But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
1. And now thus saith Jehovah. It is hard to say whether this is a different discourse or the same with the former; for the Prophets, whose writings have come down to us, did not separate their discourses into distinct chapters, so as to enable us to know what they spoke each day.
After reproving Jacob's stubborn disobedience, God's goodness blazes forth all the brighter: He continues His love and care for His people. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; mercy rejoices against judgment, and the sun breaks from behind dark clouds to shine the brighter.
AI summary
Commenting on Isaiah 43:1-7
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,.... This prophecy is not concerning Cyrus, and the redemption of the Jews by him, as some have thought; nor of Sennacherib and his army, and of their deliverance from him, as Kimchi and his father interpret it; but of the Christian church, and the state of it, when Jerusalem should be destroyed, as predicted...