Isaiah 43:18

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18, 19) Remember ye not . . .—All the wonders of the great historic past of Israel were to be as nothing compared with the new manifestation of the power of Jehovah, which Isaiah sees as already dawning in the future.

Shall ye not know it?—Better, Will ye not give heed to it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness . . .—The literal and the spiritual senses melt into each other. The very beasts of the field shall lose their ferocity in the presence of the saints of God. For “dragons and owls,” read jackals and ostriches.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 43:18-19. Remember ye not the former things — But although your former deliverance out of Egypt was in itself a most glorious work, which you ought always to remember and consider; yet this other work, of your deliverance out of Babylon, and those blessings which shall follow upon it, and particularly that of sending the Messiah, shall be so transcendent a favour, that, in comparison thereof, all your former deliverances are scarcely worthy of your remembrance and consideration. See two parallel texts, Jeremiah 16:14-15; Jeremiah 23:5-8. From which passages laid together it appears that this latter deliverance, compared with that out of Egypt, is not to be confined to their restoration from captivity, but to be extended to the consequences thereof, and especially to the redemption of the Messiah. Indeed, otherwise the deliverance from Egypt was more glorious and wonderful, in many respects, than that out of Babylon. Behold, I will do a new thing — Such a work as was never yet done in the world. Now it shall spring forth — The Scripture often speaks of things at a great distance of time, as if they were now at hand, to make us sensible of the inconsiderableness of time and all temporal things, in comparison of God and eternal things; upon which account it is said, that a thousand years are in God’s sight but as one day. Shall ye not know it? — Certainly, you Jews shall know it by experience, and shall find I do not deceive you with vain hopes. I will make a way in the wilderness, &c. — I will give you direction and provision in the wilderness, where there is commonly no path, and where all necessaries are wanting; which, as it literally speaks of God’s conducting them through the great desert which lay between Babylon and Judea, so it is mystically meant of those spiritual blessings which God, in and through Christ, would confer upon all his people, not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, who, in prophetical language, are often compared to a wilderness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

43:14-21 The deliverance from Babylon is foretold, but there is reference to greater events. The redemption of sinners by Christ, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the recall of the Jews, are described. All that is to be done to rescue sinners, and to bring the believer to glory, is little, compared with that wondrous work of love, the redemption of man.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Remember ye not ... - So great and wonderful shall be God's future interpositions in your behalf, that what he has done, great as that was, shall be comparatively forgotten.

The former things - The deliverance from Egypt, and the overthrow of his enemies there.

The things of old - The things that were formerly done.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. So wonderful shall be God's future interpositions in your behalf, that all past ones shall be forgotten in comparison. Plainly the future restoration of Israel is the event ultimately meant. Thus the "former things" are such events as the destruction of Sennacherib and the return from Babylon. "Things of old" are events still more ancient, the deliverance from Egypt and at the Red Sea, and entry into Canaan [Vitringa].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

But although your former deliverance out of Egypt was in itself a most glorious work, which you ought always to remember and consider; yet this other work of your deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus, and those blessings which shall follow upon it, and particularly that inestimable mercy of sending the Messiah, shall be so transcendent a layout, that, in comparison thereof, all your former deliverances are scarce worthy of your remembrance and consideration. Which exposition is confirmed by two parallel texts, Jeremiah 16:14,15 23:7,8. From all which texts laid together, it appears that this latter deliverance, compared with that out of Egypt, is not to be confined to their freedom from the Babylonish captivity, but to be extended to the consequences of it, and especially to the redemption by Christ, because otherwise that Egyptian deliverance was more glorious and wonderful in many respects than the Babylonian.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Remember ye not the former things,.... Just now referred to, the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in it; for though these things were worthy to be remembered with thankfulness and praise, and to the glory of God, and for the encouragement of faith, yet not in comparison of what was hereafter to be done; meaning, not the redemption from Babylon, unless as a type of spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ; for otherwise there were greater and more wonderful things done, when Israel were brought out of Egypt, than when they were brought out of Babylon; but the great salvation by the Messiah, which exceeds both the deliverances out of Egypt and Babylon, is meant:

neither consider the things of old; unless as figures of the new, but not to be put upon a foot with them, much less to the undervaluing of them, and indeed to be forgotten in comparison of them; see Jeremiah 23:7. The Talmudists (q), by the "former" things, understand subjection to kingdoms; and, by the "things of old", the going out of Egypt; as they do by the "new thing", in the following verse, the war of Gog and Magog.

(q) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 13. 1. T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 4. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. Great as the wonders of the exodus were they shall be far surpassed by that which Jehovah is about to do. The verse resumes the opening clause of Isaiah 43:16.

