Isaiah 35:5-7

The Days of Blessing Will Surely Come (Isaiah 35:5).

For those who are His the day of blessing is guaranteed. And in that day all will be put right. All disability will be removed to be replaced by rivers of living water (John 4:10; John 7:37), which will endure for ever (Revelation 22:1).

Analysis.

a Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped, then will the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb will sing (Isaiah 35:5 a).

b For in the wilderness will waters break out, and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:6 b).

b And the burning sand (or ‘mirage') will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

a In the haunt of jackals where they rested, will be grass, with reeds and rushes (Isaiah 35:7).

Note that in ‘a' what is marred will be made whole, and in the parallel the place which was only fit for jackals will flourish. In ‘b' and its parallel the dry places will become water sources.

So once God's Day of vengeance and recompense comes, wonderful things will happen. For Edom it would mean slaughter and desolation (Isaiah 34:8). But for God's people it will mean restoration of sight and hearing both physically and spiritually, healing of all faculties of body and soul, and the restoration of the ability to speak, and of joy, and of a desire to sing. For in God's kingdom imperfections cannot survive. All will be made complete.

And the whole land will be restored to blessing. The wilderness and desert will have plentiful water, mirages will become the reality that they promise, the dry ground will abound with springs, and in the wasted areas where jackals had their lairs grass would spring up, with reeds and rushes. Abundance of water is a constant indicator of blessing in Scripture, symbolic as we saw in Isaiah 32:15 of the coming of the Spirit of God (compare Isaiah 44:1).

Isaiah 35:5

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then will the lame man leap as a hart,

And the tongue of the dumb will sing.'

Such will be God's blessing that all physical imperfection will be removed. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will dance about and the dumb will speak. Note the contrast between the feeble knees of the previous verses and the leaping like a hart. All has changed. The stress here is on the fact that in God's ideal kingdom there can be no defects. In that future kingdom man will be made completely whole.

There was a spiritual fulfilment of these promises among the godly in Israel after the return for many heard and saw Him, and the spiritually lame leaped and spoke of His glory. That was what sustained the truth through the dark times (we must not underestimate this inter-testamental work of God which resulted in a remnant of Israel being preserved pure and holy ready for the Coming One).

Later, with the presence of Jesus, there was literal fulfilment wherever He went, for He healed all Who came to Him, the deaf, the dumb, the blind and the lame (Matthew 11:4). In His presence disease could not survive, and it was a picture of the greater glory yet to come in the everlasting kingdom in heaven. For in healing them He drew attention to the greater spiritual significance of what He was here to do, using the healings as parables of what He had spiritually come to bring about. And He opened the spiritual ears and eyes of men even more fully and declared that the Kingly Rule of God had come. Men's hearts leaped in His presence. And it has been so through the centuries.

However, its even greater fulfilment awaits that great day when the true people of God will arise from the dust (Isaiah 26:19), made perfect in Him in every way, and the everlasting kingdom will come in, and all that is imperfect and marred will be done away.

Isaiah 35:6

‘For in the wilderness will waters break out,

And streams in the desert,

And the burning sand (or ‘mirage') will become a pool,

And the thirsty ground springs of water.

In the haunt of jackals where they rested,

Will be grass, with reeds and rushes.'

The need for water was constantly central in life in Canaan. There were no great rivers, and the country mainly depended on rainfall; on springs and wells and cisterns. Here the promise is therefore that the wilderness and desert will have plenty of water and abound in springs, instead of burning sand (or mirages) there will be cooling pools, instead of ground thirsty for rain there will be springs of water. There will be streams (‘wadis - temporary rushing streams caused by rain) everywhere. Even the barren places where jackals made their dens would be full of grass, reeds and rushes, all indicating plenteous water and regular rain.

This glowing picture again found fulfilment step by step. First after the exilic period when the land was restored and became fruitful, and was irrigated and blossomed, then in spiritual terms through the ministry of Jesus when the water of life flowed through the land and out into the world producing fruitfulness and blessing (John 4:10; John 7:37), and it will finally again receive its complete fulfilment in the everlasting kingdom (Revelation 22:1), when the river of Eden will again flow for the people of God.