Isaiah 49:18 Komentář

Glorious things had been spoken in the previous chapters concerning the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon; but lest any should think, when it was accomplished, that it looked much greater and brighter in the prophecy than in the performance, and that the return of about 40,000 Jews in a poor condition out of Babylon to Jerusalem was not an event sufficiently answering to the height and grandeur of the expressions used in the prophecy, he here comes to show that the prophecy had a further intention, and was to have its full accomplishment in a redemption that should as far outdo these expressions as the other seemed to come short of them, even the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, of whom not only Cyrus, who was God's servant in foretelling it, was a type. In this chapter we have, I. The designation of Christ, under the type of Isaiah, to his office as Mediator (Isa 49:1-3). II. The assurance given him of the success of his undertaking among the Gentiles (Isa 49:4-8). III. The redemption that should be wrought by him, and the progress of that redemption (Isa 49:9-12). IV. The encouragement given hence to the afflicted church (Isa 49:13-17). V. The addition of many to it, and the setting up of a church among the Gentiles (Isa 49:18-23). VI. A ratification of the prophecy of the Jews' release out of Babylon, which was to be the figure and type of all these blessings, (Isa 49:24-26). If this chapter be rightly understood, we shall see ourselves to be more concerned in the prophecies relating to the Jews' deliverance out of Babylon than we thought we were.

Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Christian church by the preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises. I. That the church shall be replenished with great numbers added to it. It was promised (Isa 49:17) that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. It is promised, 1. That multitudes shall flock to the church from all parts. Look round, and see how they gather themselves to thee (Isa 49:18), by a local accession to the Jewish church. They come to Jerusalem from all the adjacent countries, for that was then the centre of their unity; but, under the gospel, it is by a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Christ in faith and love. Those that come to Jesus as the Mediator of the new covenant do thereby come to the Mount Zion, the church of the first-born, Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23. Lift up thy eyes, and behold how the fields are white unto the harvest, Joh 4:35. Note, It is matter of joy to the church to see a multitude of converts to Christ. 2. That such as are added to the church shall not be a burden and blemish to her, but her strength and ornament. This part of the promise is confirmed with an oath: As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thyself with them all. The addition of such numbers to the church shall complete her clothing; and, when all that were chosen are effectually called, then the bride, the Lamb's wife, shall have made herself ready, shall be quite dressed, Rev 19:7. They shall make her to appear comely and considerable; and she shall therefore bind them on with as much care and complacency as a bride does her ornaments. When those that are added to the church are serious, and holy, and exemplary in their conversation, they are an ornament to it. 3. That thus the country which was waste and desolate, and without inhabitant (Isa 5:9; Isa 6:11), shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be over-peopled (Isa 49:19): "Thy waste and thy desolate places, that have long lain so, and the land of thy destruction, that land of thine which was destroyed with thee and which nobody cared for dwelling in, shall now be so full of people that there shall be no room for the inhabitants." Here is blessing poured out till there be not room enough to receive it, Mal 3:10. Not that they shall be crowded by their enemies, or straitened for room, as Abraham and Lot were, because of the Canaanite in the land. "No, those that swallow thee up, and took possession of thy land when thy possession of it was discontinued, shall be far away. Thy people shall be numerous, and there shall be no stranger, no enemy, among them." Thus the kingdom of God among men, which had been impoverished and almost depopulated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish church and partly by the abominations of the Gentile world, was again peopled and enriched by the setting up of the Christian church, and by its graces and glories. 4. That the new converts shall strangely increase and multiply. Jerusalem, after she has lost abundance of her children by the sword, famine, and captivity, shall have a new family growing up instead of them, children which she shall have after she has lost the other (Isa 49:20), as Seth, who was appointed another seed instead of Abel, and Job's children, which God blessed him with instead of those that were killed in the ruins of the house. God will repair his church's losses and secure to himself a seed to serve him in it. It is promised to the Jews, after their return, that Jerusalem shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets, Zac 8:5. The church, after it has lost the Jews, who will be cut off by their own infidelity, shall have abundance of children still, more than she had when the Jews belonged to her. See Gal 4:27. They shall be so numerous that, (1.) The Children shall complain for want of room; they shall say (and it is a good hearing), "Our numbers increase so fast that the place is too strait for us;" as the sons of the prophets complained, Kg2 6:1. But, strait as the place is, still more shall desire to be admitted, and the church shall gladly admit them, and the inconvenient straitness of the place shall be no hindrance to either; for it will be found, whatever we think, that even when the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are brought in, yet still there is room, room enough for those that are in and room for more, Luk 14:21, Luk 14:22. (2.) The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family, Isa 49:21. She shall say, Who has begotten me these? and, Who has brought up these? They come to her with all the duty, affection, and submission of children; and yet she never bore any pain for them, nor took any pains with them, but has them ready reared to her hand. This gives her a pleasing surprise, and she cannot but be astonished at it, considering what her condition had been very lately and very long. The Jewish nation had left her children; they were cut off. She had been desolate, without ark, and altar, and temple-service, those tokens of God's espousals to them; nay, she had been a captive, and continually removing to and fro, in an unsettled condition, and not likely to bring up children either for God or herself. She was left alone in obscurity (this is Zion whom no man seeks after), left in all the solitude and sorrow of a widowed state. How then came she to be thus replenished? See here, [1.] That the church is not perpetually visible, but there are times when it is desolate, and left alone, and made few in number. [2.] That yet on the other hand its desolations shall not be perpetual, nor will it be found too hard for God to repair them, and out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [3.] That sometimes this is done in a very surprising way, as when a nation is born at once, Isa 66:8. 5. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles, Isa 49:22. The Jews were cast off, among whom it was expected that the church should be built up; but God will sow it to himself in the earth, and will thence reap a plentiful crop, Hos 2:23. Observe, (1.) How the Gentiles shall be called in. God will lift up his hand to them, to invite or beckon them, having all the day stretched it out in vain to the Jews, ch. 65:2. Or it denotes the exerting of an almighty power, that of his Spirit and grace, to compel them to come in, to make them willing. And he will set up his standard to them, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, to which they shall gather, and under which they shall enlist themselves. (2.) How they shall come: They shall bring thy sons in their arms. They shall assist the sons of Zion, which are found among them, in their return to their own country, and shall forward them with as much tenderness as ever any parent carried a child that was weak and helpless. