Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 49:20

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Israel rebuilt (49:8-50:3)

Once more God promises the return of the captive Jews to their homeland. God will protect them along the journey and help them as they rebuild their ruined country (8-10). Whether exiled in Babylon or scattered in other places, the people will return home amid much rejoicing (11-13).
Some of the Jews thought God had forgotten them. God now shows that for him this is impossible (14-16). Israel will return and rebuild its homeland. Opponents who try to ruin Israel’s work will not be successful and will leave in shame and defeat (17-18). People born in exile will flock to the rebuilt Jerusalem. The land previously uninhabited and in ruins will become well populated and prosperous again (19-21). Scattered Jews in other countries will also return, helped by generous aid from the nations among whom they have lived (22-23).
Among the exiles were some who apparently doubted the prophet’s promise of restoration, for Babylon seemed unconquerable. How can a captive people possibly be freed when they are in the grip of such a powerful tyrant (24)? God replies that he can do it. He reminds the doubting exiles that he is the all-powerful God and Israel’s covenant redeemer. He will crush the Babylonians in a judgment suited to the cruel oppression that they inflicted on their helpless victims (25-26).
Other Jews blamed God for their troubles, as if he had cast them off like a husband who divorces his wife or a father who sells his children to pay off his debts. God replies that they have no evidence to support such an accusation, for he has neither ‘divorced’ them nor ‘sold’ them. Rather their sins are the cause of their troubles (50:1). They ignored God when he spoke to them through his servants the prophets. But he still loves them and has the power to save them. Nothing in all creation can withstand his power (2-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"But Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee on the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Thy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that make thee waste shall go forth from thee, Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them like a bride. For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places, and thy land that hath been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, the place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?"

"Jehovah hath forsaken me" This verse expresses the extreme discouragement and depression that were doubtless felt by the exiles in Babylon; but the same feelings of frustration and sorrow were felt by the Son of God Himself, the True Israel of God, during his earthly ministry, a fact already mentioned in Isaiah 49:4, above, and suggested in Isaiah 42:4. One of the cries of Jesus Christ from the Cross, "My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me"? (Matthew 27:46) is proof of this.

"Can a woman forget her sucking child" God here declared that such is possible; and every day's newspaper is the proof of it, as new-born infants are deserted in parking lots and filling stations; but Jehovah here declared that his devotion to his children was and shall forever be invariably dependable and constant. The saddest things on earth today must surely include the failure of mothers to love and preserve their own children. Shakespeare made one of his characters, Lady Macbeth, declare that, "I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his toothless gums, and dashed his brains out!"Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act. I Scene 7. There have also been instances of human cannibalism in which basic instincts were similarly contradicted, as in 2 Kings 6:18; 2 Kings 6:29. Despite such rare exceptions, however, "The nearest thing on earth to God's unfailing love is the love of a mother for her children."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 233. The essential message of these verses is simply that, "God's parental love surpasses that of any human mother."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 644.

"I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands" The custom of pagan worshippers of tatooing the name or symbol of their heathen god upon their bodies might have suggested this statement; but it was a far greater reality for God to engrave the names of his children upon the palms of his hands. The vast difference between the heathen ethnic religions, and the true religion appears in the fact that in pagan worship, it was the worshipper who was engraved; but here it is God who engraves himself! The so-called studies in "Comparative Religions" never seem to catch on to this point. In the pagan religions, it was always man who made the sacrifice; the fairest maiden was bound over to the dragon, and the boldest warrior went out to give his life for the people. A man, such as Prometheus, was bound to the rock forever in order to procure fire for the people; but in Christianity, God himself, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, makes the supreme sacrifice and dies upon the Cross for the sins of the world.

Isaiah 49:17-18 depict the return of the children of Zion and also the return of "her destroyers," i.e., Babylon, Assyria, etc., as coming "unto thee," that is, returning to the true worship of the God of Israel. As Hailey declared, "If there was any fulfillment of this prophecy upon the return of the Jews from Babylon, it was only minimal; the full realization was under the messianic Servant."Homer Hailey, p. 12.

