Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
“For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’
Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’ ”
The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 22, 23 He showeth what are the ornaments of the Church:…
He showeth what are the ornaments of the Church: to have many children, which are assembled by the word of God, and governed by his Spirit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–23 Isa 49:18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and…
Isa 49:18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, [and] come to thee. [As] I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them [on thee], as a bride [doeth].
Ver. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold.] As those use to do which look upon ought with wonder and delight.
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Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them, as with an ornament.] The good sons of Zion are a great honour to their mother, as the two Scipios were to Cornelia; and as that elect lady’s children were to her. {2Jn 1:2} A godly man is a gallant man, but the wicked are botches and blots to a Church.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv18–23 All these, to wit, the Gentiles, as sufficiently appeareth…
All these, to wit, the Gentiles, as sufficiently appeareth from what hath been already said, and from that which followeth. The sense is, Thy church shall not only be restored and established in Jerusalem, but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it.
Come to thee, to receive instruction from thee, and to be incorporated with thee into one and the same church.
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As with an ornament; they shall not be a burden, as the Gentiles formerly were when they mixed themselves with the Jews; but an ornament, in respect of those excellent gifts and graces wherewith they shall enrich and honour thy church.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v18 Two things are here promised, which were to be…
Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Christian church by the preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises.
I. That the church shall be replenished with great numbers added to it. It was promised (Isa 49:17) that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. It is promised,
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1. That multitudes shall flock to the church from all parts. Look round, and see how they gather themselves to thee (Isa 49:18), by a local accession to the Jewish church. They come to Jerusalem from all the adjacent countries, for that was then the centre of their unity; but, under the gospel, it is by a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Christ in faith and love. Those that come to Jesus as the Mediator of the new covenant do thereby come to the Mount Zion, the church of the first-born, Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23. Lift up thy eyes, and behold how the fields are white unto the harvest, Joh 4:35. Note, It is matter of joy to the church to see a multitude of converts to Christ.
2. That such as are added to the church shall not be a burden and blemish to her, but her strength and ornament. This part of the promise is confirmed with an oath: As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thyself with them all. The addition of such numbers to the church shall complete her clothing; and, when all that were chosen are effectually called, then the bride, the Lamb's wife, shall have made herself ready, shall be quite dressed, Rev 19:7. They shall make her to appear comely and considerable; and she shall therefore bind them on with as much care and complacency as a bride does her ornaments. When those that are added to the church are serious, and holy, and exemplary in their conversation, they are an ornament to it.
3. That thus the country which was waste and desolate, and without inhabitant (Isa 5:9; Isa 6:11), shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be over-peopled (Isa 49:19): "Thy waste and thy desolate places, that have long lain so, and the land of thy destruction, that land of thine which was destroyed with thee and which nobody cared for dwelling in, shall now be so full of people that there shall be no room for the inhabitants." Here is blessing poured out till there be not room enough to receive it, Mal 3:10. Not that they shall be crowded by their enemies, or straitened for room, as Abraham and Lot were, because of the Canaanite in the land. "No, those that swallow thee up, and took possession of thy land when thy possession of it was discontinued, shall be far away. Thy people shall be numerous, and there shall be no stranger, no enemy, among them." Thus the kingdom of God among men, which had been impoverished and almost depopulated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish church and partly by the abominations of the Gentile world, was again peopled and enriched by the setting up of the Christian church, and by its graces and glories.
