Isaiah 40 - Summary

Historical setting

Isaiah 40 marks a shift in the book of Isaiah. The first thirty-nine chapters address Judah before the Babylonian exile (eighth to early sixth century). Chapter 40 onwards speaks to Judah in or near the end of exile in Babylon, when the Persian empire has begun to rise and King Cyrus of Persia is becoming a significant power. The historical moment is uncertain but most scholars date this section to the sixth century, during or shortly before the actual release of Jewish exiles. The people have been displaced from their land, their temple destroyed, their king removed. They need reassurance that God has not abandoned them and that restoration is coming. The prophecy addresses both the immediate situation and speaks to God's nature and power in relation to all nations.

Life and customs

Idolatry and the making of carved images were widespread in the ancient Near East and even among some in Israel and Judah, despite the prohibition in their own law. Verses 19-20 reflect this reality: craftsmen cast and overlay metal idols, and even the poor commission wooden images from artisans. Sheep shepherding was a common livelihood and a powerful metaphor for kingship and care in the ancient world. Burnt offerings, mentioned in verse 16, were a central part of temple worship, requiring livestock. The "circle of the earth" in verse 22 reflects the geographical understanding of that period. Mountains and valleys, deserts and wildernesses, were the actual landscape through which people travelled and lived, making them natural imagery for transformation and change.

What the text says

The chapter opens with a command repeated for emphasis: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people" (verse 1). God's messenger is to tell Jerusalem that her "warfare is accomplished" and her "iniquity is pardoned," and that she has "received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins" (verse 2). A voice cries out to prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, making straight a highway, exalting valleys and lowering mountains and hills (verses 3-4). When this highway is made, God's glory will be revealed and all flesh shall see it (verse 5).

A voice commands the messenger to cry out; the messenger asks what to cry. The answer is that all flesh is grass and its goodliness like flowers that wither and fade (verses 6-7), but "the word of our God shall stand for ever" (verse 8). Jerusalem and Zion are to climb high and announce to Judah's cities: "Behold your God!" (verse 9). God will come "with strong hand" to rule, bringing reward and works before him (verse 10). He will feed his flock like a shepherd, gather the lambs, and lead gently those with young (verse 11).

The chapter then poses a series of rhetorical questions about God's power. Who has measured the waters in his hand, meted out heaven with a span, and weighed mountains and hills (verse 12)? Who has directed God's Spirit or taught him (verses 13-14)? Nations are described as a drop of water, dust on scales, islands as very little things (verse 15). Lebanon's wood and beasts are not sufficient for a burnt offering (verse 16). All nations before God are nothing and less than nothing (verse 17).

To what, then, can God be compared (verse 18)? Verses 19-20 describe idolmakers casting and plating images, even the poor commissioning wooden ones. Verse 21 asks rhetorically if the people have not known or heard these truths from the beginning. God sits upon the earth's circle while its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; he stretches the heavens as a tent (verse 22). Princes and judges are brought to nothing (verse 23), and when God blows upon them, they wither like stubble (verse 24).

Again the question: "To whom then will ye liken me?" (verse 25). People should lift their eyes and see who created all things, calling them by name through his might (verse 26). Jacob and Israel are addressed directly: why do they say their way is hidden from God (verse 27)? God is "the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth," who "fainteth not, neither is weary" and whose understanding cannot be searched (verse 28). He gives power to the faint and increases strength in the weak (verse 29). Even youths shall faint and young men fall, but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up with eagles' wings, run without weariness, and walk without fainting (verses 30-31).

Takeaways

• God's comfort to exiles rests not on immediate military change but on the eternal permanence of his word against the fleeting nature of human and worldly power.
• The repeated comparison of all human and national power to grass, dust, and grasshoppers in God's presence is meant to humble both the powerful and those who trust in them.
• Waiting on God, rather than relying on visible strength or idols, is presented as the path to renewed power and endurance.