Isaiah 49 commentary

The great Author of redemption shows the authority for his work. The sword of his word slays the lusts of his people, and all at enmity with them. His sharp arrows wound the conscience; but all these wounds will be healed, when the sinner prays to him for mercy. But even the Redeemer, who spake as never man spake in his personal ministry, often seemed to labour in vain. And if Jacob will not be brought back to God, and Israel will not be gathered, still Christ will be glorious. This promise is in part fulfilled in the calling of the Gentiles. Men perish in darkness. But Christ enlightens men, and so makes them holy and happy.

The Father is the Lord, the Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel, as sending the Son to be the Redeemer. Man, whom he came to save, put contempt upon him. To this he submitted for our salvation. He is a pledge for all the blessings of the covenant; in him God was reconciling the world to himself. Pardoning mercy is a release from the curse of the law; renewing grace is a release from the dominion of sin: both are from Christ. He saith to those in darkness, Show yourselves. Not only see, but be seen, to the glory of God, and your own comforts. Though there are difficulties in the way to heaven, yet the grace of God will carry us over them, and make even the mountains a way. This denotes the free invitations and the encouraging promises of the gospel, and the outpouring of the Spirit.

Let there be universal joy, for God will have mercy upon the afflicted, because of his compassion; upon his afflicted, because of his covenant. We have no more reason to question his promise and grace, than we have to question his providence and justice. Be assured that God has a tender affection for his church and people; he would not have them to be discouraged. Some mothers do neglect their children; but God's compassions to his people, infinitely exceed those of the tenderest parents toward their children. His setting them as a mark on his hand, or a seal upon his arm, denotes his being ever mindful of them. As far as we have scriptural evidence that we belong to his ransomed flock, we may be sure that he will never forsake us. Let us then give diligence to make our calling and election sure, and rejoice in the hope and glory of God.

Zion is addressed as an afflicted widow, bereaved of her children. Numbers flock to her, and she is assured that they come to be a comfort to her. There are times when the church is desolate and few in number; yet its desolations shall not last for ever, and God will repair them. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites, even among Gentiles. They shall bring their children, and make them thy children. Let all deal tenderly and carefully with young converts and beginners in religion. Princes shall protect the church. It shall appear that God is the sovereign Lord of all. And those who in the exercise of faith, hope, and patience, wait on God for the fulfilment of his promises, shall never be confounded.

We were lawful captives to the justice of God, yet delivered by a price of unspeakable value. Here is an express promise: Even the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. We may here view Satan deprived of his prey, bound and cast into the pit; and all the powers that have combined to enslave, persecute, or corrupt the church, are destroyed; that all the earth may know that our Saviour and Redeemer is Jehovah, the mighty One of Jacob. And every effort we make to rescue our fellow-sinners from the bondage of Satan, is, in some degree, helping forward that great change.

CHAPTER 49

Is 49:1-26. Similar to Chapter 42:1-7 (Is 49:1-9).

Messiah, as the ideal Israel (Is 49:3), states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success.

1. O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews (Is 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--(Is 44:2; Lu 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 (Mt 1:21).

2. my mouth ... sword--(Is 11:4; Re 19:15). The double office of the Word of God, saving and damnatory, is implied (Is 50:4; Joh 12:48; He 4:12).

shaft--(Psa 45:5). "Polished," that is, free from all rust, implies His unsullied purity.

in ... quiver ... hid me--Like a sword in its scabbard, or a shaft in the quiver, Messiah, before His appearing, was hid with God, ready to be drawn forth at the moment God saw fit [Hengstenberg]; also always protected by God, as the arrow by the quiver (Is 51:16).

3. Israel--applied to Messiah, according to the true import of the name, the Prince who had power with God in wrestling in behalf of man, and who prevails (Ge 32:28; Ho 12:3, 4). He is also the ideal Israel, the representative man of the nation (compare Mt 2:15 with Ho 11:1).

in whom ... glorified--(Joh 14:13; 17:1-5).

4. I--Messiah.

in vain--comparatively in the case of the greater number of His own countrymen. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (Is 53:1-3; Lu 19:14; Joh 1:11; 7:5). Only a hundred twenty disciples met after His personal ministry was ended (Ac 1:15).

yet ... my judgment ... with the Lord--Ultimately, God will do justice to My cause, and reward (Margin for "work," compare Is 40:10; 62:11) My labors and sufferings. He was never "discouraged" (Is 42:4; 50:7, 10). He calmly, in spite of seeming ill success for the time, left the result with God, confident of final triumph (Is 53:10-12; 1Pe 2:23). So the ministers of Christ (1Co 4:1-5; 1Pe 4:19).

5. The reason why He was confident that His work would be accepted and rewarded, namely, because He is "glorious in the eyes of Jehovah," &c.

to bring Jacob again to him--(Mt 15:24; Ac 3:26).

Though Israel be not gathered--metaphor from a scattered flock which the shepherd gathers together again; or a hen and her chickens (Mt 23:37). Instead of the text "not," the Keri has the similar Hebrew word, "to Him," which the parallelism favors: "And that Israel may be gathered to Him."

yet--rather, parenthetically. "For I am glorious, &c., and My God is My strength." Then (Is 49:6) resuming the words from the beginning of Is 49:5, "He saith" (I repeat), &c. Horsley explains, "Notwithstanding the incredulity of the Jews, Messiah shall be glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles," reading as English Version: but if the Keri be read, "Israel shall at one time or other be gathered, notwithstanding their incredulity during Messiah's sojourn on earth."

6. It is a light thing--"It is too little that Thou shouldest," [Hengstenberg], that is, It is not enough honor to Thee to raise up Jacob and Israel, but I design for Thee more, namely, that Thou shouldest be the means of enlightening the Gentiles (Is 42:6, 7; 60:3).

the preserved--namely, those remaining after the judgments of God on the nation--the elect remnant of Israel reserved for mercy. Lowth, with a slight but needless change of the Hebrew, translates for "tribes" and "preserved," the "scions"--the "branches."

7. whom man despiseth--Hebrew, "the despised of soul," that is, by every soul, by all men (Is 52:14, 15; 53:3; 50:6-9; Psa 22:6). Lowth translates, "whose person is despised."

abhorreth--literally, "who is an abomination to the nation" (Lu 23:18-23). The Jews contemptuously call Him always Tolvi, "the crucified." I prefer, on account of Goi, the Hebrew term for nation being usually applied to the Gentiles, and that for people to the Jews (Ho 1:9; so the Greek terms respectively also Laos and Ethne, Ro 9:25), to take "nation" here collectively for the Gentile world, which also spurned Him (Psa 2:1-3; Ac 4:25-27).

servant of rulers--(Mt 17:27). He who would not exert His power against the rulers (Mt 26:52, 53).

shall see--namely the fulfilment of God's promises (Is 49:3, 6), "when He (shall be) a light to the Gentiles."

arise--to reverence Thee (Psa 72:10, 11; Php 2:10).

princes also--rather, for the parallelism, supply the ellipsis, thus, "Princes shall see and shall worship."

faithful--namely, to His promises.

choose thee--as God's elect (Is 42:1).

8. Messiah is represented as having asked for the grace of God in behalf of sinners; this verse contains God the Father's favorable answer.

an acceptable time--"In a time of grace" [Hengstenberg]. A limited time (Is 61:2; 2Co 6:2). The time judged by God to be the best fitted for effecting the purposes of His grace by Messiah.

heard thee--(Psa 2:8; He 5:7).

day of salvation--when "the fulness of time" (Ga 4:4) shall have come. The day of salvation is "to-day" (He 4:7).

helped--given Thee the help needed to enable Thee, as man, to accomplish man's salvation.

preserve--from the assaults and efforts of Satan, to divert Thee from Thy voluntary death to save man.

covenant of the people--(See on Is 42:6). "The people," in the singular, is always applied exclusively to Israel.

establish the earth--rather, "to restore the land," namely, Canaan to Israel. Spiritually, the restoration of the Church (the spiritual Israel) to the heavenly land forfeited by man's sin is also included.

cause to inherit ... desolate heritages--image from the desolate state of Judea during the Babylonish captivity. Spiritually, the Gentile world, a moral waste, shall become a garden of the Lord. Literally, Judea lying desolate for ages shall be possessed again by Israel (compare Is 61:7, "in their land"). Jesus, the antitype of, and bearing the same name as Joshua (He 4:8), shall, like him, divide the land among its true heirs (Is 54:3; 61:4).

9. (Is 42:7; Zec 9:12).

prisoners--the Jews bound in legal bondage.

them ... in darkness--the Gentiles having no light as to the one true God [Vitringa].

Show yourselves--not only see but be seen (Mt 5:16; Mr 5:19). Come forth from the darkness of your prison into the light of the Sun of righteousness.

in the ways, &c.--In a desert there are no "ways," nor "high places," with "pastures"; thus the sense is: "They shall have their pastures, not in deserts, but in cultivated and inhabited places." Laying aside the figure, the churches of Christ at the first shall be gathered, not in obscure and unknown regions, but in the most populous parts of the Roman empire, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, &c. [Vitringa]. Another sense probably is the right one. Israel, on its way back to the Holy Land, shall not have to turn aside to devious paths in search of necessaries, but shall find them in all places wherever their route lies; so Rosenmuller. God will supply them as if He should make the grass grow in the trodden ways and on the barren high places.

10. Messiah will abundantly satisfy all the wants, both of literal Israel on their way to Palestine, and of the spiritual on their way to heaven, as their Shepherd (Is 65:13; Mt 5:6), also in heaven (Re 7:16, 17).

11. my--All things are God's.

mountains a way--I will remove all obstructions out of the way (Is 40:4).

exalted--that is, cast up (Is 57:14; 62:10); for instance, over valleys. Vitringa explains "mountains" as great kingdoms, Egypt, Syria, &c., subjected to Rome, to facilitate the spreading of the Gospel; "highways," the Christian doctrine wherein those who join the Church walk, and which, at the time of Constantine, was to be raised into prominence before all, and publicly protected (Is 35:8, 9).

12. Sinim--The Arabians and other Asiatics called China Sin, or Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of "Sinim" suits the context which requires a people to be meant "from far," and distinct from those "from the north and from the west" [Gesenius].

13. So Re 12:12. God will have mercy on the afflicted, because of His compassion; on His afflicted, because of His covenant.

14. Zion--the literal Israel's complaint, as if God had forsaken her in the Babylonian captivity; also in their dispersion previous to their future restoration; thereby God's mercy shall be called forth (Is 63:15-19; Psa 77:9, 10; 102:17).

15. (Is 44:21; Psa 103:13; Mt 7:11).

16. Alluding to the Jews' custom (perhaps drawn from Ex 13:9) of puncturing on their hands a representation of their city and temple, in token of zeal for them [Lowth], (So 8:6).

17. Thy children--Israel (Is 49:20, 21; Is 43:6). Jerome reads, for "Thy children," "Thy builders"; they that destroyed thee shall hasten to build thee.

haste--to rebuild thy desolate capital.

shall go forth--Thy destroyers shall leave Judea to Israel in undisturbed possession.

18. As Zion is often compared to a bride (Is 54:5), so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels," Is 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 (Mi 5:7; Ro 11:12, 15).

as a bride--namely, binds on her ornaments.

19. land of thy destruction--thy land once the scene of destruction.

too narrow--(Is 54:1, 2; Zec 10:10).

20. children ... after ... other--rather, "the children of thy widowhood," that is, the children of whom thou hast been bereft during their dispersion in other lands (see on Is 47:8) [Maurer].

again--rather, "yet."

give place--rather, "stand close to me," namely, in order that we may be the more able to dwell in in the narrow place [Horsley]. Compare as to Israel's spiritual children, and the extension of the gospel sphere, Ro 15:19, 24; 2Co 10:14-16. But Is 49:22 (compare Is 66:20) shows that her literal children are primarily meant. Gesenius translates, "Make room."

21. Who, &c.--Zion's joyful wonder at the unexpected restoration of the ten tribes. Secondarily, the accession of spiritual Israelites to the mother church of Jerusalem from the Gentiles is meant. This created surprise at first (Ac 10:45; 14:27; 15:3, 4).

lost ... am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro--rather, "bereaved of ... have been barren, an exile and outcast" [Horsley]. She had been "put away" by Jehovah, her husband (Is 50:1); hence her wonder at the children begotten to her.

22. lift ... hand--that is, beckon to (see on Is 13:2).

standard--(Is 11:12).

bring ... sons in ... arms--The Gentiles shall aid in restoring Israel to its own land (Is 60:4; 66:20). Children able to support themselves are carried on the shoulders in the East; but infants, in the arms, or astride on one haunch (Is 60:12). "Thy sons" must be distinct from "the Gentiles," who carry them; and therefore cannot primarily refer to converts among the Gentiles.

23. lick ... dust--that is, kiss thy feet in token of humble submission.

for they ... not ... ashamed ... wait for me--The restoration of Israel shall be in answer to their prayerful waiting on the Lord (Is 30:18, 19; Psa 102:16, 17; Zec 12:10; 14:3).

24. the prey--Israel, long a prey to mighty Gentile nations, whose oppression of her shall reach its highest point under Antichrist (Da 11:36, 37, 41, 45).

lawful captive--the Jews justly consigned for their sins (Is 50:1) as captives to the foe. Secondarily, Satan and Death are "the mighty" conquerors of man, upon whom his sin give them their "lawful" claim. Christ answers that claim for the sinners, and so the captive is set free (Job 19:25; 14:14; Mt 12:29; Ho 6:2, where Is 49:4 shows the primary reference is to Israel's restoration, to which the resurrection corresponds; Is 26:19; Ep 4:8; He 2:14, 15). Others not so well translate, "the captives taken from among the just Israelites."

25. (Is 53:12; Psa 68:18; Col 2:15).

contend with him, &c.--(Is 54:17).

26. feed ... own flesh--a phrase for internal strifes (Is 9:20).

own blood--a just retribution for their having shed the blood of God's servants (Re 16:6).

sweet wine--that is, must, or new wine, the pure juice which flows from the heap of grapes before they are pressed; the ancients could preserve it for a long time, so as to retain its flavor. It was so mild that it required a large quantity to intoxicate; thus the idea here is that very much blood would be shed (Re 14:10, 20).

all flesh shall, &c.--the effect on the world of God's judgments (Is 66:15, 16, 18, 19; Re 15:3, 4).

Listen, O isles, unto me "Hearken unto me, O ye distant lands" - Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon; with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in, to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of chap. 42.; but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one Church together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God.

And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword "And he hath made my mouth a sharp sword" - The servant of God, who speaks in the former part of this chapter, must be the Messiah. If any part of this character can in any sense belong to the prophet, yet in some parts it must belong exclusively to Christ; and in all parts to him in a much fuller and more proper sense. Isaiah's mission was to the Jews, not to the distant nations, to whom the speaker in this place addresses himself. "He hath made my mouth a sharp sword;" "to reprove the wicked, and to denounce unto them punishment," says Jarchi, understanding it of Isaiah. But how much better does it suit him who is represented as having "a sharp two-edged sword going out of his mouth," Rev 1:16; who is himself the Word of God; which word is "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;" Heb 4:12. This mighty Agent and Instrument of God, "long laid up in store with him, and sealed up among his treasures," is at last revealed and produced by his power, and under his protection, to execute his great and holy purposes. He is compared to a polished shaft stored in his quiver for use in his due time. The polished shaft denotes the same efficacious word which is before represented by the sharp sword. The doctrine of the Gospel pierced the hearts of its hearers, "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." The metaphor of the sword and the arrow, applied to powerful speech, is bold, yet just. It has been employed by the most ingenious heathen writers, if with equal elegance, not with equal force. It is said of Pericles by Aristophanes, (see Cicero, Epist. ad Atticum, 12:6): - Οὑτως εκηλει, και μονος των ῥητορων Το κεντρον εγκατελειπε τοις ακροωμενοις.

Apud. Diod. lib. xii.

His powerful speech

Pierced the hearer's soul, and left behind

Deep in his bosom its keen point infixed.

Pindar is particularly fond of this metaphor, and frequently applies it to his own poetry: - Επεχε νυν σκοπῳ τοξον, Αγε, θυμε. τινα βαλλομεν Εκ μαλθακας αυτε φρε- νος ευκλεας οΐστους Ἱεντες - ;

Olymp. 2:160. "Come on! thy brightest shafts prepare,

And bend, O Muse, thy sounding bow;

Say, through what paths of liquid air

Our arrows shall we throw?'

West.

