ISAIAH CHAPTER 49 Christ, being sent to the Jews, complaineth of them, ISAIAH 49:1. He is sent to the Gentiles with.gracious promises, ISAIAH 49:5. God's love to his church perpetual, ISAIAH 49:13. The ample restoration of the church, and its enlargement, ISAIAH 49:18, Powerful deliverance out of ca... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH MADE MY MOUTH LIKE A SHARP SWORD; 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, HEBREWS 4:12, killing men's lusts, convincing,... [ Continue Reading ]
As the name of David is sometimes given to his successors, 1 KINGS 12:16, and particularly to Christ, JEREMIAH 30:9 EZEKIEL 34:23 HOSEA 3:5, and Jacob is called, as many think, by the name of his grandfather, Abraham, ACTS 7:16, and the name of Isaac is given to his posterity, AMOS 7:9; so here the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID, by way of objection. Lord, thou sayest thou wilt be glorified by my ministry; but I find it otherwise. _I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought_, without any considerable fruit of my word and works among the Israelites. MY JUDGMENT; my right, the reward which by his... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BRING JACOB AGAIN TO HIM; to convert the wicked and apostate Israelites unto God. THOUGH ISRAEL BE NOT GATHERED; 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 a high degree when Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
HE; the Lord, expressed both in the foregoing and following verses. IT IS A LIGHT THING; this is but a small favour in comparison of what follows. TO RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB; that remnant of them which shall survive all their calamities and desolations. I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS HOLY ONE; the Holy One of Israel, as he is frequently called. TO HIM WHOM MAN DESPISETH; to Christ, to whom, as he was in the days of his flesh, this description doth most truly and fully agree, being the same in effect with that, ISAIAH 53:3; for men, both Jews and Gentiles among whom he lived,... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, God the Father, unto Christ, _In an acceptable time_, Heb. _In a time of good-will_; in that time when I shall have, and in a special manner manifest, my good-will unto the sons of men; in the day of my grace, and of man's salvation, as this phrase is explained in the next claus... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU MAYEST SAY, to wit, with power and effect, as when God said, _Let there be light_, &c. _To the prisoners_; 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, ISAIAH 42:7. GO FORTH; come forth to the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL NOT HUNGER NOR THIRST, NEITHER SHALL THE HEAT NOR SUN SMITE THEM; they shall be supplied with all good and necessary things, and kept from all evil occurrents. HE THAT HATH MERCY ON THEM SHALL LEAD THEM; God who hath magnified his mercy to them will conduct them with safety and comfort.... [ Continue Reading ]
I will remove all hinderances, and prepare the way for them, by levelling high grounds, and raising low grounds; of which see on ISAIAH 40:3,4.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE SHALL COME FROM FAR; 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 Jews from all parts where they were dispersed int... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH COMFORTED HIS PEOPLE; God hath now sent that long-desired consolation of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
This is an objection against all these glorious predictions and promises hitherto mentioned. How can these things be true, when the condition of God's church is now so sad and desperate? as it was when the Jews were captives in Babylon, in which the prophet here supposeth them to be.... [ Continue Reading ]
Earthly parents sometimes 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE GRAVEN THEE UPON THE PALMS OF MY HANDS; 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 hands or fingers of such things as they dearly affect, and would remember. See EXODUS 13:9 DEUTERONOMY 6:8 PROVERBS 6:21... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CHILDREN; or, as others render it, _thy builders_; which is favoured by the next clause, where the destroyers are opposed to them. Howsoever, the sense is the same; for her children were her builders, as we read in Ezra and Nehemiah. SHALL GO FORTH OF THEE; shall be separated and driven from amo... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THESE, to wit, the Gentiles, as sufficiently appeareth from what hath been already said, and from that which followeth. The sense is, Thy church shall not only be restored and established in Jerusalem, but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it. COME TO TH... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WASTE AND THY DESOLATE PLACES; thy own land, which is now waste and desolate, and whereof divers parts lay formerly waste and desolate for want of people to possess and manage them. THE LAND OF THY DESTRUCTION; or rather, _thy land of destruction_; so called because it is devoted and shall be ex... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN WHICH THOU SHALT HAVE, AFTER THOU HAST LOST THE OTHER, Heb. _The children of thine orbity or barren and childless state_. Those children which thou shalt have when thou art grown past the ordinary age and state of childbearing, as Sarah was made the mother of a most numerous posterity;.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALT THOU SAY, not without admiration, WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE? whence or by whom have I this numberless issue? SEEING I HAVE LOST MY CHILDREN; seeing it is not long since that I was in a manner left childless. _Am desolate_; without a husband, being forsaken by God, who formerly owned hims... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL LIFT UP MINE HAND; I will call them to me, and command them to do this work, as men commonly signify their calls and commands by this gesture. SET UP MY STANDARD, as generals do to gather their forces together. SEE POOLE ON "ISAIAH 11:12". _To the people_; unto thee, or to thy church and peop... [ Continue Reading ]
KINGS SHALL BE THY NURSING FATHERS, AND THEIR QUEENS THY NURSING MOTHERS; kings and queens shall have a sincere affection and tender regard unto thee and thy children, which was in some sort fulfilled by Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and some few others of the Persian kings or queens, but much more truly and fu... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE PREY BE TAKEN FROM THE MIGHTY? here he starteth an objection against the forementioned promises: How can God's church be delivered, when she is become a prey to, and is in the hands of, her most potent enemies? OR THE LAWFUL CAPTIVE DELIVERED? he who was taken captive in a just war, as God... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PREY OF THE TERRIBLE; 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 endeavouring to... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FEED THEM THAT OPPRESS THEE WITH THEIR OWN FLESH; I will make them eat their own flesh, either through hunger, as LEVITICUS 26:29 ISAIAH 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... [ Continue Reading ]