The isles saw [it], and feared; the ends of the earth trembled they drew near, and came.
God has summoned the nations to a hearing and named the conqueror He is about to raise up. Verse 5 shows what fear does when the distant nations see him coming.
The chapter opens with God calling the far-off nations to come near for judgment. When verse 5 says they "have drawn near and come", they are answering that call.
The LORD has opened His counsels about Jerusalem and its comfort, which comes after many troubles and reverses, at His coming in power and glory. He now turns to the Gentiles, challenging them to meet Him in judgment... Now He says (v. 1), "Keep silence before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near, then let them speak; let us draw near together to judgment."
The alarm in verse 5 is a reaction to something. Verses 2–4 describe a conqueror sweeping in from the east, and a later chapter gives his name.
They are then warned that God has raised up a mighty conqueror from the East to punish the nations for their idolatry. In a later chapter (Isa. 45:1) we shall learn that this is Cyrus. Before his irresistible power the nations will be mere stubble... Who but the LORD could foretell the coming of Cyrus 200 years before he arrived? Who else could describe events still future as if they had already happened?
Judah's collapse could make Israel's God look weak to a watching Gentile. Babylon's fall, announced long before it happened, answered that.
Why were the gods of the nations silent and powerless? Why did the oracles they boasted about say nothing? Suppose the fall of Judah... made His power questionable in a Gentile's eyes. Then let them learn from the downfall of Babylon that His righteousness and wisdom were no less than His power, and that the chastised Jews were the people of His choice. The Jews alone knew of that downfall generations beforehand, even to the name and nation of the man who was its instrument.
One writer gathers the places where Isaiah speaks of the "isles" and finds God marking these distant peoples out.
But who are the "isles"? They are not only the ones inside the Mediterranean Sea. Whoever they are, God favours them, and marks them out in a remarkable way. He says to them in Isaiah 41:1, "Keep silence before Me, O islands... let them come near." Again, "The isles shall wait for His law" (Isa. 42:4)... Isaiah 40 describes His greatness in wonderful majesty, and there it says, "Behold He takes up the isles as an atom" (v. 15).
Verse 5 leads straight into verses 6 and 7. There the frightened nations turn to idol-making instead of to God.
God raises up whom He pleases to carry out His designs in the earth. In contrast with this, men in their folly and blindness manufacture their idols, as stated in verses 6 and 7.
Cyrus is not the end of the picture.
The LORD describes him here as a type — this is the way of the prophetic Spirit — the shadow of someone greater than Cyrus. That greater One would overturn the idols of the nations for ever, and judge their pride. He would deliver the people of Israel from every place they were scattered to, and from the sins that brought them under wrath in the righteous ways of the LORD.
The nations tremble and turn to their idols. God's word to Israel runs the other way.
Because they failed, they have come under the judgment of God. But because God chose them in His sovereignty, they will be blessed in the end. But their blessing depends wholly upon God and His grace. So God can say, "I am with you"; "I am your God"; "I will strengthen you"; "I will uphold you."
- Summons. God calls the distant nations to a hearing before He acts. Their trembling in verse 5 answers a case He has already laid out.
- Sight. They see a conqueror raised up from the east. A later chapter names him: Cyrus, named ahead of time by the only God who could do it.
- Proof. The timing is the argument. The oracles the nations boasted about said nothing, while Israel's God announced Babylon's fall generations early.
- Shadow. Cyrus is only the shadow of a greater deliverer. That One will overturn idols for good and bring Israel back from every place they were scattered.
- Split. Fear sends the nations back to their idols. Grace turns God to Israel with "I am with you." The same news, two answers.
They helped every one his neighbour, and [each] said to his brother, Take courage.
God summons the nations to be silent and listen. Before He has finished speaking, they have already run to their workshops. Verse 6 catches the sound of that panic. There is no prayer here — only craftsmen cheering each other on over a half-finished image.
The chapter begins with an invitation, not a sentence. The call is to be quiet and come near. What God offers them is what He had just offered His own people.
As always, God warns before He acts in judgment. So before He judges the idolatrous nations, He invites them to "keep silence" and listen to Him. We have just heard that "they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength"; now He encourages the "peoples" to "come near" and "renew their strength."
Strength was offered to them. They went to the workbench instead.
The alarm in verse 6 has a cause. A conqueror is on the move from the east, and the nations feel the ground shifting under them.
