(27) The first shall say to Zion.--The italics show the difficulty and abruptness of the originals. A preferable rendering is, (1) I was the first that said to Zion, &c. No oracle or soothsayer anticipated that message of deliverance (Ewald, Del.); or (2) a forerunner shall say . . . The words "Behold them" point to the returning exiles. The second clause fits in better with (2), and explains it. Jehovah sends a herald of good news (not Cyrus himself, but a messenger reporting his victories, or possibly Isaiah himself, as a more distant herald) to Jerusalem, to say that the exiles are returning.

Verse 27. - The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them; rather, the first has said. By "the first" must certainly be meant Jehovah - " the First, and with the last" of ver. 4. He has already announced to Zion her deliverance (see Isaiah 40:9-11; Isaiah 41:2, etc.). I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. Perhaps Isaiah himself (Grotius, Stier, Delitzsch). Perhaps some prophet of the Captivity, as Daniel, who "knew by books" when the Captivity was drawing to a close (Daniel 9:2), and may be supposed to have announced the good tidings to the other exiles.

41:21-29 There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. Let the advocates of other doctrines than that of salvation through Christ, bring their arguments. Can they tell of a cure for human depravity? Jehovah has power which cannot be withstood; this he will make appear. But the certain knowledge of the future must be only with Jehovah, who fulfils his own plans. All prophecies, except those of the Bible, have been uncertain. In the work of redemption the Lord showed himself much more than in the release of the Jews from Babylon. The good tidings the Lord will send in the gospel, is a mystery hid from ages and generations. A Deliverer is raised up for us, of nobler name and greater power than the deliverer of the captive Jews. May we be numbered among his obedient servants and faithful friends.The first shall say to Zion, behold, behold them,.... Or, "I the first say to Zion"; I who am the first and the last, Isaiah 41:4 which some ancient Jewish writers (d) observe is the name of the Messiah, and apply the passage to him; or, I am the "first" that say these things to Zion (e),

behold, behold them; behold such and such things shall come to pass, and accordingly they have come to pass; or, "behold", the promised Messiah, whom I have long spoken of, behold, he is come; see Isaiah 42:1, and behold them, his apostles and ministers, publishing the good tidings of salvation, as follows. The Targum is,

"the words of consolation which the prophets prophesied from the beginning concerning Sion, behold they come;''

they come to pass; which is such a proof of deity the idols and their worshippers cannot give:

and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings; which some interpret of Isaiah; others of Cyrus; others of Christ; and others of John the Baptist. I suppose the singular put for the plural, "one that bringeth good tidings", or, "an evangelist for evangelists"; and may be understood of Gospel teachers, whom the Lord gave to his church and people, and by means of whom he spread his Gospel, not only in Judea, but in the Gentile world, to the overthrow of Paganism.

(d) T. Bab. Pesach. fol. 5. 1. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 63. fol. 55. 3. and Vajikra Rabba, sect. 30. fol. 171. 2.((e) "ego primus sum qui dico haec Sioni", Tigurine version.