4. That the new converts shall strangely increase and multiply. Jerusalem, after she has lost abundance of her children by the sword, famine, and captivity, shall have a new family growing up instead of them, children which she shall have after she has lost the other (Isa 49:20), as Seth, who was appointed another seed instead of Abel, and Job's children, which God blessed him with instead of those that were killed in the ruins of the house. God will repair his church's losses and secure to himself a seed to serve him in it. It is promised to the Jews, after their return, that Jerusalem shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets, Zac 8:5. The church, after it has lost the Jews, who will be cut off by their own infidelity, shall have abundance of children still, more than she had when the Jews belonged to her. See Gal 4:27. They shall be so numerous that, (1.) The Children shall complain for want of room; they shall say (and it is a good hearing), "Our numbers increase so fast that the place is too strait for us;" as the sons of the prophets complained, Kg2 6:1. But, strait as the place is, still more shall desire to be admitted, and the church shall gladly admit them, and the inconvenient straitness of the place shall be no hindrance to either; for it will be found, whatever we think, that even when the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are brought in, yet still there is room, room enough for those that are in and room for more, Luk 14:21, Luk 14:22. (2.) The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family, Isa 49:21. She shall say, Who has begotten me these? and, Who has brought up these? They come to her with all the duty, affection, and submission of children; and yet she never bore any pain for them, nor took any pains with them, but has them ready reared to her hand. This gives her a pleasing surprise, and she cannot but be astonished at it, considering what her condition had been very lately and very long. The Jewish nation had left her children; they were cut off. She had been desolate, without ark, and altar, and temple-service, those tokens of God's espousals to them; nay, she had been a captive, and continually removing to and fro, in an unsettled condition, and not likely to bring up children either for God or herself. She was left alone in obscurity (this is Zion whom no man seeks after), left in all the solitude and sorrow of a widowed state. How then came she to be thus replenished? See here, [1.] That the church is not perpetually visible, but there are times when it is desolate, and left alone, and made few in number. [2.] That yet on the other hand its desolations shall not be perpetual, nor will it be found too hard for God to repair them, and out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [3.] That sometimes this is done in a very surprising way, as when a nation is born at once, Isa 66:8.
5. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles, Isa 49:22. The Jews were cast off, among whom it was expected that the church should be built up; but God will sow it to himself in the earth, and will thence reap a plentiful crop, Hos 2:23. Observe, (1.) How the Gentiles shall be called in. God will lift up his hand to them, to invite or beckon them, having all the day stretched it out in vain to the Jews, ch. 65:2. Or it denotes the exerting of an almighty power, that of his Spirit and grace, to compel them to come in, to make them willing. And he will set up his standard to them, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, to which they shall gather, and under which they shall enlist themselves. (2.) How they shall come: They shall bring thy sons in their arms. They shall assist the sons of Zion, which are found among them, in their return to their own country, and shall forward them with as much tenderness as ever any parent carried a child that was weak and helpless. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites even among Gentiles. The earth helped the woman, Rev 12:16. Or, "When they come themselves, they shall bring their children, and make them thy children;" compare Isa 60:4. "Dost thou ask, Who has begotten and brought up these? Know that they were begotten and brought up among the Gentiles, but they are now brought into thy family." Let all that are concerned about young converts, and young beginners in religion, learn hence to deal very tenderly and carefully with them, as Christ does with the lambs which he gathers with his arms and carries in his bosom.
