Isaiah 41:1-7

II.—THE SECOND DISCOURSE

The First Appearance of the Redeemer from the East and of the Servant of Jehovah, and also the First and Second Conversion of the Prophecy relating to this into a Proof of the Divinity of Jehovah.

Isaiah 41:0

1. THE FIRST CHIEF FIGURE: THE DELIVERER CALLED FROM THE EAST. THE FIRST APPLICATION OF THE PROPHECY AS A TEST OF DIVINITY

Isaiah 41:1-7

1          Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people 1renew their strength;

2Let them come near; then let them speak:

3Let us come near together to judgment.

2     Who raised up 4the righteous man from the east,

Called him to his foot,Gave the nations before him,And made him rule over kings?

5He gave them as the dust to his sword,

And as driven stubble to his bow,

3     He pursued them, and passed 6safely;

7Even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

4     Who hath wrought and done it, 8calling the generations from the beginning?

I the Lord, the first,And with the last; I am he.

5     The Isles saw it, and feared;

The ends of the earth were afraid,Drew near, and came.

6     They helped every one his neighbour;

And every one said to his brother,9Be of good courage.

7     So the 10carpenter encouraged the 11goldsmith,

And he that smootheth with the hammer 12him that smote the anvil,

13Saying, it is ready for the sodering:

And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

See List for the recurrence of the words: Isaiah 41:1. קרב–החריש. Isaiah 41:2. מזרה–העיר. Isaiah 41:3. רדף. Isaiah 41:4. אַחֲרֹנִים–רִאשׁוֹן–דּוֹר–פעל. Isaiah 41:5.–חרד אָתָה. Isaiah 41:6. חַזַק–עָזַר. Isaiah 41:7. הלם–פטישׁ–מחליק–צרֵֹף–חָרָש

Isaiah 41:1. We have a pregnant construction in, החרישׁו אלי comp. Job 13:13.

Isaiah 41:2. The perfect מִי הֵעִיר‏ is only the prophetic perfect, representing the fact of awaking, not as one actually past, but as actually certain, i. e., all the same as happened. It indicates thus the objective reality, but not the time, as indeed generally the Hebrew modi express primarily not the time but the modality of being. The same is true of העי‏ותי Isaiah 41:25.—What is the object of הֵעִיר? Modern expositors, since Vitringa, so far as I see, are all of them of the opinion that the words צדק יקראהו לרגלו, to be construed as a relative clause, are the object: him whom right (salvation, victory) meets at his feet. This exposition rests on the Masoretic punctuation But this does not give an absolute rule. It has the great disadvantage that it compels us to take יקרא in the sense of יִקְרֶה and לרגלו, accordingly, in the sense of “before him,” “ante pedem ejus.” Now the first would present no difficulty, since קרא occurs often enough in the sense of קרה. But the latter is very serious since לְרֶגֶל in all other places of its occurrence means “to follow on the feet of.” In Genesis 30:30 it stands directly in antithesis with לְפָנַי: “little hadst thou before me, but it spreads out to a multitude behind me” (on my foot לְרַגְלִי). Deuteronomy 33:3 תֻּכּוּ לְרַגְלֶךָ is “they turned after thy foot-print,” (comp. Schrader in loc). Compare the usage in 1 Samuel 25:42; Job 18:11; Habakkuk 3:5. Only in these passages does רֶגֶל occur with לְ denoting place. Thus the objection to taking לרגלו in the sense of “obviam, towards,” is certainly justified. Then we must take קרא and לרגלו in their common meaning, “to call,” and “after him.” Moreover we must take צדק as object of העיר as all the ancient translations and many later expositors have done. The LXX.: τίσ ἐξήγειρεν , ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὴν κατὰ πόδας αὐτοῦ; Vulg. quis suscitavit ab oriente justum, vocavit eum, ut sequeretur se, etc.—The expression יתן לפניו reminds one of Deuteronomy 28:7; Deuteronomy 28:24-25.—If we take יַרְדְּ as Hiph. of רָדָה “conculcare,” then it means “conculcare faciet.” Of course מְלָכִים is object: he will make him trample down kings.” But it might be taken as Kal. (יַרְדְּ instead of יֵרְדְּ on account of the pause). The only difference in sense would be: “he will himself trample down.”—יתן כעפר וגו׳. It seems to me over-ingenious, when Delitzsch construes the כְּ as the mere intimation of a comparison that is left to the reader’s fancy to be completed. All depends on making חרבו and קשׁתו subject. That it does not read תִּתֵּן because חֶרֶב and קֶשֶׁת are feminine, makes not the least difficulty. For the ideal subject is “he” that holds the sword and bow. Comp. Isaiah 17:5; Isaiah 51:5. Rueckert, Knobel and others needlessly supply אֲשֶׁר before יתן. After יתן one may supply אוֹתָם, as often the pronominal object is omitted (comp. Genesis 2:19; Genesis 6:19 sqq., and especially 1 Kings 22:6; 1 Kings 22:15, where also the object is omitted after נתן); or, still more simply, one may regard כעפר and כקשׁ as the immediate object of יתן: “his sword shall make like dust, his bow like scattered chaff,” i. e., sword and bow when set to work will produce that effect, likeness to dust and chaff.—Note the assonance in יַרְדְּ and &נִדָּף יִרְדְּפֵם and &קַשׁ יִרְדְּפֵּם and קַשְׁתּוֹ.

