Jesaja 43:14 Kommentar

The contents of this chapter are much the same with those of the foregoing chapter, looking at the release of the Jews out of their captivity, but looking through that, and beyond that, to the great work of man's redemption by Jesus Christ, and the grace of the gospel, which through him believers partake of. Here are, I. Precious promises made to God's people in their affliction, of his presence with them, for their support under it, and their deliverance out of it (Isa 43:1-7). II. A challenge to idols to vie with the omniscience and omnipotence of God (Isa 43:8-13). III. Encouragement given to the people of God to hope for their deliverance out of Babylon, from the consideration of what God did for their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt (Isa 43:14-21). IV. A method taken to prepare the people for their deliverance, by putting them in mind of their sins, by which they had provoked God to send them into captivity and continue them there, that they might repent and seek to God for pardoning mercy (Isa 43:22-28).

To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly. I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he will redeem them, but will take it upon him as his office and make it his business to do so. If he be their God, he will be all that to them which they need, and therefore, when they are in bondage, he will be their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Israel (Isa 43:14), and again (Isa 43:15), their Holy One, and therefore will make good every word he has spoken to them. He is the Creator of Israel, that made them a people out of nothing (for that is creation), nay, worse than nothing; and he is their King, that owns them as his people and presides among them. II. He assures them he will find out a way to break the power of their oppressors that held them captives and filled up the measure of their own iniquity by their resolution never to let them go, Isa 14:17. God will take care to send a victorious prince and army to Babylon, that shall bring down all their nobles, and lay their honour in the dust, and all their people too, even the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships (for seamen are apt to be noisy), or whose cry is to the ships, as their refuge when the city is taken, that they may escape by the benefit of their great river. Note, The destruction of Babylon must make way for the enlargement of God's people. And in the prediction of the fall of the New Testament Babylon we meet with the cries and lamentations of the sailors, Rev 18:17, Rev 18:18. And observe, It is for Israel's sake that Babylon is ruined, to make way for their deliverance. III. He reminds them of the great things he did for their fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; for so it may be read (Isa 43:16, Isa 43:17): "Thus saith the Lord, who did make a way in the sea, the Red Sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh's chariot and horse, that they might lie down together in the bottom of the sea, and never rise, but be extinct. He that did this can, if he please, make a way for you in the sea when you return out of Babylon, and will do so rather than leave you there." Note, For the encouragement of our faith and hope, it is good for us often to remember what God has done formerly for his people against his and their enemies. Think particularly what he did at the Red Sea, how he made it, 1. A road to his people, a straight way, a near way, nay, a refuge to them, into which they fled and were safe the waters being a wall unto them. 2. A grave to his enemies. The chariot and horse were drawn out by him who is Lord of all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together; howbeit, they meant not so, Mic 4:11, Mic 4:12. IV. He promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in the days of old; so that they should not have reason to ask, in a way of complaint, as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? for they should see them repeated, nay, they should see them outdone (Isa 43:18): "Remember not the former things, from them to take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present things, as if the former days were better than these; no, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them, and yet know enough by the events of your own day to convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, behold, the Lord will do a new thing, no way inferior, both for the wonder and the worth of the mercy, to the things of old." The best exposition of this is, Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15; Jer 23:7, Jer 23:8. It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; that is an old thing, the remembrance of which will be in a manner lost in the new thing, in the new proof that the Lord liveth, for he brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north. Though former mercies must not be forgotten, fresh mercies must in a special manner be improved. Now it springs forth, as it were a surprise upon you; you are like those that dream. Shall you now know it? And will you not own God's hand in it? V. He promises not only to deliver them out of Babylon, but to conduct them safely and comfortably to their own land (Isa 43:19, Isa 43:20): I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; for, it seems, the way from Babylon to Canaan, as well as from Egypt, lay through a desert land, which, while the returning captives passed through, God would provide for them, that their camp should be both well victualled and under a good conduct. The same power that made a way in the sea (Isa 43:16) can make a way in the wilderness, and will force its passage through the greatest difficulties. And he that made dry land in the waters can produce waters in the dryest land, in such abundance as not only to give drink to his people, his chosen, but to the beasts of the field, also the dragons and the ostriches, who are therefore said to honour God for it; it is such a sensible refreshment, and yields them so much satisfaction, that, if they were capable of doing it, they would praise God for it, and shame man, who is made capable of praising his benefactor and does not. Now, 1. This looks back to what God did for Israel when he led them through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan, and fetched water out of a rock to follow them; what God did for them formerly he would do again, for he is still the same. And, though we do not find that the miracle was repeated in their return out of Babylon, yet the mercy was, in the common course of Providence, for which it became them to be no less thankful to God. 2. It looks forward, not only to all the instances of God's care of the Jewish church in the latter ages of it, between their return from Babylon and the coming of Christ, but to the grace of the gospel, especially as it is manifested to the Gentile world, by which a way is opened in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; the world, which lay like a desert, in ignorance and unfruitfulness, was blessed with divine direction and divine comforts, and, in order to both, with a plentiful effusion of the Spirit. The sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as the beasts of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stupid as the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to honour God for the extent of his grace to his chosen among them. VI. He traces up all these promised blessings to their great original, the purposes and designs of his own glory (Isa 43:21): This people have I formed for myself, and therefore I do all this for them, that they may show forth my praise. Note, 1. The church is of God's forming, and so are all the living members of it. The new heaven, the new earth, the new man, are the work of God's hand, and are no more, no better, than he makes them; they are fashioned according to his will. 2. He forms it for himself. He that is the first cause is the highest end both of the first and of the new creation. The Lord has made all things for himself, his Israel especially, to be to him for a people, and for a name, and for a praise; and no otherwise can they be for him, or serviceable to him, than as his grace is glorified in them, Jer 13:11; Eph 1:6, Eph 1:12, Eph 1:14. 3. It is therefore our duty to show forth his praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service. As he formed us, so he feeds us, and keeps us, and leads us, and all for himself; for every instance therefore of his goodness we must praise him, else we answer not the end of the beings and blessings we have.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 43 Is this chapter the Lord comforts his own people, under their afflictions, with many precious promises; asserts his deity against the idols of the nations; promises deliverance from Babylon, and a greater redemption than that; one branch of which is forgiveness of sin; and closes the chapter with a prediction of the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, for their iniquities. The Lord claims his interest in his people, not only on the foot of creation, but of redemption and calling, and promises them his presence in the midst of afflictions, Isa 43:1, puts them in mind of what he had done for them; and assures them of future layouts, as the effect of his unchangeable love to them, Isa 43:3 and promises the conversion of their seed and offspring in the several parts of the world, Isa 43:5 then challenges the Heathen nations to give such proofs of the deity of their idols as he was capable of giving of his, as his people were witnesses, taken from his eternity and immutability, as the alone Jehovah, and from his omniscience and omnipotence, Isa 43:8, after which the destruction of Babylon is prophesied of, and the redemption of his people out of it; which they are encouraged to believe from his being Jehovah, their Sanctifier, Creator, and King; and from what he had done formerly for them, when he brought them out of Egypt, Isa 43:14, and which yet was not to be mentioned or remembered, in comparison of what he would do in the world, a new thing, redemption by the Messiah, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the glory of his grace, Isa 43:18, the sins of omission and commission the people of God had been guilty of are mentioned, which are freely pardoned for Christ's sake, Isa 43:22 when the body and bulk of the Jewish nation were given up to destruction, because of their sins, Isa 43:26.

