A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 43: The Shepherd of the Blind

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 43: The Shepherd of the Blind

As we have said at least several times earlier in this commentary on Isaiah, the prophet was not necessarily writing for his own time. He did address certain contemporary events with near-vision prophecies and accompanying accounts, and they certainly established his credibility as a prophet of Yahweh. However his primary purpose was to prophesy concerning the captivity of the children of Israel, to provide some early records of that process, and to provide visions which described what would become of them in the future, including how they would ultimately be granted mercy, forgiven, redeemed and reconciled to Yahweh their God. For this reason, Isaiah is also the second most frequently cited book of the Old Testament in the writings of the New Testament, surpassed only by the Psalms. Then, out of the citations of Isaiah, these last twenty-six chapters, which address Israel in captivity, are cited more often than the first forty chapters which are mostly focused on Jerusalem and the nations bordering on Judah.

While many of these over-arching far-vision prophecies in Isaiah pertain to the children of Israel in captivity, there are also many Messianic prophecies which had been fulfilled in Christ, or also in John the Baptist or the spread of the Gospel by the apostles of Christ. But some of the Messianic prophecies have not yet been fulfilled, and those which are not are later echoed in one way or another in the Revelation of Yahshua Christ. However there are other things which are described here in Isaiah that are not necessarily intentional prophecies with any definite far-vision fulfillment, but which do represent patterns that may be found to have been repeated in history, because they are the inevitable results of certain sins in which men have repeatedly become ensnared. One of these is found here in Isaiah chapter 43, where the Word of Yahweh addressed the children of Israel and said: “3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” This prophecy did indeed have a near-vision fulfillment, as something which had already begun to happen as the very words had been uttered, and the process of its fulfillment is evident in ancient history. This process, as we had described it, represents entire nations which had been Given Up to Darkness.

In Acts chapter 14, Paul of Tarsus is recorded as having addressed certain Lycaonians in Anatolia concerning their idolatry, and it says in part, as it is in the Christogenea New Testament: “15 … Men! What are these things which you do? We also are men, being of like nature with you! Announcing the good message to you, from these vanities to turn to Yahweh who lives, ‘Who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things which are in them.’ 16 Who in generations having passed allowed all of the Nations to go in their own ways.” It is evident that in that discourse, Paul was not speaking to Israelites, but to men of other Adamic nations, as it also was where he had addressed certain men at Athens and speaking of God he had said, in part: “26 And He made from one every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, appointing the times ordained and the boundaries of their settlements, 27 to seek God. If surely then they would seek after Him then they would find Him, and indeed He being not far from each one of us.” Of course, the one in that passage is Adam, and Paul was making a reference to the text of Deuteronomy 32:8. However the point is that the other Adamic nations had never sought God, and instead, they had all gone off into idolatry. The Athenians, who were themselves idolaters, were descendants of Javan, the son of Japheth mentioned in Genesis chapter 10. 

Nations, going into idolatry, are often given up by God to sins which may seem far worse than idolatry, even the nations of Israel may suffer this fate. Evidently, Yahweh had given up Egypt, Kush and Sheba to the sin of fornication, by which they had become degenerate, race-mixed nations which could never again lift themselves from the rubble of their past history. This same phenomenon is found in the description of the fall of the Roman Empire in the prophecies of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 2 where we read, in part: “41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”

In his epistle to the Romans, Paul of Tarsus had also spoken of this giving up of nations, where he wrote in the opening chapter that it was because of their idolatry: “24 On which account Yahweh hands them over to uncleanness in the passions of their hearts, their bodies to be dishonored among themselves: 25 every one who exchanges the truth of Yahweh with falsehoods, and reverences and serves the creation rather than the Creator, who is praised for the ages. Truly.” Having written that, Paul then went on to describe how, because of their idolatry, they became engaged in Sodomy, adultery, fornication and other quite grievous sins, stating that “28 … just as they do not think it fit to have Yahweh in their knowledge, Yahweh handed them over to a reprobate mind, to do things not fitting…” On account of these, ancient Rome had become populated with both iron and clay, with both Adamic people and bastards, until it could no longer stand as a nation. 

