Isaiah 41:28

For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counseller, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) For I beheld, and there was no man—i.e., no one who had foretold the future. Jehovah, speaking through the prophet, looks round in vain for that.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 41:28-29. For I beheld — I looked to see if I could find any of them that could certainly foretel future events; and there was no man — Not any of the idols; for the word man is sometimes used by the Hebrews of brute creatures, and even of lifeless things. There was no counsellor — Though these idols were often consulted, yet none of them were able to give any solid or certain advice concerning future things. Behold, they are all vanity — This is the conclusion of the whole dispute, and the just sentence which God passes upon idols: they are vain things, and falsely called gods. Their molten images are wind — Empty and unsatisfying things, and which, like the wind, do quickly pass away and come to nothing; and confusion — Confused, useless things, like that rude heap in the beginning of God’s creation, of which this word, תהו, is used, Genesis 1:2. He mentions molten images particularly, because their materials were most precious, and more cost and art were commonly bestowed upon them than upon others: but under these he comprehends all images whatsoever.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

41:21-29 There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. Let the advocates of other doctrines than that of salvation through Christ, bring their arguments. Can they tell of a cure for human depravity? Jehovah has power which cannot be withstood; this he will make appear. But the certain knowledge of the future must be only with Jehovah, who fulfils his own plans. All prophecies, except those of the Bible, have been uncertain. In the work of redemption the Lord showed himself much more than in the release of the Jews from Babylon. The good tidings the Lord will send in the gospel, is a mystery hid from ages and generations. A Deliverer is raised up for us, of nobler name and greater power than the deliverer of the captive Jews. May we be numbered among his obedient servants and faithful friends.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For I beheld - I looked upon the pagan world, among all the pretended prophets, and the priests of pagan idolatry.

And there was no man - No man among them who could predict these future events.

No counselor - No one qualified to give counsel, or that could anticipate by his sagacity what would take place.

That, when I asked of them - In the manner referred to in this chapter. There is no one of whom it could be inquired what would take place in future times.

Could answer a word - They were unable to discern what would come to pass, or to predict the events which are referred to here.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. no counsellor—no one of the idolatrous soothsayers who could inform (Nu 24:14) those who consulted them what would take place. Compare "counsel of His messenger" (Isa 44:26).

when I asked—that is, challenged them, in this chapter.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For I beheld, Heb. And I beheld; I looked about me to see if I could find any man of them that could certainly and of themselves foretell such future events.

No man; not any, to wit, of the idols; for the word man is sometimes used by the Hebrews of brute creatures, and even of lifeless things, as Isaiah 34:15 40:26, and elsewhere.

There was no counsellor; though these idols were oft consulted, and by the help of the devil did sometimes deliver oracles, yet none of them were able to give any solid and certain advice concerning future things.

That, when I asked of them, could answer a word; when I tried their divinity by this character, they had nothing to say for themselves.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I beheld, and there was no man,.... Among all the Pagan priests and prophets, that could foretell things to come; or could prove that their idols did or could say anything in favour of them:

even amongst them, and there was no counsellor: none that could be advocates for these idols, and plead their cause; or could give any good advice and counsel to persons that needed it, and who applied to them or their idols for it:

that, when I asked of them, could answer a word; when asked what they had to say on behalf of their gods they worshipped, were dumb and speechless; moreover, all this may be said of the idols themselves, that there was none among them that could foretell a future event, or give any wholesome counsel to their worshippers, or could say anything in their own defence; and therefore, to close the controversy, the following sentence is pronounced.

Geneva Study Bible

For {b} I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

(b) When I looked whether the idols could do these things, I found that they had neither wisdom nor power to do anything: therefore he concludes that all are wicked that trust in such vanities.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. For I beheld, and there was] Rather as R.V. And when I look, there is. Cf. Isaiah 50:2 even amongst them] Better: and among these, viz., the idols; the previous clause referring to their worshippers.

no counseller] None who can advise in the present crisis.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - For I beheld. "Jehovah once more looks round to see if any of the idols possess an ability to prophesy, but in vain" (Cheyne). He finds no counsellor, i.e. no prophet, among them. Hence the final "outburst of scorn" in ver. 29, which, however, is directed primarily against the idol-worshippers, and, only through them, against the idols.



Isaiah 41:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As Isaiah 41:25 points back to the first charge against the heathen and their gods (Isaiah 41:2-7), so Isaiah 41:26-28 point back to the second. Not only did Jehovah manifest Himself as the Universal Ruler in the waking up of Cyrus, but as the Omniscient Ruler also. "Who hath made it known from the beginning, we will acknowledge it, and from former time, we will say He is in the right?! Yea, there was none that made known; yea, none that caused to hear; yea, none that heard your words. As the first I saith to Zion, Behold, behold, there it is: and I bestow evangelists upon Jerusalem. And I looked, and there was no man; and of these there was no one answering whom I would ask, and who would give me an answer." If any one of the heathen deities had foretold this appearance of Cyrus so long before as at the very commencement of that course of history which had thus reached its goal, Jehovah with His people, being thus taught by experience, would admit and acknowledge their divinity. מראשׁ is used in the same sense as in Isaiah 48:16 : and also in Isaiah 41:4 and Isaiah 40:21, where it refers according to the context in each case, to the beginning of the particular line of history. צדּיק signifies either "he is right," i.e., in the right (compare the Arabic siddik, genuine), or in a neuter sense, "it is right" ( equals true), i.e., the claim to divine honours is really founded upon divine performances. But there was not one who had proclaimed it, or who gave a single sound of himself; no one had heard anything of the kind from them. אין receives a retrospective character from the connection; and bearing this in mind, the participles may be also resolved into imperfects. The repeated אף, passing beyond what is set down as possible, declares the reality of the very opposite. What Jehovah thus proves the idols to want, He can lay claim to for Himself. In Isaiah 41:27 we need not assume that there is any hyperbaton, as Louis de Dieu, Rosenmller, and others have done: "I first will give to Zion and Jerusalem one bringing glad tidings: behold, behold them." After what has gone before in Isaiah 41:26 we may easily supply אמרתּי, "I said," in Isaiah 41:27 (compare Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 14:16; Isaiah 27:2), not אמר, for the whole comparison drawn by Jehovah between Himself and the idols is retrospective, and looks back from the fulfilment in progress to the prophecies relating to it. The only reply that we can look for to the question in Isaiah 41:26 is not, "I on the contrary do it," but "I did it." At the same time, the rendering is a correct one: "Behold, behold them" (illa; for the neuter use of the masculine, compare Isaiah 48:3; Isaiah 38:16; Isaiah 45:8). "As the first," Jehovah replies (i.e., without any one anticipating me), "Have I spoken to Zion: behold, behold, there it is," pointing with the finger of prophecy to the coming salvation, which is here regarded as present; "and I gave to Jerusalem messengers of joy;" i.e., long ago, before what is now approaching could be known by any one, I foretold to my church, through the medium of prophets, the glad tidings of the deliverance from Babylon. If the author of chapters 40-66 were a prophet of the captivity, his reference here would be to such prophecies as Isaiah 11:11 (where Shinar is mentioned as a land of dispersion), and more especially still Micah 4:10, "There in Babylon wilt thou be delivered, there will Jehovah redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies;" but if Isaiah were the author, he is looking back from the ideal standpoint of the time of the captivity, and of Cyrus more especially, to his own prophecies before the captivity (such as Isaiah 13:1-14:23, and Isaiah 21:1-10), just as Ezekiel, when prophesying of Gog and Magog, looks back in Isaiah 38:17 fro the ideal standpoint of this remote future, more especially to his own prophecies in relation to it. In that case the mebhassēr, or evangelist, more especially referred to is the prophet himself (Grotius and Stier), namely, as being the foreteller of those prophets to whom the commission in Isaiah 40:1, "Comfort ye, comfort ye," is addressed, and who are greeted in Isaiah 52:7-8 as the bearers of the joyful news of the existing fulfilment of the deliverance that has appeared, and therefore as the mebhassēr or evangelist of the future מבשׂרים. In any case, it follows from Isaiah 41:26, Isaiah 41:27 that the overthrow of Babylon and the redemption of Israel had long before been proclaimed by Jehovah through His prophets; and if our exposition is correct so far, the futures in Isaiah 41:28 are to be taken as imperfects: And I looked round (וארא, a voluntative in the hypothetical protasis, Ges. 128, 2), and there was no one (who announced anything of the kind); and of these (the idols) there was no adviser (with regard to the future, Numbers 24:14), and none whom I could ask, and who answered me (the questioner). Consequently, just as the raising up of Cyrus proclaimed the sole omnipotence of Jehovah, so did the fact that the deliverance of Zion-Jerusalem, for which the raising up of Cyrus prepared the way, had been predicted by Him long before, proclaim His sole omniscience.