Isaiah 41:27
The first to tell Zion
- The gospel’s word בָּשַׂר basar · to bear tidings
Original
Translations
I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
First to Zion, Behold, behold them, And to Jerusalem I give one proclaiming tidings,
내가 비로소 시온에 이르기를 너희는 보라 그들을 보라 하였노라 내가 기쁜 소식 전할 자를 예루살렘에 주리라
처음이신 이가 시온에게 이르기를, 보라, 그들을 보라, 하리라. 내가 좋은 소식을 가져오는 자를 예루살렘에 주리라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Isa 41:21-29 as a whole
There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Isa 41:27
The first - I who am the first, do and will foretel to my people things to come. Them - I also represent future things as if they were present. By them he means things which are to come. One - Messengers, who shall foretel the good tidings of their deliverance from captivity.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The LORD has summoned the idols to court. Only He can say what is coming before it comes, and so it is He who gives Jerusalem its herald of good news.
Isaiah 41:21–29 is a trial. "“Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob" (Isaiah 41:21). The idols are challenged to prove themselves: "Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods" (Isaiah 41:23). Silence is their answer, and the verdict follows: "Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value" (Isaiah 41:24). Then the LORD names what He is doing: "I have raised up one from the north, and he has come" (Isaiah 41:25), the conqueror later named as Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28). "Who has declared this from the beginning, so that we may know?" (Isaiah 41:26). Among the idols, no one. This verse is the LORD's own answer, and the next one closes the case: "When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them" (Isaiah 41:28).
The herald is mevaser, the piel participle of , masculine singular, and it is the object of etten, ‘I give’ or ‘I will give.’ The bringer of good news does not volunteer; he is the LORD's gift to Jerusalem. The first half of the line has no verb at all. The Hebrew says only, in effect, ‘First to Zion: look, look at them!’, and every translator has to supply the verb. "Them," as Wesley puts it, are the things that are about to happen.
The versions fill the gap in two ways. The KJV takes "first" (rishon) as a title for God: "The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings." Isaiah uses that title elsewhere, where the LORD says, "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me" (Isaiah 44:6). The BSB reads the word as an adverb and puts the line in the past: "I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news." The LSV leaves the Hebrew's terseness alone: "First to Zion, Behold, behold them." In Korean the 흠정역 follows the KJV, the 개역한글 the adverbial reading. One reading stresses who is speaking, the other that He spoke before anyone else. The point is the same either way: the idols announced nothing, and the LORD announced it before it happened.
Wesley explains the title: "I who am the first, do and will foretel to my people things to come" Wesley; and the herald: "Messengers, who shall foretel the good tidings of their deliverance from captivity" Wesley. Matthew Henry looks past Babylon: "The good tidings the Lord will send in the gospel, is a mystery hid from ages and generations" Matthew Henry. And: "A Deliverer is raised up for us, of nobler name and greater power than the deliverer of the captive Jews" Matthew Henry.
The New Testament also speaks of the gospel as news announced ahead of time. Paul calls it "the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures" (Romans 1:2), and says that Scripture "foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”" (Galatians 3:8). The verb there, , to announce good news beforehand, is used only once in the New Testament, and it could stand as a one-word summary of this scene in Isaiah. The news comes before the event.
The herald in this verse does not bring a hope that someone has made up. He is sent by the One who speaks before things happen and then does what He said. That is what makes the gospel news one can trust: the One who sends it.