6 You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? "I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Thou hast heard. This makes it still more clear that the Prophet speaks of a future captivity, and of the redemption by which it should be followed; thus intending to make provision for the advantage both of the men of his own time and of posterity, that, if they who then lived received no benefit, at least posterity might take warning and repent. It frequentlyhappens, that the doctrine of the prophets produces little effect on those who see and hear, and sometimes is even treated by them with contempt, while posterity receive it with better dispositions. See all. When he bids them see, some think that the Prophet exhibits the event in such a manner as if he had said, that God had spoken nothing which had not been made evident to be true. But I give a different interpretation of this word chzh, (chazeh,) see, in this manner: "Seeing that the Lord hath spoken, it is thy duty to examine the words, and to give attention." Hence we ought to observe, that it is owing to our sluggishness or indolence that we immediately lose those things which proceed from the mouth of God, and that in vain do many persons hold out the pretext of ignorance; because the Lord reveals clearly enough all that is necessary to be known, if they who hear would examine it carefully, and with due attention. And will ye not declare it? The Lord next demands something more from his people than to understand and consider his word; that is, that they may be a herald and witness of the miracles which they have known by experience. And, indeed, he instructs his people on this condition, that they shall afterwards lead others to the same confession of faith. Even now have I made thee to hear As if he had said, "Observe this day, on which the Lord foretells to thee, by my mouth, those things which thou didst not know; for these things cannot be perceived or foreseen by human conjecture."
Thou hast heard - You are witnesses that the prediction was uttered long before it was fulfilled.
See all this - Behold how it is all fulfilled. Bear witness that the event is as it was predicted.
And will ye not declare it? - Will you not bear witness to the entire fulfillment of the prophecy? God appeals to them as qualified to testify that what he had declared had come to pass, and calls on them to make this known as a demonstration that he alone was God (see the notes at Isaiah 44:8).
I have showed thee new things from this time - From this time I make known a thing which has not before occurred, that you may have a similar demonstration that Yahweh is God. The 'new thing' here referred to, is, doubtless, the prediction of the deliverance from the captivity at Babylon - a new thing, in contradistinction from those which had been before predicted, and which were already fulfilled (see the notes at Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19).
Even hidden things - Events which are so concealed that they could not be conjectured by any political sagacity, or by any contemplation of mere natural causes. They are, as it were, laid up in dark treasurehouses (compare Isaiah 45:3), and they can be known only by him to whom 'the darkness shineth as the day,' and to whom the night and the day are both alike Psalm 139:12.
Thou hast heard, see all this "Thou didst hear it beforehand; behold, the whole is accomplished" - For חזה chazeh, see, a MS. has הזה hazzeh, this; thou hast heard the whole of this: the Syriac has וחזית vechazith, "thou hast heard, and thou hast seen, the whole." Perhaps it should be הנה hinneh, behold. In order to express the full sense, I have rendered it somewhat paraphrastically.
Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye (g) declare [it]? I have showed ye new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
(g) Will you not acknowledge my blessing, and declare it to others?
Thou hast heard, see all this: and will ye not declare it?.... You have heard of all these things, how they were foretold before they were; how they came to pass exactly as they were predicted; now look over these prophecies, and compare them with the events; see the exact completion of them; and when you have so done, can you be so stouthearted and impudent as to deny them, or not own and confess them?
I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them; meaning the destruction of the Babylonish empire, and the deliverance of the Jews by Cyrus, prophesied just now in the preceding chapters; things not yet come to pass, newly revealed, which were hidden in the breast of God, and unknown to them until prophesied of; and which were typical of redemption by the incarnate Son of God, whose incarnation, and salvation by him, were new, unheard of, and wonderful things; and of the new state of things under the Gospel dispensation, when all things shall become new; the doctrines and ordinances of which are new; the whole Gospel is a hidden mystery, and unknown to men till revealed and made known by the Spirit of God.
Thou, &c.--So "ye are my witnesses" (Isaiah 43:10). Thou canst testify the prediction was uttered long before the fulfilment: "see all this," namely, that the event answers to the prophecy.
declare--make the fact known as a proof that Jehovah alone is God (Isaiah 44:8).
new things--namely, the deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus, new in contradistinction from former predictions that had been fulfilled (Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19). Antitypically, the prophecy has in view the "new things" of the gospel treasury (Song 7:13; Matthew 13:52; 2-Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5). From this point forward, the prophecies as to Messiah's first and second advents and the restoration of Israel, have a new circumstantial distinctness, such as did not characterize the previous ones, even of Isaiah. Babylon, in this view, answers to the mystical Babylon of Revelation.
hidden--which could not have been guessed by political sagacity (Daniel 2:22, Daniel 2:29; 1-Corinthians 2:9-10).
