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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 44:1 - 44:8
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The Reassurance of God's Covenant Faithfulness
v. 1. Yet now hear, namely, over against the lamentable condition pictured at the end of the last chapter, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen, the assurances of the Lord's affection serving as a tender invitation to the true members of His people:
v. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, who had chosen and established Israel as His people of old, which will help thee, with a steady assistance, with unvarying certainty of protection: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and thou, Jesurun, the upright and pious one, a term of endearment which the Lord used of Israel, Deu_32:15, whom I have chosen, the fact of God's merciful election being emphasized time and again.
v. 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, those in need of spiritual refreshment, Mat_5:6, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, the children of the Church, and My blessing, that of His mercy in the Word, upon thine offspring;
v. 4. and they, the spiritual children of Israel, shall spring up as among the grass, in rich luxuriance, as willows by the watercourses, like the juicy and strong poplars along the banks of the Euphrates, the reference being to the luxuriant spiritual growth of the newly converted, with the fervor of their first love.
v. 5. One shall say, I am the Lord's, proud of his privilege in being permitted to worship the true God; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, praising the name of the patriarch, as the ancestor of the spiritual Israel; and another shall subscribe with his band unto the Lord, mentioning the name of Jehovah as an honorary title, magnifying it above all other names, and surname himself by the name of Israel, glorifying this designation because it confers such a high honor upon all who wear it.
v. 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, whose relation to His people is one of dignity combined with love, and his Redeemer, He who delivers from all enemies, the Lord of hosts, who is clothed with mighty power: I am the First, and I am the Last, the one true God from everlasting to everlasting; and beside Me there is no god, He is the exclusive possessor of the eternal deity.
v. 7. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, the Lord's challenge being to all men to produce one equal to Him in prophetic wisdom, since I appointed the ancient people? As long as the world is in existence, there has never been any other who, like Himself, could foretell the future. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them, for that would be a proof substantiating their claim of being on a level with God or with his inspired prophets. But since Israel was still suffering with lack of confidence in the true God and, in a measure at least, showed their superstitious fear concerning the power of the heathen nations, therefore Jehovah once more gives them a joyful assurance:
v. 8. Fear ye not, neither be afraid, with mistrust toward Jehovah, on the one hand, and dread of the heathen gods, on the other. Have I not told thee from that time and have declared it? namely, the utter vanity of the heathen idols. Ye are even My witnesses, who must admit the truth of this assertion. Is there a [true] God beside Me? The emphatic question is answered with equal definiteness, Yea, there is no [other true] God; I know not any, even the omniscient God being unable to name one. The attitude of men with respect to this one true God decides their eternal fate.