19 Not in secret have I spoken, in a dark place of the earth, I have not said to the seed of Jacob, In vain seek ye Me, I `am' Jehovah, speaking righteousness, Declaring uprightness.
Come ye near unto me, hear this, Not from the beginning in secret spake I, From the time of its being, there `am' I, And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and His Spirit.
For thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live,
and he goeth out before Asa, and saith to him, `Hear, me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; Jehovah `is' with you -- in your being with Him, and if ye seek Him, He is found of you, and if ye forsake Him, He forsaketh you;
The sacrifice of the wicked `is' an abomination to Jehovah, And the prayer of the upright `is' His delight.
Every saying of God `is' tried, A shield He `is' to those trusting in Him.
And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.
By Myself I have sworn, Gone out from my mouth in righteousness hath a word, And it turneth not back, That to Me, bow doth every knee, every tongue swear.
Call with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet lift up thy voice, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins; Seeing -- Me day by day they seek, And the knowledge of My ways they desire, As a nation that righteousness hath done, And the judgment of its God hath not forsaken, They ask of me judgments of righteousness, The drawing near of God they desire: `Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and Thou knowest not.' Lo, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, And all your labours ye exact.
And ye have sought Me, and have found, for ye seek Me with all your heart; And I have been found of you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; and I have turned back `to' your captivity, and have gathered you out of all the nations, and out of all the places whither I have driven you -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and I have brought you back unto the place whence I removed you.
Hard against Me have been your words, Said Jehovah, and ye have said: `What have we spoken against Thee?' Ye have said, `A vain thing to serve God! And what gain when we kept His charge? And when we have gone in black, Because of Jehovah of Hosts?
and, lo, he doth speak freely, and they say nothing to him; did the rulers at all know truly that this is truly the Christ?
And in the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, `If any one doth thirst, let him come unto me and drink; he who is believing in me, according as the Writing said, Rivers out of his belly shall flow of living water;' and this he said of the Spirit, which those believing in him were about to receive; for not yet was the Holy Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jesus answered him, `I spake freely to the world, I did always teach in a synagogue, and in the temple, where the Jews do always come together; and in secret I spake nothing;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, according as the Spirit was giving them to declare. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation of those under the heaven, and the rumour of this having come, the multitude came together, and was confounded, because they were each one hearing them speaking in his proper dialect, and they were all amazed, and did wonder, saying one unto another, `Lo, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? and how do we hear, each in our proper dialect, in which we were born?
ye ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend `it'.
Doth not wisdom call? And understanding give forth her voice? At the head of high places by the way, Between the paths she hath stood, At the side of the gates, at the mouth of the city, The entrance of the openings, she crieth aloud, `Unto you, O men, I call, And my voice `is' unto the sons of men.
`The things hidden `are' to Jehovah our God, and the things revealed `are' to us and to our sons -- to the age, to do all the words of this law.
`For this command which I am commanding thee to-day, it is not too wonderful for thee, nor `is' it far off. It is not in the heavens, -- saying, Who doth go up for us into the heavens, and doth take it for us, and doth cause us to hear it -- that we may do it. And it `is' not beyond the sea, -- saying, Who doth pass over for us beyond the sea, and doth take it for us, and doth cause us to hear it -- that we may do it? For very near unto thee is the word, in thy mouth, and in thy heart -- to do it.
`And now, before the eyes of all Israel, the assembly of Jehovah, and in the ears of our God, keep and seek all the commands of Jehovah your God, so that ye possess this good land, and have caused your sons to inherit after you unto the age.
for I was ashamed to ask from the king a force and horsemen to help us because of the enemy in the way, for we spake to the king, saying, `The hand of our God `is' upon all seeking Him for good, and His strength and His wrath `is' upon all forsaking Him.'
Sayings of Jehovah `are' pure sayings; Silver tried in a furnace of earth refined sevenfold.
The law of Jehovah `is' perfect, refreshing the soul, The testimonies of Jehovah `are' stedfast, Making wise the simple, The precepts of Jehovah `are' upright, Rejoicing the heart, The command of Jehovah `is' pure, enlightening the eyes, The fear of Jehovah `is' clean, standing to the age, The judgments of Jehovah `are' true, They have been righteous -- together. They are more desirable than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; and sweeter than honey, Even liquid honey of the comb.
And I -- my prayer `is' to Thee, O Jehovah, A time of good pleasure, O God, In the abundance of Thy kindness, Answer me in the truth of Thy salvation.
The humble have seen -- they rejoice, Ye who seek God -- and your heart liveth.
`Tzade.' Righteous `art' Thou, O Jehovah, And upright `are' Thy judgments. Thou hast appointed Thy testimonies, Righteous and exceeding faithful,
At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:
All the nations have been gathered together, And the peoples are assembled, Who among them declareth this, And former things causeth us to hear? They give their witnesses, And they are declared righteous, And they hear and say, `Truth.' Ye `are' My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And My servant whom I have chosen, So that ye know and give credence to Me, And understand that I `am' He, Before Me there was no God formed, And after Me there is none.
This people doth draw nigh to Me with their mouth, and with the lips it doth honour Me, but their heart is far off from Me; and in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings -- commands of men.'
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,