Chapter Forty-Four

1–5. A prophecy to the faithful sons of Israel with a promise of their salvation and glorification. 6–23. A final revelation to the consciousness of the captive Jews of the truth about the vanity of idols and the omnipotence of the true God. 24–28. A prophecy about the return of the Jews from captivity and the restoration of Jerusalem with the assistance of Cyrus.

Isaiah 44:1. And now hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Isaiah 44:2. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you in the womb, who will help you: Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen. “And now hear, Jacob... and the beloved [Israel], whom I have chosen.” The present chapter begins with exactly the same contrast to the immediate context as the preceding one. Its first two verses contain a series of epithets or forms of address already familiar to us from preceding explanations (Isa 41:8-9; Isa 42:19; Isa 43:1). Based on these parallels and considering the context of the speech (namely, that the general mass of Israel had just been condemned and rejected in the preceding prophecy), we must direct this appeal not to all Israel in general, which proved unworthy, but to the better, most elect part of it, to those true children of Abraham who, according to the promise (and not by flesh alone) became his heirs, that is, who preserved right knowledge of God and entered the bosom of the New Testament Church of Christ. Comforting his contemporaries, the prophet says that not all Israel will perish, that even among it will be preserved a “holy seed—a remnant of it.” To this elect remnant (Isa 10:21; Rom 9:27) is directed the prophet’s comfort, which is partly confirmed by the very selection of epithets (“My servant..., beloved..., whom I have chosen”).

Isaiah 44:3. 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. “For I will pour water on the thirsty... I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring.” “Water” in Isaiah is the usual metaphor for divine grace, which in this passage is further revealed by the words that follow: “I will pour out my Spirit.” Sometimes, as in this case and some others (Isa 35:6; Isa 55:1), the word “water”—maim—or “waters” is used; in others it is replaced by various synonyms, such as: “rain” (Isa 5:6; Isa 30:23; Isa 55:10), “dew” (Isa 26:19), “rivers” (Isa 33:21; Isa 41:18; Isa 43:19), “streams” (Isa 30:25; Isa 35:6), etc. The very thought of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us from above we have already encountered in the prophet Isaiah earlier (Isa 32:15). And indeed, the first to be granted to receive the Holy Spirit on the festival of Pentecost were the best representatives of the chosen Israel—the apostles in the Zion upper room (Acts 2 ch.).

Isaiah 44:4. and they will spring up like grass amid waters, like willows by flowing streams. “And they will grow among the grass like willows by the waters.” The speech continues about the same most elect descendants of Israel, who will not be lost in the mass but, with the aid of divine grace, will grow spiritually as rapidly and strongly as a willow planted by water. It is curious to note that later rabbinic exegesis applies this prophecy to the Jews of the diaspora, and on this basis introduced the branches of the river willow into the composition of “Lulav,” a special sacred ceremony of the festival of Sukkot.

Isaiah 44:5. One will say, “I belong to the Lord”; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; yet another will write on his hand, “The Lord’s,” and take the name Israel for himself. “One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; another will be called by the name of Jacob.” The sense of this verse and its connection with the preceding are rather puzzling. Most commentators see here a reference to proselytes and establish the following internal logical connection of thoughts. The remnant of faithful Israel, having received the Holy Spirit, will acquire such wide and honored reputation that it will attract many followers, who will vie with each other to be called by its name and compete to be called some “of the Lord,” some “Jacob’s,” some “Israel’s.” Here, incidentally, is subtly observed a characteristic feature of these newly converted gentiles—their custom, brought from paganism, of localizing cults and bearing the name of their local deity. Historically, all of this was indeed vindicated once again in the apostles, who on the very first day of Pentecost already had more than one thousand proselytes (Acts 2:41). Isa 44:6-23. There follows a special, inserted section that particularly reveals in an artistic-satirical form the thought of the nothingness of idols compared to the greatness of the true God. It begins with the words: “Thus says the Lord” (6 v.) and continues until the beginning of the 24th verse, where we again encounter the same formula, evidently opening a new speech. Throughout this section, one can trace two main thoughts: one about the greatness, omnipotence, goodness, and saving power of the true God of Israel—it is developed in the first three (6–8) and three last verses of the section (21–23); the other about the vanity and nothingness of idols in connection with the criminal thoughtlessness and some irrationality of those who worship them—it represents a single compact whole (9–20). The need for such a speech was dictated by the conditions of the approaching time—the proximity of Babylonian captivity, where Jews inclined to idolatry were subjected to particularly strong temptation. In these verses—an introduction to the speech and the revelation of its main theme through positive proofs by referring to an indisputable fact of the impending captivity as a justification of the prophecy given by God about it, and consequently as an irrefutable proof of His foreknowledge and Divine dignity. Both the general argumentation of this subsection and even all its particular expressions and thoughts have already been encountered by us earlier and were commented upon in a timely manner (Isa 41:22-26; Isa 43:9-11).

