4, 5. How does Jehovah show his love for his people, but how does Judah respond?

⁴ Jehovah’s next question clearly highlights his love for his people: “Why is it that, when I came in, there was no one? When I called, there was nobody answering?” (Isaiah 50:2a) Through his servants the prophets, Jehovah has come in, as it were, to his people’s home to plead with them to return to him with all their hearts. But the answer is silence. The Jews prefer to look to earthling man for support, at times even turning to Egypt.​—Isaiah 30:2; 31:1-3; Jeremiah 37:5-7.

⁵ Is Egypt a more reliable savior than Jehovah? Those unfaithful Jews have apparently forgotten the events that led up to the birth of their nation centuries earlier. Jehovah asks them: “Has my hand become in fact so short that it cannot redeem, or is there in me no power to deliver? Look! With my rebuke I dry up the sea; I make rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink due to there being no water, and they die because of thirst.

Isaiah 50:2b,

6, 7. How did Jehovah show his saving power in the face of the Egyptian threat?

⁶ In 1513 B.C.E., Egypt was the oppressor​—not the hoped-for deliverer—​of God’s people. The Israelites were slaves in that pagan land. But Jehovah delivered them, and what a thrilling deliverance that was! First he brought Ten Plagues upon the land. Following the particularly devastating tenth plague, Egypt’s Pharaoh urged the Israelites to leave the country. (Exodus 7:14–12:31) However, soon after they did so, Pharaoh had a change of heart. He mustered his troops and set out to force the Israelites to return to Egypt. (Exodus 14:5-9) With a host of Egyptian soldiers behind them and the Red Sea ahead of them, the Israelites were trapped! But Jehovah was there to fight for them.

Then, with the Egyptian armies held at bay, Jehovah “began making the sea go back by a strong east wind all night long and converting the sea basin into dry ground.” (Exodus 14:21) Once the waters were parted, all the people​—men, women, and children—​were able to cross the Red Sea to safety. When his people were well on their way to the opposite shore, Jehovah lifted the cloud. In hot pursuit, the Egyptians dashed headlong into the seabed. When his people were safely on the shore, Jehovah released the waters, drowning Pharaoh and his armies. Thus Jehovah fought for his people. What an encouragement that is for Christians today!​—Exodus 14:23-28.

8. For ignoring what warnings do the inhabitants of Judah finally go into exile?

⁸ By Isaiah’s time, seven hundred years have passed since that divine victory. Judah is now a nation in her own right. At times, she enters into diplomatic negotiations with foreign governments, such as Assyria and Egypt. But the leaders of these pagan nations cannot be trusted. They will always put self-interest ahead of any covenants they make with Judah. Speaking in the name of Jehovah, the prophets warn the people not to put their trust in such men, but the prophets’ words fall on deaf ears. Finally, the Jews will be exiled to Babylon to spend 70 years in servitude. (Jeremiah 25:11) However, Jehovah will not forget his people, nor will he cast them off indefinitely. At the appointed time, he will remember them, and he will open the way for their return to their homeland to restore pure worship. To what end? To prepare for the coming of Shiloh, the one to whom the obedience of all the people will belong!