I am the Lord, your Holy One,.... And therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: the Creator of Israel, your King; and therefore both able and willing to protect them.

(Verse 14.) Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your king. LXX: Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, your redeemer: For your sakes I will send to Babylon, and will bring down all their fugitives, and the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, who have shown your king, Israel. According to the Hebrew, the prophetic speech is still directed to Israel, to whom their redeemer, the Lord and Holy One of Israel, spoke these words: 'Because of you who preach the Gospel with me, to whom I said above: Do not be afraid, for I am with you, you who are the witnesses of my will, and you announce my other Son to the unbelieving world, I have sent my Son into Babylon and the confusion of this age. And I have removed all its bars, which are called Barihim in Hebrew (or Barichim, as interpreted by Theodotion).' And, he said, the Chaldeans are implied, I have removed those who boasted in their ships: in these, namely, who floated like ships among idols. No one doubts about the Chaldeans that they sound like demons. I, the Lord, have foretold these things, who am your Creator and the king of Israel. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the meaning is quite different: I, the Lord, who have delivered you from dangers, and the holy one of Israel: because of you, I will send the king of the Medes and Persians to Babylon, and I will make its inhabitants flee, and the Chaldeans who captured you will be bound and transferred across the Caspian Sea to other nations. I, the Lord, have determined these future events, which will reveal that the King of Israel will be the one who believes.