Isaiah 44:8. Do not be afraid or terrified; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? No, there is no other rock; I know not any. “There is no other rock; I know not any.” A new nuance of thought: The Lord, as the only true refuge and strength, is compared to a reliable rock or stone—this solid natural shelter. Although, however, this thought and even the term—Zur—have already been encountered in the prophet Isaiah (Isa 17:10; Isa 26:4). Isa 44:9-17. A new revelation of the theme follows—a contrario, that is, by a negative approach, through a vivid and artistic depiction of the idea of the complete nothingness of idols and the extreme, even laughable, blindness of those who worship them. Strictly speaking, this subsection does not present anything original, but only contains a more consecutive and complete development of the images and thoughts that have already been outlined by the prophet Isaiah earlier (Isa 40:18-20; Isa 41:6-7). But in any case, one must note that here the prophet Isaiah gives the most systematic and most complete indictment of idolatry. As commentary to this entire section, we permit ourselves to cite a paraphrase of it from the commentary of the blessed Jerome. “For who can believe that through an axe, a saw, a drill, and a hammer a god is formed? Or that through coals idols are cast, or that through a measuring line, a plane, a square, and a compass gods are suddenly made, especially when the hunger and thirst of the craftsman point to the insignificance of his art? For a wooden statue is made, representing the image of a man, and the more beautiful it is, the more sacred the god is considered. It is placed in a temple and enclosed in an eternal prison, having grown for a long time in the forests, and depending on the difference of the trees, it was cedar, and ash, and oak, or pine. And amazingly, the scraps and shavings from this are thrown into the fire to warm the one who made the god, and to cook various kinds of food, while from the other part a god is made so that, after work is completed, he who made it bows down to it and asks for help from his own creation—and does not understand or does not think or rather does not see with either bodily or spiritual eyes that what is partially burned cannot be a God, and that divine greatness is not created by a human hand. In prophetic speech—concludes his paraphrase the blessed Jerome—idols are ridiculed quite extensively, but this is easy to understand, and it does not require lengthy or, rather, excessive explanation. Horace (Horace I, 8, 1–4) writes about this in a satire, mocking the idols of the pagans:” Once I was a log, a useless piece of a fig tree; Long the craftsman pondered what to make of me, a bench or Priam! “I will make a god!” he said; and so I became a god! From then on I frighten birds and thieves...” (Works of the blessed Jerome, part 8. Kyiv, 1882, p. 199). The profound truth of life and the artistically witty form of this ridicule of idols caused it to become the prototype of similar indictments by later biblical authors (Jer 10:2-5; pJer 1:8-72; Wis 13:10-19; Wis 14:14-17; Wis 15:7-9) and among ancient Christian apologists (see, for example, the recently discovered apology of Aristides the Philosopher).

Isaiah 44:18. They do not know or understand, for he has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand. Isaiah 44:19. No one gives it a thought, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood? “He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and their hearts so they cannot understand.” About whom is he speaking here? If about God, is it proper to think so of Him? Of course not. One must understand this not in the sense that God intentionally drove the pagans to the path of impiety and wickedness, but in the sense that He, not restraining the freedom of their will, allowed them to walk their natural ways, or, as the apostle expresses it: “God gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done” (Rom 1:28).

Isaiah 44:20. He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, nor say, “Is not this thing in my hand a lie? “A deluded heart has led him astray.” A very deep, purely psychological observation establishing that the chief source of your delusions lies not so much in reason as in a corrupted feeling and vicious will, that is, in what is designated in the language of Scripture as the domain of the heart: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness, slander” (Matt 15:19; cf. Rom.1 ch., etc.). Isa 44:21-23. They directly follow verse 8 and continue to develop the same thought about the omnipotence and saving love of the true God of Israel. After such a vivid indictment of the false gods of paganism, the prophet’s renewed indication of the qualities of the true God receives special persuasiveness and force by contrast.

