Scriptures for the Whole House of Israel
CHAPTER 41
1. “Coastlands, remain silent toward Me, and let the gathered peoples renew their power. Let them approach and speak; let us come close together and have a ruling on [this] case.
Silent: or speechless. Gathered peoples: these “united nations” of the last days who are bringing forward the Counterfeit Messiah as a serious contender against YHWH. Renew: the same word as “trade in for a fresh supply”(40:31).
2. “Who stirred up the righteous [one] from the sunrise and summoned him to his feet? [Who] grants that nations be delivered up before His face and will cause Him to take dominion over kings? He will yield them over to His sword like dust, and like driven stubble to His bow.
The righteous one: Aramaic, “Avraham, a select one of righteouesness”. In this case, in the broader sense, it would refer to his progeny, Israel, and possibly the Messiah in particular as its figurehead.
3. “He will pursue them and pass over safely; He will not go by the way his feet [are familiar with].
4. “Who has acted and carried it out, inviting the generations since the beginning? “I, YHWH—the first and with the very last—I am the one!”
Inviting : Aramaic, “ordering”. In other words, He has been responsible for it all; do not give credit to anyone else.
5. “The coastlands have seen it and have become afraid; all the way to the extremities of the earth, they trembled. They came close [together] and have begun to arrive.
They realize they aren’t in charge after all, but their response (like that of Pharaoh and as repeated in the book of Revelation) is not to repent, but to strengthen their resolve:
6. “Each one has begun assisting his fellow, and telling his brother, ‘Be strong!’
They have the right idea, but the wrong context. They ignore the facts and think all they need to do is improve their technology in order to finish building the False Messiah—Easter rather than Passover (Ezk. 8-9). He has to have a platform of disruption upon which to rise up. He will have (temporary) answers and will seem to have a band-aid that will stop the mortal bleeding. People will feel that they have to believe in him because they cannot trust this Elohim who is bringing destruction. This attitude goes all the way back to an early Christian named Marcion, who said that the “God” of the Jews was violent, evil, and bloodthirsty, but the God of the Christians was loving. But YHWH will do what He needs to do to persuade His people to repent. At such a time, we should not try to protect them from His correction (e.g., 1 Cor. 5:5), for that would give them a false sense of security. If they feel the heat, they may repent, as was the case with the Corinthian offender. (2 Cor. 2)
7. “So the craftsman strengthens the refiner, and the one who smooths with a forge-hammer [strengthens] the one who strikes a blow, saying, ‘It’s appropriate for soldering.’ He will firm it up with nails so it will not be dislodged.
They are trying to avoid the tottering seen in 40:30. YHWH’s enemies are upholding each other; we certainly do not need to add to it by offering them any more compassion once they show their true colors by turning away from the obvious truth.
8. “But you, O Israel, are My servant; Yaaqov, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Avraham, My dear friend,
9. “whom I have firmly taken hold of from the extremities of the earth and summoned you from its corners, telling you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you and not despised you.
Israel’s ingathering is simultaneous with the Counterfeit’s unification.
10. “’Do not be afraid, because I am with you; do not look around with anxiety, because I am your Elohim. I have strengthened you; I have even assisted you! What’s more, I have upheld you with My righteous right hand.
11. “Indeed, all who were furious with you will be ashamed and humiliated; they will come to be as if they were not there, and men [who] quarrel with you will vanish.
Were not there: or “did not exist”. Ultimately, any other mindset than YHWH’s does not exist, and “the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will perish.” (Prov. 10:7)
12. “You will look for them, but not find them. Those who struggled against you will come to be as if they were not there, and the men that war against you [will be] as if they had come to an end,
13. “because I, YHWH Your Elohim, am strengthening your right hand, telling you, ‘Do not be afraid; I have been helping you.’
14. “’Do not be afraid, you scarlet-worm of Yaaqov; I have been helping you,’ declares YHWH, your Kinsman Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
The worm called coccus ilicis is the source of the scarlet dye. This may be an allusion to “if your sins become as scarlet, they can be as white as snow” (1:18). I.e., YHWH knows Efrayim will respond with repentance once he realizes what he has been doing. (Yirm./Jer. 31:19) He promises to redeem us, so we need not remain in our sin; He promises to make us new so we can be His instrument again:
15. “’Indeed, I have appointed you as a sharp new threshing sledge, a master double-edged [teeth]; you will thresh the mountains and pulverize [them], and will transform the hills into chaff.
There is another way to read the contrast between the worm of verse 14 and this tool. The coccus ilicis shields her young with a dome that is permanently attached to her body until they are mature enough to leave her, then the dome splits open and she dies. From it the red dye (which also colors the young) is derived after she dies. She thus spends her entire life for the next generation, like Avraham, who constantly spoke about his continuance, or lack of it. Judaism in exile was like this worm—a safe place to raise the next generation and make sure it turned out like the ones before it. Christianity, like Judaism, always looks toward the generation yet to come which may bring the Messiah for its fulfillment. But here YHWH says they are to break out of this pattern, much as we have seen with the generation now back in the Land of Israel—not content to just preserve yesterday for tomorrow, but to do something today which actually stands out. We are not to be content with the status quo, but get up and do something about those who have oppressed us. (vv. 11-12)
16. “’You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will cause them to be scattered. Then you will be glad in YHWH, and make your boast in the Holy One of Israel!
17. “’The poor and the needy are looking for water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, YHWH, will respond to them; I, the Elohim of Israel, will not abandon them.
Respond to them: Aramaic, “accept their prayer”.
18.
“’I will let the rivers loose on the [bare] windswept heights, and springs in the middle of plains. I will transform the wilderness into a pool of water, and dry places into a water-source.
“’I will let the rivers loose on the [bare] windswept heights, and springs in the middle of plains. I will transform the wilderness into a pool of water, and dry places into a water-source. Aramaic, “I will bring their exiles near from among the Gentiles and lead them in a correct way…”
19. “’I will set cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness, together with pine, elm, and cypress in the Aravah,
Oil trees: olive, from which the oil comes for Temple service. The first four in the list, then, are used for holy purposes. The wilderness is both by definition away from the civilized order (called out) and, by Hebrew etymology, “a place of words”. The ten commandments in Hebrew are simply called “words” or “declarations”, and the wilderness is where they were given. Thus it is a holy place for Israel. YHWH will also meet with a reunited Israel in the wilderness in the very last years of this age. Aravah, on the other hand, means “mixing” or “transitional zone” between desert and arable land, thus possibly symbolizing the church, which has “decent wood” (the last three “ordinary” trees in the list), but has much paganism mixed in, and can only be counted as beneficial when its people rejoin the Israel that their ancestors left behind. Trees often symbolize men in Scripture. There are all kinds of trees here, for which different types of soil are needed. But though there is one root and one sap, many types have been grafted back in. Note also that there are seven trees mentioned, and oil is the middle one in the list—arranged exactly like a menorah with its central, oil-filled “servant” trunk and six branches.
20. “’so that [all of] them together may perceive, recognize, take note, and act wisely [upon the insight] that it is YHWH’s hand that has accomplished this, and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it about.
Together: no “tree” by itself can have all of this. I cannot, but together we can.
21. “’Bring forward your case’, YHWH says. ‘Advance your [strongest] argument’, says Yaaqov’s King.
22. “’Let them approach and inform us of what will occur. Let them report on what the earliest things were, so that we may set our minds to figuring out their [ultimate] end. Or, let us hear about the [things that are] to take place.
Earliest: i.e., primeval, a former era probably prior to Adam.
23. “’Reveal us the things to come [in the] hereafter, so that we may acknowledge that you are elohim. Go ahead, do [something] right or [something] wrong, so that together we may look at it and perceive!
24. “’See? You’re lacking after all, and your actions are worthless; whoever decides on you is disgusting!
Decides on you: YHWH has been running a contest, a court case (v. 21), between Himself and the pagan gods, as worshipped by the end-time coalition of all nations.
25. “’I have inspired [someone] from the north, and he will consent [to come] from the rising of the sun. He will call on My Name, and will come upon [lower-level] officials as [upon] a heap [of dirt], and as a potter treads out clay.
Aramaic: “I will bring a king openly who is as strong as the north wind…He will come and trample the rulers of the Gentiles…” North: the word actually means “the hidden place” or “concealed treasure”; Y’shua is called an arrow hidden in YHWH’s quiver (49:2). My Name: From practices mentioned in the Talmud, it appears that the last straw at Y’shua’s trial was His use of YHWH’s true Name. But though they thought He was defeated, when YHWH’s champion returns, who will be able to contend with Him? They will not even know what hit them!
26. “’Who has made [anything] known about the beginning, and from before [then], so that we may say, “He is right”? No, there isn’t anyone who [can] make it known—no one at all who can let us hear! There isn’t even anyone listening to what you are saying!
Not only can they not say anything of any value; no one is even listening anymore. (Dan. 7:23-27)
27. “Look, the first to [arrive in] Tzion! Here they are! And I will employ someone to make Yerushalayim glad with good news!
28. “But I looked, and there wasn’t a man, and from [among] these there was no counsel who could bring even a word of rebuttal if asked
29. “They are all trouble after all; their achievements have turned out to be futile. Their cast metal images [have turned out to be just] wind and [actually] formless.
CHAPTER 42
1. “’[But now] here is My Servant; him I will uphold! The one I have chosen, whom My soul has found acceptable. I have bestowed My spirit upon him; he will cause proper procedures to go out to the nations.
LXX: “Yaaqov is My servant; Israel is My chosen.”
2. “He will not clamor nor lift up or cause his voice to be heard outside.
