The Proclamation of the Good News of Yahweh's Deliverance; The Message Is To Be Taken To The World (Isaiah 52:7-12).
Isaiah is so confident that God will deliver His people, that he already visualises God's Servant (the Messiah and His true followers) going out onto the mountains of the world to take good news to the ‘Zion' among the peoples (compare Isaiah 49:11), telling them that God reigns.
The parallels between these verses and Isaiah 2:2-4 should be noted. Here he is explaining in more detail how Isaiah 2:2-4 will come about. In Isaiah 2:2 the mountain of Yahweh's house will be established as the highest of the mountains. Here the Servant will be exalted, lifted up and be very high (Isaiah 52:13). In Isaiah 2:2 the mountains represent the nations. Here the Good News is taken out into the mountains of the nations. In Isaiah 2:2 God's Instruction goes out from Zion, and Yahweh's word from Jerusalem, here those who go out ‘from thence' (i.e. Jerusalem - Isaiah 52:11 with Isaiah 52:9) are to go out as His pure people bearing the vessels of Yahweh (Isaiah 52:11) so that they may sprinkle the nations (Isaiah 52:15) with God's means of purification (Numbers 19:17-18), so that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of God (Isaiah 52:10) because Yahweh has bared His holy arm before all nations in His redeeming work through His Servant (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12; compare Isaiah 40:10, ‘His arm will rule for Him'). And yet it is to happen in such a way that who could have seen in this the arm of Yahweh? - Isaiah 53:1).
‘How beautiful on the mountains,
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who publishes peace,
Who brings good news of good,
Who publishes salvation.
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns.”
As we have already seen the mountains represent the nations (Isaiah 2:2). The feet that bring good tidings are always beautiful, in whatever state they may be. Men will kiss such feet. But this man is not seen as running from anywhere. He is coming from God. The mountains are the mountains of the world (Isaiah 49:11). The comparison simply brings out how glorious is the bearer of good news. Even his dusty, tired feet are beautiful because of the wonderful new that he bears. “The Kingly Rule of God is at hand” (compare Matthew 4:17 and parallels). ‘Your God reigns.'
This can only be speaking of the Servant. He is the One Who comes to bring good news of good to the poor and afflicted (Isaiah 61:1; compare Isaiah 40:9, ‘good tidings -- good things'), to publish peace (Isaiah 49:6), to bring good news of good (Isaiah 42:6-7; Isaiah 49:9-10), who publishes salvation (Isaiah 49:6 b, Isaiah 49:8), who declares ‘The Kingly Rule of God is at hand' (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Mark 1:15). And along with Him will be His servants who will also go with the Good News to the world. They too will be part of the corporate Servant of which He is the main constituent. The promise to Abraham (Isaiah 41:8) will be fulfilled through his seed.
The commentary on these verses is found in the Gospels, as the Bearer of Good News came over the mountains of Israel declaring that ‘the Kingly Rule of God is at hand' (Mark 1:15), and then went on over the mountains of the world until the message reached Rome (Acts 28:31). Israel would yet wait a long time for their Bearer of Good News to come, but it would be well worth waiting for, for His message would be for the whole world, a light to lighten the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 51:4) and to be the gory of His people Israel (Luke 2:32).
‘Your God reigns.' Compare Psalms 22:28; Psalms 47:8; Psalms 93:1; Psalms 97:1; Psalms 99:1. This became a central theme of Israel's worship, indeed probably was already among the faithful. It became more and more their hope once the Davidic kinship had failed. Yahweh would reign in His everlasting kingdom, with the coming David, His servant, as His regent king (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 37:24-28). Compare Isaiah 40:9 where this proclamation is initially to the cities of Judah. As is apparent all the way through the chapter Jerusalem and Judah are the context of these words. Isaiah 52:8
‘The voice of your watchmen,
They lift up the voice, together do they sing,
For they will see eye to eye,
When Yahweh returns to Zion.
Break forth into joy,
Sing together you waste places of Jerusalem,
For Yahweh has comforted his people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Yahweh has made bare his holy arm,
In the eyes of all the nations,
And all the ends of the earth will see,
The salvation of our God.'
All the watchmen will rejoice when they see God accomplishing His deliverance. The celebration is of the return of Yahweh to Zion, which He had deserted when He handed them over to the nations. He had ceased to be with His people. (It has nothing to do with exile here. The people are still in Jerusalem. It is Yahweh Who has gone). That is why He would allow Jerusalem and the Temple to be laid waste (Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 44:28). But now in the coming of the Servant they see the return of Yahweh. And all the watchmen in Jerusalem will cry out and sing, all seeing eye to eye. One eye will look into another and there will be full mental contact (compare Jeremiah 32:4) and each will be aware of what the other is thinking. There will no longer be disunity, no longer two nations, no longer rival factions. They will all be one under the Servant.
