Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
Wherefore, when I came. I-Messiah.
(Was there) no man? - willing to believe in and obey me (Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 53:3). The same Divine Person had 'come' by His prophets in the Old Testament (appealing to them, but in vain, Jeremiah 7:25-26), who was about to come under the New Testament.
Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? The shortened hand is the Oriental emblem of weakness, as the long stretched-out hand is of power (Isaiah 59:1). Notwithstanding your sins, I can still "redeem" you from your bondage and dispersion.
At my rebuke I dry up the sea - (Exodus 14:21.) The second exodus shall exceed, while it resembles in wonders, the first (Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 51:15). I make the rivers a wilderness - I turn the prosperity of Israel's foes into adversity.
Their fish stinketh - the very judgment inflicted on their Egyptian enemies at the first exodus (Exodus 7:18; Exodus 7:21).