverance from sin. Whose right hand I have holden; rather, strengthened. (comp. Eze_30:24) To subdue nations before him. (see above, Isa_41:2, and the comment ad loc.) Among the nations subdued by Cyrus may be mentioned the Medes, the Babylonians, the Lydians, the Caftans, the Caunians, the Lycians, the Bactrians, the Sacae, the Parthians, the Hyrcanians, the Chorasmians, the Sogdians, the Arians of Herat, the Zarangians, the Arachosians, the Satagydians, and the Gandarians. I will loose the loins of kings; i.e. render them weak and incapable of resistance", (comp. Dan_5:6) net "disarm them" (Cheyne); for the chief royal weapons were the spear and the bow, neither of which was carried at the girdle. To open before him the two-leaved gates. The cities and forts represented on the Assyrian monuments have invariably their gateways closed by two large gates or doors which meet in the centre of the gateway. The bronze plating found at Ballarat gave the dimensions, and showed the strength of such gates ("Transactions of the Society of Bibl. Archseol.," vol. 7. pp. 83-88).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-8. Cyrus the anointed of Jehovah.
I THE REASON OF THE DIVINE FAVOR TO CYRUS. Cyrus is the only king out of Israel who bears the title of Jehovah"s anointed. He is solemnly set apart as an instrument to perform an important public service in the cause of Jehovah. It does not necessarily imply the piety of Cyrus. For the purposes of Jehovah he is upheld, "grasped by the right hand," that he may subdue nations before him from the Euxine to Egypt, from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. The girdles of mighty kings will be unloosed before him. See this said of Belshazzar; (Dan_5:6) then were the "two-leaved gates" of Babylon left open, amidst the revelry, and the conqueror broke in unopposed (Herod., 1:191). The treasures of the city are laid open before him.
1. The object was that he might acknowledge Jehovah. "Hehath given me all the kingdoms of the earth". (Ezr_1:2) "Son of Cambyses, Heaven favours you manifestly, or you could not thus have risen superior to fortune" (Herod., 1:124; cf. 205). None but the Omniscient could have known the person and the name of him who was to conquer Babylon and deliver his people
2. The next object was the deliverance of the chosen people. "The fates of the empires and kingdoms of the world are divinely disposed of with a view to the Church." But all the progress and prosperity of true religion are summed up in the knowledge of Jehovah: that he is the sole God; that he is the Creator and the providential Ruler of the world. The alternation of day and night is Jehovah"s ordinance. So also is that of peace and war, success and misfortune, good and evil. This is pure monotheism, opposed alike to pantheism and to dualism. That the world may be converted to true religion is the final and all-comprehensive object.
II SONG OF PRAISE. "The appearance of the shepherd of Jehovah, and the thought of the blessings of which he is to be the medium, inspires the prophet with a joyous strain of psalmody." The form of the expression is borrowed from the Eastern religions, the fertility of the earth being due to the impregnating influence of Heaven. (Psa_85:11 Hos_2:21, Hos_2:22) Righteousness, in the sense of salvation, (Isa_51:5, Isa_51:6, 8 56:1 59:17 61:10, 11 62:1) descends upon the souls of men. And they will break forth into "fruits of righteousness" to the glory of God. Prepared for repentance and the reception of the truth from the Holy Spirit, they will be, even as the earth is, made mellow and adapted for the reception of seed by rain and dew. "A Church smiles under the influence of a revival of religion, and society puts on the aspect of loveliness like the earth after abundant showers. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-5. The unfelt hand on the human heart.
Of this passage the most striking and inviting words are those in the fourth and fifth verses: "I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me;" "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." But while these sentences furnish the theme of consideration, the other part of the passage suggests three particular things in which the prophetic word was fulfilled.
1. The opening of the gates of brass (ver. 1), fulfilled during the capture of Babylon.
2. The discovery of hidden treasure (ver. 3), fulfilled in the taking and sacking of two of the wealthiest cities of antiquity, besides other great acquisitions.
