to approach (causatively · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
cause
רִֽיבְכֶ֖םriv.Khem
H7379
a contest (personal or legal) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
saith
יֹאמַ֣רyo.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
forth
הַגִּ֙ישׁוּ֙ha.Gi.shu
H5066
to be or come (causatively · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
strong
עֲצֻמ֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔םa.tzu.Mo.tei.Khem
H6110
a bulwark · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
saith
יֹאמַ֖רyo.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
King
מֶ֥לֶךְMe.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Jacob
יַעֲקֹֽבya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 23:3-4 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
Job 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Micah 6:1-2 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Job 31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
Job 40:7-9 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 41:21–end
The Lord, by the prophet, here repeats the challenge to idolaters to make out the pretentions of their idols: "Produce your cause (Isa 41:21) and make your best of it; bring forth the strongest reasons you have to prove that your idols are gods, and worthy of your adoration." Note, There needs no more to show the absurdity of sin than to produce the reasons that are given in defence of it, for they carry with them their own confutation.
I. The idols are here challenged to bring proofs of their knowledge and power. Let us see what they can inform us of, and what they can do. Understanding and active power are the accomplishments of a man. Whoever pretends to be a god must have these in perfec…
A new challenge to the idolaters (see Isa 41:1, Isa 41:7) to say, can their idols predict future events as Jehovah can (Isa 41:22-25, &c.)?
your strong reasons--the reasons for idol-worship which you think especially strong.
John Gill on Isaiah 41:21
Produce your cause, saith the Lord,.... The Lord having comforted his people under their afflictions and persecutions from their enemies in the first times of Christianity, returns to the controversy between him and the idolatrous Heathens, and challenges them to bring their cause into open court, and let it be publicly tried, that it may be seen on what side truth lies:
bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob; or King of saints, the true Israel of God, who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God, and whom he rules over, protects and defends; and this title is assumed for the comfort of them, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an emine…
Plead your cause. There was also a necessity that this should be added to the former doctrine; for when we associate with wicked men, they pour ridicule on our hope and charge us with folly, as if we were too simple-minded and credulous. Our faith is attacked and frequently shaken by jeers such as the following, "These people hang on the clouds, and believe things that are impossible and contrary to all reason." Since, therefore, the Jews, in their captivity, would hear such mockeries, it was of importance that they should be fortified by these warnings of the Prophet; and in order to give greater weight to this address, he comes forth of his own accord, for the sake of inspiring confidence,…
The Church Fathers
To the expression "your judgment draws near," Symmachus has given the following interpretation: "Present your case, the Lord has said; bring up your solid supports, the king of Jacob has said." Become judges, he says, between myself and the idols; produce your solid props or, according to Theodotion, "your firm supports," that is to say, the idols. Let them reveal the future; let them inform us of [the things] that have happened from the beginning. I, for my part, have not ceased to do the one and the other. Through my servant Moses, I have even taught what took place before the creation of humanity. As for the future, I have revealed it through [Moses] and through the other prophets.
(Verse 21) Make your case, says the Lord: bring forth if you have anything to say, says the king Jacob. LXX: Your judgment is near, says the Lord God: they have come and drawn near your counsels, says the king of Jacob. As we said above, Jacob and Israel are two, those who do not believe and those who believe in the Lord Savior: thus the nations are called, and they flow in rivers and springs in the once desert Church, and with a wonderful abundance of a variety of trees, all most abundantly fruitful, those who refused to believe in Christ from the nations are provoked to judgment, that they may answer why they did not want to see, and know and understand, because the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created all things. He says, 'Let your idols approach, which you think are the strongest. Or bring forward, if you have anything by chance within you; and reveal your plans, in what way, with what understanding, you have not wanted to accept the revealed truth. At the same time, there is a direct challenge to the idols themselves, which are insensible, and have neither the ability to hear nor to respond.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Divination — Of false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
There follows now the second stage in the suit. "Bring hither your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your proofs, saith the king of Jacob. Let them bring forward, and make known to us what will happen: make known the beginning, what it is, and we will fix our heart upon it, and take knowledge of its issue; or let us hear what is to come. Make known what is coming later, and we will acknowledge that ye are gods: yea, do good, and do evil, and we will measure ourselves, and see together." In the first stage Jehovah appealed, in support of His deity, to the fact that it was He who had called the oppressor of the nations upon the arena of history. In this second stage He appeals to the fact th…
This trial scene develops the Lord’s case against idolatry. Idols are nothing but a human creation, whereas God is the Creator of all things. Idols cannot speak, act, accomplish anything, or save their worshipers.
41:21 the King of Israel: See 6:5; 43:15; 44:6.
Rashi on Isaiah 41:21
Present your plea All the heathens ([mss. K’li Paz:] nations), come and contend and debate with My children.
your strong points Heb. עַצֻּמוֹתֵיכֶם, Your sturdy and strong arguments. This is an expression of a dispute in Mishnaic Hebrew: “Two who were engaged in a legal dispute (מִתְעַצְּמִין),” in Tractate Sanhedrin (31b).
