But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor? But you have forgotten the LORD, your MakerThis phrase serves as a poignant reminder of the Israelites' tendency to forget their covenant relationship with God. The Hebrew word for "forgotten" (שָׁכַח, shakach) implies a willful neglect or disregard. In the context of ancient Israel, forgetting the LORD was not merely a lapse in memory but a failure to honor and obey God. The term "Maker" (עֹשֶׂךָ, oseka) emphasizes God's role as the Creator, reminding the Israelites of His power and authority. This phrase calls believers to remember and revere God, acknowledging His sovereignty in their lives. who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth
This imagery of God as the Creator is a common theme in the Hebrew Scriptures, underscoring His omnipotence and the order He established in creation. The phrase "stretched out the heavens" (נֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם, noteh shamayim) evokes the vastness and majesty of the universe, crafted by God's hand. "Laid the foundations of the earth" (יֹסֵד אָרֶץ, yosed aretz) speaks to the stability and intentionality of God's creation. This serves as a reminder of God's unchanging nature and His ability to sustain His people amidst chaos. You live in constant dread all day long
The phrase "constant dread" (פַּחַד תָּמִיד, pachad tamid) captures the pervasive fear experienced by the Israelites due to their circumstances. Historically, this fear was often due to external threats from surrounding nations. Theologically, it reflects a lack of trust in God's protection and provision. This serves as a cautionary message for believers to place their trust in God rather than succumbing to fear, recognizing that God is greater than any earthly threat. because of the fury of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction
The "fury of the oppressor" (חֲמַת הַמֵּצִיק, chamat hametzik) refers to the intense anger and aggression of those who sought to harm Israel. Historically, this could refer to various empires that threatened Israel, such as Assyria or Babylon. The phrase "bent on destruction" (כַּאֲשֶׁר הֵכִין לְהַשְׁחִית, ka'asher hechin lehashchit) indicates a deliberate intent to cause harm. This highlights the reality of evil in the world but also serves as a reminder that God is ultimately in control and will deliver His people. But where is the fury of the oppressor?
This rhetorical question challenges the perceived power of the oppressor. It suggests that the oppressor's fury is ultimately insignificant in the face of God's sovereignty. Historically, many oppressors of Israel have risen and fallen, yet God's promises and His people have endured. This serves as an encouragement to believers that no matter how formidable the opposition may seem, God's power and purpose will prevail. It calls for faith and trust in God's deliverance and justice. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who is being forgotten by His people. 2. The OppressorRepresents any force or entity that instills fear and threatens destruction, often seen as a metaphor for spiritual or physical adversaries. 3. The Heavens and the EarthSymbolic of God's creative power and authority, reminding the people of His sovereignty. 4. The People of IsraelThe original audience of Isaiah's prophecy, who are being reminded of their relationship with God. 5. IsaiahThe prophet delivering God's message, calling the people back to remembrance and trust in God. Teaching Points Remembering God as CreatorReflect on the majesty and power of God as the Creator of the universe. This remembrance should inspire awe and trust in His ability to sustain and protect us. Overcoming FearRecognize that fear often stems from forgetting who God is. By focusing on His power and promises, we can overcome the fear of any oppressor. Trust in God's SovereigntyTrust that God, who laid the foundations of the earth, is in control of all circumstances. This trust should lead to peace, even in the face of threats. The Futility of the Oppressor's FuryUnderstand that the fury of the oppressor is ultimately futile against God's plans. God's people are called to stand firm in faith, knowing that God is their defender. Call to FaithfulnessBe reminded of the importance of faithfulness to God. Forgetting Him leads to fear and vulnerability, while remembering Him brings strength and security. Bible Study Questions 1. How does remembering God as the Creator help you in times of fear or uncertainty? 2. What are some practical ways you can remind yourself daily of God's sovereignty and power? 3. How can the assurance of God's protection change the way you respond to threats or challenges in your life? 4. In what ways can you encourage others who are living in fear to trust in God's promises? 5. How does the message of Isaiah 51:13 connect with the teachings of Jesus about fear and trust in the New Testament? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 1:1Connects to the theme of God as the Creator, emphasizing His power and authority over creation. Psalm 121:2Reinforces the idea of God as the Maker of heaven and earth, who is a source of help and protection. Matthew 10:28Encourages believers not to fear those who can harm the body but to trust in God, who holds ultimate authority. Romans 8:31Reminds believers that if God is for us, no oppressor can stand against us. Hebrews 13:6Echoes the confidence believers can have in God's protection, diminishing the fear of human threats. | God the Creator | S. Edger, B.A. | Isaiah 51:13 | | The Nervous Temperament | W.M. Statham | Isaiah 51:13 | | A Sure Criterion of Character, Etc | W. Clarkson | Isaiah 51:7, 8, 12,13 | | Fear, and Fear Not | R. Tuck | Isaiah 51:7, 12, 13 | | Divine Comfort is Strength | | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | Fear of Man Removed by Reflecting Upon God | R. Cattermole, B.D. | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | Foolish and Impious Fears | | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | God More to be Feared than Man | Bp. Smalridge. | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | Our True Comforter | W. Birch. | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | The Comparative Fear of God and Man | H. Woodward, M.A. | Isaiah 51:12-13 | | Expostulation Against Unbelief | E. Johnson | Isaiah 51:12-16 |
People Isaiah, Rahab, SarahPlaces Jerusalem, Rahab, Tigris-Euphrates Region, ZionTopics Afraid, Base, Bent, Constant, Continually, Cruel, Destroy, Destruction, Fear, Feared, Fearest, Forget, Forgettest, Forgotten, Forth, Foundations, Founding, Fury, Hast, Heavens, Laid, Maker, Makes, Maketh, Making, Oppressor, Placed, Prepared, Prepareth, Ready, Sets, Stretched, Stretching, Terror, WrathDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 51:13 5317 foundation Isaiah 51:12-13 8722 doubt, nature of
8764 forgetting God Isaiah 51:12-15 5819 cowardice Library August 25 Morning
Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.--ISA 51:1. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity.--None eye pitied thee but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, Live. He brought me up . . . out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathJanuary 26. "I Called Him Alone and Blessed Him" (Isa. Li. 2).
