# commentaries

text:
<h4>The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears- 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 (<a href='B:220 42:13'>Job 42:13</a>), who is set up as representative of the Jews in exile.</h4><h4>‘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.</h4>


text:
<p>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 <a href='B:10 33:5'>Gen 33:5</a>. Children born through another were still reckoned as the wife’s children (<a href='B:10 16:1'>Gen 16:1</a>; <a href='B:10 30:1'>Gen 30:1</a>). The children of Zion were therefore suckled by the Gentiles (<a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>). 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.</p>


text:
<p>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.</p>


text:
<p>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 <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>: “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, <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>], 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 journeyonly because he had earlier told the king that Yahweh would be with them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), 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. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>). 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 (<a href='B:730 3:9'>Rev 3:9</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>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 (<a href='B:480 3:27'>Mar 3:27</a>).</h4><h4>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 (<a href='B:290 52:7-10'>Isa 52:7-10</a> = <a href='B:480 1:15'>Mar 1:15</a>; <a href='B:470 10:7-8'>Mat 10:7-8</a>; <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>; <a href='B:560 6:15'>Eph 6:15</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> = <a href='B:490 4:16-21'>Luk 4:16-21</a>). 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 (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). Passages like Ezekiel 18 and <a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a> 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” (<a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a>). This was an awful spurning of the great salvation enabled for them.</h4>


text:
<p>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 (<a href='B:480 3:27'>Mar 3:27</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>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 (<a href='B:330 38:21'>Eze 38:21</a>; <a href='B:440 2:22'>Hag 2:22</a>; <a href='B:450 14:13'>Zec 14:13</a>).</h4><h4>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” (<a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>). Judah were urged in <a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> 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” (<a href='B:300 31:21-22'>Jer 31:21-22</a>). 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.</h4>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, for which I have put her away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away- This can be read as God’s answer to the Jewish objection that God had as it were gotten rid of them as His wife for His own ends, such as getting cash benefit. And so He invites them to look again at the bill of divorce and remind themselves of the reasons for the divorce; LXX" Of what kind is your mother’s bill of divorcement?". It was because of their gross unfaithfulness. Ezekiel had to reason with the exiles in a similar way, arguing against their idea that God had been unreasonable to them.</h4><h4>But further, here Isaiah urged the Jews to return to the land by saying that God had forgiven them, and on this basis He appealed for them to both ‘repent’ and ‘return’ to the land. The two terms are related. Thus He showed His grace; forgiveness preceded, not followed, repentance. <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a> is clear about this: “I have swept away your transgressions like clouds [therefore] return to me, for I have [already] redeemed you”. Perhaps the question as to where the bill of divorce was could imply that it didn’t exist; God was angry with their sins, but kept no record of them- hence He could comfort Judah that there was actually no documentary evidence for their divorce and therefore she could return to Him. As Paul put it, the goodness of God leads to repentance (<a href='B:520 2:4'>Rom 2:4</a>). And we are asked to show that same “goodness” of God to others, being “kind [s:w. ‘goodness’] one to another… forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” (<a href='B:560 4:32'>Eph 4:32</a>). We too are to show this grace of forgiveness-before-repentance; but perhaps in no other area has formalized, institutionalizedChristianity failed worse. If XYZ shows us she’s repented of her divorce, then we’ll forgive her and accept her in fellowship [as if, in any case, we are the ones who need to forgive her]. These are graceless and yet terribly common attitudes. The Greek word translated “goodness” is rendered “gracious” in <a href='B:670 2:3'>1Pe 2:3</a> - newly converted babes in Christ taste of this gracious goodness, and it leads to repentance.</h4>


text:
<h4>Why, when I came, was there no man?- The Messiah figure was to appear at a time when the cities of Israel were desolate and needed rebuilding, and when the people had been told “Go forth” of Babylon, and Zion’s “builders” would hastily work, despite feeling themselves to be “exiles” (<a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>; <a href='B:290 49:17'>Isa 49:17</a> RVmg:,21 RV). There could have been a Messiah figure at the restoration. “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me” (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). They didn’t have the faith to believe that God’s grace was enough to really forgive them for the sins that had led them into captivity, and for their apostasy in Babylon, where they had been spiritually “marred” (<a href='B:300 13:7'>Jer 13:7</a>). And so the planned Messiah figure and Kingdom never fully happened. And God laments this: “Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer?” (<a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>). Nobody responded to the Divine call for a Messiah. No Messiah figure appeared; or the reference may also be to the paucity of response when Cyrus announced the possibility of returning to the land.</h4><h4>There even seems at times a difficulty on God’s part to understand why the people He had loved could hate Him so much:"Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, We will no more come to thee?"(<a href='B:300 2:31'>Jer 2:31</a>);"Why then has this people turned away?"(<a href='B:300 8:5'>Jer 8:5</a>);"Why have they provoked me to anger?"(<a href='B:300 8:19'>Jer 8:19</a>; <a href='B:300 2:14'>Jer 2:14</a>; <a href='B:300 30:6'>Jer 30:6</a>; <a href='B:290 5:4'>Isa 5:4</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>)."What more could I have done for my vineyard::. why did it yield wild grapes?"(<a href='B:290 5:1-7'>Isa 5:1-7</a>). This is so much the anguished cry of bewildered middle age parents as they reflect upon a wayward child. This Divine struggle to understand reflects the extraordinary depth of His love for them; and it warns us in chilling terms as to the pain we can cause God if we spurn His amazing love.</h4><p>When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem?- Here and in <a href='B:290 59:1'>Isa 59:1</a> the idea of Yahweh’s hand being shortened is used as an excuse not to repond to God’s call to quit Babylon for Zion. The idea was that His ability to act, His hand, was somehow limited or ’reaped down’. They assumed the fact they had been reaped in the harvest of judgment meant that their God had been (<a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:300 9:22'>Jer 9:22</a>; <a href='B:350 8:7'>Hos 8:7</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13'>Hos 10:13</a>). They simply refused to accept the repeated prophetic message that it was the God of Israel who brought judgment upon Israel. They treated Him as the surrounding peoples treated their gods- always saving them in trouble, and if they didn’t, then the god had died with them.</p><h4>Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst- God sent Hisprophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The word they heard was powerful, so powerful it could dry up the Red Sea in a moment (hence the dead fish; or a reference to <a href='B:20 7:21'>Exo 7:21</a>); but despite that power, the Jews didn’t respond to it, considering that God was unable to redeem from exile. So they didn’t return / repent, both to their God and to His land. Their impenitence was related to their disbelief that the Kingdom was really possible, even though they accepted Yahweh’s existence and were loyal to the culture of being His people. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son.</h4>


text:
<h4>I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering- This could refer to God’s deep mourning for all the wasted potential; He had empowered the people to return (:2), but they didn’t, and no Messiah figure arose as had been potentially possible. For the degree of unrealized or wasted potential is fundamentally connected to our depth of mourning.</h4><p>Isaiah’s constant references back to the Exodus deliverance are to make the point that what God had done then, He could just as easily do for the exiles as they left Babylon / Egypt. <a href='B:290 50:2-3'>Isa 50:2-3</a> could be read as a statement of God’s possibilities, bringing out the huge potential power which God could wield for the exiles:"If I were to rebuke the sea it would dry up! I could turn rivers into a wilderness::. I could clothe the heavens with blackness". All this conditional language and grammar shows the great potential which Israel could have tapped into had they wished.</p><h4>The reference may be to the plague of darkness coming upon Babylon or the Jews in judgment, just as it did upon Egypt. The final fulfilment of this will be in the last days, for it is alluded to in&nbsp; <a href='B:730 6:12'>Rev 6:12</a>,"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair".</h4>


text:
<h4>The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary- The previous verses have lamented Judah’s refusal to hear the call to repentance. But now the Saviour Servant speaks of how He was trained by Yahweh to teach people, Israel especially, the true way; and then to exemplify and embody that teaching in His own suffering and death (:6,7). Clearly these things refer to the Lord Jesus. The LXX speaks of His ability to teach and instruct us His people:"The Lord even God gives me the tongue of instruction, to know when it is fit to speak a word". But"those who are taught"is literally ’the disciples’, the taught ones. He spoke to them in their own tongue, in their own terms and language; and He was taught to do this. This would explain why the Lord used the language of demon possession rather than correcting those wrong ideas.</h4><p>He wakens me morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught-"Those who are taught"are literally ’the disciples’. He was taught by God, morning by morning, to hear as the disciples heard. He was progressively led to appreciate the perspective of those far less spiritual than Himself. He was taught the ability to hear as we hear, although as God’s Son He Himself heard with far quicker and deeper perception than we do.</p><p>The Lord Jesus “morning by morning” heard God’s word “as the learned” (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> AV); but the Hebrew words for “accustomed” in <a href='B:300 13:23'>Jer 13:23</a> and “learned” in <a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> are the same. God teaches by repetition- which may be out of vogue in the experience / problem based learning philosophy of current education, but it’s God’s way. Once habit solidifies, it becomes effectively part of our nature and almost impossible to change, at least in human strength- so <a href='B:300 13:23'>Jer 13:23</a> teaches us: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil”. The Hebrew translated “accustomed” carries the idea of repeated habit. The Hebrew idea of ‘teaching’ is connected to the words for ‘habit’ or ‘custom’; because teaching was by repetition.</p><h4>The Lord was noted for rising up early and praying (<a href='B:480 1:35'>Mar 1:35</a>). <a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> prophesies of the Lord Jesus that morning by morning, God awoke His ear"to learn as a disciple". That last phrase is surely to signal the intended similarities between the Lord’s path of growth, and that of all disciples. How we start our days is really so important. The next two verses go on to predict that because of this morning-by-morning teaching process,"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting"(<a href='B:290 50:5-6'>Isa 50:5-6</a>). Thus we come to the cross, the life of cross carrying, as the end result of our morning reflections. It was from His own experience that the Lord could bid us take up our cross- His cross- each morning. The unbelieving world is repeatedly characterized as walking in a crooked path (<a href='B:490 3:5'>Luk 3:5</a>; <a href='B:510 2:40'>Act 2:40</a>; Php_2:15 and often in Proverbs). Quietly starting every day right is part of our walking in a straight path, following the way of the cherubim; and by walking in that straight daily path we will not have opportunity to stumble (<a href='B:650 12:13'>Heb 12:13</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward- The early morning teaching sessions between Father and Son resulted in His ear being opened to perceive the death of the cross. And He was not rebellious. He as"Israel"was representative of sinful Israel (see on <a href='B:290 49:1-3'>Isa 49:1-3</a>); it was the exiles who were to have their ears opened. But they refused, preferring to remain deaf (see on <a href='B:290 42:20'>Isa 42:20</a>; <a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>). But His ears were opened because He wanted to hear; unlike them He was not rebellious (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:20'>Isa 1:20</a>; <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>); He did not"turn away backward"as the idolaters of Judah did (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:17'>Isa 42:17</a>; <a href='B:300 38:22'>Jer 38:22</a>). He triumphed at every point where we as Israel fail. To be right with God, Israel had to identify with Him. We become in Him by baptism, and thus His righteousness is imputed to us (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting- 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 (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). See on <a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>. The servant was called to sustain the “dispirited” by the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a>). And yet passages like <a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a> and even Isaiah 53 speak of how the servant met even physical abuse as well as rejection in his ministry to his fellow Jews. Indeed the servant feels that his mission to them has been a failure (<a href='B:290 49:1-6'>Isa 49:1-6</a>), a complaint met by God’s promise that his mission would be in some way reapplied to the Gentiles in their captivity to sin. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled out (<a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a>) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>; <a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>). The servant was spat at by his fellow Jews- an expression of utter contempt (<a href='B:220 30:10'>Job 30:10</a>). Whilst the servant prophecies find their later fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, it seems to me that in their first context, they speak of how a prophet or prophets at the time of the exile were rejected and even beaten up by their fellow Jews. Indeed, Isaiah ends on a negative note, describing the judgments to come upon the Jews who had rejected the message of deliverance from Babylon (<a href='B:290 66:24'>Isa 66:24</a>).</h4><p>As explained on :5, the cross was the end point of the Lord’s early morning teaching sessions with His Father. And so He unlike every other victim of crucifixion and torture willingly gave His body parts to His torturers.</p><h4>Jesus commanded us not to physically resist the forces of evil: “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also” (<a href='B:470 5:39-40'>Mat 5:39-40</a>). Christ is the example in this: “I gave My back to those who struck Me ::." (<a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>). The Lord gave His life, it wasn’t taken from Him. Likewise He gave His back to the smiters when they flogged Him; He gave His face to them when they spoke about pulling out His beard (<a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>).</h4><h4>The Lord would have meditated upon the way righteous men had taken upon themselves the sins of their people. Thus Jeremiah speaks as if he has committed Israel’s sins; Ezra rends his clothes and plucks off his hair, as if he has married out of the Faith (<a href='B:150 9:4'>Ezr 9:4</a> cp. <a href='B:160 13:25'>Neh 13:25</a>; the Lord received the same sinner’s treatment, <a href='B:290 50:6'>Isa 50:6</a>). Moses’ prayer for God to relent and let him enter the land was only rejected for the sake of his association with Israel’s sins (<a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded- It was to be the makers of idols who were"confounded"(s:w. <a href='B:290 41:11'>Isa 41:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be"confounded"(<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment.</h4><p>Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed- This again is understandable in the context of the cross. The Lord set His face to go to Jerusalem, and the final sacrifice which would be there (<a href='B:490 9:51'>Luk 9:51</a>). He hardened His face like a rock; and yet the wicked similarly harden their faces like a rock to go in the way of the flesh (<a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>). We are hardened in our path, one way or the other. Jeremiah had his face hardened in response to his own hardening of face (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a>; <a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>), and the wicked in Israel likewise were hardened (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a>; <a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>).</p><h4>His whole life and heart direction was"set"in the way of the cross, and that eternity which He knew was beyond it. Perhaps His lack of destructive anger was because He didn’t let Himself be shamed by men, instead taking His self-worth and values from God’s acceptance of Him. To avoid"anger"in the wrong sense, we need to avoid being wrongly shamed. And we can do this by ensuring we ourselves aren’t led into shame, due to placing too great a value upon the opinions of men. Our shame should be before God for our sins against Him, and not before men. Hence the prophets often criticize Israel for not being ashamed of their sins before God (<a href='B:300 6:15'>Jer 6:15</a>). Our shame before men leads to anger; our shame before God is resolved in repentance and belief in His gracious forgiveness.</h4>


text:
<h4>He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me- As explored on :7, those who feel the real justification of the Spirit, the real power of imputed righteousness, will not be unsettled by human criticism or"charges"brought. For the nearness of God’s justification in Christ is more than sufficient. <a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a> is a parallel passage, speaking of how Yahweh’s righteousness (imputed to us by His justification of us in Christ) is"near to come", and His salvation soon to be revealed. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day. Keeping this hope in view means we shall ultimately have nobody and nothing charged against us, there will be no legal adversary in court with us at the last day. And this means that we handle accusation, both justified and false, in that perspective. And yet it is criticism and the shame which arises from it which can psychologically and spiritually destroy people in this life.</h4><h4>The songs of the suffering Servant are applied to us in <a href='B:520 8:31'>Rom 8:31</a>, where Paul exalts that"if God be for us, who is against us?"- alluding to <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>"The Lord God is helping me- who is he that would convict me?". If we are in Christ, we like Him cannot be condemned. In the legal context, if the judge of all is legally “for us”, then there effectively is no accuser, nothing and nobody standing against us. It’s as if Paul has rightly guessed his readers’ response: ‘OK Paul, I have nothing to say against your argument, but all the same you don’t know what a sinner I am, what a line of sins I have waiting there to condemn me’. And Paul’s exultant answer is that if God is “for us”- and he has demonstrated this time and again, that God quite simply wants to save us- then nothing and nobody, not even our own sins, can ultimately stand against us.</h4>


text:
<h4>Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who shall condemn me?- As explained on :8, with God on our side in the final judgment, as both judge and advocate, there are no charges against us nor legal adversaries left in the court room. Yahweh had repeatedly offered the"servant"His"help"in order to encourage the weak minded exiles to return to Zion, just as His hand had ’helped’ Hezekiah against the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:8'>2Ch 32:8</a>). At the restoration, Ezra believed this"help"would enable the restoration to the extent that they didn’t need any human soldiers to help them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a> s:w:).</h4><h4>Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up- The"they"are any possible adversaries who might bring charges against us. This had particular relevance to all the adversaries to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. With Yahweh justifying the returned exiles, the court room was effectively empty of adversaries, all charges were to be seen in the perspective of God’s ultimate justification of His people (see on :8). These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth. We find the same ideas in <a href='B:290 51:6'>Isa 51:6</a>, where the"they"is the ’heavens and earth’ of any system, be it Persia / Babylon or an unbelieving Jewish system, which is adversarial toGod’s people and purpose. The contrast is with how the clothing of Israel in the wilderness did not"wax old"(s:w. <a href='B:50 8:4'>Deu 8:4</a>; <a href='B:50 29:5'>Deu 29:5</a>; <a href='B:160 9:21'>Neh 9:21</a>). The exodus and journey to the promised land is repeatedly alluded to in Isaiah as a pattern for the exiles to follow in returning to Judah, and for us in our exodus from this world and journey towards the Kingdom.</h4>


text:
<h4>Who is among you who fears Yahweh, who obeys the voice of His servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God- See on :11. The"darkness"initially was that of exile in Babylon; see on <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>. A Messianic figure was to arise, whose voice they were to obey, and thereby trust in their God. This didn’t happen at the time, and so it is all reapplied to the Lord Jesus as the servant. But the servant whose voice was to be obeyed was intended to be Cyrus."Who is among you who fears Yahweh::. his God?"is the language of <a href='B:150 1:3'>Ezr 1:3</a>. Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way."Voice"is s:w. <a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a> about the proclamation of Cyrus, the servant (<a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>). 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 (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), 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. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>).</h4><h4>The Yahweh Name is the most essential challenge to faith."I will be"is a challenge to believe that what is not yet seen will be on the basis of what has been and what is. We must trust / believe in the Name of Yahweh (<a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow- Why this reference to paganism and idolatry immediately after the call to obey the voice of God’s servant Cyrus and leave Babylon (:10)? Isaiah frequently shows the folly of worshipping Babylonian idols. And yet it seems that it was Judah’s worship of these idols that kept them in Babylon. Those who feared Yahweh had none of the&nbsp; light provided by the Babylonian idols; but the majority preferred Babylon’s light to Zion’s.</p>


text:
<h4>Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh- Ponder the parallel between <a href='B:290 51:1'>Isa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:290 51:7'>Isa 51:7</a>: “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord… hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness”. To know God’s righteousness is to seek / follow it; of itself, it inspires us to ambitiously seek to attain it. The Messianic servant addresses the exiles again, specifically those who were seeking Yahweh rather than seeking idols . God was willing to push forward His salvation plan even with a remnant, but there is no evidence there was even a remnant of repentant, faithful ones at the time of the restoration.</h4><h4>Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from- The rock and pit were the feeble Abraham and Sarah (:2). The returning, repentant exiles could potentially have been the little stone cut out of the rocky mountain of Daniel 2, which would come to the eretz / land promised to Abraham and form the reestablished Kingdom of God. But they failed in this, and so Daniel 2 had a longer fulfilment. To liken Abraham and Sarah to a"pit"is strange, but GNB offers"quarry". The extra information of Daniel 2 is that they were cut out"without hands".</h4>


text:
<p>Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many- Abraham was called before he had children, and his wife barren; but from that feeble beginning God made a new nation. The tiny remnant of exiles who were faithful should not therefore consider that they were too few to become the revived Kingdom of God in Judah. All the time we sense they had so many fears and such weak faith, and God through Isaiah is patiently addressing them and encouraging them. <a href='B:330 33:24'>Eze 33:24</a> records how the exiles turned this reasoning on its head; they argued that they were many, and so seeing Abraham was few and received the land, so they ought moreso to be given it. They missed the point, that the repentant remnant would be very small indeed. But even if they were just two people like Abraham and Sarah, who also lived far away from Judah to the east, they could still be multiplied and have the Abrahamic blessing fulfilled in them.</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh has comforted Zion; He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody- The past tense is used to bring out how this potential was so certain of fulfilment- if they wanted it. The appeal of Isaiah 40 to"comfort"God’s people was being repeated- but they had to accept it. I argued on Genesis 1, 2 that the garden of Eden was the eretz promised to Abraham; Eden could have been restored in the reestablished Kingdom of God which was now possible if they listened in obedience and repentance (:4). Adam like Judah had been exiled eastward, but was now being recalled. Instead of the sadness associated with the curse and moral failure, there would instead have been joy.</p>


text:
<p>Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, My nation: for a law shall go forth from Me, and I will establish My justice for a light of the peoples- The LXX better brings out the parallel between God’s people and the Gentiles. A remnant from both groups were being invited to repent and join in with a new, multiethnic people of God in the restored Kingdom:"Hear me, hear me, my people; and ye kings, hearken to me: for a law shall proceed from me, and my judgment shall be for a light of the nations". This is the envisaged"law"going forth from Zion in the reestablished Kingdom (<a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>), not the law of Moses, but a law which was to be"a light to the peoples". Ultimately this is the message of the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, the word / law made flesh.</p>


text:
<h4>My righteousness is near, My salvation is gone forth, and My arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for Me, and on My arm shall they trust- The Kingdom could have come very quickly had the exiles repented. God was so eager to fulfill His saving plan. Hence LXX"My righteousness speedily draws nigh". His enthusiasm and almost impatience to save His people reflects an eternal aspect of His character, which encourages us that He is far from indifferent as to the outcome of His saving purpose with us. See on :14.</h4><h4>Note the parallel between righteousness and salvation. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day.</h4>


text:
<p>Lift up your eyes to the skies, and look on the land beneath; for the skies shall vanish away like smoke, and the land shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but My salvation shall be eternal, and My righteousness shall not be abolished- This is parallel in reference to <a href='B:290 50:9'>Isa 50:9</a>:"Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up". The"they"are any possible adversaries who might bring charges against us. This had particular relevance to all the adversaries to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. With Yahweh justifying the returned exiles, the court room was effectively empty of adversaries, all charges were to be seen in the perspective of God’s ultimate justification of His people (see on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>). These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth. We find the same ideas here in <a href='B:290 51:6'>Isa 51:6</a>, where the"they"is the ’heavens and earth’ of any system, be it Persia / Babylon or an unbelieving Jewish system, which is adversarial to God’s people and purpose. The contrast is with how the clothing of Israel in the wilderness did not"wax old"(s:w. <a href='B:50 8:4'>Deu 8:4</a>; <a href='B:50 29:5'>Deu 29:5</a>; <a href='B:160 9:21'>Neh 9:21</a>). The exodus and journey to the promised land is repeatedly alluded to in Isaiah as a pattern for the exiles to follow in returning to Judah, and for us in our exodus from this world and journey towards the Kingdom.</p>


text:
<h4>Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law- This is addressed to the righteous minority amongst the exiles, who although they couldn’t fully obey the law in exile, still had it in their hearts. And if they entered the new covenant, the Spirit would write that law in their hearts (<a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a>). But instead, the returned exiles refused to have the law in their hearts(<a href='B:450 7:12'>Zec 7:12</a>), and so these things are reapplied to Gentiles who are willing to have the essence of Divine law in their hearts (<a href='B:520 2:15'>Rom 2:15</a>).</h4><h4>Don’t fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults- See on :1,6. As explained on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>, we need not fear insults nor false accusation from men because we shall ultimately be justified, and even now have righteousness imputed to us. This had particular relevance to the returned exiles."Reproach"is s:w. <a href='B:160 1:3'>Neh 1:3</a>; <a href='B:160 2:17'>Neh 2:17</a>; <a href='B:160 4:4'>Neh 4:4</a>; <a href='B:160 5:9'>Neh 5:9</a> about the reproach of the Gentiles against the partially rebuilt Jerusalem. <a href='B:290 51:3-11'>Isa 51:3-11</a> is clearly in a restoration context. This passage seems to have foreseen the lagging of spirit in Zerubbabel and the builders, and the need to encourage them that a second group of exiles ought to have come with Nehemiah with great joy. A few came, but this yet further opportunity was again not realized by the returnees. See on :11.</h4>


text:
<h4>For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool- These words are also found in <a href='B:220 13:28'>Job 13:28</a>, where it is God who consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth, and also as a"worm". See on :6.</h4><h4>But My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation to all generations- Note the parallel between righteousness and salvation. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day. Keeping this hope in view means we shall ultimately have nobody and nothing charged against us, there will be no legal adversary in court with us at the last day. And this means that we handle accusation, both justified and false,"the reproach of men"(:7) in that perspective. And yet it is criticism and the shame which arises from it which can psychologically and spiritually destroy people in this life.</h4>


text:
<h4>Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh- This and :10 are perhaps God’s hopeful imagination of how the exiles would pray to Him; the kind of Divine fantasy which Hosea had about the repentance of Gomer and her return to him which he imagined to the point of fantasizing about. LXX"Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of thine arm", repeated in :17. The exiles are called"Jerusalem". They called themselves this (<a href='B:290 48:2'>Isa 48:2</a>); but they needed to do more than such merely external, legalistic, ritualistic identification of themselves with a name and culture. And that is an abiding challenge for God’s people today. They had to"awake", to allow God’s Spirit to act upon their hearts to"stir up"their spirits (s:w. <a href='B:130 5:26'>1Ch 5:26</a>; <a href='B:140 21:16'>2Ch 21:16</a>), just as He had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to let them return (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:22'>2Ch 36:22</a>). The spirit of the exiles was likewise awoken or stirred up to return (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it You who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?- If they allowed themselves to be ’awoken’ or ’stirred up’, then Yahweh would likewise awake for them and act miraculously as He had at the time of the exodus from Egypt. But they would not be stirred up, and so the stirring up or awaking of Yahweh’s arm had a longer term application. The arm of the Lord- a title of Christ- is described as awaking (cp:Christ’s resurrection), and as being"It which hath dried the (Red) Sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made a way for the ransomed to pass over"(<a href='B:290 51:9-10'>Isa 51:9-10</a>). This is describing the work of Christ in language applicable to the Angel of the Exodus who brought Israel through the Red Sea.</p><p>Marduk killed Tiamat in the waters and cut him in pieces. This is one of many mocking allusions to Marduk, showing Yahweh’s supremacy over him. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>. Marduk was formed- but Yahweh had no god before Him and will have none after Him (<a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>). Marduk had a counsellor, Ea, called in the inscriptions “the all-wise one”. But Yahweh has all wisdom and has no such counsellor (<a href='B:290 40:13-14'>Isa 40:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>). All this reference to the Marduk cult was in my opinion not merely a pointless mockery and poking of fun at the Persian culture. It was a very real appeal to the Jewish exiles to quit it, to come out and be separate; remember again and again that Mordecai [and perhaps Esther too] had adopted names reflective of the Marduk cult.</p><h4>Yahweh"Trod on the back of Sea", i:e. the supposed Satan figure called"Sea"(<a href='B:220 9:8'>Job 9:8</a>; <a href='B:50 33:29'>Deu 33:29</a>; <a href='B:370 4:13'>Amo 4:13</a>; <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a>; <a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a>). Even if such a being existed, he had been destroyed for good by Yahweh at the Red Sea."You split Sea::. cut Rahab in pieces::. didst pierce the dragon"(<a href='B:230 78:13'>Psa 78:13</a>; <a href='B:160 9:11'>Neh 9:11</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9-11'>Isa 51:9-11</a>). Thus the splitting of the Red Sea was understood as a splitting of the Satan figure or god known as"Sea". All this was what Moses had in mind when he sought to explain to his people what had happened at the Red Sea- even if there were such a being as the"Sea"god of evil, Yahweh their God had totally destroyed him and split him into pieces. And the real ’satan’ was Egypt, real men on a real earth who posed a danger to Israel.</h4>


text:
<h4>Isn’t it You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?- Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>).</h4><h4>The allusion is not only to the exodus, but to creation itself. The present world was created by a re-organization of things which existed in some form before. This means that when our own lives, or the collective life of God’s people, appears to be in chaos- then we can in faith reflect that God has brought beautiful order out of chaos, and He can likewise powerfully bring order to what seems hopeless. This is the context of the creation allusions in the laments of <a href='B:230 74:12-17'>Psa 74:12-17</a>; <a href='B:230 89:10-15'>Psa 89:10-15</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a> etc.</h4>


text:
<h4>The ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and weeping shall flee away- Isaiah had repeatedly prophesied that Judah would come with joy to Zion, and would continue there with an everlasting joy. But the records give little indication that they were joyful; <a href='B:160 8:9-10'>Neh 8:9-10</a> shows Nehemiah encouraging them to be joyful, because “the joy of the Lord is your strength”. They didn’t want to have all joy and peace through believing; and so the Kingdom of joy didn’t come. They didn’t live the Kingdom life of joy, and so they didn’t possess or experience the Kingdom. The lowness of their petty concerns deprived them of it.</h4><h4>There was great joy at the time of the first Purim in Esther’s time when sorrow was turned to joy (s:w. <a href='B:190 9:22'>Est 9:22</a>), but the people did not return. The restoration was intended to be the time when sorrow was turned to joy (<a href='B:300 31:13'>Jer 31:13</a> s:w:). But as we can, they forgot the price aid for their ransom and remained in slavery. And those who did return didn’t do so with the voice of joy, but with nervousness and then complaining about the famine, bad harvests and diseases they and their crops were smitten with on returning. The eternal joy spoken of here will come true only at the return of the Lord Jesus. Joy by its nature is temporal in this life, because of our emotional structure; we cannot maintain such experiences of joy in a permanent sense. But this is the wonderful nature of salvation."Sorrow and sighing"is the same phrase used about David’s feelings because of his sin with Bathsheba (<a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>). As noted throughout Isaiah 35, the essential theme is of internal spiritual transformation, and no longer experiencing the effects of sin; for that is the greatest"joy". The exiles refused all these things, and so they are reapplied to the final removal of sorrow and sighing at the return of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:730 21:3-4'>Rev 21:3-4</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>I, even I, am He who comforts you- God is not distant; the God of the cosmos was eager to personally draw near to the hearts ("comfort") of the exiles. But they refused.</h4><p>Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die- <a href='B:290 40:6-8'>Isa 40:6-8</a> has the same basic message of comfort through the message of human mortality and weakness. For it is our fear of others, of their opinions and judgments, which causes so much discomfort to so many. And so here too, the mortality of humanity is used as a comfort to the downtrodden people of God. Because man is mortal::. don’t fear man, but rather God. And this is to be a comfort to us. God chose His message of comfort to be simply:"Man is mortal!". But the exiles and the potential"servant"figure feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom he thought would not allow their restoration; see on :16; <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a>. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked. But then God removed Belshazzar and Cyrus gave the decree for them to return. And they refused even that. But all their possible excuses for not responding to the call of the Gospel are dealt with in Isaiah’s prophecies; and mankind today is likewise without excuse for not responding.</p><h4>And of the son of man who shall be made as grass- In Hebrew thought, “the Son of man” meant an ordinary, mortal man (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>). Several times we are reminded that “God is not a man” (<a href='B:40 23:19'>Num 23:19</a>; <a href='B:350 11:9'>Hos 11:9</a>); yet Christ was clearly “the Son of man” or, as he is often called in the New Testament, “the man Christ Jesus”. The Greek text calls him “son of anthropos”, i:e. of mankind, rather than “son of aner” [husband, man].</h4>


text:
<h4>And have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy; and where is the fury of the oppressor?- LXX"because of the wrath of him that afflicted thee: for whereas he counseled to take thee away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted thee?". In the Isaiah context, this is clearly a reflection upon the boast of the Assyrians that they would take Zion into captivity in their land. The exiles were intended to remember this and to realize that the apparent strength of Babylon and its leadership was not going to hinder their restoration (see on :12).</h4><h4>Time and again, Isaiah’s restoration prophecies told Judah that they should not fear, as Yahweh would mightily be with them in their work (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>; <a href='B:290 41:13-14'>Isa 41:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8'>Isa 44:8</a>; <a href='B:290 44:11'>Isa 44:11</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>; <a href='B:290 54:14'>Isa 54:14</a>; <a href='B:290 59:19'>Isa 59:19</a>). But Judah feared the surrounding nations- Ezra and Nehemiah are full of this theme (<a href='B:150 3:3'>Ezr 3:3</a>). Nehemiah refused to be put in fear by the Samaritan opposition because of his faith in Isaiah’s promises (<a href='B:160 6:14'>Neh 6:14</a>). And Isaiah further spoke to Judah’s heart in <a href='B:290 51:12-13'>Isa 51:12-13</a>: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations [s:w. re. the foundation of the temple being laid] of the earth [‘heaven and earth’ often refers to the temple]; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” (AV). The fact they did fear meant that they had forgotten Yahweh who was so eager to re-establish their Kingdom.</h4>


text:
<h4>The captive exile shall speedily be freed- Again we note how"speedily"the deliverance and reestablishment of the Kingdom could have happened. The Kingdom was indeed very"near"; see on :5.</h4><p>And he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail- See on <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>. The exiles failed to discern that in spiritual terms Babylon was a prison cell from which the righteous should seek to hasten out of, to flee from; to shake off the yoke it put upon their necks (<a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>). Yet all they saw was a nice, comfy life, and they thought they were doing their bit by giving some silver and gold to those who wanted to return and build the temple, a desire which they would all have soberly nodded in agreement with as being ‘a great work’ (what similarities with ourselves?). Those who did return satisfied themselves with a small temple, disregarding the instructions which Ezekiel had given them in Babylon, they lacked the faith to believe that Yahweh would be a wall of fire around them and instead built their own wall, and got on with building their own ceiled houses (as Haggai lamented) rather than Yahweh’s house, marrying the local women, extorting wealth even from each other and enslaving their less fortunate brethren, trading on the Sabbath, allowing the local Arab leaders chambers even in the temple:::and so the Kingdom prophecies were deferred. The process that could have brought about Yahweh’s establishment of His Kingdom seems to have been centered around an attack from the surrounding nations, aimed against the wonderful new temple Judah were supposed to have built, which would be destroyed by Yahweh who dwelt in that temple [‘Zion’].</p><h4><a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>, speaking of the call to Judah to leave Babylon, sounds as if they were&nbsp; willing and eager to leave that spiritually dreadful place. But the reality was that Judah didn’t hasten to be loosed, they preferred the Babylon life, and didn’t perceive it for the spiritual pit that was killing them which it was. Most of them chose to remain there. So this passage is therefore a prophecy, a command, about how God wanted Judah to respond.</h4>


text:
<h4>For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of Armies is His name- The roaring of the waves is applied here to Yahweh’s victory at the roaring Red Sea, implying that this invasion is going to be destroyed as the Egyptians were. This didn’t happen at the Babylonian invasion, although potentially it could’ve done had Judah repented. <a href='B:290 17:12'>Isa 17:12</a> uses the phrase about the judgment upon Syria and Israel (and probably Judah is also in view here (see on <a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>), with the rushing of waters&nbsp; representing the various nations in the Assyrian or Babylonian confederacy. But this strange rush of nations against them would be strangely stopped (<a href='B:290 17:13'>Isa 17:13</a>), by grace."The roaring of the seas"is the term used for the Babylonian invasion of Judah (<a href='B:300 5:22'>Jer 5:22</a>; <a href='B:300 6:23'>Jer 6:23</a>). What began in Isaiah 17 as a prophecy of judgment against Syria and Israel at the hands of the Assyrians now morphs into judgment against Judah at the hands of the Babylonians; see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>.</h4><h4>There is Angelic reference here:"The Lord of Hosts (of Angels) is His Name::. I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand (an Angelic phrase- for the Angel hid Moses in the shadow of His hand), that I may::. say unto Zion, Thou art My people"(<a href='B:290 51:15-16'>Isa 51:15-16</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of My hand- This would be achieved if they accepted the Spirit, part of the package offered in the new covenant (<a href='B:290 59:21'>Isa 59:21</a>). His words would be written in their hearts too. Having Divine words put in the mouth meant they were to be as Aaron and Moses before Pharaoh (s:w. <a href='B:20 4:15'>Exo 4:15</a>); for it was also Moses who was covered in the shadow of Yahweh’s hand as He passed by. See on <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a>. Remember that they were bidden flee Babylon before she fell to the Medes. The servant figure need not have feared the king of Babylon, he was intended to go to him and plead as Moses"let My people go". But the exiles feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom they thought would not allow their restoration; see on :12. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are My people’- LXX renders this in the future tense:"I will put my words into thy mouth, and I will shelter thee under the shadow of mine hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth: and the Lord shall say to Sion, Thou art my people". But the confusion of tenses is because this is what Yahweh had already done for His people; He was about to make a new creation, with all the excitement of the creator; but they didn’t want to be recreated. They had to realize that potential. And it’s the same for us, called to leave Babylon and participate in the reestablished Kingdom of God.</p><h4>As God longed to pronounce the words “You are my people” to them (<a href='B:350 2:23'>Hos 2:23</a>), so here Isaiah speaks of how at the restoration God wished to use that very phrase to returned Judah; see on <a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a>. Hosea / God speak in the most shocking terms- “I will sow her… in the land” (<a href='B:350 2:23'>Hos 2:23</a>). This means, bluntly, they would have sex, in the land of God. But the Jews in Babylon just plain weren’t interested in returning to the land. They preferred to remain there where they were, and ‘worship’ God, criticizing others for their apostasy, but not really come back to Him with any passion. God wished that once again He would be with them in the wilderness as He was at the beginning of their national relationship, and then enter a new covenant with them, the joy of which would result in the physical transformation of the planet.</h4>


text:
<h4>Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem- The exiles are called"Jerusalem". They called themselves this (<a href='B:290 48:2'>Isa 48:2</a>); but they needed to do more than such merely external, legalistic, ritualistic identification of themselves with a name and culture. And that is an abiding challenge for God’s people today. They had to"awake", to allow God’s Spirit to act upon their hearts to"stir up"their spirits (s:w. <a href='B:130 5:26'>1Ch 5:26</a>; <a href='B:140 21:16'>2Ch 21:16</a>), just as He had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to let them return (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:22'>2Ch 36:22</a>). The spirit of the exiles was likewise awoken or stirred up to return (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>).</h4><p>God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be"raised up"[s:w:]- <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to"Awake!"- the same word translated"stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</p><p>Yahweh would"stir up"Cyrus (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), so this could have been fulfilled through that stirred up"mighty man"of <a href='B:290 42:13'>Isa 42:13</a>. But he failed. The"mighty man", the gibbor, therefore became reapplied to the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> s:w:). But He will act through the stirring up of a repentant Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>), seeing that no man would be ’stirred up’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). All the potential candidates had refused the Divine nudges to be stirred up.</p><h4>That has drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it- Taking the cup of wine is a double symbol: of blessing (<a href='B:530 10:16'>1Co 10:16</a>; <a href='B:530 11:25'>1Co 11:25</a>), and of condemnation (<a href='B:230 60:3'>Psa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:230 75:8'>Psa 75:8</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>; <a href='B:730 14:10'>Rev 14:10</a>; <a href='B:730 16:19'>Rev 16:19</a>). Why this use of a double symbol? Surely the Lord designed this sacrament in order to highlight the two ways which are placed before us by taking that cup: it is either to our blessing, or to our condemnation. Each breaking of bread is a further stage along one of those two roads. Paul realized this in pleading with the Corinthians to examine themselves before taking the emblems. He saw the ceremony and our self-examination there as a kind of foretaste of the judgment (<a href='B:530 11:29-32'>1Co 11:29-32</a>). If they wanted to accept it, judgment was over and done. But they didn’t, and so they were to many times more drink it.</h4>


text:
<h4>There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up- The LXX renders this in the past tense:"and there was none to comfort thee of all the children whom thou borest; and there was none to take hold of thine hand, not even of all the children whom thou has reared". Now Isaiah returns to the reality- that they would not respond to the call, and would have no servant figure who could in the spirit of Moses ask the king of Babylon to let them go; see on :16.</h4><h4>Zerubbabel, the ‘shoot out of Babylon’ as his name means, could have been the promised Messianic shoot out of the withered stem of Jesse. He could have been the Messianic shoot out of the dry ground of Babylon (<a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) who would accompany the return of the temple vessels from Babylon (<a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). But he disappears strangely out of the record. Thus the events of Nehemiah 8, where the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles as well as the dedication of the wall are all recorded, make no mention of the High Priest or Zerubbabel officiating. He, Joshua and indeed anyone who could have taken their place somehowdidn’t rise to the occasion. And so <a href='B:290 51:17-18'>Isa 51:17-18</a> lamented, prophetically: “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury [at the end of the 70 years captivity]::. [but] There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up”. 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 (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a> s:w:); and so because their was none to guide / gently lead (s:w:), God Himself had to intervene and do this through His Son (<a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:290 49:10'>Isa 49:10</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>These two things have happened to you; who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?- God was eager to personally comfort them, but they refused. Hence this rhetorical question. The primary reference is to God seeking to comfort them over the desolation of Judah by the Babylonians. But also in view may be the withholding of agricultural blessing after the restoration which occurred several times- in <a href='B:160 5:2-3'>Neh 5:2-3</a> (as prophesied here in <a href='B:290 51:19'>Isa 51:19</a>), in Haggai’s time, and later in <a href='B:460 3:10'>Mal 3:10</a>; <a href='B:460 3:12'>Mal 3:12</a>; when the restored Zion could have been as the garden of Eden, i:e. paradise restored on earth (<a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>). Here we see frightening similarities with ourselves. We know, but often don’t do. We sense this cycle of failure, crying out for mercy, receiving it, failing again, crying for mercy, receiving it, failing again:::we see it in Israel, in our brethren and those around us, and in ourselves. We can expound it, lament it, feel the shame and tragedy of it all:::and yet continue to have a part in it. Eventually, the people stayed in this groove so long that they degenerated into how they were at the time of Malachi- self-righteous, with no sense of failure any more, living self-centered lives of petty materialism, earning wages as they did in Haggai’s time, to put into pockets with holes in, life without satisfaction, achieving nothing, passively angry. This is what Malachi clearly portrays. It’s a terrible picture, and one which we can sail dangerously close to identifying with.</p>


text:
<p>Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God- God recognizes here that He is not unaware of the desolation of Jerusalem. He uses the language of Lamentations to describe the scenes. He is not the judge who hands out judgments and sentences with no personal comprehension of what they involve. But these judgments had been legitimate; but they were now over, if they wanted them to be (:21,22).</p>


text:
<p>Therefore hear now this, you afflicted and drunken, but not with wine- They had drunk the cup of judgment (:17,20), but not the wine of final condemnation. Isaiah’s prophecies continually emphasize that God is fully aware of their"affliction", and would have mercy upon them in it (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> s:w:).</p>


text:
<p>Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of His people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of My wrath; you shall no more drink it again- Babylon fell so that Persia would take over the administration of the 127 provinces where the Jews were scattered, and would allow them to return to Judah (<a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>). The cup of judgment which Judah drunk for 70 years was passed to Babylon. This accounts for Isaiah’s repeated and detailed emphasis on the coming fall of Babylon for Judah / Israel’s sake (e:g. Isaiah 47). They had been asked to flee Babylon before that, but when they didn’t, God still worked with them; now reasoning as if their cup of judgment had passed to Babylon (:23), and they were now free to leave Babylon. Although they had sinned, Yahweh showed His gracious love for His people by bringing down Babylon so that they might leave (<a href='B:290 48:14'>Isa 48:14</a>). “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee [Cyrus] by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me “ (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). Likewise the iron curtain came down to allow preachers of God’s Truth to take it to those once in darkness. And English has become the lingua-franca of the world, enabling Christian preaching to now penetrate societies literally world-wide:&nbsp;See on <a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a></p>


text:
<p>And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over- See on :22. There were yet to be many times when the Gentiles would trample Zion underfoot. Here and in :22 is envisioned a time when this would never happen again. The Babylonian treading down of Jerusalem could have been the last time. But that potential was spurned by the exiles. And so there shall come one final time in the last days when Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (<a href='B:490 21:24'>Luk 21:24</a>), when these prophecies will come to their final term.</p>


text:
<h4>Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion-&nbsp; God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be"raised up"[s:w:]- <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to"Awake!"- the same word translated"stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’ (<a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</h4><p>Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city- The implication is that she was about to be married to Yahweh.</p><h4>For henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean- But the uncircumcised did come and live in the temple and marry the Jews. And Ezra and Nehemiah covered themselves with sackcloth in mourning because of these things. And thus they showed that this prophecy could not be fulfilled at their time. Tobiah the Ammonite was given a chamber in the temple for him to use as an office for undermining God’s people (<a href='B:160 13:7'>Neh 13:7</a>). This precluded the fulfilment of the restoration prophecies. There were to be “holy chambers” in the temple for the Levites (<a href='B:330 46:19'>Eze 46:19</a> and very often in Ezekiel 40-48). The uncircumcised Gentiles were not to be brought into the sanctuary (<a href='B:330 44:7'>Eze 44:7</a>). It was God’s intention that when Judah returned from Babylon, the uncircumcised would not come into Zion (the temple), and the Kingdom would be established (<a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). There was to be no Canaanite in the house of Yahweh (<a href='B:450 14:21'>Zec 14:21</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem!- God’s psychological stirring up of the exiles (:1) depended upon them being open to this- hence the verbs here suggest proactive action by the exiles themselves- shaking themselves, arising and sitting up."Arise"is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to"Arise::. Jerusalem!"(<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form of Yahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival. The word for"sit up"is in fact used of how both Ezra and Nehemiah"sat down"in grief at the apostasy of the Jews (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>; <a href='B:160 1:4'>Neh 1:4</a>):&nbsp;</h4><h4>Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!- The Jews didn’t perceive the soft life of Babylon as chains around their necks, and so they didn’t loose themselves and leave. See on <a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a>. The same words are used in <a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> of how the exiles refused to release the bonds they had placed upon their brethren. And yet they were themselves in bondage, needing release, if only they would realize their true position. But God was simply so positive about His people- <a href='B:290 51:14'>Isa 51:14</a> appears to be a descriptive statement about the Jews, but in reality it wasn’t true: “The bound down one hastens to be loosed”. Sadly, they didn’t respond to the exhortation to loose themselves from the bands upon them (<a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>). They preferred to stay in bondage, as so many do today, despite God willing them to seek release as He did with the exiles.</h4>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money- They were"sold for nothing"in that God had no personal benefit from the exile of His people; He did this to them for their spiritual benefit, not for any gain for Himself. Their redemption likewise would be according to His grace, and not because of any transaction between God and man. This was reflected in the way Cyrus commanded the Jews to return and provided all that was materially required to rebuild the temple, but"not for reward", for no personal benefit (<a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For thus says the Lord Yahweh, My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause- If we take this translation, then this is amazing grace; for the prophets are full of reasons / causes as to why Israel were oppressed by Assyria. But God is prepared to impute righteousness to them to such an extent that this is seen as having been"without cause". But GNB is worth considering:"When you went to live in Egypt as foreigners [in disobedience, at the time of Jeremiah, with him pleading with them not to], you did so of your own free will; Assyria, however, took you away by force and paid nothing for you:&nbsp;And now in Babylonia the same thing has happened: you are captives, and nothing was paid for you".</p>


text:
<p>Now therefore, what do I do here, says Yahweh, seeing that My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock, says Yahweh, and My name continually all the day is blasphemed- See on :4. LXX"And now why are ye here?"would suggest that the Jews ought to have already returned. The Babylonians didn’t so much mock them, as their God. They were not unpopular in Babylon, and they were popular under Persian rule, as the book of Esther makes clear. They should not only have left Babylon, but quit worshipping the local idols and shown what Yahweh worship was really about; and He would have acted in a wondrous way to restore His Kingdom. But their impenitence precluded that from happening, and so the restoration project of Yahweh didn’t work out as planned, and so His Name was blasphemed. This verse seems to be behind &nbsp;the mention in <a href='B:520 2:24'>Rom 2:24</a> that God’s Name was blasphemed amongst the Gentiles because of Jewish impenitence and refusal to accept Messiah. Hence this prophesy continues to state that He would reveal His Name to His people as it is in His Son, and then they would ultimately accept Him and thus the blasphemy of God’s Name would cease.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore My people shall know My name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, it is I- See on :5. The lament in :5 that God’s Name was blasphemed may refer to blasphemy by the exiles, in that they bore His Name but worshipped idols. In the day of restoration, they would"know"the Name in truth which they had before blasphemed or caused to be blasphemed, and not just as a word or culture they adhered to. Knowing God’s Name is paralleled to knowing that He really speaks and His saving purpose expressed in that word is Him."It is I","the word was God", that word which for the exiles was all about their certain salvation in His Kingdom, was the essence of God. He is all about saving, and so His Son was rightly named ’Yah’s salvation’.</p>


text:
<h4>How beautiful on the mountains- This may refer as an intensive plural to the great mountain, of Zion. For it is Zion, the temple mount, which is addressed with the news that"Your God reigns".</h4><p>Are the feet of him who brings good news- The future reestablished Kingdom is called “good things” in <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> (quoted in <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>) and <a href='B:300 8:15'>Jer 8:15</a>. All things work together for good (<a href='B:520 8:28'>Rom 8:28</a>) doesn’t mean that somehow everything will work out OK for us in this life- for so often they don’t. We are asked to carry the Lord’s cross, to suffer now and be redeemed in glory later at His return, in the “good things” of the Kingdom.</p><p>Who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation- The"peace"in view is peace with God after all Israel’s conflict with Him.</p><p>Who says to Zion, Your God reigns!- The enthronement of Yahweh in Zion could have happened at the time of the restoration. So much potential was disallowed by Judah’s lack of faith, vision and repentance. And so these things are applied to the Lord Jesus, who is presented here as both the herald of the king and also the king. But all that is true of Him, the servant named"Israel", is true of all those in Him. Isaiah’s description of the beauty of Christ’s heralding or preaching in <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is quoted by Paul concerning every preacher of the Gospel (<a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>); the “he” of Isaiah 52 is changed to “them” in Romans 10. And Paul is quoting this Old Testament prophecy about Jesus to prove that we are all “sent” to preach the Gospel. The validity of our commission to preach is quite simply that Jesus Himself preached; in this way we are all personally “sent” to preach, simply because He was sent to preach. As the Father sent Him, so He sends us.</p><p>The whole latter part of Isaiah is full of descriptions of this preaching to Israel, appealing to them to repent, humble themselves, quit their materialism and idolatry, and accept the Lord Jesus as Messiah (e:g. 55:1-5). The preaching of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is the"report"concerning Christ’s cross of <a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>; the message of"peace"of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> is the Gospel of peace with God through the sacrifice of Christ (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). And Isaiah 40 expands this message to include the mortality of man and the primacy of God’s word. All these things are distinctive Bible doctrines; it is surely we who ought to be making this witness!</p><h4>In <a href='B:520 15:21'>Rom 15:21</a>, Paul justifies his preaching by quoting from part of the suffering servant prophecy in Isaiah 52 / 53. That whole passage is set in a context of explaining “how beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings… all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (<a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>; <a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a> AV). The preaching of good tidings and the declaration ofGod’s salvation was through the crucifixion. Paul quotes <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>: “To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand”. This was Paul’s justification for taking the Gospel to where Christ has not been named. Note in passing how the Lord Jesus sees us as “beautiful” in our witness to Him (as in <a href='B:260 7:1'>Son 7:1</a>). Yet further into Isaiah 53, so much else jumps out at us as appropriate to Paul’s preaching: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high [cp. Paul knowing how to be exalted and abased, themes that occur in Isaiah 53 about Jesus’ death]. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man [cp. Paul’s thorn in the flesh?], and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for [that] which had not been told them shall they see; and [that] which they had not heard shall they consider”. Paul appeared before Agrippa, Festus, and one or two Caesars, with a visage marred by his evangelistic sufferings.</h4>


text:
<h4>The voice of your watchmen! They lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye- GNB perhaps gives the sense:"Those who guard the city are shouting, shouting together for joy. They can see with their own eyes the return of the LORD to Zion":&nbsp; <a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> and other passages suggest the literal dwelling of Yahweh in Zion, such as will happen at the establishment of the Kingdom when we shall see His face, and God Himself shall dwell amongst us (<a href='B:730 22:4'>Rev 22:4</a>). Such wonderful potentials were wasted by the exiles. For this could have happened then in some sense. This is a prophecy embedded between verses which speak of the command for Judah to leave Babylon: “Loose thyself from the bands… depart ye, go ye out from thence” (<a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>). But most of them preferred to remain. Who are the watchmen? Surely they are the Angels, who potentially prepared the way for Judah to leave Babylon. Had the people of Judah followed the cherubim Angels above them and all returned to Zion, they would have as it were seen the Angels eye to eye, sung together with the Angels at the new creation of Zion… and God’s eyes are the Angels, so in that sense Judah would have seen eye to eye with God. But they didn’t utilize what God had prepared; they lazily preferred to stay within their comfort zones by remaining in Babylon. In our experience in Christ, the same is all true, day by day. The way is set up for us, and if we bravely and boldly go in the way which the Angels have prepared, the way God intends, then we will have the experience of truly walking with the Lord, singing with His Angels, seeing eye to eye, in foretaste of the final day when we shall finally see Him face to face. See on <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a>.</h4><h4>When Yahweh brings Zion back- Time and again, Jeremiah had prophesied how Yahweh would bring again His people and the vessels of the temple back to the land (<a href='B:300 28:3-4'>Jer 28:3-4</a>; <a href='B:300 28:6'>Jer 28:6</a>; <a href='B:300 30:3'>Jer 30:3</a>; <a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a>; <a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>); and this all had a fulfilment in the return from captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah. It was then that in some sense Yahweh ‘brought again Zion’ (<a href='B:290 52:8'>Isa 52:8</a>). The same word is to be found in <a href='B:330 38:8'>Eze 38:8</a> and <a href='B:330 39:27'>Eze 39:27</a>, where again, the invasion is to happen once Judah had been ‘brought again’ from captivity. Judah returned, and yet they didn’t rebuild the temple as they were commanded. Therefore the invasion didn’t come, and therefore the Kingdom wasn’t then established. As if knowing this, <a href='B:350 6:11'>Hos 6:11</a> had prophesied [otherwise strangely] that Judah would reap their punishment, when they returned from captivity. They returned [s:w. ‘bring again’], but not to the Most High (<a href='B:350 7:16'>Hos 7:16</a>). Joel 3, however, speaks from the perspective that Judah would be ‘brought again’ from Babylon under Ezra; and then&nbsp; <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a> “I will also gather all nations::. and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land”. This applies therefore to the last days.</h4>


text:
<p>Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem- The broken down wastes of Jerusalem suddenly bursting into joy suggests an immediate, in a moment transformation; rather than slow and partial rebuilding with many obstacles and difficulty shifting the rubble, as was experienced at the restoration. Such a rebuilding of the waste places as envisioned here would suggest miraculous Divine intervention and activity. It will finally come true when the heavenly Jerusalem and Zion descend from above, ready built, onto the site of Zion; as seen in the final visions of Revelation.</p>


text:
<h4>Yahweh has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God- The past tense is used because this outcome was so certain- but it still depended upon the repentance and faith of the exiles. Had they returned, supported with the same kind of miraculous manifestations as seen at the exodus, then"the nations"amongst whom they were scattered, the 127 provinces of Persia, would have seen God’s arm revealed. The ends of the eretz were specifically those areas on the borders of the eretz promised to Abraham, which is where they had been taken into captivity.</h4><h4>But this didn’t happen. And so the arm of Yahweh which brings salvation is revealed now to the nations through the work of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>). We can reflect how an omnipotent God could have achieved salvation in a less painful way than He did- but He made bare His arm in the death of the cross (<a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a>), i:e. He expended Himself greatly. The same idea is present when we read of Yahweh paying a price for the redemption of His people from Egypt. He didn’t pay the Egyptians anything, but the figure is used to express the extensive effort He was involved in for His people.</h4>


text:
<p>Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the temple vessels of Yahweh- See on :1. “Come out from among them and be separate” (<a href='B:540 6:17'>2Co 6:17</a>) is picking up the language of <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>; <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:300 50:8'>Jer 50:8</a>; <a href='B:450 2:7'>Zec 2:7</a> concerning the return of the exiles from Babylon. The edict of Cyrus for the Jews to return to the land was reapplied to God’s command to us to leave the spirit of Babylon, the Gentile world, and go up to do His work. The returned exiles are us. <a href='B:330 40:42'>Eze 40:42</a> speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple [AV “instruments”] with the same word used for the temple vessels which were brought up out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (<a href='B:150 1:6-11'>Ezr 1:6-11</a>; <a href='B:150 8:25-33'>Ezr 8:25-33</a> cp. <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>). The restoration of the kingdom could potentially have happened at the time of Ezra. LXX"separate yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord"was not really obeyed by the Levites and priests at the time of the restoration, because Malachi as well as Ezra and Nehemiah often mention their lack of separation from the peoples of the land, even intermarrying with them.</p>


text:
<p>For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for Yahweh will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your vanguard- Although the exodus from Egypt was in many ways a pattern for the exiles to leave Babylon, in distinction from then, they would not"go out in haste"(s:w. <a href='B:50 16:3'>Deu 16:3</a>). They would not be persecuted in Babylon, leading them to flee. Rather they were to"flee"from Babylon spiritually (<a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>) of their own volition and desire. After the decree of Cyrus, they went with the King’s blessing and not in panic. Thepromise that Yahweh would go before and behind them suggests that He would be even more present with them than He was with the Israelites who left Egypt, for He went before them but not also behind them. Such a visible accompaniment of the exiles back to Zion was potentially possible.</p>


text:
<h4>Behold, My servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high- This continues the allusions to the exodus in :12 and throughout the servant songs. Moses was the great servant of Yahweh, and he"was very great"in the eyes of the Egyptians and their leaders (<a href='B:20 11:3'>Exo 11:3</a>). The servant figure had been intended to come before the king of Babylon as Moses came before Pharaoh, to demand freedom for God’s people, and then to lead them out of Babylon back to Judah, accompanied by Divine miracles, signs and logistical provision just as Israel had on their wilderness journey (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>; <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a>). The potential servant figures at the time of the restoration failed in this, and so the prophecies are reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His mediation for us on the cross, leading His people thereby out of Babylon into the restored Kingdom.</h4><p>Clearly a Messiah figure could have arisen at the restoration:"And their leader shall be one of them, and their ruler shall come forth from their midst; and I will bring him near, and he shall approach me; for who would dare to risk his life to approach me?’ declares the LORD” (<a href='B:300 30:18-21'>Jer 30:18-21</a> NAS). This leader who would come close to God in mediation would be willing to give his life to enable this. This must be connected with how Isaiah 53, describing Messiah’s death, is actually in a restoration context (beginning in Isaiah 52). Could it not be that a Messiah figure could have arisen and died a sacrificial death to bring his people to God? Daniel 9 likewise associates the rebuilding of Zion with the death of “Messiah the prince” to reconcile Israel to God- perhaps potentially possible within a literal 70 week period from Cyrus’ decree? Ezra’s prayer of Ezra 9 is full of reference to Daniel 9, as if he saw it as capable of fulfilment then.</p><h4>The glory "high and lifted up" which Isaiah saw in <a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a> is more specifically defined here in <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a> where "high and lifted up" is used of the exaltation of the suffering servant, the Messiah figure who could have been Hezekiah, had he responded rightly to his sufferings. But after God’s attempts to reapply it to Zerubbabel and others, it came to full term in the suffering of the Lord Jesus. <a href='B:290 6:10'>Isa 6:10</a> is quoted in John 12, with the information that "these things said Isaiah, because he foresaw his glory, and he spoke about him" (<a href='B:500 12:41'>Joh 12:41</a>). The hour of glory was the hour of crucifixion. The son of God, naked, covered in blood and spittle::. was the Son of man glorified. And likewise when we are fools for Christ’s sake, then we know His glory. <a href='B:500 12:37-41'>Joh 12:37-41</a> tells us that Isaiah 6 is a vision of the Lord Jesus in glory; and in this passage John quotes both Isaiah 6, 53 together, reflecting their connection and application to the same event, namely the Lord’s crucifixion. So it is established that Isaiah 6 is a vision of the crucified Lord Jesus, high and lifted up in glory in God’s sight, whilst covered in blood and spittle, with no beauty that man should desire Him. The point is, when Isaiah saw this vision he was convicted of his sinfulness: "Woe is me, for I am undone::.". And yet the same vision comforted him with the reality of forgiveness, and inspired him to offer to go forth and witness to Israel&nbsp;of God’s grace. Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord "high and lifted up", with the temple veil torn (<a href='B:290 6:4'>Isa 6:4</a> cp. <a href='B:470 27:51'>Mat 27:51</a>), and was moved to realize his sinfulness, and vow to spread the appeal for repentance (<a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a>; <a href='B:290 6:5'>Isa 6:5</a>). The high, lifted up Lord whom he saw was He of <a href='B:290 52:13'>Isa 52:13</a> - the crucified Lord. And yet Isaiah saw Him enthroned in God’s glory, as it were on the cross. What was the nadir of shame in the eyes of men was the acme of exaltation in God’s eyes. So John links the visions of Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 52/53 as both concerning the crucifixion (<a href='B:500 12:37-41'>Joh 12:37-41</a>); there the glory and essence of God was revealed supremely. <a href='B:500 12:38-41'>Joh 12:38-41</a> draws a parallel between being converted, and understanding the prophecies of the glory of the crucified Christ. To know Him in His time of dying, to see the arm of Yahweh revealed in Him there, is to be converted.</h4>


text:
<h4>Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men)- see on <a href='B:10 39:6'>Gen 39:6</a>; <a href='B:220 17:7-8'>Job 17:7-8</a>. We are to be “conformed to the image of [God’s] son"(<a href='B:520 8:29'>Rom 8:29</a>)- to share His morphe, which was so marred beyond recognition that men turned away in disgust (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> cp. Php_2:7). The mind that was in Him then must be in us now (Php_2:5). This is proof enough that His"form"was not His essential nature. It is a form which we can share and reflect. The mixture of the Divine and human in the Lord Jesus is what makes Him so compelling and motivational. He was like us in that He had our nature and temptations; and yet despite that, He was different from us in that He didn’t sin. Philippians 2 explains how on the cross, the Lord Jesus was so supremely"in the likeness of men"; and yet the same ’suffering servant’ prophecy which Philippians 2 alludes to also makes the point that on the cross,"his appearance was so unlike the sons of Adam"(<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a>). There was something both human and non-human in His manifestation of the Father upon the cross. Never before nor since has such supreme God-likeness, ’Divinity’ , if you like, been displayed in such an extremely human form- a naked, weak, mortal man in His final death throes.</h4><p>There, on the cross, the Lord Jesus was the form of God, equal with God in that sense, the only begotten Son. And yet on the cross His form was marred more than that of any man, He finally had no form that could be desired (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a>; <a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>). And yet this was the form of God. He&nbsp; was contorted and marred more than ever, there was no beauty in Him that men should desire Him, in those hours in which His Son suffered there. The Lord Jesus then had the form of God, although in His mind He had taken the form of a servant. The Lord made Himself a servant in His mind; He looked not on His own things, but on those of others (Php_2:4; Php_2:7). This is the context of Philippians 2; that we should have the mind of Christ, who disregarded His own status as Son of God and humbled Himself, even to death on the cross, so that we might share His status. His example really is ours, Paul is saying.</p><h4>He was ‘lifted up’ in crucifixion and shame; and yet ‘lifted up’ in ‘glory’ in God’s eyes through that act. We read in <a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> that His face was more marred, more brutally transmogrified, than that of any man. And yet reflecting upon <a href='B:540 4:4'>2Co 4:4</a>; <a href='B:540 4:6'>2Co 4:6</a>, we find that His face was the face of God; His glory was and is the Father’s glory: “The glory of Christ, who is the image of God… the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Zenon Ziolkowski (Spor O Calun) discusses contemporary descriptions of the faces of the crucified, including Jehohanan the Zealot, whose crucifixion Josephus mentions. Their faces were renowned for being terribly distorted by pain. The Lord’s face was marred even more than that of any other, so much so that those who saw Him looked away (<a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> AV). This prophecy may suggest that for the Lord, the crucifixion process hurt even more.</h4>


text:
<h4>So shall he sprinkle many nations- Perhaps alluding to the ritual of sprinkling blood upon the leper to pronounce him clean (s:w. <a href='B:30 14:7'>Lev 14:7</a>). Men from all nations were in prospect sprinkled by His blood; and therefore we must extend the knowledge of this to all men, both in our collective and personal witness. <a href='B:490 24:48'>Luk 24:48</a> simply comments that the disciples were witnesses to the resurrection and the fact that forgiveness and salvation was therefore potentially available to all men. The parallel records in Mt. and Mk. say that they were told to go out and witness to the resurrection world-wide. Putting them together it is apparent that if we are truly witnesses of the resurrection in our own faith, then part and parcel of this is to take this witness out into our ownlittle worlds. If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, we will preach it world-wide. He died and rose as the representative of all men; and therefore this good news should be preached to all kinds and all races of people.</h4><p>Kings shall shut their mouths at him- As explained on :13, the servant was to witness before kings, and stun them into silence if they had any objection to the idea of the salvation of God’s people. But"shut their mouths"may also imply repentance by these"kings". I suggest this because the whole reason for the Law of Moses was “so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (<a href='B:520 3:19'>Rom 3:19</a>). Paul is quoting here from <a href='B:230 63:11'>Psa 63:11</a>: “the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped”. He’s reasoning that because we’re all sinners, we’re all liars- for untruth is the essence of sin. We are not being true to ourselves, to God, to His word, to our brethren… we profess covenant relationship with God, to be His people, and yet we fail to keep the terms of that covenant. And the Law of Moses convicted all God’s people of this, and in this way led them to the need for Christ. Yet <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a> prophesied that the crucified Jesus would result in men shutting their mouths. The righteousness and perfection displayed there in one Man, the very human Lord Jesus, has the same effect upon us as the Law of Moses- we shut our mouths, convicted of sin.</p><h4>For that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand- Paul read “…for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (<a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>) as a prophecy which required him to fulfill it, by taking Christ to those who had not heard (<a href='B:520 15:21'>Rom 15:21</a>). It was because they of themselves would not"consider"/ ’understand’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:3'>Isa 1:3</a>) that they were psychologically confirmed in their attitudes and blinded so that they would not understand / consider (<a href='B:290 6:9-10'>Isa 6:9-10</a>). And so God operates to this day. It was the suffering of the servant, the Lord Jesus upon the cross, which was designed to as it were jolt them into considering / understanding (s:w. <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>). So GNB"They will see and understand something they had never known".</h4>