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites even among Gentiles. The earth helped the woman, Rev 12:16. Or, "When they come themselves, they shall bring their children, and make them thy children;" compare Isa 60:4. "Dost thou ask, Who has begotten and brought up these? Know that they were begotten and brought up among the Gentiles, but they are now brought into thy family." Let all that are concerned about young converts, and young beginners in religion, learn hence to deal very tenderly and carefully with them, as Christ does with the lambs which he gathers with his arms and carries in his bosom. II. That the church shall have a great and prevailing interest in the nations, Isa 49:22, Isa 49:23. 1. Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the church: King shall be thy nursing fathers, to carry thy sons in their arms (as Moses, Num 11:12); and, because women are the most proper nurses, their queens shall be thy nursing mothers. This promise was in part fulfilled to the Jews, after their return out of captivity. Several of the kings of Persia were very tender of their interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen was a nursing mother to the Jews that remained in their captivity, putting her life in her hand to snatch the child out of the flames. The Christian church, after a long captivity, was happy in some such kings and queens as Constantine and his mother Helena, and afterwards Theodosius, and others, who nursed the church with all possible care and tenderness. Whenever the sceptre of government is put into the hands of religious princes, then this promise is fulfilled. The church in this world is in an infant state, and it is in the power of princes and magistrates to do it a great deal of service; it is happy when they do so, when their power is a praise to those that do well. 2. Others of them, who stand it out against the church's interests, will be forced to yield and to repent of their opposition: They shall bow down to thee and lick the dust. The promise to the church of Philadelphia seems to be borrowed from this (Rev 3:9): I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet. Or it may be meant of the willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall pay to Christ the church's King, as he manifests himself in the church (Psa 72:11): All kings shall fall down before him. And by all this it shall be made to appear, (1.) That God is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no standing out nor rising up. (2.) That those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope; for the vision of peace is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and shall not lie.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 49 This is a prophecy concerning Christ, and redemption by him; and of the enlargement of the church in the latter day, by the conversion of Jews and Gentiles; which the isles, and people afar off, are exhorted to listen and hearken to, delivered out by the prophet, in the person of Christ; who gives an account of his call to his office, and the time of it; of what the Lord did for him, and said unto him, Isa 49:1, then follows a complaint of his labouring in vain, and a correction of it, Isa 49:4 and a further declaration of his call and appointment to office, and of each of the parts of the work assigned him, with encouragement to it, Isa 49:5. Christ is again represented under discouraging circumstances, as despised of men, abhorred by the nation, and a servant of rulers; who is encouraged by divine promises that kings should rise up before him, and worship him; that God would be faithful to his promise to him, and yet choose him, hear and help him, at a proper time; preserve him, and give him for a covenant to the people, to the establishment of the earth, and making it habitable, Isa 49:7 for the release of prisoners, and feeding, leading, and guiding them, and removing all difficulties out of the way, Isa 49:9 when the calling of the Gentiles is foretold, which would occasion great joy in the world, Isa 49:12 yet the church is introduced as complaining that she was forsaken of God, Isa 49:14 which is denied, and the contrary affirmed; being dear to the Lord as a sucking child to its mother, and more so; never forgotten by him, and always under his care, Isa 49:16, and, for her comfort, she is assured that those who had destroyed and made her waste should be removed; and that she should have converts that would be an ornament to her, and these numerous, insomuch that the place of their habitation would be too strait and narrow, and which would be matter of astonishment to her, Isa 49:17 and, besides those that would be converted in the land of Judea, there would be great numbers in the Gentile world converted by the power of God accompanying his Gospel, set up as a standard there, kings and queens countenancing and encouraging the interest of Christ, Isa 49:22 and yet still it is questioned whether the church should be delivered from her oppressors, Isa 49:24 to which it is answered, that she should be delivered, and her persecutors destroyed; by which it would be known that the Lord is the Redeemer and Saviour of his people, Isa 49:25.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold,.... Look east, west, north, and south, and behold the flocking converts from all parts; see on Isa 49:12. The words are spoken to the church, and for her comfort; and so the Targum, "lift up thine eyes round about, O Jerusalem, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity:'' all these gather themselves together, and come to thee; though of different nations, and come from different quarters, yet coalesce together, make one body, and join themselves with the church, in which they centre, and are incorporated: as I live, saith the Lord; this is the form of an oath, sometimes used by the Lord, to denote the importance and certainty of a thing, and to assure his people of it: thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament; as children's children are the crown of old men, Pro 17:6, so young converts are the crown, glory, and ornament of the church; even such who are beautified with the graces of the Spirit, and whose conversations are as become the Gospel of Christ: and bind them on thee as a bride doeth; her clothes, the attire of her head, and her jewels. So in the latter day, when the Jews are converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, the marriage of the Lamb will be come, and the church made ready, as a bride, for her husband, and be very beautiful and comely in his sight, as well as very comfortable and glorious in herself; and which will be matter of joy to all the saints, Rev 19:7. The Targum is, "all these shall be unto thee as a garment of glory, and their works in the midst of thee as the ornament of a bride.''

