Israel's Stubborn Ways
Study note
God addresses the people of Israel, who claim his name and his holy city but do not follow him sincerely. They swear by the Lord's name, but not in truth. God explains that he predicted events long in advance because he knew how stubborn Israel was. He compares them to having a neck as stiff as iron and a forehead as hard as bronze. If God had not told them his plans ahead of time, they would have given credit to their idols. Now God reveals new things they have never heard before.
1 Hear this, family of Jacob — you who carry the name Israel and come from the line of Judah. You make promises using the Lord's name and call on the God of Israel, but your heart is not in it. You are not being honest or sincere. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2 You call yourselves people of the holy city. You claim to depend on the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord who commands all armies. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
3 "I told you about future events a long time ago. I said it out loud. Then suddenly I took action, and everything happened." I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 "I did this because I know how hardheaded you are. Your neck is stiff as iron, and your forehead is hard as bronze." Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
5 "Therefore I told you about these things way before they happened. I announced them early, so you could not turn around and say, 'My idol did that' or 'My statue made it happen.'" I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6 "You heard everything I said. Now look at it all and admit it is true. Starting now, I am revealing new things to you — hidden things you have never known." Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
7 "These things are being created right now, not in the past. Before today, you had never heard of them. So you cannot say, 'Oh, I already knew about that.'" They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8 "You definitely had not heard these things, and you certainly did not know them. Your ears have been shut for a long time. I knew all along that you would be unfaithful, because you have been a rebel from birth." Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
Refined in the Furnace of Suffering
Study note
Despite Israel's rebellion, God holds back his anger for the sake of his own name and reputation. He has tested them in the furnace of suffering, not to destroy them but to refine them. God is the First and the Last, the one who laid the earth's foundation and stretched out the heavens. He announces that Cyrus, the man he loves, will carry out God's purpose against Babylon. Verse 16 is remarkable because the speaker says God's Spirit has sent him, which many see as an early hint of the Trinity.
9 "For the honor of my own name, I hold back my anger. For the sake of my reputation, I restrain myself and do not wipe you out." For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10 "I have put you through the fire to test you, but not the way you refine silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering." Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 "I am doing this for my own sake — for my own sake. I will not allow my name to be dragged through the mud. I will not hand over my glory to anyone else." For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
12 "Listen to me, Jacob — Israel, the people I called. I am the one. I am the First, and I am the Last." Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 "My own hand built the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the sky. When I call them, they all snap to attention." Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 "All of you, come together and listen. Which of your idols ever predicted these things? The one the Lord loves will carry out God's will against Babylon and against the Chaldeans." All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 "I myself have spoken and summoned him. I brought him here, and he will succeed in his mission." I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 "Come close and hear this. From the very beginning I have spoken openly, not in some hidden corner. And now the Lord God has sent me, empowered by his Spirit." Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
If Only You Had Listened
Study note
God expresses deep sorrow over what could have been. If Israel had listened to his commands, their peace would have flowed like a river and their righteousness would have rolled in like ocean waves. Their descendants would have been countless. Then God commands them to leave Babylon with shouts of joy, declaring to the whole world that the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. He reminds them that he provided water from a rock in the desert. But the chapter closes with a warning: there is no peace for the wicked.
17 Here is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God. I teach you what is truly good for you. I guide your steps down the right path." Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 "If only you had paid attention to what I told you! Then your peace would have been flowing like a river, and your righteousness rolling in like ocean waves." O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 "Your descendants would have been as countless as grains of sand. Your children would have been too many to number. Their name would never have been erased or wiped out from my presence." Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Get out of Babylon! Run from the Chaldeans! Shout the news joyfully and spread it to the ends of the earth. Say, "The Lord has rescued his servant Jacob!" Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He split the rock and made water gush out for them. And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22 "There is no peace for wicked people," says the Lord. There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.