See God's New Thing! (Isaiah 43:16-21) Series

15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;

trembling seized the leaders of Moab;

all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.

16 Terror and dread fell upon them;

by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone

until your people, O LORD, passed by,

until the people whom you acquired passed by.

17 You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,

the place, O LORD, that you made your abode,

the sanctuary, O LORD, that your hands have established.

18 The LORD will reign forever and ever.”

Once we have all of this in mind, we are ready for today's passage (everyone is sufficiently baited). Isaiah 43:16-21. Let's start by reading the first two verses:

(16) Thus has said Yahweh--

The One making in the sea a road/way,

while in the strong waters a path,

(17) The One bringing out horse and chariot, strong and mighty--

together they will lie down;

they can't rise;

they have been snuffed out like a wick.

they have been quenched (2 Kings 22:17)--:

In our passage today, the prophet begins in a typical way, by announcing a new word from Yahweh. "Thus has said Yahweh:"

But we don't actually get the contents of that word until verse 18. Instead, we get a detailed description of who Yahweh is. And when we read verses 16-17, what do we find ourselves thinking about? "Making in the sea a way?" "Bringing out horse and chariot?"

Every Jewish child whose ever heard the great Passover stories knows the answer here (*Klaus Baltzer). These verses sound like a reminder, and a celebration, of Israel's exodus from Egypt. Yahweh is the one who made in the sea a road, where a road couldn't be built, where there was no way out. Yahweh is the one who defeated the powerful military. He snuffed them out, quenched them, like a candle wick.

We find ourselves hearing this familiar language, and understanding it, and probably taking some comfort in this. The exodus story is a bit like some of our classic hymns-- "Amazing Grace," or "It is Well with my Soul." These things are like spiritual chicken noodle soup, comforting us.

So all of this gives us this picture of who Yahweh has been for his people, and of what Yahweh has done for his people in the past. It's a celebration, like we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead.

At the same time, if we are listening carefully to these verses, there is something about them that will mess with us. The verb tenses are a bit of a surprise.

Yahweh is the one who is right now making in the sea, a path (participle). He is the one bringing out horse and rider (participle), and their fate will be to lie down (future). The last two lines are past tense (qatals), but even here, it's complicated. Prophets often use the past tense to describe future events. It's called a "prophetic perfect," and the idea is that God's promised future is so sure that you can describe it as though it's happened in the past. And that's probably what's going on here. Horse and chariot will lie down together, and it's a sure thing that they'll be put out like a candle.