BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

GEORGE W. TRUETT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

EXEGETICAL PAPER ON ISAIAH 40:1-11

SUBMITTED TO:

DR. W. DENNIS TUCKER, JR

FOR THE COURSE:

THEO 7372 CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES 2

BY

ELI GUTIERREZ
 Isaiah 40:1-11

Introduction

Scholars usually refer to the Second Isaiah as one of the most beautiful pieces of poetry in the

prophetic books, and even in the Old Testament. Since I do not read Hebrew I cannot see

completely the poetic beauty of this text. However, what I see in the first eleven chapters of the

Second Isaiah is the beauty of God’s message to his people. A message that was addressed to the

people of God in exile around twenty-five thousand years ago but is still resonating in the hearts

of today’s believers who need the comfort and forgiveness of the same God of old.

These verses of Isaiah were taken by the first Christian to refer to the good news of the

coming of Christ. As a matter of fact, the word gospel is taken from this portion of the Scripture.

Therefore, its importance cannot be overemphasized. From the gospels, to Handel’s Messiah, the

words of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 have been fundamental to the understanding of the

Christian faith.

In the present exegetical work, I will discuss the significance of Isaiah 40:1-11 in its context

within the Second Isaiah, the whole book of Isaiah, and the whole Bible. To do that I will begin

by exploring the significance of the Second Isaiah within the whole prophetic book. Then, I will

analyze the character of the Second Isaiah and its particular setting and addressees. After this, I

will comment Isaiah 40:1-11 verse by verse. And finally, I will discuss the message of the text in

itself and in relation with the whole cannon, especially with its use in the New Testament.
 NIV NASB

40 Comfort, comfort my people, 40 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your

says your God. God.
2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, 2
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
and proclaim to her And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
that her hard service has been completed, That her iniquity has been removed,
that her sin has been paid for, That she has received of the Lord’s hand
that she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
3
double for all her sins. A voice is calling,
3
A voice of one calling: “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
“In the wilderness prepare Make smooth in the desert a highway for our
the way for the Lord; God.
make straight in the desert 4
“Let every valley be lifted up,
a highway for our God. And every mountain and hill be made low;
4
Every valley shall be raised up, And let the rough ground become a plain,
every mountain and hill made low; And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
5
the rough ground shall become level, Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
the rugged places a plain. And all flesh will see it together;
5
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
and all people will see it together. 6
A voice says, “Call out.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”
6
A voice says, “Cry out.” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the
And I said, “What shall I cry?” flower of the field.
“All people are like grass, 7
The grass withers, the flower fades,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of When the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
the field. Surely the people are grass.
7 8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, The grass withers, the flower fades,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them. But the word of our God stands forever.
9
Surely the people are grass. Get yourself up on a high mountain,
8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, O Zion, bearer of good news,
but the word of our God endures forever.” Lift up your voice mightily,
9
You who bring good news to Zion, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
go up on a high mountain. Lift it up, do not fear.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, Say to the cities of Judah,
lift up your voice with a shout, “Here is your God!”
10
lift it up, do not be afraid; Behold, the Lord God will come with might,
say to the towns of Judah, With His arm ruling for Him.
“Here is your God!” Behold, His reward is with Him
10
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, And His recompense before Him.
11
and he rules with a mighty arm. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
See, his reward is with him, In His arm He will gather the lambs
and his recompense accompanies him. And carry them in His bosom;
11
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
The book

Most scholars consider that Isaiah 40 represents a major turning point in the book. It is well known

and vastly used the name of “Deutero-Isaiah” or Second Isaiah to refer to the author of chapters

40-55. In general, scholars agree that these chapters were written by a different author than the

first Isaiah and that a different setting is reflected in them. Therefore, for this paper I will use

Second Isaiah to refer to chapters 40-55. The specific identification of the author is not of major

importance for the purposes of this analysis; however, it is of fundamental significance to consider

the context of this text. It is clear that the prophet is addressing a different situation in chapters 40-

55 from that of the previous thirty-nine chapters. The enemy is no longer Assyria but Babylon (e.g.

