ISAIAH 54 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

The Future Glory of Zion

1 “Sing, barren woman,

you who never bore a child;

burst into song, shout for joy,

you who were never in labor;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband,”

says the Lord.

1.BARNES, “Sing, O barren - That is, shout for joy, lift up the voice of exultation and praise. The ‘barren’ here denotes the church of God under the Old Testament, confined within the narrow limits of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect to the very small number of true believers, and which seemed sometimes to be deserted of God, her husband (Lowth). It is here represented under the image of a female who had been destitute of children, and who now has occasion to rejoice on the reconciliation of her husband (Isa_54:6; Lowth), and on the accession of the Gentiles to her family. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Rejoice, O Jerusalem, who hast been as a sterile woman that did not bear.’ The church is often in the Bible compared to a female, and the connection between God and his people is often compared with that between husband and wife (compare Isa_62:5; Ezek. 16; Rev_21:2-9; Rev_22:17).

Thou that didst not bear - Either referring to the fact that the church was confined within the narrow limits of Judea; or that there had been in it a small number of true believers; or addressed to it in Babylon when it was oppressed, and perhaps constantly diminishing in number. I think it probable that it refers to the latter; and that the idea is, that she saw her sons destroyed in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and that she was not augmented by any

accessions while in Babylon, but would have great occasion for rejoicing on her return, and in her future increase under the Messiah by the accession of the Gentiles.

Break forth into singing - (Compare Isa_14:7; Isa_44:23; Isa_49:13).

For more are the children of the desolate - The ‘desolate’ here refers to Jerusalem, or the church. By the ‘married woman,’ Rosenmuller supposes the prophet means other nations which flourished and increased like a married woman. Grotius supposes that he means other cities which were inhabited, and that Jerusalem would surpass them all in her prosperity and in numbers. But the phrase seems to have somewhat of a proverbial cast, and probably the idea is that there would be a great increase, a much greater increase than she had any reason to apprehend. As if a promise was made to a barren female that she should have more children than those who were married usually had, so Jerusalem and the church would be greatly enlarged, far beyond what usually occurred among nations. The fulfillment of this is to be looked for in the accession of the Gentiles Isa_54:3. ‘The conversion of the Gentiles is all along considered by the prophet as a new accession of adopted children, admitted into the original church of God, and united with it’ (Lowth). See the same idea presented at greater length in Isa_49:20-22.

2. CLARKE, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear “Shout for joy, O thou barren, that didst not bear” - The Church of God under the Old Testament, confined within the narrow bounds of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect of the very small number of true believers, and which sometimes seemed to be deserted of God her husband, is the barren woman, that did not bear, and was desolate. She is exhorted to rejoice, and to express her joy in the strongest manner, on the reconciliation of her husband, (see Isa_54:6), and on the accession of the Gentiles to her family. The converted Gentiles are all along considered by the prophet as a new accession of adopted children, admitted into the original Church of God, and united with it. See Isa_49:20, Isa_49:21.

3. GILL, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear,.... The Targum interprets this of Jerusalem, paraphrasing the words thus, "sing praise, O Jerusalem, which was as a barren woman that bears not;'' and so the apostle applies the words of the text to the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all, the then present Gospel church, Gal_4:26, which, at the first setting of it up, in the times of Christ, during his life and at the time of his death, and before the day of Pentecost, was like a barren woman; the number of converts were very small; few believed the report of the Gospel, professed Christ, and submitted to his ordinances; the names of the disciples were but a hundred and twenty. Though some understand this of the Jewish church, under the Old Testament dispensation, whose members were not many, and whose proselytes from the Gentiles were but few; and others of the Gentile world, before the coming of Christ, and the preaching of the Gospel in it; but the former sense is to be preferred, having the suffrage of the apostle: break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; among whom there were few instances of conversion, scarce any begotten and born again of incorruptible seed by the word of God, and no signs thereof; but now it being otherwise, and

multitudes being converted both in Judea and in the Gentile world, the church and its members are called upon to express their joy aloud in songs of praise, setting forth the glory of efficacious grace, in the regeneration of men; for as this is matter of joy to the angels of heaven, so to the saints on earth: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord; more souls were born again, and added to the church after the death of Christ, when she was in a desolate condition, like a woman deprived of her husband, and in a widowhood state, then there were while Christ was here on earth, personally present with his people, and preaching the Gospel himself unto men; three thousand were converted under one sermon, and great numbers afterwards were added, so that the church at Jerusalem was in a much more flourishing condition after the death of Christ than before; more fruitful when it was become like a widow than when the bridegroom was with her; and the church of Christ still increased yet more and more afterwards, as the following verses predict. The Targum is, "more shall be the children of Jerusalem than the children of the habitable city.'' The edition of it, in the king of Spain's Bible, has it, "than the children of Rome;'' and so it is quoted by R. Elias (h), and by Buxtorf (i). The Jews understand this prophecy of their deliverance from their present condition by the Messiah; and of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the prosperity of it.

4. HENRY, “If we apply this to the state of the Jews after their return out of captivity, it is a prophecy of the increase of their nation after they were settled in their own land. Jerusalem had been in the condition of a wife written childless, or a desolate solitary widow; but now it is promised that the city should be replenished and the country peopled again, that not only the ruins of Jerusalem should be repaired, but the suburbs of it extended on all sides and a great many buildings erected upon new foundations, - that those estates which had for many years been wrongfully held by the Babylonian Gentiles should now return to the right owners. God will again be a husband to them, and the reproach of their captivity, and the small number to which they were then reduced, shall be forgotten. And it is to be observed that, by virtue of the ancient promise made to Abraham of the increase of his seed, when they were restored to God's favour they multiplied greatly. Those that first came out of Babylon were but 42,000 (Ezr_2:64), about a fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt; many came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be the greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet above 500 years after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a calculation was made by the number of the paschal lambs, and the lowest computation by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb, whereas they might be twenty) made the nation to be nearly three millions. Josephus says, seven and twenty hundred thousand and odd, Jewish War 6.425. But we must apply it to the church of God in general; I mean the kingdom of God among men, God's city in the world, the children of God incorporated. Now observe,

I. The low and languishing state of religion in the world for a long time before Christianity was brought in. It was like one barren, that did not bear, or travail with child, was like one desolate, that had lost husband and children; the church lay in a little compass, and brought forth little fruit. The Jews were indeed by profession married to God, but few proselytes were added to them, the rising generations were unpromising, and serious godliness manifestly lost ground

among them. The Gentiles had less religion among them than the Jews; their proselytes were in a dispersion; and the children of God, like the children of a broken, reduced family, were scattered abroad (Joh_11:52), did not appear nor make any figure.

II. Its recovery from this low condition by the preaching of the gospel and the planting of the Christian church.

1. Multitudes were converted from idols to the living God. Those were the church's children that

were born again, were partakers of a new and divine nature, by the word. More were the children of the desolate than of the married wife; there were more good people found in the

Gentile church (when that was set up) that had long been afar off, and without God in the world,

than ever were found in the Jewish church. God's sealed ones out of the tribes of Israel are

numbered (Rev_7:4), and they were but a remnant compared with the thousands of Israel; but

those of other nations were so many, and crowded in so thickly, and lay so much scattered in all

parts, that no man could number them, Isa_54:9. Sometimes more of the power of religion is

found in those places and families that have made little show of it, and have enjoyed but little of

the means of grace, than in others that have distinguished themselves by a flourishing

profession; and then more are the children of the desolate, more the fruits of their

righteousness, than those of the married wife; so the last shall be first. Now this is spoken of as

matter of great rejoicing to the church, which is called upon to break forth into singing upon this

account. The increase of the church is the joy of all its friends and strengthens their hands. The

longer the church has lain desolate the greater will the transports of joy be when it begins to

recover the ground it has lost and to gain more. Even in heaven, among the angels of God, there

is an uncommon joy for a sinner that repents, much more for a nation that does so. If the barren

fig-tree at length bring forth fruit, it is well; it shall rejoice, and others with it.

5. JAMISON, “Isa_54:1-17. The fruit of Messiah’s sufferings, and of Israel’s final penitence at her past unbelief (Isa_53:6): her joyful restoration and enlargement by Jehovah, whose wrath was momentary, but his kindness everlasting.

Israel converted is compared to a wife (Isa_54:5; Isa_62:5) put away for unfaithfulness, but now forgiven and taken home again. The converted Gentiles are represented as a new progeny of the long-forsaken but now restored wife. The pre-eminence of the Hebrew Church as the mother Church of Christendom is the leading idea; the conversion of the Gentiles is mentioned only as part of her felicity [Horsley].

Sing — for joy (Zep_3:14).

barren — the Jewish Church once forsaken by God, and therefore during that time destitute of spiritual children (Isa_54:6).

didst not bear — during the Babylonian exile primarily. Secondarily, and chiefly, during Israel’s present dispersion.

the children — the Gentiles adopted by special grace into the original Church (Isa_54:3; Isa_49:20, Isa_49:21).

than ... married wife — than were her spiritual children, when Israel was still a married wife (under the law, before the Babylonian exile), before God put her away [Maurer]. So Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (Gal_4:27). But the full accomplishment of it is yet future.

6. K&D, “After the “Servant of God” has expiated the sin of His people by the sacrifice of Himself, and Israel has acknowledged its fault in connection with the rejected One, and entered into the possession and enjoyment of the salvation procured by Him, the glory of the church, which has thus become a partaker of salvation through repentance and faith, is quite ready to burst forth. Hence the prophet can now exclaim, Isa_54:1 : “Exult, O barren one, thou that didst not bear; break forth into exulting, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for there are more children of the solitary one than children of the married wife, saith Jehovah.” The words are addressed to Jerusalem, which was a counterpart of Sarah in her barrenness at

first, and her fruitfulness afterwards (Isa_41:1-3). She is not עקרה לא תלד (Job_24:21), but לא ילדה

not indeed that she had never had any children, but during her captivity and ;(Jdg_13:2) עקרה

exile she had been robbed of her children, and as a holy city had given birth to no more

(Isa_49:21). She was sho�me�ma�h, rendered solitary (2Sa_13:20; the allusion is to her

depopulation as a city), whereas formerly she was �עולה, i.e., enjoyed the fellowship of Jehovah

her husband (ba‛al). But this condition would not last (for Jehovah had not given her a divorce):

she was therefore to exult and shout, since the number of children which she would now have, as one desolate and solitary, would be greater than the number of those which she had as a married wife.

6B. SPURGEON, “"Sing, O barren."

- Isaiah 54:1

Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have a joyful hope that we are "plants of

his own right hand planting," yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is

cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in

the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is

addressed to us in just such a state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud." But what can I sing

about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of

Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I

can magnify the great love wherewith he loved his people when he came from the heights of heaven

for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and

thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life

may give thee fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for his fruit-creating power.

What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of his everlasting love. I will go in

poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell him that I am

still his child, and in confidence in his faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for

now that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee

loath to be without fruit he will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is

painful, but the Lord's visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and

that is where we need to be, for in him is our fruit found.

7. CALVIN, “1.Shout. After having spoken of the death of Christ, he passes on with good reason to the

Church; that we may feel mere deeply in ourselves what is the value and efficacy of his death. We cannot behold it in Christ, if he be viewed by himself; and therefore we must come to his body, which is the Church; because Christ suffered for the Church, and not for himself. And this is the order in our Confession of Faith (61) for, after having professed that we believe in Christ, who suffered and was

crucified for us, we add that we believe in the Church, (62) which flowed, as it were, from his side. Accordingly, after having discoursed concerning the death and resurrection and triumph of Christ, he properly comes down to the Church, which ought never to be separated from her Head, that each individual believer may learn by his own experience that Christ has not suffered in vain. And if he had not mentioned this doctrine, believers could not have so well strengthened their hearts by the hope of restoring the Church. This congratulation plainly shows that, when Christ shall come forth as a conqueror over death, he will not merely conquer for himself as an individual, but will, at the same time, breathe life into his body. Thou barren, that didst not bear. He calls the Church “” because no offspring could be expected from her, so long as she groaned under wretched bondage; for if any one had judged of her from her outward condition, he would have concluded that she was very near destruction. And even apart from her external wretchedness, there was nothing pure within; everything was corrupted and defiled by superstitions; for they had degenerated into the idolatrous rites of the Gentiles. The children of the widow. He calls the Church not merely “” but a “” though either of them might have taken away the hope of having offspring; but when these two are combined, what else can be looked for than wretched destruction? But against such accumulated distress he bids her be of good courage, because she shall have more children than the married woman. This passage may be explained in two ways; either as a comparison of the Church with the Gentiles, who flourished like “ married woman,” or as a comparison with that condition in which the Church was before the captivity. Both senses will be perfectly admissible, but I prefer to adopt the more simple view; for I do not think that it is a comparison between two conditions of the Church, but that it is an ordinary form of expression which the Prophet employs in order to denote that this extraordinary fertility of the Church will be at variance with what usually takes place, so that men may not judge of her condition by the ordinary course of nature; because the work of God will be extraordinary and wonderful. And yet I acknowledge that she was at that time in widowhood; for God had long before sent to her by his servants a bill of divorcement, and had actually divorced that nation, by driving it into banishment. But the Prophet declares that this punishment will be temporary, as we shall immediately see more clearly. (61) “En nos articles de foy.” “ our articles of faith.” (62) Our author evidently speaks of what is usually called “ Apostle’ Creed.” Ed.

8. KELLY, “How beautifully seasonable is the voice of the Spirit calling on Jerusalem to sing after

His own clear and full prediction of Messiah rejected of Israel and bruised of Jehovah in atonement!

Indeed the last section of the prophecy gave us a most striking and instructive rehearsal or dialogue

between God and His people about Messiah, His sufferings, and the glories that should follow. Fitly

therefore follows the invitation to her who had sorrowed so long and so justly now to rejoice because

of her new blessing in His grace.

"Exult, thou barren, [that] didst not bear; break forth into singing, and shout aloud, thou [that] didst

not travail with child: for more [are] the children of the desolate than the children of the married

wife, saith Jehovah" (v. 1). Never ought it to have been a question who is meant. The reference

undoubtedly is to the heavenly and not to the earthly Jerusalem. As usual however, the

commentators have confused what is plain, and agreed in scarce anything but departure from the

true sense and aim. The occasion of stumbling they have in general found, partly by their habit of

excluding the Jews from the prophets and so judaising the Christians (limiting themselves to the past

and present without taking in the Suture), partly from a misunderstanding of Gal_4:27 through mixing

it up with the "allegory" of Sarah and Hagar. But who does not see that the citation of the prophet

connects itself rather with Jerusalem which is above, in contrast with Jerusalem which then was?

When the prophecy is fulfilled in the millennial day, God will count those who now believe to be

Jerusalem's children, as well as the race to come in that day. Doubly thus it will be verified that more

are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. For what fruit of the most

flourishing times, say under David or Solomon, could compare with the gathering-in of the Christian

saints since the Jews lost their place as the recognised witness and wife of Jehovah; or, again, with the

vast progeny which Jehovah will give her after her long desolation, when His reign shall be displayed

over the earth? (Consult Isa_49:13-23; Isa_60:8; Isa_60:20-22).

It is important to see, on the one hand, that though it is according to scripture to regard Christians

mystically as the children of desolate Jerusalem far outnumbering those of her married estate of old,

the church, on the other hand, is not yet presented by God's word as being in the relationship of the

wife, either desolate or married. The marriage is future and on high. The bride, the Lamb's wife, will

not have made herself ready till she has been caught up to heaven glorified, and the harlot Babylon,

the anti church, has been judged of Jehovah God. The real position of the church meanwhile is that of

one espoused; her responsibility is to keep herself as a chaste virgin for Christ. The marriage will be in

heaven, just before the Lord and His glorified saints appear for the destruction of the Antichrist and all

his allies. (Compare Rev. 19)

On the other hand, it is undeniable that the Jews, or Zion if you will, had the place of nearness to

Jehovah which is represented under the figure of the marriage-tie, that she had been faithless and

played the whore with many lovers (even the idols of the Gentiles), and that in consequence she was

divorced, becoming a widow and desolate under the righteous dealing of God. Adultery was her sin,

rather than fornication. No one in the least familiar with the prophets can have failed to notice this

and more said of Israel. Then it was she became barren and did not bear. Praise is still silent for God in

Zion; but the vow shall yet be performed to Him (Psa_65:1); and the barren one shall sing and be no

more barren but bear, astonished to find during those days of literal barrenness such an abundant

offspring in the saints glorified on high, whom grace has been the while actively bringing in.

9. LANGE, “Isa_54:1-3. Of course the Prophet addresses Jerusalem or Zion, yet not as a local congregation, but as representative of the whole nation. And it is true also, that He has in mind the Israel of the Exile, yet not of the Exile in its temporal limitation, but in the prophetic sense, that is so far as this comprehends in one view the Israel of the Exile with the subsequent time to the downfall of the outward Theocracy. For the Israel to which he speaks here is the ù ◌◌î ◌î ◌ä “desolate,” that is no more á ◌◌òå ◌ì ◌ç “married,” but is forsaken and repudiated by her husband (comp. Isa_54:6; Isa_49:21). The old, outward Theocracy sets, is broken as one shivers an earthen vessel. In so far Israel is despised, repudiated, forsaken by its husband. But from the broken shell issues the kernel that from the beginning was hid, in the shell till the period of ripeness. And this kernel now enters on a new existence, in which it develops to a greatness and glory, in comparison with which the greatness and glory of its former stage of existence almost vanish. For the narrow house becomes a mighty edifice under which all nations of the earth (Isa_54:3), find room. The Apostle Paul uuderstands by this new, grand edifice the “Jerusalem from above that is the mother of us all” (Gal_4:26-27). And this “Jerusalem from above” is nothing else than the New Testament Zion, which itself, in turn, in the visible militant Christian Church, has only the first and

initial stage of its existence. It is therefore a right meager construction when rationalistic expositors find nothing more said in our passage, than that Jerusalem after the Exile will be more populous than before, and that the people in the land will not have room, and consequently will spread out, and that to the south and to the north, i.e., toward Edom, Syria and Phoenicia (thus Knobel, Seinecke, etc.). What is to be understood by âåéí Isa_54:3 we shall see below at that verse. Rejoice O barren, recalls the words of Hannah’s song 1Sa_2:5 : “so that the barren hath borne seven,” where the additional thought occurs that the one having many children proves to be an à ◌î ◌ì ◌ì ◌ä , an exhausta viribus. ìà éìãä is one that had never hitherto borne children (Jdg_13:2). If Zion be meant here, which we are to regard as the antitype of Sarah (Isa_2:1-3), and we may add also of Hannah, still barren cannot refer to the fact that Jerusalem during the Exile was robbed of her children and during that time bore no more (Delitzsch). According to that we would need to understand the blessing of children to mean the children that should be born in Jerusalem when it would be rebuilt. The ò÷øä is rather the hidden kernel of the “spiritual Israel,” within the “fleshly Israel,” that is not yet released from the shell, that has not attained an independent existence. Although the children of the fleshly Israel have felt more or less the influence of the spiritual Israel, yet so far as such is the case, they are only children of an invisible mother, whose existence is latent, and who on this account must be reckoned as not bearing.—The same mother that is called barren is afterwards called desolate. Here the word itself ( ù ◌åîîä ) shows Jerusalem when rebuilt cannot be meant. For the rebuilt Jerusalem is no longer “desolate” and is not less a married wife than she had been before. But the New Testament Zion implies the destruction of the outward Theocracy, and thus the apparent dissolution of the former relation between the latter and God. Just then, the Prophet would say, when Zion in respect to its outward situation will be desolate, a lonely woman forsaken of her husband, just then the new Zion will develop out of it and have a much richer blessing of children than Zion had before in its Old Testament form. ù ◌åîîä is the destroyed, wasted, solitary one (comp. Lam_1:13; Lam_3:11). áòåìä (comp. Isa_62:4-5), according to the representation of the relation between Jehovah and Zion as a married one, designates Jerusalem as the Theocracy in whose stability appears also the stability of that married relation.

10. BI, ” Jerusalem: barren, then fruitful

The direct address refers to Jerusalem, which resembled Sarah in her early barrenness and later fruitfulness Isa_51:1-3). (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)

The relation between Isa_53:1-12; Isa_54:1-17

From Calvin to Ewald and Dillman, critics have all felt a close connection between Isa_52:13 -

53. and chap. 54. “After having spoken of the death of Christ, ‘ saysCalvin, “the prophet passed on with good reason to the Church: that we may feel more deeply in ourselves what is the value and efficiency of His death.” Similar in substance, if not in language, is the opinion of the latest critics, who understand that in chap. 54. the prophet intends to picture that full redemption which the Servant’s work, culminating in chap. 53., could alone effect. Two keywords of chap. 53. had been “a seed” and “many.” It is “the seed” and the “many” whom chap. 54. reveals. (Prof. G.A. Smith, D.D.)

The two chapters deal with the same subject from two distinct standpoints. Whatever view be held as to the Servant’s personality, there is no doubt that His exaltation implies the restoration of Israel, and that His work is the indispensable condition of that restoration being accomplished. Thus while chap. 53. describes the inward process of conversion by which the nation is made righteous, chap. 54. describes the outward deliverance which is the result; and

the impression is probably correct that the glowing hopes here uttered are sustained in the last resort by the contemplation of the Servant s mission as described in chap. 53. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)

Isa_54:1-17.

Isa_54:1-17 is peculiarly a missionary chapter. After the death and resurrection of the Saviour has been foretold, the great results that would follow thereon are appropriately described. In Isa_54:1-3, she that was “barren” (whether a reference is made to the Jews on their return from captivity, or to the Gentiles to whom the Gospel began to go forth on the day of Pentecost, or to the enlargement of the true Church by the gathering in of souls from Jews and Gentiles alike) is exhorted to rejoice in the increase of her offspring. God’s mercy in gathering this Church and bestowing upon her His favour is described (Isa_54:4-10); the attractiveness of this Church follows (Isa_54:11-12); and lastly (Isa_54:13-17) her establishment in righteousness and her permanence are set forth. (W. H. Barlow, B.D.)

The Church of the future:

The prophecy of this chapter follows naturally on, and is a continuation of, that in the fifty-third. The former foretells “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The latter speaks of the Church, the foundations of which the Saviour died to lay, the superstructure of which He lives to build.

I. WE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN HER SADNESS. The figures used by the prophet, while easy enough to apply generally, present some points of difficulty when we attempt the detail.

1. At the first glance of the opening verses of the chapter we see that the figures are drawn from the very closest tie that nature knows, even that of the marriage relationship. This figure, so frequently used in the Old Testament, is based on a profound truth. The truth on which it is based is this: that as both male and female are incomplete without each other, so the happiness of God is incomplete without the love of the creature whom He has made to love Him, and the happiness of man is incomplete without an object above him in which his love can rest. Such a figure served a holy educating purpose to Israel, and ought still to do so to us. In one direction it shows us how holy and tender is the relationship between man and God, and how loving is the heart of God towards man; in another direction it lifts up the sacred tie of marriage into a higher and Diviner light, and lets us see it in the light of the Divine idea, as not only a union of bodies but also of spirits, in a tie which can never be broken without a rupture of the laws of God!

2. Another truth lying at the foundation of the chapter is this, that the Church, in God’s eye, is seen at a glance, through all the vicissitudes of her chequered career, till her completion in the fulness of time. That Church, chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world, in Him is one. He sees that Church passing, through gloom to glory! And truly, sad enough is the picture of the Church s sorrow which is presented here. She is like one whose husband has forsaken her. She is barren, desolate, rejected, contemned; and is consequently sad, afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. The chief question is, at what period was God s Church like this, and what Church was ever in such gloom?

(1) The Hebrew Church was primarily intended. Her bondage in Egypt was “the shame of her youth, her captivity in Babylon was” the reproach of her widowhood.”

(2) The figures would apply, to some extent, to that idea!, Gentile Church which the Saviour saw in vision when He said, “Other sheep I have, etc., including all those in the east and west and north and south who were yearning after God, but to whom the Lord had not yet revealed His love, and who were not yet brought to rest in the Infinite heart of God.

(3) The description will apply also to the whole Church of God now: which, during the transition period through which we are now passing, while the great problem of sin and its treatment is being worked out, is often in shade, often mourning the paucity of those who join her ranks, often the object of the world s ridicule and scorn!

(4) The passage will befit also the individual believer, in whose chequered experience of sorrow, temptation and care all the varied phases of the troubles of the Church are presented in miniature.

II. WE HAVE A SECOND PICTURE AS BRIGHT AS THE FIRST IS DARK. The second is given on account of the gloom of the first, for the special purpose of cheering the saints of God, throughout the period of shade. In the picture given with this view, an entirely different set of figures is made use of; even such as belong to the erection of a building. And there are, scattered throughout this chapter, no fewer than nine main features which go to make up the outline of this beauty and glory which, in spite of present gloom, the prophet sees far ahead. Regarding the Church of the future, then, under the figure of a building, let us observe—

1. God Himself is the Founder of it. The foundation is Jesus Christ.

2. Men from every nation under heaven will gather within it. “The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” The restrictions of the past shall be done away.

3. Righteousness shall he its basis (Isa_54:14).

4. Close and endearing relationship with God will be its privilege (Isa_54:5). “Thy Maker is thine Husband.” He who formed by the hand of His power, will make Himself known to you in the tenderest love.

5. Light will be its heritage. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord” (Isa_54:13).

6. Peace will be its possession. “Great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isa_54:13).

7. Beauty will be its adornment. “Behold I will set thy stones in stibium” (Isa_54:11). Stibium was a peculiar dye with which the Hebrew women tinged the eyelashes, in order that, being surrounded with this tinge, the beauty of the eye might flash forth more brightly. So the stones with which this building of God was to be erected, were to be set, as it were, in cement of so rich a dye as to set forth their lustre in richer beauty. And thy battlements of rubies, thy gates of flashing gems, and all thy borders of precious stones.” Thus the mineral world is made to yield its meed of illustration; its choicest gems are used as symbolic of the glory and beauty of the Church. Why? Because all beauty and glory of jasper, amethyst, ruby, sapphire, and pearl, when so set that their radiance gleams out most brilliantly, are but a reflection of that higher spiritual beauty of Him who created all.

8. Divine protection will be its safeguard (Isa_54:14-15). “Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they (thine enemies) shall surely gather together, but not by Me (not by My consent): whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (rather, shall fall upon thee). “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall he broken.” Adverse weapons shall be blunted. Adverse tongues shall be condemned—both by the force of powerful argument, and by the mightier demonstration of a holy life (Isa_54:16). “I have created the waster to destroy,” the same power which builds the Church, has created all her foes; hence the inference is inevitable,

God will not suffer those who arc opposed to Him to use their power so as to destroy that part of His work which He values most.

9. Perpetuity shall be its everlasting law (Isa_54:7-10). This is expressed in various forms of antithesis. Everything is wrapped up in this ninefold glory! (C. Clemance, D.D.)

“Sing, O barren!”

In the previous chapters we have heard the exiles summoned to leave Babylon, and beheld the Divine Servant becoming the Sin-bearer for them and the world. Here our attention ,is startlingly recalled to the desolate city of Jerusalem. “Barren;” “Forsaken; “Desolate”—such are the terms applied to her by One who cannot err. And they arecorroborated by the testimony of a contemporary (Neh_1:3; Neh_2:3; Neh_2:13-17). But how is this? Have we not learnt that the Mediator has put away sin at the cost to Himself of wounds and bruises, stripes and death? Is that redemption complete which fails to grapple with all the results and consequences of wrong-doing? This opens up a great subject, and one that touches us all. Though our sin is forgiven, yet certain consequences remain, of which that ruined city is a type. We cannot undo the past; God Himself cannot undo it. It can never be as though it had never been. The seventy years of captivity, the shame, the sorrow, the anguish to God, the forfeited opportunities, attended by a multitude of hypocrites, and her courts were crowded with formalists, but the genuine children of Israel were sadly few; and when the Lord, the Husband of the Church, Himself arrived, the Church was in no happy condition. After that the Lords had been lain in the grave and risen again and ascended and left the Church, then were the days of refreshing, and the times of the visitation of the Spirit. At all seasons when the Church has been desolate and has become barren, God has appeared to her.

II. I now intend to use the text in reference to ANY ONE CHURCH.

1. There are some separate Churches which are in a very sad condition, and may most truly be said to be barren and desolate.

2. Brethren will ask me what is their present duty as members of such Churches? Your duty is very plain Labour to be conscious of the sad barrenness of the Church to which you belong: Spread the case before Jehovah, and be sure that you look away from everything that you yourself can do to Him, and to him alone. But mind you do not pray without proving the sincerity of your prayers by action.

III. THE POOR HELPLESS SINNER HAS HIS CASE WELL DESCRIBED BY THE PROPHET AS BARREN AND DESOLATE. “Barren! ah, that I am. I have not one meritorious fruit that I can bring before God.” You are desolate, too; no one can comfort you. Your barrenness is barrenness for ever if left to itself, and your desolation is utter and helpless unless some one intervene. May I ask you to look at the chapter which precedes my text? Jesus has taken the sinner’s sin upon Himself, and made a complete atonement; therefore, “Sing, O barren!” The mighty Redeemer has come out of His dwelling-place, and has fought the enemy, and won the victory. “Sing, O barren!”

IV. Does not this text belong to THE DEPRESSED BELIEVES? You and I, though we have brought forth some fruit unto the, Lord Jesus, yet sometimes feel very barren. What are we to do? “Sing, O barren, etc. But what can I sing about? I cannot sing about the present; I cannot even sing concerning the past. Yet I can sing of Jesus Christ. What is my barrenness. It is the platform for Divine power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love.

V. Our text ought to have a special voice to THOSE CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN DOING GOOD. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Gentile Church a joyful mother

I. THE CHILDLESS MOURNER. The passage is the present heritage of the Gentile Church. Gentiledom was for a long time without a spiritual child. Now she may sing over a multitudinous family of true Christians. Addressed to the Jews as a prophecy—showing, in their sadness and depression, that though matters looked so dark for the cause of God now, yet there was a bright and blessed hope. Cheers them, not so much by showing grounds of present rejoicing, but by providing a telescope by which they might behold “the good time coming.” We may here note—

1. One great use of prophecy. It can cheer when things immediately around cause depression.

(1) To a sad Church the minister should speak much of unfulfilled prophecy.

(2) The Christian, in the “present distress should do the same for himself 2Pe_1:19).

2. The imagery. It rings poetic changes on the idea of childlessness. Expressive imagery to Jewish women, who so longed for children, in hope of Messiah.

(1) Such should be the Church’s longing. Her prayer should be, “Give me children, or I die!” Bad sign when a Church seems content to be barren or to have no spiritual increase.

(2)When she remains without new births (or conversions), she should mourn. Contemplate the once barrenness of Christendom. Its comparative barrenness in vast tracts now, even in Christian England!

II. THE REJOICING MOTHER. Gentiledom for ages “unmarried”—“desolate.” When Christ came, He “called her by name,” and espoused her. Then how rapidly a family was brought forth. In Pentecostal times, what “multitudes were added to the Lord” (Act_6:7; Act_16:5). What joy this caused! (Act_2:46-47, etc.)

1. The great subject of the verse, the joy of the Church in multitudes of conversions. This joy of the Lord is her strength (Neh_8:10). She is then encouraged to labour with fresh zeal and hope in works of evangelization. Therefore “new births should be, as it were, registered; the successes of the Gospel should be published to evoke this healthful joy hence the reflex benefits of missionary gatherings.

2. Reasons for such joy. Not only because souls are saved, but because—

(1) Increase is a sign that God’s power is with His Church.

(2) It confirms our own faith. The more they are who believe what we believe, the more confident we must feel in the truth of our faith.

(3) It makes heaven appear attractive by the “sympathy of numbers.” We may use the text as a test How far are we in sympathy with the Church in joy over conversions to God? (R. Glover, M. A.)

9. EBC, “ON THE EVE OF RETURN

ONE of the difficult problems of our prophecy is the relation and grouping of chapters 54-59. It is among them that the unity of "Second Isaiah," which up to this point we have seen no reason to doubt, gives way. Isa_56:9-12 is evidently pre-exilic, and so is Isa_59:1-21. But in chapters 54,

55, and Isa_56:1-8 we have three addresses, evidently dating from the Eve of the Return. We shall, therefore, treat them together.

I. THE BRIDE THE CITY

(Isa_54:1-17)

We have already seen why there is no reason for the theory that chapter 54 may have followed immediately on Isa_52:12. And from Calvin to Ewald and Dillmann, critics have all felt a close connection between Isa_52:13-15; Isa_53:1-12 and chapter 54. "After having spoken of the death of Christ," says Calvin, "the prophet passes on with good reason to the Church: that we may feel more deeply in ourselves what is the value and efficacy of His death." Similar in substance, if not in language, is the opinion of the latest critics, who understand that in chapter 54 the prophet intends to picture that full redemption which the Servant’s work, culminating in chapter 53, could alone effect. Two key-words of chapter 53 had been "a seed" and "many." It is "the seed" and the "many" whom chapter 54 reveals. Again, there may be, in Isa_54:17, a reference to the earlier picture of the Servant in chapter 50, especially Isa_50:8. But this last is uncertain; and, as a point on the other side there are the two different meanings as well as the two different agents, of "righteousness" in Isa_53:11, "My Servant shall make many righteous," and in Isa_54:17, "their righteousness which is of Me, saith Jehovah." In the former, righteousness is the inward justification; in the letter, it is the external historical vindication.

In chapter 54 the people of God are represented under the double figure, with which the Book of Revelation has made us familiar, of Bride and City. To imagine a Nation or a Land as the spouse of her God is a habit natural to the religious instinct at all times; the land deriving her fruitfulness, the nation her standing and prestige, from her connection with the Deity. But in ancient times this figure of wedlock was more natural than it is among us, in so far as the human man and wife did not then occupy that relation of equality, to which it has been the progress of civilisation to approximate; but the husband was the lord of his wife, -as much her Baal as the god was the Baal of the people, -her law-giver, in part her owner, and with full authority over the origin and subsistence of the bond between them. Marriage thus conceived was a figure for religion almost universal among the Semites. But as in the case of so many other religious ideas common to the Hebrews and their heathen kin, this one, when adopted by the prophets of Jehovah, underwent a thorough moral reformation. Indeed, if one were asked to point out a supreme instance of the operation of that unique conscience of the religion of Jehovah, which was spoken of before, one would have little difficulty in selecting its treatment of the idea of religious marriage. By the neighbours of Israel, the marriage of a god to his people was conceived with a grossness of feeling and illustrated by a foulness of ritual, which thoroughly demoralised the people, affording, as they did, to licentiousness the example and sanction of religion. So debased had the idea become, and so full of temptation to the Hebrews were the forms in which it was illustrated among their neighbours, that the religion of Israel might justly have been praised for achieving a great moral victory in excluding the figure altogether from its system. But the prophets of Jehovah dared the heavier task of retaining the idea of religious marriage, and won the diviner triumph of purifying and elevating it. It was, indeed, a new creation. Every physical suggestion was banished, and the relation was conceived as purely moral. Yet it was never refined to a mere form or abstraction. The prophets fearlessly expressed it in the warmest and most familiar terms of the love of man and woman. With a stern and absolute interpretation before them in the Divine law, of the relations of a husband to his wife, they borrowed from that only so far as to do justice to the Almighty’s initiative and authority in His relation with mortals; and they laid far more emphasis on the instinctive and spontaneous affections, by which Jehovah and Israel had been drawn together. Thus, among a people naturally averse to think or to speak of God as loving men, this close relation to Him of marriage

was expressed with a warmth, a tenderness, and a delicacy, that exceeded even the two other fond forms in which the Divine grace was conveyed, -of a father’s and of a mother’s love.