Yochanan was a voice crying out in the wilderness; Y’shua was more low-key and even tried to keep his identity as the Messiah hidden until the right moment. He was not boisterous or media-seeking like his counterfeit. He does not need to “blow his own horn”; truth speaks for itself. He prefers that we speaks with a simple “yes” or “no”. (Mat. 5:37)
3. “He will not break a stalk that is being crushed, nor will he put out a wick that is growing dim; he will cause due process to become reliable.
He will not oppress those who are already downtrodden, but he will make it normal to be able to count on justice within the court system.
4. “He [Himself] will not grow dim or be crushed until he establishes proper execution of justice in the Land, and the [outlying] coastlands will wait expectantly for his instruction.”
5. Thus says the El, YHWH, Creator of the heavens, who stretches out the heavens and spreads out the land and what it produces, who gives inspiration to the people upon it, and breath to those who walk on it:
6. “I, YHWH, have summoned you with what is proper, and will strengthen your hand, keep guard over you, and appoint you to be a covenant [for the] people, to [be an] illuminator of nations,
To Yeshayahu, it looks impossible to change his audience, but YHWH has a reason for choosing him. There was no mistake made in whom He has called to Himself. Strengthen: or “keep a firm hold on”.
7. “to open blind eyes, to liberate the captives from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the house of confinement.
The Aramaic Targum makes it more explicit: “to open the eyes of the House of Israel, who are as blind to the Torah, to bring out their exiles, who resemble prisoners, from among the Gentiles, to deliver them from the slavery of the kingdoms…”
8. “I am YHWH; that is My Name. I will not yield My authority to another, or My renown to carved images.
Authority: literally, weight. That is My Name: Why, then, do we use so many substitutes? To another: one of a different kind. And who is of the same kind as He?
9. “The earliest things have been attained to, and I am announcing renewals; I am letting you hear about them before they are [in existence] yet.”
Renewals: or new things.
10. Sing to YHWH a new song! [Celebrate] His renown from the farthest extremities of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Sing a new song: often an idiom for “The Messianic Kingdom is here!” (Psalms 96, 98)
11. Let a wilderness and its cities take [it] up, the villages that Qedar inhabits. Let those who are staying in Sela give a ringing cry of joy; let them shout from the tops of the mountains!
Qedar: a son of Yishmael. Its glory will have come to an end by this time. (21:16) Aramaic, "the Arabians". Those who are staying in Sela (Petra): at the time this refers to, they are probably Israel, whose final exile is just coming to an end. Alt., "the rock", the translation of Sela and Petra. The Aramaic takes it as tombs, which indeed many of the man-made caves in Petra were used as. Will Israel be living in buildings that were once tombs, then literally come out of the tombs when it is time to return to the Land? (By tradition, stone is not rendered ritually unclean by what touches it--in this case, bones of dead men.)
12. Let them direct authority toward YHWH, and proclaim His renown in the coastlands!
13. YHWH will go forth like a mighty man, and stir up zeal like a man of battles. He will utter a shout of triumph; better, He will shriek! He will prove to prevail over His enemies:
14. “For a [very] long time I have kept quiet. I was forcing Myself to remain silent. [Now] I will scream like a woman who is giving birth. I will pant and gasp at the same [time].
15. “I will make mountains and hills desolate and dry up all their green plants; I will transform rivers into islands, and dry up the marshes.
Cataclysmic shifts in the topography of the earth may allow Israel's exiles to traverse landforms that are now impossible to cross in order to return home:
16. “I will cause the blind to walk on a road they have not been familiar with; I will cause them to tread paths they had not perceived. I will transform dark places into bright [ones] ahead of them, and crooked places into straight. These are the things I have prepared for them, and I have not neglected [to maintain] them.
Traditional: "I will not leave them undone."
17. “Those who trust in the image have been driven back; those who say to the cast metal, “You are our god” are disappointed with the shameful thing!
18. “O deaf ones, listen! And look, you blind ones, so that you may see!
Look: or pay attention; if they begin trying to understand, they will find that they can. If they persist in the belief that they cannot, they will never find out.
19. “Who is blind except My servant, or deaf like the messenger I will send? Who is blind like one who is paid off, or blind like the servant of YHWH?
My servant: Here, Israel in general, and in the immediate context, probably Hizqiyahu (Hezekiah) himself, considering that he is the one about whom the prophecies in 7:14-20 apply most directly. (Compare 2 Kings 16:6-9; 20:1-18) Aramaic, “If the wicked repent, will they not be called My servant?” Yet of what benefit is a blind or deaf servant?
20. “You have seen great things, but you have not kept them [in mind]; [your] ears are open, but you have not begun to listen!”
Kept: or safeguarded; paid close attention so as to be sure to remember. So often YHWH reiterates the need to treasure up His words, because they are what make things work properly, but we did not consider them valuable enough to preserve, and forgot them.
21. YHWH will be pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify the Torah and make it honorable.
Honorable: treated as authoritative.
22. But this is a people plundered and despoiled; they are all trapped in caves and have been forced to hide in houses of confinement. They were [taken] for booty, and there [was] no one to rescue—[as] prey, with no one to say, “Bring [them] back!”
Compare Avraham’s response when Lot was captured. Bring them back: or “Restore!” We have been purchased (fully paid for, a possible alternate reading of “paid off” in v. 19) for the sake of magnifying the Torah, but since we did not care to do so, but let it be weakened instead, we became enslaved to the other “securities” we chose to worship. There is no other way it could be.
23. Which of you will cup your ear [to] this? [Who] will pay attention and hear what is behind [it]?
24. Who allowed Yaaqov to become spoils and gave Israel to the plunderers? Wasn’t it YHWH, the one against whom we have sinned? Neither were they willing to walk in His ways or heed His instructions.
25. So He has poured out on them the burning heat of His nostrils, and the fierceness of battle, and it has scorched him all around, yet he did not recognize [it], and it has started to burn within him, yet he has not begun to lay it on [his] heart.
This is the fire that Y’shua has had to wait ever so long to kindle. (Luke 12:49) Since we minimized the Torah’s importance instead of increasing it, YHWH has to say, in effect, “I’ve paid for you, I’ve brought war against you, yet it’s as if I’ve done nothing.” Since we forgot we were Israel, we refused to believe we were in exile. So how could we even realize we had done wrong? But He does not leave us on this note…
CHAPTER 43
1. But now, this is what YHWH, who made you, says, O Yaaqov, and what your Creator [says], O Israel: “Do not be afraid, because I have acted as your Redeemer. I have invited you by name; you are Mine!
2. “When you pass through the waters, I am with you, and through the rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame catch fire on you.
Apparently these are the circumstances those returning to the Land in the latter days will be confronted with. If the events of Revelation take a literal form, it is hard to imagine them being any different. But there are many applications for the present time as well. Water often symbolizes the Torah; Yeshua says his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. (Matt. 11: With his restoring the Torah to its proper footing, obedience to YHWH’s commands is no longer the formidable task it once seemed when we thought we would be obligated to all the rabbinical interpretations in addition to a straightforward reading of the text. Fire: compare the story of Hananyah, Misha’el, and Azaryah in Babylon’s furnace (Dan. 3:25-27), in which not a hair of their head was scorched. Yeshua also said we would be hated and betrayed by relatives, and even put to death, yet not a hair of our heads would be permanently lost. (Luke 21:16-18)
3. “Because I am YHWH your Elohim, the Holy One of Israel, I gave up Egypt as your ransom-price, and [yielded up] Kush and Seva instead of you.
He traded all these nations for Israel. YHWH said He had set apart for Himself all the firstborn in Israel beginning at the time He killed all the firstborn in Egypt. (Num. 3:13)
4. “Since you were highly valued in My eyes, you are [considered] important, and I have befriended you. So I will yield up humanity instead of you, and nations in exchange for your life.
Humanity: Hebrew, Adam. Nations: in this context, it appears to mean all of humanity except Israel, aside from those remnants that will be left of the nations that band together against her.
5. “Do not be afraid, because I am with you. From the sunrise I will bring your descendants, and gather you from the sunset.
Gather you: Aramaic, “bring near your exiles”.
6. “I will tell the North, ‘Yield [them up]!’ and [say] to the South, ‘Do not hold [them] back!’ Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from [even] the extremities of the earth--
The North: This brings to mind the “Refuseniks”, the Jews the Soviet Union would not allow to emigrate to Israel in the 1980s. But the “North” is also often a euphemism for Assyria, where the Northern Kingdom was originally exiled to a large extent. The South could even refer to Yehudah, the Southern Kingdom, who at present is the only human authority who can grant the House of Yosef the right of return. (See 26:2) Compare Psalm 107:1-13.
7. “everyone who is called by My Name and whom I have created for My glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have [even] made him!
Called by My Name: His bride.
8. “‘Bring out [those who are] blind, though they have eyes, and the deaf [one], though he has ears.’
Yeshua addressed “those who have ears to hear”, not just those who have ears, in His messages to the seven congregations. (Rev. 2-3)
9. “All nations alike have been assembled, and [though] the peoples may be gathered, who among them can expound on this or let us hear about the earliest matters? Let them bring forward their witnesses, so that they may be vindicated, or let them listen and affirm, “[It is] reliable”.
Many assertions are made today about the primeval earth, but who other than YHWH can give an account of what really went on with any certainty? But He has revealed much to those who will listen.
10. “You are My witnesses”, declares YHWH. “My servant, whom I have chosen to know Me and trust in Me, and discern that I am He. Before Me no El was formed, nor shall there be any after Me.
My servant: the Aramaic targum identifies him as the Messiah. Here it also seems to refer to the whole nation of Israel, of which the Messiah is a prime example of what it is meant to be.