This same pattern is evident again once today, all throughout the nations of Christendom, and the circumstances which Christ Himself had attested in which the world would be found at the time of His return are now manifest, where He said, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 24: “37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” In the days of Noah, the children of Adam were marrying and giving in marriage with those of another race, called Nephilim, and for that reason the flood came. Thus we may anticipate His return today, knowing that once again those same conditions are becoming quite prevalent.

But as we have said here, simply because patterns repeat themselves in history, does not mean that the passage we have cited from Isaiah chapter 43, or Daniel chapter 2 or Romans chapter 1 are far-vision prophecies of some now-future events; they certainly are not. While the patterns of sin and punishment repeat themselves in history, if any given occasion of such a repetition is indeed a fulfillment of prophecy, the context in which the pattern appears in the prophecy must be suitable to the repetition in question, to the event in question. It is quite clear that today there are once again many idolaters in Israel, just as there were in ancient Rome, and it is quite sad that modern Christians have not learned from the lessons of Egypt or Rome. This is in spite of the fact that Paul had written, in chapter 15 of the same epistle to the Romans, that “4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” We really have hope only when we read and keep the Word of Scripture, and otherwise, the outlook is bleak, seeing those who are in the world blindly repeating the same sins and not realizing the ultimate consequences.

Because patterns of sin and punishment repeat themselves, in Isaiah chapter 43 we see a progression of prophecy which seems to recognize that they would repeat themselves, even if it is not explicit. So following the prophecy that Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba had been given up on behalf of Israel, there is a promise that Israel would one day be regathered to God from all the places to which they had been scattered, even from the “ends of the earth”. Then a challenge is made to “the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears”, which is also a reference to the children of Israel, who had been stricken with blindness on account of their sin. In that, they are told to “shew the former things” and “declare us things for to come.” Of course they could not do that, but they were nevertheless informed by Yahweh that “ye are my witnesses” because by their subsequent actions, conscious or not, they would prove Him to be right, and as we had asserted, they did that by becoming reconciled to Him in the Gospel of Christ, when they accepted His Word and turned to Him, even if that reconciliation is not quite complete, something which is later revealed in His Revelation. 

So with this it is also evident, that Yahweh God is indeed the Shepherd of the Blind, as He Himself had declared here in Isaiah chapter 42: “16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” This passage informs us that Yahweh Himself shall guide The Way of the Blind, as we had described that chapter.

Following that assertion that “ye are my witness” which we had seen in Isaiah chapter 43, there is a seemingly obscure reference to Babylon and the Chaldaeans whose “cry is in the ships.” While Isaiah had made several prophesies of a Babylonian Empire in several places up to this point, and at length in the Burden of Babylon in chapters 13 sand 14 of this book, at this point in the time of Isaiah Babylon is not yet an empire, and the Babylon of ancient history was not noted for having been a sea-faring nation. Rather, this description of Babylon seems to be a premonition of the much later Mystery Babylon of the Revelation, which is described as a mercantile, sea-faring empire, in Revelation chapter 18, and the whore which joins herself to the beast, which ostensibly represents an aspect of Mystery Babylon, is described as sitting upon many waters, in Revelation chapter 17. Then a little further on here in Isaiah chapter 43 there is another reference to Yahweh, “which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters”, in which He vows once again to destroy His enemies. 

But following that, and speaking in reference to Jacob once again, Yahweh attests that although He did not require sacrifices of them, a condition which is found only in Christ, and while He would nevertheless blot out their transgressions, a promise which is also only found in Christ, that they had still continued to weary Him with their iniquities. With this, they are challenged once again, to declare their sins, that they may be justified, and we read in the closing verses of that chapter: “27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. 28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.” 

