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Text -- Isaiah 40:21 (NET)

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Context
40:21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?
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Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
, Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , Maclaren , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable , Guzik

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Isa 40:21 - -- God to be the only true God, the maker and governor of the world.

God to be the only true God, the maker and governor of the world.

JFB: Isa 40:21 - -- Who worship idols. The question emphatically implies, they had known.

Who worship idols. The question emphatically implies, they had known.

JFB: Isa 40:21 - -- (Isa 41:4, Isa 41:26; Isa 48:16). God is the beginning (Rev 1:8). The tradition handed down from the very first, of the creation of all things by God...

(Isa 41:4, Isa 41:26; Isa 48:16). God is the beginning (Rev 1:8). The tradition handed down from the very first, of the creation of all things by God at the beginning, ought to convince you of His omnipotence and of the folly of idolatry.

Clarke: Isa 40:21 - -- Have ye not known - On this verse Kimchi has a very interesting comment, an extract of which I subjoin. "The whole world may be considered as a hous...

Have ye not known - On this verse Kimchi has a very interesting comment, an extract of which I subjoin. "The whole world may be considered as a house built up; heaven its roof; the stars its lamps; and the fruits of the earth its table spread. The Master of the house is God, blessed for ever; and man is the steward into whose hand all the business of the house is given. If he always consider in his heart that the Master of the house is continually over him, and that he keeps his eye upon his work, and if in consequence he acts wisely, he shall find favor in the eyes of the Master of the house. But if he find wickedness in the house, then will he remove him מן פקידתו min pekidutho , ‘ from his stewardship.’ The foolish steward does not think of this; for as his eyes do not see the Master of the house, he saith in his heart, ‘ I will eat and drink what I find in this house, and will take my pleasure in it; nor shall I be careful whether there be a master over this house or not.’ When the Lord of the house marks this, he comes and expels him from the house speedily, and with great anger; therefore it is said, Isa 40:23, He bringeth the princes to nothing."It seems that this parable had been long in use among the Jews, as our blessed Lord alludes to it in his parable of the unjust steward. Or did the rabbin, finding it to his purpose, steal the parable from the Gospel? In both places it has great and peculiar beauties

Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth "Have ye not understood it from the foundations of the earth?"- The true reading seems to be ממוסדות mimmosedoth , to answer to מראש merosh in the foregoing line. It follows a word ending with מ mem , and out of three mems concurring, it was an easy mistake to drop the middle one.

Calvin: Isa 40:21 - -- 21.Do ye not know? After having ridiculed the stupidity and madness of the Gentiles, the Prophet turns to the Jews; for we are all prone to superstit...

21.Do ye not know? After having ridiculed the stupidity and madness of the Gentiles, the Prophet turns to the Jews; for we are all prone to superstition, and thus we easily fall into it when any example is placed before our eyes. In consequence of mixing with the Babylonians during their captivity, the Jews were constrained to behold daily the basest examples of idolatry, and might be led away to wicked imitation. Isaiah therefore anticipates this at an early period, and warns them not to be carried away by the sight of such things.

He asks, “Have they not been taught, and have they not learned who is God?” The greater part of commentators think that all the questions here put are a repetition of the same truth, namely, that the creation of the world shews clearly that nothing can be more inconsistent than to seek God in wood and stone, silver and gold. But we may infer from the context that there are two clauses. Had he proceeded in his expostulation with the Gentiles, he would have brought forward no other witnesses than heaven and earth. But because he addresses the Jews who had been plainly taught by the Law, he brings forward direct arguments to refute them, drawn both from the order of nature and from the voice of God. And, first, he puts the question in general terms, “Do ye not know?” Next, he adds two methods by which they ought to have distinguished between the true God and the false gods. The former is drawn from the hearing of the Word, and therefore he expressly says, “Hath it not been told you? Have ye not heard?”

The latter method is borrowed from that magnificent theatre 118 in which the glory of God shines above and below. If the discourse had been addressed to foreigners and heathens, he would have been satisfied with this second demonstration, as we see that Paul also was; for, having to do with the inhabitants of Lystra, to whom no knowledge of heavenly doctrine had been conveyed, he employs none but natural arguments, that “God, by giving rain and sunshine, did not leave himself (ἀμάρτυρον) without witness.” (Act 14:17.) But when the Prophet spoke to the Jews about true godliness, it would have been improper for him to pass by the Law, which rendered them doubly inexcusable if, by neglecting it, they profaned themselves with unbelievers; for they had been convinced not only by the sight of their eyes, but also by the hearing of their cars, which God beat incessantly by the preaching of his Law. Since, therefore, from their mother’s womb they had sucked along with the milk the true knowledge of God, and had been taught by their fathers through a long succession of generations, the Prophet justly argues that they will be exceedingly ungrateful and wicked, if such assistance produce no good effect upon them.

