John Gill Commentary Isaiah 44

Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant
These words are directed to a remnant according to the election of grace among the Jews, about the time whentheir princes should be profaned, and the body of the people should be given to curse and reproaches; and whoare distinguished from them by the title of the Lord's "servants": who, being called by grace, were madewilling to serve him in righteousness and holiness, either by preaching his Gospel, and so had the title ofthe servants of the most high God, which show to men the way of salvation; or by observing his commands andordinances, and walking agreeably to his will, serving him acceptably with reverence and godly fear; as theyare also, in the next clause, distinguished from the rest by their being "chosen" of God:

and these, having ears to hear, are called upon to hearken to what the Lord had to say to them; for, notwithstanding thesorrowful things delivered out in the latter part of the preceding chapter, threatening destruction to thenation of the Jews; yet he had some comfortable things to say to this remnant, and therefore would now havethem hear them, and attend to them for their use and comfort: _and Israel whom I havechosen_ ;
an Israel out of Israel; a seed the Lord had reserved for himself, whom he had chosen in Christ before theworld was; to be holy and happy, to grace here and glory hereafter, to believe in him, and profess his name,and to serve him in their day and generation, either in a more public, or in a more private way; chosenvessels they were to bear his name, and show forth his praise. What they were to hear and hearken to is asfollows,

Thus says the Lord that made you, and formed you from the
womb
Which is not to be understood of the forming of the people of Israel into a commonwealth or church state, for this is not said of the body of them; nor of the natural creation and formation of these individuals, but of their new creation, regeneration, and spiritual formation; which, as it was owing to the grace and power of God, by which the Lord describes himself, who is speaking to them, the consideration of it might serve to encourage their faith and confidence in the performance of the promises about to be made to them; see (Psalms 100:3) (Galatians 1:15) (4:19) :

which "will help you"; in the exercise of grace, in the performance of duty, in suffering for his name's sake in every time of trouble, and out of all trouble, and that right early, and when none else can:

fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and you Jesurun, whom I have chosen ;
the titles are as before, only instead of "Israel" is "Jesurun", which is a name of the people of Israel, (Deuteronomy 32:15) (33:5) and here the Targum instead of it puts Israel; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions. The Septuagint version renders it, "beloved Israel"; the word signifies upright; and so the Vulgate Latin version translates it, "O you most upright one" ^F23 ; and well agrees with this little remnant of Israelites indeed, in whom there was no guile.

Some derive the word from one that signifies to "see", "behold", "contemplate" ^F24 ; and so it may be rendered, "the seeing ones whom I have chosen", such whose eyes the Lord opened to see their own vileness and sinfulness, and the glory of Christ and salvation by him:

these are bid not to fear: not any of their enemies, though they themselves were but worms; and though their number was small, and they weak and feeble, and their enemies numerous, strong, and mighty; and though their countrymen would reproach, revile, and persecute them for Christ's sake, and they should be obliged to turn to the Gentiles, and carry the Gospel among them, when those of their nation would reject it, which would issue in the ruin of it, as before predicted; see (Isaiah 41:10Isaiah 41:13Isaiah 41:14) (Isaiah 43:1Isaiah 43:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (Nwrsyw) "et rectissime", V. L. a (rsy) "rectum fuit, Forerius"; so Ben Melech says, that Israel is called Jeshurun, because he is upright among the people.
• F24: A (rsv) "contemplari, respicere".

For I will pour water on him that is thirsty
Or rather upon the thirsty land, as the Targum; and so the Syriac version, "in a thirsty place"; as a dry land is a thirsty land; it thirsts for water, gapes and opens for it: see (Psalms 63:1) "and floods upon the dry ground"; large quantities of rain to moisten it, and make it fruitful; these figurative expressions are explained in the next clauses:

I will pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your
offspring ;
by which "seed" and "offspring" are meant the spiritual seed of this remnant or little church of Christ among the Jews, in the first times of the Gospel: such as should be regenerated and converted in it, and who are signified by the "dry" and "thirsty" ground; for being made sensible of their desolate condition, their barrenness and unfruitfulness, they hungered and thirsted after righteousness; were desirous of Christ and his grace, and more knowledge of him, and eagerly sought after them.

And to these are promised the Spirit, and his gifts and graces, compared to water, for its purifying, softening, fructifying, and refreshing nature, and for extinguishing thirst, and giving a real pleasure and delight; see (Ezekiel 36:25) (John 3:5) and the abundance thereof is signified by "floods" of water; for in first conversion especially, there is an abounding, yea a superabounding of the grace of God; it is a well of living water; yea, out of the believer flow rivers of living water, (John 4:14) (John 7:37John 7:38) (Romans 5:20) (1 Timothy 1:14) and this grace of the Spirit is always a blessing: and indeed all the blessings of grace go along with it, as to the manifestation and application of them as justification, pardon of sin, adoption; here perhaps a more special regard is had to the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles of Christ being furnished with his gifts and graces, were fitted to go forth with the "fullness of the blessing" of the Gospel of Christ.

