Teks -- Isaiah 45:18 (NET)

45:18 For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky– he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited– “I am the Lord, I have no peer.

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JFB: Isa 45:18

(See on Isa 45:12).

JFB: Isa 45:18 - not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited

Therefore, Judah, lying waste during the Babylonish captivity, shall be peopled again by the exiles. The Jews, from this passage, infer that, after the resurrection, the earth shall be inhabited, for there can be no reason why the earth should then exist in vain any more than now (2Pe 3:13).

Clarke: Isa 45:18

He formed it to be inhabited "For he formed it to be inhabited"- An ancient MS. has כי ki before לשבת lashebeth ; and so the ancient Versions.

Calvin: Isa 45:18 - For thus saith Jehovah // God the maker of the earth // He did not create it empty // He formed it to be inhabited // I am Jehovah

18.For thus saith Jehovah This verse tends to confirm the preceding; for the Prophet means that the Jews are fully convinced that the Lord will at length deliver them, though they are oppressed by wretched bondage.

God the maker of the earth Some think that by “the earth” is here meant Judea, but I consider it to be an argument from the less to the greater, as we said formerly on the twelfth verse, that, since the providence of God extends universally to the creatures, much more does it relate to those whom he has adopted to be his sons; for of them he has a special care. In short, the Prophet’s argument is this. “Since God created the earth, that men might have an abode and habitation in it, much more did he create it, that there might be a residence for his Church; for he takes a deeper concern about his Church than about all the rest.” If, therefore, he founded the earth, if he gave to it a shape and a fixed use, that men might be nourished by the fruits which it should produce, he has undoubtedly assigned to his children the first place and the highest rank of honor. This is not always visible to our eyes, and therefore our hearts ought to be encouraged and upheld by hope, that we may stand unmoved against all temptations.

In a word, as long as the earth shall endure, so long shall the Church of God exist; so long as the sun and moon shall last, it shall not fail. Afterwards the Prophet will use a still stronger argument. “If the covenant which God made with Noah, as to the settled order of this world, is stable, much more the covenant which he hath made concerning the Church must be stable. (Isa 54:9; Gen 9:9.) The world is fading and corruptible; but the Church, that is, the kingdom of Christ, shall be eternal; and therefore it is reasonable to believe that the promises which relate to the Church shall undoubtedly be more stable and permanent than all the rest.

He did not create it empty As it is the principal ornament of the earth that it is the abode of inhabitants, he adds, that it was not created in order that, by being empty, it might be waste and desolate. If it be objected, on the other hand, that the earth was “empty and void” when it was created, as appears from that passage in which Moses employs the same word that is here used by the Prophet, תהו , ( tohu,) which means “shapeless and empty,” the answer is easy. The Prophet does not speak of the commencement of the creation, but of God’s purpose by which the earth was set apart for the use and habitation of men; and therefore, there is nothing here that is contrary to what is said by Moses, for Isaiah contemplates the end and use.

He formed it to be inhabited This statement indeed extends to all mankind, because the earth was appointed to all, that they might dwell in it; for how comes it that God nourishes us and supplies us with everything that is necessary, and even supports wicked men, but because he intended that his decree should stand, by which he gave the earth to be inhabited by men? In any other point of view, it is strange that he bears with so many sins and crimes, and does not entirely destroy mankind; but he has regard to his own purpose, and not to our merit. Hence kingdoms and commonwealths are sustained, and hence ranks of society and forms of government are preserved even amidst barbarians and infidels; for, although God often reduces some countries to desolation on account of the sins of men, and sprinkles them, as it were, with “saltness,” (Psa 107:34, ²⁰⁹) that they may become barren, and may never again be able to support their inhabitants, yet he always adds this alleviation, “that the earth may be inhabited;” for this is his inviolable decree. Yet we must bear in remembrance what I have already said, that, so long as the earth shall be inhabited, it is impossible that God shall not support his worshippers who call upon him. Besides, from this passage all good men ought to derive the highest consolation, that, although they are despised by the world and are few and feeble, and although, on the other hand, wicked men surpass them in numbers, and power, and influence, while they are despised so as to be reckoned of less value than “the offscourings of the world,” (1Co 4:13,) yet they are precious in the sight of God, because he reckons them in the number of his children, and will never suffer them to perish.

I am Jehovah When he repeats that he is God, this is not intended merely to assert his essence, but to distinguish him from all idols, and to keep the Jews in the pure faith; for even superstitious men acknowledge that there is one God, but conceive of him according to their fancy; and therefore we must acknowledge God, who revealed himself to the fathers, and who spoke by Moses. Thus, he does not speak merely of God’s eternal essence, as some think, but of all the offices which belong to him alone, that no part of them may be ascribed to creatures.

