Isaiah 43 Footnotes

43:2 These promises were metaphors of God’s protection and help as his people passed through times of difficulty. In the same way, God had helped their ancestors pass through the waters of the Red Sea when they were suffering oppression in Egypt.

43:3-4 There is no record of a time when God gave Egypt, Cush, and Seba as a ransom for Israel—and surely God does not need to pay off anyone to redeem his people. Some believe this verse referred to the Persian defeat of Egypt, but this occurred in the reign of Cambyses, after Cyrus had already decreed that the Israelites could return home (Ezr 1:1-3). This passage can be taken as a symbolic affirmation that, because of God’s great love for his people (Is 43:4), he will do anything to redeem them.

43:14 Was this prophecy ever fulfilled? Since Cyrus was welcomed into Babylon without much resistance when he defeated the nation, why would the Persians need to take away defeated Babylonians as fugitives in ships? There is no record in the Bible or secular history of this taking place when Cyrus defeated Babylon, so one could: (1) take this as symbolic picture language of defeat that was applied to the future situation of Babylon; or (2) conclude that the prophet was predicting a different defeat of Babylon, not the Persian conquest of the area in 539 BC.

43:23-24 It was not literally the case that the people never brought the Lord sacrifices; Isaiah had earlier indicated that, from the Lord’s standpoint, they had brought too many (1:11-14). But a right sacrifice requires a pure heart, repentance of sin (Mal 3:3), and devotion to the Lord alone (see note on Am 5:25), or it is no sacrifice. Isaiah was saying that, because these were lacking, all God saw in their sacrifice was their sin.