See also ver. 149 of the same ode, and Olymp. Heb 9:17, on the former of which places the Scholiast says, τροπικος ὁ λογος· βελη δε τους λογους εορηκε, δια το οξυ και καιριον των εγκωμιων. "He calls his verses shafts, by a metaphor, signifying the acuteness and the apposite application of his panegyric."

This person, who is (Isa 49:3) called Israel, cannot in any sense be Isaiah. That name, in its original design and full import, can only belong to him who contended powerfully with God in behalf of mankind, and prevailed, Gen 32:28. After all that Vitringa, Bp. Lowth, and others have said in proof of this chapter speaking of the Messiah, and of him alone, I have my doubts whether sometimes Isaiah, sometimes Cyrus, and sometimes the Messiah, be not intended; the former shadowing out the latter, of whom, in certain respects, they may be considered the types. The literal sense should be sought out first; this is of the utmost importance both in reading and interpreting the oracles of God.

And now, saith the Lord "And now, thus saith Jehovah" - The word כה coh, before אמר amar, is dropped out of the text: it is supplied by eight MSS. (two ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, two of De Rossi's, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Though Israel be not gathered "And that Israel unto him might be gathered" - Five MSS. (two ancient) confirm the Keri, or marginal correction of the Masoretes, לו lo, unto him, instead of לא lo, not, in the text; and so read Aquila; and the Chaldee, Septuagint, and Arabic omit the negative. But the Septuagint, MSS. Pachom, and 1. D. 2 express also the Keri לו lo by προς αυτον, to him.

And to restore the preserved of Irsrae "And to restore the branches of Israel" - נצירי netsirey, or נצורי netsurey, as the Masoretes correct it in the marginal reading. This word has been matter of great doubt with interpreters: the Syriac renders it the branch, taking it for the same with נצר netser, Isa 11:1. See Michaelis Epim. in Praelect. xix.

The Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One "The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One" - "Perhaps we should read לקדושו likdosho," Secker: that is, to his Holy One. The preceding word ends with a ל lamed, which might occasion that letter's being lost here. The Talmud of Babylon has וקדושו ukedosho, and his Holy One.

To him whom man despiseth "To him whose person is despised" - "Perhaps we should read נבזה nibzeh," Secker; or בזוי bazui, Le Clerc; that is, instead of the active, the passive form, which seems here to be required.

To them that are in darkness "And to those that are in darkness" - Fifteen MSS. (five ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, eleven of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own, and the two old editions of 1486 and 1488, and three others, add the conjunction ו vau at the beginning of this member. Another MS. had it so at first, and two others have a rasure at the place: and it is expressed by the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.

Behold, these shall come from far - "Babylon was far and east, ממזרח mimmizrach, (non sic Vett.), Sinim, Pelusians, to the south." - Secker.

The land of Sinim - Prof. Doederlein thought of Syene, the southern limit of Egypt, but does not abide by it. Michaelis thinks it is right, and promises to give his reasons for so thinking in the second part of his Spicilegium Geographiae Hebraeorum Exterae. See Biblioth. Oriental. Part 11 p. 176. סין sin signifies a bush, and סינים sinim, bushes, woods, etc. Probably this means that the land where several of the lost Jews dwell is a woodland. The ten tribes are gone, no one knows whither. On the slave coast in Africa, some Jewish rites appear among the people, and all the males are circumcised. The whole of this land, as it appears from the coast, may be emphatically called ארץ שינים erets sinim, the land of bushes, as it is all covered with woods as far as the eye can reach. Many of the Indians in North America, which is also a woodland, have a great profusion of rites, apparently in their basis Jewish. Is it not possible that the descendants of the ten lost tribes are among those in America, or among those in Africa, whom European nations think they have a right to enslave? It is of those lost tribes that the twenty-first verse speaks: "And these, where had they been?"

Break forth into singing, O mountains "Ye mountains, burst forth into song" - Three ancient MSS. are without the י yod or the conjunction ו vau before the verb: and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

The Lord (יהוה Yehovah) hath forsaken me, and my Lord (אדני Adonai) hath forgotten me - But a multitude of MSS. and several ancient editions read יהוה Yehovah in both places.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands "Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated thee" - This is certainly an allusion to some practice, common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representation of the city or temple, to show their affection and zeal for it. They had a method of making such punctures indelible by fire, or by staining. See note on Isa 44:6 (note). It is well known, that the pilgrims at the holy sepulcher get themselves marked in this manner with what are called the ensigns of Jerusalem. See Maundrell, p. 75, where he tells us how it is performed: and this art is practiced by travelling Jews all over the world at this day.

Thy children shall make haste "They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders" - Auctor Vulgatae pro בניך banayich, videtur legisse בוניך bonayich, unde vertit, structores tui; cui et Septuaginta fere consentiunt, qui verterunt ῳκοδομηθης, aedificata es, prout in Plantiniana editione habetur; in Vaticana sive Romana legitur, οικοδομηθησῃ, aedificaberis. Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus consentit, ubi, et aedificabunt. Confer infra Esai. Isa 54:13, ad quem locum rabbini quoque notarunt en tractatu Talmudico Berachot, c. ix., quod non legendum sit בניך banayich, id est. filii tui; sed בניך bonayich, aedificatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. part ii., p. 226, ut et D Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "The author of the Vulgate appears to have read בוניך bonayich for בניך banayich, as he translates it by structures tui, 'thy builders.' The Septuagint is almost the same with the Vulgate, having ῳκοδομηθης, art built, as in the Plantin edition: but the Vatican or Roman copy reads οικοδομηθησῃ, those shalt be built. To these readings the Targum of Jonathan has some sort of correspondence, translating et aedificabunt, 'and they shall build.' See Isa 54:13; on which place the rabbins also remark, in the Talmudic tract Berachoth, c. 9, that we should not read בניך banayich, thy sons, but בניך bonayich, thy builders. See the note in Prae. Jud. part ii., p. 226, and also D. Wagenseil, Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "See also Breithaupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc.; and the note on this place in De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. 31. Instead of בוניך or בניך bonayich, thy builders, several MSS. read בניך baneycha, thy sons. So also the Syriac: see the above note.

Shall go forth of thee "Shall become thine offspring" - ממך יצאו mimmech yetseu, shall proceed, spring, issue, from thee, as thy children. The phrase is frequently used in this sense: see Isa 11:1; Mic 5:2; Nah 1:11. The accession of the Gentiles to the Church of God is considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Sion: see Isa 49:21, Isa 49:22, and Isa 60:4. The common rendering, "shall go forth of thee, or depart from thee," is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by "shall become thy builders:" and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other, which should be parallel to it.

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.

These, where had they been "These then, where were they?" - The conjunction is added before אלה elleh, that is, ואלה veelleh. in thirty-two MSS. (nine ancient) of Kennicott's, and fifty-four of De Rossi's, and so the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Vulgate. See the note on Isa 49:12 (note).

Thus saith the Lord God - אדני יהוה Adonai Yehovah. Adonai is wanting in one MS., in the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, and in the Arabic.

With their face toward the earth "With their faces to the earth" - It is well known that expressions of submission, homage, and reverence always have been and are still carried to a great degree of extravagance in the eastern countries. When Joseph's brethren were introduced to him, "they bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth," Gen 42:6. The kings of Persia never admitted any one to their presence without exacting this act of adoration; for that was the proper term for it. Necesse est, says the Persian courtier to Conon, si in conspectum veneris, venerari te regem; quod προσκυνειν illi vocant. "It is necessary, if thou shouldest come in sight, to venerate thee as king; which they call worshipping." - Nepos in Conone. Alexander, intoxicated with success, affected this piece of oriental pride: Itaque more Persarum Macedonas venerabundos ipsum salutare, prosternentes humi corpora. "The Macedonians after the manner of the Persians, saluted their monarch with the ceremony of prostration." - Curtius, lib. 8. The insolence of eastern monarchs to conquered princes, and the submission of the latter, is astonishing. Mr. Warmer, Observ. 2:43, gives the following instance of it from D'Herbelot: "This prince threw himself one day on the ground, and kissed the prints that his victorious enemy's horse had made there; reciting some verses in Persian, which he had composed, to this effect: - "The mark that the foot of your horse has left upon the dust, serves me now for a crown." "The ring which I wear as the badge of my slavery, is become my richest ornament." "While I shall have the happiness to kiss the dust of your feet, I shall think that fortune favors me with its tenderest caresses, and its sweetest kisses."

These expressions therefore of the prophet are only general poetical images, taken from the manners of the country, to denote great respect and reverence: and such splendid poetical images, which frequently occur in the prophetical writings, were intended only as general amplifications of the subject, not as predictions to be understood and fulfilled precisely according to the letter. For the different kinds of adoration in the east, see the note on Isa 44:17.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty "Shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued" - For צדיק tsaddik, read עריץ arits. A palpable mistake, like that in Isa 42:19. The correction is self-evident from the very terms of the sentence; from the necessity of the strict correspondence in the expressions between the question and the answer made to it, - and it is apparent to the blindest and most prejudiced eye. However, if authority is also necessary, there is that of the Syriac and Vulgate for it; who plainly read עריץ arits, in Isa 49:24 as well as in Isa 49:25, rendering it in the former place by the same word as in the latter. - L.

These two last verses contain a glorious promise of deliverance to the persecuted Church of Christ from the terrible one - Satan, and all his representatives and vicegerents, persecuting antichristian rulers. They shall at last cease from destroying the Church of God, and destroy one another.

Listen - God turns his speech to the Gentiles, and invites them to hearken to those counsels and doctrines which the Jews would reject. Me - Unto Christ: Isaiah speaks these words in the name of Christ.

A sword - As he made me the great teacher of his church, so he made my word, quick and powerful, and sharper than any two - edged sword. Hath he hid - He will protect me from all mine enemies. Made me - Like an arrow, whose point is bright and polished; which therefore pierceth deeper.

O Israel - As the name of David is sometimes given to his successors, so here the name of Israel may not unfitly be given to Christ, not only because he descended from his loins; but also because he was the true and the great Israel, who, in a more eminent manner, prevailed with God, as that name signifies, of whom Jacob, who was first called Israel, was but a type.

Then said I - Lord, thou sayest thou wilt be glorified by my ministry; but I find it otherwise. In vain - Without any considerable fruit of my word and works among the Israelites. My judgment - My right, the reward which by his promise, and my purchase, is my right.

To bring - To convert the apostate Israelites to God. Not gathered - Not brought home to God by my ministry. Yet - God will not despise me for the unsuccessfulness of my labours, but will honour and glorify me. My strength - To support and strengthen me under this and all other discouragements.

He - The Lord. It is - This is but a small favour. The tribes - That remnant of them which shall survive all their calamities. My salvation - The great instrument and author of that eternal salvation which I will give to the Gentiles.

His Holy One - The Holy One of Israel. To him - To Christ, to whom, in the days of his flesh, this description fully agrees: for men, both Jews and Gentiles among whom he lived, did despise him from their hearts; and the nation, of which he was a member, abhorred both his person and his doctrine; and he was so far from being a temporal monarch, that he came in the form of a servant, and was a servant of rulers, professing subjection and paying tribute unto Caesar. Kings - Though for a time thou shalt be despised, yet after a while thou shalt be advanced to such glory, that kings shall look upon thee with reverence. Arise - From their seats to worship thee. Faithful - Because God shall make good his promises to thee. Chuse thee - And although thou shalt be rejected by thine own people, yet God will manifest to the world, that thou, and thou only, art the person whom he hath chosen to be the Redeemer of mankind.

The Lord - God the Father unto Christ. Heard thee - Though not so as to deliver thee from death; yet so as to crown thee with glory and honour. For a covenant - To be the Mediator and surety of that covenant, which is made between me and them. To establish - To establish truth and righteousness upon earth, and subdue those lusts and passions, which are the great disturbers of human society. Desolate heritages - That desolate places may be repaired and repossessed. That Christ may possess the Heathen, who were in a spiritual sense in a most desolate condition.

Prisoners - To the Gentiles who are fast bound by the cords of their sins, and taken captive by the devil at his will. Go forth - Come forth to the light, receive divine illumination. In high places - They shall have abundant provision in all places, yea even in those which commonly are unfruitful, such are both common roads and high grounds.

A way - I will remove all hindrances, and prepare the way for them, by levelling high grounds, and raising low grounds.

These - My people shall be gathered from the most remote parts of the earth. He speaks here, and in many other places, of the conversion of the Gentiles, with allusion to that work of gathering, and bringing back the Jews from all parts where they were dispersed, into their own land. Sinim - Either of the Sinites as they are called, Gen 10:17, who dwelt about the wilderness. Or of Sin, a famous city of Egypt, which may be put for all Egypt, and that for all southern parts.

But - This is an objection. How can these things be true, when the condition of God's church is now so desperate?

Graven - He alludes to the common practice of men who put signs upon their hands or fingers of such things as they would remember.

These - Gentiles. Thy church shall not only be restored, but vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles.

Thy waste places - Thy own land, whereof divers parts lie waste for want of people to possess them. Land of destruction - Which before was desolate and destroyed.

The children - Those Gentiles which shall be begotten by thee, when thou shalt be deprived of thine own natural children, when the generality of the Jews cut themselves off from God.

Who - Whence have I this numberless issue? Seeing - Seeing I was in a manner left childless. Desolate - Without an husband, being forsaken by God, who formerly owned himself for my husband.

Behold - I will call them to me. Set my standard - As generals do to gather their forces together. Thy sons - Those who shall be thine by adoption, that shall own God for their father, and Jerusalem for their mother. Carried - With great care and tenderness, as nurses carry young infants. Carried - As sick or infirm persons used to be carried.

Lick the dust - They shall highly reverence and honour thee. These expressions are borrowed from the practice of the eastern people, who bowed so low as to touch the ground. Ashamed - Their expectations shall not be disappointed.

Shall the prey - Here is a double impediment to their deliverance, the power of the enemy who kept them in bondage, and the justice of God which pleads against their deliverance.

For I - I the almighty God will undertake this work.

1. LIsten, O Isles , unto me and hearken ye people from far . The LORD hath called me from the womb , from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name .

God having in the last Words secretly signified the Wickedness of the Iewish Nation, after so glorious a deliverance, and foreseeing, that, for their Wickedness, he should cast them off, he here turneth his Speech to the Nations of the Gentiles, who are frequently described in this Prophecy, and elsewhere under the Title of Iles, as hath been formerly noted, and inviteth them to hearken to those Counsels and Doctrines which the Iews would reject.

Unto Christ: for it is apparent from ver. 6. and other passages of this Chapter, that Isaiah speaks these words in the name of Christ, by whose Spirit they were dictated to him, 1 Pet. 1. 11. and unto whom alone they belong, as we shall see. So this Chapter is a Prophecy of Christ, which also is very proper and seasonable in this place. The Prophet having at large prophesied of the Deliverance of the Iews out of Babylon; he now proceeds further, and prophesieth of the Redemption of the World by Christ, of which that deliverance out of Babylon was a type and forerunner.

Which live in Countries far from Iudea, now the onely Place of God's special Presence and Worship. It is evident from the foregoing Clause, and many other Passages following, that he speaks of distance of Place, not of Time.

This or the like expression is used of Ieremy, chap. 1. 5. and of Paul, Gal. 1. 15. but it was far more eminently true of Christ, who, as he was chosen to this great office of Redemption form Eternity; so he was separated and called to it before he was born, being both conceived and sanctified by the Holy Ghost in his Mothers Womb, and sent into the World upon this Errand; of which see Mat. 1. 21. and Luke 1. 31. &c. and 2. 11. &c.

Called by my Name, and by such a Name as signified my Office and Work, in the Places now mentioned.

2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword , in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me , and made me a polished shaft , in his quiver he hath hid me.

As he made me the great Teacher of his Church, and of the World, so he assisted me by his Spirit, and made my Word or Doctrine Quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged-sword; &c. as it is said to be, Heb. 4. 12. killing Men's Lusts, convincing, humbling, and converting their Souls; and Mighty to the pulling down of strong holds; And every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God, and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, as we read, 2 Co[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters]0 4, 5.

He will Protect me by his Power from all mine Enemies, until I have finished the Work, for which he sent me.

Like an Arrow, whose point is bright and polished; which therefore pierceth deeper. This Metaphor signifies the same thing with the former, Christ's piercing of Men's Hearts by his Word and Spirit,

Where Arrows are hid and kept. This Quiver signifies the same thing with the shadow in the foregoing Clause, even God's powerful and gracious Protection of him from Dangers and Mischiefs.

