Isaiah 40:1

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The Babylonish captivity being predicted in the preceding chapter, for the comfort of God's people a deliverance is promised, expressed in such

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The former were local and temporary in their reference. These belong to the distant future, and are world-wide in their interest.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 40 The prophet having now foretold the Babylonish captivity, ,7, doth here arm his people against it by the consideration of their certain deliverance out of it, and their blessed condition after it, as in other things, so especially in the coming of the Messiah, and the great and glorious privileges conferred upon God’ s church and people in his days. The preaching of the gospel by John Baptist and the apostles, . The power and wisdom of God in governing the world . The folly of idolatry, . God knoweth the state of his people, and both can and will protect them, . Ye prophets and ministers of the Lord, which now are, or hereafter shall be, deliver this comfortable message from me to my people, that they may not sink under their burdens.

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.Ver. 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.] Hitherto hath been the comminatory part of this prophecy: followeth now the consolatory. Here beginneth the gospel of the prophet Isaiah, and holds on to the end of the book. The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing chapter of the Babylonian captivity, Those in later times, not only during the captivity, but under Antiochus and other tyrants, were ready to think themselves utterly cast off, because heavily afflicted. See Isaiah 40:27 of this chapter, with Lamentations 5:22. Here, therefore, command is given for their comfort, and that gospel be preached to the penitent; the word here used signifieth, first to repent, then to comfort. This our prophet had been a Boanerges, a thundering preacher, all the fore part of his life. See one instance for all, where, Pericles-like, fulgurat, intonat, totam terram permiscet, &c. Now toward his latter end, and when he had one foot in the grave, the other in heaven, he grew more mellow and melleous, as did likewise Mr Lever, Mr Perkins, Mr Whately, and some other eminent and earnest preachers that might be named, setting himself wholly in a manner to comfort the abject and feeble minded; which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy. This redoubled "Comfort ye," is not without its emphasis; but that which followeth is a very hive of heavenly honey. Sunt autem omnia plena magnis adfectibus. - Hyp.

XL. (1) Comfort ye . . .—I start with the assumption that the great prophetic poem that follows is the work of Isaiah himself, referring to the Introduction for the discussion of all questions connected with its authorship and arrangement. It has a link, as has been noticed, with the earlier collection of his writings in Isaiah 35:9-10. The prophet’s mind is obviously projected at the outset into the future, which it had been given him to see, when the time of punishment and discipline was to be succeeded, having done its work, by blessedness and peace. The key-note is struck in the opening words. The phrase “my people” is a distinct echo of Hos. ii. 1. Lo Ammi (i.e. “not my people,”) has been brought back to his true position as Ammi (i.e. “my people”). Saith your God.—Noticeable as a formula which is at once peculiar to Isaiah and common to both his volumes (Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 33:10; Isaiah 41:21; Isaiah 66:9).

CHAPTER XL In this chapter the prophet opens the subject respecting the restoration of the Church with great force and elegance; declaring God's command to his messengers the prophets to comfort his people in their captivity, and to impart to them the glad tidings that the time of favour and deliverance was at hand, 1, 2. Immediately a harbinger is introduced giving orders, as usual in the march of eastern monarchs, to remove every obstacle, and to prepare the way for their return to their own land, 3-5. The same words, however, the New Testament Scriptures authorize us to refer to the opening of the Gospel dispensation. Accordingly, this subject, coming once in view, is principally attended to in the sequel. Of this the prophet gives us sufficient notice by introducing a voice commanding another proclamation, which calls of our attention from all temporary, fading things to the spiritual and eternal things of the Gospel, 6-11. And to remove every obstacle in the way of the prophecy in either sense, or perhaps to give a farther display of the character of the Redeemer, he enlarges on the power and wisdom of God, as the Creator and Disposer of all things. It is impossible to read this description of God, the most sublime that ever was penned, without being struck with inexpressible reverence and self-abasement. The contrast between the great Jehovah and every thing reputed great in this world, how admirably imagined, how exquisitely finished! What atoms and inanities are they all before HIM who sitteth on the circle of the immense heavens, and views the potentates of the earth in the light of grasshoppers, - those poor insects that wander over the barren heath for sustenance, spend the day in continual chirpings, and take up their humble lodging at night on a blade of grass! 12-26. The prophet concludes with a most comfortable application of the whole, by showing that all this infinite power and unsearchable wisdom is unweariedly and everlastingly engaged in strengthening, comforting, and saving his people, 27-31. The course of prophecies which follow, from hence to the end of the book, and which taken together constitute the most elegant part of the sacred writings of the Old Testament, interspersed also with many passages of the highest sublimity, was probably delivered in the latter part of the reign of Hezekiah. The prophet in the foregoing chapter had delivered a very explicit declaration of the impending dissolution of the kingdom, and of the captivity of the royal house of David, and of the people, under the kings of Babylon. As the subject of his subsequent prophecies was to be chiefly of the consolatory kind, he opens them with giving a promise of the restoration of the kingdom, and the return of the people from that captivity, by the merciful interposition of God in their favour. But the views of the prophet are not confined to this event.

Ch. Isaiah 40:1-11. The PrologueThis first proclamation of glad tidings to Zion (see ch. Isaiah 41:27) is a passage of singular beauty, breathing the spirit of new-born hope and enthusiasm with which the prophet enters on his work. The announcement of a miraculous restoration of the exiles to their own land is the central theme of his prophecy, and the point around which all the ideas of the book crystallize. As yet the historical fact is but dimly outlined, the writer’s mind being occupied with its ideal significance as a revelation of the glory and the gracious character of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 40:10 f.). His state of mind borders on ecstasy; his ears are filled with the music of heavenly voices telling him that the night is far spent and the day is at hand; and although his home is with the exiles in Babylon, his gaze is fixed throughout on Jerusalem and the great Divine event which is the consummation of Israel’s redemption.—The prologue consists of two parts: i. Isaiah 40:1-2.—Proclamation of forgiveness and promise of deliverance to the exiled nation. ii. Isaiah 40:3-11. An imaginative description of the process by which the promise is to be fulfilled,—Jehovah’s return with His people to their ancient abode. This second division contains three sections:— (1) Isaiah 40:3-5. A voice is heard calling on un seen agencies to prepare a way for Jehovah through the desert. The idea expressed is that already the spiritual and supernatural forces are in motion which will bring about the return of the captives and a revelation of the Divine glory to all the world. (2) Isaiah 40:6-8. A second voice calls on the prophet to proclaim the fundamental truth on which the realisation of his hope depends,—the perishableness of all human power, and the enduring stability of the word of the Lord. (3) Isaiah 40:9-11. The prophet himself now takes up the strain; he summons a company of ideal messengers to announce to Zion and the cities of Judah the advent of Jehovah with His ransomed people.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people - This is the exordium, or the general subject of this and the following chapters. The commencement is abrupt, as often happens in Isaiah and the other prophets.

1. Comfort ye — This chapter proleptically opens the scene, as it was laid in Babylon during the exile, of God’s coming deliverance to his people. The interminable ring of “a remnant shall be saved,” still sounds loud and clear.