It is the language of God Himself when the day of Israel's restoration

(Gen. 50:21) and betrothal (Gen. 34:3) is in view.

'Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the

wilderness, and speak to her heart (margin) ... I will betroth ... I

will sow ... I will say to them which were not My people, Thou art My

people; and they shall say, Thou art my God' (Hos. 2:14-23).

The comfort of the people of Israel as intended by the prophet in

Isaiah 40, touches, in the first place, two things:

The end of her warfare.

The pardon of her iniquity.

This twofold annunciation is followed by a prophecy concerning the One

Who alone could terminate all conflict or pardon iniquity.  'The voice of him

that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord'.  Then, facing

the utter inability of human nature to accomplish such an end, for all flesh

is grass, the prophet is assured that this glorious consummation shall be

attained, 'for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it'.  The prophetic

utterance is then rounded off by a vision of the coming of the Lord, and His

twofold character of Ruler and Shepherd, uniting in His person and work the

office of Kinsman -Redeemer, and the Avenger of blood.

The first expansion given by the prophet of what is intended by the

ministry of 'comfort', with which this great section opens, is found in the

words, 'Her warfare is accomplished'.  The reader will note that for

'warfare' the margin reads 'appointed time'.  The Hebrew word translated

'warfare' is familiar to the English reader in the Divine title, 'The Lord of

Sabaoth' (Rom. 9:29), which is taken from the Hebrew word tsabaoth, 'hosts'.

Tsaba occurs in the Old Testament 485 times, of which 394 occurrences are

translated 'host', 42 translated 'war' or 'warfare', 29 translated 'army',

and 6 translated 'battle'.  The glad tidings that at length shall be

proclaimed in Jerusalem is that her 'warfare' is 'accomplished'.  This will

be incomparably good news, for Israel's history is deluged in blood and

soaked in tears.  War, both on the physical and the spiritual plane, has been

theirs, and is even threatened at the close of the Millennium (Rev. 20:8,9).

The prophet Daniel was staggered by a vision that revealed 'warfare great'

(Dan. 10:1) for the word translated 'appointed time' is tsaba.  Peace,

however, shall come; Israel's warfare shall one day cease; it shall be

'accomplished'.  This word 'accomplished' is a translation of male, 'to

fill', and is of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures.  Isaiah uses the word

in a very forceful manner when he speaks of hands being 'full of blood'

(1:15); loins 'filled with pain' (21:3); lips 'full of indignation' (30:27);

but in Isaiah 40:2 he uses the word in a slightly different sense, indicating

that Israel's experience of war will at length be 'filled'.  It will indeed

have been a full measure, for the prophet's own comment is that Israel has

received of the Lord's hand 'double' for all her sins.

The prophet Ezekiel, referring to the punishment of Israel at the hands

of the King of Babylon, says, 'Let the sword be doubled' (21:14).  The

prophet Jeremiah says, 'First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin

double' (16:18); and again, 'Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy

them with double destruction' (17:18).  In all probability there is a literal

fulfilment of the law in all this, for failure to keep faith was punished by

restoring the amount involved 'double' (Exod. 22:4,7,9).  This same principle

is seen at work at the judgment of Babylon: