Deeper Commentary
Isaiah 49:1 Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has He made mention of my name- The previous chapter has concluded with a lament over the Jewish exiles' refusal of the Gospel of the reestablished Kingdom in Judah. Now, "the servant" addresses the Gentiles. But we have to wait until :6 to understand that this was a result of his failure to convert Israel. Cyrus had failed to "know Yahweh". And so the invitation to participate in the Kingdom is made to "your peoples", "the Gentiles" (LXX). The servant now takes on a different identity; it is "Israel" (:3), but this is clearly a title for a Messianic figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus. His personal preexistence is clearly ruled out here: "Before I was born, the LORD chose me and appointed me to be his servant" (GNB).
But all those of the new Israel who are "in" Israel-the-Messiah also
have the words of the servant songs relevant to them. For all true of Him
becomes true of us. And so there are a number of instances of where these Old Testament Messianic
Scriptures are applied to Paul in the context of his preaching Christ.
The servant
known from birth (Is. 49:1,5)=
Gal. 1:15,16 [choice from birth, calling, ministry to the Gentiles]; “I
have laboured in vain…” (Is. 49:3) = “That I have not run in vain, neither
laboured in vain” (Phil. 2:16; 1 Cor. 15:58);
“Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord” (Is. 49:4) = “He that
judges me is the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:4); “Him whom man despises” (Is. 49:7) = “We are despised” (1 Cor.
4:9,10; 2 Cor. 4:9,10); “The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you” (Is.
49:7 RSV) = “A chosen vessel” (Acts
9:15); Is. 52:15 = Rom. 15:21,
where Paul appropriates a prophecy of how the news of the crucified Christ
would spread to those who had never heard it. He didn’t just read those
verses as prophecy; he saw in them an imperative to fulfill them. This is
an example of where prophecy depends to some extent upon us to fulfill it.
The 19th century brethren understood the prophecies of Israel’s return to
the land like this- they collected funds to enable it; Is. 49:8 “In an
acceptable time have I heard thee” = 2 Cor. 6:2;
Is. 53:1 = Rom. 10:16; Is. 49:6 = Acts 13:47; Is. 43:5 = Acts
18:9,10.
Isaiah 49:2 And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of
His hand has He hidden me: and He has made me a polished shaft; in His
quiver has He kept me close- Is. 51:16 uses the same language about
an individual who would restore Zion. Whatever primary application this
may have had to Cyrus, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah etc., they clearly failed. And
so the words are reapplied to the Lord Jesus. He
would achieve the purpose of Yahweh by the words of His mouth, rather than
physical actions and conquests. His word would have a sharp piercing
quality to it, like a sword or javelin / arrow. And so it is with the word
of the Lord Jesus whose mouth is like a sharp sword (Rev. 1:16), able to
penetrate (a 'sharp sword') and to range far ('a polished arrow').
It would appear from these
statements that the Lord Jesus was protected and specially guided by the
Angel in the first thirty years of his life: "In the shadow of His hand
(an Angelic phrase) hath He hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in His
quiver hath He hid me". The word 'quiver' comes from the word for an
astrologer, in the sense of being something that conceals knowledge. Thus
the Angel hid the true identity of Jesus, so that "flesh and blood" alone
could not recognize that He was God's Son (Mt. 16:13-17). "The Lord" that passed by Moses and hid him with his
hand in the cleft of the rock was an Angel.
But as explained on :1, the Messianic Servant, ultimately the Lord Jesus, includes all who are "in" Him. Thus Paul’s description of each of us as the warrior of the Gospel in Ephesians 6 composites together various descriptions of Messiah’s clothing in the servant songs (Is. 11:5 = “loins girded with truth”; Is. 49:2 “mouth like a sharp sword”; Is. 52:7 “bring good tidings / publish salvation” = “the preparation of the Gospel of peace”; Is. 59:17 “breastplate of righteousness”; Is. 59:17 “helmet of salvation”). We are to be Christ to the world.
The idea of Messiah being "hidden" connects with other similar
prophecies. The restoration prophecies continually refer to an individual called
"the righteous one"- the references are somewhat masked in the English
translations which speak simply of "righteousness", but it is evidently
'the righteous one' who is being addressed rather than abstract
righteousness. Consider the statements of intent about this Person: The
righteous one would be prepared and kept hidden by Yahweh (Is. 42:6); he
was to be raised up to rebuild Zion and release the captives from Babylon
(Is. 45:13); he is pictured as near / approaching (Is. 51:5), called to
Yahweh's footstool in Zion (Is. 41:2); he was to be "brought in" to the
temple at the end of the 70 weeks prophecy (Dan. 9:24); then, Jerusalem
would be known as the habitation of the righteous one (Jer. 50:7 and
often- AV "habitation of justice"), the intention of Ez. 48:35 would be
fulfilled, in that Jerusalem would be known as the city where Yahweh
dwells; the righteous one of Yahweh would then "go out" in blessing to the
surrounding nations. Hence Jer. 33:16; 23:6 etc. outline God's intention
that after the restoration, the rebuilt Zion would be named "The Lord our
righteous one" because Jerusalem would be the habitation of the righteous
one (Jer. 31:23; 50:7). This is similar language to the restoration
prophecies of Isaiah- the surrounding Gentile world would see / perceive /
believe in "the righteous one" who would reign in the rebuilt Zion (Is.
62:2). The impression seems inescapable that at the time of the
restoration, God had prepared a Messiah-figure, hidden (as it were) in
Yahweh's quiver (Is. 49:2), not revealed to Israel, who could have
restored Judah, rebuilt Zion and converted the surrounding Gentiles. It
could be that this person was Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah or some other
known historical figure. Or it could be that this person was prepared,
waited in the wings, but was never used by God. He could have been
revealed to Judah by the anonymous messenger of Isaiah 40. But all these
prophecies had to be reapplied- to the Lord Jesus, with John the Baptist
and later the latter day Elijah as the announcing messenger.