3. The strengthening of Cyrus for the sake of Israel (vers. 1-4), fulfilled in the brilliant successes of the great Persian conqueror, followed by the liberation of the Jews from captivity. But the interesting fact is the presence and action of the Divine hand in the course of this heathen king. Little as Cyrus imagined it, he was under the guardianship and guidance of the Lord of hosts from his earliest childhood to his last successes. The power that snatched him from earliest peril, that made him the wise and capable administrator he became, that planted in him the spirit of humanity and equity, that saved him in a thousand dangers, and gave so triumphant an issue to his various enterprises, this was none other than the power which is Divine. God was girding him, though he knew not the name and the works of Jehovah. On this unenlightened sovereign, from infancy to age, through all the events of a crowded life, a Divine hand was laid; its touch was all unfelt, its secrets undiscovered; but it was there a gentle, constraining force, shaping his career, tracing the lines along which he moved, making him the power among the nations that he was in those ancient times. This known fact does two very useful things for us.
I IT GIVES A PROFOUND INTEREST TO ALL HUMAN HISTORY. There is too much in the affairs of men to justify the sarcasm about the "battle of kites and crows;" there is something pitifully small in the contests which proceed in "high places" for honours, titles, and emoluments. In one view the struggles of men are small enough to excite our pity, if not our disregard. But introduce the element of the Divine! Then all is changed. And should we not introduce that element? If God"s unfelt hand was on one heathen king, why not on another? why not on all the others? If, all unknown, he was upsetting and upraising kingdoms in one clime and age, why not in other climes and in other ages? In this view "profane" history becomes "sacred;" for in it we have a record of God"s doings in the world. When we read the account of the overthrow of Assyria, of Persia, of Greece, of Rome, of Spain; when we read the careers of Alexander, of Caesar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon, of Cromwell, of Washington, in the light of the truth which lies in the text, human history is very much more than the story of a "battle between kites and crows;" it is more than the account of human passions in stern conflict, of human ambition working itself up and burning itself out. It is Divine procedure; it is God"s outworking and overruling; it is the hand of God laid on the arm of man, unfelt, unrecognized, but directing and controlling, working to wise and righteous issues. In the great events which are the landmarks of history, and in the careers of illustrious men, God is "within the shadow," girding men though they know him not the mightiest factor by far in all worlds, and even in this, where he is so little known, so much forgotten.
II IT LENDS GREAT IMPORTANCE TO EVERY HUMAN LIFE. Men may imagine that there is nothing sacred about their individual life; that they have very little to do with God and he with them; that God stands in no closer relation to them than that of the Author of the laws by which they are governed, and the ultimate source of the blessings which they receive. But they are wrong. God is much more to them than this. He is the Father of their spirits; he is "the Saviour of their souls; he is seeking their welfare; is following them out, in his thought and affection, to the "far country" of sin; is inviting and promoting their return; is touching them in many ways and at many points, "girding them, though they know him not." The meaning of all sacred privilege and of all parental discipline is that God is laying his hand upon us, and is saying to us, "Return unto me;" "Come unto me. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Thus saith the Lord to His anointed
Isa_45:1-6
Thus saith the Lord to His anointed
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Cyrus
The name of Cyrus is written Kuras in Babylonian cuneiform, Kurush in Old Persian.
Ctesias stated on the authority of Parysatis, the wife of the Persian king Ochus, that her younger son was named Cyrus from the sun, as the Persians called the sun Kupos (Epit. Phot. 80; Plut. Artax. 1)
. In Zend, however, the sun is hware, which could not take the form Kupos in Old Persian, though in modern Persian it is khur, khir, and kher. The classical writers have given extraordinary accounts of his birth and rise to power All these versions have been shown to be unhistorical by contemporaneous cuneiform inscriptions. The most important of these are
(1) a cylinder inscription of Nabonidus, the last king of the Babylonian Empire, from Abu Habba (Sippara);
(2) an annalistic tablet written shortly after the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus;
(3) a proclamation of Cyrus of the same date . . . The proclamation of Cyrus shows that he was not a Zoroastrian like Darius and Xerxes, but that as he claimed to be the successor of the Babylonian kings, so also he acknowledged the supremacy of Bel-Merodaeh the supreme Babylonian god. Hence the restoration of the Jewish exiles was not due to any sympathy with monotheism, but was part of a general policy. Experience had taught him the danger of allowing a disaffected population to exist in a country which might be invaded by an enemy; his own conquest of Babylonia had been assisted by the revolt of a part of its population; and he therefore reversed the policy of deportation and denationalisation which had been attempted by the Assyrian and Baby-Ionian kings. The exiles and the images of their gods were sent back to their old homes; only in the case of the Jews, who had no images, it was the sacred vessels of the temple which were restored. (Prof. A. H. Sayce, LL. D.)
Cyrus: his character
To Greek literature Cyrus was the prince pre-eminent,--set forth as the model for education in childhood, self-restraint in youth, just and powerful government in manhood. Most of what we read of him in Xenophons Cyclopaedia is, of course, romance; but the very fact that, like our own king Arthur, Cyrus was used as a mirror to flash great ideals down the ages, proves that there was with him native brilliance and width of surface as well as fortunate eminence of position. He owed much to the virtue of his race. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Cyrus, Gods tool
Cyrus is neither chosen for his character, nor said [in the Isaiah passages] to be endowed with one. But that he is there, and that he does so much, is due simply to this, that God had chosen him. What he is endowed with is force, push, swiftness, irresistibleness. He is, in short, not a character, but a tool; and God makes no apology for using him but this, that he has the qualities of a tool. Now, we cannot help being struck with the contrast of all this, the Hebrew view of Cyrus, with the well-known Greek view of him. To the Greeks he is first and foremost a character. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The victories of Cyrus
We have vividly described to us the victories of Cyrus; in his whirlwind career, subduing the nations before him, loosing the loins of kings (that whole troop of vassal empires enumerated by Xenophon), and opening before him the hundred brazen gates of Babylon (also minutely described by Herodotus, as guarding alike the approaches to the river and the temple of Belus), and cutting in sunder the bars of iron. The spoil amassed on that occasion was probably unexampled in the annals of war; for besides the enormous wealth of palatial Babylon itself, it included the fabulous riches of Croesus, king of Lydia, who brought waggon-load after waggon-load to lay at the feet of the conqueror. The aggregate was computed to be equivalent to upwards of a hundred and twenty-six millions of our money. Well, therefore, might the prophet here chronicle, among the predestined exploits of this mighty prince (Isa_45:3), the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)
Loosing the loins of kings
The monarchs of eastern nations were accustomed to wear girdles about their loins, which were considered as giving strength and firmness to their bodies; and, being richly decorated, served as badges of royal dignity. When, therefore, God declares that He would deprive them of their girdles and loose their loins, the expression imports that He would divest them of their power and majesty, and reduce them to a mean and contemptible condition. (R. Macculloch.)
Special Divine instrumentalities in the worlds renovation
1. For the enlargement of His Church, God often selects special instruments. In setting into motion a whole system of agencies this is almost uniformly the case. We recognise the fact all along the history of the Church. We see men raised up with peculiar gifts and clothed with peculiar powers to effect certain great works. The text gives us a remarkable illustration of this method of Divine procedure. In the bosom of the Church itself there are two still more remarkable examples of this law; the two men who bore the largest part in the inauguration and establishment of the chief dispensations. Moses and Paul were not indifferent characters; nor were their training and position like that of the multitude. They stand out boldly in history as men of peculiar natural gifts and attainments. Their early discipline exalted their intrinsic power; while their relation to the people among whom their work was to be performed, and to the science of the age in which they lived, imparted special qualifications for their great mission, it is not that the human is thus exalted above the Divine, but simply that the Divine uses that kind and measure of humanity which are best fitted to accomplish its purposes.