text:
<h4>Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?- The context of this arm of Yahweh is found in <a href='B:290 52:10'>Isa 52:10</a>"Yahweh has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God". The past tense was used because this outcome was so certain- but it still depended upon the repentance and faith of the exiles. Had they returned, supported with the same kind of miraculous manifestations as seen at the exodus, then"the nations"amongst whom they were scattered, the 127 provinces of Persia, would have seen God’s arm revealed; the revelation (s:w:) of His salvation (<a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a>). The ends of the eretz were specifically those areas on the borders of the eretz promised to Abraham, which is where they had been taken into captivity. But this didn’t happen. The message of these things was not generally believed by the exiles, despite all the appeals to them to believe it (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a> s:w:). And so the arm of Yahweh which brings salvation is revealed now to the nations through the work of the Lord Jesus.</h4><h4>Note the pronouns in Isaiah 53. The “we” who preach the Gospel of the cross are the “we” who rejected and condemned the Saviour, and the “we” whose sins are forgiven and who are reconciled to God. These are the reasons why we preach the crucified Christ in zeal and humility (<a href='B:290 53:1-3'>Isa 53:1-3</a>; <a href='B:290 53:5-6'>Isa 53:5-6</a>). Grace is the motive power for witness; we preach the word of His grace as it has been to us. We aren’t&nbsp; little sinners. It was our race who crucified the Lord of glory, and we have some part in their behaviour.</h4><h4>h laments that despite the wonder of the atonement God would work out on the cross, scarcely any would believe it, and men would turn away their faces from the crucified Christ (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>; Isa 533). And so it happened. Men and women went out that Friday afternoon to behold it, they saw it for a few moments, beat their breasts and returned to their homes (<a href='B:490 23:48'>Luk 23:48</a>). My sense is that most of that crowd still died in unbelief, untouched by what they saw that day. And so it is with us. We break bread, and we rise up and go on our way, we return to the pettiness of our lives, to a spirituality which often amounts (at its best) to little more than a scratching about on the surface of our natures. But let’s not look away, and change the subject; let’s see the love of Christ, behold it, and by this very act be changed into that same image, from glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (<a href='B:540 3:18'>2Co 3:18</a>).</h4><h4>And we didn’t respect him- We are programmed to shy away from the ultimate realities, in the same way as men hid their faces from the terror and dastardly horror of the crucifixion of God’s Son (<a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), and as"none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding"to realize the idiocy of worshipping a piece of wood as an idol (<a href='B:290 44:19'>Isa 44:19</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>For he grew up before Him as a tender plant- Isaiah 53 is prefaced in chapter 52 by the command to return from Babylon and to proclaim the good news of the Messianic Kingdom which Cyrus’ decree could have brought in; as if it could have come true then. He shall “grow up” as a root from a dry land (<a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) uses the word frequently used about the ‘going up’ from Babylon to Jerusalem.</h4>&nbsp;<p>When Zedekiah was taken into captivity (<a href='B:330 17:20'>Eze 17:20</a>), it was prophesied that “a tender one” (Messiah- <a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>; <a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) would be planted “upon an high mountain”, and grow into a tree in whose shadows all animals would live (<a href='B:330 17:21-22'>Eze 17:21-22</a>). This is clearly the Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:490 13:19'>Luk 13:19</a>). This young twig at the time of the captivity was surely Zerubabbel, and the “high mountain” upon which his Kingdom could have been established is surely the “high mountain” of <a href='B:330 40:2'>Eze 40:2</a> where the temple could have been built. Yet the prophecy had to suffer a massive deferment until its fulfilment in Christ. See on <a href='B:290 51:18'>Isa 51:18</a>.</p><p>And as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty; when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him- This is possibly a window onto the question of whether the Lord was handsome, or otherwise. But the essential point is that He grew up tender and sensitive in a hard environment. We cannot therefore blame our dry, unspiritual environments for our lack of spirituality. The Lord arose from such dry ground, green and tender, ultimately sensitive in an insensitive world. The thirsty land surrounding Him represented spiritually barren Israel (<a href='B:230 42:1-3'>Psa 42:1-3</a>); but the Lord Jesus so took His people upon Him, into His very soul, that His soul became a thirsty land (<a href='B:230 143:6'>Psa 143:6</a>); He felt as spiritually barren as they were, so close was His representation of us, so close was He to sinful man, so fully did He enter into the feelings of the sinner. In the same way as the Lord really did feel forsaken as Israel were because of their sins, so He suffered thirst, both literally and spiritually, which was a punishment for Israel’s sins.</p><h4><a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a> speaks of Messiah, in a restoration context beginning in Isaiah 52, as ‘growing up’, the same word used to describe the ‘coming up’ from the dry ground of Babylon. This potential Messiah could have been Zerubbabel, but when he failed to fulfill the prophecies, there was the possibility that another man could have fulfilled his role. Nehemiah ‘came up’ from Babylon, and was “the servant” who ‘prospered’Yahweh’s work (<a href='B:160 1:11'>Neh 1:11</a>; <a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a>), just as the servant prophecies required (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>; <a href='B:290 48:15'>Isa 48:15</a>); and he was thereby the redeemer of his brethren (<a href='B:160 5:8'>Neh 5:8</a>). He encouraged the singing of praise on the walls of Zion (<a href='B:160 9:5'>Neh 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 12:46'>Neh 12:46</a>), surely in a conscious effort to fulfill the words of <a href='B:290 60:18'>Isa 60:18</a> - that Zion’s gates in Messiah’s Kingdom would be praise. He was “despised” as Messiah would be (<a href='B:160 2:19'>Neh 2:19</a>; <a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a> s:w:). He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, as Messiah would (<a href='B:160 2:12'>Neh 2:12</a> cp. <a href='B:450 9:9'>Zec 9:9</a>); and <a href='B:160 2:16'>Neh 2:16</a> sounds very much like “of the people there was none with me” (<a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a>). The Gentiles round about came to sit at Nehemiah’s table to eat and drink (<a href='B:160 5:17'>Neh 5:17</a>), just as Isaiah had prophesied could happen on a grander scale at the restoration of the Kingdom. One wonders if the potential fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies was transferred to&nbsp; him? And yet Nehemiah returned to Babylon at least once, and there is no record that on his second visit he stayed on, but rather, the implication seems to be, he returned again to the service of Babylon. The total lack of Biblical information about his later life may reflect this disappointing decision. This train of thought enables us to appreciate the joy and pleasure which the Father had when finally His beloved Son lived up to all that He sought and expected.</h4>


text:
<h4>He was despised- The same word occurs in <a href='B:340 4:17'>Dan 4:17</a>, concerning how Yahweh will exalt the basest, the least esteemed, to be King over the kingdoms of this world. That made-basest man was a reference to the Lord Jesus. He humbled Himself on the cross, that He might be exalted. Peter had his eye on this fact when he asks us to humble ourselves, after the pattern of the Lord, that we might be exalted in due time (<a href='B:670 5:6'>1Pe 5:6</a>). He desired greatness in the Kingdom, and so can we;&nbsp; for the brighter stars only reflect more glory of the Sun (<a href='B:530 15:41'>1Co 15:41</a>):&nbsp;This very thought alone should lift us up on the eagle wings of Spirit above whatever monotony or grief we now endure.</h4><h4>And rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face- LXX"for his face is turned from us"would connect with how Hezekiah turned his face to the wall during his illness (<a href='B:290 38:2'>Isa 38:2</a>). His whole life was a being acquainted with grief (<a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a> AV); and yet we read in this same context that He was put to grief in His death (:10). The grief of His death was an extension of the grief of His life. “Who hath believed our report?" (<a href='B:290 53:1'>Isa 53:1</a>) was fulfilled by the Jewish rejection of Him in His life, as well as in His death (<a href='B:500 12:38'>Joh 12:38</a>)."He bore the sin of many" (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>) is applied by <a href='B:500 1:29'>Joh 1:29</a> to how during His ministry, the Lord Jesus bore the sin of the world.</h4>


text:
<h4>Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering- God speaks of being burdened by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 43:24'>Isa 43:24</a>)- and yet this is a prelude to the passages which speak of the Lord Jesus bearing our sins on the cross (<a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11-12'>Isa 53:11-12</a>). We even read of God being wearied by Israel’s sins (<a href='B:290 7:13'>Isa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>; <a href='B:330 24:12'>Eze 24:12</a>; <a href='B:460 2:17'>Mal 2:17</a>). Even though God does not "grow weary" (<a href='B:290 40:28'>Isa 40:28</a>) by nature, it seems to me that in His full entering into His people’s situation, He does allow Himself to grow weary with the sins of those with whom He is in covenant relationship. It was this kind of capacity which God has which was supremely revealed in His ’sharing in’ the crucifixion of His Son.</h4><p>The Lord Jesus during His ministry fulfilled the prophecy of <a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> that on the cross He would ‘take our infirmities’ (<a href='B:470 8:17'>Mat 8:17</a>). These “infirmities” according to <a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> were our sins, but sin’s effect is manifested through sickness. The moral dimension to these “infirmities” is established by Paul in Romans, for in <a href='B:520 5:6'>Rom 5:6</a> he uses the word to describe how “when we were yet weak [s:w. ‘infirm’], Christ died for the ungodly; and he explains his sense here as being that “when we were yet sinners” (<a href='B:520 5:8'>Rom 5:8</a>). Jesus as the Lord the Spirit engages with our infirmities, on the plane of the spirit, the deep human mind and psyche. What He did on the cross in engaging with our moral infirmity He did in His life, and He continues to do for us in essence.</p><h4>Yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted- "We esteemed him [as He hung on the cross] smitten of God" (<a href='B:290 53:4'>Isa 53:4</a> AV). It was in a sense God who "clave the rock" so that the waters gushed out (<a href='B:230 78:15'>Psa 78:15</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>). "Clave" or "struck" / "smitten" implies that the rock was literally broken open; and in this we see a dim foreshadowing of the gaping hole in the Lord’s side after the spear thrust, as well as a more figurative image of how His life and mind were broken apart in His final sacrifice. See on <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>.</h4>


text:
<h4>But he was pierced for our transgressions- We are to reconstruct in our own minds the process of the crucifixion. As the nails pierced His skin and flood flowed::. this was for my transgressions.</h4><p>He was crushed for our iniquities- AV "bruised". Note that the Lord was beaten up at least three times: by the Jewish guards, by Herod’s men and by the Roman soldiers. In a literal sense He was bruised for our iniquities, and chastised for us to obtain the peace of sin forgiven (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). The Father surely foresaw all this back in <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>, where the promised seed was to be bruised. He was bruised "and by his bruises we are healed" (LXX). The Lord Jesus was “wounded in the heel” through his death. <a href='B:290 53:4-5'>Isa 53:4-5</a> describes Him as being ‘bruised’ by God through his death on the cross. This&nbsp;plainly alludes to the prophecy of <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a> that the serpent would bruise Christ. However, ultimately God worked through the evil which Christ faced, He is described here as doing the bruising (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>), through controlling the forces of evil which bruised His Son. And so God also works through the evil experiences of each of His children.</p><p>The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed- Many have pointed out the connections between the promises to David in 2 Samuel 7 about Jesus, and the later commentary upon them in Psalms 89 and Isaiah 53, with reference to the crucifixion.</p><p>If he [Jesus] commit iniquity = If his children [us] forsake my law… = The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all</p><h4>I will chasten him with the rod of men = Then will I visit their transgression with the rod = For the transgression of my people was he stricken</h4><p>And with the stripes of the children of men = And their iniquity with stripes = With his stripes we are healed.</p><p>The point of all this is to show how our sins were somehow carried by the Lord Jesus, to the extent that He suffered for them. But how was this actually achieved? It is one thing to say it, but we must put meaning into the words. I suggest it was in that the Lord&nbsp; so identified with us, His heart so bled for us, that He felt a sinner even though He of course never sinned. The final cry “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” clearly refers back to all the many passages which speak of God forsaking the wicked, but never forsaking the righteous. The Lord, it seems to me, felt a sinner, although He was not one, and thus entered into this sense of crisis and fear He had sinned. He so identified with us. In the bearing of His cross, we likewise must identify with others, with their needs and with the desperation of their human condition… and this is what will convert them, as the Lord’s identification with us saved us.</p><h4>The Lord was chastened with the rod of men "and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross. But punishment with rod and stripes was to be given if Messiah sinned (<a href='B:100 7:14'>2Sa 7:14</a>). Yet the Lord Jesus received this punishment; because God counted Him as if He were a sinner. His sharing in our condemnation was no harmless piece of theology. He really did feel, deep inside Him, that He was a sinner, forsaken by God. Instead of lifting up His face to Heaven, with the freedom of sinlessness, He fell on His face before the Father in Gethsemane (<a href='B:470 26:39'>Mat 26:39</a>), bearing the guilt of human sin.</h4>


text:
<h4>All we like sheep have gone astray; each one has turned to his own way- The Bible is in one sense a very long history book, recording human behaviour over time from God’s perspective. One thing at least is clear from that history- the majority are usually wrong. People go astray “like sheep”, in that they follow each other into sin. Time and again we see that the minority position was the right and Godly one, and the majority position was wrong. We each sin in our own unique and personal ways; but we do so because we follow the flock. And the context of Isaiah 53 is that the crucifixion of the Lord was necessary exactly because of this. He was the ultimate strong man psychologically, who ultimately went the Father’s way when no other human ever did.</h4><p>In the short term, the sheep were scattered by the wolf, even though the Lord died so this wouldn’t happen. And He knew in advance that this would happen (<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:480 14:27'>Mar 14:27</a>; <a href='B:500 16:32'>Joh 16:32</a>). The Lord faced His final agony with the knowledge that in the short term, what He was dying in order to stop (i:e. the scattering of the sheep) wouldn’t work. The sheep would still be scattered, and He knew that throughout the history of His church they would still keep wandering off and getting lost (according to <a href='B:490 15:3-6'>Luk 15:3-6</a>). Yet He died for us from the motive of ultimately saving us from the effect of doing this. He had clearly thought through the sheep / shepherd symbolism. Unity and holding on to the faith were therefore what He died to achieve (cp. <a href='B:500 17:21-23'>Joh 17:21-23</a>); our disunity and apostasy, each turning to his own, is a denial of the Lord’s sufferings. And this is why it causes Him such pain.</p><h4>And Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all- see on <a href='B:490 15:4-6'>Luk 15:4-6</a>. That piece of wood that was laid upon the Lord by the Father, however the Lord physically took it up, represented our sins, which were laid upon Him; your laziness to do your readings early this morning, my snap at the woman in the bus, his hatred of his mother in law::. that piece of wood was the symbol of our sins, every one of them. This is what we brought upon Him. It was our laziness, our enmity, our foolishness, our weak will::. that necessitated the death of Jesus in this terrible way. It was Yahweh who laid on the Lord the iniquity of us all, as if He was present there when the soldiers laid the cross upon the Lord’s shoulders(<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>He was taken away- Much study has been done of the crisis many males go through around the age of 30, the desire to stop experimenting and settle down, to cease being cared for and instead seeking to build up something permanent, the sense that life is passing by:::it has all been very well summed up by Daniel Levinson in his study of the"age thirty transition". All this energy was released by the Lord into His three year ministry which changed human destiny, so intense and far reaching and successful was it."I go to prepare a place for you:::."is surely an allusion to the Palestinian tradition that the wife came to live with the new husband after a year and a day, whilst He ’prepared the place’ for her. The cross was His purchase of us as His bride. The bridegroom was “taken away” from the wedding guests (<a href='B:480 2:20'>Mar 2:20</a>)- the same word used in the LXX of <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> for the ‘taking away’ of the Lord Jesus in His crucifixion death. But the groom is ‘taken away’ from the guests- because he is going off to marry his bride. The cross, in all its tears, blood and pain, was the Lord’s wedding to us.</h4><p>By oppression and judgement- LXX"In his humiliation his judgment was taken away". But if as the MT, in what sense did the oppression and lack of justice take away His life? The Lord poured out His soul unto death;"he was taken away by distress"(<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> AVmg:) suggests that it was the mental crisis in the brain of Christ on the cross which resulted in His death. This is why Pilate marvelled that He died so quickly. It is evident from this that the physical process of crucifixion did not kill Christ, but rather the heart burst (both figurative and literal) which it brought upon Him. Do we not sense that striving in our minds as we fellowship His sufferings? Surely we do, but from a great distance. Yet we should sense it more and more, it should make us get out of this sense of drifting which we all too often have, day by day drifting along with very little stirring up our minds.</p><p>And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living- “Cut off" is Heb. ‘excluded’, "from the land of the living” (s:w. ‘the congregation’- of Israel). And this was for the transgression of His people. This is undoubtedly reference to the self-sacrificial exclusion of Moses from the land, that Israel might enter. The Lord died the death of a sinner, He chose like Moses to suffer affliction with us, that we might be saved.</p><h4>And stricken for the disobedience of My people?- see on <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>. The darkness that came down at the crucifixion would have recalled <a href='B:300 33:19-21'>Jer 33:19-21</a> - when day and night no longer follow their normal sequence, God is breaking His covenant. Israel’s condemnation would be that “even at midday you will grope like a blind man in the dark" (<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>). And yet the Lord would have known that He was suffering for Israel, treated as an apostate Israel, and thus He was the more inspired to pray for their ultimate forgiveness and salvation, seeing He had borne their condemnation. The Lord suffered “for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due"(<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> RVmg:). There are therefore elements of the crucifixion sufferings of Jesus in every suffering of natural Israel.</h4>


text:
<p>They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth- see on <a href='B:50 34:6'>Deu 34:6</a>. Sin is likened to violence in <a href='B:290 53:9'>Isa 53:9</a> cp. <a href='B:670 2:22'>1Pe 2:22</a>. There is a clear fulfilment in the Lord’s burial in the graveyard belonging to the rich man Joseph of Arimathea. But this obvious fulfilment of prophecy isn’t noted in the New Testament. A hallmark of God’s Hand in the record is that what to us are the most obvious OT prophecies are not quoted; e:g. <a href='B:290 53:7'>Isa 53:7</a>:"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth". A human author would have made great capital from such detailed fulfillments. But not so the Almighty. Hebrew, along with all the Semitic languages, has no superlatives. God doesn’t need them. And the record of the cross is a classic example. The record of the resurrection reflects a similar culture. The actual resurrection isn’t ever described [in marked contrast to how it is in the uninspired‘gospels’]. Instead we read of the impact of His resurrection upon His disciples.</p>


text:
<h4>Yet it was Yahweh’s will to bruise him- It was God who ’bruised’ the Lord on the cross. <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a> says it was the seed of the serpent who bruised Him. Conclusion: God worked through the seed of the serpent, God was [and is] totally in control. The serpent is therefore not a symbol of radical, free flying evil which is somehow outside of God’s control, and which ’bruised’ God’s Son whilst God was powerless to stop His Son being bruised. Not at all. God was in control, even of the seed of the serpent. However we finally wish to interpret"the seed of the serpent", the simple fact is that God was in powerful control of it / him.</h4><p>He has caused him to suffer. When You make his soul an offering for sin- <a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a> NIV describes the Lord’s death as a"guilt offering". Ignorance is no atonement for sin, as the Law taught."Forgive them for they know not what they do"sounds as if the Lord felt that He was the offering for ignorance, which was required for both rulers and ordinary Israelites (cp. how Peter and Paul describe both the rulers and ordinary people as"ignorant", implying they had a need for the ignorance offering of Christ, <a href='B:510 3:17'>Act 3:17</a>; <a href='B:510 13:27'>Act 13:27</a>). And significantly, <a href='B:650 5:2'>Heb 5:2</a> describes Christ as a good priest who can have compassion on those (i:e. us) who have sinned through ignorance and want reconciliation. As we come, progressively, to realize our sinfulness, we need to make a guilt offering. But that guilt offering has already been made, with the plea"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". All our sin, false guilt and real guilt, has been dealt with. We perhaps cannot ultimately decide, at least not by any intellectual process, what parts of our sense of"guilt"are false guilt, and which are legitimate and needful guilt. Whatever, the Lord’s guilt offering has removed all this.</p><h4>The Lord’s soul was sorrowful unto death in Gethsemane, as if the stress alone nearly killed Him (<a href='B:480 14:34'>Mar 14:34</a>)."My soul is full of troubles, and my life (therefore) draweth nigh unto the grave"(<a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>). <a href='B:290 53:10-12'>Isa 53:10-12</a> speaks of the fact that the Lord’s soul suffered as being the basis of our redemption; the mind contained within that spat upon head, as it hung on that tortured body; this was where our salvation was won. Death is the ultimately intense experience, and living a life dedicated to death would have had an intensifying effect upon the Lord’s character and personality.</h4><p>The LXX is very relevant to Hezekiah:"The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed".</p><p>He shall see his seed- It seems to me that in some sense the Lord Jesus had a vision of us in the Kingdom just before his death (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>; <a href='B:650 12:2'>Heb 12:2</a>; <a href='B:230 22:17'>Psa 22:17</a>; <a href='B:230 22:20'>Psa 22:20</a> cp. <a href='B:560 5:30'>Eph 5:30</a>)."When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed::. he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied"(<a href='B:290 53:10-11'>Isa 53:10-11</a> AV)."When"would suggest that the Lord had some kind of vision of those He was offering Himself for, especially in their future, forgiven state.</p><p>Another take is that when God made His soul sin on the cross [AV “offering for sin" is not in the Hebrew text- it’s an interpretation], then He saw [Heb. to perceive / discern] His seed (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). This all seems to mean that it was through this feeling as a sinner deep within His very soul, that the Lord Jesus came to‘see’, to closely identify with, to perceive truly, us His sinful seed / children. And He did this right at the very end of His hours of suffering, as if this was the climax of His sufferings- they led Him to a full and total identity with sinful men and women. And once He reached that point, He died. The total identity of the Lord with our sinfulness is brought out in passages like <a href='B:520 8:3'>Rom 8:3</a>, describing Jesus as being “in the likeness of sinful flesh"when He was made a sin offering; and <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>, which speaks of how He “his own self…in his own body" bore our sins “upon the tree". Note that it was at the time of His death that He was especially like this. I believe that these passages speak more of the Lord’s moral association with sinners, which reached a climax in His death, than they do of His ‘nature’.</p><p>He shall prolong his days- The victory of the Lord Jesus is described as Him ’prolonging his days’, in allusion back to the way <a href='B:50 17:20'>Deu 17:20</a> teaches that the King of Israel must study the word all the days of his life, with the result that he would"prolong his days". The almost unbelievable victory of the man Christ Jesus against every aspect of the flesh was due to His saturation with the spirit of God’s word.</p><h4>And the will of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand- The pleasure or will of our loving Father is that we should share His Kingdom (<a href='B:490 12:32'>Luk 12:32</a>), and that pleasure / will prospered through the cross of Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). God isn’t indifferent. He wants us to be there. That’s why He gave His Son to die. It’s as simple as that. The deepest longings we feel in our earthly lives, as parents, as lovers, are mere flickers of the hungering desire God feels for us. It is a desire that cost Him His very own crucified son. He willed (not"pleased", as AV) this bruising, and this putting to grief (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>). The parallel here between the bruising, beating and putting to grief may suggest that the beatings up (’bruisings’) really grieved the Lord. And note that the final sacrifice of which Isaiah 53 speaks was not only achieved by the hours spent hanging on the cross. This earlier beating and abusing was just as much a part of His final passion, as, in essence, His whole life was a living out of the principles of the cross.</h4>


text:
<h4>After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied- I prefer AV"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied". He will and does now see in us the [result of] the travail of His soul. We note that His travail was so much internal,"of his soul". The term"travail / suffering of [the] soul"effectively means ’His life’s work’ (<a href='B:250 2:24'>Ecc 2:24</a>; <a href='B:250 4:8'>Ecc 4:8</a>; <a href='B:250 6:7'>Ecc 6:7</a> s:w:). As we die, one by one, and He knows that for sure He will resurrect and save us at the last day::. this verse comes true, time and again. He sees the result of His life’s work and His final death::. and is"satisfied".</h4><p>My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself- “Raised for our justification’ (<a href='B:520 4:25'>Rom 4:25</a>) is an allusion to the LXX of <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>, which speaks of “the righteous servant” (Jesus) “justifying the righteous”. The repetition of the word “righteous” suggests that on account of the Lord’s death, and resurrection, His righteousness becomes ours, through this process of justification. But how and why, exactly, does Christ’s death and resurrection enable our justification? Paul has explained that faith in God brings justification before Him. Now Paul is explaining how and why this process operates Jesus died and rose again to eternal life as our representative. If we believe into Him (which Romans 6 defines as involving our identification with His death and resurrection by baptism), then we too will live for ever as He does, as we will participate in His resurrection to eternal life. Our final justification, being declared in the right, will be at the day of judgment. We will be resurrected, judged, and declared righteous- and given eternal life, never again to sin and die. This is the end result of the status of ‘justified’ which we have now, as we stand in the dock facing God’s judgment.</p><p>Through the cross, the Lord Jesus would"justify the many". Yet this phrase is picked up in <a href='B:340 12:3'>Dan 12:3</a> and applied to those who preach the Gospel- and thereby become"those who justify the many". The implication is plain enough. Through preaching, we live out the Lord’s death for others in practice, we placard Him crucified before the world’s eyes. We are not simply"Him"to them; we are Him crucified to them. The honour of this is surpassing.</p><h4>And he will bear their iniquities- He was a sin bearer; and the idea of sin bearing was almost an idiom for being personally guilty and sinful (<a href='B:40 14:34'>Num 14:34</a>; <a href='B:20 28:43'>Exo 28:43</a>). The Lord was our sin bearer and yet personally guiltless. This is the paradox which even He struggled with; no wonder we do, on a far more abstract level. As He bore away our iniquities (<a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), so “we then that are strong ought to bear the iniquities of the weak” (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). The Lord Jesus didn’t sin Himself but He took upon Himself our sins- to the extent that He felt a sinner, even though He wasn’t. Our response to this utter and saving grace is to likewise take upon ourselves the infirmities and sins of our brethren. If one is offended, we burn too; if one is weak, we are weak; we bear the infirmities of the weak (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). But in the context of that passage, Paul is quoting from <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>, about how the Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross. We live out the spirit of His cross, not in just bearing with our difficulties in isolation, but in feeling for our weak brethren. The description of the believer as a “living sacrifice” (<a href='B:520 12:1'>Rom 12:1</a>) alludes to the scapegoat, the only living sacrifice, which was a type of the risen Lord (<a href='B:30 16:10'>Lev 16:10</a> LXX = <a href='B:510 1:3'>Act 1:3</a>). As the Lord ran free in His resurrection, bearing away the sins of men, so we who are in Him and preach that salvation can do the same. As He bore away our iniquities (<a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), so “we then that are strong ought to bear the iniquities of the weak” (<a href='B:520 15:1'>Rom 15:1</a>). We live out the spirit of His cross, not in just bearing with our difficulties in isolation, but in feeling for our weak brethren.</h4>


text:
<h4>Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong- The idea of the Lord binding Satan (the"strong man"), stealing his goods and sharing them with His followers is a picture of His victory on the cross. It is full of allusion to <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>, which says that on account of the fact that the Christ would pour out His soul unto death and bear our sins,"he shall divide the spoil with the strong (Heb. ’those that are bound’)". This dividing of the spoils to us by the victorious Lord (<a href='B:490 11:22'>Luk 11:22</a>; <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>) recalls how the Lord divided all His goods between His servants (<a href='B:470 25:14'>Mat 25:14</a>), the dividing of all the Father’s goods between the sons (representing the good and bad believers, <a href='B:490 15:12'>Luk 15:12</a>). We have elsewhere shown that these goods refer to the various aspects of the supreme righteousness of Christ which are divided between the body of Christ. The spoils divided to us by the Lord are the various aspects of righteousness which He took for Himself from Satan. The picture of a bound strong man having his house ransacked before his eyes carries with it the idea of suspense, of daring, of doing something absolutely impossible. And so the idea of Christ really taking the righteousness which the Satan of our very natures denies us, and giving these things to us, is almost too much to believe.</h4><p>Because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors- There would have been a loss of lymph and body fluid to the point that Christ felt as if He had been"poured out like water"(<a href='B:230 22:14'>Psa 22:14</a>); He"poured out his soul to death", as if His sense of dehydration was an act He consciously performed; He felt that the loss of moisture was because He was pouring it out Himself. This loss of moisture was therefore due to the mental processes within the Lord Jesus, it was a result of His act of the will in so mentally and emotionally giving Himself for us, rather han just the physical result of crucifixion.</p><p>In the Lord’s death we see the heart that bleeds, bared before our eyes in the cross. It is written of Him in His time of dying that He"poured out his soul unto death"(<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>). The Hebrew translated"poured out"means to make naked- it is rendered as"make thyself naked"in <a href='B:310 4:21'>Lam 4:21</a> (see too <a href='B:30 20:18-19'>Lev 20:18-19</a>; <a href='B:290 3:17'>Isa 3:17</a>). The Lord’ sensitivity was what led Him to His death- He made His soul naked, bare and sensitive, until the stress almost killed Him quite apart from the physical torture. To be sensitive to others makes us open&nbsp;and at risk ourselves. A heart that bleeds really bleeds and hurts within itself. And this was the essence of the cross.</p><h4>The Lord poured out His soul unto death as a conscious act performed to enable our redemption (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>). Materially, this may refer to the way in which every respiration of the Lord would have scraped His sensitive skin against the rough wood, so that there would have been constant blood flow from His back. This was sometimes a cause of death through crucifixion: blood loss through repeated agitation of the wounds by lifting up the body to breathe and exhale. In this sense He poured out His soul unto death. Muscle cramps would have tended to fix the muscles and make respiration difficult without a wilful yanking of the body weight upwards on the wounded nerves.</h4><p>The Lord Jesus Christ “made himself of no reputation”, or “emptied himself” (Php_2:7 R:V:), alluding to the prophecy of his crucifixion in <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>: “He poured out his soul unto death”. He “took upon himself the form (demeanour) of a servant” by his servant-like attitude to his followers (<a href='B:500 13:14'>Joh 13:14</a>), demonstrated supremely by his death on the cross (<a href='B:470 20:28'>Mat 20:28</a>). <a href='B:290 52:14'>Isa 52:14</a> prophesied concerning Christ’s sufferings that on the cross “his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men”. This progressive humbling of himself “unto death, even the death of the cross” was something which occurred during his life and death, not at his birth. The context of Philippians 2 relates to the mind of Jesus, the humility of which is being held up to us as an example to copy. These verses must therefore speak of Jesus’ life on earth, in our human nature, and how he humbled himself, despite having a mind totally in tune with God, to consider our needs.</p><p>Yet he bore the sin of many- The Lord knew from Isaiah 53 that He was to bear Israel’s sins, that the judgments for their sins were to fall upon Him. Israel ‘bore their iniquities’ by being condemned for them (<a href='B:40 14:34-35'>Num 14:34-35</a>; <a href='B:30 5:17'>Lev 5:17</a>; <a href='B:30 20:17'>Lev 20:17</a>); to be a sin bearer was therefore to be one condemned. To die in punishment for your sin was to bear you sin. There is a difference between sin, and sin being laid upon a person. <a href='B:40 12:11'>Num 12:11</a> brings this out: “Lay not the sin upon us… wherein we have sinned”. The idea of sin being laid upon a person therefore refers to condemnation for sin. Our sin being laid upon Jesus therefore means that He was treated as if He were a condemned sinner. He briefly endured within Him the torment of soul which the condemned will feel.</p><p>And made intercession for the transgressors- On the cross, the Lord prayed for men to be forgiven. This was a fulfilment of this prophecy that He would"justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities", be wounded for our transgressions, be bruised for our iniquities, make a sin offering for His seed, heal us through His stripes, achieve our peace with God through His chastisement, bear the sin of many, be numbered with the transgressors, be stricken"for the transgression of my people", and make"intercession for the transgressors". These are all broadly parallel statements."The transgressors"are primarily"my people", Israel, who despised and rejected him. And yet they also refer to us, insofar as we become identified with Israel in order to be saved. The prophesy that Christ would make"intercession for the transgressors"in His time of dying was surely fulfilled when He prayed"Father forgive them".</p><p>The risen and exalted Lord is spoken of as being shamed, being crucified afresh, as agonizing in prayer for us just as He did on the cross (<a href='B:520 8:24'>Rom 8:24</a> cp. <a href='B:650 5:7-9'>Heb 5:7-9</a>). On the cross, He made intercession for us; but now He ever lives to make such intercession (<a href='B:650 7:25'>Heb 7:25</a>). There He bore our sins; and yet now He still bears our sins (<a href='B:290 53:4-6'>Isa 53:4-6</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>). Somehow, the cross is still there. The blood of Jesus cleanses us, in the present tense, from all our sins; the Lord Jesus loves us and frees us from our sins by His blood (<a href='B:690 1:7'>1Jn 1:7</a>; <a href='B:730 1:5'>Rev 1:5</a>). We are cleansed by an ever ’freshly slain’ sacrifice (<a href='B:650 10:20'>Heb 10:20</a> Gk:).</p><h4>LXX"and was delivered because of their iniquities"is alluded to in <a href='B:520 4:25'>Rom 4:25</a>: “Handed over because of our trespasses”. The Gospel accounts of the crucifixion give special emphasis to the moment of the Lord being handed over to those who would crucify Him. Paul is going on to show the mechanics, as it were, of how God has chosen to operate. His scheme of justifying us isn’t merely a case of Him saying ‘So you are declared right by Me’. He can do as He wishes, but He prefers to work through some kind of mechanism. We are declared right by God although we are sinners; which raises the obvious question: So what becomes of our sins? And so Paul explains that by talking about the crucial role of the death of Christ. Because He was of our nature, He is our representative. Although He never sinned, He died, yet He rose again to eternal life. Through connection with Him, we therefore can be counted as in Him, and thereby be given that eternal life through resurrection, regardless of our sins. In this sense, Jesus had to die and resurrect because of our sins.</h4>


text:
<h4>Sing, barren, you who didn’t bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child- The allusion is to Sarah, to whom the exiles had earlier been bidden to"look"for inspiration (<a href='B:290 51:2'>Isa 51:2</a>). Sarah in her time of child-birth is likened to us all as we enter the Kingdom, full of joy (<a href='B:290 54:1-4'>Isa 54:1-4</a>); and yet at that time she was eaten up with pride and joy that she could now triumph over her rival; see on <a href='B:10 21:10'>Gen 21:10</a>. And yet Sarah at that time is seen from a righteous perspective, counted as righteous, in that she is a type of us as we enter the Kingdom:&nbsp;God’s mercy to Sarah and Abraham is repeated to us daily.</h4><p>It could also be that what is in view here are spiritual children. The Divine hope was that the lack of spiritual ’children’ amongst the exiles, repentant converts to the prophetic message, was going to be replaced by such"children"from among the Gentiles.</p><p>For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says Yahweh- The two women represent Zion past and present. When she had been married to Yahweh she was barren; but the paradox is that now she was"desolate"she was going to have children, and she would do so without going through"travail"for them (<a href='B:550 4:27'>Gal 4:27</a>). <a href='B:550 4:27'>Gal 4:27</a> confirms this interpretation and develops it, connecting unbelieving Israel with the barren woman and the largely Gentile church with the fruitful one.</p><h4>The idea of God being destroyed in the destruction of His people (see on <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>) may be the basis of the descriptions of Zion as being left widowed (<a href='B:310 1:1'>Lam 1:1</a>; <a href='B:290 54:1-8'>Isa 54:1-8</a>). We ask the question- if she was a widow, who died? Her husband, God, was as it were dead. The very idea of the death of God&nbsp;is awful and obnoxious. But this was and is the depth of God’s feelings at His peoples’ destruction.</h4>


text:
<h4>Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes- They would need more space for all the children- the Gentile converts who would be made seeing that the Jews were unresponsive (:1). This extension of her tents meant enlarging the boundaries of the land (:3). The implication could even be that the further they lengthened their tent cords, the more Gentile converts would come in."The place"of the tent, the territory where it was pitched, had to be expanded. God’s redeemed family was to be extended beyond the limits of the eretz promised to Abraham.</h4><h4>Isaiah so often uses the idea of ‘stretching out’ the Heavens with reference to His creation of His new Kingdom (<a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a>; <a href='B:290 42:5'>Isa 42:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:290 51:13'>Isa 51:13</a>; Isa 6517-18). <a href='B:450 1:6'>Zec 1:6</a> cp. 12:1 show that to stretch out Jerusalem is parallel with stretching out the ‘heavens’. The ‘singing’ of the heavens refers to Judah’s intended joy at the restoration (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a> cp. 48:20). Israel were being told to peg out their tent as wide and far as they could; because this would be the extent of their Kingdom. The Kingdom would be as ‘large’ for them as they had vision for in this life.</h4>


text:
<h4>For you shall spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall possess the nations- See on :2. GNB"You will extend your boundaries on all sides; your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy". The idea is that Israel would possess all the nations within the eretz promised to Abraham, and yet expand those borders. The Abrahamic promise was that the seed would possess the gate of their enemies- the nations on the edges of and bordering on the eretz (<a href='B:10 22:17'>Gen 22:17</a>; <a href='B:10 24:60'>Gen 24:60</a>).</h4><h4>And make the desolate cities to be inhabited- At the restoration the temple still lay “waste” (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>; <a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>) just as it had lain “desolate” [s:w. <a href='B:300 33:10'>Jer 33:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:12'>Jer 33:12</a>] 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 (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a> cp. <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; <a href='B:290 54:3'>Isa 54:3</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). He tore his priestly garment (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s:w. <a href='B:330 42:14'>Eze 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 44:17'>Eze 44:17</a>; <a href='B:330 44:19'>Eze 44:19</a>). <a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Isa 58:12-13</a> 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.</h4>


