No Need for God’s People to Fear (41:8–20)

God asserts that unlike the powerful nations around them, the Judean captives have nothing to fear. Their God is no idol whom they have made. Of course, it is not enough merely to insist that he is powerful enough to do something about their situation. The other issue is whether he wants to do anything for them. These verses insist that God has not cast them off because of their sin. In fact, they are his “servant,” his “chosen” (41:8, 9). God has not forgotten his promise to “Abraham.”

Just as the Lord God took Abraham from Mesopotamia and the descendents of Jacob out of Egypt, he can take this generation out as well. God is “with” them, to “strengthen,” “help,” and “uphold” them (41:10). God is not at some far-off point, shouting instructions. He is personally present with his people, so they have nothing to “fear.” Since the phrase “do not be afraid” is repeated so often in this section of the book, we know it is a central issue for the people in captivity. They are afraid God has abandoned them, so Isaiah reminds them again and again that this will not happen.

Of course, they are not only afraid that God has left them, they are also afraid that their many enemies will overpower them. That is the issue addressed in 41:11–16. God will protect them, and their enemies will simply evaporate before the Lord (41:11–12). Why? Because “I am the Lord,” language that is reminiscent of the Exodus. God will demonstrate his lordship by helping his people (41:13–14). He will take an active hand in their defense. Encouragement comes from knowing that God is personally present with them in their distress and from knowing that he will be directly involved in the outcome.

The word “Redeemer” appears here in 41:14 for the first time in Isaiah, but it will appear thirteen more times between now and the end of the book (ten of them before 54:9). Here it is given a special association with “the Holy One of Israel.” In chapters 1–39 this latter expression for God most frequently conveyed his transcendent power and glory. In this part of the book it is especially associated with his power to bring his own back to him.

In 41:15–16 God continues to offer his people protection from their enemies, but now the focus moves from defense to offense. Just as Cyrus will use his sword to thresh his enemies (41:2), so God is going to use Israel. A “threshing sledge” was constructed from pieces of wood with sharp stones (“teeth”) driven into them. This device was pulled around over a pile of cut grain so that the kernels of grain were separated from the husks both by the weight and by the cutting effect of the stones. God will use Israel in his plan of world history. They will not be passive by-standers, a helpless “worm” (41:14), but will be active participants with God in his work. We might think of Daniel in this respect, with his influence in both Babylon and Persia (Dan. 6:25–28), and also of Esther and Mordecai (Est. 10:1–3).

Verses 17–20 are a graphic summary of what has been said to this point. Isaiah uses the language of nature to depict a God who can do the impossible. His people are spiritually dry and desolate. Their hopes are gone and their dreams broken. Yet this God, who is not a part of the cosmic system and thus is not captive to it, can do what is new and unheard of. He can make “rivers” flow on mountaintops and cause “pools” to spring up in the “desert.”

The language here reminds the attentive reader of chapter 34, where God said that he could turn the desert into a garden, indeed into a veritable forest. God reiterates that promise here, but he goes a step further in verse 20 by giving the reason for doing this for his people: so that the world may see the evidence in what God has done for Israel that he is indeed God, the Holy One. Ezekiel makes a similar point when he says that God will show himself holy among his people so that the world may know who he is (Ezek. 36:23).