isaiah 43 and 44

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Isa 42:18-43:10 {s} His servants who were blind + deaf He will redeem + restore, for He loves them
Isa 43:11-13 {s} The LORD is YHVH, He alone is Savior, Israel is His witness that He is God
Isa 43:14-15 {s} For Israel’s sake, YHVH, Israel’s Holy One + Creator + King, will make the Babylonians fugitives
Isa 43:16-21 {s} YHVH will make rivers in the desert to give drink to His people, who He has formed for Himself
Isa 43:22-28 {p} Jacob has not honored YHVH but burdened Him with their sin/ He will blot out their transgressions
Isa 44:1-5 {p} Fear not, I have chosen you + will help you/ I will pour My Spirit on your descendants
Isa 44:6-20 {s} Beside YHVH there is no God/ Israel is His witness/ the foolishness of idolatry
Isa 44:21-23 {s} YHVH formed Jacob to be His servant/ He has blotted out his sins + glorified Himself in him
Isa 44:24-28 {s} YHVH alone is Creator, He has established Cyrus to build Jerusalem + the temple

The strong theme:

Isa 42:18-43:28 {sx4+p} YHVH formed Jacob for Himself/He will forgive + restore them, make the Babylonians fugitives

The Isa 42:18-43:10 chiastic structure:

1a) Isa 42:18-25, YHVH’s servant, His messenger: blind + deaf / plundered for they sinned + disobedient to His Law;

1b) Isa 43:1a, But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel;

1c) Isa 43:1b-3a, Fear not: I have redeemed you + called you by your name + will be with you;

1a) Isa 43:1b, Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine;
1b) Isa 43:2a, When you pass through the waters;
central axis) Isa 43:2b, I will be with you;
2b) Isa 43:2c, The rivers shall not overflow you + the fire shall not burn you;
2a) Isa 43:3a, For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

1d) Isa 43:3b, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place;

central axis) Isa 43:4a, Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you;

2d) Isa 43:4b, Therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life;

2c) Isa 43:5-7a, Fear not: I am with you + will restore you + all who are called by My name;

1a) Isa 43:5a, Fear not, for I am with you;
1b) Isa 43:5b, I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west;
central axis) Isa 43:6a, I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
2b) Isa 43:6b, Bring My sons + daughters from the ends of the earth;
2a) Isa 43:7a, Everyone who is called by My name;

2b) Isa 43:7b, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him;

2a) Isa 43:8-10 {s} The blind + deaf shall be brought forth: His witnesses + servants, to know + believe He is God.

Isaiah proclaimed that God will call Cyrus to be His shepherd, who will say to Jerusalem: Be built, and to the temple: Your foundation shall be laid. It is passages like this that make skeptics say that the person who wrote this second part of Isaiah, was not Isaiah, but “Isaiah 2,” someone who lived after the reign of Cyrus and knew what happened.

However, how many times in our two chapters today did God say that He was the One who decreed things before they come to pass? Several times. So at the word of the LORD, Isaiah decreed a thing before it came to pass, and the LORD God confirmed the word of His servant (Isa 44:26). If He is God why is that so difficult to believe?

Isaiah was called, when he saw the vision of the glory of the LORD (Isa 6) in 759 BC, and was killed approximately by 680 BC when he was old and full of days, after a ministry of 60 years. The Assyrians were the world power throughout his lifetime, and Babylon was their vassal. Israel was not a desert but a land flowing with milk and honey. Jerusalem was a magnificent city, and the Temple stood, a monument to the LORD’s glory. Isaiah prophesied that the Babylonians would take Judah captive, and that someone unknown – Cyrus – would decree Jerusalem and the temple built, presupposing their destruction. Cyrus was born to the Persian royal house in 599 BC. Between Isaiah’s lifetime and Cyrus’, the Babylonians had joined forces with the Medians and destroyed Nineveh, ended the Assyrian empire, and Babylon became the world power. In 588 BC Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. In 538 BC Cyrus, general of the Persian and Median armies, took Babylon and ended the Babylonian empire. The next year he ascended the throne of Media- Persia himself, being heir to both houses, and decreed the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of the city and the temple.

Every word of God came to pass, not a single letter fell to the ground void.

For further reading:
the two witnesses formed by God, decreed in Isaiah