Isaiah 12:2

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Behold, God is my salvation . . .—The words admit of the rendering, Behold the God of my salvation. In either construction “salvation” is taken, as in the New Testament (John 4:22; 1Peter 1:9-10), as meaning more than mere deliverance from danger, and including the highest spiritual blessings.

The Lord Jehovah . . .—The Hebrew here and in Isaiah 26:4 presents the exceptional combination of the two Divine Names (Yah Yahveh). (See Psalm 68:4.) With this exception the second clause of the verse is a verbal reproduction of Exodus 15:2.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:10-16 When the gospel should be publicly preached, the Gentiles would seek Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and find rest of soul. When God's time is come for the deliverance of his people, mountains of opposition shall become plains before him. God can soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones. And while we expect the Lord to gather his ancient people, and bring them home to his church, also to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, when all will be united in holy love, let us tread the highway of holiness he has made for his redeemed. Let us wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, looking to him to prepare our way through death, that river which separates this world from the eternal world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, God is my salvation - Or, God is the author, or source, of my salvation. It has not been brought about by any human hands, but is to be traced directly to him. The value of a gift is always enhanced by the dignity and excellency of the giver, and it confers an inestimable value on the blessings of salvation, that they are conferred by a being no less than the infinite God. It is not by human or angelic power; but it is to be traced directly and entirely to Yahweh.

I will trust, and not be afraid - Since God is its author; since he is able to defend me, and to perfect that which he has begun, I will confide in him, and not be afraid of the power or machinations of any enemy. In his hands I am safe. God is the foundation of our confidence; and trusting in him, his people shall never be moved.

For the Lord Jehovah - This is one of the four places in which our translators have retained the original word Yahweh, though the Hebrew word occurs often in the Scriptures. The other places where the word Jehovah is retained in our version are, Exodus 6:3; Psalm 68:18; lsa. Psalm 26:4. The original in this place is יהוה יה yâh yehovâh. The word יה yâh is an abbreviation of the word Yahweh. The abbreviated form is often used for the sake of conciseness, particularly in the Psalms, as in the expression "Hallelujah" (הללוּ־יה halelû-yâh), that is, praise Yahweh (Psalm 89:9; Psalm 94:7, Psalm 94:12; Psalm 104:35; Psalm 105:15; Psalm 106:1, Psalm 106:48; Psalm 111:1; Psalm 113:1, "et al.") In this place, and Isaiah 26:4, "the repetition" of the name seems to be used to denote "emphasis;" or perhaps to indicate that Yahweh is the same always - an unchangeable God. In two codices of Kennicott, however, the name יה yâh is omitted, and it has been conjectured by some that the repetition is an error of transcribers; but the best MSS. retain it. The Septuagint, the Chaldee, and the Syriac, however, omit it.

Is my strength and my song - The same expression occurs in the hymn that Moses composed after the passage of the Red Sea, in imitation of which this song is evidently composed; Exodus 15:2 :

Jehovah is my strength and my song,

And he is become my salvation.

The word 'strength' means, that he is the source of strength, and implies that all who are redeemed are willing to acknowledge that all their strength is n God. The word 'song' implies that he is the proper object of praise; it is to celebrate his praise that the 'song' is composed.

He also is become my salvation - This is also found in the song of Moses Exodus 15:2. It means that God had become, or was the author of salvation. It is by his hand that the deliverance bas been effected, and to him should be the praise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Lord Jehovah—Jah, Jehovah. The repetition of the name denotes emphasis, and the unchangeableness of God's character.

strength … song … salvation—derived from Ex 15:2; Ps 118:14. The idea of salvation was peculiarly associated with the feast of tabernacles (see Isa 12:3). Hence the cry "Hosanna," "Save, we beseech thee," that accompanied Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that day (the fifteenth of the seventh month) (Mt 21:9; compare with Ps 118:25, 26); the earnest of the perfected "salvation" which He shall bring to His people at His glorious second appearance at Jerusalem (Heb 9:28). "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Compare Re 21:3, "The tabernacle of God is with men." Compare Lu 9:33, "three tabernacles: one for thee," &c. (the transfiguration being a pledge of the future kingdom), (Ps 118:15; Zec 14:16). As the Jew was reminded by the feast of tabernacles of his wanderings in tents in the wilderness, so the Jew-Gentile Church to come shall call to mind, with thanksgiving, the various past ways whereby God has at last brought them to the heavenly "city of habitation" (Ps 107:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

God is my salvation; my salvation hath not been brought to pass by man, but by the almighty power of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Behold, God is my salvation,.... Or Saviour; that is, Christ, who is God, the great God, and so fit to be a Saviour, and is one, was appointed by the Father, provided in covenant, promised in the word, sent in the fulness of time, and is become the author of salvation, which a creature could not be; and this the church saw her interest in, and which was the ground of her comfort before declared; and to which she prefixed the word "behold", as a note of asseveration, affirming him to be her Saviour; and of admiration, wondering at it; and of exclusion of all others from being concerned therein; and of attention and direction to others, pointing him out as the only one to look unto.

