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Commentary on Isaiah 45 verses 1–4
Cyrus was a Mede, descended (as some say) from Astyages king of Media. The pagan writers are not agreed in their accounts of his origin. Some tell us that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed, and was saved from perishing by a herdsman's wife. However, it is agreed that, being a man of an active genius, he soon made himself very considerable, especially when Croesus king of Lydia made a descent upon his country, which he not only repulsed, but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he had gained against Croesus with such vigour that in a little time he took Sardis and made himself master of the rich kingdom of Lydia and the many provinces that then belonged to it. This made him very great (for Croesus was rich to a proverb) and enabled him to pursue his victories in many countries; but it was nearly ten years afterwards that, in conjunction with his uncle Darius and with the forces of Persia, he made this famous attack upon Babylon, which is here foretold, and which we have the history of Dan. 5. Babylon had now grown exorbitantly rich and strong. It was forty-five miles in compass (some say more): the walls were thirty-two feet thick and 100 cubits high. Some say, They were so thick that six chariots might drive abreast upon them; others say, They were fifty cubits thick and 200 high. Cyrus seems to have had a great ambition to make himself master of this place, and to have projected it long; and at last he performed it. Now here, 210 years before it came to pass, we are told,
I. What great things God would do for him, that he might put it into his power to release his people. In order to this he shall be a mighty conqueror and a wealthy monarch and nations shall become tributaries to him and help him both with men and money. Now that which God here promised to do for Cyrus he could have done for Zerubbabel, or some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and power of this world God has seldom seen fit to entrust his own people with much of, so many are the snares and temptations that attend them; but if here has been occasion, for the god of the church, to make use of them, God has been pleased rather to put them into the hands of others, to be employed for them, than to venture them in their own hands. Cyrus is here called God's anointed, because he was both designed and qualified for this great service by the counsel of God, and was to be herein a type of the Messiah. God engages to hold his right hand, not only to strengthen and sustain him, but to direct his motions and intentions, as Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands when he was to shoot his arrow against Syria, Kg2 13:16. Being under such direction,
1.He shall extend his conquests very far and shall make nothing of the opposition that will be given him. Babylon is too strong a place for a young hero to begin with; and therefore, that he may be able to deal with that, great additions shall be made to his strength by other conquests. (1.) Populous kingdoms shall yield to him. God will subdue nations before him; when he is in the full career of his successes he shall make nothing of a nation's being born to him at once: yet it is not he that subdues them; it is God that subdues them for him; the battle is his, and therefore his is the victory. (2.) Potent kings shall fall before him: I will loose the loins of kings, either the girdle of their loins (divesting them of their power and dignity) or the strength of their loins, and then it was literally fulfilled in Belshazzar, for, when he was terrified by the handwriting on the wall, the joints of his loins were loosed, Dan 5:6. (3.) Great cities shall surrender themselves into his hands, without giving him or themselves any trouble. God will incline the keepers of the city to open before him the two-leaved gates, not treacherously nor timorously, but from a full conviction that it is to no purpose to contend with him; and therefore the gates shall not be shut to keep him out as an enemy, but thrown open to admit him as a friend. (4.) The longest and most dangerous marches shall be made easy and ready to him: I will go before thee, to clear the way, and to conduct thee in it, and then the crooked places, shall be made straight; or, as some read it, the hilly places shall be levelled and made even. Those will find a ready road that have God going before them. (5.) No opposition shall stand before him. He that gives him his commission will break in pieces the gates of brass that are shut against him, and cut asunder the bars of iron wherewith they are fastened. This was fulfilled in the letter, if that be true which Herodotus reports, that the city of Babylon had 100 gates all of brass, with posts and hooks of the same metal.
2.He shall replenish his coffers very much (Isa 45:3): I will give thee the treasures of darkness, treasures of gold and silver, that have been long kept close under lock and key and had not seen the light of many years, or had been buried under ground by the inhabitants, in their fright, upon the taking of the city. The riches of many nations had been brought to Babylon, and Cyrus seized all together. The hidden riches of secret places, which belonged either to the crown or to private persons, shall all be a prey to Cyrus. Thus God, designing him to do a piece of service to his church, paid him richly for it beforehand; and Cyrus very honestly owned God's goodness to him, and, in consideration of that, released the captives. Ezr 1:2, God has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and thereby has obliged me to build him a house at Jerusalem.
II. We are here told what God designed in doing all this for Cyrus. What Cyrus aimed at in undertaking his wars we may easily guess; but what God aimed at in giving him such wonderful success in his wars we are here told.