11. “I Myself am YHWH, and apart from Me there is no one to deliver.
12. “I have expounded and delivered and let you hear, when there was as yet no foreigner among you. You are My witnesses”, declares YHWH, “and I am El.
When there was no foreigner: the Aramaic links this to the time Israel received the Torah at Mt. Sinai.
13. “I am He from [that] day as well, and there is no one who snatches out of My hand. I will act, and who will revoke it?”
Compare Y’shua’s claim about His Father in Yochanan 10:29. Revoke: or repulse, repel, hinder.
14. This is what YHWH, your Kinsman Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “For your sakes I have sent to Bavel and brought them all down as fugitives, even Chasdim in ships of their triumph-song.
As fugitives: Aramaic, “with rudders”. Chasdim: the Chaldeans.
15. “I am YHWH, your Holy One, Creator of Israel—your King!”
16. Thus says YHWH, who provides a way through the sea, and a path through fierce waters,
17. who brings out chariot and horse, the force and the [prevailing] power: “[All of] them alike will lie down and not get [back] up. They have been extinguished! They were put out like the wick!
The wick: possibly the one mentioned above in 42:3. The Aramaic actual says “dimly burning wick”.
18. “Do not call to mind the earliest things or give your attention to things of old.
Things of old: Probably the events of the Exodus (v. 17), because YHWH promises to do something far greater that will so eclipse the Exodus that we will no longer even mention the earlier one. (Yirmiyahu 23:7ff).
19. “Here I am, doing something new. [Only] now will it spring up, and won’t you know about it? I will even make a pathway through the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Something new: Don’t use your old definitions of what is possible to try to guess what to expect from Him. We are also called to “put off the old man and put on the new.” (Col. 3:9ff) When this “week” of 7,000 years is over and the “eighth day” begins, the former things will all pass away. (Rev. 21:4) Desert: Aramaic, “devastation”. The wilderness reminds us of the Exodus but also the ministry of Yochanan the Immerser, whom Y’shua said was in some sense “Eliyahu”. The spirit of Eliyahu is back again in our day, proclaiming that “Yahweh is Elohim”, and his task is to “restore all things”. (Matt. 17:11) Having “ears to hear” is part of this restoration.
20. “The living things of the field will honor Me—dragons and ostriches—because I have provided water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, in order to let My people, My chosen ones, [have something to] drink.
Dragons and ostriches (literally “daughters of the owl”) are unclean animals. YHWH derives honor from them as well, even if they are not in agreement. (Ex. 14:18) In order to let My people drink: In the process of providing His Word to the people of Israel in exile, YHWH also let the “dogs” receive some “crumbs” from the table. (Mat. 15:26-27) This is one of the main reasons He scattered our ancestors. But during the Kingdom as well there will be people who can be tempted to rebel against Y’shua, the King, but until haSatan is loosed (Rev. 20), they will know they do not stand to overcome His rod of iron, so they will keep their mouths shut and at least appear wise. (Prov. 17:28)
21. “This people, whom I fashioned for Myself, will recount My praiseworthy acts!
22. “Yet you have not called on Me, Yaaqov, because you have grown tired of Me, O Israel.
23. “You have not brought Me a lamb of ascending [offering]s; even your slaughters have not treated Me as important. I did not compel you to serve with a grain offering, or tire you out with frankincense.
Compel: or burden. His yoke is easy.
24. “You haven’t bought Me any aromatic reed with silver, nor have you filled Me with the best of what you have slaughtered. Rather, by your sins you made Me work, and tired Me out with your perversity.
Aromatic reed: Aram., “sweet cane”.
25. “I Myself am the one who obliterates your rebellion [from memory] for My own sake, nor will I call your sins to mind.
For My own sake: If He chose us before the foundation of the world, it cannot be because of anything we have done! But has He not done enough for us to be worthy of our appreciation?
26. “[But do] remind Me of this: let’s plead our case together. Give an account of yourself, so that you may be vindicated.
He is willing to let us “reason together”, though He does not have to.
27. “Your first father sinned, and your scorners have rebelled against Me.
Your first father: Adam. But the sins of the forefathers are also cumulative in their practical effect. Scorners: or interpreters—possibly a reference to those in the next verse, because they (the priests) are responsible to interpret the Torah for the rest of Israel.
28. “So I will treat the overseers of the sanctuary as common, and turn Yaaqov over for mutilation, and [yielded] Israel [over] to taunts.
He is speaking to his contemporary audience now rather than one of the generations to come, as earlier in the chapter.
CHAPTER 44
1. So now, listen, Yaaqov, My servant, and Israel (I have chosen him)!
2. This is what YHWH, Your Maker, says—the One who formed you from the womb, [who] will help you:
“Do not be afraid, My servant Yaaqov, or Yeshurun, whom I have chosen,
Yeshurun: “the one who will be upright”, a pet name YHWH had for Israel when all twelve tribes were together and united.
3. “because I will pour out water on a thirsty [land], and floods over the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring,
The dry ground: the Land of Israel, dried up and desertified in the intervening centuries.
4. “and they will spring up as from between the grass, like willows over the streams of water.
Spring up as from between grass: Aramaic, “be exalted, tender, and indulged as tufts of grass”. Compare Psalm 1:3 and Yirmiyahu 17:8.
5. “This one will say, ‘I belong to YHWH’, and that one will summon in the name of Yaaqov. Moreover, this one will write on his hand ‘For YHWH’, and take on the name of Israel.”
For YHWH: or “belonging to YHWH”. Even those who are not literally, physically Israel can adopt that as their additional name and make it their new identity.
6. “Thus says YHWH, King of Israel, and His Kinsman Redeemer, YHWH of Armies: “I am first and I am last, and apart from Me there is no Elohim.
7. “So who is like Me? Let him declare it, announce it, and set [his] case forth for Me, since I established the people of antiquity. So let them expound on the things to come—yes, [tell about] what has yet to take place!
This is the test of a true prophet.
8. “Do not tremble or be afraid; haven’t I let you hear it since that time, and made it conspicuous? You are My witnesses: Is there an Elohim besides Me? Indeed, there is not a Rock that I have become aware of.
My witnesses: or My evidence. He created us. Rock: i.e., place of safety and stability.
9. “Those who fashion a carved image, they are all formless, and their desired [things] will not benefit [them]. They are their own witnesses; they neither see nor recognize, so that they might be ashamed
Note the irony of the contrast. They want to give Elohim a shape, yet they themselves are too open-minded to have any definite boundaries. Formless: what the earth was before Elohim reconstituted it for Adam. Their own witnesses: so obviously misled that one almost dos not need to point it out.
10. “who have fashioned an El, or cast an idol, [only] to [find that it] is of no benefit!
He told us all of this ahead of time so we would not waste our time or resources having to learn it by trial and error.
11. “Indeed, all of his companions will be embarrassed, and the artisans—they are from humanity! Let them all assemble together; let them take their stand. They are in dread; [all of] them alike feel ashamed.
Embarrassed: both ashamed and disappointed. Humanity: Heb., Adam.
12. “The engraver of iron works with a tool among the coals, forms it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arm. Yet still he is hungry, and there is no power; he has not drunk water, and so becomes faint.
Strength of his arm: his natural, fleshly strength, not by the Arm of YHWH. Hungry: or debilitated, so that his strength fails. This might also be read as saying he keeps working straight on through rather than pausing to refresh himself.
13. “The woodcarver stretches out a measuring cord; he outlines it with a marking tool. He prepares it with planing tools, then traces it out with a compass. Then he fashions it after the figure of a man, according to the splendor of humanity, to set in a house.
Planing tools: Aramaic, “a chisel”. Figure: or pattern. House: i.e., a temple”. Splendor of humanity: or “beauty of a man”. This sounds much like a crucifix, but we know this is not the true Y’shua, since He has nothing particularly attractive about him. (53:2) Emphasis on the perfect body and physical prowess is the Greek way, which spawned Humanism, the celebration of the magnificence of Man. Rather, the focus should be on the Artist who designed such a masterpiece
.
14. “To his cut cedars, he takes cypress or oak, whichever he determines for himself among the trees of a forest. He has planted a laurel, and the rain will cause it to grow tall.
15. “Then it comes be for a man to burn, and he takes some of them and is warmed; he even kindles it and has baked bread. Furthermore, he makes a god and bows himself before it [in worship]; he makes a carved image and prostrates himself to it!
16. “Half of it he has burned in a fire. Over half of it he will eat meat; he will roast a roast, and [eat] his fill. He is warmed indeed, and says, ‘Ah! I am warm! I have seen the light!’
17. “Then the rest of it he fashions to be a god; as his idol he prostrates himself to it, worships it, and prays to it: ‘Rescue me, because you are my god!’
They are now “creating elohim in their own image”, in a reversal of the roles in Gen. 1-2.
18. “They do not recognize; they do not discern, because He has coated their eyes [to prevent them] from [being able] to see, and their hearts [to prevent them] from [being able] to have insight.
Have insight: or ponder, pay attention, act wisely. Paul, who had scales fall from his own eyes, elaborates on this in Romans 11:8ff, teaching that YHWH had a positive intention in Israel’s being unable to see for a time. But thanks be to YHWH, it will not continue forever if we indeed repent. Now He has given us an open door.
19. “So he does not come back to his senses or knowledge or discernment, [so as] to say, ‘Half I have burned in a fire; indeed, I have baked bread over its embers. I have roasted meat and eaten it, and will I make the rest into [such] a disgusting thing? Shall I bow down to something made of wood?
Something made of wood: or “the product of a tree”. Something made of wood: Aram., “useless wood”.