text:
<h4>Don’t be afraid; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be disappointed- Harmonizing with the second half of the verse, LXX has"Fear not, because thou has been put to shame, neither be confounded, because thou was reproached". The shame of the Babylonian captivity was strong in their reasoning; they feared leaving Babylon lest such shame be repeated. It was to be the makers of idols who were"confounded"(s:w. <a href='B:290 41:11'>Isa 41:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be"confounded"(<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment.</h4><h4>Yahweh had promised support for them if they returned to the land; He would preserve them on the way. Consider <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>: “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, <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>], 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 (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), 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. <a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>; <a href='B:150 9:6'>Ezr 9:6</a>] nor confounded (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:23'>Isa 49:23</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). Nehemiah accepted such support when he came up from Babylon (<a href='B:160 2:9'>Neh 2:9</a>).</h4><h4>For you shall forget the shame of your youth; and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more- Their widowhood implied their husband Yahweh had as it were died; see on :1.</h4>


text:
<h4>For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is His name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall He be called- As explained on :2,3, the entire eretz promised to Abraham would convert to Yahweh. LXX"He that delivered thee, He is the God of Israel, and shall be called so by the whole earth":&nbsp; And this could have potentially happened had the exiles returned in faith and repentance:&nbsp;"The Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth"- a phrase used in Zechariah regarding the Angel co-ordinating the restoration.</h4><h4>Israel is so often set up as the bride of God (<a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4-5'>Isa 62:4-5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:2'>Jer 2:2</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:350 2:19-20'>Hos 2:19-20</a>). This is why any infidelity of theirs to God is spoken of as adultery (<a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:30 17:7'>Lev 17:7</a>; <a href='B:30 20:5-6'>Lev 20:5-6</a>; <a href='B:50 31:16'>Deu 31:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:17'>Jdg 2:17</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:70 8:33'>Jdg 8:33</a>; <a href='B:350 9:1'>Hos 9:1</a>). The very language of Israel ’selling themselves to do iniquity’ uses the image of prostitution. This is how God feels our even temporary and fleeting acts and thoughts of unfaithfulness. This is why God is jealous for Israel (<a href='B:20 20:15'>Exo 20:15</a>; <a href='B:20 34:14'>Exo 34:14</a>; <a href='B:50 4:24'>Deu 4:24</a>; <a href='B:50 5:9'>Deu 5:9</a>; <a href='B:50 6:15'>Deu 6:15</a>)- because His undivided love for them is so exclusive. He expects them to be totally His.</h4>


text:
<p>For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, says your God- see onZec 11:10-11. God speaks as if He died, and therefore Israel was left as a widow (<a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>); see on :1."Cast off"is the term found later in the prophets: “My God will cast them away” (<a href='B:350 9:17'>Hos 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>); the same Hebrew word occurs when God says He would “reject” Israel (<a href='B:350 4:6'>Hos 4:6</a>). But even when Israel were to be in the land of their enemies as punishment for their sins, “I will not cast them away” [s:w:] (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>). God will not cast away Israel (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>). Only if Heaven can be measured will God cast away Israel (<a href='B:300 31:37'>Jer 31:37</a>). God has not cast away His people (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). We see here the deep tension within God’s mind as He considers His status and position toward His unfaithful people. He here compares Himself to a young man hopelessly in love with a woman (Israel) who was really no good, a man who took the blame when it was undoubtedly her fault (<a href='B:290 54:6-7'>Isa 54:6-7</a>), grieving that she wouldn’t return to Him (<a href='B:370 4:8'>Amo 4:8</a> etc:)."I am broken with their whorish heart::. I am crushed"(<a href='B:330 6:9'>Eze 6:9</a>; <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a> NIV). God likens Himself to a broken man because of Israel’s fickleness. He went through the pain of the man who knows He has been forgotten by the woman he still desperately remembers (<a href='B:350 2:13'>Hos 2:13</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you- But even in this small moment [intended to be 70 years], He was watering them and caring for them. He is involved"every moment"in the life of His people; Job, presented as the suffering exiles, came to realize this (<a href='B:290 27:3'>Isa 27:3</a> cp. <a href='B:220 7:18'>Job 7:18</a> s:w:).</h4><p>The sufferings of Christ on the cross have connections with the punishments for Israel’s sins (e:g. being offered gall to drink = <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>; <a href='B:310 3:5'>Lam 3:5</a>). Israel were temporarily forsaken by God because of their sins (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>), and therefore so was the Lord. He too was chastened with the rod of men"and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross.</p><h4>The deathless love of Hosea for Gomer, the very intensity and height of it, in itself highlights the tragedy of God. That His love, yes, the passion and longing of God Himself, was rejected by His people. There are some reasons to think that the book of Hosea was rewritten (under inspiration) during the captivity. Isaiah had explained here that although God and Israel had departed from each other, they would come together again by Israel being regathered- i:e. by their return from Babylon to the land. And perhaps Hosea was rewritten at the same time, as an appeal for the Jews to ‘return’ to their God, i:e. to return to Judah. And yet, so tragically, whilst they all avowed their allegiance to Yahweh, generously supported the few who did return… the majority of the Jews didn’t return to their God. They chose the soft life in Babylon, where they remained. It’s why the close of the book of Esther is so sad- the Jews are there in prosperity and popularity in Babylon, no longer weeping by the rivers of Babylon.</h4>


text:
<h4>In overflowing wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you- We read of the anger of God"for a moment"(<a href='B:230 30:5'>Psa 30:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7-8'>Isa 54:7-8</a>), and of His wrath coming and going, leaving Him"calm"and no longer angry (<a href='B:330 16:42'>Eze 16:42</a>). When we sin, we provoke God to nger- i:e. at a point in time, God sees our sin, and becomes angry. This is attested many times in Scripture. But it’s meaningless if God is somehow outside of our time and emotions. The very use of the terms ’remembering’ and ’forgetting’ suggest God is so fully willing to enter into our kind of time; for a Being cannot forget and remember simultaneously, an element of time is involved. Likewise at times we read of God being slow to anger (<a href='B:20 34:6'>Exo 34:6</a>), at others, of Him not restraining His anger, or restraining it (<a href='B:230 78:38'>Psa 78:38</a>; <a href='B:290 48:9'>Isa 48:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:22'>Eze 20:22</a>), and holding His peace (<a href='B:290 57:11'>Isa 57:11</a>; <a href='B:230 50:21'>Psa 50:21</a>), and being provoked to anger by the bad behaviour of His covenant people (<a href='B:50 32:21'>Deu 32:21</a>; <a href='B:230 78:58'>Psa 78:58</a>; <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a>; <a href='B:300 8:19'>Jer 8:19</a>). God clearly has emotions of a kind which are not unrelated to the emotions we experience, as beings made in His image. But those emotions involve a time factor in order to be emotions.</h4><p>The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>; <a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will He be angry for ever?” (<a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>). It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded, no time to look at it, too busy sowing my seeds, weeding my garden, having coffee…</p><h4>Says Yahweh your Redeemer- As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). 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…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slaveryweren’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</h4>


text:
<p>For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you- LXX offers"From the time of the water of Noe this is my purpose". The idea is that out of judgment comes a new creation, where the wrath of God doesn’t figure because it has as it were been dealt with through the judgments. What is in view is a time when His judgments shall never again need to be revealed upon His people. This could have happened at the restoration but it evidently didn’t, and all this is therefore reapplied to the time of the Lord’s return.</p>


text:
<h4>For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but My loving kindness shall not depart from you- The departure of the mountains may refer to the huge geological changes at the time of the flood, but the mountains also figuratively refer to the nations and kingdoms which would be subsumed beneath the mountain of Yahweh’s Kingdom- which could have come when the little stone of the exiles were cut out of the mountain of Babylon / Persia and returned to the land. But another, longer term fulfilment of the image prophecy of Daniel 2 had to come into play. As discussed there, the metals of the image initially represented"kings", and the application to"kingdoms"was brought about by the refusal of the exiles to repent and act as the little stone destroying the image of Babylon.</h4><h4>Neither shall My covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh who has mercy on you- Every Israelite was intended to be a priest; they were to be"a Kingdom of priests". The"covenant of my peace"was with both Israel (<a href='B:290 54:10'>Isa 54:10</a>) and the priesthood (<a href='B:460 2:5'>Mal 2:5</a>). The same is true of spiritual Israel;"a spiritual house, an holy priesthood"(<a href='B:670 2:5'>1Pe 2:5</a>). But the covenant in view was likely the new covenant of peace with God which the exiles could have accepted (Ezekiel 20; Jeremiah 31).</h4>


text:
<h4>You afflicted- This is the word usually translated"poor"in the material sense. It was the poor who were to enthuse about the reestablishment of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a>; <a href='B:290 41:17'>Isa 41:17</a>; <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> s:w:). The book of Esther makes clear that there were many wealthy Jews in Babylon / Persia. It was the simple pull of materialism which kept many of them from responding to the Gospel of quitting all that for the sake of the restored Kingdom of God. And it is the same today where"to the poor the Gospel is preached"with most response.</h4><p>Tossed with storms- The usual word for"whirlwind", the symbol of God’s judgment which had scattered them in exile. It is also the term used for Jonah’s experience in the storm (<a href='B:390 1:11'>Jon 1:11</a>; <a href='B:390 1:13'>Jon 1:13</a>); and he is to be read as representative of a disbelieving Israel.</p><p>And not comforted- The"comfort"of Isaiah 40 had been offered to them, but they had refused. But here God as it were feels sorry for them even in their"not comforted"position, which was due to their refusal of His comfort. Such is His grace and His earnest&nbsp; desire to as it were force through, as far as legitimate, His saving purpose with His people.</p><h4>Behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colours, and lay your foundations with sapphires- The “stones” were laid (<a href='B:160 4:2'>Neh 4:2</a> s:w:), but not with colours, as could have been (<a href='B:290 54:11-14'>Isa 54:11-14</a>). And neither were the foundation stones gemstones, as could have been. This prophecy was therefore reapplied in Revelation to the things of the Kingdom to be established at the Lord’s return.</h4>


text:
<p>I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones- LXX"and thy gates crystal"; GNB"and the wall around you with jewels"; see on :11. This is all alluded to in the description of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21, 22. It could’ve come true at the time of the exiles, had they repented; but is deferred to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>All your children shall be taught of Yahweh; and great shall be the peace of your children- Their children were not taught of Yahweh, because the priests were lazy to do so (Malachi 2). And so Yahweh Himself (who is speaking here) will teach them; hence GNB"I myself will teach your people". eaching was envisaged as going forth from the restored Zion (<a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>). But many of the exiles preferred to remain in exile because they likely excused themselves with the argument that remaining would be better for their children.</p>


text:
<p>In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not be afraid; and from terror, for it shall not come near you- This could be an appeal for the exiles to act rightly and justly so that the Kingdom could come about. Hence LXX"abstain from injustice, and thou shalt not fear; and trembling shall not come nigh thee".</p>


text:
<p>Behold, they may gather together, but not by Me: whoever shall gather together against you shall fall because of you- The idea may be that whoever now attacks Judah, would not be doing so under God’s direction as had previously been the case. And they would therefore face His wrath and destruction (:17). LXX"Behold, strangers shall come to thee by me, and shall sojourn with thee, and shall run to thee for refuge".</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy- This leads on to the statement in :17 that the forming of any weapon against Israel is doomed. The creators were themselves created, by God- including those who had been created to destroy God’s people in judgment. Both evil and good were from God (<a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>). These who were created by God to destroy contrast with the category noted in :15, who were not sent by God in this mission.</p>


text:
<h4>No weapon that is formed against you will prevail- The"weapon"is that of :16. The exiles imagined all manner of opposition if they were to accept the prophetic call to quit Babylon / Persia and return to Judah. But God’s promise was that they would leave in peace, be led by His visible presence and have the natural creation bursting into applause on the way (see on <a href='B:290 55:12'>Isa 55:12</a>). But they doubted that, focusing upon all the human devices ["weapons"] which they imagined might stand in the way. So many today likewise resist the call of the Gospel of the restored Kingdom of God for the same reasons. The word for"prevail"is used four times in the record of Rebekah’s journey from the east (where the exiles were) to the land of promise; it was indeed made prosperous (<a href='B:10 24:21'>Gen 24:21</a>; <a href='B:10 24:40'>Gen 24:40</a>; <a href='B:10 24:42'>Gen 24:42</a>; <a href='B:10 24:56'>Gen 24:56</a>). And their journey to the land of the Kingdom likewise would have been made prosperous, and no opposition to it could have prospered with God on their side. The prophetic word of the restoration was to prosper and achieve their return and revival (<a href='B:290 55:11'>Isa 55:11</a>).</h4><p>And you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgement- See on <a href='B:290 51:1'>Isa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:290 51:6-7'>Isa 51:6-7</a>. As explained on <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>, we need not fear insults nor false accusation from men because we shall ultimately be justified, and even now have righteousness imputed to us. And the exiles were invited to believe that, as they imagined all the verbal opposition they might encounter by returning to Judah.</p><h4>This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their righteousness which is of Me, says Yahweh- This again refers to what Paul would term imputed righteousness, counting right those who believe in God’s grace. LXX"ye shall be righteous before me".</h4>


text:
<h4>Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price- LXX"wine and fat", associated with the offerings. No longer would poverty or lack of resources mean that sacrifice could not be offered. One by one, every possible excuse in the minds of the exiles was dealt with. God would provide all and overcome every possible fear and imagined problem in responding to the call of the Kingdom, just as He does today. Cyrus even decreed that he would meet the costs of all sacrifices; he let the people go"without price"(s:w. <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), for no personal reward. The same phrase"without money and without price"is found in <a href='B:220 28:15'>Job 28:15</a> regarding the value of wisdom; see on :2. The book of Job is full of connections to Isaiah, as it was rewritten to encourage the exiles in captivity. The greatest wisdom was to leave Babylon / Persia and return to Judah, with all the inversion of values this required. But this&nbsp; appeal to the exiles wasn’t responded to. And so these ideas were reapplied to the Lord Jesus, in His appeal to us:"If any man thirst, let him come unto me"(<a href='B:500 7:37-38'>Joh 7:37-38</a>).</h4><h4><a href='B:290 55:1-6'>Isa 55:1-6</a> bids Israel seek the Lord, and then comments that His word will accomplish what He wants it to achieve; the earth / land will respond to the rain of His word which He sends upon it (:11). This seems to be saying that somehow there will always be response from Israel to the Gospel. And the following verses hint that this may e specifically so in the last days, for :12 says that the result of the land’s response to the word will be that “ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing”. Their response to the word in the last days ushers in the Kingdom.</h4>


text:
<h4>Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?- LXX"Wherefore do ye value at the price of money?". This invites them to a radical revulation of life and the things which comprise it. The monetarization and capitalisation of everything was going on even in ancient societies. God’s people are asked to a radical revaluation of all things.</h4><p>And your labour for that which doesn’t satisfy?- But they continued to do so; they were as greedy dogs who could ’not be satisfied’ (<a href='B:290 56:11'>Isa 56:11</a> s:w:), obsessed with personal gain. Again we detect that it was a love of the soft life of materialism in Persia which was the root cause for the exiles not responding to the invitation, and the book of Esther therefore has a sad ending, portrayin the Jews as wealthy and popular.</p><p>Listen diligently to Me- I noted on :1 an allusion to the appeal of wisdom in Job 28, and this here is a repeat of wisdom’s call in the Proverbs. The way of wisdom was to accept the invitation to the free feast of fat things which Yahweh had prepared in Judah for those who quit Babylon.</p><h4>And eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness- This refers to the banquet awaiting them on return to Zion, the feast of fat things of <a href='B:290 25:6'>Isa 25:6</a> - if they would say"Yes"to the Kingdom program. The Messianic banquet could then have come. It has now been reapplied, to our experience in the breaking of bread now, and ultimately to the marriage supper of the lamb when the Lord returns.</h4>


text:
<h4>Turn your ear, and come to Me- The invitation therefore was to the great feast of :1,2- all for free. The parable of the great suppor therefore alludes to <a href='B:290 55:1-3'>Isa 55:1-3</a>; and thereby would suggest that we can interpret the call to the supper as the call of the Gospel, and the hungry people sitting down to a fine meal as our ecclesial experience now (although this isn’t to say that we can’t read it as concerning the future Kingdom too).</h4><p>Hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David- This everlasting covenant refers to the new covenant offered to the exiles in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20, but it would only be iven if they ’heard’ in obedience and repentance. The promises to David are described as the mercy of God (<a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>; <a href='B:230 89:33-34'>Psa 89:33-34</a>). God having a son is the sign of His love for us, and this must elicit a response in us. David himself marvelled that such mercy had been shown to him:"Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house…thou knowest thy servant"(<a href='B:100 7:18-20'>2Sa 7:18-20</a>). And yet in the very next chapters, we read of how David made a renewed attempt to show mercy to the house of Saul. Mephibosheth says that he is"thy servant…what is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such… as I am?"(<a href='B:100 9:8'>2Sa 9:8</a>). Mephibosheth is using the very words which David used to God; David is showing mercy to Mephibosheth in the very way in which the promises of God to him were the"mercies"shown to David. Appreciating that the promises concern us personally, and that they reveal such loving grace from the Father, can only lead to a similar response in showing love and grace through entering into the lives and destinies of others. Having expounded the deeper aspects of the promises to Abraham in Romans 9-11, Paul spins the argument round to practical issues:"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [a technical term for the promises- ’the sure mercies of David’, <a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>], that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice"(<a href='B:520 12:1'>Rom 12:1</a>). The"him"of :4 is the"sure mercies of David"of :3, perhaps an intensive plural for the great mercy shown to David, which was in the promise of his Messianic seed, the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>“The sure mercies of David” result in the wicked man forsaking his way (<a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>; <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>). The description of the promises to David as “sure mercies” (<a href='B:130 17:13'>1Ch 17:13</a>) may perhaps be with a reference to his sin withBathsheba; his forgiveness in that incident is typical of that which we all receive (<a href='B:520 4:6-8'>Rom 4:6-8</a>). The very existence of the “mercies of / to David” therefore inspire us in forsaking sinful thoughts and wicked ways (<a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples- LXX understands"the peoples"here as"the Gentiles". As noted on :3, the"him"is the"sure mercies of David", an intensive plural for the great mercy shown to David, which was in the promise of his Messianic seed, the Lord Jesus. The eternal covenant offered to the exiles was also going to be offered to the Gentiles, who would form a new multiethnic people of God (:5).</p>


text:
<h4>Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know- As explained in :4, a new multiethnic people of God was to be formed around the new covenant being offered to all. The Jews would"call"the Gentiles by the name of their own nation, Israel. They would ’know’ them in the Hebraic sense of knowing, i:e. having a spiritual relationship with them:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>And a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you- Again, the Hebraic sense of ’knowing’ includes the idea of having a spiritual relationship with the other party. The remnant of the Gentile nations in the land would see how Yahweh had glorified the returned exiles, and would eagerly ["run to::."] wish to accept this God as theirs. But in reality, the exiles returned to the land and mixed with the Gentiles, worshipping their gods and marrying their women as they had done in the lands of their exile.</h4>


text:
<h4>Seek Yahweh while He may be found; call you on Him while He is near- The offer of the Messianic banquet (:1-3) and new covenant (:3) was not going to be on the table for ever. The exiles had to repent, leave exile and return to the land in order to reestablish and rebuild the things of God’s Kingdom. There was no such repentance. And those who did return were motivated by personal gain and were not spiritual people, as the restoration prophets and the historical records in Ezra and Nehemiah make clear. So the window of opportunity closed, and the things of the new covenant, Messianic banquet and restored Kingdom became reapplied and deferred. The offered salvation was"near"to them, about to come (see on <a href='B:290 46:13'>Isa 46:13</a>; <a href='B:290 51:5'>Isa 51:5</a>); but it swooped close to them, but they refused to catch it. But the same Hebrew word for"near"is translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our representative, of our nature. See on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. The appeal is therefore urgent, because for the exiles, the amazing offer was time limited. It is therefore an appeal for repentance, hence LXX:"Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, let the ungodly leave his ways::.".</h4><h4>Like Israel we can seek God daily, taking delight in approaching unto Him; and yet need the exhortation to urgently seek Him (<a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> cp. 58:2). We can appear to seek unto Him in prayer and attendance at our meetings, and yet not seek Him in the real sense at all. Likewise men came to Jesus physically, at quite some effort to themselves, and yet He tells them that they have not truly come to Him at all (<a href='B:500 6:24'>Joh 6:24</a> cp. 35-37). We can draw near with our mouth, honour Him with our lips, “but have removed [our] heart far from me” (<a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh- We note that the way of a man is his thoughts. The appeal for repentance was and is essentially a call to change our thinking, our self talk; and to adopt God’s thoughts, which at that time were not Judah’s thoughts (:8). The return to Yahweh was to be reflected in a return to the land. We might have expected a call to forsake idolatry and other specific sins, but the appeal is to change their thinking. For that is the essential issue. We note the same juxtaposition of ideas in <a href='B:290 57:15'>Isa 57:15</a> - the exalted lofty one, dwelling in the hearts of men.</h4><p>And He will have mercy on him; and to our God-"Mercy"is s:w."compassion". 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. <a href='B:50 30:3'>Deu 30:3</a>) and would not be shown if they were impenitent (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>; <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>). But although they had not repented, Yahweh still felt that fatherly"compassion"toward them (<a href='B:290 49:15'>Isa 49:15</a> s:w:). He is unafraid of appearing to contradict His word, such is the passion of His love.</p><h4>For He will abundantly pardon- This is the same word as often used in the law; when sacrifice was offered,"it shall be forgiven him"(<a href='B:30 4:31'>Lev 4:31</a>; <a href='B:30 4:35'>Lev 4:35</a> etc:). But in exile there was no opportunity to offer acceptable sacrifice. A forsaking of thoughts was what was required; for our hearts are the essential sacrifice. This"pardon"would have been given had the exiles had accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 33:8'>Jer 33:8</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says Yahweh- This is not a statement about the inability of humanity to think as God does. Rather is it a lament that Judah didn’t do this, when they could have done (:7). Note the parallel between the wicked’s" way"and" his thoughts"; they are unrelated to God’s thoughts/ ways (<a href='B:290 55:8'>Isa 55:8</a>). <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a> is therefore saying that after conversion there must most importantly be a change of mind, an aspiring after God’s unattainable thoughts / ways.</p>


text:
<p>For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts- This is not to say that His thoughts are unattainable. The whole idea of :7,8 is that Judah could have God’s thoughts. They are here being inspired to touch the sky, to rise above the mundane, earthly thoughts of the flesh. <a href='B:290 55:6-7'>Isa 55:6-7</a> implies that we can find God in this life, we can return to Him. But <a href='B:290 55:9'>Isa 55:9</a> then says that" as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (God’s) ways higher than your ways". This seems to be one of the many Isaiah allusions to the book of Job:"Canst thou by searching find out God?", the answer being ’No’. This shows that although ultimately we cannot find God by our searching, such is His moral infinity, yet if we seek to find Him, He will count us as if we have found Him; and we can think His thoughts (:7). Thus God will impute complete forsaking of human thinking to us. Our least response is to impute forsaking of sin to our brethren, and to think as Yahweh does:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h4>For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky and doesn’t return there but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater- This statement about the power of God’s word is in the context of urging Judah that they can in fact repent, and think God’s thoughts (:7-9). The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God’s restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>) to"spring up"on what had previously been dry ground (<a href='B:290 44:4'>Isa 44:4</a>). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a> s:w."bud","spring up"). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:10 2:5'>Gen 2:5</a>). This sringing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s:w. <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:17'>Psa 132:17</a>). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were"in"the singular Messianic seed, who would think God’s thoughts (:7). And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). It is"righteousness"which would"spring up"(s:w. <a href='B:290 61:11'>Isa 61:11</a>); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their mental, spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as"in"the"branch of righteousness"which will"spring up"(Jer 3315). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine ’causing’ us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.</h4><h4>Repeatedly, later Scripture alludes to the fact that it was by the word of God that the world was created; and that same powerful, re-forming, saving word was and is that heard by His people still (<a href='B:230 33:6'>Psa 33:6</a>; <a href='B:230 33:9'>Psa 33:9</a>; <a href='B:230 104:7'>Psa 104:7</a>; <a href='B:230 147:15-18'>Psa 147:15-18</a>; <a href='B:230 148:3-5'>Psa 148:3-5</a>; <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a>; <a href='B:290 44:23'>Isa 44:23</a>; <a href='B:290 48:13'>Isa 48:13</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a>). A. Heidel comments: “The word of the Babylonian deities was not almighty. On the contrary, the word of the creator in Genesis 1 is almighty. He commands and the result is in perfect conformity to his command…there is a profound difference between the Bible and non-biblical religions” [on this point of the word being the agency of creation] (Alexander Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 126).</h4>


text:
<h4>so shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do- In the immediate context of the exiles, the LXX seems to suggest that God’s word of judgment on His people would not end until that word had produced the required response, which was repentance:"It shall by no means turn back until all the things which I willed shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy ways prosperous, and will effect my commands". The prospering of the prophetic word of restoration was certain, if they accepted it; see on <a href='B:290 54:17'>Isa 54:17</a>. But the context here is of thinking God’s thoughts, even if His thoughts are higher than the earth (:7-9). It was His word of promised restoration which could achieve that; if they believed they would and could be restored to God, then this would affect their thinking.</h4><h4>We put God to endless pain and labour in order to fulfil His wish to save men, if we don’t fulfil what in prospect we could fulfil. In the context of the restoration, Yahweh truly said that “:::so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (AV). His word will have fulfilment in the end, but it can have its fulfilment in us, here and now. Nehemiah twice stated that Yahweh was prospering him in his work of restoring Zion [<a href='B:160 1:11'>Neh 1:11</a>; <a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a> s:w:]; but generally, the word of prophecy was deferred in its fulfilment. Let’s not be satisficers as Israel were, minimalists happy so long as we have our bit of land to live on, our cieled roof to dwell under::. and neglect His house.</h4><h4>The RV translates the parable of the sower as if the seed sown is the convert: “he that was sown…” (<a href='B:470 13:19'>Mat 13:19</a> RV). And later on in <a href='B:470 13:38'>Mat 13:38</a> we are told so again: “the good seed are the children of the Kingdom”. Yet the seed was a symbol of the word of God. The parallel between the seed and the convert is such as to suggest that the word of God will produce converts in some sense; it will not return void (<a href='B:290 55:11'>Isa 55:11</a>). The apparent dearth of response to some&nbsp; preaching therefore poses a challenging question. Are we preaching the word of God alone, or our own ideas? Does God withhold blessing for some reason unknown to us? Is this parable only part of a wider picture, in which somehow the word does return void due to man’s rejection? Thus the word of God was ‘made void’ by the Pharisees (<a href='B:480 7:13'>Mar 7:13</a> RV- a conscious allusion to <a href='B:290 55:11'>Isa 55:11</a>?)…. This is perhaps one of the most defiantly unanswerable questions in our experience. As an aside, one possible explanation is that “the word” which is sent forth and prospers, achieving all God’s intention, is in fact Messiah. The same word is used about the ‘prospering’ of the Servant in His work: <a href='B:290 48:15'>Isa 48:15</a>; <a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a> cp. <a href='B:230 45:4'>Psa 45:4</a>. Another is to accept the LXX reading of this passage: “…until whatsoever I have willed shall have been accomplished”. Here at least is the implication that something happens and is achieved when we preach God’s word. The same idiom occurs in <a href='B:330 9:11'>Eze 9:11</a> AVmg:, where we read that “the man clothed with linen”- representing Ezekiel or his representative Angel- “returned the word, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me”. The word ‘returned’ in the sense that someone, somewhere, was obedient to it even if others weren’t.</h4>


text:
<h4>For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands- The immediate possibility was that the exiles would leave Babylon in peace, after"the servant"negotiated their release from there with full blessing and no violence; and the natural creation would as it were burst into applause as they journey to Zion. Thus GNB"You will leave Babylon with joy; you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy".</h4><p>But this could have had a yet earlier fulfilment in Isaiah’s time. As the Jews of Hezekiah’s time went out of Jerusalem to a revitalized land and started to receive the tribute of the surrounding nations (the primary application of Isaiah’s Kingdom prophecies), so the saints will pour forth from Jerusalem to establish the Kingdom worldwide."Ye shall go out (from Jerusalem) with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and hills shall break forth before you into singing::."(<a href='B:290 55:12'>Isa 55:12</a>). After the surrounding of Christ in Jerusalem and the defeat of Gog, Psalms 2 describes the establishment of the Kingdom worldwide:"I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance::. kiss the son, lest He be angry "(:8,12).</p><h4>Even as late as the time of Esther, this could have had a fulfilment. For the same word for"gladness"is used of the joy of the exiles when they were saved from Haman’s destruction (<a href='B:190 9:17'>Est 9:17</a>). The subtext to the otherwise positive picture of good triumphing over evil at the end of Esther, with a day of feasting and gladness proclaimed, is that their day of feasting and gladness was prophetically intended to be in Zion (<a href='B:290 25:6'>Isa 25:6</a> s:w:). They went into exile exactly because they had days of ’feasting’ and didn’t respond to the prophetic message (s:w. <a href='B:290 5:12'>Isa 5:12</a>). It was in Zion that they were to experience"gladness"(<a href='B:290 35:10'>Isa 35:10</a>) when they returned (<a href='B:290 51:11'>Isa 51:11</a>). They were to leave the lands of their captivity in"gladness"and thus come to Zion (<a href='B:290 55:12'>Isa 55:12</a> s:w:). But they didn’t return. The"day of gladness"was to be accompanied by the blowing of trumpets (s:w. <a href='B:40 10:10'>Num 10:10</a>), summoning them to Zion. But there is no mention of this; because they didn’t want to return there, but to remain in prosperous Persia:&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<p>Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to Yahweh for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off- The myrtle (="Esther") was a native of Persia and not Palestine. The idea is that the captives would return from Persia and be planted in the restored kingdom. The curse of thorns and thistles placed upon the eretz in Eden would then thereby be removed. But the book of Esther has a sad ending, in spiritual terms; for God’s people were prosperous and accepted in Persian society, and preferred to remain there rather than do the work of the Kingdom and allow its restoration.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Keep justice, and do righteousness; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed- The salvation of Yahweh’s Kingdom could have soon come, if Judah had ‘kept judgment’. But Malachi and Haggai, along with the record of the injustices of the Jewish nobles in Nehemiah, show the lack of judgment / justice amongst the returnees. Israel should have been just and not abusive of their brethren, precisely because"my salvation is near to come". We are to do righteousness, because God’s righteousness is about to be revealed (RV). We seek to live the Kingdom life now, seeing we will so soon, by grace, be living it anyway.</h4><p>The offer of the Messianic banquet in the preceding chapter (<a href='B:290 55:1-3'>Isa 55:1-3</a>) and new covenant (<a href='B:290 55:3'>Isa 55:3</a>) was not going to be on the table for ever. The exiles had to repent, leave exile and return to the land in order to reestablish and rebuild the things of God’s Kingdom. There was no such repentance. And those who did return were motivated by personal gain and were not spiritual people, as the restoration prophets and the historical records in Ezra and Nehemiah make clear. So the window of opportunity closed, and the things of the new covenant, Messianic banquet and restored Kingdom became reapplied and deferred. The offered salvation was"near"to them, about to come (see on <a href='B:290 46:13'>Isa 46:13</a>; <a href='B:290 51:5'>Isa 51:5</a>); but it swooped close to them, but they refused to catch it. The appeal is therefore urgent, because for the exiles, the amazing offer was time limited.</p><p>There is a parallel passage in <a href='B:290 50:8'>Isa 50:8</a>:"He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me". &nbsp;Those who feel the real justification of the Spirit, the real power of imputed righteousness, will not be unsettled by human criticism or"charges"brought. For the nearness of God’s justification in Christ is more than sufficient. <a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a> speaks of how Yahweh’s righteousness (imputed to us by His justification of us in Christ) is"near to come", and His salvation soon to be revealed. As Paul develops in Romans 1-8, we are saved by the imputation of righteousness, justification by faith. But that is yet to be revealed, although it could have been"near"even in time for the exiles. They refused these wonderful things, but they are true for us too, as we await the soon revelation of the Lord Jesus at judgment day. Keeping this hope in view means we shall ultimately have nobody and nothing charged against us, there will be no legal adversary in court with us at the last day. And this means that we handle accusation, both justified and false, in that perspective. And yet it is criticism and the shame which arises from it which can psychologically and spiritually destroy people in this life.</p><h4>The tone in Isaiah appears to change now. The historical interlude in Isaiah 37-39 has demonstrated that the prophecies in Isaiah 1-36 of judgment at the hands of Assyria were ameliorated and deferred by the intense repentance and intercession of Isaiah’s school of prophets. But the interlude concludes with the bad news that the reformation was not thorough, and that Judah would go into captivity in Babylon; and therefore the earlier prophecies of judgment by Assyria would be reapplied to judgment by Babylon. But out of that there was to come a wonderful restoration of God’s Kingdom in Israel, explained in the so called ’second Isaiah’ (Isaiah 40-55). But sadly, the Jews who returned failed to allow that amazing potential to come true; and that is the burden of the so called ’third Isaiah’ (Isaiah 56-66). It seems that God therefore gave up trying to restore the Kingdom in a political, national sense; and looked instead to a purpose with individuals who had His word in their humbled hearts.</h4>


text:
<h4>Blessed is the man who does this- As noted on :1, God was now looking to build relationships with just some individuals who were spiritually minded, seeing that on a national level His wonderful project for the restoration of His Kingdom had been disallowed by them.</h4><p>And the son of man- The appeal is to individuals within the community, but"the son of man"looks forward to the Lord Jesus, the representative servant Messiah called"Israel", who would alone be completely obedient. Because <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a> laments that there was apparently not a single one in the community who would ’hold fast’ the offered covenant (s:w."who holds it fast").</p><h4>Who holds it fast- To"hold fast"means to keep covenant (<a href='B:290 56:4'>Isa 56:4</a>; <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a>; <a href='B:140 7:22'>2Ch 7:22</a>; <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a>). The"it"they were to hold fast to was God’s righteousness and not their own (<a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a>). But they refused to do so because like Job, they held fast (s:w:) to their own righteousness (s:w. <a href='B:220 27:6'>Job 27:6</a>). The word means literally,’to harden / strengthen’. Then individual who wanted to accept the new covenant offered to the exiles in <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a> and Ezekiel 20 would in turn be strengthened / confirmed by God in that way, just as today (s:w. <a href='B:140 16:9'>2Ch 16:9</a>; <a href='B:140 19:11'>2Ch 19:11</a>). Hezekiah had initially ’strengthened himself’ in Yahweh, just as his name means; but didn’t remain in that way (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:5'>2Ch 32:5</a>; <a href='B:140 32:7'>2Ch 32:7</a>). Isaiah is asking his audience to continue as Hezekiah could have been. The returning exiles were initially ’strengthened’ (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:6'>Ezr 1:6</a>; <a href='B:150 6:22'>Ezr 6:22</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a> etc:) but on a national level, they hadn’t continued in this. So individuals are now bidden strengthen themselves, and to be strengthened, in the things of the new covenant.</h4><h4>Who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil- There was a problem with Sabbath abuse during the restoration. And so these potential prophecies of what could have happened at the restoration were precluded from fulfilment. The Sabbath was intended to teach self-control, restraining the hand from doing evil.</h4>


