In my last post, we explored Worthless Idols in Yesha’yahu 44:6-23. In this post, we explore Yerushalayim to Be Inhabited ~ Part 1 in 44:24-28.
In these verses, Adonai’s sovereignty over His creation and the future is asserted. Adonai affirmed His prophets over against those prophets who deceived.
24 Here is what Adonai says, your Redeemer, He who formed you in the womb: “I am Adonai, who makes all things, who stretched out the heavens all alone, who spread out the earth all by myself.
The fact that the Bible portrays Adonai as having no equal means that all divine activity is carried out by Him. This contrasts with many of the traditions of the ancient Near East, where various deities were involved with different aspects of creation. Stretching out the heavens and spreading the earth demonstrates Adonai’s control over the cosmos. He puts it up like a Bedouin erects a tent.
25 I frustrate false prophets and their omens, I make fools of diviners, I drive back the sages and make their wisdom look silly.
Adonai confuses and destroys those who claim to reveal the future. Such people are condemned and contrasted with true prophets who received revelation from Adonai. Diviners manipulated or observed such things as sheep livers, cloud formations, and the stars to determine the future.
26 I confirm My servants’ prophecies and make My messengers’ plans succeed. I say of Yerushalayim: ‘She will be lived in,’ of the cities of Y’hudah, ‘They will be rebuilt; I will restore their ruins.’
In contrast to the false prophets are Adonai’smessengers with the message that Yerushalayim will be rebuilt and re-inhabited.
27 I say to the deep sea, ‘Dry up! I will make your streams run dry.’
Adonai’s ability to restore Yerushalayim is affirmed by reference to His control of nature, specifically that He can make bodies of water go dry. Since water is often a symbol of the forces of chaos, perhaps the meaning of this verse is that Adonai will subdue those chaotic forces that held Judah captive.
The following prophecy concerning Koresh (Cyrus), which continues in all of chapter 45 is one of the most astounding in all the Tanakh. It predicts that a man named Koresh would come on the scene, saying that Yerushalayim would be built and the foundations of the Temple would be laid. At this time, Yerushalayim was already built, and the Temple was standing tall, so what relevance could this have to anything, the people must have wondered. But 200 years later, a man named Koresh did indeed appear on the scene as king of the Persian empire. And it would be this Koresh who would give the order for the Jews to rebuild the city and temple the Bavlim had destroyed.
28 I say of Koresh, ‘He is my shepherd, he will do everything I want. He will say of Yerushalayim, “You will be rebuilt,” and of the Temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”’” ~ Isaiah 44:24-28 (CJB)
Koresh was born about 590 BCE in the modern Iranian province of Fars. Virtually nothing is known of him until he came to the throne of Persia in 559 BCE, except for a few legends concerning his childhood written down by Herodotus, the Greek historian. [1] Yesha’yahu whose ministry spanned four kings whose reigns stretched from 742 to 686 BCE, named a ruler who was not yet born.
In my next post, we learn of Yerushalayim to Be Inhabited ~ Part 2 in Yesha’yahu 45:1-13.
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[1] The IVP Bible Background Commentary – Old Testament.
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