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Isa_48:3-11
And they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them;
I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate,
And thy neck is an iron sinew,
And thy brow brass;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee;
Before it came to pass I shewed it thee:
Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them,
And my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, see all this;
And will not ye declare it?
I have cshewed thee new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
7 They are created now, and not afrom the beginning;
Even before the day when thou heardest them not;
Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not;
Yea, afrom that time that thine ear was not opened:
For I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously,
And wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger,
And for my praise will I refrain for thee,
That I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it:
For how should my name be polluted?
And I will not give my glory unto another.
Isa_48:1. îֵàָæ is properly=“from that time hitherto.” But îִï stands here, according to Hebrew usage, as designation of the term, a quo. We may therefore boldly translate îàæ by “then, at that time,” as a reference to time long past.
Isa_48:7. ìִîְðֵé éåֹí is = ante hunc diem, comp. Isa_43:13. åְ before ìֹà is demonstrative.
Isa_48:8. ôִúְּçָä is causative Piel=“to make an opening,” i.e., to open one’s-self to the report, to hear the report, comp. for the causative use Isa_60:11; Psa_116:6.—The expression ÷øà ìê as in Isa_58:12; Isa_61:3; Isa_62:2.
Isa_48:9. äàøéê àó only Pro_19:11; comp. Job_6:11 and the expression in the Pentateuch àֶøֶêְ àַôַéִí Exo_34:6; Num_14:18, etc.— ìîòï Is to be supplied before úäìúé , Isa_44:28; Isa_46:5.— çָèַí , Arab, chatama, Aram. çֲèַí , coercere, çָèָí frenum, nose-ring.— ìָêְ dat. Commodi; Isa_40:10.
Isa_48:10. It is plain that the áְּ can neither be á pretii, nor that of accompaniment. It is (Hitzig, Delitzsch) the á essentiae = in qualitate argenti, in the quality of silver, i.e., as silver. The only peculiarity here is the placing of the áְּ with the object (comp. Eze_20:41; Psa_78:55, Del.).— áָּçַø properly means “to choose.” But as to choose presupposes a testing and confirmation, so in the Aram. áְּçַø stands directly for áָּçַï (Syr. bochuro = áָּçåֹï explorator). In Latin, too, probare means not only to hold something to be good, but also to investigate whether it is good. So also here áçø is used in the sense of áָּäַï (comp. Job_34:4).
2. Thou hast heard——from the womb. Isa_48:6-8. With these words, too, the Prophet repeats essentially only something said before, viz., what he had announced in reference to the new period of salvation to be inaugurated by Cyrus. The words ùׁîòú to úðéãå , Isa_48:6, form the transition. ùׁîòú manifestly refers to àùׁîéòí , Isa_48:3, and äùׁîòúéê , Isa_48:5. It must be established that not only did the Lord bring those old prophecies to a hearing, but that they were actually heard. And ëֻּìָּäּ would express that all relating to that, therefore the fulfilment also, has been heard. The emphatic çֲæֵä (comp. Isa_33:20; Isa_30:10) would warn Israel not to treat the matter lightly. Only let it look narrowly, and it must confess that all in the previous period of history relative to prophecy and fulfilment was fully known. Will they not on their part feel impelled to declare and proclaim aloud what they have undoubtedly heard? In the entire section, Isa_48:3-11, the Prophet steadily addresses Israel in the second pers. masc. sing. Suddenly in the single clause, åàúí äìà úðéãå , he passes to the second pers. masc. plur. The reason for this seems to me to be, that he has in mind here, no longer the ideal total Israel, but the concrete persons of his contemporaries and immediate hearers or first readers.
