Isaiah 54:1

CHAPTER LIV

Some suppose this chapter to have been addressed to the

Gentiles; some, to the Jewish Church; and some, to the

Christian, in its first stage. On comparing the different parts

of it, particularly the seventh and eighth verses, with the

remainder, the most obvious import of the prophecy will be that

which refers it to the future conversion of the Jews, and to

the increase and prosperity of that nation, when reconciled to

God after their long rejection, when their glory and security

will far surpass what they were formerly in their most favoured

state, 1-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. LIV

Verse Isaiah 54:1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear - "Shout for joy, O thou barren, that didst not bear"] The Church of God under the Old Testament, confined within the narrow bounds of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect of the very small number of true believers, and which sometimes seemed to be deserted of God her husband, is the barren woman, that did not bear, and was desolate. She is exhorted to rejoice, and to express her joy in the strongest manner, on the reconciliation of her husband, (see Isaiah 54:6,) and on the accession of the Gentiles to her family. The converted Gentiles are all along considered by the prophet as a new accession of adopted children, admitted into the original Church of God, and united with it. See Isaiah 49:20; Isaiah 49:21.