In this new creation of the marriage bond between God and His church, three prophets had a large share, -Hosea, Ezekiel, and the author of "Second Isaiah." To Hosea and Ezekiel it fell to speak chiefly of unpleasant aspects of the question, -the unfaithfulness of the wife and her divorce; but even then, the moral strength and purity of the Hebrew religion, its Divine vehemence and glow, were only the more evident for the unpromising character of the materials with which it dealt. To our prophet, on the contrary, it fell to speak of the winning back of the wife, and he has done so with wonderful delicacy and tenderness. Our prophet, it is true, has not one, but two, deep feelings about the love of God: it passes through him as the love of a mother, as well as the love of a husband. But while he lets us see the former only twice or thrice, the latter may be felt as the almost continual under-current of his prophecy, and often breaks to hearing, now in a sudden, single ripple of a phrase, and now in a long tide of marriage music. His lips open for Jehovah on the language of wooing, - "speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem"; and though his masculine figure for Israel as the Servant keeps his affection hidden for a time, this emerges again when the subject of Service is exhausted, till Israel, where she is not Jehovah’s Servant, is Jehovah’s Bride. In the series of passages on Zion, from chapter 49 to chapter 53, the City is the Mother of His children, the Wife who though put away has never been divorced. In chapter 62 she is called Hephzi-Bah, My-delight-is-in-her, and Beulah, or Married, -"for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a youth marrieth a maiden, thy sons shall marry thee; and with the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, thy God shall joy over thee." But it is in the chapter now before us that the relation is expressed with greatest tenderness and wealth of affection. "Be not afraid, for thou shalt not be shamed; and be not confounded, for thou shalt not be put to the blush: for the shame of thy youth thou shalt forget, and the reproach of thy widowhood thou shalt not remember again. For thy Maker is thy Husband, Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy of Israel, God of the whole earth is He called. For as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit thou art called of Jehovah, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In an egre of anger I hid My face a moment from thee, but with grace everlasting will I have mercy upon thee, saith thy Redeemer Jehovah."

In this eighth verse we pass from the figure of clear through flood and storm in Isa_54:11. "Afflicted, Storm-beaten, Uncomforted, Lo, I am setting in dark metal" (antimony, used by women for painting round the eyes, so as to set forth their brilliance more) "thy stones," (that they may shine from this setting like women’s eyes,)" and I will found thee in sapphires": as heaven’s own foundation vault is blue, so shall the ground stones be of the new Jerusalem. "And I will set rubies for thy pinnacles, and thy gates shall be sparkling stones, and all thy borders stones of delight, -stones of joy, jewels." The rest of the chapter paints the righteousness of Zion as her external security and splendour.

II. A LAST CALL TO THE BUSY

(Isa_55:1-13).

The second address upon the Eve of Return is chapter 55. Its pure gospel and clear music render detailed exposition, except on a single point, superfluous. One can but stand and listen to those great calls to repentance and obedience, which issue from it. What can be added to them or said about them? Let one take heed rather to let them speak to one’s own heart! A little exploration, however, will be of advantage among the circumstances from which they shoot.

The commercial character of the opening figures of chapter 55 arrests the attention. We saw that Babylon was the centre of the world’s trade, and that it was in Babylon that the Jews first formed those mercantile habits, which have become, next to religion, or in place of religion, their

national character. Born to be priests, the Jews drew down their splendid powers of attention, pertinacity, and imagination from God upon the world, till they equally appear to have been born traders. They laboured and prospered exceedingly, gathering property and settling in comfort. They drank of the streams of Babylon, no longer made bitter by their tears, and ceased to think upon Zion.

But, of all men, exiles can least forget that there is that which money can never buy. Money and his work can do much for the banished man, -feed him, clothe him, even make for him a kind of second home, and in time, by the payment of taxes, a kind of second citizenship; but they can never bring him to the true climate of his heart, nor win for him his real life. And of all exiles the Jew, however free and prosperous in his banishment he might be, was least able to find his life among the good things-the water, the wine, and the milk-of a strange country. For home to Israel meant not only home, but duty, righteousness, and God. (Isa_1:1-31; Isa_2:1-22; Isa_3:1-26; Isa_4:1-6; Isa_5:1-30; Isa_6:1-13; Isa_7:1-25; Isa_8:1-22; Isa_9:1-21; Isa_10:1-34; Isa_11:1-16; Isa_12:1-6; Isa_13:1-22; Isa_14:1-32; Isa_15:1-9; Isa_16:1-14; Isa_17:1-14; Isa_18:1-7; Isa_19:1-25; Isa_20:1-6; Isa_21:1-17; Isa_22:1-25; Isa_23:1-18; Isa_24:1-23; Isa_25:1-12; Isa_26:1-21; Isa_27:1-13; Isa_28:1-29; Isa_29:1-24; Isa_30:1-33; Isa_31:1-9; Isa_32:1-20; Isa_33:1-24; Isa_34:1-17; Isa_35:1-10; Isa_36:1-22; Isa_37:1-38; Isa_38:1-22; Isa_39:1-8) God had created the heart of this people to hunger for His word, and in His word they could alone find the "fatness of their soul." Success and comfort shall never satisfy the soul which God has created for obedience. The simplicity of the obedience that is here asked from Israel, the emphasis that is laid upon mere obedience as ringing in full satisfaction, is impressive: "hearken diligently, and eat that which is good; incline your ear and come unto Me, hear and your soul shall live." It suggests the number of plausible reasons, which may be offered for every worldly and material life, and to which there is no answer save the call of God’s own voice to obedience and surrender. To obedience God then promises influence. In place of being a mere trafficker with the nations, or, at best, their purveyor and moneylender, the Jew, if he obeys God, shall be the priest and prophet of the peoples. This is illustrated in Isa_55:4-6, the only hard passage in the chapter. God will make His people like David; whether the historical David or the ideal David described by Jeremiah and Ezekiel is uncertain. God will conclude an everlasting "covenant" with them, equivalent to the sure favours showered on him. As God set him for a witness (that is, a prophet) to "the peoples, a prince and a leader to the peoples," so (in phrases that recall some used by David of himself in the eighteenth Psalm) shall they as prophets and kings influence strange nations-"calling a nation thou knowest not, and nations that have not known thee shall run unto thee." The effect of the unconscious influence, which obedience to God, and surrender to Him as His instrument, are sure to work, could not be more grandly stated. But we ought not to let another point escape our attention, for it has its contribution to make to the main question of the Servant. As explained in the note to a sentence above, it is uncertain whether David is the historical king of’ that name, or the Messiah still to come. In either case, be is an individual, whose functions and qualities are transferred to the people, and that is the point demanding attention. If our prophecy can thus so easily speak of God’s purpose of service to the Gentiles passing from the individual to the nation, why should it not also be able to speak of the opposite process, the transference of the service from the nation to the single Servant? When the nation were unworthy and unredeemed, could not the prophet as easily think of the relegation of their office to aft individual, as he now promises to their obedience that that office shall be restored to them?

The next verses urgently repeat calls to repentance. And then comes a passage which is grandly meant to make us feel the contrast of its scenery with the toil, the money-getting and the money-spending from which the chapter started. From all that sordid, barren, human strife in the markets of Babylon, we are led out to look at the boundless heavens, and are told that "as they are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways, and God’s reckonings than

our reckonings" we are led out to see the gentle fall of rain and snow that so easily "maketh the earth to bring forth and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater," and are told that it is a symbol of God’s word, which we were called from our vain labours to obey; we are led out "to the mountains and to the hills breaking before you into singing," and to the free, wild natural trees, tossing their unlopped branches; we are led to see even the desert change, for "instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Thus does the prophet, in his own fashion, lead the starved worldly heart, that has sought in vain its fulness from its toil, through scenes of Nature, to that free omnipotent Grace, of which Nature’s processes are the splendid sacraments.

III. PROSELYTES AND EUNUCHS

(Isa_56:1-8)

The opening verse of this small prophecy, "My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed," attaches it very closely to the preceding prophecy. If chapter 55 expounds the grace and faithfulness of God in the Return of His people, and asks from them only faith as the price of such benefits, Isa_56:1-8 adds the demand that those who are to return shall keep the law, and extends their blessings to foreigners and others, who though technically disqualified from the privileges of the born and legitimate Israelite, had attached themselves to Jehovah and His Law.

Such a prophecy was very necessary. The dispersion of Israel had already begun to accomplish its missionary purpose; pious souls in many lands had felt the spiritual power of this disfigured people, and had chosen for Jehovah’s sake to follow its uncertain fortunes. It was indispensable that these Gentile converts should be comforted against the withdrawal of Israel from Babylon, for they said, "Jehovah will surely separate me from His people," as well as against the time when it might become necessary to purge the restored community from heathen constituents. (Neh_13:1-31) Again, all the male Jews could hardly have escaped the disqualification, which the cruel custom of the East inflicted on some, at least, of every body of captives. It is almost certain that Daniel and his companions were eunuchs, and if they, then perhaps many more. But the Book of Deuteronomy had declared mutilation of this kind to be a bar against entrance to the assembly of the Lord. It is not one of the least interesting of the spiritual results of the Exile, that its necessities compelled the abrogation of the letter of such a law. With a freedom that foreshadows Christ’s own expansion of the ancient strictness, and in words that would not be out of place in the Sermon on the Mount, this prophecy ensures to pious men, whom cruelty had deprived of the two things dearest to the heart of an Israelite, -a present place, and a perpetuation through his posterity, in the community of God, -that in the new temple a monument and a name should be given, "better" and more enduring "than sons or daughters." This prophecy is further noteworthy as the first instance of the strong emphasis which "Second Isaiah" lays upon the keeping of the Sabbath, and as, first calling the temple the "House of Prayer." Both of these characteristics are due, of course, to the Exile, the necessities of which prevented almost every religious act save that of keeping fasts and Sabbaths and serving God in prayer. On our prophet’s teaching about the Sabbath there will be more to say in the next chapter.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,

stretch your tent curtains wide,

do not hold back;

lengthen your cords,

strengthen your stakes.

1.BARNES, “Enlarge the place of thy tent - The same idea occurs in Isa_49:19-20 (see the notes at that chapter). The curtains of thy habitations. The word ‘curtain’ does not quite express the sense here. It is commonly with us used to denote the cloth hanging round. a bed or at a window, which may be spread or drawn aside at pleasure, or the hanging in theaters to conceal the stage from the spectators. The word here, however, denotes the canopy or cloth used in a tent; and the idea is, that the boundaries of the church were to be greatly enlarged, in order to accommodate the vast accession from the pagan world.

Spare not - Do not be parsimonious in the provision of the materials for greatly enlarging the tent to dwell in.

Lengthen thy cords - (See the note at Isa_33:20).

2. CLARKE, “Enlarge the place of thy tent,.... To which the church is compared, because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; and because of its outward meanness and weakness, as well as its small extent; but now it is signified that it should be enlarged, and room be made for an accession of in habitants to it; or, in other words, that the Gospel church state should not be confined to Jerusalem, but should take place in other parts of Judea, and in Galilee, and in Samaria; hence we read of churches in those places, Act_9:31, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation; alluding to the curtains of which tents or tabernacles were made, which used to be stretched out on poles or stakes, in order to make more room, and hold more people. This may respect the spreading of the Gospel by the apostles, who may be here meant, and the success of it, especially among the Gentiles; who may be said to stretch out the curtains of the tent, the church, when, according to their commission, they went and preached the Gospel to every creature. First they travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching to the Jews only; but when they wholly rejected the Gospel, they turned to the Gentiles, and went everywhere preaching the word, Act_11:19, and their ministry was blessed to the conversion of multitudes, and Gospel churches were set up in all parts of the world. The Apostle Paul was an eminent instrument of stretching these curtains, who went from Jerusalem, round about to Illyricum, fully preaching the Gospel of Christ, Rom_15:19,

spare not: any cost or pains, to spread the Gospel, enlarge the interest of Christ, and increase his church and people; as did not the apostles of Christ, who may be supposed to be the persons here addressed: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; the curtains being stretched out, it was necessary the cords, to which they were fastened, should be lengthened, that they might reach further, and take in a greater compass; and the wider the tent is made by such means, the stronger should be the staves, and the more surely should they be drove and fixed in the earth, to hold the cords with the curtains bound unto them; all which express the enlargement of the church in the Gentile world, by means of the Gospel ministry and discipline. The Targum is, "multiply the people of thy camp, and strengthen the governors.''

3. GILL, “Enlarge the place of thy tent,.... To which the church is compared, because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; and because of its outward meanness and weakness, as well as its small extent; but now it is signified that it should be enlarged, and room be made for an accession of in habitants to it; or, in other words, that the Gospel church state should not be confined to Jerusalem, but should take place in other parts of Judea, and in Galilee, and in Samaria; hence we read of churches in those places, Act_9:31, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation; alluding to the curtains of which tents or tabernacles were made, which used to be stretched out on poles or stakes, in order to make more room, and hold more people. This may respect the spreading of the Gospel by the apostles, who may be here meant, and the success of it, especially among the Gentiles; who may be said to stretch out the curtains of the tent, the church, when, according to their commission, they went and preached the Gospel to every creature. First they travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching to the Jews only; but when they wholly rejected the Gospel, they turned to the Gentiles, and went everywhere preaching the word, Act_11:19, and their ministry was blessed to the conversion of multitudes, and Gospel churches were set up in all parts of the world. The Apostle Paul was an eminent instrument of stretching these curtains, who went from Jerusalem, round about to Illyricum, fully preaching the Gospel of Christ, Rom_15:19, spare not: any cost or pains, to spread the Gospel, enlarge the interest of Christ, and increase his church and people; as did not the apostles of Christ, who may be supposed to be the persons here addressed: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; the curtains being stretched out, it was necessary the cords, to which they were fastened, should be lengthened, that they might reach further, and take in a greater compass; and the wider the tent is made by such means, the stronger should be the staves, and the more surely should they be drove and fixed in the earth, to hold the cords with the curtains bound unto them; all which express the enlargement of the church in the Gentile world, by means of the Gospel ministry and discipline. The Targum is, "multiply the people of thy camp, and strengthen the governors.''

4. HENRY, “The bounds of the church were extended much further than ever before, Isa_54:2, Isa_54:3. (1.) It is here supposed that the present state of the church is a tabernacle state; it dwells in tents, like the heirs of promise of old (Heb_11:9); its dwelling is mean and movable, and of no strength against a storm. The city, the continuing city, is reserved for hereafter. A tent is soon taken down and shifted, so the candlestick of church privileges is soon removed out of its place (Rev_2:5), and, when God pleases, it is as soon fixed elsewhere. (2.) Though it be a tabernacle state, it is sometimes very remarkably a growing state; and, if this family increase, no matter though it be in a tent. Thus it was in the first preaching of the gospel; it was the business of the apostles to disciple all nations, to stretch forth the curtains of the church's habitation, to preach the gospel where Christ had not yet been named (Rom_15:20), to leaven with the gospel those towns and countries that had hitherto been strangers to it, and so to lengthen the cords of this tabernacle, that more might be enclosed, which would make it necessary to strengthen the stakes proportionably, that they might bear the weight of the enlarged curtains. The more numerous the church grows the more cautious she must be to fortify herself against errors and corruptions, and to support her seven pillars, Pro_9:1. (3.) It was a proof of divine power going along with the gospel that in all places it grew and prevailed mightily, Act_19:20. It broke forth, as the breaking forth of waters - on the right hand and on the left, that is, on all hands. The gospel spread itself into all parts of the world; there were eastern and western churches. The church's seed inherited the Gentiles, and the cities that had been desolate (that is, destitute of the knowledge and worship of the true God) came to be inhabited, that is, to have religion set up in them and the name of Christ professed.

3. This was the comfort and honour of the church (Isa_54:4): “Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, as formerly, of the straitness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children, which thy enemies upbraided thee with, but shalt forget the reproach of thy youth, because there shall be no more ground for that reproach.” It was the reproach of the Christian religion, in its youth, that none of the rulers or princes of this world embraced it and that it was entertained and professed by a despicable handful of men; but, after awhile, nations were discipled, the empire became Christian, and then this reproach of its youth was forgotten.

5. JAMISON, “(Isa_49:19, Isa_49:20; Jer_31:31-36, Jer_31:38, Jer_31:39). Thy children shall be so many that thy borders must be extended to contain them.

curtains — the cloth forming the covering of the tent.

spare not — give abundantly the means for the enlargement of the Church (2Co_9:5-7).

cords ... stakes — The more the tent is enlarged by lengthening the cords by which the cloth covering is fastened to the ground, the more the stakes supporting the tent need to be strengthened; the Church is not merely to seek new converts, but to strengthen those she has in the faith. The image is appropriate, as the tabernacle was the symbol of the old Israelitish Church (see on Isa_33:20).

6. K&D, “With this prospect before her, even her dwelling-place would need enlarging. “Enlarge the space of thy tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of thy habitations; forbid not! lengthen thy cords, and fasten thy plugs.” She is to widen out the space inside her tent, and

they (ו� has no definite subject, which is often the case where some subordinate servant is to be י

thought of) are to spread out far and wide the coverings of the framework of her dwelling, which

is called mishkeno�th (in the plural) on account of its roominess and magnificence: she is not to

forbid it, thinking in her weakness of faith, “It is good enough as it is; it would be too large.” The cords which hold up the walls, she is to lengthen; and the plugs, to which the cords are fastened, she is to ram fast into the earth: the former because the tent (i.e., the holy city, Jer_31:38-40, and the dwelling-place of the church generally, Isa_26:15) has to receive a large number of inhabitants; the latter because it will not be broken up so soon again (Isa_33:20).

7. PULPIT, “Enlarge the place of thy tent (comp. Isa_33:20 and Jer_10:20). The memory of the old

nomadic life caused the "tent" to be the symbol and representative of the dwelling-place. Israel will have so many more children that her "tent" will need enlarging. The curtains; i.e. the tent-cloth (comp. Exo_26:1-37 and Exo_36:1-38; where the word used occurs repeatedly). Thy cords � thy

stakes (comp. Exo_35:18; Exo_39:40, etc.). The ropes and tent-pegs, which kept the tent-cloth in place, are intended. The enlargement of the tent would make longer ropes and larger pegs necessary.

7B. PULPIT, “Divine enlargements.

The figure employed is taken from tent-life, and it is used in a similar way by Jeremiah. "My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains ' (Jer_10:20). "The Orientals have two kinds of tents—the one larger, and the other smaller; but both constructed much in the same way. They are sustained by poles, more or fewer in number, according to the size of the tent, but the tallest is always in the midst, while the others suspend the covering round the sides. This covering is made of a stuff woven from wool and camel's hair; it hangs down like a curtain over the side poles, and is fastened by cords to wooden pegs, which are firmly driven into the ground. Other cords, fastened at one end to the top of the poles, and at the other to pegs or stakes, keep the tent steady, and secure it against the violence of storms. As the family increases, it is proportionally enlarged, and requires the cords to be longer and the stakes to be stronger in proportion. One cause of depression, at the time of the return, was that so few of the Israelites responded to the Divine call, and it seemed hopeless work to attempt to revive the old glories of Jerusalem with such a feeble company. The divinely comforting assurances of the text are designed to revive hope and renew confidence. "The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation." And the promise was fulfilled. Those that first came out of Babylon were but forty-two thousand (Ezr_2:64), about a fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt; many came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be the greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet, above five hundred years after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a calculation was made by the number of the Paschal lambs, and the lowest computation by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb, whereas there might be twenty) made the nation to be nearly three millions. Further reference may be found to the enlargement of the Christian Church after Pentecost, and especially after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the scattering of the disciples which followed upon that sad event. The general topic suggested for consideration is the duty of cheerfully following on, when God opens before us wider and larger spheres of influence and usefulness, and the following points may be illustrated. I. IT IS WRONG TO FORCE OURSELVES INTO ENLARGEMENTS BEFORE GOD CALLS. II. IT IS WR

ONG TO HOLD BACK WHEN GOD DOES CALL. III. LARGER SPHERES, AND WIDER INFLUENCE, ARE GOD'S SIGNS OF ACCEPTANCE AND APP

ROVAL OF THE WORK WHICH WE HAVE DONE.

IV. THOSE WHO ENTER ON ENLARGED SPHERES NEED TO BE THEMSELVES ENLARGED.—R.T.

8. CALVIN, “2.Widen the place of thy tabernacles. He continues his argument under other metaphors,

and promises that the Lord will not only restore his Church, but will bestow upon her a condition far more excellent. They who think that the Church is compared in this passage to a synagogue are, in my opinion, mistaken, and only succeed in increasing the obstinacy of the Jews, who perceive that the Prophet’ meaning is tortured. I do indeed acknowledge that these things relate to the kingdom of Christ, and that they were at length fulfilled as soon as the Gospel began to be preached; but it does not therefore follow that the Prophet did not, at the same time, keep his eye upon that period which preceded the coming of Christ. This prophecy began to be fulfilled under Cyrus, who gave the people liberty to return, and afterwards extended to Christ, in whom it has its full accomplishment. The Church therefore conceived, when the people returned to their native country; for the body of the people was gathered together from which Christ should proceed, in order that the pure worship of God and true religion might again be revived. Hitherto, indeed, this fertility was not visible; for the conception was concealed, as it were, in the mother’ womb, and no outward appearance of it could be seen; but afterwards the people were increased, and after the birth the Church grew from infancy to manhood, till the Gospel was preached. This was the actual youth of the Church; and next follows the age of manhood, down to Christ’ last coming, when all things shall be fully accomplished. All these things must be taken together, if we wish to learn the Prophet’ real meaning. In this way Zec_2:5 Mal_4:2 and Haggai encouraged the people by the hope of their future condition, when they saw that little progress was made in building the temple; for they promised that “ glory of the latter temple should be greater than the glory of the former.” (Hag_2:9) This was not at all visible, and therefore they extended those promises till Christ; and by hope and confidence in him the people must have been encouraged to build the temple. Consequently, this consolation was common to the Jews who lived under the Law, and to us who see more clearly in Christ this restoration of the Church. The curtains of thy tents. The metaphor is borrowed from tabernacles, which were extensively used in that country. The Church is compared to them, because it has no solid building in the world; for it appears to be wandering and unsettled, in consequence of being necessarily moved from one place to another on account of various changes. But still I am fully persuaded that the Prophet had in his eye that former deliverance (as we have stated to have been customary with the prophets) when, being led through the wilderness, they dwelt in tents for forty years; for which reason they kept a public festival every year by the command of God. (Lev_23:39 It will be objected that the building which is erected by the ministers of the Word is so solid that it ought not to be compared to “” But I reply, this metaphor of “” relates rather to the outward aspect of the Church than to its spiritual and (what, may be called) its internal condition; for the actual building of the Church is nothing else than the kingdom of God, which is not fading or similar to tents. Yet the Church does not cease to be conveyed from one place to another; for it has no stable or permanent habitation. In short, its solid firmness is such that it surpasses the best fortified citadels; for, relying on the invincible power of

God, it scorns all danger. On the other hand, it resembles “” because earthly wealth, forces, and strength are not its support.

9. KELLY, “Nor is this all. "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy

habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on

the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess nations, and make desolate cities to be

inhabited" (vv. 2, 3). The land, the earth, must be filled with a suited seed; for Jehovah shall be king

over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah and His name one. Yea, Jehovah deigns to be

the husband of Zion, not now a mere testimony and display of responsibility of man under law, but in

the efficacy of grace when glorying is no more in the flesh but in Jehovah. "Fear not, for thou shalt not

be ashamed; neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the

shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy

Maker [is] thy husband: Jehovah of hosts [is] His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the

God of the whole earth shall he be called. For Jehovah hath called thee as a woman forsaken and

grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when rejected, saith thy God" (vv. 4 6).

Thus, and thus only, our chapter flows in its own proper channel: the exclusion of Israel by-and-by and

the appropriation of it to the church as its intended scope produce nothing but violence and confusion

by that interpretation. It is not true that God has forsaken the church even for a small moment, nor

that in a little wrath He hides His face for an instant from the Christian: such and so great is the

efficacy of redemption. Of the Jew as such it is precisely the present fact: as surely will He yet gather

in His mercy His ancient people for ever. "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great

mercies will I gather thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with

everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer. For this [is as] the waters

of Noah unto me; since I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so

have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart,

and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of

peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee" (vv. 7-10).

No doubt the application to the Maccabean epoch falls incomparably short of the terms of blessing,

and such views cast no small slight on the character of the word of God. But this is the fault, not of

scripture, but of its misreaders. A people are in question who, having once stood in full favour and

near relationship to Jehovah, forfeited it for a season, and finally are restored more than ever and for

ever. There is but one such people: impossible that God should fail to have mercy on Israel. Guilty

Christendom is doomed to destruction, and has no promise of restoration. Strong is the Lord God Who

is to judge the Babylon that is now, worse and guiltier far than her of old (Rev. 17 - 18).

10. LANGE, “Isa_54:2. As a measure of the greatness of the promised blessing of children, the Prophet

calls on Zion to widen the place of her tent, i.e., she must prepare an extended surface for the erection of her tent for dwelling. For it is not probable that î÷åí designates the interior of the tent. What follows of itself

shows that the extent of that interior will be great. ð ◌è ◌ä here does not mean “to stretch or strain” (Isa_44:13), but “to expand” (Isa_40:22; Isa_45:12). The third person plural is used in the sense of the indefinite subject=let them expand. The Prophet implies that Zion may become concerned lest her dwelling be too much extended, and that she would check the expansion.—He therefore calls on her not to do so: àìÎúçù ◌ëé , “do not oppose, hinder it” (Isa_58:1). For all the nations of the earth are to find their spiritual dwelling under this tent. Corresponding to the greatness of the tent, the ropes must be lengthened and the pins be set firmly. But it has been justly remarked that strengthening the

stakes refers not only to the greater resistance required for a tent of greater dimensions, but also to the fact that this is to be no more a momadic tent, but is to be a tabernacle continuing forever (Isa_33:20).

3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your descendants will dispossess nations

and settle in their desolate cities.

1.BARNES, “For thou shalt break forth - (See the notes at Isa_49:19-20).

And make the desolate cities - (See the notes at Isa_44:26).

2. LANGE, “Isa_54:3. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left. There appears

in these words to be an allusion to Gen_28:14, “and thy seed shall be as dust of the earth, and thou shalt break forth ( å ◌ô ◌ø ◌ö ◌ú ◌◌ ) to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south.” One sees from this passage also, that the Prophet does not merely name the right and left side (north and south) because breaking forth on the west would be hindered by the seas and on the east by the desert. But, spite of the comparison of the fastened stakes, the Prophet entertains the thought of an issuing forth in an appointed way. In such a connection the two lateral directions are ever named (comp. Gen_24:49; Num_20:17; Num_22:26; Deu_2:27; Deu_5:32; Isa_9:19, etc.).—When it is further stated: and thy seed shall possess ( é ◌ø ◌ù ◌ as frequently, Deu_2:12; Deu_2:21-22; Deu_9:1, etc.), the

nations, we must remember what has been already said by the Prophet, Isa_49:6;Isa_49:12; Isa_49:18, sqq. We learn from these passages that the seed of Israel shall not merely take possession of some nations, but of all nations, and not of lands by expelling the inhabitants, but actually of the inhabitants themselves. For these themselves shall become the seed of Israel. But Zion shall wonder to see herself surrounded by a countless posterity, and how she came by these many children (Isa_49:21 sqq.)—The

seed of Israel will also make desolate cities to be inhabited. That the Prophet does not mean the desolate cities of Palestine that are to be repeopled, appears from the whole context which has a much loftier aim. Men are not wont to choose desolated places for residences. Colonists prefer to lay out a new city, rather than settle in the ruins of an ancient one. But the seed of Zion penetrates to all nations and seeks out even ruined nations, destroyed and desolated regions. It has in fact the mission of bearing new life everywhere that men are found.

3. GILL, “For thou shall break forth on the right hand and on the left,.... To the south, and to the north, as the Targum, like an inundation of water, that breaks through and overflows the banks of the river, and spreads itself in the adjacent countries; or like a warehouse overstocked with goods, bursts the walls in which they are pent up; or rather as infants break forth from the womb at the time of birth, as Pharez did, from whence he had his name, Gen_38:29 see Hos_13:13, or as, when a country is become exceeding numerous, the inhabitants break out, and go forth beyond their borders, and seek new settlements, the place of their abode being too small for them; so it shall be in the latter day, through the vast number of converts that will be made; see Isa_49:19, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles; where formerly only Heathens lived, there the Gospel of Christ shall be carried by his apostles and other ministers; and being succeeded to the conversion of many souls, through the power of divine grace accompanying it, a spiritual seed, the seed of the church, shall take place, and dwell there; this was true in the first ages of Christianity, more especially in Constantine's time; and will be more fully accomplished in the latter day, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in: and make the desolate cities to be inhabited: such cities as were destitute of the knowledge of Christ and his salvation, and of all divine and spiritual things, shall now be inhabited by spiritual men, such as believe in Christ, and profess his name; such cities as Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Colosse, Philippi, Thessalonica, and many others.

4. PULPIT , “For thou shalt break forth; or, thou shalt

increase (see Gen_30:30, Gen_30:43; Exo_1:12). An overflow, like that of the bursting out of water, is pointed at. On the right hand and on the left; i.e. "on all sides" (comp. Gen_28:14). Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. The Christian Church is viewed as a continuation of the Jewish Church; and the conversion of nation after nation to the gospel is regarded as the extension of Jewish dominion over fresh lands. The cities of these lands—desolate hitherto, i.e. without godly inhabitants—will under these circumstances come to be inhabited; i.e. will be peopled by faithful men.

5. JAMISON, “break forth — rather, “burst forth” with increase; thy offspring shall grow, answering to “thy seed” in the parallel clause.

thy seed — Israel and her children, as distinguished from “the Gentiles.”

desolate cities — of Israel (Isa_44:26).

6. K&D, “The reason why the tent is to be so large and strong is given in Isa_54:3 : “For thou wilt break forth on the right and on the left; and thy seed will take possession of nations, and they will people desolate cities.” “On the right and on the left” is equivalent to “on the south and

north” (Psa_89:13, the speaker being supposed to have his face turned towards the east:

compare the Sanscrit apa�n, situated at the back, i.e., towards the west). We must supply both

west and east, since the promises contained in such passages as Gen_15:18-21 remained

unfulfilled even in the age of David and Solomon. Jerusalem will now spread out, and break

through all her former bounds (pa�rats is used in the same sense in

7. CALVIN, “3.Because thou shalt be multiplied. Now follows the reason why he commanded the

cords to be lengthened for enlarging the tents. It is, that a moderate space would not contain a numerous people, whom the Lord will gather into one from every quarter. Now, because Judea was hideous on account of its ruins and desolation, he says that the forsaken cities shall be inhabited.

4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.

Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

and remember no more the reproach of your

widowhood.

1.BARNES, “Fear not ... - (See Isa_41:10, note, Isa_41:14, note).

Neither shalt thou be confounded - All these words mean substantially the same thing; and the design of the prophet is to affirm, in the strongest possible manner, that the church of God should be abundantly prospered and enlarged. The image of the female that was barren is kept up, and the idea is, that there should be no occasion of the shame which she felt who had no children.

For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth - In the abundant increase and glory of future times, the circumstances of shame which attended their early history shall be forgotten. The ‘youth’ of the Jewish people refers doubtless to the bondage of Egypt, and the trials and calamities which came upon them there. So great should be their future prosperity and glory, that all this should be forgotten.

The reproach of thy widowhood - The captivity at Babylon, when they were like a woman bereft of her husband and children (see the notes at Isa_49:21).

2. CLARKE, “For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth - That is, “The bondage of Egypt: widowhood, the captivity of Babylon.” - Secker.

3. GILL, “Fear not,.... The fulfilment of these things; however unlikely and unpromising they might seem, yet God was able to perform them; and therefore way should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart: for thou shall not be ashamed; as men are, when disappointed of what they have been hoping for and expecting; but so it should not be with the church, she should not be ashamed of her hope, faith, and confidence; for there would be a performance of all that the Lord had spoken: nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness, which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts, which would be many; and of the straitness of the place of her tent or habitation, which would now be enlarged: neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; other words made use of to express the same thing, and for the further confirmation of it, that she needed not, and that she should not be put to the blush, or to shame and confusion, on the above accounts: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; by which may be meant either the small number of converts at the first preaching of the Gospel; or more especially that there were so few of the wise and learned, the rich and noble, that embraced it, with which the first Christians were greatly upbraided; or those persecutions which attended them the three first centuries, which, being now at an end, shall be forgotten: and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more; which signifies much the same as before, the seeming desolate estate of the church upon the death of Christ; when she seemed to be deprived of her husband, and forsaken by him, and left as a widow, and without children, barren and unfruitful; which was reckoned reproachful with the Jews, Luk_1:25.

4. HENRY, “This was the comfort and honour of the church (Isa_54:4): “Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, as formerly, of the straitness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children, which thy enemies upbraided thee with, but shalt forget the reproach of thy youth, because there shall be no more ground for that reproach.” It was the reproach of the Christian religion, in its youth, that none of the rulers or princes of this world embraced it and that it was entertained and professed by a despicable handful of men; but, after awhile, nations were discipled, the empire became Christian, and then this reproach of its youth was forgotten.

5. JAMISON, “(Isa_41:10, Isa_41:14).

shame of thy youth — Israel’s unfaithfulness as wife of Jehovah, almost from her earliest history.

reproach of widowhood — Israel’s punishment in her consequent dismissal from God and barrenness of spiritual children in Babylon and her present dispersion (Isa_54:1; Isa_49:21; Jer_3:24, Jer_3:25; Jer_31:19; Hos_2:2-5).

6. K&D, “The encouraging promise is continued in Isa_54:4 : “Fear not, for thou wilt not be put to shame; and bid defiance to reproach, for thou wilt not blush: no, thou wilt forget the shame of thy youth, and wilt no more remember the reproach of thy widowhood.” Now that redemption was before the door, Israel was not to fear any more, or to be overcome (as the

niphal$nikhlam implies) by a felling of the shame consequent upon her state of punishment, or so

to behave herself as to leave no room for hope. For a state of things was about to commence, in

which she would have no need to be ashamed (on bo�sh and cha�phe�r or hechpır), but which, on the

contrary (י', imo, as in Isa_10:7; Isa_55:9), would be so glorious that she would forget the

shame of her youth, i.e., of the Egyptian bondage, in which the national community of Israel was

still but like a virgin (‛alma�h), who entered into a betrothal when redeemed by Jehovah, and

became His youthful wife through a covenant of love (ehe = berıth) when the law was given at

Sinai (Jer_2:2; Eze_16:60); so glorious indeed, that she would never again remember the shame of her widowhood, i.e., of the Babylonian captivity, in which she, the wife whom Jehovah had taken to Himself, was like a widow whose husband had died.

6B. SPURGEON, “No Cause to Blush

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed" (Isaiah 54.4). (See How To Handle Fear)

We shall not be ashamed of our faith. Carping critics may assail the Scriptures upon which we ground our belief, but every year the LORD will make it more and more clear that in His Book there is no error, no excess, and no omission. It is no discredit to be a simple believer; the faith which looks alone to Jesus is a crown of honor on any man's head and better than a star on his breast. We shall not be ashamed of our hope. It shall be even as the LORD has said. We shall be fed, led, blest, and rested. Our LORD will come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended. How we shall glory in the LORD who first gave us lively hope and then gave us that which we hoped for! We shall not be ashamed of our love. Jesus is to us the altogether lovely, and never, never, shall we have to blush because we have yielded our hearts to Him. The sight of our glorious Well-beloved will justify the most enthusiastic attachment to Him. None will blame the martyrs for dying for Him. When the enemies of Christ are clothed with everlasting contempt, the lovers of Jesus shall find themselves honored by all holy beings, because they chose the reproach of Christ rather than the treasures of Egypt.

7. PULPIT, “Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; rather, of thy maidenhood; i.e. of the time when

thou wert a maiden, before by the covenant of Sinai Jehowth became thy Husband (Isa_54:5). The "shame" of this period was 'the Egyptian bondage. Israel's later condition would be such that the very recollection of this bondage would fade away and cease. The reproach of thy widowhood. Israel became a "widow" when Jehovah withdrew his presence from her, when the Shechinah disappeared from the temple, and the temple itself was destroyed, and Jerusalem was a desolation, and the people captives in a far land. The special "reproach of her widowhood" was the Babylonian captivity, with the sins that had brought it about. This too would be forgotten in the good time to come, amid the glories of the Messianic kingdom.

8. LANGE, “Isa_54:4-8. In the name ù ◌åîîä “desolate,” that is given to Zion, Isa_54:1, there is an

intimation of a dreadful catastrophe. There will then come a time when Zion will no more be the “married wife” as heretofore, but “desolate.” That will, any way, be a severe and alarming crisis. In reference to just this critical time, Zion is called on not to fear, for, spite of the blow that seems to threaten annihilation, she will not come to shame (comp. Isa_45:16-17). She is further exhorted not to become depressed by the sense of shame, for she will actually have no occasion to blush with shame (comp. Isa_33:9). Yea, she will even forget the shame of her youth, and remember the reproach of her widowhood no more. The Prophet, therefore, distinguishes two periods of that time that precedes the issuing of the new Zion out of its Old Testament shell, viz., the youth and the widowhood, and both are designated as periods of reproach. The youth is the commencement period until David. It is the period when the Theocracy had a miserable existence, distressfully asserted itself in the midst of heathen nations, sometimes, as in the days of Samson and Elijah seeming to be lost in the struggle with its enemies, especially the Philistines. The widowhood denotes the period of exile, not merely the Babylonian, but also the Assyrian and the Roman exiles. For just with the beginning of the last named was coincident the issuing of the New Testament Zion from its Old Testament shell. In what follows is given the reason why Zion need not fear being brought to shame (Isa_54:5-8).