And he added: And in the blood of the grape, his garment: that is, in the suffering of his body, he washed the nations with his blood. For indeed, the nations are the garment of the Word, as it is written: As I live, says the Lord, unless I clothe them all as a garment. And elsewhere: You will change them as a garment, and they will be changed. Therefore, he has cleansed not with his own blood, their sins which they did not have, but with our sins which we have committed.

Happy are those ones of so great merit and so great virtue that they can be called the ornament of the church! I think that different spiritual graces are meant here, through which the display of the bride is decorated, of whom it speaks in Psalm 44.

(Verse 14 and following) And Zion said: The Lord has abandoned me, and the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if she forgets, I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are always before my eyes. Your builders have come, and those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you. Lift up your eyes all around and see; all these have gathered together, they have come to you. I live, says the Lord: that you may be adorned with all these, and that you may surround yourself with them as a bride, for your desolate and deserted places, and the land of your ruins, will now be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who devoured you will be far away. They will still say in your ears, the sons of your barrenness: It is too small for me, make room for me to live. And you will say in your heart: Who has borne these for me? I am barren and not bearing children, a wanderer and captive: and who raised them? I am abandoned and alone: and where were they? LXX: But Zion said: The Lord has forsaken me, and God has forgotten me. Will a woman forget her infant, that she would not have compassion on the child of her womb? But even if a woman were to forget these, I will not forget you, says the Lord. Behold, I have engraved your walls on my hands: and you are always before me. You will be rebuilt quickly by those from whom you were destroyed; and those who scattered you will come out from you. Lift up your eyes all around and see: all these have gathered together, they have come to you. As I live, says the Lord, you shall put them all on like an ornament, and wrap them around you like a bride's necklace: for your desolate and ruined places and your destroyed land will now be too small for your inhabitants, and those who humbled you will be far away from you. For they will say in your ears, your sons whom you have lost: There is narrow space for me: make room for me to live. And you will say in your heart: Who has borne these for me? And I, without children and a widow, who has brought up these for me? I have been forsaken alone, and where were they? Jerusalem and Zion are understood in four ways in the holy Scriptures, as we have often mentioned. One, according to the Jews, which the Lord laments in the Gospel, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the Prophets, and stones those who are sent to you (Matthew 23:37). And in another place: When you see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, then know that its desolation is near (Luke, XXI, 20). Secondly, the congregation of the Saints, who are established in the peace of the Lord and in the towers of virtues, are rightly called Zion, of whom it is said: Its foundations are on the holy mountains: the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Psalm LXXXVI, 1). For the foundations of the Jewish Zion, which we see to be destroyed, were not loved by the Lord, nor could that which was loved by the Lord be destroyed. Thirdly, Jerusalem is called the multitude of Angels, Dominions, and Powers, and everything that is established in the ministry of God. Concerning this Jerusalem, the Apostle speaks: But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26). And in another place: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). Fourthly, Jerusalem is called the one which the Jews and our Judaizers, according to the Apocalypse of John, think should be placed in the celestial realm as a golden and bejeweled one, which they do not understand (Apocalypse 21), whose boundaries and infinite breadth are also described in the final part of Ezekiel. Therefore, since these things are so, let us now examine more closely what Zion has said: The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. There is no doubt that the congregation of the saints, which was once among the Jews and was abandoned by the Lord, laments this and bitterly mourns that it has been deserted and deprived of the Lord's help. To this, God responded, using a natural analogy: Can a mother forget her infant, be without mercy towards the child of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you. I will say something more: even if she has forgotten, overcome by the hardness of her mind, the laws of nature; I, however, will not forget my creature, and I will always keep the souls of the saints in my heart. For you should know that what you think is completely abandoned, is written and depicted in my hands; and your walls always remain before my eyes. From this we learn that Jerusalem is not to be sought in the region of Palestine, which is the worst of the whole province, and is rough with rocky mountains, and suffers from scarcity of water, so much so that it needs heavenly rains and makes up for the scarcity of springs with the construction of cisterns; but it is in the hands of God, to which it is said: Your builders have hastened. Or according to the Septuagint: 'You will quickly be rebuilt by those by whom you were destroyed. For it was destroyed by the Jews, it was built by the Jews. It was deserted because of the fault of the Scribes and Pharisees, but it was gathered together for the preaching of the Apostles of Christ, both from the Jews and from the nations. It follows: And those who destroyed and scattered you will come out of you: the worst teachers; so that you do not follow at all the commandments and traditions of men (Matt. XV), but the law of God.' And it is said to her, to raise her eyes around, and to see the children who had gathered to her. Of whom also the Lord spoke: Lift up your eyes, and see that the harvest is already white for reaping (John 4:35). And to make us secure: As I live, says the Lord (which is said according to the custom of swearing in the Old Testament), you will be clothed with all these as with ornaments, and you will surround yourself with them, as a bride adorns herself with a necklace. Blessed is he who has such great merit and virtue that he is called an adornment of the Church. I think, however, that these various spiritual graces are signified, by which the bride is adorned. And this is sung about in the forty-fourth psalm: The queen stood at your right hand, in a garment adorned with gold, surrounded by variety (Ps. 44:10). For those places which were previously deserted and fallen into ruins, with the coming of Christ's Gospel, will be restored and will have such a multitude of inhabitants that they cannot be contained. So, while the persecutors are kept far away, or those about whom we have spoken above: Those who destroyed you and scattered you, will go out from you. And the sons of your barrenness, whom you thought you had completely lost, and that you were widowed by them, will say in your ears: 'The place is too narrow for me in the synagogues, make room for me in the Churches, so that I may dwell more expansively, so that I may not be constrained by the blasphemies of the Jews, so that the whole world may contain your wideness with you.' But unable to express the magnitude of my joy with my mouth, you will think silently in your heart, and say: Who has given birth to these for me? I was barren and a widow, forsaken and captive among the people of Judah, I had ceased to have children, for a long time I had not given birth. After Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi, I had seen no other prophets until John the Baptist; and how is it that being alone and deprived of the help of a husband, I have now begun to have so many children? But so that we may know that Christ is built upon a rock and foundation from both peoples, Paul speaks to the believers: Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20.) From this it is clear that the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets is one, our Lord Jesus Christ.

What, then, is the message promised by the divine words? Namely, the calling and assembling of those who were scattered and a return in the spirit for those who were lost and a way back for those who fled, and a return and a reawakening as well as the reward of love for Christ.… “And I have put them on” says the Lord, “to be the ornament of a bride.” Such is the beautiful order of the churches. For it is customary in the divinely breathed Scriptures to decorate the church with gold and colors.

