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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Isaiah 40 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/40.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/isaiah/40-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Isaiah 40</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/39.htm" title="Isaiah 39">◄</a> Isaiah 40 <a href="../isaiah/41.htm" title="Isaiah 41">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-1.htm">Isaiah 40:1</a></div><div class="verse">Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Comfort ye, comfort ye my people</span>. The key-note is struck at once. With that iteration which is his favourite mode of emphasizing what is important (see the comment on Isaiah 38:11), the prophet declares that he and his brethren have a direct mission from God to "comfort" Israel. Note the encouragement contained in the expressions, "my people," and "your God." Israel is not cast off, even when most deeply afflicted. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-2.htm">Isaiah 40:2</a></div><div class="verse">Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem</span>; literally, <span class="accented">speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem.</span> Address her inmost feelings, her very spirit and soul. <span class="cmt_word">Her warfare is accomplished... is pardoned... hath received</span>. These perfects can only be viewed as "perfects of prophetic certainty." According to every theory of the authorship of <a href="/isaiah/40.htm">Isaiah 40-46</a>, they were written before the close of the Captivity, when Israel's warfare was not yet accomplished, her iniquity not yet fully pardoned. Isaiah, however, sees all as already accomplished in the Divine counsels, and so announces it to the people. Israel's warfare, her long term of hard service (comp. <a href="/job/7-1.htm">Job 7:1</a>), will assuredly come to an end; she will thoroughly turn to God, and then her iniquity will be pardoned, she will be considered to have suffered enough. Double. "It was the ordinary rule under the Law that 'for all manner of trespass' a man condemned by the judges should pay double" (Kay; comp. <a href="/exodus/22-9.htm">Exodus 22:9</a>). Heathen legislators adopted the same rule for certain offences (Arist, 'Eth. Nic.,' 3:5, § 8). It is not here intended to assert that the law of Divine judgment is to exact double; but only to assure Israel that, having been amply punished, she need fear no further vengeance (comp. <a href="/isaiah/61-7.htm">Isaiah 61:7</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-3.htm">Isaiah 40:3</a></div><div class="verse">The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The voice of him that crieth</span>; rather, <span class="accented">the voice of one that crieth.</span> A voice sounds in the prophet's ear, crying to repentance. For God to come down on earth, for his glory to be revealed in any signal way, by the restoration of a nation, or the revelation of himself in Christ, or the final establishment of his kingdom, the "way" must be first "prepared" for him. The hearts of the disobedient must be turned to the wisdom of the just. In the wilderness; either, "the wilderness of this world" (Kay), or "the wilderness separating Babylonia from Palestine" (Delitzsch), in a part of which John the Baptist afterwards preached. <span class="cmt_word">Prepare ye the way of the Lord</span>. The "way of the Lord" is "the way of holiness" (<a href="/isaiah/35-8.htm">Isaiah 35:8</a>). There is one only mode of "preparing" it - the mode adopted by John Baptist (<a href="/matthew/3-2.htm">Matthew 3:2-12</a>), the mode pointed out by the angel who announced him (<a href="/luke/1-17.htm">Luke 1:17</a>), the mode insisted on in the Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent. The voice enjoins on the prophets of the captive nation to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming manifestation of God. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-4.htm">Isaiah 40:4</a></div><div class="verse">Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Every valley shall be exalted,</span> etc.; rather, <span class="accented">let every valley be exalted.</span> The prophets are to see that the poor and lowly are raised up; the proud and self-righteous depressed; the crooked and dishonest induced to change their ways for those of simplicity and integrity; the rude, rough, and harsh rendered courteous and mild. "In general, the meaning is that Israel is to [be made] take care that the God who is coming to deliver it shall find it in such an inward and outward state as befits his<span class="cmt_word">... </span> purpose" (Delitzsch, 'Comment. on Isaiah,' vol. 2. p. 142). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-5.htm">Isaiah 40:5</a></div><div class="verse">And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see <i>it</i> together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken <i>it</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed</span>. Then, when the preparation is complete, there shall be a revelation of the glory and might of Jehovah. The nature of the revelation is for the present shrouded in darkness; but it is a revelation which is not confined to Israel<span class="cmt_word">. All flesh shall see it together</span>. It shall draw to it the attention of the human race at large. While the restoration of Israel to Palestine is the primary fulfilment of the prophecy, that restoration clearly does not exhaust its meaning, which points on to the restoration of all mankind to God's favour in Christ by the <span class="greek">ἐπιφάνεια</span> of his advent in the flesh, which has drown, or will draw, the eyes of "all flesh." <span class="cmt_word">For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it</span>. A repetition of the emphatic clause wherewith Isaiah had terminated the third section of his first prophecy (<a href="/isaiah/1-20.htm">Isaiah 1:20</a>). It occurs again in <a href="/isaiah/58-14.htm">Isaiah 58:14</a>. No other writer uses the expression. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-6.htm">Isaiah 40:6</a></div><div class="verse">The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh <i>is</i> grass, and all the goodliness thereof <i>is</i> as the flower of the field:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The voice said, Cry;</span> rather, <span class="accented">a</span> <span class="accented">voice of else that sayeth</span>, <span class="accented">Cry.</span> It is a second voice, distinct from that of ver. 3, that now reaches the prophet's ear - a voice responded to by another. The speakers seem to be angels, who contrast the perishable nature of man with the enduringness and unchangingness of God. The point of their discourse is that "the Word of the Lord endureth for ever" (ver. 8), and therefore the preceding promises (vers. 2, 5) are sure. <span class="cmt_word">And he said</span>; rather, <span class="accented">and one said.</span> A second voice answered the first, and asked what the proclamation was to be. In reply its terms were given. <span class="cmt_word">All flesh is grass</span> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/37-27.htm">Isaiah 37:27</a>; and see also <a href="/job/5-25.htm">Job 5:25</a>; <a href="/psalms/90-5.htm">Psalm 90:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/92-7.htm">Psalm 92:7</a>; <a href="/psalms/103-15.htm">Psalm 103:15</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.</span> So Ephraim was compared in ch. 28:1 to "a fading flower." The similitude is found also in <a href="/job/14-2.htm">Job 14:2</a> and in <a href="/psalms/103-15.htm">Psalm 103:15</a>. Homer approaches the idea in his well-known simile, <span class="greek">Οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοιήδε καὶ ἀνδρῶν</span> ('Iliad,' 6:146). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-7.htm">Isaiah 40:7</a></div><div class="verse">The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people <i>is</i> grass.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.</span> When the hot winds, which God sends, blow in spring-time, the flowers fade; when a destroying breath from him (see <a href="/isaiah/30-33.htm">Isaiah 30:33</a>) passes over the generations of men, they perish. <span class="cmt_word">Surely the people is grass</span>. Either a mere repetition of "all flesh is grass" (ver. 6) with an asseveration, or an intimation that "the people" of Israel is not exempt from the lot of mankind in general, but shares it. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-8.htm">Isaiah 40:8</a></div><div class="verse">The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The Word of our God shall stand for ever</span>. Amid all human frailty, shiftingness, changefulness, there is one thing that endures, and stroll endure - God's Word (see the comment on the first part of ver. 6). In the sureness of God's promises is Israel's exceeding comfort. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-9.htm">Isaiah 40:9</a></div><div class="verse">O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift <i>it</i> up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 9-11.</span> - The time of Israel's restoration has drawn nigh. The preparation has been made. The voice calling to preparation is silent. The promises are now on the verge of receiving their accomplishment. It is fitting that some one should announce the fact to the nation. Isaiah calls on the company of prophets living at the time to do so (ver. 9). They are to take up a commanding position, to speak with a loud voice, and to proclaim the good tidings to Zion, to Jerusalem, and to the cities of Judah (comp. <a href="/isaiah/44-26.htm">Isaiah 44:26</a>). The terms of the proclamation are then given (vers. 10, 11). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O Zion, that bringest good tidings</span>, etc.; rather, as in the margin, O <span class="accented">thou that tellest good tidings to Zion</span> (so the LXX., Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Maurer, Hitzig, Knobel, and Kay). <span class="cmt_word">Get thee up into the high mountain</span>; rather, <span class="accented">into a high mountain.</span> Choose an elevated spot from which to make proclamation. <span class="cmt_word">O Jerusalem, that bringest</span>, etc.; again, as in the margin, O <span class="accented">thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem.</span> The repetition, with a slight change, is quite in the manner of Isaiah. <span class="cmt_word">The cities of Judah</span>. These would be in rains, no less than Jerusalem herself (see Isaiah 46:26; 64:10). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-10.htm">Isaiah 40:10</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong <i>hand</i>, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward <i>is</i> with him, and his work before him.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The Lord God</span>; literally, <span class="accented">the Lord Jehovah. <span class="cmt_word"></span>With strong hand</span>; or, <span class="accented">with strength. <span class="cmt_word"></span>His arm shall rule for him</span>. Kay translates, "His arm shall get him rule;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the manifestation, which he shall make of his power, shall cause his kingdom to be extended far and wide upon the earth. "The Lord's arm," "the Lord's hand," are favourite expressions of Isaiah's (<a href="/isaiah/5-25.htm">Isaiah 5:25</a>; <a href="/isaiah/9-12.htm">Isaiah 9:12</a>; <a href="/isaiah/10-4.htm">Isaiah 10:4</a>; <a href="/isaiah/11-11.htm">Isaiah 11:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/31-3.htm">Isaiah 31:3</a>; <a href="/isaiah/51-9.htm">Isaiah 51:9</a>; <a href="/isaiah/53-1.htm">Isaiah 53:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/62-3.htm">Isaiah 62:3</a>, etc.). <span class="cmt_word">His reward is with him, and his work before him</span>; rather, <span class="accented">his wage is with him</span>, <span class="accented">and his recompense before him - a</span> case of synonymous parallelism. The phrase is repeated in <a href="/isaiah/62-11.htm">Isaiah 62:11</a>. Mr. Cheyne understands "the reward which God gives to his faithful ones" to be meant. But perhaps it is better to understand, with Dr. Kay, that in the "little flock" which he restores to Palestine God finds his own reward and recompense - the compensation for all his care and trouble. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-11.htm">Isaiah 40:11</a></div><div class="verse">He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry <i>them</i> in his bosom, <i>and</i> shall gently lead those that are with young.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He shall feed his flock like a shepherd</span>. The similitude is a favourite one with the psalmists (<a href="/psalms/77-20.htm">Psalm 77:20</a>; <a href="/psalms/78-52.htm">Psalm 78:52</a>; <a href="/psalms/80-1.htm">Psalm 80:1</a>), and occurs again later on in Isaiah (<a href="/isaiah/49-9.htm">Isaiah 49:9, 10</a>). Its beauty and sweetness have been widely recognized. <span class="cmt_word">He shall gather the lambs</span>; collect them, <span class="accented">i.e.</span>, when they have strayed from the flock. <span class="cmt_word">Shall gently lead those that are with young</span>; rather, <span class="accented">those that give suck</span> (comp. <a href="/genesis/33-3.htm">Genesis 33:3</a>, where the same word is used). Ewes that are suckling their lambs require specially tender treatment. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-12.htm">Isaiah 40:12</a></div><div class="verse">Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 12-31.</span> - THE MIGHT AND GREATNESS OF GOD CONTRASTED WITH THE WEAKNESS OF MAN AND THE FUTILITY OF IDOLS. If captive Israel is to be induced to turn' to God, and so hasten the time of its restoration to his favour and to its own land, it must be by rising to a worthy conception of the nature and attributes of the Almighty. The prophet, therefore, in the remainder of this chapter, paints in glorious language the power and greatness, and at the same time the mercy, of God, contrasting him with man (vers. 15-17, 23, 28-31), with idols (vers. 19, 20), and with the framework of material things (vers. 21, 22, 26), and showing his infinite superiority to each and all. In contrasting him with man, he takes occasion to bring into prominence his goodness and loving-kindness to man, to whom he imparts a portion of his own might and strength (vers. 29-31 ). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Who hath measured the waters?</span> (comp. <a href="/proverbs/30-4.htm">Proverbs 30:4</a> and <a href="/job/38-4.htm">Job 38:4-6</a>). The might of God is especially shown in creation, which Isaiah assumes to be God's work. How infinitely above man must he be, who arranged in such perfection, "by measure and number and weight" (Wisd. 11:20), the earth, the waters, and the heavens, so proportioning each to each as to produce that admirable order and regularity which the intelligent observer cannot but note in the material universe as among its chief characteristics! <span class="cmt_word">In the hollow of his hand</span>. The anthropomorphism is strong, no doubt, but softened by the preceding mention (in ver. 10) of God's "arm," and by the comparison of God to a shepherd (in ver. 11). Isaiah's exalted notion of God renders him fearless with regard to anthropomorphism<span class="cmt_word">. And meted out heaven with the span</span>; rather, <span class="accented">with a span</span> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/48-13.htm">Isaiah 48:13</a>, "My