9. CALVIN, “4.Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. Here, as formerly, he strengthens the hearts of

believers, and addresses the whole Church; for the calamity was universal, and the Church appeared to be totally ruined. He bids her be of good cheer, and next assigns the reason; that the issue of her troubles will be such that she “ not be ashamed;” as if he had said, “ for a time thou art wretched, yet thy affairs shall be prosperous;” and as it is elsewhere said, “ who hope in the Lord shall not be ashamed.” (Psa_25:3) Blush not; that is, “ good hope, and be confident.” Those men “” who are ashamed, and who, being disappointed of their hope, suffer their hearts to be cast down. He next assigns the same reason, “ thou shalt not be exposed to shame.” I consider that here, as formerly, כי (ki) signifies for; and therefore the same sentence is twice repeated under a variety of expressions, except that the former clause may relate to the disposition of the heart, and the latter to the external cause. But the more simple meaning of both clauses is, that it is a promise of success and prosperity, as if he had said that the calamity shall be

brought to an end. Yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth. This is a confirmation of the former clause. He means the calamities which befell the Church while she was still young, and the remembrance of which will be wholly obliterated by the prosperity which she shall afterwards enjoy. We mentioned a little before, that widowhood is a term used in regard to her, because God had forsaken, and, so to speak, had divorced her.

5 For your Maker is your husband—

the Lord Almighty is his name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

he is called the God of all the earth.

1.BARNES, “For thy Maker is thine husband - Both these words, ‘maker’ and ‘husband,’ in the Hebrew are in the plural number. But the form is evidently the pluralis excellentiae - a form denoting majesty and honor (see 1Sa_19:13, 1Sa_19:16; Psa_149:2; Pro_9:10; Pro_30:3; Ecc_12:1; Hos_12:1). Here it refers to ‘Yahweh of hosts,’ necessarily in the singular, as Yahweh is one Deu_6:4. No argument can be drawn from this phrase to prove that there is a distinction of persons in the Godhead, as the form is so often used evidently with a singular signification. That the words here properly have a singular signification was the evident understanding of the ancient interpreters. Thus Jerome Quia dominabitur tui qui fecit te - ‘Because he shall rule ever

thee who made thee’ So the Septuagint, (τι$κύριος$0$ποι2ν$σε,$κ.τ.λ. Hoti kurios ho poio�n se, etc. ‘For the Lord who made thee, the Lord of Sabaoth,’ etc. So the Chaldee and the Syriac. Lowth

renders it, ‘For thy husband is thy Maker.’ The word rendered ‘husband,’ from בעל ba‛al, denotes

properly the lord, maker, or ruler of anyone; or the owner of anything. It often, however, means, to be a husband Deu_21:13; Deu_24:1; Isa_62:5; Mal_2:11, and is evidently used in that sense here. The idea is, that Yahweh would sustain to his people the relation of a husband; that he who had made them, who had originated all their laws and institutions, and moulded them as a

people (see the note at Isa_43:1), would now take his church under his protection and care (see the notes at Isa_62:5).

And thy Redeemer - (See Notes on Isa_43:1-3.)

The God of the whole earth - He shall no more be regarded as uniquely the God of the Jewish people, but shall be acknowledged as the only true God, the God that rules over all the world. This refers undoubtedly to the times of the gospel, when he should be acknowledged as the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews (see Rom_3:29).

2. PULPIT, “For thy Maker is thine Husband; rather, for thy Husband is thy Maker. The verse is

exegetical of the terms, "married with" in Isa_54:1, and "widowhood" in Isa_54:4. "I," says the prophet, "have called thee married and widowed, thereby yoking thee to a husband, for thou hast a Husband, namely, thy Maker." (The Hebrew has both words in the plural, to accord with the following Elohim.) This relationship of God to his Church is often asserted by the prophets (Jer_3:14; Jer_31:32; Hos_2:19; So Hos_1:4, etc.), and lies at the root of the oft-recurring metaphor by which idolatry is called "lewdness," "adultery," or "playing the whore." Thy Redeemer the Holy One; rather, thy Redeemer is the Holy One. (On the title itself, see the comment on Isa_1:4.) The God of the whole

earth (comp. Psa_24:1; Psa_47:2, Psa_47:7; Psa_133:1-3 :18, etc.). Materially, he was always this. Now, from this time, he will be "God of the whole earth" morally; not God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles (see Rom_3:29).

3. GILL, “For thy Maker is thine Husband,.... That is, Christ, the Husband of the church, and of every true believer; who secretly betrothed them to himself in eternity, having asked him of his father; and, being given to him, openly espouses them in conversion, one by one, as a chaste virgin; which he will do more publicly in a body at the last day, when the marriage of the Lamb will be come, when he will appear as the bridegroom of his people; and to which character he acts up, by loving them with a love of complacency and delight, most affectionately and constantly; by sympathizing with them in all their troubles; by nourishing and cherishing them as his own flesh, and interesting them in all he is and has. It is, in the Hebrew text (k) "thy Makers, thy Husbands", Father, Son, and Spirit; though the relation of a husband is more peculiar to Christ; and the words are a reason of the church's fruitfulness, and why she need not fear the performance of what was promised her; and which is wonderful and amazing; he who stands in such a near and endearing relation to his church and people, is the "Maker" of all things, yea, their Maker, both as creatures, and as new creatures: the Lord of hosts is his name; of armies above and below, in heaven, and in earth; how great therefore must this their Husband be! to what honour and dignity are they advanced! how safe must they be under his protection! nor need they fear any enemy: thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; he who is the church's Husband is her Redeemer; and who so fit as he to redeem her from sin, Satan, and the law, and every enemy; who is of the same nature with her, so dearly loves her, and so able to save her? for which he is also abundantly qualified, being holy in both his natures, in his person and offices, in his birth, life, and death; for this seems greatly to respect him as man, as he was a descendant of the Israelitish nation, and of the seed of Abraham: the God of the whole earth shall he be called: not of Israel only, but of all the nations of the world, of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews; the earth was made by him; the world and all that are in it are his: he is the Governor among the nations; and in the latter day will appear to

be the King over all the earth, and will be owned as such; so great and illustrious a Person is the church's Husband. These words are applied by the Jews to the times of the Messiah (l).

4. HENRY, “This was owing to the relation in which God stood to his church, as her husband (Isa_54:5): Thy maker is thy husband. Believers are said to be married to Christ, that they may bring forth fruit unto God (Rom_7:4); so the church is married to him, that she may bear and bring up a holy seed to God, that shall be accounted to him for a generation. Jesus Christ is the church's Maker, by whom she is formed into a people - her Redeemer, by whom she is brought out of captivity, the bondage of sin, the worst of slaveries. This is he that espoused her to himself; and, (1.) He is the Lord of hosts, who has an irresistible power, an absolute sovereignty, and a universal dominion! Kings who are lords of some hosts, find there are others who are lords of other hosts, as many and mighty as theirs; but God is the Lord of all hosts. (2.) He is the Holy One of Israel, the same that presided in the affairs of the Old Testament church and was the Mediator of the covenant made with it. The promises made to the New Testament Israel are as rich and sure as those made to the Old Testament Israel; for he that is our Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. (3.) He is and shall be called the Lord of the whole earth, as God, and as Mediator, for he is the heir of all things; but then he shall be called so, when the ends of the earth shall be made to see his salvation, when all the earth shall call him their God and have an interest in him. Long he had been called, in a peculiar manner, the God of Israel; but now, the partition wall between Jew and Gentile being taken down, he shall be called the God of the whole earth even where he has been, as at Athens itself, an unknown God.

5. JAMISON, “(Isa_62:5; Jer_3:14). That God was Israel’s “Maker,” both as individuals and as the theocratic kingdom, is the pledge of assurance that He will be her Redeemer (Isa_43:1-3). Hebrew, “makers ... husbands”; plural for singular, to denote excellency.

of Israel ... whole earth — Not until He manifests Himself as God of Israel shall He appear as God of the whole earth (Psa_102:13, Psa_102:15, Psa_102:16; Zec_14:5, Zec_14:9).

6. K&D, “It was no real widowhood, however, but only an apparent one (Jer_51:5), for the husband of Jerusalem was living still, “For thy husband is thy Creator; Jehovah of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; God of the whole earth is He called.” The

plurals $ך$בעלי and $ך$עשי (see at Isa_22:11) are to be explained from the plural 'Elo�hı m, which is

connected with plural attributes in Jos_24:19; 1Sa_17:26, Ps. 58:12 (compare מרימיו in

Isa_10:15), and with plural predicates in Gen_20:13; Gen_35:7, and 2Sa_7:23. By such expressions as these, which represent all the plurality of the divine nature as inherent in the One, the religion of revelation, both Israelitish and Christian, exhibits itself as embodying all

that is true in polytheism. He who has entered into the relation of husband to Jerusalem ( ך$בעלי$ ,

not $בעליך, Isa_1:3) is the very same through whom she first came into existence, the God whose

bidding the heavenly hosts obey; and the Redeemer of Jerusalem, the Holy One of Israel, is called the God of the whole earth, and therefore has both the power and the means to help her, as prompted by the relation of love which exists between them.

6B. SPURGEON, “"Thy Redeemer."

- Isaiah 54:5

Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours for ever. All the offices of Christ are held on our

behalf. He is king for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title of the

Redeemer, let us appropriate him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The

shepherd's staff, the father's rod, the captain's sword, the priest's mitre, the prince's sceptre, the

prophet's mantle, all are ours. Jesus hath no dignity which he will not employ for our exaltation, and

no prerogative which he will not exercise for our defence. His fulness of Godhead is our unfailing,

inexhaustible treasure-house.

His manhood also, which he took upon him for us, is ours in all its perfection. To us our gracious Lord

communicates the spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us he gives the meritorious efficacy of a

devoted life; on us he bestows the reward procured by obedient submission and incessant service. He

makes the unsullied garment of his life our covering beauty; the glittering virtues of his character our

ornaments and jewels; and the superhuman meekness of his death our boast and glory. He bequeaths

us his manger, from which to learn how God came down to man; and his Cross to teach us how man

may go up to God. All his thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions, were

for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf, and hath made over to us as his heavenly legacy the

full results of all the labours of his life. He is now as much ours as heretofore; and he blushes not to

acknowledge himself "our Lord Jesus Christ," though he is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of

kings, and Lord of lords. Christ everywhere and every way is our Christ, for ever and ever most richly

to enjoy. O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit! call him this morning, "thy Redeemer. "

7. PULPIT, “God-worshippers outside Judaism.

"The God of the whole earth shall he be called." To our fathers the world seemed but small; to us it is great, and its bounds are ever enlarging. In olden times the few travellers came back with marvellous stories of griffins and dragons and mermaids, at which ignorant crowds gaped, but at which we can afford to smile. Now almost every part of the earth is searched again and again, and distant lands have become almost as familiar to us as our own. Men still chafe, indeed, because the vast northern seas will not yield the last mysteries which they conceal, though even the secret of the North Pole seems to be almost reached. How greatly our thoughts about God's world differ from the thoughts of our fathers! How greatly the thoughts of our own manhood and age differ from the thoughts of our youth! We find it difficult to realize to ourselves some of the opinions of our forefathers, and to fit them into the Word of God, as we read it. This especially refers to their opinions about humanity as a whole, and about the destiny of the race. England, "encompassed by the inviolate sea," is in danger of being as exclusive as was Palestine, hemmed in by the mountains, the desert, and the sea; and unless we watch ourselves, and resist the evil tendency, there may grow up in us a pride as unlovely as that which marked the privileged Jew, and made him brand all other nations as heathen, who were wholly excluded from Jehovah's love and care. The later Jewish prophets plead earnestly against that proud exclusiveness that led the people to think themselves the favoured of the Lord, and so to despise others. Prophets taught the people to look abroad, and see that God is working, both by his mercies and by his judgments, in all those nations around them which they called "heathen." The prophets, in effect, speak thus: "It is quite true that you are set in the midst of the world to be a witness and a blessing to surrounding nations; but it is equally true that those nations are set about you to be example and impulse and warning to you. God is dealing with them for their sakes and for yours, just as truly as he is dealing with you for your sake and for theirs." That there might be no ground whatever for the exclusive appropriation of God by the Jews, God says, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance" The nature

of God's relation to the entire race is the foundation of religious truth. All our religious ideas are toned by the view we take of this relation. Men but feebly grasp the notion of one only God, supreme in and over all things. They can much more readily grasp the conception of many gods, each one supreme in his own limited department. When God gives a particular revelation to one nation, that nation is tempted to say, "God is specially our God. He belongs to us, and to nobody else." So St. Paul's appeal needs to be heard again and again, "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?" No doubt we shall all agree that there is but one Creator, and that he who made all provides for all. tie is interested in all humanity; "his tender mercies are over all his works." But what a singular distinction.

7B. PULPIT, “The husband-figure for God.

"For thy Maker is thine Husband" (comp. Hos_2:16), "And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me, Ishi [my Husband], and shalt call me no more, Baali [my Lord]"). The figure Isaiah uses is that of the Goel, or next of kin, and this very suggestive and beautiful illustration may be taken from the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was a "next of kin," and on him rested the formal duty of recovering Ruth's property, if the nearest kinsman failed to do his duty. But all formal relations were swallowed up in the tender love that knit Boaz and Ruth together as husband and wife. I. THE CLAIMS OF GOD EXPRESSED IN THIS HUSBAND-FIGURE. The points to illustrate and enforce are two. 1. Claims come out of the love which brings us into such a relationship. Love-claims are altogether the most searching and the most sacred. The wife is bound with cords of love. In view of this relation we lose all sternness from the commands and requirements of God; love glorifies them. 2. Claims come out of the honour which such a relationship brings us. We must "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called." II. THE PROVIDINGS OF GOD ASSURED BY THE HUSBAND-FIGURE. The wife is in the care of her husband, and because of his care she is free from care. He provides for the supply of all need. Apply the figure to the anxieties of the Church in exile, when required to set out on the long journey to Palestine, and enter upon unknown scenes, that would surely be full of toil and worry and danger. Infinite comfort came from the assurance that they were not as lone and friendless women, in view of the perplexities and anxieties of life. They had one who would shield them and keep them. "Their Maker was their Husband." The two figures for God, Father and Husband, still are for us full of gracious assurances. Helpless children have a Father; lonely women have a Husband—"the Lord of hosts is his Name." III. THE PERSUADINGS OF GOD MADE THROUGH THE HUSBAND-FIGURE. The relation is a constant impulse to active duty. In the text it is a persuasion to energy in undertaking the journey, and impulse to the work of rebuilding the ruined city. It was persuasion to a bright and joyous acceptance of the Divine will, and a full belief in the largeness of the Divine restorations. Eastern sentiments concerning the protection and honour of having a husband put a keenness and fulness into this figure which we can hardly reach. What is evident to us is that God will put himself into any relation which may call out from us perfect trust in him.—R.T.

8. CALVIN, “5.For thy Maker is thy husband. He assigns the reason why she will forget all the

distresses and calamities which she formerly endured. It is because God will again receive her into favor;

for captivity might be said to be a kind of divorce, as we formerly saw. (Isa_1:1) He now says, “ who created thee shall be thy husband;” for such is the import of the words. He calls himself the “” of his Church, not only because he created the Church as he created other men, but because he condescended to adopt her as his heritage; and this privilege may be regarded as a new life. Although the Jews fell from their dignity, as men are speedily led to revolt,(63) if they are not renewed by the Spirit of strength, yet their spiritual creation was not wholly extinguished, for the remembrance of the covenant remained, and hence also God created them anew. Whose name is Jehovah of hosts. This refers to his power, that we may be permitted to glory in it., seeing that we are his children; for the greater the power of God, and the more honorable his name, so much the greater is our boasting, so long as we are his children and do not boast of an empty title. Now, the Prophet magnifies this kindness of God, that he condescends to have us instead of a wife, that we may be able to glory in his power and strength. Thy Redeemer. He calls himself the “” in order that he may more fully confirm the people in that hope; that, although the former deliverance appeared to be cancelled, because the people were again led into captivity, yet they shall be restored in such a manner as to know that the grace of God is not without effect. Shall be called. The verb, יקרא (yikkare) “ be called,” may refer either to the name “” or to the name “ One,” or to both I willingly connect both together in this manner, “ Holy One of Israel shall be called thy Redeemer, and the God of the whole earth.” (64) He employs the expression, the whole earth, because the name of God had formerly been, in some respects, confined to Judea, but, by the preaching of the Gospel, the Gentiles have been called to the same hope of salvation. (Psa_76:2) The Lord is “ God of the Gentiles” (Rom_3:29) as well as “ the Jews;“ for the Gentiles, though formerly “ off,” (Eph_2:13,) have been united to the Jews under his government. (63) “Comme les hommes sont incontinent destournez du droit chemin.” “ men are quickly turned aside from the right path.” (64) “Le Sainct d’ qui est ton Redempteur, sera appele le Dieu de toute la terre, ou, Le Sainct d’ sera appele ton Redempteur et Dieu de toute la terre.” “ Holy One of Israel, who is thy Redeemer, shall be called the God of the whole earth, or, The Holy one of Israel shall be called thy Redeemer, and God of the whole earth.”

9. CHARLES SIMEON, “. Thy Maker is thine Husband: the Lord of Hosts is his name. IN circumstances whether of personal or public difficulty it is well to bear in remembrance, that there is one who ordereth all things according to his own sovereign will, and who will never fail those who trust in Him. Doubtless the Jewish Church, at the time that the Prophet Isaiah wrote, and especially in the prospect of the Babylonish captivity which he predicted, was at a low ebb: but the prophet calls upon her to take comfort, in the sure and certain hope that God would fulfil to her all his promises, and enlarge her borders by the accession of unnumbered converts from among the Gentiles, who, in due season, should be received into her bosom, and aggrandize her in the eyes of the whole world. She might be assured of this; because, notwithstanding the bill of divorce which God had given her, he still considered himself as

her husband; and because He, who was her God, was also “the God of the whole earth.” In this promise we are interested, both as it respects ourselves and the world at large. I will therefore endeavour to unfold it to your view; and, for that end, will consider, I. The general idea here suggested— There is a peculiarity in the original which does not appear in the translation, which yet it is of great importance to observe. In the original it is, “Thy Makers are thine husband.” It must be remembered, that, at the first creation of man, it was said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness [Note: Gen_1:26.].” In that passage it seems as if the formation of man was a matter in which the Three Persons of the Godhead concurred: and the same idea is evidently suggested in the passage before us. The same peculiarity occurs also in the Book of Ecclesiastes; where it is said, “Remember thy Creators in the days of thy youth [Note:Ecc_12:1.].” Now, though these expressions mark a plurality of Persons in the Godhead, I should not think them of themselves sufficient to establish the doctrine of a Trinity in Unity: but when I find that doctrine so fully declared in other portions of Holy Writ, I cannot but regard these as very strongly confirming it. I feel that I can then account for, and explain, these peculiarities; which, without such a solution, must be utterly inexplicable. But, not to dwell on the mere words, I will call your attention to the great subject contained in them: which indeed deserves the more attention, because there is not any one image in which our relation to God is more frequently or more strongly marked, than in that of marriage. Look at it as stated in general terms— [Both the Old Testament and the New alike abound with this figure. God declares, that he was the Husband of his Church in the wilderness [Note: Jer_31:32.]. And, after he had put her away for her adulteries, he recalls her to him, saying, “Return unto me; for I am married unto you [Note: Jer_3:14.].” When our God incarnate came, even our Lord Jesus Christ, his forerunner, John the Baptist, pointed him out as the Bridegroom of his Church [Note: Joh_3:29.]: and our Lord himself also assumed it as a title which he bore, and a character he sustained: “Can the children of the bridechamber fast whilst the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them: and then shall they fast in those days [Note: Mat_9:15.].” St. Paul enters into the subject at large, drawing a parallel between the duties of the marriage relation, as subsisting amongst men, and those which we owe to Christ as the Husband of the Church: and lest we should confine our attention exclusively to the former, which appeared to be primarily, if not solely, in his contemplation, he particularly adds, “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and his Church [Note: Eph_5:32.].” But, to dwell on particular passages is needless; because a defection from God is, throughout the whole Scripture, called “adultery;” it being an alienation of heart from Him, whose right to it, as the Husband of his Church, is unalienable and universal.] But look at it as move minutely and distinctly marked— [Not to enter too minutely into a subject of such delicacy, we may notice his first choice of us, in order to the forming of this connexion with us. Verily, God’s choice of us was altogether the result of his sovereign will and pleasure, without the slightest measure of respect to any goodness or worthiness in us [Note: Deu_7:7-8.]. Having made us the objects of his choice, he “betrothed us to himself, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies: yea, he even betrothed us to himself in faithfulness [Note: Hos_2:19-20.],” engaging, that “he would be for us only and exclusively, as we also should be exclusively for him [Note:Hos_3:3.].” We have a further account of the very nuptials,

and the feast attending them [Note: Mat_22:2; Mat_25:10.], and the consequent union consummated and confirmed [Note: Son_2:4.]. Further, the end of this union is declared; “We are married to Christ, that we may bring forth fruit unto God [Note: Rom_7:4.].” All this is spoken of as commenced on earth: but it is yet further represented as completed in heaven; “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come:” (and, “Blessed are they which are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb [Note: Rev_19:7; Rev_19:9.]:”) and, “Come hither, and I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife [Note: Rev_21:9.].”] I conceive that this is sufficient to shew how largely this subject is treated of in the Holy Scriptures; and, consequently, how much we are concerned to investigate, II. The important particulars contained in it— Of course we shall confine ourselves to those great and leading particulars which will best mark the dignity and importance of the subject. The relation, then, of Jehovah as a Husband to his Church, may be considered as comprehending, 1. His union with us— [By the constitution of marriage, as formed by God himself in Paradise, the husband and wife were declared to “be one flesh [Note: Gen_2:24.].” So, by virtue of this relation, as subsisting between Christ and his Church, we are not only one flesh with him, (for “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones [Note:Eph_5:30.],”) but we are one spirit with him; as it is written, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit [Note: 1Co_6:17.].” Now this is an union far closer than any other that can subsist on earth. Indeed it most resembles that which subsists in heaven between the different persons of the Godhead: as our Lord Jesus Christ has said; “I pray for them, that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” v . “that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one [Note: Joh_17:21-22.].” There is between him and them a mutual indwelling, such as no language can describe, and no finite imagination can conceive [Note: Joh_6:56.].] 2. His interest in us— [Persons united in the marriage-bond have a mutual property in each other, and a mutual interest in every thing belonging to them. And thus it is between Christ and his believing people. The believer is Christ’s [Note: 1Co_3:23.]: and every thing which he possesses is Christ’s. “In no respect whatever is he his own [Note:1Co_6:19.]:” from the moment of his union with Christ by faith, he was altogether “in spirit, soul, and body, sanctified unto the Lord [Note: 1Th_5:23.].” The Lord Jesus Christ, also, has given himself over to the believing soul. The very weakest believer is authorized to say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his [Note: Son_2:16.].” Yes, verily, so it is; for “God is not ashamed to be called our God [Note: Heb_11:16.].” In truth, all that the Lord Jesus Christ is, and all that he has, becomes the property of the believing soul, and is all employed for his benefit. The wisdom, the power, the grace of the Lord Jesus are exerted in regulating the whole universe for his people’s good [Note: Eph_2:22.]. Yea, “the very glory which his Father gave to him, he gives to them [Note: Joh_17:22.]:” his throne is their throne, his crown their crown, his kingdom their kingdom [Note: Rev_3:21.]: they are in every thing “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ [Note: Rom_8:17.].”] 3. His feelings towards us—

[Not only will love be exercised by a husband in a way of fond endearment, but it will shew itself in all its diversified operations, according as circumstances shall arise to call it forth. Thus will the Lord Jesus Christ evince his love to us in every possible way. Not only will he “delight in us,” und “rejoice over us to do us good [Note: Jer_32:41.];” but he will sympathize with us in all our troubles [Note: Heb_4:15.], being himself afflicted in all our afflictions [Note: Isa_63:9.],” no less than participating in all our joys [Note: Zep_3:17.]. Certainly I feel, that, in speaking these things, there may appear to be a danger of exceeding the bounds of sobriety and truth: but God himself has taken the very image, and drawn the very parallel; and that so strongly, that we are in danger rather of falling short by reason of our ignorance and unbelief, than of exceeding through an over-heated imagination. “Thou shall no more be termed, Forsaken; neither shall thy land be any more termed, Desolate: but thou shall be called. Hephzi-bah; and thy land, Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee [Note: Isa_62:4-5.].”] Address— 1. Those who, through grace, have been brought into this relation to the Deity— [What terms can ever express the congratulalions that are due to you? Would it be deemed a just ground of congratulation, if you were united in the nuptial bond to an earthly monarch? How then must I felicitate you on having for “your Husband, your Maker,” “the Lord of hosts,” “the God of the whole earth [Note: ver. 5.]?” O! what honour has been conferred on you! and what blessings await you, both in time and in eternity! Remember what ye were when first he chose you: “Verily, your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite: and in the day of your nativity you were cast out in the open field to the lothing of your person, in the day that you were born. And when he passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, he said to you, Live: and then he entered into covenant with you, and made you his [Note: Eze_16:3-8.].” Think, too, how often you have given him occasion to put you away for your unfaithfulness towards him, and by a bill of divorce to dismiss you for ever from his presence. But he is “a God of all grace,” and, for his own great name’s sake, has borne with you even to the present hour [Note: Eze_20:9; Eze_20:14; Eze_20:22.]. Now, therefore, prepare to fulfil your duties towards him, and to walk before him in newness of heart and life. Whilst you reflect on your privileges, be mindful also of your duties. And be careful never more to “grieve his Holy Spirit,” or to “provoke him to jealousy,” by even the appearance of evil. Remember what even a creature expects from her to whom he is joined in these sacred bonds; and let your every action, every word, and every thought, be such as shall approve itself to Him “who searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins.” In a word, be ye altogether his, even as ye would that he should be wholly and altogether yours.] 2. Those who know him not yet under this endearing character— [O that I could prevail on every one of you to accept his gracious offers this day! Did Abraham send his servant to seek a wife for his son Isaac? Methinks I bear a similar commission from the God of heaven unto you. St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ [Note: 2Co_11:2.].” And this is the object of my address to you this day. O that ye knew who it is that often himself to you by my voice; and that ye considered how worthy He is of your affections! What is there that any one of you would desire in a husband? Do you admire wisdom? The Lord Jesus Christ is “the wisdom of God himself [Note: 1Co_1:24.].” Would you wish for beauty? “He is fairer than ten thousand, and altogether lovely [Note: Son_5:10; Son_5:16.].” Have riches or honours any attractions in your eyes? “His riches are unsearchable [Note: Eph_3:8.];” and “all the fulness of the

Godhead dwelleth in him bodily [Note: Col_2:9.].” What is there in the whole creation that can vie with him? What is there that is in any degree worthy to be compared with him? Behold, it is “He who now stands at the door of your hearts, and knocks [Note: Rev_3:20.],” and seeks admission into them. Know ye then the clay of your visitation. “Refuse not Him who now speaks to you” by my voice [Note: Heb_12:25.], and says, “Give me thine heart [Note: Pro_23:26.].” This only he requires, that you should renounce all others, and “cleave unto him with full purpose of heart.” These are his very words, by which he now addresses you: “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house: so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him [Note: Psa_45:10-11.].” Accept his offers, beloved friends, and give yourselves unreservedly to him: so shall the very angels in heaven clap their wings with joy [Note: Luk_15:7;Luk_15:10.], and all the glory of heaven be made over to you as your everlasting inheritance.”]

10. LANGE, “Isa_54:5. Although apparently no longer “married,” Zion still has an “husband,” and He is identical with her Maker. Can then the Maker suffer His work to be destroyed? Were that not a reproach to Him? And is it conceivable that Jehovah, who is the Maker here, will let Himself be loaded with this disgrace? Therefore He that is Jehovah, and indeed Jehovah of hosts, the Lord and Commander of all heavenly powers, He is the Maker of Israel and also its husband. What security in these titles? And the same is true of the predicates given to God in what follows. What kind of a â ◌à ◌ì ◌◌ä “redemption “must that be, that proceeds from the Holy One of Israel (comp. Isa_41:14; Isa_43:14; Isa_48:17)! Can He be faithless to His word, unmerciful, cruel? And beside all this, this “Holy One of Israel” is the God of the

whole earth (comp. Gen_24:3). He will therefore not have merely the will, but also the power to redeem Israel.—But if Jehovah was hitherto Israel’s Maker, Husband and Redeemer, why is He so no more? When we look exactly, He has not ceased to be.

6 The Lord will call you back

as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in

spirit—

a wife who married young,

only to be rejected,” says your God.

1.BARNES, “For the Lord hath called thee - This is designed to confirm and illustrate the sentiment in the previous verse. God there says that he would be a husband to his people. Here he says, that although he had for a time apparently forsaken them, as a husband who had forsaken his wife, and although they were cast down and dejected like a woman who had thus been forsaken, yet he would now restore them to favor.

Hath called thee - That is, will have called thee to himself - referring to the future times when prosperity should be restored to them.

As a woman forsaken - Forsaken by her husband on account of her offence.

And grieved in spirit - Because she was thus forsaken.

And a wife of youth - The Septuagint renders this very strangely, ‘The Lord hath not called thee as a wife forsaken and disconsolate; nor as a wife that hath been hated from her youth;’ showing conclusively that the translator here did not understand the meaning of the passage, and vainly endeavored to supply a signification by the insertion of thee negatives, and by endeavoring to make a meaning. The idea is that of a wife wedded in youth; a wife toward whom there was early and tender love, though she was afterward rejected. God had loved the Hebrew people as his people in the early days of their history. Yet for their idolatry he had seen occasion afterward to cast them off, and to doom them to a long and painful exile. But he would yet love them with all the former ardor of affection, and would greatly increase and prosper them.

When thou wast refused - Or, that hath been rejected. Lowth, ‘But afterward rejected.’ It

may be rendered, ‘Although (כי kı?y has often the sense of although) thou wert rejected,’ or

‘although she was rejected.’ The idea is, that she had been married in youth, but had been afterward put away.

2. PULPIT, “For the Lord hath called thee; i.e. recalled thee to himself—summoned thee to return, and

once more resume the office of a wife. As a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit; i.e. as one whom her husband has cast off, and whose spirit is grieved by the repudiation. No doubt a large number of the captives had the same spirit of penitence as Daniel (Dan_9:5-19). A wife of youth. One wooed and won in youth, therefore more dearly loved, more regretfully repudiated, more joyfully restored when seen to be penitent. When thou wast refused; rather, when she has been cast off. Jehovah takes back Israel into the old relationship, as a man takes back "the wife of his youth," when she has been for a long time "cast off."

3. GILL, “For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,.... That has lost her husband by death, is solitary upon it, is like one forsaken, and mourns for the loss of him; or is forsaken by a living husband, rejected by him, having a bill of divorce from him, and so she grieves at his unkindness to her, and the reproach cast upon her; as such an one was the church when it was first constituted, when the members of which it consisted were called out of the world by the grace of God, and formed into a church state; almost as soon as ever they were thus embodied together, Christ was taken from them by death, and they were left alone, and filled with grief and trouble: the apostles and first preachers of the Gospel were persecuted from place to place, and all of them lost their lives for the cause in which they were engaged; and the church endured grievous persecutions during the three first centuries, when she seemed to be forsaken of God, and was greatly oppressed and grieved in spirit. Some understand this of the Gentiles, and of their state and condition when called, as

described in Eph_2:10, but rather it may be interpreted of the Jews, now cut off and forsaken; and who, when they come to be sensible of their case, will be grieved and mourn, even when they shall be called and converted in the latter day; but I think the first sense is best: and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God; or, "and as a wife of youth (m)"; whom a man marries in his youth, and she a young woman herself, which makes it the more grievous to be despised, refused, and forsaken, or to seem to be so. The words may be rendered thus, "and", or "but, a wife of youth thou art, though thou wast despised" (n), or "refused, saith thy God"; that is, though thou hast been seemingly despised and cast off, my providential dispensations towards thee may be so interpreted by thyself and others; yet I am thy God, thy Maker, Redeemer, and Husband, and thou art as dear to me as the wife of a man's youth, for whom he has the most passionate love; and which agrees with what follows.

4. HENRY, “The seasonable succour and relief which God sent to his captives in Babylon, when they had a discharge from their bondage there, are here foretold, as a type and figure of all those consolations of God which are treasured up for the church in general and all believers in particular, in the covenant of grace.

I. Look back to former troubles, and in comparison with them God's favours to his people

appear very comfortable, Isa_54:6-8. Observe, 1. How sorrowful the church's condition had

been. She had been as a woman forsaken, whose husband was dead, or had fallen out with her,

though she was a wife of youth, upon which account she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill,

frets, and grows melancholy upon it; or she had been as one refused and rejected, and therefore

full of discontent. Note, Even those that are espoused to God may yet seem to be refused and

forsaken, and may be grieved in spirit under the apprehensions of being so. Those that shall

never be forsaken and left in despair may yet for a time be perplexed and in distress.

5. JAMISON, “called — that is, recalled: the prophetic past for the future.

forsaken — that had been forsaken.

when thou — or, “when she was rejected”; one who had been a wife of youth (Eze_16:8, Eze_16:22, Eze_16:60; Jer_2:2) at the time when (thou, or) she was rejected for infidelity [Maurer]. “A wife of youth but afterwards rejected” [Lowth].

6. K&D, “And this relation He now renews. “For Jehovah calleth thee as a wife forsaken and burdened with sorrow, and as a wife of youth, when once she is despised, saith thy God.” The

verb קרא, which is the one commonly used in these prophecies to denote the call of grace, on the

ground of the election of grace, is used here to signify the call into that relation, which did

indeed exist before, but had apparently been dissolved. Eך$קר is used here out of pause (cf.,

Isa_60:9); it stands, however, quite irregularly for the form in e�kh, which is the one commonly

employed (Jdg_4:20; Eze_27:26). “And as a wife:” ואשת is equivalent to וכאשת. The hypothetical

belongs to the figure. Jehovah calls His church back to Himself, as a husband takes back 'י תIאס

the wife he loved in his youth, even though he may once have been angry with her. It is with

intention that the word נמאסה is not used. The future (imperfect) indicates what partially

happens, but does not become an accomplished or completed fact: He is displeased with her, but He has not cherished aversion or hatred towards her.

