Isaiah 43:19

The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons, and the owls,.... Which is not to be understood literally of these creatures, who as they had honoured the Lord, when Israel passed through the wilderness, so would again in their way praise the Lord, when they came through the deserts from Babylon, for giving them water to drink in such dry and thirsty places, to which there may be an allusion; but spiritually of the Gentiles, compared to those creatures for the savageness, fierceness, and stupidity of them, and who were reckoned by the Jews no other than as the beasts of the field; who should honour and glorify God for the Gospel brought unto them, and for his grace and mercy bestowed on them:

because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert; as before; See Gill on Isa 43:19; because of the plenty of divine grace, and the means of it:

to give drink to my people, my chosen; to refresh and comfort the hearts of his people, whom he had chosen out from among the Gentiles, and now would call them by his grace, and set them a thirsting after Christ, and salvation by him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Isa 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert.

Ver. 19. Shall ye not know it?] Or, Do ye not perceive it? He speaketh of it as present and under view.

And rivers in a desert.] As once when I set the flint abroach. {Exo 17:6 Num 20:8; Num 20:11 Psa 105:41} By this way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, understand the doctrine of the gospel, and the comforts of the Spirit. {Joh 7:38-39}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_43:19

Behold, I will do a new thing

The future better than the past

How dear to the heart of the Israelites was the remembrance of the nations deliverance from Egypt and their journey to the Land of Promise! To those great events the religious teachers of the people continually turned for illustrations and proofs of Gods greatness and power and goodness and love.

From this well used and familiar store of imagery the figurative expressions of the text are derived. Dropping the figures put of sight for a moment, we may say this is a gracious promise of suitable help and supply, even under circumstances most difficult and precarious. It is intended as an encouragement to repentance and to renewed consecration to God. It is the old message that God will give to all who look to Him everything that is requisite for spiritual progress and success. In presence of every untried enterprise; on the threshold of every unknown experience; in the hearing of every Divine call, this promise floats as a banner before the soldiers eye, and rings as the sound of a trumpet rings upon the soldiers heart. (T. Stephenson.)

A new thing

1. This messenger of God proclaims, and he may be regarded as in this respect representing all Gods messengers of grace to the world, Look not on the former things--listen not now, in these moments of penitence and prayer, to those threatening voices which tell of an inexorable law of repetition, of the relentless working out of a foregone conclusion and appointed destiny--old things may pass away, all things may become new. Behold, I will do a new thing!

2. This new thing, in the instance before us, is compared with the opening of a path in the wilderness, and the supply of rivers of waters in the desert. The pathless wilderness of the future is before us--no foot has trodden it,--it is beset by unknown difficulties and unseen perils; but even their God will make a way, a road upon which His people shall travel in security and with unerring certainty to their appointed destination. And although the heat of the sun may beat fiercely down upon that path, drying up every particle of moisture and consuming all pleasant vegetation, so that it may seem most unlikely that life can be sustained in the journey across such an arid waste, God can and will provide all that is needed; and rivers of water, an abundant and continuous supply, shall be found there. Preparation and guidance! These are the ideas involved in the promise to make a path. Difficulty, peril, privation! These are the thoughts which associate themselves with the desert and the wilderness. (T. Stephenson.)

The new thing

This doing a new thing is the very achievement which many voices of high authority are assuring us, just now, is impossible with God. The power that carries on the universe, they tell us, never does a new thing. What seems to us the new is only the old revealing itself in an unexpected way. Continuity is the law that governs all things. It is the language of those whose symbol of deity is an interrogation mark, or the sign for an unknown quantity, or a fetter, as they may happen to prefer. It is a phase of thought by no means modern, although sometimes imagined to be such. It never found more telling expression anywhere than at the lips of one who flourished a thousand years before Christ, more or less, and who put it thus: The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? I suggest that we take up the ancient challenge. I will mention some of the ways in which Christ may be said to have broken in upon the monotony and uniformity of human life and thought with something new. He brought us--

I. A NEW LIKENESS OF GOD.

II. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

III. A NEW HOPE. (W. R. Huntington, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19-21. A new thing — As the former event was common in invasions, sieges, etc., to the unfortunate conquered, the marvel now to be spoken of is the certainly approaching spiritual restoration, not on Jews only, but also on Gentiles.

