Isaiah 54:4 Kommentar

The death of Christ is the life of the church and of all that truly belong to it; and therefore very fitly, after the prophet had foretold the sufferings of Christ, he foretels the flourishing of the church, which is a part of his glory, and that exaltation of him which was the reward of his humiliation: it was promised him that he should see his seed, and this chapter is an explication of that promise. It may easily be granted that it has a primary reference to the welfare and prosperity of the Jewish church after their return out of Babylon, which (as other things that happened to them) was typical of the glorious liberty of the children of God, which through Christ we are brought into; yet it cannot be denied but that it has a further and principal reference to the gospel church, into which the Gentiles were to be admitted. And the first words being understood by the apostle Paul of the New Testament Jerusalem (Gal 4:26) may serve as a key to the whole chapter and that which follows. It is here promised concerning the Christian church, I. That, though the beginnings of it were small, it should be greatly enlarged by the accession of many to it among the Gentiles, who had been wholly destitute of church privileges (Isa 54:1-5). II. That though sometimes God might seem to withdraw from her, and suspend the tokens of his favour, he would return in mercy and would not return to contend with them any more (Isa 54:6-10). III. That, though for a while she was in sorrow and under oppression, she should at length be advanced to greater honour and splendour than ever (Isa 54:11, Isa 54:12). IV. That knowledge, righteousness, and peace, should flourish and prevail (Isa 54:13, Isa 54:14). V. That all attempts against the church should be baffled, and she should be secured from the malice of her enemies (Isa 54:14-17).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 54 As the former chapter is a prophecy of the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, of his sufferings and death, and the glory that should follow; this is a prophecy of that part of his glory which relates to the flourishing estate of his church, as the fruit of his death, and explains and enlarges upon the promise of his having a numerous seed. The prophecy reaches from the death and resurrection of Christ to his second coming; and describes the state of the church during that time, which had been like a barren woman, but now fruitful, which was matter of joy; and would increase, and have yet a more numerous issue, through the conversion and accession of the Gentiles; and therefore is bid not to fear, since she should not bear the shame and reproach of widowhood, Isa 54:1, the reason confirming which is, because Christ was her husband, who was her Maker and Redeemer, the God of Israel, and of the whole earth, Isa 54:5, and though she might for some time be under some dark providences, and seem to be forsaken of God, and lie under his displeasure; yet she is assured of the love of God towards her, that it is constant and perpetual; which is illustrated by the oath and covenant of God with Noah, and by its being more immovable than mountains and hills, Isa 54:6, and though she would sometimes be in a very afflicted and uncomfortable condition, yet should be raised again to a state of great honour and splendour, of spiritual knowledge, peace, and safety, Isa 54:11 and that all her enemies, that gathered together against her, should perish, and all their attempts be unsuccessful, since the Lord was on her side, and would defend her cause, and protect her, Isa 54:15.

Fear not,.... The fulfilment of these things; however unlikely and unpromising they might seem, yet God was able to perform them; and therefore way should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart: for thou shall not be ashamed; as men are, when disappointed of what they have been hoping for and expecting; but so it should not be with the church, she should not be ashamed of her hope, faith, and confidence; for there would be a performance of all that the Lord had spoken: nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness, which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts, which would be many; and of the straitness of the place of her tent or habitation, which would now be enlarged: neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; other words made use of to express the same thing, and for the further confirmation of it, that she needed not, and that she should not be put to the blush, or to shame and confusion, on the above accounts: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; by which may be meant either the small number of converts at the first preaching of the Gospel; or more especially that there were so few of the wise and learned, the rich and noble, that embraced it, with which the first Christians were greatly upbraided; or those persecutions which attended them the three first centuries, which, being now at an end, shall be forgotten: and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more; which signifies much the same as before, the seeming desolate estate of the church upon the death of Christ; when she seemed to be deprived of her husband, and forsaken by him, and left as a widow, and without children, barren and unfruitful; which was reckoned reproachful with the Jews, Luk 1:25.

