Isaiah 44 commentary

ISAIAH 44 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Israel the Chosen
44 “But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
1.BARNES, “Yet now hear - This should be read in immediate connection with the
previous chapter. ‘Notwithstanding you have sinned, yet now hear the gracious promise which is
made in regard to your deliverance.’
2. Pulpit, “Yet now hear; i.e. "be not dismayed at what has been said. Listen a little longer." O Jacob
my servant, etc. A recurrence to the terms of endearment used in Isa_41:8, showing that words of favour
and' promise are about to follow.
3. GILL, “Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant,.... These words are directed to a remnant
according to the election of grace among the Jews, about the time when their princes should be
profaned, and the body of the people should be given to curse and reproaches; and who are
distinguished from them by the title of the Lord's "servants": who, being called by grace, were
made willing to serve him in righteousness and holiness, either by preaching his Gospel, and so
had the title of the servants of the most high God, which show unto men the way of salvation; or
by observing his commands and ordinances, and walking agreeably to his will, serving him
acceptably with reverence and godly fear; as they are also, in the next clause, distinguished from
the rest by their being "chosen" of God: and these, having ears to hear, are called upon to
hearken to what the Lord had to say unto them; for, notwithstanding the sorrowful things
delivered out in the latter part of the preceding chapter, threatening destruction to the nation of
the Jews; yet he had some comfortable things to say to this remnant, and therefore would now
have them hear them, and attend unto them for their use and comfort:
and Israel whom I have chosen; an Israel out of Israel; a seed the Lord had reserved for
himself, whom he had chosen in Christ before the world was; to be holy and happy, to grace here
and glory hereafter, to believe in him, and profess his name, and to serve him in their day and
generation, either in a more public, or in a more private way; chosen vessels they were to bear
his name, and show forth his praise. What they were to hear and hearken to is as follows,
4. HENRY, “Two great truths are abundantly made out in these verses: -

I. That the people of God are a happy people, especially upon account of the covenant that is
between them and God. The people of Israel were so as a figure of the gospel Israel. Three things
complete their happiness: -
1. The covenant-relations wherein they stand to God, Isa_44:1, Isa_44:2. Israel is here called
Jeshurun - the upright one; for those only, like Nathanael, are Israelites indeed, in whom is no
guile, and those only shall have the everlasting benefit of these promises. Jacob and Israel had
been represented, in the close of the foregoing chapter, as very provoking and obnoxious to
God's wrath, and already given to the curse and to reproaches; but, as if God's bowels yearned
towards him and his repentings were kindled together, mercy steps in with a non-obstante -
notwithstanding, to all these quarrels: “Yet now, hear, O Jacob my servant! thou and I will be
friends again for all this.” God had said (Isa_43:25), I am he that blotteth out thy transgression,
which is the only thing that creates this distance; and when that is taken away the streams of
mercy run again in their former channel. The pardon of sin is the inlet of all the other blessings
of the covenant. So and so I will do for them, says God (Heb_8:12), for I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness. Therefore hear, O Jacob! hear these comfortable words; therefore fear not, O
Jacob! fear not thy troubles, for by the pardon of sin the property of them too is altered. Now the
relations wherein they stand to him are very encouraging. (1.) They are his servants; and those
that serve him he will own and stand by and see that they be not wronged. (2.) They are his
chosen, and he will abide by his choice; he knows those that are his, and those whom he has
chosen he takes under special protection. (3.) They are his creatures. He made them, and
brought them into being; he formed them, and cast them into shape; he began betimes with
them, for he formed them from the womb; and therefore he will help them over their difficulties
and help them in their services.
5.JAMISON, “Isa_44:1-28. Continuation of the previous chapter.
Yet — Though thou hast sinned, yet hear God’s gracious promise as to thy deliverance.
chosen — (Isa_41:8).
6.K&D, “The prophet cannot bear to dwell any longer upon this dark picture of their state of
punishment; and light of the promise breaks through again, and in this third field of the fourth
prophecy in all the more intensive form. “And now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom
I have chosen. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, and thy Former from the womb, who cometh
to thy help; Fear not, my servant Jacob; and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen! For I will pour
out water upon thirsty ones, and brooks upon the dry ground; will pour out my Spirit upon
thy seed, and my blessing upon thine after-growth; and they shoot up among the grass, as
willows by flowing waters.” In contrast with the cheerem, i.e., the setting apart for destruction,
there is here presented the promise of the pouring out of the Spirit and of blessing; and in
contrast with the gidduphı̄m, the promise of general eagerness to come and honour Israel and its
God (Isa_44:5). The epithets by which Jehovah designates Himself, and those applied to Israel
in Isa_44:1, Isa_44:2, make the claim to love all the more urgent and emphatic. The accent
which connects ‫ן‬ ֶ‫ט‬ ֶ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּצ‬‫י‬ְ‫ו‬ָ‫ך‬ , so as to make ֶ‫זְר‬ ְ‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ָ‫ך‬ by itself an attributive clause like ‫בוֹ‬ ‫י‬ ִ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫ח‬ ָ , is
confirmed by Isa_44:24 and Isa_49:5 : Israel as a nation and all the individuals within it are, as
the chosen servant of Jehovah (Isa_49:1), the direct formation of Jehovah Himself from the
remotest point of their history. In Isa_44:26, Jeshurun is used interchangeably with Jacob. This

word occurs in three other passages (viz., Deu_32:15; Deu_33:5, Deu_33:26), and is always
written with kibbutz, just as it is here. The rendering ʆΙσραελίσκος in Gr. Ven. is founded upon the
supposition that the word is equivalent to ‫לוּן‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ִ‫י‬ - a strange contraction, which is inadmissible, if
only on account of the substitution of ‫שׁ‬ for ‫.שׂ‬ The ‫שׁ‬ points back to ‫,ישׁר‬ to be straight or even;
hence A. S. Th. εᆒθύσς (elsewhere εᆒθύτατος), Jerome rectissimus (though in Deu_32:15 he
renders it, after the lxx, dilectus). It is an offshoot of ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שׁ‬ְ‫י‬ = ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּשׁ‬‫י‬ (Psa_25:21), like ‫לוּן‬ ֻ‫ב‬ְ‫,ז‬ ‫תוּן‬ ֻ‫ד‬ְ‫י‬ from
‫ל‬ ֻ‫ב‬ְ‫,ז‬ ‫ת‬ ֻ‫ד‬ְ‫;י‬ and un (= on) does not stamp it as a diminutive (for ‫ישׁוֹן‬ ִ‫,א‬ which Kamphausen adduces in
opposition to Hengstenberg and Volck, does not stand in the same relation to ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫א‬ as mannikin to
man, but rather as the image of a man to a man himself; compare the Arabic insan). We must not
render it therefore as an affectionate diminutive, as Gesenius does, the more especially as
Jehovah, though speaking in loving terms, does not adopt the language of a lover. The relation
of Jeshurun to ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שׁ‬ְ‫י‬ is rather the same as that of ‫ּה‬‫מ‬ּ‫ל‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ to ‫לוֹם‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ so that the real meaning is
“gentleman,” or one of gentlemanly or honourable mind, though this need not appear in the
translation, since the very nature of a proper name would obliterate it
7. Maclaren” JACOB-ISRAEL-JESHURUN
You observe that there are here three different names applied to the Jewish nation. Two of them,
namely Jacob and Israel, were borne by their great ancestor, and by him transmitted to his
descendants. The third was never borne by him, and is applied to the people only here and in the
Book of Deuteronomy.
The occurrence of all three here is very remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not
accidental. The prophet begins with the name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name
of nature, which contained some indications of character. He passes on to the name which
commemorated the mysterious conflict where, as a prince, Jacob had power with God and
prevailed. He ends with the name Jeshurun, of which the meaning is ‘the righteous one,’ and
which was bestowed upon the people as a reminder of what they ought to be.
Now, as I take it, the occurrence of these names here, and their sequence, may teach us some
very important lessons; and it is simply to these lessons, and not at all to the context, that I ask
your attention.
I. I take, then, these three names in their order as teaching us, first, the path of
transformation.
Every ‘Jacob’ may become a ‘righteous one,’ if he will tread Jacob’s road. We start with that first
name of nature which, according to Esau’s bitter etymology of it, meant ‘a supplanter’-not
without some suggestions of craft and treachery in it. It is descriptive of the natural disposition
of the patriarch, which was by no means attractive. Cool, calculating, subtle, with a very keen eye
to his own interests, and not at all scrupulous as to the means by which he secured them, he had
no generous impulses, and few unselfish affections. He told lies to his poor old blind father, he
cheated his brother, he met the shiftiness of Laban with equal shiftiness. It was ‘diamond cut
diamond’ all through. He tried to make a bargain with God Himself at Bethel, and to lay down
conditions on which he would bring Him the tenth of his substance. And all through his earlier
career he does not look like the stuff of which heroes and saints are made.
But in the mid-path of his life there came that hour of deep dejection and helplessness, when,
driven out of all dependence on self, and feeling round in his agony for something to lay hold