text:
<h4>Neither let the foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, Yahweh will surely separate me from His people- There may be reference to how the returned exiles married Gentiles and then separated from them at the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. Perhaps this is saying that this was unnecessary if those foreigners had joined themselves to Yahweh.</h4><h4>Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree-</h4>


text:
<h4>For thus says Yahweh, To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and hold fast My covenant- This was the new covenant offered now to just individuals within the community of exiles, who were urged to"hold fast"the righteousness imputed from God which was part of the new covenant offered to the exiles in <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a> and Ezekiel 20 (see on :2).</h4><h4>It seems a reasonable assumption that Hezekiah chose to be a eunuch for the Kingdom’s sake. There is the implication in <a href='B:290 56:3-8'>Isa 56:3-8</a> that his example inspired others in Israel to make the same commitment. They are comforted by Isaiah:"Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold (the same Hebrew word is used five times about Hezekiah, <a href='B:140 29:3'>2Ch 29:3</a>; <a href='B:140 29:34'>2Ch 29:34</a>; <a href='B:140 31:4'>2Ch 31:4</a>; <a href='B:140 32:5'>2Ch 32:5</a>; <a href='B:140 32:7'>2Ch 32:7</a>) of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house, and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off”. Hezekiah had lamented that he would die without a seed (<a href='B:290 38:12'>Isa 38:12</a>; Isaiah 53), and so did those who had also become (in their minds?) eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom. There was that human desire for a seed, a "house" to perpetuate their name. But they are promised a name in God’s house (family) in the Kingdom, better than of sons and daughters in this life. This alludes to <a href='B:80 4:15'>Rth 4:15</a>, where Ruth is described as being better than sons to Naomi. In other words, the Ruth: Naomi relationship, featuring as it did a willingness to deny marriage for the sake of the God of Israel, was a type of our relationship with God:&nbsp;In its restoration context, it has been suggested that this passage was a comfort to Nehemiah, who appears to have been a (physical) eunuch, and hence barred from entry to the temple which he was devoted to. Hence his words: "Who is there, that being as I am would go into the temple:::?" (<a href='B:160 6:11'>Neh 6:11</a>). Isaiah is comforting him and those like him that they would eternally live in the temple.</h4>


text:
<h4>to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off- The Gentiles who truly joined themselves to Yahweh would be "better than" the ethnic Jews, God’s previous "sons and daughters".</h4><h4>All the faithful will be given a name and place in the temple; so what especial consolation was this to those eunuchs? Surely the point is that the name (personality) they will then have will gloriously reflect the self-sacrifice and personal Biblical understanding which they went through in this life. This alone proves that the reward will be individual. The Lord’s picture of men entering the Kingdom without limbs is surely making the same point (<a href='B:480 9:47'>Mar 9:47</a>); the result of our self-sacrifice in this life will be reflected by the personality we have in the Kingdom. And there is evidence that the Man we follow will still bear in His body, throughout eternity, the marks of the crucifixion (<a href='B:450 13:6'>Zec 13:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:6'>Rev 5:6</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh- This was the new covenant offered now to just individuals within the community of exiles, who were urged to "hold fast" the righteousness imputed from God which was part of the new covenant offered to the exiles in <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a> and Ezekiel 20 (see on :2). But this new covenant wasn’t only open to Jews or Israelites; it was also open to the repentant minority of Gentiles which the prophets often foresee. On the basis of this new covenant, a new, multiethnic people of God could be formed; and that is what is happening today. But it could have happened then too, and the story of Jonah is surely to underline the possibility. As noted throughout Isaiah 13 onwards, the judgments upon the Gentiles in the land are only because they have refused to repent. God’s desire was that the Gentile "briers and thorns" upon whom He would march (<a href='B:290 27:4'>Isa 27:4</a>) would "take hold" of Him and make peace, entering into covenant with Him as He offered. <a href='B:290 27:5'>Isa 27:5</a> likewise speaks of this latter day ’taking hold’ (s:w:) of Yahweh by the remnant of the judged Gentiles.</h4><p>To minister to Him and to love the name of Yahweh, to be His servants, each one who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast covenant- Ministering and being Yahweh’s servants is the language of priesthood. The new covenant offered to the exiles was not a repeat of the Mosaic covenant. Now, Gentiles who took hold of the new covenant could serve on an equal footing. <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a> defines what is meant by “a house of prayer for all nations”- it was for those of all nations who “join themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love the name of the Lord::. every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant”. “The people of the land” were to have a part in the new system of things (<a href='B:330 45:16'>Eze 45:16</a>; <a href='B:330 45:22'>Eze 45:22</a>; <a href='B:330 46:3'>Eze 46:3</a>; <a href='B:330 46:9'>Eze 46:9</a>), and yet this very phrase is repeatedly used concerning the Samaritan people who lived in the land at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:150 4:4'>Ezr 4:4</a>; <a href='B:150 10:2'>Ezr 10:2</a>; <a href='B:150 10:11'>Ezr 10:11</a>; <a href='B:160 9:24'>Neh 9:24</a>; <a href='B:160 10:30-31'>Neh 10:30-31</a>). God’s intention was that they should eventually be converted unto Him; it was His intention that Ezekiel’s temple be built at the time of the restoration under Ezra. And yet <a href='B:450 7:10'>Zec 7:10</a>; <a href='B:460 3:5'>Mal 3:5</a>&nbsp; criticize the Jews who returned and built the temple for continuing to oppress the stranger / Gentile. Israel would not.</p><h4>But these things have all been reapplied to we who accept the new covenant today. We have joined ourselves to the Lord (in baptism, in our case) in order to be His slaves. We love our Master, and are committed to Him and His cause 24 hours / day. And the future Kingdom will involve the same; for quite simply "His servants shall serve him" in that age, continually and eternally (<a href='B:730 22:3'>Rev 22:3</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples- See on :6. Their sacrifices, those of the Gentiles, were not just those they offered for themselves, but for others; for they were also to be ministers / servants of the sanctuary (:6).</h4><p>The Sabbath was polluted, as Nehemiah recorded, and theGentiles were mixed with and affirmed in their idolatry, rather than converted and brought to worship in the temple. And so the revelation of Yahweh’s salvation and righteousness in the Kingdom was deferred. The way Jews and Gentiles ate together at Nehemiah’s table (<a href='B:160 5:17'>Neh 5:17</a>) pointed forward to what was almost possible. But in the end, they mixed with and adopted the ways of the Gentiles, and their leadership arrogantly developed a theology that said that dirty Gentiles could never be saved; for salvation, they reasoned, was only for Jews. The idea that the temple was to be a place for Gentiles also to worship not only didn’t come true; but the very opposite happened. The Jews became intolerant of the Gentiles, nationalistically proud, and rejected the Samaritans from worshipping in the rebuilt Jewish temple. And therefore the Samaritans had to build their own temple on Mount Gerazim. Historical records suggest that the Samaritans dearly wished to worship in the Jews’ temple, and only built their own one because the Jews disallowed them. See M. Gaster, The Samaritans (Oxford: O:U:P:, 1925) p. 28 ff. .</p><p>The Ezekiel prophecies of Ezekiel 40-48 had an intended and possible fulfilment at the time of the restoration under Ezra, but this was nullified by Israel’s lack of response; and therefore, at least in principle, the prophecies had their fulfilment delayed until the second coming. This enables the prophecies to fit in with others which speak of some kind of centralized worship system in the future restored Kingdom (e:g. <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>; <a href='B:290 56:7'>Isa 56:7</a>). Or it could be that these prophecies of Isaiah are likewise talking about what was potentially possible for a restored, obedient Israel; particularly at the time of the restoration from Babylon. The lesson that comes out of all this is the extent to which God is willing to work with us, to tailor His purpose according to how far we are prepared to work with Him, and in that sense to allow Himself to be limited by us. There could be no greater inspiration to a maximal commitment to His purpose and His work.</p><h4>Some of the Bible’s ‘prophecies’ are command more than prediction. The Lord Jesus criticized the Jews for trading in the temple because “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer” (<a href='B:480 11:17'>Mar 11:17</a>). We can easily read this as meaning that one day, a ‘house of prayer for all nations’ was to be built in Jerusalem. But in that case, why should not the Jews trade in the temple there and then, well before this was to happen, say, 2000 years later? The Lord surely means that the prophecy that the temple “shall be called…” a house of prayer was a command more than a prediction. It “shall be” a place for prayer and not trading. The ‘fulfilment’ of this statement was dependent upon them praying there and encouraging all nations to pray there; yet they could limit the fulfilment of the ‘prophecy’ by stopping Gentiles praying there, and by discouraging prayer there because of their trading policies. Thus the Lord saw the prophecy as more of a command than mere prediction. ‘Prophecy’ really means the speaking forth of God’s word, rather than the foretelling of the future. The prophecies of Ezekiel about the temple can be understood more as command than as simple prediction. This is how Israel were to behave and how they were to rebuild the temple. The Lord several times quoted an Old Testament passage which if quoted further would have made a telling point. Thus He quoted <a href='B:290 56:7'>Isa 56:7</a>: “My house shall be called an house of prayer”, leaving His hearers to continue: “:::for all people”. He recited <a href='B:230 8:2'>Psa 8:2</a>: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”, leaving them to complete: “:::that thou mightest still [through their witness] the enemy and the avenger”. For the Bible minded, these things ought to have taught them. There is reason to think, in the subsequent response of a Jewish minority after Pentecost, that at least some did make these connections. They made use of the spiritual potential they had been given.</h4>


text:
<p>The Lord Yahweh who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered- This verse is connected with :7 and explains it, according to the LXX. The Gentile "others" are going to be accepted by God on an equal footing with the ethnic Jews, and even become "ministers" in the sanctuary on the same basis as the Levites (:6). They would be "gathered" to the "ensign", the standard pole, in Zion. This now refers to the cross of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a> s:w:). Theexiles "gathered" from the nations were to come to Zion along with the repentant Gentile remnant who were likewise "gathered". This is to become the multiethnic ecclesia- LXX "for I will gather to him [Israel] a congregation / ekklesia". That ecclesia is based around the hope of Israel, for they are gathered "to Israel". They would gather themselves (<a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>) and yet be confirmed in this by being gathered. Likewise all who respond to the call of the new covenant are confirmed by the Spirit in that response. See on <a href='B:290 57:13'>Isa 57:13</a>.</p>


text:
<p>All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest- But despite all the wonderful spiritual potentials outlined in :1-8, the reality was that the people would not respond. Instead of the repentant Gentiles gathering themselves to Zion, they would like wild beasts gather together to yet again devour God’s people for their impenitence.</p>


text:
<h4>His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber- The watchmen of God’s people would not see the gathering of the wild beasts of the nations in judgment against them (:6). The LXX suggests this blindness and lack of knowledge was given to them, as confirmation of how they didn’t want to see: "See how they are all blinded: they have not known".</h4><h4><a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a> speaks of watchmen [= the prophets, <a href='B:330 3:17'>Eze 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 6:17'>Jer 6:17</a>; <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>] set upon Jerusalem’s walls as watchmen, keeping no silence [in their prophesying] until Jerusalem was established. For the link between the prophets and standing on a watchtower, see <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>. But false prophets arose, as we see in Ezekiel’s experience amongst the exiles. Watchmen upon the walls were supposed to be looking for something- for the approach of the Messianic messenger with good tidings of Judah’s full return from captivity, of which Isaiah had spoken in <a href='B:290 52:7-8'>Isa 52:7-8</a>. But most of Judah preferred to stay in Babylon, took up a collection for the few who did return… and no Messiah could appear with that news. God had promised this- but He asked to be put in remembrance of His promises (<a href='B:290 43:26'>Isa 43:26</a>), i:e. He asked for those watchmen to be His ‘rememberancers’, even though He cannot in that sense forget them (<a href='B:230 119:49'>Psa 119:49</a>; <a href='B:300 14:21'>Jer 14:21</a>). In all this we see an exquisite picture of how God works with men, how His promised faithfulness and omnipotence all the same has built into it a requirement for human prayerfulness and response. The reality was that the watchmen / prophets of Israel were blind, ignorant and sleepy.</h4>


text:
<p>Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who can’t understand: they have each turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter- "Can never have enough" are the same words as the lament in <a href='B:290 55:2'>Isa 55:2</a>: "And your labour for that which doesn’t satisfy?". They were as greedy dogs who could ’not be satisfied’, obsessed with personal gain, and disregarding the free feast of fat things Yahweh had prepared for them in Judah. Again we detect that it was a love of the soft life of materialism in Persia which was the root cause for the exiles not responding to the invitation, and the book of Esther therefore has a sad ending, portraying the Jews as wealthy and popular. See on <a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Come, say they, I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure- This is the way the flesh reasons; that life shall continue as it is today. Living for the moment is the temptation we continually battle with. Faith is all about looking to the future, and beyond the very narrow horizons of the immediate present. Drunken feasts are used as a metaphor of judgment; they were drinking their own condemnation, and what was so tragic was that they could have worked towards the reestablishment of God’s Kingdom and their own place in eternity. The context in the next chapter is of their idolatry so we can assume these drunken feasts were part of idol worship rituals; like the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11, they turned the worship of the true God into a form of idolatry. Again we see that the false prophets / teachers of :10 are condemned not to much for theological error arising from incorrect intellectual process in expounding God’s word, but for moral false teaching. This is likewise the nature of false teaching in the New Testament.</p>


text:
<p>The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the coming evil- This is probably alluding to what God did to Joash (<a href='B:120 22:20'>2Ki 22:20</a> cp. 23:29). But this was happening to the righteous amongst the exiles. They were suffering real persecution even unto death from the false prophets. Jewish tradition claims that Isaiah and Ezekiel died violent deaths at the hands of the Jews, and likely there is some truth in that. We notice the parallel here between "righteous men" and "merciful men". "Mercy" alludes to the covenants which they were faithful to, but they all the same were characterized by "mercy" as the lead characteristic of those who accepted them and were transformed by them internally.</p>


text:
<h4>He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness- see on <a href='B:730 21:12'>Rev 21:12</a>. RVmg. "each one straight before him". <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> had prophesied of the restoration: “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”. Likewise <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a> reminded the returnees that when they had been led through the wilderness to Canaan under Moses, they did not stumble [s:w:]. Although these righteous individuals died without seeing the restored Kingdom of God (:1), they entered into peace and would later be resurrected to participate in it. That is the implication I see in these words.</h4><h4>Despite the promise of a "straight way" to Zion, both Ezra and Nehemiah wanted to have a Babylonian military escort on the journey back; they weren’t sure that they would be given “a straight way” with Yahweh’s protection. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> records that “Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed [s:w. “stumble”, <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>], and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. They were easily discouraged by the words of the surrounding world, by the apparent hopelessness of their task; and thus they stumbled. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a> LXX describes how Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfill the prophecy. Note how Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit”::. They were to walk “each one straight before him” (<a href='B:290 57:2'>Isa 57:2</a> RVmg:), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (<a href='B:330 1:12'>Eze 1:12</a>). <a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:7'>Psa 107:7</a> RV speak of Israel being gathered out of the nations and being led in a “straight way” to Zion, as they had [potentially] been enabled to do on their departure from Egypt. Yet then they spent 38 years walking a distance coverable in just 11 days- because they did not walk in the “straight way”.</h4>


text:
<h4>But draw near here- This is the language of a summons to judgment. Judgment is in essence ongoing now, and we shouldn’t imagine that God is not paying attention and will only open the books at judgment day. And so those amongst the exiles who were advocating paganism are called to judgment, right then.</h4><h4>You sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute- They were not in God’s eyes the true Israel. The same ideas are used by Ezekiel about the exiles (<a href='B:330 16:3'>Eze 16:3</a>; <a href='B:330 16:45'>Eze 16:45</a>). The prostitute and sorceress was Babylon; they had so assimilated with Babylon that they were no longer the sons of Zion but of Babylon.</h4>


text:
<h4>Against whom do you sport yourselves?- ’To takedelight’; and their delight ought to have been in the things of Yahweh rather than their idols and materialism (<a href='B:290 55:2'>Isa 55:2</a>; <a href='B:290 58:14'>Isa 58:14</a>; <a href='B:290 66:11'>Isa 66:11</a> s:w:).</h4><p>Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue?- The language of persecution and mockery (<a href='B:230 35:21'>Psa 35:21</a>).</p><h4>Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood- See on :3.</h4>


text:
<h4>You who inflame yourselves among the oaks- The same word in <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a> of how they should have been trees of righteousness. The continual usage of language about Yahweh worship in the context of idol worship suggests that they were justifying their idolatry as a form of idol worship. For at no time did God’s people ever formally annul their relationship with Yahweh. As they had drunken feasts in the name of Yahweh worship (<a href='B:290 56:12'>Isa 56:12</a>), so they inflamed themselves in sexual lust as part of the same rituals.</h4><h4>Under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?- Offering of children to idols was continuing even amongst the exiles, and Ezekiel appears to allude to it (<a href='B:330 6:13'>Eze 6:13</a>, Ezek. 6:21). They did it under clefts of the rocks, thinking it would be hidden. When instead they should have been as Moses, cowering there in fear and respect of Yahweh’s majesty and glory.</h4>


text:
<h4>Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; you have even poured a drink offering to them- There is a word play between the Hebrew for "smooth stones" and "portion". The reference may be to some idolatrous practice involving smooth stones. But the word for "smooth stones" also means deceit or flattery, and is used about the idols the exiles worshipped in <a href='B:330 12:24'>Eze 12:24</a>. Yahweh was the portion of His people, but through idolatry done in His Name, He was no longer their portion (<a href='B:50 4:19'>Deu 4:19</a>; <a href='B:300 10:16'>Jer 10:16</a>).</h4><p>You have offered an offering- This again confirms the impression that they were offering to the idols as a form of Yahweh worship.</p><h4>But shall I be appeased for these things?- Judgment was going to have to come for them (<a href='B:300 5:9'>Jer 5:9</a>), rather than the restoration of the Kingdom which had been possible.</h4>


text:
<p>On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice- This is surely an allusion to mount Zion. It could be that the returned exiles committed adultery with their idols there, and that idea is confirmed in :8; or that they used&nbsp; other high mountains as an equivalent of mount Zion.</p>


text:
<h4>Behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial- It seems that within the rebuilt temple in Zion there was idolatry going on (see on :7). Or the door posts could refer to their own homes, where God’s law ought to have been written for a memorial (<a href='B:50 6:9'>Deu 6:9</a>; <a href='B:50 11:20'>Deu 11:20</a>); but instead they effectively had there a memorial to their idols, right at the heart of domestic life.</h4><h4>For you have uncovered to someone besides Me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them: you loved their bed wherever you saw it- This is the whoredom with other gods amongst the exiles spoken of in <a href='B:330 16:25'>Eze 16:25</a>; they were doing the very things for which they had gone into exile for (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a>; <a href='B:350 4:12'>Hos 4:12</a>). Covenant relationship with Yahweh is intimate, an exposing of our nakedness before Him in a way we cannot do to anyone or anything else. They had rejected the new covenant which was offered for a covenant with idols.</h4>


text:
<p>You went to the king with oil and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol- "The king" is "Moloch", hence GNB "You put on your perfumes and ointments and go to worship the god Molech. To find gods to worship, you send messengers far and wide, even to the world of the dead". By such sin, they brought themselves down to the grave. Just as they had sent ambassadors to other nations in seeking help against theBabylonians and Assyrians, now they were doing just the same. All this arose because Babylon sent its ambassadors to Judah and they accepted them and later their gods, as noted on Isaiah 39. But now they were sending their ambassadors to the nations, seeking help and relationships rather than being exclusively for Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain’. You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint- Not only is the logic of choosing God’s way so powerful, but the way of the flesh is not satisfying. Sin became a weariness to Israel even before they reaped the punishment for it (<a href='B:290 57:10'>Isa 57:10</a>); their mind was alienated from the lovers they chose; they left the one they left the God of Israel for (<a href='B:330 23:17'>Eze 23:17</a>). They always wanted new gods; they were never satisfied with their idols (<a href='B:300 44:3'>Jer 44:3</a>). GNB "You think your obscene idols give you strength, and so you never grow weak" reveals the classic situation of the addict. They continued in the addiction because they apparently were getting some strength to continue in it from the addiction.</p>


text:
<h4>Of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and have not remembered Me, nor laid it to your heart?- This connects with their fear of the Babylonian leadership, which meant they didn’t take seriously the offer of restoration to Judah and the reestablishment of the Kingdom (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>). And this resulted in their ’lying’, breaking covenant with Yahweh through not having their covenant with Him laid "in your heart".</h4><p>One thing that works against truthfulness is the neuroses that come from fear, the fearful tensions that arise between our real self and the false self. Fear and truth are opposed. This isn’t merely psychotherapeutic babble. The life of brave faith, the life that is lived in the overcoming of fears, the fearless breaking out of our comfort zones… this is the true life, the life in which we have no need to lie nor believe in lies. But of course it’s hard, because we think that the truth, the reality, is what we see around us; whereas faith is believing in what is not seen. Yet actually what is not seen is the reality, and what is seen is very often a lie. And the true life is a life of faith in those things which are not yet visibly seen.</p><h4>Haven’t I held peace even of long time, and you don’t fear Me?- God’s patience and lack of immediate judgment against sin ought to lead to yet greater awe and respect of Him; but for many, it becomes a reason to think they can continue in sin.</h4>


text:
<p>I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they shall not profit you- This is embedded within condemnation of Israel for idolatry. So we are to read this as irony, with GNB: "You think that what you do is right, but I will expose your conduct, and your idols will not be able to help you". When exactly this happened historically is hard to say; but it will surely come true at the last day. It was idols which would "not profit" (s:w. <a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a>; <a href='B:300 2:8'>Jer 2:8</a>, and about the Egyptians whose idols they accepted, <a href='B:290 30:5-6'>Isa 30:5-6</a>). Their "works" were their idols; and so we have the abiding lesson that any trust in human works is effectively idolatry. Our performance based society makes intensely relevant to us.</p>


text:
<p>When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain- Instead of allowing themselves to be gathered by God, back to the land to Himself (see on <a href='B:290 56:8'>Isa 56:8</a>), they instead gathered idols to themselves. This is the essence of idolatry; a trusting in our own works (:12), rather than the faith to let God work in us. The allusion may be to the image vision of Daniel 2. The Jews who associated themselves with Babylon would share her judgment, and be blown away by the wind; whereas the faithful remnant would grow into the mountain which would begin as the holy mount in Zion, and then spread to cover the earth. We note the offer of possession of the land and mount Zion is now made to "he who takes refuge in Me", and not "they". This is in line with the refocus of Yahweh upon individuals rather than the collective, national group (see on <a href='B:290 56:1-2'>Isa 56:1-2</a>)</p>


text:
<p>He will say, Cast up, cast up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people- The context has spoken of Israel’s idolatry, and so the stumbling-blocks to be cleared refer to their idolatry. This teaches that a level way must be made amongst the Jewish people, i:e. the stumbling blocks and ‘valleys’ must be removed from their path. “Cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people” is therefore a command to God’s people to undo the generations of false shepherding which Israel have experienced: “They have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up” (<a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a> s:w. “cast… up” in <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a>). Once we have prepared the way in this sense in the last days, then the highway is in place over which the Lord Jesus will return. This is how vital our work is for the Jewish people. Then the essence of the prophecies of the way to Zion in Isaiah 40 will come about. But for the exiles, their way was blocked by their addiction to idolatry.</p>


text:
<h4>For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a broken and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite- The idea may be that when and if Yahweh returned to Zion, He would again dwell in the holiest place (LXX), the shekinah would again be seen in the Most Holy place; but no less would He dwell in the hearts of the&nbsp; humble, those with broken spirits like David’s after his repentance. This is in line with the refocus of Yahweh upon individuals rather than the collective, national group (see on <a href='B:290 56:1-2'>Isa 56:1-2</a>). We note the juxtaposition of ideas- the exalted lofty one, dwelling in the hearts of men. It’s the same idea as in <a href='B:290 55:7-9'>Isa 55:7-9</a>; the God whose thoughts are not the thoughts of men can have His thinking experienced and shared by mere men. Yet the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48 had no "Most Holy place". Perhaps the idea was that seeing they had refused to rebuild the temple as asked, God would instead send His Spirit into the hearts of repentant people to "revive" them. This is exactly what He offered the exiles under the new covenant. See on :16.</h4><h4>Israel had lost their hold on true doctrine, many scarcely knew the Law (<a href='B:290 57:4-5'>Isa 57:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 59:3'>Isa 59:3</a>). They got drunk at the temple feasts (<a href='B:290 36:10-12'>Isa 36:10-12</a>; <a href='B:290 58:3-4'>Isa 58:3-4</a>), like Corinth they had an "eat, drink, for tomorrow we die" mentality (<a href='B:290 22:12-13'>Isa 22:12-13</a>); they committed all manner of sexual perversions, along with almost every other form of doctrinal and moral apostasy (<a href='B:290 5:11-13'>Isa 5:11-13</a>; <a href='B:290 5:24'>Isa 5:24</a>; <a href='B:290 8:19'>Isa 8:19</a>; <a href='B:290 9:15'>Isa 9:15</a>; <a href='B:290 22:12-13'>Isa 22:12-13</a>; <a href='B:290 24:5'>Isa 24:5</a>; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>; <a href='B:290 28:7'>Isa 28:7</a>; <a href='B:290 30:10'>Isa 30:10</a>; <a href='B:290 31:6'>Isa 31:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8-20'>Isa 44:8-20</a>; consider the similarities with Corinth). This list is worth reading through. And consider the terrible implications of their perversion in <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>. But the early chapters of Isaiah sternly rebuke Israel for their pride- there is not a whisper of all these other things until later (<a href='B:290 2:11-22'>Isa 2:11-22</a>; <a href='B:290 3:16-20'>Isa 3:16-20</a>; <a href='B:290 5:15'>Isa 5:15</a>; <a href='B:290 9:9'>Isa 9:9</a>). And even throughout the later rebukes, there is the repeated criticism of their pride (<a href='B:290 13:11'>Isa 13:11</a>; <a href='B:290 16:6'>Isa 16:6</a>; <a href='B:290 23:9'>Isa 23:9</a>; <a href='B:290 24:4'>Isa 24:4</a>; <a href='B:290 25:11'>Isa 25:11</a>; <a href='B:290 26:5'>Isa 26:5</a>; <a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>; <a href='B:290 28:3'>Isa 28:3</a>; <a href='B:290 28:14'>Isa 28:14</a>; <a href='B:290 29:4'>Isa 29:4</a>; <a href='B:290 30:25'>Isa 30:25</a>; <a href='B:290 57:15'>Isa 57:15</a>). This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ stress His humility (<a href='B:510 8:33'>Act 8:33</a>), and the "lofty", "high", "exaltation" of God. These words, common in Isaiah, are those translated “pride"in Isaiah’s condemnations of Israel’s arrogance; as if to say that God was the only one who could be ’proud’.</h4>


text:
<h4>For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before Me, and the souls who I have made- This continues the allusion to a court case which began in :3. Yahweh will not endlessly contend in court with sinners- otherwise He would end up destroying all His creation, those in whom He had placed His Spirit. He would cut short His quite legitimate contention and judgment of His people in order to save at least some. Verse 15 has just spoken of God reviving the hearts of the repentant. The LXX suggests that here we have an extension of that thought:"I will not take vengeance on you for ever, neither will I be always angry with you: for my Spirit shall go forth from me, and I have created all breath". The gift of the Spirit was to be given when the judgment of God finished. At the end of the 70 years there could have been a restoration&nbsp; based around the gift of the Spirit to revive the hearts of the repentant (:15). But they weren’t interested in repentance nor in true spirituality (see on :17).</h4><h4>The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>; <a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will He be angry for ever?” (<a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>). It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded, no time to look at it, too busy sowing my seeds, weeding my garden, having coffee… God is angry with sinners, but He will not be angry for ever because “from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life”; His passionate, constant outpouring of energy into His creation means He simply won’t be angry with man for ever. But amongst the Jews there was a revulsion against the idea of God having passion, being angry, and His children sharing those same emotions. It’s the same basic approach as the obsession we have today with ‘nice speak’- don’t be too committed, go so far but no further, don’t appear extreme. Here the spirit of the prophets must be our urgent example- we are to have passion for the positions we adopt. And of course that involves us in being careful, Biblical and prayerful about what positions we adopt. It was the passion with which the Lord Jesus held to His positions that so endeared Him to the Father. Because He so loved righteousness and hated iniquity, the Father so highly exalted Him (<a href='B:650 1:9'>Heb 1:9</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him- We would rather expect God to give their idolatry and marital unfaithfulness to Him as reason for His anger. But rather it was their covetousness which is cited here, the petty materialism which so took a grip upon them that they turned to idols in the hope of some petty material blessing. See on <a href='B:290 56:11'>Isa 56:11</a>.</h4><p>I hid Myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart- I noted on :16 that the Holy Spirit would have been given to the exiles to change their hearts- if they wanted it and if they were brokenhearted like David for their sins. But they didn’t want that transformation- and went on backsliding in the way of their heart / spirit rather than accepting God’s heart and Spirit. The implication is that God’s hiding of His face during the exile was in fact to elicit their seeking of His face. And yet they refused. And this partially explains theapparent silence of God in our lives; to elicit a more intense search for Him.</p><h4><a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would"see"the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me::. and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners- Having lamented the lack of spiritual transformation in the people, God now looks forward to how ultimately He will give His Spirit to His people (see on :15-17). He will heal and lead by His Spirit, the Comforter which gives comfort. We would perhaps have expected Him to offer this healing and restoration to those who repented. But these is no mention of this; rather does this follow on from God’s statement in :17 to the effect that if He endlessly contends with His sinful people He will end up destroying them. So despite having"seen his (sinful) ways", God now proposes to"heal him"and lead him back to Him, even if he is stubborn to follow. He would"create"peace with Him in order to effect this healing (:19).</p>


text:
<p>I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Yahweh; and I will heal them- See on :18. The idea may be"Peace to him that is far off (in Babylon), and to him that is near"(in the land). But as explained on :17,18, God appears to be saying that if He endlessly contends with His sinful people He will end up destroying them. So despite having"seen his (sinful) ways", God now proposes to"heal him"and lead him back to Him, even if he is stubborn to follow. He would"create"peace with Him in order to effect this healing (:19). And so He is willing to give peace with Him both to those far from Him, and those who had come near to Him. It was only the stubbornly and insistently"wicked"who would not be calmed / given peace (:20).</p>


text:
<p>But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt- As noted on :15-18, the Spirit was offered to the exiles, and we have read of the peace this would bring if it was accepted (:18,19); and I suggested on :18,19 that God was willing to as it were force through His healing with even those who were"far off"from Him. But if it were stubbornly refused, then therecould be no peace in the hearts or experience of the unspiritual. The wicked amongst Israel would be like the sea of the Gentiles, always associated with casting up and endlessly recycling dirt.</p>


text:
<p>There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked- See on :20."The wicked"are the Jewish exiles of <a href='B:290 48:18'>Isa 48:18</a> who refused the potential peace with God which was offered if they repented and returned to Judah to reestablish His Kingdom of peace.</p>


text:
<h4>Cry aloud- The first 12 verses in this chapter are similar in essence to <a href='B:290 1:1-31'>Isa 1:1-31</a>. This is just one of many connections between the later part of Isaiah (Isaiah 40-66) and the earlier part (Isaiah 1-35). The two sections are connected by the historial interlude of Isaiah 36-39, where Isaiah works with Hezekiah towards repentance, and then has to judge him for his pride and collapse of faith, concluding that his sons shall go into captivity in Babylon. As I explained on Isaiah 36-39, Hezekiah sinned quite badly and let the baton drop. A Messianic Kingdom could have been established after the defeat of the Assyrian invader outside Jerusalem, but this possibility was ultimately deferred until our last days. But God didn’t give up working with Judah. At the time of the restoration, there could again have been a Messianic Kingdom, the temple of Ezekiel 40-48 could have been rebuilt; but due to short termism and lack of repentance, this didn’t happen. Therefore the same appeals are made to the returned exiles as were made to Judah in the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah.</h4><h4>This appeal in :1 is therefore in order that the returned exiles got a grip on their spirituality and relationship with God, so that yet another disaster and invasion could be avoided, and the Kingdom of God re-established in the land. But such invasions came under Antiochus and others, as Daniel 11 outlines. Again the land and people were dominated by their enemies. The appeal to repent so that this would not happen had already been made by Isaiah in his own day, in the context of Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion. This explains the copious connections between the first half of Isaiah and the second half, the so-called Deutero Isaiah.</h4><p><a href='B:290 58:1-2'>Isa 58:1-2</a> is a criticism of Judah in exile and also of those who did return to the land- they sought God daily, and yet abused their brethren (<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a>), just as recorded in <a href='B:160 5:15'>Neh 5:15</a>. If they had ceased from their sins,"Then shall your light break forth as the morning", if they had fed the hungry etc, then would’ve been fulfilled the Messianic Kingdom prophecies of the light of Zion rising above the Gentiles etc (<a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a>; <a href='B:290 58:12'>Isa 58:12</a> cp. <a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>).</p><p>But who is being asked to"cry aloud"or ’proclaim’ this call to repentance? The second half of Isaiah begins with this same invitation to ’proclaim’ to Judah the possibility of repentance and forgiveness. The same Hebrew word is used so often in Isaiah 40. John the Baptist, the Elijah prophet, was the one asked to make this proclamation (<a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a> s:w:). And it is the Christian preachers who take over the proclamation (<a href='B:290 40:6'>Isa 40:6</a> = <a href='B:670 1:24'>1Pe 1:24</a>). Initially, it was the ministry of the prophets like Haggai and Zecharahiah who made this call for repentance to the exiles (<a href='B:450 1:4'>Zec 1:4</a>; <a href='B:450 1:17'>Zec 1:17</a>; <a href='B:450 7:7'>Zec 7:7</a>; <a href='B:450 7:13'>Zec 7:13</a>, the prophets cried / called out aloud for Judah’s repentance but were not answered). But it went largely unheeded:"When I called [s:w. "cry aloud"], none answered"(<a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 65:12'>Isa 65:12</a>; <a href='B:290 66:4'>Isa 66:4</a>; <a href='B:350 11:2'>Hos 11:2</a>; <a href='B:450 1:4'>Zec 1:4</a>). And the prophets themselves didn’t make the call as they ought to have done:"None calls [s:w. "cry aloud"] for justice::."(<a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>). John the Baptist likewise called for Judah’s repentance, as did the early Christian preachers; and we are to make this call to Israel in the last days. And finally it will be heeded; a minority in Israel will respond, albeit due to the tribulation to come upon the land, and then the Messianic Kingdom shall finally come. The One who ultimately makes the"call"or ’crying aloud’ is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah (<a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>"::. to proclaim / call out / cry loud liberty::. to call out the time of Yahweh’s acceptance / the acceptable year of the Lord"). But He works through the voice of His people, those who are in Him. This is how in practice He will make this appeal / proclamation / crying out aloud to Israel, both now and in the very last days. The calling out to repent is on the basis of the fact that God has called out / proclaimed His radical acceptance. If we accept it, then sin is no longer any barrier between Him and us.</p><p>Don’t spare- Literally, don’t restrain. It’s the same phrase as used in <a href='B:290 54:2'>Isa 54:2</a> about Judah not holding back but lengthening the cords of their tent as far as they can. The idea is that the extent of the fulfilment of God’s purpose is in our hands. These prophecies all had potential fulfilments in the time they were given; the preacher to Israel should be aware that according to his or her success, so the extent of the progress of God’s program goes forward.</p><p>Lift up your voice like a trumpet- As noted above, there are many connections here with the crying out / proclamation of forgiveness and therefore the call to repent, which we find in Isaiah 40. In <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a> the same phrase is used, of lifting up the voice to tell Jerusalem that there is good news- her God"shall come", through manifestation in His Son, and re-establish Israel’s Kingdom as God’s Kingdom. Yet there the voice is lifted up in calling for repentance. The reality of the possibility of being part of His Kingdom is of itself a call to repentance. Anyone who says yes to those"good tidings", the Gospel, will naturally be moved to repentance by doing so. The trumpet being the crying aloud or proclamation sounds like the proclamation of the day of atonement. But the spirit of that day was to be proclaimed to men as an ongoing experience, which is very much in the spirit of the Lord Jesus now that the ritual feasts have been ended. Now the atonement and the subsequent appeal for repentance to accept it is to be proclaimed to all men, all the time.</p><h4>And declare to My people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins- The family of the historical Jacob were very weak spiritually, and yet from them came the foundations of God’s people. This was and is to be remembered as an encouragement in our witness. These words are quoted in <a href='B:400 3:8'>Mic 3:8</a>; he was one of the prophets called upon to make this proclamation, both in Isaiah’s day and yet also, as with Isaiah, his words therefore also have reference to the exiles who had returned and needed to repent.</h4>


