Isaiah 48:6 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare (it)? So "ye are my witnesses" (Isaiah 43:10). Thou canst testify the prediction was uttered long before the fulfillment. "See all this" - namely, that the event answers to the prophecy.

Declare - make the fact known as a proof that Yahweh alone is God (Isaiah 44:8).

I have showed thee new things - namely, the deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus, new in contradistinction from former predictions that had been fulfilled (Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19). Antitypically, the prophecy has in view the "new things" of the Gospel treasury (Song of Solomon 7:13; Matthew 13:52; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5). From this point forward, the prophecies as to Messiah's first and second advents, and the restoration of Israel, have a new circumstantial distinctness, such as did not characterize the previous ones, even of Isaiah. Babylon, in this view, answers to the mystical Babylon of Revelation about to fall before the Lord Messiah, the antitype to Cyrus.

Even hidden things - which could not have been guessed by political sagacity (Daniel 2:22; Daniel 2:29; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Isaiah 48:6

6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.