Isaiah 48:16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Come ye near unto me, &c. That you may the better hear me. Here, as in Isaiah 48:14, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, and as a type of the great prophet, by whom God has in these last days spoken unto us. I have not spoken in secret I have not suppressed, concealed, or kept back the counsel and word of God, or any part thereof, but have declared it openly and publicly. See note on Isaiah 45:19, where these very words are spoken by God in his own name, as they are here by the prophet in God's name. From the beginning From the first time that I began to prophesy until now: or, if the prophet be considered as uttering God's words, the meaning is, From the beginning of my taking you to be my people, and revealing my mind to you. From the time that it was, there am, or rather, was, I These words also, as well as the former, are the words either, 1st, Of the prophet; and so the sense is, From the time that I was first called to be a prophet, I have been there, that is, I have diligently pursued my prophetical function; I have hearkened, from time to time, to hear what God would speak to me, that I might impart it to you: or, 2d, Of God; and then the sense may be this: From the time that I first foretold it, I was there to take care to effect what I predicted. And now This is opposed to the foregoing words, from the beginning; the Lord God and his Spirit God, by his Spirit, or God, even the Spirit, namely, the Holy Ghost, to whom the sending and inspiring of God's prophets is ascribed, 2 Peter 1:21; hath sent me Namely, the prophet, who yet was a type of Christ, and so this may have a respect to him also.