Isaiah 49

just so Lot was commanded immediately to depart out of Sodom, and not so much as look behind him, orshew any token of affection for the place, (Gen. xix. 17.) This^idmonition is renewed, lii. 11. repeated by the prophet Jeremiah, 1.8. li. 6. 45. and applied by St. John to mystical Babylon, Rev. xviii.4. And the prophet orders this message to be published to the ends of the earth, which implies that it is a matter of general concern. The prophet returns to the same subject he had been discoursing upon, from chap. xli. to the end of the fortysixth; and takes occasion from the return of the Jewish captivity, which he had clearly foretold, ver. 20. of the foregoing chapter, to foreshew the great enlargement of the church in aftertimes, by the conversion of the Jews, and the coming in of the fulness of the gentiles. Mr. White, indeed, is of opinion, that in this, as well as many other parts of this prophecy, Isaiah had only the restoration of his own nation in view; but I cannot but be surprised to find, that any person who sets up for a literal commentator, can think that all those glorious things, which are spoken here of the city of God, can be literally fulfilled in the return of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when the condition of the nation was at best nothing near so flourishing as it had been in the days of David and Solomon. temple, (see the note on xlv.14.) whereas during the captivity they had been the scorn of all their neighbours. (See Psal. lxxix.4. Lament, ii. 15. Dan.; ix.lG.) Vcr. 8. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have J heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee, &c] The first publishing of the gospel is that time which God pitched upon as a season of mercy, (sec 2 Cor.vi. 2.) according to the decree which* he hadconcerted with his Son from all eternity. Accordingly, when that fulness of time was come, God sent him into the world to be the’Mediator of that new covenant, which he would make both with the Jew and gentile. (See xlii. G.) If we suppose this verse to have any relation to the Jews’ return from captivity, the sense will be, thai the expiration of the seventy years was the time Of grace, in which God determined to hear and answer the prayers of his devout servants, (see Psal. cii.17.) and restore them to their native country, to repeople the land which lay desolate. To establish the earth.’] To order and settle it by good laws and government. (Compare Psal. xcvi. 10.) To cause to inherit the desolate heritages.] If wo expound the words in a spiritual sense, they imply the repairing what is decayed by ignorance and corruption, and making that fruitful which lay barren before. The gentiles are metaphorically described by the wilderness and ground that lies barren and uncultivated. (Compare xliii. 19, 20. xliv.3.1i.3.)'

Isaiah 49:1

JLlSTEN, O isles, unto me. See xli. 1. The Lord hath called me from the womb.] Some persons have been designed by God for certain offices from their very birth, as Jeremiah was, (see Jer. i. 5.) and St. Paul, (Gal. i. 15.) and John Baptist, (Luke i. 15.) and Isaiah, if we understand these words as any way relating to himself: but it is in an eminent manner true of Christ, whom God hath in a peculiar manner sanctified, or set apart for his offices of king, priest, and prophet, and sent him into the world to execute the same. (Sec Luke i. 35. John x. 3G.) From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.] See the note on xliii. 1.

Isaiah 49:2

He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. The prophets are often described as the executioners of those judgments which they denounce against sinners: (see the notes on vi. 10. and compare Jer. v. 14. Hos. v’i. 5.) and in this sense we may apply the expression to Isaiah, or any other prophet; but it is most remarkably true of Christ. (See the note on xi. 4.) In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me.] The phrase signifies being under God’s immediate protection. (Secli. 16.) This likewise was in an eminent manner verified of Christ. (See Psal. xci. 11. John viii. 29.) He hath made me a polished shaft.] Another metaphor representing the efficacy of God’s word, as spoken byhis prophets and messengers.

Isaiah 49:3

And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in thee I will be glorified. If we follow this translation, which seems to express the Hebrew best, the words can be applied to none but Christ, as the head and representative of the church, the Israel of God, who was to raise tip the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel: (ver. 5, 6.) as, on the contrary, the word Christ sometimes is taken for the church. (See 1 Cor. xii. 12.) But some render the words thus, Thou art my servant, Israel is he in whom I will be glorified by thee. Concerning the title of servant, see the note on xlii. I.

Isaiah 49:4

Then I said, I have laboured in vain — yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. The words contain an objection to what was affirmed, ver. 3. that God should be glorified by his ministry, which he here complains is altogether unsuccessful: however, his comfort is, that God is his judge, who will reward him according to the sincerity of his endeavours. As the Hebrew avdn signifies both sin and the punishment of it, so penulah signifies both the work and^its reward; it iatakeu here in the latter sense. (Compare xl. 10.lxii.ll.)

Isaiah 49:5

Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious, &c. There is a various reading in the Hebrew of this verse, which produces a different sense, according as the particle lo is read with an aleph or a van. If we follow the first reading, which our translators prefer, the sense is, that although Christ’s ministry be unsuccessful in gathering the Jews into the church, yet the preaching of his apostles should meet with better success among the gentiles, and should enlighten those that dwell in the remotest parts of the world. If we follow the other reading, the words will import, that God hath ordained Christ to be a light to the gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel. These words are applied by St. Paul to the preaching of Christ unto the gentiles, (Acts xiii. 47. xxvi.23.)and cannot with any show of probability be understood of Isaiah, whatever Grotius or others pretend.

