Isaiah 41 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 41

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41:1   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
    let the peoples renew their strength;
  let them approach, then let them speak;
    let us together draw near for judgment.
2   Who stirred up one from the east
    whom victory meets at every step?¹
  He gives up nations before him,
    so that he tramples kings underfoot;
  he makes them like dust with his sword,
    like driven stubble with his bow.
3   He pursues them and passes on safely,
    by paths his feet have not trod.
4   Who has performed and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?
  I, the LORD, the first,
    and with the last; I am he.
5   The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they have drawn near and come.
6   Everyone helps his neighbor
    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7   The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
    and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
  saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
    and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
8   But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9   you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called from its farthest corners,
  saying to you, “You are my servant,
    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10   fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11   Behold, all who are incensed against you
    shall be put to shame and confounded;
  those who strive against you
    shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12   You shall seek those who contend with you,
    but you shall not find them;
  those who war against you
    shall be as nothing at all.
13   For I, the LORD your God,
    hold your right hand;
  it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”
14   Fear not, you worm Jacob,
    you men of Israel!
  I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
    your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15   Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
    new, sharp, and having teeth;
  you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16   you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
  And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17   When the poor and needy seek water,
    and there is none,
    and their tongue is parched with thirst,
  I the LORD will answer them;
    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
  I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
  I will set in the desert the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
20   that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
  that the hand of the LORD has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;
    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22   Let them bring them, and tell us
    what is to happen.
  Tell us the former things, what they are,
    that we may consider them,
  that we may know their outcome;
    or declare to us the things to come.
23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,
    that we may know that you are gods;
  do good, or do harm,
    that we may be dismayed and terrified.²
24   Behold, you are nothing,
    and your work is less than nothing;
    an abomination is he who chooses you.
25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
  he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
  There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
27   I was the first to say³ to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28   But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29   Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.

Footnotes

[1] 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow?
[2] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see
[3] 41:27 Or Formerly I said

Commentary

v1: "You islands," or coastlands; referring to places throughout the earth, far beyond the borders of Israel. See also v5; 42.4, 10; 45.22; 49.1; 56.1-8; and chapter 60. Isaiah looks beyond the borders of Judah and Israel to the testimony of God throughout the earth.

v2-4: God's blessing on Israel, His chosen nation; He gave them victory and authority over the nations; these words are partly historic, and partly prophetic. The Lord has total right and authority to do such things. Again the prophet declares great truths by asking questions. Indeed, God is behind all events on earth; here the nations fighting against one another; all under His ultimate oversight.

v5-7: The peoples have witnessed, and will witness, as God's power is manifest in his people. His setting apart of Israel is a testimony to His own power. The Gentiles, finding little strength, look to each other, and to their idols. As in 40.20 they are worried that their idol will totter.

'idols give the illusion of being an external source of help and identity In reality, of course, they are merely the work of human hands and therefore useless in the face of threat. Idols are shaky because they are created by our shaky selves.’ (Dan Strange, Making Faith Magnetic)

v8-10: A special relationship with God; Israel is called, chosen, and secure; God is committed to His people. Notice here the divine commitment;

in the past, "I have chosen ... I took ... I called...I have chosen...";
in the present, "I am with you ... I am your God;"
in the future, "I will strengthen you and help you: I will uphold you..."

See also Ex 6.3-8, where God speaks to Moses and to the people, using similar phrases. Israel is the servant, but his glory is that he is the servant of God. This teaching is intermingled with prophecy of Christ, the servant of God, of whom Israel is a picture.

v11-13: God who works on behalf of Israel, before whom enemies are defeated and destroyed. His words are not empty.

v14: Jacob regarded himself as small and weak; but the Lord is Redeemer, promising security in Him.

v15-16: Effective service for God; Israel was the instrument of God's judgment. The ‘worm' shall even thresh a mountain! This had happened in the time of Joshua, and will certainly happen again.

v17-20: Relying on God's promises; with no assistance from human strength, the Lord will help His people. He will bring abundance to thirsty people, like streams in a desert. God will overcome the natural restrictions (ie, a desert) and feed His people abundantly. Even Christ is the root out of dry ground (53.2).

These things would provide a clear testimony to God's work on behalf of His people.

v21-24: The challenge for impotent idols. They know nothing, and God is omniscient, including His knowledge of the future. They can do nothing, and God is omnipotent; and they are nothing, as in Ps 115.8. Those who trust idols become like them; an idolater is an abomination to God.

The implication is clear; do not trust in idols, trust only in God.

v25-29: One test was the attack of the Assyrians, coming from the north. The people had relied on idols, who had failed to forewarn them. God had spoken through His prophets. This real life example underlines the truths already declared.