Spiritual preparation produces faith in the one Lord, and this faith is the opportunity for salvation, through which there is a coming to the knowledge of God through baptism and the doing of various noble works for the hope of eternal life. Their souls are compared with various choice gems, and the church is shown to be fashioned with a crown.

We have often said already that blessed Job stands for a type of Holy Church. But all they, who are joined to it by the unity of the Faith, are the garments of the Church. Of which the Lord says to the same Church by the Prophet, "As I live, thou shall be clothed with all these, as with an ornament." But by the south wind, which is doubtless warm, is designated, not improperly, the Holy Spirit, for when any one is touched by It, he is freed from the torpor of his iniquity. The garments, therefore, of Holy Church are warm, while the earth is breathed upon by the south wind; because they, who cling to her by faith, glow with fervent zeal of charity, while their mind is streamed through by the breath of the Holy Spirit.

If anyone asks what the Lord’s garments, which became white as snow, represent typologically, we can properly understand them as pointing to the church of his saints. Of them Isaiah said, “You will be clothed with all of these as though with an ornament.”

906. Second, as to the inhabitation of men, and concerning this, he does three things. First, he sets out the uniting of the citizens: lift up your eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together: look about you, O Jerusalem (Bar 4:36). Second, the reinhabitation of the city, showing that it will be inhabited: I live, he says in the manner of an oath, you shall be clothed with all these as with an ornament, as a bride with her garments, so shall the city be adorned by her citizens, below: he has clothed me with the garments of salvation (Isa 61:10).

This chapter is a collection of prophecies relating to several nations in the neighborhood of Judea; and, like those preceding, are supposed to have been fulfilled by the ministry of Nebuchadnezzar during the thirteen years' siege of Tyre. The chapter opens with a prophecy concerning the Ammonites, whose chief city, Rabbah, shall be destroyed; and Malcom, the supreme divinity of the people, with all his retinue of priests and officers, carried into captivity, Jer 49:1-5. Promise that the Ammonites shall be restored to their liberty, Jer 49:6. Prophecy against the Edomites, (very like that most dreadful one in the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah against the same people), who shall be utterly exterminated, after the similitude of Sodom and Gomorrah, vv. 7-22. Prophecy against Damascus, Jer 49:23-27; and against Kedar, Jer 49:28, Jer 49:29. Utter desolation of the kingdoms of Hazor foretold, Jer 49:30-33. The polity of the Elamites shall be completely dissolved, and the people dispersed throughout the nations, Jer 49:34-38. The Elamites shall be delivered from their captivity in the latter days, Jer 49:39. It wilt be proper here to observe that these predictions should not be so explained as if they admitted of merely a private interpretation; for, as Bishop Lowth remarks upon Isaiah's prophecy concerning the Idumeans, "by a figure very common in the prophetical writings, any city or people, remarkably distinguished as enemies of the people and kingdom of God, is put for those enemies in general;" therefore, it is under the Gospel dispensation that these prophecies shall be accomplished to their fullest extent upon all the antichrtstian nations that have sinned after the similitude of the ancient enemies of the people of God under the Mosaic economy.

Bind them on thee, as a bride doeth "Bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels" - The end of the sentence is manifestly imperfect. Does a bride bind her children, or her new subjects, about her? Sion clothes herself with her children, as a bride clothes herself, - with what? some other thing certainly. The Septuagint help us out in this difficulty, and supply the lost word: ὡς κοσμον νυμφη· as a bride her ornaments. ככליה כלה kichleyha callah, or ככלה כליה kecallah keleyha. The great similitude of the two words has occasioned the omission of one of them. See Isa 61:10.

SIMILAR TO CHAPTER 42 (Isa 49:1-9). (Isa. 49:1-26) O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews (Isa 49:4-5), and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea. from the womb-- (Isa 44:2; Luk 1:31; Joh 10:36). from . . . bowels . . . mention of my name--His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth (Mat 1:21).

As Zion is often compared to a bride (Isa 54:5), so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels," Isa 62:3; Mal 3:17). Her literal children are, however, more immediately meant, as the context refers to their restoration; and only secondarily to her spiritual children by conversion to Christ. Israel shall be the means of the final complete conversion of the nations (Mic 5:7; Rom 11:12, Rom 11:15). as a bride--namely, binds on her ornaments.