7. PULPIT 6-10, “Superabounding goodness.

The prevailing thought here is the prevalence of God's goodness over his severity. For a small moment he had forsaken, but with great mercies he would comfort his people. Against the "little wrath" in which his face was hidden there was to be set the "everlasting kindness" with which he would redeem them. The largely preponderant, completely outweighing, superabounding goodness of the Lord is manifest on every side. We see it— I. IN THE NATURAL WORLD. There is a great deal of misery beneath the sky. How could it be otherwise when there is so much of cruelty and sin? But if we look long at all that happens as the direct result of God's handiwork, we shall find that "mercy triumphs over wrath," good over ill. There is a large and blessed preponderance of light over darkness, of pleasure over pain, of joy over sorrow, of hope over despair, of confidence over distrust, of fertility over barrenness, of plenty over poverty, of society over solitude, of life over death. But for the disturbing and destructive element of sin, this would obviously be the case in a very much larger degree than it is now. II. IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. The Church of God has been represented at different times by different communities. At one time by the suffering community in Egypt; at another, by the Church in the wilderness; at another, by the distracted society under the judges; at another, by the triumphant nation under David and Solomon; at another, by Israel in exile; at another, by the returned and rejoicing people of God who had. come home from captivity. It is now represented by the Churches of Christ scattered over many lands, and forming apparently many distinct religious bodies. Sometimes God has lifted upon his people the light of his countenance, and they have rejoiced in his manifested favour; at other times he has withdrawn his face, and made his people to feel the weight of his chastening hand. But upon the whole it has been found, and in the end it will be found, that his manifestations of mercy and grace have triumphed greatly over those of wrath and penalty. There were times in the history of the Jewish Church when its light nearly went out in the surrounding darkness, but it did not expire; by the Divine hand it was guarded and fed, and has now become, under other conditions, a glorious sun, giving light and heat to all the nations. Mountains and hills, in the shape of kingdoms and powers, have departed and been removed; but God's kindness to his Church will not depart, nor will his faithfulness fail. With everlasting kindness will God be merciful to the Church which bears the name, and teaches the truth, and extends the kingdom, of his Son. III. IN THE CAREER OF HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS. There is no uniform course which the life of piety is found to take; it takes almost every variety of ways. Sometimes it lies much in the sunshine and but little in the shadow; and sometimes it is shaded nearly the whole way through. And how many kinds of shadow fall on the good man's path! It is the apparent withdrawal of God's favour from his soul; or it is the false charge which takes away his fair fame; or it is overwhelming loss involving others as well as himself in struggle or even in penury; or it is early separation from those most dearly beloved. There is "the hiding of God's face;" the hour comes when nothing but the Master's words will utter the feelings of the heart, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But all this is temporary; nay, everything being counted, it is but momentary. God has in reserve infinite resources which, afterwards if not now, yonder if not here, will make up a thousandfold for all that he sends of trial and suffering. Let the faithful soul build on the immovable rock of God's integrity. Mountains may melt and hills may flee away, the foundations of the

solid earth may be broken up, but God's kindness cannot depart, because his Word cannot fail; that is the one absolutely and eternally impossible thing.—C.

8. CALVIN, “6.For as a woman forsaken. He meets a doubt which might arise in the minds of believers

amidst so distressing a calamity. It seemed as if the Lord had rejected them, so that they had nothing to look for but destruction. The Prophet therefore reminds them that they ought not to despair, because they have been thus forsaken; for God, according to his mercy, is ready to be reconciled, and is even willing to raise them from the dead. (65) And a wife of youth. He employs this expression in order that, by this metaphor, he may more fully confirm their hearts in that hope; for the hearts of young husbands are more easily reconciled than the hearts of older husbands, being attracted, and, as it were, driven forward by youthful age and tender love. In like manner, he shows that God will be easily reconciled. “ thou wast divorced; but the divorce shall not be of long duration. The Lord will show himself ready to be reconciled, and will even, of his own accord, be the first to invite thee to reconciliation.” (66) (65) “Et mesmes vent redresser celuy qui est au sepulcher.” “ even wishes to revive him who is in the grave.” (66) “ compares the Hebrew nation to ‘ wife of youth;’ that is, to a wife whom he married in youth, (Pro_5:18; Mal_2:14) towards whom he retained his former love. Compare Isa_62:4.” Rosenmuller. “ wife of youth, not merely a young wife, but one married early.” Alexander.

9. CHARLES SIMEON, “. The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great

mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting

kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto

me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go ever the earth; so have I sworn that I

would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;

but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the

Lord that hath mercy on thee. THE covenant of grace, as securing to the believer all the blessings of time and eternity, is not considered by any means so much as the importance of it demands. There is in the minds of the generality, a jealousy respecting it, so that they can scarcely bear to hear the subject stated as it is in the Holy Scriptures. But we must not conceal any thing; and least of all should we keep back from you that which is the fountain and foundation of all the other blessings which you either have or hope for. Certain it is that there is a covenant, called in my text, “The covenant of God’s peace;” the provisions of which are here set before us with singular force and clearness. The whole passage may be considered,

I. In reference to the Jewish Church— [To them it primarily refers. The Jewish Church is hero represented as a repudiated wife, put away for her unfaithfulness to her Maker, who calls himself “her husband [Note: ver. 5.].” Great and manifold were her offences against him: and most justly did she merit the displeasure with which on different occasions she was visited. In the days of the Judges she was often delivered up to her enemies, who oppressed her with the heaviest yoke of bondage: at last she was sent into captivity in Babylon: and at this hour is Jerusalem a desolation, having for eighteen centuries been trodden down of the Gentiles, and left without a temple, or priest, or sacrifice, or any ordinance whatever. Yet is she not finally cast off. Her Divine Husband yet remembers his covenant-engagements, though she has forgotten hers; and his oath will he fulfil, though she has violated hers in ten thousand instances. His wrath against her, though so richly merited, is “small and transient;” whilst the mercies which he has prepared for her are “great” and “everlasting.” “He has yet thoughts of love and peace towards her;” and will in due season restore her to her former privileges; yea, and load her with benefits far beyond any which she ever before enjoyed. The very “sun shall be ashamed, and the moon confounded,” in the day that he shall visit her with his mercies; so utterly will all creature enjoyments be swallowed up and annihilated by the manifestations of his love [Note: Isa_24:23; Isa_30:26. See the glories of that period described in ver. 11, 12. compared with Isa_60:13-22.] — — — Of this he graciously assures her, by a two-fold representation; first, in a way of comparison, and then in a way of contrast. At the time of the deluge, God promised with an oath to Noah, that he would no more deluge the earth: and appointed the rainbow itself (which, as being a reflection of the rays of the sun from the drops of rain, marked the actual descent of rain at the time) to be a pledge that he would fulfil his word. In like manner, says God, “I have sworn to thee, that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee” to thy utter ruin: and thou mayest regard the very afflictions with which I visit thee, as a pledge of thy future restoration: for “I will not make a full end of thee; though I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished [Note: Jer_30:11.].” Again: Of all things which may be deemed stable upon earth, the hills and the mountains may be regarded as the most firm and immovable: but, says God, the hills and mountains have been, and shall be, removed: but it shall not be so with you; for “the covenant of my peace shall never be removed.” The manner in which God speaks of himself, whilst announcing this determination, is yet further worthy to be noticed: for he does not call himself by any name that would inspire fear and terror, but by names importing the most tender love: not “The Lord” thy Creator, thy Governor, thy Judge; but, “The Lord thy Redeemer,” “the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Now it is this view of the covenant which encourages us in all our efforts for the conversion of the Jews: for we know infallibly, that they are not cast off for ever; that they are still beloved of God for their fathers’ sakes; and that in due time they shall be engrafted in again upon their own olivetree, and experience, Doth in a temporal and spiritual view, such prosperity as they never yet enjoyed even under Solomon himself. Our trust is, not in any efforts of man, but in the power and fidelity of God. And though in their present condition they are as dry bones, very dry, reduced to dust, and scattered over the face of the earth, yet are we sure, that, by the simple preaching of the Gospel to them, they shall arise, a whole army [Note: Eze_37:1-2; Eze_37:10.]. Yes, “the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this:” as we are assured by many similar declarations of the prophet Jeremiah [Note: Jer_31:35-37; Jer_33:23-26.] — — —] But the passage must also be explained,

II. In reference to the Christian Church— We do not approve of limiting to the Church of Christ a multitude of prophecies which belong primarily to the Jewish Church. On the other hand, we must not rob the Christian Church of that interest which she has in them. It is observable, that the very first verse of this chapter is cited by St. Paul as applicable to the Christian Church [Note: Gal_4:26-27.]: and at the close of the chapter all the rich promises contained in it are said to belong to her: “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord (whoever they may be); and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord [Note: ver. 17.].” Now, The Christian Church stands in the relation of a Spouse to Christ— [So it is represented through the whole Book of Canticles. So it is declared by the Psalmist [Note: Psa_45:10-11.]. The same is affirmed by our Lord himself [Note: Mat_9:15.], and by all his Apostles [Note: Joh_3:29. Eph_5:32. Rev_21:9.] — — —] But too often does she provoke the Lord to hide his face from her— [How often have the Church at large, and every member of it in particular, alienated their hearts from God, and adulterously placed on the creature those affections which were due to him alone! — — — Too true is that accusation which he brings against us, that “we have played the harlot with many lovers [Note: Jer_3:1.]” — — — What then might we not expect, if God should deal with us according to our iniquities? What, but that he should cast us off, and swear in his wrath that we should never more be received into his favour?] Yet still does “God remember his covenant” towards her— [“He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever.” He will not break his covenant, though we have broken ours: nor will he violate his oath, though we have violated ours times without number. “He will visit our transgressions with the rod, and our iniquity with stripes:” (and, if the chastening us with whips will not suffice, he will “chastise us with scorpions, even seven-fold more, for our sins [Note: 1Ki_12:11. Lev_26:18.]): “nevertheless his loving-kindness will he not utterly take from us, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail: his covenant will he not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips: for once he has sworn by his holiness that he will not lie unto David [Note: Psa_89:33-35.].” He knew what we wore, and what we should be also, if left to ourselves, before he chose us: yet did he bid us live, and spread his skirt over us, and entered into covenant with us [Note: Eze_16:6; Eze_16:8. Isa_48:8.]. It was on this very account that he in his covenant undertook to do for us all that related either to the pardoning of our guilt, or to the sanctifying of our nature [Note: Jer_31:11-12.]: and engaged, not only never to depart from us, but never to leave us to depart from him [Note: Jer_32:39-41.]. Of all this he has assured us by promise and by oath, on purpose that by “these two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest consolation, if we have fled for refuge to the hope that is set before us [Note: Heb_6:17-18.].” If our continuance in his favour had depended altogether on our stability, who would ever be saved at last? (It is of the grounds of our security that we are now speaking, and not of the means; of them we shall speak in another place.) Our final stability must be the work of his grace, as much as our first inclination to serve him: all our good works from first to last must be wrought in us by him [Note: Isa_26:12.]: and when he chose us, he chose us to the end, and to the means; or rather to the end by the means [Note: 2Th_2:13-14.]: and “his gifts and calling are without repentance [Note: Rom_11:29.].” Our security then rests upon the unchangeableness of our God [Note: Mal_3:6.], “whose compassions fail not [Note: Lam_3:22.],” and “with whom there is no

variableness, neither shadow of turning [Note: Jam_1:17.].” I again repeat, that he may hide himself from us, and for a long period too, as it may appear to us; for it is both his right and his property to do so [Note: Isa_45:15.]: but “his anger” will endure but for “a little moment;” and though our “weeping may endure for a night, joy shall come to us in the morning [Note: Psa_30:5.].”] In a review of this subject, 1. Let none, however desolate their condition may be, indulge despair— [This is the true use to be made of this important subject. Let not Jews despair of being restored to the favour of their God; but let them plead with God, as their forefathers did [Note: Isa_63:15-16.] — — — and accept the invitation which God himself has given them to return unto him [Note: Jer_3:12-14.]. Nor let Christians who are under the hidings of God’s face despond. Let not any of you ask, like David, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? This were only to betray your own infirmity [Note: Psa_77:7-10.],” and to shew your utter ignorance of God [Note: Isa_40:28-31; Isa_49:14-16.] — — — You will say then, What shall we do? I answer, Lay hold on God’s covenant, and look to him to fulfil every part of it. Approach your God with penitential sorrow, as the Church of old did; “We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Yet do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, break not thy covenant with us [Note: Jer_14:20-21.].” See how David pleaded under similar circumstances [Note: Psa_27:9.]: and resolve, as the Prophet Isaiah teaches you, “I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him [Note: Isa_8:17.].”] 2. Let none, however confident of their state before God, be guilty of presumption— [Of the book of God’s decrees we know nothing, but as it is made visible by facts. Respecting any man’s election to eternal life, we can judge only by his works. One thing is clear; that “he who committeth sin is of the devil;” and “he that doeth not righteousness is not of God [Note: 1Jn_3:8; 1Jn_3:10.].” Hence, if we are living in the wilful commission of any one sin, or habitual neglect of any one duty, we have no ground whatever to imagine that we are of the number of God’s elect. To fancy therefore that a work of grace has been begun in us, and to conclude from thence that God will carry it on unto the end, whilst daily experience proves that it is not carrying on, but that we are the willing slaves of sin and Satan, is only to deceive our own souls, and to surrender up ourselves an easy prey into the hands of our great adversary. Our wisdom is, to seek an union with the Lord Jesus Christ by faith; and not to be dreaming of privileges which we do not possess: for, as it is certain, on the one hand, that no man can be saved who lives in any allowed sin, so it is equally certain, on the other hand, that no one can ever perish who flees to Christ for refuge, and relies altogether upon him for “wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.” This then must be our daily work: and so far is the covenant of grace from superseding this duty, that it affords us our greatest encouragement to perform it; because it assures us, that we shall “never seek God’s face in vain,” and that “they who trust in him shall never be confounded.” Whilst therefore I would say to the trembling Believer, Look to “the covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure [Note: 2Sa_23:5.],” and expect God to fulfil all the promises of it to your souls; to the Unbeliever I would say, Look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to wash you from your guilt, and to renew you by his Spirit. Respecting the provisions of the covenant trouble not yourselves, till you have an evidence in your own souls that you desire deliverance from sin as much as freedom from condemnation: and get your souls

well instructed in a thorough experience of the first principles of repentance and faith, before you presume to build your hopes either on the secret decrees of heaven, or on any fallacious arguments deduced from them.]

10. LANGE, “Isa_54:6. He, in fact, calls Israel back to Him as a woman

forsaken (Isa_60:15; Isa_52:4), heart sore (properly, mortified in spirit, comp. Isa_63:10; Gen_6:6); as a man calls back the beloved wife of his youth, after having once scorned her.

7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you,

but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

1.BARNES, “For a small moment - The Chaldee and Syriac render this, ‘In a little anger.’ Lowth has adopted this, but without sufficient authority. The Hebrew means, ‘For a little moment;’ a very short time. The reference here is probably to the captivity at Babylon, when they were apparently forsaken by Yahweh. Though to them this appeared long, yet compared with their subsequent prosperity, it was but an instant of time. Though this had probably a primary reference to the captivity then, yet there can be no impropriety in applying it to other similar cases. It contains an important principle; that is, that though God appears to forsake his people, yet it will be comparatively but for a moment. He will remember his covenant, and however long their trials may seem to be, yet compared with the subsequent mercies and the favors which shall result from them, they will seem to be but as the sorrows of the briefest point of duration (compare 2Co_4:17).

But with great mercies - The contrast here is not that of duration but of magnitude. The forsaking was ‘little,’ the mercies would be ‘great.’ It would be mercy that they would be recalled at all after all their faults and crimes; and the mercy which would be bestowed in the enlargement of their numbers would be inexpressibly great.

Will I gather thee - Will I collect thee from thy dispersions, and gather thee to myself as my own people.

2. CLARKE, “For a small moment “In a little anger” - So the Chaldee and Syriac,

either reading רגז regaz, for רגע rega; or understanding the latter word as meaning the same with

the former, which they both make use of. See Psa_30:5; Psa_35:20, in the Septuagint, where

they render רגע rega by οργη, anger.

3. GILL, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee,.... The people of God seem to be forsaken by him when he hides his face from them, as it is afterwards explained; when they are in distress, and he does not immediately appear for them; when they are afflicted in body and mind, though these afflictions are but for a moment; nor are they really forsaken, not as to things temporal or spiritual; God never forsakes the work of his own hands, nor his people, at least for ever, or so as that they shall perish. Some interpret this of the seventy years' captivity of the Jews in Babylon, which was but a very short time; others of the times of ignorance in the Gentile world before the coming of Christ, which God winked at, when he overlooked them, and took no notice of them; but I choose to understand it of the time and state of the Christian church, during the ten persecutions of Rome Pagan, when it seemed to be forsaken of God, and to be triumphed over by her enemies: but with great mercies will I gather thee; they had been scattered about by persecution, but now should be gathered together in bodies, and have their public assemblies, and worship God openly, none making them afraid; which was fulfilled in Constantine's time, when Paganism was abolished, and Christianity established throughout the Roman empire; when public places for Christian worship were opened everywhere, the Gospel was freely preached, and multitudes were gathered by effectual calling, and brought into the Gospel church, which was now in a very flourishing condition; for this is not to be understood of the gathering of the captive Jews from Babylon, nor of the calling of the Gentiles by the ministry of the apostles, nor of the restoration and conversion of the Jews in the latter day, though this is more eligible than the former, and much less of the gathering of the saints at the last day.

4. HENRY, “The similitude is explained (Isa_54:7, Isa_54:8): For a small moment have I forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee. When God continues his people long in trouble he seems to forsake them; so their enemies construe it (Psa_71:11); so they themselves misinterpret it, Isa_49:14. When they are comfortless under their troubles, because their prayers and expectations are not answered, God hides his face from them, as if he regarded them not nor designed them any kindness. God owns that he had done this; for he keeps an account of the afflictions of his people, and, though he never turned his face against them (as against the wicked, Psa_34:16), he remembers how often he turned his back upon them. This arose indeed from his displeasure. It was in wrath that he forsook them and hid his face from them (Isa_57:17); yet it was but in a little wrath: not that God's wrath ever is a little thing, or to be made light of (Who knows the power of his anger?), but little in comparison with what they had deserved, and what others justly suffer, on whom the full vials of his wrath are poured out. He did not stir up all his wrath. But God's people, though they be sensible of ever so small a degree of God's displeasure, cannot but be grieved in spirit because of it. As for the continuance of it, it was but for a moment, a small moment; for God does not keep his anger against his people for ever; no, it is soon over. As he is slow to anger, so he is swift to show mercy. The afflictions of God's people, as they are light, so they are but for a moment, a cloud that presently blows over. 2. How sweet the returns of mercy would be to them when God should come and comfort them according to the time that he had afflicted them. God called them into covenant with himself when they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out of their afflictions when they were most pressing, Isa_54:6. God's anger endures for a moment, but he will gather his people when they think themselves neglected, will gather them out of their dispersions, that they may return in a body to their own land, - will gather them into his arms, to protect them, embrace them, and bear them up, - and will gather them at last to himself, will gather the wheat into the barn. He will have mercy on them. This supposes the turning away of his anger and the

admitting of them again into his favour. God's gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit of others; and it is with great mercies (Isa_54:7), with everlasting kindness, Isa_54:8. The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over against the other, that we may neither despond under our afflictions nor despair of relief.

II. Look forward to future dangers, and in defiance of them God's favours to his people appear very constant, and his kindness everlasting; for it is formed into a covenant, here called a covenant of peace, because it is founded in reconciliation and is inclusive of all good. Now,

1. This is as firm as the covenant of providence. It is as the waters of Noah, that is, as that promise which was made concerning the deluge that there should never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, Isa_54:9. God then contended with the world in great wrath, and for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting mercy; for he gave his word, which was as inviolable as his oath, that Noah's flood should never return, that he would never drown the world again; see Gen_8:21, Gen_8:22; Gen_9:11. And God has ever since kept his word, though the world has been very provoking; and he will keep it to the end; for the world that now is is reserved unto fire. And thus inviolable is the covenant of grace: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. He will not be so angry with them as to cast them off and break his covenant with them (Psa_89:34), nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and put out their name for ever and ever, Psa_9:5.

5. JAMISON, “small moment — as compared with Israel’s coming long prosperity (Isa_26:20; Isa_60:10). So the spiritual Israel (Psa_30:5; 2Co_4:17).

gather thee — to Myself from thy dispersions.

6. K&D, “Thus does Jehovah's displeasure towards Jerusalem pass quickly away; and all the more intense is the manifestation of love which follows His merely momentary anger. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, and with great mercy will I gather thee. In an effusion of anger I hid my face from thee for a moment, and with everlasting grace I have compassion upon thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer.” “For a small moment” carries us to the time of the captivity, which was a small moment in comparison with the duration of the tender and merciful love, with which Jehovah once more received the church into His fellowship in the person of its

members. רגע in Isa_54:8 is not an adverb, meaning momentarily, as in Isa_47:9, but an

accusative of duration, signifying a single moment long. Ketseph signifies wrath regarded as an

outburst (fragor), like the violence of a storm or a clap of thunder; shetseph, which rhymes with

it, is explained by A. Schultens, after the Arabic, as signifying durum et asperum esse: and hence the rendering adopted by Hitzig, “in hard harshness.” But this yields no antithesis to

“everlasting kindness,” which requires that shetseph should be rendered in some way that

expresses the idea of something transitory or of short duration. The earlier translators felt this,

when like the lxx for example, they adopted the rendering Rν$θυµV$µικρV, and others of a similar

kind; and Ibn Labrât, in his writing against Menahem b. Zerûk, who gives choWrı, burning heat, as

a gloss to shetseph, explains it by מעט (as Kimchi and others did afterwards). But, as Jakob Tam

correctly observes, “this makes the sense purely tautological.” In all probability, sha�tsaph is a

form allied to sha�taph, as na�shabh (Isa_40:7) is to na�shaph (Isa_40:24), and qa�mat (Job_16:8) to

qa�mats, which stand in the same relation to one another, so far as the sense is concerned, as

bubbling over to flowing over: so that the proper rendering would not be “in the overflowing of

glowing heat,” as Umbreit thinks, which would require �שטף קצף (Pro_27:4), but in the gushing

up of displeasure, the overflowing of indignation (Meier). The ketseph is only a shetseph, a vanishing moment (Jer. in momento indignationis), when compared with the true feeling of

Jehovah towards Jerusalem, which is chesed ‛o�la�m, everlasting kindness.

7. CALVIN, “7.For a little moment I forsook thee. The Prophet explains more fully the former

statement, and shows what will be the nature of this divorce, namely, that she shall be speedily restored to her former condition. He magnifies the mercy of God, and extenuates the sorrow by which the hearts of believers might be oppressed. It was not enough for believers to expect some revival, if they were not convinced that God’ wrath would be of short duration. We quickly lose courage and faint, if the Lord be not nigh, and if he do not quickly stretch out his hand to us. For this reason Isaiah, after having spoken of restoring the Church, adds that this divorce shall last but “ a moment,” but that his mercy shall be everlasting When he says that he forsook his people, it is a sort of admission of the fact. (67) We are adopted by God in such a manner that we cannot be rejected by him on account of the treachery of men; for he is faithful, so that he will not cast off or abandon his people. What the Prophet says in this passage must therefore refer to our feelings and to outward appearance, because we seem to be rejected by God when we do not perceive his presence and protection. And it is necessary that we should thus feel God’ wrath, even as a wife divorced by her husband deplores her condition, that we may know that we are justly chastised. But we must also perceive his mercy; and because it is infinite and eternal, we shall find that all afflictions in comparison of it are light and momentary. Whenever, therefore, we are pressed by adversity, we ought to betake ourselves to this consolation. At the same time it ought to be observed, that what was said was actually true as to the whole body of the people, who had been divorced on account of their wickedness; and although God did not receive all of them indiscriminately into favor with him, but only the elect remnant, yet there is nothing absurd or improper in addressing his discourse as if it had been to the same persons. (68) (67) “C’ comme s’ accordoit qu’ fust ainsi.” “ is as if he admitted that this was actually the case.” (68) ”En ce qu’ addresse sa parole a tous.” “ addressing his discourse to all.”

8. Lange, “Isa_54:7. Only a small moment did the Lord forsake His people. But this moment of giving pain He will make good again by so much greater mercy. The centrifugal ò ◌æá shall have a corresponding centripetal ÷ ◌á ◌◌õ (comp. the remark at Isa_43:5.

8 In a surge of anger

I hid my face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness

I will have compassion on you,”

says the Lord your Redeemer.

1.BARNES, “In a little wrath - The Syriac renders this, ‘In great wrath.’ The Vulgate, ‘In a moment of indignation.’ The Septuagint, ‘In a little wrath.’ (Noyes renders it in accordance with the view of Rosenmuller, ‘In overflowing wrath.’ This variety of interpretation has arisen from

the various meanings affixed to the unusual word שצף shetsep. This word occurs nowhere else in

the Bible. Gesenius supposes that it is used for the sake of paronomasia with קצף qetsep, ‘wrath,’

instead of שטף shetʖep. This word frequently occurs, and means a gushing out, an overflowing, an

inundation, a flood Neh_1:8; Job_38:25; Psa_32:6; Pro_27:4. According to this it would mean, ‘in my overflowing anger,’ in accordance with the expression in Pro_27:4, ‘anger is outrageous,’ more correctly in the margin, ‘An overflowing.’ The parallelism, however, seems to demand the sense of short or momentary, as it stands opposed to ‘everlasting.’ But it is not possible to demonstrate that the Hebrew word has this signification. Rosenmuller agrees with Gesenius in the opinion that it should be rendered ‘In overflowing wrath;’ and perhaps as the parallelism of the word ‘everlasting’ will be sufficiently secured by the phrase ‘for a moment,’ the probability is in favor of this interpretation. Then it will mean that the wrath, though it was but for a moment, was overflowing. It was like a deluge; and all their institutions, their city, their temple, their valued possessions, were swept away.

I hid my face from thee - This is expressive of displeasure (see the note at Isa_53:3; compare Job_13:24; Job_34:29; Psa_30:7; Psa_44:24; Isa_8:17). Here it refers to the displeasure which he had manifested in the punishment which he brought on them in Babylon.

For a moment - (See the note at Isa_54:7). This stands opposed to the ‘everlasting kindness’ which he would show to them.

But with everlasting kindness - This is true:

1. Of the church at large under the Messiah. It is the object of the unchanging affection and favor of God.

2. Of each individual Christian. He will make him blessed in an eternal heaven.

2. CLARKE, “I hid my face from thee for a moment - The word רגע rega is omitted by

the Septuagint, Syriac, and two MSS. of Kennicott’s, and two of De Rossi’s. It seems to

embarrass rather than to help the sentence. Forte reponi debet pro שצף shetseph, quod potest a

שצף ketseph errore scribae originem duxisse. “Perhaps it ought to be substituted for קצף

shetseph, an error probably made by some scribe from its similarity to קצף ketseph.” - Secker

Thy Redeemer - גאלך goalech: but for this word three of De Rossi’s MSS. have רחמךמ

merachamech, thy commiserator.

3. GILL, “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment,.... This signifies much the same as before, when God hides his face from his people, withdraws his gracious presence, and does not grant the discoveries of his love; or they are under the frowns of his providence, and have not the smiles of his face and the light of his countenance as formerly, then they think they are forsaken by him; though all this is but for a moment, a small period of time; and though it seems to be in "wrath", it is but "little wrath"; and this wrath is no other than the displeasure of a loving and tender hearted father. The Syriac version renders it, "great wrath"; and so Schultens (o) thinks the word signifies "overflowing wrath" (p), and the vehemency of it; to which agrees R. Menachem (q), who interprets it, "the heat of wrath"; so the Lord's suffering such a scene of bloody persecutions to attend his church in the first ages of Christianity might seem to be: but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer; all the dealings of God with his people, however dark and dismal they be, whatever appearances there are in them of wrath and displeasure, they are all agreeable to, and do not contradict, his everlasting love; and sooner or later he will make it manifest, he has mercy in store for his people, which he does and will exercise towards them; this mercy flows from his love and kindness to them, which kindness is everlasting, and continues in and through all states and conditions into which they come; the consideration of which is very comfortable and encouraging, and of which they may be assured from the relation the Lord stands in to them as their Redeemer; for, having redeemed them at the expense of his blood, he will effectually gather them by grace in calling, and will never lose them, or suffer them to perish here or hereafter.

4. HENRY, “

5. JAMISON, “In a little wrath — rather, “In the overflowing of wrath”; as Pro_27:4, Margin, [Gesenius]. The wrath, though but “for a moment,” was overflowing while it lasted.

hid ... face — (Isa_8:17; Psa_30:7).

everlasting — in contrast to “for a moment.”

6. PULPIT, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee. The sixty or seventy years of the Captivity were

but as a moment of time compared with the long ages during which God had tenderly watched over and protected his Church, and, still more, compared with the eternity during which he was now about to show himself her constant Guardian and Protector. There had been a little wrath; or rather, one burst of wrath; and then Mercy had resumed her sway. The face hid for a moment had been allowed once more to shine upon the afflicted people; and the momentary indignation would be followed by, and swallowed up in, ever-lasting kindness.

7. Lange. “Isa_54:8, states the occasion of this momentary infliction of pain. It was the welling up of

wrath, which, however, only prompted a momentary hiding of the face (comp. Isa_8:17; Isa_59:2; Isa_64:6).— ù ◌◌ö ◌ó has plainly the same meaning as ù ◌◌è ◌ó “super-abundance,” that is often used of a great flood of water and welling up of anger (Pro_27:4; Psa_32:6; Job_38:25; comp. Isa_8:8; Isa_30:28; Isa_66:12). But here, as the antithesis of “everlasting kindness, it does not mean a lasting overflow, but only a momentary boiling over, like, say, the boiling over of a kettle. Therefore I allow myself to translate “in Gluth der Wuth” [an effort to copy the paronomasia of the original. See other attempts quoted in J. A. Alex., in loc.—Tr.]

8. CALVIN, “8.In a moment of wrath. He again repeats and enforces this statement, in order to

impress it more deeply on the hearts of believers, that they may not be at all discouraged by adversity, and with good reason; for, amidst that frightful darkness, it was not easy for the captives to behold God’ smiling face. And although the literal sense in which the “” is here said to last but for “ moment” (69) be, that God in due time brought back the captives to their native country, yet we draw from it a general doctrine, that the afflictions of the Church are always momentary, when we raise our eyes to its eternal happiness. We ought to remember what Paul has taught us, (2Co_4:17) that all the afflictions of believers are light and easy to be endured, and are justly considered to be momentary, while they look at the “ weight of glory;” for if we do not attend to this comparison, every day will seem to us like a year. There would be no propriety in comparing the seventy years of the captivity of the Jews to “ moment,” if it were not contrasted with the uninterrupted progress of the grace of God. (69) In explaining the words קצף בשצף (beshetzeph ketzeph,) commentators differ, being uncertain as to the meaning of the word; שצף, (shetzeph.) Most commentators, on no other grounds, as Kimchi himself acknowledges, than the context of this passage, think that it denotes ‘ little,’ which some, concurring with the Chaldee interpreter, refer to ‘ little time;‘ but as this is afterwards expressed by the word רגע, (regang,) others refer it to ‘ small measure,’ agreeing with the Septuagint, which translate it ἐν Θυµῷ µικρῷ, ‘ a short time,’ compared with Zec_1:15. But A. Schultens, in his Animadversiones Philologicae on this passage, has justly remarked that there are good grounds for hesitation as to this received interpretation, because in none of the cognate languages can any trace of this meaning of the word; שצף (shetzeph) be found, nor even from the context is it very evident. By comparison with an Arabic root, he makes it signify ‘ vehemence of wrath I hid,’ etc. ‘ great wrath’ is the sense justly expressed by the Syriac version.” - Rosenmuller

9 “To me this is like the days of Noah,

when I swore that the waters of Noah would never

again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,

never to rebuke you again.

1.BARNES, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me - As it was in the time of the flood of waters, so shall it be now. ‘I then solemnly promised that the waters should not again drown the earth, and I have kept that promise. I now promise with equal solemnity that I will bestow perpetual favor on my true people, and will shed upon them eternal and unchanging blessings.’ ‘The waters of Noah,’ here mean evidently the flood that came upon the world in his time, and from which he and his family were saved. Lowth, on the authority of one manuscript and of the Vulgate, Syriac, Symmachus, and Theodotion, reads this, ‘In the days of Noah? But the authority is not sufficient to change the Hebrew text, and the sense is as clear as if it were changed.

As I have sworn - Gen_8:21-22. God appeals to this not only because the oath and promise had been made, but because it had been kept.

That I would not be wroth - The idea seems here to be that no calamities should spread over the whole church, and sweep it away, as the waters swept over the world in the time of Noah, or as desolation swept over Jerusalem and the whole land of Canaan in the time of the exile at Babylon. There would be indeed persecutions and calamities, but the church would be safe amidst all these trials. The period would never arrive when God would forsake the church, and when he would leave it to perish. One has only to recollect how God has guarded the church, even during the most dangerous periods, to see how remarkably this has been fulfilled. His covenant has been as sure as that which was made with Noah, and it will be as secure and firm to the end of time.

2. CLARKE, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me “The same will I do now,

as in the days of Noah” - כימי kimey, in one word, in a MS., and some editions; and so the

Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate, Symmachus, Theodotion, Abarbanel, Sal. ben Melec, and Kimchi acknowledge that their copies vary in this place.

It is certain that these two words מי$כי ki$mey, were written formerly as one. Taken as two מי$כי

ki$mey, they signify for as the waters - when as one, כימי kimey, they signify as the days. This

latter reading is found in about four of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. In one of my own it appears to have been intended as one word: but he who added the points, which are by a much later hand than the MS. itself, has pointed the letters so as to make the two words which are commonly found in the text. For the waters, Symmachus, Theodotion, the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic have days. The former seems to make the best sense; and the ancient Versions, except the Septuagint, support it.

3. GILL, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me,.... Some copies, as Kimchi and Ben

Melech observe, read these two words, מי$כי , as one, thus, כימי, "as the days of Noah"; and this is

followed by the Targum, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions; both readings may be kept, and joined in one, and the sense be, "for this is as the waters that were in the days of Noah unto me"; so Kimchi and Menachem join them. The meaning is, that God's dispensation towards his people, at the time the prophecy refers to, is like that of his to Noah and his family; and the love he bears to them is like that which he bore to him; and the covenant he has made with them is as that he made with him: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; he gave his word for it, which is as firm as his oath; he made a covenant with Noah, and confirmed it by a rainbow, that the waters should no more go over the earth as they had, and that the world should be no more destroyed by a flood, Gen_9:9, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee; for though the Lord's people are by nature children of wrath, as others, he has not appointed them to it, nor will he suffer it to fall upon them, but saves them from it through the righteousness of Christ, who has borne it for them; and though he rebukes by his Spirit, by his word and ministers, and by his providences, yet not in wrath, but in love; and of this he has given the strongest assurances; he has not only said it, but swore to it in covenant, Psa_89:3. The Jews (r) refer this prophecy to the times of the Messiah.

4. HENRY, “This is as firm as the covenant of providence. It is as the waters of Noah, that is, as that promise which was made concerning the deluge that there should never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, Isa_54:9. God then contended with the world in great wrath, and for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting mercy; for he gave his word, which was as inviolable as his oath, that Noah's flood should never return, that he would never drown the world again; see Gen_8:21, Gen_8:22; Gen_9:11. And God has ever since kept his word, though the world has been very provoking; and he will keep it to the end; for the world that now is is reserved unto fire. And thus inviolable is the covenant of grace: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. He will not be so angry with them as to cast them off and break his covenant with them (Psa_89:34), nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and put out their name for ever and ever, Psa_9:5.

5. JAMISON, “I am about to do the same in this instance as in Noah’s flood. As I swore then that it should not return (Gen_8:21; Gen_9:11), and I kept that promise, so I swear now to My people, and will perform My promise, that there shall be no return of the deluge of My wrath upon them. Lowth, on insufficient authority, reads (the same will I do now as), “in the days of Noah.”

6. K&D, “The ground of this “everlasting kindness” is given in Isa_54:9 : “For it is now as at the waters of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should not overflow the earth any more; so have I sworn not to be wroth with thee, and not to threaten thee.” The commencement of this v. has been a fluctuating one from the earliest times. The Sept. reading is

'י־ and even the Codd. read sometimes ;'ימי ,.that of the Targ., S., Jerome, Syriac, and Saad ;מIי

compare Mat_24:37, aσπερ$αc$dµέραι$τοf$Ν2ε$οhτως$κ.τ.λ - a passage which) 'ימי sometimes ,מי

appears to derive its shape from the one before us, with the reading כימי, and which is

expounded in Luk_17:26). If we read כימי, the word זאת must refer to the present, as the turning-

point between wrath and mercy; but if we read זאת ,כי־מי denotes the pouring out of wrath in

connection with the captivity. Both readings are admissible; and as even the Septuagint, with its

jπk$τοf$hδατος (from the water), gives an indirect support to the reading ימי' as one word, this

may probably merit the preference, as the one best sustained. אשר is ubi, quum, as in

Num_20:13; Psa_95:9, etc., although it might also be taken as the correlate of the ke�n which

follows, as in Jer_33:22 (cf., Isa_48:8); and in accordance with the accents, we prefer the former. The present turning-point resembles, in Jehovah's esteem, the days of Noah - those days in which He swore that a flood should not any more come upon the earth (min as in Isa_5:6 and many other passages): for so does He now confirm with an oath His fixed purpose that no such

judgment of wrath as that which has just been endured shall ever fall upon Jerusalem again (ערm denotes threatening with a judicial word, which passes at once into effect, as in Isa_51:20). Hendewerk has the following quibbling remark here: “What the comparison with the flood is worth, we may gather from the alter history, which shows how soon the new Jerusalem and the renovated state succumbed to the judicial wrath of God again.” To this we reply: (1.) That the prophecy refers to the converted Israel of the last days, whose Jerusalem will never be destroyed again. These last days appear to the prophet, according to the general character of all prophecy, as though linked on to the close of the captivity. For throughout all prophecy, along with the far-sightedness imparted by the Spirit, there was also a short-sightedness which the Spirit did not remove; that is to say, the directly divine element of insight into the future was associated with a human element of hope, which was nevertheless also indirectly divine, inasmuch as it subserved the divine plan of salvation; and this hope brought, as it were, the far distant future into the closest proximity with the troubled present. If, the, we keep this in mind, we shall see that it was quite in order for the prophet to behold the final future on the very edge of the present, and not to see the long and undulating way between. (2.) The Israel which has been plunged by the Romans into the present exile of a thousand years is that part of the nation (Rom_11:25), which has thrust away the eternal mercy and the unchangeable covenant of peace; but this rejection has simply postponed, and not prevented, the full realization of the salvation promised to Israel as a people. The covenant still exists, primarily indeed as an offer on the part of Jehovah, so that it rests with Israel whether it shall continued one-sided or not; but all that is wanted on the part of Israel is faith, to enable it to exchange the shifting soil of its present exile for the rocky

foundation of that covenant of peace which has encircled the ages since the captivity (see Hag_2:9), as the covenant with Noah encircled those after the flood with the covenant sign of the rainbow in the cloud.