Isaiah 49:19-20, declare that the best days of Israel (the New Israel) are ahead of her, when her new family will overflow all bounds.

"The New Testament applies such promises not to `the present Jerusalem,' but to `the Jerusalem which is above,' (Galatians 4:25-27); see also Isaiah 54:1, i.e., to the universal church in heaven and on earth. The ruins of the city (the literal Jerusalem) were indeed rebuilt in the 6th and 5th centuries; but these prophecies transcend the modest scale of those events."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 616.

The meaning of Isaiah 49:19 is simply that, "The growth of the Church would necessarily spread itself far beyond the limits of Palestine, and would ultimately require the whole earth for its habitation."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 233. That this is indeed the meaning of the passage appears in the fact that there was no sudden rush of populations into Palestine after the return of the captives from Babylon.

Significantly, there appeared to be astonishment on the part of Israel at this great increase of "her children" following her bereavement; but the note of joyful appreciation for this great increase, which should have been Israel's reaction, is totally missing from the prophecy. Why? The answer is that Israel did not appreciate it; in fact they resented it and opposed it with every weapon of opposition that they could muster. They hounded the missionaries all over Europe, contrived the death of James, and would doubtless have destroyed the Church of God if it had been in their power to do so.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The children which thou shalt have - The increase of the population shall be so great.

After thou hast lost the other - Hebrew, ‘The sons of thy widowhood.’ That is, after thou hast lost those that have been killed in the wars, and those that have died in captivity in a distant land, there shall be again a great increase as if they were given to a widowed mother. And perhaps the general truth is taught here, that the persecution of the people of God will be attended ultimately with a vast increase; and that all the attempts to obliterate the church will only tend finally to enlarge and strengthen it.

Shall say again in thy ears - Or, shall say to thee.

The place is too strait for me - There is not room for us all. The entire language here denotes a vast accession to the church of God. It is indicative of such an increase as took place when the gospel was proclaimed by the apostles to the Gentiles, and of such an increase as shall Yet more abundantly take place when the whole world shall become converted to God.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

20.Shall again say in thine ears. Isaiah continues the same subject, and, under a different metaphor, promises the restoration of the Church. He compares her to a widowed or rather a barren mother, in order to describe her wretched and distressful condition; for she was overwhelmed by so many distresses, that the remembrance of the nation appeared to have wholly perished. Mingled with the Babylonians,who held her captive, she had almost passed into another body. We need not wonder, therefore, if he compares her to a barren mother; for she brought forth no more children. Formerly the Jews had enjoyed high prosperity; but the kingdom was ruined, and all their strength was decayed, and, in short, their name was almost extinguished, when they were led into captivity. He therefore promises that the Church shall be purified from her filthiness, and that she who is now solitary shall regain that condition which she formerly held. And this is included in the word Again, that they may not doubt that it is in the power of God to restore what he formerly gave, though it was withdrawn for a time.

The children of thy bereavement. ⁽⁹⁾ By “the children of bereavement” some suppose that orphan children are meant; but I cannot agree with this, for “bereavement” and “barrenness” refer rather to the person of the Church, and accordingly it is for the sake of amplification that he describes them to be those who, contrary to expectation, had been given to her who was bereaved and barren.

Make room for me; that is, “withdraw for my benefit.” Not that it is proper for the godly to shut out their brethren or drive them from their place; but the Prophet has borrowed from familiar language a mode of expression fitted to declare that no inconvenience shall hinder many from desiring to be admitted and to have room made for them. Now, this happened, when the Lord collected innumerable persons out of the whole world; for suddenly, and contrary to the expectation of men, the Church, which had formerly been empty, was filled; its boundaries were enlarged and extended far and wide.

(9) בנים שהייתה שכולה מהם (banim shedayithah shekula methem,) ‘the children of whom thou wast bereft.’” —Jarchi.
“A city deprived of its inhabitants is compared to a mother bereft of her children.” —Rosenmuller.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 49

Now in chapter 49, we have a fabulous prophecy of Jesus Christ in the first seven verses as God speaks of the Redeemer that He is sending.