2. It is just as certain that the great Sovereign chooses particular nations to effect certain parts of His work in the final triumph of the Gospel, as that He chooses certain individuals for some special operation This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth My praise. His sovereignty reaches back of the immediate work. It chooses according to the character of the nation; it reaches to the antecedent training and the natural characteristics which combine to prepare the nation most fully for the work; nay, this sovereignty in its far-reaching wisdom has been busy all along the history of the people in so ordering the moulding influences under which characters and position are attained, that when the time comes for them to enter into His special work, they will be found all ripe for His purpose. This nation, to whom the passage before us refers, is a marked illustration of this thought. The Jew was designed to be the conservator of the Word of God. He was chosen for this purpose. The object was not propagation, but conservation. The race by nature and education had just those qualities which fitted it for this work. Its wonderful tenacity of impression, its power to hold what once had fairly been forced into it by Divine energy, like the rock hardened around the crystal, belongs to its nature, reveals itself after Providence had shattered the nation, in that granite character which, under the fire of eighteen centuries, remains unchanged. At every step of the progress of Christianity since, illustrations multiply of the truth that God forms nations to His work, and chooses them because of their fitness to accomplish certain parts of that work. The Greek with his high mental culture and his glorious language--fit instrument through which the Divine Word breathed His life-giving truth; the Roman sceptred in power over the whole realm of civilisation, and undesignedly constructing the great highway for the Church of Jesus; the German, with his innate freedom of spirit, nourishing the thoughtful souls whose lofty utterances awoke, whose wondrous power disenthralled a sleeping and captive Church. (S. W. Fisher, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv2, 5 Isa_45:2. I will go before thee, and make the…
CROOKED PLACES MADE STRAIGHT
Isa_45:2. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight.
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Man must go; the only question is—How? He may go, either with God, or without Him; God does not force Himself upon us. Whether we go with God, or without Him, we shall find crooked places. But having taken God as our leader, we have come to know what is the meaning of having these crooked places made straight for us. Straightness may be in apparent crookedness; amid all the curvature and intricacy, Christians have been brought through upon a course, that for all high purposes—filial education, spiritual culture, and strength—has been practically and really straight. A child might go to the geographer, and say, “What nonsense you talk about the earth being round! Look on this great crag; look on that deep dell; look on yonder great mountain, and the valley at its feet; and yet you talk about the earth being round!” The geographer’s view is comprehensive; he sees a larger world than the child has had time to grasp. We should regard the text—
I. AS A WARNING. There are crooked places. One could wish that we could make one’s own the experience of those that have gone before; but each man must run his own course.
1. There are crooked dispositions,—men of whom you can make nothing. Let the young, especially, be forewarned, and so forearmed. There are those to be met with in life, who, when you think you are walking in the line of their sympathies, will turn perversely upon you; men who, in the midst of your strenuous efforts to serve them, will be as unthankful and ungracious as the rock or the sand that is unblest by all the rich rains of Heaven.
2. There are crooked places in circumstances.
When we think we are proceeding most satisfactorily, we sometimes come to knots and difficulties of which we can make nothing.
3. Crooked places are found in the uncertainties of life. No man can certainly say what will transpire during the next hour; and so, again and again, to our disappointment and mortification, we are compelled to withdraw from our methods, and to abandon that on which we had set our heart.
II. AS A PROMISE. “I will go before thee.” This was a Divine promise made to Cyrus; and God has made the same promise to all who put their trust in Him. It is surely something to have a Father’s promise singing in the heart. Many know the inspiration even of a human promise. We need the triumphant faith that says definitely to God, “Thou didst promise this, and we wait for its fulfilment.” We need patience, too; patience that comes of faith, that God may, so to speak, have time to fulfil His promise. God does not say when He will straighten our path; nor how. He who waits for God is not misspending his time; such tarrying is the truest speed. If we could believe that, how calm, how quiet, how strong, how sublime would be our life!
