Chapter 43
43:1 And now thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: fear not, for I have redeemed you, and called you by your name: you are mine.
43:2 When you shall pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers shall not cover you: when you shall walk in the fire, you shall not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in you:
43:3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I have given Egypt for your atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for you.
43:4 Since you became honorable in my eyes, you are glorious: I have loved you, and I will give men for you, and people for your life.
43:5 Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west.
43:6 I will say to the north: give up: and to the south: keep not back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.
43:7 And every one that calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, and made him.
43:8 Bring forth the people that are blind, and have eyes: that are deaf, and have ears.
43:9 All the nations are assembled together, and the tribes are gathered: who among you can declare this, and shall make us hear the former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be justified, and hear, and say: it is truth.
43:10 You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself am. Before me there was no God who forms, and after me there shall be none.
43:11 I am, I am the Lord: and there is no savior besides me.
43:12 I have declared, and have saved. I have made it heard, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God.
43:13 And from the beginning I am the same, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall turn it away?
43:14 Thus says the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: for your sake I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships.
43:15 I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
43:16 Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.
43:17 Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the strong: they lay down to sleep together, and they shall not rise again: they are broken as flax, and are extinct.
43:18 Remember not former things, and look not on things of old.
43:19 Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily you shall know them: I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
43:20 The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches: because I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, to my chosen.
43:21 This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise.
43:22 But you have not called upon me, O Jacob, neither have you labored about me, O Israel.
43:23 You have not offered me the ram of your holocaust, nor have you glorified me with your victims: I have not caused you to serve with oblations, nor wearied you with incense.
43:24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your victims. But you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.
43:25 I am, I am he that blot out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
43:26 Put me in remembrance, and let us plead together: tell if you have any thing to justify yourself.
43:27 Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.
43:28 And I have profaned the holy princes, I have given Jacob to slaughter, and Israel to reproach.
830 . And now thus says the Lord . Here he shows them divine love through the remedies which he granted them among their difficulties. And it is divided into three parts:
in the first, he promises future remedies to show them his love;
in the second, he recalls past benefits to confirm the promise: thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea (Isa 43:16);
in the third, he excludes their merits to take away their presumption: but you have not called upon me (Isa 43:22).
Concerning the first, he does three things:
first, he shows the privilege of divine love toward them;
second, he excludes the sharing of divine power from the promised remedies: all the nations are assembled together (Isa 43:9);
in the third, he sets out the sign of his love: thus says the Lord your redeemer (Isa 43:14).
831 . Concerning the first, he promises them three remedies.
First, support in their punishments, excluding fear by the divine presence: that created you , as to the principle of their substance: is not he your father, that has possessed you, and made you, and created you? (Deut 32:6), and formed you , as to the form he gave them: and the Lord God formed man (Gen 2:7); I have redeemed you , from evils: I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death (Hos 13:14), and called you , to grace: I will call that which was not my people, my people (Hos 1:9). He sets out the promise: when you shall pass through the waters , the Egyptians; the rivers , the Chaldeans; the fire , the Greeks; the flames , the Romans: for they were not entirely consumed: we have passed through fire and water (Ps 65[66]:12). And he assigns the reason for this: for I am the Lord , above: for God himself is my savior (Isa 12:2).
832 . Second, he promises the commutation of their punishments, namely, that he would punish others in their place; and he sets out the commutation: I have given Egypt for your atonement , that is, that I may be propitiated toward you, as though by the punishments of those who provoked you to sin by hoping in their help: Saba , a city of Ethiopia: the just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be given up for him (Prov 11:8). And he assigns the reason, namely, the love of God itself: since you became honorable , that is, I made and reckoned you honorable; I will give men for you , for your liberation: surely Ephraim is an honorable son to me (Jer 31:20).
833 . Third, he promises them every kind of liberation from tribulation; and concerning this, he does three things: first, he promises the benefit of liberation: fear not ; from the east , for they had been dispersed in every direction, above: he shall assemble the fugitives of Israel (Isa 11:12); behold I will bring them from the north country (Jer 31:8);
second, he sets out their fitness for liberation: and every one that calls upon my name , I will lead into my glory , that he might glorify me, and that I might appear glorious in him: every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved (Joel 2:32);
third, he promulgates the command of liberation: bring , O Cyrus, forth , out of the land of their captivity, the people , namely, of the Jews: hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not (Jer 5:21).
834 . All the nations . Here he excludes the sharing of divinity.
And first, he shows the falsehood of other gods by the manner of a judgment, setting out the consensus of the nations in idolatry: assembled together , in one error: they are all gone aside (Ps 13:3); seeking a sign of divinity: who among you , that is, which of your gods; or this is said to the idols; and he seeks testimony: let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be justified , that is, let them justly be called gods; and let the witnesses hear , future things from them, and say , testimony for you, above: there is none that shows, nor that foretells (Isa 41:26).
Second, he shows the truth of his own divinity,
and first, as to knowledge,
second, as to power: you are my witnesses (Isa 43:12).
835 . Concerning the first, he does two things.
First, he gives testimony, assigning men to give testimony: you are my witnesses , my servant , the people of Jacob, or Christ: you shall be witnesses (Acts 1:8); setting out the manner of knowing: that you may know , as to those things which can be known about God by natural reason, and believe , as to those things which are above reason, and thus, understand , for unless you believe, you will not understand , above (Isa 7:9), according to another reading; and setting out what is said by the witnesses, that he alone is God: that I , alone, am , God; there was no God who forms , or formed, namely, no idol: see that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me (Deut 32:39). And that he alone is Lord: I am , singularly, I am , preeminently: neither is there salvation in any other (Acts 4:12).
Second, he gives a sign of his divinity: I have declared , there was no strange one among you , by which you could know: O Israel, if you will hearken to me, there shall be no new god in you: neither shall you adore a strange god (Ps 80:9–10[81:8–9]).
836 . You are my witnesses . Here he shows the truth of his divinity as to power.
And first, he gives the testimony: you are my witnesses : I am the beginning (John 8:25);
second, he gives a sign of his power in punishing: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand , as in Deuteronomy 32:39 and Job 10:7; and in working: I will work , above: the Lord of hosts has decreed, and who can disannul it? (Isa 14:27).
837 . Thus says the Lord . Here he sets out the sign of his love, that he destroyed for them the Babylonians, who gloried in their ships because of the multitude of their waters: I sent , namely, my wrath: the Lord has both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon (Jer 51:12).
838 . Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea . Here he recalls his past benefits to confirm their hope for future benefits. And concerning this, he does two things.
First, he recalls his past benefits in directing them when they came out of Egypt: in the Red sea (Exod 14); in the mighty waters , in the Arnon (Num 21), in the Jordan (Josh 3). And as to the destruction of their enemies, who brought forth the chariot , the chariots of Pharaoh: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea (Exod 15:4); as flax , cut down in a moment.
839 . Second, he promises much greater future benefits; and concerning this, he does three things.
First, he shows the greatness of his future benefits by comparison to the former ones: remember not former things , as if to say: they are not worthy to be kept in memory in comparison with future things: forgetting the things that are behind (Phil 3:13). Because of the newness of these things: behold I do new things , unheard of: behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5); and because of their determination: I will make a way , for those going to the feasts, in the wilderness , that is, the land of the Jews, which was formerly a desert; rivers , of consolation: he has turned a wilderness into pools of waters (Ps 106[107]:35). And if these things are explained literally of the liberation from captivity in Babylon, they are called greater than the liberation from Egypt, not because of greater miracles, but because the kings from whose power he liberated them were more powerful than Pharaoh, or because they came from a more distant place; if, however, they are referred to the liberation carried out by Christ, it is evident that nothing so admirable had preceded it in past ages.
Second, he shows the usefulness of these benefits for the gentiles: the beast of the field shall glorify me , that is, the gentile, living like a beast, converted to Christ, or seeing how I liberated the Jews: beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls (Ps 148:10); and for the Jews: to give drink , of teaching and consolation: the Lord your God has chosen you (Deut 7:6).
Third, he assigns the reason: this people have I formed for myself , namely, for my praise: the Lord has made all things for himself (Prov 16:4).
840 . But you have not called upon me . Here he excludes the merits of the Jews for attaining such benefits. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he excludes their merit;
second, he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance (Isa 43:26);
third, he removes a certain way of responding: your first father (Isa 43:27).
Concerning the first, he does three things.
First, he excludes their merit: you have not called upon me , and all this is said because they did not offer these things to God with their whole heart, but partly to God, partly to idols, or because they offered nothing to God, or because they did so in hope of temporal repayment, or because, after the coming of Christ, they were not accepted: who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis (Mal 1:10); shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? Or shall I drink the blood of goats? (Ps 49[50]:13).
Second, he shows their guilt: but you have made me to serve with your sins , as if to say: you showed me to be servile when you offended me and I did not punish you, above: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them (Isa 1:14); he speaks in a human manner.
Third, he shows that the benefit is given freely: I am : for your name’s sake, O Lord, you will pardon my sin (Ps 24[25]:11); it is not for your sake that I will do this (Ezek 36:22).
841 . Put me in remembrance . Here he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance , as if to say: consider what I have done for you, tell if you have any thing , to excuse yourself, or to accuse me, to justify yourself , that is, that you should be judged to be just: if you have any thing to say, answer me, speak: for I would have you to appear just (Job 33:32).
842 . Your first father sinned . Here he removes a certain way of responding. For they could allege the innocence of their fathers; but against this, he says, your first father , Adam (Gen 3), Abraham, asking for a sign of the promise of God, as though doubting (Gen 15:8); your teachers , Moses and Aaron at the waters of contradiction (Num 20). And I have profaned the holy princes , that is, I have allowed them to be profaned; I have given Jacob to slaughter , for they all died in the desert, except for Caleb and Joshua: we have sinned with our fathers (Ps 105[106]:6).
843 . The Lord liberates his saints from the fire (see 43:2),
of carnal temptation: it is a fire that devours even to consumption (Job 31:12);
of temporal tribulation: you have tried me by fire (Ps 16[17]:3);
of eternal damnation: go, you cursed, into everlasting fire (Matt 25:4);
of divine wrath: a fire is kindled in my wrath (Deut 32:22);
in which are burned
the lascivious: for it is better to marry than to be burnt (1 Cor 7:9);
the impatient, above: their countenances shall be as faces burnt (Isa 13:8);
the impenitent: the flame burned the wicked (Ps 105[106]:18);
the proud: foundations of the mountains (Ps 17:8[18:7]).
844 . And he liberates them from the waters (see 43:2),
of pleasure: stolen waters are sweeter (Prov 9:17), in which they are suffocated by lust;
of covetousness: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters (Exod 15:10), in which they are suffocated by greed;
of adversity: the waters are come in even unto my soul (Ps 68:2[69:1]), in which they are suffocated by impatience;
of worldly power: the waters over which she sits . (Rev 17:1), in which they are suffocated by pride.
845 . We ought to put God in remembrance (see 43:26),
as to the wonders which he has done, that we should worship: remember his marvelous works which he has done (Ps 104[105]:5);
the benefits which he has given, that we should give thanks: I remembered your mercy (Sir 51:11–12);
the torments he sustained, that we should feel compassion: remember my poverty (Lam 3:19);
the precepts which he gave, that we should observe them: they are mindful of his commandments to do them (Ps 102[103]:18).