DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links 2015 September 30
God the Father (after 1664)
Pierre Mignard (1612-1695)
Baroque Style
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
Image Source: Web Gallery of Art
Explanation: Isaiah 40 opens with a word of comfort and pardon for the LORD's people (1-2). A voice cries out in the wilderness telling all to prepare the way of the LORD, for the Glory of the LORD will be revealed (3-5). The message continues with a command to Isaiah to cry out that all flesh is grass and will fade; but the word of the LORD will stand forever (6-8). God will come in strength and be a shepherd to his people (9-11). He is incomparable in wisdom and power: no one is wise enough to give him instruction; before him the earth can be weighed in a scale; the nations are like a drop in a bucket; and Lebanon's beasts are insufficient as an offering to him (12-17). He is unlike the idols which can't move themselves (18-20). From the beginning he sits upon the circle of the earth, spreads the heavens like his tent, and brings the princes to nothing (21-23). He will sweep away the nations like stubble before the whirlwind (24). The LORD is unlike anyone they know; he is mighty enough to create and order the heavens; and they that wait on him will renew their strength and (like him) be unwearied (25-31).
[ THEMATICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY RELATED SCRIPTURES: Isaiah 40. Isaiah 41. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 44. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 46. Isaiah 47. Isaiah 48. ]
[ CHRONOLOGY: GENERAL. Patriarchs (Traditional). Judges # 1. Judges # 2. Kings # 1. Kings # 2. Prophets # 1. Prophets # 2. NT # 1. NT # 2. NT # 3. ]
[ MAPS: Maps # 1. Maps # 2. Maps # 3. Maps # 4. Maps # 5. ]
[ COMMENTARIES, ETC: GENERAL: Bible Study Tools; Bible Hub: Study Light; Blue Letter Bible // PSALMS: Monergism: Precept Austin: The Treasury of David; John Gill; John Calvin - Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
[ MUSIC: GENERAL: The Cyber Hymnal // PSALMS: Genevan Psalter (Instrumental). VARIOUS ARTISTS: Micha'el Ben David. Sons of Korah. Fernando Ortega. Janet Isaac Morrison. Music of the Bible Revealed - Suzanne Haik-Vantoura. Dr. David Erb. Gregorian Chants. ]
Isaiah 40
2. Post-Exile: The Blessing & Judgment Cycles ( 40:1 - 66:24 )- 701-681 B.C., Israel
(These 8 groups of prophecies alternate between blessings on Israel and judgment on God's enemies.)
A. Cycle 1 (40:1 - 48:22)
1. Blessing: (40:1 - 45:25)
a. (40:1-31)
b. (41:1-29)
c. (42:1-25)
d. (43:1-28)
e. (44:1-28)
f. (45:1-25)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blessing (40:1 - 45:25)
a. Blessing for God's People Through Pardon (40:1-31)
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably [upon the heart] to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
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