For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down formerly into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
4. For aforetime render with R.V. at the first, at the outset of its history.
without cause ] i.e. probably, “for nought,” without having acquired any right over Israel by services rendered to Jehovah. The meaning can hardly be that Israel suffered innocently.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For thus saith the Lord God – In order to show them that he could redeem them without money, God reminds them of what had been done in former times. The numerous captives in Egypt, whose services were so valuable to the Egyptians, and whom the Egyptians were so unwilling to suffer to depart, he had rescued by his own power, and had delivered for ever from that bondage. The idea here is, that with the same ease he could rescue the captives in Babylon, and restore them to their own land without a price.
My people went down – That is, Jacob and his sons. The phrase went down, is applied to a journey to Egypt, because Judea was a mountainous and elevated country compared with Egypt, and a journey there was in fact a descent to a more level and lower country.
To sojourn there – Not to dwell there permanently, but to remain there only for a time. They went in fact only to remain until the severity of the famine should have passed by, and until they could return with safety to the land of Canaan.
And the Assyrians oppressed them without cause – A considerable variety has existed in the interpretation of this passage. The Septuagint renders it, And to the Assyrians they were carried by force. Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name Assyrian is here given to Pharaoh. So Forerius and Cajetan understand it. They suppose that the name, the Assyrian, became, in the apprehension of the Jews, the common name of that which was proud, oppressive, and haughty, and might therefore be used to designate Pharaoh. But there are insuperable objections to this. For the name the Assyrian is not elsewhere given to Pharaoh in the Scriptures, nor can it be supposed to be given to him but with great impropriety. It is not true that Pharaoh was an Assyrian; nor is it true that the Israelites were oppressed by the Assyrians while they remained in Egypt. Others have supposed that this refers to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans in general, and that the name the Assyrian is given them in a large and general sense, as ruling over that which constituted the empire of Assyria, and that the prophet here refers to the calamities which they were suffering in Babylon. But the objection to this is not the less decisive.
It is true that Babylon was formerly a part or province of Assyria, and true also that in the time of the Jewish captivity it was the capital of the kingdom of which the former empire of Assyria became a subject province. But the name Babylonian, in the Scriptures, is kept distinct from that of Assyrian, and they are not used interchangeably. Nor does the connection of the passage require us to understand it in this sense. The whole passage is in a high degree elliptical, and something must be supplied to make out the sense. The general design of it is, to show that God would certainly deliver the Jews from the captivity at Babylon without money. For this purpose, the prophet appeals to the former instances of his interposition when deliverance had been effected in that way. A paraphrase of the passage, and a filling up of the parts which are omitted in the brief and abrupt manner of the prophet, will show the sense. Ye have been sold for nought, and ye shall be ransomed without price.
As a proof that I can do it, and will do it, remember that my people went down formerly to Egypt, and designed to sojourn there for a little time, and that they were there reduced to slavery, and oppressed by Pharaoh, but that I ransomed them without money, and brought them forth by my own power. Remember, further, how often the Assyrian has oppressed them also, without cause. Remember the history of Sennacherib, Tiglath-pileser, and Salmaneser, and how they have laid the land waste, and remember also how I have delivered it from these oppressions. With the same certainty, and the same ease, I can deliver the people from the captivity at Babylon. The prophet, therefore, refers to different periods and events; and the idea is, that God had delivered them when they had been oppressed alike by the Egyptian, and by the Assyrians, and that he who had so often interposed would also rescue them from their oppression in Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Thus saith the Lord God] Adonai Jehovah; but Adonai is wanting in twelve of Kennicott’s, five of De Rossi’s, and two of my own MSS.; and by the Septuagint and Arabic. Some MSS. have Jehovah tsebaoth, “Lord of hosts;” and others have Yehovah Elohim, “Lord God.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; where they had protection and sustenance, and therefore owed subjection to the king of Egypt. And yet when he oppressed them I punished him severely, and delivered them out of his hands. Which is easily understood from the following words. And; or, but; for here is an opposition made between these two cases.