upon, there came into his nightly solitude a vision of God. In conscious weakness, and in the
confidence of self-despair, he wrestled with the mysterious Visitant in the only fashion in which
He can be wrestled with. ‘He wept and made supplication to Him,’ as one of the prophets puts it,
and so he bore away the threefold gift-blessing from those mighty lips whose blessing is the
communication, and not only the invocation, of mercy, a deeper knowledge of that divine and
mysterious Name, and for himself a new name.
That new name implied a new direction given to his character.
Hitherto he had wrestled with men whom he would supplant, for his own advantage, by craft
and subtlety; henceforward he strove with God for higher blessings, which, in striving, he won.
All the rest of his life was on a loftier plane. Old ambitions were dead within him, and though the
last of these names in our text was never actually borne by him, he began to deserve it, and grew
steadily in nobleness and beauty of character until the end, when he sang his swan-song and lay
down to die, with thanksgiving for the past and glowing prophecies for the future, pouring from
his trembling lips.
And now, brethren, that is the outline of the only way in which, from out of the evil and the
sinfulness of our natural disposition, any of us can be raised to the loftiness and purity of a
righteous life. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character, if there is to be
transformation.
Have you ever been beaten out of all your confidence, and ground down into the dust of self-
disgust and self-abandonment? Have you ever felt, ‘there is nothing in me or about me that I can
cling to or rely upon’? Have you ever in the thickest of that darkness had, gleaming in upon your
solitude, the vision of His face, whose face we see in Jesus Christ? Have you ever grasped Him
who is infinitely willing to be held by the weakest hand, and who never ‘makes as though He
would go further,’ except in order to induce us to say, with deeper earnestness of desire, ‘Abide
with us, for it is dark’? And have you ever, in fellowship with Him thus, found pouring into your
enlightened mind a deeper reading of the meaning of His character and a fuller conception of
the mystery of His love? And have you ever-certainly you have if these things have preceded it,
certainly you have not if they have not -have you ever thereby been borne up on to a higher level
of feeling and life, and been aware of new impulses, hopes, joys, new directions and new
capacities budding and blossoming in your spirit?
Brethren! there is only one way by which, out of the mire and clay of earth, there can be formed
a fair image of holiness, and that is, that Jacob’s experience, in deeper, more inward, more
wonderful form, should be repeated in each one of us; and that thus, penitent and yet hopeful,
we should behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and draw from Him our
righteousness. That is the path of transformation. The road passes through Peniel, and Jacob
must become Israel before he is Jeshurun. He must hold communion with God in Christ before
he is clothed with righteousness.
How different that path is from the road which men are apt to take in working out their own
self-improvement! How many forms of religion, and how many toiling souls put the cart before
the horse, and in effect just reverse the process, and say practically-’first make yourselves
righteous, and then you will have communion with God’! That is an endless and a hopeless task.
I have no doubt that some of you have spent-and I would not say wasted, but it has been almost
so-years of life, not without many an honest effort, in the task of self-improvement, and are very
much where you were long ago. Why have you failed? Because you have never been to Peniel.
You have never seen the face of God in Christ, You have not received from Him the blessing,
even righteousness, from the God of your salvation.

Dear friends, give up treading that endless, weary path of vain effort; and learn-oh! learn-that
the righteousness which makes a soul pure and beautiful must come as a gift from God, and is
given only in Jesus Christ.
This sequence too, I think, may very fairly be used to teach us the lesson that there is no kind of
character so debased but that it may partake of the purifying and ennobling influence. All the
Jacobs may be turned into righteous ones, however crafty, however subtle, however selfish,
however worldly they are. Christianity looks at no man and says, ‘That is too bad a case for me to
deal with.’ It will undertake any and every case, and whoever will take its medicines can be cured
‘of whatsoever disease he had.’
To all of us, no matter what our past may have been, this blessed message comes: ‘There is hope
for thee, if thou wilt use these means.’ Only remember, the road from the depths of evil to the
heights of purity always lies through Peniel. You must have power with God and draw a blessing
from Him, and hold communion with Him, before you can become righteous.
How do they print photographs? By taking sensitive paper, and laying it, in touch with the
negative, in the sun. Lay your spirits on Christ, and keep them still, touching Him, in the light of
God, and that will turn you into His likeness. That, and nothing else will do it.
II. And now there is a second lesson from the occurrence of these three names,
viz., here we may find expressed the law for the Christian life.
There are some religious people that seem to think that it is enough if only they can say; ‘Well! I
have been to Jesus Christ and I have got my past sins forgiven; I have been on the mountain and
have held communion with God; I do know what it is to have fellowship with Him, in many an
hour of devout communion.’ and who are in much danger of treating the further stage of simple,
practical righteousness as of secondary importance. Now the order of these names here points
the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is-Righteousness. The
object for which the whole majestic structure of Revelation has been builded up, is simply to
make good men and women. God does not tell us His Name merely in order that we may know
His Name, but in order that, knowing it, we may be smitten with the love of it, and so may come
into the likeness of it. There is no religious truth which is given men for the sake of clearing their
understandings and enlightening their minds only. We get the truth to enlighten our minds and
to clear our understandings in order that thereby, as becomes reasonable men with heads on our
shoulders, we may let our principles guide our conduct. Conduct is the end of principle, and all
Revelation is given to us in order that we may be pure and good men and women.
For the same end all God’s mercy of forgiveness and deliverance from guilt and punishment in
Jesus Christ is given to you, not merely in order that you may escape the penalties of your evil,
but in order that, being pardoned, you may in glad thankfulness be lifted up into an enthusiasm
of service which will make you eager to serve Him and long to be like Him. He sets you free from
guilt, from punishment, and His wrath, in order that by the golden cord of love you may be
fastened to Him in thankful obedience. God’s purpose in redemption is that ‘we, being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before Him all our days.’
And in like manner, righteousness, by which, in the present connection, we mean simply the
doing of the things, and the being the character, which a conscience enlightened by the law of
God dictates to us to be and to do-righteousness is the intention and the aim of all religious
emotion and feeling. It is all very well to have the joy of fellowship with God in our inmost soul,
but there is a type of Christianity which is a great deal stronger on the side of devout emotion
than on the side of transparent godliness; and although it becomes no man to say what Jesus
Christ could say to those whose religion is mainly emotional, ‘Hypocrites!’ it is the part of every
honest preacher to warn all that listen to him that there does lie a danger, a very real danger,

very close to some of us, to substitute devout emotion for plain, practical goodness, and to be a
great deal nearer God in the words of our prayers than we are in the current and set of our daily
lives. Take, then, these three names of my text as flashing into force and emphasis the
exhortation that the crown of all religion is righteousness, and as preaching, in antique guise,
the same lesson that the very Apostle of affectionate contemplation uttered with such
earnestness:-’Little children! let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as He is righteous.’ An ounce of practical godliness is worth a pound of fine feeling and a
ton of correct orthodoxy. Remember what the Master said, and take the lesson in the measure in
which you need it: ‘Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy
name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me.’ And the proof that I never
knew you, nor you Me, is: ‘Ye that work iniquity.’
III. Then there is another lesson still which I draw from these words, viz. the
merciful judgment which God makes of the character of them that love Him.
Jeshurun means ‘the righteous one.’ How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people
fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has
been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. Although they have done so many sins, yet He calls
them by His name of ‘righteous.’ And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls
us ‘saints.’ That name is not applied to some select and lofty specimens of Christianity, but to all
Christians, however imperfect their present life and character may be. Then people sneer and
say, ‘Ah! a strange kind of saints these Christians are! Do you think that a man can condone
practical immorality by saying that he is trusting in Jesus Christ? The Church’s “saint” seems to
mean less than the world’s “man of honour.”‘ God forbid that it should be fancied that Christian
sainthood is more tolerant of evil than worldly morality, or has any fantastic standard of
goodness which makes up for departures from the plain rule of right by prayers and raptures.
But surely there may be a principle of action deep down at the bottom of a heart, very feeble in
its present exercise and manifestation, which yet is the true man, and is destined to conquer the
whole nature which now wars against it. Here, for instance, is a tiny spark, and there is a huge
pile of damp, green wood. Yes; and the little spark will turn all the wood into flame, if you give it
time and fair play. The leaven may be hid in an immensely greater mass of meal, but it, and not
the three measures of flour, is the active principle. And if there is in a man, overlaid by ever so
many absurdities, and contradictions, and inconsistencies, a little seed of faith in Jesus Christ,
there will be in him proportionately a little particle of a divine life which is omnipotent, which is
immortal, which will conquer and transform all the rest into its own likeness; and He who sees
not as men see, beholds the inmost tendencies and desires of the nature, as well as the facts of
the life, and discerning the inmost and true self of His children, and knowing that it will
conquer, calls us ‘righteous ones,’ even while the outward life has not yet been brought into
harmony with the new man, created in righteousness after God’s image.
All wrong-doing is inconsistent with Christianity, but, thank God, it is not for us to say that any
wrong-doing is incompatible with it; and therefore, for ourselves there is hope, and for our
estimate of one another there ought to be charity, and for all Christian people there is the
lesson-live up to your name. Noblesse oblige! Fulfil your ideal. Be what God calls you, and ‘press
toward the mark for the prize.’
If one had time to deal with it, there is another lesson naturally suggested by these names, but I
only put it in a sentence and leave it; and that is the union between the founder of the nation
and the nation. The name of the patriarch passes to his descendants, the nation is called after
him that begat it. In some sense it prolongs his life and spirit and character upon the earth. That
is the old-world way of looking at the solidarity of a nation. There is a New Testament fact which
goes even deeper than that. The names which Christ bears are given to Christ’s followers. Is He a

King, is He a Priest? He ‘makes us kings and priests.’ Is He anointed the Messiah? God ‘hath
anointed us in Him.’ Is He the Light of the World?
‘Ye are the lights of the world.’ His life passeth into all that love Him in the measure of their
trust and love. We are one with Jesus if we rest upon Him; one in life, one in character,
approximating by slow degrees, but surely, to His likeness; and blessed be His name! one in
destiny. Then, my friend, if you will only keep near that Lord, trust Him, live in the light of His
face, go to Him in your weakness, in your despair, in your self-abandonment; wrestle with Him,
with the supplication and the tears that He delights to receive, then you will be knit to Him in a
union so real and deep that all which is His shall be yours, His life shall be the life of your spirit,
His power the strength of your life, His dominion the foundation of your dignity as a prince with
God, His all-prevailing priesthood the security that your prayer shall have power, and the
spotless robe of His righteousness the fine linen, clean and white, in which arrayed, you shall be
found of Him, and in Him at last, in peace, ‘not having your own righteousness, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.’
8. SBC, “The occurrence of the three names, "Jacob, Israel, Jesurun," together is very
remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not accidental. The prophet begins with the
name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name of nature, which contained some
indications of character. He passes on to the name which commemorated the mysterious
conflict where, as a prince, he had power with God and prevailed. He ends with the name of
Jesurun, of which the meaning is "the righteous one," and which was bestowed upon the people
as a reminder of what they ought to be.
I. These three names in their order teach us, first, the path of transformation. Every Jacob may
become a righteous one, if he will tread Jacob’s road. There must be a Peniel between the two
halves of the character if there is to be transformation. Jacob must become Israel before he is
Jesurun; he must hold communion with God in Christ before he is clothed with righteousness.
II. Here we may find expressed the law for the Christian life. The order of these names here
points the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is righteousness.
The object for which the whole majestic structure of revelation has been builded up is simply to
make good men and women.
III. Notice the merciful judgment which God makes of the character of them that love Him,
Jesurun means "the righteous one." How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people
fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has
been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. Although they have done so many sins, yet He calls
them by His name of righteous. And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls us
saints. He who sees not as men see beholds the inmost tendencies and desires of the nature, as
well as the facts of the life, and discerning the inmost and true self of His children, and knowing
that it will conquer, calls us "righteous ones," even while the outward life has not yet been
brought into harmony with the new man, created in righteousness after God’s image.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Feb. 5th, 1885.
9. CALVIN, “1.Yet now hear. Having a little before rebuked the transgressions of the
people, and declared that all deserved eternal perdition, because both

