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41. The Helper of Israel

¹ “Be silent before me, you islands!
Let the nations renew their strength!
Let them come forward and speak;
let us meet together at the place of judgment.

    ² “Who has stirred up one from the east,
   calling him in righteousness to his service Or east, / whom victory meets at every step?
He hands nations over to him
   and subdues kings before him.
He turns them to dust with his sword,
   to windblown chaff with his bow.
³ He pursues them and moves on unscathed,
   by a path his feet have not traveled before.
⁴ Who has done this and carried it through,
   calling forth the generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD—with the first of them
   and with the last—I am he.”

    ⁵ The islands have seen it and fear;
   the ends of the earth tremble.
They approach and come forward;
    ⁶ they help each other
   and say to their companions, “Be strong!”
⁷ The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,
   and the one who smooths with the hammer
   spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.
One says of the welding, “It is good.”
   The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.

    ⁸ “But you, Israel, my servant,
   Jacob, whom I have chosen,
   you descendants of Abraham my friend,
⁹ I took you from the ends of the earth,
   from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
   I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

    ¹¹ “All who rage against you
   will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
   will be as nothing and perish.
¹² Though you search for your enemies,
   you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
   will be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I am the LORD your God
   who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
   I will help you.
¹⁴ Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
   little Israel, do not fear,
for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD,
   your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,
   new and sharp, with many teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
   and reduce the hills to chaff.
¹⁶ You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,
   and a gale will blow them away.
But you will rejoice in the LORD
   and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

    ¹⁷ “The poor and needy search for water,
   but there is none;
   their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
   I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
   and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
   and the parched ground into springs.
¹⁹ I will put in the desert
   the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
   the fir and the cypress together,
²⁰ so that people may see and know,
   may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
   that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

    ²¹ “Present your case,” says the LORD.
   “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
²² “Tell us, you idols,
   what is going to happen.
Tell us what the former things were,
   so that we may consider them
   and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,
    ²³ tell us what the future holds,
   so we may know that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,
   so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
²⁴ But you are less than nothing
   and your works are utterly worthless;
   whoever chooses you is detestable.

    ²⁵ “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
   one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
   as if he were a potter treading the clay.
²⁶ Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
   or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?
No one told of this,
   no one foretold it,
   no one heard any words from you.
²⁷ I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
   I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.
²⁸ I look but there is no one—
   no one among the gods to give counsel,
   no one to give answer when I ask them.
²⁹ See, they are all false!
   Their deeds amount to nothing;
   their images are but wind and confusion.

4. Who hath appointed? Although Isaiah has exhibited in this passage nothing more than the example of Abraham, yet he undoubtedly intended to remind the people of all the benefits which the fathers had received in ancient times; as if he had said, “Call to remembrance what is your origin, whence I raised up your father Abraham, by what path I led him; and yet this was not the termination of my favors, for since that time I have never ceased to enrich you with every kind of blessings.” When he asks therefore who he is, he does not speak merely of a single performance, but adds other benefits, which followed at various times, and which the people ought also to remember.

Calling the nations from the beginning. This must relate to the constant succession of ages. In the Hebrew language דור (dor) means not only “an age,” or the duration of human life, but the men who lived at that time. Thus one generation is distinguished from another, as fathers from their children, and grandchildren from their grandfathers; for posterity will call us the former generation, and will call our ancestors a generation more remote and ancient. Again, because any one age would consume mankind, if it were not renewed by offspring, the Prophet shows that God multiplies men by an uninterrupted course, so that they succeed each other. Hence it follows, that he presides over all ages, that we may not think that this world is governed by chance, while the providence of God is clearly seen in the succession of ages. But because, in consequence of various changes, the world appears to revolve by blind impulse, the Prophet declares by these words that those manifold events were known “from the beginning”’ of the world, which amounts to this, that amidst that variety which time brings, God reigns, and accomplishes by a uniform course what he decreed from the beginning.

I Jehovah. At length he asserts more plainly that God is the author of these blessings, that Abraham conquered enemies, (Genesis 14:16,) that he lived among wicked men without suffering harm, that he put kings to flight, (Psalm 105:14,) that the Lord avenged him, when Abimelech (Genesis 20:18) and also Pharaoh (Genesis 12:17) had violently seized his wife. Besides, he shows that it ought to be ascribed to him, that other blessings of various kinds had been bestowed on every generation; for his power had been manifested not only to the race of Abraham, but to the whole world.

Am the first, and likewise with the last. This relates not only to the eternity of essence, but to the government which he exercises on earth; as if he had said, that God does not grow old by any length of time, and never will surrender his authority; for he does not sit unemployed in heaven, but from his throne, on the contrary, he regulates the affairs of this world. But although the world put in his place an innumerable crowd of gods, yet he declares that he sustains no loss, because he will always continue to be like himself.