The Despair of the People And Their Final Hope (Isaiah 49:14-26).
The picture now reverts. Yahweh's call to them was to be His Servant, but instead they are sitting moaning on the ground. Here the picture is of Jerusalem in despair because of her present state and because so many of her children are so far from her in exile in different parts of the world, taken their by various invaders or having fled there for refuge. But God assures her of His love for her and that her children will return. And she is given the picture of her children returning in droves and reaching out and possessing the land. The picture is one of full restoration to the nation of their dreams, a guarantee that one day all will be put right in the everlasting kingdom. And that will be in the new heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17).
We should note here that this is not the picture of a totally deserted Jerusalem needing to be inhabited. It is a picture of an inhabited and walled Jerusalem seeking to be delivered from her oppressors and longing for the return of its exiles, which fits Isaiah's period perfectly.
‘But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” '
Notice the change of description of God's people to ‘Zion'. It is vivid. The picture is of Zion/Jerusalem sitting pathetically ringing her hands and looking round at her desolation. She is deserted and forsaken. She considers that she has no future. In Isaiah 41:27 Zion had been addressed and had been told to behold Yahweh's words through Isaiah. Now their failure to do so is made apparent.
So, in contrast with the greatness of the Servant, is the plaintiveness of the people as a whole, now no longer the wondrous vision of ‘Israel', the strong Servant, but the sad picture of ‘Zion' the self-pitying, the petulant (compare Isaiah 40:27). You might get the impression here from what she says that Zion was totally without blame and that God had behaved dreadfully. They may even have felt that. In spite of all that they had done in forsaking Yahweh they were still unwilling to accept the truth about their own sinfulness and what they deserved. They had forsaken Him and forgotten Him, pushing Him to one side. And now they claimed that it was all His fault. Once we start to blame God it is a sign that we are totally wrapped up in ourselves and in our sin.
Isaiah has gradually been building up to this use of ‘Zion'. Previously it has mainly been ‘the daughters of Zion' because Zion was seen as their abode, but as in Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 41:27 Zion has gradually been personalised to represent its people. Zechariah will even use it of His people in far off countries (Zechariah 2:7). The use now fluctuates between meaning the people and meaning the place.
Their complaint is seen to be folly. Yahweh is the great covenant God, the One Who could say, ‘I am the One Who is there' (Exodus 3:14), Who had proved His faithfulness through the generations, and Who mightily delivered them from Sennacherib. And yet they say that He has forsaken them, overlooking the fact that it is they who have failed to fulfil their part in the covenant, and it is they who have forsaken Him. They are like a man who deserts his wife and home for a good time, and, finding himself alone in a bedsit, having broken his marriage vows, blames is wife for letting him down. Then they add, ‘the Sovereign Lord has forgotten me.' This is an equally foolish statement. They were claiming that He was so high and mighty that He had no time for them, when it was they who had had no time for Him. Their present state was all their own fault.
“Can a woman forget the child who looks to her breasts for food,
That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget, yet will I not forget you.
Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,
Your walls are continually before me.”
Yahweh's reply is magnificent. Would a nursing mother forget her child, her own born son? Yes, that is even possible. It has happened. But on no account will Yahweh forget the people of Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is His daughter (Isaiah 1:8). She is engraved on the palms of His hands so that its walls are continually before Him. Note the implication that the walls are still standing. He has not forgotten Jerusalem. He had already proved it by His treatment of Sennacherib and Assyria.
Such statements as this built up the myth of the inviolability of Jerusalem. But while God would never forget Jerusalem, with all that it symbolised as the centre of His people's worship, (a centre later transferred to heaven along with the resurrected Jesus, to the Jerusalem which is above - Galatians 4:26), it did not mean that He would not allow it to be taught a vivid lesson.
‘Your children hurry, your destroyers and those who made you waste will go forth from you.'
She need not be concerned. Her children who have been exiled around the world are in a hurry to return, and they will hurry to her, while those who ravage her will depart. She will be left secure. The promise is a general one, it covers any who seek to lay her waste. All her enemies without exception will depart and leave her alone, for when her children return it will be to the everlasting kingdom. For ‘laid waste' see Isaiah 49:19. It is speaking of the lands around which are part of Jerusalem. It need not refer to the actual destruction of the city.
Some MS and versions have ‘your builders' instead of ‘your children' but Isaiah 49:18 refers back to it and supports ‘children'.
‘Lift up your eyes around and see, and behold.
All these gather together and come to you.
“As I live,” says Yahweh,
“You will surely clothe yourselves with them all, as with an ornament,
And gird yourself with them, like a bride.”
Zion is to cease moaning with her eyes cast down and is to look up, and look around. And then she will behold. Then she will see her children gathering to her. And if only she will believe (‘see') she will be able to take them all and wear them as an ornament, and decorate herself with them like a bride decorates herself with jewels. All that was needed was the eyes of men and women with faith in Yahweh who would recognise what God could do.
‘For as for your waste and desolate places,
And your land that has been destroyed,
Surely now you will be too restricted for your inhabitants,
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.'