A way in the wilderness… rivers in the desert — Certainly the same figures, almost the same language, as in chap. xxv, manifestly used of the great renovation under Messiah, and it seems quite to establish again the same authorship of both compositions. See notes on chap. 35. Of this great renovation, to come over all men, the literal restoration from Babylon, is the type.

This people… formed for myself — Probably the exiles from Babylon prefigure here the whole spiritual Israel of the coming Messianic ages. It was a great thing that the exiles were so far spiritually restored as never afterward to relapse into their old idolatry; and that which this prefigured was “the new thing” of Isa_43:19. A glorious fruitage awaits the budding of Messianic germs which the changed wilderness is showing. One thinks of Luk_19:40 : “If these should hold their peace, the stones would cry out.” When Messiah shall reign as king and judge, all things will “show forth Jehovah’s praise.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE FUTURE BETTER THAN THE PAST

Isa_43:19. Behold, I will do a new thing, &c.

God’s messages to Israel are steeped in imagery supplied by their past experiences. From this familiar store the figurative expressions of the text are derived; it holds out a challenge to faith, a rebuke to unbelief.

I. The emphasis of the promise lies in God’s promise to do a NEW thing—i.e., something unprecedented. Israel was cautioned not to make the past the measure of the future (cf. Isa_43:18-19). They were often exhorted to seek help and consolation in remembering their past; but this is a caution against a way of looking at the past which works injury—against a brooding on it that spoils the future. Self-consciousness comes with increasing years; we are apt to exclaim, “The thing which hath been is that which shall be;” “The child is father of the man,” points to the conclusion of a wide induction. Philosophy tells us that this unreadiness to believe that the future can be better than the past is but a proof of growing wisdom; and we are often inclined to say, “our theories of the Christian life have always been far in advance of our attainments; but shortcomings have brought down our expectations.” It is one of the severest penalties of unfaithfulness, that hope for the future is slain.

Often men are not troubled much about the loss of hope, but even these know what it is to have a dark void where there should be a light shining more and more.

One of the hardest tasks of the Hebrew prophets was that of renewing in the people the impulses of hope; and so this representative messenger of God proclaims, “Remember not the former things,” old things may pass away, all things may become new.

II. This new thing is compared with the opening of a path in the wilderness, and the supply of rivers in the desert. Before each one there is a pathless wilderness, beset by difficulties and perils; but even there God will make a way for His people, and sustain their life. Preparation and guidance, difficulty, peril, privation! These are thoughts which associate themselves with the desert and the wilderness. For every Christian, God is preparing a way through unknown experiences. Of each man it may be said—

“He was the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.”

But God prepares the way; He preserves the traveller; He connects the present, the future, and the past Each day shall be, in some respects, different from all past days; and when the heart turns faint at new demands made upon it, He breathes new life into it with the promise, “Behold, I will do a new thing!” The voice of apprehension cries, “How shall freshness and vigour be maintained within me?” God says, “I will supply rivers in the desert;” not simply sufficiency, but abundance. To-morrow may be a barren prospect; but God is with us; we are near to the Fountain of Life. We often speak of our lack of spiritual life and vigour as though it were a perplexing problem. Is it so, when we do not, will not, drink? There is a “law of the life” of the spirit as well as of the body. Our hearts are like seeds wrapped round so that moisture and air are excluded; such seeds may be planted, but they will not grow. Nor will our hearts wrapped round by prayerlessness, selfishness, indolence, and forgetfulness. Take away these wrappings, lay them aside for ever!