text:
<h4>Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways- The word"yet"is such a challenge. They were disobedient, sinful and rejected by God."Yet"they sought God daily, offering the daily sacrifices (’seeking’ in Hebrew thought is to worship), and enthusiastic to have His word explained to them. One can attend meetings regularly, love the worship, and genuinely enthuse to intellectually, academically understand the Bible. And"yet"do no righteousness, and actually forsake the spirit of what"God"is all about. This is the problem with religion. If left at mere religion, it can blind us to true spirituality. They ’delighted’ to know God’s ways and to ’draw near to God’, perhaps a reference to prayer or sacrifice. But this same category of persons chose the things which Yahweh did not delight in, and also"delighted in their abominations"(<a href='B:290 65:12'>Isa 65:12</a>; <a href='B:290 66:3-4'>Isa 66:3-4</a> s:w:). The abominations there listed were not idol worship; their arrogance and exclusivity was as if they offered pig’s flesh to God. Their legally correct sacrifices were therefore seen as no better than that. This dualism in the human nature is encouraged by religion, if our faith is left at mere religion. These verses are one of the greatest challenges to all involved in serving God through organized religion. Prayer, sacrifice, worship, Bible study, attendance at meetings::. can all be performed as just one pole of a dualistic, religious mindset. Whilst we get on and"delight"in displeasing God. Once we appreciate&nbsp; the challenge, we will no longer be shocked at the hypocrisy rampant in all forms of organized religion; that a person can do all these things, appearing a stalwart member of a church, and yet at the same time be involved with things which disgust God.</h4><h4>As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of Me righteous judgements; they delight to draw near to God- The call to repentance of :1 was not heeded exactly because of the veneer of religion which these Jews then had. This is the problem with religion. It shields us from the piercing appeal for repentance and real, live relationship with God."Did righteousness"is the phrase translated"do justice"in <a href='B:10 18:19'>Gen 18:19</a>, which was to be a feature of the true seed of Abraham. As noted above, Israel went through all the motions of religious worship, but did not"do justice". The historical accounts in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi give many examples of this; and the lack of justice was expressed in terms of how they treated their own brothers. If the Jews had ’done righteousness’ at the time of the restoration, then it would have hastened the revelation of God’s justice in the re-establishment of His Kingdom on earth at that time (<a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a> s:w:). For it is Messiah who would ’do justice’ in His Kingdom (<a href='B:300 23:5'>Jer 23:5</a>; <a href='B:300 33:15'>Jer 33:15</a> s:w:). The commands of Ezekiel 40-48 about rebuilding a Messianic temple included the command to ’do righteousness’ (<a href='B:330 45:9'>Eze 45:9</a>). But the Jews didn’t do this, and thereby precluded the possibility of those prophecies coming true at the restoration.</h4>


text:
<h4>‘Why have we fasted’, they say, ‘and You don’t see?- <a href='B:450 7:5'>Zec 7:5</a> says that the Jews at the time of the restoration fasted, but not to God. And here we see part of a major theme in Biblical teaching about spirituality- that spiritual disciplines can be performed, but not really, in God’s book. We can pray and worship, but without achieving real prayer and worship; we can pay lip service to the idea that God’s word is inspired and His real voice to us, and yet let the words glide over us. We can give, but for the sake of appearance and the praise of men. And so they fasted, but not to God. And complained that God apparently didn’t recognize it. If they had really fasted on"the fasting day", then the whole Babylonian invasion and exile could have been averted (<a href='B:300 36:6'>Jer 36:6</a>; <a href='B:300 36:9'>Jer 36:9</a>); they fasted but were not heard (<a href='B:300 14:12'>Jer 14:12</a>). But now the captivity had ended, still they had not learnt that lesson.</h4><p>Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge?’- The day to ’afflict the soul’ in fasting was specifically the day of atonement, the only fast required under the Mosaic law (<a href='B:30 23:27'>Lev 23:27</a> s:w:). They kept the day of atonement legally, but with no recognition of sin; just as we can keep the Lord’s supper with no sense of our sins, no flame of passion to respond to His grace witha similar grace. <a href='B:30 23:29'>Lev 23:29</a> even taught that the soul who would not afflict themselves would be cut off from the people of God. But that is an example of the Law of Moses revealing how God judges the heart; for no priest could ever&nbsp; ascertain whether or not a worshipper was afflicting their soul as required. If we do not repent, and afflict our souls for our sins, then we likewise are signing ourselves out of God’s true people. And only we know whether or not we do this. For such affairs of the heart cannot be judged by human eyes.</p><h4>Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your labourers- If they had truly afflicted their souls in repentance and in awe of their receipt of God’s forgveness, then they would have reflected that grace to others, which is God’s pleasure or will. And that principle is true of us too. We are not to be like the unforgiving servat who demanded what was owed; the AV renders"oppress"as"exact"(<a href='B:470 18:28'>Mat 18:28</a>). Perhaps the Lord had this teaching in mind when constructing His parable. The oppression of their workers was the kind of thing going on at the restoration (Nehemiah 5). Israel failed to do God’s pleasure and instead kept His laws whilst doing their own pleasure or will; and therefore the prophecy of the suffering servant who was to do God’s pleasure at the restoration was changed in fulfilment from Israel as a people to Messiah as a person (<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>). The same word for"pleasure"is used in :13 of how these Jews did their pleasure on the Sabbath rather than God’s pleasure. We can so easily serve God for our own pleasure, in ways which simply reinforce our natural passions and personality types. The challenge to us is indeed piercing and insistent.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high- As noted on :3, the restored Jews fasated for their own pleasure rather than God’s. They took pleasure from being more righteous than others, endlessly striving and contending with others as to how fasting should be done, even inventing new fast days (<a href='B:450 7:5'>Zec 7:5</a>; <a href='B:450 8:19'>Zec 8:19</a>). All the Law required was fasting on the Day of Atonement. The endless controversies over interpretation and ritual which have characterized the walk of so many Christians may well have been simply for their own"pleasure"and justification of striking other believers with a wicked fist. The Catholic and Orthodox churches argue bitterly about ritual, and the Protestant denominations argue over interpretation of Bible passages. Much of this was nothing to do with personal relationship with God, making your voice heard in His ears in highest heaven; but rather in order to put others down that we might appear the better. For the way the Jews criticized others for not fasating as they considered they ought to was effectivly striking their brother with a wicked fist. The allusion is to how righteous Naboth was struck down with a wicked fist when a fast had been proclaimed (<a href='B:110 21:9-13'>1Ki 21:9-13</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul?- As noted on :3, the only fast"chosen"or proclaimed by God was that on the Day of Atonement, when every person was to afflict their soul. The Jews kept this feast insincerely, bowing their heads like a bulrush blown in the breeze. All such false humility, using phrases like"Of course, we’re all sinners"insincerely, is so abhorrent to God.</h4><h4>Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?- The repentance and contrition required by the Day of Atonement was internal, rather than an external use of sackcloth. Judah had gone into exile exactly because they had rent their garments and not their hearts (<a href='B:360 2:13'>Joe 2:13</a>). And the restored Jews had not learnt that lesson. The Day of Atonement was the"acceptable day", and the acceptable day is now every day for us as Christians (<a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a>). We are to live our whole lives, every day, in the spirit of the Day of Atonement; both confessing sin and receiving the pronouncement of forgiveness which fills us with all joy and peace.</h4>


text:
<h4>Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?- See on <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>. As noted on :3 and :4, the result of keeping the Day of Atonement properly was to release the bonds of others because our bonds of sin and its consequence have been released. Instead, the resotred Jews at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah were bringing their own brothers into bondage to them, taking their lands from them and then making them their slaves. Such releasing of others from their bonds, both to us and others, can happen on any day; the Day of Atonement was to be realized in the daily experience of the believers.</h4><p>Consider how the Lord brings together various passages from Isaiah in His opening declaration in <a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a>: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach [proclaim] [Heb. ‘call out to a man’] the acceptable year of the Lord”. This combines allusions to <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>&nbsp;(<a href='B:30 25:10'>Lev 25:10</a>), <a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> LXX&nbsp;and&nbsp; <a href='B:290 61:2'>Isa 61:2</a>:&nbsp;<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> AV: “To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free (cp. <a href='B:50 15:12'>Deu 15:12</a> re freedom of slaves, s:w:), and that ye break every yoke?” is in the context of an insincerely kept year of Jubilee in Hezekiah’s time, after the Sennacherib invasion; andalso at the time of the restoration. Isaiah 58 has many Day of Atonement allusions- the year of Jubilee began on this feast. We are as the High Priest declaring the reality of forgiveness to the crowd Hence <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a> asks us to proclaim a Jubilee of atonement. The Greek for “preach” in <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a> and for “preach / proclaim the acceptable year” in <a href='B:490 4:19'>Luk 4:19</a> are the same, and the word is used in the LXX for proclaiming the Jubilee. And the LXX word used for ‘jubilee’ means remission, release, forgiveness, and it is the word used to describe our preaching / proclaiming forgiveness in <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a>. It could be that we are to see the cross as the day of atonement, and from then on the Jubilee should be proclaimed in the lives of those who accept it. It’s as if we are running round telling people that their mortgages have been cancelled, hire purchase payments written off::. and yet we are treated as telling them something unreal, when it is in fact so real and pertinent to them. And the very fact that Yahweh has released others means that we likewise ought to live in a spirit of releasing others from their debts to us: “The creditor shall release that which he hath lent… because the Lord’s release hath been proclaimed” (<a href='B:50 15:2'>Deu 15:2</a> RV).</p><p>There are many connections within Isaiah between the servant songs, and the descriptions of the people of Israel into which the songs are interspersed. The saviour-servant was to bring out the prisoners from the dungeons (<a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>), so was every Israelite “to let the oppressed go free:::loose the bonds”, and to “undo the bands of the [heavy] yoke” (<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a>) as Christ did (<a href='B:470 11:28-29'>Mat 11:28-29</a>); His work of deliverance is to be replicated by each of us in our witness. Whoever is in Him will by this very fact follow Him in this work. In Isaiah’s first context, the suffering servant was King Hezekiah. Yet all Israel were to see themselves as ‘in’ him, as spiritual Israel are to see themselves as in Christ. “He was oppressed”, as Israel at that time were being “oppressed” by Assyria. As they were covered in wounds and spiritual sickness (<a href='B:290 1:5-6'>Isa 1:5-6</a>), so the suffering servant bore their diseases and rose again in salvation victory.</p><p>The passage in :6-13 seems to be a reference to an insincerely kept day of atonement in Ezra or Nehemiah’s time, as well as Hezekiah’s. The Jewish nobles were oppressing the poor and thereby keeping the feast with no meaning. If they had properly kept the feast, then the promised Kingdom conditions would have burst forth to the world around them. But they were too caught up with their own self-benefit to be bothered to show true care for their brethren. If they had, then the glory of Yahweh would have entered the temple, just as Ezekiel 43 had prophesied would happen, if the Kingdom was built as commanded. Notice how <a href='B:290 60:1-3'>Isa 60:1-3</a> speaks of how Zion’s light would certainly come and give light to the world- even though the prophecy was actually conditional on Judah keeping the Sabbath and caring for their poor brethren: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee:::&nbsp; And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Nehemiah repaired the breaches, Ezra laid the foundations of the temple:::the prophecy of Isaiah 58 was fulfilled on the surface, but not in its Kingdom sense, because they failed to keep the Sabbath etc. <a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a> says that if they drew out their soul to the hungry, if they allowed themselves to feel the hunger of others, then would their light rise and their darkness be as the noonday. And thus the prophecy of <a href='B:290 60:1-2'>Isa 60:1-2</a> that Zion’s light is going to dawn was conditional upon the Jews caring for their hungry amongst them- even though in that passage, the condition isn’t directly stated. The restoration was therefore only a sham of what was possible.</p><p>There are several links between Isaiah 58 and Nehemiah 5, where we read of poor Jews who had to mortgage their vineyards and even sell their children in order to pay their debts. The “oppressed” or “broken victim” of Isaiah 58, to whom we are invited to proclaim deliverance, were therefore in the very first instance those under the throttling grip of poverty, who had become bondslaves because of their debts and now had no hope of freedom, apart from the frank forgiveness of a year of Jubilee. We take a like message to Westerners overburdened with mortgage payments, to those suffering from absolute poverty in the developing world, and to all those with a sense of debt and being trapped within their life situation. We pronounce to them a year of Jubilee, a frank forgiveness, a way of real escape and freedom.</p><h4><a href='B:290 58:7'>Isa 58:7</a> Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?- The leaders of Judah in Nehemiah’s time were abusing their brethren. Their receipt of grace should have led them be generous to their poor brethren, rather than exploiting them. And that principle is true for us; for the restoration is used in the New Testament as a type of our redemption from the Babylon of sin and this world. And yet too many like to kid themselves that their response to grace is to do the opposite; to cast out their own brethren from their houses and then ignore their need, physically and spiritually.</h4>


text:
<p>Then your light shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall be your vanguard- This is the language of the establishment of the glorious Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>; <a href='B:290 60:3'>Isa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:290 60:19-20'>Isa 60:19-20</a>). That Kingdom could have been established then, if the returned exiles had lived as they should have done; and so the prophecies have been deferrred in fulfilment until the Lord’s return. The light of Zion was Messiah; this figure could have arisen then at the restoration. But he didn’t, and the true fulfilment was in the Lord Jesus, who was the light which arose in the darkness (:10; <a href='B:470 4:16'>Mat 4:16</a>; <a href='B:490 1:79'>Luk 1:79</a>)."Healing"translates a word meaning ’restoration’; the Kingdom of God in the form of Israel’s Kingdom would have been restored. The same ideas are found in <a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a>, where again the promise is repeated, that the Messianic sun of righteousness could have arisen at the restoration with healing in His beams. But that had to be delayed in fulfilment until our last days. Judah at this time were spiritually weak;"your righteousness"doesn’t refer to their own, but to that of Messiah as"the Lord our righteousness". The Messiah figure bearing this title could have appeared at the restoration from Babylon (<a href='B:300 23:6'>Jer 23:6</a>; <a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a>; <a href='B:300 51:10'>Jer 51:10</a>). It could have come"speedily"had they heeded these prophetic words. But it didn’t, and was delayed. Yahweh’s glory is parallel with"your righteousness", and this again should be read as a Messianic title. As Paul explains in Romans, it is through faith in Jesus as Messiah and identification with Him that His righteousness becomes ours.</p>


text:
<p>Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry and He will say, ‘Here I am’. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly- The Jews complained that despite their fasting, God was not answering (:3). The answer is that they were abusing their brethren, as recorded in Nehemiah 5. They were not only enslaving their brethren literally, but by placing heavy legalistic burdens upon, putting forth the finger in accusing them of spiritual inferiority (see on :4). This doing down of our brethren is the very opposite of the response to grace and restoration which we have received in Christ. It is called here"speaking wickedly". By treating our brethren like this, we place a barrier between God and ourselves, as John’s letters also state; and our prayer experience will reflect that barrier.</p>


text:
<p>And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday- As noted on :8, Zion’s light refers to the coming of Messiah. His coming was and is dependent upon the spirituality of the Jews and their repentance. And that shall only come in the last days as a result of a tribulation and holocaust like none other in their history."Darkness"and"obscurity"are used in Isaiah to refer to Judah’s sinfulness and also their judgment for that sin. Despite all that, if they had shown love and justice to the poor, then Messiah’s light would have broken in upon that darkness.</p>


text:
<h4>And Yahweh will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones- The allusion is to how Yahweh"guided"(s:w:) Israel in the desert and satisfied them with food and water (s:w. <a href='B:20 16:8'>Exo 16:8</a>; <a href='B:20 16:12'>Exo 16:12</a>"bread to the full"), strengthening their bones for the wilderness journey. This guidance is typical of our journey after baptism towards God’s Kingdom (<a href='B:530 10:1-3'>1Co 10:1-3</a>). But our experience of that guidance will in fact be eternal [the idea behind"continually"]. The kind of Divinely guided life we experience now shall eternally continue. If they satisfied the soul of others in need (:10 s:w:) then their soul would be eternally satisfied. There is an absolutely direct connection between what we do for others now, and what God shall do for us eternally. This is not to say that salvation itself is upon the basis of works- for it is by grace alone. Yet it is also true that how we live now shall be reflected eternally in the nature of our eternal existence. At the time of the restoration, the Jews were not satisfied (<a href='B:440 1:6'>Hag 1:6</a> s:w:) despite all their efforts to achieve self-satisfaction. And lack of satisfaction was part of the repeated experience of an Israel who put their own pleasure first (<a href='B:30 26:26'>Lev 26:26</a>; <a href='B:230 59:15'>Psa 59:15</a>; <a href='B:250 1:8'>Ecc 1:8</a>; <a href='B:250 4:8'>Ecc 4:8</a>; <a href='B:250 5:10'>Ecc 5:10</a>; <a href='B:250 6:3'>Ecc 6:3</a>; <a href='B:290 9:20'>Isa 9:20</a>; <a href='B:330 16:28'>Eze 16:28</a>; <a href='B:350 4:10'>Hos 4:10</a>; <a href='B:400 6:14'>Mic 6:14</a>). Yet the righteous are often described as being satisfied both in this life and in the restored Kingdom; David and the righteous died"full"or satisfied (s:w:) with their days (<a href='B:130 23:1'>1Ch 23:1</a>). We see evidence of this all around us; those who make their own satisfaction their priority live unsatisfied lives.</h4><p>And you shall be like a watered garden- This is exactly the language of <a href='B:300 31:12'>Jer 31:12</a> about the restored Kingdom; it really was possible at the time of the restoration. Eden could have been restored.</p><h4>And like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail- If they did all these things of :6-13, there would be no drought; but Malachi records how there was drought, because they had not fulfilled these conditions. And so the promises were reapplied and rescheduled. Therefore the Lord promises believers even now this experience of being like an ever bubbling spring, through the experience of the Holy Spirit gift (<a href='B:500 4:14'>Joh 4:14</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38-39'>Joh 7:38-39</a>). It’s a case of now but not yet. We can begin to experience now the kind of life we shall eternally have in the Kingdom; in this sense, in the language of John’s Gospel, we have eternal life now.</h4>


text:
<h4>Those who shall be of you- These words are inserted by the translaters. Literally,"Of you::."; the reference could be to an individual, not the nation.</h4><p>Shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations- This all alludes to <a href='B:160 13:22'>Neh 13:22</a>. The restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah could have been far more glorious. There was an external appearance of rebuilding, but actually the Kingdom of God was not restored in Israel because the people simply didn’t want it. This is why some rejoiced but others wept when the temple was dedicated; those who wept did so because they realized that this was not in fact the temple of the restoration prophecies.</p><p>And you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in- <a href='B:160 6:1'>Neh 6:1</a> says that there was no breach [s:w:] in the walls. But that was only external. The restoration prophets use this word to describe the breach between God and Israel which was not filled at that time because the potential Messiah figures didn’t or couldn’t do so (<a href='B:290 30:13'>Isa 30:13</a>; <a href='B:330 13:5'>Eze 13:5</a>; <a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a>), failing to be the prophet like unto Moses who did stand in that breach (<a href='B:230 106:23'>Psa 106:23</a> s:w:). <a href='B:370 9:11'>Amo 9:11</a> speaks of the possibility of reviving the tabernacle of David that had fallen, and closing up the breach at the same time as the ruins were revived. But this didn’t happen; for this prophecy was to have its fulfilment in the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:510 15:16'>Act 15:16</a>).</p><p><a href='B:290 58:13'>Isa 58:13</a> If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of Yahweh honourable; and shall honour it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words- Judah abused the Sabbath, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, wishing to trade with the Gentiles on that day; <a href='B:370 8:5'>Amo 8:5</a> speaks of their longing for the Sabbath to end that they might get on with their trading. The Sabbath was intended to be a time when Israel would hear God’s words and not speak their own words; to stop talking, and listen. We too can in essence make that same mistake, going through the motions of religion when our hearts are set upon our next social or business meeting. We should"delight"in God’s ways; and if we do, then we shall eternally delight ourselves in them (:14). We can begin to live the Kingdom life now. For throughout our eternity, the ways and things of God shall be our eternal focus. And they ought to be now as far as possible. In this sense, we can live the eternal life now.</p>


text:
<h4>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 fulfil the Messianic prophecies about them which existed.</h4><p>Isaiah repeatedly stated that the surrounding nation would come to Zion and share in her joy. <a href='B:20 23:12'>Exo 23:12</a> had commanded that the Gentile who lived with Israel must keep the Sabbath. If the Jews had not done their pleasure on the Sabbath, then the Messianic Kingdom could have come (<a href='B:290 58:13-14'>Isa 58:13-14</a>). But instead the Gentiles who lived around Jerusalem traded with the Jews on the Sabbath (<a href='B:160 13:16'>Neh 13:16</a> RSV), they intermarried, and Israel / Zion was not a city set on a hill to enlighten the surrounding world; because they preferred to be influenced by the world around them, rather than vice versa.</p><h4>The Sabbath was a release from the everyday things of life, the need to search for food (in the wilderness years), to work, from doing one’s own pleasure and speaking words which relate to one’s own earthly desires (<a href='B:290 58:13-14'>Isa 58:13-14</a>). It is therefore fitting that in our present experience of life, these necessary daily things will not obsess us; and if we may be made free from them, we will" use it rather". Sodom was condemned for this revelling in the legitimate daily activities of life- attending and organizing weddings, eating, drinking::. So let’s drive away our nervousness at the idea of serious commitment; we are a priesthood, the centre of our lives is the service of God, His tabernacle is what we camp around by night and carry by day.</h4>


text:
<h4>Then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh- This describes how eternally, in the restored Kingdom of God, we will ’delight outselves’ in Yahweh; and yet we can do this now. For the same word is used of how He should be our delight now. <a href='B:230 37:4'>Psa 37:4</a>; <a href='B:230 37:11'>Psa 37:11</a> make the same point- we are to delight in Him now, so that we shall eternally do so. We are to live the Kingdom life now. If the things of God are to be our eternal delight, they should be now. The things of the Kingdom are not to be a mere hobby or occasional interest for a few hours / week, but the delight of our souls in every way, reflected in our attitudes to everything in our lives.</h4><p>And I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth- To ride on high places could mean to bask in triumph and victory. The earth / eretz / land promised to Abraham [the common reference of eretz] was not fully under Jewish control when they returned from the captivity in Babylon. But it could have been. And the"high places"of the land of course recall the places of idolatry. They could have triumphed over all their historical sins and temptations.</p><p>And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father-"Jacob"rather than the other patriarchs is repeatedly mentioned in the restoration prophecies because he was clearly the weakest in spiritual terms, and yet from that weakness was led to great heights, had righteousness imputed to him, and was restored to the land of promise by God’s grace. He therefore became an appropriate pattern for the returned exiles. The Hebrew translated"feed"also means"to eat"; this word is so commonly used about Jacob ’eating’ at various points in his life when covenant relationship was being celebrated and ratified. The list is impressive: <a href='B:10 25:34'>Gen 25:34</a>; <a href='B:10 27:19'>Gen 27:19</a>; <a href='B:10 28:20'>Gen 28:20</a>; Gen 3146; <a href='B:10 31:54'>Gen 31:54</a>. The idea would be that the covenant with the patriarchs could have come true to that generation, if they followed the path of Jacob. And as Jeremiah 31 emphasizes, the promises to the patriarchs were in fact the new covenant which we too share in.</p><h4>For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it- It was spoke just as that same mouth had stated that within 40 days, Nineveh would be destroyed. But God can change and adjust His stated purpose in accordance with human repentance and response, or lack thereof.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened that it can’t save; neither His ear heavy, that it can’t hear- The context is that although their ears were"heavy", God’s ears were not heavy to them, if they would pray in repentance (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:10'>Isa 6:10</a>). Again Isaiah is answering all the possible excuses given by the exiles for not repenting and returning to the land. In <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a> the idea of Yahweh’s hand being shortened is used as an excuse not to respond to God’s call to quit Babylon for Zion. The idea was that His ability to act, His hand, was somehow limited or ’reaped down’. They assumed the fact they had been reaped in the harvest of judgment meant that their God had been (<a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:300 9:22'>Jer 9:22</a>; <a href='B:350 8:7'>Hos 8:7</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13'>Hos 10:13</a>). They simply refused to accept the repeated prophetic message that it was the God of Israel who brought judgment upon Israel. They treated Him as the surrounding peoples treated their gods- always saving them in trouble, and if they didn’t, then the god had died with them.</p>


text:
<h4>But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear- God’s apparent silence and inaction was not because His hand was shortened, i:e. He was unable to act or limited in possibility. The limitation of possibility was because of their sins. His ear was not intrinsically deaf (:1), instead He would not hear because of their sins at the same time as their prayers. Their prayers were"hindered"in the sense of <a href='B:670 3:7'>1Pe 3:7</a>.</h4><h4><a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would"see"the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face fromZion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me::. and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness- The lies spoken may well have been to God, in dishonestly proclaiming they were His covenant people when instead they were involved in child sacrifice and perhaps other murders related to their idolatry. Their defilement with blood meant they were ritually unclean, and this unable to serve Him. In the same breath as they proclaimed His covenant, they were muttering words of wickedness.</p>


text:
<h4>None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth- AV"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth". The prophetic intention was that Zion would be ’called’ the city of"righteousness"(<a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a> s:w:). But the individual Jews were not interested in appealing for justice and truth. The day when the earth would be governed in"righteousness and::. truth"was not going to come whilst Judah themselves didn’t love the things of the Kingdom and refused to live the Kingdom life themselves (s:w. <a href='B:230 96:13'>Psa 96:13</a>). It was Messiah who was to be girded with"righteousness and::. truth"(s:w. <a href='B:290 11:5'>Isa 11:5</a>). But not one candidate of the various potentials had acted like this. The prophecies were therefore reapplied and deferred to the Lord Jesus.</h4><p>They trust in vanity, and speak lies-"Vanity"is the usual term for idols. Idolatry is a worship of nothingness, and again this is the essence of so much in the empty, contentless world of today. This is the modern day idolatry. And it is manifest in ’speaking lies’. A lack of attention to truth and disinterest in truth and ultimate reality leads to personal dishonesty, a speaking of lies.</p><p>They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity- There is a theme in Isaiah of conceiving, suffering pain in labour- but bringing forth in vain (<a href='B:290 26:18'>Isa 26:18</a>; <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>; <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>):&nbsp; And so did Hezekiah, in that he and his children turned away from true faith (<a href='B:290 39:7'>Isa 39:7</a>). In Isaiah’s immediate context, the application would have been to the sense that the remnant had come to the birth but there was not strength to bring forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>); apart from a few individuals, there was no bringing forth of a significant repentant remnant who would be the basis for the restored Kingdom. It felt like they were still under the curse of bringing forth in pain but in vain. The pain in vain at the time of the Assyrian invasion led to Micah offering a reworked version of all this; they were to be in pain at the hands of the Babylonians, but would bring forth in Babylon in that they would there repent, and the spiritually reborn remnant would emerge and their captors therefore judged (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). But that possibility also didn’t work out:&nbsp; And so this idea of bringing forth but not in vain, but rather finding meaning in the resurrection of Messiah and all in Him, came to be reapplied to the birth of the Lord Jesus from the grave in resurrection; and it would characterize the establishment of the Kingdom age in Zion (<a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>).</p><h4>These words are quoted in Romans 3. Eliphaz thought there were only a few very sinful people in the world (<a href='B:220 15:35'>Job 15:35</a>); but His words are quoted by the Spirit in <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a> concerning the whole nation of Israel; and this whole passage in <a href='B:290 59:4-8'>Isa 59:4-8</a> in turn is quoted in <a href='B:520 3:15-17'>Rom 3:15-17</a> concerning the whole human race. This same path of progressive realization of our sinfulness must be trodden by each faithful individual, as well as on a communal level.</h4>


text:
<p>They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper- GNB"The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake!". The people in view appear to be teachers or leaders, because they have people who as it were eat their eggs.</p>


text:
<p>Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands- GNB"But your plots will do you no good—they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!". Their acts of violence would not ultimately be covered before God by carefully spun webs of excuses and self justification.</p>


text:
<p>Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths- See on :4. This is quoting <a href='B:240 1:16'>Pro 1:16</a>. Again we note the parallel between thoughts and paths; the path of a man’s life is a reflection of his thoughts. And our thought patterns are the absolutely essential core of all spirituality and relationship with God. There is clearly the accusation that the restored exiles were guilty of plotting murder, and they did shed innocent blood. The reference may not be solely to child sacrifices, and the sacrifice of other vulnerable individuals; but to actual plans to kill the prophets such as Isaiah.</p>


text:
<p>The way of peace they don’t know; there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace- These people were false teachers, because they had others who would walk in their ways; hence GNB"no one who walks that path will ever be safe". The leadership of the exiles was deeply corrupt, as we find implied between the lines of Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi.</p>


text:
<p>Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us: we look for light, but behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity- The hope of Zion’s light and the brightness of her Kingdom morning was precluded by the behaviour of the Jews and their idolatry. The restored Kingdom could have come then, but it didn’t- because of them. So much potential was wasted; and :11 also laments this. But we can also read this as not just Isaiah’s lament that the window of deliverance had been removed from them; but also as the cynical words of the exiles. Passages like Ezekiel 18 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 Yahweh having enabled their exit from Babylon, they complained: “Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us” (<a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a>). This was an awful spurning of the great salvation enabled for them. They remonstrated against God’s message of deliverance from captivity: “Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?” (<a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>). 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 (<a href='B:290 52:7-10'>Isa 52:7-10</a> = <a href='B:480 1:15'>Mar 1:15</a>; <a href='B:470 10:7-8'>Mat 10:7-8</a>; <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>; <a href='B:560 6:15'>Eph 6:15</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> = <a href='B:490 4:16-21'>Luk 4:16-21</a>). 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 (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men- Darkness at noon was what happened at the crucifixion; this was the judgment upon Israel for their attitudes, because the killing of their own King and Messiah was the ultimate climax and final term of all their sinful behaviour. The apostate Jews have been condemned earlier in this chapter; the words we now are reading in :9-14 are now as it were spoken by them. Perhaps they are an imagination of the kinds of words these people would speak and the feelings they would feel in their day of final condemnation; recognizing in every detail their sins, but tragically too late. The time for such confession is now. All their human strength, appearing as"lusty", was now as death itself. Their stumbling at noonday was the curse for disobedience to the covenant (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:37'>Lev 26:37</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>We roar all like bears, and moan bitterly like doves- Perhaps suggesting both men and women were in lamentation. This is the weeping and gnashing of teeth of the condemned, roaring like the waves who cannot pass over the bound set for them at the beach (s:w. <a href='B:300 5:22'>Jer 5:22</a>), unable to enter the kingdom. One moment they will be roaring, the next moaning quietly; the same word is used of how they had muttered or uttered false words (:13). By doing so, they were living out their own condemnation.</h4><h4>We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us- The salvation and justice of the restored Kingdom was precluded by the behaviour of the Jews and their idolatry. The reestablished Kingdom could have come then, but it didn’t- because of them. So much potential was wasted; and :9 also laments this. But this is also the picture of the condemned Jews at the last day, desperately wanting salvation, but finding it now too far from them.</h4>


text:
<p>For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them- The confession of sin in :12-15 was perhaps God’s fantasy about His people’s repentance, the kind of thing we see in Hosea’s fantasy about Gomer’s return to him. Or it could have been Isaiah’s pro forma expression of repentance which he intended Judah to make. Or as suggested previously on these verses, this is the recognition of sin by the condemned but all too late. They realize all too late that their sins have not been taken away from them, for they had refused the sin bearer. Their own sins testified at the day of judgment"before You"and called for their own condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood- We see the common Biblical parallel between thoughts and words; hence GNB"Our thoughts are false; our words are lies"."Uttering"is the word used in :11 for how the condemned will mutter or moan in condemnation; but by muttering false words in their hearts, they were living out their own condemnation experience.</p>


text:
<h4>Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off- This contrasts with the frequent statements that Yahweh’s truth righteousness was"near"in the sense that His restored Kingdom could so soon have been established. But now it was far away, because the window of opportunity was now closed because of their impenitence. Thus GNB"Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near".</h4><h4>For truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter- As just noted, the righteousness which was to enter Zion by the highway prepared in Isaiah 40 was not going to enter. There was an open, public, unashamed rejection of God’s"truth", His covenant. GNB"Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there". The street or square may refer to the place of judgment, the law court. The injustice there meant that the Kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:450 8:16'>Zec 8:16</a> was disallowed of fulfilment.</h4>