Isaiah 49:3 And He said to me, You are My servant; Israel, in whom I will
be glorified- As noted on :1, the servant is now no longer Cyrus, who
had failed to "know Yahweh" and live up to his potential. And Israel had
refused the potentials of responding to the Gospel. So now Yahweh was to
be glorified in an individual servant, in whom "Israel" could be
comprehended if they became in Him. It all looks forward to the entrance
into the Lord Jesus of all baptized into Him, thereby becoming the true
Israel of God and Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:27-29).
The servant is told "You are Israel", but his mission is "to bring Jacob again to Him, and that Israel be gathered to Him" (:5). "Israel" brings Israel back to God. He does this by being their representative, also "formed from the womb" just as Israel were (Is. 44:2,24). The servant so far in Isaiah has been Israel, but the servant has been a failure. The mission of this new iteration of the servant is to make Israel that servant they were intended to be. And that is one of the wonders of personal salvation, that we shall be restored to who we should have been, could have been, were individually intended to be. We will finally and eternally fulfil our intended mission. Israel had failed to declare Yahweh to the Gentile world as intended, but this Israel-like servant would do. The Lord Jesus is "Israel" in that He is all we should and could have been. This is why He enables all in Him to be the true Israel as God intended, and it's why Paul uses the language of the "Israel" servant about himself and all in Christ. He is called both "My servant" and "My salvation to the end of the earth" (:6). Yah's salvation, Yahoshua, is 'Jesus'. God was to be glorified in Israel (Is. 44:23) but now, in His servant Israel. John's Gospel stresses how the Lord Jesus glorified Yahweh, supremely in His death and the salvation achieved thereby.
The fact He is perfect and sinless has this nuance and facet to it- that He is as we might have been. He was all "Israel" was intended to be, all they could have been and should have been. He is likewise all we should and might and could have been. We each have individual callings and possibilities that we fail in. But He is perfect in each of them. This is the power of understanding the Lord as our representative; He was "Israel", God's people as intended, fulfilling their intended function through identity with them, and on that basis He brings "Israel" to God. His discouragement at Israel's lack of response flows on naturally from God's complaints about Israel in the previous chapter. The new Israel, the Lord Jesus, would be the witness Israel were intended to have been to all the borders of the land promised to Abraham: "these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (:12). Sinim is a reference to Sin (Pelusium) on the border of Egypt, the boundary of the promised land. People were to come from the North, West and South- not from the East, because the restoration from Babylon had already been predicted. The idea is 'in addition to those in Babylon'. Israel were to have filled that land with the knowledge of Yahweh. They failed, but "Israel" in the sense of the Lord Jesus would do this- and in fact literally to the ends of the planet. The other nations 'imprisoned' in Babylon were intended to join the Jewish exiles and be led by them to Zion. But the Jews preferred to stay in Babylon. The Lord Jesus as the ideal Israel would lead the Gentiles out of spiritual Babylon on a global level, and take them to Zion eternally.
Isaiah 49:4 But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
for nothing and vanity-
We must give weight to the way "voices" appear in Isaiah, especially in Is. 40. These could be God fantasizing about the words and feelings His faithful servant would have. Just as Hosea does about Gomer, putting words into her mouth and imagining her doing things which in fact she never did. The fantasy of love.
Paul alludes here in saying that because of the Lord's resurrection, our labour is not in vain. We are "in" Him and His mission to Israel and the Gentile world becomes our mission. And somehow in the bigger picture, it will succeed. We may lose our battles, but our team wins, gloriously. At least some will respond. The next verses will give the servant a commission to the Gentiles. So the servant is pictured at a point where his ministry to Israel appears to have ended in failure, and when his ministry to the Gentiles begins. That snapshot point is surely the cross. Likewise in :7, the snapshot of the servant is at a point when he was "him whom man despises... whom the nation abhors, a servant of rulers". This is the language of Is. 53 about the Lord's sufferings in His time of dying.
The LXX makes the allusion to idolatry clearer: "I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing". The Messiah, "Israel", was totally representative of His people, even in their sinfulness. This representative identification with them was to be the basis of their ultimate salvation.
Yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God- The idea may be "my work should be my recompense". Even if we feel our work for God has not been successful, we were the ones rewarded by doing it, it was itself our blessing. "My reward is with my God" recalls the feelings of Nehemiah, who perhaps could have been this Messianic figure in an initial sense: "Remember me, O my God, for good" (Neh. 13:31; "my God" is a common theme in Ezra and Nehemiah). Is. 49:4-6 seems to foresee how the returnees would be discouraged in their work of rebuilding, and at the fact that not all God’s people had been gathered back. And yet even then, provided they had the right spirit, the Kingdom blessings could still come. Isaiah 49 goes on to comfort the servant that the remainder of Israel would be regathered, and that the broken down walls of Zion were continually before Yahweh (Is. 49:16). And so love's labour is not lost, in that it is rewarded finally, at the last day. Even if what we worked for didn't of itself work out. In the Kingdom we shall those things from a different perspective, one we cannot yet get to. The words put in the Lord's mouth here are allusive to those of the failed servant Israel in Is. 40:27: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God?”. Again we see the Lord Jesus as the true Israel, God's people as they ought to be.
Isaiah 49:5 Now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be His servant-
The application of these words to the Lord Jesus precludes any idea of His
personal preexistence.
Is. 49:5,6 contains a prophecy concerning Christ as the light of
the world, which he fulfilled (Jn. 8:12). He is described as meditating on
“the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant”. Christ was
therefore “formed” by God in Mary’s womb, through the power of His Holy
Spirit. Mary’s womb was evidently the place of Christ’s physical origin.
Both as individuals and collectively, the whole biography and even genetic prehistory of God's people has been prepared by God in their formation, so that they might encounter God's salvation at an optimal point for them to give the maximum glory to Him (Is. 43:21). "Formed" is the word for the potter working on clay, used of how God fashions human hearts or psychologies, working on the deeply internal fabric of the human being (Ps. 33:15). The 'forming' in view is not only "in the womb" (Is. 44:2,24) but throughout their whole psychological and genetic formation. It is possible to strive with our former or "maker" (Is. 45:9), to be unresponsive to His touch of us the clay. The Messiah figure, ultimately the Lord Jesus, was the ultimate case of being "formed" by Yahweh's hand (Is. 49:5 s.w.), implying He too was clay, of human and not Divine nature.