the princes and the people had polluted everything by their crimes, he
now mitigates that severity of punishment, and comforts the people. In
this passage I consider the particle ‫ו‬ (vau) to mean But or Yet, as in
many other passages. As if he had said, “ grievous afflictions are about
to overtake thee, yet now hear what I will do for thy sake.” The verse
must be viewed in connection with the former argument, because the Lord
declares that he will never permit his people to perish altogether,
though they be grievously afflicted. Hence infer, that God is never so
angry with his Church as not to leave some room for mercy, as we have
already seen on many occasions. The consequence is, that the prophets,
whenever they threaten, always add some consolation as an abatement.
But lest we should imagine that men have deserved it by their good
conduct, he therefore adds, whom I have chosen; for we do not serve God,
because we are entitled to it, or deserve it, but because he renders us
fit by a free election. In this passage, therefore, the words Servant
and Elect are synonymous, yet so that election comes first in order, and
therefore David says that he was God’ “” before he was born, because
even from his mother’ womb he had been received into God’ family.
(Psa_22:10.)
2 This is what the Lord says—
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,

and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun,[a] whom I have chosen.
1.BARNES, “Thus saith the Lord that made thee - (See the note at Isa_43:1).
And formed thee from the womb - This is equivalent to the declaration that he was their
Maker, or Creator. It means, that from the very beginning of their history as a people, he had
formed and moulded all their institutions, and directed all things in regard to them - as much as
he is the former of the body from the commencement of its existence. It may be observed that
the words, ‘from the womb,’ are joined by some interpreters with the phrase, ‘that formed thee,’
meaning, that he had been the originator of all their customs, privileges, and laws, from the
beginning of their history; and by others with the phrase, ‘will help thee,’ meaning, that from the
commencement of their existence as a nation, he had been their helper. According to the
Masoretic marks of distinction, the former is the true sense. So the Septuagint, Aben Ezra,
Kimchi, Lowth, etc.; but Jerome, Luther, and some others, prefer the latter mode.
Fear not - (See the note at Isa_41:10). Though you have sinned as a people Isa_43:23-24,
Isa_43:27, and though all these heavy judgments have come upon you Isa_43:28, yet you have
no reason to fear that God will finally abandon and destroy you.
And thou Jeshurun - (‫וישׁרוּן‬ vaye
shurun). This word occurs but four times in the Bible, as a
poetical name for the people of Israel, apparently expressing affection and tenderness
(Deu_32:15; Deu_33:5, Deu_33:26; and in this place). It is, says Gesenius (Commentary in
loc.), ‘a flattering appellation (schmeichelwort) for Israel,’ and is probably a diminutive from
‫ישׁור‬ yashur = ‫ישׁר‬ yashar, the passive form in an intransitive verb with an active signification. The
ending ‫ון‬ on, he adds, is terminatio charitiva - a termination indicating affection, or kindness.
In his Lexicon, he observes, however (as translated by Robinson), that ‘it seems not improbable
that it was a diminutive form of the name ‫ישׂראל‬ yı s'ra'el, which was current in common life for
the fuller form ‫ישׂיאלוּן‬ yı s'ra'elun, title of affection for Israel, but, like other common words of
this sort, contracted, and more freely inflected, so as at the same time to imply an allusion to the
signification of right or uprightness, contained in the root ‫י‬‫שׁר‬ yashar.’ Jerome renders it,
Rectissime - ‘Most upright.’ The Septuagint renders it, ᅮγαπηµένος ᅾσραήλ Egapemenos Israel -
‘Beloved Israel.’ The Syriac renders it, ‘Israel.’ So also the Chaldee. It is, doubtless, a title of
affection, and probably includes the notion of uprightness, or integrity.
2. CLARKE, “Jesurun - Jeshurun means Israel. This name was given to that people by
Moses, Deu_32:15; Deu_33:5, Deu_33:26. The most probable account of it seems to be that in
which the Jewish commentators agree; namely, that it is derived from ‫ישר‬ yashar, and signifies

upright. In the same manner, Israel, as a people, is called ‫משלם‬ meshullam, perfect, Isa_42:19,
They were taught of God, and abundantly furnished with the means of rectitude and perfection
in his service and worship. Grotius thinks that ‫ישרון‬ yeshurun is a diminutive of ‫ישראל‬ yishrael,
Israel; expressing peculiar fondness and affection; Ισραηλιδιον, O little Israel.
3. GILL, “Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb,....
Which is not to be understood of the forming of the people of Israel into a commonwealth or
church state, for this is not said of the body of them; nor of the natural creation and formation of
these individuals, but of their new creation, regeneration, and spiritual formation; which, as it
was owing to the grace and power of God, by which the Lord describes himself, who is speaking
to them, the consideration of it might serve to encourage their faith and confidence in the
performance of the promises about to be made to them; see Psa_100:3, which "will help thee";
in the exercise of grace, in the performance of duty, in suffering for his name's sake in every time
of trouble, and out of all trouble, and that right early, and when none else can:
fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou Jesurun, whom I have chosen; the titles are
as before, only instead of "Israel" is "Jesurun", which is a name of the people of Israel,
Deu_32:15 and here the Targum instead of it puts Israel; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions.
The Septuagint version renders it, "beloved Israel"; the word signifies upright; and so the
Vulgate Latin version translates it, "O thou most upright one" (w); and well agrees with this little
remnant of Israelites indeed, in whom there was no guile. Some derive the word from one that
signifies to "see", "behold", "contemplate" (x); and so it may be rendered, "the seeing ones whom
I have chosen", such whose eyes the Lord opened to see their own vileness and sinfulness, and
the glory of Christ and salvation by him: these are bid not to fear: not any of their enemies,
though they themselves were but worms; and though their number was small, and they weak
and feeble, and their enemies numerous, strong, and mighty; and though their countrymen
would reproach, revile, and persecute them for Christ's sake, and they should be obliged to turn
to the Gentiles, and carry the Gospel among them, when those of their nation would reject it,
which would issue in the ruin of it, as before predicted; see Isa_41:10.
4. PULPIT, “The Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb (see Isa_43:1, Isa_43:7). "From
the womb" is added here for increased emphasis. Jesurun. The Lord's people have their proper names—
Jacob, Israel, Jesurun, or rather, Jeshurun. "Jacob" marks them simply as descendants of the patriarch—
the people to whom the promises were made. "Israel" marks their militant character—that as "God's
soldiers" they fought his battles and maintained his cause in the midst of a hostile world. The third name,
"Jeshurun," which is very rarely used (only here and in Deu_32:15; Deu_33:5, Deu_33:26), designates
them as "righteous," being a derivative from the root yashar (or joshar), equivalent to "upright," and points
to that standard of moral excellence which it was their duty to set forth, and which to some extent they did
set forth, in a world that "lay in wickedness." Had they been more worthy of the name, it would probably
have been oftener applied to them.
5.JAMISON, “(Isa_43:1, Isa_43:7).
formed ... from ... womb — (So Isa_44:24; Isa_49:1, Isa_49:5). The sense is similar to
that in Isa_1:2, “I have nourished and brought up children.”

Jesurun — A diminutive term of endearment applied to Israel. The full title of affection was
Israelun; contracted it became Jeshurun, with an allusion to the Hebrew root, jashar, “upright,”
“perfect” (see on Isa_42:19, note on “He that is perfect”) [Gesenius], (Deu_32:15).
6. CALVIN, “2.Thus saith Jehovah thy Maker. Though he treated the Jews harshly, that
they might be stripped of all false confidence, and might humbly betake
themselves to the grace of God, he now caresses them pleasantly by a
mild and gentle discourse, that they may know that by self-denial they
shall sustain no loss. We must therefore supply here the following
contrasts. “ Jacob, art indeed nothing in thyself, but God thy Maker
will not despise his work; no nobleness of birth would secure thee
against perdition, but the adoption which the Heavenly Father has been
pleased to bestow upon thee will be abundantly sufficient for redeeming
thee.” Besides, we should keep in mind what I have often said already,
that the Prophet does not speak of the first creation by which we are
born to be human beings, but of the regeneration which belongs and is
peculiar to the elect, that they may obtain a place in the Church of
God.
He that formed thee from the womb. This is added, that men may not claim
anything for themselves, as if they had moved him to shew kindness to

them. By these words he also exhibits to them a hereditary covenant, by
which God separated them to be his inheritance “ they were born.”
(Rom_9:11.) Some think that this refers to the person of Jacob, because,
by taking hold of his brother’ foot, (Gen_25:26,) he gave a remarkable
proof of his election; but this is a forced interpretation, and
therefore I give a wider signification to these words, namely, that the
Lord was kind and bountiful to his people from the commencement, and cut
off all merits; because by free grace he “ him,” and then freely
bestowed on him all blessings.
He will help thee. Some supply the relative, “ will help thee;” as if he
had said, “ Helper;” but it is better to read the clause separately.
(173) It would be still more clear in the first person, “ will help
thee;” but as to the substance of the meaning it makes no difference.
The statemen t amounts to this, that he who is the Creator of the people
will be ready to give his assistance when the proper time shall arrive.
Let every person therefore adopt that reading which he thinks proper;
but I have preferred to follow the simple and natural meaning, without

supplying any word.
O beloved! The word ‫ישרון‬ (yeshurun) is explained in various ways. Some
think that it is derived from ‫,ישר‬ (yashar,) which means “ be upright,”
or “ please;” others from ‫,שור‬ (shur,) and others from ‫,אשר‬ (ashar.) But
I rather agree with those who translate it Beloved, and derive it from
the root ‫,ישר‬ (yashar.) This designation is also bestowed on that nation
by Moses in his song; for, although some render it in that passage
Upright, and in this passage also, the old rendering is more suitable, “
beloved is grown fat.” (Deu_32:15.) The Prophet adorns his nation with
these titles, that the Jews may be led by past benefits to entertain
hope for the future. This rule ought to be held by all believers as
perpetually binding, that, after having experienced the kindness of God
toward them, they should likewise expect it for the future; for
otherwise they will be excessively ungrateful, and will shew that they
do not rely on the promises of God, which, when they are impressed on
our hearts, undoubtedly bring peace and safety; not that we should be
utterly devoid of fear, but that we should strive against all dread and

distrust; and therefore he again repeats, —
Fear thou not, Jacob. Such is also the import of the consolation given
by Christ,
““““ not, little flock, for my Father hath good will towards thee.”
(Luk_12:32.)
And, indeed, among the dangers which threaten death on all sides, no
remedy is better adapted to allay terrors than that God has been pleased
to bestow his favor upon us, so that he will save us for ever. By the
word “” therefore, he again repeats that this depends on the favor and
protection of God, who ascribes to himself, and entirely claims, all the
good that existed among the people.
(173) “ on the common supposition, that the words of God begin with the
second clause, it is better to take ‘ will help thee’ as a short
independent clause, parenthetically thrown in to complete the
description, or to connect it with what follows.” —Alexander.