7.PULPIT, “This is as the waters of Noah unto me. The existing calamity—Israel submerged in the

flood of Babylonian captivity-is as it were a repetition of the calamity of the Deluge in God's eyes. Its object is to purify his Church, as the object of the Flood was to purify the world. A righteous household survived in the one case; a righteous remnant would go forth in the other. And as God bound himself in Noah's time not to repeat the calamity of the Deluge, so now he binds himself not again to submerge his Church in a captivity like the Babylonian. It has been said that the promise was not kept, since the Jewish Church was, in a.d. 70, carried captive by the Romans. But the prophet views the Jewish Church as continued in the Christian, into which all its better and more spiritual members passed at the first preaching of the gospel; and the promise here made is thus parallel to that of our Lord, "Upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mat_16:18). Much as the Christian Church has suffered from the world, it has never been in like cases with the Jewish Church in Babylon, and, as God is faithful, never will be reduced to such extremity. As I have sworn; i.e. "pledged myself." It does not appear from Gen_8:20-22 or Gen_9:8-17 that God actually bound himself by oath. So have I

sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. That is to say, not to the same extent, not so as to visit her with the same punishment.

8. CALVIN, “9.For the waters of Noah, or, As the days of Noah. There are two readings of this

passage; for if we read it מי כי (ki me), כי (ki) must be translated for; and if we read it כימי, (kime,) כ (caph) must be translated As, and ימי (yeme) must be translated Days. (70) As to the general meaning, it makes little difference; and therefore we ought chiefly to consider what the Prophet meant, for commentators do not appear to me to have caught his meaning. They explain it generally, that the Lord promised to: Noah by an oath, that there would never be a deluge, and that this oath would perpetually remain in force. (Gen_9:10) But for this, the good man might have trembled, and, at the approach of rain, might have dreaded a similar calamity, if the Lord had not sworn that this should never again happen. In like manner, when afflictions are at hand, we might dread that we should be ruined, if the Lord did not promise that the Church would be safe. But I think that this ought to be limited to the period of the Babylonish captivity. He compares that captivity to a deluge, which destroyed the face of the earth; for it appeared as if the Church was utterly ruined. The people had almost entirely passed over to another nation, and had no kingdom and no civil government of their own; they underwent very hard bondage, and thought that their name was wholly extinguished. And at that time was actually fulfilled what the Prophet formerly declared, “ the Lord had not left to us a seed, we should have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Isa_1:9) Justly, therefore, does he compare that calamity to “ waters of Noah,” that is, to the deluge; and on this account I rather agree with those who read מי כי (ki me) that is, “ the waters;” for I consider that reading to rest on better evidence than the other, and it is generally adopted by Jewish writers. This is to me. I think that we ought carefully to inquire into the meaning of these words, which are slightly

passed over by commentators. He means that this calamity will resemble the deluge; so that, as he was satisfied with a single deluge, and would never again send another, so he is satisfied with this one destruction, so to speak, of the Church, and will never again permit the face of it to be destroyed. Such is therefore the manner in which I think that we ought to explain this passage and apply the metaphor, that the desolation of Judea will be to God like the deluge which happened in “ days of Noah;“ for as he swore at that time that he would never afterwards inflict such punishment on the crimes which stripped the earth of its inhabitants, so he will not again destroy the Church, as he did in the Babylonish captivity. And indeed, whatever might be any confused state of affairs that afterwards followed, still the Church retained some name, and preserved some form, until, at the manifestation of Christ in the flesh, the seed of the Gospel was everywhere scattered, that it might bring sons to God out of all nations. In a word, the Lord promises that henceforth he will restrain his wrath, and will not punish his people with so great severity. It will be objected, that since that time the Church sustained very grievous calamities; from which it might be concluded, either that this oath failed of its accomplishment, or that this is not the Prophet’ meaning. I reply, the Church did not sustain so grievous a calamity as to have its face altogether destroyed, which happened when the people were carried away into Babylon. For although Antiochus and other tyrants brought upon it dreadful calamities, although afterwards there also happened those apostasies which Paul foretold, (2Th_2:3; 1Ti_4:1,) and everything was defiled by innumerable superstitions, so that the Christian name was nearly buried; yet still there remained some form of a Church, however disfigured, and the building was not in so ruinous a condition that there did not exist some remnants of Christianity above the deluge, so that this oath was in full force. That I will not be wroth with thee. This must not be taken in an absolute, but in a comparative sense. He contrasts this clause with the preceding; for he promises that he will never chastise his people so severely as not to mitigate the severity of the punishment. Although therefore tyrants indulge in wanton and unbridled rage, and Satan employ his utmost efforts in attacking the Church, and the Lord give him a loose rein, in order to punish our ingratitude, yet he will never suffer the Church to be ruined. of,” is the construct form “ (,yeme) ,ימי and ”“ (,maim) ,מים of,” is the construct form of “ (,me) ,מי (70)of ימים, (yamim,) “” Ed. “On peut lire ceci en deux sortes, assavoir comme nous l’ traduit, Car ceci m’ comme les eaux de Noe, ou, Ceci m’ comme les jours de Noe.” “ may be read in two ways, namely, as we have translated it, This is to me as the waters of Noah, or, This is to me as the days of Noah.”

9. LANGE, “Isa_54:9-10. The Prophet supports the foregoing promise of “everlasting kindness “by giving it equal rank with the promise made to Noah (Gen_8:21 sq.; Isa_9:8 sqq.). Jehovah Himself calls this promise an everlasting covenant (Gen_9:16). And on this covenant, as on an immovable basis, rests the present stability of the earth. Here then the promise that the Lord will no more be wroth with Zion is put on a par with this covenant. If by Zion is to be understood the Israel of the exile, thus the fleshly Israel, then, indeed, as Hendewerk remarks, the Lord did not keep His word. But we have seen above under Isa_54:1, that the spiritual Israel is meant. Thus æàú Isa_54:9 relates to the turn in Israel’s affairs described in Isa_54:1-8. And as the general abstract æàú refers to that whole stage of the Theocracy’s development, so also î ◌é ðç waters of Noah as pars pro toto, represent by metonymy the whole Noachian period. But from what follows, it appears that the Lord makes prominent a central point in the

two periods. That is He makes the promise just given to Zion parallel with that given to Noah. He calls both an oath, although the word “to swear” occurs neither in what precedes, nor in the places in Genesis that have been cited. But when the Lord gives His word, it is always an oath in substance, though it may not be as to form. For whether He expressly says it or not, when the Lord gives His word, He stakes His honor, and so His very divinity, as a man does the highest good he has, his salvation. ÷ ◌ö ◌ó and â ◌◌ò ◌ø are related to one another as the inward sensation and outward manifestation. But âòø here, as often, designates the real divine acts of judgment as a rebuking (comp. Isa_17:13; Psa_9:6; Psa_68:31; Psa_80:17).—Finally in Isa_54:10, the Lord gives another image of the immovable fixedness of the covenant He makes with Zion. It shall stand more firmly than mountains and hills. For though these are elsewhere taken as the image of what is firm and immovable (Psa_36:7; Psa_65:7; Psa_104:5; Psa_104:8), still here and in other passages (Isa_24:18-20; Hab_3:6; Job_9:5; Job_14:18; Psa_46:3-4; Psa_114:4; Psa_114:6), the possibility is also recognized of mountains shaking, leaping, and even falling down. But such a possibility is positively denied in respect to the grace of God and His covenant of peace (covenant whose aim and consequence is peace, Num_25:12; Eze_34:25; Eze_37:26). In regard to the formula of assurance in Isa_54:10, it is to be remarked that this sort of thing occurs four times in this section. The first two times it sounds quite simply, “saith the Lord,” Isa_54:1; saith thy God, Isa_54:6. But toward the end, where the pathos of the Prophet rises, the formula grows to “saith the Lord thy Redeemer,” Isa_54:8, and “saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee,” Isa_54:10.

10 Though the mountains be shaken

and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

nor my covenant of peace be removed,”

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

1.BARNES, “For the mountains shall depart - (See the notes at Isa_51:6).

The covenant of my peace - That is, the covenant by which I promise peace and prosperity to thee.

2. PULPIT, “The mountains shall depart v but my kindness shall not depart (comp. Mat_24:35,

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away"). Everything material may fail, depart, perish; but God's promises remain firm and secure for ever. The covenant of my peace; or, my covenant of peace—any promise which God makes to his creatures for their advantage (comp. Num_25:12; Eze_34:25; Eze_37:26; Mal_2:5). Here there is a special allusion to the promise just made and confirmed by oath (Isa_54:9).

3. GILL, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed,.... As sometimes by earthquakes, and as they will at the last day, when the earth shall be dissolved, and all in it, things the most solid, firm, and durable: it may be understood comparatively; sooner shall these depart and be removed than the kindness and covenant of God: it may be interpreted figuratively of revolutions in kingdoms and states, and particularly of the abolition of Paganism in the times of Constantine; and which is expressed in much such language; "the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places", Rev_6:14. Kimchi observes, that mountains and hills may be interpreted of the kings of the nations; with this compare Rev_6:15, but my kindness shall not depart from thee; the love of God to his people is an everlasting love; it always continues; it never did, nor never will depart, notwithstanding their fall in Adam, their depraved state by nature, their actual sins and transgressions, their many revoltings and backslidings; though the Lord may hide his face from them, and afflict them, still he loves them; whatever departs from them, his kindness shall not; though riches may flee away from them, friends stand aloof off from them, health may be taken away, and life itself, yet the love of God is always the same; and so, whatever providences may attend his church and interest in any period of time, he has the same paternal care for it, and kindness for his people, as ever: neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed; the covenant of grace made with Christ and his people in him from everlasting, so called, because peace is a considerable article of it; even that peace which was upon the heart and thought of God from everlasting; the scheme of which was drawn by him; all things relating to it were settled in this covenant, as that Christ should be the Maker of it, and that it should be made by his blood; besides, peace includes all the blessings of grace which that covenant is stored with; and the covenant is the spring and source of all peace, spiritual and eternal: moreover, as this refers to Gospel times, the new covenant is here meant, and the publication of it, in which the Gospel of peace, or peace by Jesus Christ, is preached unto men; to which may be added, that one part, at least, of the sense of the passage, may be, that notwithstanding all the troubles and exercises the church of Christ should meet with from Rome Pagan or Papal, yet the promise and covenant of God, that it should enjoy peace and prosperity in the latter day, should never be made void, but should have its sure and certain accomplishment: saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee; for all springs from the mercy of God, and not the merits of men; and therefore the fulfilment of the covenant and promises may be depended upon.

4. HENRY, “It is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation (Isa_54:10): The mountains shall depart, which are called everlasting mountains, and the hills be removed, though they are called perpetual hills, Hab_3:6. Sooner shall they remove than God's covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of God were never broken by the shock of any event. The day will come when all the mountains shall depart and all the hills be removed, not only the tops of

them covered, as they were by the waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the covenant of peace between God and believers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and figure. Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and bear them up? They shall depart and be removed. Creature-confidences shall fail us. In vain is salvation hoped for from those hills and mountains. But the firmament is firm, and answers to its name, when those who seem to prop it are gone. When our friends fail us our God does not, nor does his kindness depart? Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves against the Lord? They shall depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of the salvation of the church, shall be made plain (Zec_4:7); but God's kindness shall never depart from his people, for whom he loves he loves to the end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever be removed, for he is the Lord that has mercy on his people. Therefore the covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on God's mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.

5. JAMISON, “(Isa_51:6; Psa_89:33, Psa_89:34; Rom_11:29).

covenant of my peace — (2Sa_23:5). The covenant whereby I have made thee at peace with Me.

5B. SPURGEON, “His Kindness and Covenant

"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the Covenant of My Peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee" (Isaiah 54:10).

One of the most delightful qualities of divine love is its abiding character. The pillars of the earth may be moved out of their places, but the kindness and the covenant of our merciful Jehovah never depart from His people. Row happy my soul feels in a firm belief of this inspired declaration! The year is almost over, and the years of my life are growing few, but time does not change my LORD. New lamps are taking the place of the old; perpetual change is on all things, but our LORD is the same. Force over turns the hills, but no conceivable power can affect the eternal God. Nothing in the past, the present, or the future can cause Jehovah to be unkind to me. My soul, rest in the eternal kindness of the LORD, who treats thee as one near of kin. Remember also the everlasting covenant. God is ever mindful of it--see that thou art mindful of it too. In Christ Jesus the glorious God has pledged Himself to thee to he thy God and to hold thee as one of His people. Kindness and covenant-dwell on these words as sure and lasting things which eternity itself shall not take from thee.

6. K&D, ““For the mountains may depart, and the hills may shake; my grace will not depart from thee, and my covenant of peace will not shake, saith Jehovah who hath compassion on thee.” Jehovah's grace and covenant of peace (cf., Num_25:12) stand as firm as

the mountains of God (Psa_36:7), without departing from Jerusalem ( $nך$מא instead of the usual

and without shaking; and they will be fulfilled. This fulfilment will not take place either by (מאnך$

force or by enchantment; but the church which is to be glorified must pass through sufferings, until it has attained the form which answers to the glory promised to it on oath. And this will also take place; for the old Jerusalem will come forth as a new one out of the furnace of affliction.

7. PULPIT, “The eternal constancy: a meditation on change.

"My kindness shall not depart from thee." How much does depart in this world! There are departed sorrows, departed joys, departed friends; and in one sense, concerning life and joy and duty, the world is full of graves. But we have an unchanging Lord, Jesus Christ, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "Mykindness!" Is there not a comfort in the very emphasis? For much kindness does depart. Fervent, but evanescent, it has its little day, and then vanishes away. "We are such stuff as dreams are made of." The nobility of our nature fails before the strains of littleness in character of others and distance of place and time. The eternal constancy is beautiful. Mark the connection of thought. The mountains may depart, Galilee's lake may embosom the surrounding hills, but the great Father's love is immutable and eternal. To take to heart these words would be to dispel our darkest fears. A faith strong enough to grasp this will light up every forest, and overcome every foe. There are strange mysteries of suffering in this world. Sorrow has many synonyms in human speech answering to the many phases of human experience. There are agonies of endurance, breaches of trust, sighings of solitude, sadnesses of disappointment, wailings of bereavement. To-day there are disciples terrified in the storm, Rachels mourning for their departed, Peters dropping scalding tears over denials of the Lord. Can it be wondered at that in such a world, amid such human trials and such spiritual experiences, kindness—the Divine kindness—should be so precious a thing? Let us recall the multitude of God's mercies; let us remember his hand in the glacier-passes of temptation, and the nights of tribulation. The strings of our human harps must sweep forth the music of love. There has been no change in Christ. 1. THE SURPRISE. Think of what we are! Fickle, irresolute, ungrateful, unfaithful. Our God is a God of insight. He searcheth the heart. He sees not only conduct, but character. No disguise can cloak from him. And what secrets there are in these hearts of ours! There are mirrors there which flash hack, even to ourselves, the hidden things of darkness. Yet he loves us still! The previous chapter says, "All we like sheep have gone astray." Yet it is the stray lambs the Saviour seeks, and the poor prodigal wanderer the Father loves! The strongest ties we know of are in our human relationships; they are images of the Divine love. Only an artificial theology has made the rectoral character of God override the paternal. Think you that on some wild Christmas, amid home's most festive scenes, with the children and the children's children about him, that father, whose hair is whiter than the winter snow, can forget the prodigal? With the ruddy fire-glow around him, and the yule logs piled high, his mind wanders over the bleak and barren moorland of the outside world; and one faint knock at the portal, one weary step, one quivering lip, brings

more music to his heart than the tabret and the dance. He knows all about the squandered wealth, the profligate life, the reckless pilgrimage of vanity. But his kindness cannot depart from him, for he is a father still. I claim for God the very amplest application of that analogy. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,v we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." "In Christ's stead!" What words! Many evil things the Church has done—Roman, Anglican, and Puritan—would look strange enough if Christ's gentle image had been thought upon, and men had inscribed above it, "We are Christ's!" God gave such tension and tenderness to the human heart to make our fatherhood a parable of his own! "If we knew all!" Thus even we who love him, who have been reconciled to him, say sometimes in our darker moods. Does God know all? Then could he be kind to us still. We have served other gods. We have been faithless stewards. We have been at heart callous and cold. Yet to us comes this message of the eternal constancy: "My kindness shall not depart from thee." II. THE CONTRAST. Think of what human nature is. We make retrospect concerning ourselves. We do not depreciate humanity when we say that kindness is an uncertain thing. We do not charge it upon others to the exclusion of ourselves. We are all unstable as water. We find how difficult it is to be unselfish. And no kindness can be perpetual without that. There are occasions when kindness is lacking in us; when a feeble witticism has wounded a friend; when a cruel sarcasm has bruised a brother's sensibilities; when a personal enjoyment has inflicted deprivation on others. Kindness is easy when its manifestations are costless. Nay, it cannot be dignified with the name; for it ministers to our own pride and satisfaction. But we cannot conceal the fact that courtesy, compassion, and care do fail, and, in one word, "love" is absent. I am not speaking of the false kindness of the deceiver, or the tender mercies of the gay, or the heartless mannerism which feigns affection. This is devils' work, and fills the sinner's night of death with spectres worse than the genius of Dante ever described or Dore ever designed. I am speaking of the common fact of instability in human feeling, inconstancy in human love. Explainable, indeed, sometimes by the detection of selfishness, superficiality, or unworthiness, as we think, in others, but manifest, in some measure, in us all. Now, the Divine Saviour is the ideal of all unselfishness. He gave himself. He humbled himself. He became obedient unto death—even the death of the cross—for us. While we were yet enemies, he died for us. And this was no solitary embodiment of his nature. It was a revelation of what his eternal nature is. Take, then, a review of yourself; take a review of society—and forget not all the revelations you have had of blessed contrast in God, whose kindness has not departed from you. III. THE REVIEW. Think of what the past time says. Life has been full of mercy to us all. Homes have been revisited, friends have been restored, love has been consummated, new homes have been set up, accident has been averted, health has been restored, deliverance has been vouchsafed, affliction has been sanctified, and religious faith has in some cases been renewed and restored. Most wonderful of all is this. We have lived through seasons in which subtle temptations have had their enchanter's wand broken, and difficulties in our Christian faith have been removed. True, indeed, it is that to some these words would mean nothing—would, perhaps, raise a smile of condescending pity for those of us who still believe in a God at all. Some there are who wonder at the worship which rises above "the stream of tendency," or the laws of evolution, to the Fountain of Life and Power which fills the universe with life and joy; and to others the words would sound like the bitter irony of fate. Kindness! when the fig tree has withered, and there is slender produce in the vine? for some have not yet learned that Providence has higher ends than to weave purple robes and to grow costly fruits. What blessedness there is to most of us in the continuous belief in a personal God and Father—in a hand that rules, a voice that speaks, and a heart that loves! Truly it sufficeth us to show us the Father; for, try as men may, they can never create an impersonal religion. Greece raised her altars to Pity and Fame, and the abstract virtues; but the testimony of history was the total neglect of them all. The human heart can worship a Divine heart only—must seek after a God, even if he be "the Unknown God." Certainly, also, we cannot worship, adore, praise, and

glorify any embodied idea of humanity—the positivists cannot make a beautiful image of that. No; its shame, its vice, its corruption, its evil, remain; the statue may have gold in it, but it has iron and clay as well. The Lord revealed in the Bible is our God and Father to-day! "My soul thirsteth for God, the living God;" "Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing;" "Great is the Lord, and of great power, and his understanding is infinite." We retain our prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven." We retain our pathway of approach. "Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life." We retain our altar of love, the one Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking back, then, and taking a review of life preserved and life sustained, of friends given or restored, of love cemented and consecrated, of faith purified and elevated, must not our seal be set afresh to the truth of the words, "My kindness shall not depart from thee"? IV. THE PROSPECT. Think what the future will bring. The coming days. These are the most constant theme of our meditation. We project ourselves into life's to-morrow. We never live wholly for the present time. We are all artists in this wise, colouring our picture by means of our faith or our experience. We are sometimes morbid, and doubt whether good times will come to us again, forgetful of the past seasons of trouble which gave place in time to the brighter morrow. Alas! we too often say, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercy?" Kindness departed! That is our earthly and our spiritual dread. But the bow in the cloud is God's silent prophecy. And there is a bow in every cloud, if we will but gaze upon the heaven of mercy above us. To-morrow is coming, but on its wings mercy and love will also come. God will still show forth his loving-kindness in the morning. The throne of God is not to be covered with the crape of a departed majesty. We believe in "the Eternal. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." God is the Good! His sceptre is no iron mace of authority, but he is the Father of our spirits, and the God of our salvation. What will to-morrow bring? The seed-time and the harvest. The summer sky and the song of the reaper. The release of the ice-bound fountain and the beauty and fragrance of a thousand fields. To-morrow there is to be more and more departure of ignorance and wrong, of desolation and darkness. The light is to shine more and more unto the perfect day; for Christ must reign. Every season of life will have its kindness. If father and mother forsake us in childhood, the Lord will take us up. If widowhood comes, Christ will be the Husband of the widow. Frosty, but kindly, as Shakespeare says, will old age be itself, when the evening comes, and death too will be kind when it comes, taking down the tabernacle with a quiet hand, and gently hushing us into the calm sleep of the child whose morning is heaven. Let us get rid, then, of the habit of dark foreboding, for thereby we deprive ourselves of the music of to-day. We all sometimes think of Divine mercy as though its meridian had passed, and as though God's grace was setting over the plains of life. We have an ever-living Saviour, an indwelling Spirit, the blessing of spiritual sonship, the foretaste of the sweet vineyards of Canaan, and a fountain ever open for sin and uncleanness. Let us seek to make God's kindness in its constancy the image of our own. Love is the law of heaven; the angels are all ministering spirits. When poor Hagar, with haggard eyes and dishevelled hair, was in the wilderness, it was an angel-hand which led her to the well. When Gideon was threshing his wheat, his face pictures forth the great sorrow of his people, and we hear him saying, "O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" And an angel's voice then reassures him with the promise, "Surely I will be with thee." When the ship is driven helplessly through the storm, an angel-voice says to the apostle, "Fear not, Paul!" Yes; there is a sympathy and a constant kindness in the angelic ministry. And we are to be ministering spirits too. A part of our nature, constituted as it is to live in others, would be shorn of its blessedness if we could not also be ministers of kindness. Onward, then, my brethren, with these words on your banner. The light which falls on the letters of gold will attract the eyes of others, as you show them what a religious faith can do in renewing the life of the world. Faith in God our Saviour will change the countenance, strengthen even the physical nerves, and make us better companions and brighter friends. Like a talisman, these words will keep you from the dread which has darkened man's earthly life in every age. You will bear them aloft on your banner, not as rejoicing in a God who loves and cares for you alone; but you will say to the world, "Let our people be your people, and our God your God." Yield your hearts to him. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."

You will fear no evil, for the Lord is with you! There. will be manna in the wilderness; the Jordan itself will be dry; the warder will throw wide the open gates at your home-going, and the Saviour will give you the welcome rest. These words are those of the faithful and true. "My kindness shall not depart from thee."—W.M.S.

7B. PULPIT, “Perennial kindness.

"My kindness shall not depart from thee." Much kindness does. It is fervid, but fickle, and is too often conditioned by mood and temper and circumstance. Moreover, it may depart through lack of power and opportunity. I. THE SAVIOR'S KINDNESS IS TRUE KINDNESS. He knows what kindness is. We too often mistake favour and indulgence for kindness. God is often kindest when he is most severe. II. THE SAVIOUR'S KINDNESS IS MANIFESTED KINDNESS. It costs him something. Much kindness evaporates in sentiment and speech. It does not impinge on the ease and the comfort of our friends. Jesus Christ said, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God!" and, "although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." His kindness was tested: 1. By the treatment he received. 2. By the nature that suffered. So deep in feeling; so infinite in its capacity for enduring sorrow. 3. By the sacrifice he offered. 4. By the permanence of his work, as "Head over all things to the Church." Then let the faint-hearted rest on the promise, "It shall not depart."—W.M.S.

8. CALVIN, “10.For the mountains shall indeed be moved. He confirms the former statement, and

declares that sooner shall the whole world be turned upside down, than his mercy shall fail. It would be idle to put the question here, how “ mountains shall be moved, or the hills shall shake;” for the comparison is drawn from those things which appear to be strongest and most deeply rooted, in order to show that the foundation of the Church is far more durable. “” are very strong, and earthquakes do not so frequently take place in them as in plains; and therefore the Lord declares that, although that vast and huge mass of “ be moved,” or the heavens fall, yet his covenant shall endure, and his mercy towards the Church shall not fail. In this sense it is said in the Psalm, “ Lord shall reign, the world shall be established.” (Psa_93:1) In another passage it is even said, “ the heavens pass away, the Church of God shall remain unshaken.” (Psa_102:26) My mercy. In the word “” it ought to be remarked what is the nature of the foundation of the covenant; for we can have no friendship with God: unless he have mercy upon us, and receive us by free grace. (71) The covenant of my peace. He calls it “ covenant of peace,” because the Lord offers to us all that belongs to perfect happiness; as the Hebrew writers also, under the word “” include all posterity. Since therefore

this covenant contains solid and perfect happiness, it follows that all who are excluded from it are miserable. Saith Jehovah, who hath compassion on thee. By saying that it is he “ hath compassion” on her, he again confirms what was formerly said, that he will be reconciled in no other way, and for no other reason, than because he is compassionate and ready to pardon. (71) “S’ ne nous recoit gratuitement, en pardonnant nos offenses;” “ he receive us through free grace, by pardoning our offenses.”

9. MACLAREN. “THE PASSING AND THE PERMANENT

There is something of music in the very sound of these words. The stately march of the grand English translation lends itself with wonderful beauty to the melody of Isaiah’s words. But the thought that lies below them, sweeping as it does through the whole creation, and parting all things into the transient and eternal, the mortal and immortal, is still greater than the music of the words. These are removed; this abides. And the thing in God which abides is all-gentle tenderness, that strange love mightier than all the powers of Deity beside, permanent with the permanence of His changeless heart. The mountains shall depart, the emblems of eternity shall crumble and change and pass, and the hills be removed; but this immortal, impalpable, and, in some men’s minds, fantastic and unreal something, ‘My loving kindness and the covenant of My peace,’ shall outlast them all. And this great promise is stamped with the sign manual of Heaven, being spoken by the Lord that hath mercy on thee.’

So then, dear friends, I think I shall most reverentially deal with these words if I handle them in the simplest possible way, and think, first of all, of that great antithesis that is set before us here-what passes and what abides; and, secondly, draw two or three plain, homely lessons and applications from the thoughts thus suggested.

I. First, then, we have to deal with the contrast between the apparently enduring which passes, and that which truly abides.

‘The mountains depart, the hills remove, My loving-kindness shall not depart, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.’ Let me then say a word or two about that first thought-’the mountains shall depart.’ There they tower over the plains, looking down upon the flat valley beneath as they did when the prophet spoke. The eternal buttresses of the hills stand to the eyes of the fleeting generations as emblems of permanence, and yet winter storms and summer heats, and the slow processes of decay which we call the gnawing of time, are ever working upon them, and changing their forms, and at last they shall pass. Modern science, whilst it has all but incalculably enlarged our conceptions of the duration of the material universe, emphasises, as faith alone never could, the thought of the ultimate perishing of this material world. For geology tells us that ‘where rears the cliff there rolled the sea,’ that through the cycles of the shifting history of the world there have been elevations and depressions so that the ancient hills in many places are the newest of all things, and the world’s form has changed many and many a time since first it circled as a planet. And researches into the ultimate constitution of matter have taught us to think of solids and liquids and gases, as being an infinite multitude of atoms all in rapid motion with inconceivable velocity, and have shown us the very atoms in the act of breaking up. So that the old guess of the infancy of physical science which divined that ‘all things are in a state of flux’ is confirmed by its last utterances. Science prophesies too, and bids us expect that the earth shall one day become, like some of the stars, a burnt out mass of uniform temperature, incapable of change or of sustaining life, and shall end by falling into the

diminished sun, and so the old word will be fulfilled that ‘the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.’ None should be able to utter the words of my text, ‘The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,’ with such emphasis of certitude as the present students of physical science.

But our text does not stop there. It brings into view the transiency of the transient, in order to throw into greater relief and prominence the perpetuity of the abiding. If we had nothing abiding beyond this perishable material universe, it would indeed be misery to exist. Life would be not only insignificant but wretched, and a ghastly irony, a meaningless, aimless ripple on the surface of that silent, shoreless sea. The great ‘But’ of this text lifts the oppression from humanity with which the one-sided truth of the passing of all the Visible loads it.

And so turn for a moment to the other side of this great text. There stands out above all that is mortal, which, although it counts its existence by millenniums, is but for an instant, visible to the eye of faith, the Great Spirit who moves all the material universe, Himself unmoved, and lives undiminished by creation, and undiminished if creation were swept out of existence. Let that which may pass, pass; let that which can perish, perish; let the mountains crumble and the hills melt away; beyond the smoke and conflagration, and rising high above destruction and chaos, stands the calm throne of God, with a loving Heart upon it, with a council of peace and purpose of mercy for you and for me, the creatures of a day indeed, but who are to live when the days shall cease to be. ‘My kindness!’ What a wonderful word that is, so far above all the cold delusion of so-called theism! ‘My kindness!’ the tender-heartedness of an infinite love, the abounding favour of the Father of my spirit, His gentle goodness bending down to me, His tenderness round about me, eternal love that never can die; the thing that lasts in the universe is His kindness, which continues from everlasting to everlasting. What a revelation of God! Oh, dear friends, if only our hearts could open to the full acceptance of that thought, sorrow and care and anxiety, and every other form of trouble, would fade away and we should be at rest. The infinite, undying, imperishable love of God is mine. Older than the mountains, deeper than their roots, wider than the heavens, and stronger than all my sin, is the love that grasps me and keeps me and will not let me go, and lavishes its tenderness upon me, and beseeches me, and pleads with me, and woos me, and rebukes me, and corrects me when I need, and sent His Son to die for me. ‘My kindness shall not depart from thee.’

But even that great conception does not exhaust the encouragement which the prophet has to give to souls weighed upon with the transiency of the material. He speaks of ‘the covenant of My peace.’ We are to think of this great, tender, changeless love of God, which underlies all things and towers above all things, which overlaps them all and fills eternity, as being placed, so to speak, under the guarantee of a solemn obligation. God’s covenant is a great thought of Scripture which we far too little apprehend in the depth and power of its meaning. His covenant with you and me, poor creatures, is this, ‘I promise that My love shall never leave thee.’ He makes Himself a constitutional monarch, so to speak, giving us a plighted word to which we can appeal and go to Him and say, ‘There, that is the charter given by Thyself, given irrevocably for ever, and I hold Thee to it. Fulfil it, O Thou God of Truth.’

‘My covenant of peace.’ Dear friends, the prophet spoke a deeper thing than he knew when he uttered these words. Let me remind you of the large meaning which the New Testament puts into them. ‘Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, make us perfect in every good work, to do His will.’ God has bound Himself by His promise to give you and me the peace that belongs to His own nature, and that covenant is sealed to us in the blood of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, and so we sinful men, with all the burden of our evil upon us, with all our sins known to us, with all our manifest failings and infirmities, can turn to Him and say, ‘Thou hast pledged Thyself to forgive and accept, and that covenant is made sure to me because Thy Son

hath died, and I come and ask Thee to fulfil it.’ And be sure of this, that no poor creature upon earth, however lame his hand, who puts out that hand to grasp that peaceful covenant-that new covenant in the blood of Christ-can plead in vain.

My brother, have you done that? Have you entered into this covenant of peace with God-peace in believing, peace by the blood of Christ, peace that fills a new heart, peace that rules amidst all the perturbations and disappointments of life? Then you may be sure that that covenant will stand for evermore, though the mountains depart and the hills be removed.

II. Now turn with me to a few practical lessons which we may gather from these great contrasts here, between the perishable mortal and the immortal divine love.

Surely the first plain one is a warning against fastening our love, our hope, or our trust on these transient things.

What folly it is for a man to risk his peace and the strength and the joy of his life upon things that crumble and change, when all the while there is lying before him open for his entrance, and wooing him to come into the eternal home of his spirit, this covenant! Here are we, from day to day, plunged into these passing vanities, and always tempted to think that they are the true abiding things, and it needs great discipline and watchfulness to live the better life. There is nothing that will help us to do it like a firm grasp of the love of God in Jesus Christ. Then we can hold these mortal joys with a loose hand, knowing that they are only for a little time, and feeling that they are passing whilst we look at them, and are changing like the scenery in the sky on a summer’s night, with its cliffs and hills in the clouds, even while we gaze. Where there was a mountain a moment ago up there, there is now a depression, and the world and everything in it lasts very little longer than these. It is only a film on the surface of the great sea of eternity-there is no reality about it. It is but a dream-a vision, slipping, slipping, slipping away, and you and I slipping along with it. How foolishly, how obstinately, we all cling to it, though even the very grasp of our hands tends to make it pass away, as the children coming in from the fields with their store of buttercups and daisies in their hot hands, which by their very clutch hasten the withering. And that is just our position. We have them for a brief moment, and they all perish in the using. Oh, brother, have you set your heart on that which is not, when all the while there, longing to bless and love us, stands the Eternal God, with His unchanging love and faithful covenant of His perpetual peace? Surely it were wiser-wiser, to put it on the lowest ground-to seek the things that are above, and, knowing as we do that the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, so make our portion the kindness which shall not depart, and seek our share in the peace that shall not pass away.

But there is another lesson to be put in the same simple fashion. Surely we ought to use thoughts like these of my text in order to stay the soul in seasons which come to every one sometimes, when we are made painfully conscious of the transiency of this Present. Meditative hours come to us all-moments when perhaps some strain of music gives us back childhood’s days; when perhaps some perfume of a flower reminds us of long-vanished gardens and hands that have crumbled into dust; when some touch of a sunset sky, or some word of a book, or some providence of our lives, comes upon the heart and mind, reminding us how everything is passing. You have all had these thoughts. Some of us stifle them-they are not pleasant to many of us; some of us brood over them unwholesomely, and that is not wise; but the best use of them is to bear us onward into the peaceful region where we clasp to our troubled hearts that which cannot go. If any of us are making experience to-day of earthly change, if any of us have hearts heavy with earthly losses, if any of us are bending under the weight of that awful law, that everything becomes part and parcel of that dreadful past, if any of us are looking at our empty hands and saying, ‘They have taken away my god and what have I more?’ let us listen to the better voice that says, ‘My kindness shall not depart from thee, and so, whatever goes, thou canst not be desolate if thou hast Me.’