20. “Feeding on ashes, a badly deceived heart has influenced him, so that he cannot tear his soul away and say, ‘Isn’t this thing in my right hand a fraud?’
Ashes: a metaphor for something worthless, as opposed to real food. Deceived heart: compare Yirmiyahu 17:9. Thing in my right hand: perhaps the “mark of the Beast”. (Rev. 13:16)
21. “Remember these [things], O Yaaqov and Israel, because you are My servant. I formed you; a servant you are to Me, O Israel, and you will not be forgotten by Me.
Remember: since we are His, we are to have nothing to do with the others.
22. “I have obliterated your steppings across the line like a thick cloud; your missings of the mark like a cloud-mass. Return to Me, because I have acted as your Kinsman Redeemer!”
23. Sing, O heavens, because YHWH has acted! Raise a shout of triumph, you lowest parts of the earth! Break forth into joyful singing, O mountains; O forest and every tree in it, because YHWH has redeemed Yaaqov, and will gain honor for Himself through Israel.
Acted: Aramaic, “accomplished the redemption of His people”.
24. Thus says YHWH, your Kinsman Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I Myself am YHWH, Maker of all, who stretches out the heavens [all] by Myself. Who was with Me, spreading out the earth,
By Myself: Aramaic, “by My Memra” (Living Word); this agrees with Yochanan 1:1-3.
25. “rendering ineffective the distinguishing signs of those who invent [idle ideas of something different]? Indeed, He will make fools of diviners, turning shrewd [men] backward, and rendering their knowledge foolish.
Compare 1 Cor. 1:20; 3:18-19.
26. “Making the word of His servants effective, He also brings the purposes of His messengers to completion. [As] the One who says to Yerushalayim, ‘[I] will cause you to be inhabited’, and to the cities of Yehudah, ‘You will be rebuilt!’, I will indeed resurrect your ruins!
Effective: literally, “to stand”.
27. “[As] the One who says to the depths of the ocean, ‘Be dried up!’, I will also cause your rivers to go dry.
Dried up: or made desolate. This may be to allow Israelites to cross from distant lands back to the Promised Land, or possibly to provide more land for Israel to spread out upon.
28. “[As] the One who calls Koresh “My shepherd”, and He will bring to completion all that I desire, that is to tell Yerushalayim, ‘You will be rebuilt’, and [the] Temple, ‘You will be established [on a firm foundation]!’”
My shepherd: LXX, “Who tells Koresh, ‘Be wise’. Koresh is commonly known as Cyrus, the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. on the night Daniel interpreted the “handwriting on the wall”—many decades after Yeshayahu prophesied. (See note on 45:3.) All that I desire: Rebuilding Yerushalayim (building the New Yerushalayim, which is also His Bride) and providing a firm foundation for His Temple does indeed summarize well everything that YHWH is doing in this age.
CHAPTER 45
1. This is what YHWH says to His anointed—to Koresh, whose right hand I have empowered to subdue nations before himself: “Indeed, I will loose the loins of kings, in order to open the double doors in front of him, and the gates will not be shut.
His anointed: Heb., mashiach, so it has a secondary reference to Y’shua. Koresh means “the one who splits” (see v. 2). Y’shua indeed said He would split natural families in the process of building His new spiritual family. (Mat. 10:35)
2. “I will go ahead of you and level off the rises; I will break down the bronze doors, and chop apart the iron bars.
Rises: or “swollen places”, from a word meaning “proud”, “pompous”, or “unduly prominent”; Aramaic, “walls”. Bronze is often symbolic of sin, and is related to the word for “serpent”. Bars: or “runners”. Comapre Psalm 107:14-16, which also speaks of exiles returning after being punished by YHWH for their rebellion.
3. “I have also granted to you the storehouses that are obscure, and treasures concealed in secret places, so that you may know that I am YHWH, who calls you by your own name—the Elohim of Israel.
By your own name: Josephus writes that Koresh was made familiar with the already-antiquated manuscripts of Yeshayahu’s prophecy that mentioned him by name, and he was so impressed by the power of YHWH to prophesy so specifically that “an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written”, that he granted them leave to return and rebuild the Temple. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, chapter 11; compare 44:28; Ezra 6) In a similar fashion, for years we read many prophesies and thought they only applied to us in some spiritualized sense, but when we found out we were the descendants of Israel, they took on a new immediacy for us.
4. “For the sake of My servant Yaaqov and Israel, My chosen one, I will even call you by name; I am giving you your title, though you have not been acquainted with Me.
5. “I am YHWH, and there is nothing more; [if you] take Me away, there is no Elohim. I will equip you, though you have not been acquainted with Me,
6. “so that from the rising [place] of the sun to [where] it sets, they may know that there is nothing apart from Me. I am YHWH, and there is no other
7. “who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace or creates what is unpleasant; I, YHWH, [am the One who] does all these things.
Unpleasant: or evil (but not morally so, only to our experience). Even haSatan needs permission from YHWH to do anything. (Iyov/Job 1:12) Since “all things work together for good to those who love YHWH and are called according to His purposes” (Rom. 8:28), we can greet each moment with eagerness-—not just the kind of moments we would prefer to have. We can give thanks in everything. Note that to anyone else, nothing good is guaranteed.
8. “Let [it] drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the [dust] clouds cause righteousness to trickle down. Let the earth open up, and let prosperity bear fruit and let righteousness likewise spring up [abundantly]. I, YHWH, have brought it about.”
Let the earth open up: the Aramaic adds, “that the dead may live”. Prosperity: or “salvation”.
9. Woe to [anyone] who quarrels with the One who formed him! [Such] a piece of broken pottery [belongs] with the pieces of broken pottery [on] the ground! Would the clay say to the one who forms it, “What are you making?” Or [would] the thing you have made [dare say], “He has no hands”?
Paul explains in Romans 9:14-24 that it is YHWH’s choice, and His alone, whom He uses as vessels of mercy and which are vessels of destruction.
10. Woe to [anyone] who says to a father, “What have you begotten?” or to a woman, “[For] what are you writhing [in childbirth]?”
Father: or a master craftsman. For what…: Aramaic, “With what will you be pregnant?”
11. Thus says YHWH, the Holy One of Israel and the One who is forming him: “Consult Me about the things to come! Will you give Me orders concerning My children and the products of My hands?
12. “I brought the earth into being, and created humanity upon it! I stretched out the sky [with] My hands, and I have set their hosts in order.
Set their hosts in order: or “been commander of their armies”; Aramaic, “founded all their forces”.
13. “I Myself have incited him with a just cause, and I have leveled off all his roads. He will build My cities, and send My exiled ones away without a reward and without a bribe”, says YHWH of Armies.
Leveled…roads: or “directed all his travels”. A bribe: Aramaic, “Mammon”.
14. This is what YHWH says: “What Egypt has worked hard for, and the profit Kush has gained from its trafficking and Saba’im, people of stature, will cross over to you and belong to you. They will walk behind you in fetters. They will come over and bow in homage to you, and beg from you.” Indeed, El is upon you, and there is nothing more—[last of all] an Elohim!
Trafficking: itemized in Rev. 18:13, including “the souls of men”. So Kush here is not Ethiopia, but the part that Nimrod, descendant of Kush, founded: Babylon. Saba’im: Sabeans. People of stature: those who the world respects are nothing special in YHWH’s eyes (Luke 16:15), but He will cause them, too, to serve Israel or perish.
15. Indeed, You are an El who conceals Yourself—the Elohim of Israel, the One who brings deliverance!
16. They have become ashamed and brought dishonor upon themselves—all of them alike. Those who carve images have gone into disgrace!
17. Israel has been liberated by YHWH [with] an eternal deliverance. You will never again be disappointed or humiliated forever,
18. because thus says YHWH, the Creator of the heavens (Elohim Himself, fashioner and maker of the earth, who did not set it up as a chaotic [place, but rather] created it to be inhabited): “I am YHWH, and there is nothing more.
Not…chaotic: this contradicts the traditional rendering of Gen. 1:2 (“and the earth was chaotic”), showing that it must be translated “and the earth became chaotic”, suggesting an act of YHWH’s judgment, probably that of Heylel (Lucifer) as seen in chapter 14. Aramaic, “He did not create it for nothing”.
19. “I have not spoken in secret, in [one of] earth’s dark place[s]. I did not tell the seed of Yaaqov, ‘Search diligently for Me’ for nothing. I am YHWH, who says what is right, and [only] proclaims things that are straight.
Not spoken in secret: Y’shua repeated the same idea when he was being arrested. (Luke 22:53) For nothing: we will not be disappointed. The word is the same in Hebrew as “chaotic” in v. 18, which can mean “emptily” or “without form”. Though He prohibits images to be made of Himself, He is not a nebulous, confusing thing of “unreality”. Things that are straight: or “things of equity”, i.e., He does not use double-talk or waste any words, nor does He deceive or the one who truly seeks Him or obscure His will with unnecessary clutter. He is straightforward in all that He does, unlike His competitors:
20. “Gather yourselves and come; all of you together, approach one another, you who have escaped [from] the nations. Those who set up the wood of their carved images, who pray to a god who cannot deliver—they know nothing!
Escaped from the nations: perhaps with the connotation of “Gentiles who have escaped from being Gentiles”. (Compare Eph. 2:11; 1 Cor. 12:2) Approach one another: We are not just to be gathered back to YHWH, but to one another as well, to form one body, a unified Bride for Him.
21. “Announce it and have them approach; let them consult together with one another: Who has caused this to be heard from the earliest of times, and expounded [on it] ever since? Isn’t it I, YHWH? And there is no other Elohim beside Me—a righteous El and a Deliverer; take Me away, and there is nothing.