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
1.BARNES, “For I will pour water - Floods, rivers, streams, and waters, are often used in
the Scriptures, and especially in Isaiah, to denote plenteous divine blessings, particularly the
abundant influences of the Holy Spirit (see the note at Isa_35:6-7). That it here refers to the
Holy Spirit and his influences, is proved by the parallel expressions in the subsequent part of the
verse.
Upon him that is thirsty - Or rather, ‘on the thirsty land.’ The word ‫צמא‬ tsame' refers here
rather to land, and the figure is taken from a burning sandy desert, where waters would be made
to burst out in copious streams (see Isa_35:6-7). The sense is, that God would bestow blessings
upon them as signal and marvelous, as if floods of waters were made to descend on the dry,
parched, and desolated earth.
And floods - The word ‫נוזלים‬ nozelı ym, from ‫נזל‬ nazal, “to flow,” to run as liquids, means
properly flowings, and is used for streams and rivers Exo_15:8; Psa_78:16; Pro_5:15; Jer. 18 It
means here that the spiritual influences which would descend on the afflicted, desolate,
comfortless, and exiled people, would be like torrents of rain poured on the thirsty earth. This
beautiful figure is common in the Scriptures:
He shall come down like rain upon the grass,
And as showers that water the earth.
Psa_72:6
My doctrine shall drop as the rain
My speech shall distil as the dew
As the small rain upon the tender herb,
And as the showers upon the grass.
Deu_32:2

I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed - (See Isa_59:21). This is in accordance with the
promises everywhere made in he Bible to the people of God (see Gen_12:7; Gen_13:15;
Gen_15:18; Gen_17:7-8; Exo_20:6; Deu_7:9; Psa_89:4; Isa_43:5). It may be regarded, first, as
a promise of the richest blessings to them as parents - since there is to a parent’s heart no
prospect so consoling as that which relates to his offspring; and, secondly, as an assurance of the
perpetuity of their religion; of their return from captivity, and their restoration to their own
land.
2. PULPIT, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. "Water" is, in Isaiah, the common metaphor for
Divine grace. Sometimes, as in this place (and Isa_35:6; Isa_43:20; Isa_55:1), the simple maim, "water"
or "waters," is the word used. At other times we have instead, or in addition, "rain"
(Isa_5:6; Isa_30:23; Isa_55:10), or "dew" (Isa_26:19), or "rivers"
(Isa_30:25; Isa_32:2; Isa_33:21; Isa_41:18; Isa_43:19, etc.), or "streams" (Isa_30:25; Isa_35:6), or
"floods" (as in this place). At his coming on earth, our blessed Lord took up the comparison, and has
made it familiar to all men throughout the whole Christian world
(see Joh_3:5; Joh_4:10, Joh_4:11,Joh_4:13-15; Joh_7:37-39). We may note here that the "water" is only
poured on him who is athirst for it. Thy seed thine offspring. Not "Israel after the flesh" only, but also
Israel after the Spirit—the true "Israel of God" (Gal_6:16).
3. GILL, “For I will pour water oh him that is thirsty,.... Or rather upon the thirsty land,
as the Targum; and so the Syriac version, "in a thirsty place"; as a dry land is a thirsty land; it
thirsts for water, gapes and opens for it: see Psa_63:1 "and floods upon the dry ground"; large
quantities of rain to moisten it, and make it fruitful; these figurative expressions are explained in
the next clauses:
I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; by which
"seed" and "offspring" are meant the spiritual seed of this remnant or little church of Christ
among the Jews, in the first times of the Gospel: such as should be regenerated and converted in
it, and who are signified by the "dry" and "thirsty" ground; for being made sensible of their
desolate condition, their barrenness and unfruitfulness, they hungered and thirsted after
righteousness; were desirous of Christ and his grace, and more knowledge of him, and eagerly
sought after them; and to these are promised the Spirit, and his gifts and graces, compared to
water, for its purifying, softening, fructifying, and refreshing nature, and for extinguishing
thirst, and giving a real pleasure and delight; see Eze_36:25 and the abundance thereof is
signified by "floods" of water; for in first conversion especially, there is an abounding, yea a
superabounding of the grace of God; it is a well of living water; yea, out of the believer flow
rivers of living water, Joh_4:14 and this grace of the Spirit is always a blessing: and indeed all
the blessings of grace go along with it, as to the manifestation and application of them as
justification, pardon of sin, adoption, &c.; here perhaps a more special regard is had to the
extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles of Christ being
furnished with his gifts and graces, were fitted to go forth with the "fullness of the blessing" of
the Gospel of Christ. The Targum of the whole is,
"for as waters are given upon the thirsty land, and they flow upon the dry land, so will I give my
Holy Spirit on thy children, and my blessing upon thy children's children;''
a succession of converts in the Christian church.

4. HENRY, “. In Isa_44:3, the blessings to be expected are assigned as the reason for the
exhortation to be of good cheer. In Isa_44:3 water is promised in the midst of drought, and in
Isa_44:3 the Spirit and blessing of God, just as in Joel the promise of rain is first of all placed in
contrast with drought; and this is followed by the promise of the far surpassing antitype,
namely, the outpouring of the Spirit. There is nothing at variance with this in the fact that we
have not the form ‫ה‬ፎ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫צ‬ in the place of ‫א‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫צ‬ fo e (according to the analogy of ‫ה‬ ָ‫פ‬ֵ‫י‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫א‬‫ץ‬ , ‫ה‬ָ ִ‫,צ‬ ‫ה‬ፎ ְ‫ל‬ִ‫,נ‬
Psa_68:10). By ‫א‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫)צ‬ we understand the inhabitants of the land who are thirsting for rain, and by
yabbashah the parched land itself. Further on, however, an express distinction is made between
the abundance of water in the land and the prosperous growth of the nation planted by the side
of water-brooks (Psa_1:3). We must not regard Isa_44:3, therefore, as a figure, and Isa_44:3 as
the explanation, or turn Isa_44:3 into a simile introduced in the form of a protasis, although
unquestionably water and mountain streams are made the symbol, or rather the anagogical
type, of spiritual blessings coming down from above in the form of heavenly gifts, by a gradual
ascent from ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫מ‬ and ‫ים‬ ִ‫ל‬ְ‫נוֹז‬ (from ‫ל‬ַ‫ז‬ָ‫,נ‬ to trickle downwards, Son_4:15, Jer_18:14) to ‫ה‬ ַ‫רוּח‬ and ‫ה‬
‫ת‬ ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ִ (‫ת‬ ַⅴ ְ‫ר‬ ִ ). When these natural and spiritual waters flow down upon the people, once more
restored to their home, they spring up among (‫ין‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ only met with here, lxx and Targum ‫ין‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְⅴ) the
grass, like willows by water-brooks.
The willows
(Note: “The garab,” says Wetzstein, “was only met with by me in one locality, or, at any
rate, I only noticed it once, namely in the Wady So'êb, near to a ford of the river which is
called the Hôd ford, from the chirbet el-Hôd, a miserable ruin not far off. It is half an hour to
the west of Nimrin (Nimrim, Isa_15:6), or, speaking more exactly, half an hour above (i.e.,
to the east of) Zafât Nimriin, an antique road on the northern bank of the river, hewn in a
precipitous wall of rock, like the ladder of Tyre. I travelled through the valley in June 1860,
and find the following entry in my diary: 'At length the ravine opened up into a broader
valley, so that we could get down to the clear, copious, and rapid stream, and were able to
cross it. Being exhausted by the heat, we lay down near the ford among the oleanders, which
the mass of flowers covered with a rosy glow. The reed grows here to an unusual height, as in
the Wady Yarmûk, and willows (zafzaf) and garab are mingled together, and form many-
branched trees of three or four fathoms in height. The vegetation, which is fresh and
luxuriant by the water-side, is scorched up with the heat in the valley within as little as ten
paces from the banks of the stream. The farthest off is the 'osar plant, with its thick, juicy,
dark green stalks and leaves, and its apple-like fruit, which is of the same colour, and
therefore not yet ripe. The garab tree has already done flowering. The leaves of this tree
stand quite close around the stem, as in the case of the Sindiana (the Syrian oak), and, like
the leaves of the latter, are fringed with little thorns; but, like the willow, it is a water plant,
and our companions Abdallah and Nasrallah assured us that it was only met with near
flowing water and in hot lowlands. Its bunches of flowers are at the points of the slender
branches, and assume an umbelliferous form. This is the ‫ב‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ of the Bible.' Consequently the
garab (or (as nom. unitatis) the garaba cannot be regarded as a species of willow; and
Winer's assumption (Real-Wörterbuch, s.v. Weiden), that the weeping willow is intended at
any rate in Psa_137:2, is an error. In Arabic the weeping willow is always called shafshaf
mustachi (the drooping tree). At the same time, we may render ‫ערבים‬ 'willows,' since the
garab loves running water as well as the willow, and apparently they seek one another's
society; it is quite enough that the difference should be clearly pointed out in the
commentary. The reason why the garab did not find its way into my herbarium was the

