Isaiah 42:9

"Behold" concludes this passage as it began it, forming an inclusio (cf. Isaiah 42:1). The former things that God had predicted through the prophets-that had come to pass already-provided assurance that the new things that Yahweh just revealed, about Cyrus and Messiah, would also happen. Another view is that the former things are the predictions concerning Cyrus, and the new things are the things having to do with the restoration of Israel. [Note: Delitzsch, 2:180.] Yahweh had revealed them before they happened, thus proving His uniqueness and superiority over the gods of the nations. This is the first of six times God claimed to predict the future in Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 44:7-8; Isaiah 45:1-4; Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 48:3-6).

Thus ends Yahweh’s disputation with the gods (Isaiah 41:1 to Isaiah 42:9). The appearance of Cyrus, more than 150 years after Isaiah’s prophecies about him, would be a kind of sign that the prophecies about the Servant would also come to pass-in the more distant future.