Perhaps the chapter ended on this note, because this very pattern of sin and punishment has now repeated itself in these last days. Perhaps this is why Yahweh had explained that He did not require sacrifices of them, because the prophecy is looking forward to the Christian era. The ancient children of Israel were given over to the curse and reproach of captivity, but now once again Christendom is being given over to that same curse, and worse, many Christians have been given up to the same sort of darkness that the ancient pagan nations had suffered, namely Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba. This was explicitly foreseen by Christ, who had attested that in the time of His coming conditions would be as as they had been in the days of Noah, and ostensibly, it is also suggested here in Isaiah, in the order and the context in which these prophecies appear in Isaiah chapter 43.

Now in some respects, the same pattern of idolatry and sin is mentioned in the next portion of Isaiah, where we shall now commence with Isaiah chapter 44:

1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. 

This language is very much like we had seen at the opening of chapter 43 where we read: “1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” Once again, there is explicit language here from the Word of God which confines the promises of God that are realized in the New Covenant to the literal children of Israel who were also the subjects of the Sinai Covenant, as well as the promises made to the fathers. So here Yahweh is confirming His promise to be a shepherd of the blind for the children of Israel, because it is evident that here they shall remain blind. Much later, in Isaiah chapter 59, the children of Israel are portrayed as saying: “9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” Of course, many centuries later they would receive that light with the Gospel of Christ, the Light come into the world.

The word ישרון or Jesurun (# 3484) here is interpreted as meaning upright one, as an epithet for the children of Israel collectively. The word appears elsewhere in Scripture on only three occasions, in Deuteronomy chapters 32 and 33, although in the remarkably inconsistent transliteration of names in the King James Version, it is spelled as Jeshurun. This epithet was apparently lost in the Septuagint, where it was generally translated with a word which means beloved, and it seems to have been translated with other terms meaning straight or correct in other early Greek editions, the witnesses of which are scarce. 

As it is here, in Deuteronomy the word is also an epithet for Israel, and in chapter 32 we read: “15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” Then in Deuteronomy chapter 33: “4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.” Then finally, later on in that same chapter: “26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.” These chapters contain the Song of Moses and his blessing of the twelve tribes of Israel, so it is evident that the word Jeshurun is used of Israel both poetically and prophetically. Apparently, in this context in Isaiah, Israel is upright not on account of themselves, but because all of their sins shall be forgiven by Yahweh their God. So the use of this epithet here is a precursor to what is found further on, in Isaiah chapter 45 where we read that “25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.”

Now there is a promise of water, which is not actually literal water, but which is just as necessary as literal water if Israel is to be preserved:

3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. 

If the Spirit is poured upon “thy seed”, then “him that is thirsty” is of that same seed, and it is evident that the promise of the water, which is a parallelism here for the Spirit, represents the Holy Spirit, and this promise is made explicitly for the children of Israel, the physical descendants of Old Testament Israel, and it is never promised to any others. Where we read “they shall spring up”, when they receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, that will also cause them to thrive as a people.

In Ephesian chapter 1 Paul had addressed his readers and wrote in part, that it is Christ: “11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated [the predestination is defined here in Isaiah] according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” and this passage in Isaiah contains that promise. Paul understood that he was addressing elements of the “twelve tribes scattered broad”, as the apostle James had called them, and concluded that statement by describing the seal of the Holy Spirit: “14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Where the promise of the Holy Spirit is repeated by other prophets, in places such as Ezekiel chapter 36 (36:27) or Joel chapter 2 (2:28-29), it is also a promise made explicitly with the same children of Israel. So in Joel chapter 2 we read: “26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” [The word all in that passage has a context, which we shall discuss later in reference to another passage.]

