Isaiah 48:14

All ye assemble yourselves, and hear,.... That is, the people of the Jews, Jacob and Israel his called, before addressed; who are bid to gather together, and draw nigh, that they might hear what the

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. -The Almighty, who has founded heaven and earth, can, and will restore His people. Verse 12.

All ye; ye Jews, to whom he addressed his speech, , and continueth his speech, ,17, &c. Assemble; I challenge you all to answer what I have said before, and am now going to say again. Which among them hath declared these things? which of the gods whom any of you have served or do still hanker after? The Lord hath loved him, to wit, Cyrus, who might easily be understood out of the foregoing context, in which he is frequently mentioned. The pronoun is put for the noun, as is usual both in Scripture and in other authors. 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, ; 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, ; 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; which was a singular honour and advantage to him, and might have been far greater, and extended to the eternal salvation of his soul, if he had not wanted a heart to use the price which God hereby put into his hand. And as anger being ascribed to God is not meant of the affection, for such passions are inconsistent with the perfection of God’ s nature, but of the effect; so the love of God, when it is applied in Scripture to such persons as Cyrus, is not so much to be understood of an inward affection, as of the outward effects of it; and so this love is explained in the following words, by that prosperous success which God gave him against the Chaldeans. He will do his pleasure on Babylon; Cyrus shall execute that I have appointed him to do for the destruction of Babylon, and for the redemption of my people; which was in itself a good work; and therefore this is added as the reason why God loved him. His arm shall be on the Chaldeans; he shall smite and subdue them.

Isaiah 48:14 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.Ver. 14. The Lord hath loved him,] i.e., Cyrus. He so loveth his people that for their sakes he loveth all their benefactors and well wishers. See Genesis 12:3. He will do his pleasure.] See Isaiah 43:14.

(14) All ye, assemble yourselves.—The challenge is addressed as before (Isaiah 43:9) to the worshippers of idols. The Lord hath loved him.—Better, He whom the Lord loveth will do his pleasure. The context leaves it uncertain whether the “pleasure” and the “arm” are those of Cyrus or Jehovah. The latter seems to give a preferable meaning. There is, perhaps, an allusive reference to the idea implied in the name of the great king of Israel (David, “beloved,” or “darling”). Cyrus was to be even as a second David, beloved of the Lord.

Verse 14. Which among them hath declared these things - "Who among you hath predicted these things"] For בהם bahem, "among them," twenty-one MSS., nine ancient, and two editions, one of them that of the year 1488, fourteen of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own, have bachem, "among you;" and so the Syriac. The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon - "He, whom JEHOVAH hath loved, will execute his will on Babylon"] That is, Cyrus; so Symmachus has well rendered it: ὉνὁΚυριοςηγαπησεποιησειτοθελημααυτου, "He whom the Lord hath loved will perform his will." On the Chaldeans.] The preposition is lost; it is supplied in the edition of 1486, which has בכשדים bechasdim, and so the Chaldee and Vulgate.

14. All ye] The summons is addressed, not as in ch. Isaiah 41:1-4 &c. to the nations, but to the people of Israel; the gods of the heathen are referred to in the words which among them &c. The Lord hath loved him] is to be construed as a relative sentence: he whom Jehovah loveth shall perform etc. A new title, similar to those in Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 46:11, is here bestowed upon Cyrus (comp. “my friend” of Abraham in Isaiah 41:8). his pleasure] see on Isaiah 42:21. and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans] A preposition has dropped out or must be supplied from the preceding clause; and then we may either render as E.V. (in which case “his arm” would most naturally mean the arm, i.e. the might, of Cyrus); or thus: “and (he will perform) His arm (Jehovah’s mighty judgement) on the Chaldæans” (Dillmann). But although “arm” is a symbol of might, it could hardly be used alone of judgement. The LXX. (“to destroy the seed of the Chaldeans”) obviously read zera‘ instead of zìrô‘ô; and this is probably the better text. Render simply and (on) the seed of the Chaldæans.

All ye, assemble yourselves and hear - Ye Jews who are in Babylon, gather together, and listen to the assurance that God is able to protect you, and that he will certainly restore you to your own country.

14. Assemble yourselves, and hear — A call to the people — most probably the heathen — to convene, and to consider the subject to be brought before them. Which among them — Among the idol deities, with whom is the controversy.