Isaiah 47:1), Judeans are in the exile and the city of Jerusalem, including the Temple, seems to be

in ruins (e.g. Isaiah 45:3). There are also thematic differences. While the first part of the book dealt

with the theme of judgment, from chapter 40 Isaiah is going to offer a message of comfort. In the

next section, I will discuss the particular setting of the Second Isaiah but now it is necessary to

make some comments about its place in the whole book.

Sometimes there is much attention focused on the differences between the sections in the

book of the prophet Isaiah. However, from a canonical perspective, what we have is a single book

which unity can be grasped in spite of the different setting, style, vocabulary and authors. In its

present form, the unity of the book of the prophet Isaiah is undeniable. If the book was not the

production of a single hand, as it seems to be, the final form is the result of a final editorial work

which, in spite of the diversity, gave unity to the whole book. Many scholars point to the work of

a prophetic school linked to the prophet Isaiah, which is possibly mentioned in Isaiah 8:16-17.1

1
Barry Webb, The Message of Isaiah (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1997) 33; Alec Motyer, Isaiah. An Introduction
and Commentary (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999) 33; John Goldingay, Isaiah (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Baker
Publishing Group, 2001) 3.
While there are some thematical differences, truth is that there are major theological claims that

pervade the whole prophecy of Isaiah. For the final editor, or editors, the book spoke not only in

its individual parts but as a whole. Just as the book of Isaiah speaks to us not only from studying

each text separately but by considering the significance of each portion in relation with the witness

of the whole book. Thus, from a theological perspective and in general terms, in the book of Isaiah

we find a message that witnesses to the character of a God who judges but also shows mercy, who

punishes but also comforts, a God of holiness and grace, righteousness and mercy. While the first

Isaiah was called to preach judgment, the Second Isaiah was called to preach comfort, but they

both were proclaiming the Word of the same Lord.

This is nothing more than the work of Christian Theology, to study the Word of God and

proclaim its message. But the revelation of God in Scripture should be understood as a whole.

Exegetically, we cannot grasp the message of one single passage by studying it without considering

its context in the whole book. Theologically, in order to create doctrines that express God’s

revelation and articulate our faith we cannot study one single book of the Bible without considering

the big picture of the whole cannon. Nevertheless, that does not mean that the separate study of a

specific passage is worthless. As a matter of fact, to grasp the significance of the Scriptural witness

we need to look closely and carefully to its individual parts, and then consider its meaning in

relation to the subsequent big pictures. To do so, we need to use all the tools at our disposal to find

what is the message of that particular text. One place to begin is to look at the context and specific

setting of the text to see what did the author intend to say and what did the first receivers of the

message probably understand. Secondly, it is important to consider the place of the text in its final

form and its relation to the whole text where it is found. That is what I am going to do with Isaiah
40:1-11 in the next section, and at the end of this paper I will offer a reflection on the significance

of this text in the big picture of God’s revelation.

The context

In his commentary to the book of Isaiah, Alec Motyer points to the fact that the division of the

Bible in chapters and verses is not original in the text, and what we find in the earliest manuscripts

of Isaiah is the text that for us are the first verses of chapter 40 just to lines from the bottom of

what for us is the end of chapter 39.2 It is interesting that the word of doom (39:5-7) is side by side

to the word of comfort (40:1). This message of comfort is proclaimed in a present tense. The

prophet is not promising a future comfort but is affirming that God is now comforting those who

have been punished. It is clear that the addressees are the people of God in the Babylonian exile.

From a canonical perspective, the word of judgment and the word of comfort lie side by side, but

as the book of Isaiah is arranged there is a long silence between the oracle to King Hezekiah

anticipating the exile and the comfort oracle in chapter 40. This period was about 150 years in

which the people of God grieved for the terrible fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile. Their

pain can be seen in the words of Lamentations “Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one

to comfort her” (Lamentations 1:17).