It is absurd, for anyone who is not of the physical descendants of Jacob, to claim a portion in this promise. Where Joel wrote “ye shall eat in plenty” he was speaking explicitly of Israel. The Word of Yahweh was not speaking to the ancestors of any other races where He had said your sons and your daughters or your old men and your young men. Neither was Yahweh speaking to their ancestors where He said here in Isaiah that “I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring”. Therefore an arab, a negro or an asiatic claiming to be a Christian is only posing, and deceiving himself as well as others.

This promise in Isaiah is a reiteration of a promise uttered in Isaiah chapter 41, in this same context, where we read: “17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” The rivers and fountains here are the antidote to the conditions which had been described in Isaiah chapter 5 where we read: “7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” Then a little further on it says: “13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” That thirst is caused by a lack of the Word of God.

In the course of His ministry, Yahshua Christ was in Jerusalem for a Feast of Tabernacles celebration, and in John chapter 7 we read: “37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” With that, John made an explanatory remark and wrote: “39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” Then in Revelation chapter 7, in relation to the sealing of the hundred and forty four thousand virgins, and the innumerable multitude of Israel who would suffer the great tribulation and wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb, we read in part that “16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

So now, on account of this there is a seemingly related promise here in Isaiah:

5 One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel. 

Of course the word LORD here, as it is found in most Bible versions, is a substitution for the Name of Yahweh, which Christians have historically used in place of Yahweh. Having awkwardly, and errantly, turned to jews for an understanding of Scripture from the time that Christianity was first accepted in the Roman empire, the churches as they had been organized by the Empire seem to have also followed the prohibition upon using the Name which had been upheld by the jews since the first century. This we may know from the words of the Judaean historian Flavius Josephus, a man of the tribe of Levi, who described the transmission of the Name of God to Moses at the burning bush and said: “Whereupon God declared to him his holy name, which had never been revealed to men before; concerning which it is not lawful for me to say any more.” [1] If Josephus was not permitted to utter the Name any longer, his language indicates that at one time it was permissible for him to utter it, and from that perspective, it seems to have been outlawed by the authorities in Judaea during his lifetime.

But such was not always the case, and it should not be taken for granted. For example, it is well known that certain Greek manuscripts of the Septuagint found among the Dead Sea Scrolls contain either the Name of Yahweh written in paleo-Hebrew characters, or they have places where the Name had been transliterated into Greek letters. [2] Among these are 4Q120, which is a Dead Sea Scrolls copy of Leviticus, and Papyrus Fouad 266, which is an ancient Greek fragment of Deuteronomy 31:28 to 32:7 which was discovered in Egypt. There are also two Septuagint fragments which have been discovered and dated to this same period which have the Tetragrammaton written in archaic Hebrew characters, which are the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522, a fragment of Job 42:11-12, and a group of papyri fragments from the Judaean desert which are designated as 8HevXII gr, and which contain verses from at least six of the books of the Minor Prophets. Furthermore, there is evidence as late as the 9th century AD that the Name of Yahweh appeared in Greek manuscripts of the Hexapla of Origen, notably in the Codex Ambrosiano O 39 sup. [3] Other sources have shown that attempts to signify the Hebrew name of Yahweh with certain Greek characters, rather than substituting the Name with the Greek word κύριος, are evident even in the publication of the Hexapla by Fridericus Field. [4, 5] That can be verified in facsimile copies of the Hexpla which are commonly available on the internet. But now I have digressed beyond the scope of our purpose here in Isaiah.

Even if we accept the word κύριος, it refers to both Yahweh and to Christ, and the very word church, as it is in English, or kirche in German, is in either case a contraction of the Greek word κῡριακός, which to early Christians meant of the Lord, and therefore early Christians had called themselves by His Name, even if they did not really understand His Name. At the same time, Jacob and even Israel, along with other Biblical names, became popular given names among the Christian nations of Europe. So while this has a greater fulfillment, the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy began with the acceptance of Christianity among the “lost sheep of the House of Israel”, the “twelve tribes scattered abroad” in the isles and coastlands of the west. 

