Isaiah 43:17

17 He led a mighty army to destruction, an army of chariots and horses. Down they fell, never to rise, snuffed out like the flame of a lamp!

Isaiah 43:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 43:17

Which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and
the power
Who brought forth the chariots and horses, and the mighty army of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, to pursue the Israelites into the Red sea, where they were drowned. The present tense is put for the future, as in the preceding verse; the future is put for the past tense in the next clause: they shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
they lay down in the Red sea, where they sunk to the bottom, and perished, and never rose more, at least to life, nor never will, till the general resurrection: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow;
or flax, or as the wick of a candle F16, when put into water, is quenched at once; so the Egyptian, became extinct in the Red sea. Some observe an allusion to the commodity of flax, for which Egypt was famous. Kimchi interprets the whole of the army of Sennacherib, which was brought out of their own land to Jerusalem, and was destroyed in one night by an angel. Aben Ezra of the Chaldeans being brought out to fight with the Persians. But others rather of the army of the Medes and Persians being brought against them, by whom they became extinct as tow or flax.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (htvpk) "ut ellychnium" Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gataker, Vitringa.

Isaiah 43:17 In-Context

15 I am the Lord, your holy God. I created you, Israel, and I am your king."
16 Long ago the Lord made a road through the sea, a path through the swirling waters.
17 He led a mighty army to destruction, an army of chariots and horses. Down they fell, never to rise, snuffed out like the flame of a lamp!
18 But the Lord says, "Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.
19 Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already - you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.