Isaiah 45:4

4 For Ya`akov my servant's sake, and Yisra'el my chosen, I have called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.

Isaiah 45:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 45:4

For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even
called thee by thy name
Not so much for the sake of Cyrus, and to do honour to him, was it that he so long before he was born called him by his name; but to assure the people of the Jews, the Lord's chosen people, and who were his servants, of the certainty of their deliverance, their deliverer being mentioned by name; and it was for their sakes, and not his, that he called him, and raised him up to do such great things as he did, that he might deliver them from their captivity: and it is for the sake of God's elect, whom he has chosen to holiness and happiness, to serve him, and be with him for ever, that he has called Christ, of whom Cyrus was a type, and sent him into the world, to be the Saviour and Redeemer of them: I have surnamed thee;
not only called him by his name, Cyrus, but surnamed him his "shepherd", and "his anointed", ( Isaiah 44:28 ) ( 45:1 ) : though thou hast not known me;
as yet not being born; and when he was, and was grown up, he was ignorant of the true God; and though, upon sight of the above prophecy, and under an immediate influence and impression, he acknowledged the God of Israel to be the God of heaven yet it does not appear that he left the Pagan idolatry; for Xenophon

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 relates, that when he found his end was near, he took sacrifices, and offered them to Jupiter, and the sun, and the rest of the gods; and gave them thanks for the care they had taken of him; and prayed them to grant happiness to his wife, children, friends, and country.
F11 Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 45.

Isaiah 45:4 In-Context

2 I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;

3 and I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, who call you by your name, even the God of Yisra'el.

4 For Ya`akov my servant's sake, and Yisra'el my chosen, I have called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.

5 I am the LORD, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known me;

6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am the LORD, and there is no one else.