Text: Isaiah 40:3
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 23:20
Subject: highway in the wilderness
Source: Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1866)
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Typology + Longitudinal Theme
Anchor Text: Isa 40:3 — A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
Significance: Isaiah 40:3 calls for preparing "the way for the LORD" (דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה, derekh YHWH) in the wilderness, echoing Exodus 23:20 where God promises to send an angel "before you to protect you along the way (בַּדֶּרֶךְ, baderekh)." Both passages envision divine passage through the wilderness, but with a crucial development: in Exodus, God sends a messenger ahead of His people through the wilderness; in Isaiah, the wilderness itself must be prepared for the LORD's own processional return to His people. The image shifts from God guiding Israel through the desert to the desert being transformed into a royal highway for God's own advent, with valleys raised and mountains leveled (40:4).