1Höret dieses, Haus Jakob! Die ihr mit dem Namen Israel genannt und aus den Wassern Judas hervorgegangen seid, die ihr schwöret bei dem Namen Jehovas und des Gottes Israels rühmend gedenket, doch nicht in Wahrheit und nicht in Gerechtigkeit; 2denn nach der heiligen Stadt nennen sie sich, und sie stützen sich auf den Gott Israels, Jehova der Heerscharen ist sein Name: 3Ich habe das Frühere vorlängst verkündet, und aus meinem Munde ist es hervorgegangen, und ich habe es hören lassen; plötzlich vollführte ich es, und es traf ein. 4Weil ich wußte, daß du hart bist, und daß dein Nacken eine eiserne Sehne und deine Stirn von Erz ist, 5so habe ich es vorlängst dir verkündet, ehe es eintraf, habe ich es dich hören lassen; damit du nicht sagen möchtest: Mein Götze hat es getan, und mein geschnitztes und mein gegossenes Bild hat es geboten. 6Du hast es gehört, betrachte es alles; und ihr, wollt ihr es nicht bekennen? Von nun an lasse ich dich Neues hören und Verborgengehaltenes und was du nicht gewußt hast. 7Jetzt ist es geschaffen und nicht vorlängst, und vor diesem Tage hast du nicht davon gehört; damit du nicht sagen möchtest: Siehe, ich habe es gewußt. 8Du hast es weder gehört noch gewußt, noch war von längsther dein Ohr geöffnet; denn ich wußte, daß du gar treulos bist, und daß man dich von Mutterleibe an einen Übertreter genannt hat. 9Um meines Namens willen verziehe ich meinen Zorn, und um meines Ruhmes willen bezwinge ich ihn, dir zu gut, um dich nicht auszurotten. 10Siehe, ich habe dich geläutert, doch nicht wie Silber; ich habe dich geprüft im Schmelzofen des Elends. 11Um meinetwillen, um meinetwillen will ich es tun; denn wie würde mein Name entweiht werden! und meine Ehre gebe ich keinem anderen. 12Höre auf mich, Jakob, und Israel, mein Berufener! Ich bin, der da ist, ich der Erste, ich auch der Letzte. 13Auch hat meine Hand die Erde gegründet, und meine Rechte die Himmel ausgespannt; ich rufe ihnen zu: allesamt stehen sie da. 14Versammelt euch, ihr alle, und höret! Wer unter ihnen hat dieses verkündet? Den Jehova liebt, der wird sein Wohlgefallen vollführen an Babel und seinen Arm an den Chaldäern. 15Ich, ich habe geredet, ja, ich habe ihn gerufen; ich habe ihn kommen lassen, und sein Weg wird gelingen. 16Nahet euch zu mir, höret dieses! Ich habe vom Anfang an nicht im Verborgenen geredet; von der Zeit an, da es ward, bin ich da. - Und nun hat der Herr, Jehova, mich gesandt und sein Geist. - 17So spricht Jehova, dein Erlöser, der Heilige Israels: Ich bin Jehova, dein Gott, der dich lehrt, zu tun, was dir frommt, der dich leitet auf dem Wege, den du gehen sollst. 18O daß du gemerkt hättest auf meine Gebote! dann würde dein Friede gewesen sein wie ein Strom, und deine Gerechtigkeit wie des Meeres Wogen; 19und dein Same würde gewesen sein wie der Sand, und die Sprößlinge deines Leibes wie seine Körner; sein Name würde nicht ausgerottet und nicht vertilgt werden vor meinem Angesicht. 20Ziehet aus Babel, fliehet aus Chaldäa mit Jubelschall; verkündiget, laßt dieses hören, bringet es aus bis an das Ende der Erde! Sprechet: Jehova hat seinen Knecht Jakob erlöst. 21Und sie dürsteten nicht, als er sie durch die Wüste führte; er ließ ihnen Wasser rieseln aus dem Felsen, er spaltete den Felsen, und Wasser flossen heraus. - 22Kein Friede den Gesetzlosen! spricht Jehova. -
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE THINGS THAT BEFALL BABYLON JEHOVAH PREDICTED LONG BEFORE, LEST ISRAEL SHOULD ATTRIBUTE THEM, IN ITS "OBSTINATE" PERVERSITY, TO STRANGE GODS (
Isa 48:1-
Isa 48:5). (Isa. 48:1-22)
the waters of Judah--spring from the fountain of Judah (
Num 24:7;
Deut 33:28;
Ps 68:26; Margin). Judah has the "fountain" attributed to it, because it survived the ten tribes, and from it Messiah was to spring.
swear by . . . Lord-- (
Isa 19:18;
Isa 45:23;
Isa 65:16).
mention--in prayers and praises.
not in truth-- (
Jer 5:2;
John 4:24).