To bring Jacob again to Him, and that Israel be gathered to Him (for I am honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength)- LXX "I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord". Israel had refused to be regathered to the land, they had not obeyed the command to be gathered (s.w. Is. 43:9; Joel 2:16); but this individual servant would be, and thereby the true Israel "in Him" would be regathered. The verb for “gather” can be used in two senses, either “to gather in” or “to take away,” “gather off” (e.g. Ez. 4:29). Response to the Messiah figure would lead to one of these two gatherings- to salvation, or condemnation.
Dt. 30:1-5 was clear that when Israel returned to Yahweh in repentance whilst in captivity, He would gather them back to their land. Hence the word play with shub, meaning both to repent, and to return. But the servant in Is. 49 is tasked with gathering Israel to Yahweh and returning them to their land. As if His work was to bring them to repentance and gather them almost in spite of their lack of repentance. And this is indeed the work of the Lord Jesus on human hearts today. It is the Lord's death that does this, according to John's allusions to this servant prophecy; He lifted up is the point and impetus of gathering together. The cross elicits repentance and return to God. Whilst there must still be freewill response, the cross is a far more powerful impetus to repentance than simply offering to gather God's people once they repent.
We note again the parallel of Jacob and Israel. This is very common up until this point (Is. 40:27; 41:8,14; 42:24; 43:1,22,28; 44:1,5,21,23; 45:4; 46:3; 48:1,12; 49:5,6). But from now on in Isaiah we will read of Zion and Jerusalem rather than Jacob and Israel. The Divine hope had been that Jacob would change to Israel. But as Isaiah progresses, especially in so called 'third Isaiah' from Is. 55-66, we find a far harsher spirit of criticism and judgment upon the people for having refused the great salvation and restoration offered. It's as if God accepts that Jacob will not change to Israel, and instead the prophecies speak of a far future time with a different form of God's people, known as Zion.
The servant Israel was to glorify God (:3) and also be glorified [s.w. "honourable"] by God. This language of glorifying and therefore being glorified is frequently found in John's Gospel, especially John 17, where the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. It is specifically applied to the Lord's death and resurrection (Jn. 12:28; 13:31; 14:13; 17:1,4). Clearly the servant Israel is ultimately the Lord Jesus. Israel were gathered to God through the Lord's death; He was lifted up "so that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad" (Jn. 11:52). "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn. 12:32). We note that Jn. 11:52 speaks of gathering Israel plus the dispersed: "not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad". This idea of salvation for Israel plus the Gentiles is directly taken from Is. 49:6. I have noted on :4 that a snapshot is presented of the servant at the point when His ministry to Israel appears to have ended, and His to the Gentiles begins. Which is the cross.
Isaiah 49:6 Yes, He says, It is too light a thing that you should be My
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
Israel-
This
could have come true at the restoration. Is.
49:6 speaks of the reestablishment of the tribes of Israel and the
‘establishing’ of the land (Is. 49:8). The intended boundaries of the
tribal cantons are given in Ezekiel 48. There was perhaps a renewed
awareness of which tribe each captive was from, after the genealogical
records were burnt at the fall of Jerusalem. Note the references to Judah
(Ezra 10:23), Benjamin (Neh. 3:23), Manasseh Ezra 10:33) and Joseph (Ezra
10:42; Neh. 12:14). But the land wasn’t laid out again according to tribal
boundaries as envisaged in the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel. The few
who returned were content with their little farms, and didn’t rise up to a
wider vision. And how much potential achievement for us as a community is
disabled by our parochial, selfish, self-satisficing attitudes…?
The servant was encouraged that although His mission was primarily to Israel and they had refused His work (:5), He was not to be discouraged because the project of salvation was to be extended to the Gentiles. The idea seems to suggest that the extent of this purpose had to be revealed to the Lord Jesus in order to save Him from disappointment with His mission to Israel, as if His conception of His work had to be enlarged. This would be appropriate for someone with human nature.
We could render "to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept", in which case we have an allusion to the minority in the time of Elijah who were likewise "kept" from apostacy (1 Kings 19:18; Rom. 11:4). Messiah, like Elijah, didn't appreciate that despite His apparently failed ministry, a small remnant of Israel would be restored to God.
I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be
My salvation to the end of the earth-
I explained earlier in this chapter that the Messiah as "Israel" was an individual in whom the true Israel of God would be found, through mutual identification of Him with them and they with Him. And so Paul takes this prophecy concerning how Christ personally would be the light of the whole world, and applies it to himself in explanation of why he was devoted to being a light to the whole world himself (Acts 13:47- although Acts 26:23 applies it to Jesus personally). Paul even says that this prophecy of Christ as the light of the world was a commandment to him; all that is true of the Lord Jesus likewise becomes binding upon us, because we are in Him. Note that Paul says that God has commanded us to witness; it wasn’t that Paul was a special case, and God especially applied Isaiah’s words concerning Christ as light of the Gentiles to Paul. They apply to us, to all who are in Christ. Everything about the Lord Jesus becomes a commandment to us to be likewise. The Lord Jesus understood Himself as "the servant" and yet also understood Paul to be that servant who brought light to the world: "I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness... to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light" (Acts 26:16,18). All that is true of the Lord is true of all those in Him. As He said, "You are the light of the world", because He is. We note that Paul and Barnabas quote Is. 49:6 about themselves at a point when they felt they had failed with their ministry to the Jews and decided to "turn to the Gentiles". This is exactly how the servant [Jesus] felt at the time of His death- and He is told that He would be given a greater ministry, to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas perceived what we call can- a bridge from the Lord on the cross [and the prophecies about Him there] to their own life situations. And they acted as Him.
Light and salvation are clearly parallel. In this sense the Lord was the light of the world (Jn. 8:12; 9:5). It is the experience of salvation which is the light in which the believer lives; all other experience of human life is simply life lived in darkness. The Lord was indeed "the light of men" (Jn. 1:4). He was to bring people out of darkness (:9)- and into Himself, the true light. Those who follow the Lord Jesus will not remain in darkness (Jn. 12:46). He didn't simply show them the light of salvation- He was and is the light, He is the salvation. He is Yah-saves. That light must spread "to the ends of the earth", and the great commission clearly alludes to this- beginning in Jerusalem and with the Jews, the message of the light and salvation of the Lord Jesus must be taken to "the ends of the earth". When this is achieved, the Lord's mission will have been accomplished. Missionary and evangelistic endeavour is the fulfilment of who He essentially is. And all who engage in it will experience the very special presence of the Lord who is that light that they are spreading.
