Isaiah 40:14

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Counsel . . . judgment.—The cluster of words belonging to the sapiential vocabulary of the Book of Proverbs is to be noted as parallel with Proverbs 11:23, Isaiah 33:15.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

40:12-17 All created beings shrink to nothing in comparison with the Creator. When the Lord, by his Spirit, made the world, none directed his Spirit, or gave advice what to do, or how to do it. The nations, in comparison of him, are as a drop which remains in the bucket, compared with the vast ocean; or as the small dust in the balance, which does not turn it, compared with all the earth. This magnifies God's love to the world, that, though it is of such small account and value with him, yet, for the redemption of it, he gave his only-begotten Son, Joh 3:16. The services of the church can make no addition to him. Our souls must have perished for ever, if the only Son of the Father had not given himself for us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With whom took he counsel - The sentiment of the former verse is repeated here, in order, probably, to make it more emphatic.

In the path of judgment - The way of judging correctly and wisely; or the way of administering justice. It denotes here his boundless wisdom as it is seen in the various arrangements of his creation and providence, by which all things keep their places, and accomplish his vast designs.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. path of judgment—His wisdom, whereby He so beautifully adjusts the places and proportions of all created things.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Taught him in the path of judgment; how to walk and manage all his affairs with good judgment and discretion.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him,.... This is the same as before, only repeated in other words, the more strongly to deny that any mere creature counselled, taught, and instructed the Spirit of Christ, in the ordering and managing the works of creation:

and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? or gave him that judgment, knowledge, and understanding in framing the world, and all things in it, in that beautiful and regular manner that it is; which shows it to be a work of wisdom, more than human or angelical, and to be purely divine; no one, angel or man, could have struck out such a path of judgment, such a way of understanding, or showed such exquisite skill and knowledge, as appear in the works of creation; see Psalm 104:24.

Geneva Study Bible

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. and who instructed] Or, so that he instructed.

path of judgment] path of right (mishpâṭ). See ch. Isaiah 28:26, where the word means orderly procedure; here the reference is to the order of nature, or else the transition is already made from creation to providence (Isaiah 40:15).

way of understanding] Or, way of insight. The intermediate clause and taught him knowledge is omitted by the LXX., and since it disturbs the parallelism, and repeats the verb just used, it may be a gloss.

Isaiah 40:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A second question follows in Isaiah 40:13, Isaiah 40:14. "Who regulated the Spirit of Jehovah, and (who) instructed Him as His counsellor? With whom took He counsel, and who would have explained to Him and instructed Him concerning the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made known to Him a prudent course?" The first question called to mind the omnipotence of Jehovah; this recalls His omniscience, which has all fulness in itself, and therefore precludes all instruction from without. "The Spirit of Jehovah" is the Spirit which moved upon the waters at the creation, and by which chaos was reduced to order. "Who," inquires this prophet - "who furnished this Spirit with the standard, according to which all this was to be done?" תּכּן as in Isaiah 40:12, to bring into conformity with rule, and so to fit for regulated working. Instead of mercha tifchah athnach, which suggests the Targum rendering, "quis direxit spiritum? Jehova" (vid., Proverbs 16:2), it would be more correct to adopt the accentuation tifchah munach athnach (cf., Exodus 21:24; Exodus 23:9), and there are certain codices in which we find this (see Dachselt). In Isaiah 40:13 we might follow the Septuagint translation, καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ σύμβουλος ἐγένετο ὃς σύμβιβᾶ (Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16, συμβιβάσει) αὐτόν, but in this case we miss the verb היה. The rendering we have given above is not so harsh, and the accentuation is indifferent here, since silluk is never written without tifchahif only a single word precedes it. In Isaiah 40:14 the reciprocal נוע is connected with את equals אם. The futt. cons. retain their literal meaning: with whom did He consult, so that he supplied Him with understanding in consequence (hēbhı̄n, generally to understand, here in a causative sense). The verbs of instruction are sometimes construed with בּ of the lesson taught, sometimes with a double accusative. In reply to the questions in Isaiah 40:13, Isaiah 40:14, which are essentially one, Israel must acknowledge that its God is the possessor of absolute might, and also of absolute wisdom.