View Isaiah 44 in the note window.
A farther promise of spiritual blessings, ver. 1 - 6.
The vanity of idols, and folly of idol - makers, and worshippers,
ver. 7 - 20.
An exhortation to praise God, ver. 21 - 23.
our Redeemer and maker, ver. 24.
for his wisdom, ver. 25.
truth, ver. 26.
power, ver. 27.
and goodness, ver. 28.
2: Formed thee - From the time that I first took thee to be my
people, I have been forming and fashioning thee. Jesurun - Another
name of Jacob or Israel, given to him, (De 32:15).
3: Water - Upon him that is destitute of it.
5: Israel - The blessing of God upon the Jews shall be so
remarkable, that the Gentiles shall join them, and accept the
Lord for their God.
7: Who - Which of all the Heathen gods. Declare - Shall by his
powerful word cause it to be, and by his fore - knowledge declare that it
shall be. Set in order - Orderly relate all future events in the same
manner as they shall happen. Since - Since I first made man upon earth.
The things - Such things as are near at hand, and such as are to come
hereafter.
8: Ye - Thee, O Israel, whom he bids not to fear.
Told thee - Even from the first ages of the world. Declared - Have
published it to the world in my sacred records. Witnesses - Both
of my predictions, and of the exact agreeableness of events to them.
9: Delectable things - Their idols, in which they take so much
pleasure. They - They that make them, are witnesses against themselves,
and against their idols, because they know they are the work of their
own hands. See not - Have neither sense nor understanding, therefore
they have just cause to be ashamed of their folly, in worshipping
such senseless things.
11: Men - They are of mankind, and therefore cannot possibly make a
god. Together - Tho' all combine together, they shall be filled with fear
and confusion, when God shall plead his cause against them.
12: Faint - This is mentioned as an evidence of great zeal and
industry in carrying on this work; so that they forget or neglect
to eat and drink.
13: According to - In the same comely shape and proportions which are
in a living man. House - In the dwelling - house of him that made it.
14: Oak - Which afford the best and most durable timber.
Strengtheneth - He plants, and with care and diligence improves those
trees, that he or his posterity may thence have materials for their
images, and those things which belong to them.
15: Fallen down - Having related the practices of idolaters, he now
discovers the folly of them, that he makes his fire and his god of the
same materials, distinguished only by the art of man.
17: He eateth - He dresses flesh for his eating. Seen - I have felt
the warmth of it.
18: Not known - This shews that they have not the understanding of a
man. For he - God. Not as if God did make men wicked; he only permits
them so to be, and orders, and over - rules their wickedness to his own
glorious ends.
20: Ashes - An unprofitable and pernicious food, and no less
unsatisfying and mischievous is the worship of idols. Deceived heart - A
mind corrupted and deceived by deep prejudice, gross error, and especially
by his own lusts. Turned - From the way of truth. Deliver - From the
snares and dangers of idolatry. Is there not - What is this idol which I
set at my right - hand, as the true God is said in scripture to be at the
right - hand of his people; which I highly honour, for the most honourable
place was on the right - hand; to which I look for relief and assistance,
which God in scripture is said to afford to his people, by being at and
holding their right - hand. What, I say, is this idol? Is it not a
lie, which tho' it pretends to be a god, yet, in truth is nothing but
vanity and falsehood?
21: These - These things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of
idolaters. Forgotten - I will not forget nor forsake thee; therefore
thou shalt have no need of idols.
22: As a cloud - So that there is no remnant of it left.
23: Sing - By such invitations to the senseless creatures, he
signifies the transcendent greatness of this mercy, sufficient to make
even the stones, if it were possible, to break forth into God's praises.
25: Liars - Of the magicians, and astrologers, who were numerous,
and greatly esteemed in Babylon, and who had foretold the long
continuance and prosperity of the Chaldean empire. Mad - With grief
for the disappointment of their predictions, and their disgrace which
followed it. Turneth - Stopping their way, and blasting their designs.
27: That saith - That with a word can dry up the sea and rivers, and
remove all impediments.
28: Cyrus - Whom God here mentions by his proper name, two hundred
years before he was born, that this might be an undeniable evidence of
the exactness of God's fore - knowledge, and a convincing argument to
conclude this dispute between God and idols. Shepherd - Then will I
set up to be the shepherd of my people, to rescue them from wolves or
tyrants, to gather them together, to rule them gently, and to provide
comfortably for them.