22. “Turn toward Me and be delivered, all the extremities of the earth, because I am El, and there is nothing further.
Turn to Me: Aramaic, “Turn to My [Living Word]”. Delivered: i.e., from slavery to these “other” mighty ones, which really have no might, but live off their worshippers like parasites, gaining only the authority that is offered to them.
23. “I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone forth from My mouth with [perfect] appropriateness, and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow and every tongue will take an oath.
Compare Phil. 2:10-11, where the same claim is made about Y’shua, but to the Father’s glory, not in opposition to Him, as all of these others are.
24. “He will say, ‘Only in YHWH do I have rights and boldness.’” He approaches him, and all who are furious with Him will be ashamed.
Rights: Aramaic, “virtues”.
25. In YHWH all of the seed of Israel will be justified and make their boast.
In YHWH: Aramaic, “In the Memra of YHWH.” The seed of Israel: what is planted as Israel will bear the fruit of Israel, which is to be praisers of YHWH. Make their boast: Aramaic, “be glorified”.
CHAPTER 46
1. Bel has sunk [to his knees]; Nevo is bending down. Their [vexing] images have come to belong to the living thing and the beast. What you have been made to carry are [heavy] loads, a burden to the weary [woman].
Bel: best translated “Lord”, the chief Babylonian deity (known elsewhere as Ba’al). Nevo: a Babylonian deity who was thought to preside over learning and letters, corresponding to the Greek Hermes, Roman Mercury, and Egyptian Thoth. Bending down: or crouching; Aramaic, “hewn down”. Belong to: Aram., “resemble”. Living thing: or animal. The beast: i.e., the idols have been laid on a cart to be carried by the animals, but since “beast” is singular here, it may also be a reference to the Counterfeit Messiah as in the book of Revelation.
2. They have likewise bent over; they have sunk [to their knees]. They were unable to deliver the burden, and have themselves gone into captivity.
They…likewise: i.e., the animals pulling the cart with the idols on it are in the same condition as the idols on it. LXX: “who will not be able to save themselves from war”. Have themselves gone: literally, “their soul has gone”.
3. “Listen to Me, House of Yaaqov, and all who are left of the House of Israel, who are born from the womb, who out of compassion are carried.
Carried: may mean either sustained or taken away. LXX: “who are taught by Me from infancy”; Aramaic, “cherished more than all the kingdoms”.
4. “Even until your old age I am He, and to your gray hairs I will bear the load. I have made [you] and I will put up with [you]; I will plod along and I will deliver.
Put up…plod along…deliver: LXX, “I will relieve, I will take up, and save you”; Aram., “I will also forgive their sins and I will pardon.” I will deliver: in contrast to the idols (vv. 1-2) who have fallen to their knees because they cannot go any further.
5. “To whom will you compare Me or imagine to be My equal, and [to whom will you] liken Me or imagine that we are parallel?
What angers Him more than anything is to put something else in the same category as Himself. He cannot be boxed in; the name He revealed to Moshe is “I will be what I will be.”
6. “Those who pour gold lavishly out of the purse, and weigh out silver in the balances hire a refiner and he fashions a god. They begin to prostrate themselves and even bow down in worship.
Bow down: Aramaic, “are subjugated”. Today, though actual graven images that are worshipped are rare, idolatry still has to do with creating wealth. Now that even silver and gold have been replaced with mere software, it is all the more like YHWH, because it is a “spirit” rather than something physical. “The Economy” is a many-tentacled monster in which even Israel trusts. Yet, though it is worshipped, it, too, has only been created by men. We keep feeding it and making it appear alive, yet YHWH sees it as just as much of a rival for our hearts. (Lk. 16:13) Any time someone feels that they “have to” work on the Sabbath, they are worshipping Mammon instead of YHWH.
7. “They lift it up onto the shoulder and carry it. They set it in place, and [there] it remains; it will not leave. [Someone] may indeed call out to it, but it will not respond; it will not deliver him out of his distress.
Eliyahu mocked the prophets of Ba’al in the same way.
8. “Remember this, and show yourselves [to be] men; bring it back to mind, O rebels!
Maturity is to recognize that our idols cannot deliver us, and that we are only men. (Psalm 9:20) What is there to praise them for? They have not done anything!
9. “Remember the earlier things, from a time long past, because I Myself am El, and there is not another Elohim; there is nothing else like Me,
10. “who reports [about] the end [time] from the beginning, and from the ancient times, that which had not [yet] come about, saying, ‘My plans will endure, and I will carry out what I please,
He proves His uniqueness by telling us what is for us yet to come, for He is not bound by time as we are. But He also had the power to set a pattern in motion from the beginning by one act and, from it, build all of what has taken place throughout history. Who else has that sort of control? By His mercy, though others may not be able to see them, He has revealed them to His people.
11. “’calling a bird of prey from the sunrise, the man of My [common] purpose from a land far away. Yes indeed, I have spoken; yes indeed, I will bring it about. I have formulated the plan, and I will by all means carry it out.
A bird of prey: Aramaic, “the exiles”. Man of My purpose: Aram., “the sons of Avraham, My chosen”. Perhaps it means the Messiah, who is of common purpose with YHWH. (Yochanan 10:30) But in Deut. 28:49, YHWH promises to bring a nation against Israel like an eagle and without mercy if she is rebellious. Since the next chapter is about Bavel (Babylon), His instrument who did not carry out His plan with the right attitude, the bird of prey may mean Bavel.
12. “Listen to Me, you obstinate of heart, who are far away from righteousness!
13. “I will make My righteousness approach; it will not [remain] far off, and My deliverance will not lag behind, and I have set in Tzion My [place of] deliverance for Israel, My beautiful adornment.”
Yaaqov (James) tells us that if we draw near to YHWH, He will draw near to us as well. Compare Psalm 6.
CHAPTER 47
1. Get down and sit in the dust, O virgin [of the] daughter of Bavel! Settle to the earth. There is no throne, daughter of the Chasdim, because never again will they call you tender or delicate.
Virgin daughter of Bavel: those who have retained some morality but are within the Babylonian system; Aramaic, “kingdom of the congregation of Babylon”. Chasdim: Chaldeans, another way of describing Babylon. Delicate: LXX, “luxurious”. Compare Lamentations 1:7-10, which speaks of how the nations violated the virgin daughter of Tzion.
2. Fetch [a pair of] millstones and grind out flour. Remove your veil! Pull up a skirt; reveal a calf! Cross rivers!
Fetch millstones…grind…: Aram., “Accept illness … enter into slavery”. Remove your veil: She now loses her virginity—i.e., is no longer an acceptable surrogate mother for His people, because she has sold herself to her seducers; Aram., “your rulers are shattered”. LXX: “Remove your veil; uncover your white hairs.”
3. Your nakedness will be uncovered; your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will not encounter a man.
A man: Heb., Adam. She has forsaken the vision of being part of the “new man” that YHWH is creating through Y’shua and Israel. She has decided to “love this present age” instead, like Demas (2 Tim. 4:10), whose name means “governor of the people”. Aramaic, “I will make your judgment different from that of the sons of men.” Possible alternate reading: “I will not arbitrate with a man”. If the “woman” turns out to be really a man when uncovered, then “her” shame is being uncircumcised—that is, a man without a covenant with YHWH. Yizavel (Jezebel) acts like a man but is not. Babylon is also the head of the “counterfeit Man”. Since water(the rivers in v. 2) is an idiom for YHWH’s word, it is Scripture that enables us to recognize the ruse. If we are righteous, the rivers represent our immersion into rebirth, and we will not need to be afraid of what will be exposed then.
4. Our Kinsman Redeemer, YHWH of Armies is His Name, the Holy One of Israel!
The Holy One of Israel: or “the being holy of Israel”. When Israel is holy, we are united with YHWH.
5. Sit silent, and enter into darkness, O daughter of [the] Chasdim, because never again will they call you “Queen of Kingdoms”.
Silent: LXX, “pierced with woe.” Queen: or mistress, in the sense of being superior to others in the same class. But she has sealed her doom.
6. I was in a rage over My people; I dishonored My possession, entrusting them into your hand, but you directed no compassion toward them: you made your yoke very heavy upon the elderly,
LXX: “I have been provoked with My people; you have defile My inheritance.” Elderly: or “elders”; literally “bearded ones”, so perhaps this refers to those who have been faithful to observe YHWH’s commands regarding beards or have led Israel into faithfulness.
7. and you said, “I will be a queen forever!” to the point that you no [longer] laid these on your heart, nor did you remember [how] it will end.
8. So now, hear this, O woman of pleasure, who sits confident [that she is secure], the one who says in her heart, “I am, and there is no longer anyone else; I will not sit as a widow, nor will I experience the loss of children!”
Woman of pleasure: Aram.,“indulged one”. She is coddled by the unified kingdom of all nations. No longer anyone else: i.e., there is no one left to rival me, so what do I have to fear? Perhaps it is after this “mother of harlots” loses a huge number of her children once they realize they are really Israel, and she cracks down on allowing anyone to leave the church—or considers herself so attractive now that no one in their right mind would forsake the privileges she offers. But this is after she has “crossed over”(v. 2) irretrievably into compromise with the Beast’s system. Compare Rev. 18:3-7.
9. But both of these things will come upon you [in a] moment—in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They have come upon you in their completeness despite your sorceries, [even] while [you cast your] very strongest spells.
The Beast will worship a “god of forces” (Daniel 11:38), and his paramour, Bavel’s once-virginal daughter, will lose her innocence to the occult arts.
10. You also trusted in your mischief; you said, “There is no one who sees me.” Your shrewdness and your experience enticed you away when you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no longer anyone else.”
