Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 45

Thus says the Lord to his anointed – This is a direct address to Cyrus, though it was uttered not less than one hundred and fifty years before Babylon was taken by him. The word ‘anointed’ is that which is usually rendered “Messiah” (משׁיח mâshı̂yach), and here is rendered by the Septuagint, Τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ (Tō christō mou Kurō) – ‘To Cyrus, my Christ,’ i.e., my anointed.

It properly means “the anointed,” and was a title commonly given to the kings of Israel because they were set apart to their office by the ceremony of anointing, for which reason they were called οι χριστοί Κυρίου (hoi christoi Kuriou) – ‘The anointed of the Lord’ (1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Samuel 2:35; 1 Samuel 12:3, 5; 1 Samuel 16:6; 1 Samuel 24:7, 11; 1 Samuel 26:9, 11, 23; 2 Samuel 1:14, 16; 2 Samuel 19:22–23).

There is no evidence that the Persian kings were inaugurated or consecrated by oil, but this is a designation common among the Jews, and it is applied to Cyrus in accordance with their usual way of designating kings. It means here that God had solemnly set apart Cyrus to perform an important public service in his cause. It does not mean that Cyrus was a man of piety, or a worshipper of the true God (of which there is no certain evidence), but that his appointment as king was due to the arrangement of God’s providence, and that he was to be employed in accomplishing his purposes. The title does not designate holiness of character, but appointment to an office.

Whose right hand I have held – (Margin: ‘Strengthened.’ Lowth: ‘whom I hold fast by the right hand.’) The idea seems to be that God had upheld, sustained, and strengthened him as we do someone who is feeble, by taking his right hand (see the notes at Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 42:6).

To subdue nations before him – For a general account of the conquests of Cyrus, see the notes at Isaiah 41:2. It may be added here that, ‘besides his native subjects, the nations which Cyrus subdued, and over which he reigned, were the Cilicians, Syrians, Paphlagonians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Arabians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Bactrians, Sacae, and Maryandines. Xenophon describes his empire as extending from the Mediterranean and Egypt to the Indian Ocean, and from Ethiopia to the Euxine Sea, and conveys a physical idea of its extent by observing that the extremities were difficult to inhabit, from opposite causes – some from excess of heat, and others from excess of cold; some from a scarcity of water, and others from too great abundance.’ (Pictorial Bible).

And I will loose the loins of kings – The ancients dressed in a large, loose, flowing robe thrown over an undergarment or tunic, which was shaped to the body. The outer robe was girded with a sash when they toiled, labored, went to war, or ran. Thus, ‘to gird up the loins’ is indicative of preparation for a journey, for labor, or for war. To unloose the girdle, or the loins, was indicative of a state of rest, repose, or feebleness; and the phrase here means that God would so order it in his providence that the kings would be unprepared to meet him, or so feeble that they would not be able to resist him (Jeremiah 1:17). See also Job 12:21:

He poureth contempt upon princes,
And weakeneth the strength of the mighty;

(Margin, more correctly: ‘Looseth the girdle of the strong.’) There was a literal fulfillment of this in regard to Belshazzar, king of Babylon, when the city was taken by Cyrus. When the hand came forth on the walls of his palace, and the mysterious finger wrote his condemnation, it is said, ‘Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other’ (Daniel 5:6). The Vulgate renders this, ‘I will turn the backs of kings.’

To open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut – This refers to the folding gates of a city or a palace. It so happened in the scene of revelry that prevailed in Babylon when Cyrus took it, that the gates within the city leading from the streets to the river were left open. The city was not only enclosed with walls, but there were also walls within the city on each side of the river Euphrates, with gates by which the inhabitants had access to the river water.

Had these gates not been left open on that occasion, contrary to usual custom, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river and could all have been destroyed. It also happened in the revelry of that night that the gates of the palace were left open, so there was access to every part of the city.

Herodotus (i. 191) says, ‘If the besieged had been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected the total destruction of these troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, and to have manned the embankments on either side, and they might have enclosed the Persians in a net from which they could never have escaped; as it happened, they were taken by surprise; and such is the extent of that city that, as the inhabitants themselves affirm, those who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before the alarm was communicated to the center of the palace.’

None but an omniscient Being could have predicted, one hundred and fifty years before it occurred, that such an event would take place; and this is one of the many prophecies that demonstrate in the most particular manner that Isaiah was inspired.

I will go before you - To prepare the way for conquest, a proof that it is by the providence of God that the proud conquerors of the earth are enabled to triumph. The idea is, I will take away everything that would hinder or oppose your victorious march.

And make the crooked paths straight - (See the note at Isaiah 40:4). The Chaldee renders this, ‘My word shall go before you, and I will prostrate the walls.’ Lowth renders it, ‘Make the mountains plain.’ Noyes, ‘Make the high places plain.’ The Septuagint renders it, Ὄρη ὁμαλιῶ Orē homaliō - ‘Level mountains.’ The Vulgate, Gloriosos terroe humiliabo - ‘The high places of the earth I will bring down.’ The word הדוּרים hădûrı̂ym is from הדר hâdar — to be large, ample, swollen, tumid; and probably means the swollen tumid places, that is, the hills or elevated places; and the idea is, that God would make them level, or would remove all obstructions out of his way.