(Verse 4, 5.) Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. LXX: Do not be afraid, for you have been put to shame; do not be disgraced, for you have been reproached. You will forget the shame of your eternal confusion and will no longer remember the reproach of your widowhood. For the LORD who made you is your husband— his name is the LORD Almighty— the God of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. A question arises, how is it said to the Church gathered from the Gentiles: Rejoice, you barren one who does not bear; and: More are the children of the desolate one than of her who has a husband, that is, she who had no husband, who later had more children, and she who had a husband turned into sterility: how is it now said to her who had no husband: You will no longer remember your widowhood, and the disgrace of your youth you will forget. From which the Jews want to understand that everything that is said is to be said to Jerusalem, which is deserted by God, and to be restored by Him again. Those who are easily repelled, when they are warned, are said to be spoken to in the person of the Lord in Zachariah: 'And I took for myself two staffs: one I called Beauty, and the other I called Cord: and I fed the flock' (Zech. 11:7). We have spoken more fully about this in its proper place, and now it will be partly spoken. The two staffs, each of them is the people, of the Gentiles and of the Jews, of which the former is called the multitude of the Gentiles, who have received the natural law fixed in their hearts, of which Paul, writing to the Romans, argues most forcefully (Rom. 1); by which staff, nothing is more beautiful than that all creatures are equally called to the worship of their Creator. But the second, that is, the people of the Jews, was called a cord: which after the offense of the nations is called the portion of the Lord, and his inheritance is Israel (Deut. XXXII). Finally, after Israel was called in Abraham, the Lord says: I took my rod, which was called beauty: and I cut it off, to make void my covenant which I struck with all the nations (Zach. XI, 10). Therefore, at the coming of Christ, it is said to the rod that had been cut off: Do not be afraid, nor be ashamed, nor blush with shame. For you will never again be confused as you were before, nor will you remember the confusion of your youth, and you will not recall your widowhood, by which you were forsaken by God: for your maker himself will rule over you, whose name is Almighty, who reigns not in one nation of Judah, but in the whole world. Finally, it follows: He who created you, himself redeemed you with his own blood: and God will be called the God of all the earth: for he is the God of all who dwell on earth. From this it is clearly evident that it should not be said of Jerusalem, which has never ruled over the entire world, but of the Church of Christ, whose inheritance is the possession of the world.

We have been justified in Christ, and not from works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy. But this is also what the supremely wise Paul has written. For we have been set free from the darkness, deceit and wickedness, which have been inherited from our ancestors.… [Therefore,] do not fear that you will be put to shame. For just as a parent looks after children, the Lord will look after those who fear him. Your sins will be as far removed from you as the east is from the west. How necessary is it, then, that you not stumble again but reject those same sins in fear. Remember the grace of our justifying God, and do not bear malice or demand justice from those who sin against you.

He makes clear how he makes the shame of widowhood disappear, saying that it is “the Lord who makes you, the Lord of hosts is his name.” He is making you rather than creating you, transferring us into another type of citizenship and beautiful life. For we are being transformed in Christ into the newness of the holy and evangelical life, ascending to his own beautiful form through the Spirit so that others see us as different from the rest [of humanity].

980. Fear not. Here he promises the restoration of their former honor as a remedy against the confusion which they had sustained earlier; second, he sets out the firmness of the promise: this thing is to me as in the days of Noah (Isa 54:9). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he promises forgetfulness of their former confusion: you shall not be confounded, inwardly, nor blush, outwardly; you shall not be put to shame, from consideration of your disgrace; you shall forget, because the abundance of your glory, the shame of your youth, when you sinned in the desert, and shall remember no more the reproach of your widowhood, when you were separated from God in the captivity of Babylon, above: you shall not be confounded, and you shall not be ashamed (Isa 45:17); in that day you shall not be ashamed for all your doings (Zeph 3:11).

