Isaiah 45:19
Read Isaiah 45:19 Using Other Translations
What does Isaiah 45:19 mean?
I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the
earth,
&c.] In a private whisper, in a muttering manner, and out of
the belly, as the Heathen priests did; and from out of cells,
dens, and caverns of the earth, from whence the oracles of
Heathen deities were delivered; but in a free, open, clear, and
public manner, before multitudes, in the face of all men, or
where there was a great concourse of people: so Christ delivered
the law on Mount Sinai, in an audible manner, attended with a
multitude of angels, and before all the people; and when here on
earth he said nothing in secret, but openly to the world, in the
synagogues and temple of the Jews, where they resorted in great
numbers, ( John 18:20 ) and ordered
his disciples also to publish on the housetops what they heard
with their ears, ( Matthew
10:27 ) : I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me
in vain;
that is, he never suffered the seed of Jacob, Israelites indeed,
praying Jacobs and prevailing Israels, the true worshippers of
him, to seek him in vain; to pray unto and worship him to no
purpose, or without fruit to themselves; for all such who seek
him early and earnestly, heartily and diligently, and where he
may be found, always find him; he receives them, and not rejects
them; and they receive that from him which is worth seeking
after, and amply rewards all their trouble. The Targum is,
``nor have I said to the seed of the house of Jacob in vain, seek my fear:''I the Lord speak righteousness;
the word of righteousness, the doctrine of justification by his own righteousness; that which he wrought out by his obedience, sufferings, and death, he declared and brought near in the ministry of the word; see ( Isaiah 46:13 ) . The Targum renders it, "truth"; grace and truth came by Christ, ( John 1:17 ) : I declare things that are right;
according to right reason, agreeably to the word of God, both law and Gospel, fit for men to receive, and what made for his own and his Father's glory; see ( Proverbs 8:6 Proverbs 8:18 ) .