The Targum of the whole is, ``for as waters are given upon the thirsty land, and they flow upon the dry land, so will I give my Holy Spirit on your children, and my blessing upon your children's children;'' a succession of converts in the Christian church.

And they shall spring up as among the grass
That is, such on whom the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured with his gifts and grace, and with the blessings of it: by the "grass" may be meant common believers, comparable to green grass, for their numbers, being many; for their weakness in themselves; for their flourishing condition; like grass for its greenness, and verdure, and its springing up by clear shining after rain; see (Psalms 72:6Psalms 72:16) and by those that "spring up among them" are intended the apostles and ministers of the word, who exceed common Christians in their gifts, and grace, and usefulness; grow up higher and taller than they, like palm trees and cedars in Lebanon; and as such exceed private saints as tall trees exceed the grass they grow among:

as willows by the water courses ; a sort of trees well known, and which delight in watery places, and grow best on banks of rivers, and shoot up apace in a very short time, and spread their branches; so the apostles, after the effusion of the Spirit on them, grew quickly in gifts, and grace, and evangelic knowledge; and their usefulness spread far and near.

The Targum is, the righteous shall grow tender and delicate as the flowers of the grass, as a tree that sends forth its roots by flows of water.

One shall say, I am the Lord's This expresses the success of the apostles' ministry, not only among the Jews, but more especially among the Gentiles, who were not called by the name of Jacob and Israel; but now should call themselves by those names, as the following clauses show, being called by grace and converted; when they should openly profess their faith in Christ, claim their interest in him, and acknowledge his property in them, and not be ashamed of the name of Christians; and this one, and another, even many should do.

The Lord has a people who are his special and peculiar people, his beloved ones, the objects of his delight and pleasure, his chosen and covenant ones, his adopted ones, his treasure and his jewels; and hence he has taken such care of them; he has put them into the hands of Christ for their security; given him to be a Head, Redeemer, and Saviour of them; bestows every blessing of grace on them; will not suffer any to hurt them; and keeps them by his power: and having given them to Christ, they are his people, his portion, his spouse and bride, his children, and the sheep of his hand; hence he became incarnate on their account; laid down his life to save them; sends his Gospel, and along with it his Spirit effectually to call them; and hence all that he has is theirs, and he will keep them, and not lose any of them: and being called by grace, they are the workmanship of the Spirit; his temples in which he dwells, and in whom he is as the earnest and pledge of their eternal glory:

and this interest the Lord has in his people may be known by them, so as that they may be able to say, one and another, "I am the Lord's", as many of them have done; see (Psalms 119:94) (Song of Solomon 2:16) (Acts 27:23) ,

they may know they are the Lord's beloved ones, by his drawing them with his love, by the communications of his grace to them, by the communion with himself he indulges them with, and by what he shows unto them, and by the shedding abroad of his love in them; and that they are his chosen ones, by the Gospel coming in power to them, by their effectual calling, by the sanctification of the Spirit, and their faith in Christ Jesus;

and that they are his covenant ones, by the application of covenant grace and blessings to them; and that they are his adopted ones, by the Spirit of adoption sent down into their hearts, witnessing it unto them; they may know that they are the redeemed of the Lamb, by their having his Spirit, and by his being formed in their hearts: and they may know that they are the temples of the Holy Ghost, by his own work upon them, and his dwelling in them:

and knowing this, they should and will declare, and say they are the Lord's and none other's; that they are not their own, nor Satan's, nor the servants of men, but the Lord's to whom they devote themselves, and whom they desire to serve; and therefore join themselves to his churches, and walk in his ordinances, publicly confessing their faith in him, which is telling all the world whose they are; and this they say with the utmost joy and pleasure, in an exulting, yea, even boasting way and manner.

The Targum is,``this shall say, I am of them that fear the Lord:''

and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob ; reckon himself of the posterity of Jacob, in a spiritual sense; count it an honour to be called a wrestling Jacob, and a prevailing Israelite; so the Targum, ``this shall pray in the name of Jacob;'' either in the name of the God of Jacob, the Messiah, or as Jacob did:

"and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord": shall give his hand and seal to serve the Lord; shall esteem it his high and great privilege to be written among the living in Jerusalem and to have his name registered among the saints, and in their church book. The Targum is, ``and this shall offer his oblation before the Lord;'' himself and his sacrifices of prayer and praise:

"and surname himself by the name of Israel": shall value himself upon this, that he is an Israelite indeed, and shall choose no other name to be called by than that of a Christian. The Targum is, ``in the name of Israel; he shall draw near;'' and worship with them;

all these phrases are expressive of a sincere and hearty profession of faith in Christ, and of the Christian religion, in terms borrowed from the people of Israel; see (Acts 2:41Acts 2:47) (5:14) (2 Corinthians 8:5) .