I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into water-springs.
God answers people who are dying of thirst. He does not hand them a cup. He promises rivers, fountains, pools and springs where water should not exist. Two questions follow: when does this happen, and what does the water tell us about God?
The promise is an answer. Just before it, the afflicted and the needy look for water and find none. One writer keeps the cry, God's pledge and its purpose together:
Refreshment from Jehovah will not fail Israel. "The afflicted and the needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them… so that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together — the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it."
(Older versions say "high places" where the ESV says "bare heights.")
Did this come true when the Jewish exiles came back from Babylon? One writer says no, and points ahead to when the blessing does come:
Isaiah 41:8-20 was in no way fulfilled in the return. It is still unaccomplished. The return, important as it may have been, was a mere pledge of Israel's glorious hope… The blessing promised to the people comes after tribulation like no other. When they truly repent, Jehovah will make them an instrument of judgment. They will break down and scatter the proud power of all their foes, to God's glory.
Commentators differ on how much can be seen today. Another writer points to modern farming in the land:
Where nothing but grim desert was seen for long centuries, waving fields of wheat and barley met the eye. Lucerne grass knee-deep yielded crops three times a year. The soil is light and very fertile once water is available. Irrigation is producing fruits and vegetables. Is this not a fulfilment of the prophecy…?
The dry ground goes back further than Israel's history. One writer traces it to the curse on the soil, and this promise to the reversal of that curse:
The curse of barrenness was partly lifted at the time of the flood, but much of it remained. The rich harvests promised to Israel depended on their obedience. Like every other blessing held on those terms, they were lost through the nation's unfaithfulness. The ground would bring forth thorns and briers — the fruits of sin. But when the reign of righteousness begins… "I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water."
One writer reads the water and the trees of verse 19 as a picture of the people themselves. The desert is their spiritual state, and God's grace is what changes it:
In the future day of Israel's blessing God will make the wilderness and solitary place rejoice. The nation was a moral waste where nothing grew for God. That lasts until the full time for blessing comes. Then God's grace will make even the desert glad… The tree reminds us of the vigour of life in the middle of what is now dead and barren.
One writer ties the rivers God opens here to the rock opened in the wilderness, and to what fills a believer now:
Nephtoah means "opening," and reminds us of the rock opened in the wilderness, and of God's words by Isaiah, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys"… If the split rock is meant here, the abundance is no surprise. That spring always stands for the fullness of the Spirit, which is ours because Christ died for us… A spring will fill a vessel and overflow it, unless the vessel is already filled with something else.
One writer applies the other half of the promise — fountains in the valleys — to the low seasons of a believer's life:
In Psalm 104 we see that "valleys" are actually a creation of God Himself: "the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them." We can therefore accept our "valley" circumstances as God's ordering, and rejoice that "he sends the springs into the valleys." How blessed to hear Him say to His people, "I the God of Israel will not forsake them… I will open… fountains in the midst of the valleys."
- Thirst first. The promise answers people who looked for water and found none. God's reply is rivers, not rationing.
- Water everywhere. Heights, valleys, wilderness, dry ground — no place is too high or too low for God to reach.
- Curse reversed. The barren soil goes back to sin and to Israel's lost harvests. This promise belongs to the reign of righteousness that undoes it.
- Still ahead. One writer says the return from Babylon fulfilled none of this. The blessing comes after tribulation like no other. Another sees today's irrigated harvests as a start.
- His hand, seen. The nation was a moral waste where nothing grew for God. When the desert is glad again, all will see and know that the Holy One of Israel created it.
I will give in the wilderness the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oleaster; I will set in the desert the cypress, pine, and box-tree together;
Isaiah 41 speaks to people who are poor, needy and thirsty. God's answer is not a rescue party but a forest — seven trees planted in ground where nothing grows.
God is not speaking to a strong nation. He speaks to people who have nothing. One writer describes them as the godly few left in Israel:
This godly remnant of the nation — the "few men of Israel" — consists of the "poor and needy." They are the people who find that a world without Christ is only a wilderness. In their poverty and need, in their suffering and desolation, they turn to the LORD, and He will "hear them." The world may cast them out, but "the God of Israel will not forsake them."
The tree names are hard to pin down, and translators have long disagreed. The acacia, which older translations call the shittah tree, supplied the wood for the tabernacle:
This is generally understood to be the Acacia… The wood was used a great deal in building the tabernacle. The ark, the table of showbread, and the altars were made of it too. Older translations call it the shittah tree in Isaiah 41:19.
Other names are uncertain. One is the tree some translations call the box tree:
What tree is meant by the name teashshur is not known: the ancient versions translate it "cedar, fir, poplar," and so on. It is probably a species of cedar, called sherbin in the East.
The desert in this verse stands for a condition, not just a climate. One commentator, writing about the acacia boards of the tabernacle, applies it to the state of the nation:
In the future day of Israel's blessing God will make the wilderness and lonely place rejoice. The nation was a moral waste where nothing grew for God. That state lasts until the full time for blessing comes, when God's grace will make even the desert glad. Then the tall, sweet-smelling cedar, the beautiful acacia, the evergreen myrtle and the fruitful olive will flourish, and the desert will blossom like the crocus. The tree is a reminder of living strength in a place that is dead and barren now.