text:
<h4>Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey- LXX"And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside their mind from understanding". Those who ’don’t understand’ do so not simply because of intellectual failure, but because they do not want to understand."He who departs from evil"is the term used about Job (s:w. Job 18; <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>); and he too became a"prey"to evil. Job represents not only the exiles, but the righteous remnant amongst them who departed from evil but suffered all the same.</h4><p>Yahweh saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice- The lack of justice and honesty might seem relatively small issues compared to the murder and gross idolatry mentioned as going on at the time. But the prophets often make clear that it is attitudes to justice which reflect the essence of a person’s spirituality.</p><p>In the Lord Jesus we see a heart that more than bled for the salvation of others. He didn’t live out His perfect life in isolation from others, withdrawn from society, insulated from the world’s pain. <a href='B:290 59:15-20'>Isa 59:15-20</a> speaks of how He came to perceive that really there was nobody apart from Him who could bring about such great salvation to the world:"And the Lord saw it, and it displeased [s:w. grieved] him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke". So many of these phrases and ideas are picked up in the New Testament and applied to the Lord Jesus in His time of dying. It was His grief that inspired Him.</p><h4>Scripture repeatedly speaks as if God notices things and is then hurt by what He sees (<a href='B:390 3:10'>Jon 3:10</a>; <a href='B:10 29:31'>Gen 29:31</a>; <a href='B:20 3:4'>Exo 3:4</a>; <a href='B:50 32:19'>Deu 32:19</a>; <a href='B:120 14:26'>2Ki 14:26</a>; <a href='B:140 12:7'>2Ch 12:7</a>; <a href='B:330 23:13'>Eze 23:13</a>; <a href='B:290 59:15'>Isa 59:15</a> cp. <a href='B:490 7:13'>Luk 7:13</a>). If He knew in advance what they were going to do, this language is hard for me to understand. But God is therefore hurt and ’surprised’ at sin- He saw Israel as the firstripe grapes, but they were worshipping Baal even then (<a href='B:350 9:9'>Hos 9:9</a>). Thus God can allow Himself to feel an element of surprise- and this was a shock to Jeremiah, who queried:"Why are You like a man who is caught by surprise:::?"(<a href='B:300 14:9'>Jer 14:9</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor- None of the potential Messiah figures worked out; and it seems about nobody responded to the prophetic call for the exiles to repent. God was ’desolated’ ["wondered"]about this, so great were His hopes for some response. And yet God wished to try to save them anyway by His dramatic intervention, which was to come to full term in the person and work of His own son. LXX suggests this was by His pure mercy and grace alone:"so he defended them with his arm, and stablished them with his mercy".</h4><h4>Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness, it upheld Him- see on <a href='B:20 2:11-12'>Exo 2:11-12</a>. The arm of Yahweh, the practical articulation of His power, is ultimately the Lord Jesus. &nbsp;God sent His prophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son. There is a clear parallel between <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> and <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a>. The same words are used, but there is one difference. In <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>,"His righteousness, it upheld Him", but in <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> it was God’s fury which upheld / sustained Him. The Messianic arm of Yahweh which brought salvation did so only because as Son of Man, the Lord Jesus is the only human who can rightly judge sin on behalf ofGod’s anger. His necessary anger / wrath in judging sin is therefore part of the wider nexus of the absolutely legitimate salvation He achieved through the Lord Jesus.</h4>


text:
<p>He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle- Yahweh’s arm which was to bring salvation (:16) required that the saviour referred to act as a high priest; hence the usage of priestly language here for the breastplate:; indeed all the items of clothing here are described with words which are found in the description of the high priestly clothing in Exodus 28. The"garments"are s:w. <a href='B:20 28:3-4'>Exo 28:3-4</a>. The"helmet"alludes therefore to the high priestly mitre; the"mantle"to the priestly"robe"(s:w:) of <a href='B:20 28:4'>Exo 28:4</a>; <a href='B:20 28:31'>Exo 28:31</a> etc. And yet the suffering servant had been named"Israel, he was representative of all God’s people. And so these words are applied to us, in that we are "in Christ" and all that is true of Him is true of us- even His High Priestly work for sinners. Thus Paul’s description of the warrior of the Gospel in Ephesians 6 composites together various descriptions of Messiah’s clothing in the servant songs (<a href='B:290 11:5'>Isa 11:5</a> = “loins girded with truth”; <a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a> “mouth like a sharp sword”; <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> “bring good tidings / publish salvation” = “the preparation of the Gospel of peace”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “breastplate of righteousness”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “helmet of salvation”). We are to be Christ to the world.</p>


text:
<p>According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense- The adversaries and enemies of God’s people are the enemies of God Himself and His Son. The salvation to be achieved by Yahweh’s arm, His Son (:16,17) required the judgment of sin. Clothed as it were in high priestly clothing (:17), the priest-king-saviour will finally do justice- at the day of judgment. Their judgment will be according to what they did (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:290 65:6'>Isa 65:6</a>); although <a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a> says that some will be recompensed double. By contrast, the exiles were not receiving punishment according as their deeds deserved, but less (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). These different degrees of recompense suggest that Divine judgment is far more complex than a simple ’measure for measure’. The greater complexity is because He weighs motives and inflexions of meaning attached to actions which all require different judgments. And then on top of that, there is the credit He gives for forgiveness, and for the prayers and faith of others influencing the final outcome of judgment in any given case.</p>


text:
<h4>So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun- The judgments upon the surrounding nations were intended to bring forth repentance and acceptance of Israel’s God, from east to west.</h4><h4>For He will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh drives- AV "the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him". This elsewhere refers to the pole lifted up, the Lord Jesus, lifted up as crucified as the rallying point of faith in the midst of the stream of Divine judgments.</h4>


text:
<h4>A Redeemer- "A redeemer" [although the text is unclear] rather than "the redeemer" could suggest there were other potential redeemers which could have arisen before the Lord Jesus came. As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). 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…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). 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</h4><p>Will come to Zion- No redeemer came to Zion as planned because the Jewish lack of repentance precluded it. So under inspiration, Paul changes this to "the redeemer shall come out of Zion" (<a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>), thereby combining the sense with that of <a href='B:230 14:7'>Psa 14:7</a>.</p><h4>And to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob, says Yahweh- &nbsp;The LXX and <a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a> have "shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob". The ambiguity is because man’s turning away from sin is also a gift from God, in this case that requested in <a href='B:310 5:2'>Lam 5:2</a>. Repentance and not just forgiveness is given from God; this is His grace to the extreme. Those who turn from sin are turned from sin by the Lord. The blessing promised to Abraham was not only forgiveness of sins, but that the Lord Jesus would turn away Abraham’s seed from their iniquities (<a href='B:510 3:26'>Act 3:26</a>). Yet we only become Abraham’s seed by repentance and baptism. Our repentance and desire not to sin is therefore confirmed after our baptism. Paul’s citation of this is deliberately altered to teach the truth that the majority of Israel will not turn before He comes. To them He will come and turn ungodliness away from them (<a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>). But Israelite repentance is a condition for the Lord’s return.</h4>


text:
<h4>As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Yahweh. My Spirit which is on you, and My words which I have put in your mouth- This would be achieved if they accepted the Spirit, part of the package offered in the new covenant. His words would be written in their hearts too. Having Divine words put in the mouth meant they were to be as Aaron and Moses before Pharaoh (s:w. <a href='B:20 4:15'>Exo 4:15</a>); for it was also Moses who was covered in the shadow of Yahweh’s hand as He passed by in the parallel passage in <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a>. Remember that they were bidden flee Babylon before she fell to the Medes. The servant figure need not have feared the king of Babylon, he was intended to go to him and plead as Moses "let My people go". But the exiles feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom they thought would not allow their restoration; see on <a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked.</h4><p>Shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says Yahweh- The promise of the new covenant and the associated gift of the Spirit was that if they said "yes" to it, then they would be preserved eternally faithful. For the Messianic Kingdom would then begin. A connection between Joshua and Israel is developed here, which describes the new covenant which God will make with Israel in the Messianic Kingdom in terms evidently reminiscent of Joshua- as if the new covenant was made with him, thereby enabling him potentially to be part of a Messianic Kingdom even in his day:&nbsp; “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: my Spirit that is upon thee [“Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him” <a href='B:50 34:9'>Deu 34:9</a>; <a href='B:40 27:18-23'>Num 27:18-23</a>] , and my words which I have put in thy mouth [<a href='B:50 18:18'>Deu 18:18</a> - God’s words were put in Joshua’s mouth], shall not depart out of thy mouth [“this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth”, <a href='B:60 1:8'>Jos 1:8</a>, s:w:], nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever”:&nbsp; See on <a href='B:60 1:6'>Jos 1:6</a>. But these things were to come true in the greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>From henceforth and forever- The Spirit would abide in them for ever. In other words, the sense of Spiritual strength from God which Israel will have will not just diminish into nothing, it will not just fade away. I think this is one of the saddest aspects of our present spiritual experience. You see a keen young brother emerge from the waters of baptism, entering the new covenant, throw himself into the study and preaching of the word, he grows spiritually::. and then he slips, slips and slips, until he slides down the slippery path into the world. We go to a Bible study, a Bible conference, we read the word of the new covenant together in intense fellowship. And then it all slips away, we lose the reality of our calling, we’re strong for the next day, perhaps the day after, and then back to base level. But then we will spiritually run and not faint, walk in the new and living way and not be weary. This is surely one of the most wonderful aspects of the Kingdom life; constant growth, no regrets, no looking back over our shoulder, no sense of spiritual anti-climax. No more fading away spiritually, instead the energy of constant growth.</h4>


text:
<h4>Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen upon you- Even before the exile, Israel and Judah had been invited to perceive that light, hence <a href='B:290 9:2'>Isa 9:2</a> LXX "O people walking in darkness, behold a great light". But they didn’t. And so the returned exiles, "Zion", are asked at a later stage to arise and shine because their light had come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). But again they didn’t, and so these prophecies of a light coming are reapplied to the Lord Jesus, who was perceived by a new Zion as the light of the world. I explained on <a href='B:290 30:26'>Isa 30:26</a> how the coming of Zion’s supernaturally bright light is to come therefore when Babylon falls; and this has therefore been deferred to the latter day fall of Babylon.</h4><p>"Arise" is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to "Arise::. Jerusalem!" (<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form ofYahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival.</p><p>Zion’s light would certainly come and give light to the world- even though the fulfilment of the prophecy at the restoration from Babylon was actually conditional on Judah keeping the Sabbath and caring for their poor brethren: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee:::&nbsp; And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Nehemiah repaired the breaches, Ezra laid the foundations of the temple:::the prophecy of Isaiah 58 was fulfilled on the surface, but not in its Kingdom sense, because they failed to keep the Sabbath etc. <a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a> says that if they drew out their soul to the hungry, if they allowed themselves to feel the hunger of others, then would their light rise and their darkness be as the noonday. And thus the prophecy of <a href='B:290 60:1-2'>Isa 60:1-2</a> that Zion’s light is going to dawn was conditional upon the Jews caring for their hungry amongst them- even though in that passage, the condition isn’t directly stated. The restoration was therefore only a sham of what was possible.</p><p>Let’s remember that the exiles were symbols of us. We in this life are passing through “the time of our exile” (<a href='B:670 1:17'>1Pe 1:17</a> RSV). The restoration command to the exiles in Babylon to arise and shine, as their light had come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>) went unheeded by them; they preferred to stay in Babylon. And so this is reapplied to us as the new Israel in <a href='B:560 5:14'>Eph 5:14</a>.</p><h4>The LXX suggests that the coming of this light of Zion depended upon their being willing to accept it: "Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come".</h4>


text:
<p>For behold, darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you- The darkness contrasts with the light which dawns mentally, internally, in minds which have desired to be enlightened (:1 LXX). Darkness covering the earth is the language of Genesis 1; we as the readers / audience are left in expectation of a new creation being spoken about. But we are also given the impression that Israel was being treated as Egypt whom they trusted in, suffering the plague of darkness. But ’covering with darkness’ is a phrase only used elsewhere of death (<a href='B:220 23:17'>Job 23:17</a>; <a href='B:250 6:4'>Ecc 6:4</a>). It was through death and judgment that the new life and creation could come forth. The land, of Israel, and "the peoples" (Gentiles) are paralleled here; for it was the Divine intention that the judgments upon the surrounding world would also be those upon Israel, and yet out of that was to emerge a repentant remnant of Jews and Gentiles who would merge into a new multiethnic people of God in the day when Yahweh would arise in glory. In a literal sense there was to be the light of God’s glory in Zion when He personally dwelt there.</p>


text:
<p>Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising- <a href='B:290 60:1-3'>Isa 60:1-3</a> reasons that Zion’s light was soon to come, but Judah were to reflect that light as if it had already come; in the same way as God’s light was to rise, so Judah were to arise as if they were that light. The message is that they were to believe that the Messianic light of the world was to arise soon, and were to act as if that time had already come; they were called to live the Kingdom now life, to showcase God’s Kingdom to the world. In this sense, Zion’s sons are described as coming from all parts of their dispersion and being about to come to Zion; and yet they are described as having already "come" (<a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>). The mixing of the tenses, present and future, is to suggest that they were to believe that this would happen and to act now as if it was already happening. "You shall see and be lightened" (<a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a> RV)- and yet they were to act as if their light had in fact already come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). Yet Judah sadly didn’t believe that the restoration prophecies would come to pass, and so they didn’t act as if they would come true. Instead of being a light to the world, they accepted the Gentile darkness instead of God’s light. Mazdak, the Persian god of light, effectively became their god, instead of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h4>Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you- The ’coming / assembling’ and ’drawing near / gathering’ of the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in <a href='B:160 1:9'>Neh 1:9</a>). 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 (<a href='B:290 45:20'>Isa 45:20</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:13'>Eze 34:13</a>; <a href='B:330 36:24'>Eze 36:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:21'>Eze 37:21</a>; <a href='B:450 10:10'>Zec 10:10</a>). See on <a href='B:290 56:8'>Isa 56:8</a>. 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.</h4><h4>Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms- See on :3:&nbsp; The LXX suggests it would be as a result of the children born in exile returning along with the repentant Gentiles of the lands of their captivities: "lift up thine eyes round about, and behold thy children gathered: all thy sons have come from far, and thy daughters shall be borne on men’s shoulders". This is a commonly expressed prophetic vision. It didn’t however come about, and the essence of it has therefore been delayed and reapplied. The later feeding miracle occurred on the other side of Galilee to Magdala (<a href='B:470 15:39'>Mat 15:39</a>), suggesting the miracle occurred in Gentile territory, with people present from "far off" (<a href='B:480 8:3'>Mar 8:3</a>; hence the guests "glorified the God of Israel", <a href='B:470 15:31'>Mat 15:31</a>). Surely there were Gentiles present at that meal, and the LXX uses this phrase to speak of how Gentiles from "far off" would come and sit down at the Messianic banquet of the last days (<a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>; <a href='B:300 46:27'>Jer 46:27</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you- "You shall see and be lightened" (<a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a> RV). See on :3:&nbsp; "Turned" is AV "converted", suggesting there would be repentance amongst the nations of their captivity; see on :4. The nations around Israel were to repent and bring their presents to them. This began to happen after the destruction of the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time, but he entered into covenant with the Gentiles rather than bringing them to the God of Israel, the light of Zion. Perhaps Nehemiah was some kind of potential Messiah- for in <a href='B:160 5:17'>Neh 5:17</a> the surrounding Gentiles ‘came up’ to him and shared in the luxurious temple meals (a common Kingdom prophecy- the same Hebrew words are used for the Gentiles ‘coming up’ to the temple in <a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a>; <a href='B:290 60:11'>Isa 60:11</a>; Jer 1619; <a href='B:440 2:7'>Hag 2:7</a>; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>). Those meals could have been the Messianic banquets. But finally at the last day, all these prophecies shall be fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus, despite all the previous failures in fulfilment.</p>


text:
<p>The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Yahweh- The gold and frankincense brought from the east recalls the gifts of the wise men to the infant Jesus. The conversion of the Gentiles [proclaiming the praise of Yahweh] which was possible at the restoration didn’t happen, and so it was reapplied and reinterpreted. They would proclaim Yahweh’s praise just as the Israelites themselves would (<a href='B:290 63:7'>Isa 63:7</a>) because the Gentiles would now identify themselves with the Israelites in forming the new multiethnic people of God which was to be formed on the basis of repentance and acceptance of the new covenant.</p>


text:
<h4>All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you- Kedar and Nebaioth were sons of Ishmael. The idea may be that finally the Jew - Arab conflict within the family of Abraham is resolved, and they too come to offer sacrifice to Israel’s God.</h4><h4>They shall come up with acceptance on My altar; and I will glorify the house of My glory- <a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a> prophesied that God would “glorify the house of my glory”, LXX "my house of prayer shall be glorified". But this was in fact a conditional prophecy, capable of fulfilment through the freewill efforts of the returning exiles. For they were empowered by Artaxerxes “to beautify [s:w. “glorify”] the house of the Lord” (<a href='B:150 7:27'>Ezr 7:27</a>). All their efforts to glorify / beautify the house, therefore, would have had God’s special and powerful blessing behind them. But was the house ultimately glorified? No- for Israel would not. They got sidetracked by beautifying their own homes, building “cieled houses” for themselves (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>). The word for “cieled” occurs in <a href='B:110 6:9'>1Ki 6:9</a>; <a href='B:110 7:3'>1Ki 7:3</a>; <a href='B:110 7:7'>1Ki 7:7</a> to describe the roofing of the first temple- which they were to be rebuilding, rather than building their own houses. The glory would have entered the house of God’s glory as it did at the inauguration of the first temple (<a href='B:140 7:1-3'>2Ch 7:1-3</a>). Ezekiel prophesied that ultimately the glory would fill the temple as it had done then (<a href='B:330 43:4-5'>Eze 43:4-5</a>). But God’s prophesy of this in <a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a>, that He would glorify His house, meant that He was prepared to work through men to glorify it. The fulfilment of Ezekiel’s vision of the cloud of glory entering the temple again could have been fulfilled if the exiles had done what Artaxerxes empowered them to do- to glorify the house of glory. And so the fulfilment was delayed. The glory of the temple the exiles built was tragically less than the glory of the first temple; and so it would only be in the last day of Messiah’s second coming that the house shall truly be filled with glory (<a href='B:440 2:3'>Hag 2:3</a>; <a href='B:440 2:7'>Hag 2:7</a>; <a href='B:440 2:9'>Hag 2:9</a>). And the lesson ought to be clear for us, in the various projects and callings of our lives: it becomes crucial for us to discern God’s specific purposes for us, and insofar as we follow His leading, we will feel a blessing and power which is clearly Divine:&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<p>Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?- The reference is to the exiles returning to Judah along with the repentant Gentiles. LXX "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with young ones to me?"; GNB "What are these ships that skim along like clouds, Like doves returning home?". Perhaps in view is the dove returning to Noah’s window once the flood of Divine judgment receded.</p>


text:
<h4>Surely the islands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far- No specific location may be in view, as "ships of Tarshish" was a phrase used like "an Indiaman" was once used to refer to a long distance trading vessel. Thus GNB "They are ships coming from distant lands, bringing God’s people home". The text can also read "the ships of Tarshish as at the first", referring to how they brought gold and silver in the days of Solomon and the earlier kingdom of God which was now to be restored. There is another such allusion to Solomon’s times in :13.</h4><h4>Their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you- The Gentiles will be converted because of how God had saved and glorified His sinful people; for these Gentiles had been host nations for the Jewish exiles and were well aware of their sins. It is God’s grace to sinners which is observed by others and causes them to turn to Him- and this is always the most powerful tool in the work of conversion, rather than advertising theological, abstract truths and expecting the general public to fall down in amazement before them.</h4>


text:
<h4>Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you- It could be that their refusal of Gentile help to build the temple, insisting that only Jews work in it (<a href='B:150 4:3'>Ezr 4:3</a> cp. <a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a>), was actually going too far; by being so exclusive, they were disallowing the fulfilment of the prophecies both in Zechariah 6 and in Isaiah, that Gentiles would help in the final rebuilding of Zion. As with some of us, their quite correct refusal to allow “the adversaries of Judah” (<a href='B:150 4:1'>Ezr 4:1</a>) to fellowship with us in the work can lead us to an exclusive approach to fellowship, that actually disallows the essentially outgoing and inclusive spirit of the God we serve. The Jews returned from Babylonian having swung to the opposite extreme from their earlier worldliness; they returned proud and refusing contact with the Gentile world, considering themselves saved by their own strength. And this is perhaps reflected in the way they refused on principle to allow any Gentiles to help them in the building work. <a href='B:290 60:10-11'>Isa 60:10-11</a> had foretold: “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee [as in the decree of Cyrus]:::Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night”; and them as Ezekiel 43 had also described, “I will glorify the house of my glory” (<a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a>).</h4><p>The reality was that the walls were built from a motive not of glorifying Zion in fulfilment of prophecy, but for defence against the Gentiles:&nbsp; But the gates had to be shut to keep the Gentiles out (<a href='B:160 13:19'>Neh 13:19</a>), lest they yet further corrupted the Jews who were eager to trade with them on the Sabbath rather than convert them to the God of Israel. Instead of bringing their goods through the gates to lay before Yahweh, they brought in their goods to sell to His people in trade. But returned Judah didn’t act as a nation of priests, the food the Gentiles brought in to Zion was to be sold for profit to the Jews. They failed to be a missionary nation, and rather were mere trading / economic partners on an equal footing [cp. the church today?]. The prophecy that the gates would be always open will now only come true in the future Kingdom of God on earth (<a href='B:730 21:25-26'>Rev 21:25-26</a>).</p><h4>For in My wrath I struck you, but in My grace have I had mercy on you- As explained on :9, the Gentiles will be converted because ["for in My wrath::."] of how God had saved and glorified His sinful, condemned people by grace; for these Gentiles had been host nations for the Jewish exiles and were well aware of their sins. It is God’s grace to sinners which is observed by others and causes them to turn to Him- and this is always the most powerful tool in the work of conversion, rather than advertising theological, abstract truths and expecting the general public to fall down in amazement before them.</h4>


text:
<p>Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive- AV "Therefore your gates::.". The “therefore” connects with the preceding verse, as if the gates would always be open in order to constantly welcome repentant Gentiles:&nbsp;&nbsp;When the city and temple was rebuilt, Gentiles would come and feed Israel’s flocks and name them all “the priests of the Lord” and bring them food to eat in tribute (<a href='B:290 61:4-6'>Isa 61:4-6</a>). And yet Nehemiah had to close the gates of Jerusalem to stop Sabbath trading, thereby precluding the fulfilment of this prophecy at the time. The prophecy will therefore come to final fulfilment in the new Jerusalem to be established at the Lord’s return (<a href='B:730 21:25'>Rev 21:25</a>). Although clearly the fulfilment may not be strictly literal, but will be a reinterpretation and reapplication of these words which initially could have had a literal fulfilment at the restoration.</p>


text:
<p>For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterlywasted- Connecting with :11 ["for::."], the nations of the land would either perish, or enter into the open gates of Zion in covenant relationship with Yahweh. Thus a situation would come about whereby the earth was only populated by those in covenant relationship with God.</p>


text:
<p>The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious- But Haggai lamented that instead, Judah dwelt in “cieled houses”, they used the exotic trees of the land for their own homes, whilst the house of Yahweh lay desolate. Thereby the prophecy of <a href='B:330 43:7'>Eze 43:7</a> was precluded from fulfilment: "the place of His throne, the place of the soles of His feet, where He will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever". The intention was that the ark would no longer be His footstool (<a href='B:300 3:16'>Jer 3:16</a>; <a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7'>Psa 132:7</a>; <a href='B:130 28:2'>1Ch 28:2</a>), but He Himself would be dwelling in the temple. The idea was that as cedars had been sent from Lebanon for the building of the first temple, so they would again; the impression is of a restored Kingdom of God in Israel as it previously was, but to an even greater extent. See on :9.</p>


text:
<p>The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel- This prophecy started to come true after Haman’s demise: “the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet”. But Judah didn’t do their part in fulfilling the rest of the prophecy, which speaks of a rebuilt Zion. The promise that Judah’s persecutors would bow before them was only partially fulfilled in Haman’s destruction; the main fulfilment now awaits the Kingdom, although in a reinterpreted form (<a href='B:730 3:9'>Rev 3:9</a>). The renaming of the city is like that of <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> "Yahweh is there", because the idea was that He would literally come and dwell in Zion; the kingdom of heaven was to be transferred to earth. This wonderful possibility didn’t come about at the restoration because the returned exiles didn’t rebuild the temple and operate it according to the commandments of Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


text:
<p>Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations- The hatred was by God as well as man: “I hated them” (<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). This was the wrath of love unrequited and spurned. God is emotional and speaks in anger, and truly had these feelings; but the pole of His love is greater than that of His judgment. We note how God as it were takes the blame for Israel being "forsaken"; they had forsaken Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:28'>Isa 1:28</a>), but He expresses it in terms of Him having forsaken them.</p>


text:
<h4>You shall also drink the milk of the nations, and shall nurse from royal breasts- This continues the figure of <a href='B:290 49:21'>Isa 49:21</a>: "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?’". Children born through another were still reckoned as the wife’s children (<a href='B:10 16:1'>Gen 16:1</a>; <a href='B:10 30:1'>Gen 30:1</a>). The children of Zion were therefore suckled by the Gentiles (<a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>).</h4><h4>And you shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob-&nbsp;As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). 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…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). 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.</h4>


text:
<h4>For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron- The language of Israel’s return from captivity as found in Isaiah and Ezekiel all has evident reference to the second coming and the final establishment of the Kingdom. It isn’t just that Israel’s return under Ezra and Zerubbabel was a type of that final homecoming. It could have been the Kingdom- had they obeyed the prophecies. It was all about a potential Kingdom of God. But they were too caught up with their own self-interest, with building their own houses rather than God’s; and so it was all deferred. Using the prophetic perfect, God had prophesied that at the time of the restoration, He would come and dwell in rebuilt Zion (<a href='B:450 8:3'>Zec 8:3</a>)- just as Ezekiel’s prophecy had concluded: “The name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there” (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>). Clearly, Ezekiel’s prophecies could have been fulfilled at the restoration; God was willing that they should be. But human apathy and self-interest stopped it from happening as it could have done. When the foundation stone of the temple was laid, there should have been excited acclamation: “Grace, grace unto it” (<a href='B:450 4:7'>Zec 4:7</a>). But instead the old men wept when the foundation was laid, knowing that the temple was nothing compared to what it ought to be (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). The glory of the restored temple was prophesied as being far greater than that of the former (<a href='B:440 2:9'>Hag 2:9</a>); <a href='B:290 60:17'>Isa 60:17</a> alluded to this in prophesying that “For brass [in Solomon’s temple] I will bring gold, and for iron [that was in Solomon’s fixtures] I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron”. But it simply didn’t happen, because God’s people were satisfied with a small, inglorious temple so that they could get on with building their own “cieled houses” (the same word is used in describing how the temple of Solomon was “covered”, or cieled, with cedar). And the old men wept at the fact that the glory of the new house was less than that of the earlier one.</h4><h4>I will also make your officers peace, and righteousness your ruler- "Officers" is the word commonly used for "visitation", in the sense of the enemies of Judah judging and dominating her in the day of her visitation. "Ruler" or AV "exactor" is the word for "taskmaster" and has been used by Isaiah of Judah’s dominators and abusers (<a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a>; <a href='B:290 14:2'>Isa 14:2</a>; <a href='B:290 14:4'>Isa 14:4</a>); the reference is to the repentance of Israel’s historical abusers and their being given peace with God and imputed righteousness, so that they might also enter covenant with Yahweh along with a repentant Judah. All this was due to the way the Lord Jesus was "oppressed" as Israel’s representative (<a href='B:290 53:7'>Isa 53:7</a>) and thus became the basis for righteousness to be imputed to all who had been oppressed and had oppressed others.</h4>


text:
<p>Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise- "Salvation" is literally "Jesus". But Nehemiah records how the walls and gates were given very mundane names, connected to what merchandise was traded there [e:g. fish]. And so they chose not to make ’Jesus’ their wall- and so His coming was deferred or re-interpreted. Yet Nehemiah encouraged the singing of praise on the walls of Zion (<a href='B:160 9:5'>Neh 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 12:46'>Neh 12:46</a>), surely in a conscious effort to fulfill the words of <a href='B:290 60:18'>Isa 60:18</a> - that Zion’s gates in Messiah’s Kingdom would be praise. The "violence" in view was not only that of foreign invaders, but the violence done by the Jews to each other (s:w. <a href='B:290 59:6'>Isa 59:6</a>; <a href='B:300 6:7'>Jer 6:7</a>). We note that the promise of peace is limited to "within your borders". The initial intention was that the Kingdom would be reestablished within the eretz promised to Abraham:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory- It seems that Yahweh Himself would have dwelt in Zion, the "brightness" of the cherubim would have returned there (s:w. <a href='B:330 1:4'>Eze 1:4</a>; <a href='B:330 1:13'>Eze 1:13</a>) resulting in a visible light which would have eclipsed the need for light from the sun and moon (<a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, "shining" is s:w. "brightness"). Such great potentials were wasted. But these things will come true in the last days and are alluded to in <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a> as having literal truth when the Lord Jesus returns. This would be the fulfilment of the promise to David, that his glorified kingdom would be as the "brightness" after the rain of judgment (<a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a> s:w:). But until then these things are reapplied in a spiritual sense to the way the Lord Jesus, who is the light of God’s glory, is to be the light of our world in which we live, move and understand life. He who has no light can find "brightness" in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>). This was hinted at even in <a href='B:240 4:18'>Pro 4:18</a>, where the path of the just is as the "brightness" (s:w:) shining more and more unto the perfect day:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended- See on :19. Sun and moon were not to be destroyed, but to be replaced in function by the light of Yahweh. Hence LXX "nor shall the moon be eclipsed". The sun and moon, as in Joseph’s dreams, may refer to the leadership of Israel. They would no longer be eclipsed by captivity and exile, although they would be replaced in function. "Withdraw" is the word for "gather", used of the gathering of Judah into captivity (<a href='B:290 16:10'>Isa 16:10</a>; <a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:290 24:22'>Isa 24:22</a>; <a href='B:290 33:4'>Isa 33:4</a>). These words are quoted as being true of God’s future Kingdom on earth (<a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>); they were reapplied to a later fulfilment rather than coming true at the restoration. The days of mourning refer to the days of exile, as demonstrated by the mourning of the book of Lamentations and <a href='B:230 137:1'>Psa 137:1</a>. But the exiles preferred to stay in exile; and thus precluded the possibility of these words having any primary fulfilment. "Days of mourning" is a phrase used several times for funeral mourning. There would be final comfort over the loss brought about by death- ultimately, through the resurrection of the dead</p>


text:
<p>Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified- Their salvation would be on account of their identity with the Messianic "branch", the Lord Jesus; they would be "in Christ" and thereby saved. Inheritance of the land forever is the language of the Abrahamic covenant; this would come true because of righteousness being imputed to them. And the end result of that system of salvation, as Paul brings out in Romans, would be glory to God.</p>


text:
<p>The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time- Despite LXX "I the Lord will gather them in due time", this connects back to <a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a>, where we read that the Jews mocked Isaiah and his God, saying "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it". There was clearly opposition to Isaiah’s prophecies. The idea of judgment coming would have been mocked in these kinds of words. But we wonder whether this is really a verbatim quotation from these people; or whether God read their thoughts as effectively saying this, and as being the real implication of their positions. For there is no evidence that Judah abandoned Yahweh; rather did they claim obedience and loyalty to Him, although they claimed the same about their idols whom they worshipped in His Name. But God was not deaf to their words, or the implications of their thoughts and actions. He in fact heard their mocking ’prayer’, because He here says that He will "hasten His work" (s:w:).</p>


text:
<h4>The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted- The sending forth of Isaiah was the sending forth of God’s word to His people (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:8'>Isa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:290 9:8'>Isa 9:8</a>). Isaiah like the Lord Jesus and like us, was the word made flesh. The man became his message; there was a congruence between him personally and the word preached. In the immediate context, Isaiah himself was the servant messenger sent forth (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>; <a href='B:290 48:16'>Isa 48:16</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>); but he was largely rejected, and Jewish tradition has it that Isaiah was sawn in two by Hezekiah’s son Manasseh (<a href='B:650 11:37'>Heb 11:37</a>). And so the messenger came to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. He came to proclaim “the opening of the prison”, or “the opening of the eyes to them that are bound” (<a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> RVmg:)- He came to open blind eyes, to change the self-perceptions which imprison most of humanity. But that was possible if they wished to see. The Israelites were seen as grasshoppers by their enemies- and so this is how they came to perceive themselves (<a href='B:40 13:33'>Num 13:33</a>). <a href='B:240 23:7'>Pro 23:7</a> RV observes: “As he reckoneth within himself, so is he”. We are defined by our own self-perception. We must come in the end to perceive ourselves from God’s perspective and not according to how men perceive us.</h4><p><a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a> parallels “the poor” with “the brokenhearted::. the captives::. the bruised”. The whole mission of Jesus was to bring good news to the poor (<a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> cp. <a href='B:490 4:18-21'>Luk 4:18-21</a>; <a href='B:470 11:5'>Mat 11:5</a>). This doesn’t mean that the materially rich are outside the scope of the Gospel. It means that we are all “the poor”. Therefore the huge emphasis on helping the poor applies to the poor themselves- to be generous to the poor in spirit. You don’t need money in your pocket to be generous to “the poor”. Paul could say that although he was poor, he made many rich (<a href='B:540 6:10'>2Co 6:10</a>).</p><p>To proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound- The allusion is to the proclamation of the year of Jubilee on the day of atonement. Through the cross, freedom was obtained for the spiritually imprisoned; but that jubilee is to be proclaimed by us. And so the Lord Himself quoted <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> about Himself: He proclaimed liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. For the Babylonian exiles refused to accept they were imprisoned and largely didn’t want the freedom proclaimed. But this passage is evidently behind Peter’s assertion that after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus preached to the spirits in prison (<a href='B:670 3:18-19'>1Pe 3:18-19</a>). His resurrection was the basis of His command to go into all the world and preach the word; and thereby His preachers went out to do and continue the work which He personally had done. Those who are bound are expanded into "the bruised" in <a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a>; alluding to the temporal bruising of the heel of the seed&nbsp; of the woman by sin, the seed of the serpent (<a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>). The opening of the prison in practice means, for now, the opening of blind eyes to the wonderful spiritual vista of the Kingdom and things of the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>The teaching of Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality of God’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</h4>


