Isaiah 48

13. spanned--measured out ( Isaiah 40:12 ).
when I call . . . stand up together--( Isaiah 40:26 , Jeremiah 33:25 ). But it is not their creation so much which is meant, as that, like ministers of God, the heavens and the earth are prepared at His command to execute His decrees ( Psalms 119:91 ) [ROSENMULLER].

14. among them--among the gods and astrologers of the Chaldees ( Isaiah 41:22 , 43:9 , 44:7 ).
Lord . . . loved him; he will, &c.--that is, "He whom the Lord hath loved will do," &c. [LOWTH]; namely, Cyrus ( Isaiah 44:28 , Isaiah 45:1 Isaiah 45:13 , 46:11 ). However, Jehovah's language of love is too strong to apply to Cyrus, except as type of Messiah, to whom alone it fully applies ( Revelation 5:2-5 ).
his pleasure--not Cyrus' own, but Jehovah's.

15. brought--led him on his way.
he--change from the first to the third person [BARNES]. Jehovah shall make his (Cyrus') way prosperous.

16. not . . . in secret--( Isaiah 45:19 ). Jehovah foretold Cyrus' advent, not with the studied ambiguity of heathen oracles, but plainly.
from the time, &c.--From the moment that the purpose began to be accomplished in the raising up of Cyrus I was present.
sent me--The prophet here speaks, claiming attention to his announcement as to Cyrus, on the ground of his mission from God and His Spirit. But he speaks not in his own person so much as in that of Messiah, to whom alone in the fullest sense the words apply ( Isaiah 61:1 , John 10:36 ). Plainly, Isaiah 49:1 , which is the continuation of the forty-eighth chapter, from Isaiah 48:16 , where the change of speaker from God ( Isaiah 48:1 Isaiah 48:12-15 ) begins, is the language of Messiah. Luke 4:1 Luke 4:14 Luke 4:18 , shows that the Spirit combined with the Father in sending the Son: therefore "His Spirit" is nominative to "sent," not accusative, following it.

17. teacheth . . . to profit--by affliction, such as the Babylonish captivity, and the present long-continued dispersion of Israel ( Hebrews 12:10 ).

18. peace--( Psalms 119:165 ). Compare the desire expressed by the same Messiah ( Matthew 23:37 , Luke 19:42 ).
river--( Isaiah 33:21 , 41:18 ), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol of free, abundant, and ever flowing blessings from Him ( Ezekiel 47:1 , Zechariah 14:8 , Revelation 22:1 ).
righteousness--religious prosperity; the parent of "peace" or national prosperity; therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism ( Isaiah 32:17 ).

19. sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" ( Isaiah 48:18 ).
like the gravel thereof--rather, as the Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, &c., of the sea, rather than the gravel [MAURER]. JEROME, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version.
his name . . . cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks ( Romans 11:20 ).

20. Go . . . forth . . . end of the earth--Primarily, a prophecy of their joyful deliverance from Babylon, and a direction that they should leave it when God opened the way. But the publication of it "to the ends of the earth" shows it has a more world-wide scope antitypically; Revelation 18:4 shows that the mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.
redeemed . . . Jacob--( Isaiah 43:1 , Isaiah 44:22 Isaiah 44:23 ).

21. Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert [KIMCHI]. The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt ( Exodus 17:6 , Numbers 20:11 , Psalms 78:15 , 105:41 ) and of that from Babylon, are blended together; the language, while more immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot wholly refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel.

22. Repeated ( Isaiah 57:21 ). All the blessings just mentioned ( Isaiah 48:21 ) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shall first cast away its wicked unbelief before it shall inherit national prosperity ( Zechariah 12:10-14 , Zechariah 13:1 Zechariah 13:9 , Zechariah 14:3 Zechariah 14:14 Zechariah 14:20 Zechariah 14:21 ). The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men ( Job 15:20-25 Job 15:31-34 ).