The first to Zion. [1] In this verse God states more clearly that he predicts future events to the Jews, in order to encourage them to believe; because if prophecies had not their end and use, it would not in itself be of very great advantage to know future events. God therefore testifies that prophecies are intended by him to promote the faith and edification of the Church. It was necessary that this should be added to the former statements, that the people might know that those examples were exhibited, not only in order to magnify the power of God, but that all believers might reap advantage from it; for all the instances of the power and foreknowledge of God ought to be viewed by us in such a light as will enable us to know that he takes care of us, (1-Peter 5:7,) and that he does everything for promoting our salvation. Zion is therefore commanded to acknowledge him as the true and only God, not merely because he has punished their crimes, but because they are restored from captivity, and thus learn that God is reconciled to them. Behold! Behold! Here we must regard Mount Zion as desolate and uninhabited, and Jerusalem as reduced to a wilderness. Hence also Jeremiah represents Jerusalem as speaking in the manner that is usual with afflicted and distressed women. (Lamentations 1:20.) Thus the Lord now exhibits her as a widow and forsaken. Isaiah will afterwards arouse her to rejoice as a woman who had formerly been barren, and to whom the Lord had given new fertility for bearing offspring. (Isaiah 54:1.) At the same time he now declares that he will comfort Jerusalem, at a time when nothing was to be seen but what was melancholy and revolting in her hideous ruins. Now, the present message is, either that she shall give birth to children, though she was long a widow and desolate, or that they who had been scattered in distant captivity will return to her in vast numbers. With that desolation, therefore, we must contrast the restoration which was effected through Cyrus, when it is said, "Behold, they come;" and by the word "first," is denoted not only the eternal essence of God, but likewise the antiquity of the prediction. And I will send a messenger to Jerusalem. He now describes the manner in which God informs believers about future events, that is by the agency and ministry of the prophets. mvsr(mebashsher) is translated by Jerome "Evangelist," or "a bringer of good tidings;" but it literally means a "messenger." This makes little difference, however, as to the meaning; for it denotes the prophets who should bring the glad and cheering message of this deliverance, as God had formerly promised by Moses, that he would raise up, in uninterrupted succession, faithful ministers who should surpass all the magicians, and soothsayers, and diviners. (Deuteronomy 18:15.) For this reason also he formerly bestowed on the Church a remarkable appellation, calling her "a bearer of tidings," (Isaiah 40:9,) because in the Church the word of God ought to sound aloud. This tends greatly to the commendation of preaching; for the Lord does not descend from heaven to instruct us, but employs the ministry of his servants, and declares that he speaks to us by their mouth; and this distinguished blessing of God ought to be embraced with our whole heart. He had promised in the Law, as I mentioned a little before, "I will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you." (Deuteronomy 18:15.) He now confirms that promise, by saying that there shall never be wanting "messengers" to soothe the people amidst their griefs, and to comfort them amidst their severest afflictions. Hence also we ought to conclude, that there is no condition of the Church in which prophecies cease; that is, in which the word of God brings no alleviation of our distresses.

Footnotes

1 - "I, saith Jehovah, am the first that has foretold by my prophets to the Jews those things which none of the false gods, and none of their prophets could foretell, the destruction of Babylon and the return of the banished Jews into their native country." -- Rosenmuller.

The first shall say to Zion - This translation is unhappy. It does not convey any clear meaning, nor is it possible from the translation to conjecture what the word 'first' refers to. The correct rendering undoubtedly is, 'I first said to Zion;' and the sense is, 'I, Yahweh, first gave to Zion the announcement of these things. I predicted the restoration of the Jews to their own land, and the raising up of the man who should deliver them; and I only have uttered the prophecies respecting the time and circumstances in which these events would occur.' The Septuagint renders it, 'I will first give notice to Zion, and I will comfort Jerusalem in the way.' The Chaldee renders it 'The words of consolation which the prophets have uttered respecting Zion in the beginning, lo, they are about to come to pass.' The sense of the passage is, that no one of the idol-gods, or their prophets, had predicted these events. The first intimation of them had been by Yahweh, and this had been made to Zion, and designed for its consolation.
Behold, behold them - Lo, these events are about to come to pass. Zion, or Jerusalem, was to behold them, for they were intended to effect its deliverance, and secure its welfare. The words 'Zion' and 'Jerusalem' here seem intended to denote the Jewish people in general, or to refer to Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish nation. The intimation had been given in the capital of the nation, and thence to the entire people.
And I will give - Or rather, I give, or I have given. The passage means, that the hearer of the good tidings of the raising up of a deliverer should be sent to the Jewish people. To them the joyful news was announced long before the event; the news of the raising up of such a man - an event of so much interest to them - was made to them long before the pagan had any intimation of it; and it would occur as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy recorded among the Jews. The prophet refers here, doubtless, in the main, to his own prophecies uttered so long before the event would occur, and which would be distinctly known when they would be in exile in Babylon.

The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them "I first to Zion gave the word, Behold they are here" - This verse is somewhat obscure by the transposition of the parts of the sentence, and the peculiar manner in which it is divided into two parallel lines. The verb at the end of the sentence belongs to both parts; and the phrase, Behold, they are here! is parallel to the messenger of glad tidings; and stands like it, as the accusative case to the verb. The following paraphrase will explain the form and the sense of it. "I first, by my prophets, give notice of these events, saying, Behold, they are at hand! and I give to Jerusalem a messenger of glad tidings."

The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold (z) them: and I will give to Jerusalem (a) one that bringeth good tidings.
(z) That is, the Israelites who return from the captivity.
(a) That is, a continual succession of prophets and ministers.

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.

Rather, "I first will give to Zion and to Jerusalem the messenger of good tidings, Behold, behold them!" The clause, "Behold . . . them" (the wished-for event is now present) is inserted in the middle of the sentence as a detached exclamation, by an elegant transposition, the language being framed abruptly, as one would speak in putting vividly as it were, before the eyes of others, some joyous event which he had just learned [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU] (compare Isaiah 40:9). None of the idols had foretold these events. Jehovah was the "first" to do so (see Isaiah 41:4).

The first - I who am the first, do and will foretel to my people things to come. Them - I also represent future things as if they were present. By them he means things which are to come. One - Messengers, who shall foretel the good tidings of their deliverance from captivity.