Isaiah 41:3. שָׁלוֹם either adjective or adverbial accusative.—I believe that יַֽעֲבֹר and יָבוֹא stand in antithesis. For, as is well known, בּוֹא often has the sense of going back in antithesis to verbs meaning “to go thither, go out.” Thus יצא and בוא are often used in antithesis; comp. Joshua 6:1; 1 Kings 3:7. Hence they are used of the rising and setting of the sun (Genesis 19:23; Isaiah 13:19, and Genesis 15:12; Genesis 15:17; Genesis 18:11, etc.). Comp. Isaiah 37:28; Numbers 27:17 : 1 Samuel 29:6; 1Ki 15:17; 2 Chronicles 1:10, etc.). But בוא also stands in antithesis to other verbs in this sense; thus Psalms 126:6. “Forth goes the bearer of the seeding, hither comes with rejoicing the bearer of his sheaves.” Consider in addition that probably ברגליו corresponds to לרגלו Isaiah 41:2. For בְּרֶגֶל פ׳ is to the question “where?” the same that לְרֶגִל פ׳ is to the question “whither?” Thus to go בְּרַגְלֵי פ׳ very often means “to go on the track of one” (comp. Exodus 11:8; Judges 4:10; Judges 8:5; 1 Samuel 25:27; 2 Samuel 15:17, etc.). One may, indeed, translate ברגליו in our text: “he will not measure backwards with his feet the way;” for in itself it may very well mean that (comp. Numbers 20:19; Deuteronomy 2:28; Judges 4:15; Judges 4:17; Proverbs 19:2, etc.). But every one feels that this sense here were superfluous. It might be urged in reference to taking בוא in the sense of redire, that then, too, ברנליו were superfluous. But the antithesis of עָבָר and בּוִא is not so pregnant as that of יצא and בּוֹא, and hence the Prophet’s intended meaning of this word is not so plainly recognizable, and indeed, so far, as I know, no one has recognized it. Thus, to give a hint to the reader of the sense he would convey by יבוא, the Prophet adds ברגליו.

Isaiah 41:4. When הוּא stands emphatically for God, as it does here, it always refers backward, either to an unnamed and unnameable something in the preceding context, yet known as assumed, that involves the notion the One-All who upholds all things and comprehends everything. So it seems to me to be used Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 48:12. In such a case הוּא is predicate. Or it so refers back to that great Unnamed, that is known to be taken for granted, that it appears as in apposition with the subject. Then it = talis. הוּא is used thus of men, Jeremiah 49:12, and after מִי Isaiah 50:9, etc. But it stands for God in this sense, 2 Samuel 7:28; Isaiah 37:16; Nehemiah 9:6-7. But it can also be predicate in this way, that it only introduces the predicate notion as one already known. Then it is = ille, is, and always has a participle after it (ego sum ille, qui, comp. Isaiah 51:9-10, אַתְּ־הִיא Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 51:12.—But further הוּא appears also to be the simple connecting “it,” which says that the preceding statement appertains as predicate to the subject represented by אַתָּה or אֲנִי Isaiah 43:13; Jeremiah 14:22; Psalms 44:5. But finally הוּא serves the purpose of affirming the identity of the predicate clause with the predicate of a preceding clause that is expressed or implied. Then it acquires the meaning idem. So here and Psalms 102:28 (comp. Job 3:19; Hebrews 13:8). In our passage הוּא manifestly affirms that Jehovah is with those that are last that one that He was as the first, i. e., the same.

Isaiah 41:5. איים see Isaiah 41:1; and on קצות הארץ see Isaiah 40:28.

Isaiah 41:7. Drawing the accent back in הולם to avoid the collision of two tone syllables is normal, but the change of Tsere to Seghol is not normal (comp. Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 66:3; Num. 17:23; Numbers 24:22; Ezekiel 22:25). The latter is probably occasioned by the effort to better imitate the beat of the hammer strokes.—פַּעַם in the sense of “anvil” only here.—One need not construe אֹמֵר participle. It may stand in the sense of a finite verb (comp. Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 24:2; Isaiah 29:8; Isaiah 32:12).—דֶּבֶק adhaesio, agglutinatio signifies that whereby the work of the צרף is joined to that of the &חרשׁ לְ= “in reference to” (Isaiah 5:1; Genesis 20:13, etc.).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. God has a twofold object in view: 1) He would announce that He will raise up for His people a deliverer from the East; this is the chief contents of the first Ennead. 2) By this act of deliverance He would demonstrate His divinity in contrast with the nothingness of idols. This twofold object He attains by summoning the heathen nations to a trial in which He gives the proofs of His divinity (Isaiah 41:1-5); but they on their part do not respond, for the powerlessness of their idols is shown by a brief reference to the manner in which they originate (Isaiah 41:6-7).

2. Keep silence——judgment.

Isaiah 41:1. With reverential silence (comp. on יגשׁו ו׳) must the islands (comp. on Isaiah 40:15) come to the Lord. For that He is the speaker appears from Isaiah 41:1-2, and especially from Isaiah 41:4. The expression יחליפּו כח, “ they shall renew their strength,” stands here so near to Isaiah 40:31, that we must regard it as a link that binds the two chapters together. The Lord would intimate by these words that the task the nations will have to perform before the judgment, is a difficult one, that therefore they must “in respect to strength make change,” i. e., renew strength, put on new strength. [“As if He had said: they that hope in Jehovah shall renew their strength; but those that refuse renew theirs as they can.”—J. A. A.] The Lord demands politeness, reverence from the nations even before the controversy is decided, so certain is He that He will gain it. They must not come on with rude noise, but modestly and then speak. למשׁפט, “to judicial trial,” is used here as in Isaiah 54:17; Numbers 35:12; Joshua 20:6; Judges 4:5; 2Sa 15:2; 2 Samuel 15:6. If Jehovah is Himself a party, who is then the judge? To this question Rosenmueller (with whom Delitzsch agrees) well replies: “Vocantur gentes in judicium ad tribunal non Dei sed rationis.”

3. Who raised——with his feet.

Isaiah 41:2-3. With these words the Lord deposeth before the judgment a proof of His divinity. It does not consist merely in the fact that the deeds of the hero announced here shall give their right to the people of God, i. e., deliverance from the unrighteous tyranny of the heathen, while He will destroy the latter; but above all it consists in the fact that the Lord prophesies the appearance of the hero, and thus stakes His honor on the fulfilment of it. For that this hero brings deliverance to the people may be accident, an effect of His fancy, of arbitrariness, of a ruler’s caprice. In hat would therefore lie no strict proof of the divinity of Jehovah. But if Jehovah prophesies the appearance and doing of that hero, and it happens accordingly, then it is proved that the Lord is a living, omniscient, and almighty God. One may not object that “what is future and unfulfilled would be without present power to prove” (Delitzsch). For the text has nothing to do with an historical, actual disputation with heathen, in which, of course, a prophecy would be no proof. But the supposed disputation is only a rhetorical form that the Prophet uses in order to make the Israelites sensible of their folly and wrong, who, though they knew the living divinity of Jehovah, and that idols were without life, turned to the latter notwithstanding. This meaning appears by a comparison with Isaiah 41:21 sqq. For there the idols are very expressly challenged to prophesy future events, and from their powerlessness to do so is inferred their nothingness. And hence it appears to me that the verses 1–7 stand first as theme. The redemption, that in them is only intimated, is more particularly described, Isaiah 41:8-20, while Isaiah 41:21-29 amplify in respect to the way in which the appearance of the deliverer will be a proof for Jehovah who had foretold it, and against the idols which were unable to foretell it. Thus I do not believe that the argumentation of the Prophet presupposes the victorious career of Cyrus as begun, either in an ideal or in a real sense. It is wholly a thing of the future, and must be so contemplated. For how otherwise could the Prophet prophesy it?