Isaiah 49:7 Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One-
The servant Israel was to redeem Israel.
But Yahweh was the redeemer. The servant Israel, the Lord Jesus, was the
means by which Yahweh would work to redeem Israel. As
Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her
(Hos. 3:1), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s
go’el , redeemer (Is. 41:14; Is. 43:14; Is. 44:6,24; Is. 47:4; Is.
48:17; Is. 49:7,26; Is. 54:5,8). The redeemer could redeem a close
relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (Lev.
25:25,26, 47-55; Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9,12). The redeemer was also the
avenger of blood (Num. 35:9-28; Josh. 20:3,9). All these ideas were
relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised
freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province
within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are
slaves this day in the land you gave…” (Neh. 9:36). The wonderful
prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in
practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how
often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in
Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.
To him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers- LXX "Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes". This Messianic servant would sacrifice His life and be abhorred by the nations; so that the nations would come to worship Him. This is exactly what was and shall be achieved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you- The leadership who had despised the suffering Servant would arise from their thrones and bow in homage before Him.
Isaiah 49:8 Thus says Yahweh, In an acceptable time have I answered you,
and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and
give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them
inherit the desolate heritage-
These words about the servant, the Lord Jesus, are quoted in 2 Cor. 6:1,2, where we are called "workers together with" the Lord Jesus and are urged to appeal to others to be saved. The context is in 2 Cor. 5:20: "we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating the world by us. We beg you on behalf of Christ". The servant was Israel but is the Lord Jesus personally. If we are "in Christ", then all these servant prophecies apply to us. We will be answered and helped during the acceptable time, the day of salvation. We are to make use of that as we too fulfil the servant's ministry, to bring Israel and the whole world to salvation and acceptance.
Whatever the initial possible application to the exiles, the "acceptable time" is now, for now is the today of salvation. All these things have been transferred and reapplied to all who would believe them, seeing the first audience rejected them. We could translate "to restore (:6) the land (of Israel), to allot (Dt. 21:16) the desolate inheritances". Just as each Israelite had a specific allotted inheritance in the land, so each believer in Christ has a specific inheritance in the future restored Kingdom.
There are many allusions to David's sufferings throughout the servant songs. Here it is to Ps. 69:13 "But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favour; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation". The moral weakness of the servant is thus suggested. And yet the servant is also the Lord Jesus, and as Is. 53 will make clear, the servant identified totally with the sin and weakness of His people.
"The people" is "the nations", the Gentiles. Gentile salvation is however connected with restoring the land (of Israel; Is. 49:6), and allotting (Dt. 21:16) the desolate heritages. The latter chapters of Ezekiel stress how Israel were to “inherit” the land; yet the same word is used in other restoration prophecies, about Messiah causing Israel to “inherit” the land again after their return from “the north country” (Zech. 2:12; 8:12; Is. 49:8; Jer. 3:18). When Judah returned from the “north country”, then Jerusalem would be the universally recognized “throne of the Lord” (Jer. 3:17,18). The Kingdom could have come when Judah returned from Babylon. It was therefore potentially possible for the returning exiles to inherit all the land outlined in Ez. 47:13-21 and share it out between the 12 tribes. But they grabbed every man for himself, his own farmstead, his own mini-Kingdom. They had no interest in the wider vision, nor in subduing extra land; and the majority of the Jews didn’t even want to inherit it; they preferred the soft life of Babylon, the Kingdom of men rather than the Kingdom of God. And thus the Kingdom made possible was never actually fulfilled at that time.
The vision is of a multiethnic people of God; the restoration of the Kingdom in Israel is connected with the salvation of Gentiles. The 'help' and 'preservation' of the Servant was ultimately through the strengthening and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. But all that is true of the Messianic Servant is true of those in Him; hence His Name is "Israel". And so this verse is quoted about us in 2 Cor. 6:2 in the context of our being preachers, labouring with God. This is the language of the Lord’s preaching, which freed men from the prison house (Is. 61:1,2). Yet because we are in Him, we too have His ministry; our words too can make men inherit the Kingdom, and free men from their bondage. “We are witnesses [through being] in him” (Acts 5:32 RVmg.). As the Lord in Isaiah’s servant songs was the suffering, saving, atoning servant, lifted up to give salvation world-wide- so are we. For we are in Him.
Isaiah 49:9 Saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’- This is the same word as in Is. 48:20 "Go forth of Babylon". But they chose to remain there.
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’- This is language applied to the Lord Jesus bringing people out of darkness to the light, which means salvation in Him (Jn. 8:12; 12:46). They could have had a deliverance similar to that of Israel from the darkness of Egypt (Ps. 107:10,14), but they preferred darkness to light. Just as they did before the captivity, they put darkness for light (Is. 5:20). Thus they refused the work of the saving Servant, who wanted to bring them out of that darkness (Is. 42:7), and preferred to remain in the darkness of condemnation (Is. 47:5).
And so these things have been reapplied to the work of the Lord Jesus. Those who are thankfully redeemed in Christ, now lovingly reconciled to Him, are described as having been blind, starving prisoners, bound in the darkness, awaiting execution (Ps. 107:14; Is. 42:7; 49:9; 61:1; Zech. 9:11). Our prayers should be like those of a man on death row in a dark dungeon, waiting to die, but groaning for salvation (Ps. 102:17,20). This is the extent of our desperation. We are “the poor” (Gk. ‘the crouchers’), cringing in utter spiritual destitution (Mt. 5:3). The Lord in the Sermon on the Mount clearly understood this deliverance of the prisoners to refer to His work with a new Israel; since the Jews in Babylon had preferred to stay in their comfortable prison of exile, and didn't perceive it as a place of spiritual darkness.
