Shared ground
Isaiah 48:12–16 presents a single, forceful message: the speaker demands Israel’s attention and grounds his right to speak in unmatched identity and creator power. The repeated “listen/hear” language frames the passage as a public claim meant to be weighed against competing voices.
Explicitly, the speaker calls Jacob/Israel “my called,” identifies himself as “the first and the last,” and says his hands founded the earth and stretched out the heavens (vv.12–13). Creation is pictured as responding immediately when he calls (v.13). He then challenges rivals—“who among them has declared these things?”—and points to a specific agent “whom Yahweh loves” who will carry out Yahweh’s purpose against Babylon (v.14). The plan is presented as intentionally arranged: “I have spoken… I have called him… I have brought him,” and the agent’s mission will succeed (v.15).
Verse 16 adds two more explicit points: the message has not been delivered “in secret,” the speaker claims longstanding presence “from the beginning,” and then says, “now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.” The passage therefore combines creator authority, predictive reliability, and a commissioned messenger.
Where interpretation differs
Two main questions create real disagreement.
First, who is “he whom Yahweh loves” (v.14) and the one “called… brought” (v.15)? Some read this as a coming foreign ruler (often linked to the figure named later in the chapter), raised up to act against Babylon. Others read it more generally as Yahweh’s chosen servant-agent (possibly Israel in a representative sense, or a prophetic figure), without identifying a specific king here.
Second, who is the “me” in v.16 who says, “the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit”? Some read “me” as the same divine speaker as in vv.12–15, which makes the sending language especially striking. Others read v.16 as a shift in speaker (for example, the prophet or the commissioned agent speaking), so that Yahweh sends the messenger, not “the first and the last.”
Why the disagreement exists
The passage moves quickly between “I” statements and third-person references (“he whom Yahweh loves”), and v.16 can read like either a continuation or a new voice. The Hebrew style often leaves speaker changes unannounced, so interpreters must decide based on flow and context. Also, the text describes the agent without naming him here, which invites identification from nearby passages.
What this passage clearly contributes
It clearly links Yahweh’s authority over history to his authority as Creator: the one who made the heavens and earth can also announce and accomplish geopolitical change. It also clearly insists that the coming action against Babylon is neither accidental nor recently improvised: it was spoken openly, the speaker claims longstanding presence “from the beginning,” and the agent’s rise is depicted as called and brought by Yahweh. Finally, v.16 plainly introduces a commissioning that involves “the Lord Yahweh” and “his Spirit,” emphasizing that the message and mission are authorized, not self-appointed.