1.It was that the God of Israel might be glorified: "That thou mayest know by all this that I the Lord am the God of Israel; for I have called thee by thy name long before thou wast born." When Cyrus should have this prophecy of Isaiah shown to him, and should there find his own name and his own achievements particularly described so long before, he should thereby be brought to acknowledge that the God of Israel was the Lord, Jehovah, the only living and true God, and that he continued to own his Israel though now in captivity. It is well when thus men's prosperity brings them to the knowledge of God, for too often it makes them forget him.
2.It was that the Israel of God might be released, Isa 45:4. Cyrus knew not God as the God of Israel. Having been trained up in the worship of idols, the true God was to him an unknown God. But, though he knew not God, God not only knew him when he came into being, but foreknew him, and bespoke him for his shepherd. He called him by his name, Cyrus, nay, which was yet great honour, he surnamed him and called him his anointed. And why did God do all this for Cyrus? Not for his own sake, be it known to him; whether he was a man of virtue or no is questioned. Xenophon indeed, when he would describe the heroic virtues of an excellent prince, made use of Cyrus's name, and many of the particulars of his story, in his Cyropaedia; but other historians represent him as haughty, cruel, and bloodthirsty. The reason why God preferred him was for Jacob his servant's sake. Note, (1.) In all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, the sudden falls of the great and strong, and the surprising advancements of the weak and obscure, God is designing the good of his church. (2.) It is therefore the wisdom of those to whom God has given wealth and power to use them for his glory, by showing kindness to his people. Cyrus is preferred that Israel may be released. He shall have a kingdom, only that God's people may have their liberty; for their kingdom is not of this world, it is yet to come. In all this Cyrus was a type of Christ, who was made victorious over principalities and powers, and entrusted with unsearchable riches, for the use and benefit of God's servants, his elect. When he ascended on high he led captivity captive, took those captives that had taken others captives, and opened the prison to those that were bound.
Nevertheless, I assert according to the Scriptures that He was able to spread out lowly places and open fields, just as He Himself says: 'I will walk before you and make mountains plain.' The force of the water itself could also make deeper things, which had settled, more turbulent: with such a movement of waves and such a surge of a more agitated element, which daily twists the depths of the sea and turns the sands out of the deep.
Let us not fear punishment. By this faith we shall escape punishment.… This is the correct attitude of the servants of God to be. For if those who were brought up under the old dispensation, when death was not yet slain, or his “brazen gates broken down” or his “iron bars cut into pieces” so nobly encountered their end, how destitute of all defense or excuse shall we be, if, after having had the benefit of such great grace, we attain not even to the same measure of virtue as they did, now when death is only a name, devoid of reality. For death is nothing more than a sleep, a journey, a migration, a rest, a tranquil haven, an escape from trouble and a freedom from the cares of this present life!
(Chapter 45, Verses 1 onwards) Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed one, whom he has taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him that their gates be closed no more:I will go before you, and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. Because of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one, I have called you by your name: I have likened you to myself, and you have not known me. I am the Lord, and there is no other: besides me there is no God: I have girded you, and you have not known me. So that they may know, from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me ((Previously it was added: God)). I am the Lord, and there is no other. Forming light and creating darkness: making peace and creating evil. I am the Lord who does all these things. I know that in this chapter not only many Latin but also Greek people greatly err, thinking that it is written: Thus says the Lord to my Christ, the Lord; so that it is understood, according to what we read elsewhere: The Lord rains from the Lord (Gen. II). And: The Lord said to my Lord (Ps. CIX, 1). For it is not κυρίῳ, which means Lord, but it is said to Cyrus, who is called Chores in Hebrew, the king of the Persians, who overcame Babylon and the Chaldeans. And with the Medes joined together, the charioteer of the chariot, that is, of the camel and the donkey, is read above. This one is called Christ, that is, the anointed of the Lord, which was a sign among the Hebrews of royal power, just as with us the emperor is given a diadem and purple robe: so among the Hebrews those who were to reign were anointed with oil. Hence Saul is also called the anointed of the Lord (1 Samuel 24). And in the Psalms we read: 'Do not touch my anointed ones, and do no harm to my prophets' (Psalm 105:15). He grasped and held the right hand of this man, so that no one could resist his strength. Let us read the history of Cyrus the Great, consisting of eight books by Xenophon, and we will see the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled. What city did not yield to him? What king did not submit to him? What walls, before impregnable, were not brought down by his siege? Therefore, God addresses Cyrus himself: I have given you treasures and hidden riches of all cities, so that you, who previously worshipped idols, would acknowledge one God through my blessings, especially since you know that your name was foretold long before you were born. Which indeed Josephus also relates in the eleventh book of Jewish Antiquities, that Cyrus read of himself prophesied by name by Isaiah, and therefore the Jews loved him greatly as if he were one of God's own familiar ones. These things, he says, I attribute to you because of my servant Jacob, and my chosen Israel, and I called you by your name, just as I called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and long before, I foretold you, Isaac and Josiah, so that you would not think that he is the Christ, to whom you are compared, and in whose type and image you have preceded. But you did not know me, that is, you worshiped idols, not God. I have equipped you with strength; I have made you conquer many nations, and you did not know your helper. In this respect, I cannot help but be amazed at the foolishness of the readers; that they would refer these things to Christ, through whom the world is reconciled to God. I, says the Lord, and there is no one besides me. Besides my word, reason, power, and wisdom, which are in me, there is no other God. And I have done these things so that from the East and the West the whole world may recognize that there is no other God besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. For the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. He who speaks in the Gospel: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). And it is written in the book of Ezra that Cyrus wrote to all nations that there is no God except the God of Israel. Or it is to be understood in this way, that the release of captives and the mercy of God towards his people has made God known to all nations. Therefore, I, the only God, give you strength. I myself create opposing things, light and darkness, that is, day and night; peace and evil, that is, calm and war, through which I indicate that I was angry with my people when they endured the darkness of captivity and the evils of slavery. And again, I showed mercy when I released them to their homeland and they received peace and joy. Just as light is opposed to darkness, so war is opposed to peace. In order to combat heresy, which considers God, the creator of all things, as evil, it must be noted that this evil is not opposed to good, but rather serves as a means of affliction and struggle, as it is written in the Gospel: 'Sufficient for the day is its own evil' (Matthew 6:34). We can apply this understanding to a wise man of the Church, to whom God has granted speech and wisdom, so that through his arguments he may undermine all sects that are contrary to the truth. Just as the Holy Scripture also mentions about Stephen (Acts 6), that no one was able to resist his wisdom, and so that he may subject kings, that is, the leaders of each heresy, to his authority, and open and break down what previously seemed to be concluded by the art of dialectic, and bring forth the secrets of the heretics, surpassing and convincing them, so that they may know the secrets of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2). God calls this man by His own name because he is the defender of His servant Jacob and His chosen one Israel. God accepts him and conforms him to His word, which he must be careful not to think that what he speaks is his own, but rather he should attribute all glory to the giver; lest he himself deserves to hear: 'I have called you, and you have not known me.' For when, equipped with the armor of an Apostle, he teaches everyone that there is no other God but one, who is the God of Jacob and Israel, Marcion will be confounded, for he understands two gods, one good and the other just; one the creator of the invisible, the other of the visible. From these, the first makes light, the second darkness; the former brings peace, the latter brings evil: and yet the same God created both, according to their different merits.
By all that is about to be said, he has taught that he has invested Cyrus as king, he has given him the necessary sovereignty to direct his empire with good will and so that the disposition of difficult matters is mitigated and facilitated. This is what the phrase means: “I will level mountains, and I will break to pieces brazen doors.”
