We here reach the last of the series of appeals to Israel which began with chapter 40, and deal with their giving up their true King and Redeemer to worship the idols of the nations.
The name of Jacob applied to the people is a humbling reminder to them of the self will, the unloveliness of nature, that so long characterized the patriarch who was the father of the twelve tribes.
“Called by the name of Israel;” they, because of their sins unjudged and unconfessed, were not equal to the title Jacob was given when the strength of nature in him was subdued by the finger of God (Genesis 32:24-2824And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:24‑28)).
“Out of the waters of Judah,” out of the ruin of the land, and that portion of it that God had assigned to the two tribes to whom Isaiah prophesied, to reach their guilty consciences,—were these captives-to-be, who swore by the name of Jehovah, and made mention of the God of Israel, not in truth nor in righteousness.
He spoke to them as to His ancient people; long had they known His word, His acts. His prophets from Moses down, had told them as God’s chosen messengers, and Israel was obstinate, their neck was an iron sinew, their brow brass.
This has not been only Israel’s history or character, man, whether Jew or Gentile, has made such a character for himself, and retains it to this day. The knowledge of the true God is not sought by either the high or the low, the educated or the ignorant. Yet, marvel of marvels, God still beseeches man to listen, to heed His offer of mercy (2 Cor. 5:1818And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18)—6:2).
For His Name’s sake (verse 9) He will defer His anger. The hour is fast approaching when the door of mercy will be shut. The Redeemer of Israel speaks; He teaches for their profit those who should hearken to Him,
“O, that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then would thy peace have been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea ’ (verses 17-19).
Cyrus, the Persian king, is referred to in verses 14-15. “Fie whom Jehovah hath loved shall execute his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans” (JND). Yet it is God’s ordering; He directed Cyrus, so we have “Jehovah hath redeemed His servant Jacob” (verse 20).
The call to go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, was God’s direction for the time when Cyrus made his proclamation of liberty for the Jews. Ezra 1 and 2 tell of the return to Jerusalem of nearly fifty thousand. Among those who did not return were Daniel, Esther and Mordecai. Daniel at least knew that the deliverance accorded the Jews was not the final one from all enemies of which the prophets had spoken (Daniel 9). It was a foreshadowing of that.
It is clear that Isaiah’s prophecy is intended to reach the Jews in the coming day; when the Church has been caught away to the heavenly home of her Lord, and the Holy Spirit takes up the work of awakening a remnant of Judah to realize the enormity of their sin, and that God still loves them, the pages of Isaiah will be searched and pondered over as the light penetrates their long darkened minds. Then the nation will again be steeped in idolatry from which they are now free. Then will they be—those who receive God’s message of repentance and deliverance—oppressed, hated by the Babylon of that day, until Cyrus’s antitype their Messiah, the Crucified One, comes to set them free.
“There is life in a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved
Unto Him who was nailed to the Tree.”