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In this article we do not purpose giving the structure of the second part of this section,
namely, xli.8 - 42: 17. To do so would defeat our object, which is to provide helps to
the understanding of the Word. The reader should go over the outline, point by point, in
order that he may make it his own.
In our next article we hope to consider some of the outstanding lines of teaching found
in this passage and gather up their comfort and inspiration. Meanwhile there is no need
for any of us to wait before entering into the truth of the blessed message of the closing
verses of Isa. 40:, for at the present time we all stand much in need of the promise, "They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength".
ISAIAH.
#23.
Isaiah 40: 12 - 42: 17.
The Folly and Tragedy of Idolatry.
pp. 191 - 194
Unless the reader's memory is above the average, we suggest that it would be a help to
keep by him for reference the structure of the passage before us, which will be found in
Volume XXX, page 43.
A feature that calls for attention and which most strikes the mind when this chapter of
Isaiah is read, is the apparently abrupt transition from the tender Shepherd of verse 11 to
the omnipotent Creator of verse 12. But such a transition is by no means unique, as
Isa. 1: shows:
"I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord
God hath given Me the tongue of the learned . . . . . I gave My back to the smiters"
(Isa. 1: 3-6).
We have but to call to mind the testimony of John's Gospel to perceive that there is a
doctrinal basis for this apparent meeting of extremes. In the chapter which tells us that
Christ is "The Lamb of God" we read, "All things were made by Him", or, if we turn to
the tenth chapter, where Christ is revealed as "The good Shepherd", we shall also find the
claim, "I and My Father as One".
If the hand of the gentle Shepherd that guides His sheep and carries His lambs is the
hand in whose hollow the waters of the deep can be contained, then, even though all flesh
is but grass, the purpose of God in Israel's restoration must be attained. Further, the
restoration of Israel is spoken of in terms of a "new creation" (Isa. 65: 17, 18). He
Whose power and wisdom called the visible creation into being in the past is fully able to
bring about a new creation in the future.
The utter distrust of "all flesh" that is uppermost in the mind of the Prophet in the
opening section is again brought forward in this new section, as an argument against