God's Appeal To the People of the World (Isaiah 41:1-7).
“Keep silence before me, O coastlands,
And let the peoples renew their strength.
Let them come near, then let them speak.
Let us come near together to judgment.
Who has raised up one from the east,
Whom he calls in righteousness to his foot?
He gives nations before him,
And makes him rule over kings.
He gives them as the dust to his sword,
As the driven stubble to his bow.
He pursues them and passes on safely,
Even by a way that he has not gone with his feet.”
Note God's call to ‘the coastlands'. This call to the coastlands (the nations across the seas) is stressed in both sections (see Isaiah 49:1) where He then describes the activity of the Servant. Clearly the activity of the Servant and the far off nations are closely involved.
God calls to the coastlands (the far off nations across the Great Sea and in the isles) and the peoples (those around Palestine near and far) to be silent before Him, in awe and readiness to hear. And then like His own true people, they are to renew their strength by waiting on Him (as in Isaiah 40:31). They too are welcome to approach Him. He calls them to advance to His seat as world Judge and Ruler, and once they have come near to Him then they can speak to Him. Then they can consider things together and think over His past purposes and their significance. For He wants them to consider what He has done through Abraham His ‘loved one' (friend) (Isaiah 41:8). Let them look at Abraham, ‘the one who loved Him', the one through whom the whole world will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).
‘Who has raised up one from the east, whom he calls in righteousness to his foot.' He calls on them to consider Abraham, who was raised up by Him from Ur of the Chaldees in the east (Genesis 11:31; Nehemiah 9:7), the one who believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6), so that He called Him ‘in righteousness' to His immediate service (to His foot). Abraham was the one who kept his charge, and walked in accordance with all His commandments and laws (Genesis 26:5), walking in righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
In the light of no further information being given and the reference to Abraham in Isaiah 41:8 the one called ‘from the east' and ‘in righteousness to His foot,' would to Israel naturally mean Abraham, (especially as he is mentioned in the context in Isaiah 41:8). He loomed large in their history and they would regularly hear at their festivals of his arrival from the east (Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:1; Genesis 12:5), coming as God's Champion, to reveal his power in Canaan against the kings from the north and despoil them (Genesis 14) and to finally conquer Canaan through his descendants, with nations coming from him (Genesis 17:20) and kings coming from his loins (Genesis 17:6; Genesis 17:16; Genesis 35:11)
While the word ‘righteousness' can signify ‘deliverance' and is often used in parallel with it, it is righteous deliverance that is in mind. Its basic meaning of true goodness and justice, conformity to the norm of God's Law is so prevalent in Isaiah, along with its meaning of salvation deliverance, that it can hardly be excluded here. Abraham was seen by God as righteous (Genesis 15:6; Genesis 26:5). The true Servant was also called in righteousness (Isaiah 42:6). The purpose of both was to bless the nations (Genesis 12:3).
‘He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.' Nations and kings were not able to stand before Abraham. This applies first to Genesis 14 when the warrior Abraham defeated the four kings from the north led by Amraphel King of Shinar (Babylon), and including the King of the Nations, and also the kings of Elam and Eliasar, (and his readers would not make the distinctions that we would make) and then to the fact that his descendants, and especially David, conquered Canaan and beyond, defeating nations and ruling over kings, with the prospect of worldwide rule (Psalms 2). For his descendants, including David, were seen as having entered Canaan in the loins of Abraham and what they did would be seen as done by Abraham. And Yahweh made Abraham and them glorious so that their sword and bow were very powerful, with the result that the nations melted before them, becoming like dust and stubble.
‘As the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.' Both sword and bow are connected with Abraham's seed in Genesis 27:3; Genesis 27:40, as common weapons of his day in use by the family tribe.
‘He pursues them and passes on safely, even by a way that he has not gone with his feet.' Abraham pursues them and goes on safely in a way that he has not gone with his feet. The way that he had not gone with his feet may indicate that the way he took was not one he had previously travelled when he entered Canaan, for this time he went up the King's Highway; or it may indicate the speed with which he went, without as it were his feet touching the ground, which would fit his speedy chase of the four kings from the four powerful nations admirably. And he came away safely, because God was with him. Or it may refer to ‘going' in his descendants, thus himself not passing that way with his feet. In that case it was Abraham in the mind of God who did it, although the feet of those who did it were not his own but his seed. Abraham was victorious through his descendants.
