Isaiah 40:26

Pieper sees verses 26-31 as the third strophe of this triad (chapters 40-42).

שְׂאוּ־מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶּה הַמּוֹצִיא בְמִסְפָּר צְבָאָם לְכֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יִקְרָא מֵרֹב אוֹנִים וְאַמִּיץ כֹּחַ אִישׁ לֹא נֶעְדָּר׃

26 Lift your eyes high and see: who created these things? The one who brings out their [starry] host by number; he calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of his might and his great strength, not one is missing.

שְׂאוּ־מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ Lift your eyes high and see: שְׂאוּ is a qal imperative, 2 m pl from נָשָׂה. The word connected to the verb by maqqef is not the object (which of course is עֵינֵיכֶם "your eyes"), but the noun מָרוֹם "height" used here as an adverb, "upward, high" as in 2 Kings 19:22. The following imperative וּרְאוּ "and see" is the natural parallel or result of "lift your eyes."

An Mp note says that שְׂאוּ occurs at the beginning of a verse eleven times. There is no Mm list for this note, but cf. Numbers 1:2; 26:2; Psalm 24:7 and 9; 81:3; 134:2; Isaiah 40:26; 51:6; Jeremiah 4:6 and 51:27. The note is marked sub loco in Psalm 134:2, certainly because there are only ten occurrences and not eleven. Another Mp note says that עֵינֵיכֶם occurs 13 times including three in various parts of Isaiah. There is no Mm list, but there are thirteen, not counting the qere for Ezekiel 9:5 (Gen. 3:5; 45:12; Num 15:39; Deut 4:3; 11:7; 11:18; 14:1; Josh 24:7; Isaiah 29:10; 40:26; 51:6; Jer 13:20 and Ezekiel 24:21.

מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶּה who created these things? The qal perfect בָרָא instantly recalls the first verse of the Bible in both form and content. The actual creation of "these" (the stars and other residents of the night sky must be implied) occurred on the fourth day, but God alone made them. Isaiah deftly puts to shame all myths of the origins of the planets and stars. They were made by the will and word and grace of God.

הַמּוֹצִיא בְמִסְפָּר צְבָאָם The one who brings out their [starry] host by number; The attributive hifil participle הַמּוֹצִיא describes the Lord bringing each of the heavenly wonders; the scene is irrelevant and Isaiah's words can fit any point of view we might have in mind. He could be describing the night sky, lit up star by star as the darkness increases after sunset and as each star and planet's individual brightness attracts our attention, but he could as easily be describing God's original act of creation, dropping each star and planet into the night sky like drops of paint splattered onto the pristine ebony plank of the universe, or he could as easily be lending his language to the schoolmaster, ticking off each constellation for his disciples as he describes the night sky in a didactic progression of the starry host.

The "starry" host is what is meant by the otherwise military word צְבָאָם. And בְמִסְפָּר is a dative of manner in a wonderful picture of God calling each star one by one. An Mp note says that צְבָאָם occurs just seven times. Four of these are in Isaiah: Gen. 2:1; Neh. 9:6; Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 34:2; 34:4; 40:26 and 45:12.

לְכֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יִקְרָא he calls them all by name. Actually, the wording is completely inverted from the way we would speak: "To all of them by name he calls." יִקְרָא is the qal imperfect of קָרָא, "calls." The -בְּ in בְּשֵׁם is a -בְּ of manner, describing the way God does this. There is a comforting, personal touch here in God using each star's name. We shouldn't imagine that the stars have special names known only to God any more than the stones or the bodily organs have them. We have a picture in Genesis of Adam naming things, "and whatever the man called each... that was its name" (Genesis 2:19). Just as the angels use the same names given to things that men use (such as "Greece" and "Persia," Daniel 10:20), God does, too. But before we get inflated egos because God condescends to use our names for things...

מֵרֹב אוֹנִים וְאַמִּיץ כֹּחַ אִישׁ לֹא נֶעְדָּר Because of the greatness of his might and his great strength, not one is missing. It is because of the "greatness of his might and his great strength" (מֵרֹב אוֹנִים וְאַמִּיץ כֹּחַ) that the stars and other things exist and are preserved. A few years ago, chunks of something--a comet, or a meteor--were caught in Jupiter's gravity and disintegrated into its massive atmosphere. Scientists and astronomers disagreed and speculated for weeks before it happened as to what would result from the impact, but God knew what would happen with no speculation at all. Isaiah uses a wonderful phrase, אִישׁ לֹא נֶעְדָּר, "a man is not missing," or "each is unmissing." נֶעְדָּר is the nifal imperfect of עָדָר, "be lacking, be missing," which in Scripture occurs only in the nifal and piel.

This last phrase is quoted in the Shepherd of Hermas, Hs 9,31,5: χαρησεται δέ, ἐὰν πάντα ὑγιῆ εὑρεθῇ, καὶ μὴ διαπεπτωκότα ἐξ αὐτῶν, “And rejoice he shall, if they are found safe, and not one of them is missing.” That portion of the Shepherd is about the gathering in of souls to heaven, shown in a vision of a tower being built by angels.