Cyrus, Yahweh’s Anointed Shepherd: We have noted that the two sections on the restoration of a blind and deaf servant (43:22–44:23 and 42:18–43:21) paralleled one another, but that the former lacked an equivalent to the last paragraph (43:14–21). This parallel ending now follows, in 44:24–45:8, with its lyrical postscript (45:8) marking it as an ending. Yet 43:22–44:23 did have a different sort of lyrical postscript (44:23). For 44:24–45:8 also marks a beginning. It makes an announcement whose significance 44:24–45:25 as a whole explores. First, it handles the opposition that it expects the announcement to receive within the community (45:9–13). Then it points up the positive implications of the announcement for Israel (45:14–17) and for the world (45:18–25).

44:24–28 At one level, verses 2…