Shrewdness: LXX, “understanding of these things”, that is, the forbidden arts. Experience: or “know-how”, “awareness”; LXX: “harlotries”. The church put too much stock in becoming worldly-wise—perhaps originally for the sake of communicating to her audience, being “all things to all men”. But it lured her away and she became part of her audience, losing all sense of what she was to bring the world INTO, since she had entered into lawlessness through a false understanding of what “grace” means.
11. So harm will come over you; you will not know from where it arises. And mischief will fall upon you; you will not be able to cover it up. Then devastation will come upon you suddenly without your recognizing it.
Cover it up: or ward it off, placate it, pacify it. Recognizing it: being aware of it, perceiving (what it was or where it came from). You will not know what hit you. This is how Babylon was taken the first time, when the Medo-Persians sneaked into the city by night and killed the king without a battle. The Day of YHWH, also, will come “like a thief in the night”.
12. Stand your ground, then, among your charms and with your many sorceries, in which you have labored since your youth. Maybe you will be able to have some effect; perhaps you may frighten it away!
13. You have exhausted yourself with so many plans. Let the astrologers, the stargazers, the prognosticators for the month stand up and save you from [the things] that are coming upon you!
Astrologers: literally, “dividers of the heavens”; Aramaic, “those who look at planets”. Prognosticators for the month: that is, those who write the horoscopes, but this could also deal with things like the stock market trends; Aramaic, “those who predict the appointed times, misleading you, saying, ‘This is what is about to happen to you New Moon by New Moon’.” This could also, then, include those who still use the dates of festivals worked out centuries ago (when they were excusable) when now we have witnesses in Israel who can check on and announce the actual sightings of the new moon, which is how Scripture recognizes the actual new month.
14. Look, they have become just like [kindling] stubble; the fire burns them [right up]! They will not [even] snatch themselves out of the flame’s hand! There is no coal to warm them, firelight to sit in front of.
Not even snatch themselves: so how much less can they help you out of it? No coal…firelight…: Aramaic, “They have no remnant of a survivor, not even a place to be rescued in!”
15. This is what those whom you worked hard [with] trafficking since your youth have become to you: each one has staggered away to his own side; there is no one to deliver you!
CHAPTER 48
1. Hear this, O House of Yaaqov, those who are called by the name of Israel, who have issued forth from Yehudah’s waters, who swear by the name of YHWH and cause the Elohim of Israel to be remembered, but not reliably or correctly,
This appears to be the nation of Israel today, for they are mainly only Yehudah in reality, whereas the kingdom that retained the name Israel was the northern kingdom (“Ephrayim”). Yehudah is not truly Israel until reunited with the rest of the tribes.
2. because they are summoned from the holy city while they support themselves upon the Holy One of Israel—YHWH of Armies is His Name:
Summoned: or “renowned as being from the holy city”; LXX, “maintaining the name of the holy city”. Support themselves: Perhaps this means Yehudah makes their living off the tourism of those who come to see the “Holy Land”.
3. “From the time I announced the earliest things, and they went forth from My mouth and I made them well known. Suddenly I acted, and they came about!
4. “Because I knew that you are stubborn—your neck is sinew of iron, and your forehead is brazen--
5. “so I announced it to you back then, before it came about, and I let you hear [about it], so you could not say, ‘My idol has accomplished them, and my carved or cast image has appointed them!’
My idol…my carved image: Is Yehudah’s idol the safety of the modern land they see as created to be a refuge for them, rather than still being YHWH’s Land as it was in ancient times? Is it “going down to Egypt for help” again, instead of relying on YHWH? The same type of claims are made in chapter 42, in the context of speaking about the Messiah, so perhaps Yehudah’s idol (literally “something fashioned or shaped”, which one worked hard at perfecting) is Judaism itself—a theology that dos not take Y’shua into account.
6. “There it is; you have heard it all, so won’t you acknowledge it? I have already now made you hear new things, even guarded secrets—[things] you did not recognize.
Guarded secrets: Aramaic, “Has what is revealed to you been revealed to any other people?” Things you did not recognize: Just as Yosef was not recognized by his brothers, so Yehudah today may not recognize the House of Yosef until we “appear suddenly” out of nowhere.
7. “They were [just] created now, and not long ago; before today you did not hear about them, lest you should say, ‘See? I knew about them!’
Long ago: literally, “from that time”. You heard…you have not heard: This seems like a contradiction until we realize that Yehudah once knewabout the lost tribes, but then were blinded to who they are until they are ready to be rejoined (Romans 11:25), since they have not been one recognizable people since.
8. “You neither heard about them nor knew about them, nor was your ear opened since that time, because I knew you would deal with deceitful treachery and would be renowned as a rebel from the womb!
Deal with deceitful treachery: as Yosef’s brothers did to him, which is perhaps why he did not reveal himself to them at first. Any earlier, YHWH would have been “casting His pearls before swine”. So He kept the truth about the return of the lost tribes of Israel well hidden until the time came when His people would again turn and desire to obey His covenant; that is when He let it become known.
9. “For My reputation’s sake I will put off My anger, and so that I may be glorified I will restrain Myself for you, so as not to cut you off [completely].
Put off: defer, or prolong. Indeed we are not worthy, but He has made promises, and will keep them
10. “See? I have refined you, but not with silver; I chose you in the forge of affliction.
Silver: or money. Affliction: humbling, busyness, poverty,oppression, or misery.
11. “For My sake—for My own sake—I will act, because how can [this] be desecrated? And I will not give My honor to [anyone] different!
I will act: I.e., “I will do it Myself”. How can this be desecrated: “I cannot afford to let this work be done the wrong way.” LXX, “because My name is profaned”. Probably this is why He waited until this late in history to let the realization of His true Name “leak out” on a large scale. It was always known by some, but we have seen how men have desecrated even the pagan titles substituted for His true Name; why should He let them have access to the real thing, if that is how they treat the “test models”? Give My honor to any different: even Israel! But also, when we worship “the Lord”, we are actually honoring Ba’al, whether we intend to or not; if we pray to “God”, we are honoring the pagan deity of “Fortune”—something which “by nature is not Elohim”. This is why He IS now revealing His true Name, because the glory due Him has been given instead to these others.
12. “Listen to Me, O Yaaqov, and Israel, whom I have called! I am He! I am the first, and I am what came afterward as well!
What came afterward: Aramaic, “even the ages of the ages are mine”.
13. “It [was] even My hand that laid the foundation of the earth, and it is My right hand that stretched out the heavens. [When] I call for them, they [both] appear on the scene together.”
My hand: an idiom for the Messiah. I.e., they show up and report for duty with equal promptness. Will we, His people, do as well?
14. All of you, assemble yourselves and listen: Which of you has proclaimed these things? YHWH has befriended [such a one]! He will carry out His desire on Bavel, and His arm [on] the Chasdim.
These things: YHWH’s supremacy, uniqueness, mercy, and special choice of Israel. Befriended: or “loved”; Aramaic, “had compassion on”. His desire: the LXX sees it as YHWH carrying out Israel’s desire.
15. “I Myself have spoken; indeed I have called him and caused him to come, and he will make his journey successful.
Him: in the immediate context probably Babylon, who is His unwilling servant. But itr is also said of Y’shua that “the good pleasure of YHWH will prosper in His hand”. (53:10)
16. “Come close to Me; listen to this: not since the beginning have I spoken in secret; since the time it came into existence, I was there, and now the Master YHWH has sent Me, along with His spirit.”
17. This is what YHWH, your Kinsman Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am YHWH your Elohim, who teaches you to ascend, who leads you in the direction you should walk.
To ascend: or to profit, to benefit, to take the high road.
18. “Oh, if only you had paid attention to My orders! Then your welfare would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea,
If only: Y’shua is still the one speaking. (Compare His lament over Yerushalayim in Mat. 23:37 and Lk. 19:44.) The kingdom could have come earlier had Yehudah responded to Him. (Mat. 11:14) Like a river: where it is easy for a tree’s roots to find water, even in times of drought. (Psalm 1:3; Jer. 17:8) The tree of life, restored after His kingdom, is planted by a river. (Rev. 22:2) Righteousness: Aramaic, “innocence”.
19. “and your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your loins like its grains! His name would not have been cut off or annihilated from before My face.
Like the waves of the sea (v. 18): building up the sand layer upon layer, i.e., increasing Avraham’s descendants instead of remaining few in number because so many had to be cut off and then replaced, so that there is little net growth. If both houses of Israel had remained united after the first century, there might never have been a holocaust. Grains: Aramaic, “pebbles”. His name: Israel’s. Would not have: LXX, “neither will it [happen] now”.
20. “’Come out of Bavel! Hurry away from the Chasdim!’ Utter this loudly with a voice of joyful song! Let this be heard! Let it go out to the farthest edge of the earth. Say, ‘YHWH has redeemed His servant Yaaqov!
Come out: Compare Rev. 18:4. From the Chasdim: i.e., from their land. Joyful: That we can escape from the Babylonian system is great news! And news that must be published widely. This is our job today, before that system congeals into total evil and clamps down on those who would wish to reject it after it is all but too late and it requires martyrdom to do so.
21. “’And they were not thirsty when He had them walk through the wasteland. He has caused waters to flow from a rock for them, and He will split a rock open, and water will gush out.’”
This is a yet-to-come repetition of the prior exodus, when their shoes did not wear out. (Yirmiyahu 16:14-15) Much of the world will be a wasteland after the plagues of the book of Revelation. Only this time Israel will not ruin it by complaining. This time His soul will be satisfied, if we rise to the occasion.
