15 Truly, you have a secret God, the God of Israel is a Saviour!
I was quickly angry with his evil ways, and sent punishment on him, veiling my face in wrath: and he went on, turning his heart from me.
Why is your face covered, and why do you give no thought to our trouble and our cruel fate?
And I will be waiting for the Lord, whose face is veiled from the house of Jacob, and I will be looking for him.
And they said to the woman, Now we have faith, but not because of your story: we ourselves have given ear to his words, and we are certain that he is truly the Saviour of the world.
O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out. Who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord? or who has taken part in his purposes?
From this man's seed has God given to Israel a Saviour, even Jesus, as he gave his word;
And Jesus, answering, said to him, What I do is not clear to you now, but it will be clear to you in time to come.
Give praise to God in the great meeting; even the Lord, you who come from the fountain of Israel.
Now all this took place so that the word of the Lord by the prophet might come true, See, the virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and they will give him the name Immanuel, that is, God with us.
And you will take the milk of the nations, flowing from the breast of kings; and you will see that I, the Lord, am your saviour, and he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob.
But the Lord will make Israel free with an eternal salvation: you will not be put to shame or made low for ever and ever.
I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no saviour but me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 45
Commentary on Isaiah 45 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 45
Cyrus was nominated, in the foregoing chapter, to be God's shepherd; more is said to him and more of him in this chapter, not only because he was to be instrumental in the release of the Jews out of their captivity, but because he was to be therein a type of the great Redeemer, and that release was to be typical of the great redemption from sin and death; for that was the salvation of which all the prophets witnessed. We have here,
Isa 45:1-4
Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from Astyages king of Media. The pagan writers are not agreed in their accounts of his origin. Some tell us that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed, and was saved from perishing by a herdsman's wife. However, it is agreed that, being a man of an active genius, he soon made himself very considerable, especially when Croesus king of Lydia made a descent upon his country, which he not only repulsed, but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he had gained against Croesus with such vigour that in a little time he took Sardis and made himself master of the rich kingdom of Lydia and the many provinces that then belonged to it. This made him very great (for Croesus was rich to a proverb) and enabled him to pursue his victories in many countries; but it was nearly ten years afterwards that, in conjunction with his uncle Darius and with the forces of Persia, he made this famous attack upon Babylon, which is here foretold, and which we have the history of Dan. 5. Babylon had now grown exorbitantly rich and strong. It was forty-five miles in compass (some say more): the walls were thirty-two feet thick and 100 cubits high. Some say, They were so thick that six chariots might drive abreast upon them; others say, They were fifty cubits thick and 200 high. Cyrus seems to have had a great ambition to make himself master of this place, and to have projected it long; and at last he performed it. Now here, 210 years before it came to pass, we are told,
Isa 45:5-10
God here asserts his sole and sovereign dominion, as that which he designed to prove and manifest to the world in all the great things he did for Cyrus and by him. Observe,
Isa 45:11-19
The people of God in captivity, who reconciled themselves to the will of God in their affliction and were content to wait his time for their deliverance, are here assured that they should not wait in vain.
Isa 45:20-25
What here is said is intended, as before,