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

44:24-28 God, sovereign over all things, promises his people a deliverer.

44:24 you. The people, i.e., Jacob (v. 21). I am the Lord, who made all things. God is not too great to care for his people; he is too great not to care for them. alone . . . by myself. The pagan gods, according to their legends, consulted together for wisdom.

44:25-26 frustrates . . . confirms. Even as God overrules human predictions of the future, he translates his own promises into realities. his servant . . . his messengers. Isaiah and other prophets. This short-term prophecy of the restoration of Judah, fulfilled within the experience of the Jewish exiles, verifies the credibility of longer-term prophecies.

44:27 I will dry up your rivers. Probably a reference to the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea at the exodus (cf. 11:15; 43:16-17; 51:10).

44:28 Cyrus is predicted by name, validating God's claim to be the One guiding history (see a similar prophetic naming in 1 Kings 13:1-3; 2 Kings 23:15-17). Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 11.5-7) records a story in which Cyrus, reading Isaiah's prophecy, was so impressed with the divine power to tell the future that he eagerly sought to fulfill what was written about him here. my shepherd. See 2 Sam. 5:2. After the failure of the kings of Judah, a pagan emperor plays the role of shepherd to God's people. She shall be built. The policy of Cyrus expresses the deeper purpose of God, revealed in Isa. 44:26, reversing 6:11 (cf. Ezra 1:1-5; 6:1-5; Isa. 45:13).

45:1-7 Through Cyrus God will demonstrate his own sovereignty over everything.

45:1 his anointed. This later became a specifically messianic title (Dan. 9:25-26), though it was not that in Isaiah. Here it denotes Cyrus as God's instrument for his purposes, a reminder that God rules all things.

45:2-3 The victories of Cyrus reveal God at work in history, accomplishing his own purpose. that you may know that it is I. Cyrus himself could and should have acknowledged God on the basis of these prophecies.

45:4 I call you by your name, I name you. The prediction of Cyrus by name (44:28; 45:1) is meant to awaken the faith of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen.

45:5-6 Predictive prophecy, fulfilled in history, proves that the Lord alone is God, and he wants the whole world to know it.

45:7 Beyond the case of Cyrus, the Lord's creative will and wise purposes stand behind everything. Therefore, his people should not be discouraged when the appearances of history seem contrary to his promises.

45:8 Far from a problem to cope with, God's sovereignty over all things, as affirmed in v. 7, is the only hope for the flowering of salvation and righteousness in this world.

45:9-13 Isaiah warns against challenging God's right to do his will in his own way.

45:9-10 Woe . . . Woe. Putting God under suspicious scrutiny is a serious offense. Created beings may not demand explanations from him (cf. Rom. 9:19-21).

45:11-13 The Lord asserts his right to be God. I have stirred him up in righteousness. Cyrus rose up in fulfillment of God's righteous purpose. not for price or reward. See Ezra 1:7-11; 6:3-5. With no financial incentive for Cyrus, his support of the rebuilding of the temple had to be of God.

45:14-19 God's plan goes beyond the return of his people to Jerusalem. His salvation will spread through them to all nations (cf. John 4:22; 10:16; Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16; Gal. 3:28-29; Eph. 2:11-3:6; Col. 3:11; Rev. 7:9-10).

45:14 in chains. Isaiah uses the imagery of prisoners of war for Gentile conversions to Israel's faith--not forced on them but borne of personal conviction: Surely God is in you. If there is only one true God, then the only proper response is surrender. The new allegiance is to the Lord himself (v. 23), but faith in him entails humble identification with his people, too (cf. Ps. 68:29, 31; Isa. 2:2-4; Zech. 8:23). there is no other. See Isa. 45:6.

45:15 How God achieves his saving purpose, despite the appearances of history, excites wonder. God is not evasive, but he is counterintuitive.

45:17-18 The promise of everlasting salvation (v. 17) should be believed because the One making the promise is God (v. 18). he formed it to be inhabited. Cf. Gen. 1:2.

45:19 Unlike the idols, whose myths offer no light or hope, God can be taken at his word (cf. 40:8).

45:20-22 God invites all nations to renounce their idols and worship him alone.

45:21 Unbelieving opinion, however broad the consensus, cannot refute the evidence of predictive prophecy. this. Cyrus's conquest of Babylon and his release of the Jewish exiles (cf. 46:8-11).

45:22 be saved. Contrast "a god that cannot save" in v. 20. The idolatrous world is not scorned but invited. This invitation goes not only to Jewish people but to all the ends of the earth.

45:23-25 God's goal is a world without idols. Therefore, in the end, he will be either the Savior or the Judge of everyone. Paul cites v. 23 twice, from the Septuagint. In Rom. 14:11, the point is that God alone is the final judge. In Phil. 2:10-11, a hymn adapts the verse, applying it to Jesus (implying that Paul thought Jesus shared the position of Yahweh). all the offspring of Israel. All of God's people, Jew and Gentile alike (cf. Gal. 6:16).