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81 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Song of Songs';
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PriorChapter = 'Isaiah 47';
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NextBook = 'Jeremiah';
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NextChapter = 'Isaiah 49';
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Title = 'The Book of the Prophet Isaiah';
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SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 48';
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<p id="Chapter48" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br >CHAPTER 48
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<p id="Isa48_1"><a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,'1-22');">Isa 48:1-22</a>. THE THINGS THAT BEFALL BABYLON JEHOVAH PREDICTED LONG BEFORE, LEST ISRAEL SHOULD ATTRIBUTE THEM, IN ITS "OBSTINATE" PERVERSITY, TO STRANGE GODS (ISAIAH 48:1-5</a>).
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<p><b>1. the waters of Judah</b>—spring from the <i>fountain</i> of Judah (<a onclick="return mV('Num',24,7);">Num 24:7</a>' <a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,28);">Deu 33:28</a>' <a onclick="return mV('Psa',68,26);">Psa 68:26</a>; <i>Margin</i>). <i>Judah</i> has the "fountain" attributed to it, because it survived the ten tribes, and from it Messiah was to spring.
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<br><br><b>swear by...Lord</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',19,18);">Isa 19:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,23);">45:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',65,16);">65:16</a>).
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<br><br><b>mention</b>—in prayers and praises.
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<br><br><b>not in truth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',5,2);">Jer 5:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',4,24);">Jhn 4:24</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_2"><b>2. For</b>—Ye deserve these reproofs; "for" ye call yourselves citizens of "the holy city" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',52,1);">Isa 52:1</a>), but not in truth (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,1);">Isa 48:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Neh',11,1);">Neh 11:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,24);">Dan 9:24</a>); so the inscription on their coins of the time of the Maccabees. "Jerusalem the Holy."
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<p id="Isa48_3"><b>3. former</b>—things which have happened in time past to Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',42,9);">Isa 42:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,7,8);">44:7-8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,21);">45:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',46,10);">46:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>suddenly</b>—They came to pass so unexpectedly that the prophecy could not have resulted from mere human sagacity.
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<p id="Isa48_4"><b>4. obstinate</b>—<i>Hebrew,</i> "hard" (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,27);">Deu 9:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',3,7);">Eze 3:7</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<br><br><b>iron sinew</b>—inflexible (<a onclick="return mV('Act',7,51);">Act 7:51</a>).
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<br><br><b>brow brass</b>—shameless as a harlot (see <a onclick="return mV('Jer',6,28);">Jer 6:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,3);">3:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',3,7);">Eze 3:7</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<p id="Isa48_5"><b>5.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Isa/Isa048.html#Isa48_1">Isa 48:1</a>; JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Isa/Isa048.html#Isa48_3">Isa 48:3</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_6"><b>6. Thou,</b> etc.—So "ye are my witnesses" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',43,10);">Isa 43:10</a>). Thou canst testify the prediction was uttered long before the fulfilment: "see all this," namely, that the event answers to the prophecy.
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<br><br><b>declare</b>—make the fact known as a proof that Jehovah alone is God (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,8);">Isa 44:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>new things</b>—namely, the deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus, <i>new</i> in contradistinction from former predictions that had been fulfilled (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',42,9);">Isa 42:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',43,19);">43:19</a>). Antitypically, the prophecy has in view the "new things" of the gospel treasury (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',7,13);">Sgs 7:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',13,52);">Mat 13:52</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',5,17);">2Cr 5:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,5);">Rev 21:5</a>). From this point forward, the prophecies as to Messiah's first and second advents and the restoration of Israel, have a <i>new</i> circumstantial distinctness, such as did not characterize the previous ones, even of Isaiah. Babylon, in this view, answers to the mystical Babylon of Revelation.
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<br><br><b>hidden</b>—which could not have been guessed by political sagacity (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,22);">Dan 2:22, 29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,9,10);">1Cr 2:9-10</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_7"><b>7.</b> Not like natural results from existing causes, the events when they took place were like acts of <i>creative</i> power, such as had never before been "from the beginning."
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<br><br><b>even before the day when</b>—rather [MAURER], "And before the day (of their occurrence) thou hast not heard of them"; that is, by any human acuteness; they are only heard of by the present inspired announcement.
