Isaiah 44 Study Notes

44:1 Again, Jacob or Israel is explicitly identified as God’s servant (v. 21; 41:8-9; 42:19; 43:1). God had chosen Israel from among the nations to be his special people (Dt 7:7-11). In this way, he created Israel.

44:2-3 The phrase formed you from the womb evokes the metaphor of God as the mother who gave birth to Israel. Jeshurun is used as a name for Israel (Dt 32:15; 33:5,26) in contexts that indicate it is a term of endearment. It is obscure in meaning but may be related to the Hebrew word yashar, which means “virtuous.” The theme of turning dry land into fertile land is an image of physical and/or spiritual transformation. The results are growth, in this case among the descendants of the people of God.

44:4 The Lord will provide a constant, sustaining relationship with his people.

44:5 Writing on one’s hand signified intimacy, though some (see John Walton, IVP Bible Background Commentary, pp. 628-29) believe it refers to a slave mark showing ownership. In either case, the idea is that people will want to identify and align themselves with the Lord.

44:6 A long argument against idols begins with an assertion of the uniqueness of God. The words I am the first and I am the last are used of Christ in Rv 1:17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13.

44:7 Only God can reveal the future, something that he does through his prophets (cp. 41:22; 42:9).

44:8 The invocation of witnesses places this passage in a courtroom setting. These witnesses will bear testimony to the fact that only the Lord is a Rock—a place of protection and stability—unlike the false gods of the nations.

44:9-11 When the truth is known, all who make idols will stand in disgrace, for their work is profitless.

44:12-20 These verses describe the construction and worship of an idol. Ancient texts describing the making and care of idols confirm such a process. Pagan Near Eastern religious leaders probably did not believe that an idol was the actual god, but they did believe that the god made its power and presence known in the physical object; thus, the idol was seen as a potent representation of the deity. Laypeople, on the other hand, likely made a stronger association between idols and the deities, taking the graven wood or metal to be a true deity. In any case, Isaiah’s argument was one that reduced all idolatry to its absurd foundation.

44:12-13 Some ancient idols were made from metal and others from wood. The description of their manufacture emphasizes that these were human creations.

44:14 Isaiah went back in this verse to the beginning of the process of constructing an idol—the planting and cultivation of a tree.

44:15-19 These verses express the ultimate absurdity of idolatry. The same wood used to construct an idol was also used to kindle a fire to keep warm and to cook food. Isaiah was aware that ancient Near Eastern people utilized rituals that intended to turn the wooden idol into an object of worship. In Mesopotamia these were called “opening of the mouth” rituals. Via this ritual, the presence of the god was thought to enter the piece of wood. Jeremiah 10:1-5 expresses a similar idea.

44:20 The lie in a person’s right hand is a reference to an idol that represented a false god and was really nothing at all.

44:21 Israel will benefit from remembering the lesson about the absurdity of idolatry since that will keep God’s people from practicing false worship. God formed his people; they did not form their god like the idolaters did. Israel was the servant of God (v. 1; 41:8-9; 42:19; 43:1).

44:22 This is an exhortation to trust and rejoice in their forgiving God.

44:23 In idolatry, a bit of nature, a piece of wood, was worshiped. Here God’s creation—especially the forest, and every tree in it—worships God.

44:24-28 In these verses God’s sovereignty over his creation and the future is asserted. God affirmed his prophets over those prophets who deceived.

44:24 On the image of God stretching out the heavens and spreading the earth, see note at 42:5. This description demonstrates God’s control over the cosmos. He puts it up like a Bedouin erects a tent.

44:25 The sovereign God confuses and destroys those who claim to reveal the future. Such people are condemned and contrasted with true prophets in Dt 18:9-22. The type of prophets this verse has in mind were diviners, not those who received revelation from God. Diviners manipulated or observed such things as sheep livers, cloud formations, and the stars to determine the future.

44:26 In contrast to the false prophets are God’s messengers with the message that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and reinhabited.

44:27 God’s ability to restore Jerusalem 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 God will subdue those chaotic forces that held Judah captive.

44:28 God announced the agent of his rescue of exiled Judah—Cyrus the Great. Thus Isaiah, whose ministry spanned four kings whose reigns stretched from 742 to 686 BC, named a ruler who was not yet born. The prophetic reference is to Persia’s defeat of Babylon under the leadership of Cyrus in 539 BC, an event that led to permission for the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem. Cyrus is called a shepherd, a common metaphor for a royal figure. The rebuilding of Jerusalem is associated with the rebuilding of the temple, a hope that became reality in 515 BC.