"I called him alone and blessed him" (Isa. li. 2). When we were in the East we noticed the beautiful process of raising rice. The rice is sown on a morass of mud and water, ploughed up by great buffaloes, and after a few weeks it springs up and appears above the water with its beautiful pale green shoots. The seed has been sown very thickly and the plants are clustered together in great numbers, so that you can pull up a score at a single handful. But now comes the process of transplanting. He first …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth The Awakening of Zion
'Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.'--ISAIAH li. 9. 'Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.'--ISAIAH lii. 1. Both these verses are, I think, to be regarded as spoken by one voice, that of the Servant of the Lord. His majestic figure, wrapped in a light veil of obscurity, fills the eye in all these later prophecies of Isaiah. It is sometimes clothed with divine power, sometimes girded with the towel of human weakness, sometimes …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Hearken and Look; Or, Encouragement for Believers
THE second verse contains my actual text. It is the argument by which faith is led to look for the blessings promised in the third verse. It is habitual with some persons to spy out the dark side of every question or fact: they fix their eyes upon the "waste places," and they study them till they know every ruin, and are familiar with the dragons and the owls. They sigh most dolorously that the former times were better than these, and that we have fallen upon most degenerate days. They speak of "shooting …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881 A Prospect of Revival
THE pedigree of God's chosen nation Israel may be traced back to one man and one woman--to Abraham and Sarah. Both of them were well stricken in years when the Lord called them, yet, in the fulfilment of his promise, he built up of their seed a great nation, which, for number, was comparable to the stars of heaven. Take heart, brethren; these things are written for our example and for our encouragement. His Church can never sink to so low an ebb that he cannot soon build her up again, nor in our …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916 "Sing, O Heavens; and be Joyful, O Earth; for the Lord Hath Comforted his People. " -- Isaiah 49:13.
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." -- Isaiah 51:3. "Sing, O Heavens; and be joyful, O Earth; for the Lord hath comforted his people." -- Isaiah 49:13. A living, loving, lasting word, My listening ear believing heard, While bending down in prayer; Like a sweet breeze that none can stay, It passed …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents Lii. Manna. Exodus xvi. 4.
I.--Manna like salvation, because undeserved. The people murmured at the very first difficulty. If they had been grateful they would have said, "The God who brought us out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, will not allow us to die of hunger." But instead of this they accused Moses of being a murderer. And in answer to this God said, "I will rain bread from heaven." What an illustration of Romans v. 8. II.--Manna like salvation, because it saved the people from perishing. Nothing else would …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread Early Battles
Six months of joyous service amongst the Welsh miners was cut short by a telegram announcing to the sisters the serious illness of Mrs. Lee. Taking the news to their Divisional Commander, they were instructed to Headquarters. It was found that the illness was due to shock. The income from investments of the little estate left by Mr. Lee had dwindled; it now had disappeared altogether. Captain Lucy faced the matter with her usual practical decision. 'Mother, darling, there are two ways out. Either …
Minnie L. Carpenter—The Angel Adjutant of "Twice Born Men" Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII An Appendix to the Beatitudes
His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5:3 You have seen what Christ calls for poverty of spirit, pureness of heart, meekness, mercifulness, cheerfulness in suffering persecution, etc. Now that none may hesitate or be troubled at these commands of Christ, I thought good (as a closure to the former discourse) to take off the surmises and prejudices in men's spirits by this sweet, mollifying Scripture, His commandments are not grievous.' The censuring world objects against religion that it is difficult …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 Ci. Foretelling his Passion. Rebuking Ambition.
(Peræa, or Judæa, Near the Jordan.) ^A Matt. XX. 17-28; ^B Mark X. 32-45; ^C Luke XVIII. 31-34. ^b 32 And they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem [Dean Mansel sees in these words an evidence that Jesus had just crossed the Jordan and was beginning the actual ascent up to Jerusalem. If so, he was in Judæa. But such a construction strains the language. Jesus had been going up to Jerusalem ever since he started in Galilee, and he may now have still be in Peræa. The parable …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate,
CLEARLY EXPLAINED, AND LARGELY IMPROVED, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL BELIEVERS. 1 John 2:1--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By JOHN BUNYAN, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms, in the Poultry, 1689. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This is one of the most interesting of Bunyan's treatises, to edit which required the Bible at my right hand, and a law dictionary on my left. It was very frequently republished; …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Thirdly, for Thy Actions.
1. Do no evil, though thou mightest; for God will not suffer the least sin, without bitter repentance, to escape unpunished. Leave not undone any good that thou canst. But do nothing without a calling, nor anything in thy calling, till thou hast first taken counsel at God's word (1 Sam. xxx. 8) of its lawfulness, and pray for his blessings upon thy endeavour; and then do it in the name of God, with cheerfulness of heart, committing the success to him, in whose power it is to bless with his grace …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Death Swallowed up in victory
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory! D eath, simply considered, is no more than the cessation of life --that which was once living, lives no longer. But it has been the general, perhaps the universal custom of mankind, to personify it. Imagination gives death a formidable appearance, arms it with a dart, sting or scythe, and represents it as an active, inexorable and invincible reality. In this view death is a great devourer; with his iron tongue …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 51:13 NIVIsaiah 51:13 NLTIsaiah 51:13 ESVIsaiah 51:13 NASBIsaiah 51:13 KJV
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