Listen, O coasts, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; For the LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me ( Isaiah 49:1-2 );

You go back to Psalms 22:1-31 , that glorious prophetic Messianic psalm of David, and we read there in Psalms 22:1-31 verse Isaiah 49:8 , or no, verse Isaiah 49:9 : "But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly" ( Psalms 22:9-10 ). And that is the equivalent here to, "Thou hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hast thou made mention of my name. You have made my mouth like a sharp sword." We are told that the word the goes forth out of his mouth is like a sharp, two-edged sword--Revelation. "In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me."

And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel ( Isaiah 49:3 ),

And in this Israel is the true name expressed. That is in Christ, he was a man who was governed by God.

in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in vain ( Isaiah 49:3-4 ),

"For He came to His own, His own received Him not" ( John 1:11 ). He was despised and rejected. He was crucified. He said, "I have labored in vain."

I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God ( Isaiah 49:4 ).

As they rejected Him, as they despised Him, His coming to them was in vain.

And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him ( Isaiah 49:5 ),

The purpose of Jesus Christ was to bring Jacob back to God, back to the Father, and to restore the preserved of Israel. "I will also give thee." Beg your pardon, I jumped.

Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the eaRuth ( Isaiah 49:5-6 ).

And so Jesus, who was rejected by the Jews, has become a light unto the Gentiles, and the gospel of Jesus Christ has come unto us who were once alienated from God and far off from the promises. But through Him, we've been brought nigh. Oh, thank God for the light of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles.

Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despised, to him whom the nation abhorred, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee ( Isaiah 49:7 ).

So the work of Christ among the Gentiles, the kings worshipping and so forth as the gospel of Jesus Christ has permeated many kingdoms of the Gentiles. Now even so, God is going to preserve the people of Israel.

Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in the high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them ( Isaiah 49:8-10 ).

This brings to mind in Revelation chapter 7, "And they shall hunger and thirst no more and neither shall the sun shine upon them and all." And it is equivalent to Revelation 7:16 .

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of [China] Sinim ( Isaiah 49:11-12 ).

Is the land of the east.

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me ( Isaiah 49:13-14 ).

Now He speaks here about the fact that He's going to bring them back again. He'll gather them from the north and from the west and from the east. And yet they are going to say, "The Lord has forsaken me." And you go today and the declaration of so many Jews is, "Where was God during the Holocaust? God has forsaken us." And they are still proclaiming that God has forsaken them. But God said,

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? well, they may forget, but I will not forget thee ( Isaiah 49:15 ).

They accused God of forsaking them. God said, "No way. I haven't forgotten you. Can a nursing mother forget her nursing child?"

You remember in Psalms 137:1-9 is the psalm of Babylonian captivity, "When we were in Babylon by the rivers we sat down. We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps on the willows in the midst thereof. And they that had carried us away captive said, 'Sing us one of your songs.' And they required some happy songs from us saying, 'Sing one of the songs of Zion.' But how shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land?" ( Psalms 137:1-4 ) Now some of the old rabbis say that the next two verses are God's response to this cry. And that it was actually God who declared, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" ( Psalms 137:4-6 ). And some of the old rabbis say that that is God speaking there in response to the people who were captives in Babylon, who said, "God has forgotten us. God has forsaken us." And, of course, here God said, "Can a mother forsake her or forget her nursing child? She would not have compassion, well she might. But I won't forget." You might find case where you say, "Well, there's a mother forgot." God says, "It's all right, but I still won't."

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? ( Isaiah 49:16-21 )

So he speaks about them coming into the land and being prospered and the land being too small for them and their desire to extend and expand their borders.

Now the regathering and the rebuilding of the nation Israel has been a very remarkable thing in our days. And God's purposes are to be fulfilled there. It's exciting, because God fulfilled His promise. He's brought them back in the land. They are dwelling there. But they are seeking to expand. They say, "The area that we have is too small." And if you look at it, it is a very small area. Not much. Well, actually, you can drive from one side of Israel to the other in two hours; you can drive from one end to the other in six hours. Gives you the idea of the size of Israel. It's two hours wide and six hours long driving in a car. But it's about 5,800 years deep. The history that is there in the land goes back.

