Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 62:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 62:9. But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord — This and the following line have reference to the law of Moses: "Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil; but thou must eat them before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose," Deuteronomy 12:17-18. "And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years it shall be as uncircumcised unto you; it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit thereof," Leviticus 19:23-25. This clearly explains the force of the expressions, "shall praise JEHOVAH," and "shall drink it in my sacred courts."

Five MSS., one ancient, have יאכלוהו yocheluhu, they shall eat it, fully expressed: and so likewise ישתוהו yishtuhu, they shall drink it, is found in nineteen MSS., three of them ancient. - L.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Good news for the exiles (61:1-62:12)

God’s Spirit gives the prophet some good news to pass on to the Jews held captive in Babylon. They will be released to return to their land, but their captors will be punished (61:1-2). When they arrive in Jerusalem, they may be overcome with grief because of the ruin and devastation they see around them. But God will encourage and strengthen them so that they can rebuild their beloved city (3-4).
Foreigners will carry out the everyday duties for the Jews and contribute liberally to the national income. This will enable the Jews to concentrate on the more important matters of worshipping and serving God (5-6). God will give blessings to his people that are far beyond anything they have ever expected. In justice he will compensate them for the plundering they have suffered at the hands of their enemies (7-9).
In thanks the prophet praises God in advance for saving Israel and giving it glory, a glory that he likens to the beauty of wedding garments. As surely as seeds sprout and grow, so just as surely will God save Israel and bring praise to himself from people of all nations (10-11).
But at the time of writing, the prophet is still in Babylon and Israel has not yet been saved. The prophet will therefore not cease praying for Israel till it has been restored to its land in glory (62:1-3). The nation will then no longer be like an unfaithful wife living alone and in disgrace. Her husband still loves her and will take her back. As the deserted woman becomes happily married again, so the desolate nation will again rejoice in fellowship with Yahweh (4-5).
In Jerusalem watchmen wait expectantly for the first returning exiles. The prophet urges these watchmen to join him in unceasing prayer that God will soon fulfil his promise and bring his people back, never to be plundered again (6-9). He then commands people to go out and prepare the way for Israel’s release from Babylon and return to Jerusalem. Israel will again be known as the people whom God has redeemed (10-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night: ye that are Jehovah's remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Jehovah hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy grain to be food for thine enemies; and foreigners shall not drink thy new wine… for which thou hast labored: but they that have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."

The marvelous protection promised here was directed to the nation of Israel upon their return from Babylon, and they have an ultimate application to God's people of all ages in the Church of the Redeemer. The great tragedy, as far as the Old Israel is concerned is that they appear to have accepted these glorious promises as inevitably applying to themselves without any regard whatever to the kind of lives they lived. The passage of the Old Testament that Israel seemed never to have believed, or even to have heard of it, is in Jeremiah 18:7-10, where it is revealed that "all of God's promises" are contingent, absolutely, upon faithful human obedience to the will of God. The "faith only" Protestants of our own generation need to heed the warning that Israel ignored.

"Watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem" Dummelow believed these to be, "Angelic beings who report to Jehovah what happens on earth, and who intercede for mercy to Zion."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 451. The problem we find with this view is that it contradicts the New Testament picture of the one intercessor for men, i.e., Christ, certainly not a corps of angels! It is much more likely that Jehovah is here speaking of the spiritual Jerusalem, not the old Jerusalem at all. The walls of this New Jerusalem are called "Salvation" and "Praise," as in Isaiah 26:1; Isaiah 49:16; Isaiah 60:18. In which case, "The watchmen are not Old Testament priests, prophets, or angels, as thought by some; but they are the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, whose work is the perfecting of the saints (Ephesians 4:11-12)."Homer Hailey, p. 498.

It is significant that the watchmen are commanded to pray to God day and night and to keep on praying until God indeed accomplishes all of the wonderful promises he has given to his people. Why does God need to be solicited to do that which he has already promised to do? Even in the New Testament we find the example of the importunate widow commended to us by Christ himself, because of her constant petitioning of the unjust judge. We do not pretend to know the answer to this problem. We do know, however, that it is the will of God that his servants pray without ceasing (that is, regularly and faithfully); and therefore, we are certain that such commandments have been given by God for the benefit of his human children.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

But they that have gathered it shall eat it - There shall be a state of security, so that every man may enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing is a more certain indication of liberty and prosperity than this - that every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing more certainly marks the advance of civilization, and nothing so much tends to encourage industry and to promote prosperity. When a man has no security that what he sows shall be reaped by himself; when there is danger that it will be destroyed or consumed by foreign invaders; or, when it is liable to be taken by arbitrary power to minister to the needs and luxuries of the great, there will be no industry, no incitement to labor. Such is the condition always in war. Such is the condition now in the Turkish dominions; and such is the state in savage life, and in all uncivilized communities. And as the tendency of true religion is to repress wars, to establish order, and to diffuse just views of the rights of man, it everywhere promotes prosperity by furnishing security that a man shall enjoy the avails of his own productive industry. Wherever the Christian religion prevails in its purity, there is seen the fulfillment of this prophecy; and the extension of that religion everywhere would promote universal industry, order, and law.