II. That the church shall have a great and prevailing interest in the nations, Isa 49:22, Isa 49:23. 1. Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the church: King shall be thy nursing fathers, to carry thy sons in their arms (as Moses, Num 11:12); and, because women are the most proper nurses, their queens shall be thy nursing mothers. This promise was in part fulfilled to the Jews, after their return out of captivity. Several of the kings of Persia were very tender of their interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen was a nursing mother to the Jews that remained in their captivity, putting her life in her hand to snatch the child out of the flames. The Christian church, after a long captivity, was happy in some such kings and queens as Constantine and his mother Helena, and afterwards Theodosius, and others, who nursed the church with all possible care and tenderness. Whenever the sceptre of government is put into the hands of religious princes, then this promise is fulfilled. The church in this world is in an infant state, and it is in the power of princes and magistrates to do it a great deal of service; it is happy when they do so, when their power is a praise to those that do well. 2. Others of them, who stand it out against the church's interests, will be forced to yield and to repent of their opposition: They shall bow down to thee and lick the dust. The promise to the church of Philadelphia seems to be borrowed from this (Rev 3:9): I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet. Or it may be meant of the willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall pay to Christ the church's King, as he manifests himself in the church (Psa 72:11): All kings shall fall down before him. And by all this it shall be made to appear, (1.) That God is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no standing out nor rising up. (2.) That those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope; for the vision of peace is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and shall not lie.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–23 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold,.... Look…
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold,.... Look east, west, north, and south, and behold the flocking converts from all parts; see on Isa 49:12. The words are spoken to the church, and for her comfort; and so the Targum,
"lift up thine eyes round about, O Jerusalem, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity:''
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all these gather themselves together, and come to thee; though of different nations, and come from different quarters, yet coalesce together, make one body, and join themselves with the church, in which they centre, and are incorporated:
as I live, saith the Lord; this is the form of an oath, sometimes used by the Lord, to denote the importance and certainty of a thing, and to assure his people of it:
thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament; as children's children are the crown of old men, Pro 17:6, so young converts are the crown, glory, and ornament of the church; even such who are beautified with the graces of the Spirit, and whose conversations are as become the Gospel of Christ:
and bind them on thee as a bride doeth; her clothes, the attire of her head, and her jewels. So in the latter day, when the Jews are converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, the marriage of the Lamb will be come, and the church made ready, as a bride, for her husband, and be very beautiful and comely in his sight, as well as very comfortable and glorious in herself; and which will be matter of joy to all the saints, Rev 19:7. The Targum is,
"all these shall be unto thee as a garment of glory, and their works in the midst of thee as the ornament of a bride.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv18–23 These - Gentiles. Thy church shall not only be…
These - Gentiles. Thy church shall not only be restored, but vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 21, 22, 23 Verse 18. Bind them on thee, as a bride…
Verse 18. Bind them on thee, as a bride doeth - "Bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels."] The end of the sentence is manifestly imperfect. Does a bride bind her children, or her new subjects, about her? Sion clothes herself with her children, as a bride clothes herself, - with what? some other thing certainly. The Septuagint help us out in this difficulty, and supply the lost word: ὡς κοσμον νυμφη· as a bride her ornaments. ככליה כלה kichleyha callah, or ככלה כליה kecallah keleyha. The great similitude of the two words has occasioned the omission of one of them. See Isa 61:10.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 22 Isa 49:18. Lift up thine eyes round about —…
Isa 49:18. Lift up thine eyes round about — And behold numbers flocking unto thee from all quarters. All these shall gather themselves unto thee, &c. — Namely, the Gentiles. Thy church, O Zion, shall not only be restored and established, but vastly enlarged and adorned by an accession of converts from various nations; and come unto thee — To receive instruction from thee, and to be incorporated with thee into one and the same church. Thou shalt clothe thee with them, &c. — Instead of being a disgrace, or a snare and occasion of sin to thee, (as the Gentiles formerly were, when they mixed themselves with the Jews,) they shall be an honour and ornament, in respect of those excellent gifts and graces wherewith they shall enrich and adorn thy community. The addition of such numbers to the church shall complete her clothing, and make her appear comely and considerable. And bind them on thee as a bride doth — The LXX. read, περιθησεις αυτους ως κοσμον νυμφη, Thou shalt put them on thee as a bride her attire; supplying, as Bishop Lowth thinks, a word that appears to be wanting to complete the sense. “Zion clothes herself with her children as a bride clothes herself — with what? with some other thing, certainly;” namely, her ornaments, jewels, or rich dress.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–23 Lift up thine eyes round about - That is,…
Lift up thine eyes round about - That is, see the multitudes that shall be converted to thee; see thy ruined city rise again in its former beauty; see the Gentiles come and yield themselves to the worship of the true God; see kings and princes approach and do thee homage.
All these gather themselves - That is, from a far country, from the north, the west, and the south, Isa 49:12.
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As I live, saith the Lord - The customary form of an oath when Yahweh swears It is a solemn assurance that the event shall as certainly occur as he has an existence (see the note at Isa 45:23; compare Jer 22:24; Eze 5:11; Eze 14:16, Eze 14:18, Eze 14:20; Eze 16:48).
Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them - Zion is here represented, as it is often elsewhere, as a female (see the note at Isa 1:8); and the accession of converts from abroad is represented under the figure of bridal ornaments. The accession of converts karo the Gentiles should be to her what jewels are to a bride.
And bind them on thee as a bride doth - The sentence here is manifestly incomplete. It means, as a bride binds on her ornaments. The Septuagint has supplied this, and renders it, ‘As a bride her ornaments’ (ὡς κόσμον νύμφη hōs kosmon numphē). The sentiment is, that the accession of the large humber of converts under the Messiah to the true church of God, would be the real ornament of Zion, and would greatly increase her beauty and loveliness.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 22, 23 Inhabitants. The country was better peopled, (Calmet) and Jerusalem…
Inhabitants. The country was better peopled, (Calmet) and Jerusalem enlarged under the Machabees. (Josephus, Jewish Wars v. 6.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18–23 As Zion is often compared to a bride (Isa…
As Zion is often compared to a bride (Isa 54:5), so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels," Isa 62:3; Mal 3:17). Her literal children are, however, more immediately meant, as the context refers to their restoration; and only secondarily to her spiritual children by conversion to Christ. Israel shall be the means of the final complete conversion of the nations (Mic 5:7; Rom 11:12, Rom 11:15).
as a bride--namely, binds on her ornaments.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–23 19. In the import of Isa_49:16-18 our Version and…
19. In the import of Isa_49:16-18 our Version and the Hebrew quite accurately coincide, though the Hebrew is occasionally broken; as for example:
Thy waste and thy desolate places — More literally, Thy wastes and thy desolations, and the land of thy wasteness.
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Shall even now be too narrow — So great should be the number of her converts, here termed inhabitants, that not only the more attractive parts of the land, but even the “waste places” should overflow with people. Not the newly built-up city alone, but all the land around, so long lying waste, shall be renewed in beauty, both of holy citizens and their substance and productiveness, just as in her former palmiest days when God was sole theocratic king: only no more hovering enemies shall, as of old, be around. They shall be far away.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–23 18. As I live, saith the Lord] Jehovah’s oath…
18. As I live, saith the Lord] Jehovah’s oath by Himself, ch. Isa_45:23. It introduces a new, though closely related, conception; the inhabitants being compared to the bridal attire with which Zion replaces the signs of her widowhood.
bind them on thee] Strictly gird them on. The verb is connected with the word for “girdle” in ch. Isa_3:20 (qishshûrîm, A.V. “headbands”). It was evidently an ornamental girdle, possibly a part of the bridal costume (cf. Jer_2:32, “can … a bride forget her girdle”).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–23 (18) Lift up thine eyes.—The daughter of Zion is…
(18) Lift up thine eyes.—The daughter of Zion is called on to gaze on the returning exiles. They shall be her gems and her girdle as the bride of her new espousals. A distant parallel is found in the story of the mother of the Gracchi pointing to her children as more precious jewels than those of her wealthy rival.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv18–23 Lift up thine eyes round about and behold. (comp.…
Lift up thine eyes round about and behold. (comp. Isa_50:4, where the same phrase occurs in connection with the conversion of the Gentiles) All these gather themselves together (comp. ver. 12). Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament. (comp. Zec_9:16) The restored Church, receiving adhesions from the nations on all sides, will be like a bride who puts on her ornaments, and is thereby made glorious to look upon. (Isa_61:10, ad fin. ) The entire Church, not any one part, is designated as the "Bride" of Christ in the New Testament. (2Co_11:2 Eph_5:29,re Eph 21:2, 9 22:17)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 23 Lift up thine eyes round about--
Isa_49:18-23
Lift up thine eyes round about--
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Promises for the Church
I.
THE PROMISED INCREASE OF THE CHURCH.
1. In number.
2. In honour.
3. In triumph.
II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT IT AFFORDS US FOR MISSIONARY EXERTIONS.