Note further, that this Divine promise pledges God to supply that which is a natural source of verdure, gladness, beauty. This is only one of many instances, in which we are taught that God’s will is not only to preserve, but also to adorn our life (Isa_35:1). The young should surely listen to this voice. For them all life is emphatically new; their experiences shall not, indeed, be unparalleled in the history of men, but to them they shall be a new thing from God. Christ declares Himself to be the Giver of “living water;” life, and light, and beauty go before Him; He speaks the word which cannot fail: “Behold, I make all things new!”—Thomas Stephenson: Christian World Pulpit, vol. v. pp. 209–210.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, that their deliverance out of Babylon should be more famous than that from Egypt was, Jer. 23:7; Hag. 2:10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5, 7.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

new--unprecedented in its wonderful character (Isa 42:9).

spring forth--as a germinating herb: a beautiful image of the silent but certain gradual growth of events in God's providence (Mar 4:26-28).

way in . . . wilderness--just as Israel in the wilderness, between the Red Sea and Canaan, was guided, and supplied with water by Jehovah; but the "new" deliverance shall be attended with manifestations of God's power and love, eclipsing the old (compare Isa 41:17-19). "I will open a way, not merely in the Red Sea, but in the wilderness of the whole world; and not merely one river shall gush out of the rock, but many, which shall refresh, not the bodies as formerly, but the souls of the thirsty, so that the prophecy shall be fulfilled: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation'" [JEROME]. "A way" often stands for the true religion (Act 9:2; Act 18:26). "Rivers" express the influences of the Holy Spirit (Joh 7:37-39). Israel's literal restoration hereafter is included, as appears by comparing Isa 11:15-16.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. Behold, I will do a new thing] At Isa 43:16, the prophet had referred to the deliverance from Egypt and the passage through the Red Sea; here he promises that the same power shall be employed in their redemption and return from the Babylonish captivity. This was to be a new prodigy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. The making of the way through the desert and water for the pilgrims to drink (See on ch. Isa_40:3 f., Isa_41:18 ff.) is considered to be a miracle transcending the passage of the Red Sea, and all the miracles which attended the first exodus. This is the new thing on which the prophet’s mind fastens as the symbol of Israel’s deliverance.

now it shall &c.] Rather: even now it is springing forth; do ye not recognise it? In ch. Isa_42:9, the new things are spoken of as announced before they “spring forth,” while as yet there is no sign of their appearing; here to the lively imagination of the prophet they are already seen “germinating,” and he calls on the people to see them as the inevitable issue of the conquests of Cyrus. But while the above seems the most effective rendering of the question, that of the E.V. is quite possible:—“shall ye not experience it.”

the desert] Heb. Jìshîmôn, an utterly barren and arid region (Deu_32:10; Psa_68:7; Psa_78:40; Psa_107:4 &c.) as distinguished from midbâr (“wilderness” or “steppe”), where flocks can find a scanty sustenance. It occurs as a proper name in Num_21:20 (1Sa_26:1).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will do a new thing - Something that has not hitherto occurred, some unheard of and wonderful event, that shall far surpass all that he had formerly done (see the note at Isa 42:9).

Now it shall spring forth - (See the note at Isa 42:9). It shall spring up as the grass does from the earth; or it shall bud forth like the opening leaves and flowers - a beautiful figure, denoting the manner in which the events of Divine Providence come to pass.

I will even make a way in the wilderness - In this part of the verse, the prophet describes the anxious care which God would show in protecting his people, and providing for them in conducting them to their native land. See the expressions fully explained in the notes at Isa 41:17-19.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

New. I shall work the like miracles as were seen in the wilderness.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A new thing; such a work as was never yet done in the world, even the redemption of the world by the Messiah.

Now; shortly, although it was not to be done till after some hundreds of years. For so the Scripture oft speaketh of things at a great distance of time as if they were now at hand, as Hag 2:6; Jam 5:9; Rev 22:20, and elsewhere; which it doth to correct our impatience, and to make us willing to wait till God’s time come; and to assure us that the mercy shall come as soon as ever it is fit for us, and we for it; and to make us sensible of the inconsiderableness of time, and all temporal things, in comparison of God, and of the eternal things; upon which account it is said that a thousand years are in God’s sight but as one day, Psa 90:4.