This appears to me to be one of the passages where the Prophet, who else lives wholly in the Exile, cannot help casting a glance at the actual present. If we might assume that chapters 40–66 were to remain a sealed-up prophecy until the time of the Exile, then we would be warranted in saying that the words and will ye not declare it applied only to the exiles. But the numerous citations from chapters 40–66, that occur in prophets after Isaiah but before the Exile, show that our prophecy even before the Exile must have been publici juris. Hence I can only see in these words an exhortation that Isaiah gives to his actual contemporaries, viz., to confess openly that the history of Israel hitherto is a proof that Jehovah can prophesy and fulfil. [“And ye (idolaters or idols), will not ye declare, the same word used above for the prediction of events, and therefore no doubt meaning here, will not ye predict something? This is Hitzig’s explanation of the words. In favor of this view is its taking äִðִּéã in the sense which it has in the preceding verse, and also the analogy of Isa_41:22-23, where the very same challenge is given in nearly the same form; to which may be added the sudden change to the plural form, and the emphatic introduction of the pronoun, implying a new object of address, and not a mere enallage, because he immediately resumes the address to the people in the singular” J. A. Alex.]. As Israel itself must confess that it has learned to know its God as a prophesier and fulfiller, the Lord bases on that the further demand that they believe also the present new prophecy, and infer from it the proper consequences. Manifestly the çֲãָùׁåֹú , new things, are the prophecy relating to Cyrus and the period of salvation initiated by him. The Prophet refers to Isa_42:9 sqq.; Isa_43:19 sqq.; Isa_44:24 sqq.; Isa_45:1 sqq., Isa_45:11 sqq., Isa_45:19 sqq.; Isa_46:11. He particularly emphasizes that this prophecy as such is also quite a new thing. Had Israel obtained report of those future events in any other way, natural or supernatural, then, of course, their proclamation by the Prophet would have been met by the reply: “Nothing new, we know it already.” That would have been ruinous for the reputation of Jehovah and His prophet. But there is no mention of that. The prophecy relates to hidden things (Isa_1:8; Isa_49:6; Isa_65:4), to things that have just been created. The expression, are created (comp. Isa_41:20; Isa_43:7; Isa_45:8) is to be judged of by the measure of what is divinely real. The word of prophecy has changed the divine decree from being a ëüãïò ἐíäéÜèåôïò to being a ëüãïò ðñïöïñéêüò . The divine idea is thereby, as it were, born into the world. Even though it only exists as a mere word, still a word so uttered is a creative word. If God has spoken it, it also comes to pass. So far what God has spoken, announced, prophesied, is as good as created. It is real even if for the time being it is only a divine decree (comp. under Doctr. and Eth. on Isa_48:7). But its reality rests only on this act of the divine will, and the knowledge of it only on the revelation of it by means of the prophet of Jehovah. No one in the world would have thought of it, and no one in the world would have received intelligence of the divine thought without the revelation through the Prophet. God thinks it, God says it, God does it. It is only and altogether a fruit of God, and hence a proof that God is, and what He is. God revealed it to Israel, and He did it with the intention of curing Israel of its deep-rooted tendency to faithlessness (comp. Jer_3:7; Jer_3:10), from its native tendency to apostacy.
3. For my name’s sake——unto another, Isa_48:9-11. These verses are related to what precedes as giving a reason. The new things (Isa_48:6), previously concealed, but now entered on existence as to principle by the word of prophecy, involve salvation and deliverance for Israel on the assumption that Israel will let itself be cured of its deep-rooted tendency to apostacy. For this continued rebelliousness it had properly merited extinction. But the Lord desires not the death of the sinner, but that he should repent and live. For the sake of His own honor, also, He desires not the death of the sinner. For the rejection of Israel after its election would even compromise the Lord Himself. It would make Him appear as one who would, but could not. Hence the Lord will make His anger long, i.e. He will postpone the destructive blow that His anger properly demands (see Text. and Gram.). In fact He postponed it until the rejection of His Son (Mat_21:39 sqq.). Therefore, for His name’s sake He will defer His anger, and for the sake of His honor He will restrain it, for Israel’s advantage (see Text. and Gram.), so that it will not be destroyed. He will only purify, refine Israel, yet not as silver; but He will confirm it in the furnace of affliction. The Prophet makes a difference between the refining furnace and the furnace of affliction. The difference cannot relate to the effect, since that is the same in both. For I do not think that the Prophet assumes an unfavorable result in the smelting process, viz. that dross will come of it. According to the context the honor of God demands that Israel be purified and saved. But the smelting furnace is for the silver no misfortune, no disgrace; it is the natural and necessary means for restoring the silver. Properly Israel ought not to need this smelting process. So far the furnace of affliction is for Israel a punishment and disgrace, which the smelting furnace is not for silver.—Finally the Prophet repeats the thought with emphasis, that the preservation of Israel was in the proper interest of Jehovah. Did He forsake Israel, He would then surrender them to the idols, and thereby permit the honor belonging to Him alone to be given to them. The words: and I will not give my honor to another, Isa_48:11 b, in which manifestly the thought of Isa_48:9-11 culminates, is a literal repetition of Isa_42:8. By this, the Prophet intimates that in these words, too (Isa_48:9-11), he only repeats what he had said before. Delitzsch very fittingly at Isa_48:11 refers to Eze_36:19-23.
Footnotes:
from then.
caused them to be heard.
Heb. hard.
caused them to hear.
and.
omit that.
Or, for silver.