isaiah 41 and 42

Read Isaiah 41 and 42 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Isa 41:1-7 {s} YHVH raised up the conqueror from the east/ the coastlands saw it, and fashioned idols
Isa 41:8-13 {s} Israel is YHVH’s servant: Fear not, for He has chosen you and will help you
Isa 41:14-16 {s} YHVH will help Israel + make him into a tool to thresh his enemies/ he will rejoice in YHVH
Isa 41:17-20 {p} The poor + needy thirst; YHVH will not forsake them: He will make pools of water in the wilderness
Isa 41:21-24 {p} Present your case: where are the works of the gods? They + their works are nothing
Isa 41:25-29 {p} YHVH will bring to Zion One who bears good news + only He declares what will be
Isa 42:1-4 {p} YHVH’s Servant whom He upholds, who will bring justice to the Gentles
Isa 42:5-9 {p} YHVH will give His Servant as a covenant + light for the peoples + nations
Isa 42:10-13 {s} The coastlands shall give glory to YHVH, for He will prevail against His enemies
Isa 42:14-17 {p} YHVH will open the eyes of the blind + not forsake them/ they shall be shamed who trusted in idols

The strong themes:

Isa 40:17-41:20 {sx7+p} The nations are nothing, it is God who gives power + brings down and raises up: Fear not, He has chosen Israel
Isa 42:10-17 {s+p} The coastlands shall praise YHVH: He will prevail + give the blind sight, and not forsake them

There are greater chiastic structures in these two chapters. But today this one leaped out at me:

Isa 41:24-29:

1a) Isa 41:24 {s} Indeed you + your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination;

1b) Isa 41:25-26, I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; and he shall come against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay. Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And from former times, that we may say that he is right? Surely there is no one who shows, surely there is no one who declares, surely there is no one who hears your words;

1c) Isa 41:27a, A harbinger unto Zion I will give;

central axis) Isa 41:27b, ‘Behold, behold them!’

2c) Isa 41:27c, And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings;

2b) Isa 41:28, For I looked, but there was no man + no counselor, who, when I asked of them, could answer a word;

2a) Isa 41:29 {p} Indeed they + their works are nothing; their molded images are wind + confusion.

First, the harbinger. According to Webster’s a “harbinger” is a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; a herald. This definition reminds us of

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isa 40:3-5

The New Testament tells us this passage was fulfilled by John the Baptist, who was the harbinger sent by God: he went ahead to make known the approach of another – Messiah Yeshua! Yeshua is the One who brought good tidings – the good news, or gospel – to Jerusalem. So the central axis is saying, Behold the harbinger and the One whom he makes known: behold, behold them!

Knowing this, I believe the one who is raised up from the north (1b pair) is Messiah Yeshua. He came from northern Israel, from Nazareth in Galilee. From the rising of the sun He shall call upon My name: He was baptized in the Jordan River, which set the eastern boundary of Judea at that time. From the day He was baptized, He was anointed for ministry by the Holy Spirit which descended upon Him and stayed.

When He comes, He shall come upon princes and tread them as a potter treads clay. At His first coming, this is exactly what He did, for did He not defeat the principalities, the rulers of wickedness in heavenly places? He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross (Col 2:15). He tread upon the spiritual princes at His first coming, and at His second coming, He will tread upon the natural princes – all who exalt themselves above Him.

The last part of the 1b pair refers to the fact that only YHVH tells the end from the beginning. He has declared Messiah and made Him known, something the idols of the nations cannot and did not do.

The 2B pair speaks to God who looked for a man but found none, who, when He looked for a counselor, found no one who could speak. Since this is matching with the 1B pair, He could find no counselor who could declare the end from the beginning, what is right. But I believe the sense of the 2B pair is that, since God looked and found no man, He Himself provided a Man in Messiah Yeshua. He Himself provided a Counselor in the Parakletos, the Holy Spirit whom Messiah came to give:

“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Luk 12:49

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Mat 3:11