This could refer to any period when invaders had come in and ravaged the land. It would happen again and again. But she need not fear. For when her children return they will be so many that they will spread abroad and inhabit the land. The small amount she now possesses will be too restricted. And no one will be able to prevent it because those who ‘swallowed her up' and so restricted her will be far away. Final triumph is guaranteed. The Assyrians had for a while left Judah with only a small area around Jerusalem. But Yahweh would expand it and ensure that it was inhabited.
‘The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears,
“The place is too restricted for me. Give me more space that I may dwell there.”
Then you will say in your heart, “Who has begotten me these?
Seeing I am bereaved of my children, and am alone,
One who is made bare (uncovered), and wandering too and fro?
And who has brought up these?
Behold I was left alone. These, where were they?” '
She feels that she has been bereaved of her children, but those very children will yet return, and they will be so many that they will complain that there is not enough room and will require more space, filling the land to overflowing, and inhabiting it. And in amazement she will ask where these children have come from, even doubting that they can be her own. Note the sad description of her state, alone, without anything worthwhile and wandering helplessly and aimlessly about. And now she complains about her children having left her. When she was left alone, where were they? Thus when she does see her multiplicity of children she is pictured as being resentful. The idea is of a dissatisfied and discontented woman so as to bring out Judah's present state.
The picture is one of hope out of despair. Who could have believed that stricken Jerusalem and its immediate environs would grow until it would contain almost the whole land of Israel. And yet that was what happened in later centuries. But even more astounding was the growth of ‘Zion' when it began to take in the multitude of Gentile Christian converts to form the new congregation (ecclesia) of Israel, the ecclesia which we translate as ‘church'. And the growth will be greater still when the multitude that no man can number are gathered to the new Jerusalem.
‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,
“Behold I will lift up my hand to the nations,
And set up my banner to the peoples,
And they will bring your sons in their bosom,
And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
And kings will be your nursing fathers,
And queens your nursing mothers,
They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And will lick the dust of your feet,
And you will know that I am Yahweh,
And those who wait for me will not be ashamed.” '
Yahweh's response is positive. Here God depicts the return of exiles from all over the world, as described in Isaiah 49:20-21, as a triumphant march in response to God's beckoning with the hand and the raising of His banner (compare Isaiah 11:11-12). It is in total contrast with the flight from Babylon of lovers of Babylon depicted in Isaiah 48:20. These return in triumph. The nations respond by bearing God's people in their hearts and on their shoulders, kings and queens care for them and nurture them, and all fall down before them and lick the dust of their feet. This is not of course to be taken literally. It is a picture of triumphant progress towards the everlasting kingdom. The licking of the dust is a sign of defeat for their enemies, the bowing down a recognition that they are God's chosen. They bow down to them because their King reigns supreme. The action of the kings and queens evidence, firstly, that God's people are superior to all royalty except the son of David, and secondly, that all authority is subject to them and will take the greatest care of them (see Isaiah 14:2).
Then they will have learned that Yahweh is indeed the One Who is, the Lord of history, and that those who wait in expectancy on Him will never be put to shame.
The idea is, of course of the final triumph of the people of God. God's people can be sure that whatever their present tribulations in the world one day it is they who will be honoured because of the Servant's work on their behalf. One day they will enjoy the honour of all.
‘Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or those rightfully captive (‘the captives of the just') be delivered?'
The question comes back in astonishment. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Shall those rightfully captive be delivered? Is this possible? They deserve to be captives, as what Isaiah has said previously has demonstrated, and their captors are mighty. They have no deserving, nothing to their credit, and they are weak. Will then God deliver even such as these?
‘And thus says Yahweh,
“Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible will be delivered,
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine,
And all flesh will know that I Yahweh am your deliverer,
And your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Yahweh comes back with His reply. He will indeed fight for them, for He is the Mighty One, not only of princely Israel but of lowly Jacob. He will take away the captives from the mighty, He will deliver the prey of the terrible, He will contend with their contenders, and save their children. He will deliver them from all evil. Indeed the mighty and the terrible will rather fight each other, ‘eating each others flesh', a vivid way of saying slaughtering each other, ‘drinking their own blood', that is, satiating themselves with their bloodthirsty activities with each other. (Note how this gives a background to the meaning of ‘eating flesh and drinking wine' in John 6 as signifying the slaying of Jesus).
It need hardly be pointed out that this partially ‘contradicts' Isaiah 49:23, which suggested a bloodless coup, but not really, for none are to be taken literally. They are varying pictures of God's saving activity and God's judgment through time.
Then not only Israel will know (Isaiah 49:23) but all flesh will know that their Deliverer and Redeemer is Yahweh. And that He is the people of Jacob's Champion. He is ‘The Mighty One of Jacob' (compare Isaiah 60:16; Genesis 49:24), the Mighty Warrior Who fights on their behalf. Note that ‘Jacob' is used and not ‘Israel'. After the naming of the Servant as ‘Israel', that name as used for the people is being avoided.