Isaiah 42:8

8 I am the LORD. This is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Isaiah 42:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:8

I am the Lord, that is my name
Jehovah, a name expressive of his self-existence, eternity, and immutability; a name by which be made himself known to Israel of old, and which is peculiar to him, and does not belong to another, and so distinguishes him from all false gods; see ( Exodus 3:14 ) ( 6:3 ) ( Psalms 83:18 ) or, "Hu [is] my name" F16; to which (autov) , "he himself the same", answers; see ( Psalms 102:27 ) , compared with ( Hebrews 13:8 ) and this is one of the names of God with the Jews F17; as Hou is with the Turks to this day; which, in Arabic, signifies "him": that is, God, as Monsieur Thevenot F18 observes; see ( Isaiah 48:12 ) : and my glory will I not give to another;
that is, to another god, to a strange god, to an idol; as that has not the nature, it ought not to have the name of deity, nor divine worship given to it: this the Lord will not admit of, but will punish those, be they Heathens, or are called Christians, that give the glory to idols that is due unto his name. This is not to be understood to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit, who are with the Father the one Jehovah, and share in the same glory; the Son is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the Spirit is the Spirit of glory, ( Hebrews 1:3 ) ( 1 Peter 4:14 ) nor will he suffer the glory of the justification, salvation, and conversion of men, to be given to their works, will, and power, which is entirely due to his own grace, to the blood and righteousness of his Son, and to the energy of the divine Spirit: neither my praise to graven images;
which serves to explain the former clause, what is meant by his "glory", and who by "another", to whom he will not give it. Papists should observe this, for it respects not merely or only the graven images of the Heathens, but chiefly those among them that bear the Christian name; for this relates to New Testament times. The Targum is,

``and my glory, in which I am revealed to you, I will not give to another people; nor my praise to worshippers of images.''

FOOTNOTES:

F16 (ymv awh)
F17 Seder Tephillot. fol. 1. 2. & 4, 1. Ed. Basil.
F18 Travels. part 1. B. 1. c. 31. p. 41.

Isaiah 42:8 In-Context

6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness and will hold thee by thine hand; I will keep thee and place thee as my covenant unto the people as light unto the Gentiles
7 that thou might open the eyes of the blind, that thou might bring out the prisoners from the prison and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the LORD. This is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and I declare new things: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010