Hath it not been told you from the beginning? The phrase, from the beginning, or “long ago,” conveys the idea that not only had they been educated from childhood in the pure worship of God, but during a succession of ages there had been largely enjoyed by that nation a doctrine which would not suffer them to go astray, provided that they were attentive; as if he had said, “Ye have not any new God, but the same God who revealed himself from the beginning to Abraham, Moses, and the rest of the fathers.” And indeed it yields no small confirmation, that the doctrine which had been continued among believers during so many ages must have been ancient. Not that antiquity alone is sufficient for establishing the certainty of faith, (for, on the contrary, the Gentiles might easily have objected, that their superstitions were not less ancient,) but since “from the beginning” the authority of the Law had been abundantly ratified, and God had testified that it came from him, long experience added no small confirmation, when they knew that their ancestors had delivered to posterity a form of religion which they could not throw away without receiving the stamp of base apostasy. Such a commencement, therefore, and such progress quickly remove all doubt. It is one and the same faith that has been held by us and by our fathers, for they and we have acknowledged the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same word, the same promises, and the same end, have been exhibited to all believers.

From the foundations of the earth This is figurative language, in which a part is taken for the whole; for a part of the world is put; for the whole world. God has exhibited this world as a mirror to men, that by beholding it they may acknowledge his majesty, so that it is a lively image of invisible things, as Paul explains at great length in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Their ignorance is therefore “without excuse;” for they cannot allege that they do not know God who has revealed himself in so many ways. (Rom 1:20.) And indeed men sin more through insolence and pride than through ignorance; for they despise God who manifests himself openly and speaks plainly, and their attention is occupied with creatures, and with the most trifling matters. Has such contempt any title to be excused? Do they not deserve to be blinded, and to adore their own inventions instead of God, which we see has happened to almost all? Such punishment is unquestionably just and due to so great pride. And if to that knowledge which we obtain through the creatures there be likewise added the doctrine of the word, we are much less excusable. Isaiah has therefore joined both kinds of knowledge, in order to shew that the Jews ought to be doubly condemned, if they did not place confidence in God, after having received instruction concerning his power and goodness.

TSK: Isa 40:21 - -- Isa 27:11, Isa 44:20, Isa 46:8; Psa 19:1-5, Psa 115:8; Jer 10:8-12; Act 14:17; Rom 1:19-21, Rom 1:28, Rom 3:1, Rom 3:2

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Isa 40:21 - -- Have ye not known? - This is evidently an address to the worshippers of idols, and either designed to be addressed to the Jews themselves in th...

Have ye not known? - This is evidently an address to the worshippers of idols, and either designed to be addressed to the Jews themselves in the times of Manasseh, when idolatry abounded, or to all idolaters. The prophet had in the previous verses shown the manner in which the idols were made, and the folly of regarding them as objects of worship. He now turns and addresses the worshippers of these idols, as being without excuse. They might have known that these were not the true God. They had had abundant opportunity of learning his existence and of becoming acquainted with his majesty and glory. Tradition had informed them of this, and the creation of the earth demonstrated his greatness and power. The prophet, therefore, asks them whether they had not known this? Whether their conduct was the result of ignorance? And the question implies emphatically that they had known, or had abundant opportunity to know of the existence and majesty of God. This was emphatically true of the Jews, and yet they were constantly falling into idolatrous worship.

From the beginning - Hebrew, ‘ From the head,’ that is, from the very commencement of the world. Has it not been communicated by tradition, from age to age, that there is one God, and that he is the Creator and upholder of all things? This was particularly the case with the Jews, who had had this knowledge from the very commencement of their history, and they were, therefore, entirely without excuse in their tendencies to idolatry.

From the foundations of the earth - Have you not learned the existence and greatness of God from the fact that the world has been made, and that it demonstrates the existence and perfection of God? The sacred writers often speak of the earth as resting on a foundation, as upheld, etc.:

For he hath founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the floods.

(Psa 24:2; see also Pro 8:29) Perhaps here, however, the word ‘ foundation’ refers rather to the time than to the manner in which the earth is made, and corresponds to the phrase ‘ from the beginning;’ and the sense may be, ‘ Has it not been understood ever since the earth was founded? Has not the tradition of the existence and perfections of God been unbroken and constant?’ The argument is, that the existence and greatness of God were fully known by tradition and by his works; and that it was absurd to attempt to form an image of that God who had laid the foundations of the world.

Poole: Isa 40:21 - -- Have ye not known to wit, God to be the only true God, the Maker and Governor of the world, and all its inhabitants? how can you be ignorant of so ev...

Have ye not known to wit, God to be the only true God, the Maker and Governor of the world, and all its inhabitants? how can you be ignorant of so evident a truth? He addresseth his speech to the idolatrous Gentiles.

From the beginning to wit, of the world, as the next clause explains it. Were not these infinite perfections of God manifestly discovered to all mankind by the creation of the world?

Haydock: Isa 40:21 - -- Beginning, by the light of nature, and (Worthington) has not Moses declared that God alone created the world? (Haydock) --- His power and goodness ...