More significantly, addressing the children of Israel in Isaiah chapter 62, the Word of Yahweh had said “2 And the [Nations] shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.” When the Messiah had come, Yahweh God incarnate, He did indeed acknowledge being the Christ, the Greek translation of Messiah which means Anointed One, for example in Mark chapter 14 (14:61-62), and He did use the title Christ in reference to Himself, for example in Matthew chapter 24 (24:5) where He is recorded as having said “5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Saying that, He fulfilled the words in Isaiah where it speaks of “… a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.” Then the children of Israel scattered abroad fulfilled the rest of the prophecy of Isaiah here, where they began to call themselves Christian, which also fulfills the prophecy here that they would say “I am the LORD'S” and one would “subscribe with his hand unto the LORD”.

Now today we may assert that in the last days, at the time of the promised third ministry in the Spirit of Elijah which we would assert is found in Christian Identity, this prophecy is more completely fulfilled, since we have a full understanding of the identity of the true Israel of God. Any claims on the part of the people now known as jews are spurious distractions in their attempts to conceal the truth of God, for which He had said “Ye are My witnesses” in Isaiah chapter 43, a statement which is repeated again as we proceed through this chapter. If the jews were His witnesses, they would have believed Christ, and they would not be jews. In Isaiah chapter 65 it is the wicked people of Jerusalem of whom it was said “15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.” Thusly is the name jew a curse to both Judah and Israel. 

Now Yahweh explicitly address Israel once again, leaving no space for any other people as candidate subjects for any of these promises:

6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 

The pronoun in the phrase “and his redeemer” must refer back to Israel, and it should not be interpreted to mean that the Redeemer of Israel is a separate person, individual or entity than the King of Israel, but rather, Yahweh is describing Himself as both the King of Israel, and as the Redeemer of Israel, and therefore He is One and the Same with Yahshua Christ, who had proclaimed that “I and My Father are One”, as it is recorded in John chapter 10 (10:30). Yahweh is the Redeemer of Israel, and in his epistle to the Romans, where Paul had also acknowledged in several different ways that the Romans were of the scattered tribes of the children of Israel, in chapter 3 he explained that “23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Therefore since the redemption is in Christ, then Christ must be the Redeemer, and one and the same with Yahweh, as He Himself had attested to be the Redeemer.

It seems inane, that one must counter and refute the heresy of the so-called Trinity all throughout a book of the prophets. However the Trinity lie has been repeated so often for so long that many Christians simply assume that it is a fact, although it is not a fact. It is a lie which has historically accommodated the enemies of Christ, both jews and muslims, and deceived Christians into believing that the children of the devil can worship the same God as the God of Christians, and that is also a lie. In John chapter 14 Christ is recorded as having said “6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Earlier, in John chapter 6, He said “37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…” So if a man claims to worship God, and rejects Christ, then he cannot possibly be from of the Father.

As another digression, where Paul said “For all have sinned”, we would insist that the word “all” must have a context. In Romans chapter 5 (5:13) Paul attested that “… sin is not imputed when there is no law.” In 1 John chapter 3 the apostle John had stated: “4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Only the children of Israel ever had the law, and much earlier, in the 147th Psalm, in words which are attributed to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, we read: “19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.” Since only Israel had the law, and since sin is transgression of the law, where Paul wrote “For all have sinned” then the “all” can only have been intended to describe all of Israel.

Here Yahweh had also declared that He is the “first and the last”, and “beside Me there is no God”. Much later, on several occasions in the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Christ had proclaimed that “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” and “Fear not; I am the first and the last”, as John recorded His words in Revelation chapter 1 (1:11, 17), and “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive” as John recorded in Revelation chapter 2 (2:8), and finally in Revelation chapter 22, “13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Having used singular words for first and last in each of those passages, these statements would be blasphemy if spoken by anyone other than Yahweh God Himself, and it is made further apparent that Christ and His Father are One. For that same reason, as we now read here in Isaiah:

7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. 

