(12) Hearken unto me, O Jacob.--The prophet is drawing near to the end of the first great section of his book, and his conclusion takes the form of a condensed epitome of the great argument of Isaiah 40-47, asserting the oneness, the eternity, the omnipotence, the omniscience of Jehovah.

Verses 12-15. - THE SECOND ADDRESS. The tone of complaint is now dropped. Israel is invited to reflect seriously on the chief points urged in the preceding chapters.

(1) Their near relation to Jehovah (ver. 12);

(2) Jehovah's eternity and omnipotence (vers. 12, 13);

(3) the superiority of Jehovah to the gods of the nations, as shown by his prophetic power (ver. 14); and

(4) the near approach of deliverance by Cyrus (vers. 14, 15). Verse 12. - O Jacob and Israel (comp. Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, 14; Isaiah 43:1, 22; Isaiah 44:1, 21; Isaiah 46:3; Isaiah 48:1). The figure is used which rhetoricians call hendiadys. The two names designate one and the same object. My called. "Called" and "chosen" from of old, out of all the nations of the earth (comp. Isaiah 41:9; Isaiah 44:1, 2, etc.); therefore bound to "hear" and to attend. Still more bound, considering who it is by whom they have been called - I AM HE - i.e. "I am the absolute and eternally unchangeable One, the Alpha and Omega of all history" (Delitzsch). The first, and also the Last, "from whom and to whom are all things" (Romans 11:36).

48:9-15 We have nothing ourselves to plead with God, why he should have mercy upon us. It is for his praise, to the honour of his mercy, to spare. His bringing men into trouble was to do them good. It was to refine them, but not as silver; not so thoroughly as men refine silver. If God should take that course, they are all dross, and, as such, might justly be put away. He takes them as refined in part only. Many have been brought home to God as chosen vessels, and a good work of grace begun in them, in the furnace of affliction. It is comfort to God's people, that God will secure his own honour, therefore work deliverance for them. And if God delivers his people, he cannot be at a loss for instruments to be employed. God has formed a plan, in which, for his own sake, and the glory of his grace, he saves all that come to Him.Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called,.... Called before out of Egypt, and now out of Babylon, and who had the name of God called upon them, and who called upon the name of the Lord; so such who are called with a holy calling, according to the purpose and grace of God, by the Spirit and grace of Christ, unto fellowship with him, to partake of his grace here, and glory hereafter, are styled "the called of Jesus Christ", Romans 1:6 and who seems to be the person here speaking, as appears from the following clause: and it may be observed, that Jacob and Israel are described here in a different manner from what they are in the beginning of the chapter, since the Lord had declared his designs of grace towards them, and that he had chosen them, and would save them for his name's sake: which they had reason to believe he could and would do, from the account which he gives of himself: and they are called upon to hearken to him, as follows,

I am he, I am the first, and I also am the last; the everlasting I AM, the immutable Jehovah, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first cause and last end of all things; phrases expressive of the self-existence, supremacy, eternity, and immutability of Christ, Revelation 1:8, and what is it that such a sovereign, eternal and unchangeable Being cannot do?