The Assyrian; the king of Babylon, who is called the king of Assyria, 2Ki 23:29, compared with Isa 24:7, as also the Persian emperor is called, Ezr 6:22, because it was one and the same empire, which was possessed, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, and afterwards by the Persians. Oppressed them without cause; without any such ground or valour, by mere force invading their land, and carrying them away into captivity. For although it be said that God gave this land and people into his hand, 2Ch 36:11, by his counsel and providence; yet that was neither known to nor regarded by the king of Babylon, nor was it a good and lawful title, Gods word, and not his providence, being the rule by which mens rights are determined; otherwise a robber hath a right to my purse, which he cannot take from me upon the highway without Gods providence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. My peopleJacob and hissons.
went downJudea was anelevated country compared with Egypt.
sojournThey went thereto stay only till the famine in Canaan should have ceased.
AssyrianSennacherib.Remember how I delivered you from Egypt and the Assyrian; what, then,is to prevent Me from delivering you out of Babylon (and the mysticalBabylon and the Antichrist in the last days)?
without causeansweringto “for naught” in Isa52:5; it was an act of gratuitous oppression in thepresent case, as in that case.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thus saith the Lord God,…. The Lord confirms what he had before said of redeeming his people without money, who had been sold for nothing, by past instances of his deliverance of them:
my people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; Jacob and his family went down there of their own accord, where they were supplied with food in a time of famine, and settled in a very fruitful part of it; but when they were oppressed, and cried to the Lord, he appeared for them, and delivered them:
and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause; which some understand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who they say was an Assyrian, or so called, because of his power and cruelty; or it being usual to call any enemy of the Jews an Assyrian: or rather the words may be rendered, “but the Assyrian”, c. Pharaoh had some pretence for what he did the Israelites came into his country, he did not carry them captive; they received many benefits and favours there, and were settled in a part of his dominions, so that he might claim them as his subjects, and refuse to dismiss them; but the Assyrians had nothing to do with them; could not make any pretence why they should invade them, and oppress them; and therefore if the Lord had delivered them from the one, he would also deliver them from the other. This may be understood of the several invasions and captivities by Pul, Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and even Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; Babylon having been the metropolis of Assyria, and a branch of the Assyrian empire, though now translated to the Chaldeans: or the sense is, and the Assyrians also oppressed Israel, as well as the Egyptians, without any just reason, and I delivered them out of their hands; and so I will redeem my church and people out of antichristian bondage and slavery.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Into Egypt my people went down aforetime. Here also the commentators touch neither heaven nor earth; for the Jews dream of three captivities, and Christians differ from them by thinking that this denotes a third captivity, which shall be under Antichrist, and from which Christ will deliver them. But the Prophet’s meaning, in my opinion, is quite different; for he argues from the less to the greater, by quoting the instance of the Egyptian captivity, from which the people were formerly recalled by the wonderful power of God. (Exo 14:28.) The argument therefore stands thus: “If the Lord punished the Egyptians because their treatment of his people was harsh and unjust, (Gen 15:14,) much more will he punish the Babylonians, who have cruelly tyrannized over them.”
But the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. There was much greater plausibility in Pharaoh’s claim of dominion over the Jews than in that of the Babylonians; for Jacob, having voluntarily come down to Egypt with his family, (Gen 46:5,) undoubtedly became subject to the power of Pharaoh, who, in return for the kindness received from Joseph, (38) had assigned to him a large country and abundant pasturage. Pharaoh’s successors, ungrateful and forgetful of the benefit conferred on them by Joseph, afflicted all the posterity of Jacob in various ways. This ingratitude and cruelty the Lord severely punished. But far more base and savage was the wickedness of the Babylonians, who drove the Jews out of a lawful possession, and dragged them into bondage. If then the Lord could not bear the Egyptians, who were unthankful and ruled by unjust laws, though in other respects they had a just title to possession, much less will he endure the violent and cruel Babylonians, who have no right to govern his people and oppress them by tyranny.
By “the Assyrian,” he means the Babylonians, who were united under the same monarchy with the Assyrians; but he takes special notice of “the Assyrian,” because he was the first that grievously distressed the Jews, and that prepared the way for this captivity.
