17 Here follows the significant statement that the prohibition of the previous verse was intended to introduce. Instead of sending temptation, God is the giver of "every good and perfect gift." The concept of God's goodness rules out the possibility that he would send an influence as destructive as temptation. His gifts are marked by kindness and helpfulness, not destructiveness. They are "perfect", which in this context excludes any possibility of moral evil as coming from God.

Here God is designated as "the Father of the heavenly lights"—presumably the stars and planets. "Father" probably has a twofold significance, pointing to God as the creator of the lights and to his continuing sovereignty over them.

Unlike the "shifting shadows" that are caused by the sun, moon, and stars, God "does not change." With him there is no variation at all. The shadows cast by the sun are minimal at noon, but just before sunset they stretch out for yards across the landscape. God is not like that. He does not change. He is always the giver of good gifts, never a sadistic being who would entice his creatures to destroy themselves in sin.

Do not fear (41:10). A similar word of encouragement is given several times to Esarhaddon from the goddess Ishtar of Arbela, and to Ashurbanipal by Ishtar and Ninurta, “Don’t be afraid!” Naram-Sin similarly exhorted the readers of his stele not to fear. Such cases, like that of Isaiah, promise divine intervention on behalf of someone in trouble.

My righteous right hand (41:10). See comment on 9:12, 17, 21. Being the dominant hand, the right had special significance. In the Seleucid period, a property mark was inscribed on a slave’s right hand. In an Egyptian Aramaic liturgical text, the chief god, Mar, says: “Be strong ... your enemies I will destroy ... I shall support your right hand,” apparently the hand used in battle. Gods and other people took one’s hand in order to assist them. “When my lord the king took my hands, he brought me back to life.” In an early second millennium Babylonian seal, a minor deity takes with his right hand the hand of a supplicant, leading him before a major god.

Hittite god Sharruma protecting King Tudhaliya IV with arm around him and holding him by the wrist to guide him

M. Willis Monroe

6:24 – 26 A phylactery containing two silver scrolls the size of two small cigarettes, on which were written two versions of the priestly blessing, was found in a sixth-century BC burial site (Ketef Hinnom) near Jerusalem. Both inscriptions contain additional appellations to YHWH as “the restorer and rock” and as “the warrior and the rebuker of evil.” These texts had been used as amulets either while these individuals were alive or as burial pendants. The text on the larger one is nearly identical to this passage; an abbreviated version of the second and third blessings is written on the smaller. Containing the oldest attestation to the Tetragrammaton (YHWH = Yahweh) in Jerusalem, these texts indicate the authenticity and antiquity of this “priestly benediction.” Its text became a standardized liturgical form no later than the end of the preexilic period. Ancient Near Eastern texts from the second millennium BC contain parallels to the themes of divine countenance, the lifting up of the face, and the blessing of well-being (shalom).