Isaia 40:17 Commento

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 40 This chapter treats of the comforts of God's people; of the forerunner and coming of the Messiah; of his work, and the dignity of his person; of the folly of making idols, and of the groundless complaints of the church of God. The consolations of God's people, by whom to be administered, and the matter, ground, and reason of them, Isa 40:1. John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ, is described by his work and office, and the effects of it; it issuing in the humiliation of some, and the exaltation of others, and in the revelation of the glory of Christ, Isa 40:3, then follows an order to every minister of the Gospel what he should preach and publish; the weakness and insufficiency of men to anything that is spiritually good; their fading and withering goodliness, which is to be ascribed to the blowing of the Spirit of God upon it; and the firmness and constancy of the word of God is declared, Isa 40:6, next the apostles of Christ in Jerusalem are particularly exhorted to publish fervently and openly the good tidings of the Gospel; to proclaim the coming of Christ, the manner of it, and the work he came about; and to signify his faithful discharge of his office as a shepherd, Isa 40:9, the dignity of whose person is set forth by his almighty power, by his infinite wisdom, and by the greatness of his majesty, in comparison of which all nations and things are as nothing, Isa 40:12 and then the vanity of framing any likeness to God, and of forming idols for worship, is observed, Isa 40:18, and from the consideration of the divine power in creation and upholding all things, the church of God is encouraged to expect renewed strength and persevering grace, and is blamed for giving way to a distrustful and murmuring spirit, Isa 40:26.

All nations before him are as nothing,.... As if they were nonentities, and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight, and are not only as grasshoppers, as is after mentioned, but even as nothing: and they are counted to him as less than nothing, and vanity; if there is or could be such a thing less than nothing, that they are; and so they are accounted of by him; they are like the chaos out of which the earth was formed, when it was "tohu" and "bohu", the first of which words is used here; this serves to humble the pride of men, and to lessen the glory of the nations, and the inhabitants of them.

He teaches, therefore, that all of this service through blood and sacrifice is no longer appropriate for God. Neither someone offering all the four-footed creatures of the earth nor all of Lebanon and all the matter produced in it as sacrifices would be worthy before God. “All the nations are as nothing, and are reckoned as nothing.” What kind of clinging to idolatrous straying did God not know about?

(Verse 17) All nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. LXX: All the nations are as nothing in his sight, and they are counted as worthless. But if all nations are in his sight as if they were not, and are considered as nothing and empty (though in all nations and in Israel also), therefore he himself is also as if he were not, and is considered as nothing and empty. We say this, so that his pride may be broken, and so that he may know that he is like the other nations.

(Verse 12 and following) Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills on a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did he consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. And Lebanon is not enough to burn, and its animals are not enough for a burnt offering. All nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Who has shown him the way of justice, and who has taught him knowledge? Behold, all the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor all the animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing in his sight, and they are counted as worthless. Let no one think that the calling of the nations is difficult, and that all flesh will see the salvation of God. They are commanded to climb the high mountain, those who proclaim the good news to Zion; and the Lord himself will come in strength, and will reward each one according to his work; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry the nursing ewes. His greatness is described, for nothing is impossible for him; and he who has created everything, and is the Creator of all, can accomplish even these things which are small in comparison. But he uses the words and measurements of human custom, that we may learn the power of God through our words. In the place where the Seventy translated: Who has measured the water with his hand? or as we translate: Who has measured the waters with a handful? Aquila translated: Who has measured the waters with the smallest finger? For this word λιχὰς signifies that the vastness of all the waters is weighed not with the whole hand but with the small finger, which is commonly called the taster: but σπιθαμὴ, that is, the palm, signifies the hand stretched out from the thumb to the extreme finger. But if we contract our hand, it becomes a fist, so that through the palm and the fist we might know the outspread heavens and the globe of the earth. For the fist, which they brought over to the comprehension of the earth as seventy, is written in Hebrew Salt (), which Symmachus interprets as threefold and Aquila as three-handed: and to make it more evident, we turn it into three fingers; so that, indeed, the mass of the earth and the lofty mountains and hills seem to hang by means of three little fingers and in a small moment from the balance; whereby the majesty of God and the power of the Creator is demonstrated. Who, he says, aided the spirit of the Lord, or who was his counselor and showed him? etc. For which Symmachus interpreted: Who prepared the spirit of the Lord, and who showed him the man of his counsel? with whom he entered into counsel, and gave him understanding, and taught him the way of judgment, and instructed him in knowledge, and showed him the path of prudence? By which it is shown more clearly that the spirit is prepared or established, of which it is read in the Apostle: But the Lord is the Spirit. And on whom the Spirit of God rested, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, etc. He says in the following: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: because He has anointed me (Isaiah 61:1). He is truly the Spirit of the Lord and the man of His counsel, in whom the fullness of divinity dwelt bodily (Colossians 2). With Him entered into the counsel, of which we spoke above (Ad 11:6): Wonderful, counselor. And in Proverbs it is written: God by wisdom hath founded the earth, by prudence hath prepared the heavens (Prov. III, 19). Moreover, the LXX said: Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counseller? They wish to understand that the mind, reason and understanding of God, by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made, is the one of whom it is sung in the Psalms: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the breath of his mouth (Ps. XXXII, 6). All peoples who did not know their Creator or the whole human race in comparison to God are like a drop from a bucket and like a speck of dust on a scale that tilts lightly to one side. And just as if a small drop falls from a bucket, it is ignored by the one carrying it; so too the entire multitude of nations, compared to the divine ministries and the multitude of angels, is considered as nothing. Even islands are considered like spit, or as Symmachus and Theodotion place it in their Hebrew translation, as 'leptos (a little thing)' which falls off, for which Aquila translated as 'leptos ballōmenon (a tiny thing thrown).' But the Hebrews say that this word signifies the finest dust, which, being carried by the wind, is often thrown into the eyes and is felt rather than seen. Therefore, the tiniest particles of dust, almost invisible, are called by this word: which perhaps Democritus, with his atom, calls them with Epicurus. There are many names which are read (or understood) in Greek in the same way as they are in Hebrew, because of the difficulty of interpretation, and for the comparison of the poverty of the Hebrew language, both in Greek and in Latin speech. At the same time, as he gradually withdraws people from idolatry, he abolishes the ceremonies of sacrifices; and he teaches that all the trees of Lebanon and the cattle that feed on them are not sufficient for his burnt offerings. But if all nations are in his sight as if they were not, and are considered as nothing and empty (though in all nations and in Israel also), therefore he himself is also as if he were not, and is considered as nothing and empty. We say this, so that his pride may be broken, and so that he may know that he is like the other nations.

He also shows that it exceeds every perfection of creation: both natural, for the being of creatures is, in respect to God, non being; for Dionysius says, in his book on Divine Names 12.4, that so far as the participants surpass non-participants, and the participations surpass the participants, to such an extent, he who is the principle of the participants exceeds both the participations and the participants: all nations are before him as if they had no being at all; and as to superadded perfections, which are fulfilling in a certain way: and are counted to him as nothing. I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing (Jer 4:23).

This and the four following chapters contain a distinct account of what passed in the land of Judah from the taking of Jerusalem to the retreat of the remnant of the people to Egypt; together with the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning that place, whither he himself accompanied them. In this chapter we have an account of the enlargement of Jeremiah by Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, who advises him to put himself under the jurisdiction of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land of Judea, Jer 40:1-5. The prophet and many of the dispersed Jews repair to Gedaliah, Jer 40:6-12. Johanan acquaints the governor of a conspiracy against him, but is not believed, Jer 40:13-16.

SECOND PART OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. (Isa. 40:1-31) Comfort ye, comfort ye--twice repeated to give double assurance. Having announced the coming captivity of the Jews in Babylon, God now desires His servants, the prophets (Isa 52:7), to comfort them. The scene is laid in Babylon; the time, near the close of the captivity; the ground of comfort is the speedy ending of the captivity, the Lord Himself being their leader. my people . . . your God--correlatives (Jer 31:33; Hos 1:9-10). It is God's covenant relation with His people, and His "word" of promise (Isa 40:8) to their forefathers, which is the ground of His interposition in their behalf, after having for a time chastised them (Isa 54:8).

(Psa 62:9; Dan 4:35). less than nothing--MAURER translates, as in Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing. vanity--emptiness.

From the obverse of the thought in Isa 40:15 the prophet returns to the thought itself, and dwells upon it still further. "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as belonging to nullity and emptiness." 'Ephes is the end at which a thing ceases, and in an absolute sense that at which all being ceases, hence non-existence or nullity. Tōhū (from tâhâh, related to shâ'âh; vid., Comm. on Job, at Job 37:6), a horrible desolation, like the chaos of creation, where there is nothing definite, and therefore as good as nothing at all; min is hardly comparative in the sense of "more nothing than nothing itself" (Like Job 11:17, where "brighter" is to be supplied, or Mic 7:4, where "sharper" is similarly required), but is used in the same partitive sense as in Isa 41:24 (cf., Isa 44:11 and Psa 62:10).