God Has Created and Redeemed a People for Himself Whom He Will Love And Protect (Isaiah 43:1-7).
‘But now thus says Yahweh who created you, O Jacob,
And he who formed you, O Israel,
Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you,
I have called you by your name, you are mine.'
Suddenly again prospects change, for God's purposes are sure. Yahweh is the creator of Jacob, and the One Who formed and lovingly shaped Israel. It was He Who called Abraham and brought them forth from him, as a new creation, shaping them to His purposes. As ever the true, spiritual, responsive Israel is in mind. (God constantly makes clear that those who reject Him are not of His people). He will not therefore leave them in the situation which their people have brought on themselves. That is not why He made them.
That is also not why He redeemed them from Egypt by the expending of His power, or called them by their name, seeing them as His firstborn and demonstrating that they were His. Rather will He bring them out of that situation. Indeed it is because of this that He will now act on their behalf in delivering power, for they are precious in His sight (Isaiah 43:4).
Also included in the idea of redeemed may be that Israel were His firstborn son (Exodus 4:23), and therefore had to be doubly redeemed with the redemption of the firstborn through the offering of a substitute (Isaiah 43:3).
‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you,
When you walk through the fire you will not be burned,
Nor will the flame kindle on you.'
When Israel had passed through the Reed Sea during Yahweh's deliverance of them from Egypt, they had passed through its waters and they did not overflow them. So it will be in the future. He will act again for them. Whatever they face, whether fire or water, they will be safe. The overflowing of water had been used to depict the overflowing of their enemies against them (Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 17:12-13; Isaiah 28:2 compare Isaiah 59:19), as had the picture of fire (Isaiah 9:18-21; Isaiah 4:4). But this would no more be. Neither waters nor flame would touch them in their future, for He would be with them.
Water and fire are traditional symbols for suffering which when used together express totality of suffering (see Psalms 66:12; compare also Psalms 32:6; Psalms 42:7; Psalms 66:12; James 1:2; James 3:6).
‘For I am Yahweh, your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your saviour,
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for you.
Since you have been precious in my sight,
Honourable, and I have loved you,
Therefore will I give men for you,
And peoples for your life.'
And this is because of Who He is, and because He is acting on their behalf as their Redeemer. For He is Yahweh the One Who is, The One Who will be what He will be (Exodus 3:14). And He, the unique and totally separate One, the pure One, the Holy One of Israel, is their Saviour, their Deliverer.
Moreover such is His love that He has sacrificed nations for them, giving Egypt, Cush and Seba for their ransom. What a price. Great Egypt plus mighty Cush plus wealthy Seba. And handed over in return for little Israel. This suits best the time when Cush was a dominant force in Africa, and thus the time of Isaiah, not the time of Babylonian supremacy. Seba is possibly the same as Sheba, or connected with it, who seemingly had close connections with Cush across the Red Sea. Alternately some see it as referring to a people in Upper Egypt between Egypt and the Sudan. Compare how in Genesis 10:6-7, Cush was the brother of Mizraim and the father of Seba.
Possibly he saw the price as being paid to Assyria to take the heat off God's people. For while Assyria were taken up with their invasion of the African peoples the pressure on Judah would be the less. Or perhaps the thought is of the Cushite/Egyptian army defeated at Eltekeh, possibly along with Arab allies, sacrificed in the course of delivering Jerusalem. And much later Assyria would sack Thebes, and would also slaughter the Arabs. Or perhaps he is going back to the Exodus (see Isaiah 10:7) when the plagues that came on Egypt were produced by awful weather conditions which would also affect the nations further south, all sacrificed in the deliverance of His people.
‘Since you have been precious in my sight, honourable, and I have loved you, therefore will I give men for you, and peoples for your life.' Note the tenderness of His words. His heart still reaches out to them. Israel were His own people, chosen and loved in Abraham and the fathers (Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Deuteronomy 10:15), and destined to be a holy people and a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:5-6). He had entered into covenant with them at Sinai, where He had revealed that love. So they were precious to God, and seen as honourable in the status that He had given them, so beloved of Him that He was willing to sacrifice others, both men and peoples, in order that they might be spared the worst excesses. Always He prevented them suffering as much as they deserved (Isaiah 27:7).
The same is true for all whom God loves and on whom He sets His name. He will protect and bless them and finally gather them to Himself. For all who are His are Abraham's seed and recipients of the blessings of God's promises to Abraham.
‘Do not be afraid, for I am with you,
I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give up', and to the south, ‘Do not keep back.'
Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth,
Every one who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory.
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.'
Again Yahweh repeats that He is with them (see Isaiah 43:2). (Literally ‘Because with you I', God with us). And then He promises the restoration of all of true Israel from every part of the world. To men, even to Israel, they seemed lost, swallowed up by the nations, but it is not so. Each of them who is the elect of Yahweh, and faithful to Him, is known to Him, and He will restore them (compare Isaiah 11:11-12). Both north, south, east and west would give them up at God's command.
Such a restoration did literally later take place in part in later times, but the root thought is more on the fact that they are not lost to God's sight, and will be gathered together to Him, and in Acts 2 it is stressed that there were gathered together His people, ‘devout men', from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5), to witness, and take part in, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The writer in Acts probably had these Old Testament ideas in mind. But its final fulfilment awaits the last day when He will gather together His elect from the four winds at the rapture (Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Then indeed will full restoration take place. For Isaiah constantly speaks of trends which will lead up to the final result.
Notice that it is not all Israel, but those who are called by His name, those whom He has created for His glory, those whom He had formed and shaped, who would come. In other words it is the true spiritual Israel, the elect, the redeemed, the remnant prepared for Himself, the holy seed (Isaiah 6:13), those not ‘cut off' because of covenant disobedience. The ideas are a repetition from Isaiah 43:1.
Once again we must recognise that the prophets had to convey truth through symbols which had meaning both to themselves and their listeners. How else other than in this way could they convey the truth that of those who are God's true people, created and shaped by Him, not one of them will be lost wherever they are scattered, and all will enjoy His kingdom.