Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 41:14

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel." — Isaiah 41:14 (ASV)

Says the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy one of Israel.

I was wonderstruck, as I looked at this verse, to find it put, You worm Jacob, I will help you, says the Lord, and your God, which is the Hebrew word translated "Redeemer," "Your next of kin." Is the next of kin to a worm the Almighty God? Does he undertake to be our Brother, to pay the redemption price for us, because he is our Kinsman? So the text says. Let us drink in the comfort of it: Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. In order to become our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel himself became a worm, and no man.

And ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

How many times the Lord puts it, "I will help thee"! How again and again, he says, "Fear not"! For despondency is deeply engraved in some spirits. There are some minds that seem to gravitate that way again and again, and again; and even the divine assurances have to be given repeatedly before they feel comfort.

Have any of you been troubled because your children do not learn the first time you teach them? See how you are towards your heavenly Father! How many times he has to teach you, line upon line, precept upon precept – here a little, and there a little; and if he has patience with our infirmities, we may very readily have patience with the infirmities of our little ones.

And you men of Israel; I will help you,

That is the third time that we have had that promise, I will help you. "Ring that silver bell again," says the Holy Spirit to Isaiah, "let it comfort my tired ones." I will help you.

Fear not, you worm Jacob,

You are earthly, groveling, weak, like a worm; yet even you need not fear: Fear not, you worm Jacob.