And then, still further, let me remind you that this same thought may avail to give to us hopes of years as immortal as itself. We do not belong to the mountains and hills that shall depart, or to the order of things to which they belong. There is coming a very solemn day, I believe, not by any mere processes of natural decay as I take it, but by the action of God Himself, the Judge that ‘day of the Lord that shall come as a thief in the night’-when the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, and the throne of judgment shall be set, and you and I will be there. My brother, lay your hand on that covenant of peace which is made for us all in Christ Jesus the Lord, and then ‘calm as the summer’s ocean we shall be, and all the wreck of nature’ cannot disturb us, for we shall abide unshaken as the throne of God. The mountains may pass, the hills be removed, but herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of ‘judgment,’ for that kindness shall not depart from us, and God’s gentle tenderness is eternal as Himself. Then we shall not depart from it either, and we are immortal as the tenderness that encloses us. God’s endless love must have undying creatures on whom to pour itself out, and if to-day I possess-as we all may possess in however feeble a measure-some sips and prelibations of that great flood of love that is in God, I can look unblanched right into the eyes of death and say, ‘Thou hast no power at all over me, I am eternal because the God that loves me is so, and since He hath loved me with an everlasting love, His loving-kindness shall not depart from me. Therefore, seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, I know that I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, and because He lives I shall live also.’ The hope that is built upon the eternal love of God in Christ is the true guarantee to me of immortal existence, and this hope is ours if, and only if, we come into the covenant-the covenant of peace. God says, ‘I will love thee, I will bless thee, I will keep thee, I will pardon thee, I will save thee, I will glorify thee, and there is My bond on that Cross, the new covenant in His blood.’ Close with the covenant that God is ready to make with you, and then ‘life and death, principalities and powers, things present and things to come, height and depth, and every other creature shall be impotent to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

11 “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,

I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,[a]

your foundations with lapis lazuli.

1.BARNES, “O thou afflicted - In the previous verses, Yahweh had merely promised protection, and had in general terms assured them of his favor. Here he shows that they should not only be defended, but that his church would rise with great beauty, and be ornamented like a most splendid palace or temple. This is to be regarded as addressed primarily to the exiles in Babylon near to the close of their seventy years’ captivity. But nothing forbids us to apply it to the church in all similar circumstances when persecuted, and when she is like a ship rolling on the heaving billows of the ocean.

Tossed with tempest - Lowth, ‘Beaten with the storm.’ The idea is that of a ship that is

driven by the tempest; or any object that is tossed about with a whirlwind (סערה so‛aWra�h). See

Jon_1:11-13; Hos_13:3; Heb_3:14. The figure is especially striking in an Oriental country. Tempests and whirlwinds there, are much more violent than they are with us, and nothing there can stand before them (see Harmer’s Obs. vol. i. p. 92ff Ed. Loud. 1808).

And not comforted - They were far away from all the comforts which they had enjoyed in their own land, and they were apparently forsaken by God.

Behold, I will lay thy stones - It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to compare the prosperity of the church to a splendid temple or palace. In the book of Tobit (Tobit 13:16, 17) a description of Jerusalem occurs, which has all the appearance of having been copied from this, or at least shows that the writer had this passage in his eye. ‘For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and battlements, and towers, of pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones of Ophir.’ And in the book of Revelation Rev_21:18-21, a similar description occurs of the New Jerusalem. Possibly John had his eye upon this passage in Isaiah, though he has greatly amplified the description. The passage here undoubtedly contains a figurative description of the future prosperity and glory of the church of God. Lowth remarks on it, justly, ‘These seem to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral and spiritual meaning.’ The phrase ‘I will lay thy stones,’ refers to the work of masonry in laying down the foundation of a building, or the stones of which a building is composed, in mortar or cement.

Literally, ‘I cause to lie down.’ The word here used (רבץ ra�ba�ts) is usually appropriated to an

animal that crouches or lies down.

With fair colors - This translation by no means conveys the idea of the original. The sense is not that the stones would have fair colors, but that the cement which would be used would be that which was commonly employed to make the most valued colors. The edifice which would be reared would be as costly and magnificent as if the very cement of the stones consisted of the

most precious coloring matter; the purest vermilion. The word rendered here ‘fair colors’ (פוך pu�

k) denotes properly, seaweed, from which an alkaline paint was prepared; then paint itself, dye,

fucus, and also that with which the Hebrew women tinged their eyelashes (stibium). This is composed of the powder of lead ore, and was drawn with a small wooden bodkin through the eyelids, and tinged the hair and the edges of the eyelids with a dark sooty color, and was esteemed to be a graceful ornament. This practice is of great antiquity.

It was practiced by Jezebel (see 2Ki_9:30, where the same word is used as here); it was practiced among the Greeks and Romans (Xen. Cyr. i. 11); and it is still practiced in Africa (see Shaw’s Travels, pp. 294, 295). The word used here is rendered ‘paint,’ or ‘painted’ 2Ki_9:30; Jer_22:14; and ‘glistening stones’ 1Ch_29:2. It does not occur elsewhere. In the passage in

Chronicles it may mean the carbuncle, as it is rendered here by the Septuagint, (qνθρακα

anthraka); but it here denotes, doubtless, the valued paint or dye which was used as an

ornament. The description here is that the very stones should be laid in cement of this description, and is of course equivalent to saying that it would be in the most costly and magnificent manner. It may be added, however, that it would not be the mere fact that the stibium would constitute the cement that the prophet seems to refer to, but probably he also means to intimate that this would contribute greatly to the beauty of the city. The cement in which bricks or stones is laid in a building is partly visible, and the beauty of the structure would

be augmented by having that which was regarded as constituting the highest ornament used for cement.

And thy foundations with sapphires - The sapphire is a well-known gem distinguished for its beauty and splendor. In hardness it is inferior to the diamond only. Its colors are blue, red, violet, green, white, or limpid.

2. CLARKE, “Behold, I will lay thy stones “Behold, I lay thy stones” - These seem to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise, moral, or spiritual meaning. Tobit, in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, describes the New Jerusalem in the same oriental manner: “For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones of ophir.” Tob. 13:16, 17. Compare also Rev_21:18-21.

3. GILL, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted,.... Or, "O thou poor" (s) church; for the first Christian churches chiefly consisted of poor persons, not many mighty and noble being called; and which were greatly "afflicted" with false teachers, who broached errors and heresies, and made schisms among them; and "tossed with tempests" like a ship at sea; or "stormed" (t) with the rage and fury of violent persecutors, such as the Roman emperors were; and not "comforted", having none to administer any external comfort or relief to them; none of the kings or princes of the earth, or any civil magistrate to protect and defend them; what comfort they had was internal and spiritual; what they had from Christ and his Spirit, and by the word and ordinances; or rather this may describe the state of the church under Papal tyranny and persecution, which brings it nearer to the times of peace and prosperity after promised: behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours; or, "with paint" (u); such as women used to paint their faces or eyes with, 2Ki_9:30. The Targum is, "behold, I will lay with paint the stones of thy pavement;'' and the words seem plainly to design the stones of a pavement, and perhaps by an hypallage or transposition may be rendered, I will lay thy pavement with glistering stones; so the word is translated 1Ch_29:2 or, "with stones of paint" (w); which are of the colour of the "stibium", or paint before mentioned, and which was of a black colour; and Aben Ezra says the word here signifies a precious stone of a black colour; perhaps black marble is meant, a stone fit for pavements; but, be these stones what they will, they design in the spiritual sense the materials of a Gospel church, those "lively stones" which are built up a spiritual house, and which are beautified with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and may also denote that the lowest and meanest of the Lord's people, pointed out by stones of the pavement, should be thus adorned:

and lay thy foundations with sapphires; a precious stone of a white colour, according to R. Saadiah Gaon; but, according to Aben Ezra, of a red colour; though the sapphire is usually said to be of a sky colour, shining with specks of gold. The Targum renders it, "with precious stones"; and so the foundation of the wall of the New Jerusalem is said to be garnished with all manner of precious stones, Rev_21:19, this may respect Christ, the sure foundation God has laid in Zion, the foundation of the apostles and prophets; the one and only foundation of the church of Christ, and all true believers, who is more precious than sapphires, or all the most precious stones; he always has been the foundation of his church in all ages; but the meaning is, that he shall now appear most clearly and manifestly to be the foundation, and to be a firm, rich, and glorious one; see Exo_24:10.

4. HENRY, “Very precious promises are here made to the church in her low condition, that God would not only continue his love to his people under their troubles as before, but that he would restore them to their former prosperity, nay, that he would raise them to greater prosperity than any they had yet enjoyed. In the foregoing chapter we had the humiliation and exaltation of Christ; here we have the humiliation and exaltation of the church; for, if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. Observe,

I. The distressed state the church is here reduced to by the providence of God (Isa_54:11): “O thou afflicted, poor, and indigent society, that art tossed with tempests, like a ship driven from her anchors by a storm and hurried into the ocean, where she is ready to be swallowed up by the waves, and in this condition not comforted by any compassionate friend that will sympathize with thee, or suggest to thee any encouraging considerations (Ecc_4:1), not comforted by any allay to thy trouble, or prospect of deliverance out of it.” This was the condition of the Jews in Babylon, and afterwards, for a time, under Antiochus. It is often the condition of Christian churches and of particular believers; without are fightings, within are fears; they are like the disciples in a storm, ready to perish; and where is their faith?

II. The glorious state the church is here advanced to by the promise of God. God takes notice of the afflicted distressed state of his church, and comforts her, when she is most disconsolate and has no other comforter. Let the people of God, when they are afflicted and tossed, think they hear God speaking comfortably to them by these words, taking notice of their griefs and fears, what afflictions they are under, what distresses they are in, and what comforts their case calls for. When they bemoan themselves, God bemoans them, and speaks to them with pity: O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; for in all their afflictions he is afflicted. But this is not all; he engages to raise her up out of her affliction, and encourages her with the assurance of the great things he would do for her, both for her prosperity and for the securing of that prosperity to her.

1. Whereas now she lay in disgrace, God promises that which would be her beauty and honour,

which would make her easy to herself and amiable in the eyes of others.

5. JAMISON, “not comforted — by anyone; none gave her help or comfort.

lay ... with fair colours — rather, “lay ... in cement of vermilion” [Lowth]. The Hebrew for

“fair colors” means stibium, the paint with which Eastern women painted their eyelids and

eyelashes (2Ki_9:30). The very cement shall be of the most beautiful color (Rev_21:18-21).

5B. SPURGEON, “"And lay thy foundations with sapphires."

- Isaiah 54:11

Not only that which is seen of the church of God, but that which is unseen, is fair and precious.

Foundations are out of sight, and so long as they are firm it is not expected that they should be

valuable; but in Jehovah's work everything is of a piece, nothing slurred, nothing mean. The deep

foundations of the work of grace are as sapphires for preciousness, no human mind is able to measure

their glory. We build upon the covenant of grace, which is firmer than adamant, and as enduring as

jewels upon which age spends itself in vain. Sapphire foundations are eternal, and the covenant

abides throughout the lifetime of the Almighty. Another foundation is the person of the Lord Jesus,

which is clear and spotless, everlasting and beautiful as the sapphire; blending in one the deep blue of

earth's ever rolling ocean and the azure of its all embracing sky. Once might our Lord have been

likened to the ruby as he stood covered with his own blood, but now we see him radiant with the soft

blue of love, love abounding, deep, eternal. Our eternal hopes are built upon the justice and the

faithfulness of God, which are clear and cloudless as the sapphire. We are not saved by a compromise,

by mercy defeating justice, or law suspending its operations; no, we defy the eagle's eye to detect a

flaw in the groundwork of our confidence-our foundation is of sapphire, and will endure the fire.

The Lord himself has laid the foundation of his people's hopes. It is matter for grave enquiry whether

our hopes are built upon such a basis. Good works and ceremonies are not a foundation of sapphires,

but of wood, hay, and stubble; neither are they laid by God, but by our own conceit. Foundations will

all be tried ere long: woe unto him whose lofty tower shall come down with a crash, because based on

a quicksand. He who is built on sapphires may await storm or fire with equanimity, for he shall abide

the test.

6. K&D, ““O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted, behold, I lay thy stones in stibium, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and make thy minarets of ruby, and thy gates into carbuncles, and all thy boundary into jewels.” At the present time the church, of which Jerusalem is the metropolis, is sunk in misery, driven with tempest like chaff of the threshing-floor (Hos_13:3), without comfort; because till now it has waited in vain for any act of

consolation on the part of God, and has been scorned rather than comforted by man (סערה is a

part. kal, not pual; and $3 נחמהrd pers. praet. like נעזבה, Isa_62:12, and רחמה, Hos_1:6; Hos_2:3).

But this will be altered; Jerusalem will rise again from the dust, like a glorious building of God. Jerome makes the following apt remark on Isa_54:11: “in stibio, i.e., in the likeness of an

elegant woman, who paints her eyes with stibium; referring to the beauty of the city.” Pu�kh is

eye-black (kohl, cf., ka�chal, Eze_23:40), i.e., a sooty compound, the chief component of which

was powdered antimony, or else manganese or lead, and with which oriental women coloured their eyebrows, and more particularly the eyelids both above and below the eyes, that the beauty

of the latter might be all the more conspicuous (2Ki_9:30). The classic φfκος, fucus, has a

meaning foreign to the Hebrew word, viz., that of rouge for the cheeks. If, then, stibium (antimony), or any blackening collyrium generally, served the purpose of mortar in the

rebuilding of Jerusalem, the stones of its walls (not its foundation-stones, $ך$אדני , which is the

reading adopted by Ewald, but, on the contrary, the visible stones of its towering walls) would look like the eyes of a woman shining forth from the black framework of their painted lids, i.e.,

they would stand out in splendour from their dark ground. The Beth in bassappırım indicates the

means employed. Sapphires serve as foundation-stones, for the foundation of Jerusalem stands as immoveably firm as the covenant of God. The sapphire blue is the colour of the heaven, of

revelation, and of the covenant. The shema�sho�th, however, i.e., the minarets which stand out like

rays of the sun, and also the gates, have a red appearance. Red is the colour of blood, and hence of life and of imperishableness; also the colour of fire and of lightning, and hence of wrath and victory. Jehovah makes the minarets of “ruby.” The Sept. and Jerome adopt the rendering

iaspidem (a jasper); at any rate, דכד' (which is the proper way of writing the word: Ewald, §48,

c)

(Note: The first כ is dagessatum, the second raphatum: see Norzi. The word forms one of

the eighteen which have a dagesh after a word ending with a vowel sound ( מבטל$בלא יה$בתר וא

41a. The object is to ,משפטי הטעמים see Masora Magna on Dan_5:11, and Heidenheim's :(דגשין

secure greater euphony, as in (הלא) ככרכמיש, Isa_10:9, which is one of the eighteen words.)

is a red sparkling jewel (from kidke�d; cf., kıdo�d, scintilla). The arches of the gates He forms of

x, stones of fiery splendour (from qa�dach, to burn: hence qaddachath, πυρετός), that is toבני אקwח

say, or carbuncle stones (from carbunculus, a small red-hot coal), like ruby, garnet, etc. Jerome

has adopted the false rendering lapides sculptos, after Symm. λίθοι$γλυφ{ς (from קדד = קדח,

findere?). The accusative of the predicate כדכד is interchanged with לבני עקדח, and then with

ץלxבני־חפ$ , to denote the materia ex qua. The whole territory (precinct) of Jerusalem is turned by

Jehovah into precious stones, that is to say, it appears to be paved with such stones, just as in Tobit 13:17 the streets are said to be “paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones of Ophir,” i.e., to be covered with a mosaic formed of precious stones. It is upon the passage before us that Tobit 13:16, 17, and Rev_21:18-21, are founded. The motley colours of the precious stones, with which the new Jerusalem is adorned, are something more than a mere childish fancy. Whence, then, do the precious stones derive their charm? The ultimate ground of this charm is the fact, that in universal nature everything presses to the light, and that in the mineral world the jewels represent the highest stage of this ascending process. It is the self-unfolding process of the divine glory itself, which is reflected typologically in the several gradations of the manifold play of colours and the transparency of the precious stones. For this reason, the high priest wore a breastplate with twelve precious stones, upon which were the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and for this same reason, the author of the Apocalypse carries out into detail in chapter 21 the picture of the new Jerusalem, which is here sketched by the prophet of the Old Testament (without distinguishing time from eternity), adding crystals and pearls to the precious stones which he there mentions one by one. How can all this be explained, except on the ground that even the mineral world reflects the glory of those eternal lights from which God is called the “Father of lights,” or except on the assumption that the saints in light will one day be able to translate these stony types into the words of God, out of which they have their being?

7. PULPIT, “O thou afflicted (comp. Isa_49:14-17). Jerusalem is seen as she was during the

Captivity—"afflicted" by God's hand, vexed with all his storms, and not yet comforted (Comp. Isa_64:10, Isa_64:11). Then a fresh vision obliterates the mournful sight. I will lay thy stones

with fair colours; literally, I will lay thy stones in antimony; i.e. I will give them a setting and adornment like that which beautiful women were in the habit of giving to their eyes when they wished to attract admiration (see 2Ki_9:30). Puk, or antimony, was used to stain both the upper and the under eyelid, in order to increase the apparent lustre of the eye, and so impart to it greater beauty. The passage is not to be understood as implying that coloured marbles were ever really set in antimony. And lay thy

foundations with sapphires; or, make thy foundations of sapphires. In Revelation the first foundation is "jasper," the second "sapphire" (Rev_21:19). Sapphire was the foundation on which the throne of God appeared to be set, when it was seen by Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders (Exo_24:10). The throne

itself had the appearance of sapphire, as seen by Ezekiel (Eze_1:26; Eze_10:1). Sapphire is the hue of heaven.

8. CALVIN, “11.Thou wretched. He continues the same subject, and promises not only that the

Church shall be restored to her ancient splendor, but that God will cause her to be adorned with attire of greater magnificence, as if it had been wholly composed of precious stones. All this was expressed by Haggai in a single word, when he said, “ glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the glory of the former.” (Hag_2:10) As to the names of the jewels (72) which are here described by the Prophet, and about which even the Hebrew writers are not agreed, we need not give ourselves much trouble, provided we understand the meaning of the passage. This earnest address is exceedingly well fitted for soothing the grief of believers; for it represents the Church, which was ready to be drowned, as being now rescued by him from shipwreck. Whenever therefore we shall see her violently shaken by tempests, and weighed down by a load of distresses, and deprived of all consolation, let us remember that these are the very circumstances which induce God to give assistance. (72) “ seem to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral or spiritual meaning.” Lowth.

8. KELLY, “"O afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted! behold I will set thy stones in antimony,

and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of

carbuncles, and all thy border of pleasant stones. And all thy children [shall be] taught of Jehovah; and

great [shall be] the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far

from oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they

shall surely gather together, [but] not by me: whosoever gathereth together against thee shall fall

because of thee. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth

forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is

prepared against thee shall prosper; and every tongue [that] riseth against thee in judgement thou

shalt condemn. This [is] the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness [is] of me,

saith Jehovah" (vv. 11-17). Thus the prophecy is not only of everlasting mercy reinstating the ancient

people, but along with it are images of beauty and glory with which Jehovah will adorn them. Truth

will be theirs, for they all shall be taught of Jehovah; peace too, great peace, will be enjoyed; and,

established in righteousness, they shall be far from oppression and fear, though not from hostile

intention (as we know from Ezek. 38 - 39 at the beginning of the millennium, and from Rev_20:7-9 at

its end). But Israel will have hoped in Jehovah, and not in vain: for with Jehovah is mercy, and with

Him plenteous redemption.

See on the two sides the frightful perversion to which all are exposed who allegorize the prophecies,

as is the popular fashion of so-called high church and low church and no church; for it is hard to say

who is most guilty in this path, ruinous to all faith and practice characteristic of Christianity. "To take

an example" (said the late Matthew Arnold) "which will come home to all Protestants, Dr. Newman,

in one of those charming Essays which he has of late rescued for us, quotes from the 54th chapter of

Isaiah the passage beginning, I will lay thy stones with fair colours and thy foundations with sapphires,

as a prophecy and authorisation of the sumptuosities of the Church of Rome. This is evidently to use

the passage in the way of application. Protestants will say that it is a wrong use of it; but to Dr.

Newman their similar use of passages about the beast, and the scarlet woman, and Antichrist, will

seem equally wrong. But as to the historical substratum, the primary sense of the passage which Dr.

Newman quotes, what dissension can there be? Who can deny that in the first instance, however we

may apply them afterwards, and whether this after-application be right or wrong, the prophet's

words apply to the restored Zion?"

Now, without profitless wrangling on primary or secondary application, it is certain to faith that the

Romanists have corrupted God's word to justify the lusts, vanities, and pomps claimed as her due by

the great harlot of Rome, through the same insubjection to scripture which leads others at the

opposite pole to make the best of both worlds; whose judgement is alike just. For they are verily

inexcusable. The Christian, the church, is called to set the mind on things above, not on things on the

earth, where we are called to walk by faith, not by sight, and to suffer both for righteousness' sake

and for Christ's, in view of the heavenly glory into which He is gone before, while we await His coming

to enjoy it with Him. For Israel it is altogether different. When brought into known relationship with

Him, it is in earthly honour and glory; and nothing in nature will be too precious for the adornment of

Zion. Beyond doubt they too will be born anew; but the days of the kingdom displayed in power (no

longer in patience during the prevalence of evil) account for the radical and evident difference. Then

will be the days of restored Zion, as much denied by the rationalist as by the superstitious who both

look to man and present things. And thus is God's word made of none effect through man's traditions.

Without faith it is impossible to please God; and there is no real faith where God's great object of

faith, the Lord Jesus does not arrest, command, and satisfy the heart. We speak now of those to

whom He has been announced by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, rather than of the saints who

waited for redemption before His first advent. We must not be deceived by or about such as find an

entrancing interest, literary or even moral, in the scriptures, without faith in Christ or the gospel. For

this may be in the vilest of mankind where intellectual and aesthetic force is strong. Take another

instance, to which we are referred in the same page of Mr. Arnold. "Admirably true are these words

of Goethe, so constant a reader of the Bible that his free-thinking friends reproach him for wasting his

time over it: 'I am convinced that the Bible becomes even more beautiful the more one understands

it; that is, the more one gets insight to see that every word which we take generally and make special

application of to our own wants, has had, in connection with certain circumstances, with certain

relations of time and place, a particular, directly individual, reference of its own.'" Sadly true in its

measure, say we; for God dealing with the soul, and hence with the life, by the truth in Christ, and

meeting the sin-convicted with the fullness of His grace, was distasteful yea, despised and hated. He,

who was never weary of talking about "the good of evil" (a sentiment worthy of Mephistopheles) had

God in none of his thoughts, and was as far as possible from the grace and truth which came by Jesus

Christ.

12 I will make your battlements of rubies,

your gates of sparkling jewels,

and all your walls of precious stones.

1.BARNES, “And I will make thy windows - The word rendered here ‘windows’ is

rendered by Jerome propugnacula - ‘fortresses,’ bulwarks, ramparts; and by the Septuagint, Επα

λξεις Epalcheis - ‘Bulwarks,’ or rather, pinnacles on the walls. The Hebrew word שמשות shı?ma�sho�

t) is evidently derived from שמש shemesh (the sun); and has some relation in signification to the

sun, either as letting in light, or as having a radiated appearance like the sun. Gesenius renders it, ‘notched battlements, the same as sun, or rays of the sun.’ Faber (Hebrew Archaeol., p. 294) supposes that the name was given to the turrets or battlements here referred to, because they had some resemblance to the rays of the sun. I think it prob able that the prophet refers to some radiated ornament about a building, that had a resemblance to the sun, or to some gilded turrets on the walls of a city. I see no evidence in the ancient versions that the word refers to windows.

Of agates - Agates are a class of silicious, semi-pellucid gems, of many varieties, consisting of quarts-crystal flint, horn-stone, chalcedony, amethyst, jasper, cornelian, etc., variegated with dots, zones, filaments, ramifications, and various figures. They are esteemed the least valuable

of all the precious stones. They are found in rocks, and are use, for seals, rings, etc. (Webster.)

The Hebrew word כדכד kadekkod, from כדד ka�dad, to beat, to pound, and then to strike fire,

seems to denote a sparkling gem or ruby. It is not often used. It is rendered by Jerome,

Jaspidem. The Septuagint, Ιασπιν Iaspin - ‘Jasper,’ a gem of a green color. It may be observed

that it is not probable that such a stone would be used for a window, for the purpose of letting in light.

And thy gates - See Rev_21:21 - ‘And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.’ The gates of the city would be made of most precious stones.

Of carbuncles - The carbuncle is a beautiful gem of a deep red color, with a mixture of scarlet, called by the Greeks anthrax, found in the East Indies. It is usually about a quarter of an inch in length. When held up to the sun it loses its deep tinge, and becomes exactly the color of a

burning coal (Webster). Hence, its name in Greek. The Hebrew name אקדח 'eqedda�ch is derived

from קדח qa�dach, “to burn,” and denotes a flaming or sparkling gem. The word occurs nowhere

else in the Hebrew Bible.

And all thy borders - All thy boundaries; or the whole circuit of thy walls. See Rev_21:18 - ‘And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.’ The idea is, that the whole city would be built in the most splendid manner. Its foundations and all its stones would be laid in the most precious cement; its turrets, towers, battlements, gates, and the circuit of its walls, would be made of the most precious gems. In general, there can be no doubt that this is designed to represent the future glory of the church under the Redeemer, and perhaps also to furnish an emblematic representation of heaven (compare Rev_21:2). Kimchi supposes that this may possibly be taken literally, and that Jerusalem may be yet such as is here described. Abarbanel supposes that it may refer to the time when the Oriental world, where these gems are principally found, shall be converted, and come and join in rebuilding the city and the temple.

But the whole description is one of great beauty as applicable to the church of God; to its glories on earth; and to its glory in heaven. Its future magnificence shall be as much greater than anything which has yet occurred in the history of the church, as a city built of gems would be more magnificent than Jerusalem was in the proudest days of its glory. The language used in this verse is in accordance with the Oriental manner. The style of speaking in the East to denote unexampled splendor is well illustrated in the well-known Oriental tale of Aladdin, who thus gives his instructions: ‘I leave the choice of materials to you, that is to say, porphyry, jasper, agate, lapis lazuli, and the finest marble of the most varied colors. But I expect that in the highest story of the palace, you shall build me a large hall with a dome, and four equal fronts; and that instead of layers of bricks, the walls be made of massy gold and silver, laid alternately: and that each front shall contain six windows, the lattices of all which, except one, which must be left unfinished and imperfect, shall be so enriched with art and symmetry, with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, that they shall exceed everything of the kind ever seen in the world’ (Pictorial Bible).

2. SPURGEON, “"I will make thy windows of agates."

- Isaiah 54:12

The church is most instructively symbolized by a building erected by heavenly power, and designed by

divine skill. Such a spiritual house must not be dark, for the Israelites had light in their dwellings;

there must therefore be windows to let the light in and to allow the inhabitants to gaze abroad. These

windows are precious as agates: the ways in which the church beholds her Lord and heaven, and

spiritual truth in general, are to be had in the highest esteem. Agates are not the most transparent of

gems, they are but semi-pellucid at the best:

"Our knowledge of that life is small,

Our eye of faith is dim."

Faith is one of these precious agate windows, but alas! it is often so misty and beclouded, that we see

but darkly, and mistake much that we do see. Yet if we cannot gaze through windows of diamonds

and know even as we are known, it is a glorious thing to behold the altogether lovely One, even

though the glass be hazy as the agate. Experience is another of these dim but precious windows,

yielding to us a subdued religious light, in which we see the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, through

our own afflictions. Our weak eyes could not endure windows of transparent glass to let in the

Master's glory, but when they are dimmed with weeping, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are

tempered, and shine through the windows of agate with a soft radiance inexpressibly soothing to

tempted souls. Sanctification, as it conforms us to our Lord, is another agate window. Only as we

become heavenly can we comprehend heavenly things. The pure in heart see a pure God. Those who

are like Jesus see him as he is. Because we are so little like him, the window is but agate; because we

are somewhat like him, it is agate. We thank God for what we have, and long for more. When shall we

see God and Jesus, and heaven and truth, face to face?

3. GILL, “And I will make thy windows of agates,.... Some sort of which stones, Pliny (x) says, were valued for their clearness like glass; but the stone which bears this name with us is not clear and lucid enough to make windows of. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "of jasper", a stone more fit for that purpose; and it is interpreted of the jasper in the Talmud (y); so "the light" of the New Jerusalem is said to be like unto the "jasper stone", Rev_21:11. Some take the crystal to be meant, which suits well with windows; the word (z) for which has its name from the sun, because by means of them the rays and light of the sun are let into a house, and illuminate it; these in a figurative sense may design the ministers of the Gospel, who are the lights of the world, especially of the church; and the word and ordinances administered by them, by means of which the light of spiritual knowledge, joy, and comfort, is let into the churches, and into the souls of men, from Christ, the sun of righteousness. The phrase signifies, that in the latter day their ministrations should be very clear and bright, and be greatly owned, and be very successful: "and thy gates of carbuncles"; precious stones so called from their fiery flaming colour. The gates of the New Jerusalem are said to be so many pearls, Rev_21:21 which there, as here, signify the entrance into the church of God, which is through Christ, who is the door into it, and through faith in him, which works by love; these gates will be open in the latter day to receive many, who will come in great numbers, and are called "praise", Isa_60:11, which will be expressed in very warm and lively strains of love and affection, of which the carbuncle may be a symbol: and all thy borders of pleasant stones; true believers, called "lively stones", and who are pleasant in the sight of God and Christ, and are taken pleasure in by one another; see Psa_102:14. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "thy wall", which agree with Rev_21:18, where the wall of the New Jerusalem is said to be of jasper.

4. HENRY, “This is here promised by a similitude taken from a city, and it is an apt similitude, for the church is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Whereas now Jerusalem lay in ruins, a heap of rubbish, it shall be not only rebuilt, but beautified, and appear

more splendid than ever; the stones shall be laid not only firm, but fine, laid with fair colours; they shall be glistering stones, 1Ch_29:2. The foundations shall be laid or garnished with sapphires, the most precious of the precious stones here mentioned; for Christ (the church's foundation), and the foundation of the apostles and prophets, are precious above any thing else. The windows of this house, city, or temple, shall be made of agates, the gates of carbuncles, and all the borders (the walls that enclose the courts, or the boundaries by which her limits are marked, the mere-stones) shall be of pleasant stones, Isa_54:12. Never was this literally true; but it intimates, [1.] That, God having graciously undertaken to build his church, we may expect that to be done for it, that to be wrought in it, which is very great and uncommon. [2.] That the glory of the New Testament church shall far exceed that of the Jewish church, not in external pomp and splendour, but in those gifts and graces of the Spirit which are infinitely more valuable, that wisdom which is more precious than rubies (Pro_3:15), than the precious onyx and the sapphire, and which the topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal, Job_28:16, Job_28:19. [3.] That the wealth of this world, and those things of it that are accounted most precious, shall be despised by all the true living members of the church, as having no value, no glory, in comparison with that which far excels. That which the children of this world lay up among their treasures, and too often in their hearts, the children of God make pavements of, and put under their feet, the fittest place of it.

5. JAMISON, “windows — rather, “battlements”; literally, “suns”; applied to battlements from their radiated appearance.

agates — rather, “rubies.”

carbuncles — literally, “sparkling gems”; the carbuncle when held to the sun becomes like a burning coal.

all thy borders — rather, “thy whole circuit,” consisting of precious stones. The glory of the Church on earth, when the Hebrew Church, according to the original design, shall be the metropolis of Christendom.

6. PULPIT, “I will make thy windows of agates. Most moderns translate, "I will make thy battlements,"

or "thy pinnacles of rubies." The exact meaning is very doubtful. Thy gates of carbuncles. In the Revelation of St. John the gates are each of them composed of one pearl (Rev_21:21)—the pearl betokening purity, the carbuncle the glow of devotional feeling. We must not expect consistency in descriptions which are entirely allegorical. All thy borders of pleasant stones; or, all thy boundaries. An enclosing wall seems to be meant (comp. Rev_21:17).

7. CALVIN, “12.And I will lay thy windows with pearls. By these metaphors he shows that the condition

of the Church, as has been formerly said, will be far better than at any former period. The Church is compared to a building, which is customary in every part of Scripture. (Jer_24:6; Mat_16:18.) For this reason he now draws a picture of a costly and magnificent structure. But it ought to be remarked, that the Prophet represents God as the architect of this building; for this work ought to be entirely ascribed to him alone. But it may be asked what the Prophet means by “ sapphires, pearls,” and other kinds of jewels; for by a similar metaphor Paul meant doctrine. “ a wise architect,” says he, “ have laid the foundation.” And again,

“ any man build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man’ work shall be made manifest.” (1Co_3:10) Whether or not this be the Prophet’ meaning, will appear from the following verse.

13 All your children will be taught by the Lord,

and great will be their peace.

1.BARNES, “And all thy children - All that dwell in this splendid city; all that are the true friends of the Redeemer. It shall be a part of their future glory that they shall be all under divine instruction and guidance. See Jer_31:34 - ‘And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.’

And great shall be the peace of thy children - (See the notes at Isa_2:4; Isa_9:6).

2. PULPIT, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord (comp. Isa_44:3; Jer_31:33, Jer_31:34; Eze_11:19; Joe_2:28; Act_2:17, Act_2:18, etc.). Christians are all of them "taught of God" (Joh_6:45; 1Th_4:9). The "anointing," which they have from the Holy Ghost, "teaches them, and is truth, and is no lie" (1Jn_2:27), and causes them to "know all things" (1Jn_2:20). And great shall be the peace of thy children. Messiah was to be "the Prince of Peace" (Isa_9:6). His birth heralded the coming of "peace on earth" (Luk_2:14). So far forth as men are true Christians, does peace reign in the conscience and show itself in the life. Externally there may be persecution, tumult, wars, fightings; but internally, in each heart, there will be a "peace that passes all understanding" (Php_4:7). God "keeps in perfect peace" those" whose minds are stayed on him" (Isa_26:3).

3. GILL, “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord,.... The children of the church, who are born in her, and nursed up at her side, and who are the children of God by adoption, which is made manifest by regeneration; these the Lord will take care of that they be "taught", even "all" of them, from the least to the greatest, Jer_31:34, they shall be taught of the Lord himself, by his ministers, word, and ordinances, as means, and by his Spirit, as the efficient; by whom they are taught to know themselves, their vileness and sinfulness, their folly and weakness, their want of right counsels, and the insufficiency of their own to know Christ, and

the way of salvation by him; him as the only Saviour, able and willing so to know him as to believe in him, receive him, and walk on in him; this had an accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel; see Joh_6:45 and will have a further one in the latter day, when there will be a greater effusion of the Spirit, when the doctrines of the Gospel will be taught and understood more clearly, fully, and largely: and great shall be the peace of thy children; the inward peace of their minds in and from Christ, arising from a view of their justification by his righteousness, from the sprinklings of his blood upon their consciences, and from the discoveries of his love to their souls, enjoyed in a way of believing, and by means of the word and ordinances; also peace among themselves, harmony and concord, and no more strifes, contentions, and animosities; likewise outward peace from enemies, no more persecution or war. This word includes all kind of prosperity, external and internal, temporal and spiritual. This, with the following verses, explain the figurative phrases used in the foregoing. These words are applied by the Jews (a) to the times of the Messiah, when all Israel shall learn the law from the Lord; so the Targum, "all thy children shall know the law of the Lord;'' but it is much better understood of all the children of the church, the true Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, learning the Gospel of Christ.

4. HENRY, “It is here promised in the particular instances of those things that shall be the beauty and honour of the church, which are knowledge, holiness, and love, the very image of God, in which man was created, renewed, and restored. And these are the sapphires and carbuncles, the precious and pleasant stones, with which the gospel temple shall be enriched and beautified, and these wrought by the power and efficacy of those doctrines which the apostle compares to gold or silver, and precious stones, that are to be built upon the foundation, 1Co_3:12. Then the church is all glorious, [1.] When it is full of the knowledge of God, and that is promised here (Isa_54:13): All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. The church's children, being born of God, shall be taught of God; being his children by adoption, he will take care of their education. It was promised (Isa_54:1) that the church's children should be many; but lest we should think that being many, as sometimes it happens in numerous families, they will be neglected, and not have instruction given them so carefully as if they were but few, God here takes that work into his own hand: They shall all be taught of the Lord; and none teaches like him. First, It is a promise of the means of instruction and those means authorized by a divine institution: They shall all be taught of God, that is, they shall be taught by those whom God shall appoint and whose labours shall be under his direction and blessing. He will ordain the methods of instruction, and by his word and ordinances will diffuse a much greater light than the Old Testament church had. Care shall be taken for the teaching of the church's children, that knowledge may be transmitted from generation to generation, and that all may be enriched with it, from the least even to the greatest. Secondly, It is a promise of the Spirit of illumination. Our Saviour quotes it with application to gospel grace, and makes it to have its accomplishment in all those that were brought to believe in him (Joh_6:45): It is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God, whence he infers that those, and those only, come to him by faith that have heard and learned of the Father, that are taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, Eph_4:21. There shall be a plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace upon Christians, to teach them all things, Joh_14:26. [2.] When the members of it live in love and unity among themselves: Great shall be the peace of thy children. Peace may be taken here for all good. As where no knowledge of God is no good can be expected, so those that are taught of God to know him are in a fair way to prosper for both worlds. Great peace have those that know and love God's law, Psa_119:165.