1. God is able to effect this great thing.
2. He has engaged to effect it.
3. The beginnings are already visible before our eyes. Application--
(1) Let our expectations of it be enlarged.
(2) Let our prayers for it be poured forth.
(3) Let our exertions be used. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v18 Isa_49:18-23. Lift up thine eyes round about, &c.
THE PROMISED INCREASE OF THE CHURCH
Isa_49:18-23. Lift up thine eyes round about, &c.
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Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church, after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Christian Church, by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises.
I. That the Church shall be replenished by the adding to it of great numbers. It was promised (Isa_49:17) that her children should “make haste;” that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. It is promised—
1. That multitudes shall flock to the Church from all parts (Isa_49:18). They came to Jerusalem from all the adjacent countries, for that was then the centre of their unity; but, under the Gospel, it is by a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Christ in faith and love (Heb_12:22-23). It is a matter of joy to the Church to see a multitude of converts to Christ.
2. That such as are added to the Church shall not be a burthen and blemish to her, but her strength and ornament (Isa_49:18). This promise is accomplished, and only then, when those who are added to the Church are serious, holy, and exemplary in their conversation.
3. That the country which was waste, desolate, and without inhabitant, shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be overpeopled (Isa_49:19). What a reversal of the sentence previously and justly passed! (Isa_5:9-13; Isa_6:11). The kingdom of God among men, which had been impoverished and almost depopulated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish church, and partly by the abominations of the Gentile world, was again peopled and enriched by the setting up of the Christian Church, and by its graces and glories.
4. That the new converts shall strangely increase and multiply (Isa_49:20). Jerusalem, after she has lost abundance of children by the sword, famine, and captivity, shall have a new family growing up instead of them (Zec_8:5). So the Church, after it has lost the Jews, cut off by their own infidelity, shall have abundance of children still, more than she had when the Jews belonged to her (Gal_4:27). They shall be so numerous that
(1.) the children shall complain for want of room (cf. 2Ki_6:1). Yet still more shall desire to be admitted, and the Church shall gladly admit them, and the inconvenient straitness of the place shall be no hindrance to either (Luk_14:21-22).
(2.) The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family (Isa_49:21). The Church may at times be few in number, and left desolate. Yet the desolations shall not be perpetual, nor will it be found hard for God to repair them, and out of stones to raise up children to Abraham. The increase of the Church is always due, not to the efforts of the Church, however well and wisely they may be put forth, but to the blessing” of God (1Co_3:7).
5. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles (Isa_49:23). Observe,
(1.) How the Gentiles shall be called in.
(2.) The kindly service they shall render to the sons of Zion.
II. That the Church shall have a great and prevailing interest in the nations (Isa_49:23).
1. Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the Church. “And kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers.” [1517]
[1517] This promise was in part fulfilled to the Jews after their return out of captivity; divers of the kings of Persia were very tender of their interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen was a nursing-mother to the Jews that remained in their captivity, putting her life in her hand to snatch the child out of the flames. The Christian Church, after a long captivity, was happy in some such kings and queens as Constantine and his mother Helena, and afterwards Theodosius and others, who nursed the Church with all possible care and tenderness. Whenever the sceptre of government is put into the hands of religious princes, this promise is fulfilled.—M. Henry.
2. Others of them, who stand only against the Church’s interests, will be forced to yield, and repent of their opposition. “They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.” And by all this it shall be made to appear—
(1.) That God is the sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no standing out or rising up.
(2.) That those who wait for Him, in dependence upon His promise and resignation to His will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope.—Matthew Henry: Commentary, in loco.
I. The promised increase of the Church. 1. In number.
2. In honour.
3. In triumph.
II. The encouragement it affords us for missionary exertions.
1. God is able to effect this great thing.
2. He has engaged to effect it
3. The beginnings are already visible before our eyes.
APPLY.—
1. Let our expectations of it be enlarged.
2. Let our prayers for it be poured forth.
3. Let our exertions be used.—C. Simeon, M.A.
THE DUTY OF THE RULERS OF NATIONS IN REGARD TO THE CHURCH OF GOD
Isa_49:23. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers.
