1 But now, says the Lord your Maker, O Jacob, and your life-giver, O Israel: have no fear, for I have taken up your cause; naming you by your name, I have made you mine.
Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me.
And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
And I will give you the stores of the dark, and the wealth of secret places, so that you may be certain that I am the Lord, who gave you your name, even the God of Israel. Because of Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have taken for myself, I have sent for you by name, giving you a name of honour, though you had no knowledge of me.
The Lord who made you, forming you in your mother's body, the Lord, your helper, says, Have no fear, O Jacob my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have taken for myself.
And so, O men, be of good heart, for I have faith in God that it will be as he said to me.
Have no fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will be your helper, says the Lord, even he who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel.
And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
Even the people whom I made to be the witnesses of my praise.
For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord. For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:
And they will be named, The holy people, Those whose cause has been taken up by the Lord: and you will be named, Desired, A town not given up.
And they will be mine, says the Lord, in the day when I make them my special property; and I will have mercy on them as a man has mercy on his son who is his servant.
Keep these things in mind, O Jacob; and you Israel, for you are my servant: I have made you; you are my servant; O Israel, I will not let you go out of my memory. I have put your evil doings out of my mind like a thick cloud, and your sins like a mist: come back to me; for I have taken up your cause. Make a song, O heavens, for the Lord has done it: give a loud cry, you deep parts of the earth: let your voices be loud in song, you mountains, and you woods with all your trees: for the Lord has taken up the cause of Jacob, and will let his glory be seen in Israel. The Lord, who has taken up your cause, and who gave you life in your mother's body, says, I am the Lord who makes all things; stretching out the heavens by myself, and giving the earth its limits; who was with me?
This will be put in writing for the coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the Lord.
Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.
In your mercy you went before the people whom you have made yours; guiding them in your strength to your holy place.
If now you will truly give ear to my voice and keep my agreement, you will be my special property out of all the peoples: for all the earth is mine: And you will be a kingdom of priests to me, and a holy nation. These are the words which you are to say to the children of Israel.
And the Lord said to Moses, I will do as you say: for you have grace in my eyes, and I have knowledge of you by your name.
For the Lord's wealth is his people; Jacob is the land of his heritage.
No lion will be there, or any cruel beast; they will not be seen there; but those for whom the Lord has given a price, Even those whom he has made free, will come back again; they will come with songs to Zion; on their heads will be eternal joy; delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever.
The Lord, who has taken up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, Because of you I have sent to Babylon, and made all their seers come south, and the Chaldaeans whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Maker of Israel, your King.
One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will give himself the name, Jacob; another will put a mark on his hand, I am the Lord's, and another will take the name of Israel for himself. The Lord, the King of Israel, even the Lord of armies who has taken up his cause, says, I am the first and the last, and there is no God but me.
Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind:
Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years. For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.
Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.
And as we had not seen the sun or stars for a long time, and a great storm was on us, all hope of salvation was gone.
But God's strong base is unchanging, having this sign, The Lord has knowledge of those who are his: and, Let everyone by whom the name of the Lord is named be turned away from evil.
The Lord who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord your God, who is teaching you for your profit, guiding you by the way in which you are to go.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 43
Commentary on Isaiah 43 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 43
The contents of this chapter are much the same with those of the foregoing chapter, looking at the release of the Jews out of their captivity, but looking through that, and beyond that, to the great work of man's redemption by Jesus Christ, and the grace of the gospel, which through him believers partake of. Here are,
Isa 43:1-7
This chapter has a plain connexion with the close of the foregoing chapter, but a very surprising one. It was there said that Jacob and Israel would not walk in God's ways, and that when he corrected them for their disobedience they were stubborn and laid it not to heart; and now one would think it should have followed that God would utterly abandon and destroy them; but no, the next words are, But now, fear not, O Jacob! O Israel! I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine. Though many among them were untractable and incorrigible, yet God would continue his love and care for his people, and the body of that nation should still be reserved for mercy. God's goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20), and mercy rejoices against judgment, as having prevailed and carried the day, Jam. 2:13. Now the sun, breaking out thus of a sudden from behind a thick and dark cloud, shines the brighter, and with a pleasing surprise. The expressions of God's favour and good-will to his people here are very high, and speak abundance of comfort to all the spiritual seed of upright Jacob and praying Israel; for to us is this gospel preached as well as unto those that were captives in Babylon, Heb. 4:2. Here we have,
Isa 43:8-13
God here challenges the worshippers of idols to produce such proofs of the divinity of their false gods as even this very instance (to go no further) of the redemption of the Jews out of Babylon furnished the people of Israel with, to prove that their God is the true and living God, and he only.
Isa 43:14-21
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly.
Isa 43:22-28
This charge (and a high charge it is which is here exhibited against Jacob and Israel, God's professing people) comes in here,