3. And said unto me; Thou art my servant, O Israel , in whom I will be glorified.

As the name of David is sometimes given to his Successors, 1 Kings 12. 16. and particularly to Christ, Ier. 30. 9. Ezek. 34. 23. Hos. 3. 5. and Iacob is called, as many think, by the name of his Grand-Father, Abraham, Act. 7. 16. and the name of Isaac is given to his Posterity, Amos 7. 9. So here the name of Israel may not unfitly be given to Christ, not onely because he descended from his Loins; but also because he was the true and the great Israel, who, in a more eminent manner, prevailed with God, as that Name signifies, of whom Iacob, who was first called Israel, was but a Type: And as the name of Christ, the Head is sometimes given to the Body, the Church, as 1 Cor. 12. 12. So it is not strange if, on the contrary, the name of Israel, which properly belongs to the Church, be given to Christ the Head of it. But this Word may be otherwise rendred, being joyned, Either 1. with the foregoing words, Thou art my servant, unto or in or for Israel, i. e. to bring them back unto me, from whom they have revolted: Or 2. with the following words; it is Israel, in whom I will glorify my self by thee.

4. Then I said , I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought , and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

By way of Objection. Lord, thou saiest thou wilst be glorified by my Ministry; but I find it otherwise.

Without any considerable Fruit of my Word and Works among the Israelites.

My right, the reward which by his Promise, and my Purchase is my right. Iudgment is oft put for that which is just or right, as Exod. 23. 6. Iob 8. 3. and in many other places. And so this Clause agrees with the next; and the Sence of both is this: Though I see no fruit of my Labour among the Iews, and meet with nothing but contempt and reproach, and ill usage from them; yet God sees my fidelity and diligence in my Work, and he will give Judgment for me, and my reward is laid up with and by him, which he will give me in due time.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] r[illegible: 1+ letters] ward,

5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered , yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD , and my God shall be my strength.

To Convert the Wicked and Apostate Israelites unto God.

Not brought home to God by my Ministry. This Word implies, That the Israelites were divided and scattered from God, and divided among themselves, as they were in an high degree when Christ came into the World, and Turned every one to his own way, as is said, Isa. 53. 6. and therefore needed to be gathered. Either it is a Metaphor from wandring Sheep, which the good Shepherd diligently seeketh, and bringeth home to the Fold: Or, it is an Allusion to the state of the Israelites, who either now were, or shortly were to be dispersed into several parts of the World, from whence God had promised to gather them, and bring them into their own Land, and unto his Temple, Isa. 43. 5, 6. and elsewhere. The Sence is, Though Israel, God's own and onely People, reject me, which will be an occasion of great wonder and scandal.

God will not despise me for the unsuccessfulness of my Labours, but will honour and glorify me, both with himself and in the face of the World, in crowning my Indeavours with glorious Success among other People.

r To support and strengthen me under this, and all other discouragements and difficulties in the discharge of mine Office.

Marginal references: Or, that Israel may be ga thered to him, and I may &c.

6. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob , and to restore the preserved o[illegible: 1+ letters] Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation , unto the end of the earth.

The Lord expressed both in the forgoing and following, verses.

This is but a small favour in comparison of [illegible: 1 word] follows.

That remnant of them which shall survi[illegible: 1+ letters] all their [illegible: 1 word] and desolations.

I will make thy labour [illegible: 1 word] for the illamination and conversion, and salvation of the Gentil[illegible: 1+ letters]in all the parts of the World: Which cannot be said of Isaiah with any truth or colour, and therefore must be understood of Christ, by whom this was literally and fully accomplished. By my Salvation he means the great Instrument and Author of that eternal salvation which I will give to the Gentiles.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] thou [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] then [illegible: 1 word] thou [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], &c.; Or, desolative.; Chap. 42. 6.

7. Thus saith the LORD the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One , to him whom man despiseth , to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers▪ Kings shall see and arise , Princes also shall worship, because of the LORD, that is faithful , and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee .

The Holy One of Israel, as he is frequently called.

To Christ, to whom, as he was in the dayes of his Flesh, this description doth most truly and fully agree, being the same in effect with that, Isa. 5[illegible: 1+ letters]. 3. for men, both Iews and Gentiles among whom he lived did despise him from their very hearts and souls, as is here implied; and the whole Nation, of which he was a member, and among whom he conversed and preached, abhorred both his Person & his Doctrine; and he was so far from being a great temporal Monarch, as the Iews vainly imagined, that he came in the form of a Servant, and was a Servant of Rulers, professing subjection and paying tribute unto Caesar, Mat. 17. 24, 25. & 22. 21. and being treated by the Rulers both of the Iews, and of the Romans, like a Servant, being despitefully used and Crucified, which was the proper Punishment of Servants.

Though for a time thou shalt be despised, yet after a while thou shalt be advanced to such Royal Majesty and Glory, that Kings shall look upon thee with admiration and reverence.

From their seats in token of reverence, as was usual, Levit. 19. 32. Iudg. 3. 20. Iob 29. 8. or to worship thee, as the next clause explains it, shall see and arise may be put for when they see thee they shall arise to thee: which is a common Hebraism.

Because God shall make good his promise, to thee concerning thee raising thee from the dead, and concerning the effusion of his Spirit upon thy Disciples by whose assistance they shall preach most powerfully, and confirm their Doctrine by evident and glorious miracles, and concerning the giving unto thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession, as he promised, Psal. 2. 8. These and such like considerations were the great motives which prevailed with the Princes and People of the Gentiles▪ to receive thee as the true Messiah and Saviour of the World.

And although thou shalt be rejected by thine own People, and refused by their Builders or Rulers, as was Prophesied, Psal. 118. 22. and for a time, and in some respects forsaken by God himself, Mat. 27. 46. yet God will return to thee and chuse thee again, and manifest unto the World, that thou, and thou onely art the Person whom God hath chosen to be the Redeemer of mankind, and whom, in spight of all opposition, he will make the head-stone of the Corner. For the Phrase see on Isa. 48. 10. But these words are well rendred by others, who will chuse or hath chosen thee, the conjunction, and, being put for the pronoun relative, as Isa. 44. 14. and in many other places, as hath been observed before.

Marginal references: Or, to him that is despised in soul.

8. Thus saith the LORD , in an acceptable time have I heard thee , and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee , and give thee for a covenant of the people , to establish the earth , to cause to inherit the desolate heritages .

God the Father unto Christ.

Heb. In a time of good will, in that time when I shall have, and in a special manner manifest my good will to the Sons of men, in the day of my Grace, and of mans Salvation, as this Phrase is explained in the next clause, in the time of the Gospel, which is in the time of Gods good Will towards men, as the Host of Heaven declared at the Birth of Christ, Luk. 2. 14. In the dayes of thy flesh, when thou didst offer up Prayers and Suplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save thee from death, as we read, Heb. 5. 7. which text is a good comment upon this place.

Though not so as to deliver thee from death and from the sence of my wrath, yet so as to keep thee from sinking under these burdens, and so as thou shouldest not be holden under the Pains or Power of Death, Act. 2. 24▪ and so as to Crown thee with Glory and Hono[illegible: 1+ letters]r, and a blessed success of all thy labours and sufferings.

Upon earth till thy work be finished, and unto that eternal Kingdom and Glory which is prepared for thee.

To be the Mediator and Surety of that Covenant which is made between me and them; as Christ is called, Heb. 7. 22. and 8. 6. to renew and confirm the Covenant, which the Messiah is said to do, Dan. 9. 27. by his own blood, by which God and men are reconciled and united one to the other. And therefore he may well be called the Covenant by a known Metonymy, which is very usual in such cases, as upon the same account Circumcision, the sign of the Covenant, is called Gods Covenant, Gen. 17. 10. and the Paschal Lamb is called the Passover, Exod. 12. 11. and the Sacramental Cup is called the New Testament, Luk. 22. 20. and the Communion of the Blood of Christ, 1 Cor. 10. 16.

Indefinitely of all my People, not onely Iews, but also the Gentiles, as may be gathered from the context, and by comparing this place with Isa. 42. 6. Where the same Phrase is used. From both which places it is most manifest, that the Messiah is designed, and not Isaiah, to whom this and divers other Phrases here used cannot be ascribed without great force.

To compose and settle the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof by making peace between God and men, and between Iews and Gentiles, and by establishing Truth and Righteousness and Holiness upon Earth, and by subduing those Lusts and Passions, which are the great disturbers of Humane Society: which was the design of God in sending, and of Christ in coming into the World.

That desolate Places may be repaired and repossessed. That Christ may possess the Heathen, according to Psal. 2. 8. who were in a spiritual sence in a most desolate and forlorn condition.

h In the time of grace and of the Gospel, which I have appointed for the working out of mans Salvation by thee.

Marginal references: 2 Cor. 6. 2.; Or, raise u[illegible: 1+ letters].

9. That thou mayest say to the prisoners , Go forth : to them that are in darkness, Shew your selves: they shall feed in the wayes, and their pastures shall be in all high places .

To wit, with power and effect, as when God said, Let there be Light, &c.

To the Gentiles who are fast bound by the cords of their sins, and taken Captive by the Devil at his will, as this same Phrase is understood, Isa. 42. 7.

Come forth to the light, receive Divine illumination and consolation.

They shall have abundant provision in all places, yea even in those which commonly are barren and unfruitful, and such are both common roads and high grounds.

Marginal references: Chap. 42. 7.

10. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them : for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them , even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

They shall be supplied with all good and necessary things, and kept from all evil occurrents.

God who hath magnified his mercy to them will conduct them with safety and comfort.

Marginal references: Rev. 7. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

11. And I will make all my Mountains a way, and my high wayes shall be exalted .

I will remove all hinderances, and prepare the way for them, by levelling high grounds, and raising low grounds: of which see on Isa. 40. 3, 4.

12. Behold these shall come from farr : and loe, these from the North, and from the West , and these from the land of Sinim .

My People shall be called and gathered even from the most remote parts of the earth. He speaks here, and in many other places of the Conversion of the Gentiles with allusion to that work of gathering, and bringing back the Iews from all parts, where they were dispersed into their own Land.

From the several parts of the world; which are here synecdochically expressed, as they are in many other places.

Either of the Sinites, as they are called, Gen. 1[illegible: 1+ letters], 17. who dwelt about the Wilderness of Sin, which was Southward from Iudea: Or, of Sin, a famous City of Egypt, called the strength of Egypt, which may be synecdochically put for all Egypt, and that for all southern parts. And so he here mentions the several quarters of the World, where the generality of the Iews were dispersed; the North, which is every where named as the chief place of their banishment and dispersion, as Ier. 16. 15. and 31. 8. and elsewhere; the West, the western Countries and Islands, and the South.

13. Sing, O Heavens, and be joyful, O Earth, and break forth into singing, O Mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his People , and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

God hath now sent that long-desired Consolation of Israel.

14. But Zion said, the LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me .

This is an objection against all these glorious predictions and promises hitherto mentioned. How can these things be true, when the condition of Gods Church is now so sad and desperate, as it was when the Iews were Captives in Babylon, in which the Prophet here supposeth them to be.

15. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb? yea they may forget, yet will I not forget thee .

Earthly Parents som times are so unnatural and monstrous; but do not entertain such unworthy thoughts of me. I will remember thee effectually, to bring thee out of Babylon, and which is infinitely greater, to send my Son into the world to work out eternal redemption for thee.

Marginal references: Heb. from having compassion.

16. Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands : thy walls are continually before me .

Mine eye and heart is constantly upon thee. He alludes to the common practice of men who use to put signs and memorials upon their hand, or fingers of such things as they dearly affect, and would remember. See Exod. 13. 9. Deut. 6. 8. Prov. 6. 21. Cant. 8. 6. Ier. 22. 24.

My thoughts run continually upon the Walls of Ierusalem, which are now broken down that I way repair them as soon as ever the set time cometh, and then proceed to do far greater things for thee.

17. Thy children shall make hast, thy destroyers, and they that made thee wa[illegible: 1+ letters]te, shall go forth of thee .

Or, as others render it, thy Builders; which is favoured by the next clause where the destroyers are opposed to them. Howsoever the sence is the same, for her children were her Builders, as we read in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Shall be separated and driven from among thee, and so shall neither hinder nor annoy thee.

18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together and come to thee : as I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely cloth thee with them all, as with an ornament , and bind them on thee as a bride doth.

To wit, the Gentiles, as sufficiently appeareth from what hath been already said, and from that which followeth. The sence is, Thy Church shall not onely be restored and established in Ierusalem, but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it.

To receive instruction from thee, and to be incorporated with thee into one and the same Church.

They shall not be a burden, as the Gentiles formerly were when they mixed themselves with the Iews, but an Ornament i[illegible: 1+ letters] respect of those excellent gif[illegible: 1+ letters] and graces wherewith they shall enrich and honour thy Church.

Marginal references: Chap. 60. 4.

19. For thy waste and thy desolate places , and the Land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up, shall be far away .

Thy own Land, which is now wast and desolate, and whereof divers parts lay formerly wast and desolate for want of People to possess and manage them.

Or rather, Thy Land of destruction, so called because it is [illegible: 1 word] and shall be exposed to destruction.

To wit, from thee.

20. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine eares, The place is too [illegible: 1+ letters]raight for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

Heb. The Children of thine orbity or barren and Childless-slate. Those Children which thou shalt have when thou art grown past the ordinary age and state of Childbearing, as Sarah in that case was made the Mother of a most numerous posterity: to which he seems here to allude. Those Gentiles which shall be begotten by thee, to wit, by the Ministry of thy Children, Christ and his Apostles, when thou shalt be deprived of thine own natural Children, when thou shalt become barren and unfruitful as to Conversion of natural Iews, when the generallity of the Iews shall cut themselves off from God, and from his true Church by their Apostacy from God; and by their unbelief, and obstinate refusal of their Messiah.

Or rather, shall yet say, though for the present it be otherwise.

21. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these , seeing I have lost my children and am desolate , a captive, and removing to and fro ? and who hath brought up these ? Behold I was left alone, these, where [illegible: 1+ letters]d they been?

Not without admiration.

Whence, or by whom have I this numberless Issue?

Seeing it is not long since that I was in a manner left childless.

Without an Husband, being forsaken by God, who formerly owned himself for my Husband, Isa. 54. 5. Ier. 31. 32. and elsewhere.

Which condition is in many respects a great [illegible: 1 word] to the pro[illegible: 1+ letters]tion of Children.

The same thing repeated again to express the miraculousness of this work, and the great surprisal of the Iews at it: which sheweth that he speaks of the Conversion of the Gentiles.

22. Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people : and they shall bring thy sonnes in their armes : and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders .

I will call them to me, and command them to do this work, as men commonly signifie their calls and commands by this gesture.

As Generals do to gather their Forces together. See on Is[illegible: 1+ letters]. 11. 12.

Unto thee, or to thy Church and People.

Those which shall be thine, if not by natural Generation, yet by adoption, that shall own God for their Father, and Ierusalem for their Mother.

With great care and tenderness, as Nurses carry young Infants. The sence is, even the Heathen shall contribute to the increase and preservation of those Children which shall be begotten to thee.

As sick or infirm persons used to be carried. See Mark. 2. 3. Luke 15. 5.

Marginal references: Heb. besome.

23. And Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers l: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet , and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me .

They shall highly reverence and honour thee, and shall most humbly and readily submit themselves unto thee, which was not verified in any of the Persian Kings, but onely in these Kings who were converted to the Christian Faith and Church. The expressions are borrowed from the practice of the Eastern People in their protestations and adorations, when they bowed so low as to touch and kiss the ground, whereby they did or might seem to lick up the very dust of the ground was which about or under the feet of those whom they adored.

Their hopes and expectatio[illegible: 1+ letters] shall not be disappointed, but abundantly satisfied.

e Kings and Queens shall have a sincere affection, and tender regard unto thee and thy Children, which was in some sort fulfilled by Cyrus, Ahashuerus, and some few others of the Persian Kings or Queens, but much more truly and fully by those many Kings, and Emperours of the Gentile world, which after Christs time did both themselves embrace the true Religion, and also set it up in their several Dominions.

Marginal references: Heb. nourishers.; Heb. Princesses.; Psal. 72. 9.

24. Shall the prey bee taken from the mighty , or the lawfull captive delivered .

Here he starteth an objection against the forementioned promises: How can Gods Church be delivered when she is become a prey to, and is in the hands of her most potent enemies?

He who was taken Captive in a just War, as Gods People might in some sort be said to be, because God himself had delivered them into their enemies hands, and that justly for their sins. So here is a double impediment to their deliverance out of their Corporal and Spiritual bondage, the great Power of the enemy which kept them in bnodage, and the Justice of God which pleads against them and against their deliverance.

Marginal references: Heb. the cap [illegible: 1+ letters] of the west.

25. But thus sayth the LORD, Even the captives of the mightie shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

I the Almighty God will undertake thy quarrel, and this work, and therefore it must necessarily be accomplished.

k Or, of the violent, which is opposed to the lawful Captive in the foregoing verse: and it is hereby intimated that although God was just in delivering them into Captivity, yet their oppressors were guilty of injustice and violence both in desiring and indeavouring to keep them in perpetual bondage, beyond the seventy years which God had fixed, and in their cruel usage of them.

Marginal references: Heb. the captivity.

26. And I will feed them that oppresse thee, with their own flesh , and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

I will make them eat their own Flesh, either through hunger, as Levit. 26. 29. Isa. 9. 20. or through rage and madness. Or, I will make thine enemies to destroy one another, and that greedily and with delight, as the next clause implies. All their enemies are here represented as one body, and so when one part of them devoured another, it was their own flesh that was destroyed.

Marginal references: Rev. 14. 20▪ and 16. 6.; Or, new wine.

Isa 49:1-3

The very same person who was introduced by Jehovah in Isa 42:1. here speaks for himself, commencing thus in Isa 49:1-3 : “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye nations afar off: Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from my mother’s lap hath He remembered my name. And He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made me into a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He concealed me. And He said to me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, thou in whom I glorify myself.” Although the speaker is called Israel in Isa 49:3, he must not be regarded as either a collective person representing all Israel, or as the collective personality of the kernel of Israel, which answered to its true idea. It is not the former, because in Isa 49:5 he is expressly distinguished from the nation itself, which is the immediate object of his special work as restorer and (according to Isa 49:8 and Isa 42:6) covenant-mediator also; not the latter, because the nation, whose restoration he effects, according to Isa 49:5, was not something distinct from the collective personality of the “servant of Jehovah” in a national sense, but rather the entire body of the “servants of Jehovah” or remnant of Israel (see, for example, Isa 65:8-16). Moreover, it cannot be either of these, because what he affirms of himself is expressed in such terms of individuality, that they cannot be understood as employed in a collective sense at all, more especially where he speaks of his mother’s womb. In every other case in which Israel is spoken of in this way, we find only “from the womb” (mibbeten, Isa 44:2, Isa 44:24; Isa 56:3, along with minnı̄ - racham; also Isa 48:8), without the addition of אם (mother), which is quite unsuitable to the collective body of the nation (except in such allegorical connections as Isa 51:1-2, and Eze 16:3). Is it then possibly the prophet, who is here speaking of himself and refers in Isa 49:1 to his own mother (compare אמּי in Jer 15:10; Jer 20:14, Jer 20:17)? This is very improbable, if only because the prophet, who is the medium of the word of God in these prophecies, has never placed himself in the foreground before. In Isa 40:6 he merely speaks of himself indirectly; in Isa 44:26, even if he refer to himself at all (which we greatly doubt), it is only objectively; and in Isa 48:16, the other person, into whose words the words of Jehovah pass, cannot be the prophet, for the simple reason that the transition of the words of Jehovah into those of His messenger is essentially different in this instance from the otherwise frequent interchange of the words of Jehovah and those of His prophet, and also because the messenger of Jehovah speaks of himself there, after the “former things” have come to pass, as the mediator (either in word or deed) of the “new things” which were never heard of before, but are to be expected now; whereas the author of these addresses was also the prophet of the “former things,” and therefore the messenger referred to rises up within the course of sacred history predicted by the author of these prophecies. Moreover, what the speaker in this case (Isa 49:1-2) says of himself is so unique, so glorious, that it reaches far beyond the vocation and performance of any single prophet, or, in fact, of any individual man subject to the limitations of human life and human strength.

There is nothing else left, therefore, than to suppose that the idea implied in the expression “servant of Jehovah” is condensed in this instance, as in Isa 42:1., into that of a single person. When it is expanded to its widest circumference, the “servant of Jehovah” is all Israel; when it only covers its smaller and inner circle, it is the true people of Jehovah contained within the entire nation, like the kernel in the shell (see the definition of this at Isa 51:7; Isa 65:10; Psa 24:6; Psa 73:15); but here it goes back to its very centre. The “servant of Jehovah,” in this central sense, is the heart of Israel. From this heart of Israel the stream of salvation flows out, first of all through the veins of the people of God, and thence through the veins of the nations generally. Just as Cyrus is the world-power in person, as made subservient to the people of God, so the servant of Jehovah, who is speaking here, is Israel in person, as promoting the glorification of Jehovah in all Israel, and in all the world of nations: in other words, it is He in whom the true nature of Israel is concentrated like a sun, in whom the history of Israel is coiled up as into a knot for a further and final development, in whom Israel’s world-wide calling to be the Saviour of mankind, including Israel itself, is fully carried out; the very same who took up the word of Jehovah in Isa 48:16, in the full consciousness of His fellowship with Him, declaring Himself to be His messenger who had now appeared. It must not be forgotten, moreover, that throughout these prophecies the breaking forth of salvation, not for Israel only, but for all mankind, is regarded as bound up with the termination of the captivity; and from this its basis, the restoration of the people who were then in exile, it is never separated. This fact is of great importance in relation to the question of authorship, and favours the conclusion that they emanated from a prophet who lived before the captivity, and not in the midst of it. Just as in chapter 7 Isaiah sees the son of the virgin grow up in the time of the Assyrian oppressions, and then sees his kingdom rising up on the ruins of the Assyrian; so does he here behold the servant of Jehovah rising up in the second half of the captivity, as if born in exile, in the midst of the punishment borne by his people, to effect the restoration of Israel. At the present time, when he begins to speak, coming forward without any further introduction, and speaking in his own name (a unique instance of dramatic style, which goes beyond even Psa 2:1-12), he has already left behind him the commencement of his work, which was directed towards the salvation of mankind. His appeal is addressed to the “isles,” which had been frequently mentioned already when the evangelization of the heathen was spoken of (Isa 42:4, Isa 42:10, Isa 42:12; cf., Isa 24:15), and to the “nations from afar,” i.e., the distant nations (as in Isa 5:26; compare, on the other hand, Jer 23:23). They are to hear what he says, not merely what he says in the words that follow, but what he says generally. What follows is rather a vindication of his right to demand a hearing and obedience, then the discourse itself, which is to be received with the obedience of faith; at the same time, the two are most intimately connected. Jehovah has called him ab utero, has thought of his name from the bowels of his mother (מעי as in Psa 71:6), i.e., even before he was born; ever since his conception has Jehovah assigned to him his calling, viz., his saving calling. We call to mind here Jer 1:5; Luk 1:41; Gal 1:15, but above all the name Immanuel, which is given by anticipation to the Coming One in Isa 7:14, and the name Jesus, which God appointed through the mouth of angels, when the human life of Him who was to bear that name was still ripening in the womb of the Virgin (Mat 1:20-23). It is worthy of notice, however, that the great Coming One, though he is described in the Old Testament as one who is to be looked for “from the seed of David,” is also spoken of as “born of a woman,” whenever his entrance into the world is directly referred to. In the Protevangelium he is called, though not in an individual sense, “the seed of the woman;” Isaiah, in the time of Ahaz, mentions “the virgin” as his mother; Micah (Mic 5:2) speaks of his יולדה; even the typical psalms, as in Psa 22:10-11, give prominence to the mother. And is not this a sign that prophecy is a work of the Spirit, who searches out the deep things of the counsel of God?

In Isa 49:2 the speaker says still further, that Jehovah has made his mouth kecherebh chaddâh (like a sharp sword), namely, that he may overcome everything that resists him as if with a sharp sword, and sever asunder things that are bound up together in a pernicious bond (Isa 11:4; Rev 1:16; Heb 4:12); also that He has made him into chēts bârūr (not βέλος εκλεκτόν, lxx, but, as in Jer 51:11, cleaned,The comparison to purus is one that naturally suggests itself; but this, like putus, is derived from a root pū. polished, sharpened, pointed), namely, to pierce the hearts (Psa 45:6), and inflict upon them the most wholesome wounds; and again, that Jehovah has hidden him under the shadow of His almighty hand, and kept him concealed in the quiver of His loving counsel, just girt as men keep their swords and arrows in sheaths and quivers ready for the time when they want to use them, in order that in the fulness of time He might draw out this His sword, and put this His arrow to the bow. The question whether the allusion here is to the time preceding the foreknown period of his coming, or whether it is to eternity that the words refer, does not present any great dilemma; at the same time, the prophecy in this instance only traces back the being of the person, who now appears, to the remotest point of his historical coming. Isa 49:3 describes, without any figure, what Jehovah has made him. He has said to him (cf., Psa 2:7): Thou art my servant; thou art Israel, in whom (in quo, as in Isa 44:23) I glorify myself. Schenkel’s exposition is grammatically impossible: “(It is) in Israel that I will glorify myself through thee.” The servant himself is called Israel. We call to mind here the expression in Mat 16:18, “Thou art Peter;” and the use of the name “Israel,” as the individuation of a generic name, reminds us of the fact that the kings of a nation are sometimes called by the name of the nation itself (e.g., Asshur, Isa 10:5.). But Israel was from the very first the God-given name of an individual. Just as the name Israel was first of all given to a man, and then after that to a nation, so the name which sprang from a personal root has also a personal crown. The servant of Jehovah is Israel in person, inasmuch as the purpose of mercy, upon the basis of which and for the accomplishment of which Jehovah made Jacob the father of the twelve-tribed nation, is brought by him into full and final realization. We have already seen that Israel, as an entire nation, formed the basis of the idea contained in the term “servant of Jehovah;” Israel, regarded as a people faithful to its calling, the centre; and the personal servant of Jehovah its apex. In the present instance, where he is called distinctly “Israel,” the fact is clearly expressed, that the servant of Jehovah in these prophecies is regarded as the kernel of the kernel of Israel, as Israel’s inmost centre, as Israel’s highest head. He it is in whom (i.e., on whom and through whom) Jehovah glorifies Himself, inasmuch as He carried out through him the counsels of His love, which are the self-glorification of His holy love, its glory and its triumph.

Isa 49:4

In the next v. the speaker meets the words of divine calling and promise with a complaint, which immediately silences itself, however. “And I, I said, I have wearied myself in vain, and thrown away my strength for nothing and to no purpose; yet my right is with Jehovah, and my reward with my God.” The Vav with which the v. opens introduces the apparent discrepancy between the calling he had received, and the apparent failure of his work. אכן, however, denotes the conclusion which might be drawn from this, that there was neither reality nor truth in his call. The relation between the clauses is exactly the same as that in Psa 31:23 and Jon 2:5 (where we find אך, which is more rarely used in this adversative sense); compare also Psa 30:7 (but I said), and the psalm of Hezekiah in Isa 38:10 with the antithesis in Psa 38:15. In the midst of his activity no fruit was to be seen, and the thought came upon him, that it was a failure; but this disturbance of his rejoicing in his calling was soon quieted in the confident assurance that his mishpât (i.e., his good right in opposition to all contradiction and resistance) and his “work” (i.e., the result and fruit of the work, which is apparently in vain) are with Jehovah, and laid up with Him until the time when He will vindicate His servant’s right, and crown his labour with success. We must not allow ourselves to be led astray by such parallels as Isa 40:10; Isa 62:11. The words are not spoken in a collective capacity any more than in the former part of the verse; the lamentation of Israel as a people, in Isa 40:27, is expressed very differently.

Isa 49:5-6

The expression “and now” (ועתּה), which follows, evidently indicates a fresh turn in the official life of the person speaking here. At the same time, it is evident that it is the failure of his labours within his own people, which has forced out the lamentation in Isa 49:4. For his reason for addressing his summons in Isa 49:1 to the world of nations, is that Jehovah has not guaranteed to him, the undaunted one, success to his labours among his own people, but has assigned him a mission extending far beyond and reaching to all mankind. “And now, saith Jehovah, that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel may be gathered together to Him; and I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God has become my strength. He saith, It is only a small thing that thou becomest my servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I have set thee for the light of the Gentiles, to become my salvation to the end of the earth.” Both shōbhēbh and hâshı̄bh unite within themselves the meanings reducere (Jer 50:19) and restituere. On לא = לו generally, see at Isa 9:2; Isa 63:9. Jerome is wrong in his rendering, et Israel qui non congregabitur (what could a prophecy of the rejection of the Jews do here?); so also is Hitzig’s rendering, “since Israel is not swept away;” and Hofmann’s, “Israel, which is not swept away.” In the present instance, where the restoration of Israel is the event referred to, אצף must signify “the gathering together of Israel,” as in Isa 11:12. לו (parallel אליו) points to Jehovah as the author of the gathering, and as the object of it also. The transition from the infinitive of design to the finite verb of desire, is the same as in Isa 13:9; Isa 14:25. The attributive clause, added to the name Jehovah, expresses the lofty mission of the servant of God with regard to Israel. The parenthesis, “I have honour in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God has become my strength, i.e., has become mighty in me, the apparently weak one,” looks beyond to the still loftier mission, by which the former lofty one is far surpassed. On account of this parenthetically inserted praise of Jehovah, the אמר is resumed in ויּאמר. Instead of נקל היותך (compare 1Ki 16:31), i.e., it is a small thing that thou shouldst be, we have it here, as in Eze 8:17, with a comparative min, which must not, however, be logically pressed: “It is smaller than that,” i.e., it is too small a thing that thou shouldst be. The netsı̄rē (Keri, netsūrē) of Israel are those who have been preserved in exile (Eze 6:12); in other cases, we find שׁאר, שׁארית, or פּלטה. Not only is the restoration of the remnant of Israel the work of the servant of Jehovah; but Jehovah has appointed him for something higher than this. He has given or set him for the light of the heathen (“a light to lighten the Gentiles,” Luk 2:32), to become His salvation to the end of the earth (lxx: τοῦ εἶναι σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς). Those who regard Israel as a nation as speaking here (e.g., Hitzig, Ewald, Umbreit, etc.) go right away from this, which is the most natural sense of the words, and explain them as meaning, “that my salvation may be, reach, or penetrate to the end of the earth.” But inasmuch as the servant of Jehovah is the light of the world, he is through that very fact the salvation of the world; and he is both of these through Jehovah, whose counsels of ישׁוּעה are brought by him into historical realization and visible manifestation.

Isa 49:7

The words of the servant of God, in which he enforces his claim upon the nations, are now lost in words of Jehovah to him, which are no longer reported by him, but are appended as an independent address. His present condition is one of the deepest humiliation. “Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to him of contemptible soul, to the abhorrence of the people, to the servant of tyrants: kings shall see and arise; princes, and prostrate themselves for the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, that He hath chosen thee.” As bâzōh with a changeable kamtez (cf., châmōts, Isa 1:17) has, if not exactly a passive force, yet something very like a passive circumstantial meaning, בּזה־נפשׁ must mean the man who is contemptible as regards his soul, i.e., held in contempt, or, as Hofmann explains it, whom men do not think worthy to live (though he follows Ewald, and takes bezōh as an infinitive treated as a substantive). Accordingly מתעב is also to be taken personally. The meaning abhorring is unsuitable; but תּעב is also used in a causative sense, to cause to abhor, i.e., to make a thing an abomination (Eze 16:25), or to excite abhorrence: hence, “to him who excites the people’s abhorrence,” which is the same, so far as the sense is concerned, as “to the object of their abhorrence.” But even as a participial substantive מתעב would literally mean the thing exciting abhorrence, i.e., the abhorrence, just as mekhasseh in Isa 23:18 signifies the thing covering, i.e., the covering. All these participial substantives of the piel indicate the thing, place, or instrument accomplishing that which the piel affirms. We need not raise the question whether gōi refers to Israel or to the heathen. It signifies the mass of men, the people, like ‛âm in Psa 62:9, and in those passages in which it is used by our prophet for the human race generally. The mōsheilim, of whom the person here addressed is the servant or enslaved one, are obviously heathen tyrants. What is here affirmed of the “one servant of Jehovah” was no doubt also applicable to the nation generally, and more especially to that portion of the nation which was true to its calling and confession. He in whom Israel’s relation of servant to Jehovah was fully realized, did indeed spring out of His own nation, when it was under the oppression of the powers of this world; and all the shame and persecution which those who remained faithful among His people had to endure from the heathen oppressors, and also from the ungodly among their own countrymen (see, for example, Isa 66:5), discharge their force like a violent storm upon Him as an individual. When, therefore, we find the sufferings of the people and the glory of which they became partakers described in other passages in just the same terms, we must not infer from this that “servant of Jehovah” is a collective epithet in the passage before us. The person addressed here is the Restorer of Israel, the Light of the Gentiles, the Salvation of Jehovah for all mankind. When kings and princes shall behold Him who was once brought so low, delivered from His humiliation, and exalted to the glorious height of the work to which He has been called, they will rise up with reverence from their thrones, and prostrate themselves upon the ground in worship for the sake of Jehovah, as before Him who (אשׁר emphatic, utpote qui) is faithful, showing Himself sincere in His promises, and for the sake of the Holy One of Israel, in that, as is now made manifest, “He hath chosen thee.” The fut. consec. particularizes the general motive assigned, and carries it still further.