Defender: Isa 45:18 - formed the earth

Note that the Lord "formed" the earth, He "made" it, He "established" it, He "created" it. He did it "himself."

Defender: Isa 45:18 - not in vain

Since the word here for "in vain" is the Hebrew tohu, this verse has been made the main proof text (actually pretext) for the so-called gap theory, which attempts to add billions of years of the history of the earth and its inhabitants in a supposed gap between the first two verses of Genesis. Gen 1:2 says that "the earth was without form" - that is, tohu - so the argument here contends that since Isaiah says God did not "create" the earth tohu, it must have "become" tohu in a great cataclysm that climaxed and terminated the geological ages. However, this is an impossible theory geologically, since these ages are based entirely on a supposed uniform continuity with present geological processes, and there is no place in the geological ages for a global cataclysm that would leave the earth without form and void. The main purpose of the gap theory is to avoid conflict with geologists over the age of the earth, but it squarely contradicts them on their basic premise of uniformitarianism. Such a worldwide cataclysm as proposed by proponents of the gap theory would so disintegrate and rearrange the crust of the earth as to leave no evidence of any previous ages. The gap theory would thus accommodate the geological ages by destroying all the evidence for them. This is why no geologist, Christian or otherwise, believes the gap theory.

Defender: Isa 45:18 - to be inhabited

The thrust of this verse is that God had a definite purpose for the earth. He created, established, made, and formed it as a habitation for man. When initially called into existence by God, it was "unformed and empty," as stated in Gen 1:2, but God did not intend to stop there. He took six days to prepare it for man in order to set a pattern for man's work week (Exo 20:8-11); the earth was not "perfect," in the sense of being "finished," until God said so, at the end of the six days (Gen 2:1-3)."

TSK: Isa 45:18 - that created // he created // I am

that created : Isa 42:5; Jer 10:12, Jer 51:15

he created : Isa 45:12; Gen 1:28, Gen 9:1; Psa 115:16; Eze 36:10-12

I am : Isa 45:5, Isa 45:6

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Poole: Isa 45:18

This description of God is here added, either,

1. To detect the vanity of idols, by asserting that none was to be owned as the true God besides that one God who made the heavens and the earth, and the inhabitants thereof. Or,

2. To demonstrate God’ s sufficiency to fulfil all these glorious promises made to his church, because he made the world of nothing, and upholds it by the word of his power; and withal to discover God’ s goodness to mankind, inasmuch as he did not create the earth in vain, but for the use and comfort of men, that it might be a fit habitation for them; whence it was easy to infer that God would much more be gracious to his own people.

Haydock: Isa 45:18 - In vain

In vain. Hebrew, "to be a chaos," Genesis viii. 2.

Gill: Isa 45:18 - For thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens // God himself, that formed the earth, and made it, he hath established it // he created it not in vain // I am the Lord, there is none else

For thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens,.... These words, and what follow, are the words of the Son of God, of the Lord the Saviour, in whom Israel is saved with an everlasting salvation; and this is said to assure them of it, as well as to distinguish himself from the gods of the Gentiles, who made not the heavens and the earth, as he had done; for by the Word of the Lord, the essential Word of God, were the heavens made in the beginning; see Psa 33:6,

God himself, that formed the earth, and made it, he hath established it; the Saviour is God himself, truly and properly God, who has all the perfections of deity in him; and this appears as from his creation of the heavens, so from his forming, making and establishing the earth; he made the chaos of the earth out of nothing; he formed that chaos he made into a beautiful order, and prepared, as the last word ^c signifies, fitted, and furnished it with everything convenient for man and beast:

he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; the earth indeed was "tohu" when it was first created, Gen 1:2, which word is used of the chaos of the earth first made, here rendered "in vain"; but then it was not created to continue so, nor did it continue so; for though it was first without form, it was soon formed in a beautiful manner, and fitted for the habitation of men and beasts, and especially the former; and more especially for the habitation of the saints, those sons of men, with whom the delights of Christ were from eternity, and whom he foresaw would dwell in the habitable parts of the earth, which was a pleasure to him; and for the sake of them was it made to be inhabited, and not by them with the wicked promiscuously only as now, but when purified, and refined by fire, to be the habitation of the righteous, with Christ at the head of them; as will be the case in the thousand years' reign:

I am the Lord, there is none else; the one Jehovah with the Father and the Spirit, and there is no other that is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.