Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 41:25

"I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay." — Isaiah 41:25 (ASV)

I have raised up one from the north. — The north points to Media, the east to Persia, both of them under the rule of the great Deliverer.

Shall he call upon my name. — The word can equally mean either “invoking” or “proclaiming.” It may almost be said, indeed, that the one implies the other. The words find a fulfilment in the proclamations of Cyrus cited in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:2–4.

He shall come upon princes. — The Hebrew noun Sagan is a transitional form of a Persian (Delitzsch) or Assyrian (Cheyne) title for a viceroy or satrap.

As the potter treadeth clay. — Commonly the image describes the immediate action of Jehovah (Jeremiah 18:6; Jeremiah 19:10). Here it is used for the supreme dominance of His instrument.