But it is often put for love and unity; and so we may take it. All that are taught of God are taught to love one another (1Th_4:9) and that will keep peace among the church's children and prevent their falling out by the way. [3.] When holiness reigns; for that above any thing is the beauty of the church (Isa_54:14): In righteousness shall thou be established. The reformation of manners, the restoration of purity, the due administration of public justice, and the prevailing of honesty and fair dealing among men, are the strength and stability of any church or state. The kingdom of God, set up by the gospel of Christ, is not meat and drink, but this righteousness and peace, holiness and love.

2. Whereas now she lay in danger, God promises that which would be her protection and security.

5. JAMISON, “Quoted by the Saviour (Joh_6:45), to prove that in order to come to Him, men must be “drawn” by the Father. So Jer_31:34; Mic_4:2; 1Co_2:10; Heb_8:10; Heb_10:16; 1Jo_2:20.

great ... peace — generally (Psa_119:165). Specially referring to the peaceful prosperity which shall prevail under Messiah in the latter days (Isa_2:4, Isa_9:6).

6. K&D, “The outward glory of the city is only the manifestation, which strikes the senses, of the spiritual glory of the church dwelling therein. “And all thy children will be the learned of Jehovah; and great the peace of thy children.” We translate both halves of the v. as substantive clauses, although they might be accusatives of both the object and predicate, dependent upon

are disciples of Jehovah, but, as in Isa_50:4, with the subordinate idea of both לIודי ה .שמnי$

docility and learning. The children of Jerusalem will need no instruction from man, but carry

within them the teaching of heaven, as those who are “taught of God” (διδακτο�$Θεοf, Joh_6:45;

θεοδίδακτοι, 1Th_4:9). Essentially the same promise is given in Joe_3:1-2, and Jer_31:34; and

represented in 1Jo_2:20 (“Ye have the anointing of the Holy One, and know all things”) as already fulfilled. In the place of the former inward and outward distress, there has no entered

sha�lo�m, perfect inward and outward peace, complete salvation, and blessedness as its result. רב is an adjective, for this form cannot be shown to have existed as a syncopated third pers. praet.,

like (חיי =) חי ,שח. The v. closes palindromically.

7. PULPIT, “The prize of life, and its pursuit.

"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." We gather from this text— I. THE TRUE PRIZE OF LIFE. What is that thing which is most worth having, most worth the thought of our minds, the strenuous striving of our soul, the labour of our hands? Nations, communities, individual men, have given different replies. One has said case, another wealth, another pleasure, another power, another glory. The inspired Hebrew said peace. The blessing he invoked on those he loved, and that which he lauded in speech and song, was peace. And he was right. Peace is the indispensable, the

immeasurably precious thing. 1. It is a profound blessing. It goes down to the depth of our compound nature; it is the excellent result of complete rightness—rightness of heart with God, rightness of life with man. 2. It is a lasting thing. Other prizes may be snatched away by untoward circumstances, or their worth dims and lessens with the passing years, or even (with some of them) with the fleeting days. But this abides; prosperity does not injure it, adversity does not remove it, age does not diminish its excellency. 3. It is the condition of holy usefulness. We can serve our race in higher and greater things without the other prizes of life, but not without this. Not until our hearts have found rest in God's truth and in himself can we be and say and do that which will guide the feet of our fellow-men into and along the paths of righteousness and wisdom. II. THE ONE WAY OF WINNING IT. The children of Zion would have great peace, inasmuch as they would be "taught of the Lord." :Nothing else will give to the human heart the peace which it craves. 1. Comfortable circumstances will not ensure it. These circumstances cannot be generally commanded, and, if they could, there would still be a craving of the soul which no comforts or successes of any earthly kind would satisfy. 2. Philosophy is not equal to the task. Stoicism tried its hand, and with some of its disciples there was the appearance of success; but it has no power to minister to the necessities of the multitudes of mankind, to the ordinary human heart, to men and women as we meet and know them every day. To the common, questioning, thirsting human heart it is a fountain without water, a name without the power behind it. 3. A Divine Saviour alone can supply the need. He only who brings everlasting truth to our mind, the sympathy and love of an unfailing friendship to the heart, spiritual excellence to the soul, meaning and worth to human life, a hope bright with immortal glory to the closing hour,—he only is entitled to say, "Come unto me v I will give you rest." "My peace I give unto you." Great peace—peace that passeth understanding, and that outliveth mortal life, have they who learn of him and take his yoke upon them.—C

8. CALVIN, “13.For all thy children. I consider that the copulative ו (vau,) “” here, as in many other

passages, denotes for; and hence we may easily conclude that Isaiah spoke not of doctrine, but of men, of which the spiritual building of the Church is reared. It is by doctrine, indeed, that the Church is built; but, the building of it is effected by assembling men together, and reducing them to a state of obedience to God. The difference then between Paul and Isaiah is this, that Paul makes those “ stones” relate to doctrine, and Isaiah makes them relate to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are bestowed on men, in order that the Church may be built of them. It is proper to observe the diversity of gifts with which the Lord adorns his Church; for all are not “” and all are not “” but the Lord assigns to every one his rank according’ to his own pleasure. (Eph_4:11) Taught by Jehovah. It deserves attention, that all that belongs to the ornament of the Church, proceeds from no other source than from the grace of God; for if we are “” and “” in consequence of our being taught by the Lord, it follows that this does not proceed from nature. Now there are two ways in which the Lord teaches us; by external preaching, and by the secret revelation of the Holy Spirit. What kind of teaching the Prophet means is explained by Christ, when he quotes this passage; and therefore we ought

not to seek a better interpreter. “ is written in the prophets,” says he, “ shall be taught by God. Every man who hath heard and learned from the Father cometh to me.” (Joh_6:45) If this passage were to be understood as relating to external preaching, the conclusion which Christ draws from it would not be well founded; for it does not follow, “ Gospel is preached, and therefore all believe.” Many oppose, others openly scorn, and others are hypocrites. Those only “ have been foreordained to life” (Act_13:48) are sincerely teachable, and are entitled to be ranked among the disciples. The Gospel is preached indiscriminately to the elect and the reprobate; but the elect alone come to Christ, because they have been “ by God,” and therefore to them the Prophet undoubtedly refers. This makes it evident in what way we become living and precious stones for building the temple of God. It is when the Lord has formed and polished us by his Spirit, and has added to the external preaching of the word the internal efficacy of the Spirit. Hence we learn how great is the depravity of the human mind, which cannot be bent and formed anew, unless the Lord move it by the power and efficacy of his Spirit. Isaiah has connected both modes of teaching, the internal and the external; for he gives the appellation of “ of the Church” to those who are “ by the Lord.” If they are her children, they must then have been conceived in her womb and nourished by her, first “ milk, and next with solid food,” as Paul says, (1Co_3:2) till they “ up and arrive at manhood.” (Eph_4:13) Thus the external administration of the word is necessary if we wish to be disciples; and this shows the extreme madness of fanatics, who abuse this passage for the purpose of overturning the preaching of the word and the ministry which the Church enjoys; for they cannot be “ children” of the Church, if they do not allow themselves to be educated in her. In vain will they boast of secret revelations; for the Spirit does not teach any but those who submit to the ministry of the Church, and consequently they are the disciples of the devil, and not of God, who reject the order which he has appointed; for we see that these two things, “ of the Church” and “ by God,” are united in such a manner that they cannot be God’ disciples who refuse to be taught in the Church. They ought likewise to be properly distinguished, as Isaiah also distinguishes them, that we may not apply to men what ought to be ascribed to the efficacy of the Spirit; but at the same time they ought to be joined together, so that we may know that in this matter God chooses to employ the agency of men. Besides, we are taught by this passage that the calling of God is efficacious in the elect. Augustine examines this passage judiciously, and applies it skillfully against the Pelagians, who extolled man’ free in opposition to the grace of God. They appeared, indeed, to ascribe something to the grace of God, but in such a manner that, when they brought it forward, they gave to it an inferior place to man’ free just as the Papists do, who assert that any person can either receive or reject it. “” (says Augustine) “ shall be taught by God. Now, God’ disciples are efficaciously taught, and follow his calling.” He likewise adds that passage of John’ Gospel which we have quoted. This shows clearly that it is not from free choice made by man, and which is capable of being bent in either direction, that it proceeds. From these words it ought also to be observed how highly the Lord values his doctrine, by means of which he admits us into his building, so that we become “ sapphires, and carbuncles;” for they who wish to build the Church by rejecting the doctrine of the word, build a hog’ sty, and not the Church of God. We see also what opinion we ought to form about implicit faith, about which the Papists yelp, who wish men to become fools, that they may suffer themselves to be imposed upon; for, since we must be taught by God, it is not reasonable that we should resemble beasts. It may be asked, were not the prophets also, and the patriarchs, and other believers under the Law, taught by God? They undoubtedly were; but here the Prophet spoke by comparison, because there is a more abundant revelation in Christ, and the Lord hath spoken so plainly as to give a public manifestation

that he is the teacher of the Church, and also to gain many disciples. This passage agrees with one in the Prophet Jeremiah. “ one shall not teach his neighbor, nor a man his brother; for all shall know me from the least even to the greatest, saith Jehovah.” (Jer_31:34) Accordingly, if in ancient times it was necessary that all the children of God should be disciples of the Holy Spirit, much more in the present day, seeing that this prediction relates strictly to the kingdom of Christ. And great peace. By the word “” he denotes happiness, that is, all prosperity. And hence we may infer what is the true happiness of men. It is, when God enlightens our understandings, so that we embrace the salvation which has been revealed to us in Christ; for, so long as we are destitute of that knowledge, we are at the greatest possible distance from happiness; because even God’ blessings, till they are sanctified by faith, become a curse to us.

9. CHARLES SIMEON, “Isa_54:13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

THE Jewish Church was often in a state of great distress, under the judgments of Almighty God. In Babylon especially was she at the lowest ebb of degradation and misery. But there was consolation provided for her in a prospect of glorious times, when her light, and peace, and joy, and purity, should far exceed any thing which she had ever experienced in her most prosperous state; and the whole Gentile world also should be made partakers of her blessedness. In the words before the text, the Jewish Church is represented as a tent or tabernacle torn and “tossed by the winds,” and reduced to a most desolate condition: and a promise is given to her, that God will build her as a palace, every part of which shall be composed of precious stones; her foundations being of sapphires, her windows of agates, her gates of carbuncles, and even her borders, or outward walls, of pleasant stones [Note: ver. 11, 12.].” In her former state, her whole service consisting of rites and ordinances; she was forced to receive her instructions from men, whose peculiar duty was to ascertain and execute the will of God in every one of his appointments: and in the performance of these burthensome rites there was but little satisfaction to the soul. But in the state to which she was encouraged to look forward, a different system was to prevail: the instruction that was to be conveyed was spiritual; and a compliance with it was to be attended with much delight. Hence it was said to her, “All thy children shall be taught of God: and great shall be the peace of thy children.” The promises here made to the Church relate to the two things which were chiefly wanted under that shadowy dispensation; namely, I. Divine illumination— This is a blessing which every human being needs— [We may obtain from men and books a speculative knowledge of religion, as well as of any other science: but a spiritual discernment can be given us by God alone. This is declared by an inspired Apostle; “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he

know them, because they are spiritually discerned [Note: 1Co_2:14.].” In like manner our blessed Lord testifies: “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him [Note: Mat_11:27.].” How far this is true or false, it is in the power of every man to ascertain, by his own experience. Let it be tried. Of the lending truths of the Gospel we may suppose the generality of persons to be convinced: they know, that they are sinners; that they need a Saviour; that a Saviour has been provided for them; that a promise of salvation is given to all who will believe in him; and that on those who reject his overtures of mercy the guilt of all their sins must rest for ever. Now then let any man sit down to consider these truths; let him call in the aid of all the most competent instructors he can find: and let him see whether he can, by any efforts of his own, bring himself to a spiritual perception of those truths, that is, to such a view of them as shall produce a suitable impression on his mind, and a corresponding effect upon his heart and life. Let him labour as long as he shall see fit: and, after the fullest possible trial, let him declare, whether he has been able to produce in his soul the feelings which were excited in the bosoms of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost; and in his whole spirit and temper the same permanent change. If one single person in the universe be found that can effect this, then we are content to acknowledge, that our assertions on this subject are erroneous, and that man does not need the teachings of God’s Spirit in order to a spiritual perception of divine truth. But it no such instance ever was, or can be, found, then may we be assured, that “flesh and blood cannot reveal these things” to our souls, and that we can know them only by the teaching of God himself [Note: Mat_16:17.].] This however is promised to us in the Gospel— [The Spirit of God has undertaken to impart it to our souls. His particular office in the economy of Redemption is, “to testify of Christ [Note: Joh_15:26.],” and “to glorify Christ by taking of the things that are his, and shewing them unto us [Note: Joh_16:14.].” And in the execution of this office he “convinces the soul of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment [Note: Joh_16:7-11.];” and so convinces of these things as to produce in the soul all the diversified sensations which they are suited to create. If it be asked, What evidence does any one give, whereby it may be ascertained, whether this promised influence be a reality or a delusion? I answer, This also may be brought to a visible test, by which the whole world may judge of it.The man who truly experiences this teaching, immediately comes to Christ as a sinner, and with deep humiliation and contrition seeks salvation through him alone. This our blessed Lord himself affirms; and affirms it too with an express reference to the words of our text: “It is written in the Prophets,” says he, “They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me [Note: Joh_6:45.].” There is no exception under heaven: the effect of this teaching is invariable and universal. Nay more, it produces a holy energy and determination of mind to come to Christ at all events, and to disregard all the consequences that such a step can possibly involve. This may be seen in the conduct of the Apostle Paul, who says, “When it pleased God, who called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood [Note: Gal_1:15-17.],” but proceeded to adopt such measures as I judged most calculated to advance his glory. This teaching therefore, though invisible in itself, even as the wind, is yet, like the wind, visible in its effects: and “all the children of Zion” are privileged to experience it in their souls. The weakest person in the whole creation shall enjoy it, if he will but seek it in faith and prayer. Yes: “what God has hid from the wise and prudent, he will reveal unto babes; even so, because it seemeth good in his sight [Note: Mat_11:25.].”]

Connected with this blessing is, II. Heavenly peace— Men, without any Divine teaching, possess what they call peace: but it is a state which does not deserve the name of peace, seeing that it is nothing but a stupid insensibility, issuing from a forgetfulness of all their spiritual concerns. Speak to them of death, and judgment, heaven and hell, and their peace vanishes in a moment; and they are ready to desire, like Satan, that they “may not be tormented before their time [Note: Mat_8:29.].” But the peace which Christ bestows, and which he emphatically calls his [Note: Joh_14:27.], is of a very different kind: it is a positive sense of acceptance with God, and a rest of the soul in God. This the Believer experiences, 1. In the view of all his past sins— [So far is he from being appalled by a sight of his sins, that he desires to have them set before him in all their malignity, and with all their numberless aggravations. He feels that a sense of his disease is necessary to an enjoyment of the remedy: and the more he sees his own guilt and helplessness, the more he glories in Christ as a suitable and all-sufficient Saviour. The very impossibility of being saved in any other way than through the blood and righteousness of Christ, constrains him to look altogether to Christ, as “the very chief of sinners,” who shall to all eternity be held forth as a specimen of what the grace of God could effect [Note:1Ti_1:16.]. The thought that the extent and riches of redeeming love will be pre-eminently displayed in him, perfectly reconciles him to the idea of having all his sins exposed before the assembled universe; since the Saviour will be most glorified in those whom he has redeemed from the deepest death. Let me not however be mistaken. The believer is not indifferent to his past sins; (for he mourns over them to his dying hour:) much less does he think it a desirable thing for a person to commit great sins in order that Christ may be magnified in the forgiveness of them; (for that would be to make Christ himself “a minister of sin [Note: Gal_2:17.]:” but seeing that his sins have been great, he derives consolation from the thought, that “where sin has abounded, the grace of Christ shall much more abound; and that, as sin has reigned unto death, even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord [Note: Rom_5:20-21.].”] 2. In the view of all his present infirmities— [These would quite overwhelm his spirits, if his eyes were not opened to see on what “a Mighty One help had been laid for him [Note: Psa_89:19.].” He could not hope to maintain his peace one hour, but that he knows he has an Advocate with the Father, ever ready to intercede for him; and that that very “Advocate is also a propitiation for all his sins [Note: 1Jn_2:2.].” In Christ too he beholds a fulness of grace treasured up for him; of grace ever ready, and all-sufficient for him, in his greatest necessities. Hence, so far from being discouraged by a sense of his weakness, he even derives consolation and encouragement from it; just as St. Paul did, who says, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong [Note: 2Co_12:10.].” The thought that “the strength of Christ will be made perfect,” and manifested to be perfect, “in his weakness,” turns the sense which he has of his weakness into a ground of joy, and makes him even to “glory in his infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon him [Note: 2Co_12:9.].”] 3. In the view of the final judgment— [The bar of judgment is no longer an object of dread and terror to his soul. “He knows in whom he has believed; and is persuaded that he is able to keep that which he has committed to him [Note: 2Ti_1:12.].”

He has no fear that God will forget his promises, or that the Saviour who bought him with his blood, and furnished him with continual supplies of grace, will give him up to that destroyer, from whose power he has rescued him at so great a price. He looks on that day as the time appointed for his complete deliverance. He knows that then the body, which has here been such a clog to his soul, shall be made a partaker with the soul in all the glory and felicity of heaven. He looks forward therefore to it with joy. It is as much the object of hope to him, as the first advent of the Saviour was to the Jewish Church. How delightful is it to him to contemplate the wonders of that day; to behold the Saviour coming in all the glory of his Father, and all his holy angels with him; to behold him seated on his judgment-seat, and, ordering to either hand the sheep and the goats; to hear him pronounce the sentence upon each: and then to ascend with him in sweet anticipation to the realms of bliss; to be seated on his throne; to behold his glory in all its brightness; to hear his voice, to taste his love, to participate his glory; and to spend eternity in songs of praise! All this is delightful to the believer’s soul; and in the anticipation of it he already possesses a foretaste of the heavenly bliss. With these views “his peace is great:” yes verily, he has “a peace that passeth all understanding [Note: Php_4:6.]:” and “rivers of it flow into his soul [Note: Isa_48:17-18.],” being “filled with all joy and peace in believing, and abounding in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost [Note: Rom_15:13.].”] See then, Brethren, 1. What blessings are treasured up for you in the Gospel— [It is to “Zion’s Children” that these blessings are limited: and how are you to be brought into that relation to her, but by the Gospel?, Know that, if you submit yourselves truly to the voice of God in his word, all these blessings are yours: you shall have that “unction of the Holy One that shall teach you all things [Note:1Jn_2:20; 1Jn_2:27.];” and you shall possess the consolations of the Spirit, which are neither few nor small [Note: Job_15:11. Jer_30:19.]. But remember, that “God will be inquired of,” before he will impart them to you [Note: Eze_36:37.]: it is by the holy violence of prayer that they must be brought down from heaven; and by the appropriating energy of faith that they must be made available for your salvation — — —] 2. How injurious are the workings of unbelief— [Unbelief puts far from us the promises of God, under an idea that we have no title to them; and deprives the soul of all the happiness which it is privileged to enjoy. In vain does God say, “All” thy children shall be taught of God: for unbelief has found out some reason for an exception in this or that particular person. In vain has God said, “Great shall be the peace” of thy children: for unbelief suggests, that trouble and fear are more suited to the case of this particular individual. I do not mean to say, that wilful and habitual sin is not a bar both to the teachings and consolations of the Spirit: for that will assuredly cut off all gracious communications from us; as it is said, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God [Note: Isa_59:2.]:” but, if we truly turn to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, no past iniquities are any bar to our acceptance with him; nor are any present infirmities a ground for desponding fears; seeing that there is a sufficiency in Christ for all our wants; and our very necessities afford him a more glorious occasion for magnifying himself in our support. Dismiss then all doubts and fears respecting your right to apprehend the promises of God, or your title to expect his promised blessings. Only “be strong in faith, giving glory to God [Note: Rom_4:20.];” and “according to your faith it shall be done unto you [Note: Mat_9:29.].”]

14 In righteousness you will be established:

Tyranny will be far from you;

you will have nothing to fear.

Terror will be far removed;

it will not come near you.

1.BARNES, “In righteousness shalt thou be established - This is language which is appropriately addressed to a city or commonwealth. The idea is, that it would not be built up by fraud, and rapine, and conquest, as many cities had been, but by the prevalence of justice.

Thou shalt be far from oppressions - That is, thou shalt be far from being oppressed by others. So the connection demands. The Hebrew would bear an active signification, so that it might be read, ‘be thou far from oppression,’ that is, be far from oppressing others. But the design of the prophet is rather to promise than to command; and the idea is, that they should have no occasion to fear the violence of others anymore.

For it shall not come near thee - This doubtless refers to the security, perpetuity, and prosperity of the church under the Messiah.

2. PULPIT, “In righteousness shalt thou be established; rather, through righteousness. "There is no

peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa_48:22); and conversely, where righteousness abounds, peace prevails, and the nation "is established." Thou shalt be far from oppression; rather, be thou far from anxiety (Delitzsch). Thou shalt not fear; rather, thou needest not fear. There is no danger—nothing to be afraid of. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (Isa_11:9). So long as thou art "established through righteousness," there shall no harm happen unto thee.

3. GILL, “In righteousness shalt thou be established,.... In the righteousness of Christ, from whence flows the peace before spoken of, and which is the stability of the church of Christ, and the security of it and its members from condemnation. The doctrine of justification by Christ's righteousness is, as Luther calls it, "articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae", the article of

the church, by which, as it is held fast or neglected, it stands or falls: or be established in exercising righteousness, doing justice and judgment, which, as it is the support and establishment of a kingdom and state, so of the church; for if purity of manners, holiness and righteousness, are neglected, a church soon comes to decay and ruin; but such will be the holiness of the professors of religion in the latter day, that every pot and vessel in it shall be holiness to the Lord, Zec_14:20, thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shall not fear; so far from it, that thou shalt not be in the least afraid of it, neither from within nor from without; not from false teachers that oppress the mind with legal doctrine; nor from persecutors that oppress and injure in person and property: the church will be now free from the oppression and tyranny of Rome, or mystical Babylon, which will now fall, and from the persecution of the antichristian states, on whom the vials of God's wrath will be poured, and so the church will be no more in fear of them; the words may be rendered, "therefore thou shalt not fear" (b); there will be no cause for it, no occasion of it: and from terror; it shall not come near thee; the terror of the antichristian beast and powers, which shall be no more, after their last effort next mentioned.

4. HENRY, “.) God engages here that though, in the day of her distress, without were fightings

and within were fears, now she shall be safe from both. [1.] There shall be no fears within

(Isa_54:14): “Thou shalt be far from oppression. Those that have oppressed thee shall be

removed, those that would oppress thee shall be restrained, and therefore thou shalt not fear,

but mayest look upon it as a thing at a great distance, that thou art now in no danger of. Thou

shalt be far from terror, not only from evil, but from the fear of evil, for it shall not come near

thee so as to do thee any hurt or to put thee in any fright.” Note, Those are far from terror that

are far from oppression; for it is as great a terror as can fall on a people to have the rod of

government turned into the serpent of oppression, because against this there is no fence, nor is

there any flight from it.

5. JAMISON, “righteousness — the characteristic of the reign of Messiah (Isa_11:4, Isa_11:5; Psa_72:2, Psa_72:4; Rev_19:11).

far from oppression, etc. — far from suffering oppression; “for thou shall have nothing to fear.”

6. K&D, “In perfect keeping with this grace through righteousness, Jerusalem will then stand firm and impregnable. “Through righteousness wilt thou be fortified: be far from anxiety, for thou hast nothing to fear; and from terror, for it will not come near thee. Behold, men crowd together in crowds; my will is not there. Who crowd together against thee? - he shall fall by thee.” Both the thought and action of Jerusalem will be righteousness then, and it will thereby

acquire strength; $ונני'n is a pausal future hithpalel, with the ת of the reflective opening syllable

assimilated (Ges. §53, 2, b). With this reciprocal influence of its moral character and imparted glory, it can, and is to keep far away from all thought of oppression and terror; for, through

divine grace and a corresponding divine nature, it has nothing to fear. הן (Isa_54:15), when

pointing to any transaction as possible (as, for example, in Job_12:14; Job_23:8), acquires

almost the significance of a conditional particle (Ewald, §103, g). The equally hypothetical

parallel clause is clothed in the form of an interrogative. For the verb gu�r, the meaning “to gather

together” (related to גרE), more especially to join together with hostile intention (cf., συνάγεσθαι,

Rev_19:19; Rev_20:8), is sustained by Psa_56:7; Psa_59:4; and with רהm, lacessere, it has

nothing to do (Hitzig and Ewald). $nך$א has the force of contra te, as in the case of verbs of

combat. The first apodosis is this: “but it takes place entirely away from me,” i.e., without and

against my will; $י$ = מאותיnמא (as in Isa_59:21), and ם = אותםnא, are no sure signs of a later usage;

for this alternation of the two forms of את is met with as early as Jos_14:12. The second apodosis

is, “he will fall upon (or against) thee,” or, as we should say, “founder,” or “be wrecked.” It is far

more likely that this is the meaning of the words, than that they mean “he will fall to thy lot” (על

elsewhere, to fall to a person); for the context here is a totally different one from נפל ל$ like ,נפל

Isa_45:14, and we look for nothing more than a declaration of the utter failure and ruin of the undertaking.

7. CALVIN, “14.In righteousness. He means that God will be the maker and architect of his Church. I

am aware that there are some who explain it differently, and who think that “” means “” And indeed that exposition has some plausibility, arising from the Prophet having spoken about doctrine; for we are taught for this very purpose, that we may lead a pious and holy life. But the Prophet’ meaning was different, namely, that the Church shall be restored under God’ guidance, who wishes to be its guardian and defender, he contrasts “” with the violence and oppression by which the Church has been thrown down, or, at least, he expresses “” as if he had said that it shall not be a frail building, or one that might impose on men for a short time by mere deceitfulness of appearance; because God will sincerely defend his work, and, being “” will not only restore it completely, but will afterwards preserve it in safety for a long period. Thus, although men are leagued in every way for the destruction of the Church, they will gain nothing; for the Lord guards her by his “” We have formerly (73) seen this form of expression; and on this account I think that the interpretation which I have given is more simple, though some may think that another interpretation is more plausible.

15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;

whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

1.BARNES, “Behold, they shall surely gather together - The idea in this verse is, that the enemies of the people of God would indeed form alliances and compacts against them, but it would not be under the divine direction, and they would not be able to prevail against the

church. The word rendered here ‘gather together’ (גור gu�r) means properly ‘to turn aside from

the way’; then to sojourn for a time; then to assemble against anyone. It seems here to refer to the gathering together of hostile forces to form an alliance, or to wage war. Great variety, however, has prevailed in the interpretation of the passage, but this seems to be the sense of it. Jerome renders it, ‘Lo, a foreigner shall come who was not with me, the stranger shall hereafter be joined to thee,’ and seems to understand it of the proselytes that should be made. This sense is found expressly in the Septuagint, ‘Lo, proselytes shall come to thee through me, and they shall sojourn with thee, and fly to thee’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘Lo, the captivity of thy people shall be surely gathered unto thee, and in the end the kings of the people which were assembled to afflict thee, O Jerusalem, shall fall in the midst of thee.’ But the above seems to be the correct sense. Alliances would be formed; compacts would be entered into; leagues would be made by the enemies of the people of God, and they would be assembled to destroy the church. This has often been done. Formidable confederations have been entered into for the purpose, and deep-laid plans have been devised to destroy the friends of the Most High. See Psa_2:2 : ‘The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed.’ No small part of history is a record of the combinations and alliances which have been entered into for the purpose of driving the true religion from the world.

But not by me - Not under my direction, or by my command.

Shall fall for thy sake - Hebrew, עליך ‛a�laı?yk - ‘Shall fall unto thee.’ Lowth, ‘Shall come over

to thy side.’ The phrase seems to mean that they should ‘fall to them,’ that is, that they should lay aside their opposition, break up their alliances against the church, and come over to it. In proof of this interpretation, Rosenmuller appeals to the following places: 1Ch_12:19-20; 2Ch_15:9; Jer_21:9; Jer_39:9. The passage, therefore, looks to the future conversion of the enemies of the church to the true faith. It has, doubtless, been partially fulfilled in the conversion of nations that have been leagued against the gospel of the Redeemer. There was a striking fulfillment in the times that succeeded the persecutions of Christians in the Roman empire. After all the power of the empire had been enlisted in ten successive persecutions to destroy the church, the very empire that had thus opposed the church was converted to the Christian faith. In a still more signal manner will this be fulfilled when all the powers of the earth now leagued against the gospel shall be brought under the influences of the true religion.

2. CLARKE, “Shall fall for thy sake “Shall come over to thy side” - For יפול yippol,

twenty-eight MSS. (eight ancient) have יפל yipal, in its more common form. For the meaning of

the word in this place, see Jer_37:13.

3. GILL, “Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me,.... Not by the Lord, by his command or order to do his will, and execute his pleasure, which sometimes was the case, as in Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and others; but so it shall not be, when the enemies of

Christ and his people gather together against them in the latter day; this will be by the means of three unclean spirits like frogs that will come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet; even spirits of devils, Popish priests, and Jesuits, who will instigate, stir up, and get together the antichristian kings of the earth to the battle of almighty God, Rev_16:14. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret them of Gog and Magog: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake; because of the love that I bear to thee, they shall not succeed, or do thee any hurt, but shall perish; or, "shall fall to thee" (c); so far from doing thee any hurt, they shall come over to thee, and be on thy side; be joined to thee, as the Vulgate Latin version; that is, the remnant that shall escape, and be converted, and give glory to God, Rev_11:13 or rather, "shall fall before thee" (d), in thy sight; or, as the Targum, in the midst of thee; which remarkably paraphrases the words thus, "at the end the kings of the nations, which are gathered together to afflict thee, O Jerusalem, shall fall in the midst of thee;'' for the kings of the earth that shall be gathered together against Christ and his church shall fall in battle before them, and their flesh shall become meat for the fowls of the heaven; the beast and false prophet, in company with them, will be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire, and the remnant be slain with the sword of Christ, Rev_19:17.

4. HENRY, “There shall be no fightings without. Though attempts should be made upon them to insult them, to invade their country, or besiege their towns, they should all be in vain, and none of them succeed, Isa_54:15. It is granted, “They shall surely gather together against thee; thou must expect it.” The confederate force of hell and earth will be renewing their assaults. As long as there is a devil in hell, and a persecutor out of it, God's people must expect frequent alarms; but, First, God will not own them, will not give them either commission or countenance; they gather together, hand joins in hand, but it is not by me. God gave them no such order as he did to Sennacherib, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, Isa_10:6. And therefore, Secondly, Their attempt will end in their own ruin: “Whosoever shall gather together against thee, be they ever so many and ever so mighty, they shall not only be baffled, but they shall fall for thy sake, or they shall fall before thee, which shall be the just punishment of their enmity to thee.” God will make them to fall for the sake of the love he bears to his church and the care he has of it, in answer to the prayers made by his people, and in pursuance of the promises made to them. “They shall fall, that thou mayest stand,” Psa_27:2.

5. JAMISON, “gather together, etc. — that is, If it should happen that enemies “gather together” against thee (Psa_2:2), they will not have been sent by Me (compare Hos_8:4) as instruments of My wrath (nay, it will be with My disapproval); for “whosoever shall gather together,” etc. (Psa_59:3).

fall for thy sake — rather, “shall come over to thy side” [Lowth]. Literally, “fall to thee” (Jer_21:9; Jer_39:9). To be fully fulfilled to Jerusalem hereafter (Zec_14:16).

6. PULPIT, “Behold, they shall surely gather together, etc.; rather, behold, should they gather

themselves together; i.e. should enemies collect and threaten thee with harm, be assured that the attack is not by me—not my doing—and that, therefore, it will come to nought. All those who gather together

against thee shall fall—i.e. stumble and be overthrown—through striking against thee. The rendering of the Authorized Version, "for thy sake," is quite indefensible.

7. CALVIN, “15.Behold, he who assembleth shall assemble. The general import is, that, although

many rise up for the purpose of overwhelming the Church, yet all their efforts and attacks shall fail; and he appears to promise God’ assistance not only against external foes, but against foes that are domestic and internal. Many “” in the bosom of the Church, as if they wished to join themselves to her, but afterwards carry on internal war. These words are commonly translated, “ gathering he shall gather himself against thee,” and are generally understood to relate to all the enemies of the Church of every kind. That interpretation is most generally approved; nor do I object to it, provided that it be acknowledged to include the fraud, and ambush, and treachery by which the Church is attacked. Yet I have no doubt that here the meaning is the same as in Psa_2:1, namely, the conspiracies and insurrections of the Gentiles against Christ and the Church of God; for not a single nation only, but various nations rise up against, her. It is probable, however, that here he expressly joins together domestic foes and those who from without had penetrated even into her bosom; for he says, In thee, Against thee, that is, “ shall attack thee within, in the midst of thee.” In a word, he shows that the Church will not enjoy such peace as not to be attacked by many adversaries. But it may be thought that these statements are contradictory; for he formerly said that she would be far from terror and oppression, and now he says that there shall be conspiracies within her bosom. I reply, the Prophet instantly added this, that believers might not promise to themselves a state of peace in the world, as if they had no annoyance to suffer from wicked men and hypocrites. The defense of the Church against oppression and slander shall be of such a kind as not to preserve her from carrying on uninterrupted war with enemies; for Satan will raise up against her every day new attacks, so that she can never be at rest. These words may therefore be regarded as a correction of the preceding statement, in order that believers may always carry their weapons of war, and may not promise to themselves repose. Without me. A promise is added, that the Lord will nevertheless preserve them in the midst of dangers. Without God signifies “ vain” or ““ for he means that the attacks of wicked men, though they do their utmost (74) shall utterly fail. They rush forward with blind fury, but it is the Lord’ hand alone that gives prosperity. He alludes to what was formerly said, (Isa_41:25) that the Babylonians should come, under God’ guidance, to destroy Judea. At that time the people were ruined, because they had God for their enemy; but now, because “ God,” that is, without his guidance, the enemies shall attack her, they shall be ashamed and turn back. This is more fully expressed by what immediately follows — He who shall assemble in thee shall fall against thee. That is, “ that he shall attempt against thee shall fall back on his own head. Though the whole world rise up against thee, it shall be crushed by its own weight.” The phrase, in thee, deserves notice; for when the Lord drives our enemies to a distance, we are confident, but if they come near us, we fall into despair. Therefore he says, “ they penetrate even into thy bowels, the Lord will destroy them, and will deliver thee.” (74) “Encore qu’ facent du pis qu’ pourrent.” “ they do the worst that they can.”

16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith

who fans the coals into flame

and forges a weapon fit for its work.

And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak

havoc;

1.BARNES, “Behold, I have created the smith - The sense of this verse is, ‘Everything that can effect your welfare is under my control. The smith who manufactures the instruments of war or of torture is under me. His life, his strength, his skill, are all in my hands, and he can do nothing which I shall not deem it best to permit him to do. So with the enemy of the church himself - the waster who destroys. I bare made him, and he is wholly under my control and at my disposal.’ The smith who bloweth the coals, denotes the man who is engaged in forging instruments for war, or for any other purpose. Here it refers to him who should be engaged in forging instruments of battle to attack the church; and why should it not refer also to him who should be engaged in making instruments of torture - such as are used in times of persecution?

That bringeth forth an instrument for his work - Lowth, ‘According to his work.’ Noyes, ‘By his labor.’ The idea is, that he produces an instrument as the result of his work.