Isaiah 44:21. Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I have formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. “Remember this, Jacob... Israel, do not forget me.” Remember this, that is, most immediately, the nothingness of idols just revealed, and the foolishness of those who worship them, and further, that you are descendants of a famous ancestor faithful to God (Jacob-Israel), that you are my servant, that is, on one hand, you must therefore serve not someone else but me, and on the other, that you are my household—close and dear to me, and finally, remember that I have formed you, that is, I have chosen you from among other peoples and, accordingly, with your calling, have trained you, and therefore have special rights to you.” The second half of the phrase—“you will not be forgotten by me”—scholars translate differently. The Hebrew lo finnashsheni stands in the passive voice, which according to the rules should be translated in the passive voice—“you will not be forgotten by me.” Just so, indeed, do many translate this passage among Jewish rabbis and Western exegetes (Ibn Ezra, Kimchi, Witring, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, Delitzsch, Dillmann, Duhm, etc.). The professors of the St. Petersburg Academy also give preference to this reading in their well-known commentary. Upon acceptance of such a translation, the transition to the following verse, where it speaks of Israel’s salvation, becomes completely natural and understandable.

Isaiah 44:22. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. “I have blotted out your iniquities... return to me, for I have redeemed you.” The Lord will not forget His faithful Israel, and if it returns to Him, He will forgive it all its sins and redeem it, that is, first of all, will buy it back, will release it from Babylonian captivity, and then—will open the possibility of redemption from slavery to sin.”

Isaiah 44:23. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. “Sing, O heavens... Shout, O depths of the earth; be joyful, O mountains, forest and all the trees in it.” This verse occupies a peculiar middle position: on one hand, it sounds as a joyful finale to the preceding speech—about God the Deliverer, and on the other—it is as a solemn introduction to a new section that especially reveals the greatness and power of divine blessings to the chosen people for all its past and even immediate future history. In content and form, it represents a hymn of thanksgiving to God the Redeemer, one of those that especially abound in the books of the prophet Isaiah and the Psalms (Isa 35:1-2; Isa 42:10-12; Isa 13:13; Ps 96:1; Ps 97:1; Ps 99, etc.). The heavens, depths of the earth, mountains, forest and all the trees—these are all emblems of the fullest and broadest, universal joy, in which, together with man—the king of nature—the entire inanimate nature also should take part, since the fates of nature, according to the view of Scripture, are closely connected with the fate of man (Gen 3:17; Job 5:7; Isa 11:6-8; Isa 24:4-7; Eccl 1:2-3; Rom 8, etc.).

Isaiah 44:24. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth, From verses 24–28 begins a new section, which, having reached the end of the chapter, does not end there itself but extends to the first eight verses of the following chapter 45. The first half of this period represents, so to speak, only an upward movement (arsis), that is, the development and intensification of thoughts that will be set forth in detail only in the second part of the period, in its downward movement (thesis), in the following chapter. The entire upward movement examined by us consists of one continuous speech of the Lord, in which He reminds Israel of the main dogma of his faith—about God the Creator (24), points to the nothingness of pagan beliefs and the folly of their purported wise men (25), recalls the vindication of a whole series of His previous prophecies and pronounces a new one—about the restoration of Jerusalem and the cities of Judea (26), finally, speaks of the miraculous drying up of some symbolic abyss (27), and about the chosen instrument of God—Cyrus, as an instrument of His will concerning Jerusalem and the temple (28). I am the Lord, who has made all things, I alone stretched out the heavens, and spread out the earth by myself. One of the most expressive and clear passages of the Old Testament, where with such force and persuasiveness is asserted the dogma of God the Creator. The emphasis on the unity of the Creator is directed, of course, not against the trinity of divine Persons, but against the widespread notion in pagan mythology that the creator of the world was some lower, secondary god (δημιουργος), who did not create the world out of nothing but merely transformed or arranged it from ready material, and even this organizing work he did not do independently but on the instructions of higher gods and with the help of various other co-workers (lower deities). In contrast to such pagan fables, the Lord through the prophet firmly proclaims that He is the sole original cause of all Being (Isa 45:6-7), the true Creator of heaven and earth (Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5), who had no counselors and helpers in this (Isa 40:14). The very image of “spread out the heavens” is well known to us from the famous expression of the Psalmist: “you stretch out the heavens like a tent” (Ps 103:2).

Isaiah 44:25. who nullifies the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish, “Who makes the signs of the false prophets nothing... the madness of sorcerers, wise men.” Here one can, of course, see a historical allusion to the Egyptian priests who contended with Moses and Aaron (Exod 7:11-12); but it is perhaps better to apply this to the representatives of Babylonian religion and science, the Chaldean priests, astrologers, and wise men (Isa 16:6; Isa 47:10; Jer 29:8-9), since these cults and this science most attracted the Jews contemporary to the prophet.