In the study of Isaiah 40-55 it is fundamental to consider the situation and the direct

addressees. While few is certain about the identity of the author of the Second Isaiah, the condition

that it is being addressed can be established with fair certainty. The Second Isaiah is addressing

the exile Judeans before the fall of Babylon. To understand the setting, it is important to remember

that Judah had experienced a major crisis in their identity as the people of God. In 587 BCE the

2
Motyer, Isaiah, 242
city they considered holy fell under the power of a foreign nation and they were taken to a foreign

land alienated from all they cherished as theirs. Materially, socially, and psychologically it must

have been a disastrous event. From a theological perspective, it should have raises the question of

how and why did Yahweh permitted such catastrophe to his people. Was he not powerful enough

to protect his people from the foreign nations and their gods? From a human perspective, the

answer was evident, Yahweh was not powerful enough and the greater gods were the gods of the

victorious Babylonian Empire. Did God abandon us? It seemed so. However, God spoke to his

prophets to answer in a different way. During those traumatic years, God spoke to his people in

different moments and conditions. For example, the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel were

addressed to Judah in respect to the fall. The answer was that the fall of Jerusalem was not due to

God’s weakness or abandonment, but because it was the people of Judah who forsaken God. The

answer of the Second Isaiah is directed to the people of God in exile to offer them comfort just

before he was going to perform an act of salvation. In chapter 40 it is found the beginning of this

message of comfort to the suffering people of God.

Some commentators have compared the first eleven verses of the Second Isaiah to a

musical overture.3 In a major musical work, the overture is the very first part of the masterpiece,

the first sounds the audience listen just before those tense and intriguing seconds of silence. In its

own way, the overture presages the diversity of the whole work. It contains in embryo the themes

that later are going to be developed, and anticipates the tone and character of the work. These

eleven verses indeed work as an overture for the Second Isaiah. In them there are found the themes

of comfort (v. 1), atonement (v. 2), the way of the Lord (v. 3), the glory of the Lord (v. 5), the

power of God (v. 8), the city of God (v. 9), and the salvation of God (vv. 10-11). These themes

3
Webb, The Message of Isaiah, 161.
will be developed in the following chapters. Therefore, these first eleven verses work as an

introduction to the Second Isaiah. Furthermore, there has been suggested that these verses are in

some sense also a prophetic calling.4 There are some features that parallel a divine calling:

introductory word (vv. 1-2), commission (vv. 3-6a), objection (vv. 6-7), and reassurance (vv. 8-

11). Barry Webb argues that in the calling of chapter 40 the prophet is not directly identified

because, at least from a canonical perspective, he is the same prophet that has been identified in

chapter 6.5 Walter Brueggemann maintains that the calling in chapter 6 authorizes the theme of

judgment whereas the calling in chapter 40 authorizes the theme of deliverance.6

One final comment before the analysis of the text verse by verse. As I have said, scholars

recognize in the Second Isaiah some of the best poetry in the Old Testament literature. The prophet

uses different resources to communicate the message. One of those features is the use of different

voices to express the message from God that the prophet is being called to proclaim. One widely

accepted interpretation is that the plurality of voices is an expression of the idea of the “divine

council”, the members of the government of Yahweh in heaven.7 Motyer argues that the plurality

of the voices is used to emphasize that the comfort of God is more abundant than the condemnation

of the single voice in chapter 39.8 Truth is that even for the modern believer who is reading a

translation rather than the original language, the divine voices that proclaim a word of comfort

from God to his suffering people serve to enter in the prophetic world in which the word of the

Lord is not a simple voice as any other human voice. It is not the voice calling through the sound

4
Terry W. Eddinger, “Analysis of Isaiah 40:1-11” BBR 9 (1999) 123.
5
Webb, The Message of Isaiah, 31.
6
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66 (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press, 1998) 17.
7
Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66, 16.
8
Motyer, Isaiah, 242.
system of a supermarket, it is the powerful, undefeatable, unfathomable yet compelling word of

God.

Analysis

[1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. This text starts with the repetition of the

imperative verb comfort, highlighting the importance of the command and anticipating the theme

of the several next chapters. There is no certainty about who is receiving the Lord’s commandment

to comfort. Is it the divine council? Is it the prophet? We cannot be sure. Perhaps the identity is

not essential as the content of the commandment: to offer comfort to the people of God. A people

who has been alienated from the land and has been several years in exile. This people has grieved

that they find no comfort (Lamentations 1:2, 9, 17, 19), but the time of their lamentations has come

to an end. It is remarkable that this comfort is to my people from your God. In the oracle of the

prophet Hosea, contemporary to the first Isaiah, Yahweh had declared “You are not my people,

and I am not your God” (1:9), the covenant relationship was over. John Goldingay maintains that

Isaiah 40:1 reverses such declaration and “speaks in a way that presupposes that the relationship

still holds after all”.9 God is comforting his people because he is his God and the covenant

relationship is no longer broken. Furthermore, it is because of God’s initiative, he is the one who

breaks the silence.

[2] Speak tenderly, as a young man speaks to a beloved woman (Genesis 34:3), as a man

speaks to a woman to win her back (Judges 19:3; Hosea 2:14), and as someone who brings

assurance (Ruth 2:13). This is the tender word of the Lord to a hopeless and suffering people. Most

scholars agree that the mention of Jerusalem is not referring to the actual city in its geographical

9
Goldingay, Isaiah, 223.
place but it is being used as a rhetorical device in reference to Israel, who in verse 1 the prophet

has already called “my people”. The message that the divine council will speak tenderly to Israel

in order comfort them is expressed in three different ways that re-state the same idea. 1) her hard

service has been completed, suggesting the hardness of military service. 2) her sin has been paid

for, meaning that the guilt of Israel has been forgiven. But this is not cheap forgiveness, it had a

cost. The exile was seen as the punishment for their disobedience. But now the message of the

Lord is that their suffering is enough and they are coming back not only to Jerusalem but, most

important, to a covenant relationship. 3) she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her

sins. It is debated the meaning of the “double”. Could be just an affirmation that the punishment

is really enough. Motyer and Childs argue that it is not double in the sense of excessive but two-

fold, referring to the exact correspondence between sin and punishment.10 The truth is that the

judgment, while real and painful, now is over.

[3] As I have discussed earlier, it is not the identity of the voices what is essential for the

message of this text, but the content of their words. They may be the voices of the divine council

answering to the command of the Lord, but they are not clearly identified. The voice is calling to

clear the way of the Lord in the wilderness. The gospel writers follow the LXX where the voice is

calling in the desert (Mark 1:3; Matthew 3:3), but scholars have shown that in the original Hebrew

of Isaiah the “wilderness” is pointing to the place where the way of the Lord is to be prepared

rather than the location of the voice.11 It makes more sense with the next phrase, make straight in

the desert a highway to our God, which parallels the first (wilderness-desert). The desert imagery

is most likely a reference to God journeying his people from captivity in Exodus (e.g.

10
Motyer, Isaiah, 244.
11
Ben Witherington III, Isaiah Old and New. Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics (Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2017) 180.
Deuteronomy 33:2; Judges 5:4; Psalms 68:4,7). Thus, what God is going to perform now in order

to deliver his people is depicted in reference to the Exodus. This is going to be an important theme

in the Second Isaiah (Isaiah 43:19-20; 44:27; 47:6).

[4-5] This verse continues the theme of the highway for the Lord, which is to be straight,

level, and plain. It is meant to be an easy way for God; therefore, with a certain arrival. It should

be noted that the highway is not for the people alone, but also and even mainly, for the Lord. He

is the one that is coming to aid his people. In the ancient world, highways were built for rulers to

parade in victory and to show their power.12 Motyer shows that Isaiah took this theme from the

Babylonian culture.13 For the Second Isaiah, the highway is to reveal the glory of the Lord. This

glory will be revealed in the deliverance of his people returning to their land. Perhaps, the theme

of homecoming is something that we will never grasp completely as people living in the

individualized, globalized, modern Western world. However, it cannot be ignored how present it

is in the Bible the importance of the homeland, embodied in the city of Jerusalem. Brueggemann

maintains that for Judeans it represents their vision of wholeness that “for them meant freedom,

peace-ableness, and at-homeness in Jerusalem.”14 In this event, all the people will see the glory of

the Lord. It will be a public revelation of God’s power. His glory is revealed in his grace, mercy,

and deliverance of his people. As we will see in the next verses, this is something sure because the

mouth of the Lord has declared it.