Now there are those who see an interesting scenario arising in the Middle East right now. I've heard some Bible scholars suggest the possibility and some analysts, and I've talked to some Israelis who have suggested also the possibility, that the next outbreak of warfare over there in the Middle East, that Israel plans for it to be the last outbreak by so thoroughly defeating all of those who have risen against them that they will not be able to rise against them again. They intend to thoroughly thrash their enemies. All of the Arab states that have been giving them such a bad time, they are planning to go full on against the Arab world. And a part of their plan, very shrewd indeed, is to take Saudi Arabia and immediately cut the price of oil in half. And who in the world would object? That's pretty smart. You see, our world problems today, especially the problem of starving, the great starvation that is coming in the third world is all the result of the increased oil prices. The whole problem that we're having here with inflation, our whole problem of economy is based to the increased oil prices. That's where it all comes from.

Now the byproducts of the oil, the fertilizers and the chemical fertilizers that help grow the crops have become so expensive that your food bill has gone up tremendously. The whole inflationary cycle can be placed on the increased oil prices. And it is a thing that is actually causing millions of people to starve to death in the third world. Because they do not have the economic base to afford the worldwide inflation that has ensued from the increased oil prices. Now those men in Libya, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, they could care less what havoc they've wrecked upon the world. And when the Israelis go in and take the oil and cut the prices in half, everybody is going to hail them as the heroes, because suddenly this whole problem of world economy is going to be reversed. Price of gasoline will go down, price of raw materials will go down. The whole thing comes back to the oil. So it's a wise plan, and who's going to object?

So God speaks here that they're going to say, "Hey, we need to expand our borders. There's not enough room." The land will be too narrow for you by reason of the inhabitants.

Thus saith the Lord GOD ( Isaiah 49:22 ),

Now God here speaks of the judgment He's going to bring on their oppressors.

Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring their sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me ( Isaiah 49:22-23 ).

The glorious day of Israel's future when the kings of the earth come and pay their homage year by year.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save thy children ( Isaiah 49:24-25 ).

God is saying, "I'll fight with those that fight with you." So any nation or any people that opposes the Jews is not just contending with a race of people. They are contending with the eternal God of heaven.

And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob ( Isaiah 49:26 ).

The whole world will know it, and of course, God tells us in that day that He destroys the invading Russian army with her allies shall the whole world know that I am God. And I'll be sanctified before the nations of the earth.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Zion’s prominence before God 49:14-26

God had not forgotten Israel. Even though He would leave her for a time, He would re-gather all her children from all over the world to Himself. Therefore she should continue to trust in Him.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Israelites who had once been far away would return, but would complain about the difficulty of finding room to live, because so many other Israelites would have returned.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other,.... Which "other lost" are not the Jews, the broken branches, rejected and cut off for unbelief; and the "children after" them not the Gentiles converted, which took their place; but "the other" are such who have been destroyed by the Heathen persecutions, and especially by the antichristian cruelties; and the "children after", the great numbers of converts upon the fall of antichrist. The words may be rendered, "the children of thine orbity" o, or "childless state"; such as were born unto her in an uncommon, extraordinary, and unexpected way, when the church seemed to be in a widowhood estate, or like a woman that is past bearing children:

shall say again in thine ears; or, "shall yet say" p; that is, hereafter, in time to come: for this is a prophecy of what should be said in the church's hearing, and such as had never been said before; and therefore improperly rendered "again"; for there never has been as yet such a time as this, or such a large number of converts, as to say,

the place is too strait for me to dwell in; there is not room enough for us, as in 2 Kings 6:1:

give place to me that I may dwell; one and another of the children or converts should say, make room for me, that I may have a name and a place among you, and dwell with you, and abide in the house of the Lord, and partake of the privileges and ordinances of it: but the word used signifies drawing nigh, and not giving way or removing; and should rather be rendered, "draw nigh to me that I may dwell"; or "and I shall dwell" q, or "sit"; come close to one another, and we shall all sit and dwell comfortably together; just as when a house is well filled with agreeable company, and there is an unwillingness to part with or lose any, they are desired to sit close together, that there may be room for all: and this is, and will be, the case with the church and her members; they will be desirous to sit regularly, and close together, in Gospel order, that everyone may be comfortable, and partake of the benefit of communion, and none be obliged to depart: and to this sense Gussetius r interprets the phrase.

o בני שכוליך "filii orbitatis tuae", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa "orbitatum tuarum", Pagninus, Montanus; "tui orbati", Munster. (The word "orbity" means "childless" or "without parents", Webster's 1828 Dictionary, Editor) p עוד יאמרו "adhuc dicent", Gataker, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa. q גשה לי ואשבה "accede mihi & habitabo", Montanus "contrahe te mea causa ut sedeam", Cocceius. r Ebr. Comment. p. 496.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.   19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.   20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.   21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?   22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.   23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

      Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Christian church by the preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises.

      I. That the church shall be replenished with great numbers added to it. It was promised (Isaiah 49:17; Isaiah 49:17) that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. It is promised,

      1. That multitudes shall flock to the church from all parts. Look round, and see how they gather themselves to thee (Isaiah 49:18; Isaiah 49:18), by a local accession to the Jewish church. They come to Jerusalem from all the adjacent countries, for that was then the centre of their unity; but, under the gospel, it is by a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Christ in faith and love. Those that come to Jesus as the Mediator of the new covenant do thereby come to the Mount Zion, the church of the first-born,Hebrews 12:22; Hebrews 12:23. Lift up thy eyes, and behold how the fields are white unto the harvest,John 4:35. Note, It is matter of joy to the church to see a multitude of converts to Christ.

      2. That such as are added to the church shall not be a burden and blemish to her, but her strength and ornament. This part of the promise is confirmed with an oath: As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thyself with them all. The addition of such numbers to the church shall complete her clothing; and, when all that were chosen are effectually called, then the bride, the Lamb's wife, shall have made herself ready, shall be quite dressed, Revelation 19:7. They shall make her to appear comely and considerable; and she shall therefore bind them on with as much care and complacency as a bride does her ornaments. When those that are added to the church are serious, and holy, and exemplary in their conversation, they are an ornament to it.

      3. That thus the country which was waste and desolate, and without inhabitant (Isaiah 5:9; Isaiah 6:11), shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be over-peopled (Isaiah 49:19; Isaiah 49:19): "Thy waste and thy desolate places, that have long lain so, and the land of thy destruction, that land of thine which was destroyed with thee and which nobody cared for dwelling in, shall now be so full of people that there shall be no room for the inhabitants." Here is blessing poured out till there be not room enough to receive it,Malachi 3:10. Not that they shall be crowded by their enemies, or straitened for room, as Abraham and Lot were, because of the Canaanite in the land. "No, those that swallow thee up, and took possession of thy land when thy possession of it was discontinued, shall be far away. Thy people shall be numerous, and there shall be no stranger, no enemy, among them." Thus the kingdom of God among men, which had been impoverished and almost depopulated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish church and partly by the abominations of the Gentile world, was again peopled and enriched by the setting up of the Christian church, and by its graces and glories.

