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Commentary on Isaiah 48 verses 16–22
Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet, and that as a type of the great prophet by whom God has in these last days spoken unto us, and that is sufficient: Come near therefore, and hear this. Note, Those that would hear and understand what God says must come near, and approach to him; let them come as near as they can. Let those that have hearkened to the tempter now come near, and hear this, that they may be confirmed in their resolutions to serve God. Those that draw nigh to God may depend upon this, that his secret shall be with them. Here,
I. God refers them to what he hath both said to them and done for them formerly, which if they would reflect upon, they might thence fetch great encouragement to trust in God at this time. 1. He had always spoken plainly to them from the beginning, by Moses and all the prophets: I have not spoken in secret, but publicly, from the top of Mount Sinai, and in the chief places of concourse, the solemn assemblies of their tribes; he did not deliver his oracles obscurely and ambiguously, but so that they might be understood, Hab 2:2. 2. He had always acted wonderfully for them: "From the time that they were first formed into a people there I am, there have I been resident among them and presiding in their affairs (he sent them prophets, raised them up judges, and frequently appeared for them), and therefore there I will be still." He that has been with his people hitherto will be to the end.
II. The prophet himself, as a type of the great prophet, asserts his own commission to deliver this message: Now the Lord God (the same that spoke from the beginning and did not speak in secret) has by his Spirit sent me, Isa 48:16. The Spirit of God is here spoken of as a person distinct from the Father and the Son, and having a divine authority to send prophets. Note, Whom God sends the Spirit sends. Those whom God commissions for any service the Spirit in some measure qualifies for it; and those may speak boldly, and must be heard obediently, whom God and his Spirit send. As that which the prophet says to the same purport with this (Isa 61:1) is applied to Christ (Luk 4:21), so may this be; the Lord God sent him, and he had the Spirit without measure.
III. God by the prophet sends them a gracious message for their support and comfort under their affliction. The preface to this message is both awful and encouraging (Isa 48:17): Thus saith Jehovah, the eternal God, thy Redeemer, that has often been so, that has engaged to be so, and will be faithful to the engagement, for he is the Holy One, that cannot deceive, the Holy One of Israel, that will not deceive them. The same words that introduce the law, and give authority to that, introduce the promise, and give validity to that: "I am the Lord thy God, whom thou mayest depend upon as in relation to thee and in covenant with thee."
1.Here is the good work which God undertakes to fulfil in them. He that is their Redeemer, in order to that, will be, (1.) Their instructor: "I am thy God that teaches thee to profit, that is, teaches thee such things as are profitable for thee, things that belong to thy peace." By this God shows himself to be a God in covenant with us, by his teaching us (Heb 8:10, Heb 8:11); and none teaches like him, for he gives an understanding. Whom God redeems he teaches; whom he designs to deliver out of their afflictions he first teaches to profit by their afflictions, makes them partakers of his holiness, for that is the profit for which he chastens us, Heb 12:10. (2.) Their guide: He leads them to the way and in the way by which they should go. He not only enlightens their eyes, but directs their steps. By his grace he leads them in the way of duty, by his providence he leads them in the way of deliverance. Happy are those that are under such a guidance!
2.Here is the good-will which God declares he had for them by his good wishes concerning them, Isa 48:18, Isa 48:19. He had indeed brought them into captivity, but it was owing to themselves, nor did he afflict them willingly. (1.) As when he gave them his law he earnestly wished they might be obedient (O that there were such a heart in them! Deu 5:29. O that they were wise! Deu 32:29), so, when he had punished them for the breach of his law, he wished they had been obedient: O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Isa 48:18. O that my people had hearkened unto me! Psa 81:13. This confirms what God had said and sworn, that he has no pleasure in the death of sinners. (2.) He assures them that, if they had been obedient, that would not only have prevented their captivity, but would have advanced and perpetuated their prosperity. He had abundance of good things ready to bestow upon them if their sins had not turned them away, Isa 59:1, Isa 59:2. [1.] They should have been carried on in a constant uninterrupted stream of prosperity: "Thy peace should have been as a river; thou shouldst have enjoyed a series of mercies, one continually following another, as the waters of a river, which always last." Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis aevum - It flows, and will for ever flow; not like the waters of a land-flood, which are soon gone. [2.] Their virtue and honour, and the justice of their cause, should in all cases have borne down opposition by their own strength, as the waves of the sea. Such should their righteousness have been that nothing should have stood before it; whereas, now they had been disobedient, the current of their prosperity was interrupted, and their righteousness overpowered. [3.] The rising generation should have been very numerous and very prosperous; whereas they were now very few, as appears by the small number of the returning captives (Ezr 2:64), not so many as of one tribe when they came out of Egypt. They should have been numberless as the sand, according to the promise (Gen 22:17), which they had forfeited the benefit of: "The offspring of thy bowels would have been innumerable, like the gravel of the sea, if thy righteousness had been irresistible and unconquerable as the waves of the sea." [4.] The honour of Israel should still have been unstained, untouched: His name should not have been cut off, as now it is in the land of Israel, which is either desolate or inhabited by strangers; nor should it have been destroyed from before God. We cannot reckon the name either of a family or of a kingdom destroyed till it is destroyed from before God, till it ceases to be a name in his holy place. Now God tells them thus what he would have done for them if they had persevered in their obedience, First, That they might be the more humbled for their sins, by which they had forfeited such rich mercies. Note, This should engage us (I might say, enrage us) against sin, that it has not only deprived us of the good things we have enjoyed, but prevented the good things God had in store for us. It will make the misery of the disobedient the more intolerable to think how happy they might have been. Secondly, That his mercy might appear the more illustrious in working deliverance for them, though they had forfeited it and rendered themselves unworthy of it. Nothing but a prerogative of mercy would have saved them.
