Isaiah 48

I are come forth out of the waters of Judah. Out of a stream branching into many channels: see Psa. lxviii. 26. Judah is mentioned probably because, as the royal tribe of the Messiah, it was to give its name to the whole nation.

4 an iron sinew. Intractable and insensible.

6. Thou hast heard, see all this, etc. i.e., “Thou hast heard [the prediction]; behold it all [fulfilled]. And will ye not confess it?”

8 from that time [that] thine ear was not opened. Or, “From of old thine ear was not opened” (R.V.), i.e., thou wouldest not attend to My communications.

10. I have refined thee, but not with (or as, R.V.)

silver. I have long tried thee (R.V. marg.) with afflictions—a melting of a higher sort than that of silver—but have not found thee pure; so that thy deliverance is for My glory, not for thy merit (v. 11).

13. When I call unto them. See xl. 26.

14. The Lord hath loved him. Referring to Cyrus.

16. And now the Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent me. Or, “And now the Lord God hath sent me, and His Spirit”; comp. R.V., which leaves the construction ambiguous. Calvin and others regard the whole clause as a parenthesis, in which the prophet emphatically asserts that he was commissioned by God, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, to make this communication.

21. And they thirsted not, etc. God repeats in the experiences and redemption of His people still the refreshing and renewal which He bestowed in the desert-march of Israel.

22. There is no peace. Lest any should forget the connexion between peace and righteousness (18), it is emphatically added that none of the promised blessings would be enjoyed by the wicked.