(38) “ En recognoissance du bien que Joseph avoit fait au royaume.” “In gratitude for the benefit which Joseph had conferred on the kingdom.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) My people went down . . .Stress is laid on the unprovoked character of the oppression in the case both of Egypt and the Assyrian invaders Sargon and Sennacherib. It is possible that Assyria may be used in its wider sense as including Babylon. If so, the fact tends to the conclusion that the book was written at a time when the kings of Assyria included Babylon in their titles. Probably, however, the prophet refers to the deliverance from the army of Sennacherib as a pledge of the deliverance from Babylon.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 52:4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Ver. 4. And the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. ] Nulla iniuria lacessitus. So did the primitive persecutors, the Christians of those times, though they were non aliunde noscibiles quam ex vitae integritate, saith Justin Martyr; eminent for their innocence, as Pliny also in his epistle to Trajan the emperor testifieth. What hurt had the Israelites ever done to malicious Moab that he was irked at them? Num 22:3 or the Hebrews to the Assyrians, that they should oppress them?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
My People went down aforetime. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 46:6). See App-92.
the Assyrian. This was “another king” (Act 7:18), the first of a new dynasty, the “new king” of Exo 1:8, who (of course) “knew not Joseph”. See notes on the above passages.
oppressed them. This refers to Ex. 1, and has nothing to do with the later Assyrian carrying away.
without cause = for nothing, groundlessly. This is a Divine comment. See Joh 15:25. Hebrew. ‘ephes. See note on Isa 5:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
My people: Gen 46:6, Act 7:14, Act 7:15
the Assyrian: Isa 14:25, Isa 36:1 – Isa 37:38, Jer 50:17
without: Job 2:3, Psa 25:3, Psa 69:4, Joh 15:25
Reciprocal: Gen 47:4 – For to Psa 44:12 – sellest Isa 42:22 – a people Jer 50:33 – and all Eze 36:11 – and ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 52:4-6. My people went down into Egypt Where they had protection and sustenance, and therefore owed subjection to the king of Egypt. And yet when he oppressed them I punished him severely, and delivered them out of his hands. And the Assyrian oppressed them The king of Babylon, who is called the king of Assyria, (2Ki 23:29,) as also the Persian emperor is called, (Ezr 6:22,) because it was one and the same empire which was possessed, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, and afterward by the Persians. Without cause Without any real ground or colour, by mere force invading their land, and carrying them away into captivity, Now therefore what have I here Why (speaking after the manner of men) do I sit still here, and not go to Babylon to punish the Babylonians, and to deliver my people? Or, What honour have I by suffering this injury to be done to my people? That my people is taken away for naught Were carried away captive by the Babylonians, without any provocation or pretence of right? They that rule over them make them to howl By their tyrannical and unmerciful usage of them; and my name continually is blasphemed The Babylonians blaspheme me, as if I wanted either power or goodwill to save my people out of their hands. Therefore my people shall know my name They shall have sensible experience of my infinite power and goodness in fighting for them. They shall know in that day When I shall redeem them; which work was begun by the return of the Jews from Babylon, and afterward carried on, and at last perfected, by the coming of the Messiah; that I am he that doth speak That these promises are not the words of a weak, or fickle, or deceitful man, but of him who is omnipotent, unchangeable, and a covenant-keeping God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
52:4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went {d} down in times past into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian {e} oppressed them without cause.
(d) When Jacob went there in times of famine.
(e) The Egyptians might pretend some reason to oppress my people because they went there and remained among them, but the Assyrians have no title to excuse their tyranny by, and therefore I will punish them more than I did the Egyptians.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Sovereign Yahweh further declared that the Israelites had gone down to Egypt of their own volition in the days of Jacob. Later the Assyrians had taken them captive against their will. These earliest and most recent oppressions represented all of them that Israel had undergone. The implication is that since God can freely liberate (Isa 52:3), He could redeem His people from enemy-imposed captivity as easily as He could redeem them from self-imposed captivity.