text:
<p>To proclaim the time of Yahweh’s grace, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn- "Time" is "year", alluding to the year of Jubilee of :1 being proclaimed. We note the contrast between a year of grace and the singular day of vengeance. When reading this passage (<a href='B:490 4:20-21'>Luk 4:20-21</a>), the Lord Jesus stopped His reading after "the year of Yahweh’s grace"; because the "day of vengeance" had been postponed by His work until the last day (<a href='B:600 1:7-9'>2Th 1:7-9</a>). The comfort of the mourners was that spoken of in Isaiah 40; the coming of Messiah was to be prefaced by comfort to the mourners, those who mourned for their sins. It is not those generally in sorrow who are in view, but those who mourn their sins in repentance.</p>


text:
<h4>To appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes- "Garland" is literally a bonnet, and is used of the bonnets with which the priests were to be clothed in the restored temple (<a href='B:330 44:18'>Eze 44:18</a>; <a href='B:20 39:28'>Exo 39:28</a>). But they refused to build and operate the structure of Ezekiel 40-48 and so precluded any possibility of this being fulfilled in them; and they didn’t mourn for their sins.</h4><p>The oil of joy- The term is only used for the anointing of the sinless Messiah, the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 45:7'>Psa 45:7</a> = <a href='B:650 1:9'>Heb 1:9</a>). But His anointing will become that of all who are "in Christ".</p><p>For mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness- Mourning is contrasted with being planted as trees of righteousness, confirming the suggestion on :2 that the mourning in view is of penitence, rather than sadness in general. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away in that forgiveness and salvation will finally come. The joy which replaces the mourning is the joy of good conscience with God. Nehemiah in his mourning for the state of his people began to fulfill <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a>, concerning how those who wept over Zion would be given joy- but the prophecy continues to speak of how the old wastes of Zion would be rebuilt and repaired, and the Messianic age ushered in. He didn’t go on to fulfill this. Mourning being turned into joy would have happened if the mourning exiles (<a href='B:230 137:1'>Psa 137:1</a>; <a href='B:310 1:4'>Lam 1:4</a>) had accepted the new covenant offered them (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:13'>Jer 31:13</a>); but they rejected it. And so this comes true in the experience of those in our age who accept that covenant.</p><h4>That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that He may be glorified- This is the time of <a href='B:330 34:29'>Eze 34:29</a> (s:w:), and also of <a href='B:290 60:21'>Isa 60:21</a> "Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified". Their salvation would be on account of their identity with the Messianic "branch", the Lord Jesus; they would be "in Christ" and thereby saved. Inheritance of the land forever is the language of the Abrahamic covenant; this would come true because of righteousness being imputed to them. And the end result of that system of salvation, as Paul brings out in Romans, would be glory to God.</h4>


text:
<h4>They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations- "Arise / raise up" is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to "Arise::. Jerusalem!" (<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form of Yahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival.</h4><h4>And they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations- The temple still lay “waste” (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>; <a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>) just as it had lain “desolate” [s:w. <a href='B:300 33:10'>Jer 33:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:12'>Jer 33:12</a>] 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 (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a> cp. <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; <a href='B:290 54:3'>Isa 54:3</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). He tore his priestly garment (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s:w. <a href='B:330 42:14'>Eze 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 44:17'>Eze 44:17</a>; <a href='B:330 44:19'>Eze 44:19</a>). <a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Isa 58:12-13</a> 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. And this seems to have been foreseen in this prophecy, because it speaks of the desolations of "many generations", implying a far longer desolation than the 70 years exile in Babylon.</h4>


text:
<p>Gentiles shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plough men and your vine dressers- This is all because "But you shall be::. priests" (:6). The picture is of all their secular matters being attended to by Gentiles so that they might focus upon their priestly work. This is surely the hope anddream of every servant of God; to have all secular issues taken care of, so they can focus upon spiritual things.</p>


text:
<h4>But you shall be named the priests of Yahweh; men will call you the ministers of our God- Time and again, the Old Testament speaks of the priests ministering in the priest’s office. The priests are specifically called God’s ministers (<a href='B:290 61:6'>Isa 61:6</a>; <a href='B:300 33:21'>Jer 33:21</a>; <a href='B:330 45:4'>Eze 45:4</a>; <a href='B:360 1:9'>Joe 1:9</a>; <a href='B:360 1:13'>Joe 1:13</a>; <a href='B:360 2:17'>Joe 2:17</a>):&nbsp; "Men", the Gentiles, would treat Israel as their priests. The early Christians would have heard and read many of the New Testament references to ministers and ministry as invitations to see themselves as a new priesthood. The Lord said that we should aim to be a minister, a priests, to every one of our brethren, not expecting them to minister to us, but concentrating on ministering to them (<a href='B:470 20:26'>Mat 20:26</a>). This is exactly against the grain of our nature, and also of the concept of religion we find in the world. People expect to have others spiritually ministering to them. They expect a priest-figure to do all their thinking for them. But our Lord said that we are each other’s priests, we’re not here to be ministered&nbsp; (’priest-ed’) to, but to minister, and give our lives in service to each other.</h4><h4>You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory- The Hebrew is difficult, literally "in their splendor you shall&nbsp;be substituted&nbsp;in their stead". The idea seems to be that the Gentiles will not glory in their own wealth, but rather in how much they can do for Israel.</h4>


text:
<h4>Instead of your shame you shall have double- LXX "thus shall they inherit the land a second time". Or the idea may simply be that they inherit double what they ought to, such is God’s grace to them and desire to load them with double blessing (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>; <a href='B:450 9:12'>Zec 9:12</a>), just as He gave double to Job as representative of restored Israel (<a href='B:220 42:10'>Job 42:10</a>).</h4><p>And instead of dishonour they shall rejoice in their portion- Their "portion" is parallel with "their land". But they didn’t rejoice in their land because they preferred the softer life of Persia, as the book of Esther makes clear; rather than returning to a desolated land and rebuilding God’s Kingdom there.</p><h4>Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be to them- &nbsp;“In their land” the Jews would receive “everlasting joy”- but they didn’t want to return to their land to receive it.</h4>


text:
<h4>For I, Yahweh, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them-</h4><p>A love as strong as God’s is going to also elicit the emotion of hatred and anger when that love is rejected and abused. He "hated" (s:w:) Judah’s insincere worship and relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 1:14'>Isa 1:14</a>; <a href='B:290 61:8'>Isa 61:8</a>; <a href='B:300 44:4'>Jer 44:4</a>). But it is hard to separate the sin from the sinner. That distinction may be helpful for us in order to avoid judging others too personally, but God it seems doesn’t make that decision. He gave Israel into the hands of those who hated her (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:27'>Eze 16:27</a>; <a href='B:330 16:37'>Eze 16:37</a>) and in that sense He hated her. The feelings of hatred which Hosea had for Gomer due to her abuse of His love were those of God for Israel: "There I hated them" (<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). God is not simply "love" in the abstract. He is love for real, with all the emotion and psychological complex which goes along with love; and this will include hatred if that love is abused.</p><h4>Isaiah 61 gives a detailed prophecy of the restoration and how it could flourish into God’s Kingdom, and then adds that "I hate robbery for burnt offering"; as if to say that if Judah offered with the right spirit and showed justice, then the everlasting covenant would be entered with them. But this just didn’t happen. They themselves disallowed it.</h4>


text:
<p>Their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed- The implication seems to be that the children of the repentant exiles would be known among the nations, as if they would travel amongst them revealing by example and teaching the Abrahamic covenant. They would be the fulfilment of the promises of blessing upon the seed.</p>


text:
<h4>I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels- Isaiah as representative of the true Israel rejoices in prospect of salvation, imagining and understanding how his salvation was due to being clothed as a high priest; being, in our terms, "in Christ". The LXX uses the language of the High Priest: "he has put a mitre on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornaments (NEV"jewels") as a bride". The jewels would then allude to the precious stones of the breastplate. It is the Messianic priest, the Lord Jesus, who is in view; and all those who are in Him. The idea is that high priest is getting married, and as he would clothe himself with these things to go into the sanctuary on service, he now does so in order to marry. His service of his wife is therefore in being her loving high priest.</h4><h4>We have been clothed with God’s righteousness (<a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:730 3:18'>Rev 3:18</a>) , and therefore we should be clothed with humility too, as our response to this (<a href='B:670 5:5'>1Pe 5:5</a>). And the element of unreality here is that God as it were dresses up His own bride. Israel is so often set up as the bride of God (<a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4-5'>Isa 62:4-5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:2'>Jer 2:2</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:350 2:19-20'>Hos 2:19-20</a>). This is why any infidelity to God is spoken of as adultery (<a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:30 17:7'>Lev 17:7</a>; <a href='B:30 20:5-6'>Lev 20:5-6</a>; <a href='B:50 31:16'>Deu 31:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:17'>Jdg 2:17</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:70 8:33'>Jdg 8:33</a>; <a href='B:350 9:1'>Hos 9:1</a>). The very language of Israel ’selling themselves to do iniquity’ uses the image of prostitution. This is how God feels our even temporary and fleeting acts and thoughts of unfaithfulness. This is why God is jealous for us (<a href='B:20 20:15'>Exo 20:15</a>; <a href='B:20 34:14'>Exo 34:14</a>; <a href='B:50 4:24'>Deu 4:24</a>; <a href='B:50 5:9'>Deu 5:9</a>; <a href='B:50 6:15'>Deu 6:15</a>)- because His undivided love for us is so exclusive. He expects us to be totally His.</h4>


text:
<p>For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nation- The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God’s restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>) to "spring up" on what had previously been dry ground (<a href='B:290 44:4'>Isa 44:4</a>). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word(<a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a> s:w. "bud" AV). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to "spring up" (s:w. <a href='B:10 2:5'>Gen 2:5</a>). This springing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s:w. <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:17'>Psa 132:17</a>). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were "in" the singular Messianic seed. And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). It is "righteousness" which would "spring up" (s:w. <a href='B:290 61:11'>Isa 61:11</a>); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as "in" the "branch of righteousness" which will "spring up" (<a href='B:300 33:15'>Jer 33:15</a>). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine ’causing’ us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.</p>


text:
<h4>For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest- At times the prophets are found pleading with God to change the word which they themselves had pronounced and knew to be justified. <a href='B:290 62:1-7'>Isa 62:1-7</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a> even appear to be Isaiah’s challenge to the Lord to not let His judgment remain on Zion- Isaiah will not keep silent, nor will his fellow prophets, until God acts. He begs God to not restrain Himself, and to take note of the desolation caused (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:8-12'>Isa 64:8-12</a>).</h4><p>The statement that God will not "rest" for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) must be understood in the context of the faithful at that time urging God not to "be still" [same Hebrew word translated "rest"] for His people (<a href='B:230 83:1'>Psa 83:1</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). This is an allusion to Boaz not being at rest until he had redeemed Ruth and Naomi; see on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. God is not at rest, He is not distant from us; and yet His people in Babylon felt that He was. It’s no wonder that we are tempted to feel the same. Yet we must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>).</p><p>We must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>). The fact that God will never ’hold His peace’ for His people’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) means that we should likewise not ’hold our peace’ for them (the same Hebrew is used in <a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a>). In our prayers for them, we are to give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>). And so the connection between <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>; <a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a> leaves us with an amazing challenge: His restless activity and concern for His people should be ours. It must be ours, if we are His children. Being bored from having ‘nothing to do’ just isn’t part of the believer’s life; His huge activity, the endless surging of His Spirit, is to be replicated in us as we too seek the good of others. If this connection is firmly established between His activity and ours, His Spirit and ours… then quite naturally we will seek to maximize our time for Him and be minimalists in the hours we spend upon the things of this life. As He never slumbers nor sleeps in His restless activity and thought for His people, so we shall likewise be in the Kingdom age; and our desire to be there is not because we fancy an eternal tropical holiday with palm trees blowing in the mind, but because we wish to be more closely aligned with His activity, with His Spirit, and not be held back by the limitations of our current natures.</p><p>Until her righteousness- The Lord Jesus, "the Lord our righteousness".</p><p>Go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns- It seems that Yahweh Himself would have dwelt in Zion, the "brightness" of the cherubim would have returned there (s:w. <a href='B:330 1:4'>Eze 1:4</a>; <a href='B:330 1:13'>Eze 1:13</a>) resulting in a visible light which would have eclipsed the need for light from the sun and moon (<a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, "shining" is s:w. "brightness"). Such great potentials were wasted. But these things will come true in the last days and are alluded to in <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a> as having literal truth when the Lord Jesus returns. This would be the fulfilment of the promise to David, that his glorified kingdom would be as the "brightness" after the rain of judgment (<a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a> s:w:). But until then these things are reapplied in a spiritual sense to the way the Lord Jesus, who is the light of God’s glory, is to be the light of our world in which we live, move and understand life. He who has no light can find "brightness" in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>). This was hinted at even in <a href='B:240 4:18'>Pro 4:18</a>, where the path of the just is as the "brightness" (s:w:) shining more and more unto the perfect day:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><h4>Some prophecies are dependent on prayer for their fulfilment. This is an example: “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness”. But this is dependent upon prayer: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem…ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (:6,7). The prophecy that “I will not rest” was dependent for fulfilment upon the faithful continuing to pray and thereby not giving Him rest. Of course, they pray from their own freewill; there is the possibility they won’t pray, and thereby, surely, there’s the possibility the statement “I will not rest” is purely conditional on our prayers…?</h4>


text:
<p>The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh shall name- They would perceive that their righteousness was in the Lord Jesus, "the Lord our righteousness", and that He was the glory of the people of Israel (<a href='B:490 2:32'>Luk 2:32</a>). As is the case today, the witness to the Lord Jesus is most powerfully through the people whom He has redeemed. Their new name would be related to their being counted righteous; just as today, baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus means we are covered in the clothing of His righteousness.</p>


text:
<p>You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God- It is God’s people who are in His hand (<a href='B:50 33:3'>Deu 33:3</a>). The idea is that God is crowned with His people, they are His glory, and He is theirs, just as Paul’s converts were his joy and crown.</p>


text:
<h4>You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married- LXX "thy land shall be inhabited"; this fits with the meaning of the names given:, for "Beulah" = "Inhabited by Yah"; "Hephzibah" = ’delight of Yah’. But the Hebrew Masoretic text reading "married" connects with how God speaks of how He would remarry Zion n the same way as her sons would remarry her (:4,5)- but her sons chose to stay in Babylon, and so the joyous wedding ceremony God envisaged didn’t happen. They preferred to nurse their own negative self-image, that Yahweh had forsaken them (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>).</h4><h4>God not only forgives, but He delights in doing so (as <a href='B:400 7:18'>Mic 7:18</a>); the way He is spoken of as ‘delighting’ in spiritually weak Israel is part and parcel of Him lavishing grace as He does (<a href='B:40 14:8'>Num 14:8</a>). It must be so awful to have such a wonderful spirit of lavishing grace and love, consciously giving out life and patient forgiveness to so many; and yet not be appreciated for it, to have puny humans shaking their fist at God because they die a brief moment of time sooner than they think they should, to have tiny people arrogantly questioning His love. Seeing that God is Almighty, and God could have made [and could re-make] His creation to ‘understand’ and respond in a robot-like way::. and seeing God has real and deep emotional feelings::. it all makes God almost a tragic figure.</h4>


text:
<h4>For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you- LXX makes this more relevant to the exiles returning and living in Zion: "And as a young man lives with a virgin, so shall thy sons dwell in thee". But most of the sons of Zion didn’t return there, preferring Babylon; and of those who did, most wouldn’t live in Jerusalem but preferred living outside the city and developing their own farmsteads (see on <a href='B:160 11:1-2'>Neh 11:1-2</a>). "Sons" is banayich but this is also a form of banah, to build. Her sons were to be her builders. The land and physical city of Jerusalem is likened to a female and the exiles as the young man. But the truth was that by declining the invitation to return to the land, the exiles were declining marriage.</h4><p>But :4 has said that it is Yahweh as the man who delights in the young woman Zion. The exiles are therefore asked to identify with Him. So God likens Himself to the young man marrying the virgin of Zion; even though she has acted as a whore, He sees her now as a born again virgin. It seems evident that there must have been some kind of previous creation(s), e:g. for the creation of the Angels. God existed from infinity, and yet only 2,000 years ago did He have His only and His begotten Son. And that Son was a human being in order to save humans- only a few million of us (if that), who lived in a 6,000 year time span. In the specter of infinite time and space, this is wondrous. That the Only Son of God should die for a very few of us here, we who crawled on the surface of this tiny planet for such a fleeting moment of time. He died so that God could work out our salvation; and the love of God for us is likened to a young man marrying a virgin (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>). Almighty God, who existed from eternity, is likened to a first timer, with all the intensity and joyful expectation and lack of disillusion. And more than this. The Jesus who didn’t pre-exist but was like me, died for me, in the shameful way that He did. Our hearts and minds, with all their powers, are in the boundless prospect lost. His pure love for us, His condescension, should mean that we also ought to reach out into the lives of all men, never thinking they are beneath us or too insignificant or distant from us. No wonder <a href='B:690 4:15-16'>1Jn 4:15-16</a> describes believing that Jesus is the Son of God as believing the love that God has to us.</p><h4>And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you- This suggests that Yahweh’s joy over the restored state of Zion was a reflection of the joy which the exiles showed over her. They should have responded to the decree of Cyrus with real joy, according to <a href='B:230 126:1-3'>Psa 126:1-3</a>: “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad”. But their joy wasn’t so ecstatic. They were happy for those who chose to return and gave them material help to this end, but the majority didn’t feel the joy personally. This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him(<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who call on Yahweh, take no rest- The watchmen were looking for the return of the exiles from Babylon and were giving Yahweh no rest until He brought this about. But they were "set" there, just as God gives repentance. He gave them that mindset. See on :1.</h4><p>Prayer is a way of making us realize the presence of the God who is always present. God’s people are told to "keep not silence" in their prayers to God (<a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a>). But the same Hebrew word is translated "Give Him no rest" in the next verse (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>). Insofar as the voice of prayer is never silent world-wide, so far God is never, in that sense, at rest. The extent of His activity for us is simply huge.</p><p><a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a> speaks of watchmen [= the prophets, <a href='B:330 3:17'>Eze 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 6:17'>Jer 6:17</a>; <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>] set upon Jerusalem’s walls as watchmen, keeping no silence [in their prophesying] until Jerusalem was established. For the link between the prophets and standing on a watchtower, see <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>. Is this not a reference to Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah prophesying as the basis upon which the newly built walls of Jerusalem would be preserved, and the city develop into the Messianic Kingdom hoped for? Note that the rebuilt Jerusalem of Ezra’s time and the latter day Jerusalem are the same thing in Isaiah; the Kingdom could’ve come then. Watchmen upon the walls were looking for something- for the approach of the Messianic messenger with good tidings of Judah’s full return from captivity, of which Isaiah had spoken in <a href='B:290 52:7-8'>Isa 52:7-8</a>. But most of Judah preferred to stay in Babylon, took up a collection for the few who did return… and no Messiah could appear with that news. God had promised this- but He asked to be put in remembrance of His promises (<a href='B:290 43:26'>Isa 43:26</a>), i:e. He asked for those watchmen to be His ‘rememberancers’, even though He cannot in that sense forget them (<a href='B:230 119:49'>Psa 119:49</a>; <a href='B:300 14:21'>Jer 14:21</a>). In all this we see an exquisite picture of how God works with men, how His promised faithfulness and omnipotence all the same has built into it a requirement for human prayerfulness and response. The reality was that the watchmen / prophets of Israel were blind, ignorant and sleepy (<a href='B:290 56:10'>Isa 56:10</a>).</p><p>Compare the following passages:</p><p>“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,&nbsp; And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>)</p><p>with</p><p>“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (<a href='B:560 1:15-17'>Eph 1:15-17</a>).</p><h4>The ideas of praying without ceasing and making mention occur in both passages. Surely Paul had the Isaiah passage in mind. It seems that he saw the ecclesia as the spiritual Zion. In the same way as Zion’s watchmen were exhorted to pray for her without ceasing until the Kingdom is established there, so Paul prayed for the spiritual growth of his brethren. The implication is surely that once a certain level of spirituality had been achieved, then the Lord will return to establish His Kingdom.</h4>


text:
<h4>And give Him no rest, until He establishes and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth- See on :6. This was partially fulfilled by a minority praying for the restoration of Zion during the 70 years captivity; Daniel and his friends are evident examples. Several passages in Isaiah (e:g. <a href='B:290 64:8-12'>Isa 64:8-12</a>) record model prayers for Zion’s restoration. But the prayers dried up after the return; Isaiah’s exhortation was ignored. The returnees did keep silence, and therefore Zion was not established as a praise in the earth.</h4><p>Our prayers are to give the Father no "rest" (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>), no cessation from violent warfare (Heb:). Isaiah had prophesied that God would not rest until Zion be restored. Watchmen would be set upon Zion’s walls who would give Him no rest until the walls be rebuilt (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>; <a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). At this time, Zion was felt by God to be the “apple of his eye” (<a href='B:450 2:8'>Zec 2:8</a>). This prophesy started to be fulfilled straight after the Babylonian invasion when Jeremiah urged the desolated people to pray: “O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease” (<a href='B:310 2:18'>Lam 2:18</a>). The prayerful remnant gave themselves no rest; and thus was fulfilled the prophecy that God would have no rest. Sincere prayer according to God’s will meant that there was a strange mutuality between the Father and those who prayed to Him. Both He and they considered Zion to be the apple of their eye; and thus the prayers were ultimately answered and Zion was restored.</p><p>What we bring to our mind in prayer, we bring to God’s mind. Those who pray for Jerusalem “keep not silence”- and therefore they give God “no rest” (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But the Hebrew word for “keep not silence” and for ‘give no rest’ is one and the same! There’s a clear play on words here. If we give ourselves no rest in prayer, then we give God no rest. His Spirit or mind becomes our spirit or mind, and vice versa. And hence the telling comments in Romans 8 about our spirit / mind being mediated to God in prayer through Jesus, in His role as ‘the Lord the Spirit’ (<a href='B:520 8:26-27'>Rom 8:26-27</a>). Yet God Himself had stated that He will not rest nor hold His peace for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>). Yet His doing this is conditional upon His prayerful people not allowing Him to rest due to their prayers.</p><h4>The failure of the restored exiles to fulfill these things led to their reapplication and reinterpretation. Paul in <a href='B:520 1:9'>Rom 1:9</a> ["unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers"] is surely alluding to <a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>: “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth”. Paul saw the Gentile believers in Rome as spiritual Jerusalem. It’s not that God forgets and needs reminding, but rather that by our prayers for others we as it were focus His special attention upon them. Paul several times states that he is day and night, continually in prayer for others. He likely had the Isaiah passage in mind; his brethren in Christ were now for him the Jerusalem upon whom his hopes were set, rather than upon the physical city as had been the case in Judaism.</h4>


text:
<p>Yahweh has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have laboured- To lose the fruits of agricultural labour to invading foreigners was part of the curses for breaking covenant with Yahweh. He promises here, therefore, not to punish sin any more. This would be because of His right hand and strength, terms which apply to His manifestation in His Son the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 80:17'>Psa 80:17</a>). Such a situation implies the emergence of a situation where sin has already been appropriately punished, and Israel are not going to sin any more. The intention of the new covenant was to place God’s Spirit within His people so that they didn’t sin and were immortalized. If this Spirit is within us and is already beginning to work, we likewise have thereby the guarantee that we too shall emerge into the Kingdom of God, immortal and unable to sin (<a href='B:560 1:14'>Eph 1:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>But those who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of My sanctuary- The "it" refers to the new wine made from grapes they had themselves gathered (:8). The allusion is to the commands to bring their tithes and offerings to the sanctuary and eat them there, rather than in their homes (<a href='B:30 19:23-25'>Lev 19:23-25</a>; <a href='B:50 12:17-18'>Deu 12:17-18</a>). This at best would be fulfilled in essence rather than to the letter in the final fulfilment of the last days. The new covenant offered to the exiles was not the same as the Mosaic law, which was the old covenant which they had broken. But the flavour of this idea of bringing tithes and eating them in the sanctuary suggests that this was intended to have happened at the time of the restoration. So much potential was wasted.</p>


text:
<h4>Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Cast up, cast up the highway! Gather out the stones!- This prepared highway is a major theme of Isaiah, e:g. <a href='B:290 26:7'>Isa 26:7</a> "The way of the just is uprightness; Youwho are upright make the path of the righteous level". This is the language of Isaiah 40. The way was open for the exiles to return as righteous, justified by faith, to a restored Zion; and if they made that journey, Zion’s gates were open to them (see on <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>). That way was potentially prepared at the restoration, but the exiles chose to remain in Babylon and Assyria, and those who did return did so without accepting the call to repentance which is part of the making straight of the path to Zion. But it was all potentially prepared. It is for us now to walk in that path likewise to Zion. In the future it seems there may be literal highways prepared leading to Zion for the repentant remnants of the nations (see on <a href='B:290 11:16'>Isa 11:16</a>; <a href='B:290 19:23'>Isa 19:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>).</h4><h4><a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>, which is quoted in <a href='B:490 3:4'>Luk 3:4</a>, speaks of “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”, whereas <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a> speaks of “Prepare ye the way of the people”. Yet tragically, the way / path of Israel was not the way / path of the Lord (<a href='B:330 18:25'>Eze 18:25</a>). We are not only Jesus to this world but also effectively we are the witness to God Himself. We minister His care to others; to the extent that Paul could write both that he was a minister of God, and also a minister of the church (<a href='B:540 6:4'>2Co 6:4</a>; <a href='B:580 1:24-25'>Col 1:24-25</a>).</h4><h4>Lift up a banner for the peoples- LXX "the Gentiles". Clearly enough, the bronze serpent lifted up on the “standard” or pole was a symbol of Christ crucified. But time and again throughout Isaiah, we read that a “standard” or ensign will be “lifted up” in order to gather people together to it (<a href='B:290 5:26'>Isa 5:26</a>; <a href='B:290 13:2'>Isa 13:2</a>; <a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:290 18:3'>Isa 18:3</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>). This was the idea of an ensign lifted up. Thus our common response to the cross of Christ should be to gather together unto Him there. And we need to take note that several of those Isaiah passages are speaking about what shall happen in the last days, when divided Israel will unite on the basis of their acceptance of the crucified Jesus. They along with "the peoples", the Gentiles, will come by the same path to eternal fellowship with Yahweh and with each other in Zion.</h4>


text:
<h4>Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth- The ends of the eretz were Babylon and Persia, where the exiles were. They were being asked to repent and quit exile because their salvation was coming. But they stayed put.</h4><p>Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes- “Your salvation” could refer to Joshua-Jesus, the high priest, returning from Babylon. But Joshua didn’t live up to the conditional prophecies made about him in Zechariah. Ezra and Nehemiah seem to have taken over the priestly and kingly work of Joshua and Zerubbabel respectively. Nehemiah’s record concludes on the negative note that Judah had forsaken Zion (<a href='B:160 13:11'>Neh 13:11</a>). Nobody wanted to live in Jerusalem because of the persecution there; the Levites even went and lived outside it where they had “fields”, because they weren’t given their tithes (<a href='B:160 13:10'>Neh 13:10</a>. Lots had to be drawn to get people to live there (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>). It became a ghost town, when it should have been inhabited as a town without walls for the multitudes of returned exiles joyfully dwelling there (<a href='B:450 2:5'>Zec 2:5</a>). It was God’s intention that ten men (a reference to Israelites of the ten tribes?) would take hold of the skirts of a Jew (i:e. one of Judah) and come with him to worship in the new temple (<a href='B:450 8:23'>Zec 8:23</a>). But in fact the opposite happened. So few wanted to live in Jerusalem, that the rulers had to cast lots to force one in ten Jews to go and live in Jerusalem (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>). And the ten tribes didn’t really unite with Judah, but went off and got lost in the Gentileworld.</p><h4>Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him’- The "reward" of God will be in the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham (<a href='B:10 15:1'>Gen 15:1</a> s:w:) in salvation (<a href='B:290 62:11'>Isa 62:11</a>), at the time when Judah were restored from captivity and accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:16'>Jer 31:16</a>). This huge potential is all deferred to the last days, when the Abrahamic covenant will be finally fulfilled in the return of the Lord Jesus to earth bringing His rewards with Him (<a href='B:730 22:12'>Rev 22:12</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>They shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh: and you shall be called Sought out, A city not forsaken- See on :11. There was envisaged a new nomenclature for anything related to God’s people, land, temple and city. This didn’t happen to the restoration, with the gates of Jerusalem being given totally secular names such as "fish gate". The "they" in view are those who love at the ends of the earth / eretz promised to Abraham (:11), in Egypt, Babylon and Persia where the Jews were exiled. Those who had hosted Judah in captivity and witnessed their idolatry and hypocrisy would marvel at the extent to which they had been redeemed and not forsaken by their God, when He had every reason to have treated them otherwise. This wonderful testament to Divine grace didn’t happen at the time of the restoration; but it will do so in the last days. And therefore Jerusalem will be "sought out", as the Gentiles "seek" the ensign / standard pole in Zion (<a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>), which the New Testament interprets as the cross of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h4>Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This one who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength?-&nbsp; These verses appear to be the Divine fantasy, a potential prophecy, about the Messiah saviour judging Babylon and then also Edom on His way to Zion along with the repentant remnant of both Jews and Gentiles. This is a repeated theme in the prophets- that Babylon was to fall and the nations judged, and thereby both elicit repentance from a Gentile minority and also release the Jews. These things didn’t happen as they could have done at the time of the restoration of the exiles. But they will in essence be fulfilled in the future work of the Lord Jesus.</h4><p>According to Jewish tradition, Nehemiah’s real name was Zerubbabel, the branch (Sanhedrin 38a)- perhaps the same Zerubbabel as mentioned in Haggai and Zechariah. The Hippolytus Chronicle 7:3:37 even claims Nehemiah was a direct descendant of David and in the direct kingly line. His name, ‘comfort of Yahweh’, invites us to see him as the potential fulfilment of the <a href='B:290 40:1-2'>Isa 40:1-2</a> prophecy about a Messiah figure arising to the exiles, giving them God’s comfort. At the time of Judah’s redemption, while the temple had been trodden down by her enemies, the promised Messiah figure of <a href='B:290 63:1-3'>Isa 63:1-3</a>; <a href='B:290 63:18'>Isa 63:18</a> was to come from Edom and Bozrah - both code names for Babylon. The words "Bozrah" and "Babylon" have similar root meanings (’high / fortified place’). And he was to lament how the people of Judah were not with him- "of the people there was none with me". But this is the very spirit of Nehemiah, when he returns to Jerusalem from Babylon and looks around the ’trodden down’ city at night, not telling the people of the Jews about his inspection- i:e. the people were not with him (<a href='B:160 2:11-16'>Neh 2:11-16</a>). But all potential fulfillments of this prophecy failed, and so the prophecies were reapplied and reinterpreted with reference to the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save- So often, God’s righteousness is associated with His salvation. Paul in Romans writes much about this. ’Rightness’ means also ’justice’. By grace, we are counted right in Christ, and thereby will be saved. Yet in the world, there is huge angst about the issue of justice. It is inbuilt into our natures to feel outrage at injustice. It’s not fair, it’s not right::. that I was treated like this, that they did that to her, that this or that group in society are not equally treated. And these are the conflicts which are the endless narrative of human history and existence. The sense of not having been given justice makes for depression, obsessions, anger, bitterness::. But for those of us in Christ, we who were unjust have been counted right, we have found the ultimate experience of justice; and can rest assured that finally, all shall be made right, justice shall eternally be done at the Lord’s return. Not for us lifetimes spent in resentment, bitterness, endless restimulation of issues of past injustice. For we have been saved, by grace, and ’right’ has triumphed in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Yahweh’s salvation and righteousness.</h4>


text:
<h4>Why are you red in your clothing- In the context of the answer in :3, we could assume that the force of the question is "Why are you alone red:::?".</h4><h4>And your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?- <a href='B:290 63:2-3'>Isa 63:2-3</a> explains how in the process of obtaining salvation, the Lord’s clothing would be made red. Red clothes in Isaiah suggest sinfulness that needs cleansing (<a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>). He was completely identified with us, to the point of feeling a sinner even although He never sinned. "Treads" is the same Hebrew word used in <a href='B:40 24:17'>Num 24:17</a> of how the Messianic star out of Jacob would tread down Israel’s historical enemies, who would be as it were reincarnated in the last days. This is the time of the ’treading down’ of all the peoples of the eretz who were against Israel (s:w. <a href='B:300 25:30'>Jer 25:30</a>), the ’treading down’ of the daughter of Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:33'>Jer 51:33</a> s:w:). But it was not just Gentiles whom the Messianic figure was to tread down;&nbsp; "the Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress" (<a href='B:310 1:15'>Lam 1:15</a>; <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a> s:w:). The judgment of Babylon and her supporters, epitomized by Edom (:1), was to be at the same time as the judgment of the apostate people of God. And out of a trodden down wine vat there comes wine- the symbol of blessing and the new covenant.</h4>


text:
<h4>I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me: yes, I trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath- The way the Saviour is "alone" would allude to the way that no other man rose up to the call to be the prophesied servant of the Messianic prophecies (<a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). The judgments are likewise performed by Him "alone" in the sense that the judgments upon the nations will be supernatural and only later will a repentant remnant be used as Yahweh’s "weapons of war".</h4><h4>And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I have stained all My clothing- There is a connection between the Lord’s death and the judgment of the world; "now is the judgment of this world" He commented, with reference to His upcoming crucifixion (<a href='B:500 12:31'>Joh 12:31</a>). He alone has the right to judge, because He alone had our nature and never sinned. The Lord having His own clothes put back on Him meant that He would have been dressed in blood sprinkled garments for the walk to Golgotha. His holy mind would have been on these Messianic prophecies of <a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a> about a Messiah with blood sprinkled garments lifted up in glorious victory. Or perhaps He saw the connection to <a href='B:30 8:30'>Lev 8:30</a>, where the priests had to have blood sprinkled garments in order to begin their priestly work. This would have sent His mind to us, for whom He was interceding. Likewise when He perceived that His garment would not be rent, He would have joyfully perceived that He was indeed as the High Priest whose garment was not to be rent (<a href='B:20 39:23'>Exo 39:23</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come- see on <a href='B:20 2:11-12'>Exo 2:11-12</a>. This is the year of Jubilee pronounced in Isaiah 61. We note the difference between the single "day" of vengeance compared to the whole "year" of redemption. Saving is by far God’s preferred activity. Those to be redeemed are not simply "Israel", but those of them who want the redemption which will come about throughthe "vengeance" of the judgments. For as explained on :2, the Jews are to be judged along with the Gentiles.</h4><h4>This chapter was quoted by Judas Maccabeus, who killed 20,000 from Edom in his campaigns against the Idumeans (:1); and John Hyrcanus, his brother Simon’s son and successor, also defeated the Edomites and forced them to become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and to be circumcised. At best it could be argued that the Maccabees were potential fulfillments of the prophecies, but they failed to do so. And so the final fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus in the last days.</h4>