3.Here is assurance given of the great work which God designed to work for them, even their salvation out of their captivity, when he had accomplished his work in them.
(1.)Here is a commission granted them to leave Babylon. God proclaimed, long before Cyrus did, that whoever would might return to his own land (Isa 48:20): "You have a full discharge sent you: Go you forth out of Babylon; the prison-doors are thrown open, and the trumpet sounds, proclaiming a release." Perhaps with this word, as a means, the Spirit of the Lord stirred up the spirits of those that did take the benefit of Cyrus's proclamation (Ezr 1:5): Flee you from the Chaldeans, not with an ignominious stolen flight, as Jacob fled from Laban, but with a holy disdain, as scorning to stay any longer among them; flee you, not silently and sorrowfully, but with a voice, with a voice of singing, as they fled of old out of Egypt, Exo 15:1.
(2.)Here is the news of this sent to all parts: "Let it be declared; let it be told; let it be uttered; make it to be heard by the most remote, by the most remiss; send the tidings of it by word of mouth; send it by writing, from city to city, from kingdom to kingdom, even to the utmost regions, to the ends of the earth." This was a figure of the publishing of the gospel to all the world; but that brings glad tidings which all the world is concerned in, this only that which it is fit all should take notice of, that they may be invited by it to forsake their idols and come into the service of the God of Israel. Let them all know then, [1.] That those whom God owns for his are such as he has dearly bought and paid for: The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob; he has done it formerly, when he brought them out of Egypt, and now he is about to do it again. Jacob was God's servant, and therefore he redeemed him; for what had other masters to do with God's servants? Israel is God's son, therefore Pharaoh must let him go. God redeemed Jacob, and therefore it was fit that he should be his servant (Psa 116:16); the bonds God had loosed tied them the faster to him. He that redeemed us has an unquestionable right to us. [2.] That those whom God designs to bring home to himself he will take care of, that they want not for the necessary expenses of their journey. When he brought them out of Egypt, and led them through the deserts, they thirsted not (Isa 48:21), for in all their removals the water out of the rock followed them; thence he caused the waters to flow, and, since rock-water is the clearest and finest, God clave the rock, and the waters gushed out; for he can fetch in necessary supplies for his people in a way that they think the least likely. This refers to what he did for them when he brought them out of Egypt; when all this was literally true. But it should now be in effect done again, in their return out of Babylon, so well provided for should they and theirs be in their return. God does his work as effectually by marvellous providences as by miracles, though perhaps they are not so much taken notice of. This is applicable to those treasures of grace laid up for us in Jesus Christ, from which all good flows to us as the water did to Israel out of the rock, for that rock is Christ.
(3.)Here is a caveat put in against the wicked who go on still in their trespasses. Let not them think to have any benefit among God's people. Though in show and profession they herd themselves among them, let them not expect to come in sharers; no (Isa 48:22), though God's thoughts concerning the body of that people were thoughts of peace, yet to those among them that were wicked and hated to be reformed there is no peace, no peace with God or their own consciences, no real good, whatever is pretended to. What have those to do with peace who are enemies to God? Their false prophets cried Peace to those to whom it did not belong; but God tells them that there shall be no peace, nor any think like it, to the wicked. The quarrel sinners have commenced with God, if not taken up in time by repentance, will be an everlasting quarrel.