The translation of verse 7 in the New American Standard Bible is clearer and easier to follow:

7 And who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, From the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place.

This is yet another continuance of the Test of God which was first set forth in the latter portion of Isaiah chapter 41 where the children of Israel are chastised for their idolatry and we read, in part: “21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. 23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” But because no other god could come forth to reveal these things for them, now they are encouraged:

8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. 

This is similar to the passage in Isaiah chapter 43 where Yahweh had again challenged the Nations to bring forth their witnesses, and that challenge, if undertaken, would also have failed. So on account of that, there we read, in part: “10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” So as we had hopefully explained sufficiently when we had encountered that verse, the children of Israel did indeed serve as Yahweh’s witnesses, even if they were not directly conscious of their service, when their Redeemer had come many centuries later, and when they accepted His Gospel and began to call themselves by His Name, they fulfilled their function as His witnesses.

This is one of the marvels of Scripture, and its truth is only realized within our Christian Identity understanding. If just any random nation or race of people could pick up Bibles in bookstores and imagine for themselves to be Christians, then the words of the prophets are meaningless, and all of these words here in these chapters of Isaiah are meaningless. But if, over seven hundred years after they had gone into captivity, the children of the twelve tribes scattered abroad in the isles and coastlands of the west had heard and accepted the Gospel of Christ, and had taken His Name upon themselves, then all of these words here in Isaiah are true, as well as the words of the other prophets. The proof of Israel is according to the words of the prophets, as Yahweh God Himself attests in these very chapters of Isaiah.

Paul of Tarsus, who spent his entire latter life bringing the Gospel of Christ to the isles and coastlands of the west, had professed, as it is recorded in Acts chapter 26, that “6 …. now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: 7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.” So there we see in the words of Paul himself, that the claims of the jews to be Israel are not true, that the twelve tribes of Israel were distinct from the jews, and that all of Paul’s labors in Europe were on behalf of those twelve tribes, not for the jews, but in spite of the jews. So Paul, in the New Testament, also attests to the words of Isaiah here, and the words of Isaiah were indeed fulfilled in the formative years of Christianity in Europe. This happened while the Christians of Europe were, for the most part, oblivious to the meanings of the teachings of Paul and to their own identity as the people of those twelve tribes, so on that account, Yahweh God certainly is the Shepherd of the Blind.

Now, as it was in the earlier chapters where the test of God was first described, Israel is once again chastised for their idolatry:

9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows [or all associated with it] shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 

There is really no one answer as to why men may make idols, except in the rejection of Yahweh God and His righteousness, by which man seeks to make a god more pleasing in his own corrupt image. For any other reason, there is no point in idolatry at all, and no reason why men should worship idols. However idolatry is a problem even in the world of today. For that reason, in the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, in prophecies which were evidently related to the fall of Rome and the ensuing conquests of the vile arab mohammedans, after that particular scourge had passed we read at the end of Revelation chapter 9: “20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” Today men still worship such things, and make excuses for their idolatry, even claiming for it to be Christian.

Perhaps the love of money is also a contributing factor, so we read here in Isaiah:

12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain [or dwell] in the house [or shrine]. 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth [or secureth] for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 

In the Wisdom of Solomon, it is also apparent that men will take the stock of a tree, make the most of all of the best portions of it, heat his meals with the lesser portions, and then make idols with the most wretched parts, and worship the idols. This is found in a rather long dissertation of idolatry which begins in Wisdom chapter 13, so we shall only read a portion, where men, failing to seek their Creator, are wont to make idols instead. So rather than having hope in God:

10 But miserable and in dead things is their hope, who name as gods the works of the hands of men, the gold and silver instruments of art and models of living creatures or a worthless stone, a work of an ancient hand. 11 And also if any woodcutter of the craftsman sawing an easily moved tree, skillfully having shaven all of its bark and fashioning it fittingly prepares a useful vessel for the service of living, 12 then the refuse of the business having been consumed for the preparation of food he is satisfied.

