8 Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears! – Remember that ‘there are none so blind as those who will not see nor deaf as those who will not here’. It was as true then as it is today!
9 All the nations gather together,
and the peoples assemble. – Now God is not speaking to the Jews only, but to everyone!
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
and let them hear and say, It is true. – to what does the ‘this’ and ‘it’ refer? On reflection I think that God is referring to the fact that Israel alone has been called to be His special people! No doubt every nation has reasons to be proud (and sad sometimes) of their origins and histories. The ‘It is true’ meant that no other nation could claim the same special relationship with God as Israel could claim! No doubt this would have been hard for all to swallow!
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed, (? truly understand)
nor shall there be any after me. – Is this a lie? Before YHWH revealed Himself to Moses there were a plethora of gods whom various groups worshipped! I think that this is saying that they had a desire to worship but the True God was not known until Jehovah, YHWH, I AM that I AM, revealed Himself to Israel. You may wonder, as do I, ‘what about God talking to Adam and Eve in the garden?’ but the relationship between mankind and God was lost when they sinned in what was in fact rebellion against God!
11 I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior.
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.
13 Also henceforth I am he;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can turn it back?”
– This is not self-opinionated boasting by YHWH, but a necessary understanding for God to get across to both Israel and all nations! There was no Israeli specific ‘god image’ although they did worship foreign ‘gods’ in ignorance. He is reiterating what had been known and purposefully turned away from in all of human history! Isaiah living some hundreds of years after Moses is here being used as a mouthpiece by God to remind the Jews of their relationship with God! Sadly the West is turning its back on the God who has been their God in many ways for centuries!
2 Chronicles 15: 2b-4 – The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.
Prayer: Help me to realize how much You love us and me, O Lord.