The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 48
Chapter XLVIII · Vol. III, pp. 1204–1206
1 God, to convince the people of their foreknown obstinacy, revealed his prophecies. 9 He saveth them for his own sake. 12 He exhorteth them to obedience, because of his power and providence. 16 He lamenteth their disobedience. 20 He sendeth his people out of Babylon.
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are calleda by the name of Israel, and bare come forth out of the waters of 1Judah; cwhich swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but dnot in truth, nor in righteousness.2
B.C. cir. 704.
b De.33.28. Nu.24.7. Ps.68.26. Pr.5.16,17, i.e. are children of Judah.
1 'Flow forth' (Lowth), as streams from a fountainhead.—C.
c ch.19.18; 45.23. De.6.13. Ps.63.11. Zep.1.5.
d De.5.28,29. Je.4.2; 5.2. Jn.4.24. Mat.15.8,9; xxiii.
2 The people addressed are here described by their nationality, their tribe, and their religious profession. The last clause shows that their profession is hypocritical, and consequently calculated to bring upon them the punishment of Heaven.—P.
2 For ethey call themselves of the gholy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.
3 Ih have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that ithou art obstinate,3 and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
i De.31.27. ch.46.12. Zec.7.11,12. Ne.9.29. Eze.3.7,9; 36.26. Ac.7.51. Ex.32.9; 34.9. De.9.6,13,27. Ne.9.16,17,29. Je.3.3; 7.26.
3 Heb. hard.
5 Ij have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed 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 kwill not ye declare4 it?5 I have showed thee new things from this time, even lhidden things, and thou didst not know them.
k Ps.40.10. Job 6.10. Ac.20.27. ch.43.9,10. Ps.145.4,5; 78.4-8.
4 'Will ye not acknowledge it' to have been accomplished by my power, as it was foretold by my Spirit?—C.
5 The judgments which I send, and the acts which I perform, you have heard of in the word of prophecy; see them now, they are accomplished before your eyes. Will you not, therefore, declare it to be so, and acknowledge fully the power of the one living God? The Lord thus appeals to their own experience, and convicts them by their own reason.—P.
l 1 Co.2.9,10. De.32.33; 29.29.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not;6 lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
6 'They are produced now; and before this day thou hast not heard them.'—Lowth.
8 Yea,n thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest odeal very treacherously, and wast called pa transgressor from the womb.
n De.29.4. ch.6.9,10. Jn.12.39,40. Je.4.22; 5.21. Eze.12.2. ch.26.11; 28.9-12; 42.19,20; 44.18.
A.M. cir. 3300. B.C. cir. 704.
o Ps.139.1-4. Je.5.11; 3.1-20. Eze.16.15-58; xxii. xxiii. ch.i. v. lix. Ho.5.7; 6.7.
p Ps.51.5; 58.3. Eze.16.4-6; 20.8; 23.3,19,27. ch.63.10. De.9.7,24.
9 Forq 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,r I have refined thee, but not with silver;7 I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 Fors mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and tI will not give my glory unto another.
s Eze.20.9,14,22; 36.20-22. Ps.79.9. Nu.14.15,16. De.32.26,27. ch.52.5.
t ch.42.8; 44.23. Lu.2.14. 1 Pe.4.11. Ep.3.21. 1 Co.10.31; 1.31.
13 Minex hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath 8spanned the heavens: ywhen I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 Allz ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved ahim; he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
z ch.41.1,22; 43.9; 44.7; 45.21; 46.3. Re.2.7,29.
a Cyrus, ch.41.2,3,25; 44.28; 45.1-6; 46.11; xiii. xiv. xxi. xlvi. xlvii. Je.l. li. Ps.137.8,9. Mar.10.21.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; bI have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
b Ezr.1.2.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; cI have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD and his Spirit dhath sent me.9
c ver.3-6; ch.45.19,21; 44.8; 43.12; 41.21,22. Am.3.6. 2 Pe.1.21.
d ch.9.6; 11.1-5; 61.1-3; 63.9. Zec.2.8-11. Lu.4.18-21. Jn.6.27; 3.34; 17.3. Ex.23.20. Mal.3.1.
9 These words are spoken by Christ, 'God manifest,' the great prophet of his church, the messenger of the covenant, the sent of the Father and the Holy Spirit.—C.
17 Thus saith the LORD, ethy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee gto profit, hwhich leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 Oi that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a 1river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the 2sea;
i De.5.29; 32.29. Ps.81.13-16. Mat.23.37. ch.32.15-18; 54.11-17. De.30.11,12. Mi.6.8. Ro.14.17. Ps.119.165; 19.11.
1 Always running downward to the ocean, always receiving supplies from the skies and the mountains above.—C.
2 Always flowing round the earth, and supplying springs and rivers by its inexhaustible exhalations—wave succeeding wave, the parts distinct, the ocean one.—C.