22. “There is no peace,” says YHWH, “for the guilty ones.”
Peace: safety or welfare. Guilty ones: or “the wicked”. In contrast to Israel, no one else has any such promises or can rest in the thought that they will escape the coming devastation.
CHAPTER 49
1. Listen to me, O coastlands! And perk up your ears, O peoples from far away! YHWH called me from the womb, from my mother’s inward parts, He mentioned my name.
Coastlands: or islands. Called me from the womb: Yirmeyahu was told the same thing. (Yirm. 7:14) From my mother’s inward parts, He mentioned my name: This was also true of Y’shua. (Mat. 1:21)
2. and He made my mouth like a sharp sword; He has drawn me back into the shadow of His hand. He has appointed me to be a polished arrow; He has concealed me within His quiver,
Polished: or choice, select, pure, proven.
3. and told me, “You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will bring Myself glory.”
When those with some semblance of righteousness seemed to be losing out to evil, YHWH pulled out His special forces who would be stricter than ever. When it seemed that compromise was winning out over the idea of one day in seven being holy, YHWH whipped out His secret, well-hidden weapon—the true Sabbath! When “God’s” name was all but trampled to death in the dust, YHWH revealed that His real name had not been besmirched, for it had been kept out of the limelight where it could not be profaned. The enemy, who thought he had won, was caught off guard, for the “biggest guns” had not been seen yet. (See also 51:1-2)
4. But I said, “I have worked hard [with an] empty [result]; I have used up all my strength for nothing—in vain! Yet indeed the deciding of my case [lies] with YHWH, and my recompense is with my Elohim.”
Nothing: Heb, tohu—the same as the “formlessness” or “chaos” of Gen. 1:2. There is much back-and-forth in this passage, because he is confused as to why he sees what is true, how the pieces are meant to fit together, how this teaching could have such awesome effects if carried out, yet he is the only one doing anything with it! Where is everyone else? The people of YHWH are a colossal failure; we constantly turn His words back into religion or put all the responsibility on Messiah. Very few become YHWH’s true representatives, really knowing what He wants and able to communicate it. Yeshayahu is like that (v. 2; 50:4-5), yet no one pays him any attention.
5. So now, YHWH speaks—the One who formed me from the womb to be a servant to Him—to cause Yaaqov to return to Him. (Though Israel may not be gathered back [into association], still I will be honored in the sight of YHWH, and my Elohim has become my strength.)
At the end of Y’shua’s life, it also seemed his work had failed. But he had effectively started some things moving that will go far if the rest of Israel takes responsibility to finish the job.
6. And He says, “It was too insignificant that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Yaaqov and the faithfully-guarded ones of Israel; I will also appoint you as a light to the Gentiles, to be My salvation all the way to the extremities of the earth.”
Compare 42:6. Raise up: or resurrect, since as tribes per se they were indeed long dead. LXX: “to recover the dispersion of Israel”. YHWH promised to sift the House of Israel (the “lost” tribes of the Northern Kingdom), yet not one would fall to the ground. (Amos 9:9) YHWH would not lose track of a single one! Yeshayahu’s main point here is that if Israel was doing what they should, the whole world could be improved. It is more a vision to be fulfilled than a prophecy that will come true at some point in history no matter what we do with it. He was a select arrow, yet if the rest of the people do not respond, how could the job get done? Y’shua picked up on it and tried again. He recognized that YHWH considered the “original plan”—the main point of what Israel, and therefore he as part of Israel--was to accomplish—to be bringing the scattered tribes of Israel back together. The rest is seen as somewhat of an afterthought. They had mixed with the Gentiles (Hos. 7:8), so the process of regathering them made the knowledge of YHWH available to others around them as well, but this was not the main point. If they do not respond to the light, they still dwell in darkness. Yet so many have made the “bonus” He has earned into the main, or only consideration, and forgotten the original plan! Still, Shim’on, an elderly man who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (v. 13) prophesied over the infant Y’shua that He would lighten the Gentiles and be the glory of YHWH’s people, Israel. (Lk. 2:32) So he took up the challenge. Like Yeshayahu, he tried. But it is too big a job for one man. No king has power without a people to back up the headway he makes. Others have to join in, or it will keep failing to be all it can be. This time it is up to us. Yeshayhu refuses to lose hope, but he needs a better response than the rest of Israel.
7. This is what YHWH, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to the one despised of soul, whom [the] nation loathes, [which serves as] the subject of overlords: “Kings will see and rise up; princes will bow in homage for the sake of YHWH, who is faithful, and who chose you--the Holy One of Israel.”
However this may apply to Y’shua, note that YHWH is the real Redeemer; Y’shua, like Yeshayahu, is His assistant.
8. This is what YHWH says: “At an acceptable time I have responded to you; in a day of deliverance I have helped you, and I will guard you faithfully and appoint you as a covenant for the People, to establish the Land, to cause [them] to inherit the [now] deserted inheritances,
Acceptable: or pleasing. The people: in this case, the House of Israel, not a people at that time (7:8; Hos. 1:9-10), having deserted their inheritance. But the connection is to be re-established. Paul said that his own day was that acceptable time. (2 Cor. 6:2) Since it went awry that time, YHWH is providing us with another “acceptable time”. Do not waste it!
9. “to say to those bound in prison, ‘Come out!’, to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ They will graze on the journeys, and their pastures will be on all the windswept heights.
Graze: or become companions. Journeys: or roads.
10. “They will be neither hungry nor thirsty, nor will the scorching heat or the sun conquer them, because One who has compassion on them will lead them. He will even guide them to stopping-places by fountains of water.
Heat or sun: two different things here, so "heat" may refer to the fiery places through which they will need to walk (43:2) while the earth is being purified to make it ready for the Kingdom. Conquer them: or strike them, bring them down, harm them. Compare Psalm 23:2; 7:16.
11. “I will also transform all My mountains into a pathway, and I will raise up My highways.
A pathway: Aramaic, “level”. It appears that He will lead us along the top of a ridge. With all of the upheavals taking place on earth during the time of His Indignation, undoubtedly new ranges will be cast of as the topography changes radically. (40:4) Raise up My highways: LXX, “make every path a pasture”.
12. “Look! Here they come from far away! And here they come from the north and the west! And those from the land of Sinim!
Sinim: A Hamitic people, and today the word means China.
13. “Sing out, O heavens, and be glad, O earth, and break forth into ringing cries of joy, O mountains! Because YHWH has consoled His people, and will have compassion on those whom He has afflicted.”
Compare 51:3. This is the “consolation of Israel” that Shim’on spoke of in Luke 2:25.
14. But Tzion said, “YHWH has abandoned me, and My Master has forgotten about Me!”
Tzion: means " a dried-up place", but it also refers to a "dried-up" people. Abandoned: forsaken or neglected. This would make us dry up, but this is a misperception; YHWH promises to never break His covenant with Israel. (Judges 2:1; compare Heb. 13:5.)
15. “Can a woman forget her nursing baby, or [stop] having tender affection for the son of her womb? Even they might forget, but I will never forget you.
16. “In fact, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are constantly right in front of Me.
The bride asks Him to set her as a seal on His heart. (Song of Songs 8:6) Just as we sometimes write ourselves notes on our hands as reminders, YHWH says He has done the same for Yerushalayim, so that even if He should forget (!), she is still always in the forefront of His mind. Only this “inscribe” is stronger than an ink pen; it can mean to engrave, so it may be the kind of memory that causes scar tissue that can never be removed. He has told us to bind His words on our hands (Deut. 6:8; 11:18), and He Himself seems to be doing the same thing on our behalf here. But if you look at the inside of your fingers horizontally, you can see the 12 staggered “building stones” that form a “wall”! So He we too have a constant reminder of the walls of Yerushalayim on our hands.
17. “Your children have [come] in a hurry; those who are tearing you down and laying you waste will depart from within you.
18. “Lift up your eyes all around and see! They have all gathered themselves together and come to you! [I swear] by My life”, declares YHWH, “that you will wear them all like an ornament, and tie them on [yourself] as a bride [does],
The city that the bride forms will wear the stones of the twelve tribes that were on the high priest’s breastplate. (Rev. 21)
19. “because your ruins and your deserted places as well as the land of your overthrow will be too narrow to [all] settle in, and those who are swallowing you down will be far away.
20. “The children of whom you [were] bereaved will yet say within your hearing, ‘The place is too crowded for me; draw back and give me space to settle!’
Bereaved: Yaravam (Jeroboam) did this by depriving Yerushalayim of its right for worshippers to come there, when he built alternative worship sites at Dan and Bethel. (1 Kings 12:29) If the Land is already becoming too small for Yehudah alone, how much more when the rest of the tribes return? That is when the fullness of the territory promised to Avraham will be realized. (Gen. 15:18; Z’kharyah 10:9-12; Y’hezq’el 47:13-20)
21. “Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has brought these forth for me, since I am bereaved and [made] barren, an exile and brought to an end? So who has brought these [children] up? Behold, I was left alone; where [have] they [been]?’”
There are many more Israelites than those who live in Yerushalayim realize! They are just hidden in the deck to be played as a “wild card” when the right moment comes.
22. This is what the Master YHWH says: “Indeed, I will lift up My hand toward Gentiles, and I will lift up My rallying-banner toward peoples, and they will bring your sons in their laps, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder[s].
