Isaiah 41:18

18 I will open rivers on [the] barren heights and fountains in [the] midst of [the] valleys. I will make [the] wilderness like a pool of water and [the] land of dryness like springs of water.

Isaiah 41:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 41:18

I will open rivers in high places
Which is not usual; but God will change the course of nature, and work miracles, rather than his people shall want what is necessary for them; thus he opens to them his everlasting and unchangeable love, and makes it manifest, and shows it to them, and their interest in it, which is a broad river, that cannot be passed over; this is in high places, it flows from the throne of God, and of the Lamb; and of this river of pleasure he makes his people to drink, the streams whereof make glad the city of our God; likewise the fulness of grace in his Son, whose grace is as rivers of water in a dry land, exceeding abundant, and very refreshing; also the graces of his Spirit, which he gives in great abundance, and are those rivers of water he causes to flow forth from them that believe in Christ, in the comfortable exercise of them; see ( Psalms 36:8 ) ( 46:4 ) ( Revelation 22:1 ) ( Isaiah 32:2 ) ( John 7:37 John 7:38 ) , and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
God himself is the fountain of life, and of living waters; Christ is the fountain of gardens, and in him are wells of salvation; the grace of the Spirit is a well of living water, springing up unto eternal life; and of these, humble souls, comparable to the lowly valleys, are partakers, ( Psalms 36:9 ) ( Song of Solomon 4:15 ) ( Isaiah 12:3 ) ( James 4:6 ) : I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of
water;
respecting either the Gentile world, which was like a wilderness and dry land before the Gospel came into it, but by that was watered and made fruitful; or the state and case of the people of God being in a wilderness condition, when the Lord takes notice of them, and supplies them with everything necessary, so that they are like a watered garden, whose springs fail not, ( Revelation 12:14 ) . This passage is applied by the Jews to the times of the Messiah F23.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 1. 4. fol. 212. 3.

Isaiah 41:18 In-Context

16 You shall winnow them and [the] wind shall carry them, and [the] tempest shall scatter them. And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh; you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy [are] seeking water and [there is] none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on [the] barren heights and fountains in [the] midst of [the] valleys. I will make [the] wilderness like a pool of water and [the] land of dryness like springs of water.
19 I will {put} [the] cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness; I will set [the] cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert
20 so that they may see and know, and take to heart and understand together that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and the holy one of Israel has created it."
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.