God then warns them that He has raised up a mighty conqueror from the East to punish the nations for their idolatry. A later chapter (Isa. 45:1) tells us this is Cyrus. Before his unstoppable power the nations will be mere stubble... In their fear the nations will turn to idols, but it will do them no good. The carpenter and the goldsmith will encourage one another to make fresh idols.
The chapter sets God's activity and man's side by side. One raises up rulers; the other saws and hammers.
God raises up whom He pleases to carry out His plans on the earth. In contrast, men in their folly and blindness manufacture their idols, as verses 6 and 7 show.
"Be strong" only carries weight if the one saying it has something to give. The gods these men were building had nothing to say when it mattered.
Why were the gods of the nations silent and powerless? Why were their much-praised oracles mute? ... If the fall of Judah made God's power look doubtful in a Gentile's eyes, let them learn from the downfall of Babylon. The Jews alone knew of that downfall generations beforehand — even the name and family of the man who would be God's instrument in it. Let them learn that His righteousness and wisdom were no less than His power, and that the Jews He had disciplined were the people of His choice.
Verse 7 ends with the workman fastening the image with nails so it will not move. That one detail shows what kind of god it is.
Here idols stand in contrast to Jehovah, and they bear no comparison with the true God for a moment. Jehovah is the Maker, but an idol has to be made. Once made, it does not carry others; it has to be carried. Once set in its place it cannot move. It cannot answer the cry of need, and it cannot save anyone from trouble.
While one group tells each other to take courage, God turns and speaks to Israel Himself. The encouragement no longer passes sideways between frightened men. It comes from the One who holds the hand He speaks to.
God called Cyrus to honour along the way, but that was no change in His purposes or His affection towards Israel. Not Cyrus but Israel was His servant... "For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'"
The workshop has changed; the instinct has not. Under pressure we still prop each other up with whatever is nearest to hand.
What a warning all this is! What a sad mistake it is to lean on human strength! And yet how easily we all do so in one way or another! We lean on another human being instead of leaning on the living God. In the end we find we have been trusting a broken reed.
- Invited. God called the nations to come near and renew their strength. The offer came before the judgment.
- Alarmed. A conqueror from the east — later named as Cyrus — sent them running. Fear, not thought, drove them to the workshop.
- Encouraged. So they strengthened each other instead. The carpenter cheered on the goldsmith — over a god that has to be carried, cannot move, and cannot answer a cry for help.
- Contrasted. God raises up whom He pleases to work His purposes. Men in their blindness make their own gods and nail them down.
- Held. To Israel God says something no craftsman can say to another: I hold your right hand — fear not, I am the one who helps you.
And the artizan encouraged the founder, he that smootheth [with] the hammer him that smiteth on the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that it be not moved.
In Isaiah 41 the nations are warned that God has raised up a conqueror from the east, and the news leaves them afraid. Instead of turning to the God who raised him up, they turn to idols — and cheer each other on while they make them.
The workmen in this verse belong to a longer argument. It starts with a conqueror God raises up, and it runs on for several chapters.
This seems to be a prophecy for the day in which Isaiah wrote, and Cyrus fulfilled it. Isaiah 45 opens by naming him. God raises up whom He pleases to carry out His plans in the earth. Men, by contrast, in their folly and blindness make their idols, as verses 6 and 7 say. This dispute with Israel over their constant turning to idols runs on to the end of Isaiah 48.
The workshop scene is not craftsmanship for its own sake. Fear is what starts the work.
They are then warned that God has raised up a mighty conqueror from the East to punish the nations for their idolatry... But behind Cyrus there will be the directing power of the LORD – the One who knows the whole history of every generation from the beginning... The nations, in their fear, will turn to idols, and it will be useless. The carpenter and the goldsmith will encourage one another to make fresh idols.
The verse is full of workshop words. "Soldering" is the name for the join that holds the idol together:
Same as soldering, joining by a fused metal.
The gods made in that workshop had nothing to say when the nations needed answers. One writer sets their silence against what God had made known long before:
Why were the gods of the nations silent and powerless? Why did their famous oracles say nothing?... Let them learn from the downfall of Babylon that His righteousness and wisdom were no less than His power, and that the chastened Jews were the people of His choice. The Jews alone knew of that downfall generations beforehand, even to the name and family of the man who carried it out.
