A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 40: The Light of Judgment

In our last presentation of this commentary on Isaiah, The Test of God, discussing Isaiah chapter 41 we had witnessed a description of the test of God as it was attributed to Yahweh God Himself through the words of Isaiah His prophet, and the valid conclusion for Christians must be that only God, the God of the Bible, has revealed the past as well as the future, and by that we should know that He is God. Of course, the proof that He has done this is found only through the study of His prophets alongside the subsequent events of history which demonstrate that His Word has been, and is true. So for that reason alone, men should dispense of their idols and worship and obey Him, in ways that are also revealed in His Word.

Having done that, we began our commentary for Isaiah chapter 42, but we only presented the first four verses of the chapter. So we will repeat them here, so that we may discuss at length a different aspect of the message which they contain.

1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the [Nations]. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 39: The Test of God

As we have already sought to describe concerning these last twenty-six chapters of Isaiah, at this point in the life of the prophet the Assyrian captivities are nearing completion. This we hope to have further elucidated in our last presentation, The Beginning of Encouragement, in which we documented one later occasion, from the days of Ashurbanipal around 660 BC, when there were further captives taken from cities of Israel on the coast, namely Acre and Ushu, which was the Assyrian name for the mainland portion of ancient Tyre. However for the most part, from this point forward, Isaiah is primarily addressing the children of Israel as they had already gone into captivity. Moreover, as we progress throughout the balance of this book, it becomes apparent that Isaiah is not only addressing the Israelites of his own time, those of them who would be fortunate enough to hear or read these words, but also Israelites in the far distant future.

However Isaiah remained in Jerusalem itself, which was the only significant city of Israel and Judah that was virtually unscathed by the Assyrian conquests, and as he had prophesied, Jerusalem had a separate and distinct destiny from this point forward. While there is a Jerusalem which is mentioned in these final chapters of Isaiah, it is usually in visions of a prophetic Jerusalem within the context of Messianic salvation, and it is a seemingly different Jerusalem which is not even necessarily in Palestine. There is an exception in Isaiah chapter 44, in a prophecy which had a more immediate fulfillment, as later history had fully revealed, although even the fulfillment of that prophecy was for the purpose of the coming Messiah. So even if Jerusalem would have a history distinct from that of Israel from this point in time, ultimately the histories of Judah and Israel remained intertwined.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 38: The Beginning of Encouragement

As we had discussed introducing our last presentation of Isaiah, the commentary on chapter 40 which was titled The Comfort in Judgement, that chapter serves as a bridge to this exclusively prophetic portion of Isaiah which has a different perspective than the first thirty-nine historical chapters, and it also serves as a conclusion to those historical chapters. While there are many significant prophecies in those historical chapters which would not be fulfilled until long after Isaiah’s own time, they were interspersed with prophecies and records of events which had occurred in his own time, events which are now all transpired. Examples of those prophecies which have not yet transpired at this point in the life of Isaiah are the still-future fall of Assyria, which happened around 612 BC, and the rise and fall of Babylon as an empire, which began around 605 BC and lasted until about 530 BC. Those events were both prophesied by Isaiah in chapters 10 through 14. Then there was the prophesied destruction of Tyre, which would not be completed until 330 BC, in Isaiah chapters 23 through 25.

Speaking of ancient Tyre, we shall take a brief digression. The mainland city of Tyre was called Ushu by the Assyrians and Uzu by the Egyptians. It was evidently destroyed by the Babylonians (Ezekiel chapter 29) but the island city was not destroyed until the time of Alexander of Macedon around 330 BC. However much earlier, in the time of Ashurbanipal, in his ninth campaign, which must have been some time around 660 BC, we read: “On my return march [from Arabia] I captured the city of Ushu, which is located on the shore of the sea. The people of Ushu, who had not cowered before their governor(s), and had not paid their tribute, their yearly gifts, I slew. Among (those) insubmissive people I applied the rod(?). Their gods, their people, I carried off to Assyria. The insubmissive people of Akkû (Acre) I slaughtered. Their corpses I hung on stakes, surrounding the city (with them). Those who were left I carried away to Assyria, joined them to (my) military organization, adding them to the many troops which Assur had given me.” Therefore it is evident that Israelites continued to be taken into captivity, or slaughtered by the Assyrians, long after the destruction of Samaria by Sargon II. The fulfillments of many prophecies often occur in processes extended over many years, or even centuries.