God’s future blessing on Israel
44
📚“Yet listen now, O Jacob my servant,
and Israel,
whom I have chosen.
44:1 Verse 21; Isa 41:8-9.⚜
2 📚Thus says the LORD
who made you and formed you
from the womb,
who will help you:
Do not fear, O Jacob,
my servant,
and you, Jeshurun 📖,
whom I have chosen.
3 📚For I will pour water 📖
on him who is thirsty,
and floods on the dry ground.
I will pour my Spirit 📖
on your descendants,
and my blessing on your
offspring;
4 📚And they will spring up
among the grass,
like willows by the water
courses.
5 📚One will say,
‘I am the LORD’s’,
and another will call himself
by the name of Jacob,
and another will write
on his hand,
‘The LORD’s’,
and name himself
by the name of Israel.
44:4-5 Here are some of the results in Israel of the outpouring of the Spirit.⚜
The only true God reveals the foolishness of idolatry
6 📚“Thus says the LORD the King of Israel and his redeemer 📖, the LORD of hosts 📖:
I am the first,
and I am the last 📖,
and besides me there is
no God.
7 📚Then who is like me?
Let him speak
and declare it,
and set it out in order
before me,
from the time I appointed
the ancient people.
And let them tell them
the things that are coming,
and will come.
8 📚Do not fear or be afraid.
Have I not told you
from that time and declared it?
You are my witnesses 📖.
Is there a God besides me?
Indeed, there is no other God.
I do not know any”.
9 📚All of those who make
a carved image are nothing 📖,
and their precious things will not
profit;
and they are their own
witnesses.
They do not see or know 📖,
to their shame.
10 📚Who has formed a god,
or cast a carved image that is
useful for nothing?
11 📚See,
all his companions will be put
to shame.
The workmen are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together,
let them stand up;
yet they will be afraid and
together will be put to shame.
44:10-11 The makers of idols and gods are men, so what they make cannot be God, cannot in a true way represent God – v 20.⚜
12 📚The blacksmith works with
the tongs in the coals,
and shapes it with hammers
and works it with the strength
of his arms.
Yes, he becomes hungry,
and his strength fails;
he does not drink water
and becomes faint.
44:12 A piece of metal, no matter how well a craftsman may shape it, cannot represent the true God.⚜
13 📚The craftsman stretches out
his measuring line;
he sketches one with a marker;
he shapes it with planes,
marks it out with a compass,
and makes it like the figure
of a man,
according to the beauty of a man,
that it may remain in a house.
14 📚He cuts down cedars
for himself,
and takes the cypress
or the oak,
which he secures for himself among
the trees of the forest.
He plants a pine and the rain
makes it grow.
15 📚Then it will be for a man
to burn;
for he will take part of it
and warm himself.
Yes, he burns it
and bakes bread;
then he makes a god
and worships it. 📖
He makes a carved image
from it,
and prostrates himself
before it.
16 He burns part of it
in the fire;
with part of it he eats meat;
he roasts meat,
and is satisfied.
Yes, he warms himself,
and says, ‘Ah,
I am warm, I have seen the fire.’
17 📚And with the rest of it
he makes a god,
his carved image.
He falls down before it
and worships it and prays
to it,
and says, ‘Deliver me 📖,
for you are my god.’
18 📚They have not known
or understood,
for he has shut their eyes,
that they cannot see,
and their hearts,
that they cannot
understand.
19 📚And no one considers
in his heart,
nor is there knowledge
or understanding
to say,
‘I have burned part of it
in the fire,
and I have baked bread
on its coals.
I have roasted meat
and eaten it;
and will I make an abomination 📖
from the rest of it?
Will I fall prostrate before
a block of wood?’
20 📚He feeds on ashes 📖.
A deceived heart 📖 has
turned him aside,
so that he cannot rescue
his soul,
or say, ‘Is this in my right hand
not a lie?’ 📖
44:9-20 The folly of idolatry. See also Isa 40:18-20.
44:13-20 A tree made by God cannot be made into God.⚜
Israel to be redeemed, Jerusalem rebuilt
21 📚“Remember these things,
O Jacob and Israel,
for you are my servant.
I have formed you;
you are my servant.
O Israel,
you will not be forgotten 📖 by me.
44:21 The people of Israel were to be a witness to the true God. It was absolutely essential that they understand and remember the above truth.⚜
22 📚I have blotted out
your transgressions like a
thick cloud,
and your sins like a cloud.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed 📖 you”.
23 📚Sing, O heavens!
For the LORD has done it.
Shout,
you lower parts
of the earth!
Break out into singing,
you mountains,
you forest and every tree in it!
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
and glorified 📖 himself in Israel.
44:23 The forgiveness, the redemption of Israel brings great joy to God’s heart. He wants all nature to share this joy. And it will. See Isa 35:1-2; 49:13; 55:12-13; Rom 8:19-21; 11:12.⚜
24 📚Thus says the LORD,
your redeemer,
the one who formed you
from the womb:
“I am the LORD
who made all things,
who alone stretched
out 📖 the heavens,
who spread out the earth
by myself,
25 📚Who frustrates the omens
of the liars 📖,
and makes fools of diviners,
who turns wise men 📖 backward
and makes their knowledge
foolishness,
26 📚Who confirms the word
of his servant,
and carries out the purpose
of his messengers 📖,
who says to Jerusalem,
‘You will be inhabited’;
and to the cities of Judah,
‘You will be built;
and I will raise up its
ruined places’;
27 📚Who says to the deep,
‘Be dry!’ and ‘I will dry up
your rivers’;
28 📚who says of Cyrus 📖,
‘He is my shepherd 📖
and will accomplish
all my pleasure’;
and saying to Jerusalem,
‘You will be built’;
and to the temple,
‘Your foundation will be laid.’