Глава 40

“Comfort, comfort My people, says God to you...Speak to Jerusalem in your heart, proclaim peace to her.” Since Hezekiah did not ask in prayer to turn away the wrath of God from his sons, as he asked for his deliverance from death, then Isaiah, at the command of the Lord, preaches to the righteous of the Jewish host, and says: “Comfort, comfort My people... the priests. Jerusalem... was filled with strength, because it had received all its sins from the hand of the Lord” (Is. 40:1-2). Jerusalem has become stronger, delights in sin, and for this it has accepted from the hand of the Lord “the loss of all its sins,” that is, it has been subjected to a grave and worthy condemnation; it has not been punished with just one punishment, but it has suffered many executions. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” (Is. 40:3). Here the prophet speaks about our Lord and announces His coming, just as John said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: straighten the way of the Lord, so that the Lord may be given that worship which the pagans did not give Him, for for this purpose the Lord came in the flesh” (John 1:23). “Every wilderness will be filled” (Is. 40:4), because the Lord came into the world and received worship from all nations, as their Deliverer and Liberator from the adversary of the devil, and all the wilds, gorges, deep and terrible valleys were filled with true worshipers praising God. “All flesh is hay” (Is. 40:6), although it blooms and is famous for the temporary title of king and ruler and the nobility of the family, it soon fades; “Like the grass of its days, and like the flower of the grass, it dries up and disappears” (Ps. 102:15). “The grass is gone, and the flower is fallen away” (Is. 40:7), that is, the people of Judah will be taken into captivity. “The word of our God endures forever” (Is. 40:8), that is, God’s promise of return is firm and inviolable. “Come up to a high mountain... Zion, who received the gospel” (Is. 40:9). Here the prophet implies the return of the Jews; He calls Zion those who have received the gospel, because God had previously revealed and announced to it through the prophets about the return of his people from captivity. Or he also calls him one who firmly accepted the gospel because he firmly believed the gospel about him. To the righteous and prophets in the people of Judah and in Jerusalem, Isaiah says the following: “Lift up your voice with strength, sing a victorious song of praise to Him who brought about your salvation” (Is. 40:9). “Who measured water in a handful and the sky in a span? ...With whom did you counsel, and instruct, and: or who showed Him judgment?” (Isa.40:12, 14). The Prophet speaks about the wavering thoughts of the Jews, forbids them to engage in research into why God made them captives, scattered them, and then gathered them, and admonishes that no one should judge the intentions of the One who did all this. “For He made... the weight of the winds and the weight of the waters” (Job 28:25), that is, He balanced the winds with mountains, because neither the winds can overthrow the mountains, nor the mountains can stop the aspirations of the winds. “Even if all the nations are like a drop of water, and like a heavy weight” (Is. 40:15), that is, peoples who are much more glorious and numerous than the Jews and like an impassable sea and inaccessible mountains, before God they are like a drop in comparison with the great sea; and all kings and the peoples subject to them before the incomprehensible power of God are the same as a small weight (a speck of dust) in comparison with the weight of the mountains of the earth. “And Lebanon... is not content to be burned” (Is. 40:16), that is, the trees of Lebanon and the four-legged ones that are on it are unworthy to bring them as a burnt offering and sacrifice to God. By the image of Lebanon and the four-legged ones, the prophet means the Babylonians and their kingdom, because they do not have the true knowledge of God. “And all the nations are as if they are nothing, and are counted as nothing” (Is. 40:17), that is, they are recognized as fit for destruction and destruction by the One for whom it is not difficult to turn them into nothing. “To whom have you likened the Lord, and to whose likeness have you likened Him? The woodmaker will make an image... Whatever he sets up an image... and let it not be moved” (Is. 40:18-20), that is, an idol in which there is no movement and which is therefore useless. “Don’t you understand?” - Don’t you know what is known to all generations and all times? “Don’t you hear?” -Have you not heard about the wonderful works that He did? Haven’t you been told and haven’t you yourselves seen how “I made the heavens like a tent and spread out like a tabernacle to dwell in?” (Isaiah 40:21–22). “Look to the heights of your eyes and see who created all this?” You are mistaken if you do not hope for the salvation promised to you. If you lift your eyes to heaven and consider the beauty and structure of the entire universe, understand the wisdom and power of the One who arranged all this, and constantly contains and preserves, then you will not liken Me to the false gods of the pagans, and you will stop doubting the salvation promised to you. “Who is the one who numbers their strength and... calls them all by name” (Is. 40:26). If not a single creature is forgotten by Me, will the salvation promised to you really be forgotten by Me? And by this God shows that He does not forget the number and names of the stars, which is confirmed by the righteous, who shine with their virtues and are like bright stars before God, like the luminaries of this age, and their names are inscribed on God in an indelible book. “For you said, Jacob... my way is hidden from God, and my God is judgment from me?” (Is.40:27), that is, he said, why doesn’t God judge us with our enslavers? “He gives strength to the weary, and increases strength to the sick” (Isaiah 40:29). The Prophet, to console the Jews, says: “God strengthens those who are weary in captivity and increases the strength of those who are weary.” “The young men are weary and weary, and the chosen ones will not be strong” (Is. 40:30), that is, the young men who persecute you will become weary; the strong and mighty men will become weary and faint; the chosen young men who enslave you will suffer the same disasters that they themselves caused. “But those who endure the Lord will change their strength, - that is, the righteous who trust in the Lord, like Moses and Caleb, will change their strength - they will take wings like doves **, they will flow and not tire” - they will spread wings like light doves, they will fly and not get tired (Is. 40:31). In the accepted texts of Scripture there are not doves, but eagles. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: