Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
6. Every one brought assistance to his neighbor. What now follows agrees well with what goes before, if you connect this verse with the last clause of the former verse, “They drew near, they were assembled, every one assisted his neighbor;” so that the meaning is, “Although the islands saw and knew my works, so that they trembled at them, yet they assembled in crowds...
That particular instance of God's care for his people Israel in raising up Cyrus to be their deliverer is here insisted upon as a great proof both of his sovereignty above all idols and of his power to protect his people. Here is, I. A general challenge to the worshippers and admirers of idols to make good their pretensions, in competition with God and opposition to him, Isa 41:1.
Commenting on Isaiah 41:1-9
They helped everyone his neighbour,.... By advice and counsel, by the best arguments they could make use of, to withstand the new religion, and defend the old one; to prevent the embracing the one, and relinquishing the other: and everyone said to his brother, be of good courage: or, "be strong" (m); they strengthened one another's hands in their idolatrous worship, encouraged each other to...