Reflections on Isaiah 44

Isaiah 44 (Contemporary English Version)
1. People of Israel, I have chosen you as my servant.
   
2. I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born. Israel, don't be terrified! You are my chosen servant, my very favorite.
   
3. I will bless the thirsty land by sending streams of water; I will bless your descendants by giving them my Spirit.
   
4. They will spring up like grass or like willow trees near flowing streams.
   
5. They will worship me and become my people. They will write my name on the back of their hands.
   
6. I am the LORD All-Powerful, the first and the last, the one and only God. Israel, I have rescued you! I am your King.
   
7. Can anyone compare with me? If so, let them speak up and tell me now. Let them say what has happened since I made my nation long ago, and let them tell what is going to happen.
   
8. Don't tremble with fear! Didn't I tell you long ago? Didn't you hear me? I alone am God-- no one else is a mighty rock.
   
9. Those people who make idols are nothing themselves, and the idols they treasure are just as worthless. Worshipers of idols are blind, stupid, and foolish.
   
10. Why make an idol or an image that can't do a thing?
    
11. Everyone who makes idols and all who worship them are mere humans, who will end up sadly disappointed. Let them face me in court and be terrified.
    
12. A metalworker shapes an idol by using a hammer and heat from the fire. In his powerful hand he holds a hammer, as he pounds the metal into the proper shape. But he gets hungry and thirsty and loses his strength.
    
13. Some woodcarver measures a piece of wood, then draws an outline. The idol is carefully carved with each detail exact. At last it looks like a person and is placed in a temple.
    
14. Either cedar, cypress, oak, or any tree from the forest may be chosen. Or even a pine tree planted by the woodcarver and watered by the rain.
    
15. Some of the wood is used to make a fire for heating or for cooking. One piece is made into an idol, then the woodcarver bows down and worships it.
    
16. He enjoys the warm fire and the meat that was roasted over the burning coals.
    
17. Afterwards, he bows down to worship the wooden idol. "Protect me!" he says. "You are my god."
    
18. Those who worship idols are stupid and blind!
    
19. They don't have enough sense to say to themselves, "I made a fire with half of the wood and cooked my bread and meat on it. Then I made something worthless with the other half. Why worship a block of wood?"
    
20. How can anyone be stupid enough to trust something that can be burned to ashes? No one can save themselves like that. Don't they realize that the idols they hold in their hands are not really gods?
    
21. People of Israel, you are my servant, so remember all of this. Israel, I created you, and you are my servant. I won't forget you.
    
22. Turn back to me! I have rescued you and swept away your sins as though they were clouds.
    
23. Tell the heavens and the earth to start singing! Tell the mountains and every tree in the forest to join in the song! The LORD has rescued his people; now they will worship him.
    
24. Israel, I am your LORD. I am your source of life, and I have rescued you. I created everything from the sky above to the earth below.
    
25. I make liars of false prophets and fools of fortunetellers. I take human wisdom and turn it into nonsense.
    
26. I will make the message of my prophets come true. They are saying, "Jerusalem will be filled with people, and the LORD will rebuild the towns of Judah."
    
27. I am the one who commands the sea and its streams to run dry.
    
28. I am also the one who says, "Cyrus will lead my people and obey my orders. Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt."

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Israel had forgotten her God and turned to the gods of the nations around her. Thus, God was reminding her of who He is and pointing out that their choice to follow other gods cannot be compared to following Him. 

First, God confirmed His love for Israel (also known as Jacob and Jeshurun). He had chosen Israel, He was her Maker who had shaped her from birth. And, He will continue to care for her. Then He declared that He is the only God. "There is no God but Me." (44:6) Neither is there any who can even compare to Him. If any claim to have that standing, then let them announce the events of the future as does God. This foretelling of future events is emphasized both here and in the previous chapter. The idols they worshiped could tell them nothing, let alone tell them the future.

He proceeded, then, to point out the folly of worshiping idols beginning with the fact that they are made by human hands. It was the ironworker or woodworker who crafted these idols. The materials that went into them were gathered from nature - from trees such as cedar, cypress, or oak. Then the craftsman took the block of wood cut from the tree, and with half of it he shapedt he idol, and with the other half he built a fire to bake his bread and roast his meat. Yet the one who says to the idol, "you are my god," does not reflect on the incongruity of these things. It is beyond his perception or insight to recognize that what he had called his god is only a block of wood of which he had also made a fire to cook his food. His mind was deceived and had led him astray.

Finally, God clarified the situation. It was God who had formed Israel and He would never forget her. He had "swept away your (Israel's) transgressions like a cloud." (44:22) The One who did this is "the Lord, who made everything." (44:24) He also said that Cyrus, the king of Persia, would fulfill the Lord's pleasures and would bring about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. This word through Isaiah was spoken 150 years before these events occurred. When they were spoken, Assyria was the imminent threat, not Babylon. So how would these things be received by Israel? We can only guess. The message assured Israel that the Assyrian threat should not be a concern, but it also announced to her that another threat was coming that was real and would result in their exile. And then it assured her that this exile would not be forever. They would be returned to their own land and would again rebuild what they had lost. It also challenged the Israelites to accept the Lord as their God and trust His word to them and not the idols to which they have placed their trust.

This is the challenge given all of us. Will we make the the Lord our God and trust His word to us, or will we trust in objects of our own design?