Isaiah 43:17

17 which led out a cart, and horse, a company, and (a) strong man; they slept together, neither they shall rise again; they be all-broken as flax, and be quenched (like a wick). (who led out chariots, and horses, yea, a company of strong men; they all sleep now, or be dead, and they shall never rise again; they be all-broken like flax, and be quenched, or snuffed out, like a wick.)

Isaiah 43:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 43:17

Which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and
the power
Who brought forth the chariots and horses, and the mighty army of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, to pursue the Israelites into the Red sea, where they were drowned. The present tense is put for the future, as in the preceding verse; the future is put for the past tense in the next clause: they shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
they lay down in the Red sea, where they sunk to the bottom, and perished, and never rose more, at least to life, nor never will, till the general resurrection: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow;
or flax, or as the wick of a candle F16, when put into water, is quenched at once; so the Egyptian, became extinct in the Red sea. Some observe an allusion to the commodity of flax, for which Egypt was famous. Kimchi interprets the whole of the army of Sennacherib, which was brought out of their own land to Jerusalem, and was destroyed in one night by an angel. Aben Ezra of the Chaldeans being brought out to fight with the Persians. But others rather of the army of the Medes and Persians being brought against them, by whom they became extinct as tow or flax.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (htvpk) "ut ellychnium" Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gataker, Vitringa.

Isaiah 43:17 In-Context

15 I am the Lord, your Holy, your king, making Israel of nought. (I am the Lord, your Holy One, your King, making Israel out of nothing.)
16 The Lord saith these things, that gave [a] way in the sea, and a path in running waters;
17 which led out a cart, and horse, a company, and (a) strong man; they slept together, neither they shall rise again; they be all-broken as flax, and be quenched (like a wick). (who led out chariots, and horses, yea, a company of strong men; they all sleep now, or be dead, and they shall never rise again; they be all-broken like flax, and be quenched, or snuffed out, like a wick.)
18 Think ye not on the former things, and behold ye not (on the) old things.
19 Lo! I make new things, and now those shall begin to be made; soothly ye shall know them. I shall set [a] way in (the) desert, and floods in a land without (a) way.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.