Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

42:18-25 God's own people need deliverance as much as the nations do.

42:18-19 In vv. 1-4, the servant of the Lord is the Savior of the world, but now the servant needs salvation. According to v. 24, this servant is Jacob/Israel. What the nation failed to be, the servant is (see note on vv. 1-9). He alone qualifies as a covenant for the people of God and a light for the nations, to open many blind eyes (vv. 6-7). The designations my servant, my messenger, my dedicated one, and the servant of the Lord emphasize the spiritual privileges granted to Israel (cf. 41:8-10).

42:20-22 Exposure to the gospel makes no impact on blind Israel, though it is worthy of their trust (cf. 6:9-10). Rather than attracting the nations to God (2:2-5), Israel is plundered by the nations, beyond all self-remedy (cf. Deut. 28:25-34; 2 Kings 24:8-25:21).

42:23-25 The fall of Israel cannot be explained as a failure of God. He is powerful, but his power turned against them because they turned against his word. The real problem for God's people, therefore, is not their captivity in Babylon but their disobedience to God. That is what they do not understand (cf. 1:5-6).

43:1-7 God reassures his people that, for his own glory, he will ensure their wonderful restoration.

43:1 Fear not. Knowing what they deserve, the people should fear; but hearing of their Redeemer's choice and promise, they should not fear. redeemed. See note on 41:14. you are mine. What defines them is not their guilty blindness (42:18-25) but the grace of the One who says, "You are mine" (cf. Ex. 6:7).

43:2 You designates the whole people (v. 1). Even when they are subject to the hardships of captivity and exile, God is still with his people (cf. 41:10).

43:3-4 God's people are secured by his resolve to be glorified through their salvation. I give Egypt as your ransom . . . Cush and Seba. Here Isaiah plays on the idea of a ransom price that is sometimes conveyed by "redeemed" (v. 1; see note on 41:14). God will move history for the sake of his people. "Egypt" alludes to the exodus. The more remote Cush and Seba may imply that God will go to any length and alter the history of any nation for his people's salvation. On "Cush," see note on 18:1. "Seba" was probably along the Red Sea, though it is uncertain whether it was on the African or Arabian side.

43:5-7 Wherever God's people may be scattered, he will bring them home (cf. Deut. 30:1-4). whom I created for my glory. God's people become living proof of his glory, which is his ultimate goal in salvation (cf. Eph. 1:3-6).

43:8-13 God's people exist in order to declare his exclusive deity.

43:8-9 Isaiah imagines a great gathering of Israel and the nations in which God challenges anyone to match his proven ability to achieve his purposes in history. this. Probably the rise of Cyrus the Great (cf. 41:2). the former things. Previous prophecies. Let them bring their witnesses. God is unafraid of a full and open presentation of the facts. Indeed, he commands it.

43:10-13 In this great trial, God's people are his witnesses to his exclusive reality as God (cf. Acts 1:8, where Jesus likewise declares his apostles his witnesses). God emphasizes repeatedly that he alone is God. Nineteen words in the Hebrew text of these verses are in a first-person singular form (I, me, my). Israel's exclusive loyalty to the Lord, and their witness to the nations, defines their identity.

43:14-15 God promises that the Babylonian conquerors of the Jewish people will themselves be conquered and exiled. Babylon is mentioned explicitly here for the first time in chs. 40-55. I am . . . your King. The guarantor of God's promise is God himself.

43:16-21 God promises that his people will be released from exile through a new exodus.

43:16-17 Isaiah's language evokes the exodus through the Red Sea at the nation's birth (cf. Ex. 14:21-30). makes . . . brings. The present-tense verbs imply that the great exodus was representative of what God does and that it is therefore repeatable. they lie down . . . like a wick. God's enemies are absolutely defeated.

43:18-19 The original exodus did not exhaust God's power but provided a pattern of new exodus-like deliverances. The Jewish exiles should not live in the past but should look for God to bring them home from Babylon through another "exodus." a way in the wilderness. Where there is no clear path forward, God creates one. rivers in the desert. Where there is no natural relief or refreshment, God provides it.

43:20-21 These verses hint that a grander, more ultimate exodus still awaits God's people (cf. Rom. 8:20-21). God's ultimate goal is that his people might declare his praise.