They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture- The idea is that there would be abundant provision for them, with pasture even on the beaten paths and bare heights where usually there wouldn't be. The idea here and in :10 was and is that absolutely all their needs would be abundantly provided for on the physical and spiritual journey to the restored Kingdom. This is the picture of the return of the exiles found in Is. 40:11; 41:18; 42:7, with rivers opened on the bare heights and ample food and pasture on the return path to Zion.
Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor
sun strike them: for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by
springs of water He will guide them- It was the responsibility of the
priests and religious leaders to "gently lead" the exiles back to their
God and their land, but they failed in this (Is. 51:18 s.w.); and so
because there was none to guide / gently
lead (s.w.), God Himself had to intervene and do this through His Son (Is.
40:11; 49:10).
This repeats the assurance of Is. 48:21. Just as everything had been provided for them when they left Egypt, so they need not worry about the logistics or "the way" of returning to Judah. The practical issues which loom in the minds of those confronted with the Gospel of the Kingdom will all likewise be dealt with by the God who desperately wants us to say "yes". These words are repeated about the faithful of the new Israel in Rev. 7:16, brought "out of great tribulation" (Rev. 7:14) just as the exiles were intended to have been brought out of Babylon.
Isaiah 49:11 I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be
exalted- This repeats the message of the highway to the restored Zion
being prepared in Is. 40:4.
Isaiah 49:12 Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the
north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim- "Sinim" my
simply refer to the uttermost border of the
eretz promised to
Abraham, "Sin" being on the southern border with Egypt (cp. Gen. 10:17).
LXX "And others from the land of the Persians", GNB "and from Aswan in the
south". The tragedy of the book of Esther is that at its conclusion, the
Jews were established in Persia in prosperity. They refused to use all
this potential. The refusal of the exiles to respond led to the
reapplication of this to the worldwide gathering in of Gentiles from all
over the globe. Sinim is a
reference to Sin (Pelusium) on the border of Egypt, the boundary of the
promised land. People were to come from the North, West and South- not
from the East, because the restoration from Babylon had already been
predicted. The idea is 'in addition to those in Babylon'. Israel were to
have filled that land with the knowledge of Yahweh. They failed, but
"Israel" in the sense of the Lord Jesus would do this- and in fact
literally to the ends of the planet. The other nations 'imprisoned' in
Babylon were intended to join the Jewish exiles and be led by them to
Zion. But the Jews preferred to stay in Babylon. The Lord Jesus as the
ideal Israel would lead the Gentiles out of spiritual Babylon on a global
level, and take them to Zion eternally.
Isaiah 49:13 Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into
singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted His people, and will have
compassion on His afflicted- The ‘singing’ of the heavens refers to
Judah’s intended joy at the restoration (cp. Is. 48:20). See on
Is. 54:2.
The temple still lay “waste” (Hag. 1:4,9) just as it had lain “desolate” [s.w. Jer. 33:10,12] after the Babylonian destruction. The ‘restoration’ was in fact not really a restoration at all, in God’s eyes. Thus Ezra sat down desolate [AV “astonied”] at the news of Judah’s apostasy in marrying the surrounding women; using the very same word as frequently used to describe the ‘desolate’ Jerusalem that was to be rebuilt (Ezra 9:3 cp. Is. 49:8,19; 54:3; 61:4). He tore his priestly garment (Ezra 9:3), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s.w. Ez. 42:14; 44:17,19). Is. 58:12,13 prophesied that the acceptable rebuilding of Zion was dependent upon Judah keeping the Sabbath acceptably; and yet Nehemiah’s record makes clear their tragic abuse of the Sabbath at the time of the restoration; and this therefore meant that the rebuilding of the temple and city were not going to fulfill the Messianic prophecies about them which existed.
Comfort and compassion from God can be given by Him, and yet refused. And
again we have an abiding warning to us, as the new Israel, not to waste or
disregard all the potential comfort there is from God, not least in our
day through the ministry of "the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit".
Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has
forgotten me-
This is a huge anticlimax to the loving grace declared in :13. The mountains, skies and earth all rejoice in it [there's a similar picture in Hosea in the same context of God's saving, marital love for Israel]. But Zion refuses to accept the grace, making the foolish complaint that Yahweh has forgotten about her. Indeed it could be that we are to read her words as the accusation of a wife in a divorce court, for legal language is so common in Isaiah. Accusing him of abandoning her- the word for "forsaken" is used when lamenting a loss, like of Jacob losing Benjamin, Gen. 44:22. She presents herself as the abandoned / forsaken one, despite the visible presence of God in the cherubim amongst the exiles [see Ezekiel]. This is such a spiteful, ungrateful response that we feel it unworthy of any further response. No sensible further dialogue seems possible. Yahweh addresses Zion, but in :14 she speaks to nobody in particular, telling the world she is an abandoned woman. Come on, Zion. You can do better than this. We therefore marvel at Yahweh's patience in even engaging with it, replying personally to her as He does in His response of :15. His grace shines through time and again; His eager desire to always engage with His people shows how He has not at all abandoned nor forgotten them.
