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Filipino Cebuano Bible
Isaias 49:1
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from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Listen: Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 42:1-4, Isaiah 42:12, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 51:5, Isaiah 60:9, Isaiah 66:19, Zephaniah 2:11
and hearken: Isaiah 55:3, Isaiah 57:19, Ephesians 2:17, Hebrews 12:25
The Lord: Isaiah 49:5, Psalms 71:5, Psalms 71:6, Jeremiah 1:5, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:15, Luke 1:31, Luke 2:10, Luke 2:11, John 10:36, Galatians 1:15, 1 Peter 1:20
Reciprocal: Genesis 10:5 - isles Genesis 45:19 - commanded Numbers 4:49 - every one Numbers 7:5 - Take it Psalms 22:9 - that took Psalms 22:10 - cast Psalms 97:1 - let the multitude of isles Proverbs 8:1 - General Ecclesiastes 9:1 - that the Isaiah 24:15 - isles Isaiah 33:13 - Hear Isaiah 34:1 - Come Isaiah 42:6 - called Isaiah 43:1 - I have called Isaiah 44:2 - formed Isaiah 44:24 - and he Isaiah 45:3 - which call Isaiah 46:3 - borne Isaiah 48:12 - Hearken Haggai 2:23 - for Matthew 12:18 - whom I Luke 2:46 - both Luke 24:44 - in the prophets John 15:16 - ordained Romans 1:1 - separated Ephesians 1:6 - in
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Listen, O isles, unto me,.... These are not the words of Cyrus, as Lyra mentions; nor of the Prophet Isaiah, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and other Jewish writers think; but of Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands properly so called, as ours of Great Britain, and may be chiefly designed, being a place where the Gospel of Christ came early, and has been long; or all such that dwell in countries beyond the sea, it being usual with the Jews to call all such countries isles that were beyond sea to them; Christ is the great Prophet of his church, and is alone to be hearkened unto, and in all things, Matthew 17:5:
and hearken, ye people, from far; that were afar off from the land of Judea, as well as afar off from God and Christ, and the knowledge of him, and of righteousness and salvation by him; the Gentile nations are meant; see Ephesians 2:12, for this is to be understood of kingdoms afar off, as the Targum paraphrases it; and not of distant and future things, to be accomplished hereafter, as Aben Ezra; taking this to be the subject they are required to hearken to, and not as descriptive of persons that are to hearken:
the Lord hath called me from the womb; to the office of a Mediator; to be Prophet, Priest, and King; to be the Saviour and Redeemer of men; he did not assume this to himself, but was called of God his Father, Hebrews 5:4, and that not only from the womb of his mother Mary, or as soon as he was conceived and born of her; but from the womb of eternity, from the womb of eternal purposes and decrees; for he was set forth, or foreordained in the purposes of God, to be the propitiation for sin; and was predestinated to be the Redeemer before the foundation of the world, even before he had a being in this world as man. So the Targum,
"the Lord, before I was, appointed me;''
he prepared a body for him, and appointed him to be his salvation. The Syriac version join, the words "from far" to this clause, as do the Septuagint and Arabic versions, contrary to the accents, and renders them, "of a long time the Lord hath called me, from the womb"; even from eternity:
from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name; Jarchi interprets this of Isaiah, whose name was fixed and given him by the Lord, while he was in his mother's bowels, signifying that he should prophesy of salvation and comfort; but it is much better to understand it of Christ, whose name Jesus, a Saviour, was made mention of by the Lord, while he was in his mother's womb, and before he was born, Matthew 1:20, for the words may be rendered, "before the womb, and before the bowels of my mother" r; that is, before he was in them.
r מבטן-ממעי אמי "ante uterum----ante viscera matris meae", h. e. "antequam essem in utero, et in visceribus matris meae", Vitringa.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Listen - This is the exordium, or introduction. According to the interpretation which refers it to the Messiah, it is to be regarded as the voice of the Redeemer calling the distant parts of the earth to give a respectful attention to the statement of his qualifications for his work, and to the assurances that his salvation would be extended to them (compare Isaiah 41:1). The Redeemer here is to be regarded as having already come in the flesh, and as having been rejected and despised by the Jews (see Isaiah 49:4-5), and as now turning to the Gentile world, and proffering salvation to them. The time when this is supposed to occur, therefore, as seen by the prophet, is when the Messiah had preached in vain to his own countrymen, and when there was a manifest fitness and propriety in his extending the offer of salvation to the pagan world.
O isles - Ye distant lands (see the note at Isaiah 41:1). The word is used here, as it is there, in the sense of countries beyond sea; distant, unknown regions; the dark, pagan world.
Ye people from far - The reason why the Messiah thus addresses them is stated in Isaiah 49:6. It is because he was appointed to be a light to them, and because, having been rejected by the Jewish nation, it was resolved to extend the offers and the blessings of salvation to other lands.
The Lord hath called me from the womb - Yahweh hath set me apart to this office from my very birth. The stress here is laid on the fact that he was thus called, and not on the particular time when it was done. The idea is, that he had not presumptuously assumed this office; he had not entered on it without being appointed to it; he had been designated to it even before he was born (see Isaiah 49:5). A similar expression is used in respect to Jeremiah Jeremiah 1:5 : ‘Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.’ Paul also uses a similar expression respecting himself Galatians 1:15 : ‘But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb.’ That this actually occurred in regard to the Redeemer, it is not needful to pause here to show (see Luke 1:31).
From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name - This is another form of stating the fact that he had been designated to this office from his very infancy. Many have supposed that the reference here is to the fact that Mary was commanded by the angel, before his birth, to call his name Jesus Luke 1:31. The same command was also repeated to Joseph in a dream Matthew 1:21. So Jerome, Vitringa, Michaelis, and some others understand it. By others it has been supposed that the phrase ‘he hath made mention of my name is the same as to call. The Hebrew is literally, ‘He has caused my name to be remembered from the bowels of my mother.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘He hath called my name.’ Grotius renders it, ‘He has given to me a beautiful name, by which salvation is signified as about to come from the Lord.’ I see no objection to the supposition that this refers to the fact that his name was actually designated before he was born. The phrase seems obviously to imply more than merely to call to an office; and as his name was thus actually designated by God, and as he designed that there should be special significancy and applicability in the name, there can be no impropriety in supposing that this refers to that fact. If so, the idea is, that he was not only appointed to the work of the Messiah from his birth, but that he actually had a name given him by God before he was born, which expressed the fact that he would save people, and which constituted a reason why the distant pagan lands should hearken to his voice.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XLIX
In this chapter the Messiah is introduced, declaring the full
extent of his commission, which is not only to be Saviour to
the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. The power and efficacy of
his word is reprehended by apt images; the ill success of his
ministry among the Jews is intimated, and the great success of
the Gospel among the Gentiles, 1-12.
But the prophet, then casting his eye on the happy, though
distant, period of Israel's restoration, makes a beautiful
apostrophe to the whole creation to shout forth the praises of
God on the prospect of this remarkable favour, 13.
The tender mercies of God to his people, with the prosperity of
the Church in general, and the final overthrow of all its
enemies, make the subject of the remaining verses, 14-26.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLIX
Verse Isaiah 49:1. Listen, O isles, unto me - "Hearken unto me, O ye distant lands"] Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon; with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in, to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of Isaiah 42:1 c. but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one Church together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God.