I have created the waster to destroy - I have formed every man who is engaged in spreading desolation by wars, and I have every such man under my control (see the notes at Isa_10:5-7; Isa_37:26-27; Isa_46:1-6). The sense here is, that as God had all such conquerors under his control, they could accomplish no more than he permitted them to do.

2. PULPIT, “Behold, I have created, etc. The Church is encouraged to fear no danger by being

reminded that all power to do hurt is from God. Whether it be the smith that forges a weapon, or the

waster that destroys and lays waste whole countries, or any other worker of woe to man, all are equally brought into being, and sustained in life, by God. None can do a hurt that God does not allow. The smith

that bloweth the coals. In ancient times the smith worked his metal into shape by the help of a blow-pipe, which he blew himself (see Rosellini, 'Monumenti Civili,' pl. 51, fig 4, and pl. 52, fig. 4). For his work; or, for its work: i.e. destruction. The waster; i.e. the conquering king, such as Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus

3. GILL, “Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire,.... Into which he puts his iron to soften it, that he may beat it, and form it into what shape he pleases; which descriptive clause is added to show that it is a blacksmith that is intended, and to distinguish him from the carpenter and mason, of whom this word is also used, who deal, the one in wood, and the other in stone, and neither of which requires fire: now the Lord observes, to the comfort of his people, surrounded by enemies with instruments of war in their hands, that he made the smith that made these, not only as a man, but as an artificer gave him all the skill he has in making military weapons; and therefore could take away his skill, or hinder him from making any, or destroy and defeat, and render useless those that are made; and therefore they had nothing to fear from warlike preparations. Some understand this of the devil, that great incendiary of mankind; and others of a council of war, that forms the design, blows up the coals of contention, and brings forth the plan of operation in war, it follows, as a further description of the smith, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work: who takes the iron out of the fire which he blows, as an instrument to work upon, and which he forms into a military weapon, as an arrow, a sword, a spear, or shield; or, "for their work" (e); for the use of the enemies of Christ and his church: and I have created the waster to destroy; military men, soldiers that use the above weapons of destruction for that purpose; these are God's creatures, and he can destroy or disappoint them, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. Some understand this also of the devil, who is by way of eminence the waster of mankind; others of tyrannical princes; I should choose to interpret it of the Romish antichrist, that waster and destroyer of the souls of men, and of the antichristian states that destroy the earth, and shall be destroyed themselves; or of the Turk, the locust, whose king is called Apollyon and Abaddon, which signifies a waster and a destroyer, Rev_11:18. These are said to be "created" by the Lord, not only because they are his creatures, the work of his hands, but because they are raised up by his providence, according to his secret purpose, as Pharaoh was, to show his power in them; and are permitted by him to continue for awhile to fulfil his will, being entirely dependent upon him, and subject to his influence, direction, and overruling providence; and therefore his people had no reason to be afraid of them.

4. HENRY, “That we may with the greatest assurance depend upon God for the safety of his church, we have here, [1.] The power of God over the church's enemies asserted, Isa_54:16. The truth is they have no power but what is given them from above, and he that gave them their power can limit and restrain them. Hitherto they shall go, and no further. First, They cannot carry on their design without arms and weapons of war; and the smith that makes those weapons is God's creature, and he gave him his skill to work in iron and brass (Exo_31:3, Exo_31:4) and particularly to make proper instruments for warlike purposes. It is melancholy to think, as if men did not die fast enough of themselves, how ingenious and industrious they are to make instruments of death and to find out ways and means to kill one another. The smith blows the coals in the fire, to make his iron malleable, to soften it first, that it may be hardened into steel, and so he may bring forth an instrument proper for the work of those that seek to destroy. It is the iron age that is the age of war. But God has created the smith, and therefore can tie his hands, so that the project of the enemy shall miscarry (as many a project has done) for want of arms and ammunition. Or the smith that forges the weapons is perhaps put here for the council of war that forms the design, blows the coals of contention, and brings forth the plan of the war; these can do no more than God will let them. Secondly, They cannot carry it on without men, they must have soldiers, and it is God that created the waster to destroy. Military

men value themselves upon their great offices and splendid titles, and even the common soldiers call themselves gentlemen; but God calls them wasters made to destroy, for wasting and destruction are their business. They think their own ingenuity, labour, and experience, made them soldiers; but it was God that created them, and gave them strength and spirit for that hazardous employment; and therefore he not only can restrain them, but will serve his own purposes and designs by them. [2.] The promise of God concerning the church's safety solemnly laid down, as the heritage of the servants of the Lord (Isa_54:17), as that which they may depend upon and be confident of, that God will protect them from their adversaries both in camps and courts. First, From their field-adversaries, that think to destroy them by force and violence, and dint of sword: “No weapon that is formed against thee (though ever so artfully formed by the smith that blows the coals, Isa_54:16, though ever so skilfully managed by the waster that seeks to destroy) shall prosper; it shall not prove strong enough to do any harm to the people of God; it shall miss its mark, shall fall out of the hand or perhaps recoil in the face of him that uses it against thee.” It is the happiness of the church that no weapons formed against it shall prosper long, and therefore the folly of its enemies will at length be made manifest to all, for they are but preparing instruments of ruin for themselves. Secondly, From their law-adversaries, that think to run them down under colour of right and justice. When the weapons of war do not prosper there are tongues that rise in judgment. Both are included in the gates of hell, that seek to destroy the church; for they had their courts of justice, as well as their magazines and military stores, in their gates. The tongues that rise in judgment against the church are as such as either demand a dominion over it, as if God's children were their lawful captives, pretending an authority to oppress their consciences, or they are such as misrepresent them, and falsely accuse them, and by slanders and calumnies endeavour to make them odious to the people and obnoxious to the government. This the enemies of the Jews did, to incense the kings of Persia against them, Ezr_4:12; Est_3:8. “But these insulting threatening tongues thou shalt condemn; thou shalt have wherewith to answer their insolent demands, and to put to silence their malicious reflections. Thou shalt do it by well-doing (1Pe_2:15), by doing that which will make thee manifest in the consciences even of thy adversaries, that thou art not what thou art represented to be. Thou shalt condemn them, that is, God shall condemn them for thee. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, Psa_37:6. Thou shalt condemn them as Noah condemned the old world that reproached him, by building the ark, and so saving his house, in contempt of their contempts.” The day is coming when God will reckon with the wicked men for all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him, Jud_1:15.

The last words refer not only to this promise, but to all that go before: This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. God's servants are his sons, for he has provided an inheritance for them, rich, sure, and indefeasible. God's promises are their heritage for ever (Psa_119:111); and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. God will clear up the righteousness of their cause before men. It is with him, for he knows it; it is with him, for he will plead it. Or their reward for their righteousness, and for all that which they have suffered unrighteously, is of God, that God who judges in the earth, and with whom verily there is a reward for the righteous. Or their righteousness itself, all that in them which is good and right, is of God, who works it in them; it is of Christ who is made righteousness to them. In those for whom God designs a heritage hereafter he will work righteousness now.

5. JAMISON, “The workman that forms “weapons against thee” (Isa_54:17) is wholly in My power, therefore thou needest not fear, having Me on thy side.

for his work — rather, “by his labor [Horsley]. “According to the exigencies of his work” [Maurer].

waster to destroy — (Isa_10:5-7; Isa_37:26, Isa_37:27; Isa_45:1-6). Desolating conquerors who use the “instruments” framed by “the smith.” The repetition of the “I” implies, however, something in the latter half of the verse contrasted with the former understand it, therefore, thus: “I have in My power both him who frames arms and him who destroys them (arms)” [Rosenmuller].

6. K&D, “Jerusalem will be thus invincible, because Jehovah, the Almighty One, is its protector. “Behold, I have created the smith who bloweth the coal-fire, and brings to the light a weapon according to his trade; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. Every weapon formed against thee has no success, and every tongue that cometh before the judgment with thee thou wilt condemn. This the inheritance of the servants of Jehovah; and their righteousness from me, saith Jehovah.” If Jehovah has created the armourer, who forges a

weapon למעסהו (i.e., according to his trade, or according to the thing he has to finish, whether an

arrow, or a sword, or a spear; not “for his own use,” as Kimchi supposes), to be used in the

hostile army against Jerusalem, He has also created a destroyer (לח�ל) to destroy. The very same

creative might, to which the origin of the weapon is to be traced as its primary cause, has opposed to it beforehand a defender of Jerusalem. And as every hostile weapon fails, Jerusalem, in the consciousness of its divine right, will convict every accusing tongue as guilty and

deserving of utter condemnation (הרשיע as in Isa_50:9, cf., 1Sa_14:47, where it denotes the

punishment of the guilty). The epiphonem in Isa_54:17, with the retrospective זאת and the

words “saith the Lord,” which confirm the certainty of the fulfilment, forms an unmistakeable close to the prophecy. This is the position in which Jehovah has placed His servants as heirs of the future salvation; and this the righteousness which they have received as His gift, and which makes them strong within and victorious without. The individual idea of the church, which we find elsewhere personified as “the servant of Jehovah,” equivalent to “the people in whose heart is my law” (Isa_51:7), or “my people that have sought me” (Isa_65:10), is here expanded into “the servants of Jehovah” (as in Isa_65:8-9; compare Isa_59:21 with Isa_51:16). But totally different colours are employed in Isa_52:13 to Isa_53:1-12 to depict the exaltation of the one “Servant of Jehovah,” from those used here to paint the glory of the church of the “servants of Jehovah,” a proof that the ideas do not cover one another. That which is the reward of suffering in the case of the former, is the experience of divine mercy in that of the latter: it becomes a partaker of the salvation purchased by the other. The one “Servant of Jehovah” is the heart of the church, in which the crisis which bursts forth into life is passing; the righteousness of the “servants of Jehovah” is the fruit of the sufferings of this one “Servant of Jehovah,” who is

Himself צדיק and מצידק. He is the Mediator of all the salvation of the church. He is not only its

“head,” but its “fulness” (πλήρωµα) also.

7. CALVIN, “16.Behold, I have created the workmen. The Lord shows how easily and readily he

delivers his Church from the base attacks of wicked men; for they can do nothing but so far as the Lord permits them, though he makes use of them as instruments for chastising his people. Moreover, this may be appropriately viewed as referring both to the Babylonians and to other foes who afterwards distressed

the elect people. If the former sense be preferred, God undertakes to prove that he can easily drive away those whom he led against them, and east down those whom he raised up. If it be supposed to refer to Antiochus and others of the same description, the meaning will not be very different; namely, that they too shall not be permitted to hurt them, because they cannot even move a finger but by God’ direction. But it may be thought that the Prophet contradicts himself; for in the former verse he said, that wicked men attack the Church “ the Lord,” and now he says that they fight under God as their leader, that under his guidance and direction they may waste and destroy. I reply, we must keep in view the contrast; namely, that the Lord had raised up the Babylonians to destroy the Church. We must observe the metaphor of the deluge, by which he denoted utter extermination; for at that time the Church might be said to have been drowned, and he made use of the Babylonians as his agents for that purpose. But he solemnly declares that henceforth he is resolved to restrain his anger, so as never to permit the Church to be destroyed by her enemies, though he chastise her by his own hand. The object at which the enemies of the Church aim, and which they labor with all their might to accomplish, is to ruin and destroy the Church; but the Lord restrains their attacks; for “ him,” that is, without his command, they do nothing. Some explain the meaning to be, that. “ workman has been created for his work,” that is, that he may effect his own destruction, and the waster, to destroy himself. But the former sense appears to me more simple. I have created the waster to destroy. When the Lord says that he “ the waster,” this does not refer merely to the nature with which men are born, but to the very act of “” And yet we must not, on that account, lay blame on God, as if he were the author of the unjust cruelty which dwells in men alone; for God does not give assent to their wicked inclinations, but regulates their efforts by his secret providence, and employs them as the instruments of his anger. But on this subject we have treated in the exposition of other passages.

17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,

and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

and this is their vindication from me,”

declares the Lord.

1.BARNES, “No weapon that is formed - No instrument of war, no sword, or spear; no instrument of persecution or torture that is made by the smith, Isa_54:16.

Shall prosper - On the meaning of this word, see the notes at Isa_52:13. The sense here is, that it shall not have final and ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper - as persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete success.

And every tongue - No one shall be able to injure you by words and accusations. If a controversy shall arise; if others reproach you and accuse you of imposture and deceit, you will be able ultimately to convince them of error, and, by manifestation of the truth, to condemn them. The language here is derived probably from courts of justice (see the notes at Isa_41:1); and the idea is, that truth and victory, in every strife of words, would be on the side of the church. To those who have watched the progress of discussions thus far on the subject of the true religion, it is needless to say that this has been triumphantly fulfilled. Argument, sophism, ridicule, have all been tried to overthrow the truth of the Christian religion. Appeals have been made to astronomy, geology, antiquities, history, and indeed to almost every department of science, and with the same want of success. Poetry has lent the charm of its numbers; the grave historian has interwoven with the thread of his narrative covert attacks and sly insinuations against the Bible; the earth has been explored to prove that’ He who made the world and revealed its age to Moses was mistaken in its age;’ and the records of Oriental nations, tracing their history up cycles of ages beyond the Scripture account of the creation of the world, have been appealed to, but thus far in all these contests ultimate victory has declared in favor of the Bible. And no matter from what quarter the attack has come, and no matter how much learning and talent have been evinced by the adversaries of the Bible, God has raised up some Watson, or Lardner, or Chalmers, or Buckland, or Cuvier, or Wiseman, to meet these charges, and to turn the scales in favor of the cause of truth. They who are desirous of examining the effects of the controversy of Christianity with science, and the results, can find them detailed with great learning and talent in Dr. Wiseman’s Lectures on the connection between Science and Revealed Religion, Andover, 1837.

This is the heritage - The inheritance which awaits those who serve God is truth and victory. It is not gold and the triumph of battle. It is not the laurel won in fields of blood. But it is, the protection of God in all times of trouble; his friendship in all periods of adversity; complete victory in all contests with error and false systems of religion; and preservation when foes rise up in any form and endeavor to destroy the church, and to blot out its existence and its name.

And their righteousness is of me - Or rather, ‘this is the righteousness, or the justification which they obtain of me; this is that which I impart to them as their justification.’ The idea is not that their righteousness is of him, but that this justification or vindication from him is a part of their inheritance and their portion.

2. PULPIT, “No weapon v every tongue. Whether weapons are used against Israel, or whether she is

attacked, as in Sennacherib's time, by "the tongue that speaketh proud things" (Isa_36:4-20; Isa_37:10-13), the result will he the same. She will triumph over her enemies, and condemn them or put them to shame. Her security is herrighteousness, which she derives from Jehovah (comp. Isa_45:24, Isa_45:25).

3. GILL, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,.... All weapons of war, as the Targum, which are made with a design to hurt and destroy the people of God, shall be rendered useless; not one of them shall prosper to the advantage of their enemies, or so as to answer their design; nor to the hurt and prejudice, ruin and destruction, of the saints: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment; that shall raise any calumny upon thee, or bring any charge against thee, or enter into a lawsuit with thee, litigate a point with thee in any court of judicature, or claim, in right and law, a power, authority, and dominion over thee, as the pope of Rome does over the consciences of men: thou shalt condemn; disprove and roll off the calumny, refute the charge and accusation, put to silence the clamours and pretences of wicked men, carry the cause against them, and shake off the yoke of bondage they would bring them under; and, instead of being condemned by them, condemn them. By "weapon" may be meant all the attempts made by force to ruin the interest and church of Christ in the world, such as the bloody persecutions of the Roman emperors, who, though they made sad havoc of the professors of Christianity, and designed hereby to have rooted it out of the world, and thought they should have accomplished it, yet could not do it; so far from it, that the Christians yet more and more increased, insomuch that it became a common saying, that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church; also the wars of the Papists with the Albigenses and Waldenses, and all the cruel methods they have taken by fire and faggot, and the bloody inquisition, to hinder the growth of what they call heresy; yet all have been in vain, a reformation has taken place, and many nations have embraced the truth, and shook off the yoke of Popery; together with all their efforts since to crush the Protestant interest; and though the kings of the earth will be stirred up, and gather together to the battle of the Lord God Almighty, they will not succeed, but be overcome and slain, and the beast and false prophet at the head of them will be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire: and by the "tongue" may be designed the edicts of the Pagan emperors, forbidding the exercise of the Christian religion, and threatening the preachers and professors of it with imprisonment, confiscation of goods, and death itself; and the anathemas, bulls, and interdicts of the popes of Rome, as well as the reproaches, scandals, and calumnies uttered by the emissaries of that church against all that depart from it; together with the errors and heresies of false teachers of all sorts in all ages of the world, which, though levelled against the faith and doctrine of the church of Christ, have not been able to subvert it, nor ever will: this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; this, with all that is said in this chapter, is the part, portion, and privilege, that such shall enjoy who serve the Lord Christ, and not antichrist; they shall be treated rather as sons than as servants, and have an inheritance assigned them; not only protection from all enemies, and absolution from all charges, but they shall receive the reward of the inheritance in heaven, that which is incorruptible and undefiled, and reserved there, since they serve the Lord Christ: and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord; the vindication of their righteousness, of their cause, and of their character; or the reward of their righteous works in a way of grace; even all that righteousness and true holiness that is in them, and that righteousness which is imputed to them, and by which they are justified, are from the Lord; by which they are secured from all the charges of law and justice, and, from all the accusations of men and devils, and which will answer for them in a time to come, and acquit them at the bar of God before men and angels; see Rom_8:33.

4. SPURGEON, “There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. They are I making weapons wherewith to smite the saints. They could not even do as much as this if the LORD of saints did not allow them; for He has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. But see how busily they labor! How many swords and spears they fashion! It matters nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: It shall not Prosper. But now listen to another noise: it is the strife of tongues. Tongues are more terrible instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils, and the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider. What will become of us now? Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule-these are poisoned arrows; how can we meet them? The LORD God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them. They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last and forever. The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, and their falsehoods shall be turned to the honor of those good men who suffered by them.

4B. SPURGEON, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."

- Isaiah 54:17

This day is notable in English history for two great deliverances wrought by God for us. On this day

the plot of the Papists to destroy our Houses of Parliament was discovered, 1605.

"While for our princes they prepare

In caverns deep a burning snare,

He shot from heaven a piercing ray,

And the dark treachery brought to day."

And secondly-to-day is the anniversary of the landing of King William III, at Torbay, by which the

hope of Popish ascendancy was quashed, and religious liberty was secured, 1688.

This day ought to be celebrated, not by the saturnalia of striplings, but by the songs of saints. Our

Puritan forefathers most devoutly made it a special time of thanksgiving. There is extant a record of

the annual sermons preached by Matthew Henry on this day. Our Protestant feeling, and our love of

liberty, should make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude. Let our hearts and lips exclaim,

"We have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us the wondrous things which thou didst in

their day, and in the old time before them." Thou hast made this nation the home of the gospel; and

when the foe has risen against her, thou hast shielded her. Help us to offer repeated songs for

repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred of Antichrist, and hasten on the day of her

entire extinction. Till then and ever, we believe the promise, "No weapon that is formed against thee

shall prosper. " Should it not be laid upon the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to

plead for the overturning of false doctrines and the extension of divine truth? Would it not be well to

search our own hearts, and turn out any of the Popish lumber of self-righteousness which may lie

concealed therein?

5. JAMISON, “tongue ... condemn — image from a court of justice. Those who desire to “condemn” thee thou shalt “condemn” (Exo_11:7; Jos_10:21; Psa_64:8; Rom_8:1, Rom_8:33).

righteousness ... of me — (Isa_45:24; Isa_46:13). Rather, “(this is) their justification from Me.” Their enemies would “condemn” them, but I justify and vindicate them, and so they condemn their enemies.

6. PULPIT, “The heritage of faithful service.

From the beginning to the end of the Scriptures the service of God is represented as the only wise course for men to take. All paths of disobedience are spoken of as ways of folly as well as of sin. It is godliness that has the promise of all things, here and hereafter. The heritage of the holy is very variously defined, the most remarkable definition being that given by our Lord in reply to Peter. In the text we have it presented to us as a continual victory. No weapon formed against the righteous shall prosper, and every accusation shall be silenced. God will justify them. The faithful service of Christ is marked by victory over— I. SUCCESS IN OUTWARD LIFE. Few weapons are so powerful as this in the hand of the enemy. Many are they who, in their folly, have allowed their prosperity to destroy them (Pro_1:32). The sense of power, the enjoyment of popularity, the command of comforts, the continuance of success in the chosen vocation,—these things prove too much for many souls. Under their influence men swerve from the straight line of simplicity of life, humility of spirit, purity of heart, integrity of character. II. ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES. These are often found to be victorious over men, triumphing over their faith in God, their gratitude, and their submission; leading down to sullenness and moroseness of spirit; in some cases conducting to unbelief and impiety. III. PRIVATION OF PRIVILEGE. When it is a man's fortune to be separated from the community and to lead a life of comparative loneliness, he is cast much on his own resources. He misses the encouragement and inspiration which come from social worship and collective piety. Without the aid and influence of these, he is in danger of fainting and falling in his Christian course. IV. EXPOSURE TO CORRUPT COMPANIONSHIP. This is often a matter of necessity and not of choice. The best may have to submit to it, and the peril of spiritual injury from it is very great. V. THE FORCE OF A SURROUNDING SCEPTICISM. A force which either vigorously assaults the main fortress of the faith or sedulously and stealthily undermines the wails—a great and growing peril. It is promised to the servants of the Lord that they shall triumph over these various enemies. "No weapon that is formed," etc. But while (1) God's promise may well cheer his servants, helping them to pursue their troubled path, and to do their difficult or dangerous work with alacrity and hope; it is well that (2) his conditions should be remembered. There is no absolute, unconditional guarantee; the careless, the disobedient, the negligent servant will be, nay, he is, defeated by the enemy; he yields and falls. But let a man be a faithful servant, studious of Christ's will and daily seeking his Holy Spirit's aid, and he will

find that his Divine Lord will "always cause him to triumph;" he will know "the exceeding greatness of his power" to uphold and to perfect. Meantime, to those who are observers, (3) God's sustaining grace will prove the sign and seal of his Divine favour. "This is their righteousness [justification] of me."—C.

7. CALVIN, “17.Every weapon. He again infers what has been already said, that wicked men, even

though they exert themselves to the utmost, will gain nothing; for their attacks are guided and restrained by the secret, purpose of God. He makes use of the word “” meaning by it that wicked men will have the means of attempting many and diversified methods for destroying the Church, but that their efforts shall be vain and fruitless, (75) for the Lord will restrain them. Heaven permits them, indeed, to a great extent, in order to try the patience of believers; but, when God thinks proper, he strips them of their strength and armor. And every tongue. After having spoken of the “” with which wicked men attack the Church, he expressly mentions the ““ because no other “” is so deadly and destructive. Not only do they revile, and slander, and defame the servants of God, but, as far as lies in their power, they extinguish the truth of God, and alienate the hearts of men from it; which ought to distress us more than if life were taken from us a hundred times. Besides, good and upright men find slander to be more distressing, and to inflict more severe pain than any bodily stroke; and, therefore, there was good reason for mentioning this deadly “” That shall rise up against thee in judgment. When he says that tongues “ up in judgment,” he means that wicked men are so daring and insolent, that they openly attack and annoy the children of God. He adds that this is done “ judgment;“ because they hold out plausible pretexts, which give them the appearance of having a just cause. In like manner, the Papists, when they call us heretics, schismatics, and dogs, plead against us, as it were, “ judgment,” and wish to be regarded as the defenders of catholic truth, though they maintain falsehood and idolatry. And yet so plausible are the pretexts by which their slanders are covered, that they produce very strong hatred against us among those who are ignorant of our cause. But although they assail us by arms, and by the “” and by “” of every kind, yet, relying on this prediction, let us hope that we shall be victorious; for victory is here promised to us, and, since we are certain of it, we ought to fight valiantly and with unshaken courage. This is the inheritance. He shows that the Lord has granted this to believers, as it were, by a right of “” so that they shall never be deprived of it; for, as no title is more certain than that of an heir, so he shows that there is nothing of which the Lord’ servants ought to be more certain than of his constant guardianship and preservation, by which he defends them against all dangers. And their righteousness from me. “” here denotes what is conveyed by us in the ordinary expression, (Leur droit ) “ right.” In a word, he means that the Lord will defend his people, so as to protect their innocence. Whenever, therefore, we are attacked and injured by men, let us learn to betake ourselves forthwith to the Lord; for, when we seek other assistance, the consequence is, that we are deprived of his guardianship and protection. (75) “Mais tout s’ comme fumee.” “ all shall vanish away like smoke.”

8. CHARLES SIMEON, “. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord;

and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

THE Scriptures uniformly suppose men to be, not only in a state of sin, but, to a certain degree, in a state of misery also, being more or less agitated with “fightings without, and fears within.” The very people of God themselves are not exempt from this common lot. The difference between them and others consists not in a freedom from trouble, but in consolations and supports which they alone enjoy. They have a God to go to; a God who tenderly sympathizes with them in all their troubles, and “in all their afflictions is himself afflicted [Note: Isa_63:9.].” From Him they receive the most consolatory promises, and generally in language that precludes a possibility of their doubting to whom those promises are made. Are they under the actual pressure of the deepest sorrow? He addresses them as in that very state, and characterizes them by the very tribulations which they endure. “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” behold, I will interest myself in all thy concerns; and “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” These words will lead me to set before you, I. The heritage of God’s servants— Three things are here specified as their unalienable portion; 1. Protection from danger— [From the very beginning, they have been objects of hatred both to men and devils, who have combined their efforts for their destruction. From the days of Cain, the followers of Abel’s piety have been persecuted by their envious and malignant brethren; whilst “Satan, as a roaring lion, has gone about, seeking to devour them” — — — But we need not fear the assaults of either: for God has engaged, in reference to his Church at large, that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it [Note: Mat_16:18.];” and, in reference to every individual believer, that “none shall pluck them out of his hand [Note: Joh_10:28-30.].” “It is not his will that one of his little ones should perish [Note: Mat_18:14. Luk_12:32.].”] 2. Vindication from calumny— [What efforts have been made to destroy the character of God’s people may be seen in the account given of them by Haman to Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people, in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed [Note: Est_3:8-9.].” They still, as formerly, are a sect that is everywhere spoken against; nor is there “any manner of evil which will not be laid falsely to their charge [Note: Mat_5:11.],” But God does often, in a wonderful way, interpose for them, to the vindicating of their character, and the confusion of all their enemies [Note: 1Sa_24:17.]. Indeed, the very people who most bitterly traduce them, often venerate them in their hearts; even as “Herod feared John, from an inward conviction that he was a just and holy man [Note:Mar_6:20.].” But, however God may suffer his people to be treated “as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things [Note: 1Co_4:13.]” even to their dying hour, there is a time coming when he will appear in their behalf: and, if man have his day, God will have his day also [Note: 1Co_4:3-5. See the Greek.]; and will bring forth their righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the noon-day [Note: Psa_37:5-6. Isa_66:5.].”]

3. Justification from all sin— [In two ways will God justify his people: the one is, by an authoritative attestation from the mouth of their Judge; the other, by putting upon them that very righteousness whereby they shall be justified. The Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, has wrought out “a righteousness which shall be unto all and upon all them that believe [Note: Rom_3:22.]:” and when they are arrayed in this, “God sees in them no iniquity [Note: Num_23:21.],” because he has “blotted it out from the book of his remembrance,” and “cast it all behind him, into the very depths of the sea [Note: Mic_7:19 and Isa_38:17.].” “If it be sought for ever so diligently, it cannot be found [Note: Jer_50:20.];” for they are before God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, yea, holy, and without blemish [Note: Eph_5:27.].” “This is the blessed heritage of all God’s servants;” and all of them in due time shall possess it.] That we may the better estimate their felicity, let us notice, II. Their security for the possession of it— It is altogether “of God,” as our text declares; and all the perfections of God are pledged for their ultimate possession of it. It is secured to them by, 1. The power of God— [Respecting this, there is particular mention made in the preceding context. God warns his people that they must expect persecution from an ungodly world. “Behold! they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall tall for thy sake.” But how shall the conspiracy of God’s enemies be defeated! How? God himself tells us: “I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth his instrument for his work: and I have created the waster to destroy.” Has He then created both the man who made the weapon, and the man that uses it; and can he not controul both the one and the other, so that the weapon shall effect only what he sees fit to permit? Let the servants of God, then, consider this: their enemies are all in the hands of God, even of their God; and “they can have no power whatever, except that which is given them from above.” What need then have the saints to fear? Who can get access to those whom God “hides in the secret place of his tabernacle?” or, “Who can, with any effect, be against them, when He is for them?” “His name is a strong tower; and the righteous, who have run to it, are safe.”] 2. The goodness and veracity of God— [They have given themselves to him, as “his servants:” and will he forget them? Will He who “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,” refuse protection to those who have exposed themselves to sufferings for his sake? He has promised to them, that “he will render to them according to their works:” and “has He said, and will he not do it? has He spoken, and will he not make it good?” He would even account himself “unrighteous, if he were to forget their works and labours of love, which they have shewed towards his name [Note: Heb_6:10.].” We may be sure, therefore, that, if tried in the fire, they shall “come out of it purified as gold; and that, however tempted, “they shall never perish, but shall have eternal life.”] Now let me ask, 1. Who, besides the saints, possesses any such heritage as this?

[If we had crowns and kingdoms, they were not worthy to be compared with this — — —] 2. Who ever confided in this promise, and was disappointed of his hope? [Your fears may have been great, and your conflicts severe: but were you ever forsaken of your God? No: you must all bear testimony to his fidelity, even as Israel did of old; for “ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you: all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof [Note: Jos_23:14.].”] APPENDIX

SPURGEON’S NOTES

The precious promises, contained in this chapter, belong in the first place to the Church of God; but, as that which belongs to the Church, really belongs to every member of it, we shall not be acting dishonestly with the Scripture if we, who are believers, personally take home to ourselves every drop of comfort that we can find here. Isa_54:1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not

travail with child:

Sing, even though thou art barren. Do not postpone thy song until God’s promise is fulfilled unto thee; but sing even whilst thou art desolate and forlorn, and let faith pitch the key-note. Let me, therefore, entreat any of you, who are disconsolate and sad, to give heed to the words of the prophet, and even now begin to sing. Give to God songs in the night; imitate the nightingale, and sing though not a star is to be seen. Isa_54:1. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

After all, we who have the deepest sorrow have the highest joy, and if we are sometimes desolate, we need not wish to change with those who always keep the even tenor of their way. If we have great downs, we also have great ups; if the valleys be deep, blessed be God the hills are high, and the view from their summits is glorious. Let us be thankful even if our lot is a hard one, if we are the Lord’s, “for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.” Isa_54:2-3. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not,

lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and

thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

This is another act of faith; — not only singing before the mercy comes, but getting ready to receive it before it is in sight, stretching the curtains and the cords in order to have room to house the blessing which has not yet arrived. Carnal reason says, “When we have the children, we will enlarge the tent; when we have gathered the congregation, we will build a house of prayer;” but faith says, “I will enlarge my heart that it may be able to take in the blessing which is sure to come. I will be big with expectation. I will open my mouth wide, — not when I see the blessing, but before I see it, that God may place the blessing in my open, empty mouth.” May the Lord graciously give us enlarged expectations; for, according to our faith, so shall it be unto us! Isa_54:4. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to

shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any

more.

Here is a third line for faith to run upon, namely, that of courage. Before you are strong, before you have been lifted up out of your weakness, be of good courage, and fear not; for, if you walk by faith, and trust in the Lord with all your heart, you shall never have any cause to be ashamed of having done so. The Lord

will always honour your faith because your faith honours him. Be of good cheer, for you shall yet have good reason to rejoice; and all those days, that you are now ashamed to think of, in which you lived without God, and without Christ, your days of sad and terrible widowhood, shall be so completely surpassed by the abundance of mercy which you shall receive from the Lord, that you shall not remember them any more. Isa_54:5. For thy maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of

Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

Oh, how blessed it is that Jehovah, Israel’s God, the Lord of hosts, is the God of the whole earth; so that we poor Gentiles may come and hide under the shadow of his wings; and what a joy it is to all believers that this great God has united us in the sacred bonds of marriage with himself! “Thy Maker is thine Husband.” Oh, what bountiful provision will such a Husband make for us! How well will he comfort us! How abundantly will he bless us! So let our hearts be glad in him. Isa_54:6. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when

thou wast refused, saith thy God.

Some of you know what it is to have had your affections betrayed, and your hearts broken by unfaithful friends. Now the Lord calls you to come close to himself, that you may prove his faithfulness, and so forget your past sorrows in your present and future joy. Isa_54:7-8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath

I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD

thy Redeemer.

These choice words do not need any explanation, this blessed plaster only needs to be applied to the wounded heart, and it will heal it at once. If the Lord will but speak these sentences into our souls, so that we may know that they are really meant for us, our rapture will be complete. Let me read these verses again: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer,” — thy God, — thy next of kin, — thine Advocate and Champion. What a blessed name is this, and what a wonderful combination is this, — Jehovah, thy next of kin! Isa_54:9-10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no

more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains

shall depart, and the hills be removed;

There is nothing really stable about them; all things that are visible must melt and flow away. Isa_54:10. But my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith

the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

What gracious words are these! What majesty there is in such consoling sentences as these! They remind us of Mr. Paxton Hood’s lines, — “

All his words are music, though they make me weep, Infinitely tender, infinitely deep.”

Isa_54:11. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, —

Where art thou? Hast thou come in here to seek the consolation thou canst not find anywhere else? Then see how God lays himself out to comfort thee; he has put into human language the true sympathy for thee that he feels in his heart; and again he says to thee, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” —

Isa_54:11. Behold, I will lay thy stone, with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

Thou shalt have done with the rough tossing of the troubled sea; and thou shalt come to land, — to a royal city which hath foundations of sapphire, — to a king’s palace where even the stones shall be stained with rich vermilion such as only princes use in their costly buildings: “I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.” Isa_54:12. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant

stones.

See what riches belong to the Church of the living God; and, as I have already reminded you, everything that belongs to the Church belongs to every member of it. So we expect to see our Lord’s face through a window of agate, and to go through a gate of carbuncle to meet him in the place of communion, which shall itself be enriched with all manner of precious stones. Yes, and everything that has to do with us, — even the very “borders” of our life shall be laid with “pleasant stones.” Happy are all ye who are the favorites of heaven, the beloved of the Lord. Blessed are ye even in your basket and your store; blessed in the common things of your life, as well as in the choicest parts of your Christian experience. Isa_54:13. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD;

Our children are often our greatest care. We ask, “How shall they be educated? Where shall we place our boys and our girls?” Put them under the care of God; for, as Elihu said to Job, “Who teacheth like him?” Isa_54:13-14. And great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou

shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

The man who has the fear of God within his heart need have no fear of anybody else. “

Fear him ye saints, and you will then Have nothing else to fear;

Make you his service your delight.

He’ll make your wants his care.”

Isa_54:15. Behold, they shall surely gather together,

You will have enemies, even if you lead the most blameless life that can be lived; for the absolutely blameless One had many cruel enemies who hounded him to death.

Isa_54:15. But not by me:

God is not with them, for he is on your side.

Isa_54:15. Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

Oh, how often, and how mysteriously, and how terribly God has smitten the enemies of his people! The hand of the Lord has gone out against them as it went out against Sennacherib and his host, in the days of good king Hezekiah.

Isa_54:16. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an

instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Even over the most wicked and the most powerful of men, there is the supremacy of God; and deep and mysterious though the doctrine is, yet divine predestination applies even to such sinners as Judas Iscariot, and the vilest of the vile in all times; and herein is our confidence, — that God is greater than death, and the devil, and hell, he is supreme above all the malice and craft and cruelty of the worst and the greatest of men.

Isa_54:17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; —

“No weapon” of any kind — however cunningly made, or however deftly handled, — “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;” —

Isa_54:17. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.

The tongue — that worst of weapons, whose wicked words are sharper than swords, — is like a condemned criminal.

Isa_54:17. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

Did I not rightly say that these precious promises belong not only to the whole Church of God as a body, but also to each individual member of that Church?

Isa_54:17. And their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

If, then, your righteousness is found in God, in God you shall find everything else that you need for time and for eternity. God grant this unto each one of us, for his dear name’s sake! Amen.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 54:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

New International Version (NIV)

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