The Church is here foreseen and described in her abased condition—a captive, oppressed, in exile, diminished, feeble, afflicted, brought low. The prophet anticipates and predicts her restoration, increase, and glory; and he calls upon heaven and earth to rejoice in the event (Isa_49:13). It is evident that the predicted blessedness comprehended a vast deal more than the restoration from the Babylonish captivity. The prophet speaks of the admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God; multitudes were thereby to be added to it (Isa_49:6-7; Isa_49:12; Isa_49:18). Then we are informed in what manner and by what means the Lord will bring all this to pass (Isa_49:22-23). The obvious meaning is, that the Lord would so overrule the hearts and ways of men, in the accomplishment of His gracious designs, as that, even where they were themselves not partakers of His mercy, He would dispose them to favour His cause; and whether with or against their consent, He would so work upon them as to make them instrumental in the deliverance of His Church and the promotion of His glory. Nor should this wonderful exertion of the Divine wisdom and power be confined to the lower classes; even kings and queens should deem it their highest honour to take part in so great a work.
The present truths which this prophecy brings before us are these:—that all rulers of nations should now exert their power for the extension and welfare of the Church; that it would be for their happiness and honour were they so engaged; and that they cannot neglect this duty, or disregard this privilege, without incurring the most awful responsibility, and provoking God to mark them out as signally in the execution of His judgments, as they are elevated above others in rank and dignity.
I. The rulers of the nations are the servants of God (Pro_8:15). According to the teaching of His Word, He, by various providential means, calls them and appoints them to their work; and holds them responsible for the manner in which they execute it. The mightiest potentates of old are, for these reasons, spoken of as His servants: Cyrus (Isa_41:1-4; Isa_44:24-28; Isa_45:1-6); Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_25:9; Jer_43:10); Pharaoh (Exo_9:13-16). So it is still.
II. As such, they are bound, above all things, to promote the honour of His name in the welfare of His church and people. All who are entrusted with the ruling authority are bound to promote the best interests of the people over whom they preside. But what are these? Not the extension of territory, the spread of conquest, the multiplicity of resources, the advancement of the arts and sciences, of wealth and honour, business and trade; these cannot be neglected without a gross violation of the trust with which rulers are invested; but a nation’s best interests are those that are distinctly religious. It is on the promotion of these that the true happiness of nations depends, and therefore it is to the furtherance of these that the attention and energy of their rulers be most constantly and carefully given.
III. A discharge or disregard of this obligation will always yield a sure test of their own state and the character of their government. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
IV. Where this duty is intelligently recognised and reverently obeyed by rulers, certain things are certain to occur:—
1. There will be on the part of the rulers deep humiliation before God, coupled with free and ingenuous confessions both of individual and national guilt. No man can ever heartily desire or attempt to promote the glory of God without perceiving how grievously he has hitherto neglected his bounden obligation; and how unworthy he is, either of the mercy which is requisite for his salvation, or of the honourable service to which he is called. This discovery and conviction will lay him low before God (Ezr_9:5-7; Dan_9:4-6).
2. There will be desire to seek the guidance and acknowledge the hand of God in everything. Whoever aims to serve God aright will never set about such a work in his own wisdom and strength. What a pattern for all princes and rulers is the prayer of Solomon! (1Ki_3:5-15). In national adversity and prosperity alike, the superintending providence of God will be recognised (Job_10:2; Psa_118:23).
3. There will be on the part of the rulers a fixed determination to banish all wicked men from their presence, and to exclude them from their councils (Psalms 101; P. D. 2157).
4. There will be an anxiety to fill all the offices of the Church and State with men that fear the Lord, love the truth, and who will labour with heart and hand for the promotion of true godliness. When a man is brought under the influence of the principles now set forth, the question will be, not merely what shall I do immediately by mine own hand, but what am I able to accomplish through the agency of others? If “he who ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God,” they that bear office and authority under Him must be men actuated by the same motives, and aiming at the same object.
