Isaiah 40:12-31

Jehovah the Supreme Ruler.

The connection of thought between this section and the foregoing one is this, that the majesty and glory of God over against the idolatry of the heathen nations guarantees the security and the deliverance of the believers of all times.

v. 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? fixing the quantity of all the water in ocean, seas, and streams, and meted out heaven with the span, the measure between the thumb and middle finger, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, the third part of an ephah, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Before the exalted Lord and Ruler of the universe the whole earth and all it contains are insignificant, amount to nothing or next to nothing, yet it was His good pleasure to weigh them out and to adjust them in their proper relation.

v. 13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Who can measure and understand Him, or, being His counselor, hath taught Him? advising Him on the basis of his understanding of the Lord's mind. Cf Romans 11:34. The fundamental principle of education is here stated: Understanding the pupil and giving him instruction, teaching him to discriminate and to perform the works of His government properly. It is preposterous that God should need or seek the counsel of any man.

v. 14. With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, so that He learned discrimination, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, so that He could apply His wisdom in the right manner, and showed to Him the way of understanding? so that His knowing could be translated into the right kind of doing. This thought is even more outside of the pale of possibility, for the Lord is immensely exalted above all human beings even at the highest point of their enlightenment, as the text shows in the next section.

v. 15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, clinging to the bottom of the bucket when it is emptied, and are counted as the small dust of the balance, like a grain of sand in the pan. Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing, like a mote that is carried upward. The prophet uses the very strongest comparisons to indicate the immeasurable distance by which even the imagination of man stays behind and fails to reach the exaltation of Jehovah.

v. 16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, to supply fuel enough for worthy sacrifices to the glory of God, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering, the untold number of animals with which these forests abounded would not be enough fittingly to honor Him by their sacrifice.

v. 17. All nations before Him are as nothing, their entire sum and substance totaling only so much before Him; and they are counted to Him less than nothing and vanity. Therefore the prophet inserts the question which, at the same time, introduces the new section of this chapter,

v. 18. To whom, then, will ye liken God? Why try to make comparisons, which, at best, are so utterly inadequate and futile? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? How foolish to try to represent Him by one of the idols whom the prophet now proceeds to describe.

v. 19. The workman melteth a graven image, casting it in molds, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, in a plating of the more precious metal, and casteth silver chains, as ornaments on the figure.

v. 20. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, that is, the heathen priest who is supported by such gifts, chooseth a tree that will not rot, the most durable wood; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, to set it up in the proper manner, that shall not be moved, so that the idol would fall to the ground. Note the irony of the prophet which is in evidence throughout, followed by disgust, which shows itself in a number of questions expressing great displeasure.

v. 21. Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? The facts which the prophet has in mind could and should be well known to all whom the prophet's words might reach. Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? God alone has established the earth and laid its foundations and no idol ever even approached him, much less was worthy of being compared with Him. This God is now described by the prophet.

v. 22. It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, highly exalted above the globe of this puny world, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, so insignificant and despicable in comparison with Him; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, the reference being to the awning which is drawn over the court of Oriental houses for shelter in rain or hot weather, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;

v. 23. that bringeth the princes to nothing, their power being helpless before Him; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity, nothingness, an empty show.

v. 24. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth, that is, hardly have they, in their own opinion, gained a foothold, believing themselves to be safe without the Lord, and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble, as chaff in a tornado, absolutely helpless before Him who is the Ruler of the universe. Therefore the Lord now bids men consider His incomparable majesty and glory.

v. 25. To whom, then, will ye liken Me or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. It is a vain and fruitless task even to compare the wisdom and power of individuals and of nations with that of the Lord; for he is the Possessor of limitless power and wisdom.

v. 26. Lift up your eyes on high, namely, to the heights of heaven, to the starry firmament, and behold who hath created these things, all the heavenly bodies, that bringeth out their host by number, like a shepherd leading his sheep to the meadow. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth, He takes care, by virtue of His might and of His goodness, that not one is left behind. How readily will He, therefore, will His love and goodness, surround His children everywhere with His protection! Cf Psalms 147:4; Matthew 10:30.

v. 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, all the believers everywhere, when evil days come upon them, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? the complaint often being made by Christians that the Lord takes no interest in them, that He disregards their case, that He neglects them, passing by their distress without noticing it. The reproachful question is followed by an emphatic statement, also in the form of a question,

v. 28. Hast thou not known? It surely had been proclaimed often enough. Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, who is unchangeable from eternity to eternity, the Lord, the covenant God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, that is, of the whole world with all that it contains, fainteth not, neither is weary? He never so much as begins to abandon His vigilant care for His children, much less will He fail in it. There is no searching of His understanding, it cannot be fathomed by the finite mind of any human being. This fact, then, should inspire His people with the strongest confidence.

v. 29. He giveth power to the faint, sustaining them when they are about to sink down; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength, that is, to those who are utterly helpless He imparts power.

v. 30. Even the youths, those in the prime of their young manhood, shall faint and be weary, namely, when depending on their own strength, and the young men, those excelling in youthful vigor and energy, shall utterly fall, for mere human might and power is, after all, subject to weariness and decay.

v. 31. But they that wait upon the Lord, putting all their trust in Him alone, shall renew their strength, gaining new spiritual power from day to day; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, the birds who have ever been types of almost limitless strength, Psalms 103:5; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint, finishing their course with the strength imparted to them from on high, victorious to the last. 2 Timothy 4:7.