NOTES for Isa 40:18-31

Today we begin reading the second half of the book of the prophet Isaiah, written in the middle of the sixth century BC. The unknown prophet usually called Second Isaiah began writing it while still in the Babylonian captivity and finished it in postexilic Jerusalem. His prophecy begins in Babylon with a word of hope and consolation. Today we read an astonishing hymn to the Creator’s might. The prophet sings this hymn while still in captivity, seeing only the very beginning of the complex historical processes through which God grants freedom to His people. The prophet’s main idea is that nothing can resist the Creator’s will. “His understanding is unsearchable,” and we cannot see all His ways, but His power is irresistible. Therefore, the prophet says, there is a great and inexhaustible hope for all of us: “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary.”