Yeshayah 43:17

17 Which drew out the merkavah and sus, the army and warrior; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick.

Yeshayah 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.

Yeshayah 43:17 In-Context

15 I am Hashem, your Kadosh, the Boreh Yisroel, your Melech.
16 Thus saith Hashem, which maketh a derech in the yam, and a path in the mayim azzim (mighty waters);
17 Which drew out the merkavah and sus, the army and warrior; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick.
18 Remember ye not the rishonot (former things) neither consider kadmoniyyot (the things of old).
19 Hineni, I am doing a chadashah (new thing); now titzmach (it shall spring forth; Tzemach); shall ye not perceive it? I will even make a derech in the midbar, and neharot in the desert.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.