Isaiah 40:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He turns away from the ancient errors that lack a true father and transforms them for the better, leading humanity towards genuine understanding.

This revelation demonstrates the boundless supremacy of Almighty God and the exalted nature of His intrinsic glory. In comparison, all things before Him are utterly trivial, truly insignificant compared to His supreme power and majesty. Thus it is said, "But as for all the Gentiles, they are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a mere weightless particle, and like a spittle shall they be accounted for; for this is completely insignificant." Indeed, what is a single drop that falls from a bucket? What importance can a minute weight on the scales hold when measuring that which appears lighter? Or what is a mere spittle, the saliva of man? Yet, He asserts that even the mighty cedars of Lebanon would not suffice for His burning, nor would all the beasts serve as adequate offerings. These too are of no consequence, even if offered to Him, as they fall short of God's glory. If, He continues, all the Gentiles are as nothing and hold no measure before Him, to what likeness could they compare with Him?

All nations before Him amount to nothing, and everything is counted as emptiness in His presence.

So that no one might regard the calling of the nations as arduous or overlook the reality that all flesh has witnessed the salvation of God, it was commanded for messengers to ascend to a high mountain proclaiming good news to Zion. The Lord Himself came with strength and recompensed each according to his deeds, nurturing the lambs on His breast, and personally carrying the mothers with child. His greatness is proclaimed—nothing is beyond His power. The One who created all and is the Creator of all can accomplish even these seemingly trivial tasks. When He uses terms like a handful and an inch, He adopts familiar measurements commonly used by humanity, allowing us to grasp the mightiness of God through our own terminology.

In the LXX, the phrase "Who measured the waters with His hand" is rendered, while Aquila states, "Who measured the waters with a very small finger?" This suggests that not even the whole hand is involved, but merely the little finger, often called the forefinger, suffices to measure the vast expanses of water; the term for an inch, or "σπιθαμή," refers to the distance from the thumb to the little finger. A handful is produced by bending the hand, enabling us to understand both the heavens and the earth through such familiar gestures. While the LXX speaks of a handful related to the dimensions of the earth, the Hebrew term is “salis,” which Simmachus translates as “τριτον” and Aquila as “τρίβωμον.” For clarity, we have interpreted this as three fingers, denoting that He weighed the earth, the heights of mountains, and hills as if using merely three small fingers, illustrating the greatness of God and the omnipotence of the Creator.

Who, He asks, aided the Spirit of the Lord, or who provided counsel, guidance, and understanding? Simmachus conveys this as “Who prepared the Spirit of the Lord, and who counseled Him?” With whom did He confer, who granted Him understanding, guided Him in the way of justice, imparted knowledge to Him, and revealed the way of wisdom? This emphasizes the preparation and affirmation of that Spirit, of whom the Apostle states, "The Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17), and that “the Spirit of God rested upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Is. 11:2), who also declares, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; He has anointed Me" (Is. 61:1). For He Himself embodies the Spirit of the Lord and serves as His counselor, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). It is He who provides counsel, referred to as "Wonderful Counselor" (Is. 9:6). Proverbs states, “The Lord established the earth by wisdom, and prepared the heavens by understanding” (Prov. 3:19).

The Seventy, who questioned, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?" affirm that the mind, knowledge, and insight of God, through which all things came to be and without which nothing exists, is what the Psalms proclaim: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the spirit of His mouth all their host” (Ps. 33:6). All nations that do not recognize their Creator or the entirety of humanity compared to God are likened to a drop from a bucket or a grain on the scales, which tips to the other side with a trivial weight. Just as one does not notice a small drop escaping from a bucket, so too is the entire multitude of nations viewed as insignificant alongside the celestial hosts and the multitude of angels. Even the islands are assessed as spittle, or as Symmachus and Theodotion render it, using the Hebrew term for something that has fallen away, whereas Aquila translates it as "λεπτόν βαλλόμενον." The Hebrews suggest this term signifies the smallest dust, which, when stirred by a whirlwind, becomes airborne and is more detectable than seen, referring to the tiniest and nearly invisible particles of dust, perhaps what Democritus called atoms.

Though many terms are similarly rendered in Greek as they are in Hebrew, the nuances posed by translation difficulties highlight the comparative limitations of both Greek and Latin vocabularies. In gradually steering humanity away from idolatry, He concurrently abolishes sacrificial practices, teaching that all the trees of Lebanon and the livestock grazing there are insufficient for His offerings. If all nations are non-existent before Him and are regarded as nothingness and emptiness—including Israel—then Israel too is deemed as non-existent, counted as nothing and emptiness. We express this to temper arrogance and to remind them that they are like other nations.