Some say that so we might know that this prophecy is not about Christ but about Cyrus, the phrase is added, “there is no peace for the ungodly, says the Lord.” This would mean that there will be no perfect happiness except under Christ, which is reserved for the last times. Yet those who more truly and rightly apply these words to the advent of the Savior, about whom it is said, “He has sent me to announce to the poor, to preach liberty to the captives,” understand it to be an encouragement of those who preach the gospel or of the Lord and Savior, that we leave Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world, and flee the Babylonians.… For the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob with his most precious blood and led him through the desert and made a way for water to come out of a rock, about which the apostle said, “The Rock was Christ.” … And lest it be thought that the prophecy is said about all the seed of Jacob, and not those only who would believe through the apostles, mention is also made concerning this: “there is no peace for the ungodly.”
(Verse 20, 21, 22.) Go out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; proclaim it with a shout of joy, make it heard, proclaim it to the ends of the earth, and say: The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They did not thirst when he led them through the desert; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out. There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. Those above in that place, where it is written: I have spoken and called it; I have brought him and his way is straight; they understand it concerning Cyrus and Darius; even this refers to those times when the people went out of Babylon and fled from the Chaldeans, and they were redeemed by their Lord God. This also, which is said: They did not thirst in the desert when he led them out, he brought water from the rock for them; and he split the rock, and water flowed. Although they cannot teach that it was fulfilled according to history; for they did not come through the desert under Zerubbabel and Ezra, and the split rock provided them water, as is narrated to have happened to those coming out of Egypt: however, they testify hyperbolically that it was fulfilled in likeness to the previous happiness, when they came through the desert of nations into Judaea, and were liberated from captivity. And so, they say, it is not about Christ, but about Cyrus that it is prophesied: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. And it is understood to mean that perfect happiness will not exist except under Christ, which is reserved for the last time. Moreover, those who interpret this more truly and rightly refer it to the coming of the Savior, of whom it is said: He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners. They understand it as an exhortation for those who proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Savior himself, so that we may come out of Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world, and flee from the Chaldeans, of whom it is often said: For the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob with his precious blood and led him through the desert of the world and split the rock to give water. The Apostle speaks excellently: But the rock was Christ (I Cor. X, 4). However, the divine word is divided and divided into many parts, so that we may receive it in parts, since we cannot receive it all at once. And so that it may not be thought that this preaching is directed to all the descendants of Jacob and not only to those who will believe through the Apostles, it is added and connected: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord, namely those who have remained in their original error; those who do not deserve to drink from the rock. Whose side pierced with a spear, flowed with water and blood (John 19), giving us baptism and martyrdom.
No one found that this happened when they came out of Babylon and went into Judah. For this is said with reference to the economy of salvation so as to show that God, who was formerly able and is still now able, being of undiminished power, to perform similar miracles with great strength, now, as if calling out, proclaims a universal law, that “there is no peace for the wicked.”
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 48:22 serves as a definitive and stark concluding statement to a significant prophetic section, declaring an immutable truth about God's moral universe: genuine and comprehensive peace (shalom) is fundamentally incompatible with a life of active rebellion against divine will. This pronouncement highlights the inherent consequences of wickedness, asserting that true flourishing and spiritual well-being are unattainable for those who persist in unrighteousness, thereby underscoring God's justice and the necessity of aligning with His righteous ways.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Isaiah 48 concludes the first major section (chapters 40-48) of what is often called "Second Isaiah," primarily addressing the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Throughout these chapters, the LORD, through His prophet, meticulously establishes His unique sovereignty, His unparalleled ability to declare future events before they occur, and His unwavering faithfulness to His covenant promises, despite Israel's persistent idolatry and stubbornness. Chapter 48 specifically recounts God's past deliverances, His foretelling of the present Babylonian exile, and His impending act of bringing His people out of Babylon. The chapter serves as a final, urgent call to remember God's omnipotence and to acknowledge their own deep-seated rebellion, culminating in this verse as a definitive summary and a concluding warning before the narrative shifts towards the Suffering Servant themes in subsequent chapters. This verse also forms an inclusio, echoing the similar declaration found in Isaiah 57:21, thereby framing a large section of the book with this profound truth.