[6-8] Two more voices join the conversation. The Bible translations do not agree on

whether it is “I” or “he” in the second voice of verse 6. If the voice answering is read as the voice

of the prophet, what shall I cry? it can be seen as the typical objection in a prophetic calling. On

12
Burggemann, Isaiah 40-66, 18.
13
Motyer, Isaiah, 244.
14
Burggemann, Isaiah 40-66, 19.
the other hand, if the voice answering is not the prophet, it cannot be interpreted as a prophetic

calling. Nevertheless, the message is still the same, showing that the identity of the voices is not

as fundamental as the content. The message is the contrast between human ephemerality and God’s

permanence. All flesh, this is all humanity, is grass because all their faithfulness is like the flowers

of the field, this is ephemeral, unreliable. The objection of human transience is contested in the

next verse arguing that while the grass withers and the flowers fall, the word of our God endures

forever. What is implicit here is that the proclamation of comfort would find opposition in the

stubbornness of the people. While that is true, there is something else to consider, the permanence

of the Lord. The certainty of the message does not depend on human faithfulness and ableness to

respond to God, but on God’s faithfulness and power to deliver his people.

[9] Again, the voices and the exact location is not as fundamental as the content of the

message. However, it is important to note two things. First, this time the proclaimer of good news

is a feminine voice. And second, translators debate if the good news is from or to Zion, Jerusalem,

and the towns of Judah. In any case, the message does not change drastically. In verse 9, there is

the first self-conscious use of the term gospel in the Old Testament. The good news is being

preached to/from Zion, Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah which are three different ways to say

the same thing, to Israel, the people of God. The content of the good news will be unfolded in the

next chapters of the Second Isaiah, but such good news is already anticipated in this introduction.

The sins of Israel have been forgiven, they will return to their land, and, what is most important

and the ground on which all other good news are possible, here is your God. The presence of God

is the sum of all the joy of his people. It is proclaimed by a command to lift up your voice shouting

from a high mountain. Therefore, it is a crucial communication that needs to be remarked. I argue

that this is the climax of these eleven verses that work as an introduction for the Second Isaiah.
And, here it is contained the essence of the message of comfort for the people of God: your God

is with you!

[10-11] These final verses contrast the character of God’s deliverance. On one hand, the

Sovereign Lord is depicted as a victorious warrior who comes in power and rules with a mighty

arm. The reference to his rewards and recompense, of equal meaning, point to the actuality of his

victory that he earned by his own acts. What the Lord is going to act for his people is only credited

to him. On the other hand, God is a tender shepherd who gathers his lambs in his arms, and carries

them close to his heart. God takes care of their needs and gently leads those that have young. Only

by the juxtaposition of these different images, a warrior and a shepherd, can the character of God’s

deliverance be presented. As I will show in the next section the character of God in himself and in

relation to his people can only be explained in terms of images that sometimes seem to be opposite.

The message

First of all, we need to remember that Judah has fallen not because of God’s weakness or

abandonment. According to Ezekiel, for example, the people of Judah had created a condition of

depravity in which Yahweh cannot dwell (Ezekiel 10:18). Judah had broken the covenant

relationship with God and the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile was both, a result of their

abandonment of God, and a judgment from God for their sin. As I have said, this was a catastrophic

event for the people of Judah. Psalm 137 shows the bitterness of the exile “By the rivers of Babylon

we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion.” (Psalms 137:1). However, the message of this text

is that God has not forgotten his people and he has forgiven them.

The whole witness of Scripture shows that we cannot separate God’s grace from his

righteousness. The book of Isaiah is known for its understanding of God’s holiness. The Holy One
of Israel is a common name for Yahweh in Isaiah. Indeed, it is because of the holiness of God that

the sin of the people is something so serious. They have sinned against a holy God and their sin

cannot remain unpunished because of such great holiness. In this sense, the awfulness of the exile

is understood as an abandonment and punishment from God to his disobedient people. However,

this is not the end. God is holy and he is gracious at the same time. He is righteous and merciful.

The last word of God was not his punishment but his pardon. The message of Isaiah 40:1-11 shows

that while God is righteous and holy and he does not tolerate sin, he is gracious and merciful and

does not forget his people forever but he forgives them.

There are four main good news for Israel that I find in this text. First, they are still God’s

people. The covenant relationship was not broken forever. God is re-establishing it not by the

merits of the people but by his mercy and power. Second, they are forgiven. Their disobedience

has been paid. As I will argue later, this does not constitute a doctrine of salvation by works. It

shows God’s real opposition to sin for his holiness, without compromising his love. Third, God

will act concretely. He has promised to comfort his people, it is a real promise because the word

of the Lord is trustworthy. He does not comfort by words only, but he will act certainly by actual

acts of deliverance. And fourth, God is able and reliable. The comfort from the Lord is grounded

in something real. If we keep reading, the next verses emphasize the power and sovereignty of

Yahweh above all other reality in the universe. He is stronger than any pagan God (Isaiah 40:12-

31). Even more, he is the only real God. Therefore, his promises are reliable and the homecoming

is certain.

According to the content of the Second Isaiah, most scholars agree that it is speaking to

Judeans in Babylon. However, there are references to Jerusalem (v. 2), which is the destiny of the

people when they return. The city has become a symbol of God’s presence and faithfulness. If God
abandoned the city for the disobedience of the people now God has forgiven them and he will

bring them back to Jerusalem. In modern times, it is difficult to grasp the significance of this return.

The joy for the homecoming can be seen in Psalm 126:1-2 “When the Lord restored the fortunes

of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with

songs of joy”. Also, the future promise in Isaiah 12:1 becomes a present reality in Isaiah 40.

The message of Isaiah 40:1-11 is present not only in the whole book of Isaiah but

throughout the entire Bible. The witness of Scripture reveals the character of God as love and holy,

grace and righteousness, mercy and just. Only through the juxtaposition of this apparently opposite

concepts can we know who is him. Indeed, this is how God is revealed in the Scripture. This

character of God is what the New Testament writers also received in the greatest revelation of

God, Jesus Christ, the God man, Son of God, and God himself. As a matter of fact, all the four

gospel writers used Isaiah 40:1-11 to depict the coming of Jesus Christ. For the gospels, the voice

crying in the desert was John the Baptist and, amazingly, the Lord for whom the way was prepared

is Jesus Christ. He is not just the bearer of good news but the very good news. He is God with us.

Moreover, the theme of a new Exodus that the Second Isaiah holds, is also present in the New

Testament (e.g. Hebrews 3:8-17). The salvation in Jesus Christ is understood as the ultimate act

of deliverance of God for his people. It is also a reversal of the exodus and it also includes a

punishment. But what is extraordinary and represents the essence of the Christian faith is that in

this new act of the deliverance the one who suffered and paid the punishment to satisfy God’s

wrath before the forgiveness was God himself in Jesus Christ. And that is why this is the ultimate

act of deliverance.
Conclusions

The Second Isaiah continues the prophetic word from God to Isaiah. In the first Isaiah it was a

word of judgment and in the Second Isaiah it was a word of comfort, however, it was the word of

the same God. Isaiah 40:1-11 is an introduction to the Second Isaiah, it anticipates the themes that

will be developed in the next chapters. And it presents the prophetic message as a word of comfort

to the people of God. Israel has been suffering in exile, and the message to the Second Isaiah will

be that God is with them. God is presented as a righteous, gracious, faithful, and powerful God.

Righteous because he is the Holy One of Israel who cannot stand the sin of the people. Indeed, the

exile is portrayed as a deserved punishment for their sin. However, God is also gracious and

merciful. He has forgiven them and they are still his people. Moreover, God is faithful and his

word endures forever. He is promising to comfort them by returning them to their land. And he

will certainly fulfill his word. Finally, God is powerful, he is more powerful and real than any

other power in the world. This is a countercultural message for a people living in a foreign land.

The message from God to the prophet is that even considering the exile, the word of God is still

faithful, and he is still more powerful and real than any other gods.
Bibliography

Brueggemann, Walter. Isaiah 40-66. Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.

Eddinger, Terry W. “Analysis of Isaiah 40:1-11” Bulletin of Biblical Research 9 (1999) 119-135.

Goldingay, John. Isaiah (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Baker Publishing Group, 2001) 3.

Motyer, Alec. Isaiah. An Introduction and Commentary. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999)

Webb, Barry. The Message of Isaiah. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Witherington, Ben. Isaiah Old and New. Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics.

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017.