And praise the Lord - They shall not consume it on their lusts, nor shall they partake of it without gratitude. God shall be acknowledged as the bountiful giver, and they shall render him appropriate thanksgiving.

And they that have brought it together - They who have gathered in the vintage.

Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness - It would be drank with gratitude to God in the feasts which were celebrated at the temple (see Leviticus 6:16; Deuteronomy 12:17-18; Deuteronomy 14:23). The idea is, that the effect of true religion would be to produce security and liberty, and to make people feel that all their blessings came from God; to partake of them with gratitude, and to make them the occasion of praise and thanksgiving.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

9.For they who have gathered it shall eat it. This is an explanation and confirmation of the preceding statement; for, after having testified that he will no longer permit that which the Church possesses to be laid open as a prey, he adds that she shall enjoy her possessions. Yet he shews that “corn and wine” are justly called our own, when we have obtained them by honest industry; for they who violently seize the bread of others, or obtain it by unlawful means, have it not from the Lord, and cannot attribute it to his blessing, as if they possessed it lawfully; and to this corresponds what is said in the Psalm,

“Thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands, thou shalt be happy, and it shall be well with thee.” (Psalms 128:2.)

And shall praise Jehovah. But when he promises that they who cultivate the soil shall have food, why does he say that they will give thanks to God? And why do men praise God, if by their own labor they gather the corn and procure the wine? It appears to be but a pretended thanksgiving, if those things are ascribed to the toil and industry of men; and God deserves no praise, if men procure food by their own labor. But it ought to be observed, that the Prophet, after having shewn what is the lawful method of seeking food, at the same time adds that our labor will be fruitless, if the Lord do not supply us with food; for all that we have belongs to God, and to him alone all that we obtain ought to be ascribed.

Shall drink wine in my holy courts. He alludes to the solemn act of offering sacrifices; for they might drink in other places, and every one might eat in his own dwelling. But the allusion is to that ceremony which was observed in consecration, when the law required that the first-fruits should be an oblation, (Leviticus 2:12,) in order that the produce of the year might be dedicated to God; and in the writings of Moses we frequently meet with these words,

“Thou shalt feast, and rejoice in presence of thy God.” (Deuteronomy 12:18.)

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 62

In chapter 62, God continues to speak of the restoration of Israel.

For Zion's sake [that is, Jerusalem] will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth ( Isaiah 62:1 ).

God said, "I'm not going to rest until I have accomplished it."

And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ( Isaiah 62:2-4 );

And, of course, the people have felt forsaken. Just recently they had another commemoration for those who survived the Holocaust. And you talk to so many people in Israel today or those who are here who have survived the Holocaust, and so often their question was, "Where was God when our parents or our uncles were burned in the ovens in Germany? Where was God? Where was God?" And that is a common question that you hear asked by them. And they themselves feel forsaken by God. But, "You will no longer be called Forsaken."

neither will your land be termed Desolate: but you will be called Hephzibah ( Isaiah 62:4 ),

Which means the Lord delights in thee.

and thy land [will be called] Beulah ( Isaiah 62:4 ):

Which means married.

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee ( Isaiah 62:5 ).

As a bridegroom over the bride. So, again, this beautiful figure of speech that God relates to Israel as a bridegroom to His bride. Now in the New Testament, that same kind of relationship exists between Christ and His church, as Paul writing to the Ephesians writes about marital relationships. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. And wives, submitting yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now I speak to you," Paul said, "of a mystery. For I speak concerning Christ and His church how that we have this beautiful, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as the bride to the bridegroom. And that love and all that is there." So it is a figure of the Old Testament between God and Israel. In the New Testament of... That is, God the Father and Israel; in the New Testament of Jesus and the church.

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence ( Isaiah 62:6 ),

In other words, calling for intercessors.

And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he makes Jerusalem a praise in the eaRuth ( Isaiah 62:7 ).

In other words, don't stop praying until the fulfillment of this takes place and God makes Jerusalem that glorious praise of the earth once more. The Bible says. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper who will pray for your peace" ( Psalms 122:6 ). And so we are encouraged here of continual intercession and prayer, giving Him no rest. Interesting phrase concerning prayer.

You remember Jesus made an illustration of prayer in which He used very unlikely types of figures. It was a judge who had this little widow woman coming in every day and saying, "Avenge me my adversary." And every day she was there seeking to be avenged to her adversary. Finally, Jesus said, though the judge said, "I don't fear God or man, but this little woman is going to drive me crazy." And so he gave the judgment for her. And He was using that as an illustration to encourage us in persistence in prayer.