Historical & Cultural Context: The historical backdrop for Isaiah 48 is the Babylonian exile, which began with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 586 BC and continued until Cyrus's decree in 539 BC. The Jewish people were living in a foreign land, under foreign rule, grappling with despair, questioning God's power, and often tempted by the idolatry of their captors. The "wicked" in this context refers not merely to non-Israelite nations, but significantly to those within Israel who, despite God's judgments and promises of restoration, continued in their spiritual stubbornness, idolatry, and moral rebellion. The cultural norms of the ancient Near East often linked national prosperity and peace to the favor of a nation's gods, but Isaiah redefines true peace as dependent solely on a right relationship with the one true God, Yahweh, who is revealed throughout the book of Isaiah.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully encapsulates several key themes prevalent throughout Isaiah 40-48: Divine Sovereignty and Foreknowledge are evident in the LORD's authoritative declaration, emphasizing His control over all things, including the consequences of human actions. The theme of Divine Justice and Consequences is central, as the verse articulates a fundamental principle of God's moral universe: true peace is incompatible with wickedness. It highlights that God's character and the moral order He established do not permit lasting tranquility for those who actively oppose His will or live in rebellion against Him. Furthermore, it underscores Israel's Stubbornness and Rebellion, a recurring motif in Isaiah 48, which contrasts sharply with God's unwavering Covenant Faithfulness. The verse also implicitly defines the Nature of True Peace (Shalom), portraying it as a holistic state of well-being that is fundamentally denied to the wicked, emphasizing that this peace is a gift from God, as seen in passages like Psalm 29:11.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several potent literary devices. Most notably, it functions as a Divine Pronouncement, indicated by the authoritative phrase "saith the LORD," which lends absolute weight and immutability to the statement, marking it as an eternal truth from the Creator. There is also a clear Contrast at play, implicitly juxtaposing the peace that is available to those who walk in God's ways with the utter lack of it for the wicked. This highlights the binary nature of spiritual existence: either alignment with God leading to shalom, or rebellion leading to its absence. Furthermore, the verse acts as a Summary Statement or Conclusion for the preceding chapters of Isaiah, encapsulating the consequences of Israel's stubbornness and serving as a final warning. Its near-identical repetition in Isaiah 57:21 also creates an Inclusio, framing a significant prophetic section and emphasizing the unwavering nature of this divine principle across different contexts within the book.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 48:22 articulates a foundational theological principle: the inherent incompatibility of true peace with a life of rebellion against God. This is not merely a punitive judgment but a statement reflecting God's holy character and the moral order He established. God, as the source of all shalom, cannot bestow it upon those who actively oppose His nature and will, for true peace is fundamentally rooted in a right relationship with Him. Sin, by its very nature, creates disorder, alienation, and spiritual fragmentation, making genuine wholeness impossible. Therefore, the absence of peace for the wicked is a natural consequence of their chosen path, a reflection of their separation from the divine source of life and flourishing, underscoring that true peace is a spiritual condition contingent upon righteousness.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
This verse serves as a profound and enduring reminder for all people and all generations: true and lasting peace is not found in rebellion against God, nor in ignoring His moral law. Whether it is internal peace of mind, relational harmony, societal stability, or ultimate spiritual well-being, these are fundamentally elusive for those who choose a path of unrighteousness. The comprehensive nature of shalom means that the wicked are denied not just external calm, but also the inner tranquility, spiritual wholeness, and right relationship with God that are essential for human flourishing. This declaration challenges us to deeply examine our own lives: are we pursuing genuine shalom by aligning ourselves with God's will and His righteous standards? It underscores the truth that real peace is a spiritual condition, a gift rooted in a right relationship with the Creator, calling us to turn from any form of wickedness and embrace the path of righteousness, which ultimately leads to the peace offered through faith.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does this verse mean that wicked people can never experience any form of tranquility or success in their lives?
Answer: This verse speaks to the profound, holistic meaning of "peace" (Hebrew: shalom), which encompasses much more than just the absence of conflict or temporary worldly success. While the wicked may indeed experience periods of calm, prosperity, or even outward tranquility in their lives, as observed in Psalm 73, Isaiah 48:22 declares that they are fundamentally denied true shalom. This refers to a deep, abiding spiritual wholeness, a right relationship with God, inner harmony, and ultimate well-being that is only possible when one is aligned with the Creator's will. The "peace" that the world offers is often superficial and fleeting, built on shifting sands, unlike the lasting peace that comes from God. Therefore, while outward circumstances may vary, the ultimate, comprehensive, and eternal peace of God remains elusive for those who persist in active rebellion against Him, as their foundation is inherently flawed, much like the house built on sand in Matthew 7:24-27.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 48:22, declaring "no peace... unto the wicked," sets the stage for the glorious fulfillment found in Jesus Christ, the ultimate bringer of true shalom. Humanity, by nature, is "wicked" in its rebellion against God, inherently alienated from the source of peace and living in a state of spiritual turmoil. However, the New Testament reveals Jesus as the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), who came to reconcile sinners to God. Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross, Christ made peace by shedding His blood (Colossians 1:20), breaking down the wall of hostility that separated humanity from God. For those who believe in Him, the declaration of "no peace" is reversed; we are justified by faith and therefore "have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). This is not a worldly peace, but a divine shalom that "transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), a peace that Jesus Himself bequeathed to His followers, distinct from what the world offers (John 14:27). In Christ, the wicked find not only forgiveness but also the very wholeness, harmony, and right relationship with God that was previously denied, transforming their state from one of turmoil to one of profound and lasting peace.