13 But taking from among them the refuse, a crooked tree which is useful for nothing and grown up in knots, he carves with care in his leisure and shapes it with the experience of knowledge. This he models in the image of a man, 14 or likens it to some worthless living creature, smearing it with red chalk and rouge, dyeing red its surface and coating over every spot which is upon it. 15 Then upon his making for it a worthy room, he sets it in a niche securing it with iron 16 that it surely would not fall. He provides for it knowing that it is unable to help itself, for even it is an image and has need of help. 17 Then offering prayers concerning his property and his marriage and children he is not ashamed, speaking to the lifeless, and concerning health he calls upon that which is weak. 18 For life he considers worthy that which is dead, and he supplicates for assistance that which is more inexperienced, then concerning a good journey that which is not even able to use a foot, 19 then for industry and production and success of the hands he asks that which is without vigor for vigor of the hands.

In ancient Israel, the people should have known better, having had the experience of the Exodus, the plagues and destruction which had come upon ancient Egypt, and the bondage from which they were saved, as well as the experience in the conquest of Canaan and the warnings and witnesses to the abominations of the Canaanites. But in spite of all that, they turned to the same idolatry, and after many second chances and revivals, they were ultimately punished for it, and blinded by Yahweh God to the point where they had forgotten their entire past. For this we read in Hosea chapter 3: “4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”

There it is evident that in different words, Hosea had described much of what we have also seen in these chapters of Isaiah. While the king and the princes were civil rulers, the sacrifices, the ephod, which is a priestly garment, and the teraphim were the rituals and symbols of the nation by which the people had expressed their heritage and represented their faith. But the images were forbidden in the law, so it is not clear what images are meant here, and it is evident here in Isaiah that Israel in their blindness was destined to continue in their idolatry. But this would be their punishment, and they would have to live with the useless idols which they worshipped in Canaan, which clearly could not save them from their enemies. This would be an inevitable aspect of their punishment, for which we now read:

18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 

This is speaking of the people themselves, not of their idols, which could never see nor understand in any event. The people, in the time of their captivity, would remain blind, so that they cannot see or understand, until they hear and accept the Gospel of Christ whereby the eyes of the blind are opened, as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 42 of this book, where we read “6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the [Nations]; 7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Therefore, on account of their blindness:

19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? 

So in their time of punishment, the people would continue to worship their idols, and not even have any ability to reflect upon why they worshipped useless things which could not help them, and neither could they help themselves. So Yahweh now tells Jacob to remember these things, and ostensibly, while they have forgotten Him, He shall not forget them:

21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. 

Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me: in Hosea chapter 4 we read: “17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone”, and then in chapter 5 we read a similar statement as this one in Isaiah: “3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.” But then, much later in Hosea, there is a prophecy of repentance and we read, in Hosea chapter 14: “8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.” That day must have been the day, or period, in which Ephraim, the name of which in Hosea stands for the northern tribes of Israel, had abandoned idolatry and accepted the Gospel of Christ.

Here in Isaiah, even though they are blind and would remain in their idolatry for centuries to come, we read:

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. 23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. 

Of course, the people in captivity, whose eyes have been blinded by the Shepherd of the Blind, cannot heed the call to return until they receive the Gospel of Christ, the message which both calls them, and announces to them their redemption. So once again, the redemption of Ephraim is spoken of in the past tense as if it had already happened, but it had not yet happened, and the redemption is a process which would only begin with the Gospel of Christ. However it is described here as if it had already been accomplished, because Yahweh God is true and it is certain to be accomplished.