Isa 49:8-12

The next two vv. describe (though only with reference to Israel, the immediate circle) what is the glory of the vocation to which Jehovah, in accordance with His promise, exalts His chosen One. “Thus saith Jehovah, In a time of favour have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee: and I form thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to apportion again desolate inheritances, saying to prisoners, Go ye out: to those who are in darkness, Come ye to the light.” Jehovah heard His servant, and came to his help when he prayed to Him out of the condition of bondage to the world, which he shared with his people. He did it at the time for the active display of His good pleasure, and for the realizing of salvation, which had been foreseen by Him, and had now arrived. The futures which follow are to be taken as such. The fact that Jehovah makes His servant “a covenant of the people,” i.e., the personal bond which unites Israel and its God in a new fellowship (see Isa 42:6), is the fruit of his being heard and helped. The infinitives with Lamed affirm in what way the new covenant relation will be made manifest. The land that has fallen into decay rises into prosperity again, and the desolate possessions return to their former owners. This manifestation of the covenant grace, that has been restored to the nation again, is effected through the medium of the servant of Jehovah. The rendering of the lxx is quite correct: τοῦ καταστῆσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ κληρονομῆσαι κληρονομίας ἐρήμους λέγοντα לאמר is a dicendo governed by both infinitives. The prisoners in the darkness of the prison and of affliction are the exiles (Isa 42:22). The mighty word of the servant of Jehovah brings to them the light of liberty, in connection with which (as has been already more than once observed) the fact should be noticed, that the redemption is viewed in connection with the termination of the captivity, and, in accordance with the peculiar character of the Old Testament, is regarded as possessing a national character, and therefore is purely external.

The person of the servant of Jehovah now falls into the background again, and the prophecy proceeds with a description of the return of the redeemed. “They shall feed by the ways, and there is pasture for them upon all field-hills. They shall not hunger nor thirst, and the mirage and sun shall not blind them: for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, and guide them by bubbling water-springs. And I make all my mountains ways, and my roads are exalted. Behold these, they come from afar; and, behold, these from the north and from the sea; and these from the land of the Sinese.” The people returning home are represented as a flock. By the roads that they take to their homes, they are able to obtain sufficient pasture, without being obliged to go a long way round in order to find a sufficient supply; and even upon bare sandy hills (Isa 41:18) there is pasture found for them. Nothing is wanting; even the shârâb (see Isa 35:7) and the sun do not hurt them, the former by deceiving and leading astray, the latter by wearying them with its oppressive heat: for He whose compassion has been excited by their long pining misery (Isa 41:17-20) is leading them, and bringing them along in comfort by bubbling springs of real and refreshing water (ינחל, as Petrarch once says of shepherds, Move la schiêra sua soavemente). Jehovah also makes all the mountains into roads for those who are returning home, and the paths of the desert are lifted up, as it were, into well-made roads (yerumūn, Ges. §47, Anm. 4). They are called my mountains and my highways (differently from Isa 14:25), because they are His creation; and therefore He is also able to change them, and now really does change them for the good of His people, who are returning to the land of their forefathers out of every quarter of the globe. Although in Psa 107:3 yâm (the sea) appears to stand for the south, as referring to the southern part of the Mediterranean, which washes the coast of Egypt, there is no ground at all in the present instance for regarding it as employed in any other than its usual sense, namely the west; mērâchōq (from far) is therefore either the south (cf., Isa 43:6) or the east, according to the interpretation that we give to 'erets Sı̄nı̄m, as signifying a land to the east or to the south.

The Phoenician Sinim (Ges. Isa 10:17), the inhabitants of a fortified town in the neighbourhood of Area, which has now disappeared, but which was seen not only by Jerome, but also by Mariono Sanuto (de castro Arachas ad dimidiam leucam est oppidum Sin), cannot be thought of, for the simple reason that this Sin was too near, and was situated to the west of Babylon and to the north of Jerusalem; whilst Sin (= Pelusium) in Egypt, to which Ewald refers, did not give its name to either a tribe or a land. Arias Montanus was among the first to suggest that the Sinim are the Sinese (Chinese); and since the question has been so thoroughly discussed by Gesenius (in his Commentary and Thesaursu), most of the commentators, and also such Orientalists as Langles (in his Recherches asiatiques), Movers (in his Phoenicians), Lassen (in his Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 856-7), have decided in favour of this opinion. The objection brought against the supposition, that the name of the Chinese was known to the nations of the west at so early a period as this, viz., that this could not have been the case till after the reign of the emperor Shi-hoang-ti, of the dynasty of Thsin, who restored the empire that had been broken up into seven smaller kingdoms (in the year 247 b.c.), and through whose celebrated reign the name of his dynasty came to be employed in the western nations as the name of China generally, is met by Lassen with the simple fact that the name occurs at a much earlier period than this, and in many different forms, as the name of smaller states into which the empire was broken up after the reign of Wu-wang (1122-1115 b.c.). “The name Θῖναι (Strabo), Σῖναι (Ptol.), Τζίνιτζα (Kosmas), says the Sinologist Neumann, did not obtain currency for the first time from the founder of the great dynasty of Tsin; but long before this, Tsin was the name of a feudal kingdom of some importance in Shen-si, one of the western provinces of the Sinese land, and Fei-tse, the first feudal king of Tsin, began to reign as early as 897 b.c.” It is quite possible, therefore, that the prophet, whether he were Isaiah or any other, may have heard of the land of the Sinese in the far east, and this is all that we need assume; not that Sinese merchants visited the market of the world on the Euphrates (Movers and Lassen), but only that information concerning the strange people who were so wealthy in rare productions, had reached the remote parts of the East through the medium of commerce, possibly from Ophir, and through the Phoenicians. But Egli replies: “The seer on the streams of Babel certainly could not have described any exiles as returning home from China, if he had not known that some of his countrymen were pining there in misery, and I most positively affirm that this was not the case.” What is here assumed - namely, that there must have been a Chinese diaspora in the prophet’s own time - is overthrown by what has been already observed in Isa 11:11; and we may also see that it is to purely by accident that the land of the Sinese is given as the farthest point to the east, from my communications concerning the Jews of China in the History of the Post-biblical Poetry of the Jews (1836, pp. 58-62, cf., p. 21). I have not yet seen Sionnet’s work, which has appeared since, viz., Essai sur les Juifs de la Chine et sur l'influence, qu'ils ont eue sur la litérature de ce vaste empire, avant l'ère chrétienne; but I have read the Mission of Enquiry to the Jews in China in the Jewish Intelligence, May 1851, where a facsimile of their thorah is given. The immigration took place from Persia (cf., ‛Elâm, Isa 11:11), at the latest, under the Han dynasty (205 b.c.-220 a.d.), and certainly before the Christian era.

Isa 49:13

In this return of the exiles from every quarter of the globe to their fatherland, and for this mighty work of God on behalf of His church, which has been scattered in all directions, the whole creation is to praise Him. “Sing, O heavens; and shout, O earth; and break out into singing, O mountains! for Jehovah hath comforted His people, and He hath compassion upon His afflicted ones.” The phrase רנּה פּצח, like ורנּן פּצח (which occurs in Psa 98:4 as well as in Isaiah), is peculiarly Isaiah’s (Isa 14:7, and several times in chapters 40-66). “The afflicted ones” (‛ăniyyı̄m) is the usual Old Testament name for the ecclesia militans. The future alternates with the perfect: the act of consolation takes place once for all, but the compassion lasts for ever. Here again the glorious liberty of the children of God appears as the focus from which the whole world is glorified. The joy of the Israel of God becomes the joy of heaven and earth. With the summons to this joy the first half of the prophecy closes; for the word תאמר, which follows, shows clearly enough that the prophecy has merely reached a resting-point here, since this word is unsuitable for commencing a fresh prophecy.

Isa 49:14-16

The prophet, looking back at the period of suffering from the standpoint of the deliverance, exclaims from the midst of this train of thought: Isa 49:14 “Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.” The period of suffering which forces out this lamentation still continues. What follows, therefore, applies to the church of the present, i.e., of the captivity. Isa 49:15, Isa 49:16 “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb? Even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.” In reply to the complaining church, which knows that her home is in Zion-Jerusalem, and which has been kept so long away from her home, Jehovah sets forth His love, which is as inalienable as a mother’s love, yea, far greater than even maternal love. On עוּל, the min in mērachēm is equivalent to ὥστε μή, as in Isa 23:1; Isa 24:10; Isa 33:15, etc. גּם, so far as the actual sense is concerned, is equivalent to גּם־כּי (Ewald, §§362,b): “granted that such (mothers) should forget, i.e., disown, their love.” The picture of Zion (not merely the name, as Isa 49:16 clearly shows) is drawn in the inside of Jehovah’s hands, just as men are accustomed to burn or puncture ornamental figures and mementoes upon the hand, the arm, and the forehead, and to colour the punctures with alhenna or indigo (see Tafel, xii., in vol. ii. pp. 33-35 of Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians). There is the figure of Zion, unapproachable to every creature, as close to Him as He is to Himself, and facing Him amidst all the emotions of His divine life. There has He the walls of Zion constantly before Him (on neged, see at Isa 1:15; Isa 24:23); and even if for a time they are broken down here below, with Him they have an eternal ideal existence, which must be realized again and again in an increasingly glorious form.

Isa 49:17-18

It is this fact of a renewed glorification which presents itself afresh to the prophet’s mind. “Thy children make haste, thy destroyers and masters draw out from thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all these assemble themselves together, and come to thee. As truly as I live, saith Jehovah, thou wilt put them all on like jewellery, and gird them round thee like a bride.” The pointing adopted by the lxx, Targ., Jer. and Saad., is בּניך. The antithesis favours this reading; but בּניך suits Isa 49:18, Isa 49:19 better; and the thought that Zion’s children come and restore her fallen walls, follows of itself from the very antithesis: her children come; and those who destroyed their maternal home, and made it a desolate ruin, have to depart from both city and land. Zion is to lift up her eyes, that have been cast down till now, yea, to lift them up round about; for on all sides those whom she thought she had lost are coming in dense crowds לך (cf., לא = לו with אליו, Isa 49:5), to her, i.e., henceforth to belong to her again. Jehovah pledges His life (chai 'ănı̄, ζῶν ἐγώ, Ewald, §329,a) that a time of glory is coming for Zion and her children. כּי in the affirmative sense, springing out of the confirmative after an affirming oath, equivalent to אם־לא elsewhere (e.g., Isa 5:9). The population which Zion recovers once more, will be to her like the ornaments which a woman puts on, like the ornamental girdle (Isa 3:20) which a bride fastens round her wedding dress.

Isa 49:19-20

Thus will Zion shine forth once more with the multitude of her children as with a festal adorning. “For thy ruins and thy waste places and thy land full of ruin - yea, now thou wilt be too narrow for the inhabitants, and thy devourers are far away. Thy children, that were formerly taken from thee, shall say in thine ears, The space is too narrow for me; give way for me, that I may have room.” The word “for” (kı̄) introduces the explanatory reason for the figures just employed of jewellery and a bridal girdle. Instead of the three subjects, “thy ruins,” etc., the comprehensive “thou” is employed permutatively, and the sentence commenced afresh. כּי is repeated emphatically in עתּה כּי (for now, or yea now); this has essentially the same meaning as in the apodosis of hypothetical protasis (e.g., Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10), except that the sense is more decidedly affirmative than in the present instance, where one sees it spring out of the confirmative. Zion, that has been hitherto desolate, now becomes too small to hold her inhabitants; and her devourers are far away, i.e., those who took forcible possession of the land and cities, and made them untenable. עוד is to be understood in accordance with Psa 42:6, and בעזניך in accordance with Psa 54:2 (see at Isa 5:9). It will even come to this, that the children of which Zion was formerly robbed will call to one another, so that she becomes a witness with her ears to that which they have so clearly seen: the space is too narrow, give way (geshâh, from nâgash, to advance, then to move generally, also to move in an opposite direction, i.e., to fall back, as in Gen 19:9) for me, that I may be able to settle down.

Isa 49:21

The words that sound in the ears of Zion are now followed by the thought of astonishment and surprise, that rises up in her heart. “And thou wilt say in thy heart, Who hath borne me these, seeing I was robbed of children, and barren, banished, and thrust away; and these, who hath brought them up? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?” She sees herself suddenly surrounded by a great multitude of children, and yet she was robbed of children, and galmūdâh (lit. hard, stony, Arab. 'galmad, 'gulmūd, e.g., es-sachr el'gulmūd, the hardest stone, mostly as a sugstantive, stone or rock, from gâlam, from which comes the Syriac gelomo, stony ground, related to châlam, whence challâmı̄sh, gravel, root gal, gam, to press together, or heap up in a lump or mass), i.e., one who seemed utterly incapacitated for bearing children any more. She therefore asks, Who hath borne me these (not, who hath begotten, and which is an absurd question)? She cannot believe that they are the children of her body, and her children’s children. As a tree, whose foliage is all faded away, is called nōbheleth itself in Isa 1:30, so she calls herself gōlâh vesūrâh, extorris et remota (sūr = mūsâr, like sūg in Pro 14:14 = nâsōg or mussâg), because her children have been carried away into exile. In the second question, the thought has dawned upon her mind, that those by whom she finds herself surrounded are her own children; but as she was left alone, whilst they went forth, as she thought to die in a foreign land, she cannot comprehend where they have been hitherto concealed, or where they have grown up into so numerous a people.

Isa 49:22

The prophecy now takes a step backward in the domain of the future, and describes the manner in which the children of Zion get back to their home. “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lift up my hand to nations, and set up my standard to peoples: and they bring thy sons in their bosom; and thy daughters, upon shoulders are they carried.” The setting up of a standard (Isa 5:26; Isa 11:12; Isa 18:3, cf., Isa 62:10) is a favourite figure with Isaiah, as well as swaying the hand. Jehovah gives a sign to the heathen nations with His hand, and points out to them the mark that they are to keep in view, with a signal pole which is set up. They understand it, and carry out His instructions, and bring Zion’s sons and daughters thither, and that as a foster-father ('ōmēn) carries an infant in the bosom of his dress (chōtsen, as in Neh 5:13; Arabic as in Psa 129:7, hidn, from hadana, to embrace, to press tenderly to one’s self; vid., Num 11:12), or upon his arms, so that it reclines upon his shoulder (‛al-kâthēph; cf., ‛al-tsad, Isa 60:4; Isa 66:12).

Isa 49:23

Such affectionate treatment does the church receive, which is assembling once more upon its native soil, whilst kings and their consorts hasten to serve the re-assembled community. “And kings become thy foster-fathers, and their princesses they nurses: they bow down their face to thee to the earth, and they lick the dust of thy feet; and thou learnest that I am Jehovah, He whose hoping ones are not put to shame.” As foster-fathers devote all their strength and care to those entrusted to them, and nurses nourish children from the very marrow of their own life, so will kings become the shelterers of Zion, and princesses the sustainers of her growth. All that is true in the regal headship of the church will be realized, and all that is false in regal territorialism will condemn itself: “vultu in terram demisso adorabunt te et pulverem pedum tuorum lingent” (Jerome). They do homage to the church, and kiss the ground upon which she stands and walks. According to Isa 45:14, this adoration belongs to the God who is present in the church, and points the church itself away from all thought of her own merits to Jehovah, the God of salvation, cui qui confidunt non pudefient (וידעתּ with an auxiliary pathach, like יגעתּ in Isa 47:15; Ges. §65, 2: אשׁר with the first person made into a relative as in Isa 41:8; Ges. §123, 1, Anm. 1). Observe, however, that the state will not be swallowed up by the church - a thing which never will occur, and is never meant to occur; but by the state becoming serviceable to the church, there is realized a prelude of the perfected kingdom of God, in which the dualism of the state and the church is entirely abolished.