Isaiah 44:26. who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the prediction of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,” and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins, Isaiah 20:3. “Who confirms the word of his servant... the statement of his messengers.” Judging from the entire context of the speech, by the “word” that the Lord confirms or fulfills must be understood the prophecy of the impending Babylonian captivity, which is to be fulfilled in the lifetime of the same generation. Hence, by “servant” of the Lord should be understood the prophet Isaiah, who indeed was called thus (Is.20:3); and by “messengers” should be understood all the other prophets who spoke of the captivity and return from it: Jer 29:10-14; Ezek 39:25-28; Joel 3:1; Amos 9:11-15; Obad.1 v.; Mic 4 and Zeph 3:14-20. Isaiah 44:27. who says to the deep, “Be dry! I will dry up your streams, “Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry!’ and your rivers I will dry up.” By the abyss and its rivers is understood the entire vast water basin of the Mesopotamian lowland in the center of which stood Babylon. Some are inclined to see here an even more specific allusion to the known historical fact when Cyrus, during the siege of the city of Babylon, diverted the course of the Euphrates and cut off the population from water (Herod. I, book 190 ch. Xenoph. Cyropedia VI book 22 ch.). The prophet Jeremiah mentions this as well (Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36).

Isaiah 44:28. who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose”; saying of Jerusalem, “It shall be built,” and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid. Isaiah 41:2. “Who says of Cyrus: He is my shepherd, and he will fulfill all my will.” It is noteworthy that one of the semi-rationalist Western exegetes expresses himself about this prophecy thus: “this prophecy by the clarity with which it is expressed and by the truthfulness (Bewahrheitung) with which it was fulfilled in fact, should be recognized as remarkable (merkwerdig) and testifies to the deep and clear vision of the prophet.” (Dillmann—Kurzgett. Comm. Iesaia, 408 p. Fifth ed. Leipzig. 1890.) Although prophecies about the destruction of the Babylonians—the chief enemies of the Jews—and about their deliverance from Babylonian captivity through the agency of a special “man of righteousness” whom the Lord will raise up were repeatedly predicted before (see, for example, Is.41:2, 26; Isa 43:8), but never before were they revealed with such thoroughness and fullness until the prediction of Cyrus’s very name, inclusive. It is not surprising that such detail and precision of the prophecy under discussion became a stumbling block for many rationalist-minded exegetes and served as one of the main arguments for the “Second Isaiah” hypothesis, which is connected with its later origin of the second part. But in our eyes, such argumentation is without force, or more precisely, has the opposite significance: if from the rationalist’s perspective the presence of prophecy already compromises the book and causes doubt about its authenticity, from the perspective of an Orthodox exegete, no prophetic book is conceivable without prophecies, and consequently, the greater, more important, and more detailed the prophecies of one book or another, the greater and higher its authority. (Hence, for instance, Isaiah was called the Old Testament evangelist). In view of this, we cannot in principle sympathize with the attempts at compromise between rationalist and Orthodox interpretation of this passage, undertaken by many representatives of conciliatory exegesis, including our own national theologians (professors of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and G. Vlastov). Wishing to smooth over the sharpness of the difference between two trends in the view of the prophecy of Cyrus (rationalist—event post factum, Orthodox—prophecy ante eventum), they diminish the force of the prophecy itself by the assumption that the name Cyrus here allegedly has not a proper and personal character but a general, common meaning: it means “sun” and serves as a collective, common name for some representatives of the Achaemenid dynasty. But even Dillmann, whom we cited above, objected to this, saying that the interpretation of the name “Cyrus” in the sense of “sun” is very doubtful, as is also the fact that this was a common royal title of the Achaemenids; and most importantly, that the prophet Isaiah could have known about all this. The newest scholarly criticism has ultimately undermined the significance of this hypothesis.

