Isaiah 50:2

2 Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

Isaiah 50:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 50:2

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?
&c.] The Targum is,

``why have I sent my prophets, and they are not converted?''

And so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it of the prophets that prophesied unto them, to bring them to repentance: the Lord might be said to come by his prophets, his messengers; but they did not receive them, nor their messages, but despised and rejected them, and therefore were carried captive, ( 2 Chronicles 36:15 2 Chronicles 36:16 ) , but it is best to understand it of the coming of Christ in the flesh; when there were none that would receive, nor even come to him, but hid their faces from him, nor suffer others to be gathered unto him, or attend his ministry; they would neither go in themselves into the kingdom of the Messiah, nor let others go in that were entering, ( John 1:11 ) ( 5:40 ) ( Matthew 23:13 Matthew 23:37 ) , when I called, was there none to answer?
he called them to the marriage feast, to his word and ordinances, but they made light of it, and went about their worldly business; many were called externally in his ministry, but few were chosen, and effectually wrought upon; he called, but there was no answer given; for there was no internal principle in them, no grace to answer to the call; he stretched out his hands to a rebellious and gainsaying people, ( Matthew 22:2-5 Matthew 22:16 ) ( Isaiah 65:2 ) ( Proverbs 1:24 ) , is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power
to deliver?
they did not know him to be the mighty God; they took him to be a mere man; and being descended from such mean parents, and making such a mean appearance, they could not think he was able to be their Redeemer and Saviour; but that he had sufficient ability appears by what follows: behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea;
he was able to do it, and did do it for the children of Israel, and made a passage through the Red sea for them, as on dry land; which was done by a strong east wind he caused to blow, here called his "rebuke", ( Exodus 14:20 Exodus 14:21 ) ( Psalms 106:9 ) , of Christ's rebuking the sea, see ( Matthew 8:26 ) . I make the rivers a wilderness;
as dry as the wilderness, and parched ground; in which persons may pass as on dry ground, and as travellers pass through a wilderness; so Jordan was made for the Israelites, ( Joshua 3:17 ) , and may be here particularly meant; called "rivers" because of the excellency of it, and the abundance of water in it, which sometimes overflowed its banks; and because other rivers fall into it, as Kimchi observes: their flesh stinketh because there is no water, and dieth for thirst;
as they did when the rivers of Egypt were turned into blood, ( Exodus 7:21 ) .

Isaiah 50:2 In-Context

1 Thus saith the LORD: "Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

2 Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

4 "The Lord GOD hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned.

5 The Lord GOD hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.