Rallying-banner: a title for the Messiah. Gentiles: or simply nations (for the singular form is used of Israel at times); peoples: groups that may not be political but who are cohesive ethnicities without an autonomous government and who may even live under several different governments, like the Kurds. But this is more than just the Gentiles making possible the return of the Jews to their homeland in 1948. These are not just foreigners bringing Israelites back, but “Gentile” parents bringing their own children, who have been raised as Israelites in this last generation, as these “former Gentiles” (Eph. 2:11) have realized that part of their ancestry is the Northern Kingdom that was “mixed with the Gentiles”. (Hos. 7:8) We are becoming a people, even though we as yet have no political recognition. Compare 54:1-3 and 66:20-22.
23. “Then kings will come to be your foster fathers, and their princesses your nurses. They will bow to you, faces to the earth, and lick up the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am YHWH, in whom those who place their expectation on Me will not be disappointed.
The promises are not chiefly to individuals, but to Israel as an entire, unified entity. People are still immigrating to Israel right while there are wars going on there, and still more loan soldiers—not mercenaries, but those who just want to support Israel—come, willing to even die for her. And still more supporters of Israel among the nations who have the resources are making the return possible. The world may seem to be against us as we swat at gadflies much smaller than we but who have the ability to bite, but in the end we will be vindicated if we stay faithful to the truth.
24. “Will the plunder be taken away from the strong man, or the one lawfully taken captive [simply] escape?”
25. But yet this is what YHWH says: “Even the strong man’s captive will be taken away, and those plundered by the [ruthless] terrifying ones will be delivered, and I will contend with the one who brings a case against you, and I will liberate your children.
Y’shua alluded to this verse in Mark 3:27, added that the strong man must first be bound.
26. “And I will cause those who mistreat you to eat their own flesh, and they will become drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I am YHWH, your Deliverer, and the Mighty One of Yaaqov, your Kinsman Redeemer.
Flesh: can also mean “Good News” (“Gospel”) in Hebrew. Being forced to eat one’s own Gospel would be like the plague of frogs on Egypt, a nation that worshipped frogs.
CHAPTER 50
1. This is what YHWH says: “Where is it now—the bill of divorce [belonging to] your mother, whom I have sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Let’s be clear about this: through your perversions you have sold yourselves, and your mother has been sent away for your rebellion.
Your mother: Aramaic, “your congregation”. Yirmeyahu 3:8 says the same thing about “faithless Israel”, referring specifically to the Northern Kingdom, because then it says Yehudah follows suit. Compare 54:5 and Hos. 4:5-6.
2. “Who knows why I have come and no one is there? I called, but no one is responding. Has My hand really grown shorter, so that I cannot ransom? Or is there no power in Me to bring deliverance? Look, with My rebuke I can dry up the sea! I can turn rivers into a wilderness! Their fish will stink from lack of water, and they will die of thirst.
YHWH Himself echoes Yeshayahu’s frustration. Notice all the imagery from the events surrounding the Exodus.
3. “I can clothe the skies [in] black, and make burlap their covering.”
Black clothing and burlap (sackcloth) are both signs of mourning or humbling oneself. Compare Revelation 6:12.
4. The Master YHWH has given me the tongue of those who are trained to know how to [hurry to] aid the weary one [with] a word. He wakes up—morning by morning He wakes up my ear so I can hear like the ones who are trained.
Trained: or learned, [well] taught. Aid the weary one with a word: LXX, “to know when it is fit to speak a word”. A true scholar can carefully craft words to have the right effect.
5. The Master YHWH has opened [my] ear for me, and I was not disobedient, nor was I turned back.
Opened my ear: or freed my ear; Aramaic, “sent me to prophesy”. He was able to really hear what YHWH wanted, beyond all the noise pollution that was getting in the way in his generation.
6. I surrendered by back to those who beat, and my cheeks to those who made them bare; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
Made them bare: either shaved off or pulled out his beard. This also occurred during Y’shua's trial--possibly one reason he was not recognized by the people he met on the road to Emmaus (Motzah). Yeshayahu has gone to this extent—giving his whole life to teach people to do the right thing, and he is confident that he is in the right, though everyone seems to oppose him:
7. But the Master YHWH will help me; therefore I have not been put to shame. That is why I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be disappointed.
8. The One who vindicates me is near; who can contend with me? Let us take our stand together. Who is the master of my sentence? Let him approach!
Take our stand: i.e., appear before the judge. Master [ba’al] of my sentence: the prosecutor or accuser.
9. Behold, the Master YHWH will help me; who is he who can condemn me [as guilty]? Look! Like a garment they will all wear out; the moth will consume them!
Who can condemn us or even accuse us if the judge Himself is on our side?
10. Who among you fears YHWH, heeding the voice of His servant, who walks in dark places and there is no light for him? Let him trust in the name of YHWH, and lean on his Elohim [for support].
His Name itself has a special role in delivering us from darkness--not by magic, but because it represents all that He is--His reputation as having delivered us so many times before.
11. “Look, all of you who start a fire, and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows! Walk in the light of your fire, and by the firebrands that you have set ablaze. You will have this from My hand: you will lie down [and die] in pain.”
Fire is likened to wickedness in 9:18. Pain: or sorrow, grief, torture. Equip yourselves with flaming arrows: Aramaic, “grasp a sword”. Y’shua said, “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword”. (Mat. 26:52)
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah)
Introduction:
Yeshayahu means "YHWH is salvation"--the same meaning as Yehoshua, but with the phrasing in the reverse order. Yeshayahu was probably from the tribe of Yehudah. A contemporary of Mikha and Hoshea, he prophesied more than 200 years after the division of Israel, beginning c. 740 B.C.E. (Just prior to King Uzziyahu's death in 739), or about 18 years prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom. But he mainly addresses the southern kingdom of Yehudah, which was now in decline as well, following the same pattern of apostasy that Israel had taken. Since he records the death of Sennakheriv, it is estimated that he continued to prophesy for some 60 years, until about 680B.C.E., when by tradition he was executed by being sawn in two. As with all the prophets, his main theme is, "Come back to the Torah!"
PART 5: Chapters 41-50
40:27-41:16 is a haftarah (companion passage) to Torah Portion Lekh L'kha
43:21-44:23 is a haftarah (companion passage) to Torah Portion VaYiqra'.
49:14-51:3 is a haftarah (companion passage) to Torah Portion 'Eqev.
42:5 - 43:10 is a haftarah (companion passage) to Torah Portion B'reshith.
43:1-15 is a special reading for Passover. Verses 16-19 apply as well.
Exodus Again?
This was chosen as a haftarah for the Torah portions about the Exodus after the first Passover (Exodus 10-13; Num. 9:1-14; Deut. 16:1-8). But it is not about that Exodus. Its context, Isaiah 42:22, describes an Israel “plundered and spoiled, …taken as booty with none to rescue, none to say, ‘Bring them back!’” Isaiah rightly deduced it was none other than YHWH who put us in that situation since we broke away from His covenant. (v. 24)
This is long after Israel got to the Promised Land, long after King David. But it highlights the need for another exodus, and that’s exactly what this chapter describes: He will bring Israel “from the sunrise and the sunset”, and tells the North and South to let His people go, as Moshe told Pharaoh. It involves passing through waters, again (43:2). He alludes to His making a way through the sea (43:16)—the first exodus—but says, “Don’t think of the first things…; I’m doing something new, now…!” (43:18-19)
In fact, this exodus will eclipse the first, to the point that the first will not be mentioned anymore (Jer. 16:13-15; cf. 23:3-8)—and how many times Scripture mentions it! Many Jews can now celebrate Passover not just “next year in Jerusalem”, but already this year. Yet the seder has not changed. That’s how we know this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.
This description of the greater exodus is in the context of YHWH sending “fishers” (16:16) and doubling the sentence (16:18); for the Northern King-dom (Ezek. 4:5), this was about to run out when Yeshua told his apostles they’d be “fishers of men”. This was not said in a vacuum; he didn’t make up the analogy, but drew it straight from Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 16 also includes the element of Gentiles realizing they had inherited lies. (v. 19) Why here? Because about 15 years after Yeshua notified his disciples that they would be these very “fishers”, Ezekiel (4:5)’s 390 years times 2 would expire, and right then is when Paul and Barnabas, frustrated by the Jews in diaspora by and large not heeding their message, said, “We are turning to the Gentiles!” (Acts 13:46) And they would indeed prove to listen more readily at that point in history.
Why? A clue is in where Paul went to look for them in Gentile cities: in the synagogues! For a great many of these were not just “any Gentiles”, but former Israelites who had chosen to become Gentiles (Hos. 7:8); they were now feeling the pull back to the Covenant, much as we have experienced in our own day, again.
The other haftarah (Ezek. 37:11-12) says the dry bones are not just those who’ve already returned to “the Land of Israel…their own soil”, but the “whole house of Israel”. There is much more to Israel than meets the eye. Thus far, only Judah and a few tag-alongs have returned; there are 10 more tribes—considered lost and dead—whom YHWH says will also return. So there is clearly more yet to come.
I know this is old information for much of my audience, but we can always stand reminders; that’s what Passover is about. (Ex. 13:8) And, to borrow a phrase from the New Testament, “Our salvation is nearer now than when we believed.” (Rom. 13:11) Maybe we should be thinking more about it.
Other passages that speak of the “second exodus” include Isaiah 11:11ff (connected with the Messiah, his kingdom, and changes to the earth); 14:1ff (connected to the fall of Lucifer); Jeremiah 50:4ff (connected with the fall of Babylon—the heir of Egypt’s spirit); Isaiah 52:3-12 (not in haste this time, but connected with the suffering Servant’s death, which makes it possible). And there are more.
He is doing something new, again, for our day, yet like the New Covenant, it is connected with the old. He has not changed since the day of the first Exodus (Isa. 43:13), so we can trust Him this time as well. The context also says, “These are the things I will do, and I will not leave them [unfinished].” (Isa. 42:16)
