Isa. 44 A further promise of spiritual blessings, Isa. 44:1–6. The vanity of idols, and folly of idol.makers and worshippers, Isa. 44:7–20. An exhortation to praise God, Isa. 44:21–23, our Redeemer and Maker, Isa. 44:24, for his wisdom, Isa. 44:25, truth, Isa. 44:26, power, Isa.

Although I have chastised thee for thy sins, and had just cause utterly to destroy thee; yet in judgment I will remember mercy, and will still own thee for my servant and chosen people.

From the womb; from the time of thy birth, or coming out of the womb. From that time that I first took thee to be my people, I have been forming and fashioning thee, by giving thee laws, and ordinances, and teachers, by threatenings and corrections, and many other ways.

I will pour water; my Spirit and blessing, which is frequently compared to water; and so it is expounded in the latter part of the verse. Upon him that is thirsty: either, 1. Upon him that desires it. Or rather, 2.

They shall spring up as among the grass; they shall increase and flourish like grass, and those herbs and plants which grow up in the midst of it.

The blessing of God upon the Jews shall be so remarkable, that the Gentiles shall join themselves unto them, and accept the Lord for their God, and own themselves for his people.

Here God reneweth his contest with idols; which he insisteth upon so oft and so much, because his own people were exceeding prone to idolatry.

Who, which of all the heathen gods, as I, shall call, and shall declare? shall by his powerful call or word cause it to be, and by his infinite foreknowledge declare that it shall be. Or, shall publish and declare; two words expressing the same thing, as is usual.

Have not I told thee? thee, O Israel, whom he bids not to fear. The sense is, I call you Israelites to bear me witness, whether I have not, from time to time, acquainted you with things to come, such as your sojourning in a strange land for four hundred years, and your deliverance and happiness…

Are all of them vanity; hereby discover themselves to be vain, empty, or foolish men. Or thus, They that make graven images, all of them make (which word may fitly be repeated out of the foregoing clause, as is very usual in Scripture) a vanity, or a thing of nought.

What man in his wits can esteem that a god which his own hands have formed, or melt a graven image (understand out of the former clause, to be his god) which is profitable for nothing? He speaks of melting a graven image, because the image was first molten and cast in a mould, and then polished and…

All his fellows; either, 1. The workmen, as it follows, who in this work are companions or partners with him, by whose cost and command the work is done. Or, 2. Those who any way assist and encourage him in this work, and join with him in worshipping the image which he maketh.

Both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers; first he makes the metal soft and pliable, by putting it among burning coals, and then he taketh it out, and beateth it into what form he pleaseth.

He here speaks, either, 1. Of the same image, which is supposed to be made of wood, and then covered with some metal; or, 2. Of another sort of images made of wood, as the former might be made of iron. It is not material which way you understand it.

The cypress and the oak, which afford the best and most durable timber. Which he strengtheneth for himself among the tress of the forest: the sense of the words thus rendered is, that he planteth, and with care and diligence improveth, those trees among and above all the trees of the forest, that…

Having related the practices of idolaters, he now discovers the vanity and folly of them; that he maketh his fire and his god of the same materials, distinguished only by the art of man.

He eateth flesh; he dresseth flesh for his eating. I have seen the fire; I have felt the warmth of it. Seeing is oft put for other senses, as feeling, hearing, &c., as hath been oft observed before.

They have not known or understood: this showeth that they want common discretion, and have not the understanding of a man in them. He, to wit, God; who is easily understood, and is oft expressed by this pronoun he; and to whom this very act is frequently ascribed in other places of Scripture.

None considereth in his heart; whereby he implies that the true cause of this, as well as of other absurd and brutish practices of sinners, is the neglect of serious and impartial consideration of things.

He feedeth on ashes, which is an unsavoury, unprofitable, and pernicious food, and no less unsatisfying, uncomfortable, and mischievous is the worship of idols. A deceived heart; a mind corrupted and deceived by long custom, deep prejudice, gross error, and especially by his own lusts.

Remember these; either these men; or, which comes to one, these things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters; which may be a warning to thee. Thou shalt not be forgotten of me; I will not forget nor forsake thee; and therefore thou shalt have no need of idols.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud; as the sun commonly dissolveth, or the wind scattereth, the thickest and blackest cloud, so as there is no remnant nor appearance of it left. Return from thine idolatry, and other wicked practices.

By such invitations to the senseless creatures to praise God with and for his people, he signifies the transcendent greatness of this mercy and deliverance, sufficient to make even the stones, if it were possible, to break forth into God’s praises; and withal, that as the brute creatures were…

That formed thee from the womb; of which phrase See Poole “Isa. 44:2”. That maketh all things, & c.; and therefore I can save thee without the help of any other gods or men.

That frustrateth the tokens of the liars; of the magicians, and astrologers, and sorcerers, who were numerous, and greatly employed and esteemed in Babylon, Isa. 47:12–13, Dan. 2:2, Dan. 2:48, and who had foretold the long continuance and prosperity of the Chaldean empire.

Of his servant; of his servants, the prophets, as appears from the next clause, which answers to this, where he useth the plural number, his messengers; Isaiah and other prophets, whom God sent upon this errand, to foretell the destruction of Babylon, and the redemption of his people.

That with a word can and will dry up the sea (which in Scripture is very frequently called the deep, as Ps. 107:24, Isa. 63:13, Jonah 2:3;c.) and rivers, and remove all impediments, and make the way plain, that my people may return.

Cyrus, whom God here designeth by his proper name two hundred years before he was born, that this might be an undeniable evidence of the certainty and exactness of God’s foreknowledge, and a convincing argument, and so most fit to conclude this dispute between God and idols.