|
Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
|
Commentary & Explanation
|
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
|
CHAPTER 40
Isaiah speaks Messianically—Prepare ye the way of the Lord—He
shall feed his flock like a sheppard—Israel's God is incomparably great.
|
|
|
1 Comfort ye, acomfort ye my people,
saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her awarfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is
bpardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand
cdouble for all her
sinsa.
|
2a double for all her sins
This particular 'double' penalty is that which is placed upon
Judah once in its destruction at the hand of the Babylonians and then again
at the hands of the Romans. Jeremiah references this 'double destruction'
(Jeremiah 17:18). The first destruction of Judah is that which coorelates
with the destruction and captivity of all of Israel. Though the Kingdom of
Israel was destoryed and carried away captive first, Judah did not escape the
same fate. It merely came latter and for the same reasons of having turned
from the Lord their God. The second destruction of Judah was because of their
rejection of Jesus Christ when he came upon the earth, which rejection
included not only their turning from him but that they did also crucified
their Lord. And though this destruction began with the Roman destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the resulting Jewish suffering has continued down
through the years and will not end until they will come to accept the Lord
their God and recognize him. And many of the Jews will not so come to
recognize Jesus as their God until the time of his Second Coming.
|
|
3 ¶ The avoice of him that crieth in
the wilderness, bPrepare ye the cway of
the LORD, make straight in the desert a dhighway for our
God.
4 Every avalley shall be
bexalted, and every cmountain and hill
shall be made dlow: and the ecrooked
shall be made straight, and fthe rough places plain:
5 And the aglory of the LORD shall
be brevealed, and all flesh shall csee
it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
|
|
|
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?
All aflesh is bgrass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the
aword of our God shall stand for ever.
|
|
|
9 ¶ O aZion, that bringest
bgood ctidings, get thee up into the high
mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of
bJudah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong
hand, and his aarm shall rule for him: behold, his
breward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his aflock like a
bshepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and
carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are
with young.
|
|
|
12 ¶ Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath adirected the
bSpirit of the
LORDa, or being his
ccounsellor hath taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
|
13a Who hath directed the Spirit of the
LORD In the creative process Jesus Christ is he who performed the
labor of the creation. He is the Creator of Heaven and earth, the Father of
Heaven and Earth in this creative sense, for it was he who did pertain unto
this second estate, its temporal mortality who did so perform is as only
those who do so pertain unto it that do minister directly there to (D&C
130:5). But here the question is who hath 'directed' the Spirit
of the LORD, for in the Old Testament era Jehovah, Jesus Christ, was yet
still a spirit, not having yet obtained his body of flesh and bone. And HE
who 'directed' Jehovah, His Firstborn Spirit Son, was none other
than God the Father of Spirits, who is Elohim. And this process of direction
is played out and portrayed well in the Temple endowment's holy convocation
of instrution, how the Father did direct and the Son did so perform.
|
|
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
|
|
|
18 ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
|
|
|
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
|
|
|
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
|
|
|
28 ¶ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|