It is plain that Cyrus is the hero referred to, and not Abraham, or Christ, or even the Apostle Paul, as, until Vitringa, was the opinion of the ancient expositors. The way for naming this name, which is produced at last in Isaiah 44:28, is prepared with much art. The hints of its coming may be compared to the gleams of light that, beginning feebly, and increasing in strength and extent, precede the sunrise. The first hint is that the East is to be the point whence the grand appearance shall issue. Persia in fact lies east of Babylonia. It accords also with the purpose of beginning small that the Prophet does not once name a definite, personal object of העיר. We must take צדק as that object (see Text and Gram.) Regarding the meaning of צדק, I would repeat the remark already made, that the Old Testament righteousness is not the antithesis of grace, but of violent oppression, and hence that a צדיק, “righteous man,” is one who, though he has the power to the contrary, still lets right reign, and thereby both uses gentleness and dispenses happiness, salvation, and blessing [see comm. on Isaiah 1:21; Isaiah 1:26, Tr.]. Israel in exile was oppressed by its enemies, and though in respect to Jehovah this was a deserved punishment, still their enemies had, ex propriis, aggravated it, and thereby done a wrong to Israel (comp. Isaiah 10:5 sqq.). If now the hero from the East acts justly toward Israel, he shows himself to be a mild lord, and helps Israel to its rights against the oppression of the heathen, and thereby to happiness and salvation. Hence I believe that all these meanings are implied in צֶרֶק. But they can only become operative through a person, a צדיק, “righteous man.” To this latent notion in צדק, of a righteous man, the following suffixes [pronouns] must be referred. It suits the purpose of the Prophet already noticed, to let the person of the deliverer appear by degrees and unfold itself. One may say that his personality develops itself here, as it were, out of an impersonal germ. This one awakened to do righteousness the Lord calls after Him (comp. Isaiah 42:6, which passage the Masorets perhaps had in mind when they connected צדק with יקראהו), i. e., he leads him further and fur ther [לרגלו, see Text. and Gramm.]. Is there thus in יקראהו לר׳ a formal definition of העיר, so in יתו there is a definition as to matter. The words last named say what the hero, by extending his power, will do. All these clauses stand under the influence of the interrogative מִי. Nations are properly not things that one gives away, and kings rule and are not themselves ruled. But here is an exception. Jehovah gives to this hero nations to do as he pleases with them, and subjects kings to him so that they must serve him. His sword made them as dust, etc., describes the degree to which they are given to him which was before said in יתן and ירד. His sword and bow, once set to work, will do such work that the result will be the likeness of dust and chaff (see Text. and Gram.) On קַשׁ see on Isaiah 40:24; נִדַּף comp. Isaiah 19:7. But not merely a battle in one place shall occur, but also pursuit of the fugitives. He, the conquering hero, shall go on well-preserved (שׁלום), and always forwards, never backwards (see Text. and Gram. on ארה ברגליו, etc.). He will not go back in his own foot-prints (il ne reviendra pas sur ses pas). [J. A. A. agrees with Ewald, “the clause describes the swiftness of his motions, as flying rather than walking on foot,” and cites in support Daniel 8:5.—Tr.].

