Isaiah 44:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 44:5
One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD’s
לַֽיהוָ֣הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
call
יִקְרָ֣אyik.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name
בְשֵֽׁםve.shem-
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Jacob
יַעֲקֹ֑בya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
subscribe
יִכְתֹּ֤בyikh.To
H3789
to grave · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
יָדוֹ֙ya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
לַֽיהוָ֔הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
surname
יְכַנֶּֽהye.kha.Neh
H3655
to address by an additional name · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name
וּבְשֵׁ֥םu.ve.Shem
H8034
an appellation · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place 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
Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall…
Exodus 13:9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in thy mouth: for wi…
Deuteronomy 26:17-19 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgmen…
Nehemiah 9:38-10:29 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
2 Corinthians 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
Galatians 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath…
Psalms 116:16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 44:1-8
Two great truths are abundantly made out in these verses: -
I. That the people of God are a happy people, especially upon account of the covenant that is between them and God. The people of Israel were so as a figure of the gospel Israel. Three things complete their happiness: -
1. The covenant-relations wherein they stand to God, Isa 44:1, Isa 44:2. Israel is here called Jeshurun - the upright one; for those only, like Nathanael, are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, and those only shall have the everlasting benefit of these promises. Jacob and Israel had been represented, in the close of the foregoing chapter, as very provoking and obnoxious to God's wrath, and already given to the…
The third clause answers in parallelism to the first, the fourth to the second.
I am the Lord's-- (Jer 50:5; Co1 6:19-20; Co2 8:5).
call himself by the name of Jacob--The Gentiles (as the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel, the Lord's "seed," first) shall join themselves to the children of Jacob, in order to worship their God (compare Isa 43:7; Psa 49:11). Or, "calls," that is, invokes and celebrates the name of Jacob, attaches himself to his nation and religion [MAURER], (Psa 24:6).
subscribe . . . hand unto . . . Lord--in solemn and public covenant, pledging himself to God's service (compare Neh 9:38), before "witnesses" (Heb 12:1), after the manner of a civil cont…
One shall say, I am the Lord's,.... This expresses the success of the apostles' ministry, not only among the Jews, but more especially among the Gentiles, who were not called by the name of Jacob and Israel; but now should call themselves by those names, as the following clauses show, being called by grace and converted; when they should openly profess their faith in Christ, claim their interest in him, and acknowledge his property in them, and not be ashamed of the name of Christians; and this one, and another, even many should do. The Lord has a people who are his special and peculiar people, his beloved ones, the objects of his delight and pleasure, his chosen and covenant ones, his adopt…
The Church Fathers
The reality comes to confirm the prophecy: it is with total freedom of language that each of the believers calls herself a Christian and derives glory from this name.
We have seen many of the saints themselves latch on to names of certain men. One calls himself Jacob, another Israel, others even call themselves Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel. Encouraged by these names, they give themselves over to martyrdom with enthusiasm. "Another will write with his hands, 'the Lord's.' " This signifies the marking that many have on their hands or arms, or it refers to those marked with the sign of the cross or the name of Christ. The portion or the inheritance of the name of God is implied by the use of the name derived from "Jacob" [i.e., "Israel"]. It signifies that those who have acted in a godly way will not be allowed to go to utter ruin, for he does not want to destroy the whole of Israel but turn them totally toward God. And he provides the way of salvation to those who believe in him.He calls himself Lord and God, Creator and Framer—this is intended to show that they were in error when Israel gave the name of "god" to others who were not gods and forgot the one who was from the beginning the creator of humanity. They were honoring their parents as the ones who were responsible in the beginning and ignoring the Maker, as one of the prophets said: "The son gives glory to the father and the slave to his master," and "If I am the Father, then where is my glory?" and "If I am the ruler of all, where is the fear of me?" says the Lord. For [the Son] is the Lord who rules the creation by hand, but the Father is the one who made it.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
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).
One shall say. Hitherto the Prophet has spoken metaphorically, but now expresses his meaning plainly without any figure of speech. He shews what is the nature of that vegetation and herbage of which he spoke. It means that out of all nations the Lord will gather his people, and will bring into his Church those who were formerly strangers, and will raise up and enlarge his Church, which formerly appeared to be reduced to nothing; for all shall flock to her from every quarter, and shall wish to be enrolled in the number of believers, as it is also said,
"Behold Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia; that man was born there." (Psalm 87:4.)
That passage, though hitherto it seemed to be obscure, throug…
When Jehovah has thus acknowledged His people once more, the heathen, to whose giddūphı̄m (blasphemies) Israel has hitherto been given up, will count it the greatest honour to belong to Jehovah and His people. "One will say, I belong to Jehovah; and a second will solemnly name the name of Jacob; and a third will inscribe himself to Jehovah, and name the name of Israel with honour." The threefold zeh refers to the heathen, as in Psa 87:4-5. One will declare himself to belong to Jehovah; another will call with the name of Jacob, i.e., (according to the analogy of the phrase ה בשׁם קרא) make it the medium and object of solemn exclamation; a third will write with his hand (ידו, an acc. of more…
The restoration theme is connected with God’s promise to pour out the Spirit (see also 32:15-17; Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-18). • on your descendants . . . children: The next generation of Israelites offered hope.
Rashi on Isaiah 44:5
This one shall say, “I am the Lord’s.” These are the perfectly righteous.
and this one shall call himself by the name of Jacob. These are the children, the sons of the wicked.
and this one shall write [with] his hand, “To the Lord,” These are the repentant.
and adopt the name Israel These are the proselytes. So it was taught in Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan (36:1).