See on :25. AV "my Lord", as if referring to Yahweh as her husband (Is. 50:1; 54:6 cp. Gen. 18:12). But as explained on :13, Yahweh had not forsaken them; it was they who refused to avail themselves of the comfort of His love. We must follow the images carefully. Zion is presented in Is. 49:14 as a forsaken young wife. She is also presented as a young mother who had lost her children, who suddenly gets them back. But Is. 49:15 then applies feminine imagery to God as Zion's mother, actually breastfeeding His people. God is the eternal mother, the figure that every man, if he is honest, would dearly love to have. Not an old frail lady with dementia, as his last memories of her might be, but the younger woman who, as a child, apparently had all the answers and made all the provisions. Even if man never had a mother or had a bad mother, that is the idea desire of every man. It is clearly enough why men have a "thing" about women's breasts. And that is God to man. God has set eternity in our hearts, a longing for things which we shall never quite achieve in this life. But that longing is met uniquely in Him. The woman longs for a strong father, a wonderful ever present husband, and children who are always somehow present and not distant, who crown her maturity with teeming happy grandchildren (Is. 49:21-23). She never has those things... her father may or may not have been the strong one, but he grows old and weak. Her husband was not perfect, and is not always strong. Her children are not as she would wish, perhaps she is estranged from one and another is lost to her, under the influence of in-laws or drugs... or not thinking spiritually as she does. But these deep longings are met uniquely in the things of the Father and His Kingdom. Yahweh is revealed as the eternal husband of Zion, the go'el who redeems from all life's problems, the father of her wonderful children. Family life, good as it can be when lived in the Lord, never fully meets these longings of both man and woman. And even the best of human relationships are time limited. Only Yahweh of Israel can be eternally all these things to man. The failures and lack of total fulfilment in family life for both men and women are merely to hone and focus upon what we would ideally wish for- and we shall receive it eternally, in our relationship with God and His people in His Kingdom. And in Is. 54, Zion is presented as a once barren woman. Now and for eternity she not only has children but her children are abundant (Is. 54:1), widespreading (Is. 54:22) and prosperous (Is. 54:13). They come to her from all directions (Is. 60:4) and her children "dwell with her" (Is 62:5 LXX)- a woman's secret desire, to have her children with her and not distant in any sense. And she has yet more children, without the pain of labour (Is. 66:7-14).
Reasoning back from the addresses to the captives in later Isaiah, it
appears they thought that Yahweh was a God who just operated in the land
of Israel. The captives felt they couldn’t sing the songs of Yahweh in a
Gentile land (Ps. 137). They thought that now they were outside His land
and far from His temple, they were forgotten by Him (Is. 49:14,15), their
cause ignored by Him (Is. 40:27) and they were “cast off” from
relationship with Him (Is. 41:9). Hence Isaiah emphasizes that Yahweh is
the creator and the God of the whole planet, and His presence is literally
planet-wide. Likewise there is much stress in those addresses on the fact
that Yahweh’s word of prophecy will come true. Remember that there had
been many false prophets of Yahweh just prior to the captivity who
predicted victory against Babylon and prosperity (Lam. 2:9,14; Jer.
44:15-19). And the 70 years prophecy of Jeremiah appeared to not be coming
true, or at best was delayed or re-scheduled in fulfilment [even Daniel
felt this, according to his desperate plea for fulfilment in Daniel 9].
And so there was a crisis of confidence in the concept of prophecy, and
Yahweh’s word and prophets generally. Isaiah addressed this by stressing
the nature and power of that word, and urging faith in its fulfilment and
relevance.
Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will
not forget you!-
And
yet in anger God said He would destroy Israel’s children and walk away
from them and forget them (Hos. 9:12). Unlike the stone faced gods of the
Gentiles, Yahweh had emotion and passion, and internal conflicts. And His
word reveals them to us. This "compassion" was only to be shown when
Israel repented (s.w. Dt. 30:3) and would not be shown if they were
impenitent (s.w. Is. 9:17; 27:11; 55:7). But although they had not
repented, Yahweh still felt that fatherly "compassion" toward them (Is.
49:15 s.w.). He is unafraid of appearing to contradict His word, such is
the passion of His love. We note that
the Hebrew words for "compassion" and "womb" are related, from the same
root rhm,
riham
(compassion) and rehem
(womb). We could translate 'womb-compassion'. Whilst a woman may indeed
murder and even eat her own baby, as the Bible itself testifies, there is
a unique natural bond between a woman and the child of her womb. This bond
is far stronger than between a father and his child. God therefore uses
this uniquely feminine allusion in order to show the depth of His
compassion with His people. It points up the intensity of His usage of the
word for "compassion" in saying through Hosea that His people are Ruhamah
(Hos. 2:1,4), not those upon which He any longer has compassion (as in
Jer. 13:14 "I will not have compassion"). He used the word in Dt. 30:3,
saying that He would have this "compassion" when He would "turn your
captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will gather you from all the
nations whither Yahweh your God has scattered you". This idea that Yahweh
would show compassion only once they repented is also found in Jer. 30:18;
33:26. But His point now is that in fact that compassion had never left
them throughout the exile. He had been far more compassionate to them than
He had said- because of the nature of things being their mother. Hence
Jer. 31:20 says the same thing as Is. 49:15: "Is [not] Ephraim My dear
son? Is he [not] a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I
do earnestly remember him still: therefore My heart yearns for him; I will
surely have compassion on him". If the wicked amongst the exiles forsook
their ways and thoughts and returned to Yahweh,
then Yahweh would have compassion
upon them (Is. 55:7). Ps. 102:13 likewise speaks of the time when Yahweh
would arise and have compassion upon Zion because "the set time is come",
as if His compassion is shown only at the restoration; likewise Is. 14:1
"Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob... and set them in their own land"
(also Jer. 12:15; Ez. 39:25; Zech. 10:6). But in Is. 49:15 Yahweh is
saying that He had had compassion upon them throughout the exile, although
He would indeed show them compassion in returning them from Babylon (s.w.
:10,13). Judah's conquerors, the Assyrians and Babylonians, had had no
compassion upon the Jews (s.w. Is. 9:17; 13:18; Jer. 6:23). But Yahweh
did, in His wrath He always remembered His mercy / compassion (Hab. 3:2),
all through the exile. But the exiles didn't see this, complaining that
they had had no compassion, no breastfeeding, but had been abandoned. They
complained "How long will You not have compassion on Jerusalem and on the
cities of Judah, against which You have had indignation those seventy
years? Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and
comforting / compassionate words" (Zech. 1:12,13). The compassion had been
there all along. Yet the exiles rejected it. And this amazing compassion
has been applied to us: "In Him the fatherless find mercy / compassion"
(Hos. 14:3), we who were not His begotten children are given the
compassion of the womb. These very words are quoted in the New Testament
about all believers in Christ: "I will have mercy [s.w. compassion] on her
who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not My people,
‘You are My people;’ and they will say, ‘You are my God!’". This amazing
womb-compassion is for all who have been born again.