Isa 49:24-26

There follows now a sceptical question prompted by weakness of faith; and the divine reply. The question, Isa 49:24 : “Can the booty indeed be wrested from a giant, or will the captive host of the righteous escape?” The question is logically one, and only divided rhetorically into two (Ges. §153, 2). The giant, or gigantically strong one, is the Chaldean. Knobel, in opposition to Hitzig, who supposes the Persian to be referred to, points very properly to Isa 51:12-13, and Isa 52:5. He is mistaken, however, in thinking that we must read עריץ שׁבי in Isa 49:24, as Ewald does after the Syriac and Jerome, on account of the parallelism. The exiles are called shebhı̄ tsaddı̄q, not, however, as captives wrested from the righteous (the congregation of the righteous), as Meier thinks, taking tsaddı̄q as the gen. obj.; still less as captives carried off by the righteous one, i.e., the Chaldean, for the Chaldean, even regarded as the accomplisher of the righteous judgment of God, is not tsaddı̄q, but “wicked” (Hab 1:13); but merely as a host of captives consisting of righteous men (Hitzig). The divine answer, Isa 49:25, Isa 49:26 : “Yea, thus saith Jehovah, Even the captive hosts of a giant are wrested from him, and the booty of a tyrant escapes: and I will make war upon him that warreth with thee, and I will bring salvation to thy children. And I feed them that pain thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as if with new wine; and all flesh sees that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and that thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.” We might take the kı̄ in Isa 49:25 as a simple affirmative, but it is really to be taken as preceded by a tacit intermediate thought. Rosenmüller’s explanation is the correct one: “that which is hardly credible shall take place, for thus hath Jehovah said.” He has also given the true interpretation of gam: “although this really seems incredible, yet I will give it effect.” Ewald, on the contrary, has quite missed the sense of Isa 49:24, Isa 49:25, which he gives as follows: “The booty in men which a hero has taken in war, may indeed be taken from him again; but Jehovah will never let the booty that He takes from the Chaldean (viz., Israel) be wrested from Him again.” This is inadmissible, for the simple reason that it presupposes the emendation עריץ שׁבי עריץ noita; and this 'ârı̄ts is quite unsuitable, partly because it would be Jehovah to whom the case supposed referred, and still more, because the correspondence in character between Isa 49:24 and Isa 49:14 is thereby destroyed. The gibbōr and 'ârı̄ts is called יריבך in Isa 49:25, with direct reference to Zion. This is a noun formed from the future, like Jareb in Hos 5:13 and Hos 10:6 - a name chosen as the distinctive epithet of the Asiatic emperor (probably a name signifying “king Fighting-cock”). The self-laceration threatened against the Chaldean empire recals to mind Isa 9:19-20, and Zec 11:9, and has as revolting a sound as Num 23:24 and Zec 9:15 -passages which Daumer and Ghillany understand in the cannibal sense which they appear to have, whereas what they understand literally is merely a hyperbolical figure. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the Old Testament church was a nation, and that the spirit of revelation in the Old Testament assumed the national form, which it afterwards shattered to pieces. Knobel points to the revolt of the Hyrcanians and several satraps, who fought on the side of Cyrus against their former rulers (Cyrop. iv 2, 6, v. 1-3). All this will be subservient to that salvation and redemption, which form the historical aim of Jehovah and the irresistible work of the Mighty One of Jacob. The name of God which we meet with here, viz., the Mighty One of Jacob, only occurs again in Isa 1:24, and shows who is the author of the prophecy which is concluded here. The first half set forth, in the servant of Jehovah, the mediator of Israel’s restoration and of the conversion of the heathen, and closed with an appeal to the heaven and the earth to rejoice with the ransomed church. The second half (Isa 49:14-26) rebukes the despondency of Zion, which fancies itself forgotten of Jehovah, by pointing to Jehovah’s more than maternal love, and the superabundant blessing to be expected from Him. It also rebukes the doubts of Zion as to the possibility of such a redemption, by pointing to the faithfulness and omnipotence of the God of Israel, who will cause the exiles to be wrested from the Chaldean, and their tormentors to devour one another. The following chapter commences a fresh train of ideas.

Encouragement to the Gentiles. (b. c. 706.)

1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord , and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord , and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Here, I. An auditory is summoned together and attention demanded. The sermon in the foregoing chapter was directed to the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, v. 1, 12. But this is directed to the isles (that is, the Gentiles, for they are called the isles of the Gentiles, Gen. x. 5) and to the people from far, that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and afar off. Let these listen (v. 1) as to a thing at a distance, which yet they are to hear with desire and attention. Note, 1. The tidings of a Redeemer are sent to the Gentiles, and to those that lie most remote; and they are concerned to listen to them. 2. The Gentiles listened to the gospel when the Jews were deaf to it.

II. The great author and publisher of the redemption produces his authority from heaven for the work he had undertaken. 1. God had appointed him and set him apart for it: The Lord has called me from the womb to this office and made mention of my name, nominated me to be the Saviour. By an angel he called him Jesus—a Saviour, who should save his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21. Nay, from the womb of the divine counsels, before all worlds, he was called to this service, and help was laid upon him; and he came at the call, for he said, Lo, I come, with an eye to what was written of him in the volume of the book. This was said of some of the prophets, as types of him, Jer. i. 5. Paul was separated to the apostleship from his mother's womb, Gal. i. 15. 2. God had fitted and qualified him for the service to which he designed him. He made his mouth like a sharp sword, and made him like a polished shaft, or a bright arrow, furnished him with every thing necessary to fight God's battles against the powers of darkness, to conquer Satan, and bring back God's revolted subjects to their allegiance, by his word: that is the two-edged sword (Heb. iv. 12) which comes out of his mouth, Rev. xix. 15. The convictions of the word are the arrows that shall be sharp in the hearts of sinners, Ps. xlv. 5. 3. God had preferred him to the service for which he had reserved him: He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand and in his quiver, which denotes, (1.) Concealment. The gospel of Christ, and the calling in of the Gentiles by it, were long hidden from ages and generations, hidden in God (Eph. iii. 5, Rom. xvi. 25), hidden in the shadow of the ceremonial law and the Old-Testament types. (2.) Protection. The house of David was the particular care of the divine Providence, because that blessing was in it. Christ in his infancy was sheltered from the rage of Herod. 4. God had owned him, had said unto him, "Thou art my servant, whom I have employed and will prosper; thou art Israel, in effect, the prince with God, that hast wrestled and prevailed; and in thee I will be glorified." The people of God are Israel, and they are all gathered together, summed up, as it were, in Christ, the great representative of all Israel, as the high priest who had the names of all the tribes on his breastplate; and in him God is and will be glorified; so he said by a voice from heaven, John xii. 27, 28. Some read the words in two clauses: Thou art my servant (so Christ is, ch. xlii. 1); it is Israel in whom I will be glorified by thee; it is the spiritual Israel, the elect, in the salvation of whom by Jesus Christ God will be glorified, and his free grace for ever admired.

III. He is assured of the good success of his undertaking; for whom God calls he will prosper. And as to this,

1. He objects the discouragement he had met with at his first setting out (v. 4): "Then I said, with a sad heart, I have laboured in vain; those that were ignorant, and careless, and strangers to God, are so still: I have called, and they have refused; I have stretched out my hands to a gainsaying people." This was Isaiah's complaint, but it was no more than he was told to expect, ch. vi. 9. The same was a temptation to Jeremiah to resolve he would labour no more, Jer. xx. 9. It is the complaint of many a faithful minister, that has not loitered, but laboured, not spared, but spent, his strength, and himself with it, and yet, as to many, it is all in vain and for nought; they will not be prevailed with to repent and believe. But here it seems to point at the obstinacy of the Jews, among whom Christ went in person preaching the gospel of the kingdom, laboured and spent his strength, and yet the rulers and the body of the nation rejected him and his doctrine; so very few were brought in, when one would think none should have stood out, that he might well say, "I have laboured in vain, preached so many sermons, wrought so many miracles, in vain." Let not the ministers think it strange that they are slighted when the Master himself was.

2. He comforts himself under this discouragement with this consideration, that it was the cause of God in which he was engaged and the call of God that engaged him in it: Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, who is the Judge of all, and my work with my God, whose servant I am. His comfort is, and it may be the comfort of all faithful ministers, when they see little success of their labours, (1.) That, however it be, it is a righteous cause that they are pleading. They are with God, and for God; they are on his side, and workers together with him. They like not their judgment, the rule they go by, nor their work, the business they are employed in, ever the worse for this. The unbelief of men gives them no cause to suspect the truth of their doctrine, Rom. iii. 3. (2.) That their management of this cause, and their prosecution of this work, were known to God, and they could appeal to him concerning their sincerity, and that it was not through any neglect of theirs that they laboured in vain. "He knows the way that I take; my judgment is with the Lord, to determine whether I have not delivered my soul and left the blood of those that perish on their own heads." (3.) Though the labour be in vain as to those that are laboured with, yet not as to the labourer himself, if he be faithful: his judgment is with the Lord, who will justify him and bear him out, though men condemn him and run him down; and his work (the reward of his work) is with his God, who will take care he shall be no loser, no, not by his lost labour. (4.) Though the judgment be not yet brought forth unto victory, nor the work to perfection, yet both are with the Lord, to carry them on and give them success, according to his purpose, in his own way and time.

3. He receives from God a further answer to this objection, v. 5, 6. He knew very well that God had set him on work, had formed him from the womb to be his servant, had not only called him so early to it (v. 1), but begun so early to fit him for it and dispose him to it. Those whom God designs to employ as his servants he is fashioning and preparing to be so long before, when perhaps neither themselves nor others are aware of it. It is he that forms the spirit of man within him. Christ was to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, that had treacherously departed from him. The seed of Jacob therefore, according to the flesh, must first be dealt with, and means used to bring them back. Christ, and the word of salvation by him, are sent to them first; nay, Christ comes in person to them only, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But what if Jacob will not be brought back to God and Israel will not be gathered? So it proved; but this is a satisfaction in that case, (1.) Christ will be glorious in the eyes of the Lord; and those are truly glorious that are so in God's eyes. Though few of the Jewish nation were converted by Christ's preaching and miracles, and many of them loaded him with ignominy and disgrace, yet God put honour upon him, and made him glorious, at his baptism, and in his transfiguration, spoke to him from heaven, sent angels to minister to him, made even his shameful death glorious by the many prodigies that attended it, much more his resurrection. In his sufferings God was his strength, so that though he met with all the discouragement imaginable, by the contempts of a people whom he had done so much to oblige, yet he did not fail nor was discouraged. An angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him, Luke xxii. 43. Faithful ministers, though they see not the fruit of their labours, shall yet be accepted of God, and in that they shall be truly glorious, for his favour is our honour; and they shall be assisted to proceed and persevere in their labours notwithstanding. This weakens their hands, but their God will be their strength. (2.) The gospel shall be glorious in the eyes of the world; though it be not so in the eyes of the Jews, yet it shall be entertained by the nations, v. 6. The Messiah seemed as if he had been primarily designed to bring Jacob back, v. 5. But he is here told that it is comparatively but a small matter; a higher orb of honour than that, and a larger sphere of usefulness, are designed him: "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob to the dignity and dominion they expect by the Messiah, and to restore the preserved of Israel, and make them a flourishing church and state as formerly" (nay, considering what a little handful of people they are, it would be but a small matter, in comparison, for the Messiah to be the Saviour of them only); "and therefore I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles (many great and mighty nations by the gospel of Christ shall be brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God), that thou mayest be my salvation, the author of that salvation which I have designed for lost man, and this to the end of the earth, to nations at the greatest distance." Hence Simeon learned to call Christ a light to lighten the Gentiles (Luke ii. 32), and St. Paul's exposition of this text is what we ought to abide by, and it serves for a key to the context, Acts xiii. 47. Therefore, says he, we turn to the Gentiles, to preach the gospel to them, because so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles. In this the Redeemer was truly glorious, though Israel was not gathered; the setting up of his kingdom in the Gentile world was more his honour than if he had raised up all the tribes of Jacob. This promise is in part fulfilled already, and will have a further accomplishment, if that time be yet to come which the apostle speaks of, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in. Observe, God calls it his salvation, which some think intimates how well pleased he was with it, how he gloried in it, and (if I may so say) how much his heart was upon it. They further observe that Christ is given for a light to all those to whom he is given for salvation. It is in darkness that men perish. Christ enlightens men's eyes, and so makes them holy and happy.

Encouragement to the Gentiles. (b. c. 706.)

7 Thus saith the Lord , the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. 8 Thus saith the Lord , In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. 12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

In these verses we have,

I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah (v. 7): The Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and Israel's Holy One, who had always taken care of the Jewish church and wrought out for them those deliverances that were typical of the great salvation, speaks here to him, who was the undertaker of that salvation. And, 1. He takes notice of his humiliation, the instances of which were uncommon, nay, unparalleled. He was one whom man despised. He is despised and rejected of men, ch. liii. 3. To be despised by so mean a creature (man, who is himself a worm) bespeaks the lowest and most contemptible condition imaginable. Man, whom he came to save and to put honour upon, yet despised him and put contempt upon him; so wretchedly ungrateful were his persecutors. The ignominy he underwent was not the least of his sufferings. They not only made him despicable, but odious. He was one whom the nation abhorred; they treated him as the worst of men, and cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. The nation did it, the Gentiles as well as Jews, and the Jews herein worse than Gentiles; for his cross was to the one a stumbling-block and to the other foolishness. He was a servant of rulers; he was trampled upon, abused, scourged, and crucified as a slave. Pilate boasted of his power over him, John xix. 10. This he submitted to for our salvation. 2. He promises him his exaltation. Honour was done him even in the depth of his humiliation. Herod the king stood in awe of him, saying, It is John the Baptist; noblemen, rulers, centurions came and kneeled to him. But this was more fully accomplished when kings received his gospel, and submitted to his yoke, and joined in the worship of him, and called themselves the vassals of Christ. Not that Christ values the rich more than the poor (they stand upon a level with him), but it is for the honour of his kingdom among men when the great ones of the earth appear for him and do homage to him. This shall be the accomplishment of God's promise, and he will give him the heathen for his inheritance, and therefore it shall be done, because of the Lord who is faithful and true to his promise; and this shall be an evidence that Christ had a commission for what he did, and that God had chosen him, and would own the choice he had made.

II. The blessings he has in store for all those to whom he is made salvation.

1. God will own and stand by him in his undertaking (v. 8): In an acceptable time have I heard thee, that is, I will hear thee. Christ, in the days of his flesh, offered up strong cries, and was heard, Heb. v. 7. He knew that the Father heard him always (John xi. 42), heard him for himself (for, though the cup might not pass from him, yet he was enabled to drink it), heard him for all that are his, and therefore he interceded for them as one having authority. Father, I will, John xvii. 24. All our happiness results from the Son's interest in the Father and the prevalency of his intercession, that he always heard him; and this makes the gospel time an acceptable time, welcome to us, because we are accepted of God, both reconciled and recommended to him, that God hears the Redeemer for us, Heb. vii. 25. Nor will he hear him only, but help him to go through with his undertaking. The Father was always with him at his right hand, and did not leave him when his disciples did. Violent attacks were made upon our Lord Jesus by the powers of darkness, when it was their hour, to drive him off from his undertakings, but God promises to preserve him and enable him to persevere in it; on that one stone were seven eyes, Zech. iii. 9. God would preserve him, would preserve his interest, his kingdom among men, though fought against on all sides. Christ is preserved while Christianity is.

2. God will authorize him to apply to his church the benefits of the redemption he is to work out. God's preserving and helping him was to make the day of his gospel a day of salvation. And so the apostle understands it: Behold, now is the day of salvation, now the word of reconciliation by Christ is preached, 2 Cor. vi. 2.

(1.) He shall be guarantee of the treaty of peace between God and man: I will give thee for a covenant of the people. This we had before (ch. xlii. 6), and it is here repeated as faithful, and well worthy of all acceptation and observation. He is given for a covenant, that is, for a pledge of all the blessings of the covenant. It was in him that God was reconciling the world to himself; and he that spared not his own Son will deny us nothing. He is given for a covenant, not only as he is the Mediator of the covenant, the blessed days-man who has laid his hand upon us both, but as he is all in all in the covenant. All the duty of the covenant is summed up in our being his; and all the privilege and happiness of the covenant are summed up in his being ours.

