44:21-28 Return unto me. It is the great concern of those who have backslidden from God, like the Jews of old, to hasten their return to him. The work of redemption wrought for us by Christ, encourages to hope for all blessings from him. Our transgressions and our sins are as a thick cloud between heaven and earth: sins separate between us and God; they threaten a storm of wrath. When God pardons sin, he blots out, he dispels this cloud, this thick cloud, so that the way to heaven is open again. The cloud is scattered by the Sun of righteousness; it is quite gone. The comforts that flow into the soul when sin is pardoned, are like clear shining after clouds and rain. Let not Israel be discouraged; nothing is too hard for God: having made all, he can make what use he pleases of any. Those that learn to know Christ, see all knowledge to be foolishness, in comparison with the knowledge of him. And his enemies will find their counsels turned into foolishness, and themselves taken in their craftiness. The exact fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture confirms the truth of the whole, and proves its Divine origin. The particular favours God designed for his people in captivity, were foretold here, long before they went into captivity. Very great difficulties would be in the way of their deliverance; but it is promised that by Divine power they should all be removed. God knew who should be the Deliverer of his people; and let his church know it, that when they heard such a name talked of, they might know their redemption drew nigh. It is the greatest honour of the greatest men, to be employed as instruments of the Divine favour to his people. In things wherein men serve themselves, and look no further, God makes them do all his pleasure. And a nobler Shepherd than Cyrus does his Father's will, till his work is fully completed.

Verse 23. - Sing, O ye heavens. The sympathy of external nature with the fortunes of Israel is assumed throughout Isaiah, as it is throughout the Psalms (see Psalm 11:6-8; 24:4-7; 29:17; 30:25, 26; 33:9; 35:1, 2, 7, etc.). If Israel is depressed, the earth must "mourn and languish," the heavens grow dark; the mountains shrink and "be ashamed." If, on the contrary, Israel prospers, heaven and earth, mountain and forest, Isaiah 49:13),of the joy felt by the angels over the returning and pardoned sinner; but the context of both passages is in favour of the material heavens being meant. It is quite possible that there is a real and not merely a fancied sympathy between the material and the spiritual worlds. The Lord hath done it; literally, the Lord hath wrought - what he has wrought is not said. Mr. Cheyne translates, "Jehovah hath done nobly." Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Metonymy of the part for the whole - "the lower parts of the earth" for "the earth even to its lowest depths." There is no thought of Sheol or of its inhabitants. Break forth into singing (comp. Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 35:2). As children and birds sing from the very gladness of their hearts, thereby venting the joy that almost oppresses them, so all nature is called upon, not merely to rejoice, but to give vent to its joy, now that Israel is redeemed and God glorified.

Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it,.... Done what he promised, the forgiveness of the sins of his people, and the redemption of them. So the Targum,

"because the Lord hath wrought redemption for his people.''

The Vulgate Latin version adds, "mercy" (o); and so the Septuagint version, "because God hath had mercy on Israel" (p); and therefore the heavens are called upon to sing on this occasion, as the angels of heaven did when the Redeemer was born, and who rejoice at the salvation of God's elect, Luke 2:13,

shout, ye lower parts of the earth; the earth, which is low in comparison of the heavens; the inhabitants of it, especially the Gentiles, which dwelt in the lower parts of the world, in comparison of Judea, which lay high:

break forth into singing, ye mountains; kings and great men of the earth, like the strong and lofty mountains:

O forest, and every tree therein; the multitude of the common people; see Isaiah 10:18 these are called upon to express their joy, for the following reason:

for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel; which is to be understood not merely of their redemption from the Babylonish captivity, but of the redemption by Christ, which the former was a type of, and in which all God's people in all nations are concerned, and therefore have reason to rejoice; and in which all the divine perfections are glorified, not only the wisdom, power, goodness, grace, and mercy of God, but his holiness and justice; and saints not only have reason to rejoice, because they are redeemed from sin and Satan, and the law, and death and hell, and all spiritual enemies, but because the glory of God is great in their salvation.

(o) "Quia fecit misericordiam", V. L. (p) , Sept.

23. Call to inanimate nature to praise God; for it also shall share in the coming deliverance from "the bondage of corruption" (Ro 8:20, 21).

done it—effected redemption for both the literal and spiritual Israel.

lower parts, &c.—antithetical to "heavens"; "mountains," "forest," and "tree," are the intermediate objects in a descending gradation (see Ps 96:11, 12).

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