Isaiah 51:10

Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

51:9-16 The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time, as our cases require? In this world of changes, it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world, sorrow shall never come in view. They prayed for the display of God's power; he answers them with consolations of his grace. Did we dread to sin against God, we should not fear the frowns of men. Happy is the man that fears God always. And Christ's church shall enjoy security by the power and providence of the Almighty.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Art thou not it - Art thou not still the same? The ground of the appeal is, that the same arm that dried up the sea, and made a path for the Jewish people, was still able to interpose and rescue them.

Which hath dried the sea - The Red Sea when the children of Israel passed over Exodus 14:21. This is the common illustration to which the Hebrew prophets and poets appeal, when they wish to refer to the interposition of God in favor of their nation (compare Psalm 105; see the notes at Isaiah 43:16).

For the ransomed to pass over - Those who had been ransomed from Egypt. The word rendered 'ransomed' is that which is commonly rendered 'redeemed.' The argument in this verse is, that he who had overcome all the obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Egypt, was able also to overcome all the obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Babylon; and that he who had thus interposed might be expected again to manifest his mercy, and save them again from oppression. The principle involved in the argument is as applicable now as it was then. All God's past interpositious - and especially the great and wonderful interposition when be gave his Son for his church - constitute an argument that be will still continue to regard the interests of his people, and will interpose in their behalf and save them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. it—the arm.

Art not Thou the same Almighty power that … ? dried the sea—the Red Sea (Isa 43:16; Ex 14:21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Art thou not it which hath dried the sea? art not thou the same God, and as potent now as then thou wast?

For the ransomed; for thy people, whom thou didst redeem and bring out of Egypt.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep,.... That is, the Red sea, and the deep waters of it; as it did, by causing a strong east wind to blow, which drove the sea back, and made it a dry land, in the midst of which the children of Israel walked as on dry land, Exodus 14:21 and the same arm and mighty power can and will dry up the waters of the river Euphrates, to prepare the way of the kings of the east, Revelation 16:12,

that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? divided the waters of the sea, made a path through them for the Israelites that were redeemed out of Egyptian bondage and slavery, to pass over, and so to go to Canaan's land.

Geneva Study Bible

Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. the great deep] (Genesis 7:11; Amos 7:4; Psalm 36:6) is the primeval ocean of Genesis 1:2, out of which the dry land appeared. The Hebrew (těhôm) is connected etymologically with Tiâmat, the name of the Chaos-monster in the Babylonian creation tablets.

a way for the ransomed to pass over] The reference to the Exodus is here unmistakeable. The transition is explained by the fact that every exhibition of Jehovah’s power over the sea was regarded as a repetition on a smaller scale of the original miracle of creation. Both alike are illustrations of what the “arm of the Lord” can do, and of the great miracle of redemption to which the prophet looks forward.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Art thou not it which hath dried the sea? rather, was it not thou that didst dry up the sea? (comp. Exodus 14:21, 22). The waters of the Red Sea are called those of "the great deep," because they are a portion of the circumambient ocean, not a tideless land-locked basin, like the Mediterranean. That hath made; rather, that madest. The allusion is to the single occasion of the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. Ver. 11. - The redeemed of the Lord (see the comment on Isaiah 35:10. where the same passage occurs with scarcely any variation). Isaiah is not averse to repetitions (see Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12, 17, 21; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 65:25; Isaiah 48:22; 57:21, etc.). Isaiah 51:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But just as such an exhortation as this followed very naturally from the grand promises with which they prophecy commenced, so does a longing for the promised salvation spring out of this exhortation, together with the assurance of its eventual realization. "Awake, awake, clothe thyself in might, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of ancient time, the ages of the olden world! Was it not thou that didst split Rahab in pieces, and pierced the dragon? Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great billow; that didst turn the depths of the sea into a way for redeemed to pass through? Ad the emancipated of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasting joy upon their head: they grasp at gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing flee away." The paradisaical restoration of Zion, the new world of righteousness and salvation, is a work of the arm of Jehovah, i.e., of the manifestation of His might. His arm is now in a sleeping state. It is not lifeless, indeed, but motionless. Therefore the church calls out to it three times, "Awake" (‛ūrı̄: to avoid monotony, the milra and milel tones are interchanged, as in Judges 5:12).

(Note: See Norzi and Luzzatto's Grammatica della Lingua Ebr. 513.)

It is to arise and put on strength out of the fulness of omnipotence (lâbhēsh as in Psalm 93:1; cf., λαμβάνειν δύναμιν Revelation 11:17, and δύσεο ἀλκήν, arm thyself with strength, in Il. 19:36; 9:231). The arm of Jehovah is able to accomplish what the prophecy affirms and the church hopes for; since it has already miraculously redeemed Israel once. Rahabh is Egypt represented as a monster of the waters (see Isaiah 30:7), and tannı̄n is the same (cf., Isaiah 27:1), but with particular reference to Pharaoh (Ezekiel 29:3). אתּ־היא, tu illud, is equivalent to "thou, yea thou" (see at Isaiah 37:16). The Red Sea is described as the "waters of the great deep" (tehōm rabbâh), because the great storehouse of waters that lie below the solid ground were partially manifested there. השּׂמה has double pashta; it is therefore milel, and therefore the third pr. equals שׂמה אשׁר (Ges. 109, Anf.). Isaiah 35:10 is repeated in Isaiah 51:11, being attached to גּאוּלים of the previous verse, jut as it is there. Instead of נסוּ ישּׂיגוּן, which we find here, we have there ונסוּ ישּׂיגוּ; in everything else the two passages are word for word the same. Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel suppose that Isaiah 51:11 was not written by the author of these addresses, but was interpolated by some one else. But in Isaiah 65:25 we meet with just the same kind of repetition from chapters 1-39; and in the first part we find, at any rate, repetitions in the form of refrains and others of a smaller kind (like Isaiah 19:15, cf., Isaiah 9:13). And Isaiah 51:11 forms a conclusion here, just as it does in Isaiah 35:10. An argument is founded upon the olden time with reference to the things to be expected now; the look into the future is cleared and strengthened by the look into the past. And thus will the emancipated of Jehovah return, being liberated from the present calamity as they were delivered from the Egyptian then. The first half of this prophecy is here brought to a close. It concludes with expressions of longing and of hope, the echo of promises that had gone before.