The Coming Deliverance from Babylon
43:1 to 44:5
The last of the seven sections of Isaiah are Chapters 40 to 66, the Book of Comfort. The redemption and restoration of Isra’el are the basic themes throughout these last 27 chapters. That is why this last section is also sometimes called the Book of Consolation. It is consoling for Isra’el to understand that, despite all she has endured, she is still the beloved people of God, and that a bright future is in store for her. Isra’el will pass unscathed through fire and water, mighty nations will take her place in bondage and Israel’s scattered children will be gathered from the farthest corners of the earth and brought back to their homeland.
The Book of Comfort started out with a prologue in Chapter 40:1-11. Then in 40:2 Isaiah gave us an outline of the remainder of the book. The first part of this outline was that her hard service is completed. The LORD had been at war with Isra’el because of her sin. Now that her hard service had been completed, consolation was about to come in Chapters 40 through 48. ADONAI is doing several things throughout this section. On the one hand, Isaiah prophesies concerning the coming deliverance from the Babylonian captivity under Cyrus the Great (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah, to see link click Ah – Cyrus Decrees: Rebuild the Temple). He was speaking prophetically because Judah had not yet gone into exile when Isaiah lived. That would come 150 years later (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). At the same time, He prophesied about Israel’s final deliverance through the Great Tribulation and the final restoration of the Messianic Kingdom.
Throughout this section Isaiah constantly talks about idolatry. It was because of idolatry that the Jews went into exile in the first place. But during the Babylonian captivity they were cured of idolatry, and since their return from Babylon, idolatry has ceased being a problem for them. When ADONAI judged Babylon, as we will see in Chapters 46 and 47, for subjugating the Jews, He will also judge the gods of Babylon.
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