Thorns are what the ground gives when it is under judgment. This planting is the opposite motion — the ground made to give what sin took away:
The curse of barrenness was partly removed at the time of the flood, but it still continued in large measure… The ground was to bring forth thorns and briers — the fruits of sin. But when the reign of righteousness begins, "instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle." It "shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 55:13).
The myrtle appears again in Zechariah's first vision. An angel of the LORD stands among myrtle trees while the earth sits quiet — a sign of blessing for Jerusalem, the city that angel was praying for (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
God's planting has a purpose. It is meant to leave people with only one explanation for it:
He would step in for the needy in the wilderness, even more gloriously than in the past. Then they would be sure it was His doing, and even His creating.
One writer follows the promise through to its end:
He will step in for them and turn the dry land into springs of water and the wilderness into a garden. As a result they will at last see, consider, and understand the ways of the LORD, and will come to acknowledge that "the hand of the LORD has done this."
Commentators differ. Most place this planting in a future day for Israel. One writer saw a possible early sign in the tree-planting going on in Israel today:
Tree-planting is playing a great part in this huge plan to make the desert "rejoice and blossom like the crocus"… Can we not see in this a sign that an Old Testament prophecy is coming true?
- Need. God speaks this promise to the poor and needy, not to the strong.
- Planting. God does not just water the desert. He plants cedar, acacia, myrtle and olive in ground that grows nothing.
- Reversal. Sin produced thorns and briers. In their place the myrtle comes up, and the curse on the ground runs backwards.
- Proof. The trees stand in the desert as evidence no one can mistake: "the hand of the LORD has done this."
- Person. The God who will not forsake His people is the One who plants, so the wilderness itself displays His power.
that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
The verses just before this one promise water in a dry land and trees in the desert. Verse 20 gives the reason for all of it. The gifts are not the point. The point is that people see the change, think about it, and know whose hand made it.
Who are the people that will see and know? Verses 17–20 point to the weak and suffering, not the strong:
This godly remnant of the nation consists of the "poor and needy" — those who find that a world without Christ is only a "wilderness." When in their poverty and need, in their suffering and desolation, they turn to the LORD, He will "hear them." The world may cast them out, but "the God of Israel will not forsake them." He will step in on their behalf and turn the dry land into springs of water and the wilderness into a garden. As a result they will at last see, consider, and understand the ways of the LORD, and then be brought to acknowledge that "the hand of the LORD has done this."
The desert here is more than sand and rock. One writer reads it as a picture of the nation's own condition:
In the future day of Israel's blessing God will make the wilderness and the lonely place rejoice. The nation was a moral waste in which nothing grew for God. This continues until the full time for blessing comes, when God's grace will make even the desert glad. Then the tall and fragrant cedar, the beautiful acacia, the evergreen myrtle and the fruitful olive will flourish. The desert will blossom like the crocus. The tree reminds us of the strength of life in the middle of what is at present dead and barren.
Commentators differ over how much of this has already come true. One points to the planting programme in the land today:
Tree planting is playing a great part in this vast scheme to make the desert "rejoice and blossom like the crocus" (Isa. 35:1). In the northern Negev no fewer than 185,000,000 saplings are being planted...
Another writer holds that none of it has happened yet. The return from exile was only a down payment:
Isaiah 41:8-20 was in no way fulfilled in the return. It is still unaccomplished. The return, important as it may have been, was a mere pledge of Israel's glorious hope.
The verse does not say God improved the desert. It says He created it. And it names the One who did it, the Holy One of Israel:
The Holy One of Israel is Jehovah; He is the Redeemer of His people. "Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel" (47:4)... This Holy One is the Creator. "The Holy One of Israel has created it" (41:20). He has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. He appeared as the Holy One among them and they did not know Him but despised Him... Isaiah predicts what will happen at His second coming. Israel will discover that the rejected and despised One is Jehovah.
But what does that title mean?
The name "Holy One of Israel" means that the God of Israel is completely separated from all evil. This is because His eyes are too pure to look at evil. This is what the seraphim express too, when they cry out before His throne: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts."
The dry ground goes back further than Israel's failure. It goes back to a curse on the earth itself:
The curse of barrenness was partly removed at the time of the flood, but it still continued to a large degree. The abundant harvests promised to Israel depended on their obedience, and the nation lost them through its unfaithfulness, like every other blessing held on those terms. Thorns and briers would come up instead — the fruits of sin. But when the reign of righteousness begins... "instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle."
- Need — God speaks this promise to the poor and needy. They find the world a wilderness and turn to Him in their trouble.
- Supply — He hears them. He turns dry land into springs and the wilderness into a garden.
- Growth — Trees rise where nothing grew for God. They picture living strength in ground that is now dead and barren.
- Sight — The miracle has one purpose. They see, consider, and acknowledge that the hand of the LORD did it.
- Name — They confess the Holy One of Israel. He is separated from all evil, and He is both Redeemer and Creator.