Isaiah 52

Isaiah 52:1

Isaiah: God controls the nations God’s special servant An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Isaiah chapters 49 to 57 www.easyenglish.info Norman Hillyer This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.

Chapter 52 God will rescue *Jerusalem v1 Awake, awake, inhabitants of *Jerusalem! Be strong and be great again! Inhabitants of the holy city of God, dress yourselves with beautiful clothes. The foreigners who ruined your city will never again enter its gates. v2 Inhabitants of *Jerusalem, get up from the dust and sit! Throw off the enemy’s chains that are about your neck.

v3 (This is what the *Lord says.) ‘When you became slaves, nobody paid anything for you. And now nobody will pay any money to free you. v4 Long ago in the days of Joseph, my people chose to live in Egypt. But later the *Egyptians acted cruelly towards my people. Some centuries later, the *Assyrians did the same. And for no reason. v5 And now in Babylon, the same thing has happened again. You are prisoners. But nobody paid any money to buy you. And every day those who rule over you insult my name. v6 But my people will learn what my name means. On the day that is coming, they will know my name. And they will know that I, the *Lord, have spoken. I am here. I am active. My people will know the power of my name.’

Verse 1

The call to ‘awake’ means ‘realise your true value to God’. He is giving you a new opportunity to take your proper place of honour.

Verse 2

To sit in the dust is a picture in words. It means that God’s people suffer shame and a state of no value. But now God’s people must rise and sit on the seat of honour. They are free from the chains of slaves.

Verses 4-5

God’s people had suffered from the evil behaviour of their enemies, first Egypt (see Exodus 1:8-16), then Assyria (see 2 Kings 15:29), then Babylon (see 2 Kings 24:14).

Verse 6

In the Bible, a ‘name’ is not only a word to identify one person from another person. A name informs us about that person’s character and strengths.

So the *Lord’s name is important. It informs us about his honour, character, authority and strength. God’s people will know the power of his name because he is acting on their behalf. God’s good news v7 How wonderful it is to see the *messenger who brings God’s message. He is hurrying over the hills! He is bringing good news. He is declaring God’s way to freedom. He is telling the inhabitants of *Jerusalem that the God of Israel is the King of all the nations. v8 Listen! Inhabitants of *Jerusalem, your *look-outs are calling out. Together they are shouting for joy. As the *Lord returns to *Jerusalem, they can see it with their own eyes.

Verse 7

The *messenger’s name does not appear. His name is not important. What matters is the message of good news (see Romans 10:15).

 Although God’s people are now prisoners in a foreign country, God controls the situation. The good news is that the *Lord is rescuing his people.

Verse 8

The *Lord is carrying out the things that he promised to do (see Isaiah 40:10-11). The *Lord’s people come home from Babylon v9 Inhabitants of *Jerusalem, enemies ruined your city. But now sing together a song of triumph (success). Because the *Lord is comforting his people. He is saving *Jerusalem from its enemies. v10 The *Lord is making his strong arm bare in the sight of the nations. In other words, he is showing them how powerful he is. The *Lord is rescuing his people. And everybody in the world will know it.

v11 Go from Babylon. Leave that place completely. And as you go, touch nothing that the *Lord has forbidden. Leave Babylon and all its wicked connections. You are taking back with you the things that belong to the *Lord’s *Temple in *Jerusalem. So keep yourselves holy. v12 But you do not need to leave in a hurry. Leave calmly. You will not be trying to escape. The *Lord God of Israel will lead you. And he will protect you on all sides as you travel.

Verse 9

The result of the enemy’s attack on *Jerusalem is a reality. But there is every reason to be happy, because the people can now rebuild their city in peace.

Verse 10

The *Lord’s ‘strong arm’ is a picture phrase for ‘his power to do things’.

Verse 11

Babylon’s ‘wicked connections’ refer to the *worship of *idols (see 2 Corinthians 6:14-17).

Verse 12

God’s people will leave in a calm manner. This will show their complete confidence in the *Lord. All the nations will notice their quiet attitude. The *Lord’s Servant will suffer, but he will succeed Verses 52:13 to 53:12 provide the fourth (4th) of the ‘Servant Songs’ (see my notes at the beginning of Chapter 42 and the notes on 42:1). References to this Song appear in the *New Testament more often than references to any other passage in the *Old Testament. This Song is often called ‘the gospel (good news) in the *Old Testament’.

 The subject of this Song moves from God’s Servant as a group (that is, the nation called Israel; see Isaiah 49:6-7) to a person (that is, *Messiah). The *New Testament identifies *Messiah as Jesus Christ.

(Note: These 15 verses form one of the most important passages in the entire Bible, for both *Jews and Christians. For many years there has been an enormous amount of discussion in books and articles about the real meaning of the passage. But all this work has failed to bring universal agreement. By these notes, I hope to give some general explanation to show what the Song is about.)

 The Song has three parts.

In Verses 52:13-15, the *Lord is speaking.

In Verses 53:1-9, the people reply.

In Verses 53:10-12, the *Lord speaks again.

v13 ‘My Servant will achieve success in his task. And I will reward him with great honour. v14 But many people had a great shock because of him. They saw what happened to him. His *appearance was so awful that he hardly seemed to be human. v15 It will astonish many nations to see my Servant now. Even kings will be silent in front of him. Because they will have seen something that nobody had ever mentioned. They now understand something that they had never heard before.’

Verse 14

The shock that astonished people was to see the Servant’s terrible experience of pain. It was so very different from what they expected as a ‘great honour’.

Verse 15

The Servant suffered awful injuries and insults. It was the only way to obtain God’s good purpose for other people. But people had never even heard of such an event. They never supposed that someone would suffer so greatly for such a reason.

© 2007 Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

July 2007

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info

var w11 = new Array;w11[0]=’<b%3EJerusalem</b%3E ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.’;w11[1]=’<b%3ELord</b%3E ~ God’s name in the Bible; in the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.’;w11[2]=’<b%3EEgyptian</b%3E ~ a person of the country called Egypt, or anything that has a relationship with the country called Egypt.’;w11[3]=’<b%3EAssyrian</b%3E ~ a person from the country called Assyria, or anything that has a relationship with the country called Assyria.’;w11[4]=’<b%3Emessenger</b%3E ~ a person who carries a message on behalf of the sender.’;w11[5]=’<b%3Elook-out</b%3E ~ someone whose job is to watch for danger; the place where that person waits whilst on duty.’;w11[6]=’<b%3ETemple</b%3E ~ special building in Jerusalem where Jews praised God and offered him prayers and gifts.