19 Thyj seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his kname3 should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
j Ge.22.17; 32.12. 2 Sa.17.11. 1 Ki.4.20. ch.10.22.
k ver.9; ch.7.8; 9.12; 36.1. 2 Ki.xxiv. xxv.
3 His name. Whose? The name of any of thine offspring.—C.
20 Gol ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, nThe LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 Ando they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
o ch.30.25; 35.6,7; 41.17,18; 52.12; 49.10. Ex.17.6. Nu.20.11. Ne.9.15. Ps.78.15,16,20. Ezr.1.1,4; vi.-viii. Ro.10.18. 1 Co.10.4. Eze.20.35. Ho.2.13,14.
22 Therep is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.4
A.M. cir. 3300. B.C. cir. 704.
p ch.57.20,21; 65.20; 3.11. Job 15.20,21; 20.20. Lu.19.27,43,44; 21.23-25. 1 Th.2.16. Eze.20.38. Am.9.10.
4 No peace to Babylon—no peace with Babylon.—C.
Notes
Ver. 1, 2. Hear ye, who boast that you are descendants of Jacob and Judah his most honourable son, and are citizens of Jerusalem, and profess much, though feigned, confidence and dependence on God. 3-8. By foretelling and accomplishing events, I have given you the most undeniable proofs of my true Godhead, because I knew you were so stubborn and untractable. I have even so timed my predictions, as to leave you no ground to pretend that either you or your idols then foresaw the events; for I knew you were so long hardened in perverseness, that you would choose to ascribe your information to any other than to me. 9-11. From regard to the honour of my own perfections, covenant, and promises, I will not utterly destroy you. Nevertheless, in order to purge you from your sins, particularly your gross idolatries, I must try you in a furnace of moderate affliction in Chaldea, and there renew my choice of you for my peculiar people. 14, 15. God manifested his love to Cyrus by employing him in such honourable services, and giving him such prosperous success in destroying the Chaldeans. 16. From the very beginning I have plainly and publicly foretold future events, and have been always ready to fulfil my predictions. And now I am appointed of God to foretell, and in due time to execute, things relative to Cyrus and Babylon, and the redemption prefigured by it. 17-19. I am your divine instructor and leader in what conduces to your peace and prosperity; and if ye had but hearkened to my commandments, your peace, and the prosperity flowing from your piety and virtue, had been abundant and lasting; your children should have been greatly increased; nor should they have been carried captive out of my land. 20, 21. Ye shall certainly be delivered from Babylon, and shall be provided for in your return, as well as your fathers were in their departure from Egypt.
Ver. 2. They call themselves of the holy city. And so deceive themselves by taking a name for a reality, external citizenship for internal holiness. Even so, at this day, thousands call Rome 'Holy Mother Church,' and flatter themselves with safety because they assume her name. C.
Ver. 8. A transgressor from the womb. From the day that God called Israel out of Egypt he was a murmurer against God, and speedily forgat his works, and made him a calf in the wilderness, saying, 'These be thy gods, O Israel, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.' C.
Ver. 10. I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have refined thee, but tenderly, and but in part; for had I employed all the fire requisite to refine thee 'as silver,' and thoroughly to 'purge away all thy tin,' I must have 'cut thee off' altogether; but 'I have refrained from thee,' that my mercy may be glorified. C.
Ver. 13. When I called unto the heavenly lights at creation, they all took their several places: when I call unto the angels in heaven, they all, and at once, attend as my servants. C.
Ver. 14. The Lord hath loved him. Whom hath he loved? That one who had 'declared these things,' ver. 14, the great Prophet of his church—the Messiah, who, as 'head over all things to the church,' hath done his will on Babylon natural, and shall yet do all his will on Babylon mystical.—Note, This application of the word 'him' will be more fully confirmed in the next chapter. C.
Ver. 20. This prediction relates to the final restoration of Israel, and the separation of the remnants of his church from mystical Babylon, and corresponds to Re. 18. 4. C.
Reflections.—Of how small avail are all possible connections or appearances in religion, if there be not a work of real grace in the heart! God knows our hearts; and his word is intended to show us our sinful and miserable condition by nature. No providences, whether smiling or severe, can make obstinate sinners practise their duty. But what care God takes to prevent his people's apostasy, and to leave them inexcusable therein; great things will he do either in mercy or judgment for his name's sake. With care and pity he refines his people in the furnace of trouble; and restrains the remainder of his wrath, which would not tend to his praise! His perfections and promises are a sure foundation of deliverance, even when we deserve destruction. Tender and powerful are the instructions of Jesus Christ: and we lose multitudes of blessings by our disobedience to them. It is comfortable and safe to be under his care and protection: but infinitely dangerous to remain obstinate in wickedness amidst all the means of his grace.