Now, I have great difficulty with this in my own mind and in the understanding of it. The difficulty lies in the man that Jesus chooses in a figure to represent God, for he was an unjust judge. The man says, "I don't fear God or man." And the persistence of this little woman. But the illustration is this. If even an unjust judge will yield to the persistence, how much more will a righteous, just Father in heaven answer the petitions of His children who call upon Him continually. So He's not really using the judge. He's using the judge in a sharp contrast to God rather than as a figure of God, but in sharp contrast. So even if an unjust judge will yield to persistency, how much more. And so much of the New Testament is in contrast. If this would happen, how much more then will God your Father. So don't give God rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for your enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for that which thou hast labored ( Isaiah 62:8 ):

Now, so often they found that... You remember, and it was something that persisted through their history. When their enemies had overrun them, they would come in and take their crops. You remember Gideon was threshing in a cave to hide it from the Midianites because the Midianites would watch them. As soon as they thresh the wheat, they'd come in and rip them off. And so you'd labor and someone else would take it from you. And they experienced this many times. They would build up the land and build up these places and other people would come in and take it. So God says that's not going to happen anymore.

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed to the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken ( Isaiah 62:9-12 ).

So God's restoration of the people. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The certainty of these benefits 62:1-9

It seemed to Isaiah’s audience that the promises in chapter 60 could hardly come to pass, since the Babylonian exile was still looming ahead of them. The Lord assured them that He would surely fulfill these promises.

"Much of this chapter speaks of preparation being made for the coming of the Lord and for the restoration of His people, thus expanding the thoughts in Isaiah 40:3-5; Isaiah 40:9." [Note: J. Martin, p. 1116.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Unlike the days of Gideon (Judges 6), when the Israelites grew their grain only to have it stolen at harvest time, they would harvest and eat what they had sown. They would drink the wine that they harvested, in the security of the Lord’s sanctuary, as an act of worship.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord,.... That is, the corn; they who have manured the land, sowed seed in it, reaped it when ripe, gathered it in its season; these shall eat the fruit of their labours, and praise the Lord for it, acknowledge his bounty and goodness to them; for notwithstanding all the diligence, industry, and labour of men, it is through the blessing of the Lord, and owing to his favour, that they have bread, and a sufficiency of it, to eat; which when they have, they should be thankful for it, Deuteronomy 8:10

and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness: that is, the wine they shall drink; having planted vineyards, and gathered the grapes when ripe, and brought them to the winepress, and there made wine of them; they shall drink it at a proper time and place: the allusion is to the priests and Levites eating and drinking holy things, within the compass and bounds of the temple; and may signify the converted Jews, partaking of the Gospel and Gospel ordinances in the house of God, as well as the Gentiles, being all now made priests unto God. The Arabic version interprets it of persons "gathered", that should eat and drink. The Targum is express, they that gather the corn in, and they that press the wine.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,   7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.   8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:   9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

      Two things are here promised to Jerusalem:--

      I. Plenty of the means of grace--abundance of good preaching and good praying (Isaiah 62:6; Isaiah 62:7), and this shows the method God takes when he designs mercy for a people; he first brings them to their duty and pours out a spirit of prayer upon them, and then brings salvation to them. Provision is made,

      1. That ministers may do their duty as watchmen. It is here spoken of as a token for good, as a step towards further mercy and an earnest of it, that, in order to what he designed for them, he would set watchmen on their walls who should never hold their peace. Note, (1.) Ministers are watchmen on the church's walls, for it is as a city besieged, whose concern it is to have sentinels on the walls, to take notice and give notice of the motions of the enemy. It is necessary that, as watchmen, they be wakeful, and faithful, and willing to endure hardness. (2.) They are concerned to stand upon their guard day and night; they must never be off their watch as long as those for whose souls they watch are not out of danger. (3.) They must never hold their peace; they must take all opportunities to give warning to sinners, in season, out of season, and must never betray the cause of Christ by a treacherous or cowardly silence. They must never hold their peace at the throne of grace; they must pray, and not faint, as Moses lifted up his hands and kept them steady, till Israel had obtained the victory over Amalek, Exodus 17:10; Exodus 17:12.