following. On my arrival in Salt, I received the first intelligence of the commencement of the
slaughter of the Christians on Antilibanus, and heard the report, which was then commonly
believed, that a command had been sent from Constantinople to exterminate Christianity
from Syria. This alarming report compelled me to inquire into the actual state of affairs;
therefore, leaving my luggage and some of my companions behind, I set off with all speed to
Jerusalem, where I hoped to obtain reliable information, accompanied by Herr Dörgen, my
kavas, and two natives, viz., Abdallah the smith, from Salt, and Nasrallah the smith, from
Ain Genna. For a ride like this, which did not form part of the original plan of my journey,
everything but weapons, even a herbarium, would have been in the way. Still there are small
caravans going every week between Salt and Jerusalem, and they must always cross the Hôd
ford, so that it would be easy to get a twig of the garab. So far as I remember, the remains of
the blossom were of a dirty white colour.” (Compare p. 213, where we have taken nachal ha‛a
rabhı̄m, according to the meaning of the words, as a synonym of Wady Sufsaf, or, more
correctly, Safsâf. From the description given above, the garab is a kind of viburnum with
indented leaves. This tree, which is of moderate height, is found by the side of streams along
with the willow. According to Sprengel (Gesch. der Botanik. i. 25), the safsaf is the salix
subserrata of Wildenow).)
are the nation, which has hitherto resembled withered plants in a barren soil, but is now
restored to all the bloom of youth through the Spirit and blessing of God. The grass stands for
the land, which resembles a green luxuriant plain; and the water-brooks represent the abundant
supply of living waters, which promote the prosperity of the land and its inhabitants.
5.JAMISON, “(Isa_41:18).
him ... thirsty — rather, “the land” (Isa_35:6, Isa_35:7), figuratively for man thirsting after
righteousness (Mat_5:6).
floods — the abundant influences of the Holy Spirit, stronger than “water.”
spirit — including all spiritual and temporal gifts, as the parallel, “blessing,” proves (Isa_11:2;
Isa_32:15).
seed — (Isa_59:21).
6.CALVIN, “3.For I will pour waters. He continues the same subject, and at the same
time explains what will be the nature of that assistance which he has
promised. But we ought always to keep in remembrance that these
prophecies relate to that sorrowful and afflicted period of which he
formerly spoke, that is, when the people, in the extremity to which they
were reduced, might think that they were altogether forsaken, and that

all the promises of God were vain. Isaiah meets this doubt, and compares
the people to a dry and thirsty land, which has no moisture at all. By
this metaphor David also describes his wretchedness. (Psa_143:6.)
Although therefore they were worn out by afflictions, and the vital
moisture was decayed, yet, that they might not throw away courage in
their deepest distresses, they ought to have set before their minds this
declaration of the Prophet. We, too, when we are brought into the
greatest dangers, and see nothing before us but immediate death, ought
in the same manner to betake ourselves to these promises, that we may be
supported by them against all temptations. Yet we must feel our drought
and poverty, that our thirsty souls may partake of this refreshing
influence of the waters.
I will pour my Spirit. Jehovah himself explains what he means by waters
and rivers, that is, his Spirit. In another passage the Spirit of God is
called “” but in a different sense. When Ezekiel gives the name “” to
the Holy Spirit, he at the same time calls it “ water,” with a view to
cleansing. (Eze_36:25.) Isaiah will afterwards call the Spirit “” but
for a different reason, that is, because by the secret moisture of his
power he quickens souls. But these words of the Prophet have a wider
signification, because he does not speak merely of the Spirit of
regeneration, but alludes to the universal grace which is spread over
all the creatures, and which is mentioned in Psa_105:30, “ forth thy
Spirit, and they shall be created, and he will renew the face of the
earth.” As David declares in that passage that every part of the world

is enlivened, so far as God imparts to it secret vigor, and next
ascribes to God might and power, by which, whenever he thinks fit, he
suddenly revives the ruinous condition of heaven and earth, so now for
the same reason Isaiah gives the appellation “” to the sudden renewal of
the Church; as if he had said that the restoration of the Church is at
God’ disposal, as much as when he fertilizes by dew or rain the barren
and almost parched lands.
Thus the Spirit is compared to “” because without Him all things decay
and perish through drought, and because by the secret watering of his
power he quickens the whole world, and because the barrenness occasioned
by drought and heat is cured in such a manner, that the earth puts on a
new face. This is still more fully explained by the word which he
afterwards employs, Blessing.
4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.
1.BARNES, “And they shall spring up - The idea is, that as plants and trees planted by
water-courses, and in well-watered fields, grow and flourish, so should their children grow in
virtue, hope, piety, and zeal.
As among the grass - They shall spring up and flourish as the grass does when abundantly
watered from heaven. On the meaning of the unusual form of the word ‫בבים‬ be
beyn, in the
Hebrew (“in among”), see Vitringa and Rosenmuller. The ‫ב‬ (b) here is undoubtedly an error of
the transcriber for ‫כ‬ (k) (“as”) - an error which, from the similarity of the letters, might be
readily made. The Septuagint reads it, ᆦς Hos - ‘As.’ The Chaldee reads it, ‫כ‬ (k) (“as”).

As willows by the water-courses - Willows are usually planted in such places, and grow
rapidly and luxuriantly. It denotes here, abundant increase, vigor and beauty; and means that
their posterity would be greatly blessed of God. A similar figure to denote the prosperity and
happiness of the righteous occurs in Psa_1:3 :
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
His leaf also shall not wither.
These two verses teach us:
1. That God will pour his blessings on the children of his people - a promise which in all ages,
when parents are faithful, is abundantly fulfilled.
2. That one of the richest blessings which can be imparted to a people is, that God’s Spirit
should descend on their children.
3. That the Spirit of God alone is the source of true happiness and prosperity to our children.
All else - property, learning, accomplishment. beauty, vigor, will be vain. It is by his
blessing only - by the influence of piety - that they will spring forth as among the grass,
and like willows by the streams of water.
4. Parents should pray earnestly for a revival of religion. No better description can be given of
a revival than that given here - the Spirit of God descending like streams and floods on the
young; and their springing forth in the graces of piety as among the grass, and growing in
love to God and love to mankind like willows by the water-courses. Who would not pray
for such a work of grace? What family, what congregation, what people can be happy
without it?
2. CLARKE, “They shall spring up as among the grass “They shall spring up as
the grass among the waters” - ‫בבין‬‫חציר‬ bebeyn chatsir, “They shall spring up to the midst of,
or rather, in among, the grass. “This cannot be right: eleven MSS., and thirteen editions, have
‫כבין‬ kebeyn, or ‫כבן‬ keben. Twenty-four MSS. read it without the ‫י‬ yod, ‫בבן‬ beben, in the son of the
grass; and so reads the Chaldee; ‫בבן‬ beben, in the son of the grass.
Twenty-four MSS. of Dr. Kennicott’s, thirty-three of De Rossi’s, and one of my own, with six
editions, have this reading. The Syriac, ‫מבין‬ mibbeyn. The true reading is in all probability ‫כבין‬
kebeyn; and the word ‫מים‬ mayim, which should have followed it, is lost out of the text: but it is
happily supplied by the Septuagint, ᆞς ανα µεσον ᆓδατος, as among the water “In every place
where there is water, there is always grass; for water makes every thing grow in the east.” Sir
John Chardin’s note on 1Ki_17:5. Harmer’s Observations 1:64.
3. GILL, “And they shall spring up as among the grass,.... That is, such on whom the
Spirit of the Lord shall be poured with his gifts and grace, and with the blessings of it: by the
"grass" may be meant common believers, comparable to green grass, for their numbers, being
many; for their weakness in themselves; for their flourishing condition; like grass for its
greenness, and verdure, and its springing up by clear shining after rain; see Psa_72:6 and by

those that "spring up among them" are intended the apostles and ministers of the word, who
exceed common Christians in their gifts, and grace, and usefulness; grow up higher and taller
than they, like palm trees and cedars in Lebanon; and as such exceed private saints as tall trees
exceed the grass they grow among:
as willows by the water courses; a sort of trees well known, and which delight in watery
places, and grow best on banks of rivers, and shoot up apace in a very short time, and spread
their branches; so the apostles, after the effusion of the Spirit on them, grew quickly in gifts, and
grace, and evangelic knowledge; and their usefulness spread far and near. The Targum is,
"the righteous shall grow tender and delicate as the flowers of the grass, as a tree that sends
forth its roots by flows of water.''
4. PULPIT, “They shall spring up as among the grass. The LXX. have, "As grass among the waters;"
and this reading is followed by Bishop Lowth, Ewald, and Mr. Cheyne. But there does not seem to be any
necessity for departing from the existing Hebrew text. As willows. There is some doubt whether the
Hebrew word used ('ereb) is rightly translated "willows." The modern yarab seems certainly not to be a
"willow," but rather a species of Viburnum. It is, however, most strictly a water-plant, growing only "near
flowing water."
5.JAMISON, “they — thy “seed” and “offspring” (Isa_44:3).
as among — needlessly inserted in English Version. Rather, “The seed shall spring up as
willows among the grass beside canals of water” [Horsley]. Or, “They shall spring up among the
grass (that is, luxuriantly; for what grows in the midst of grass grows luxuriantly) as willows by
the water-courses,” which makes the parallel clauses better balanced [Maurer].
6. CALVIN, “4.And they shall spring up. These words contain nothing more than what I
quoted from Psa_104:30, that, when the Spirit of God has been sent
forth, the whole face of the earth is renewed, and those fields which
formerly were burnt up with thirst are green and flourish, just as the
herbs grow, after having been watered by the rains. By these metaphors
he extends the view of this subject, and more fully shews that it is
quite as easy for God to enlarge by additional offspring the Church,
which was desolate, and which had been reduced to ruinous and frightful
solitude, as to impart to the earth the power of bringing forth. Yet,