      4. That the new converts shall strangely increase and multiply. Jerusalem, after she has lost abundance of her children by the sword, famine, and captivity, shall have a new family growing up instead of them, children which she shall have after she has lost the other (Isaiah 49:20; Isaiah 49:20), as Seth, who was appointed another seed instead of Abel, and Job's children, which God blessed him with instead of those that were killed in the ruins of the house. God will repair his church's losses and secure to himself a seed to serve him in it. It is promised to the Jews, after their return, that Jerusalem shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets,Zechariah 8:5. The church, after it has lost the Jews, who will be cut off by their own infidelity, shall have abundance of children still, more than she had when the Jews belonged to her. See Galatians 4:27. They shall be so numerous that, (1.) The Children shall complain for want of room; they shall say (and it is a good hearing), "Our numbers increase so fast that the place is too strait for us;" as the sons of the prophets complained, 2 Kings 6:1. But, strait as the place is, still more shall desire to be admitted, and the church shall gladly admit them, and the inconvenient straitness of the place shall be no hindrance to either; for it will be found, whatever we think, that even when the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are brought in, yet still there is room, room enough for those that are in and room for more, Luke 14:21; Luke 14:22. (2.) The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family, Isaiah 49:21; Isaiah 49:21. She shall say, Who has begotten me these? and, Who has brought up these? They come to her with all the duty, affection, and submission of children; and yet she never bore any pain for them, nor took any pains with them, but has them ready reared to her hand. This gives her a pleasing surprise, and she cannot but be astonished at it, considering what her condition had been very lately and very long. The Jewish nation had left her children; they were cut off. She had been desolate, without ark, and altar, and temple-service, those tokens of God's espousals to them; nay, she had been a captive, and continually removing to and fro, in an unsettled condition, and not likely to bring up children either for God or herself. She was left alone in obscurity (this is Zion whom no man seeks after), left in all the solitude and sorrow of a widowed state. How then came she to be thus replenished? See here, [1.] That the church is not perpetually visible, but there are times when it is desolate, and left alone, and made few in number. [2.] That yet on the other hand its desolations shall not be perpetual, nor will it be found too hard for God to repair them, and out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [3.] That sometimes this is done in a very surprising way, as when a nation is born at once, Isaiah 66:8; Isaiah 66:8.

      5. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles, Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 49:22. The Jews were cast off, among whom it was expected that the church should be built up; but God will sow it to himself in the earth, and will thence reap a plentiful crop, Hosea 2:23. Observe, (1.) How the Gentiles shall be called in. God will lift up his hand to them, to invite or beckon them, having all the day stretched it out in vain to the Jews, Isaiah 65:2; Isaiah 65:2. Or it denotes the exerting of an almighty power, that of his Spirit and grace, to compel them to come in, to make them willing. And he will set up his standard to them, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, to which they shall gather, and under which they shall enlist themselves. (2.) How they shall come: They shall bring thy sons in their arms. They shall assist the sons of Zion, which are found among them, in their return to their own country, and shall forward them with as much tenderness as ever any parent carried a child that was weak and helpless. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites even among Gentiles. The earth helped the woman,Revelation 12:16. Or, "When they come themselves, they shall bring their children, and make them thy children;" compare Isaiah 60:4; Isaiah 60:4. "Dost thou ask, Who has begotten and brought up these? Know that they were begotten and brought up among the Gentiles, but they are now brought into thy family." Let all that are concerned about young converts, and young beginners in religion, learn hence to deal very tenderly and carefully with them, as Christ does with the lambs which he gathers with his arms and carries in his bosom.

      II. That the church shall have a great and prevailing interest in the nations, Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 49:23. 1. Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the church: King shall be thy nursing fathers, to carry thy sons in their arms (as Moses, Numbers 11:12); and, because women are the most proper nurses, their queens shall be thy nursing mothers. This promise was in part fulfilled to the Jews, after their return out of captivity. Several of the kings of Persia were very tender of their interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen was a nursing mother to the Jews that remained in their captivity, putting her life in her hand to snatch the child out of the flames. The Christian church, after a long captivity, was happy in some such kings and queens as Constantine and his mother Helena, and afterwards Theodosius, and others, who nursed the church with all possible care and tenderness. Whenever the sceptre of government is put into the hands of religious princes, then this promise is fulfilled. The church in this world is in an infant state, and it is in the power of princes and magistrates to do it a great deal of service; it is happy when they do so, when their power is a praise to those that do well. 2. Others of them, who stand it out against the church's interests, will be forced to yield and to repent of their opposition: They shall bow down to thee and lick the dust. The promise to the church of Philadelphia seems to be borrowed from this (Revelation 3:9): I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet. Or it may be meant of the willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall pay to Christ the church's King, as he manifests himself in the church (Psalms 72:11): All kings shall fall down before him. And by all this it shall be made to appear, (1.) That God is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no standing out nor rising up. (2.) That those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope; for the vision of peace is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and shall not lie.