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Tuesday · Week 17
The Early Prophets

Isaiah 44-45

Week 17 · about 11 min
  1. Wed: 1 Samuel 26-31
  2. Thu: Galatians 1-3
  3. Fri: Ezekiel 33

Isaiah mocks idol making and names Cyrus, the Persian king God will use to send Israel home.

Half the Log Cooks Dinner, Half Becomes a God

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

Isaiah 45:22 (KJV)

This is one of the funniest passages in Isaiah. A man cuts down a tree, burns half of it to warm himself and bake bread, carves the other half into a god, and prays to it: “Deliver me; for thou art my god.” Isaiah says “none considereth in his heart” how foolish that is. Then God names Cyrus, the Persian king who would conquer Babylon and let the Jews go home. Isaiah wrote this about 150 years before it happened. God calls a pagan king “his anointed.” In chapter 45, God says that to him “every knee shall bow.” Paul applies those words to Jesus in Philippians 2.

Reflect: What ordinary thing have you started treating as if it could save you?

Isaiah 44

1Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:

2Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

4and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

5One shall say, I am the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

6Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

7And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them declare.

8Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and shewed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

9They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit: and their own witnesses see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

10Who hath fashioned a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

11Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together.

12The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.

13The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in the house.

14He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir tree, and the rain doth nourish it.

15Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

16He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

17And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

18They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

19And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

20He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

21Remember these things, O Jacob; and Israel, for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

23Sing, O ye heavens, for the LORD hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.

24Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am the LORD, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth; who is with me?

25that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish:

26that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof:

27that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

28That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Isaiah 45

1Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut;

2I will go before thee, and make the rugged places plain: I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

3and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD, which call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.

4For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

5I am the LORD, and there is none else; beside me there is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me:

6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am the LORD, and there is none else.

7I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things.

8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

10Woe unto him that saith unto a father, What begettest thou? or to a woman, with what travailest thou?

11Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me.

12I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.

14Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall go after thee; in chains they shall come over: and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

16They shall be ashamed, yea, confounded, all of them: they shall go into confusion together that are makers of idols.

17But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

18For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; he is God; that formed the earth and made it; he established it, he created it not a waste, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

20Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

21Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath shewed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a saviour; there is none beside me.

22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

23By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

24Only in the LORD, shall one say unto me, is righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come, and all they that were incensed against him shall be ashamed.

25In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Revised Version (RV). Revised Version (RV), 1885, public domain.