Isaiah 44:21

Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Remember these.—Better, these things—i.e., the whole argument against idolatry. In contrast with the blind worshippers of idols, Israel is addressed in its ideal character as the “servant of Jehovah” with all the emphasis of iteration.

Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.—The LXX., Vulg., and some other versions take the verb as middle, thou shalt not forget, but the evidence for the passive sense preponderates, to say nothing of its greater fitness in connection with the next verse, and its bearing upon complaints like those of Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 49:14.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 44:21-23. Remember these — These things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten — I will not forget nor forsake thee; therefore thou shalt have no need of idols. I have blotted out as a cloud, &c. — As the sun arising disperses the clouds, and causes them to vanish and disappear, so have I, arising for thy salvation, with the light and influence of my grace, scattered and removed thy transgressions, that there is no remnant or appearance of them left: a beautiful and expressive metaphor. Return unto me — From thine idolatry, and other sinful practices. For 1 have redeemed thee — Therefore thou art mine, and obliged to return and adhere to me. Sing, O ye heavens, &c. — “The prophet here, by an elegant apostrophe, calls upon all creatures to glorify God for his singular blessing to his people in delivering them from their captivity in Babylon; which also has a further respect to the great and spiritual deliverance of mankind by the Messiah;” a mercy so transcendent, that, as he intimates, it is sufficient, were it possible, to make even the stones break forth in praises to God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

44:21-28 Return unto me. It is the great concern of those who have backslidden from God, like the Jews of old, to hasten their return to him. The work of redemption wrought for us by Christ, encourages to hope for all blessings from him. Our transgressions and our sins are as a thick cloud between heaven and earth: sins separate between us and God; they threaten a storm of wrath. When God pardons sin, he blots out, he dispels this cloud, this thick cloud, so that the way to heaven is open again. The cloud is scattered by the Sun of righteousness; it is quite gone. The comforts that flow into the soul when sin is pardoned, are like clear shining after clouds and rain. Let not Israel be discouraged; nothing is too hard for God: having made all, he can make what use he pleases of any. Those that learn to know Christ, see all knowledge to be foolishness, in comparison with the knowledge of him. And his enemies will find their counsels turned into foolishness, and themselves taken in their craftiness. The exact fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture confirms the truth of the whole, and proves its Divine origin. The particular favours God designed for his people in captivity, were foretold here, long before they went into captivity. Very great difficulties would be in the way of their deliverance; but it is promised that by Divine power they should all be removed. God knew who should be the Deliverer of his people; and let his church know it, that when they heard such a name talked of, they might know their redemption drew nigh. It is the greatest honour of the greatest men, to be employed as instruments of the Divine favour to his people. In things wherein men serve themselves, and look no further, God makes them do all his pleasure. And a nobler Shepherd than Cyrus does his Father's will, till his work is fully completed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Remember these - Remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry, and the vanity of worshipping idols. The object of the argument is, to turn their attention to God, and to lead them to put their trust in him.

Thou art my servant - (See the notes at Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:1).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. Remember—"Be not like the idolaters who consider not in their heart" (Isa 44:19).

these—things just said as to the folly of idol-worship.

my servant—not like the idolaters, slaves to the stock of a tree (Isa 44:19). See Isa 44:1, 2.

thou … not … forgotten of me—Therefore thou oughtest to "remember" Me.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Remember these; either these men; or, which comes to one, these things, the deep ignorance and stupidity of idolaters; which may be a warning to thee.

Thou shalt not be forgotten of me; I will not forget nor forsake thee; and therefore thou shalt have no need of idols. Or, as the ancient interpreters and divers others render it, do not forget me; what I am, and what I have done, and can and will do, for thee; the forgetting whereof is the ready way to idolatry.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Remember these, O Jacob, O Israel,.... Remember these persons, these idolaters before spoken of; or these things, the gross idolatries they were guilty of, and loath and abhor them, shun and avoid them, and not imitate them, and do the same things: or remember that this was formerly your case, and admire the distinguishing grace of God, in turning you from idols to serve him: for by Jacob and Israel may be meant the spiritual Israel of God, or those from among the Gentiles called by the grace of God, and incorporated into Christian churches; see Isaiah 44:5,

for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: and therefore should serve the Lord, and him only, and not idols, for no man can serve two masters; moreover, these were formed by the Spirit and grace of God in regeneration for his service, and therefore ought cheerfully to engage therein, and abide in it, and never serve any other:

O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me; such as remember the Lord, and remember to serve him, he will remember, and not forget them, his love to them, his covenant with them, and the promises he has made them; he will not forget their persons, nor their service, their work and labour of love, which they have showed to his name. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "do not forget me"; and so the Targum paraphrases it,

"do not forget my fears;''

to fear, serve, and worship the Lord, and him only; but Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, it should be rendered as it is by our translators.

Geneva Study Bible

{a} Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by me.

(a) Showing that man's heart is most inclined to idolatry, and therefore he warns his people by these examples, that they should not cleave to any but to the living God, when they should be among the idolaters.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21, 22. An admonition to Israel to lay these truths to heart and realise its special relation to the one living and true God.

