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Category: Lech Lecha

Israel – Receive your Strength!

B’reisheet (Genesis) 12:1-17:27 | Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 40:27-41:16

Our haftarah comes near the beginning of this third and final section of the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah endeavors to encourage Israel that they do not need to trust in idols, but that God will give them strength. It concludes with the first of the many “Servant” passages found in this unique section of Isaiah, which have been called “The Book of the Servant,” chapters 40-53. Israel is called the servant of God and is described by God as a people who are uniquely supported and called by the Holy One.

Hurting People

The opening section, Isaiah 40:27-31 addresses the hurting and discouraged people of Israel and Judah. Some had been carried away by the Assyrians; others were living in Babylon, with the horrid memory of their sacred Temple and beloved city of Jerusalem being consumed. They had watched the spiritual downfall of their nation, saw many of their countrymen forsake the Covenant and God, and waste their lives in idolatry. Many had doubts about the God of Israel, especially after they lost the war to Babylon. They began questioning God.

According to Isaiah, there is only one answer to the fatigue—both physical and spiritual: “Though youth may faint and grow weary, and choice young men may stumble and fall, Yet those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” (Isaiah 40:30-31). The word translated “wait for” [1] can have the sense of “wait eagerly for.” It is the root which forms the noun for “hope” (tikveh). Many English texts use the phrase, “renew their strength.” That might be appropriate. However, the word in question, yachlifu, actually stresses a change taking place. In other words, their old human ability was not to pull themselves along. The Holy One is promising that if they would come to their end and put their hope in God, He would completely change them and give them His strength (koach).

It gets even better! Those who wait upon God and trust Him “will mount up on wings like eagles.” A respected Torah commentator, Rav Saadia Gaon wrote that once in every ten years an eagle flies up very high. When it is heated by the sun, it throws itself into the sea. There, its feathers fall out, new ones are grown, and its youth is renewed. [2] Perhaps this is similar to that which Isaiah was writing. Trusting in Him will cause us to reach new heights and God will cause us to be renewed as in our youth.

God Speaks to the Nations

In Isaiah 41:1, the Holy One now turns to the nations in order to give them the same kind of theology lesson. He commanded them to be completely silent and summoned the idolatrous peoples of the world to come before Him and to present their case as to why they should remain in idolatry while God continually reveals His true nature to them. He begins by asking a question about a certain powerful conqueror who arises from the east and conquers many nations. Almost all commentators are in agreement that the person in view here is King Cyrus of the Medo-Persian Empire. He is mentioned by name in verse 45:1. He defeated the Babylonians, conquered nations in all directions of his capital Ecbatana in Persia, swept up all of Mesopotamia, Assyria, Syria, and other places. In 547 BCE he swept over all of Asia Minor.

The inhabitants of the islands of the Mediterranean would have been able to identify the mighty power of the one whom God rose up from the east (Cyrus). He asks them specifically, “Who has done this and brought this to pass?” (Isaiah 41:4). God’s point is that it is He and He alone. The idol worshippers are pictured in Isaiah 41:5-7 as scurrying and panicking to protect themselves. As they began making new idols, they soon found that their kind of supernatural help was futile.

Do Not Fear!

This next section describes God’s tender care for His servant. In fact, God specifically tells them in verse 41:10, al tirah, Do not fear! It is important to know the identity of the people to whom this section is directed. In this passage God is addressing His servant, Israel.

Three times in verses 10, 13 and 14, God pleads with Israel to “fear not.” The Lord declares, “I am your helper.” The text indicates that their enemies will become like chaff which the wind will carry away. In the end, Israel will rejoice in the Lord and worship the Holy One of Israel, the Lord their God.

Endnotes

1. Brown, Driver, and Briggs (BDB) Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (“BDB”), p. 875.
2 Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg, The Book of Isaiah, vol. 2, p. 324.

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