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Isaiah 45:19
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17 aBut Israel shall be saved by the Lord
With an beverlasting salvation;
You shall not be ashamed or cdisgraced
Forever and ever. 
18 For thus says the Lord,
aWho created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it1 in vain,
Who formed it to be binhabited:
c“I am the Lord, and there is no other. 
19 I have not spoken in asecret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me1 in vain’;
bI, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right. 
20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
aThey have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save. 
21 Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
aWho has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord?
bAnd there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me. 
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
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Isaiah 45:19

I have not spoken tn secret, in a dark place of the earth - In opposition to the manner in which the heathen oracles gave their answers, which were generally delivered from some deep and obscure cavern. Such was the seat of the Cumean Sybil: -

Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum .

Virg. Aen. 6:42.

"A cave cut in the side of a huge rock."

Such was that of the famous oracle at Delphi; of which, says Strabo, lib. ix., ' , . "The oracle is said to be a hollow cavern of considerable depth, with an opening not very wide." And Diodorus, giving an account of the origin of this oracle, says "that there was in that place a great chasm or cleft in the earth; in which very place is now situated what is called the Adytum of the temple." · , ̔ . Mesych. "Adytum means a cavern, or the hidden part of the temple."

I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right "I am Jehovah, who speak truth, who give direct answers" - This also is said in opposition to the false and ambiguous answers given by the heathen oracles, of which there are many noted examples; none more so than that of the answer given to Croesus when he marehed against Cyrus, which piece of history has some connection with this part of Isaiah' s prophecies. Let us hear Cicero' s account of the Delphic answers in general, and of this in particular: Sed jam AD te venio ,

O sancte Apollo, qui umbilicum certum terrarum obsides,

Unde superstitiosa primum saeva evasit vox fera .

Tuis enim oraculis Chrysippus totum volumen implevit, partim falsis, ut ego opinor; partim casu veris, ut fit in omni oratione saepissime; partim flexiloquis et obscuris, ut interpres egeat interprete, et sors ipsa AD sortes referenda sit; partim ambiguis, et quae AD dialecticum deferenda sint. Nam cum sors illa edita est opulentissimo regi Asiea, Croesus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim: hostium vim sese perversurum putavit; pervertit autem suam. Utrum igitur eorum accidisset, verum oraculum fuisset . De Divinat. 2:56. Mountainous countries, and those which abounded in chasms, caves, and grottos, were the places in which oracles were most frequent. The horror and gloom inspired by such places were useful to the lying priests in their system of deception. The terms in which those oracles were conceived, (they were always ambiguous, or equivocal, or false, or illusory), sometimes the turn of a phrase, or a peculiarity in idiom or construction which might be turned pro or con, contained the essence of the oracular declaration. Sometimes, in the multitude of guesses, one turned out to be true; at other times, so equivocal was the oracle, that, however the thing fell out, the declaration could be interpreted in that way, as in the above to Croesus, from the oracle at Delphi, which was: If Croeses march against Cyrus, he shall overthrow a great empire: he, supposing that this promised him success, fought, and lost his own, while he expected to destroy that of his enemy. Here the quack demon took refuge in his designed ambiguity. He predicted the destruction of a great empire, but did not say which it was; and therefore he was safe, howsoever the case fell out. Not one of the predictions of God' s prophets is conceived in this way.




Other Adam Clarke entries containing Isaiah 45:19:

Isaiah 48:16

 

<< Isaiah 45:18   Isaiah 45:20 >>

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