Shall ye not know it? certainly you Jews shall know it by experience, and shall find that I do not deceive you with vain hopes.

I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert; I will give you direction and provision in the wilderness, where there is commonly no path, and where all necessaries are wanting; which as it literally speaks of God’s conducting them in the way from Babylon to Jerusalem, which lay through a great desert; so it is mystically meant of those spiritual blessings which God in and through Christ will confer upon all his people, not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, who in prophetical language are oft compared to the wilderness, as Isa 35:1, and elsewhere.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Behold, I will do a new thing. (comp. Isa_42:9, with the comment) It is, of course, quite possible that the novelty is not merely in the circumstances of the deliverance, but extends to all its results, among which is the Messianic kingdom verily, a "new thing". (see Jer_31:22) Now it shall spring forth; rather, already it is springing up. (Isa_42:9) Things, however, are more advanced (to the prophet"s eye) than when that passage was written. Events are shaping themselves the deliverance approaches. Shall ye not know it? rather, will ye not give heed to it? Will not the exiled people, whom Isaiah addresses, turn their thoughts this way, and let the idea of deliverance take possession of their minds, instead of brooding on past and present sufferings? (see Isa_40:30 Isa_41:17 Isa_42:22) God is about to make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. As he led his people out of their Egyptian bondage, first through the Red Sea, and then through a "howling wilderness", (Deu_32:10) so now he will "make a way" for them through a still more desolate tract. We are nowhere historically told by what route the Israelites ultimately returned. If they went by Tadmor and Damascus, they must have traversed a most arid and difficult desert. Even if they did not quit the Euphrates till they reached the latitude of Aleppo, still they must have had some wide tracts of wilderness to cross.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A new thing - Such a work as was never yet done in the world. Now - The scripture often speaks of things at a great distance of time, as if they were now at hand; to make us sensible of the inconsiderableness of time, and all temporal things, in comparison of God, and eternal things; upon which account it is said, that a thousand years are in God's sight but as one day.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“Behold I (am) doing (something) new, it is now (or yet) to sprout (or germinate); do you not know it? Yes, I will place in the wilderness a way, in the desert streams.” The now does not necessarily denote a proximate futurity, but only that the thing is yet to happen, or in other words, that it is something new, as distinguished from all former instances. As if He had said, it is still future. The figure of germination implies that as yet there was no appearance of the final issue. (See the same expression in Isa 42:9) Do you not know it, (i.e., know what it is)? Or, will you not know it, (i.e., are you not willing to be convinced? Or, shall you not know it, (i.e., is not the event to be attested by your own experience? Not content with having made a way through the sea, He would make one through the desert. Now as this is really a less extraordinary act of power than the other, it would seem to favor the opinion, that v. 16 and the one before us do not relate indefinitely to the exhibition of Jehovah’s omnipotence, but specifically to the exodus from Egypt and the restoration of the Jews from exile. Even on this hypothesis, however, the terms of this verse must be understood not as a description of the literal return, but as a figurative representation of deliverance and relief, whereas v. 16 describes a literal deliverance. On the whole, therefore, it is best to take both verses as strong metaphorical descriptions of deliverance from suffering and danger by a direct divine interposition. Even supposing an allusion to the literal journey through the desert, what is said of rivers must be figurative, which makes it probable that the whole sentence is of the same description. Thus understood, the Prophet’s language means that God could change the face of nature and control the angry elements in favor of His people; that he had so done in time past, and would again do so in time to come.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A new thing. The taking of Babylon, or the fact that the Israelites alone will escape; the latter seems the more probable explanation. I will even make, etc. I shall, besides, produce water in the wilderness for the benefit of those who will return from Babylon to Zion.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.