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 45:2 stands as a profound declaration of God's absolute sovereignty and omnipotence, specifically addressed to Cyrus, the Persian king. This verse promises divine intervention to remove all impediments—symbolized by the leveling of "crooked places" and the shattering of "gates of brass" and "bars of iron"—thereby guaranteeing the successful execution of God's redemptive purposes through His chosen instrument, even one who does not acknowledge Him. It powerfully underscores the unstoppable nature of God's plan for His people, demonstrating His meticulous control over all of history and human affairs.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 45:2 is richly imbued with powerful Metaphor and Hyperbole. The "crooked places" serve as a metaphor for any difficulties, impediments, or obstacles—be they geographical, political, or military—that would naturally impede Cyrus's progress. God's promise to make them "straight" is a metaphor for His divine intervention to remove these impediments and smooth the path. Similarly, "gates of brass" and "bars of iron" are potent metaphors for the seemingly impregnable defenses of Babylon, representing the ultimate human barriers and fortifications. The divine action of breaking and cutting these apart employs Hyperbole to emphasize the absolute certainty and effortless ease with which God will overcome any opposition, no matter how formidable it appears to human eyes. This vivid imagery also creates a strong sense of Parallelism in the latter half of the verse ("I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron"), reinforcing the message of total conquest and divine enablement through a powerful reiteration of God's destructive power over human strongholds.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse profoundly articulates the theological truth of God's absolute sovereignty over all creation and the entirety of human history. It demonstrates unequivocally that God is not confined by human limitations, political alliances, or military strength. He orchestrates events, raises up and empowers individuals—even those unaware of His purposes—to meticulously fulfill His divine plan. The explicit promise to clear the path and dismantle the strongest defenses highlights God's omnipotence and His unwavering, covenantal commitment to His chosen people, Israel. Even when His people are in exile and seemingly helpless, God is actively working behind the scenes, preparing the way for their deliverance and restoration through unexpected and humanly impossible means. This passage offers profound assurance to believers that God's purposes are unstoppable and that He will always provide the necessary means to accomplish His will, regardless of the obstacles.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 45:2 offers profound encouragement and a robust foundation for faith in the face of daunting challenges in our own lives. Just as God went before Cyrus, clearing paths and dismantling seemingly insurmountable obstacles for a specific historical purpose, so too does He promise to go before His people today. This verse calls us to cultivate a deep trust in God's sovereign hand, even when our personal circumstances appear "crooked" or our "gates of brass" seem utterly unbreakable. It serves as a powerful reminder that our limitations are never God's limitations, and His power is infinitely sufficient to overcome any barrier—be it personal struggles, spiritual strongholds, relational conflicts, or societal injustices—that stands in the way of His purposes for our lives and for His kingdom. Our primary responsibility is not to generate the power or devise the strategy, but to walk in obedient faith, knowing with certainty that the One who goes before us is all-powerful, all-wise, and completely faithful.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who is "thee" in Isaiah 45:2, and why is this significant?
Answer: The "thee" in Isaiah 45:2 refers to Cyrus the Great, the Persian king. This is profoundly significant because Cyrus was a pagan ruler, not a worshiper of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Yet, God explicitly names him in Isaiah 45:1 as His "anointed" one, chosen to conquer Babylon and facilitate the return of the exiled Israelites to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of their Temple. This demonstrates God's absolute and unchallengeable sovereignty over all nations and rulers, showing that He can raise up and use anyone—even those who do not know Him—as instruments to accomplish His divine purposes and fulfill His promises to His people.
What do "gates of brass" and "bars of iron" symbolize in this verse?
Answer: The "gates of brass" and "bars of iron" are powerful symbols of the formidable and seemingly impenetrable defenses of ancient Babylon. Babylon was renowned for its massive walls and gates, some of which were indeed reinforced with bronze or brass plating and secured with heavy iron bars. These images represent the strongest possible human fortifications, obstacles, and security measures. Thus, God's promise to "break in pieces" and "cut in sunder" them symbolizes His ability to effortlessly dismantle any human barrier, no matter how strong, secure, or insurmountable it appears, that stands in the way of His divine will and purpose.
How does this ancient prophecy apply to believers today?
Answer: While historically addressed to Cyrus for a specific purpose, Isaiah 45:2 carries profound spiritual and practical application for believers today. It serves as a powerful reminder of God's unchanging character and His active, personal involvement in the lives of His people. Just as God cleared the way for Cyrus to fulfill His specific plan, He promises to go before us, making our "crooked places straight" and breaking down our "gates of brass" and "bars of iron." This means that when we are walking in God's will, we can trust that He will remove obstacles, provide solutions to seemingly impossible problems, and empower us to overcome challenges that would otherwise defeat us. It encourages unwavering faith in God's omnipotence and His unwavering commitment to seeing His purposes fulfilled in and through us.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 45:2 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. While God cleared the path for Cyrus to liberate Israel physically from Babylonian captivity, Jesus came to make straight the way for humanity's spiritual liberation and eternal reconciliation with God. He is the one who truly "goes before us," not merely in a military or political sense, but as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, leading us into a new covenant relationship with the Father. Jesus Himself declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). He is the divine agent who breaks down the ultimate "gates of brass" and "bars of iron"—the insurmountable barriers of sin, death, and the condemnation of the law that separated humanity from a holy God. Through His sacrificial death on the cross and triumphant resurrection, Christ "disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15). He has decisively broken the power of the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14). Thus, Jesus is the sovereign Lord who not only straightens our crooked paths but utterly demolishes the spiritual strongholds that once held humanity captive, opening the way for eternal life, abundant grace, and unrestricted access to God's glorious presence.