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Isaiah 45:16

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

They shall be ashamed "They are ashamed" - The reader cannot but observe the sudden transition from the solemn adoration of the secret and mysterious nature of God's counsels in regard to his people, to the spirited denunciation of the confusion of idolaters, and the final destruction of idolatry; contrasted with the salvation of Israel, not from temporal captivity, but the eternal salvation by the Messiah, strongly marked by the repetition and augmentation of the phrase, to the ages of eternity. But there is not only a sudden change in the sentiment, the change is equally observable in the construction of the sentences; which from the usual short measure, runs out at once into two distichs of the longer sort of verse. See Prelim. Dissert. p. 66, etc. There is another instance of the same kind and very like to this, of a sudden transition in regard both to the sentiment and construction in Isaiah 42:17.

"His adversaries" - This line, to the great diminution of the beauty of the distich, is imperfect in the present text: the subject of the proposition is not particularly expressed, as it is in the line following. The version of the Septuagint happily supplies the word that is lost: οἱ αντικειμενοι αυτῳ, "his adversaries," the original word was צריו tsaraiv . - L.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

They shall be ashamed and confounded - That is, they shall find all their hopes fail, and shall be suffused with shame that they were ever so senseless as to trust in blocks of wood and stone (see the notes at Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 30:5; Isaiah 43:17).

They shall go to confusion - They shall all retire in shame and disgrace. That is, when they have gone to supplicate their idols, they shall find them unable to render them any aid, and they shall retire with shame.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
Believers may ask in prayer for what they need; if for their good, it will not be withheld. But how common to hear God called to account for his dealings with man! Cyrus provided for the returning Jews. Those redeemed by Christ shall be provided for. The restoration would convince many, and convert some; and all that truly join the Lord, find his service perfect freedom. Though God be his people's God and Saviour, yet sometimes he lays them under his frowns; but let them wait upon the Lord who hides his face. There is a world without end; and it will be well or ill with us, according as it shall be with us in that world. The Lord we serve and trust, is God alone. All that God has said is plain, satisfactory, and just. As God in his word calls us to seek him, so he never denied believing prayers, nor disappointed believing expectations. He gives grace sufficient, and comfort and satisfaction of soul.