Isaiah 56:5

Even unto them will I give

God gives, but not indiscriminately

Again and again the Lord says “will I give,” and “ I will give.

” He is always giving; He lives to give. God so loved the world that He gave; His hands are outstretched in continual dispensation of blessing. Observe here the usual condition upon which great honour are promised. This is not an indiscriminate rain of benediction, clouds emptying themselves without regard to character; it is not a confusion of man with man; but there is a principle of discrimination, election, selection, or choice,, running,, through the whole action. (J. Parker, D. D.)

A place and a name

“A place”

The noun offers several meanings suitable in this passage. It signifies a “monument” or “memorial, ‘ as a lofty indicator or pointer Ezekiel 21:24), as a finger-post pointing to the person for whom it has been erected (2 Samuel 18:18; 1 Samuel 15:12); in this sense, however, the word would declare more than the promise permits one to expect. The Semitic term also signifies a place (Numbers 2:17; Deuteronomy 23:12; Jeremiah 6:3), and a “share” or portion (2 Samuel 19:43). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

God’s promise to pious eunuchs

There seems no reason to doubt that the promise is to be understood literally. An illustration of what is meant is found in 2 Samuel 18:18, where we read that Absalom, in the prospect of dying childless, erected the pillar to his own memory which was known as “Absalom’s hand” (also 1 Samuel 15:12, R.V. marg.). The case of those here spoken of is precisely similar. They have “no son to keep their name in remembrance, but their memory shall be perpetuated by a monument erected within the temple walls;, and such a memorial, testifying to the esteem of the whole community, is “better ‘ (and more enduring) “than sons and daughters.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

Better than sons and daughters

Better than sons and daughters may either mean better than the comfort immediately derived from children (as in Ruth 4:15), or, better than the perpetuation of the name by hereditary succession. Most interpreters prefer the latter sense, but both may be included. A beautiful coincidence and partial fulfilment of the promise is pointed out by J. D. Michaelis, in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, whose conversion is recorded in Acts 8:7, and whose memory is far more honoured in the Church than it could have been by a long line of illustrious descendants. (B. A. Alexander.)

I will give them an everlasting name

Names

Our greatest poet asks, “What’s in a name?” but whoever reads his Bible carefully will see that the Jews attached very great importance to names. Thus we often find in the Bible that the name of a person is used when the person himself is meant, as for example, “ The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;--we will call upon the name of the Lord;--let their name be blotted out that they may be no more a nation.” Jewish parents never gave their children a name for the sake of its sound, but because it expressed some peculiarity in the child, or some circumstance connected with its birth, or some wish for its future career. God Himself set this example when He named the first man Adam--“red earth”--to commemorate the fact that dust he was, and unto dust he should return.

The noblest name

1. Every Christian parent who now takes a child to the font of baptism should try and choose a name with some good meaning in it, and should endeavour to bring up the child to live a life worthy of its name, even as the parents of Timothy gave him a name which means “ one who fears God,” and early taught him in the Holy Scriptures that he might learn what God would have him to do.

2. No matter what name our parents may have given us, all who are baptized have the very best of names. It is the name of Christ, the name of “Christian.”

(1) It is the oldest name, older than all the Howards or Sydneys of England, older than Saxon or Norman, or Jew, or Greek, or Roman. The name of Christ, which we bear, is from everlasting.

(2) It is the noblest name; most great families derive their name from some famous act of their founder, some great victory, or some wide estate; our name is better than all, for we are named after the greatest Conqueror, one who triumphed at the price of His own blood, one who conquered Death and Satan, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. We are a royal family, for we bear the name of the King of kings, a better name than that of Caesar, or Pharaoh, or Tudor, or Stuart: all old families have a crest and a coat of arms, but our arms are the best, and they are the Cross.

(3) It is an everlasting name; some of the grandest old names in England have died out, many of the proudest family names are only to be seen on a tomb, but the name of our family will never be extinct, it becomes better known every year, and will be spread far and wide till “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea.” What, then, is required of us who bear such a name? The son of a good father would not willingly disgrace the name which has been made famous, so we must remember whose name we bear. (J. W. Buxton.)