4. Who hath wrought——and came.

Isaiah 41:4-5. The Lord has announced a majestic appearance of world-wide significance. But, though it is something still future, He has let it appear as an image of the past before the eyes of those that were summoned. Hence, as Isaiah 41:2 He asked: “who has awakened?” so He now asks, using the past tense, who has prepared and made this? Of course the same that foreknew and predicted it, and who could do this because He is the One who from the beginning called the generations of men into existence, and hence can say of Himself: I Jehovah the first and I am still with the last (see Text. and Gram.). The Lord summoned the heathen to a controversy (Isaiah 41:1). He has laid down the proof of His divinity (Isaiah 41:2-4). Now it is the turn of the heathen to produce a similar performance on the part of their idols. Notice that the Prophet opposes the heathen nations to God, and not their idols. This is quite natural. For the idols have no actual existence. Hence it comes that the heathen must defend the cause of their idols; whereas Israel’s God defends the cause of His people. Therefore, obedient to the summons of Isaiah 41:1, the heathen nations approach. They see the proof that the Lord has presented in His own favor, and with dismay, for they know at once that they cannot match the performance with any thing similar. And so they approach trembling, as it were, to look at this trial-sample of Jehovah’s on all sides. That they would have said something is not declared. Speechless they keep silence before the majesty of the Lord.

5. They helped——be moved.

Isaiah 41:6-7. It is too incredible that the heathen, seized with fear, and in order to find help against the threatening appearance of the predicted hero, turn in haste to the fabrication of idol images (Delitz.), or that they nailed fast those threatened by Cyrus (Hitzig). No, these verses would show, by the manner in which idols originate, that they cannot possibly triumph in the controversy to which they are challenged (Isaiah 41:1). How can such productions of men’s hands maintain themselves against Him who can speak of Himself as in Isaiah 41:4? I accordingly connect Isaiah 41:6 with what follows, and not with what precedes. For Isaiah 41:5 evidently corresponds to Isaiah 41:1. For there the nations are required to approach reverently and in silence; for this very reason they are unable to respond to the “they shall speak” (Isaiah 41:1): there the nations are called on to get strength, and Isaiah 41:5 we see them draw near, afraid and trembling; “they drew near” and “came” of Isaiah 41:5 corresponds to “they shall approach,” “we will draw near” (נקרבה יגשׁו) of Isaiah 41:1. With this the cyle of thought beginning with Isaiah 41:1 is concluded. Thus Isaiah 41:5 looks backwards; Isaiah 41:6 forwards. The latter says in general the same that Isaiah 41:7 a says in reference to particular relations. Both verses have for their chief idea that idol-making is a fatiguing labor, costing not only much money (Isaiah 40:19), but also much sweat, in which one must encourage and aid the other in order to get it done. What a shameful difference then between idols and Jehovah.

The חָרָשׁ, “smith,” prepares the body of the image; the צֹרֵף, “founder,” makes ready the covering. The former strengthens the latter by good preparatory work and cheering words. “The smoother with the hammer” seems to me to be identical with the צרף, for the metal would surely be smoothed by him who moulded it. On the other hand, the הוֹלֶם פַעַם, “the smiter on the anvil,” is identical with the חרשׁ; for he that works at the anvil makes the iron body, makes the nails, and fastens the image with them. “The smoother with the hammer” is the subject of אֹמֵר, for he has made the soldering, and by the call “it is good” he cheers “the smith” to continue and complete the work that consists in fastening the image with nails to the place where it is to be set up. “It is good,” comp. Exodus 2:2; Genesis 1:4; Genesis 1:8, etc. מַסְמְרִים, “clavi,” only here in Isaiah. Comp. Jeremiah 10:3-5, which passage is evidently copied after ours and Isaiah 40:19 sq.; Isaiah 44:9-17; Isaiah 46:6 sq. לאימוט, comp. Isaiah 40:20.

Footnotes:

[1]shall renew.

[2]Then shall come, they shall speak.

[3]We will come.

[4]Heb. Righteousness.

[5]His sword shall make them as dust, his bow, etc.

[6]Heb. in peace.

[7]He returns not the way on his foot-prints.

[8]he that called.

[9]Heb. Be strong.

[10]the smith.

[11]Or, founder.

[12]Or, the smiting.

[13]Or, Saying of the soder, It is good.