The verse ends with nails: the makers fasten the god down so it cannot topple over, and then they call the work good. Blindness like that has a root.
In the rebellion of the people, human nature shows itself in the blindness and folly of its religious side. It will make a god rather than not have one, and it is in no position to judge the worth of a god made that way... Man does not like to keep God in his knowledge, so he makes Him what he wishes Him to be — the reflection of his own passions and desires.
The workshop scene stops here. The next verse turns from the nations to Israel. The craftsmen chose their god; God chose His servant.
With the words "But you, Israel" God turns from the nations to address the Jewish nation. They have failed badly, and God has disciplined them for their idolatry. Yet they are the people of God's sovereign choice, the seed of Abraham the friend of God. They were "called" out from the great ones of the earth, and "chosen" to be God's servant to witness for Him. God may indeed chasten His people, but He will not cast them off.
In the workshop one man strengthens another, because no one else will. Israel hears its encouragement from God, and who is speaking is what gives the words weight.
In the verses that follow we find the most reassuring words of encouragement and support. If they had only received them in faith, those words would have lifted them far above any reliance on idols. God would hold them up and put their enemies to shame. The Holy One of Israel would be their Redeemer.
- Fear starts it. A conqueror is coming, and the nations are afraid. The workshop is panic looking for something to hold.
- Fear makes it. Human nature will make a god rather than have none — and is no judge of the value of a god it made itself.
- Fear props it up. The carpenter cheers the metalworker on, they call the join good, and nails hold the finished god upright.
- God chooses instead. The next verse turns from the makers to the chosen. Israel did not pick God; He called and chose Israel. He may chasten His people, but He will not cast them off.
- So the courage changes hands. One frightened workman can only strengthen another. The Holy One of Israel strengthens His people as their Redeemer.
But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend
God turns from the nations busy propping up their idols and speaks to one people. He gives Israel three names at once: His servant, His chosen, and the offspring of Abraham — the man He calls His friend. Not one of them rests on Israel's record. Each rests on God's own choice.
God has just spoken about the other nations and their carved gods. Now He turns to a nation that has failed. The titles He gives it do not shrink to match its behaviour.
With the words "But you, Israel" God turns from the Gentiles to address the Jewish nation. They have failed, and God has disciplined them as their Ruler for their idolatry. Yet they are still the people of God's sovereign choice, the offspring of Abraham the friend of God. He "called" them out from the great ones of the earth, and "chose" them to be His servant to witness for Him. God may indeed chasten His people, but He will not cast them off.
The setting sharpens the point. Judah's collapse could make God look weak to a watching world, so He answers by naming who His people really are.
If the fall of Judah — a moral necessity, unless God was to approve His own dishonour among His people and support them in giving His glory to a carved image — made His power questionable in a Gentile's eyes, let them learn from the downfall of Babylon, which the Jews alone knew about generations beforehand, down to the name and race of the man who would be its instrument, that His righteousness and wisdom were no less than His power, and that the chastised Jews were the people of His choice.
"My servant" describes work to do. Israel had one message to carry about God, against the idol-worship all around.
Here in Isaiah 41:8 we have "Israel my servant." Israel was responsible to bear witness to the one living God against idolatry. But Israel failed completely, and so became captive in Babylon, the old champion of image-worship... Even here, though, and earlier (Isaiah 42:1-4), care was taken to point out a "Servant" far greater than Israel, Cyrus, or anyone else. He would come in meekness, but He would not fail or be discouraged until He has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for His law.
The title also came with things entrusted to them — and therefore with obligation.
God made this favoured people His agents. They received and guarded His holy words. They set forth the worship of the One and Only God. They were the seat of God's government on earth among the nations. Because of the service they owed in these and other ways, Israel had to be faithful to this trust.
The third title reaches back to a promise and forward to one person.
This servant nation is "the offspring of Abraham" (v. 8), for it is promised that through his offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. We know that personally our Lord Jesus Christ is the Offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ (Galatians 3:16). So the nation must first be truly brought to Christ, raised from among the dead — offspring of David and offspring of Abraham. Then it will become the honoured national servant, according to God's purpose for them.
Why is Abraham described this way? The answer lies in what God chose to tell him.
People often say that to a servant we speak of things that concern his work. But to a friend we speak of what we may be about to do, even if it has no direct concern with our friend. Here God treats Abraham as a friend, for He says, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" The reason God treats him as a friend is very blessed. The Lord says, "I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice." The one whom the Lord treats as a friend not only believes in the Lord. He also orders his household in the fear of the Lord.
So how did Abraham come by that name? The New Testament gives the answer.
It was faith that secured Abraham this splendid title... "and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'—and he was called a friend of God" (James 2:23). No earthly title can eclipse that heavenly honour, "The Friend of God." Let us all go in for it. It is a great thing to be God's man, and God's friend, in a day of decline such as this.
If these titles are true, then turning to idols makes no sense.
Israel is reminded that as the offspring of Abraham, who is honoured as "My friend," they are a chosen people and called to be the servant of God. How foolish then this turning to idols! And in the following verses we find the most reassuring words of encouragement and support, which, if only received in faith, would have lifted them far above any reliance on idolatrous things.
- Chosen — Israel's standing rests on God's choice, not on their record. He chastens His people, but He will not cast them off.
- Servant — the title is a job. Israel had to witness to the one living God against idolatry, and guard what He entrusted to them.
- Failed — Israel failed at that service and went into captivity. So Isaiah points to a greater Servant, who will not fail or be discouraged.
- Offspring — the promise runs through Abraham's offspring to Christ. Only when the nation comes to Him will it be the true servant.
- Friend — Abraham gained that title by faith, and God shared with him what He was about to do. No earthly honour beats it.
-- thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from the extremities thereof, and to whom I said, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not rejected thee,
In this chapter God answers the nations, and then turns to one people He names as His own. The verse looks back to a man called from far away and a nation chosen, and it ends with a promise: God will not cast them off.
Here God turns from the nations to the one nation He claims. One writer notes what Israel was called out from, and what their failure did not change.
With the words "But you Israel" God turns from the Gentiles to address the Jewish nation. They have failed, and their idolatry has brought them under God's hand in government. Yet they are the people of God's sovereign choice, the seed of Abraham the friend of God. They are "called" out from the great ones of the earth, and "chosen" to be God's servant to witness for Him. God may, indeed, chasten His people but He will not cast them off.
The man taken from far away was Abraham, and he came out of a world of idols. That is why his call meant such a sharp break.
The call of God first means separation. Abram had to go "out of … from … from …". It meant breaking links — not only national links, but social and even family ones. By this time the infection of idolatry had spread from Babel in many directions, and so we read, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River'" (Joshua 24:2-3). God called Abraham out of these idolatrous surroundings, so the separation His call involved was drastic and thorough. The man who would later be called "the friend of God" must not be left in any friendship with the idolatrous world.
Israel is not the only servant in this book. Isaiah uses the same title later for Christ, and the contrast is failure against perfection.
This book plainly shows Israel first of all as the servant of Jehovah (see Isa. 41:8-9; Isa. 44:21-26; Isa. 45:4), but He then introduces Messiah as His Servant, saying in Isa. 42:1, "Behold My Servant, whom I uphold". This, as we have seen from Matthew 12, speaks of Christ, for He is the One in whom God finds His delight. Where Israel had failed as God's servant, Messiah showed His perfections in obedience, and in carrying out all His will.
How can God punish a people and still say He has not rejected them? One writer answers by marking two lines in God's dealings that we must never confuse.
It is most needful to mark, at such a point as this, the difference between God's ways in government with His people, and His ways in grace. Under the righteous government of God, the Jews have been and still are under His chastening hand, because of their sins and their refusal to repent. But the grace and love of His heart towards them never change… "They were broken off because of their unbelief … But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Rom. 11)
The choice holds because nothing later could surprise the One who made it.
God foreknew His people when He chose and called them; and, knowing all their evil beforehand, He certainly will not cast them off. He has not done so, as Paul's own case proved. Paul was no small example. He had shared in the nation's guiltiest prejudices, its most bitter unbelief, and its rejection of Jesus. Yet God had called him.
Some read this section as fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. One writer points out that the return fell far short of what these verses promise.
Isa. 41:8-20 was in no way fulfilled in the return. It is still unaccomplished. The return mattered, but it was only a pledge of Israel's glorious hope… The promised blessing of the people comes after tribulation like nothing known before.
- Chosen — this people stand on God's sovereign choice, not on their record. They failed, and He still names them His own.