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.—
1. How evident it is, that it is not to an easy office that any man is called when he is exalted to a throne, or entrusted with the affairs of a kingdom! (P. D. 2143.)
2. How disastrous is the influence, and how great is the guilt, of ungodly princes and rulers! (P. D. 2145–2147).
3. How earnestly should we pray for our rulers, that God may bless them and direct them in all His ways! (P. D. 2153).—R. Shittler, in the Protestant Preacher, vol. iii. pp. 419–438.
THE RESULT OF WAITING UPON GOD
Isa_49:23. They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.
For the godless of every kind, for hypocrites in particular, the future is full of dread. Millions shall be put to shame, and given over to everlasting contempt. But not so shall it be with one of those who wait upon God.
I. WAITING UPON GOD. This signifies,
1. A patient expectation of the fulfilment of His word, whether it be a prophecy or a promise.
2. A regular attention to the means of grace (see vol. i. pp. 179, 332, and pp. 38–49 of this volume).
II. THE RESULT OF WAITING UPON GOD. Not disappointment and humiliation, but prayers answered and hopes fulfilled. Those shall not be ashamed:
1. The penitent who feels the bitterness of trangressions, and laments it with a broken and contrite heart, and waits upon God, seeking for pardon and righteousness through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
2. The Christian who is relying upon the providential help of a covenant-keeping God.
3. The believer who is waiting for the accomplishment of God’s grace in himself, in the sanctification of his heart.
4. The Christian waiting for the coming of Christ, and the crown of righteousness which shall then be given to all who love His appearing.—Thomas Blackley, A.M.: Practical Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 182–199.
THE DIVINE SLOWNESS
Isa_49:23. “Wait.”
This word is the one word which the Divine wisdom often seems to utter in rebuke of human impatience. In holy Scripture men are often counselled to wait; to wait upon God, to wait for God: language which supposes delay and the need of patience. Man is eager, hurried, impatient—everywhere so, but God is never in haste. The Divine proceedings are slow—everywhere slow. This is a great fact; a fact full of light, such as should contribute to guide us safely through many a season of darkness.
I. We see it in the realms of nature and providence.
1. The history of the earth is illustrative of it. Concerning the process by which the heavens became peopled with the brilliancies we now see there, we know nothing, &c. But we have some knowledge of the changes through which this earth had to pass before it became a fitting habitation for man. In the solitude of those far-off ages progressive change gave existence to progressive life—the lives of plants and of animals, &c. During those long eras the Eternal was here alone. Of beings conscious of His being, none would seem to have been with Him. Man is to come; but for him there is to be long waiting, &c. And He would have men regard the operation of His hands, so that they also may know how to wait. There is something divine in being able so to do.
2. There is something in the movement of the seasons tending to remind us of this great law. The changes of day and night, how slow, how gradual, how imperceptible! How gentle is the coming of the light! How silently and slowly does it give place to darkness! These might have come with suddenness, as if from a hurried hand; but they do not, &c.
3. There is something in the history of all life adapted to convey the same lesson. Life, whether in plants or animals, is everywhere a growth; and all growth is silent, gradual, so gradual as not to be perceived. All this is rooted in mystery. Individual life in man, in the sense of education or development, is in harmony with all that has gone before it. But the truth we are illustrating is seen conspicuously in the history of national life. If the education of an individual be so slow, what marvel if the education of a people should be very slow? (H. E. I. 3420.)
II. So far we see, from facts in nature and providence, it behoves us to guard against impatience in judging the ways of God, and to know how to wait. Religion, revealed religion, includes much in harmony with those facts. It is, moreover, in these phases of religion that we find some of the aspects of it which are often especially perplexing to Christians.