III. AS A PLAN. We should regard the text as a scheme—a method, a special way of doing things; “I will go before thee.” The word before shows the plan; and it also expresses the difficulty on the human side. God does not say, “I will go alongside thee;” nor, “I will go behind thee;” but before thee. Sometimes, it may be, so far before, that we cannot see Him. There is sovereignty here; but there is love and tenderness too, as when the mother goes before her child that is just learning to walk. The idea of God going before every man, as if he were the only man in the world, does not dwarf God, but rather exalts Him exceedingly. “My Father and your Father,” said Christ, “my God and your God.”
CONCLUSION.—Let us beware of regarding the truth of the text as a mere matter of course. There is an essential question of character to be considered: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord;” “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
2. Let us beware of regarding this text as a license for carelessness. “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” is the expression of every man who knows what it is to have God going before him.—Joseph Parker, D.D., The City Temple, pp. 4–12.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Man must go. Each man is accomplishing a…
Isa 45:2
I. Man must go. Each man is accomplishing a journey, going through a process. The only question is—How? Man may go, either with God or without Him. Whether we go with God or without Him, we shall find crooked places; we had better clearly understand this, lest any one should turn round after he has walked the first mile of Christian life, and say he expected there would have been no such places in all the course. Life is crooked; we ourselves are crooked; there is nothing in all human experience of which we can certainly say, This is perfectly straight. God Himself often inserts a crook in the lot. We should regard the text as a warning. There are crooked places.
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II. The text is also a promise. "I will go before thee." God does not say where He will straighten our path; He does not say how; the great thing for us to believe is that there is a special promise for us, and to wait in devout hope for its fulfilment. He who waits for God is not misspending his time. Such waiting is true living—such tarrying is the truest speed.
III. The text is not only a warning and a promise, but also a plan. It is in the word before that I find the plan, and it is in that word before that I find the difficulty on the human side. God does not say, I will go alongside thee; we shall go step by step: He says, I will go before thee. Sometimes it may be a long way before us, so that we cannot see Him; and sometimes it may be just in front of us. But whether beyond, far away, or here close at hand, the great idea we have to live upon is that God goes before us. (1) Let us beware of regarding the text as a mere matter of course. There is an essential question of character to be settled. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." (2) Let us beware of regarding this text as a licence for carelessness. Let us not say, "If God goes before me, and makes all places straight, why need I care?" To the good man all life is holy; there is no step of indifference; no subject that does not bring out his best desires. "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground" is the expression 6f every man who knows what it is to have God going before him.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 4.
References: Isa 45:2.—Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., p. 166; Preacher’s Lantern, vol. ii., p. 381.
Isa 45:5
God has a definite life-plan for every human person, girding him, visibly or invisibly, for some exact thing, which it will be the true significance and glory of his life to have accomplished. What a thought is this for every human soul to cherish! What dignity does it add to life! What instigations does it add to send us onward in everything that constitutes our excellence! We live in the Divine thought. We fill a place in the great everlasting plan of God’s intelligence. We never sink below His care, never drop out of His counsel. But the inquiry will be made, supposing this to be true, how can we ever get hold of this life-plan God has made for us, or find our way into it?
I. Observe, first, some negatives that are important, and must be avoided. They are these: (1) You will never come into God’s plan if you study singularity; for if God has a design and plan for every man’s life, then it is exactly appropriate to his nature; and as every man’s nature is singular and peculiar to himself—as peculiar as his face or look—then it follows that God will lead every man into a singular, original, and peculiar life, without any study or singularity on his part. (2) As little must we seek to copy the life of another. No man is ever called to be another. God has as many plans for men as He has men; and therefore He never requires them to measure their life exactly by any other life. (3) We are never to complain of our birth, our training, our employments, our hardships; never to fancy that we could be something, if only we had a different lot and sphere assigned us. God understands His own plan, and He knows what we want a great deal better than we do. (4) Another mistake to be carefully avoided is, that while we surrender and renounce all thought of making up a plan, or choosing out a plan, for ourselves, we do not also give up the hope or expectation that God will set us in any scheme of life, where the whole course of it will be known or set down beforehand. No contract will be made with Him, save that He engages, if you trust Him, to lead you into the best things all the way through.