2 For--Ye deserve these reproofs; "for" ye call yourselves citizens of "the holy city" (
Isa 52:1), but not in truth (
Isa 48:1;
Neh 11:1;
Dan 9:24); so the inscription on their coins of the time of the Maccabees. "Jerusalem the Holy."
3 former--things which have happened in time past to Israel (
Isa 42:9;
Isa 44:7-
Isa 44:8;
Isa 45:21;
Isa 46:10).
suddenly--They came to pass so unexpectedly that the prophecy could not have resulted from mere human sagacity.
4 obstinate--Hebrew, "hard" (
Deut 9:27;
Ezek 3:7, Margin).
iron sinew--inflexible (
Acts 7:51).
brow brass--shameless as a harlot (see
Jer 6:28;
Jer 3:3;
Ezek 3:7, Margin).
5 (See on
Isa 48:1;
Isa 48:3).
6 Thou, &c.--So "ye are my witnesses" (
Isa 43:10). Thou canst testify the prediction was uttered long before the fulfilment: "see all this," namely, that the event answers to the prophecy.
declare--make the fact known as a proof that Jehovah alone is God (
Isa 44:8).
new things--namely, the deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus, new in contradistinction from former predictions that had been fulfilled (
Isa 42:9;
Isa 43:19). Antitypically, the prophecy has in view the "new things" of the gospel treasury (
Song 7:13;
Matt 13:52;
2Cor 5:17;
Rev 21:5). From this point forward, the prophecies as to Messiah's first and second advents and the restoration of Israel, have a new circumstantial distinctness, such as did not characterize the previous ones, even of Isaiah. Babylon, in this view, answers to the mystical Babylon of Revelation.
hidden--which could not have been guessed by political sagacity (
Dan 2:22,
Dan 2:29;
1Cor 2:9-10).
7 Not like natural results from existing causes, the events when they took place were like acts of creative power, such as had never before been "from the beginning."
even before the day when--rather [MAURER], "And before the day (of their occurrence) thou hast not heard of them"; that is, by any human acuteness; they are only heard of by the present inspired announcement.
8 heardest not--repeated, as also "knewest not," from
Isa 48:7.
from that time--Mine anger towards thee. Omit "that." "Yea, from "the first thine ear did not open itself," namely, to obey them [ROSENMULLER]. "To open the ear" denotes obedient attention (
Isa 50:5); or, "was not opened" to receive them; that is, they were not declared by Me to thee previously, since, if thou hadst been informed of them, such is thy perversity, thou couldst not have been kept in check [MAURER]. In the former view, the sense of the words following is, "For I knew that, if I had not foretold the destruction of Babylon so plainly that there could be no perverting of it, thou wouldst have perversely ascribed it to idols, or something else than to Me" (
Isa 48:5). Thus they would have relapsed into idolatry, to cure them of which the Babylonian captivity was sent: so they had done (
Exod 32:4). After the return, and ever since, they have utterly forsaken idols.
wast called--as thine appropriate appellation (
Isa 9:6).
from the womb--from the beginning of Israel's national existence (
Isa 44:2).
9 refrain--literally, "muzzle"; His wrath, after the return, was to be restrained a while, and then, because of their sins, let loose again (
Ps 78:38).
for thee--that is, that--omit "that": "From thee."
10 (See on
Isa 1:25).
with silver--rather, "for silver." I sought by affliction to purify thee, but thou wast not as silver obtained by melting, but as dross [GESENIUS]. Thy repentance is not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. ROSENMULLER explains, "not as silver," not with the intense heat needed to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), that is, not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better (
Isa 1:25;
Isa 42:25;
Ezek 22:18-
Ezek 22:20,
Ezek 22:22).
chosen--or else [LOWTH], tried . . . proved: according to GESENIUS, literally, "to rub with the touchstone," or to cut in pieces so as to examine (
Zech 13:9;
Mal 3:3;
1Pet 1:7).
