Isaiah 44:15 Kommentar

God, by the prophet, goes on in this chapter, as before, I. To encourage his people with the assurance of great blessings he had in store for them at their return out of captivity, and those typical of much greater which the gospel church, his spiritual Israel, should partake of in the days of the Messiah; and hereby he proves himself to be God alone against all pretenders (Isa 44:1-8). II. To expose the sottishness and amazing folly of idol-makers and idol-worshippers (Isa 44:9-20). III. To ratify and confirm the assurances he had given to his people of those great blessings, and to raise their joyful and believing expectations of them (Isa 44:21-28).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 44 In this chapter the Lord comforts his people with the promise of the effusion of his Spirit, and the blessings of his grace upon them; the consequence of which would be fruitfulness in them, and the conversion of others, who should profess themselves the Lord's people, Isa 44:1, he proves his deity in opposition to all false gods from his eternity, omniscience, and foretelling future events, Isa 44:6, exposes the stupidity of idol makers and the worshippers of them, Isa 44:9, makes gracious promises of the remembrance of his people, the remission of their sins, and their redemption by Christ, Isa 44:21, of which redemption from Babylon was a type; and of that assurance is given, from the Lord's creating all things by his power; from his frustrating and infatuating diviners and wise men; from his fulfilling his predictions delivered by his prophets; and from his mentioning by name the instrument of their redemption, Cyrus, Isa 44:24, which makes way for a particular prophecy concerning him in the next chapter.

Then shall it be for a man to burn,.... And which indeed is the proper use of it, but not all that this man puts it to; only the boughs, and what he cuts off as useless to his purpose, and the chips he makes, which he commits to the fire: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; with some part of it he makes a fire in his parlour, and warms himself when it is cold weather: yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; he heats his oven with another part of it, and bakes the bread he has made for himself and family to live on, and which is putting it to a good use: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereto; the other part of the tree, and which is the better part, he makes an image of, and carves it, and calls it a god; and not only so, but when he has done, falls down and worships it; than which there cannot be a greater instance of stupidity and folly.

And neither do we honour with many sacrifices and garlands of flowers such deities as men have formed and set in shrines and called gods; since we see that these are soulless and dead, and have not the form of God (for we do not consider that God has such a form as some say that they imitate to His honour), but have the names and forms of those wicked demons which have appeared. For why need we tell you who already know, into what forms the craftsmen, carving and cutting, casting and hammering, fashion the materials? And often out of vessels of dishonour, by merely changing the form, and making an image of the requisite shape, they make what they call a god; which we consider not only senseless, but to be even insulting to God, who, having ineffable glory and form, thus gets His name attached to things that are corruptible, and require constant service.

What do you think of them, and what is the nature of those who make gods from inanimate statues? For it is easy to see in the latter that they are works of artisans, prepared by axes and drills and such tools, the invention of skillful and industrious people, who through a need of food have found an instrument of leisurely falsehood. What do you think of the nature of God and about whether God needs our sacrifices and whether God is weak, as if according to Symmachus he is hungry and weak and feeble and cannot even drink water. The statement that God cannot drink water implies that he desperately needs liquid, while in fact God shares in no such thing, as though he were a dumb creature.