Some suppose this chapter to have been addressed to the Gentiles; some, to the Jewish Church; and some, to the Christian, in its first stage. On comparing the different parts of it, particularly the seventh and eighth verses, with the remainder, the most obvious import of the prophecy will be that which refers it to the future conversion of the Jews, and to the increase and prosperity of that nation, when reconciled to God after their long rejection, when their glory and security will far surpass what they were formerly in their most favored state, vv. 1-17.

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

THE FRUIT OF MESSIAH'S SUFFERINGS, AND OF ISRAEL'S FINAL PENITENCE AT HER PAST UNBELIEF (Isa 53:6): HER JOYFUL RESTORATION AND ENLARGEMENT BY JEHOVAH, WHOSE WRATH WAS MOMENTARY, BUT HIS KINDNESS EVERLASTING. (Isa. 54:1-17) Sing--for joy (Zep 3:14). barren--the Jewish Church once forsaken by God, and therefore during that time destitute of spiritual children (Isa 54:6). didst not bear--during the Babylonian exile primarily. Secondarily, and chiefly, during Israel's present dispersion. the children--the Gentiles adopted by special grace into the original Church (Isa 54:3; Isa 49:20-21). than . . . married wife--than were her spiritual children, when Israel was still a married wife (under the law, before the Babylonian exile), before God put her away [MAURER]. So Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (Gal 4:27). But the full accomplishment of it is yet future.

(Isa 41:10, Isa 41:14). shame of thy youth--Israel's unfaithfulness as wife of Jehovah, almost from her earliest history. reproach of widowhood--Israel's punishment in her consequent dismissal from God and barrenness of spiritual children in Babylon and her present dispersion (Isa 54:1; Isa 49:21; Jer 3:24-25; Jer 31:19; Hos 2:2-5).

After the "Servant of God" has expiated the sin of His people by the sacrifice of Himself, and Israel has acknowledged its fault in connection with the rejected One, and entered into the possession and enjoyment of the salvation procured by Him, the glory of the church, which has thus become a partaker of salvation through repentance and faith, is quite ready to burst forth. Hence the prophet can now exclaim, Isa 54:1 : "Exult, O barren one, thou that didst not bear; break forth into exulting, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for there are more children of the solitary one than children of the married wife, saith Jehovah." The words are addressed to Jerusalem, which was a counterpart of Sarah in her barrenness at first, and her fruitfulness afterwards (Isa 41:1-3). She is not תלד לא עקרה (Job 24:21), but ילדה לא עקרה (Jdg 13:2); not indeed that she had never had any children, but during her captivity and exile she had been robbed of her children, and as a holy city had given birth to no more (Isa 49:21). She was shōmēmâh, rendered solitary (Sa2 13:20; the allusion is to her depopulation as a city), whereas formerly she was בּעוּלה, i.e., enjoyed the fellowship of Jehovah her husband (ba‛al). But this condition would not last (for Jehovah had not given her a divorce): she was therefore to exult and shout, since the number of children which she would now have, as one desolate and solitary, would be greater than the number of those which she had as a married wife.

The encouraging promise is continued in Isa 54:4 : "Fear not, for thou wilt not be put to shame; and bid defiance to reproach, for thou wilt not blush: no, thou wilt forget the shame of thy youth, and wilt no more remember the reproach of thy widowhood." Now that redemption was before the door, Israel was not to fear any more, or to be overcome (as the niphal nikhlam implies) by a felling of the shame consequent upon her state of punishment, or so to behave herself as to leave no room for hope. For a state of things was about to commence, in which she would have no need to be ashamed (on bōsh and châphēr or hechpı̄r), but which, on the contrary (כּי, imo, as in Isa 10:7; Isa 55:9), would be so glorious that she would forget the shame of her youth, i.e., of the Egyptian bondage, in which the national community of Israel was still but like a virgin (‛almâh), who entered into a betrothal when redeemed by Jehovah, and became His youthful wife through a covenant of love (ehe = berı̄th) when the law was given at Sinai (Jer 2:2; Eze 16:60); so glorious indeed, that she would never again remember the shame of her widowhood, i.e., of the Babylonian captivity, in which she, the wife whom Jehovah had taken to Himself, was like a widow whose husband had died.