Biblion Bible Commentary
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He Warms Himself and Says, Aha
Isaiah 44:1-20
1 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. · WEB
A man cooks his dinner over half a log and worships the other half, and the passage follows him step by step.
Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen Isaiah 44:2.
Jeshurun means something like the upright one, and it is used of Israel only four times in Scripture. It is a name given rather than earned.
I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants Isaiah 44:3.
The same verb twice, and the second explains the first.
I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God Isaiah 44:6.
The title is taken up by the risen Christ in the first chapter of Revelation Revelation 1:17.
Let them declare the things that are coming... You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don't know any other Rock Isaiah 44:7–8.
The last clause is almost conversational, and it is the strongest denial in the book. Not there is no other asserted from outside, but I don't know any — said by the one who would.
What follows is the longest and most patient satire in Scripture, and its method is simply to describe the process in order.
The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint Isaiah 44:12.
The god-maker gets tired. He needs food and water while making the thing that will be asked for help.
The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house Isaiah 44:13.
Five operations, described with a craftsman's respect. The work is skilled and the result is handsome, and it is shaped like a man because the maker had nothing else to copy.
He cuts down cedars for himself... He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it Isaiah 44:14.
The passage goes back further than the workshop, to the seedling — and notes that the rain grew it. Even the raw material was supplied.
Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it Isaiah 44:15.
One log, two uses, and the same sentence covers both.
He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire." The rest of it he makes into a god... and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" Isaiah 44:16–17.
The two speeches are quoted side by side, from the same man, in front of the same woodpile. Nothing is added. The satire is that he does not hear himself.
No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I have burned part of it in the fire... Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?" Isaiah 44:19.
The question nobody asks, supplied by the text.
He feeds on ashes... and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20.
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