Yeshayah 41:5

5 The iyim (islands) saw it, and feared; the ketzot ha’aretz (ends of the earth) trembled; they approached and came near.

Yeshayah 41:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 41:5

The isles saw it, and feared
Not the victory which Abraham got over the kings; nor Cyrus's expedition against Babylon, and other nations, and his deliverance of the Jews; but the progress of the Gospel, through the ministry of the Apostle Paul: the idolatrous inhabitants of the Gentile nations saw great multitudes embracing and professing the Gospel; they saw their idols neglected, and their temples abandoned; they feared what would be the consequence of all this, that their old religion their fathers retained, and they were brought up in, would be abolished; and especially a panic seized the priests on this account, whose livelihood depended upon it: the ends of the earth were afraid;
for the sound of the Gospel by him, and other apostles, went into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, ( Romans 10:18 ) meaning the inhabitants that dwelt in the furthest parts of the earth, where ignorance and idolatry wholly reigned: they drew near, and came: not to God, nor to Abraham, or Cyrus; rather to their gods, to exert themselves in the defence of their religion; or, which is best, they got together to consult what was proper to be done on such an emergency.

Yeshayah 41:5 In-Context

3 He [the conqueror] pursued them, and passed on in shalom; even by the orach (path) that his feet do not even come.

4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling forth the dorot from the beginning? I Hashem, the Rishon (First), and with the Acharonim (Last ones); I am He.

5 The iyim (islands) saw it, and feared; the ketzot ha’aretz (ends of the earth) trembled; they approached and came near.

6 They helped everyone his re’a; and everyone said to his brother, chazak!

7 So the charash (craftsman) encouraged the tzoref (goldsmith), and he that smootheth with the patish (hammer) encouraged him that strikes the anvil, saying, of the soldering, tov hu; and he fastened it with nails, so that it should not topple.