1. We see a fact of this nature in the long interval which was to pass between the promise of a Saviour and His advent. Sin enters the world, &c. Four thousand years pass, and the Promised One does not come. Now in the history of the earth, in the slowness of the changes through which it was to pass before it came to be what it was to be, we see enough to prevent our being greatly surprised by such a fact. What was to be gained by this delay, we can know only in part.
2. So when the Saviour did come, the manner of His coming was not such as the thoughts of man would have anticipated. The kingdom of God was to come without observation (Luk_17:20). It was to begin with small beginnings. Its Founder was to be to many as a root out of a dry ground, as one without form and comeliness, &c. But these facts are in harmony with the Divine conduct as known elsewhere. It is not the manner of the Almighty to cause great things to become great at once. Our Lord revealed Himself even to His disciples gradually, slowly, imperfectly. If the Church, which is to fill the world, had its beginning in the hut of a fisherman, or in the upper room in Jerusalem, this is only in accordance with the Divine law of things. The great forces of nature all move thus, without noise, without haste, so secretly that we never know their beginnings, and so slowly that we can never see their motion, though we know that they are moving.
3. Nor is it without mystery to many minds that the history of revealed religion since the advent should have been such as it has been. No truth the world had ever possessed had been proof against corruption. Out of all the evolutions of error, out of all the devices of evil, He will educe lessons for the future which shall cause His universe to be upon the whole the wiser and the better for all that has happened. But for this we must wait. Often we see good come out of evil. In the end we shall see that all things have been regulated towards such an issue. “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
4. If we descend from the general life of the Church to the spiritual history of the individual believer, we may find much there to remind us that the experience of the Church at large and of the Christian, taken separately, are regulated by the same intelligence. In our tendency towards haste we naturally wish to see the world converted soon, very soon. So when we enter on the Christian life, we covet that it should be matured speedily. But it does not so mature. We unlearn the evil slowly; we learn the good still more slowly, &c. All this is very humiliating and very painful. But, as the good in the Church is to be tasked and strengthened by being exposed to the evil in the world, so the better principles and tendencies in the Christian are to become more rooted and powerful by means of this personal conflict. Here, as everywhere, we are schooled to wait (H. E. I. 2508–2530).
5. So it is with the events which make up the story of a life. The meaning of some of these we may see at once; we feel that we need the sort of discipline they bring with them; we pray with the devoutest ancient, “Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me;” and the wherefore is not allowed to remain a secret Paul’s thorn in the flesh was an experience of this nature, painful in many ways, but declared to be salutary for his inner and higher life. But in most instances of this kind, we have to wait, it may be to wait long, before we see the Divine purpose in the things which befall us. With regard to much in our history, we are expected to wait for the revelations of the world to come. It need scarcely be said that the waiting intended is not mere passiveness; it is to be as those who wait for the bridegroom, not in sleep, but with loins girt about and lamps burning. (See pp. 38–49).—Robert Vaughan, D.D., Pulpit Analyst, vol. iii. pp. 1–15.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21, 22, 23 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to Zion as if it were a woman. (See: Personification)
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Though you were a waste and desolate
The words "a waste" and "desolate" mean basically the same thing and emphasize that the enemy has destroyed Zion and left it empty. AT: "Though you were completely desolate" (See: Doublet)
those who devoured you
The enemy destroying Zion is spoken of as if they had devoured it. AT: "those who destroyed you" (See: Metaphor)
The children born during the time of your bereavement
Yahweh speaks of the time when the people of Jerusalem were in exile as if the city was bereaved of her children. Those who were born while the people were in exile are spoken of as the city's children. AT: "Those who will inhabit you, who were born while the people were in exile" (See: Metaphor)
The place is too cramped for us
This means that there will be so many people that the city will be too small for them all to live in it.
translationWords
waste
desolate
ruin
devour
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 19, 22, 23 49:18 like jewels or bridal ornaments: As a wedding…
49:18 like jewels or bridal ornaments: As a wedding calls for festivity and public display, so God’s restoration of Israel would be an open act for all to see (see also 61:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.