Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 54:10

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Yahweh and Israel reunited (54:1-17)

Israel is likened to the wife of Yahweh. Her exile in Babylon was like a period of divorce when God separated her from him because of her sins. During this time she did not increase or prosper as a nation. She is now to return to God and to her homeland, where she will produce greater increase than in the days before the captivity. As an Arab has to enlarge his tent to accommodate more children, so Israel will have to enlarge its borders to accommodate this increase (54:1-3).
When Israel returns to her husband, she will no longer bear the shame of her separation. In love God will forgive her and take her back to himself (4-6). His discipline of Israel was only temporary, and now he looks forward to a glad reunion and a lasting relationship (7-8). He promises that he will not send the nation into such a shameful exile again (9-10).
The new Israel, built by God himself, will have the beauty of a city built of precious stones (11-12). God will teach his ways to those who dwell in the city, so that justice and righteousness become the most noticeable features of their way of life (13-14). God is the creator of the world and the controller of all human activity in the world. He will make sure that no one who fights against his people will be victorious (15-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee."

What is this? It is God's promise that the New Covenant, of which Christ is the Mediator, shall never be taken away, and as Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:18-20).

"Words of comfort like this are not to be taken as a blanket promise that all Jews, penitent sinners and impenitent rogues alike, are to be forgiven, The glorious descriptions such as we find here (and in the final paragraph) assume penitence and obedience on the part of the people to be blessed."Ibid., p. 274.

The glorious promises here certainly include the Divine Pledge that God's people will never again go into captivity; and some have complained that God did not keep this promise because Israel was destroyed, 1,000,000 of them murdered, and 30,000 of them sold into slavery in Egypt at the conclusion of the war in 70 A.D.; but God is faithful, and like all of his other promises, he has kept this one also. As Rawlinson explained:

"Much as the Christian Church has suffered from the world, it has never been with them like it was with captive Jews in Babylon. Here the prophet views the Jewish Church as absorbed and continued in the Christian Church, into which all the better and more spiritual members passed at the first preaching of the gospel."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 315.

This alleged "failure" of God to keep his promise to the Jews, indicates that merely racial Jews were no longer "heirs of the promises" to Abraham, but that all of those precious promises were henceforth the inheritance of the saved "in Christ Jesus," a fact that Paul stated categorically in Galatians 3:29.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For the mountains shall depart - (See the notes at Isaiah 51:6).

The covenant of my peace - That is, the covenant by which I promise peace and prosperity to thee.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

10.For the mountains shall indeed be moved. He confirms the former statement, and declares that sooner shall the whole world be turned upside down, than his mercy shall fail. It would be idle to put the question here, how “the mountains shall be moved, or the hills shall shake;” for the comparison is drawn from those things which appear to be strongest and most deeply rooted, in order to show that the foundation of the Church is far more durable. “Mountains” are very strong, and earthquakes do not so frequently take place in them as in plains; and therefore the Lord declares that, although that vast and huge mass of “mountains be moved,” or the heavens fall, yet his covenant shall endure, and his mercy towards the Church shall not fail. In this sense it is said in the Psalm, “The Lord shall reign, the world shall be established.” (Psalms 93:1) In another passage it is even said,

“Though the heavens pass away, the Church of God shall remain unshaken.”
(Psalms 102:26)

My mercy. In the word “mercy,” it ought to be remarked what is the nature of the foundation of the covenant; for we can have no friendship with God: unless he have mercy upon us, and receive us by free grace. ⁽⁷¹⁾

The covenant of my peace. He calls it “the covenant of peace,” because the Lord offers to us all that belongs to perfect happiness; as the Hebrew writers also, under the word “peace,” include all posterity. Since therefore this covenant contains solid and perfect happiness, it follows that all who are excluded from it are miserable.

Saith Jehovah, who hath compassion on thee. By saying that it is he “who hath compassion” on her, he again confirms what was formerly said, that he will be reconciled in no other way, and for no other reason, than because he is compassionate and ready to pardon.

(71) “S’il ne nous recoit gratuitement, en pardonnant nos offenses;” “Unless he receive us through free grace, by pardoning our offenses.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 54

Israel is to be restored as Jehovah's wife, chapter 54.

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes ( Isaiah 54:1-2 );

God speaks of how He's just going to enlarge the nation and the people of Israel as He receives them again and places His blessing upon them once more.

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more ( Isaiah 54:3-4 ).

As we go to the prophecy of Hosea we will find a very classic picture of how God took Israel as His own wife. How that she forsook Him, serving other gods, and how that God finally will redeem her back again to Himself and marry her once more and have that right relationship that He has always desired with her. And so here the same idea, "You'll not remember the reproach of your youth or your widowhood any more."

For thy Maker [God] is your husband; The LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman that is forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee ( Isaiah 54:5-7 ).

The glorious grace of God, the glorious mercy of God. The glorious patience of God as He deals with His people, the nation Israel. And as for a moment, and a thousand years is as a day with the Lord, "for a moment I have forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather thee."

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, the hills shall be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make your windows of agates, and the gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. And all of your children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: and thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth the instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. But no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD ( Isaiah 54:8-17 ).