The act of God’s redemption of Israel is mentioned several times here, and on each occasion it is explicitly described as an act of mercy for Israel, and only in relation to Israel. No people outside of the physical children of Jacob Israel can possibly claim for themselves to have been redeemed by Yahweh God, and if any do, it is a lie, and even a blasphemy to attribute to God actions which He had not committed. So now this is stressed once more:

24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; 

He that formed thee from the womb: While Jacob and Esau were still in the womb, promises were made concerning each of them, and Jacob was destined to be the greater of the two. Ultimately, it was Jacob who prevailed and inherited the promises of Abraham, while Esau was rather completely excluded from those promises. Of this circumstance, Paul of Tarsus wrote in Romans chapter 9: “10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one [by one promise], even by our father Isaac; 11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

So this seems to be that to which Yahweh referred where it says: “Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb”, speaking to Israel. This is the second time the phrase is repeated in this chapter, as we read in the opening verses: “2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.”

Later, in Isaiah chapter 46, we read where another such reference is made: “3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: 4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” So with this it should be evident, that Israelites are Israelites when they are born, because they are of the seed of Jacob. No one can somehow magically become a seed of Jacob through a vain ritual concocted by men, or through some private belief of his own initiative. The seed of Jacob must come from the same womb from which Jacob had come, which is Sarah, so they must be the genetic men and women of the children of Israel, and there are no substitutes.

Now the men who rely on idols, the soothsayers, prognosticators and diviners, are described:

25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; 

In contrast, Yahweh upholds the words of those who serve Him, but there is also another motive in the attestation which follows:

26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: 

At the end of Isaiah chapter 39, there is a prophecy that the sons of Hezekiah the king, and all of his treasure, would be taken into captivity in Babylon. The rise of Babylon as an empire is prophesied much earlier in Isaiah, in chapters 13 and 14. But the destruction of Jerusalem is prophesied even earlier than that, in Isaiah chapter 5 where we read in part: “3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” Later, in Isaiah chapter 22, the Burden of the Valley of Vision is also a prophecy that Jerusalem would be destroyed and go off into captivity. But here at this point in Isaiah, there is a promise of Jerusalem’s restoration and rebuilding, over a hundred years before its impending destruction.

But there is prophecy which is even more amazing which now follows:

27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. 

The reference to the rivers seems to be a description of the decline or destruction of the nations which would come against Jerusalem. After the time of the Babylonian empire, the surrounding nations do seem to have been weakened, and many of them are no longer mentioned by the time of the Hellenistic period.

Here Cyrus is described as a shepherd, who would do the will of Yahweh and ensure that Jerusalem would be built again, after it is destroyed. The best anchor we have for the writing of this prophecy is some short time after 700 BC and the failed siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians. Cyrus is said to have been born around 600 BC, but that date seems a little early. He is said to have become king of Persia in 559 BC, and within 20 years, he also ruled over Media, Lydia and Babylon. 

So from the last discernible year in the ministry of Isaiah, it would be as many as another hundred and fifteen years until Jerusalem is destroyed, and at least another hundred years before the birth of Cyrus, the king of Persia who had conquered Babylon, and paved the way for the rebuilding of Jerusalem which began in 520 BC, when a number of people of Judah returned from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple. So the mention of Cyrus here is remarkable, but there is no reason to question its provenance.

This concludes our commentary through Isaiah chapter 44. Yahweh willing, we shall discuss Cyrus at greater length, as he is the subject of the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 45.

Footnotes

1 Antiquities of the Judaeans, Flavius Josephus, Book 2, paragraph 276 (2.12.4).

2 4Q120, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4Q120, accessed September 11th, 2025.

3 Ambrosiano O 39 sup, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosiano_O_39_sup., accessed September 11th, 2025.

4 The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures, Tetragrammaton.org, https:// tetragrammaton.org/tetrapdxj.html, accessed September 11th, 2025.

5 Origenis Hexaplorum, Fridericus Field, AA.M., E Typographeo Clarendoniano (The Clarendon Press), 1875, Volume 1 p. 1033.]