Beginning, by the light of nature, and (Worthington) has not Moses declared that God alone created the world? (Haydock) ---

His power and goodness herein convince us that he will not deny grace. (Worthington)

Gill: Isa 40:21 - -- Have ye not known? This is the speech of the prophet, directed to the idolaters, appealing to their own natural knowledge, who, from the light of natu...

Have ye not known? This is the speech of the prophet, directed to the idolaters, appealing to their own natural knowledge, who, from the light of nature, might know that idols were nothing, had no divinity in them: that it is God that made the earth and governs the world, and who only ought to be worshipped:

have ye not heard? by tradition from the ancients, from your forefathers, who received it from theirs, and have delivered it to you:

hath it not been told you from the beginning? from the beginning of your states and kingdoms, and even from the beginning of the world, by the wisest and best of men that have been in it, that those things are true before related, and what follow:

have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? the being of God, the invisible things of him, his eternal power and Godhead, from the things that are made, even from his founding of the earth; as well as such knowledge and understanding has been as early as that, and might be continued from it: or,

have ye not understood the foundations of the earth y? what the earth is founded upon, and who laid the foundations of it; no other than that divine Being described in the next words.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

Geneva Bible: Isa 40:21 Have ye not known? have ye not ( y ) heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the ( z ) foundations of the ear...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Isa 40:1-31 - --1 The promulgation of the Gospel.3 The preaching of John Baptist.9 The preaching of the apostles.12 The prophet, by the omnipotency of God,18 and his ...

Maclaren: Isa 40:21-28 - --Have Ye Not? Hast Thou Not?' Have ye not known, have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foun...

MHCC: Isa 40:18-26 - --Whatever we esteem or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that creature we make equal with God, though we do not make images or worship them. He tha...

Matthew Henry: Isa 40:18-26 - -- The prophet here reproves those, 1. Who represented God by creatures, and so changed his truth into a lie and his glory into shame, who made images ...

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 40:21 - -- Having thus depicted in a few strokes the infatuation of idolatry, the prophet addresses the following question to such of the Israelites as are loo...

Constable: Isa 40:1--55:13 - --IV. Israel's calling in the world chs. 40--55 This part of Isaiah picks up a theme from chapters 1-39 and develo...

Constable: Isa 40:1--48:22 - --A. God's grace to Israel chs. 40-48 These chapters particularly address the questions of whether God cou...

Constable: Isa 40:1-31 - --1. The Lord of the servant ch. 40 Would the coming Babylonian exile prove that God could not del...

Constable: Isa 40:12-26 - --The incomparable Lord 40:12-26 The preceding section answered the question that the people of Isaiah's day had about God's desire to deliver them. Yes...

Guzik: Isa 40:1-31 - --Isaiah 40 - Comfort and Strength for God's People A. The Word of the LORD prepares the way of the LORD. 1. (1-2) Comfort for the afflicted people of...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Isaiah (Book Introduction) ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher deg...

JFB: Isaiah (Outline) PARABLE OF JEHOVAH'S VINEYARD. (Isa. 5:1-30) SIX DISTINCT WOES AGAINST CRIMES. (Isa. 5:8-23) (Lev 25:13; Mic 2:2). The jubilee restoration of posses...

TSK: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Isaiah has, with singular propriety, been denominated the Evangelical Prophet, on account of the number and variety of his prophecies concerning the a...

TSK: Isaiah 40 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Isa 40:1, The promulgation of the Gospel; Isa 40:3, The preaching of John Baptist; Isa 40:9, The preaching of the apostles; Isa 40:12, Th...

Poole: Isaiah (Book Introduction) THE ARGUMENT THE teachers of the ancient church were of two sorts: 1. Ordinary, the priests and Levites. 2. Extraordinary, the prophets. These we...

Poole: Isaiah 40 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 40 The prophet having now foretold the Babylonish captivity, Isa 39:6,7 , doth here arm his people against it by the consideration of their...

MHCC: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He has been well called the evangelical prophet, on account of his numerous and...

MHCC: Isaiah 40 (Chapter Introduction) (Isa 40:1-11) The preaching of the gospel, and glad tidings of the coming of Christ. (Isa 40:12-17) The almighty power of God. (Isa 40:18-26) The fo...

Matthew Henry: Isaiah (Book Introduction) An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Isaiah Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those that understand it, t...

Matthew Henry: Isaiah 40 (Chapter Introduction) At this chapter begins the latter part of the prophecy of this book, which is not only divided from the former by the historical chapters that come...

Constable: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Introduction Title and writer The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the o...

Constable: Isaiah (Outline) Outline I. Introduction chs. 1-5 A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 1 ...

Constable: Isaiah Isaiah Bibliography Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 1846, 1847. Revised ed. ...

Haydock: Isaiah (Book Introduction) THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS. INTRODUCTION. This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, (Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 25.) the great prophet; from t...

Gill: Isaiah (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH This book is called, in the New Testament, sometimes "the Book of the Words of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 3:4 sometimes only t...

Gill: Isaiah 40 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 40 This chapter treats of the comforts of God's people; of the forerunner and coming of the Messiah; of his work, and the di...

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