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<p id="Isa48_8"><b>8. heardest not</b>—repeated, as also "knewest not," from <a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,7);">Isa 48:7</a>.
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<br><br><b>from that time</b>—Mine anger <i>towards</i> thee. Omit "that." "Yea, from "<i>the first</i> thine ear did not open itself," namely, to <i>obey</i> them [ROSENMULLER]. "To open the ear" denotes obedient attention (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',50,5);">Isa 50:5</a>); or, "was not opened" to <i>receive</i> them; that is, they were not <i>declared by Me to thee</i> previously, since, if thou hadst been informed of them, such is thy perversity, thou couldst not have been kept in check [MAURER]. In the former view, the sense of the words following is, "For I knew that, if I had not foretold the destruction of Babylon so plainly that there could be no perverting of it, thou wouldst have perversely ascribed it to idols, or something else than to Me" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,5);">Isa 48:5</a>). Thus they would have relapsed into idolatry, to cure them of which the Babylonian captivity was sent: so they had done (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,4);">Exd 32:4</a>). After the return, and ever since, they have utterly forsaken idols.
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<br><br><b>wast called</b>—as thine appropriate appellation (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',9,6);">Isa 9:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>from the womb</b>—from the beginning of Israel's national existence (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,2);">Isa 44:2</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_9"><b>9. refrain</b>—literally, "muzzle"; His wrath, after the return, was to be <i>restrained a while,</i> and then, because of their sins, let loose again (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',78,38);">Psa 78:38</a>).
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<br><br><b>for thee</b>—that is, <i>that</i>—omit "that": "From thee."
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<p id="Isa48_10"><b>10.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Isa/Isa001.html#Isa1_25">Isa 1:25</a>).
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<br><br><b>with silver</b>—rather, "<i>for</i> silver." I sought by affliction to purify thee, but thou wast not <i>as silver</i> obtained by melting, but as dross [GESENIUS]. Thy repentance is not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. ROSENMULLER explains, "not as silver," not with <i>the intense heat</i> needed to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), that is, not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',1,25);">Isa 1:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',42,25);">42:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',22,'18-20',22);">Eze 22:18-20, 22</a>).
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<br><br><b>chosen</b>—or else [LOWTH], tried...proved: according to GESENIUS, literally, "to rub with the touchstone," or to cut in pieces so as to examine (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',13,9);">Zec 13:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,3);">Mal 3:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,7);">1Pe 1:7</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_11"><b>11. how should my name</b>—MAURER, instead of "My name" from <a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,9);">Isa 48:9</a>, supplies "My glory" from the next clause; and translates, "How (shamefully) My glory has been profaned!" In <i>English Version</i> the sense is, "I will refrain (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,9);">Isa 48:9</a>, that is, not utterly destroy thee), for why should I permit My name to be polluted, which it would be, if the Lord utterly destroyed His elect people" (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',20,9);">Eze 20:9</a>)?
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<br><br><b>not give my glory unto another</b>—If God forsook His people for ever, the heathen would attribute <i>their triumph</i> over Israel <i>to their idols;</i> so God's glory would be given <i>to another.</i>
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<p id="Isa48_12"><b>12-15.</b> The Almighty, who has founded heaven and earth, can, and will, restore His people.
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<br><br><b>the first...last</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',41,4);">Isa 41:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,6);">44:6</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_13"><b>13. spanned</b>—measured out (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,12);">Isa 40:12</a>).
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<br><br><b>when I call...stand up together</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,26);">Isa 40:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',33,25);">Jer 33:25</a>). But it is not their creation so much which is meant, as that, like <i>ministers</i> of God, the heavens and the earth are prepared at His command to <i>execute His decrees</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',119,91);">Psa 119:91</a>) [ROSENMULLER].
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<p id="Isa48_14"><b>14. among them</b>—among the gods and astrologers of the Chaldees (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',41,22);">Isa 41:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',43,9);">43:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,7);">44:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>Lord...loved him; he will,</b> etc.—that is, "He whom the Lord hath loved will do," etc. [LOWTH]; namely, Cyrus (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,28);">Isa 44:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,1,13);">45:1, 13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',46,11);">46:11</a>). However, Jehovah's language of love is too strong to apply to Cyrus, except as type of <i>Messiah,</i> to whom alone it fully applies (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',5,'2-5');">Rev 5:2-5</a>).
