This time, the ESV gives us the best view of the text with its title. The HCSB has "Israel Must Leave Babylon" and the KJV has too many words to be repeated here. God will refine Israel for His glory - that is what we will see.
Isaiah 48:1-2 (HCSB) “Listen to
this, house of Jacob— those who are called by the name Israel and have
descended from Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and declare the God of
Israel, ⌊but⌋ not in truth or righteousness. For
they are named after the Holy City, and lean on the God of Israel; His name is
Yahweh of Hosts."
Ethnic Israel had a long-standing
problem of putting confidence in the flesh - they were children of Abraham,
thought themselves the true worshipers of YHWH even though they broke His
covenant and lusted after the things the pagan nations had that were forbidden
to them. Repeatedly God tells them He finds their religion tedious and putrid.
Having a name from God ethnic Israel thought they could pay lip service to Him.
Isaiah 48:3-5 (HCSB) I declared
the past events long ago; they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they occurred. Because I know that you are stubborn, and
your neck is iron and your forehead bronze, therefore I declared to you long
ago. I announced it to you before it occurred, so you could not claim, ‘My idol
caused them; my carved image and cast idol control them.’
The "past events" were
the previous judgments YHWH caused to rain down on Israel. These didn't happen
out of national envy - this was God's plan, acting without notice to man so it
seemed sudden. Why did He do this? National Israel was stubborn and stiff-necked
and hard-headed - they were told this multiple times by numerous prophets. To
make sure they wouldn't think too little of their misfortune, God declared His
judgment to them a long time prior so they would not blame it on things they
made with their hands. They had not offended mute, dumb gods; they had rebelled
against Creator God who had formed them into a nation for His own redemptive
purposes.
Isaiah 48:6-11 (HCSB) You have
heard it. Observe it all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will
announce new things to you, hidden things that you have not known. They have
been created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today, so
you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’ You have never heard; you have
never known; For a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew that you
were very treacherous, and were known as a rebel from birth. I will delay My
anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and
⌊for⌋
My praise, so that you will not be destroyed. Look, I have refined you, but not
as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. I will act for My
own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to
another.
Their God and King changes tone
and bids His people to listen to Him. Something new will take place, things
they have not seen, things created NOW. This was done so national Israel would
not think to themselves, "Oh yeah - I remember these things that Moses
mentioned!" As Isaiah was told in his commissioning, in chapter 6, this
people would have ears that would not listen; hardened because they were
deceitful (see Amos 8 wherein they anticipated the end of the Sabbath so they
could cheat people in the marketplace) and rebellious (as were we - see Romans
5). Yet YHWH was patient with national Israel, exercising restraint for their
benefit and His praise. Their long exile in Babylon would end, having served to
refine and purify and test them. God sent them to exile and He would redeem
from exile for His sake - see Numbers 14:13-14 where Moses pleads with God to
not destroy the people for the sake of His name. We are to seek God's favor
merely for our benefit, but that He would be honored in whatever He does for
us. YHWH will not be defiled by His actions - His motives are pure and His
jealously for His glory is righteous. He will not share that with ANYONE.
Isaiah 48:12-15 (HCSB) “Listen to
Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also
the last. My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the
heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together. All of you, assemble and
listen! Who among the idols has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he
will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm ⌊will be
against⌋
the Chaldeans. I—I have spoken; yes, I have called
him; I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission."
My tendency is to say, "This
reference to Jacob and Israel refers to the elect, the remnant and not to the
nation." But the context here does not allow that. God continues to call
to His ethnic people, the community He formed. Note how He refers to Himself
here, as the first and last and recall how Jesus described Himself - Rev 1:8 "I
am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the One who is, who
was, and who is coming, the Almighty." Jesus alludes to this passage to
make clear He is God, "alpha" and "omega" being the first and
last letters of the Greek alphabet. He is the One who made all things, caused
them to bow to His will (see Col 1:16-17); the people that He made and called
together and gave His law to are commanded to gather themselves up and pay
attention. No gods of Baal or Dagon can do this!
One that YHWH loves will do His
will and overthrow Babylon and Chaldea. The word rendered love in English is a Hebrew
word (ahab) which means kind affection. Every commentary I was able to consult agree
that the one described here is Cyrus. It was the Medes and Persians that
overthrew Babylon after Belshazzar was weighed in the balance and found wanting.
It was during the first year of Cyrus' reign that Daniel was released from Babylon
(Dan 1:21). Cyrus was king of Persia and Daniel prospered under the rule of Darius
and Cyrus (Dan 6:28). Cyrus would triumph over Babylon and Chaldea because it
was the mighty arm of the Lord that was holding Cyrus up to do His good pleasure.
Matthew Poole had the best
summary of why we see Cyrus as the one God loved: "Now God loved Cyrus,
not with a special, and everlasting, and complacential love, for he was a
heathen, and had some great vices as well as virtues; but with that general
love and kindness which God hath for all his creatures, as is observed, Psalm
145:9; and moreover with that particular kind of love which God hath for such
men as excel others in any virtues, as Cyrus did; in which sense Christ loved
the young man, Mark 10:21; and with a love of good-will and beneficence. God
had such a kindness for him, as to make him a most glorious and victorious
general and king, and the great instrument for the deliverance of his own
people."
Isaiah 48:16 (HCSB) "Approach
Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the
time anything existed, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me and His
Spirit.
This verse stands as a reminder
that it is God who commands His people come near and listen, He is the only One
who was before time. And He works through means, which includes His called out
ones - prophets and preachers who proclaim His Truth, by His Spirit.
Isaiah 48:17-19 (HCSB) This is
what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am Yahweh your
God, who teaches you for ⌊your⌋ benefit, who leads you in the way
you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commands. Then your peace
would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Your descendants would have been as ⌊countless⌋ as the sand,
and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off
or eliminated from My presence.
Again, YHWH declares Who He is so
this stiff-necked, hard-headed people will listen. None but God is their
redeemer, their Holy One who teaches them and leads them. If they had not been
stiff-necked and hard-hearted they would have heard and obeyed Him, and they
would have "peace like a river." We are all familiar with that
phrase, from a hymn. Such peace only comes to those who have had their ears
opened to the gospel of grace and walk as children of the light. It is these
true children of God that have an alien righteousness that flows like the sea. If
national Israel had not been stiff-necked and hard-hearted they would have
countless offspring and not cut off by God. The promise to Abram would be
fulfilled in a people not stiff-necked nor hard-hearted; a people given new
hearts of flesh and a willing, humble soul that rejoices in the blessedness
bestowed upon them by their Redeemer. The kingdom was taken from national Israel
and given to spiritual Israel (Matt 21:43).
Isaiah 48:20-22 (HCSB) Leave
Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this,
let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, “The LORD has redeemed His
servant Jacob!” They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He
made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed
out. “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.
There is irony here. It was God Who
sent Israel to Babylon, telling them to prosper there (see Jeremiah 29:7) and now
He tells them to flea that nation; and He will make their return from exile
possible. That is the whole point of this discourse - God rules history, the
means and the metanarrative. All the earth will hear how the Holy One of Israel
had redeemed them from Babylon! He reminds that He had taken care of them in
the wilderness, referring to that rock that was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). Here we
see the anti-type as the type is being prepared for temporal redemption, those
who drink living water will experience spiritual, eternal redemption. Another
stark contrast that Isaiah is so fond of: Those wicked persons that remain
stiff-necked and hard-hearted will have no peace. Only those called out of
darkness into the kingdom of His glorious light will experience peace like a
river. YHWH says this, man cannot overthrow it.
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