II. More positive directions for coming into the plan God lays for us may be found (1) in God’s character; (2) in our conscience; (3) in God’s law and His written word.
H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 7.
References: Isa 45:5.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 204. Isa 45:7.—W. Page, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 6; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 183. Isa 45:7-13.—C. Short, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 4.
Isa 45:15
We have to consider the truth that God’s hiding of Himself is in order that He may be better known, and that His great end in all is that all the ends of the earth may look to Him and be saved.
I. This is true of the material universe. Matter in its dullness and insensibility hides God. Its crassness and opacity keeps the thought of God out of our minds. We lose God in the multitudinousness of the forms He presents to us. We are delighted with the picture, and never rise beyond. In the vastness of nature we often seem to lose ourselves rather than to find God. And yet this matter, so often felt as a concealing of God, is truly a revealing, a manifestation, of qualities in God which otherwise would have been hidden from us. How could God’s almighty power have been made plain to us except through matter? Space and bulk and force illustrate power, and illustrate it the more clearly in proportion to the denseness, dullness, crassness of the material acted upon. The variety which may seem to hide God reveals the inexhaustibleness of His resources. Minuteness reveals the greatness of His care.
II. It is true of law, which is found everywhere in the material universe, that while it seems to hide God, it yet manifests Him in a higher way. The existence of law does not really hide God. On the contrary, it reveals Him in a grand and elevating way. What lessons it teaches of the Divine love for order, of the unity of God’s mind, and His unchangeableness! What an impression it gives of the entire absence of caprice in His nature, and His absolute reliableness! How grandly it shows the subordination of all things, even the minutest, to one vast purpose! What a glory this universal supremacy of law casts over the moral law! And how gloriously it illustrates and harmonises with the Cross of Christ, which is the great vindication and triumph of law!
III. It is true of the means and agents employed by God that in them He hides Himself, yet reveals Himself in a higher way. God hides Himself behind truth and behind man. Yet what a revealing there is of God in this hiding of Himself, in thus keeping Himself out of sight, that truth may have free play, that souls may be trained and disciplined to the utmost, that men may be put to the highest possible use, and may be great and hallowed to each other!
IV. God hides Himself behind delay and disaster, and yet reveals Himself through these in a higher way.
J. Leckie, Sermons Preached at Ibrox, p. 94.
References: Isa 45:15.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 75. Isa 45:18-25.—C. Short, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 120. Isa 45:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 508; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 236.
Isa 45:21
I. "A just God and a Saviour." The grand truth is manifestly this—that there is in God an everlasting harmony between the just and the merciful. He is just, not in opposition to salvation, but because He is a Saviour. He is a Saviour, not in opposition to justice, but because He is justice seeking to save. Let us ask, What is God’s justice, and what His salvation? (1) God’s justice is not merely the infliction of penalty; God’s salvation is not merely deliverance from penalty. Justice in God is something far grander than the mere exercise of retribution; it is the love of eternal truth, purity, righteousness; and the penalties of untruth, impurity, unrighteousness, are the outflashings of that holy anger which is founded in His love of the right, the pure, and the true. God’s salvation is a deliverance from penalty; it is a salvation from the miseries of sin, and the agonies inflicted on the soul by the remorse of conscience. But it is also the deliverance from evil,—salvation from the cruel lusts of wrong; from the bondage of unholy passions growing into the giant life of eternity; from the deep degradation and horrible selfishness of sin. (2) The law, the revelation of justice, came to lead men to God the Saviour. To save men from evil two things are requisite: (i) the sense of immortality; (ii) the sense of sin as a power in life. These the law awakens. (3) Christ, the revelation of God the Saviour, came to glorify God the Just.