"Their righteousness is of Me." Our righteousness is not of ourselves. It's not of our works. It's not by the works of righteousness that we have done but by His grace alone. God declares, "Their righteousness is of Me." Of course, the primary promise here is being made to the Israelite, to the nation of Israel, after He has re-gathered them and claimed them as His people. "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." So that it goes beyond just Israel. And it comes to us as servants of the Lord; we find our righteousness in Christ. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The restored wife 54:1-10

The prophet emphasized the gracious character of Yahweh as the source of restoration for His people. Returning to the metaphor of the Lord’s people as his wife (Isaiah 51:17-20), Isaiah presented the joyful prospect of reconciliation due to the Servant’s work. Significantly, the name "Zion," which has been prominent in Isaiah 49:14 to Isaiah 52:8, does not appear again until Isaiah 59:20. Zion is the personification of Israel. In the present passage, however, the absence of the name "Zion" suggests that a larger field of God’s people is in view here, not just Israel but all the redeemed. However, the many allusions to Israel in this passage focus on a future for Israel. [Note: See J. Martin, pp. 1109-10, for an exposition that limits the people of God to Israel.] If the people of God are only Israel here, are they only Israel in Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12? Did the Servant die only for Israel? Obviously He did not.

"The only appropriate response to a great work of God is joyous praise, which is exactly what we find here, not for the first time (cf. e.g., Isaiah 12:5; Isaiah 26:1; Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 42:10-11), nor for the last (cf. Isaiah 61:10-11)." [Note: Grogan, p. 308.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Even the most substantial and immovable of things do not compare with the firmness of God’s promise. The Lord will again reshape the surface of the earth, as He did with the Flood, only the next time it will be with a great earthquake (cf. Revelation 16:17-21). Even global changes would not alter this promise to preserve His people in intimate relationship with Himself. This promise is so firm and formal that it constitutes a covenant, a covenant guaranteeing peace with them and for them (Heb. shalom, wholeness of divine blessing). This is probably a reference to the New Covenant (cf. Jeremiah 31:31; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 37:26; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:8-12). [Note: See J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, pp. 164-77.] Young, 3:368, interpreted it as a reference to the theological covenant of grace. [Note: Young, 3:368.] Another scholar claimed that the covenant of peace was an ancient Near Eastern motif in primeval myth. [Note: Bernard F. Batto, "The Covenant of Peace: A Neglected ancient Near Eastern Motif," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 49 (1987):187-211.] Yahweh would renovate the earth because He has compassion on His people; He desires to bless them.

"How was it possible for God to enter into the Sinai Covenant with his people? They had to be delivered from Egypt by ’Moses, my servant’ (e.g., Numbers 12:7). How is it possible for God to enter into a (new) covenant of peace with Israel and all the nations of the world? It is possible through the deliverance brought about by the self-sacrifice of ’my Servant,’ who is the expression of the eternal love of God. ’Break forth with a shout!’" [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 424.]

"Just as the Noahic settlement was formalized into a perpetual covenant, so the work of the Servant leads to a covenant pledging peace in perpetuity." [Note: Motyer, p. 449.]

Throughout this passage more than just the deliverance of Israel from the exile is in view. More than the deliverance of Israel from sin is in view. The deliverance of all humanity from sin by the Servant is in view. However, Israel is the primary focus of the prophecy.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed,.... As sometimes by earthquakes, and as they will at the last day, when the earth shall be dissolved, and all in it, things the most solid, firm, and durable: it may be understood comparatively; sooner shall these depart and be removed than the kindness and covenant of God: it may be interpreted figuratively of revolutions in kingdoms and states, and particularly of the abolition of Paganism in the times of Constantine; and which is expressed in much such language; "the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places", Revelation 6:14. Kimchi observes, that mountains and hills may be interpreted of the kings of the nations; with this compare Revelation 6:15:

but my kindness shall not depart from thee; the love of God to his people is an everlasting love; it always continues; it never did, nor never will depart, notwithstanding their fall in Adam, their depraved state by nature, their actual sins and transgressions, their many revoltings and backslidings; though the Lord may hide his face from them, and afflict them, still he loves them; whatever departs from them, his kindness shall not; though riches may flee away from them, friends stand aloof off from them, health may be taken away, and life itself, yet the love of God is always the same; and so, whatever providences may attend his church and interest in any period of time, he has the same paternal care for it, and kindness for his people, as ever:

neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed; the covenant of grace made with Christ and his people in him from everlasting, so called, because peace is a considerable article of it; even that peace which was upon the heart and thought of God from everlasting; the scheme of which was drawn by him; all things relating to it were settled in this covenant, as that Christ should be the Maker of it, and that it should be made by his blood; besides, peace includes all the blessings of grace which that covenant is stored with; and the covenant is the spring and source of all peace, spiritual and eternal: moreover, as this refers to Gospel times, the new covenant is here meant, and the publication of it, in which the Gospel of peace, or peace by Jesus Christ, is preached unto men; to which may be added, that one part, at least, of the sense of the passage, may be, that notwithstanding all the troubles and exercises the church of Christ should meet with from Rome Pagan or Papal, yet the promise and covenant of God, that it should enjoy peace and prosperity in the latter day, should never be made void, but should have its sure and certain accomplishment:

saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee; for all springs from the mercy of God, and not the merits of men; and therefore the fulfilment of the covenant and promises may be depended upon.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.   7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.   8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.   9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.   10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

      The seasonable succour and relief which God sent to his captives in Babylon, when they had a discharge from their bondage there, are here foretold, as a type and figure of all those consolations of God which are treasured up for the church in general and all believers in particular, in the covenant of grace.

