Biblion Bible Commentary
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Comfort My People
Isaiah 40:1-11
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. · WEB
The second half of the book opens with a word said twice, a road ordered built through a desert, and a shepherd carrying lambs.
"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God Isaiah 40:1.
The word is repeated and the verbs are plural — a command issued to whoever is listening. And the possessives have changed: my people, your God, after thirty-nine chapters in which the relationship had been in question.
Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned Isaiah 40:2.
The phrase is literally speak to the heart, which is what a man does to a woman he is courting. Three things are announced: the term of service is finished, the guilt is settled, and the account is more than closed.
The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God" Isaiah 40:3.
All four Gospels apply this to John the Baptist Matthew 3:3 John 1:23. The image is of the road-building that preceded a royal progress — valleys filled, hills cut down, the surface graded — and the striking thing is where it is built. Not from the wilderness to the city. Through the wilderness, which is where the people are.
Yahweh's glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together Isaiah 40:5.
The voice of one saying, "Cry out!" One said, "What shall I cry?" Isaiah 40:6.
A second voice, and a question back — the herald wants to know what the message is. What he is given is not obviously comfort.
All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades... but the word of our God stands forever Isaiah 40:6–8.
The contrast is the ground of the comfort rather than a qualification of it. To exiles under an empire, the news that all flesh is grass is good news, because the empire is flesh. Peter quotes the passage and adds that the word which endures is the word of Good News which was preached to you 1 Peter 1:24–25.
You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain... Lift it up! Don't be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!" Isaiah 40:9.
The messenger is told to get high, shout, and not be frightened — which suggests the message was not obviously credible to its first hearers.
Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him Isaiah 40:10.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young Isaiah 40:11.
The same arm, in consecutive verses, ruling and carrying lambs. And the last clause is the most careful thing in the chapter: the ewes with young set the pace of a flock, and a shepherd who does not lead gently loses them. The strength of verse ten is being described by what it slows down for.
settled What this mark means