Isaiah Counters Any Possible Opposition That What He Has Suggested Is Unacceptable And Declares Yahweh's Sovereign Power To Accomplish His Will (Isaiah 45:9-13).
Having earlier in Chapter s 7, 9, 11 referred to the raising of one supernaturally born from the Davidic house to bring about God's final restoration, it is understandable that some might cavil at the idea of an ungodly outsider being the means of their present deliverance and the rebuilding of the city and the temple. There was no way that they could see him as the son of David and therefore it would mean the delay of all to which they looked forward. Isaiah counters by simply stating that God can do what He likes when He likes and we have no right to question it.
‘Woe to him who strives with his maker,
A potsherd among the potsherds of the earth,
Shall the clay say to him who fashions it, “What are you making?”
Or your work, “He has no hands.”
Woe to him who enters into an argument with his Maker, says Isaiah, for no one has the right to contend with and disagree with his Maker, any more than the clay can ask the potter what he is making, or his work can say that he cannot do it. The clay is submissive. It neither questions the potter's purpose nor his ability. And we are all only potsherds, like other potsherds, (even Cyrus), while He is the Potter. Thus no one has the right to question what God has determined to do, under any circumstances.
If therefore Yahweh chooses to use a Persian to advance His purposes, that is His decision, and if He determines to use the worm Jacob as His Servant, although only when he has been transformed, then that too is His decision. No one has any right to question either.
‘Woe to him who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
Or to a woman, “With what are you in labour?” '
The second picture with a similar intent is that of a couple having a child, except that it adds the idea of being intrusive. Woe to him (shame on him) who aggressively questions a man and his wife about what they are producing. The parents receive what comes from the hand of God and it is no one else's business, and it would be wrong for others to seek to interfere. So are His people to receive what comes from His hands without questioning it, leaving it in the hands of the Father.
In the same way it not open to men, even to His people, to question His ways. He will work in His own way and make His children whom He will.
‘Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,
“Ask of me of the things to come.
Concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands,
Command me.
I have made the earth and created man on it,
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,
And all their host have I commanded.” '
This can only be biting sarcasm, for it concerns the Holy One of Israel and the Maker of Israel, the One Who is set apart and distinctive, and the One Who is Lord over all as its Creator.
The question is, how dare His people question Him, the Maker of all things, about whom He will produce (as His sons) or about what He will do and make (as the potter)? They cannot. They have no right to. Thus we may paraphrase, ‘Go ahead. Go on asking me of things to come. Go on asking me about my future sons. Go on commanding me concerning the work of my hands. If you do I will take no notice! You are presumptious. It is totally unacceptable. For I control both heaven and earth, I both created man and the earth, and I stretched out the heaven and command all their host, both animate and inanimate. So I can do what I will with both.'
“It is I who have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will make straight all his ways.
He will build my city, and he will let my captives go free,
Not for price or reward, says Yahweh of hosts.”
God, (the ‘I' is stressed), then confirms what He intends to do, and He will do it whatever questions may be asked, continuing to confirm his sovereignty. He has already in His mind raised Cyrus up ‘in righteousness', (i.e. there is nothing wrong in what He is doing. It is perfectly valid. It is in fact in order to advance good and to fulfil God's righteous purpose), and will go before him to straighten the way before him. And the reason for it is in order that he might rebuild Jerusalem and free all those of God's people taken into captivity wherever they may be. It is in order that he might repair all damage that has been caused in the past. And he will do it without demanding payment.
So Yahweh is, through Cyrus, preparing the groundwork for His people's restoration. Humanly speaking it will then be in their hands what they will do. But they will have no excuse. If the exiles wish to they will be able to return from wherever they are, from Assyria, from Media, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar (Babylon), from Hamath, to the land of God's inheritance, and there will be a Jerusalem to return to. That is Cyrus' task, and why God has called him, and it was what Cyrus achieved from God's point of view.
Note that while Cyrus is ‘raised up in righteousness' because God is using him righteously, he is not ‘called in righteousness', a different concept. He may be ‘called by name' but he is not ‘a called one.' He is not one of the called of God. He is but a shadow of what the Servant is.