      I. Look back to former troubles, and in comparison with them God's favours to his people appear very comfortable, Isaiah 54:6-8; Isaiah 54:6-8. Observe, 1. How sorrowful the church's condition had been. She had been as a woman forsaken, whose husband was dead, or had fallen out with her, though she was a wife of youth, upon which account she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill, frets, and grows melancholy upon it; or she had been as one refused and rejected, and therefore full of discontent. Note, Even those that are espoused to God may yet seem to be refused and forsaken, and may be grieved in spirit under the apprehensions of being so. Those that shall never be forsaken and left in despair may yet for a time be perplexed and in distress. The similitude is explained (Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 54:8): For a small moment have I forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee. When God continues his people long in trouble he seems to forsake them; so their enemies construe it (Psalms 71:11); so they themselves misinterpret it, Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 49:14. When they are comfortless under their troubles, because their prayers and expectations are not answered, God hides his face from them, as if he regarded them not nor designed them any kindness. God owns that he had done this; for he keeps an account of the afflictions of his people, and, though he never turned his face against them (as against the wicked, Psalms 34:16), he remembers how often he turned his back upon them. This arose indeed from his displeasure. It was in wrath that he forsook them and hid his face from them (Isaiah 57:17; Isaiah 57:17); yet it was but in a little wrath: not that God's wrath ever is a little thing, or to be made light of (Who knows the power of his anger?), but little in comparison with what they had deserved, and what others justly suffer, on whom the full vials of his wrath are poured out. He did not stir up all his wrath. But God's people, though they be sensible of ever so small a degree of God's displeasure, cannot but be grieved in spirit because of it. As for the continuance of it, it was but for a moment, a small moment; for God does not keep his anger against his people for ever; no, it is soon over. As he is slow to anger, so he is swift to show mercy. The afflictions of God's people, as they are light, so they are but for a moment, a cloud that presently blows over. 2. How sweet the returns of mercy would be to them when God should come and comfort them according to the time that he had afflicted them. God called them into covenant with himself when they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out of their afflictions when they were most pressing, Isaiah 54:6; Isaiah 54:6. God's anger endures for a moment, but he will gather his people when they think themselves neglected, will gather them out of their dispersions, that they may return in a body to their own land,--will gather them into his arms, to protect them, embrace them, and bear them up,--and will gather them at last to himself, will gather the wheat into the barn. He will have mercy on them. This supposes the turning away of his anger and the admitting of them again into his favour. God's gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit of others; and it is with great mercies (Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 54:7), with everlasting kindness,Isaiah 54:8; Isaiah 54:8. The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over against the other, that we may neither despond under our afflictions nor despair of relief.

      II. Look forward to future dangers, and in defiance of them God's favours to his people appear very constant, and his kindness everlasting; for it is formed into a covenant, here called a covenant of peace, because it is founded in reconciliation and is inclusive of all good. Now,

      1. This is as firm as the covenant of providence. It is as the waters of Noah, that is, as that promise which was made concerning the deluge that there should never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, Isaiah 54:9; Isaiah 54:9. God then contended with the world in great wrath, and for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting mercy; for he gave his word, which was as inviolable as his oath, that Noah's flood should never return, that he would never drown the world again; see Genesis 8:21; Genesis 8:22; Genesis 9:11. And God has ever since kept his word, though the world has been very provoking; and he will keep it to the end; for the world that now is is reserved unto fire. And thus inviolable is the covenant of grace: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. He will not be so angry with them as to cast them off and break his covenant with them (Psalms 89:34), nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and put out their name for ever and ever,Psalms 9:5.

      2. It is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation (Isaiah 54:10; Isaiah 54:10): The mountains shall depart, which are called everlasting mountains, and the hills be removed, though they are called perpetual hills,Habakkuk 3:6. Sooner shall they remove than God's covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of God were never broken by the shock of any event. The day will come when all the mountains shall depart and all the hills be removed, not only the tops of them covered, as they were by the waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the covenant of peace between God and believers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and figure. Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and bear them up? They shall depart and be removed. Creature-confidences shall fail us. In vain is salvation hoped for from those hills and mountains. But the firmament is firm, and answers to its name, when those who seem to prop it are gone. When our friends fail us our God does not, nor does his kindness depart? Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves against the Lord? They shall depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of the salvation of the church, shall be made plain (Zechariah 4:7); but God's kindness shall never depart from his people, for whom he loves he loves to the end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever be removed, for he is the Lord that has mercy on his people. Therefore the covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on God's mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.