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<br><br><b>his pleasure</b>—not Cyrus' own, but Jehovah's.
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<p id="Isa48_15"><b>15. brought</b>—led him on his way.
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<br><br><b>he</b>—change from the first to the third person [BARNES]. <i>Jehovah</i> shall make his (Cyrus') way prosperous.
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<p id="Isa48_16"><b>16. not...in secret</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,19);">Isa 45:19</a>). Jehovah foretold Cyrus' advent, not with the studied ambiguity of heathen oracles, but plainly.
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<br><br><b>from the time,</b> etc.—From the moment that the purpose began to be accomplished in the raising up of Cyrus I was present.
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<br><br><b>sent me</b>—The prophet here speaks, claiming attention to his announcement as to Cyrus, on the ground of his mission from God and His Spirit. But he speaks not in his own person so much as in that of Messiah, to whom alone in the fullest sense the words apply (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',61,1);">Isa 61:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,36);">Jhn 10:36</a>). Plainly, <a onclick="return mV('Isa',49,1);">Isa 49:1</a>, which is the continuation of the forty-eighth chapter, from <a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,16);">Isa 48:16</a>, where the change of speaker from God (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,1,'12-15');">Isa 48:1, 12-15</a>) begins, is the language of Messiah. <a onclick="return mV('Luk',4,1,14,18);">Luk 4:1, 14, 18</a>, shows that the Spirit combined with the Father in sending the Son: therefore "His Spirit" is <i>nominative</i> to "sent," not <i>accusative,</i> following it.
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<p id="Isa48_17"><b>17. teacheth...to profit</b>—by affliction, such as the Babylonish captivity, and the present long-continued dispersion of Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,10);">Hbr 12:10</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_18"><b>18. peace</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',119,165);">Psa 119:165</a>). Compare the desire expressed by the same Messiah (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',23,37);">Mat 23:37</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',19,42);">Luk 19:42</a>).
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<br><br><b>river</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',33,21);">Isa 33:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',41,18);">41:18</a>), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol of <i>free, abundant, and ever flowing blessings from Him</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',47,1);">Eze 47:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',14,8);">Zec 14:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',22,1);">Rev 22:1</a>).
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<br><br><b>righteousness</b>—<i>religious prosperity;</i> the parent of "peace" or <i>national prosperity;</i> therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',32,17);">Isa 32:17</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_19"><b>19. sand</b>—retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,18);">Isa 48:18</a>).
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<br><br><b>like the gravel thereof</b>—rather, as the <i>Hebrew,</i> "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, etc., of the sea, rather than the gravel [MAURER]. JEROME, <i>Chaldee,</i> and <i>Syriac</i> support <i>English Version.</i>
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<br><br><b>his name...cut off</b>—transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,20);">Rom 11:20</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_20"><b>20. Go...forth...end of the earth</b>—Primarily, a prophecy of their joyful deliverance from Babylon, and a direction that they should leave it when God opened the way. But the publication of it "to the ends of the earth" shows it has a more world-wide scope antitypically; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,4);">Rev 18:4</a> shows that the mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.
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<br><br><b>redeemed...Jacob</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',43,1);">Isa 43:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,22,23);">44:22-23</a>).
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<p id="Isa48_21"><b>21.</b> Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert [KIMCHI]. The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',17,6);">Exd 17:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Num',20,11);">Num 20:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',78,15);">Psa 78:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',105,41);">105:41</a>) and of that from Babylon, are blended together; the language, while more immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot <i>wholly</i> refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel.
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<p id="Isa48_22"><b>22.</b> Repeated (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',57,21);">Isa 57:21</a>). All the blessings just mentioned (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',48,21);">Isa 48:21</a>) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shall first cast away its wicked unbelief before it shall inherit <i>national prosperity</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',12,'10-14');">Zec 12:10-14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',13,1,9);">13:1, 9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',14,3,14,20,21);">14:3, 14, 20-21</a>). The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men (<a onclick="return mV('Job',15,'20-25','31-34');">Job 15:20-25, 31-34</a>).
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