right hand hath <span class="accented">spanned</span> the heavens"). <span class="cmt_word">And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure;</span> literally, <span class="accented">in a tierce</span> (as in the margin). The measure intended is probably the <span class="accented">seah</span>, which was the third part of an <span class="accented">ephah</span>, and held about three gallons. The <span class="accented">seah</span> was "the ordinary measure for household purposes." <span class="cmt_word">In scales... in a balance</span>. The <span class="accented">peles</span>, here translated "scales," is probably the steelyard, while the <span class="accented">mozenaim</span> is "the balance" or "pair of scales" ordinarily used for weighing. God metes out all things with measures, scales, and balances of his own, which are proportioned to his greatness. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-13.htm">Isaiah 40:13</a></div><div class="verse">Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or <i>being</i> his counseller hath taught him?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord?</span> Mr. Cheyne remarks, that "in Isaiah there is a marked tendency to hypostatize the Spirit;" and the remark is undoubtedly a just one (see <a href="/isaiah/32-15.htm">Isaiah 32:15</a>; <a href="/isaiah/34-16.htm">Isaiah 34:16</a>; <a href="/isaiah/48-16.htm">Isaiah 48:16</a>; <a href="/isaiah/61-1.htm">Isaiah 61:1</a>, etc.). In the present place, perhaps, the introduction of "the Spirit of the Lord" arises out of the remembrance of the part in creation which is assigned to the Spirit in <a href="/genesis/1-2.htm">Genesis 1:2</a>. He "moved," or "brooded," upon the face of the waters, and thence began the change, or series of changes, by which order was produced out of confusion. The Spirit of the Lord "directed," or regulated, these changes; but who, Isaiah asks, "directed," or regulated, the Spirit itself? Can it be supposed that he too had a director over him? Isaiah does not seriously doubt on this point, or "leave it an open question." He makes his inquiry by way of a <span class="accented">reductio ad absurdum.</span> Is it not absurd to suppose that he had a director or a counsellor? He does not - here, at any rate - so far "hypostatize the Spirit" as to view him as a Person distinct from the Person of God the Father, working under him, and carrying out his will. <span class="cmt_word">Or being his counsellor hath taught him?</span> "The Lord <span class="accented">by wisdom</span> founded the earth" (<a href="/proverbs/3-19.htm">Proverbs 3:19</a>); but he was his own counsellor. He had no adviser external to himself. The wisdom which wrought with him was his own wisdom, an essential part of the Divine essence. The evangelical prophet approaches those mysteries of God's nature which the gospel brought to light, but cannot penetrate them. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-14.htm">Isaiah 40:14</a></div><div class="verse">With whom took he counsel, and <i>who</i> instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-15.htm">Isaiah 40:15</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, the nations <i>are</i> as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket</span>. "From nature," as Mr. Cheyne says, "we pass to history." If God is so great, so apart and by himself in relation to the material universe, what is he in relation to man? What are nations, compared to him, but "as a drop from a bucket," which drips from it, and is of no account? What are they, but as the small dust of the balance, which lies on it but does not disturb its equilibrium? They are absolutely "as nothing" (ver. 17) - vanity and emptiness, <span class="cmt_word">He taketh up the isles as a very little thing</span>; literally, <span class="accented">he taketh up islands</span>, or perhaps <span class="accented">lands</span> generally. As he weighs mountains and hills in his balance (ver. 15), so he can take up in his own hands "lands," or "countries" (Cheyne), with all their inhabitants, and do with them as seemeth him good. They are no burden to him. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-16.htm">Isaiah 40:16</a></div><div class="verse">And Lebanon <i>is</i> not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lebanon is not sufficient to burn</span>. Man may think that he must be of some account, since God has required of him sacrifice and burnt offering, from which he may suppose God to derive some satisfaction. But, the prophet says, even if man were to burn all Lebanon as firewood on God's altar, and offer there all the (clean) beasts of the entire tract, still God would be put under no obligation. Man would even then have paid less than his debt. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-17.htm">Isaiah 40:17</a></div><div class="verse">All nations before him <i>are</i> as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">All nations</span>; rather, <span class="accented">all the nations</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> all the nations of the earth put together. In ver. 15 single "nations" had been declared to be of no account; now the same is said of all the nations of the earth collectively. They are accounted of God as '<span class="accented">ephes</span>, nothingness, and <span class="accented">tohu</span>, chaos or confusion. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-18.htm">Isaiah 40:18</a></div><div class="verse">To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> is more the complement of what precedes than the introduction to what follows (comp. ver. 25). If God be all that has been said of him in vers. 12-17, must he not be wholly unique and incomparable? Then, out of this, the thought arises of the strange, the poor, the mean "likenesses" of God, which men have in their folly set up in various times and places. It has been said that Israel in captivity did not need to be warned against idolatry, of the inclination to which the Captivity is supposed at once to have cured them (Urwick, 'Servant of Jehovah,' p. 15). But there is no evidence of this. Rather, considering the few that returned, and the many that remained behind (Joseph., 'Ant Jud.,' 11:1), we may conclude that a large number adopted the customs, religion, and general mode of life of their masters.' </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-19.htm">Isaiah 40:19</a></div><div class="verse">The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The workman melteth a graven image</span>; rather, <span class="accented">the workman casteth an image</span> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/41-7.htm">Isaiah 41:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/44-9.htm">Isaiah 44:9-17</a>; <a href="/isaiah/46-6.htm">Isaiah 46:6, 7</a>). Israel's tendency to idolatry has been touched on in the earlier prophecies once or twice (<a href="/isaiah/2-8.htm">Isaiah 2:8, 20</a>; <a href="/isaiah/31-7.htm">Isaiah 31:7</a>); but in the later chapters idolatry is assailed with a frequency, a pungency, and a vigour that are new, and that imply a change, either in the prophet's circumstances or in his standpoint. Perhaps it is enough to suppose that, placing himself ideally among the captives, Isaiah sees that the Babylonian idolatry will be, or at any rate may be, a snare to them, and provides an antidote against the subtle poison. The special antidote which he employs is ridicule, and the first ground of his ridicule is the <span class="accented">genesis</span> or formation of an image. It is made by man himself, out of known material substances. Either a figure is cast in some inferior metal, and then coated with gold and finished with the graving tool, or a mere block of wood is taken and cut into shape. Can it be supposed that such things are "likenesses" of God, or that he is comparable to them? <span class="cmt_word">Casteth silver chains</span>; as ornaments to be worn by the images, which were often dressed (see Thucyd., 2:13; Baruch 6:9-12). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-20.htm">Isaiah 40:20</a></div><div class="verse">He that <i>is</i> so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree <i>that</i> will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, <i>that</i> shall not be moved.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He that is so impoverished</span>, etc.; rather, <span class="accented">he that can only make a poor offering</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> that cannot spend much on religion. <span class="cmt_word">Chooseth a tree</span>; rather, <span class="accented">chooseth wood - goes</span> to the carpenter, and selects a good sound block of wood, out of which his idol shall be made. After this he has to find a skilful workman, who will carve his image for him and set it up, so that it shall not shake. As Delitzsch observes, "The thing carries its own satire" in the mere plain description of it. Is such a thing comparable to God? </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-21.htm">Isaiah 40:21</a></div><div class="verse">Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Have ye not known?</span> Hitherto the prophet has restrained himself, and confined himself to quiet sarcasm. Now he bursts out. Is there any one so insensate, so devoid of natural reason and understanding, as not to know what has been known to all from the beginning - yea, from the foundations of the earth - by "the light that is in them," viz. that God is something wholly different from this? - that he is such a One as the prophet proceeds to describe in vers. 22-24, alike above nature and above man, Lord of heaven and earth, and absolute Disposer of the fates of all men? <span class="cmt_word">Hath it not been told you?</span> If ye have not known the nature of God by the light of nature, has it not come down to you by tradition? Have not your fathers told it you? Has it not been handed on by sire to son from the very foundation of the earth? The appeal is to men generally, not especially to Israel. <span class="cmt_word">Have ye not understood, etc.?</span> Some omit the preposition after "understood," and render the passage thus: "Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> how it was founded, or created - that its creation was God's sole act? (so the LXX., the Vulgate, Gesenius, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Knobel, Kay; but Ewald, Henderson, Weir, and Mr. Cheyne prefer the rendering of the Authorized Version). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-22.htm">Isaiah 40:22</a></div><div class="verse"><i>It is</i> he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof <i>are</i> as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth</span>; rather, <span class="accented">above the vault of the earth</span>; above the vault of sky which seems to arch over the earth. As grasshoppers; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> minute, scarcely visible (comp. <a href="/numbers/13-33.htm">Numbers 13:33</a>). That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain. So in <a href="/psalms/104-2.htm">Psalm 104:2</a>, only that here the "curtain" is represented as one of thin gauze. The idea is common to Isaiah with Job (<a href="/job/9-8.htm">Job 9:8</a>), Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/10-12.htm">Jeremiah 10:12</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/51-15.htm">Jeremiah 51:15</a>), and Zechariah (<a href="/zechariah/12-1.htm">Zechariah 12:1</a>), and is a favourite one in these later chapters (comp. <a href="/isaiah/42-5.htm">Isaiah 42:5</a>; <a href="/isaiah/44-24.htm">Isaiah 44:24</a>; <a href="/isaiah/45-12.htm">Isaiah 45:12</a>; <a href="/isaiah/51-13.htm">Isaiah 51:13</a>). <span class="cmt_word">As a tent</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/19-4.htm">Psalm 19:4</a>, where God is said to have set in the heavens a "tabernacle" <span class="accented">-</span> '<span class="accented">ohel</span>, the word used here - for the sun). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-23.htm">Isaiah 40:23</a></div><div class="verse">That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The princes... the judges</span>; rather, <span class="accented">princes</span>, <span class="accented">judges.</span> The entire class of such is meant, not any special individuals (comp. <a href="/psalms/107-40.htm">Psalm 107:40</a>; <a href="/job/12-19.htm">Job 12:19-21</a>). <span class="cmt_word">As vanity</span>; or, <span class="accented">as chaos - the</span> same word that is used in ver. 17. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-24.htm">Isaiah 40:24</a></div><div class="verse">Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">They shall not be planted... shall not be sown... shall not take root.</span> The verbs are all of them in the past tense. Translate, <span class="accented">have not been planted,... sown</span>, <span class="accented">etc.</span> The meaning is that princes and judges of the earth are not fixed in their places, have no firm root in the soil, are easily overturned. Even if the case were different, a breath from the Almighty would, as a matter of course, dry them up (see ver. 7) and blow them away. <span class="cmt_word">As stubble</span> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/5-24.htm">Isaiah 5:24</a>; <a href="/psalms/83-13.htm">Psalm 83:13</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-25.htm">Isaiah 40:25</a></div><div class="verse">To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">To whom then,</span> etc.? This is a summary, to conclude the section (vers. 19-24), as ver. 18 concludes the preceding one. If God is paramount over idols (vers. 19, 20) and over nature (ver. 22) and over humanity (vers. 23, 24), to whom can he be likened? Is he not altogether unique and incomparable? <span class="cmt_word">Saith the Holy One</span> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/57-15.htm">Isaiah 57:15</a>). Isaiah's special designation of God, at once pregnant and almost peculiar (see the comment on ch. 1:4), is "the Holy One of Israel." This is, here and in <a href="/isaiah/57-15.htm">Isaiah 57:15</a>, abbreviated. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-26.htm">Isaiah 40:26</a></div><div class="verse">Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these <i>things</i>, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that <i>he is</i> strong in power; not one faileth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 26.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lift up your eyes</span>, etc. Once more an appeal is made to creation, as proving God's greatness. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these (heavens), bringing out their host (<span class="accented">i.e.</span> the stars) by number, or in their full number (Cheyne), and calling them all by names" (comp. <a href="/psalms/147-4.htm">Psalm 147:4, 5</a>, "He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names," which, however, is probably later than Isaiah). Omnipotence alone could have created the starry host. Omniscience is required to know their number and their names. The Israelites are supposed to have "learned that the constellations had names, in Babylon" (Cheyne, <span class="accented">ad loc.</span>); but a special name for each <span class="accented">star</span>, which the Babylonians did <span class="accented">not</span> give, seems <span class="accented">to</span> be here intended. <span class="cmt_word">Not one faileth</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "not one star neglects to attend the muster when God marshals the host." The stars are viewed as his army. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-27.htm">Isaiah 40:27</a></div><div class="verse">Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 27.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O Jacob ... O Israel</span> (For this pleonastic combination, so characteristic of Isaiah, see <a href="/isaiah/9-8.htm">Isaiah 9:8</a>; <a href="/isaiah/10-21.htm">Isaiah 10:21, 22</a>; <a href="/isaiah/14-1.htm">Isaiah 14:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/27-6.htm">Isaiah 27:6</a>; <a href="/isaiah/29-23.htm">Isaiah 29:23</a>, in the earlier chapters; and <a href="/isaiah/41-8.htm">Isaiah 41:8</a>; <a href="/isaiah/42-24.htm">Isaiah 42:24</a>; <a href="/isaiah/43-1.htm">Isaiah 43:1, 22, 28</a>; <a href="/isaiah/44-1.htm">Isaiah 44:1, 5, 23</a>; <a href="/isaiah/45-4.htm">Isaiah 45:4</a>; <a href="/isaiah/46-3.htm">Isaiah 46:3</a>; <a href="/isaiah/49-5.htm">Isaiah 49:5, 6</a>, etc., in the later ones.) <span class="cmt_word">Why sayest thou ... My way is hid?</span> The prophet has gone back to the time when Israel is suffering all the calamities of the Captivity, instead of being on the point of emerging from it, as in vers. 9-11, and he now hears the complaints of the exiles, who think that God has forsaken them - that he does not see their "way" of life, or regard their sufferings. <span class="cmt_word">My judgment</span>. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate "my <span class="accented">right</span>," and understand the "right" of Israel to be independent of its oppressors. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-28.htm">Isaiah 40:28</a></div><div class="verse">Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, <i>that</i> the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? <i>there is</i> no searching of his understanding.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Hast thou not known?</span> Complaining Israel is bidden to stay itself upon God, as <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> everlasting; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> the Creator; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> unwearied; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> unsearchable; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>and is then further consoled by the promise that God will give them strength to endure; support them, refresh them, and, as it were, renew the youth of the nation (vers. 29, 31). <span class="cmt_word">Creator of the ends of the earth</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "Creator <span class="accented">even</span> of the remotest ends," and therefore of the <span class="accented">whole</span> earth. <span class="cmt_word">Fainteth not</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/121-3.htm">Psalm 121:3, 4</a>). If God were for a moment to "faint" or "be weary," to "slumber" or "sleep," the whole fabric of nature would fail and disappear, universal chaos would set in, all moral order would cease - probably all existence, except his own, sink into nothingness. God is wholly free from whatsoever is weak or defective in man. <span class="cmt_word">No searching</span> (see <a href="/job/5-9.htm">Job 5:9</a>; <a href="/job/9-10.htm">Job 9:10</a>; <a href="/job/11-7.htm">Job 11:7</a>; <a href="/psalms/147-5.htm">Psalm 147:5</a>; <a href="/ecclesiastes/3-11.htm">Ecclesiastes 3:11</a>). God's ways being unsearchable, his servants must trust him to accomplish their deliverance in his own good time. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-29.htm">Isaiah 40:29</a></div><div class="verse">He giveth power to the faint; and to <i>them that have</i> no might he increaseth strength.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 29.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He giveth power to the faint</span>. So far is he from being "faint" himself, that he has superabundant energy to impart to any that are faint among his servants. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-30.htm">Isaiah 40:30</a></div><div class="verse">Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 30.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Shall faint... shall fall</span>; rather, <span class="accented">should even the youths faint and be weary</span>, <span class="accented">and should the young men utterly fall</span>, <span class="accented">yet they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength</span>, <span class="accented">etc.</span> The two clauses of ver. 30 are "concessive." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/40-31.htm">Isaiah 40:31</a></div><div class="verse">But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew <i>their</i> strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; <i>and</i> they shall walk, and not faint.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 31</span>. - <span class="cmt_word">They shall mount up with wings as eagles</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/103-5.htm">Psalm 103:5</a>: and, for the use of the eagle as a metaphor for strength, see <a href="/exodus/19-4.htm">Exodus 19:4</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/32-11.htm">Deuteronomy 32:11</a>). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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