(Verse 6 and following) This is what the Lord, the king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. Who is like me? Let him call and declare, and lay out the order for me, since I established the ancient people: what is coming and what will happen, let them declare to them. Do not be afraid, nor be troubled: from that time I have made you hear and announced it; you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me, and a creator whom I do not know? All the idols of the nations are worthless, and the things they love do not profit them. They themselves are witnesses to their own worthlessness, for they do not see or understand, so that they may be put to shame. Who formed a god or cast an idol that is profitable for nothing? Look, all his companions shall be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes a tool and works it with the coals; he fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He will be hungry and will become weak, he will not drink water, and he will grow weary. The carpenter extends the rule (or the form), he shapes it on the plane, he forms it with angles, and rounds it off with a compass. And he makes an image of a man, like a handsome man dwelling in a house. He cuts down cedars, he takes an oak, and a tree that stood among the woods. He plants a pine, which the rain nourishes, and it becomes fuel for men. He takes from them, and warms himself; he kindles it, and bakes bread. But the rest of it he made into a god and worshipped; he made an idol and bowed down to it. He burned half of it in the fire and cooked meat on it; he roasted a stew and ate it, and then he was satisfied. He warmed himself and said, 'Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.' The rest of the wood he made into a god, his idol. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, 'Save me, for you are my god.' They do not know, nor do they understand; for their eyes are too dim to see, and their hearts too dull to perceive. They do not recognize in their mind, nor do they know, nor do they feel to say: I burnt its middle with fire, and I baked bread on its coals. I cooked meat, and I ate, and from the rest of it I will make an idol, I will prostrate before the trunk of a tree, a part of it is ashes: the foolish heart worshipped it: and it did not save its soul, nor will it say: perhaps there is a lie in my right hand. After the preaching of the Apostles, the calling of the Gentiles, the coming of the Savior, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which he promised to give to all who believe, when another will say, I belong to the Lord: another will call himself in the name of Jacob: another will write with his own hand that he belongs to the Lord, and when he has arisen from the unbelieving crowd of the Gentiles, he will be likened to Israel, so that having abandoned idols, he may be a worshipper of one God: it begins another section, which we have presented in its entirety, so as not to divide the unity of its meaning. And because the Septuagint in this chapter, with the exception of a few words, does not differ from the Hebrew, we are satisfied with our edition, by understanding which, the others will be understood as well. And this is a discourse against the idolaters of that time, to whom the prophet Isaiah proclaimed the coming things for the people, and he reproves those who, despising the religion of Almighty God, incline to wooden idols and worship the works of their own hands. Let us therefore run through each point. Thus says the Lord, the king of Israel, who is to be believed in me, and his redeemer, who will receive the coming of my Son: The Lord of hosts and virtues, and Almighty. For in Hebrew, it means Sabaoth (). I am the first and the last, I am Α and Ω; and there is no God without me, for the child whom I have chosen is God in me. Of whom I said above: Behold my child, whom I have chosen: my chosen one, whom my soul has received: he will bring judgment to the nations: and in his name the nations will hope. He does not say that he alone exists, but that apart from his own virtue and wisdom there is no external God, and condemns the belief in many gods and images: Who, he says, is like me? Let him call those things which are not as though they were, and explain the order of my creation, which I have balanced with reason, since I made man upon the earth. And not only do I desire this, but I also seek knowledge of the future. Therefore, you, Israel, of whom I am both king and redeemer, do not fear the images that you have learned are nothing on Mount Sinai. Is there perhaps another Creator, whom I do not know? Or is there another world beyond this one, which reveals the power of an unknown God? And not only the things that are made, but also those who make them, will be considered worthless. And when the time of vengeance comes, they will not be able to free themselves from the works of their own hands, which blind and senseless artisans confuse. For who can believe that God is formed by an axe, file, drill, or hammer? And are there statues made of thorns; or do the plumb-line, plow, and corner-squares, and the compass suddenly rise up into gods? Especially since the poverty of the artist is shown by hunger and thirst. For a wooden statue is made, representing human form, and the more beautiful it is, the narrower is the God thought to be. It is placed in a shrine, and is enclosed in eternal prison, which grew for a long time in the woods, and depending on the variety of trees, was either a cedar or an oak or a pine. And in a wondrous manner, its segments and scratches are thrown into the hearth, so that they may warm the artisan of God and cook different dishes. But the other part is fashioned into a god, so that, with the work complete, the creator may adore it and seek assistance from his own creation. Yet he does not understand or consider, indeed, he does not even look upon it with the eyes of the flesh or the mind, that it cannot be God, whose part has been consumed by fire, nor can the divine majesty be made by the hand of man. Moreover, the prophetic language is more fully covered with ridicule, which is easily understood and does not require a verbose, rather superfluous commentary. This is what Horace also writes about in his Satire, mocking the idols of the nations (Satire VIII, Book I). Once I was a fig tree trunk, useless wood: When a craftsman was unsure whether to make a bench or Priapus. He preferred it to be a god: I became a god, the greatest fear of thieves and birds. . . . . . . . . . . . . Whatever is said about idols can also be applied to the leaders of heresies, who create images of their doctrines and lies with cunning hearts and worship things that they know are made by themselves. And their own error is not enough for them, unless they deceive even the simplest of their followers with their worship. Those who think that gain is godliness and devour the homes of widows (I Tim. VI), taking advantage of the ignorance of the common people, in this way, with dialectic art, as if with an axe and drill, they shape their own god, and they forge with a hammer, and they gild with the elegance of rhetorical language: of whom their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame (Philipp. III).

The prophet proceeds to teach that the Creator gave the forests and woods on the mountains to supply food and fuel and for the sake of human bodies. They, however, take a holm oak, an oak or a cedar that God has planted and watered by providing rain for the benefit of human bodies and use these trees to create gods.

Jeremiah reproves the Jews in Egypt for continuing in idolatry after the exemplary judgments indicted by God on their nation for that sin, Jer 44:1-14; and, upon their refusing to reform, denounces destruction to them, and to that kingdom wherein they sought protection, vv. 15-30.

CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. (Isa. 44:1-28) Yet--Though thou hast sinned, yet hear God's gracious promise as to thy deliverance. chosen-- (Isa 41:8).

The same tree that furnishes the material for the god is in part used as fuel for a fire to cook his meals and warm himself! thereto--rather, "he falleth down before them," that is, such images [MAURER].