Isaiah 62:4

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken

A joyful change of condition

“No more shall it be called to thee (shalt thou be called) Azubah (Forsaken), and thy land shall no more be called Shemamah (Desolate); but thou shalt be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her), and thy land Beulah (Married), for Jehovah delights in thee, and thy land shall be married.

The joyful change of condition is expressed in the prophet’s favourite manner, by significant names. The common version not only mars the beauty of the passage, but renders it in some degree unintelligible to the English reader, by translating the first two names and retaining the others in their Hebrew dress. It is obvious that all four should be treated alike, i.e that all the Hebrew forms should be retained, or none. Henderson prefers the latter method, on the ground ,that “the names are merely symbolical, and will, never be employed as proper names. It is probable, however, that they were all familiar to the Jews as female names in real life. This we know to have been the ease with two of them (1 Kings 22:42; 2 Kings 21:1). It is better, therefore, to retain the Hebrew forms, in order to give them an air of reality as proper names, and at the same time to render them intelligible by translation. In the last clause there is reference to the primary meaning of the verb, viz that of owning or possessing; and as the inhabitants of towns are sometimes called in Hebrew their “possessors,” its use here would suggest, as at least one meaning of the promise, thy land shall be inhabited, and so it is translated in the Targum. (J. A. Alexander.)

Spiritual espousal

I invite your attention to some reflections on the Scriptural use of marriage, as a type of the mystical union betwixt Christ and His Church. This tender, beautiful image implies--

I. CHOICE. In all nations there has been the instinctive rule that the initiative choice is not with the bride, but with the bridegroom. Its spiritual parallel is in the declaration of Jesus to His disciples, “Ye has not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” “I am jealous over you,” said Paul, “with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” At the same time all are bound, because all are invited, to “seek the Lord while He may be found,” to “choose this day whom ye serve;” then the farther element in the marriage symbol will be verified.

II. DEVOTION. You will love Him because He first loved you. It is often observed in ordinary married life, how the mutual love of husband and wife enables them to bear, not only without bitterness or mutual recriminations, but with a greater clinging to, and confidence in each other, the trials, sorrows, and burdens of life. Love lightens the load, when each one, for the other’s sake, cheerfully takes his or her share. The love of Christ endears Him to the believer, and the believer to Him.

III. INSEPARABLE UNION. Earthly ties of man and wife are liable to many incidents of severance. Necessities of particular callings in life sometimes separate them, lands and seas asunder. Guilt, aversion, insanity, disease and death, often dissolve the union, which once bid fair to be firmly riveted “till death them should part.” The believer’s union with Christ is liable to no such disastrous issues. Not that this consolatory doctrine dispenses with the necessity of a faithful, obedient, and devout course of effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life. The Divine idea of marriage is a united family, basing its bond of union on the unity of its parentage. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,” etc. True spiritual union with Christ involves an ascendency of affection. “If any man love father or mother more than Me,” etc. In a deep sense it may be said of Christ and His disciple, “They twain are one Spirit.” (J. B. Owen, M. A.)

Thy land shall be married

“Thy land shall be married,”

“Thy land shall be married,” i.e it shall become fruitful again and be replenished.

1. Her sons shall heartily espouse the land of their nativity, and the interests of it, which they had for a long time neglected, as despairing ever to have any comfortable enjoyment of it. Thy sons shall marry thee, i.e they shall live with thee, and take delight in thee. When they were in Babylon, they seemed to have espoused that land, for they were appointed to settle, and to seek the peace of it (Jeremiah 29:5); but now they shall again marry their own land, “as a young man marrieth a virgin” that he takes great delight in, is extremely fond of, and is likely to have many children by. It bodes well to a land when its own natives and inhabitants are pleased with it, prefer it before other lands; when its princes marry their country, and resolve to take their lot with it.

2. Which is much better, her God shall betroth her to Himself in righteousness (Hosea 2:19). (M. Henry.)

Monopoly and communism

I propose to name some of the suitors who are claiming the hand of this Republic.

1. There is a greedy, all-grasping monster who comes in as suitor seeking the hand of this Republic, and that monster is known by the name of Monopoly. His sceptre is made out of the iron of the rail-track and the wire of telegraphy. He does everything for his own advantage and for the robbery of the people. Such monopolies imply an infinite acreage of wretchedness. Great monopolies in any land imply great privation.

2. Another suitor claiming the hand of this Republic is Nihilism. He owns nothing but a knife for universal blood-letting and a nitro-glycerine bomb for universal explosion. He believes in no God, no government, no heaven, and no hell, except what he can make on earth. He slew the Czar of Russia, killed Abraham Lincoln, and would put to death every king and president on earth, if he had the power. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)