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We now turn to the threefold call to `awake'. The first, Isa. 51: 9 is addressed to the
Lord, the second and third are addressed to Israel (Isa. 51: 17; 52: 1).
The call to Awake
(51: 9, 51: 17, 52: 1, 2).
A1 | 51: 9.
Awake, awake.
Call to the Lord.
Remembrance of "ancient days".
A2 | 51: 17. Awake, awake. Call to the people.
(different form of the word than that used in 51: 9 and 52: 1).
Israel's present position.
A3 | 52: 1. Awake, awake. Call to Israel.
Reference to "henceforth".
In the first of these calls, there is a very definite reference to the deliverance of Israel
from Egypt, and it must be kept in mind by the reader that the whole story of the exodus
is to be re-enacted on a grander scale. The plagues that fell upon Pharaoh, his people and
his land find their complement in the plagues that are recorded in the book of the
Revelation. The two witnesses, Moses and Aaron, are represented at the time of the end
(Rev. 11:) and the song of Moses is mingled with the song of the Lamb (Rev. 15: 3).
Consequently, we find Israel fortifying its faith, by saying:
"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in
the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art
thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the
depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" (Isa. 51: 9, 10).
Egypt is mentioned by name so many times in the prophecy of Isaiah that the use of
"Rahab" and "the dragon" here in the passage before us must have some fuller
significance. Rahab is taken, in Psa. 87: 4 to represent Egypt. The dragon also
could well represent Egypt, the word so translated referring in all probability to the
crocodile. But he who sees no further than Egypt in this opening call of Isa. 51:,
considers but `things that are seen'. The word Rahab occurs in the proverb quoted of the
Egyptians in Isa. 30: 7 "Their strength is to sit still", "The insolent they sit still", as it
may be rendered and in Job 9: 13 and 26: 12 the word signifies the `proud'. The
opposition of a Pharaoh, a Sennacherib, a Nebuchadnezzar are but recurring symbols of
the great antagonist named in the Scripture "That ancient serpent who is called the Devil
and Satan".
The final deliverance of Israel is shadowed forth by the exodus from Egypt in the
burden of the prophecy of Isaiah, and fills the Apocalypse with song. This section of
Isaiah may be set before the eyes as follows: