Isa 45.1-25 predicts the fall of Babylon by Cyrus the Persian in the “Peshat” or literal level, and in the “Sowd” or secret, hidden level, it is a prophecy about the Messiah.
v 1…Thus says the Lord (Yehovah) to Cyrus (“Koresh” which is a possible dynastic name taken from the Persian for “sun”) his anointed (Hebrew “mashiach” because he was appointed by Yehovah to be a king and will do specific things as directed by Yehovah), whom I have taken by the right hand (given authority), to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings (cause panic-Dan 5.6); to open doors (of Babylon in the walls by the river) before him so that gates will not be shut.
v 2…I will go before you and make the rough places smooth (remove all obstacles); I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars (of the city of Babylon, they were made of brass).
v 3…And I will give you the treasures of darkness (what had been laid up in private places will now be brought into the light), and the hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, the Lord (Yehovah, the God of Israel” who calls you by your name (about 200 years before he was born; Josephus says he was shown this prophecy and he read it. He acknowledged Yehovah as the God in heaven in Ezra 1.2).
v 4…For the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel my chosen one (he named Cyrus beforehand not so much for the sake of Cyrus, but to assure the people of Israel that they were God’s people and they would be delivered and that Yehovah told them the details before it ever came to pass), I have also called you by your name, I have given you a title of honor though you have not known me (he ought to know Yehovah, but he never did).
v 5…I am the Lord (Yehovah) and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I will gird you (to be king) though you have not known me.
v 6…That men (of the world) may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides me. I am the Lord (Yehovah), and there is no other.
v 7…The one (not your two Zoroastrian gods) forming light (no deficiency, natural light, moral light, rational spiritual understanding, the light of mercy, joy, comfort, etc) and creating darkness (deficiency, natural darkness, deprivation of sight, blindness in men, ignorance, judicial blindness), causing well-being (Hebrew “shalom” meaning no deficiencies, perfection) and creating calamity (Hebrew “ra” or evil meaning deficiency, distress, adversity; the absence of good. Evil is anything that conceals God’s perfection. Sin, evil and deficiency are labels given to circumstances that do not meet the goal of perfection), I am the Lord (Yehovah) who does all these (creating good and evil).
v 8…Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness (like rain-Joel 2.23; Hos 6.3; Jam 5.7); let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit (good works-Isa 4.2), and righteousness (as defined by the Torah) spring up with it, I, the Lord (Yehovah), have created it.
v 9…Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker (the one who formed you)-an earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth! Will the clay say to the potter (Yehovah), ‘What are you doing?’ or the thing you are making, ‘He has no hands (power or skill-it is ridiculous to contend with God)?’
v 10…Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth (the child has no say in it)?’
v 11…Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his (Israel’s) maker: ‘Ask me about the things to come concerning my sons. And you shall commit to me the work of my hands.
v 12…It is I who made the earth (the Targum says, “I by my word have made the earth”-Deut 26.17-18; John 1.3) and created man (Adam) upon it. I stretched the heavens with my hands, and I ordained all their host (my wisdom and power are obvious).
v 13…I have aroused him (Cyrus) in righteousness, and I will make all his ways smooth (no obstacles in fulfilling what I want him to do); he will build my city (Jerusalem), and will let my exiles go free, without any payment or reward (he acted under the inspiration of the Ruach Ha Kodesh not because he got paid to do it by a ransom) says the Lord of hosts (Yehovah Tzavaot or armies).
v 14…Thus says the Lord (to Israel), “The products of Egypt (Mitzraim) and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours (submitted), and they will walk behind you, they will come over in chains (Israel was led away in chains, but one day they will be first among the nations) and will bow down to you; they will make supplication to you: ‘Surely, God is with you, and there is no one else, no other God.'”
v 15…Truly, thou art a God who hides himself (his essence is above human understanding), O God of Israel, Savior!
v 16…They (the unbelievers) will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them; the manufacturers (makers) of idols will go away together in humiliation.
v 17…Israel has been saved by the Lord (Yehovah) with an everlasting salvation (through Messiah-Ezek 39.22; Rom 11.26-27); you will not be put to shame or humiliated to all eternity (Hebrew “ad olmay ad” or “the forever’s of eternity”).
v 18…For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, he is the God who formed the earth and made it (not your idols). He established it (the earth) and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited (the earth is man’s home, not the universe), “I am the Lord (Yehovah), there is none else.
v 19…I have not spoken in secret, in some dark land (like the sorcerers and oracles); I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in a waste place”( like the heathen where there is no response)’, I, the Lord (Yehovah) speak righteousness (what is right) declaring things that are upright.
v 20…Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you fugitives of the nations (those of all nations who have escaped, a remnant), they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol, and pray to a god who cannot save (v 20-21 are Abomination of Desolation passages; these words were once in a Jewish prayer called the Oleynu but were taken out by force because Christianity saw it as an attack on the crucifix, which we believe is the Abomination of Desolation-Hertz Authorized Daily Prayer Book, Bloch Pub., p. 551-552).
v 21…Declare (tell) and set forth, indeed, let them consult together (the idols, their makers, the worshipers). Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it (who among their gods predicted the future accurately)? Is it not I, the Lord (Yehovah)? And there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except me (based on clear evidence).
v 22…Turn to me (not idols), and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other (Yehovah repeats this over and over again to convince idolaters to accept him).
v 23…I have sworn (an oath) by myself (because there is none greater-Heb 6.13), the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and will not turn back (not return), that to me (Yehovah) every knee will bow, every tongue will swear (allegiance-Phil 2.10-11 quotes this and it is not to the name of Yeshua that people will bow, but to Yehovah, as it plainly says here. This is also a part of the Oleynu prayer).
v 24…They will say to me, ‘Only in the Lord (Yehovah) are righteousness and strength. Men will come to him (Messiah) and all who are angry at him will be put to shame.
v 25…In the Lord (Yehovah) all the offspring of Israel (the spiritual seed, those born again in the Eschatological Kahal made up of both Jew and non-Jew-Rom 11.13-32; Eph 2.11-22) will be justified and will give glory (to Yehovah for their salvation).”
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