Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 48:16

"Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit." — Isaiah 48:16 (ASV)

Come ye near unto me. —Here the address seems to be made to Israel. At first, Jehovah appears as the speaker, using much the same language as before. At the close, the prophet appears abruptly, speaking in his own person. Perhaps, indeed, the prophet is the speaker throughout. A paraphrase will perhaps help to explain the sequence of thought: “I have not, from the beginning of my prophetic work, spoken in dark, ambiguous speeches like the oracles of the pagans.

From the time that the great work began to unfold itself, I was present, contemplating it. Now the time of revelation has come. The Lord God hath sent me (this is the Hebrew order); and His Spirit. This gives, it is believed, an adequate explanation. By some interpreters, the closing words are referred to the mysterious “Servant of the Lord”; by others, the Spirit is made the object and not the subject of the word “sent.”