Isaiah 41:26. “That Cyrus means ‘sun’—we read in a learned English commentary—is based on weak authorities of Plutarch and Ctesias and has now been refuted by S. N. Rawlinson (Coneiform Inscription, vol. II, p. 112). That this was an ancient title of all Persian kings—this directly contradicts the obvious. Of four Achaemenid kings, only two bore this name, consequently, it was their proper and personal name, just as Cambyses, Xerxes, or Darius.” (The Pulp. Comment.—Isaia L 159 p.). Thus, there is no reason to diminish the force of this prophecy, and one should see in it a personal indication of Cyrus, made more than 150 years before his birth. So indeed the author of this book himself looks upon his own prophecies, who constantly emphasizes the significance of his prophecies, saying that they are predicted long before the events (“from of old,” “from ancient times” Is.41:26; Isa 45:21, etc.) and have the meaning of the chief proof in defense of the true God, by contrast with the false predictions of pagan gods (Isa 41:21-23; Isa 42:9; Isa 44:8; Isa 48:3-16, etc.). Finally, in the Bible we have a completely analogous case of such a personal prophecy, namely in III Kings, where it is told how a prophet from Judea more than 300 years before predicted to Jeroboam about the birth of a glorious and pious king—a destroyer of idolatry—and specifically named this king—“Josiah” (1 Sam 13:1-2). “My shepherd.” Not the shepherd of the people or peoples (ποιμην λαων), as sometimes kings are called in the Bible, but my shepherd and my people’s, because he will show special care for God’s people, as is shown in the words that follow: “he will fulfill all my will,” that is, the will of God concerning the release of the Jews from captivity and their return to their homeland. The historical vindication of this prophecy is set forth in detail in the opening chapters of the first book of Ezra (1–3 ch.); and a parallel version with many new details is given by Josephus Flavius (Jewish Antiquities 11:1–2). In it, among other things, it is clearly stated that the chief motive for the publication of the decree on the release of the Jews from captivity was for Cyrus the prophecy itself, which someone presented to him and which greatly impressed him. “And he shall say to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid!’” In these words one rightly sees an allusion to the main points of Cyrus’s decree, which not only released the Jews from captivity but also cared for their future fate. And that this indeed happened is seen from the book of Ezra, where it is noted that upon the order of King Darius the authentic decree of Cyrus was found and in it was read: “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia... he gave a command throughout all his kingdom, in word and in writing:... All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given to me, and He has ordered me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea” (Ezra 1:1-3). And of the fulfillment of this command itself, the III ch. of I book of Ezra testifies. (Ezra 3:8-13). In conclusion, one cannot but note that here, as almost everywhere in the prophet Isaiah, behind the immediate historical sense of events there emerges typologically a further spiritual sense, referring to the Messiah and His kingdom. In this sense, Cyrus appears as a type of the Messiah Himself, and then, of course, such epithets as “My shepherd,” “who will fulfill all my will” are interpreted even more easily. Of all the chapters of the 2nd part of the book of the prophet Isaiah that we have examined so far, this chapter 44 is the least original. As we noted already in its analysis, it is almost entirely, with the exception of the three last verses, a mosaic of thoughts and even expressions from the immediately preceding chapters 40–43. Apparently, this circumstance gave some representatives of modern biblical criticism reason to reject the authenticity of this chapter and led them to assume its later insertion (Duhm, Cheyne, Marti, etc.). But the motives they advance for this, like those we set forth above, do not at all give the right to such a decisive conclusion. The habit of frequently returning to certain favorite themes and persistently instilling them into the consciousness of one’s listeners or readers—one of the most characteristic methods of the prophet Isaiah that runs through his entire book and therefore speaks to the contrary, that is, of the authenticity and unity of the book. They even point out that the satire of the prophet Isaiah on idolatry (Isa 44:9-20) is too crude and does not correspond to the actual, fairly elevated conceptions of the Babylonians concerning divinity (Duhm, Scholz, etc.). But against this, first of all, one must object that pagan religions are depicted in exactly the same colors by other biblical authors (Jer 10:2-9; Wis 13:10-19), as well as by ancient Christian writers (Aristides the Philosopher II-XIII ch., Justin, Apol. 1, 9; Letter to Diognetus 2 ch., Athenagoras—Leg., 15–18 ch., Origen—Against Celsus VII, 62–63, etc.). Second, it should be noted that the prophet Isaiah was denouncing, chiefly, the most widespread, vulgar paganism, which, by the general consent of learned historians of religion (Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lenormant, Thiele, etc.), stood at a very low level of cultural development and almost did not distinguish divinity from its fetish. * * * Notes In the Slavonic translation—“Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant; I have made you my servant, and you, Israel, do not forget me.” That is: remember—and do not forget. Ed. note. The same can be said, using the Slavonic translation. Ed. note. In the Slavonic translation from the LXX, this verse is stated more clearly: “Speaking to Cyrus to understand, and all my will he will do: speaking to Jerusalem you shall be built, and my holy temple I will found.” Ed. note.