Isaiah 51:15

51:9-16 The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time, as our cases require? In this world of changes, it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world, sorrow shall never come in view. They prayed for the display of God's power; he answers them with consolations of his grace. Did we dread to sin against God, we should not fear the frowns of men. Happy is the man that fears God always. And Christ's church shall enjoy security by the power and providence of the Almighty.

But I am the Lord thy God that divided the sea, whose waves roared,.... Referring to the dividing of the Red sea by a violent wind, at which time the waves of it doubtless roared till they were made to stand quietly, as a wall on the right and left, for the Israelites to pass through, as in Isaiah 51:10 . Or this is to be understood of the power of God at any time in stilling and quieting the sea when it rages; which signification the word (s) here used has, as Aben Ezra observes; which power is expressed by a rebuke or reproof of it. And so the Targum, "I am the Lord thy God, that rebuketh the sea:'' and in like manner the Syriac version; see Psalm 106:9 with which compare Matthew 8:26. Now he that can do, and oftentimes has done this, can rebuke, restrain, and still the fury of the oppressors, the rage of the persecutors, Rome Pagan or Papal, and deliver out of their hands, Psalm 65:7, the Lord of hosts is his name: the Lord of armies in heaven and earth, and therefore is able to do these things in a natural, civil, and religious sense. (s) "qui tranquillat" Gakater; "faciens quiescere", so some in Vitringa; and the word has the signification of rest and quietness in ver 4.

15. divided … sea—the Red Sea. The same Hebrew word as "make to rest" (Isa 51:4). Rather, "that terrify the sea," that is, restrain it by My rebuke, "when its waves roar" [Gesenius]. The Hebrew favors Maurer, "that terrify the sea so that the waves roar." The sense favors Gesenius (Jer 5:22; 31:35), or English Version (Isa 51:9, 10, which favors the special reference to the exodus from Egypt).

15 . that divided the sea &c. ] Render with R.V. which stirreth up (see on Isaiah 51:4 ) the sea so that the waves thereof roar (cf. Job 26:12 ). The idea is parallel with that of Isaiah 51:9 f., being an illustration of Jehovah’s power over the elements. He can, as it were, play with the sea, for His stirring it up to fury implies that He is able to restrain it, and at the right time to still it again. the Lord of hosts is his name ] Chs. Isaiah 47:4 , Isaiah 48:2 , Isaiah 54:5 . 15, 16 . These verses contain a remarkable number of resemblances to other passages (see below). Isaiah 51:15 , apart from the introductory words, occurs in Jeremiah 31:35 , though it is doubtful to which passage it originally belongs. Giesebrecht (on Jeremiah) unhesitatingly pronounces it a citation from this verse.

Verse 15. - But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea ; rather, for I , the Lord thy God , am he that divided the sea (comp. ver. 10). The reference is once more to the great miracle wrought at the Exodus, when the Red Sea was "divided" before the host of Israelites ( Exodus 14:21 ; comp. Psalm 74:13 ). Whose waves roared (see Exodus 14:27 ; Exodus 15:10 ). Isaiah 51:15

But I am the Lord thy God - In order to show them that he was able to save them, God again refers to the fact that he had divided the sea, and delivered their fathers from bondage and oppression. That divided the sea - The Red Sea. The Chaldee renders this, 'That rebuked the sea.' The Septuagint, Ὁ ταράσσων ho tarassōn - 'Who disturbs the sea.' or, who excites a tempest. Lowth renders it, 'Who stilleth at once the sea.' The Hebrew word is the same which occurs in Isaiah 51:4, where it is rendered, 'I will make my judgment to rest' (רגע râga‛). Probably the idea here is, that he restrains the raging of the sea as if by fear; that is, makes it tranquil or still by rebuking it. He had this power over all raging seas, and he had shown it in a special manner by his rebuking the Red Sea and making it rest, and causing a way to be made through it, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt. The Lord of hosts is his name - (See the notes at Isaiah 1:9; compare the notes at Isaiah 42:8).

In the second half the promise commences again, but with more distinct reference to the oppression of the exiles and the sufferings of Jerusalem. Jehovah Himself begins to speak now, setting His seal upon what is longed and hoped for. "I am your comforter: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal who will die, and of a son of man who is made a blade of grass; that thou shouldst forget Jehovah thy Creator, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth; that thou shouldst be afraid continually all the day of the fury of the tormentor, as he aims to destroy? and where is the fury of the tormentor left? He that is bowed down is quickly set loose, and does not die to the grave, and his bread does not fail him; as truly as I Jehovah am thy God, who frighteneth up the sea, so that its waves roar: Jehovah of hosts is His name." הוּא after אנכי אנכי is an emphatic repetition, and therefore a strengthening of the subject (αὐτὸς ἐγώ), as above, in Isaiah 51:10 , in אתּ־היא. From this major, that Jehovah is the comforter of His church, and by means of a minor, that whoever has Him for a comforter has no need to fear, the conclusion is drawn that the church has no cause to fear.

Consequently we cannot adopt Knobel's explanation, "How small thou art, that thou art afraid." The meaning is rather, "Is it really the case with thee (i.e., art thou then so small, so forsaken), that thou hast any need to fear" (fut. consec., according to Ges. 129, 1; cf., ki, Exodus 3:11 ; Judges 9:28 )? The attributive sentence tâmūth (who will die) brings out the meaning involved in the epithet applied to man, viz., 'ĕnōsh (compare in the Persian myth Gayomard, from the old Persian gaya meretan, mortal life); חציר equals כּחציר ( Psalm 37:2 ; Psalm 90:5 ; Psalm 103:15 ; compare above, Isaiah 40:6-8 ) is an equation instead of a comparison. In Isaiah 51:12 the address is thrown into a feminine form, in Isaiah 51:13 into a masculine one; Zion being the object in the former, and (what is the same thing) Israel in the latter: that thou forgettest thy Creator, who is also the almighty Maker of the universe, and soarest about in constant endless alarm at the wrath of the tormentor, whilst he is aiming to destroy (pichad, contremiscere, as in Proverbs 28:14 ; ka'ăsher as in Psalm 66:7 ; Numbers 27:14 , lit., according as; kōnēn, viz., his arrows, or even his bow, as in Psalm 11:2 ; Psalm 7:13 , cf., Isaiah 21:13 ). We must not translate this quasi disposuisset, which is opposed to the actual fact, although syntactically possible ( Job 10:19 ; Zechariah 10:6 ).