But in order to determine exactly what "the former things" were, which Jehovah had foretold in order that Israel might not ascribe them to this idol or the other, we must add Isaiah 48:6-8 : "Thou hast heard it, look then at it all; and ye, must ye not confess it? I give thee new things to hear from this time forth, and hidden things, and what thou didst not know. It is created now, and not long ago; and thou hast not heard it before, that thou mightest not say, Behold, I knew it. Thou hast neither heard it, nor known it, nor did thine ear open itself to it long ago: for I knew thou art altogether faithless, and thou art called rebellious from the womb." The meaning of the question in Isaiah 48:6 is very obvious: they must acknowledge and attest, even thou against their will (Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:8), that Jehovah has foretold all that is now confirmed by the evident fulfilment. Consequently the "former things" are the events experienced by the people from the very earliest times (Isaiah 46:9) down to the present times of Cyrus, and more especially the first half or epoch of this period itself, which expired at the time that formed the prophet's standpoint. And as the object of the prediction was to guard Israel against ascribing to its idols that which had taken place (which can only be understood of events that had occurred in favour of Israel), the "former things" must include the preparation for the redemption of Israel from the Babylonian captivity through the revolution brought to pass by Cyrus. Hence the "new things" will embrace the redemption of Israel with its attendant circumstances, and that not merely on its outward side, but on its spiritual side as well; also the glorification of the redeemed people in the midst of a world of nations converted to the God of Israel, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth; in short, the New Testament aeon (compare עם לברית, lxx εἰς διαθήκην γένους, Isaiah 42:6), with the facts which contribute to its ultimate completion (f. Isaiah 42:9). The announcement and realization of these absolutely new and hitherto secret things (cf., Romans 16:25) take place from this time forward; Israel has not heard of them "before today" (compare מיּום, "from this day forward," Isaiah 43:13), that it may not lay claim to the knowledge conveyed to it by prophecy, as something drawn from itself. This thought is carried to a climax in Isaiah 48:8 in three correlated sentences commencing with "yea" (gam). פּתח signifies patescere here, as in Isaiah 60:11 (Ewald, 120, a). Jehovah had said nothing to them of this before, because it was to be feared that, with their faithlessness and tendency to idolatry, which had run through their entire history, they would only abuse it. This is strange! On the one hand, the rise of Cyrus is spoken of here as predicted from of old, because it belonged to the "former things," and as knowable through prophecy - a statement which favours the opinion that these addresses were written before the captivity; and, on the other hand, a distinction is drawn between these "former things" and certain "new things" that were intentionally not predicted before the expiration of these "former things," which certainly seems to preclude the possibility of their having been composed before the captivity; since, as Ruetschi observes, if "the older Isaiah had predicted this, he would have acted in direct opposition to Jehovah's design." But in actual fact, the dilemma in which the opponents of the authenticity of these prophecies find themselves, is comparatively worse than this. For the principal objection - namely, that a prophet before the captivity could not possibly have known or predicted anything concerning Cyrus - cannot be satisfactorily removed by attributing these prophecies to a prophet of the time of the captivity, since they expressly and repeatedly affirm that the rise of Cyrus was an event foreknown and predicted by the God of prophecy. Now, if it is Isaiah who thus takes his stand directly in the midst of the captivity, we can understand both of these: viz., the retrospective glance at previous prophecies, which issued in the rise of Cyrus that prepared the way for the redemption from Babylon, since, so far as the prophet was concerned, such prophecies as Isaiah 13-14:23; Isaiah 21:1-10, and also Isaiah 11:10-12 (Micah 4:10), are fused into one with his present predictions; and also the prospective glance at prophecies which are now first to be uttered, and events which are now fore the first time about to be accomplished; inasmuch as the revelations contained in these prophecies concerning Israel's pathway through suffering to glory, more especially so far as they grew out of the idea of the "servant of Jehovah," might really be set down as absolutely new to the prophet himself, and never heard of before. Meanwhile our exposition is not affected by the critical question; for even we most firmly maintain, that the prophet who is speaking here has his standpoint in the midst of the captivity, on the boundary line of the condition of suffering and punishment and its approaching termination.
See - As thou hast heard all these things, from time to time, seriously consider them. Declare - I call you to witness: must you not be forced to acknowledge the truth of what I say? Shewed - And I have now given thee new predictions of secret things, such as 'till this time were wholly unknown to thee, concerning thy deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus.
*More commentary available at chapter level.