“Who has wrought and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
I am Yahweh, the first, and with the last.
I am he.”
This confirms that God has both Abraham and his descendants in mind. He is speaking of a number of generations, all of them called from the very first beginning of the history of salvation (compare Genesis 21:12 and see Isaiah 41:8 here). Although He may be looking back even further to the first call of man (Genesis 3:9; Genesis 4:26). And Who has done all this? Why, Yahweh, the One Who exists over time from beginning to end. Indeed He is the first before all, and He acted through Abraham in the beginning on his first entry into Canaan, and He is ‘with the last' as is revealed in the victory of Israel/Judah over Sennacherib. Compare His claim in Isaiah 44:7, where as the First and the Last He is the One Who appointed both the ancient people and the things that are coming.
So Yahweh calls on the nations to recognise the wonderful work He has done through Abraham right up to His people of this day (Isaiah 41:8). Beginning with one man and his family tribe and increasing them until under David ‘he' became a large empire. And He is with the descendants of Abraham even to this day, driving away Sennacherib by His power. The corollary is that they should respond in awe and follow Him, and recognise that He is Yahweh, the One Who is and the One Who is there.
‘I am Yahweh, the first, and with the last.' So let the nations recognise Who He is, The One Who is, the One Who is first before all things. The One Who is always there at the end.
‘I am he.' Not ‘I am' but literally ‘I he' (although LXX has ego eimi). Thus not the name revealed to Moses, although hinting at it. It is declaring that He is the One Who has wrought it and done it, the One Who is Yahweh. It is a regular Isaianic phrase.
‘The coastlands saw and were afraid,
The ends of the earth trembled.
They drew near and came.
They helped every one his neighbour,
And every one said to his brother, “Be of good courage.”
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,
And he who smoothes with the hammer him who smites the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
And he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved.'
There are two possible ways of looking at these verses. The first is to see them as the nations finally responding to the work of God begun through Abraham, possibly at first in the empire of David, where they used their skills to good account instead of making gods with them (see Isaiah 40:19-20) and then by entering into God's kingdom of worldwide peace, a vision of the future The second is to see them as the nations cowering before the coming of Abraham and fleeing to their man-made gods.
Taking the first interpretation we find the picture as follows. In vision the nations responded. They saw, were afraid and trembled. And then they drew near to Yahweh and came (compare Isaiah 41:1). This resulted in a new harmony among men. All rivalry vanished and they encouraged each other, all jealousies ceased, all worked together for the good of the whole, all commended each other, all became good neighbours (Leviticus 19:15-18) and brothers. In this case there is a deliberate contrast to the making of idols. Instead of making idols they make what is good (see Exodus 31:3-5; Exodus 35:31-35). Idolatry is replaced by skilful workmanship, and it is quality work, fastened securely. It Isaiah 11:5-10 in another form, but this time the concentration is on the human, not the animal kingdom.
Many, however, follow the second interpretation and see this as referring to a flight to idolatry, a combined effort of the nations against God. They ‘drew near and came', but then their response was a decisive ‘no'. Then they combined and sustained and strengthened each other by making idols which ‘could not be moved', a pathetic attempt to parallel the permanence of the First and the Last. But they were lifeless. Those who interpret in this way see ‘it is good' as demonstrating that the gods are seen as needing man's approval (so much for their pre-eminence), and the combined working as proof of the effort that went into idol making, and of the united front of the world against God. Note that they had to strengthen each other in doing it for they received no help from the gods.
This case would be supported by the words ‘that it should not be moved' in comparison with Isaiah 40:20, (see also Jeremiah 10:3-4), but it could equally be argued that that is a deliberate contrast, that now what they ‘fasten with nails that it should not be moved' is that which is good. For the whole atmosphere is one of neighbourliness, of brotherliness, of encouragement, and of skilful workmanship, giving the impression of the transformation of mankind.
The main argument that supports the second interpretation would be that here we have the pattern of what follows, a contrast between, on the one hand, the activity of the Servant, of Abraham and his seed, and on the other the futility of the gods.