Then Israel rejected God's messengers the prophets, who sought to bring the people back to Him, He at length turned them over to enemies who transported them to the regions of Assyria and Babylonia.
Isaiah lived during the last days of the tell tribes whose capital was at Samaria, when they were carried away by the Assyrians, but he died about a hundred years before Jerusalem was destroyed, by one of the two nations which overcame Assyria-Babylonia.
The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews to their country, but after 70 years the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the Persian king Cyrus, of whom our chapter speaks, and he, in the first year of his reign, proclaimed liberty to the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed (2 Chronicles 36; Ezra 1).
Babylon was the greatest city, and Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful monarch. world had ever known. When Israel sinned so deeply that God was compelled to give them up, He gave power to the Gentiles, and empire succeeded empire (Daniel 2:37-4537Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Daniel 2:37‑45)), since then have been "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)).
It was a part of the chastening God visited upon the Jews, that they, like their brethren of the ten tribes, should be captives in a land devoted to idolatry. The Persians, on the other hand would have nothing to do with idols, though they had false gods of their own.
God raised up Nebuchadnezzar for a scourge for the Jews, and again raised up. Cyrus to restore to them a measure of liberty. Cyrus is used in Isaiah as a foreshadowing of Christ under whom the true and final restoration of Israel will take place.
Babylon was thought to be so well provided with defensive walls and gates that it could not be captured, but God was on Cyrus's side (verse 1-7) and the city was taken as recorded in Daniel 5.
Verse 8, leaving Cyrus and his work for God, begins the consideration of the events which are yet future. When the time is come for blessing on earth, God will bring it in, but let not any presume to strive with their Maker! (verse 9).
God's hiding Himself (verse 15) is because of His forbearance; when He reveals Himself again on earth in the Person of His Son, it will be, first of all, to execute judgment. Notice in this connection the Lord's words to the Jews in Matthew 23:3939For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:39). Those who are numbered among the redeemed in that day will receive Him by faith in their hearts before they see Him.
Verse 21: How could He be "a just God and a Saviour?" The only way was to have His beloved and only Son take the guilty sinner's place on the cross, exhaust sin's judgment (for all who believe) upon Him. This has been done, blessed forever be His name!