Isaiah 49:7

Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whomman despiseth, &c. The words describe the wonderful progress of the gospel, from small beginnings; that the author of it, from being theeontempt of all the great men of* the world, should come to be the object of their adoration. (See ver. 23.) This may in a lower sense be understood of that regard whieh Cyrus and other succeeding monarchs had for the Jewish nation and

Isaiah 49:9

- Tliat thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth. Sec note’ on xlii/7. Tliey shall feed in tJteways, arid their pastures shall be in all high places.] They shall not want any accommodation in their return home: they shall be as well provided for as a flock of sheep that want neither • pasture nor water, though they should feed on the top of.barren mountains. (See the following verse, and the notes on xxx; 25; xli. 18.) Vcr. 10. Tliey shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them:] The spiritual sense of thisand the foregoing verse, imports a plentiful enjoyment of God’s ordinances, (compare Amos viii. 11.) together with freedom from persecution. (Sec the notes on iv. G. xxv. 4.) The words are applied by St. John to the heavenly state of the New Jerusalem; (Rev. vii. 1G, 17.) it being usual with the prophets to describe the flourishing times of the church militant, by such expressions as properly belong to the church triumphant, because every advancement of God’s kingdom in this world is a preludium, or earnest, of the kingdom of heaven.

Isaiah 49:11

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Or Tather, My causeways shall be exalted: the Hebrew word mesillah signifies such ways as are raised with stone in low. and marshy grounds. So the sense is exactly parallel with that of xl. 4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain shall be brought low. (See the note there.) Ver.’ 12. Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and the west.] See the note on xliii. 5, G. And these from the land of Sinim.] From the south country, the Vulgar Latin renders it, to answer to the north and west mentioned before: it may either mean Pelusium in Egypt, called Sin, Ezck. xxx. 15. or tho wilderness of Sin, mentioned Exod. xvi. 1. both which lay southward of Judca.

Isaiah 49:13

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth, Sic.’) See the note on xliv. 23.

Isaiah 49:14

But Zion saith, The. Lord hath forsaken me, &c. The words of the Jews despairing,. under their.captivity. (Compare Lam. v. 20. 22.)

Isaiah 49:15

Can a woman forget her sucking child? Sac. God is often described as bearing a fatherly affection towards his people. (See Psal. ciii. 13. Mai. iir. 17.) Butjiere the comparison is Taiscd higher, and ho speaks of himself as having the same tenderness for them as a mother towards the fruit of her womb. (Compare Jer.xxxi. 20. Hos^xi. 8.) God still retains that kindness for the posterity, of Abraham, that he will never? cast them;off utterly. (See Rom. xi. 28, 29.)

Isaiah 49:16

Behold, J have graven thee uponthe palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Thou art as dear to me, and as deeply imprinted, in my memory, a$ if thy picture were drawn upon* my.hand, or engraven jn a seal, and worn upon my arm, so as to be always, in my •sight. (Compare Exod. xiii. D.Xant. viii.G.) Some explain the phrase, as if it were a metaphor taken from an architect, who draws the model of a new building, so as to have it always lie before him: in like. manner should the platform of their city be always before God’s eyes,in order to the re-edifying of it.

Isaiah 49:17

Tliy children shall make haste. To return homeward. Some render it, Thy builders shall make haste, in opposition to the* destroyers mentioned in the, following sentence. But the following verse favours the first interpretation. Thy destroyers, and tliey that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee.] See the same sense a little varied in the expression, ver. 19.

Isaiah 49:18

As I live, saith the Lord, thou shall surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament. The words allude to the affection that mothers, have for their children, who pride themselves in them as their greatest ornament. Ver.. 19. For thy ivaste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants.] This must be understood either of the accession of the gentiles into the church, (see ver. 22, 23.) typified by Judea, repeopled after it had lain desolate: (see the note on ver. 8.) or else we may suppose the words point at some future restoration of the Jewish nation: for we do not find the catalogues of those who returned, recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, to answer this prophecy: nor did the Jews repossess the wjiole extent of Palestine after the captivity, or make that figure in the world which they had done in former times, and especially before the separation of the ten tribes.

Isaiah 49:20

The children thou shall have, after thou hast lost the other. Those which thou shall have after thou hast been for some time in a desolate condition. (See liv. 1.) Shall say again in thy ears.] Or rather, Shall yet say in thine cars; i.e. the time is yet to come when they shall say thus.

Isaiah 49:21

Tliey thirsted not when lie led them through the deserts, &c. The preter-perfect tense is here used tor the future, a common figure in the prophets. (See note on xxi. 10.) The words import, that God will take the same care of his, people in their return home from captivity, as he did in their passage from Egypt through the wilderness. (See note on xli. 18.) Tlien shall thou say in thine heart, WJio hath begotten me these? &c. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, Iicill lift up my hand to the gentiles, &c] In the former verse, Jerusalem is represented as in a surprise to" find herself on a sudden replenished with inhabitants after an utter desolation: and in the latter, an account is given of this

Isaiah 49:22

There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. This conclusion of the chapter relates to the reproofs and exhortations given at ver. 4. 8. 10. 17, 18.; and it is an admonition to the Jews to make a good use of the blessings here promised, or else they could not hope for any lasting peace or prosperity. But as several passages of this, the foregoing, and succeeding prophecies, have a farther aspeet upon the future deliverances of the church, as hath been observed upon ver. 16. so I am apt to think these words have an eye upon the general.restoration of the Jews so often mentioned in. the prophets, which none of them will have a share in, but such as repent and reform. (See Ezek. xx. 34. 38.) The same admonition is given to the church with respect to the deliverance out of mystical Babylon, Bev. xvi. 15.