I will break in pieces the gates of brass - Ancient cities were surrounded by walls and secured by strong gates, which were frequently made of brass. To Babylon there were one hundred gates, twenty-five on each side of the city, which, with their posts, were made of brass. ‘In the circumference of the walls,’ says Herodotus (i. 179), ‘at different distances, were a hundred massive gates of brass, whose hinges and frames were of the same metal.’ It was to this, doubtless, that the passage before us refers.

The bars of iron - With which the gates of the city were fastened. ‘One method of securing the gates of fortified places among the ancients, was to cover them with thick plates of iron—a custom which is still used in the East, and seems to be of great antiquity. We learn from Pitts, that Algiers has five gates, and some of these have two, some three other gates within them, and some of them plated all over with iron. Pococke, speaking of a bridge near Antioch, called the iron bridge, says, that there are two towers belonging to it, the gates of which are covered with iron plates.

Some of these gates are plated over with brass; such are the enormous gates of the principal mosque at Damascus, formerly the church of John the Baptist’ (Paxton). The general idea in these passages is that Cyrus would owe his success to divine interposition, and that that interposition would be so striking that it would be manifest that he owed his success to the favor of heaven. This was so clear in the history of Cyrus, that it is recognized by himself, and was also recognized even by the pagan who witnessed the success of his arms.

Thus Cyrus says (Ezra 1:2), ‘Jehovah, God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth.’ Thus Herodotus (i. 124) records the fact that Harpagus said in a letter to Cyrus, ‘Son of Cambyses, heaven evidently favors you, or you could never have thus risen superior to fortune.’ So Herodotus (i. 205) says that Cyrus regarded himself as endowed with powers more than human: ‘When he considered the special circumstances of his birth, he believed himself more than human. He reflected also on the prosperity of his arms, and that wherever he had extended his excursions, he had been followed by success and victory.’

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness — The treasures which kings have amassed, and which they have laid up in dark and secure places. The word ‘darkness,’ here, means that which was hidden, unknown, secret . The treasures of the kings of the East were usually hidden in some obscure and strong place, and were not to be touched except in cases of pressing necessity.

Alexander found vast quantities of treasure hidden in this way among the Persians; it was by taking such treasures that the greed of the soldiers who followed a conqueror was satisfied, and in fact, they were paid by a division of the spoils taken in this manner. There can be no doubt that large quantities of treasure would be found in Babylon in this way.

The following observations from Harmer (Observations, pages 111, 511-513) will show that it was common to conceal treasures in this manner in the East:

‘We are told by travelers in the East that they have often met with great difficulties from a notion universally spread among them, that all Europeans are magicians, and that their visits to those eastern countries are not to satisfy curiosity, but to find out and get possession of those vast treasures they believe to be buried there in great quantities. These representations are very common; but Sir John Chardin gives us a more particular and amusing account of affairs of this kind: “It is common in the Indies for those sorcerers that accompany conquerors everywhere to point out the place where treasures are hidden.

Thus, at Surat, when Siragi came there, there were people who, by striking a stick on the ground or against walls, found out those places that had been hollowed or dug up, and ordered such places to be opened.” He then intimates that something of this nature had happened to him in Mingrelia. Among the various contradictions that agitate the human breast, this appears to be a remarkable one: they firmly believe the power of magicians to discover hidden treasures, and yet they continue to hide them. Dr. Perry has given us an account of some mighty treasures hidden in the ground by some of the principal people of the Turkish empire, which, upon a revolution, were discovered by servants who knew the secret.

D’Herbelot has given us accounts of treasures concealed in the same manner, some of them of great princes, discovered by accidents extremely remarkable. But this account of Chardin’s, of conquerors pretending to find out hidden treasures by means of sorcerers, is very extraordinary. However, as people of this kind have made great claims to mighty things in all ages, and were often trusted by princes, there is reason to believe they sometimes pretended, by their art, to discover treasures in ancient times to princes, of which they had gained intelligence by other methods. And, as God opposed His prophets at various times to pretended sorcerers, it is not unlikely that the prophet Isaiah points at some such prophetic discoveries in those remarkable words (Isaiah 45:3): “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” I will give them, by enabling some prophet of mine to tell you where they are concealed.’

Such a supposition throws great energy into those words. The belief that the ruins of cities abound with treasures that were deposited there long ago prevails in the East. The inhabitants of those countries, Burckhardt informs us, regard all travelers who come there as coming to find treasures and as having power to remove them by enchantment.

‘It is very unfortunate,’ he says, ‘for European travelers, that the idea of treasures being hidden in ancient edifices is so strongly rooted in the minds of the Arabs and Turks. They believe that it is sufficient for a true magician to have seen and observed the spot where treasures are hidden (of which he is supposed to be already informed by the old books of the infidels who lived on the spot), in order to be able afterward to command the guardian of the treasure to set the whole before him easily.

It was of no avail to tell them to follow me and see whether I searched for money.