I will trust, and not be afraid; "trust" in Christ for salvation, be confident of enjoying it, and look upon myself safe and secure from all wrath and condemnation, and from every enemy; and not be "afraid" of sin, Satan, the world, death, hell, and wrath to come. The Targum joins this and the preceding clause together,

"behold, in the word of God my salvation I trust, and shall not be moved:''

for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; the author of her spiritual strength; the "strength" of her life, and of her heart, which maintained the one, and supported the other; the strength of her graces, and of her duties, by which she exercised the one, and performed the other: and the subject matter of her "song" were his person, and the fulness and fitness of it, his righteousness, and salvation by him; this clause, and the following one, are taken out of Exodus 15:2,

he also is become my salvation; salvation is wrought out by Christ, and believers have it in him, and they know it, and believe it, and so are already saved in him.

Geneva Study Bible

Behold, God is my {b} salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

(b) Our salvation stands only in God, who gives us an assured confidence, constancy and opportunity to praise him for the same.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Behold, God is my salvation] Better: Behold the God of my salvation (Psalm 88:1).

The second half of the verse is repeated almost verbally from Exodus 15:2 my song] the personal suff. is omitted in Hebr., probably through defective writing.

the Lord JEHOVAH] Hebr. Yah Yahveh, a combination only recurring in ch. Isaiah 26:4. Since LXX. and other versions have only one Divine name here it is possible that the second was added in explanation of the rarer contracted form “Jah.”

my salvation] The word here used (yěshû‘âh) is not found in genuine prophecies of Isaiah (unless ch. Isaiah 33:2; Isaiah 33:6 be exceptions).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - God is my salvation (comp. Psalm 27:1; Psalm 38:22, etc.). The employment of the abstract "salvation" for the concrete "Savior" is extremely common. The Lord Jehovah; literally, Jab Jehovah - a combination which occurs only here and in Isaiah 26:4, where it is again used as an encouragement to perfect confidence and trust. Is my strength... salvation. This is quoted from the song of Moses (Exodus 15:2), which the prophet has throughout in his thoughts. Isaiah 12:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As Israel, when redeemed from Egypt beyond the Red Sea, sang songs of praise, so also will the Israel of the second redemption, when brought, in a no less miraculous manner, across the Red Sea and the Euphrates. "And in that day thou wilt say, I thank Thee, O Jehovah, that Thou wast angry with me: Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me. Behold, the God of my salvation; I trust, and am not afraid: for Jah Jehovah is my pride and song, and He became my salvation." The words are addressed to the people of the future in the people of the prophet's own time. They give thanks for the wrath experienced, inasmuch as it was followed by all the richer consolation. The formation of the sentence after כּי is paratactic; the principal tone falls upon 1b, where yâshōb is written poetically for vayyâshob (cf., Deuteronomy 32:8, Deuteronomy 32:18; Psalm 18:12; Hosea 6:1). We hear the notes of Psalm 90:13; Psalm 27:1, resounding here; whilst Isaiah 12:2 is the echo of Exodus 15:2 (on which Psalm 118:14 is also founded). עזי (to be read ‛ozzi, and therefore also written עזי) is another form of עזּי, and is used here to signify the proud self-consciousness associated with the possession of power: pride, and the expression of it, viz., boasting. Zimrath is equivalent in sense, and probably also in form, to zimrâti, just as in Syriac zemori (my song) is regularly pronounced zemōr, with the i of the suffix dropped (see Hupfeld on Psalm 16:6). It is also possible, however, that it may be only an expansion of the primary form zimrath equals zimrâh, and therefore that zimrath is only synonymous with zimrâti, as chēphetz in 2 Samuel 23:5 is with chephtzi. One thing peculiar to this echo of Exodus 15:2 is the doubling of the Jah in Jâh Jehōvâh, which answers to the surpassing of the type by the antitype.