though he does not speak of regeneration, still we may apply to it this
statement; because he speaks of the restoration of the Church, the chief
part of which is the new creature by which the Lord restores his image
in the elect. This doctrine may indeed be drawn from it and more
copiously explained, but we must first explain the Prophet’ design, and
lay open the plain and natural meaning of his words.
5 Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’;
others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and will take the name Israel.
The Lord, Not Idols
1.BARNES, “One shall say - It shall be common to say this, or a profession of religion shall
be common. The various expressions in this verse mean substantially the same thing - that there
should prevail among the people a disposition to make a profession of attachment to Yahweh in
every proper public manner. It is in immediate connection with what is said in the previous
verses, that he would pour his Spirit upon them, and especially on their children. The effect
would be, that many would make a public profession of religion. This refers, doubtless, in the
main, to the period after their return from the captivity, and to the general prevalence of religion
then. But it is also true of the people of God at all times - especially under the Messiah. God
pours his Spirit like gentle dews, or rains, on the families of his people; and the effect is, that
many publicly profess attachment to him.
I am the Lord’s - I belong to Yahweh; I devote myself to him. This expresses the true nature
of a profession of religion - a feeling that we are not our own, but that we belong to God. It is,
that we not only feel that we are bound to worship him, but that we actually belong to him; that
our bodies and spirits, and all that we have and are, are to be sacredly employed in his service
(see 1Co_6:20; 2Co_7:5; 2Co_5:14-15). Nothing, in few words, can more appropriately describe

the true nature of a profession of religion than the expression used here (‫אני‬ ‫ליהוה‬ layhovah 'a
nı y) ‘For Yahweh am I’ - ‘I am wholly, and entirely, and forever for Yahweh, to obey him; to do
his will; to suffer patiently all that be appoints; to live where he directs; to die when, where, and
how he pleases; to moulder in the grave according to his will; to be raised up by his power; and
to serve him forever in a better world.’
And another shall call himself by the name of Jacob - The Chaldee renders this, ‘He
shall pray in the name of Jacob.’ The idea seems to be, that he should call himself a friend of
Jacob - an Israelite. He should regard himself as belonging to the same family and the same
religion, as Jacob; as worshipping the same God; and as maintaining the same belief. To call
oneself by the same name as another, is indicative of friendship and affection; and is expressive
of a purpose to be united to him, and to identify our interest with his. The idea is that which one
would express by saying, that he cast in his interest with the people of God, or he became
identified with them; as we now say, a man calls himself by the name of Christ, that is, a
Christian. Jerome renders this, ‘He shall call by the name of Jacob.’ that is, sinners to
repentance (compare the note at Isa_43:7; Isa_48:1; Psa_24:6).
And another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord - The Septuagint renders
this, ‘And another shall write with his hand (χειρί cheiri), I am of God.’ Lowth, ‘On his hand,’
Aquila and Symmachus, (Χειρά Cheira). Lowth supposes that the allusion here is to the marks
which were made indelible by puncture with ink on the hand or on other parts of the body. He
supposes that the mark thus indelibly impressed was the name of the person, or the name of the
master if he was a slave, or some indication by which it might be known to whom he belonged.
In this way, the soldier marked himself with the name of his commander; the idolater, with the
name of his god; and in this way, Procopius says, that the early Christians marked themselves.
On this passage he says, ‘Because many marked their wrists or their arms with the sign of the
cross, or with the name of Christ’ (see Rev_20:4; Spencer, De Leg. Heb. ii. 20).
But all this is too refined, and is evidently a departure from the true sense of the passage. The
mark, or writing, was not on the hand, but with it - literally, ‘and this shall write his hand to
Yahweh; ‘and the figure is evidently taken from the mode of making a contract or bargain, where
the name is subscribed to the instrument. It was a solemn compact or covenant, by which they
enrolled themselves among the worshippers of God, and pledged themselves to his service. The
manner of a contract among the Hebrews is described in Jer_32:10, Jer_32:12, Jer_32:44. A
public, solemn, and recorded covenant, to which the names of princes, Levites, and priests, were
subscribed, and which was sealed, by which they bound themselves to the service of God, is
mentioned in Neh_9:38. Here it denotes the solemn manner in which they would profess to be
worshippers of the true God; and it is expressive of the true nature of a profession of religion.
The name is given in to God. It is enrolled by the voluntary desire of him who makes the
profession among his friends. It is done, after the manner of solemn compacts among men, in
the presence of witnesses Heb_12:1. Among Christians, it is sealed in a solemn manner by
baptism, and the Lord’s supper. It has, therefore, all the binding force and obligation of a
solemn compact; and every professor of religion should regard his covenant with God as the
most sacred of all compacts, and as having a more solemn obligation than any other. And yet,
how many professors are there who would shrink back with horror from the idea of breaking a
compact with man, who have no alarm at the idea of having proved unfaithful to their solemn
pledge that they would belong wholly to God, and would live to him alone! Let every professor of
religion remember that his profession has all the force of a solemn compact that he has
voluntarily subscribed his name, and enrolled himself among the friends of God; and that there
is no agreement of a more binding nature than that which unites him in public profession to the
cause and the kingdom of the Saviour.

And surname himself by the name of Israel - Shall call himself an Israelite, and shall be
a worshipper of the same God. The word rendered ‘shall surname’ (‫כנה‬ kanah, not used in the
Qal, in the Piel ‫כנה‬ kinnah) means to address in a friendly and soothing manner; to speak kindly
to anyone. Gesenius renders it, ‘And kindly, soothingly names the name of Israel.’ But the idea is
probably that expressed in our translation. The word sometimes denotes a giving of flattering
titles to anyone, by way of compliment Job_32:21-22 :
Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person;
Neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
For I know not to give flattering titles;
In so doing my Maker would soon take me away.
In Isa_45:4, it is rendered, ‘I have surnamed thee (Cyrus), though thou hast not known me.’
The word does not occur elsewhere. It conveys the idea of an honorable title; and means here, I
think, that he would call himself by the honorable appellation of Israel - or an Israelite - a
worshipper of the God o f Jacob. It implies that a profession of the true religion is honorable,
and that it is and should be esteemed so by him who makes it. It is observable, also, that this
verse contains an instance of the parallelism in the Hebrew writings where the alternate
members correspond to each other. Here the first and third members, and the second and the
fourth correspond to each other (see the Introduction, Section 8).
2. CLARKE, “Shall call himself “Shall be called” - Passive, ‫יקרא‬ yikkare; κληθησεται,
Symmachus.
Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord “This shall inscribe his
hand to Jehovah” - Και ᅛτερος επιγραψει χειρι (χειρα, Ag., Sym.) αυτου, Του Θεου ειµι· “And
another shall write upon his hand, I belong to God.” - Sept. They seem to have read here, as
before, ‫ליהוה‬‫אני‬ laihovah ani, I belong to Jehovah. But the repetition of the same phrase without
any variation is not elegant. However, they seem to have understood it rightly, as an allusion to
the marks, which were made by punctures rendered indelible, by fire or by staining, upon the
hand or some other part of the body, signifying the state or character of the person, and to
whom he belonged. The slave was marked with the name of his master, the soldier, of his
commander; the idolater, with the name or ensign of his god: Στιγµατα επιγραφοµενα δια των στρ
ατευοµενων εν ταις χερσιν· “Punctural inscriptions made by the soldiers on their hands.” Aetius
apud Turnebum Advers. Isa_24:12. Victuris in cute punctis milites scripti et matriculis inserti
jurare solent. “The soldiers having indelible inscriptions on their skin, and inserted in the
muster-rolls, are accustomed to make oath.” Vigetius, Isa_2:6. And the Christians seem to have
imitated this practice, by what Procopius says on this place of Isaiah: Το δε ΤΗ ΧΕΙΡΙ, δια το στιζ
ειν ισως πολλους επι καρπων, η βραχιονων, η του σταυρου σηµειον, η την Χριστου προσηγοριαν.
“Because many marked their wrists, or their arms, with the sign of the cross, or with the name of
Christ.” See Rev_20:4; Spencer, De Leg. Hebr. lib. ii., cap. 20.

3. GILL, “One shall say, I am the Lord's,.... This expresses the success of the apostles'
ministry, not only among the Jews, but more especially among the Gentiles, who were not called
by the name of Jacob and Israel; but now should call themselves by those names, as the
following clauses show, being called by grace and converted; when they should openly profess
their faith in Christ, claim their interest in him, and acknowledge his property in them, and not
be ashamed of the name of Christians; and this one, and another, even many should do. The
Lord has a people who are his special and peculiar people, his beloved ones, the objects of his
delight and pleasure, his chosen and covenant ones, his adopted ones, his treasure and his
jewels; and hence he has taken such care of them; he has put them into the hands of Christ for
their security; given him to be a Head, Redeemer, and Saviour of them; bestows every blessing
of grace on them; will not suffer any to hurt them; and keeps them by his power: and having
given them to Christ, they are his people, his portion, his spouse and bride, his children, and the
sheep of his hand; hence he became incarnate on their account; laid down his life to save them;
sends his Gospel, and along with it his Spirit effectually to call them; and hence all that he has is
theirs, and he will keep them, and not lose any of them: and being called by grace, they are the
workmanship of the Spirit; his temples in which he dwells, and in whom he is as the earnest and
pledge of their eternal glory: and this interest the Lord has in his people may be known by them,
so as that they may be able to say, one and another, "I am the Lord's", as many of them have
done; see Psa_119:94, they may know they are the Lord's beloved ones, by his drawing them
with his love, by the communications of his grace to them, by the communion with himself he
indulges them with, and by what he shows unto them, and by the shedding abroad of his love in
them; and that they are his chosen ones, by the Gospel coming in power to them, by their
effectual calling, by the sanctification of the Spirit, and their faith in Christ Jesus; and that they
are his covenant ones, by the application of covenant grace and blessings to them; and that they
are his adopted ones, by the Spirit of adoption sent down into their hearts, witnessing it unto
them; they may know that they are the redeemed of the Lamb, by their having his Spirit, and by
his being formed in their hearts: and they may know that they are the temples of the Holy Ghost,
by his own work upon them, and his dwelling in them: and knowing this, they should and will
declare, and say they are the Lord's and none other's; that they are not their own, nor Satan's,
nor the servants of men, but the Lord's to whom they devote themselves, and whom they desire
to serve; and therefore join themselves to his churches, and walk in his ordinances, publicly
confessing their faith in him, which is telling all the world whose they are; and this they say with
the utmost joy and pleasure, in an exulting, yea, even boasting way and manner. The Targum is,
"this shall say, I am of them that fear the Lord:''
and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; reckon himself of the posterity of
Jacob, in a spiritual sense; count it an honour to be called a wrestling Jacob, and a prevailing
Israelite; so the Targum,
"this shall pray in the name of Jacob;''
either in the name of the God of Jacob, the Messiah, or as Jacob did: "and another shall
subscribe with his hand to the Lord": shall give his hand and seal to serve the Lord; shall esteem
it his high and great privilege to be written among the living in Jerusalem and to have his name
registered among the saints, and in their church book. The Targum is,
"and this shall offer his oblation before the Lord;''

