Isaiah 40 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Isaiah 40 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment


1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

In the Bible the world “all” almost always means “all kinds” or “many”. In this verse the meaning of “all” is that both Jews and gentiles will see it. The Messiah is not just for the Jews, but also for the gentiles. And who believes in Jesus, is righteous, while those who not believe remain in their wickedness. Unconverted persons do not see the glory of Christ, so this verse and chapter 26:10 mean exactly the same.

6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

"All flesh is grass."
Since all animals, including humans, survive by eating plants or other animals that have eaten plants, it is true that "all flesh is grass."

7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass."
The grass and the flowers die when God blows on them. The same happens with people.
Live is fragile. If God does not sustain us, we would die immediately. That the heart of the author of the SAB does not stop working, is that pure luck? Why does it stop in others and not in his? Why has he not stumbled over something and broke his neck? It has happened to others. Pure luck again? Pure luck sustaining him? No one lives independently from God, Acts 17:28.

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

(40:19-20) "The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He ... chooseth a tree ... to prepare a graven image."
God hates Christmas trees
I had not seen the connection, but I think the author of the SAB is onto something here. Christmas is a Roman Catholic festival and Christians would do well to abstain from it.

20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

"He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth"
The earth is a flat disc that God looks down upon from his throne in heaven.
TalkOrigins.org
-Index of Creationist Claims
Capella's Guide to Atheism - The Bible's Flat Earth
First of all, the world is a circle, so it doesn't have corners (Rev. 7:1) after all? Another contradiction! But secondly, Hebrew does not have a separate word for a three dimensional sphere, so we can translate this as: “he that sitteth upon the sphere of the earth,” indicating the world is round. See Biblical Cosmology.

23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

God never gets tired. Well, OK, maybe he gets tired once in a while.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.