(2.) He shall repair the decays of the church and build it upon a rock. He shall establish the earth, or rather the land, the land of Judea, a type of the church. He shall cause the desolate heritages to be inherited; so the cities of Judah were after the return out of captivity, and so the church, which in the last and degenerate ages of the Jewish nation had been as a country laid waste, but was again replenished by the fruits of the preaching of the gospel.

(3.) He shall free the souls of men from the bondage of guilt and corruption and bring them into the glorious liberty of God's children. He shall say to the prisoners that were bound over to the justice of God, and bound under the power of Satan, Go forth, v. 9. Pardoning mercy is a release from the curse of the law, and renewing grace is a release from the dominion of sin. Both are from Christ, and are branches of the great salvation. It is he that says, Go forth; it is the Son that makes us free, and then we are free indeed. He saith to those that are in darkness, Show yourselves; "not only see, but be seen, to the glory of God and your own comfort." When he discharged the lepers from their confinement, he said, Go show yourselves to the priest. When we see the light, let our light shine.

(4.) He shall provide for the comfortable passage of those whom he sets at liberty to the place of their rest and happy settlement, v. 9-11. These verses refer to the provision made for the Jews' return out of their captivity, who were taken under the particular care of the divine Providence, as favourites of Heaven, and now so in a special manner; but they are applicable to that guidance of divine grace which all God's spiritual Israel are under, from their release out of bondage to their settlement in the heavenly Canaan. [1.] They shall have their charges borne and shall be fed at free cost with food convenient: They shall feed in the ways, as sheep; for now, as formerly, God leads Joseph like a flock. When God pleases even highway ground shall be good ground for the sheep of his pasture to feed in. Their pastures shall be not only in the valleys, but in all high places, which are commonly dry and barren. Wherever God brings his people he will take care they shall want nothing that is good for them, Ps. xxxiv. 10. And so well shall they be provided for that they shall not hunger nor thirst, for what they need they shall have seasonably, before their need of it comes to an extremity. [2.] They shall be sheltered and protected from every thing that would incommode them: Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them, or God causes his flock to rest at noon, Cant. i. 7. No evil thing shall befal those that put themselves under a divine protection; they shall be enabled to bear the burden and heat of the day. [3.] They shall be under God's gracious guidance: He that has mercy on them, in bringing them out of their captivity, shall lead them, as he did their fathers in the wilderness, by a pillar of cloud and fire. Even by springs of water, which will be ready to them in their march, shall he guide them. God will furnish them with suitable and seasonable comforts, not like the pools of rainwater in the valley of Baca, but like the water out of the rock which followed Israel. Those who are under a divine guidance, and follow that closely, while they do so, may, upon good grounds, hope for divine comforts and cordials. The world leads its followers by broken cisterns, or brooks that fail in summer; but God leads those that are his by springs of water. And those whom God guides shall find a ready road and all obstacles removed (v. 11): I will make all my mountains a way. He that in times past made the sea a way, now with as much ease will make the mountains a way, though they seemed impassable. The highway, or causeway, shall be raised, to make it both the plainer and the fairer. Note, The ways in which God leads his people he himself will be the overseer of, and will take care that they be well mended and kept in repair, as of old the ways that led to the cities of refuge. The levelling of the roads from Babylon, as it was foretold (ch. xl. 2, 3), was applied to gospel work, and so may this be. Though there be difficulties in the way to heaven, which we cannot by our own strength get over, yet the grace of God shall be sufficient to help us over them and to make even the mountains a way, ch. xxxv. 8.

(5.) He shall bring them all together from all parts, that they may return in a body, that they may encourage one another and be the more taken notice of. They were dispersed into several parts of the country of Babylon, as their enemies pleased, to prevent any combination among themselves. But, when God's time shall come to bring them home together, one spirit shall animate them all, all that lie at the greatest distance from each other, and those also that had taken shelter in other countries shall meet them in the land of Judah, v. 12. Here shall a party come from far, some from the north, some from the west, some from the land of Sinim, which probably is some province of Babylon not elsewhere named in scripture, but some make it to be a country belonging to one of the chief cities of Egypt, called Sin, of which we read, Ezek. xxx. 15, 16. Now this promise was to have a further accomplishment in the great confluence of converts to the gospel church, and its full accomplishment when God's chosen shall come from the east and from the west to sit down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of God, Matt. viii. 11.

Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. 17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

The scope of these verses is to show that the return of the people of God out of their captivity, and the eternal redemption to be wrought out by Christ (of which that was a type), would be great occasions of joy to the church and great proofs of the tender care God has of the church.

I. Nothing can furnish us with better matter for songs of praise and thanksgiving, v. 13. Let the whole creation join with us in songs of joy, for it shares with us in the benefits of the redemption, and all they can contribute to this sacred melody is little enough in return for such inestimable favours, Ps. xcvi. 11. Let there be joy in heaven, and let the angels of God celebrate the praises of the great Redeemer; let the earth and the mountains, particularly the great ones of the earth, be joyful, and break forth into singing, for the earnest expectation of the creature that waits for the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. viii. 19, 21) shall now be abundantly answered. God's people are the blessings and ornaments of the world, and therefore let there be universal joy, for God has comforted his people that were in sorrow and he will have mercy upon the afflicted because of his compassion, upon his afflicted because of his covenant.

II. Nothing can furnish us with more convincing arguments to prove the most tender and affectionate concern God has for his church, and her interests and comforts.

1. The troubles of the church have given some occasion to question God's care and concern for it, v. 14. Zion, in distress, said, The Lord has forsaken me, and looks after me no more; my Lord has forgotten me, and will look after me no more. See how deplorable the case of God's people may be sometimes, such that they may seem to be forsaken and forgotten of their God; and at such a time their temptations may be alarmingly violent. Infidels, in their presumption, say God has forsaken the earth (Ezek. viii. 12), and has forgotten their sins, Ps. x. 11. Weak believers, in their despondency, are ready to say, "God has forsaken his church and forgotten the sorrows of his people." But we have no more reason to question his promise and grace than we have to question his providence and justice. He is as sure a rewarder as he is a revenger. Away therefore with these distrusts and jealousies, which are the bane of friendship.

2. The triumphs of the church, after her troubles, will in due time put the matter out of question.

(1.) What God will do for Zion we are told, v. 17. [1.] Her friends, who had deserted her, shall be gathered to her, and shall contribute their utmost to her assistance and comfort: Thy children shall make haste. Converts to the faith of Christ are the children of the church; they shall join themselves to her with great readiness and cheerfulness, and flock into the communion of saints, as doves to their windows. "Thy builders shall make haste" (so some read it), "who shall build up thy houses, thy walls, especially thy temple; they shall do it with expedition." Church work is usually slow work; but, when God's time shall come, it shall be done suddenly. [2.] Her enemies, who had threatened and assaulted her, shall be forced to withdraw from her: Thy destroyers, and those who made thee waste, who had made themselves masters of the country and ravaged it, shall go forth of thee. By Christ the prince of this world, the great destroyer, is cast out, is dispossessed, has his power broken and his attempts quite baffled.

(2.) Now by this it will appear that Zion's suggestions were altogether groundless, that God has not forsaken her, nor forgotten her, nor ever will. Be assured, [1.] That God has a tender affection for his church and people, v. 15. In answer to Zion's fears, God speaks as one concerned for his own glory (he takes himself to be reflected upon if Zion say, The Lord has forsaken me, and he will clear himself), as one concerned also for his people's comfort; he would not have them droop, and be discouraged, and give way to any uneasy thoughts. "You think that I have forgotten you. Can a woman forget her sucking child?" First, It is not likely that she should. A woman, whose honour it is to be of the tender sex as well as the fair one, cannot but have compassion for a child, which, being both harmless and helpless, is a proper object of compassion. A mother, especially, cannot but be concerned for her own child; for it is her own, a piece of herself, and very lately one with her. A nursing mother, most of all, cannot but be tender of her sucking child; her own breasts will soon put her in mind of it if she should forget it. But, Secondly, It is possible that she may forget. A woman may perhaps be so unhappy as not to be able to remember her sucking child (she may be sick, and dying, and going to the land of forgetfulness), or she may be so unnatural as not to have compassion on the son of her womb, as those who, to conceal their shame, are the death of their children as soon as they are their life, Lam. iv. 10; Deut. xxviii. 57. But, says God, I will not forget thee. Note, God's compassions to his people infinitely exceed those of the tenderest parents towards their children. What are the affections of nature to those of the God of nature! [2.] That he has a constant care of his church and people (v. 16): I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands. This does not allude to the foolish art of palmistry, which imagines every man's fate to be engraved in the palms of his hands and to be legible in the lines there, but to the custom of those who tie a string upon their hands or fingers to put them in mind of things which they are afraid they shall forget, or to the wearing of signet or locket-rings in remembrance of some dear friend. His setting them thus as a seal upon his arm denotes his setting them as a seal upon his heart, and his being ever mindful of them and their interests, Cant. viii. 6. If we bind God's law as a sign upon our hand (Deut. vi. 8, 11, 18), he will engrave our interests as a sign on his hand, and will look upon that and remember the covenant. He adds, "Thy walls shall be continually before me; thy ruined walls, though no pleasing spectacle, shall be in my thoughts of compassion." Do Zions' friends favour her dust? Ps. cii. 14. So does her God. Or, "The plan and model of thy walls, that are to be rebuilt, is before me, and they shall certainly be built according to it." Or, "Thy walls (that is, thy safety) are my continual care; so are the watchmen on thy walls." Some apply his engraving his church on the palms of his hands to the wounds in Christ's hands when he was crucified; he will look on the marks of them, and remember those for whom he suffered and died.

Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord , thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. 19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. 20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. 21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 22 Thus saith the Lord God , Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord : for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

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 (v. 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 (v. 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. xii. 22, 23. Lift up thy eyes, and behold how the fields are white unto the harvest, John iv. 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. xix. 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 (ch. v. 9; vi. 11), shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be over-peopled (v. 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. iii. 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 (v. 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, Zech. viii. 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. iv. 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, 2 Kings vi. 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, Luke xiv. 21, 22. (2.) The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family, v. 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, ch. lxvi. 8.

5. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles, v. 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. ii. 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. lxv. 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. xii. 16. Or, "When they come themselves, they shall bring their children, and make them thy children;" compare ch. lx. 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, v. 22, 23. 1. Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the church: Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, to carry thy sons in their arms (as Moses, Num. xi. 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. iii. 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 (Ps. lxxii. 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.

Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)

24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25 But thus saith the Lord , 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 that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Here is, I. An objection started against the promise of the Jews' release out of their captivity in Babylon, suggesting that it was a thing not to be expected; for (v. 24) they were a prey in the hand of the mighty, of such as were then the greatest potentates on earth, and therefore it was not likely they should be rescued by force. Yet that was not all: they were lawful captives; by the law of God, having offended, they were justly delivered into captivity; and by the law of nations, being taken in war, they were justly detained in captivity till they should be ransomed or exchanged. Now this is spoken either, 1. By the enemies, as justifying themselves in their refusal to let them go. They plead both might and right. Proud men think all their own that they can lay their hands on and their title good if they have but the longest sword. Or, 2. By their friends, either in a way of distrust, despairing of the deliverance ("for who is able to deal with those that detain us, either by force of arms or a treaty of peace?"), or in a way of thankfulness, admiring the deliverance. "Who would have thought that ever the prey should be taken from the mighty? Yet it is done." This is applicable to our redemption by Christ. As to Satan, we were a prey in the hand of the mighty, and yet delivered even from him that had the power of death, by him that had the power of life. As to the justice of God, we were lawful captives, and yet delivered by a price of inestimable value.

II. This objection answered by an express promise, and a further promise; for God's promises being all yea, and amen, they may well serve to corroborate one another. 1. Here is an express promise with a non-obstante—notwithstanding to the strength of the enemy (v. 25): "Even the captives of the mighty, though they are mighty, shall be taken away, and it is to no purpose for them to oppose it; and the prey of the terrible, though they are terrible, shall be delivered; and, as they cannot with all their strength outforce, so they cannot with all their impudence outface, the deliverance, and the counsels of God concerning it." The Lord saith thus, who, having all power and all hearts in his hands is able to make his words good. 2. Here is a further promise, showing how, and in what way, God will bring about the deliverance. He will bring judgments upon the oppressors, and so will work salvation for the oppressed: "I will contend with him that contends with thee, will plead thy cause against those that justify themselves in oppressing thee; whoever it be, though but a single person, that contends with thee, he shall know that it is at his peril, and thus I will save thy children." The captives shall be delivered by leading captivity captive, that is, sending those into captivity that had held God's people captive, Rev. xiii. 10. Nay, they shall have blood for blood (v. 26): "I will feed those that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood. The proud Babylonians shall become not only an easy, but an acceptable, prey to one another. God will send a dividing spirit among them, and their ruin, which was begun by a foreign invasion, shall be completed by their intestine divisions. They shall bite and devour one another, till they are consumed one of another. They shall greedily and with delight prey upon those that are their own flesh and blood." God can make the oppressors of his church to be their own tormentors and their own destroyers. The New-Testament Babylon, having made herself drunk with the blood of the saints, shall have blood given her to drink, for she is worthy. See how cruel men sometimes are to themselves and to one another: indeed those who are so to others are so to themselves, for God's justice and men's revenge will mete to them what they have measured to others. They not only thirst after blood, but drink it so greedily that they are drunken with it, and with as much pleasure as if it were sweet wine. If God had not more mercy on sinners than they would have one upon another were their passions let loose, the world would be soon an Aceldama, nay, a desolation.

III. See what will be the effect of Babylon's ruin: All flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour. God will make it to appear, to the conviction of all the world, that, though Israel seem lost and cast off, they have a Redeemer, and, though they are made a prey to the mighty, Jacob has a mighty One, who is able to deal with all his enemies. God intends, by the deliverances of his church, both to notify and to magnify his own name.

CHAP. XLIX.

Ver. 1. LIſten O Iſles unto me] i. e. Ye forreiners; for wicked Iſrael will not, and therefore have no true peace, chap. 48.22. with Pſal. 119.165.

Ʋnto me] Underſtand it of Iſaiah. but eſpecially of Chriſt: for from hence to the end of this book (as the Jew-Doctours alſo acknowledge) are viſions and Sermons ſet down concerning Chriſts twofold Kingdome, viz. of Patience and of Power. See Act. 13.47. 2 Cor. 6.2. Rev. 7.10.

The Lord hath called me from the womb] Called me and qualified me, appointed and annointed me to the office of a Mediatour. This, thoſe that attend not, though never ſo remote, are deeply guilty before God, Deut. 18.18, 19. Act. 3.22, 23.

Ver. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a ſharp ſword] He hath added efficacy to my doctrine; and will protect my perſon till I have finiſhed the work that he gave me to do.

And made me a poliſhed ſhaft] That, being well pointed, will pierce at a diſtance, and either prick Converts at the heart, as Act. 2.37. or cut refractories to the heart, as Act. 7.54. Chriſt will purſue his enemies both with the terrours of his words, his mouth being made like a ſharp ſword; and with the plagues of his hands, being made like a poliſhed ſhaft.

Ver. 3. Thou art my ſervant O Iſrael] i. e. O Chriſt, who beſt deſerveſt to be called by that name, who art alſo the head of the Elect that Iſrael of God, Gal. 6.16.

Ver. 4. Then ſaid I, I have laboured in vaine] I have done little more than preached my hearers to hell. The Phariſees and the Lawyers rejected the counſel of God againſt themſelves, Luk. 7.30. they would not be forewarned to flee from the wrath to come, Mat. 3.7. to eſcape the damnation of hell, Mat. 23.33. Our Saviour loſt his ſweet words upon them: ſo did the Prophet Iſaiah upon his untoward Countrymen, who refuſed to be reformed, hated to be healed. Nothing was unconquerable to his pains, who had (as one ſaith of Jul. Scaliger) a golden wit in an iron body; but this matter was not malleable: hence he ſpake to them to as little purpoſe as Bede did when he preached to an heap of ſtones. Hence his complaint, chap. 53.1. Who hath beleeved our report? he might haply hope at firſt, as holy Melanchthon did, that it was impoſſible for his hearers to withſtand the evidence of the Goſpel: but after he had been a Preacher a while, 'tis ſaid be complained that old Adam was too hard for young Melanchthon. Reverend Mr. Greenham, beſides his publike paines in ſeaſon and out of ſeaſon, was wont to walk out into the fields, and to confer with his neighbours as they were at plough. But Dry-Draiton (the place where he was Miniſter many years) though ſo often watered with his teares, prayers and paines, was little the better for all:Mr. Fullers Church-hiſt. the generality of his pariſh remained ignorant and obſtinate, to their Paſtours great grief, and their own greater dammage and diſgrace. Hence the verſes, Greenham had paſtures green, But ſheep full lean, &c.