      2. That people may do their duty. As those that make mention of the Lord, let not them keep silence neither, let not them think it enough that their watchmen pray for them, but let them pray for themselves; all will be little enough to meet the approaching mercy with due solemnity. Note, (1.) It is the character of God's professing people that they make mention of the Lord, and continue to do so even in bad times, when the land is termed forsaken and desolate. They are the Lord's remembrancers (so the margin reads it); they remember the Lord themselves and put one another in mind of him. (2.) God's professing people must be a praying people, must be public-spirited in prayer, must wrestle with God in prayer, and continue to do so: "Keep not silence; never grow remiss in the duty nor weary of it." Give him no rest--alluding to an importunate beggar, to the widow that with her continual coming wearied the judge into a compliance. God said to Moses, Let me alone (Exodus 32:10), and Jacob to Christ, I will not let thee go except thou bless me,Genesis 32:26. (3.) God is so far from being displeased with our pressing importunity, as men commonly are, that he invites and encourages it; he bids us to cry after him; he is not like those disciples who discouraged a petitioner, Matthew 15:23. He bids us make pressing applications at the throne of grace, and give him no rest,Luke 11:5; Luke 11:8. He suffers himself not only to be reasoned with, but to be wrestled with. (4.) The public welfare or prosperity of God's Jerusalem is that which we should be most importunate for at the throne of grace; we should pray for the good of the church. [1.] That it may be safe, that he would establish it, that the interests of the church may be firm, may be settled for the present and secured to posterity. [2.] That it may be great, may be a praise in the earth, that it may be praised, and God may be praised for it. When gospel truths are cleared and vindicated, when gospel ordinances are duly administered in their purity and power, when the church becomes eminent for holiness and love, then Jerusalem is a praise in the earth, then it is in reputation. (5.) We must persevere in our prayers for mercy to the church till the mercy come; we must do as the prophet's servant did, go yet seven times, till the promising cloud appear, 1 Kings 18:44. (6.) It is a good sign that God is coming towards a people in ways of mercy when he pours out a spirit of prayer upon them and stirs them up to be fervent and constant in their intercessions.

      II. Plenty of all other good things, Isaiah 62:8; Isaiah 62:8. This follows upon the former; when the people praise God, when all the people praise him, then shall the earth yield her increase (Psalms 67:5; Psalms 67:6), and outward prosperity, crowning its piety, shall help to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Observe,

      1. The great distress they had been in, and the losses they had sustained. Their corn had been meat for their enemies, which they hoped would be meat for themselves and their families. Here was a double grievance, that they themselves wanted that which was necessary to the support of life and were in danger of perishing for want of it, and that their enemies were strengthened by it, had their camp victualled with it, and so were the better able to do them a mischief. God is said to give their corn to their enemies, because he not only permitted it, but ordered it, to be the just punishment both of their abuse of plenty and of their symbolizing with strangers, Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 1:7. The wine which they had laboured for, and which in their affliction they needed for the relief of those among them that were of a heavy heart, strangers drank it, to gratify their lusts with; this sore judgment was threatened for their sins, Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:33. See how uncertain our creature-comforts are, and how much it is our wisdom to labour for that meat which we can never be robbed of.

      2. The great fulness and satisfaction they should now be restored to (Isaiah 62:9; Isaiah 62:9): Those that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord. See here, (1.) God's mercy in giving plenty, and peace to enjoy it,--that the earth yields her increase, that there are hands to be employed in gathering it in, and that they are not taken off by plague and sickness, or otherwise employed in war,--that strangers and enemies do not come and gather it for themselves, or take it from us when we have gathered it,--that we eat the labour of our hands and the bread is not eaten out of our mouths,--and especially that we have opportunity and a heart to honour God with it, and that his courts are open to us and we are not restrained from attending on him in them. (2.) Our duty in the enjoyment of this mercy. We must gather what God gives, with care and industry; we must eat it freely and cheerfully, not bury the gifts of God's bounty, but make use of them. We must, when we have eaten and are full, bless the Lord, and give him thanks for his bounty to us; and we must serve him with our abundance, use it in works of piety and charity, eat it and drink it in the courts of his holiness, where the altar, the priest, and the poor must all have their share. The greatest comfort that a good man has in his meat and drink is that it furnishes him with a meat-offering and a drink-offering for the Lord his God (Joel 2:14); the greatest comfort that he has in an estate is that it gives him an opportunity of honouring God and doing good. This wine is to be drunk in the courts of God's holiness, and therefore moderately and with sobriety, as before the Lord.

      3. The solemn ratification of this promise: The Lord has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, that he will do this for his people. God confirms it by an oath, that his people, who trust in him and his word, may have strong consolation,Hebrews 6:17; Hebrews 6:18. And, since he can swear by no greater, he swears by himself, sometimes by his being (As I live,Ezekiel 33:11), sometimes by his holiness (Psalms 89:35), here by his power, his right hand (which was lifted up in swearing, Deuteronomy 32:40), and his arm of power; for it is a great satisfaction to those who build their hopes on God's promise to be sure that what he has promised he is able to perform,Romans 4:21. To assure us of this he has sworn by his strength, pawning the reputation of his omnipotence upon it; if he do not do it, let it be said, It was because he could not, which the Egyptians shall never say (Numbers 14:16) nor any other. It is the comfort of God's people that his power is engaged for them, his right hand, where the Mediator sits.