Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot? - "Who" else but God? The fact that God 'raiseth up' Cyrus, and qualifies him for becoming the conqueror of the nations and deliverer of God's people, is a strong argument why they should trust in Him. The future is here prophetically represented as present or past.
The righteous man - Cyrus: as Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1-4; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 46:11, "from the east," prove. Called "righteous," not so much on account of his own equity (Herodotus, 3: 89), as because he fulfilled God's righteous will in restoring the Jews from their unjust captivity. Raised him up in righteousness. The Septuagint translates, as the Hebrew, tsedeq (H6664), strictly means, righteousness. Maurer translates, 'Who raised up him whom salvation (national and temporal, the gift of God's 'righteousness' to the good, Isaiah 32:17: cf. Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 51:5) meets at his foot' (i:e., wherever he goes). The English version is better, and is supported by the Chaldaic, Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and Syriac. Cyrus is said to come from the East, because Persia is east of Babylon; but in Isaiah 41:25, from the North, in reference to Media. At the same time the full sense of righteousness, or righteous, and of the whole passage, is realized only in Messiah, Cyrus' antitype (Cyrus knew not God, Isaiah 45:4). HE goes forth as the Universal Conqueror of the "nations" in righteousness, making war (Psalms 2:8-9; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 6:2; Revelation 2:26-27). "The idols He shall utterly abolish" (cf. Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 41:23 with Isaiah 2:18). Righteousness was always raised up from the East. Paradise was east of Eden. The cherubim were at the east of the garden. Abraham was called from the East. Judea, the birthplace of Messiah, was in the East. Abraham, called from Ur of the Chaldees (now Mugheir), can hardly be meant by "the righteous man." For Chaldea in Scripture is termed north, not east of Palestine (Jeremiah 1:13; Jeremiah 4:6). And though in Genesis 14:1-24 he appears for a brief time a conqueror, yet he had not "rule over kings," such as is here described, and which belongs to Cyrus in type, to Messiah antitypically.
Called him to his foot - called him to attend His (God's) steps; i:e., follow His guidance. In Ezra 1:2, Cyrus acknowledges Yahweh as the Giver of his victories: He subdued the nations from the Euxine to the Red Sea, and even Egypt (says Xenophon).
Gave the nations before him - i:e., into his power: as in Joshua 10:12.
He gave (them) as the dust to his sword - (Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 29:5; Psalms 18:42.) Persia, Cyrus' country, was famed for the use of the "bow" (Isaiah 22:6).
He gave (them) as the dust to his sword, (and) as driven stubble to his bow. Maurer translates, 'gave his (the enemy's) sword to be dust, and his (the enemy's) bow to be as stubble' (Job 41:26; Job 41:29). So the Septuagint, Arabic, and Syriac. But the Chaldaic and Vulgate support the English version, which the celebrity of the Persian skill with the bow favours.