Isaiah 52:4-6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

My people went down into Egypt Where they had protection and sustenance, and therefore owed subjection to the king of Egypt. And yet when he oppressed them I punished him severely, and delivered them out of his hands. And the Assyrian oppressed them The king of Babylon, who is called the king of Assyria, (2 Kings 23:29,) as also the Persian emperor is called, (Ezra 6:22,) because it was one and the same empire which was possessed, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, and afterward by the Persians. Without cause Without any real ground or colour, by mere force invading their land, and carrying them away into captivity, Now therefore what have I here Why (speaking after the manner of men) do I sit still here, and not go to Babylon to punish the Babylonians, and to deliver my people? Or, What honour have I by suffering this injury to be done to my people? That my people is taken away for naught Were carried away captive by the Babylonians, without any provocation or pretence of right? They that rule over them make them to howl By their tyrannical and unmerciful usage of them; and my name continually is blasphemed The Babylonians blaspheme me, as if I wanted either power or goodwill to save my people out of their hands. Therefore my people shall know my name They shall have sensible experience of my infinite power and goodness in fighting for them. They shall know in that day When I shall redeem them; which work was begun by the return of the Jews from Babylon, and afterward carried on, and at last perfected, by the coming of the Messiah; that I am he that doth speak That these promises are not the words of a weak, or fickle, or deceitful man, but of him who is omnipotent, unchangeable, and a covenant-keeping God.