II. We infer two lessons from this great truth. (1) The necessity of Christian endeavour. (2) The ground of Christian trust.
E. L. Hull, Sermons, 1st series, p. 131.
References: Isa 45:22.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 234; Ibid., Sermons, vol. ii., No. 60; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 277; J. A. Spurgeon, Penny Pulpit, No. 351; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 40; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 116; M. G. Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., No. 372. Isa 46:4.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 237; Ibid., Sermons, vol. ii., No. 81.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Meaning of the Conquests of Cyrus
The Meaning of the Conquests of Cyrus
1-13. The conquests of Cyrus are ordained by Jehovah for His purposes. Let not Israel Criticise the manner of its deliverance.
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14-17. Great honour awaits Israel.
18-25. All the world shall recognise Jehovah's righteousness and power.
1. His anointed] as being consecrated to carry out the purposes of Jehovah, i.e. to release Israel from Babylon. This is the only place where a non-Israelite king is so entitled. Somewhat similarly Nebuchadnezzar is called Jehovah's servant (Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10).
Whose right hand I have holden] cp. Isa_41:13.
Loose the loins] lit. 'ungird,' i.e. disarm.
The two leaved gates] i.e. of the cities which Cyrus attacks.
2. Crooked.. straight] RV 'rugged.. plain.'
3. Treasures] referring primarily to the vast wealth of Babylon: cp. Jer_51:13. Cyrus also captured Sardis with the riches of Crœsus (Herod. I, 84).
4. Surnamed] i.e. given an honourable title, referring to 'Anointed' (Isa_45:1), or to 'shepherd' (Isa_44:28).
5. Though thou hast] better, 'when thou didst not know me,' i.e. before thy birth: cp. Isa_49:1. Or it may mean, before thou didst acknowledge me: cp. Ezr_1:1, Ezr_1:2.
7. Evil] not moral evil, but misfortune or calamity, the opposite of peace.
8. Righteousness] i.e. fidelity to promises: so also Isa_45:13.
9f. A possible objection is now met from Israelites dissatisfied, either with the nationality of the deliverer (a Gentile instead of a prince of the House of David), or with the tardy approach of the deliverance. Let.. potsherd] RV 'a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth!'
11. Ask, etc.] Read as interrogative, 'Will ye ask.. will ye command me?'
13. Him] i.e. Cyrus. Will Israel venture to dictate to Jehovah what He shall ordain for His people?
14. The nations shall come to acknowledge the God of Israel.
15. An exclamation of wonder on the prophet's part at the unsearchable ways of God. Some have understood the words as an expression of the wondering adoration of the nations. Hidest] refers to the period of the exile, when Jehovah seemed not to hear the prayers of His people nor to help them.
19. Not.. in secret] Jehovah had plainly foretold the future, so that men might compare the prophecy with the event. I said not.. Seek ye me in vain] Israel's hopes will not be disappointed.
21. A challenge to the idolaters, Jehovah is the only God who can fulfil His prophecies; therefore shall all the nations acknowledge Him (Isa_45:22-23).
23. The religion of Israel is to become the religion of the whole world. This anticipation finds its fulfilment in the Christian dispensation, and thus St. Paul applies the latter part of the v. to Christ in Php_2:10, Php_2:11.