Remember ye not …] Cf. Jeremiah 16:14 f., Isaiah 23:7 f. It is not meant of course that the exodus shall be actually forgotten (see ch. Isaiah 46:9), but only that it shall no longer be the supreme instance of Jehovah’s redeeming power.

former things … things of old] Cf. ch. Isaiah 46:9. Obviously the expression “former things,” so often used of past events predicted, here includes the remote incidents of the deliverance from Egypt.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - Remember ye not the former things. The old deliverance will be as nothing compared with the new. Israel must cast its eye forwards, not backwards. Mr. Cheyne well compares Jeremiah 23:7, 8, and also well notes that "the chief glories of the second manifestation are spiritual." Israel in the wilderness was a stiff:necked and rebellious people, given to murmuring, licentiousness, and idolatry. Israel, returned from Babylon, will no more hanker after idols, but will have God's Law "put in their inward parts" (Jeremiah 32:33), and will "show forth God's praise" (ver. 21). Isaiah 43:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There now follows a second field of the picture of redemption; and the expression "for your sake" is expounded in Isaiah 43:16-21 : "Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth a road through the sea, and a path through tumultuous waters; who bringeth out chariot and horse, army and hero; they lie down together, they never rise: they have flickered away, extinguished like a wick. Remember not things of olden time, nor meditate upon those of earlier times! Behold, I work out a new thing: will ye not live to see it? Yea, I make a road through the desert, and streams through solitudes. The beast of the field will praise me, wild dogs and ostriches: for I give water in the desert, streams in solitude, to give drink to my people, my chosen. The people that I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise." What Jehovah really says commences in Isaiah 43:18. Then in between He is described as Redeemer out of Egypt; for the redemption out of Egypt was a type and pledge of the deliverance to be looked for out of Babylon. The participles must not be rendered qui dedit, eduxit; but from the mighty act of Jehovah in olden time general attributes are deduced: He who makes a road in the sea, as He once showed. The sea with the tumultuous waters is the Red Sea (Nehemiah 9:11); ‛izzūz, which rhymes with vâsūs, is a concrete, as in Psalm 24:8, the army with the heroes at its head. The expression "bringeth out," etc., is not followed by "and suddenly destroys them," but we are transported at once into the very midst of the scenes of destruction. ישׁכּבוּ shows them to us entering upon the sleep of death, in which they lie without hope (Isaiah 26:14). The close (kappishtâh khâbhū) is iambic, as in Judges 5:27. The admonition in Isaiah 43:18 does not commend utter forgetfulness and disregard (see Isaiah 66:9); but that henceforth they are to look forwards rather than backward. The new thing which Jehovah is in the process of working out eclipses the old, and deserves a more undivided and prolonged attention. Of this new thing it is affirmed, "even now it sprouts up;" whereas in Isaiah 42:9, even in the domain of the future, a distinction was drawn between "the former things" and "new things," and it could be affirmed of the latter that they were not yet sprouting up. In the passage before us the entire work of God in the new time is called chădâshâh (new), and is placed in contrast with the ri'shōnōth, or occurrences of the olden time; so that as the first part of this new thing had already taken place (Isaiah 42:9), and there was only the last part still to come, it might very well be affirmed of the latter, that it was even now sprouting up (not already, which עתה may indeed also mean, but as in Isaiah 48:7). In connection with this, תדעוּה הלוא (a verbal form with the suffix, as in Jeremiah 13:17, with kametz in the syllable before the tone, as in Isaiah 6:9; Isaiah 47:11, in pause) does not mean, "Will ye then not regard it," as Ewald, Umbreit, and others render it; but, "shall ye not, i.e., assuredly ye will, experience it." The substance of the chădâshâh (the new thing) is unfolded in Isaiah 43:19. It enfolds a rich fulness of wonders: אף affirming that, among other things, Jehovah will do this one very especially. He transforms the pathless, waterless desert, that His chosen one, the people of God, may be able to go through in safety, and without fainting. And the benefits of this miracle of divine grace reach the animal world as well, so that their joyful cries are an unconscious praise of Jehovah. (On the names of the animals, see Khler on Malachi 1:3.) In this we can recognise the prophet, who, as we have several times observed since chapter 11 (compare especially Isaiah 30:23-24; Isaiah 35:7), has not only a sympathizing heart for the woes of the human race, but also an open ear for the sighs of all creation. He knows that when the sufferings of the people of God shall be brought to an end, the sufferings of creation will also terminate; for humanity is the heart of the universe, and the people of God (understanding by this the people of God according to the Spirit) are the heart of humanity. In v. 21 the promise is brought to a general close: the people that (zū personal and relative, as in Isaiah 42:24)

(Note: The pointing connects עם־זוּ with makkeph, so that the rendering would be, "The people there I have formed for myself;" but according to our view, עם should be accented with yethib, and zū with munach. In just the same way, zū is connected with the previous noun as a demonstrative, by means of makkeph, in Exodus 15:13, Exodus 15:16; Psalm 9:16; Psalm 62:12; Psalm 142:4; Psalm 143:8, and by means of a subsidiary accent in Psalm 10:2; Psalm 12:8. The idea which underlies Isaiah 42:24 appears to be, "This is the retribution that we have met with from him."' But in none of these can we be bound by the punctuation.)

I have formed for myself will have richly to relate how I glorified myself in them.