himself and his sacrifices of prayer and praise: "and surname himself by the name of Israel":
shall value himself upon this, that he is an Israelite indeed, and shall choose no other name to be
called by than that of a Christian. The Targum is,
"in the name of Israel; he shall draw near;''
and worship with them; all these phrases are expressive of a sincere and hearty profession of
faith in Christ, and of the Christian religion, in terms borrowed from the people of Israel; see
Act_2:41.
4. HENRY, “The consent they cheerfully give to their part of the covenant, Isa_44:5. When the
Jews returned out of captivity they renewed their covenant with God (Jer_50:5), particularly
that they would have no more to do with idols, Hos_14:2, Hos_14:3, Hos_14:8. Backsliders
must thus repent and do their first works. Many of those that were without did at that time join
themselves to them, invited by that glorious appearance of God for them, Zec_8:23; Est_8:17.
And they say, We are the Lord's and call themselves by the name of Jacob; for there was one
law, one covenant, for the stranger and for those that were born in the land. And doubtless it
looks further yet, to the conversion of the Gentiles, and the multitudes of them who, upon the
effusion of the Spirit, after Christ's ascension, should be joined to the Lord and added to the
church. These converts are one and another, very many, of different ranks and nations, and all
welcome to God, Col_3:11. When one does it another shall by his example be invited to do it, and
then another; thus the zeal of one may provoke many. (1.) They shall resign themselves to God:
not one in the name of the rest, but every one for himself shall say, “I am the Lord's; he has an
incontestable right to rule me, and I submit to him, to all his commands, to all his disposal. I
am, and will be, his only, his wholly, his for ever, will be for his interests, will be for his praise;
living and dying I will be his.” (2.) They shall incorporate themselves with the people of God, call
themselves by the name of Jacob, forgetting their own people and their fathers' house, and
desirous to wear the character and livery of God's family. They shall love all God's people, shall
associate with them, give them the right hand of fellowship, espouse their cause, seek the good
of the church in general and of all the particular members of it, and be willing to take their lot
with them in all conditions. (3.) They shall do this very solemnly. Some of them shall subscribe
with their hand unto the Lord, as, for the confirming of a bargain, a man sets his hand to it, and
delivers it as his act and deed. The more express we are in our covenanting with God the better,
Exo_24:7; Jos_24:26, Jos_24:27; Neh_9:38. Fast bind, fast find.
5.JAMISON, “The third clause answers in parallelism to the first, the fourth to the second.
I am the Lord’s — (Jer_50:5; 1Co_6:19, 1Co_6:20; 2Co_8:5).
call himself by the name of Jacob — The Gentiles (as the result of the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit on Israel, the Lord’s “seed,” first) shall join themselves to the children of Jacob, in
order to worship their God (compare Isa_43:7; Psa_49:11). Or, “calls,” that is, invokes and
celebrates the name of Jacob, attaches himself to his nation and religion [Maurer], (Psa_24:6).
subscribe ... hand unto ... Lord — in solemn and public covenant, pledging himself to
God’s service (compare Neh_9:38), before “witnesses” (Heb_12:1), after the manner of a civil
contract (Jer_32:10, Jer_32:12, Jer_32:44). So the Christian in the sacraments [Barnes].
Literally, “shall fill his hand with letters (Exo_32:15; Eze_2:10) in honor of Jehovah”; or “shall
write upon his hand, I am Jehovah’s” (compare Isa_49:16; Rev_13:16); alluding to the puncture

with ink on the hand, whereby a soldier marked himself as bound to his commander; and
whereby the Christians used to mark themselves with the name of Christ [Lowth]. The former
view is simpler.
surname himself ... Israel — Maurer and Gesenius interpret this as the Hebrew sanctions,
answering to their rendering of the parallel second clause, “calls blandly (speaks in honorable
terms of) the name of Israel.” Retaining English Version, we must, from the Hebrew understand
it thus, “Surname himself by the honorable name of Israel” (Isa_45:4).
6.K&D, “When Jehovah has thus acknowledged His people once more, the heathen, to whose
gidduphı̄m (blasphemies) Israel has hitherto been given up, will count it the greatest honour to
belong to Jehovah and His people. “One will say, I belong to Jehovah; and a second will
solemnly name the name of Jacob; and a third will inscribe himself to Jehovah, and name the
name of Israel with honour.” The threefold zeh refers to the heathen, as in Psa_87:4-5. One will
declare himself to belong to Jehovah; another will call with the name of Jacob, i.e., (according to
the analogy of the phrase ‫ה‬ ‫ם‬ ֵ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫)ק‬ make it the medium and object of solemn exclamation; a
third will write with his hand (‫דוֹ‬ָ‫,י‬ an acc. of more precise definition, like ‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ח‬ in Isa_42:25, and
‫זביח‬ְ‫ך‬ in Isa_43:23), “To Jehovah,” thereby attesting that he desires to belong to Jehovah, and
Jehovah alone. This is the explanation given by Gesenius, Hahn, and others; whereas Hitzig and
Knobel follow the lxx in the rendering, “he will write upon his hand '‛laye
hovah,' i.e., mark the
name of Jehovah upon it.” But apart from the fact that kathabh, with an accusative of the writing
materials, would be unprecedented (the construction required would be ‫דוֹ‬ָ‫ל־י‬ ַ‫,)ע‬ this view is
overthrown by the fact that tatooing was prohibited by the Israelitish law (Lev_19:28; compare
the mark of the beast in Rev_13:16). ‫בשׁם‬ ‫קרא‬ is interchanged with ‫בסם‬ ‫ה‬ָ ִⅴ, to surname, or entitle
(the Syriac and Arabic are the same; compare the Arabic kunye, the name given to a man as the
father of such and such a person, e.g., Abu-Muhammed, rhetorically called metonymy). The
name Israel becomes a name or title of honour among the heathen. This concludes the fourth
prophecy, which opens out into three distinct fields. With ‫ה‬ ָ ַ‫ע‬ְ‫ו‬ in Isa_44:1 it began to approach
the close, just as the third did in Isa_43:1 -a well-rounded whole, which leaves nothing wanting.
7. CALVIN, “5.One shall say. Hitherto the Prophet has spoken metaphorically, but now
expresses his meaning plainly without any figure of speech. He shews
what is the nature of that vegetation and herbage of which he spoke. It
means that out of all nations the Lord will gather his people, and will
bring into his Church those who were formerly strangers, and will raise

up and enlarge his Church, which formerly appeared to be reduced to
nothing; for all shall flock to her from every quarter, and shall wish
to be enrolled in the number of believers, as it is also said,
“ Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia; that man was born there.” (Psa_87:4.)
That passage, though hitherto it seemed to be obscure, through the
mistakes of interpreters, is exceedingly well adapted to the
illustration of this prophecy, that believers, who might have been
terrified and ashamed on account of their diminished numbers, (for we
know that but a small number returned from captivity,) might cherish
hope of that illustrious and magnificent grace of Redemption which had
been celebrated by the prophets. To meet these views, that Prophet,
whoever he was, that was the author of the psalm, declares that the
Babylonians and Egyptians shall be citizens of the Church, and that the
Ethiopians and Tyrians, and those who formerly were strangers, shall
come for the purpose of being enrolled among the people of God. “” says
he, “ lies waste; but one day God will not only gather those who are
scattered, but will also call others from every quarter, and will unite
in one body those who are now at the greatest variance, so that they
shall boast of being citizens of Jerusalem, and shall belong to the body
of the chosen people as much as if they had been natives.” The same
thing is taught in this passage by the Prophet Isaiah, from whom the
author of the psalm undoubtedly borrowed that sentiment.
And another shall be called by the name of Jacob. The general meaning
is, that there will be a vast assembly of men, who shall be united in

faith and in obedience to the one true God. But as, in a registration,
every person either pronounces or writes his own name, the Prophet,
keeping his eye on this custom, employs the following modes of
expression, — “ shall write with his hand, I am God’ and shall take the
surname of Israel; another shall acknowledge that he is God’ and shall
be called by the name of Jacob.” He describes something new and
uncommon, for he who formerly had nothing to do with God shall boast
that God hath adopted him. “ be called” is in this place equivalent to
the French phrase, Se reclamer, that is, “ declare one’ self to belong
to a person;” just as formerly, when he spoke of women to whom the name
of their husbands served for a protection, he introduces them as saying,
“ thy name be called on us,” that is, “ us be named by thy name.”
(Isa_4:1.)
Although Isaiah appears, in this passage, to distinguish between those
who in express terms shall declare that they belong to the people of
God, and shall wish to be named by the name of Jacob, yet both clauses
refer to the same persons, because to be a child of God, and to be an
Israelite, are two things closely connected, for God determines that the
Church shall be the mother of all his children. Yet it ought to be
remarked, that none are the lawful citizens of the Church but those who
submit to the government of God. If the Prophet had passed by the name
of God and mentioned “” and “” still we must have begun with the Head,
from whom proceeds all relationship both in heaven and in earth; but,
that there may be no remaining ambiguity, he has twice described this

order, that none are reckoned to belong to the seed of Jacob but they
who obey God.
Hence we easily see what is the Prophet’ meaning; for he shews that the
Church, so long as she is destitute of the blessing of God, withers and
gradually falls into decay; but that, when the Spirit of God has been
poured out, she is quickened, and at length gathers strength, not only
for recovering her former condition:, but so as to grow by wonderful
increase beyond expectation. Let us remember, however, that the Prophet
does not speak of the order of nature, as if the new children of the
Church were born such from the womb, because no person gains such high
rank by his own industry; but when they who formerly were aliens have
been regenerated by faith, he says that they will eagerly enrol their
names, in order to testify that they are the children of God. Thus he
describes a change which surpasses nature and all the conceptions of
men, when out of the accursed race of Adam is formed a spiritual Israel.
Some think that the Prophet here expresses the small number of
believers, when he says, “ shall be called, another shall write;” but
that argument has little weight, and even the context furnishes an easy
refutation of their error. In my opinion, we should rather understand
him to mean that the Church shall be collected in crowds out of various
and distant nations; because God will assemble strangers under his
authority, and will stir them up to boast sincerely, and not in empty
words, that they belong to his people. It ought also to be observed,
that true faith cannot stand without breaking forth immediately into