He might well cry out, as many alſo do at this day, Eheu, quam pingui macer eſt mihi taurus in arvo! Our people, alaſſe, are like Labans-lambs or Pharaohs kine: they are even Miniſtrorum opprobria. But if Miniſters toyle all night and take nothing, 'tis to be feared (ſaith one well) that Satan caught the fiſh ere they came at their net.

Yet ſurely my judgement is with the Lord] He will do me right and reward me howſoever: The Phyſician hath his praiſe and pay, though his Patient dyes. The Lawyer hath his ſee though his Clients cauſe miſcarry. Curam exigeris, non curationem, ſaith Bernard to a frienk of his,Jer. 20. it is the care not the cure of your charge that is charged upon you. Jeremy was impatient, and would preach no more, but that might not be. Mr. Greenham left Dry-Draiton, upon friends importunity, and removed to London, but he afterwards repented it. Latimer ſpeaking of a certain Miniſter, who gave this anſwer why he left off preaching, becauſe he ſaw he did no good: This, ſaith Latimer, is a naughty, a very naughty anſwer.

Ver. 5. To bring Jacob again to him] To convert and reduce him to the fold: this is the proper work of the Archſhepherd, 1 Pet. 2.25. and 3.18. and 5.4. Men may ſpeak perſwaſively, but Chriſt alone can perſwade the heart. Meum eſt docere, ſaith Cyril, veſtrum auſcultare, Dei verò perficere.

Though Iſrael be not gathered] Viz. By Gods Word which is his Arme, chap. 53.1. or will not be gathered, as Mat. 23.37.

Yet I ſhall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord] Who will reward me [non-Latin text not transcribed], according to my paines, and not according to my ſucceſſe: yea it is more than probable, that ſuch as patiently perſiſt in the work of the miniſtery,Secundum laborem, non ſecundum proventum. Bern. though few or none be converted thereby, ſhall have a greater meaſure of glory, than thoſe that ſee much fruit of their labours, and ſo have their honey-comb here to feed on.

Ver. 6. I will alſo give thee for a light to the Gentiles] De vocatione gentium illuſtre teſtimonium; and to this purpoſe it is cited by Paul and Barnabas, Act. 13.47. See Joh. 12.46. Luk. 1.78, 79.

That thou mayſt be my Salvation] Vide quam Deo cordi & curae ſit ſalus noſtra,A Lap, cum eam vocat ſuam. See how God mindeth and fancieth our ſalvation, when he calleth it here his ſalvation.

Ver. 7. To him whom man despiſeth] Chriſt was extreamly deſpiſed in the ſtate of his humiliation, Iſa. 53.2, 3. his Soul was filled with ſcorn and contempt, as Pſal. 123.3, 4. he was hartily hated.

To him whom the Nation abhorreth] Hierom ſaith that, to this day, that execrable nation curſeth Chriſt three times a day in their Synagogues: and profeſſeth that if their Meſſiah ſhould come, rather than the Gentiles ſhould ſhare with them in his benefits, they would crucifie him over and over.

To a ſervant of Rulers] Chriſt was baſely uſed by the Rulers of the Jews, who never left till they had nailed him to the Tree; which was a ſlaves death among the Romans.

Kings ſhall ſee and ariſe, Princes alſo ſhall worſhip] As did Conſtantine, Theodoſius, Valentinian, Charles the Great, &c. who called themſelves vaſallos Chriſti, the vaſals of Chriſt.

And he ſhall chooſe thee] i. e. He ſhall declare that he hath choſen thee to be the Saviour of his people.

Ver. 8. In an acceptable time] Heb. In a time of my good pleaſure, or goodwill, i. e. when of free grace I am pleaſed to ſend thee into the world, and to cauſe the Goſpel to be preached all abroad: thereby declaring my ſelf fully appeaſed which the men of my good will, as the Elect are called, Luk. 2.14. Confer 2 Cor. 6.2.

Have I heard thee] Or, will I hear thee, ſc. interceding, and will I help thee, ſc. conflicting.

And give thee for a Covenant] i. e. For a Mediatour of the New Covenant, which is ratified by thy blood: as was ſignified by the book ſprinkled with the blood of the ſlain ſacrifice.

To eſtabliſh the earth] Had not Chriſt undertook the ſhattered condition of the world to uphold it, it had faln about Adams cares.

To cauſe to inherit the deſolate heritages.] i. e. Heaven forfeited by us in our firſt Parents: or, as others, the Countries of the Nations now converted.

Ver. 9. That thou mayſt ſay to the priſoners] i. e. To ſuch as lie hampered and enthralled in the inviſible chaines of the Kingdom of darkneſs: To theſe Chriſt ſaith, be refreſhed with the light of ſaving knowledge, and with the liberty of the ſons of God.

They ſhall feed in the wayes] As cattle do, that are removed from place to place: they ſhall have a ſubſiſtence till they get home to their Fathers houſe, where is bread enough.

Ver. 10. They ſhall not hunger nor thirſt] A ſufficiency the Saints have, even of outward comfotts, if not a ſuperfluity: and for inward, ſunt nobis paſcua, pocula, & panis coeleſtis, they ſhall not want, Pſal. 23.1. yea they ſhall over-exceedingly abound, 2 Cor. 7.4. So little cauſe is there for the Jew to jear us as poor and forlorn; ſpiritual alimony we are ſure of: and bread and water with the Goſpel are good chear. See Rev. 7.16.

Neither ſhall the heat nor Sun ſmite them] As Pſal. 121.6. See the Note there.

For he that hath mercy on them] He ſaith not Paſtor but Miſerator, a ſweeter title.

Even by the ſprings] See Pſal. 23.3. with the Note.

Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountaines] I will remove all rubs, and lay all level: pacifica erunt omnin, foecunda & ſuavia: who would not then take up Chriſts ſo eaſie a yoke, &c?

Ver. 12. Behold, theſe ſhall come from far] The Jews from all parts, whither they have been diſperſed: the Elect from all quarters of the earth, Mat. 8.11. with the Notes.

And theſe from the land of Sini] Or, of the Sinites, that is of the Chinois (ſaith Junius and others) whom the Greek Geographers call Sinois, Arias Mont. Oſorim. A Lapide. Mr. Cotton. a very populous Nation. Botterus ſaith, that there are reckoned ſeventy millions of men, which are more than are to be found in all Europe: and who knows but many of thoſe of the ten tribes of Iſrael are there?

Enthuſiaſtico jubilo, &c. Oecolamp. Ver. 13. Sing O heaven] The Prophet having thus foretold the Saints happineſs in and by Chriſt, cannot hold but breaketh forth into Gods praiſes, calling into conſort all creatures, which ſince the Fall have lain bed-ridden, as it were looking with ſtretcht-out neck for their full deliverance, Rom. 8.23.

For the Lord hath comforted his people] This is juſt matter of general joy.

Ver. 14. But Zion ſaid] The Church hath her viciſſitudes of joy and ſorrow: mercies and croſſes are interwoven: God checkereth his Providences white and black; he ſpeckleth his work, as Zach. 1.8.

The Lord hath forſaken me] No, never: Non deſerit Deus, etiamſi deſerere videatur: Aug. non deſerit etiamſi deſerat: God may withdraw, but not utterly deſert his; he may change his dispenſation, not his diſpoſition toward them.

My Lord hath forgotten me] My Lord ſtill, though little enjoyed at preſent. So Pſal. 22.1. Plato could ſay that a man might beleeve, and yet not beleeve: I beleeve ſaith he in the Goſpel, help mine unbelief, that is, my weak and wavering faith.

Ver, 15. Can a woman forget her ſucking child] Twere a wonder ſhe ſhould grow out of kind, as to be ſo unkind. The mother faſteth, that her childe may eat; waketh that he may ſleep; is poor to make him rich; ſlighted to make him glorious. Occidar modo imperet, ſaid ſhe in ſtory. Gods love to his is more than maternal. All the mercies of all the mothers in the world being put together, would not make the tythe of his mercy: David ſaith much, Pſal. 103.13. As a Father pittieth his children, &c. great was Jacobs love to Benjamin, Davids to Abſolom, ſo that Job upbraideth him with it, 2 Sam. 19 6. But God here ſaith more, Can a woman forget, &c. The harlot could not yield to have her child divided. Arſinoe interpoſed her own body betwixt the ſword of the murtherer and her dear children.Chronic. l. 5. Melancthon telleth of a Counteſſe of Thuringia, who being compelled by her huſbands cruelty to go into baniſhment from her children, when ſhe took leave of her eldeſt ſon ſhe bit a piece of his cheek out, amoris notam cruento morſu imprimens, and ſo marked him for her own. This is ſomewhat: but what's all this to the infinite? Was there ever love like Gods love in ſending his ſon to dye for ſinners? Chriſt himſelf wondreth at it, Joh. 3.16. this was a ſic without a ſicut, there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it. See Rom. 8.32.

Yea they may forget] They may put off natural affection, as ſome did in times of Popiſh perſecution; Julius Palmers mother for inſtance. King Edward the Martyr was baſely murthered by his own Mother: Egelred ſucceeded him, and much mourned for his brother, (being but ten years old) which ſo enraged his mother, that taking wax-candles which were readieſt at hand, ſhe therewith ſcourged him ſo ſore, that he could never after endure wax candles to be burnt before him.

Ver. 16. Behold I have graven thee] So that as oft as I look upon mine own hands I cannot but think on thee:Non deſcripſit ſed ſculpſit & quidem in manibus, utraque ſcilicet. Sculter. We read of one who had written the whole hiſtory of Chriſts paſſion upon the nailes of his hands, in ſmall letters. The ſignet on his finger a man cannot lightly look beſide. See Cant. 8.6. Jer. 22.24. Some think here is alluded to that precept given by God, of binding the Commandements to their right hand, Deut. 6.

Thy walls are continually before me] The Lord doth ſo delight in his ſervants, that their walls are ever in his ſight, and he loveth to look upon the houſes where they dwell. See on Pſal. 87.6.

Ver. 17. Thy children ſhall make haſte] People ſhall come in a main to the Church. Neſcit tarda molimina Spiritus ſancti gratia. God can make a Nation to conceive and bring forth in a day, chap. 66.8. How quickly was the Goſpel divulged and darted all the world over, as the beams of the Sun? ſo in the late bleſſed Reformation begun by Luther.

And they that made thee waſte] Tyrants and hereticks ſhall be caſhiered, as Zach. 13.2. Fiat, Fiat.

Ver. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold] As thoſe uſe to do, which look upon ought with wonder and delight.

Thou ſhalt ſurely cloath thee with them, as with an ornament] The good ſons of Zion are a great honour to their mother, as the two Scipio's were to Cornelia; and as that Elect Ladies children were to her, Joh. 2. A godly man is a gallant man: but the wicked are botches and blots to a Church.

Ver. 19. For thy waſte, and thy deſolate places] Heb. thy waſtneſſes and thy deſolations.] The true Church then may lye waſte and deſolate, and not be ſo gloriouſly viſible, as the Papiſts falſely ſay it alwaies is.

Shall even now be too narrow] A Metaphor from Cities, that being over-full, ſend out colonies into other Countries,

And they that ſwallowed thee up] See ver. 17.

Ver. 20. The children] Heb. the children of thine orbity: ſuch as are not yet received into the Church.

Give place to me that I may] People ſhall offer violence to heaven, and the violent ſtall take it by force: valde avide & quaſi ambitioſe acceſſuri ſunt. Ezekiel deſcribeth the Church of the New Teſtament to be very large and ſpacious: and yet ſhe ſhall be ſo crouded as is a bee-hive, out of the mouth whereof the bees oft hang on heaps, for want of room within.

Ver. 21. Then ſhalt thou ſay in thine heart] Eſt artificioſa fictio, & color rhetoricus.

A Captive and removing too and fro] The condition of Gods Church on earth to be afflicted and toſſed from poſt to pillar, having no ſettled aboad: as neither had the Ark, but was tranſportative, till ſettled at length in Solomons Temple.

Ver. 22. Behold I will lift up my hand, &c.] i. e. I will call them by the Goſpel, which is the power of God to ſalvation to all beleevers, Rom. 1.16.

And they ſhall bring thy ſons in their armes] ſc. when they bring them to be baptized. Reſpicit ad puerilem conditionem: yet ſome expound it Metaphorically, as Deut. 32.10. Hoſ. 11.3.

Ver. 23. And Kings ſhall be thy nurſing-fathers] Such were David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Joſiah, Conſtantine, Theodoſius, Placilla, Queen Elizabeth, &c.

They ſhall bow down to thee] They ſhall give thee civil worſhip, and low obeyſance: and that for Chriſts ſake who is thine head and husband, and dwelleth in thee.

They ſhall bow down to thee, &c.] Such honour hath every Saint through Chriſt. The Popes Paraſites would hence ground his holding out his feet to be kiſſed; yea his treading upon Kings and Emperours. But Peter would none of this, Act. 10.25, 26. ſo little cauſe had that Pope once to cry out Et mihi & Petro. Interpreters do rightly note that in theſe and the like texts,Xenoph. lib. 8. Plutarch. in Alcib. the Prophet alludes to the manner of the Perſians, amongſt whom thoſe that would ſpeak unto the King, did firſt kiſſe the pavement that the King had trodden upon: Hence Martial, Pictorum ſola baſiare Regum.

The ancient Chriſtians alſo, to honour and hearten their Confeſſours, and ſuch as ſuffered impriſonment for the truths ſake, did uſe to kiſſe their hands, yea to caſt themſelves down at their feet. Tertullian writing to ſome of the Martyrs, ſaith, Non tantus ſum ut vos alloquar, I am not good enough to ſpeak unto you. He telleth alſo of ſome in his time that they did reptare ad vincula Martyrum, creep to the bands of the Martyrs in way of honour to them.

Ver. 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty] Not unleſſe he be overmatched and over-maſtered. The heathens were wont to ask, Who can wring a club out of Hercules his hand, or a light-bolt out of Joves? The Captive Jews here ſeem to ask, Who can deliver us from the Babylonians, who have both might and right for them? for we are their lawful Captives, and we ſee not how we can be ſet at liberty. Thus they thought at leaſt, if they ſpoke not as much; not looking at all to the power and faithfulneſs of God, ſed ad praeſentium rerum spectra, ac hoſtium potentiam. Thoſe that look downward on the ruſhing and roaring ſtreams of miſeries and troubles which run ſo ſwiftly under them, ſhall be ſure to be taken with a giddineſs, &c but ſuch as ſtedfaſtly faſten on the power and Promiſe of God all-ſufficient, ſhall be eſtabliſhed.

Ver. 25. But thus ſaith the Lord] Here's a full anſwer to the former objection, as God doth uſually in the Scripture frame anſwers to mens thoughts: the Law is ſpiritual and heart-reaching.

And I will contend with him that contendeth with thee] I will over power the devil, and thy moſt head-ſtrong luſts; bringing thee out of his ſlavery, ſo that thou ſhalt be able to do all things through Chriſt who ſtrengtheneth thee, Phil. 4. Thy temporal enemies alſo, thy perſecutors ſhall feel my power, as did Pharao, Nero, Diocletian, Julian, &c. See on Gen. 12.2.

Ver. 26. And I will feed them that oppreſſe thee with their own fleſh] Which yet no man ever hated, A[illegible: 2 letters]m ut [illegible: 1 letter]l [illegible: 3 letters]us macta [illegible: 1 letter]em ſ[illegible: 2 letters]g[illegible: 2 letters]e [illegible: 2 letters]mas. but nouriſheth and cheriſheth it, Eph. 5.29. But Zions enemies ſhould one deſtroy another, and be put to ſuch ſtraits, as the Jews were in the ſiege of their City by Titus, that they fed upon their own fleſh, and the fleſh of their children. So hard a thing it is to kick againſt the pricks: quae in coelum expuunt, in faciem ipſurum recidunt.

And they ſhall be drunk with their own blood] Yea drowned in it, as was Attilas King of Hunnes, Flac. [illegible: 1 letter]lly Felix Count of Wartenburg (a great Warriour and bloody perſecuter of the Lutherans) who was choaked in his own blood; and Charles the ninth of France, to whom a certain Poet thus rightly ſpeaketh, Naribus, ore, oculis, atque auribus undique, & ano, Et pene, erumpit qui tibi, Carle, cruor, Non tuus iſte cruor, ſanctorum at caede cruorem, Quem ferus hauſiſti, concoquere haud poteras.