- Called — the call reached the ends of the earth and pulled Abraham out of a world of idols. It cut national, social and family links, because a friend of God cannot stay friendly with idols.
- Commissioned — "servant" is the title God gives. Where this servant failed, Isaiah goes on to present the Servant in whom God delights and who did all His will.
- Chastened, not cast off — government and grace run on two lines. The rod fell; the love did not change. God knew all their evil before He ever chose them.
- Coming — the return from exile was only a pledge. The full blessing is still ahead, on the far side of trouble like no other.
-- Fear not, for I [am] with thee; be not dismayed, for I [am] thy God I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
In Isaiah 41 God puts the nations on trial and shows that their idols are empty. Then He turns to one small, failing people — a people under His discipline — and tells them not to fear.
Two verses earlier, God names the "you" of this verse. God turns from the nations to Israel, and reminds them of the ground on which He picked them out.
With the words "But you, Israel" God turns from the Gentiles to address the Jewish nation. They have failed, and God has disciplined them for turning to idols. Even so, they are still the people He chose. They are the children of Abraham, the man God called His friend. God "called" them out from the great ones of the earth and "chose" them to be His servant and witness. God may indeed chasten His people, but He will not cast them off.
That reminder has a sharp edge to it. If God says this much to them, their running after idols makes no sense at all.
In verses 8 and 9 of this chapter God reminds Israel who they are. They are the children of Abraham, the man He calls "My friend." They are a chosen people, called to be God's servant. How foolish, then, to turn to idols! The verses that follow hold the most reassuring words of encouragement and support. If Israel had only taken them by faith, those words would have lifted them far above any trust in idols.
Notice what the verse does not say. It gives no reason for courage drawn from the people themselves — every clause is about God.
Because of their failure, they have come under God's judgment. But because God chose them, they will be blessed in the end. But their blessing depends wholly upon God and His grace. So God can say, "I am with you"; "I am your God"; "I will strengthen you"; "I will uphold you."
The final phrase is the strangest one. God does not say He holds them up out of pity. The reason He gives is His own righteousness.
In Isaiah, God declares that He will act toward His people in this righteousness. He will raise up Cyrus, the king He uses to bring them back to their own land, and so keep His promise. He will also hold up that failing people in their last weakness and distress with the right hand of His righteousness. David and Daniel do the same when they confess their sin: they ask God for help on the ground of His righteousness.
And that hand is not reserved for Israel alone.
In Isaiah we find that wonderful passage where God speaks of "upholding them by the right hand of His righteousness." That great hand of power is there for His people at all times. We have all known it in one way or another.
The promise reaches to Israel's enemies too. The reason it gives is worth pausing over.
Scripture tells us plainly that every nation that opposes Israel will end in shame and disgrace, and perish. Those that war against Israel will come to "nothing." Not that Israel has any strength, but because the LORD, Israel's God, will "hold" and "help" Israel.
This is not an isolated sentence. The same "fear not" keeps returning through the rest of the book, aimed at a people at the very end of their endurance.
At the end of their time of trial, the guilty people are bowed down under God's judgment. They are disciplined and sorry for their sin, but close to despair. Then they hear the words, "Comfort, comfort my people!" And the words "Fear not" come back to them again and again, echo after echo. Fear not, my love will comfort you, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will be with My servant. Have I not redeemed you? Am I not with you? Fear not, I will refresh you. Fear neither shame, nor insult, nor reproach. You are Mine, and I have received you in grace.
One writer takes that same support into the ordinary Christian's day.
The Word of God gives us the support we need day by day to live the Christian life… What a wonderful promise to take hold of! He who gives life also sustains it. We are "guarded through faith" by God's power. Indeed, all our springs are in Him. Our sufficiency is from God. If we trust in His precious Word we will never be put to shame.
- Chosen, not cast off. God speaks to a nation He had every right to abandon: He chastens His people, but does not throw them away.
- Grace, not merit. Their blessing rests wholly on God and His grace — four promises, all beginning with "I."
- Righteousness, not pity. He holds up a failing people by the right hand of His righteousness. David and Daniel appealed to that same righteousness when they confessed their sin.
- His grip, not theirs. Their enemies come to nothing not because Israel is strong, but because the LORD holds and helps them.
- A refrain, not a one-off. "Fear not" echoes again and again through Isaiah to people near despair. That upholding hand is there for His people at all times.