11 how should my name--MAURER, instead of "My name" from
Isa 48:9, supplies "My glory" from the next clause; and translates, "How (shamefully) My glory has been profaned!" In English Version the sense is, "I will refrain (
Isa 48:9, that is, not utterly destroy thee), for why should I permit My name to be polluted, which it would be, if the Lord utterly destroyed His elect people" (
Ezek 20:9)?
not give my glory unto another--If God forsook His people for ever, the heathen would attribute their triumph over Israel to their idols; so God's glory would be given to another.
12 The Almighty, who has founded heaven and earth, can, and will, restore His people.
the first . . . last-- (
Isa 41:4;
Isa 44:6).
13 spanned--measured out (
Isa 40:12).
when I call . . . stand up together-- (
Isa 40:26;
Jer 33:25). But it is not their creation so much which is meant, as that, like ministers of God, the heavens and the earth are prepared at His command to execute His decrees (
Ps 119:91) [ROSENMULLER].
14 among them--among the gods and astrologers of the Chaldees (
Isa 41:22;
Isa 43:9;
Isa 44:7).
Lord . . . loved him; he will, &c.--that is, "He whom the Lord hath loved will do," &c. [LOWTH]; namely, Cyrus (
Isa 44:28;
Isa 45:1,
Isa 45:13;
Isa 46:11). However, Jehovah's language of love is too strong to apply to Cyrus, except as type of Messiah, to whom alone it fully applies (
Rev 5:2-
Rev 5:5).
his pleasure--not Cyrus' own, but Jehovah's.
15 brought--led him on his way.
he--change from the first to the third person [BARNES]. Jehovah shall make his (Cyrus') way prosperous.
16 not . . . in secret-- (
Isa 45:19). Jehovah foretold Cyrus' advent, not with the studied ambiguity of heathen oracles, but plainly.
from the time, &c.--From the moment that the purpose began to be accomplished in the raising up of Cyrus I was present.
sent me--The prophet here speaks, claiming attention to his announcement as to Cyrus, on the ground of his mission from God and His Spirit. But he speaks not in his own person so much as in that of Messiah, to whom alone in the fullest sense the words apply (
Isa 61:1;
John 10:36). Plainly,
Isa 49:1, which is the continuation of the forty-eighth chapter, from
Isa 48:16, where the change of speaker from God (
Isa 48:1,
Isa 48:12-
Isa 48:15) begins, is the language of Messiah.
Luke 4:1,
Luke 4:14,
Luke 4:18, shows that the Spirit combined with the Father in sending the Son: therefore "His Spirit" is nominative to "sent," not accusative, following it.
17 teacheth . . . to profit--by affliction, such as the Babylonish captivity, and the present long-continued dispersion of Israel (
Heb 12:10).
18 peace-- (
Ps 119:165). Compare the desire expressed by the same Messiah (
Matt 23:37;
Luke 19:42).
river-- (
Isa 33:21;
Isa 41:18), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol of free, abundant, and ever flowing blessings from Him (
Ezek 47:1;
Zech 14:8;
Rev 22:1).
righteousness--religious prosperity; the parent of "peace" or national prosperity; therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism (
Isa 32:17).
19 sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (
Isa 48:18).
like the gravel thereof--rather, as the Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, &c., of the sea, rather than the gravel [MAURER]. JEROME, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version.
his name . . . cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks (
Rom 11:20).
20 Go . . . forth . . . end of the earth--Primarily, a prophecy of their joyful deliverance from Babylon, and a direction that they should leave it when God opened the way. But the publication of it "to the ends of the earth" shows it has a more world-wide scope antitypically;
Rev 18:4 shows that the mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.
redeemed . . . Jacob-- (
Isa 43:1;
Isa 44:22-
Isa 44:23).
21 Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert [KIMCHI]. The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt (
Exod 17:6;
Num 20:11;
Ps 78:15;
Ps 105:41) and of that from Babylon, are blended together; the language, while more immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot wholly refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel.
22 Repeated (
Isa 57:21). All the blessings just mentioned (
Isa 48:21) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shall first cast away its wicked unbelief before it shall inherit national prosperity (
Zech 12:10-
Zech 12:14;
Zech 13:1,
Zech 13:9;
Zech 14:3,
Zech 14:14,
Zech 14:20-
Zech 14:21). The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men (
Job 15:20-
Job 15:25,
Job 15:31-
Job 15:34).
Messiah, as the ideal Israel (
Isa 49:3), states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success.
