Isaiah 45:2

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight,.... Or, "level the hilly places" (c); as pioneers do.

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: I will ... make the crooked places straight - (Isaiah

I will go before thee, to remove all obstructions, and to prepare the way for thee, as it follows. I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; I will destroy all them that oppose thee, and carry thee through the greatest difficulties.

Isaiah 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:Ver. 2. And make the crooked places even.] Or, The hilly places level. I will break in pieces the gates of brass.] This God would do, that his temple might be built; but in the New Testament, Christ throweth the gates of hell off their hinges, like another Samson, that he may build his Church. And it is this Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam I will build my church, that hath made all the stir in the world.

(2) Make the crooked places straight.—Better, make the dwelling-places smooth—i.e., remove all obstacles (comp. 40:4, 42:16).

Verse 2. The crooked places - "The mountains"] For הדורים hodurim, crooked places, a word not easily accounted for in this place, the Septuagint read הררים hararim, ταορη, the mountains. Two MSS. have הדרים hadarim, without the ו vau, which is hardly distinguishable from the reading of the Septuagint. The Divine protection that attended Cyrus, and rendered his expedition against Babylon easy and prosperous is finely expressed by God's going before him, and making the mountains level. The image is highly poetical: - At vos, qua veniet, tumidi subsidite montes, Et faciles curvis vallibus este viae. OVID, Amor. ii. 16. "Let the lofty mountains fall down, and make level paths in the crooked valleys." The gates of brass - "The valves of brass"] Abydenus, apud, Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix. 41, says, that the wall of Babylon had brazen gates. And Herodotus, i., 179. more particularly: "In the wall all round there are a hundred gates, all of brass; and so in like manner are the sides and the lintels." The gates likewise within the city, opening to the river from the several streets, were of brass; as were those also of the temple of Belus. - Herod. i., 180, 181.

Isaiah 45:1-7. The apostrophe to Cyrus expresses dramatically the purpose of Jehovah in raising up the Persian conqueror. The idea that the true God has made a personal revelation of Himself to the mind of Cyrus is not implied; Cyrus is to learn the religious significance of his mission from its results (Isaiah 45:3), just as mankind at large comes to understand it (Isaiah 45:6). The direct address to Cyrus (Isaiah 45:2 ff.) is prefaced in Isaiah 45:1 by a series of clauses describing his invincible career, which has already attracted the attention of the world. There is a startling resemblance between some of the expressions here used of Jehovah’s choice of Cyrus, and some of those employed by the Babylonian writer of the “Annalistic Tablet” in describing him as the favourite of Merodach. We read there that “Merodach … appointed a prince who should guide aright the wish of the heart which his hand upholds, even Cyrus …” that he “has proclaimed his title; for the sovereignty of all the world does he commemorate his name,” and that he “beheld with joy the deeds of his vicegerent, who was righteous in hand and heart,” and that “like a friend and comrade he went at his side.” (See Introduction, p. xviii.) to his anointed, to Cyrus] The Hebr. word for “anointed” (mâshîǎ ?ḥ ?), when used as a substantive, is almost confined to the kings of Israel; although in later times there was a tendency to employ it in a wider sense (e.g. of the Patriarchs in Psalms 115:15, of the people in Habakkuk 3:13). Unless Psalms 2:2 be an exception it is never used in the O.T. of the future ideal king (the Messiah); hence the idea that the rôle of the Messianic king is by the prophet transferred to Cyrus is not to be entertained. The title simply designates him as one consecrated by Jehovah to be His agent and representative. This, however, is the only passage where the title is bestowed upon a foreign ruler; Nebuchadnezzar is called the “servant” of Jehovah (Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:6; Jeremiah 43:10), but the more august designation of “His Anointed” is reserved for one who as the Deliverer of Israel and the instrument of the overthrow of polytheism, stands in a still closer relation to Jehovah’s purpose. Comp. “My Shepherd” in ch. Isaiah 44:28; also ch. Isaiah 46:11, Isaiah 48:14. to subdue &c.] Render: to subdue before him nations, and to loose the loins of kings; to open before him doors, and that gates should not be shut; the infinitive construction is resolved into the finite verb. To loose (lit. “open”) is to ungird, or disarm; see 1 Kings 20:11, where the same verb forms the contrast to “gird.”

I will go before thee - To prepare the way for conquest, a proof that it is by the providence of God that the proud conquerors of the earth are enabled to triumph.

2. Gates of brass — See preceding verse. The Lord, by his prophet, promises the removal of every barrier. A hundred years later, Herodotus speaks of great Babylon’s gates of brass that were destroyed.