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Israel's great failure to trust God alone. From the days when the Lord said, "Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me", Israel showed a terrible tendency to idolatry, or its
equivalent, a trust in Egypt, or a trust in something visible and tangible.
Isaiah does not refer to the attributes of the Creator in the form of a statement, but in
the guise of a question; "Who . . . . . who . . . . . with whom?" and then leads on to the
great challenge "To whom, then, will ye liken God?"
Before we consider these references to idolatry, let us observe the way in which the
subject-matter is distributed. Isaiah divides his references to the greatness of God into
three.
(1) POWER.--"Who hath measured . . . meted . . . comprehended . . . weighed?"
(2) WISDOM.--Who hath directed . . . taught . . . counseled . . . shewed?"
(3) COMPARISON.--The Nations. |
A drop in a bucket.
The small dust of the balance.
Nothing; less than nothing; a vanity.
The Earth. |
The isles taken up as a very little thing.
Lebanon not sufficient to burn.
The beasts not sufficient for an offering.
We have already seen that in the mind of Isaiah the "Shepherd" and the "Creator"
were one.
With this section of Isaiah, we may profitably couple the words of Agur, the son of
Jakeh:
"Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in
His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of
the earth? What is His name, and WHAT HIS SON'S NAME, if thou canst tell?"
(Prov. 30: 4).
This passage speaks of Christ, and John's Gospel and Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians
provide the answer to the question raised:
"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the
Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3: 13).
"Now He that ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts
of the earth? He that descended is the same also the ascended up far above all heavens,
that He might fill all things" (Eph. 4: 9, 10).
When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, He saw the glory of the Lord Jesus
(Isa. 6:; John 12: 41). When Isaiah set forth the Shepherd-Creator, He also spoke of the
incomparable power of the self-same Saviour. From incomparable power, he passes to
equally incomparable wisdom, and again speaks of Christ:
"For whom hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have
the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2: 16).