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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 41:8 - 41:20
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The Lord's Promise of a Future Victory
v. 8. But thou, Israel, art My servant, as Jehovah, in a section replete with love and consolation, assures His children, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend, His servants, the people of His covenant, of old, especially the spiritual descendants of him who had the honor of being known as the friend of God.
v. 9. Thou, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof, from its most remote corners, and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Note how excellently this description fits the believers of the New Testament, and how fully the glory of our calling into His kingdom is given to Jehovah alone. Therefore the Lord's encouraging words gain in beauty with every new reading; every word, in fact, as one commentator puts it, breathes the most fervent love.
v. 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, with His merciful power; be not dismayed, filled with anxiety, for I am thy God, who freely gives His heart, His grace, His salvation, to His children; I will strengthen thee, so that no one can overthrow him; yea, I will help thee, upholding him who is in himself too weak to withstand the enemy; yea. I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness, for the righteousness of God, which is imputed to men by faith, is the element which sustains him in the midst of all dangers and enemies of this world and keeps him safe for the final deliverance from every evil.
v. 11. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee, who gave expression to their wrath, shall be ashamed and confounded, by the defeat and destruction which would strike them; they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish, since the Lord Himself would do battle for His people.
v. 12. Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee, daring to attack the Lord's people; they that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught, so utterly exterminated that not a trace of them could be found.
v. 13. For I, the Lord, thy God, will hold thy right hand, thereby imparting His almighty strength, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Cf Deu_33:26-29. The encouragement now increases in fervency.
v. 14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, trodden under foot as he now seems, and ye men of Israel, the poor small crew who hold to the Lord: I will help thee, saith the Lord, that is His majestic saying, and thy Redeemer (is) the Holy One of Israel, the mighty Deliverer and Vindicator of His people at all times, He who is zealous for His own honor and for the safety of His children.
v. 15. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, the sledge used in the Orient to cut up the straw for fodder and to separate the grain from the hull, sometimes used to put captives to death; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff, the very world-powers being compelled to yield to the army of the Lord.
v. 16. Thou shalt fan them, as the husbandman winnows his grain, and the wind shall carry them away, like useless chaff, and the whirlwind, the strong tempest, shall scatter them; and thou, seeing this marvelous victory over the mighty enemies, shalt rejoice in the Lord and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel, properly giving all honor to Him who is the zealous Deliverer of His people. Not only will the enemies be overthrown, however, but the Church of God will find divine refreshment in the midst of the tribulation of this world.
v. 17. When the poor and needy seek water, spiritual comfort and strength, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, their heart parched, exhausted with the heat of the affliction, I, the Lord, will hear them, their sighs and their prayers; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them, not permit them to perish in their misery.
v. 18. I will open rivers in high places, in dry rocks, as He did in the wilderness, and fountains in the midst of the valleys, so that the headsprings will yield abundantly. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. In the midst of Israel's great spiritual trouble the Lord Himself would send refreshment for their souls in the Word of His grace.
v. 19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, the acacia, or Egyptian thorn, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree, the wild olive, valued as an ornamental tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the cypress, and the pine, the Oriental elm, and the box-tree together, the pine, the former desert becoming a garden of the Lord,
v. 20. that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, become thoroughly saturated with the knowledge, that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. In this manner the copious spiritual refreshment which would fall to the lot of those sighing for comfort would serve for the glory of Jehovah, just as it is His mercy, and His mercy alone, which to this day is the cause of our salvation and of all spiritual blessings which we enjoy.