Isaiah 44:6-23 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

Isaiah 44:6-8; Isaiah 44:21-23. The Incomparableness of Yahweh, Who Redeems Israel. Yahweh of (the heavenly) Hosts (Genesis 2:1 *, 1 Samuel 1:3 *) asserts His uniqueness, challenging any who claim to have foretold the future aright to make their pretensions good. His people need not fear: long ago, as they can testify, He foretold what is now coming to pass. Let them remember the incomparableness of their Master. He blots out their sins as the sun disperses the morning clouds. The prophet adds a short lyric, calling upon all the universe to praise Yahweh, who so gloriously redeems His people.

Isaiah 44:7. Read, Who is like me? Let him stand forth (LXX), and cry out, and declare and set it (his case) forth before me. Who foretold long ago what is now coming to pass? Let them declare to us (cf. VSS) what is yet to come!

Isaiah 44:8 b. Read, Is there a God or a Rock beside me?

Isaiah 44:21. Read, Thou wilt not renounce me (cf. mg.).

Isaiah 44:9-20. The Folly of Idol-Worship. This late insertion breaks the connexion between Isaiah 44:8 and Isaiah 44:21, and differs from its context in style and spirit. Makers of images are as nothing; their beloved idols (delectable things) bring them no gain. The devotees are so blind that they must inevitably be brought to shame. He who fashions a god has merely cast a useless image. All its devotees and magicians shall be put to shame (Isaiah 44:11). The metal-worker, fashioning his image over the hot fire, grows faint. The maker of a wooden idol marks out his block with line and pencil and carves it into human shape for a domestic god. He chooses a tree, which God has planted and nourished by His rain. With part of it he warms himself and cooks his food; the rest he makes into a god before whom he prostrates himself, seeking help from it! What absurdity! yet they are too blind to see it. Such men, getting satisfaction from (not feedeth on as RV) wood that burns to ashes, are too perverted to save themselves by reflecting that their support is a delusion.

Isaiah 44:9. their witnesses: cf. Isaiah 43:9. that they may be: the inevitable result of conduct is often represented as its deliberate aim.

Isaiah 44:10. An assertion rather than a question: He who has fashioned a god, has but molten.

Isaiah 44:11. Obscure: read perhaps, All its devotees (cf. mg.) shall be ashamed, and its magicians confounded: let them, etc.

Isaiah 44:12. an axe: omit as a gloss; Heb. is impossible.

Isaiah 44:14. Heb. corrupt; no satisfactory emendation is proposed. LXX has merely, He cutteth wood out of the forest which the Lord planted and the rain made it grow.

Isaiah 44:15. Connect the first clause with Isaiah 44:14: doth nourish it for kindling. taketh thereof: read kindles fire therefrom (LXX).

Isaiah 44:16. with part thereof: read, as in Isaiah 44:19, upon the coals thereof (LXX Syr.) Read (cf. LXX), he roasteth flesh, he eateth roast.

Isaiah 44:18. Read, their eyes are smeared over (cf. mg.).

Related Commentaries of Isaiah 44:6

Isaiah 44:6-23

6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.

8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God;a I know not any.

9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

12 The smith with the tongsb both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengthenethc for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shutd their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

19 And none considerethe in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.