The image of breastfeeding is of course distinctly and uniquely feminine. Yahweh uses this aspect of femininity about Himself. Perhaps in no other place in scripture does He so strongly present as female. And yet He does so in the context of also presenting as the male husband of Zion. He indeed is all things to every person. In the years of exile, when "Zion" liked to imagine her God was far away- He was in fact breastfeeding her, the ultimate moment of intimacy between parent and child, the act of physico-emotional bonding that no male can share nor replicate with their child [hence Yahweh uses this female imagery about Himself at this point]. Breast milk production depends upon the child continually drinking the milk. If the child stops doing so, the production of breast milk stops. The language used here is so powerful. Zion had been feeding from Yahweh all through her exile. To claim He had abandoned and forgotten her was self contradictory and so obviously wrong. A lactating woman is unable to forget her child in that her body is focused upon her production of milk. Even the thought of the child, or hearing a crying baby, can cause a milk ejection reflex from the woman. The mother's body is unable to forget that she is nursing, and reminds her to feed it. It's an amazing picture of God's constant awareness of and love for His people. But because they were switched off to Him, they reflected their attitude to Him back onto Him- a psychological classic. They were disinterested in Him, and they decided that He was like that to them too. The challenge comes down to us today: Be as constantly enthusiastic for God as He is for you.
Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands-
The idea may be that Israel were as the lines graven on a man's palm, with which he was born. Thus from absolute eternity, we were the great "all things"
to Almighty God, intimately connected with Him, part of His very own
person- He the God of all, all past and future creations. But God's hands
are His creative members; on those hands were the walls of Zion, and so
all His actions were geared towards the final salvation of Israel. Their
rejection of such great Divine passion and interest was and is the tragedy
of the cosmos. And the marks in the palms of His Son will apparently
remain eternally, He still appears looking like a lamb with the wounds of
His slaughter upon Him (Rev. 5:6).
Your walls are continually before Me- The broken down state of the walls was continually in God's mind throughout the exile, as they were in Nehemiah's mind too. Or perhaps the walls of a restored Zion, those spoken of in Rev. 21, are in view. The ultimate hope of Israel, of their restoration, was ever before God. But at the time of the restoration, very few of His people cared about the state of the walls; such was the distraction of materialism. Possibly the idea is that the walls of Jerusalem were engraven on God's palms, i.e. on both His hands. The plans to rebuild the city, found in Ez. 40-48, were totally on and in His hands. He was so eager to make it happen. If only the exiles had grasped this, they would have had God working with both hands along with them.
Isaiah 49:17 Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made
you waste shall go forth from you- LXX "And thou shalt soon be built
by those by whom thou were destroyed, and they that made thee desolate
shall go forth of thee". The idea was that a repentant remnant of Gentiles
would return with the repentant exiles and work in the rebuilding of Zion.
But this didn't happen. And so it is all given a reapplication to Gentiles
building in Zion, the new Jerusalem.
Isaiah 49:18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather
themselves together, and come to you- All these prophecies of Isaiah
were because when the Gentiles came to Zion after the Assyrians were
destroyed, they were supposed to gather together to Judah's God. But
Hezekiah's apostacy influenced them, and therefore Judah went into captivity
in Babylon and only after repentance were to be restored. Now the
situation was to be repeated; and the Gentiles would again be gathered to
Zion, but now they would permanently join themselves to Israel's God.
It is God who gathers His people (Is. 11:12; 40:11; Jer. 31:10; Ez. 34:12), whereas the Gentiles gather themselves to Him (Is. 49:18). His grace therefore appears the greater to His people, somehow forcing through His purpose with obstinate sheep. The 'bringing / coming' and 'drawing near / gathering' of the exiles (s.w. Is. 43:5) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in Neh. 1:9). But most of the exiles remained in the lands of their captivity, just as people resist the Gospel's call today. They had to themselves bring and gather themselves (Is. 45:20; 49:18; 60:4), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (Is. 43:5; Jer. 31:8; Ez. 34:13; 36:24; 37:21; Zech. 10:10). And so today with all who wish to be in God's Kingdom; our desire to be there and first moves towards it will be confirmed many times over by God's work through His Spirit.
As I live, says Yahweh, you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride- As if they were the girdle worn by a bride- which Judah had forgotten to wear, so slack were they in their attitude to their Heavenly husband (Jer. 2:32). The conversion of the Gentiles was to be to the glory of God's people. "As I live" continues the theme we have so often, of God forcing through His saving purpose "for My own sake" (see on Is. 45:23), swearing by His own life because He could swear by nothing greater- that truly He would save His people. "Clothe yourself... dress yourself" is the word 'bind / girdle'. In Jer. 2:32 Yahweh had lamented “can… a bride forget her girdle?". But Judah had forgotten Yahweh. Now the Divine hope is that she will learn her lesson and decorate herself for her husband. But this was to be the desperate hope of Hosea that Gomer would one day love him. These things have had to be transferred to us, the new people of God, the new iteration of His wife.
Isaiah 49:19 For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your
land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the
inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away- This
is exactly relevant to the situation in Judah after the first break in the
rebuilding; the walls were broken down by the Samaritans, but Nehemiah was
raised up to lead more back with him from Babylon and rebuild them. And
yet sadly, this too failed, for Judah were still unwilling to completely
forsake Babylon. “Thy walls are continually before me [even during the 70
years captivity]… [even while in captivity they were thinking that Yahweh
had forgotten them, :14]…thy builders (RVmg.) make haste… thy land that
hath been destroyed [by the Babylonian scorched earth policy] shall even
now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants… then shalt thou say, Who
hath begotten me these, seeing I am barren, an exile…?” (Is. 49:16,19,21
RV). This all implies there would be a population explosion at the time of
the restoration. But there is no evidence this was the case. All this was
potentially true; but it didn’t come to pass in reality.
Isaiah 49:20 The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears-
These children were born after she had lost her husband and children. She has no idea who had conceived them for her (:21). The idea surely is that whilst Israel were estranged from God, the Gentiles would become God's children and become her spiritual children. This explains the obvious paradox of bereavement of children resulting in having children, "the children of bereavement". LXX "For thy sons whom thou hast lost shall say in thine ears". The idea of receiving back children who had been once slain is clearly alluded to in Job's experience (Job 42:13), who is set up as representative of the Jews in exile.
