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Isaiah 42: 18 - 45: 15.
RESTORATION: Promised, Conditioned and Foreshadowed.
A1 | 42: 18 - 43: 9. RESTORATION Promised. |
"This is a people robbed and spoiled . . . and none saith, Restore (42: 22).
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee
from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back:
bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth" (43: 5, 6).
A2 | 43: 9 - 44: 27. RESTORATION Conditioned. |
"Return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee" (44: 22).
"That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye
shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof" (44: 26).
A1 | 44: 28 - 45: 15. RESTORATION Foreshadowed. |
"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even
saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid"
(44: 28).
"He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives" (45: 13).
We must devote the remainder of our limited space to the consideration of the first of
these three sections, namely "Restoration promised", and it will be well if the structure of
this section is before us from the start.
Isaiah 42: 18 - 43: 9.
RESTORATION Promised.
A | 42: 18-20. | a | Call to deaf and blind.
b | Perfect.
B | 42: 21-25. | c | A people robbed and spoiled.
d | The law magnified and disobeyed.
e | Set on fire . . . burned.
B | 43: 1-7. | c | Israel, created for His glory.
d | Redeemed.
e | Not be burned . . . flame not kindle.
A | 43: 8, 9. | a | Call to deaf and blind.
b | Justified.
The chief interest is found in the central members, where Israel under law is
contrasted with Israel under grace. But before we reach this portion the peculiar
difficulty of verses 18-20 must be faced. Who are the "deaf and the blind" in these
verses? Do they refer alone to Israel, as some teach? Do they refer alone to the Messiah,
as other teach? or do they refer to both Israel and their Messiah, as yet others teach?
Upon first reading, it is perhaps excusable to think of Israel's Messiah, rather than of
Israel the nation, as being implied in the words, "Who is blind as he that is perfect?"
(Isa. 42: 19). Yet, if Meshullam (Perfect) must of necessity refer only to the Messiah
and not to Israel, the same argument would apply in the case of the title Jeshuran (the
Darling Upright One) of Isa. 44: 2. Nevertheless we have the warrant of the law of
Moses that Jeshuran was a title of Israel, and that even Jeshuran "waxed fat and kicked".
If the "Darling Upright One" of the Lord could thus respond there is no insuperable
obstacle to believing that the same people under the title of Meshullam (Perfect) should