[Isaiah] predicts the defeat of the Babylonians and the enslavement of the Chaldeans. They will suffer these misfortunes because of you, he says, since they were unwilling to recognize that their victory depended on my good will and that you were made prisoners because I rejected you.

“I have brought down all the runaways and the Chaldeans,” that is, “For your sake I will send you to Babylon” and will make the Medes rise, in order to deliver you from captivity. And when the Babylonians fly from you in every manner, through the land and the sea, they will be captured in “their ships” and be imprisoned. He calls “runaways” the Medes because of their previous weakness.

Thus says the Lord. Here he sets out the sign of his love, that he destroyed for them the Babylonians, who gloried in their ships because of the multitude of their waters: I sent, namely, my wrath: the Lord has both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon (Jer 51:12).

The leading men, discrediting Jeremiah's prophecy, carry the people into Egypt, Jer 43:1-7. Jeremiah, by a type, foretells the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 43:8-13. This mode of conveying instruction by actions was very expressive, and frequently practiced by the prophets. The image of Nebuchadnezzar arraying himself with Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, is very noble. Egypt at this time contended with Babylon for the empire of the east; yet this mighty kingdom, when God appoints the revolution, shifts its owner with as much ease as a shepherd removes his tent or garment, which the new proprietor has only to spread over him. See Jer 43:12.

The Chaldeans, whose cry is on the ships "The Chaldeans exulting in their ships" - Babylon was very advantageously situated both in respect to commerce, and as a naval power. It was open to the Persian Gulf by the Euphrates, which was navigable by large vessels; and being joined to the Tigris above Babylon by the canal called Naharmalca or the Royal River, supplied the city with the produce of the whole country to the north of it, as far as the Euxine and Caspian seas, Herod. 1:194. Semiramis was the foundress of this part also of the Babylonian greatness. She improved the navigation of the Euphrates, Herod. 1:184; Strabo, lib. xvi.; and is said to have had a fleet of three thousand galleys, Huet, Hist. du Commerce, chap. 11. We are not to wonder that in later times we hear little of the commerce and naval power of Babylon; for, after the taking of the city by Cyrus, the Euphrates was not only rendered less fit for navigation by being on that occasion diverted from its course and left to spread over the whole country; but the Persian monarchs, residing in their own country, to prevent any invasion by sea on that part of their empire, purposely obstructed the navigation of both the rivers by making cataracts in them, Strabo, ib., that is, by raising dams across the channel, and making artificial falls in them, that no vessel of any size or force could possibly come up. Alexander began to restore the navigation of the rivers by demolishing the cataracts upon the Tigris as far up as Seleucia, Arrian, lib. vii., but he did not live to finish his great designs; those upon the Euphrates still continued. Ammianus, 24:1, mentions them as subsisting in his time. The prophet therefore might very justly speak of the Chaldeans as glorying in their naval power in his time; though afterwards they had no foundation for making any such boast.

A SUCCESSION OF ARGUMENTS WHEREIN ISRAEL MAY BE ASSURED THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING THEIR PERVERSITY TOWARDS GOD (Isa 42:25), HE WILL DELIVER AND RESTORE THEM. (Isa. 43:1-28) But now--notwithstanding God's past just judgments for Israel's sins. created--not only in the general sense, but specially created as a peculiar people unto Himself (Isa 43:7, Isa 43:15, Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2, Isa 44:21, Isa 44:24). So believers, "created in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:10), "a peculiar people" (Pe1 2:9). redeemed--a second argument why they should trust Him besides creation. The Hebrew means to ransom by a price paid in lieu of the captives (compare Isa 43:3). Babylon was to be the ransom in this case, that is, was to be destroyed, in order that they might be delivered; so Christ became a curse, doomed to death, that we might be redeemed. called . . . by . . . name--not merely "called" in general, as in Isa 42:6; Isa 48:12; Isa 51:2, but designated as His own peculiar people (compare Isa 45:3-4; Exo 32:1; Exo 33:12; Joh 10:3).

sent--namely, the Medes and Persians (Isa 10:5-6; Isa 13:3). brought down--"made to go down" to the sea (Isa 42:10), in order to escape the impending destruction of Babylon. nobles--rather, "fugitives," namely, the foreigners who sojourned in populous Babylon (Isa 13:14), distinct from the Chaldeans [MAURER]. whose cry is in the ships--exulting in their ships with the joyous sailors--cry, boastingly; their joy heretofore in their ships contrasts sadly with their present panic in fleeing to them (Isa 22:2; Zep 2:15). Babylon was on the Euphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed into the Persian Gulf. Thus it was famed for ships and commerce until the Persian monarchs, to prevent revolt or invasion, obstructed navigation by dams across the Tigris and Euphrates.

The tone of the address is now suddenly changed. The sudden leap from reproach to consolation was very significant. It gave them to understand, that no meritorious work of their own would come in between what Israel was and what it was to be, but that it was God's free grace which came to meet it. "But now thus saith Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel! Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by name, thou art mine. When thou goest through the water, I am with thee; and through rivers, they shall not drown thee: when thou goest into fire, thou shalt not be burned; and the flame shall not set thee on fire." The punishment has now lasted quite long enough; and, as ועתּה affirms, the love which has hitherto retreated behind the wrath returns to its own prerogatives again. He who created and formed Israel, by giving Abraham the son of the promise, and caused the seventy of Jacob's family to grow up into a nation in Egypt, He also will shelter and preserve it. He bids it be of good cheer; for their early history is a pledge of this. The perfects after כּי in Isa 43:1 stand out against the promising futures in Isa 43:2, as retrospective glances: the expression "I have redeemed thee" pointing back to Israel's redemption out of Egypt; "I have called thee by thy name" (lit. I have called with thy name, i.e., called it out), to its call to be the peculiar people of Jehovah, who therefore speaks of it in Isa 48:12 as "My called." This help of the God of Israel will also continue to arm it against the destructive power of the most hostile elements, and rescue it from the midst of the greatest dangers, from which there is apparently no escape (cf., Psa 66:12; Dan 3:17, Dan 3:27; and Ges. 103, 2).

In close connection with the foregoing prophecy, the present one commences with the dissolution of the Chaldean empire. "Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to Babel, and will hurl them all down as fugitives, and the Chaldeans into the ships of their rejoicing. I, Jehovah, am your Holy One; (I) Israel's Creator, your King." Hitzig reads באניות, and adopts the rendering, "and drowned the shouting of the Chaldeans in groaning." Ewald also corrects Isa 43:14 thus: "And plunge their guitars into groanings, and the rejoicing of the Chaldeans into sighs." We cannot see any good taste in this un-Hebraic bombast. Nor is there any more reason for altering ברייחם (lxx φεύγοντας) into ברייחם (Jerome, vectes), as Umbreit proposes: "and make all their bolts (Note: This would require כּל־בּריחיה.) fall down, and the Chaldeans, who rejoice in ships" (bāŏniyōth). None of these alterations effect any improvement. For your sakes, says Jehovah, i.e., for the purpose of releasing you, I have sent to Babylon (sc., the agents of my judgments, Isa 13:3), and will throw them all down (viz., the πάμιμκτος ὄχλος of this market of the world; see Isa 13:14; Isa 47:15) as fugitives (bârı̄chı̄m with a fixed kametz, equivalent to barrı̄chı̄m), i.e., into a hurried flight; and the Chaldeans, who have been settled there from a hoary antiquity, even they shall be driven into the ships of their rejoicing (bŏŏniyōth, as in Pro 31:14), i.e., the ships which were previously the object of their jubilant pride and their jubilant rejoicing. והורדתּי stands in the perf. consec., as indicating the object of all the means already set in motion. The ships of pleasure are not air-balloons, as Hitzig affirms. Herodotus (i. 194) describes the freight ships discharging in Babylon; and we know from other sources that the Chaldeans not only navigated the Euphrates, but the Persian Gulf as well, and employed vessels built by Phoenicians for warlike purposes also. (Note: See G. Rawlinson, Monarchies, i. 128, ii. 448.) הוריד itself might indeed signify "to hurl to the ground" (Psa 56:8; Psa 59:12); but the allusion to ships shows that בּ הוריד are to be connected (cf., Isa 63:14), and that a general driving down both by land and water to the southern coast is intended. By thus sweeping away both foreigners and natives out of Babylon into the sea, Jehovah proves what He is in Himself, according to Isa 43:15, and also in His relation to Israel; we must supply a repetition of אני here (Isa 43:15), as in Isa 43:3. The congregation which addresses Him as the Holy One, the people who suffer Him to reign over them as their King, cannot remain permanently despised and enslaved.