‘The place is too small for me; give more space to me that I may dwell!’- The implication is that eretz Israel will be too small for the restored people of God; and they will therefore have to go and live with the Gentiles. The implication is that the boundaries of the promised land will expand to encompass the entire planet.
Isaiah 49:21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for
me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile,
and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left
alone; these, where were they?’- see on Gen. 33:5.
Children born
through another were still reckoned as the wife's children (Gen. 16:1;
30:1). The children of Zion were therefore suckled by the Gentiles (Is.
60:16); nursing fathers implies guardians. The implication is that just as the eretz Israel will be
expanded to include Gentile territories (see on :20), so ethnic Gentiles
will be genuinely considered by the Jews to be their people.
We note Zion's wonder at God's grace, that she the widow and bereaved of children should now find a husband and children- in contrast to Babylon who proudly denies she will ever experience widowhood nor bereavement of children, but would abide a "mistress forever". Zion has the realization so many of us do at times- God was with me through this all along. All through our weak periods, be they minutes or years, He was there. Showing His grace, love and compassion to us. She had complained that she was "forgotten" (:15), and this is a figure for being barren. Thus when barren women bore children, it is said that Yahweh remembered them, having apparently 'forgotten' them in their time of barrenness (Hannah in 1 Sam. 1:11,19; Rachel in Gen. 30:22). Now Zion sees that she does have children- she has not in fact been forgotten by God. She says this in her heart, to herself. It's a picture of deep internal marvel at God's grace. Just as we shall walk away from the judgment seat into eternity, with the faithful of all ages, wondering at His grace, saying within our deepest self "How did this happen? Duncan, you shouldn't be here. But you are!".
Isaiah 49:22 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will lift up My hand to
the nations, and set up My banner to the peoples; and they shall bring
your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their
shoulders- This banner or ensign lifted up in Zion is ultimately the
pole of the cross of the Lord Jesus. Upon this will be predicated Yahweh's
extension of His covenant to the Gentile nations; for to 'lift up the
hand' is to enter into solemn covenant.
Isaiah 49:23 Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your
nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; and
those who wait for Me shall not be disappointed-
Or "ashamed". Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way. Consider Is. 50:10: “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice [s.w. Ezra 1:1 re the proclamation of Cyrus] of his servant [i.e. Cyrus, Is. 45:1], that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God”. Yet Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers to guard them on the journey only because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (Ezra 8:22), as if he really did want the support but was ashamed to ask for it. He disallowed Isaiah’s prophesy that the restored Israel would never be ashamed [s.w. Ezra 8:22; 9:6] nor confounded (Is. 45:17; 49:23; 54:4). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (Neh. 2:9). And so these things are reapplied to the coming of Gentiles to the hope of Israel in Christ. Former enemies worshipping at the feet of repentant Jews becomes reapplied to all believers in Christ (Rev. 3:9).
Isaiah 49:24 Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?- LXX "Will any one take spoils from a giant? and if one should take a man captive unjustly, shall he be delivered?". The Lord Jesus alludes here in saying that through His work, the house of the strong man has been taken and his spoils looted (Mk. 3:27).
Or this can be read as the Jews remonstrating against God’s message of deliverance from captivity: “Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?”. They thought their salvation was too hard even for God. They made the same mistake as all who reason that their situation or personality is too far gone for God to redeem. For the ‘salvation’ of the exiles in Babylon is alluded to in the New Testament as a prototype of our salvation in Christ. The good news of potential deliverance from Babylon is quoted as the good news of salvation from sin (Is. 52:7-10 = Mk. 1:15; Mt. 10:7,8; Rom. 10:15; Eph. 6:15; Is. 61:1,2 = Lk. 4:16-21). Time and again in the restoration prophecies we encounter statements intended to answer the skepticism felt by the exiles about the promises of redemption from Babylon (Is. 40:27-31; Is. 42:22; Is. 43:22; Is. 46:12; Is. 48:4,8; Is. 49:14). Passages like Ezekiel 18 and Is. 59:9 imply a certain bitterness of Israel towards their God, considering that He had dealt with them unfairly, and inappropriately punished them for the sins of their fathers. Despite having enabled their exit from Babylon, they complained: “Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us” (Is. 59:9). This was an awful spurning of the great salvation enabled for them.
Isaiah 49:25 But thus says Yahweh, Even the captives of the mighty shall
be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will
contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children-
LXX "If one should take a giant captive, he shall take spoils, and he who
takes them from a mighty man shall be delivered". But when Babylon fell,
the captives didn't want to leave and preferred prosperity under the
Persians, as the book of Esther makes clear. And so these things were
reapplied and fulfilled in more abstract, spiritual terms. Thus the Lord
Jesus alludes here in saying that through His work, the house of the
strong man has been taken and his spoils looted (Mk. 3:27).
Isaiah 49:26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and
they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine- The
idea is as in GNB "I will make your oppressors kill each other", which
will come true in the last days (Ez. 38:21; Hag. 2:22; Zech. 14:13).
And all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob- The final triumph of God's project of saving His people will be the parade witness to "all flesh" which finally brings about the spread of His Kingdom worldwide. The lovely story of Ruth speaks of our redemption. Her “kinsman redeemer” [Heb. Go’el] was the “mighty one”, Boaz. We find this word especially used in Isaiah’s prophecies to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, urging them to return from that Gentile land to Judah, and take the Gentiles with them. They had the impression there in Babylon that God had somehow forgotten them. The book of Ruth appears to have been written up [perhaps in Babylon] in order to encourage them to return- after the pattern of Naomi and Ruth returning to the land and being redeemed by their Go’el. But this Go’el is none less than God Himself. So many passages in Isaiah allude to the Ruth story: “I Yahweh am your Saviour and your redeemer [Go’el], the mighty one of Jacob” (Is. 49:26). Judah were urged in Is. 55:6 to call upon God “While He is near”- the same Hebrew word translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our representative, of our nature. Judah in captivity were likewise encouraged by Jeremiah to return to the land- with full allusion to Ruth: “Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities... for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall compass a man” (Jer. 31:21,22). This refers to the way in which Ruth summed up the courage to ‘go after’ Boaz, to present herself to him for marriage- reflecting the spiritual ambition of all those who seek redemption and restoration in Christ.
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