confession; for such is the import of these four words, “ be called by
the name of Israel, To write, To be known, To say, I am the Lord’” for
they who sincerely worship God ought not to be dumb, but to testify both
by actions and by words what they carry inwardly in their hearts. They
profess to be the servants of God, and glory in his name during the
whole course of his life.
6 “This is what the Lord says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
1.BARNES, “Thus saith the Lord - This commences, as I suppose (see Analysis), the
argument to prove that Yahweh is the only true God, and that the idols were vanity. The object
is, to show to the Jews, that he who had made to them such promises of protection and
deliverance was able to perform what he had pledged himself to do.
The King of Israel - (See the notes at Isa_41:21).
And his Redeemer - (See the notes at Isa_43:1).
The Lord of hosts - (See the notes at Isa_1:9).
I am the first - (See the notes at Isa_41:4).
And I am the last - In Isa_41:4, this is expressed ‘with the last;’ in Rev_1:8, ‘I am Alpha and
Omega.’ The sense is, that God existed before all things, and will exist forever.
And besides me there is no God - This is repeatedly declared (Deu_4:35, Deu_4:39; see
the note at Isa_43:10-12). This great truth it was God‘s purpose to keep steadily before the
minds of the Jews; and to keep it in the world, and ultimately to diffuse it abroad among the
nations, was one of the leading reasons why he selected them as a special people, and separated
them from the rest of mankind.

2. BI, ““I am the First, and I am the Last”
This affirmation of God’s existence appears more comprehensive than the similar one, made by
Him to Moses, “I am that I am.
” It is true, when we say that He is by His own absolute will and power, we assert by implication
all that belongs necessarily to the essence and character of the Almighty. We assert His eternity;
for He who so exists could have had no beginning, and can have no end: we assert His creation
of all other beings, and His sovereignty over them; for He who alone is from eternity, must have
given existence to all things that are besides Himself; and, as the Author of all, in and for whom
all exist, must be the sovereign Ruler and Disposer of all. Nevertheless the ampler form of
expression, “I am the First and I am the Last,” implying comparison with and precedency to all
other existences, would seem to convey-to- the mined more distinct notions of the eternity, the
omnipotence, the creative will and beneficence, of that infinite Being “who is above all, and
before all, and in all.” (R. Cattermole, B. D.)
The First and the Last
Bitter was the sorrow of the prophet who spoke these words when he saw his people turn away
from Jehovah. Israel had been enlightened by the purest lights. Alone of all the nations of the
ancient world, it possessed the knowledge of the One living and holy God. Yet these truths are
forgotten; these privileges are rejected; this God is denied. Obedient to the idolatrous
inspirations of the Semitic races whose vitiated blood runs through their veins, the Israelites
turn towards Moloch, Baal, Astarte. Then the prophet argues, struggles, waxes indignant,
implores; he shows the inanity of that idolatrous worship and the infamy of those hideous rites;
he reminds Israel of the greatness of their origin and of their destiny; he calls up before their
eyes the sacred figure of Jehovah; he tells his people, in the words which the Almighty Himself
has put into his mouth, “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.” This history is our own.
A light more resplendent far than that which illumined Israel hath shone upon the Christian
nations. What has all this availed us, and whither are marching the rising generations?
Doubtless, the stone and wooden idols of the past cannot be set up again. But this gloomy
fatality before which men would compel us to abdicate our reason, is it not an idol too?
I. “I AM THE FIRST.”
1. We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of the supreme God, the
Creator of all things. To-day men would teach us another Genesis of the world: the old
doctrines of Epicurus are once more becoming current; we hear of eternal matter, of millions
and millions of atoms which, by whirling about continually in space, have unconsciously and
spontaneously invested themselves with a motion in accordance with the mathematical laws
which they had themselves called into existence. We are told that out of a mechanical
combination suddenly issued a living cell, and that, millions of centuries aiding, this life has
become vegetative, then animal, then conscious, intellectual, and finally moral; we axe asked
to acknowledge this ascending progression of matter which, from the inert molecule it was in
the first instance, has become sensitive protoplasm, then has been transformed into the
plant, which in its turn has become endowed with motion, then advancing one step further
has turned into the hideous animal, creeping in the mire of the primitive marshes, to rise up
at length in its conquered majesty and call itself Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ. And having
thus accounted for the formation of things, men look with scornful pity upon those who still
have recourse to the intervention of an all-creating God; their idea of the Divine Being may
be expressed in the words of the learned Laplace to Napoleon the First. “I have had no need
of this hypothesis.” In presence of this self-styled scientific Genesis, it is not only my faith

which revolts, but my reason repeats, with the enthusiasm of a conviction firmer than ever,
“I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”; for if there is m my
reason an immovable principle, it is indeed this: that no effect can exist without a cause, that
all which is in the effect must also be in the cause; that, consequently, matter can never have
brought forth intelligence, chaos can never have given birth to harmony, for in nowise can
the lesser ever have produced the greater. 2 This reminds us, further, that as God is the
supreme Cause, He must also be the supreme End of all that exists, the centre of the
thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. All things, says St. Paul, are by Him
and for Him. Every being has a destination, and the noblest destination of all beings is that
which the Scriptures call the glory of God. You know what this ideal has become, and what
sin has made of it.
3. This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity,
to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him. God is at work
in the midst of mankind. It is in a region higher than that of science that we must seek the
hidden sources of the river of life which brings regeneration, consolation, and eternal hope
to the world. Whence come they then? They gush from the depths of the religious revelation
which the God whom we serve has given to mankind. God the Creator is also God the
Redeemer, and, in order of grace as in that of nature, He may truly say: “I am the First.”
What has been accomplished in the world must also be accomplished in each individual
being, and the redemption of humanity is nothing if it is not worked out in the innermost
soul of those who are to reap its fruits.
II. “I AM THE LAST.” By this we must understand—
1. That God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all
the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world.
2. That God remains the Supreme Judge, and that, consequently, the hour of justice shall
certainly strike.
3. That God is the Supreme Refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which
remains standing when all others have disappeared. (E. Bersier, D. D.)
Bibical monotheism:
As to this, the sublimest utterance of Scripture, we offer three preliminary remarks—
1. It is supported by the structure and order of nature. So far as the universe has come
within the sweep of scientific observation and research, it appears as one complete whole. All
its parts are beautifully harmonised; all its forces are nicely balanced.
2. It is in direct antagonism to certain prevalent opinions. It is opposed to atheism, which
declares there is no God; to fetichism, the worship of any material object that a capricious
superstition may select; to polytheism, which holds the plurality of gods; and to pantheism,
which regards nature as identical with Deity, and thus destroys a Divine personality.
3. It is accepted as a fundamental truth in all evangelical churches. But our object is to
consider the practical uses of Biblical monotheism.
I. IT REVEALS THE GREATNESS OF THE CREATOR. Survey this wondrous universe. Gaze
upon the vast, and examine the minute in the clearest and broadest light of modem science, and
what do you see—wisdom? Yes, manifold wisdom. Goodness? Yes, like an overflowing tide,
overflowing all. Power? In rearing the stupendous fabrics, building up the mountains, pouring

out the oceans, stretching out the heavens. Do you see wealth in all this? If you attach value to
one acre of earth, what is the value of the globe? If there be but one God, how great must He be!
II. IT REVEALS THE DEFINITENESS OF MORAL OBLIGATION. Deep in the souls of all men
is the sense of duty. My definition of virtue is this—“following a right rule from a right motive.”
What is the rule? Clearly, if there be but one God, the will of that one God must be the rule.
What is the motive? Clearly, if there be but one God, supreme love to that one God. Were there a
plurality of gods there would be a difficulty to find out what virtue is; we should have to
determine whose will to obey—the will of each, or some, or all. And we should also have to find
out who of all the gods we should love the most.
III. IT REVEALS THE FITNESS OF RELIGION TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SOUL.
1. The human heart has a centralising tendency. Deep in our emotional nature is a craving
for some one object on which to place entire confidence, and centre the deepest love.
2. The moral character of the soul depends upon its central object. By a law of our nature we
become like that we most love. He who loves God becomes a partaker of the Divine nature.
3. The soul’s happiness is determined by the character of the object most loved. All
experience shows that most of our happiness and misery comes out of our supreme love. All,
in every age, who have loved the one God supremely have felt with the psalmist who said,
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee?”
IV. IT REVEALS THE HUMAN BROTHERHOOD OF SOULS. “To us,” says Paul, “there is but
one God, the Father of all things, and we in Him.”
V. IT REVEALS THE WONDERFUL IN MEDIATION. “God so loved the world that He gave His
only-begotten Son,” &c. Here is love passing knowledge.
1. What a disparity between Him who loves and them who are loved! What a disparity in
natures! God, the Almighty, the All-wise, the Eternal. Man, the feeble, the ignorant, and the
dying. What a disparity in character! God, the Essence and Fountain of all holiness. Man,
vile and polluted with sin.
2. What a manifestation of the greatness of His love. Is this one God our one God? Have we
no idols? (D. Thomas, D. D.)
3. GILL, “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel,.... The King of the whole world, and
Governor among the nations; and in a peculiar manner King of Israel, that nation being a
theocracy; and especially King of spiritual Israel, or King of saints, be they of what nation they
will:
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts; who redeemed Israel out of Egypt, from the house of
bondage, and would again redeem them from the Babylonish captivity, and the whole Israel of
God from sin, Satan, and the law; which he was able to do, being "the Lord of hosts", of the
armies above and below:
I am the first, and I am the last; the first cause and last end, of all things in nature, and
providence, and grace; all things are of him, through him, and from him; all things were made
by him in creation, and for his pleasure they are and were created; and all things are disposed of
in his providence for his own glory; and he is the first in reconciliation, justification, and
salvation, and all are to the glory of his grace: or this is a periphrasis of his eternity, who is from

Isaiah 44 commentary

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Isaiah 44 commentary