Their reply was, “Of course you will not dare to take it out before us, but we know that if you are a skillful magician you will order it to follow you through the air to whatever place you please.” If the traveler takes the dimensions of a building or a column, they are persuaded it is a magical proceeding.’ (Travels in Syria, pages 428, 429, London ed., 4to, 1822.)

Laborde, in his account of a visit to Petra, or Sela, has given an account of a splendid temple cut in the solid rock, which is called the Khasne, or ‘treasury of Pharaoh.’ It is sculptured out of an enormous block of freestone and is one of the most splendid remains of antiquity.

It is believed by the Arabs to have been the place where Pharaoh, supposed to have been the founder of the costly edifices of Petra, had deposited his wealth. ‘After having searched in vain,’ says Laborde, ‘all the coffins and funeral monuments to find his wealth, they supposed it must be in the urn which surmounted the Khasne. But, unhappily, being out of their reach, it has only served the more to kindle their desires.

Hence, whenever they pass through the ravine, they stop for a moment, charge their guns, aim at the urn, and endeavor by firing at it to break off some fragments, with a view to demolish it altogether and get at the treasure which it is supposed to contain.’ (Laborde’s Sinai and Petra, page 170, London ed., 1836.)

The treasures which Cyrus obtained in his conquests are known to have been immense. Sardis, the capital of Croesus, king of Lydia, the wealthiest monarch of his time, was, according to Herodotus (Book 1, Chapter 84), given up to be plundered; and his hoarded wealth became the spoil of the victor (see also Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Book 7).

That Babylon abounded in treasures is expressly declared by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51:13): O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures. These treasures also, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 50:37), became the spoil of the conqueror of the city. Pliny also has given a description of the wealth which Cyrus obtained in his conquests, which strikingly confirms what Isaiah here declares: ‘Cyrus, in the conquest of Asia, obtained thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vases, and gold that was made with leaves, and the palm-tree, and the vine.

In which victory also he obtained five hundred thousand talents of silver, and the goblet of Semiramis, which weighed fifteen talents.’ (Natural History, Book 33, Section 3). Brerewood has estimated that this gold and silver amounted to one hundred and twenty-six million, two hundred and twenty-four thousand pounds sterling (De Ponderibus et Mensuris, 10). Babylon was the center of an immense traffic that was carried on between the eastern parts of Asia and the western parts of Asia and Europe. For a description of this commerce, see an article in the Biblical Repository, volume 7, pages 364-390. Babylonian garments, it will be remembered, of great value, had made their way to Palestine in the time of Joshua (Joshua 7:21). Tapestries embroidered with figures of griffons and other monsters of eastern imagination were articles of export (Isaac Vossius, Observatio). Carpets were made there of the finest materials and workmanship and formed an article of extensive exportation.

They were of high repute in the times of Cyrus, whose tomb at Pasargadae was adorned with them (Arrian, Expedition of Alexander, Book 6, Chapter 29). Great quantities of gold were used in Babylon. The vast image of gold erected by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura is proof enough of this fact. The image was sixty cubits high and six broad (Daniel 3:1). Herodotus (Book 1, Chapter 183) informs us that the Chaldeans used a thousand talents of frankincense annually in the temple of Jupiter.

That thou mayest know — That from these signal successes, and these favors of heaven, you may learn that Yahweh is the true God. This he would learn because he would see that he owed it to heaven (see the note at Isaiah 45:2); and because the prediction which God had made of his success would convince him that He was the true and only God. That it had this effect on Cyrus is apparent from his own proclamation . God took this method of making Himself known to the monarch of the most mighty kingdom of the earth, in order, as He repeatedly declares, that through His dealings with kingdoms and people He may be acknowledged.

Which call thee by thy name — (See the notes at Isaiah 43:1). That you may know that I, who so long before designated you by name, am the true God. The argument is, that none but God could have foretold the name of him who should be the deliverer of His people.

Am the God of Israel — That the God of Israel was the true and only God. The point to be made known was not that He was the God of Israel, but that the God of Israel was Yahweh the true God.

For Jacob my servant’s sake - (see the note at Isaiah 42:19). The statement here is that God had raised up Cyrus on account of his own people. The sentiment is common in the Bible that kings and nations are in the hand of God; and that he overrules and directs their actions for the accomplishment of his own purposes, and especially to protect, defend, and deliver his people (see the note at Isaiah 10:5).

I have surnamed you - On the meaning of the word ‘surname,’ see the notes at Isaiah 44:5. The reference here is to the fact that he had appointed him to accomplish important purposes, and had designated him as his ‘shepherd’ (Isaiah 44:28), and his ‘anointed’ (Isaiah 45:1).

Though you have not known me - Before he was called to accomplish these important services, he was a stranger to Yahweh. It was only when he would be so signally favored by heaven, and would be made acquainted with the divine will in regard to the deliverance of his people and the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 1:1–3), that he would become acquainted with the true God.

I am the Lord ... - (see the notes at Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 43:2; Isaiah 44:8; Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:22).

I girded thee ... - (see the note at Isaiah 45:1). The sense is, I girded you with the belt—the military belt; I prepared you, and strengthened you for war and conquest. Even people who are strangers to the true God are sustained by him, and are unable to accomplish anything without his providential aid.