24. Read, 'Only in the Lord, shall one say unto me, is righteousness and strength.'
25. Be justified] lit. 'be righteous.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 The only instance where the word is applied to…
anointed
The only instance where the word is applied to a Gentile. Nebuchadnezzar is called the "servant" of Jehovah Jer 25:9; Jer 27:6; Jer 43:10 This, with the designation "My shepherd" Isa 44:28 also a Messianic title, marks Cyrus as that startling exception, a Gentile type of Christ. The points are:
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(1) both are irresistible conquerors of Israel’s enemies. Isa 45:1; Rev 19:19-21
(2) both are restorers of the holy city Isa 44:28; Zec 14:1-11
(3) through both is the name of the one true God glorified Isa 45:6; 1Co 15:28.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The Word of Jehovah to Cyrus, to Israel and…
CHAPTER 45
The Word of Jehovah to Cyrus, to Israel and to the Ends of the Earth
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1. Thus saith Jehovah to Cyrus (Isa 45:1-13) 2. Thus saith Jehovah: Israel shall be saved (Isa 45:14-17) 3. Thus saith Jehovah to the ends of the earth: Every knee to bow (Isa 45:18-25) Cyrus is called in this chapter God’s anointed (Messiah). Jehovah called him by name, but it was for the sake of Israel. But it is well to bear in mind that Cyrus, God’s instrument, called and prepared to make the restoration of a remnant possible, is likewise a type of Christ, through whom alone the promises of God to the nation can be accomplished.
Note the statements “Israel shall be saved in Jehovah with an everlasting salvation” (Isa 45:17). “All the ends of the earth will be saved” (Isa 45:22). Then idolatry will be rebuked (Isa 49:9-20). But notice the order. First Israel must know salvation and as a result the ends of the earth will look and be saved. The most precious gospel truths found here are well known.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Deliverance by Cyrus a Proof of Jehovah’s Power
The Deliverance by Cyrus a Proof of Jehovah’s Power
v. 1. Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, the king set apart by the Lord’s providence, for His special purpose, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to sustain and strengthen him in the work of his calling, to subdue nations before him, Cyrus being victorious by Jehovah’s strength; and I will loose the loins of kings, taking off the girdle which enabled them to go forth into battle, the Lord’s action thus rendering them defenseless, to open before him the two-leaved gates, those of all cities against which he would make war; and the gates shall not be shut, no city daring to withstand him:
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v. 2. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight, removing all obstructions and hindrances; I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron, as those of the city of Babylon, for the city was taken in spite of its strong defenses;
v. 3. and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, those kept in subterranean vaults, and hidden riches of secret places, where they were stored for safe-keeping, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, namely, to enter His service, am the God of Israel, in whose interest Cyrus was chiefly to be active.
v. 4. For Jacob My servant’s sake and Israel, Mine elect, for the purpose of delivering His people, I have even called thee by thy name, for this special work; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me, Long before there was any idea of saving knowledge in the heart of Cyrus, if, indeed, it may be assumed that he was at least temporarily a believer.
v. 5. I am the Lord, and there is none else, Jehovah’s absolute deity being stressed once more; there is no (other true) God beside Me. I girded thee, giving him strength for battle and victory, though thou hast not known Me;
v. 6. that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the West, throughout the habitable world, that there is none beside Me, the very heathen realizing, with a sort of instinctive feeling, that God himself was directing the campaigns of Cyrus. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
v. 7. I form the light, he made it at the beginning of the world, and create darkness, by withdrawing light, which is His creation; I make peace and create evil, both good fortune and misfortune being sent by Him; I, the Lord, do all these things. The Lord Himself has ever guided the events of the world’s history in order to carry out the plans of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4 whose right hand I hold
whose right hand I hold
Yahweh helping Cyrus and causing him to be successful is spoken of as if he were holding his right hand. (See: Metaphor)
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translationWords
Yahweh
anoint
Cyrus
right hand
nation
king
gate
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4 45:1 anointed one: This designation, commonly reserved for David…
45:1 anointed one: This designation, commonly reserved for David or the Messiah, is here applied to Cyrus. Cyrus was anointed in the sense that he was selected to fulfill a special mission. This title was never used of any other foreign ruler (cp. 1 Sam 10:1; Rom 13:1). • whose right hand he will empower: The Lord would give Cyrus victory over Babylon (see Isa 43:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.