For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Saviour,
&c.] The Lord is the covenant God of his people, holy in
himself, and the sanctifier of them, and their Saviour in time of
trouble; and therefore need no doubt of his presence and support
amidst all their afflictions; and besides they should call to
mind past experiences of his goodness, to encourage their faith
in him, as to present help and assistance: I gave Egypt for
thy ransom;
he sacrificed the Egyptians instead of the Israelites; he
destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and saved Israel his firstborn;
he drowned the Egyptians in the Red sea, when the Israelites
passed safely through it; and the destruction of the former was
to make way for the salvation of the latter, and so said to be a
ransom for them; see ( Proverbs
11:8 ) ( 21:18 ) :
Ethiopia and Seba for thee;
this refers either to the rumour brought to Sennacherib of
Tirhakah king of Ethiopia coming against him to war, which
diverted him from the siege of Jerusalem for a time, and caused
him to turn his forces upon the Ethiopians and Sabeans, whereby
the Jews had a respite, ( 2 Kings 19:9
) or rather to the overthrow of the Ethiopians in the time of
Asa, ( 2
Chronicles 14:9-13 ) or to the king of Assyria, perhaps
Shalmaneser's being diverted from Palestine and Judea, and
turning his forces upon Egypt and Ethiopia, as in ( Isaiah 20:1 ) and the
Lord, by putting his people in mind of these instances, suggests
hereby that he will sacrifice all their enemies, rather than they
shall be destroyed, and therefore they need not fear.