Remember these] i.e. these things (R.V.), the principles enforced in the preceding passage.

thou shalt not be forgotten of me] The Heb. construction, a passive verb with accusative suffix, is abnormal. All the ancient versions and many commentators render “thou shalt (or wilt) not forget me”; but this is hardly defensible. The suffix must denote the indirect obj. (dative) as is sometimes the case with intransitive verbs. (See Davidson, Synt. § 73 r. 4.) For the sense, cf. ch. Isaiah 40:27, Isaiah 49:14 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 21-28. - ISRAEL ONCE MORE PROMISED DELIVERANCE, AND THE DELIVERER MENTIONED BY NAME. Israel, having been exhorted never to forget the impotency of idols (ver. 21), is promised forgiveness and deliverance (vers. 21, 22). Then, heaven and earth are called upon to join in rejoicing over the announcement (ver. 23). Finally, in a noble burst of poetry, God is represented as solemnly declaring his intention of frustrating all the false sayings of the soothsayers concerning his people, and accomplishing their restoration to their own land, and the rebuilding of their temple through the instrumentality of Cyrus (vers. 24-28). Verse 21. - Remember these; rather, remember these things; i.e. the futility of idols and the folly of the idol-worshippers. For thou art my servant. Therefore bound to worship me, and not the idols (comp. Isaiah 41:8; vers. 1, 2). I have formed thee (so also in Isaiah 43:1, 21; vers. 2, 24). The duty of absolute unquestioning obedience seems contained in the relation of that which is formed to that which has formed it. On the other hand, it may be assumed that he who has formed a thing will have a constant care of it and regard for it - that at any rate he will not "forget" it. Isaiah 44:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The second half of the prophecy commences with Isaiah 44:21. It opens with an admonition. "Remember this, Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art servant to me, O Israel: thou art not forgotten by me." The thing to which the former were blind - namely, that idolatry is a lie - Jacob was to have firmly impressed upon its mind. The words "and Israel," which are attached, are a contract for "and remember this, O Israel" (compare the vocatives after Vâv in Proverbs 8:5 and Joel 2:23). In the reason assigned, the tone rests upon my in the expression "my servant," and for this reason "servant to me" is used interchangeably with it. Israel is the servant of Jehovah, and as such it was formed by Jehovah; and therefore reverence was due to Him, and Him alone. The words which follow are rendered by the lxx, Targum, Jerome, and Luther as though they read לא תנשׁני, though Hitzig regards the same rendering as admissible even with the reading תנּשנּי, inasmuch as the niphal נשּׁה has the middle sense of ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι, oblivisci. But it cannot be shown that nizkar is ever used in the analogous sense of μιμνήσκεσθαι, recordari. The niphal, which was no doubt originally reflective, is always used in Hebrew to indicate simply the passive endurance of something which originated with the subject of the action referred to, so that nisshâh could only signify "to forget one's self." We must indeed admit the possibility of the meaning "to forget one's self" having passed into the meaning "to be forgetful," and this into the meaning "to forget." The Aramaean תנשׁי also signifies to be forgotten and (with an accent following) to forget, and the connection with an objective suffix has a support in ויּלּחמוּני in Psalm 109:3. But the latter is really equivalent to אתּי וילחמו, so that it may be adduced with equal propriety in support of the other rendering, according to which תּנּשׁני is equivalent to לי תנש (Ges., Umbr., Ewald, Stier). There are many examples of this brachyological use of the suffix (Ges. 121, 4), so that this rendering is certainly the safer of the two. It also suits the context quite as well as the former, "Oh, forget me not;" the assurance "thou wilt not be forgotten by me" (compare Isaiah 49:15 and the lamentation of Israel in Isaiah 40:27) being immediately followed by an announcement of the act of love, by which the declaration is most gloriously confirmed. - Isaiah 44:22 "I have blotted out thy transgressions as a mist, and thy sins as clouds: return to me; for I have redeemed thee." We have adopted the rendering "mist" merely because we have no synonym to "cloud;" we have not translated it "thick cloud," because the idea of darkness, thickness, or opacity, which is the one immediately suggested by the word, had become almost entirely lost (see Isaiah 25:5). Moreover, קל עב is evidently intended here (see Isaiah 19:1), inasmuch as the point of comparison is not the dark, heavy multitude of sins, but the facility and rapidity with which they are expunged. Whether we connect with מסהיתי the idea of a stain, as in Psalm 51:3, Psalm 51:11, or that of a debt entered in a ledge, as in Colossians 2:14, and as we explained it in Isaiah 43:25 (cf., mâchâh, Exodus 32:32-33), in any case sin is regarded as something standing between God and man, and impeding or disturbing the intercourse between them. This Jehovah clears away, just as when His wind sweeps away the clouds, and restores the blue sky again (Job 26:13). Thus does God's free grace now interpose at the very time when Israel thinks He has forgotten it, blotting out Israel's sin, and proving this by redeeming it from a state of punishment. What an evangelical sound the preaching of the Old Testament evangelist has in this passage also! Forgiveness and redemption are not offered on condition of conversion, but the mercy of God comes to Israel in direct contrast to what its works deserve, and Israel is merely called upon to reciprocate this by conversion and renewed obedience. The perfects denote that which has essentially taken place. Jehovah has blotted out Israel's sin, inasmuch as He does not impute it any more, and thus has redeemed Israel. All that yet remains is the outward manifestation of this redemption, which is already accomplished in the counsel of God.