"Who hath given up Jacob to plundering, and Israel to the spoilers? Is it not JEHOVAH, against whom we have sinned And they were not willing in His ways to walk, And hearkened not to His law. Then He poured upon him in burning heat His wrath, And the violence of war: It kindled in flames round about, yet he did not regard it; But now, thus saith JEHOVAH Thy Creator, O Jacob, and who formed thee, O Israel, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be scorched, The Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer: I have given up Egypt as a ransom for thee, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead. Because thou art dear in mine eyes, Thou hast been honoured, and I have loved thee: Therefore will I give up men instead of thee, And peoples for thy life (Delitzsch). Fear not; for I am with thee." —ISAIAH xlii. 24, 25; xliii. 1-5, VII. 44 Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God." "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." Comfort on -ISAIAH xliii. 1, 2, 3. MANY of these addresses of Isaiah, and especially the present, owe their power and impressiveness to contrast. In the close of the previous chapter, we have a vivid representation of the obduracy of the Jewish people, which had led Jehovah to "give Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers; pouring out upon them "the fury of His anger and the strength of battle" (chap. xlii. 24, 25). But the tones of reproach and vengeance are merged, all at once, into those of divinest consolation. It seems like a father weeping over his prodigal; or, in the prospect of some great sorrow, trying to heap solace upon solace. "Love," as it has been beautifully said, "which had retreated behind the wrath, returns again." Israel's Covenant-God sets His bow in the cloud; and we almost forget the presence of the cloud, in the beauty and brilliancy of the varied prismatic colours. The imagery is all Jewish. He reminds Israel in Babylon, and the Church in every age, of His former wondrous interpositions. When He speaks of "passing through the waters," He would recall, what was always regarded as the proudest memory in the Hebrew annals, the crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh, and the salvation of His people. When He speaks of "passing through the rivers," He would recall the passage of the Jordan at the close of the wilderness wanderings. As the exodus began with a miracle, so did it end with one:-" The sea saw it and fled, Jordan was driven back" (Ps. cxiv. 3). When He speaks of "walking through the fire," He probably alludes to the anticipated deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they were cast into the burning furnace, and emerged unscathed from the flames. When He farther speaks of "giving Egypt for a ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for His people," He reverts, in the first instance, to that same earliest chapter in their history, when Egypt's chivalry were overwhelmed in ruin, in order that the Hebrews might be liberated; also to a subsequent crisis, when the hosts of Sennacherib were diverted from their purpose of destroying Jerusalem, by being led southwards to "Egypt and Ethiopia." The Holy City was thus saved and ransomed, by devoting Egypt and her allies instead, to the fury of the rapacious invader. In the Chaldee paraphrase, the words are ren G |