Note the emphasis on the watchmen. There were many who watched for the coming of Jesus. But they were not the sentries, they were mainly the meek and the lowly (Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38), including initially of course the prophets. And when they heard of His coming they rejoiced.
The waste places of Jerusalem, that is, both broken down houses and what had once been surrounding fields which have gone to waste under siege (compare Isa 39:30-31), will break forth into joy and sing together, for all will be united when Yahweh comes, and the song will be of Yahweh's redemption of Israel, and of the comfort and strength He has brought to His people. But the emphasis is not on physical restoration. That is but the symbol of Israel's state. Isaiah constantly uses physical descriptions with deeper truths in mind. He is a prophet not a recorder. Jerusalem's problem was that its heart was laid waste, that its morals were wanting. It was filled with weeds. It desperately needed restoration. And now Yahweh has come to restore (compare Isaiah 40:3 where it all begins with a voice from the wilderness - compare Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4-6).
‘For Yahweh has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.' Thus are fulfilled the many promises in Isaiah of comfort (Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 51:12) and redemption (see Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 29:22; Isaiah 35:9; Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 43:4; Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 44:22-24; Isaiah 47:4; Isaiah 48:17; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 52:3). And it is all through the Servant (Isaiah 53:1-12).
But the message is not only to His people. All the nations will see what Yahweh has done, they will see the delivering power of God. Thus will be fulfilled the promise of Isaiah 2:2-4, and the nations will flock to Yahweh (Isaiah 2:2-4; compare Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 60:4-14), and His instruction and word will go out from Jerusalem into all the world (Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 2:3-4; Isaiah 11:9). The Servant will have restored His people to Him, and given His light to the Gentiles and been their salvation (Isaiah 49:6-7; Matthew 12:17-21).
To Isaiah this was all one vision. It was not for Him to know the long (from earth's point of view) and complicated process that would bring it all about.
‘Laid bare His holy arm.' The picture is delightful. All strong men like to bare their arms to reveal their muscles, and here Yahweh reveals His muscles to all men. They are permitted to see His power in action. This arm is the arm of the Mighty One in Isaiah 40:10. But as Isaiah 53:1 reveals it is exerted in a way beyond the understanding of men.
‘Depart, depart, go out from there.
Touch no unclean thing.
Go out of the midst of her, be pure,
You who bear the vessels of Yahweh.
For you will not go out in haste,
Nor will you go out by flight,
For Yahweh will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.'
Now that the messenger has come with the Good News there is an immediate response. The Good News must be passed on, and immediate preparations are to be made for the departure of messengers to the world. (Isaiah 2:3 - There is absolutely no reason at all to see here any reference to Babylon. We are still in a context of Assyria and Egypt - Isaiah 52:4; And Jerusalem is redeemed not re-inhabited - Isaiah 52:9. There is not an exile in sight).
‘Depart, depart, go out -- go out.' All is hustle the message is so vital (for ‘go out' compare Isaiah 55:12). Now at last true Israel is to fulfil its calling as the holy nation, the kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:5-6). They will become those who truly ‘bear the vessels of Yahweh'. They will take to the nations God's instruction and call them to the true sacrifice, seen in Isaiah's terms as the taking out of the waters of purification with which to sprinkle the nations (Isaiah 52:15; Numbers 19:17-18; Ezekiel 36:25-28). They are to stream out from Jerusalem to the world (Isaiah 2:3), ensuring that they themselves keep ‘pure' and have nothing to do with what defiles. They are to proclaim the One Who will ‘sprinkle' many nations (Isaiah 52:15). The verb is not the usual one for being ‘clean' when related to priestly functions. It is the word used of the ‘polished' arrow of the Servant in Isaiah 49:2. Thus the thought is very much of spiritual fitness for the task that lies ahead, the task of the Servant, for they must remember that they are crucially those whose responsibility it is to bear the vessels of Yahweh to the nations, that is, they are to be the means of God's blessing and deliverance to the nations.
‘Be clean.' This looks back to Isaiah 52:1. The ideal Jerusalem was now the city of the ‘clean. So as these men of cleanness go out with the vessels of Yahweh they are to avoid all that is unclean. They are to retain their ‘Jerusalem cleanness'. Uncleanness in one way or another is a theme of Isaia, see Isaiah 6:5; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 61:6.
The vessels of Yahweh.' These are a symbol of all that the Temple meant, of all the Temple paraphernalia. They are the means by which the sacrifices were applied, by which the ordinances were fulfilled. All that was holy to Yahweh was carried in these vessels (compare Isaiah 66:20). They are the means of conveying holy things (Isaiah 66:20). The idea here is that they will carry the benefits of the self-sacrifice of the Servant (Isaiah 53:1-12) out to the world. To be a ‘bearer of the vessels of Yahweh' is to be one who is greatly privileged, one who carries out the priestly functions. That had always been God's purpose for faithful Israel (Exodus 19:5-6; compare Isaiah 66:21) And one of the duties of such was to explain God's word to those who would receive it.
So they bear to the world the news of God's provision for men that they might be reconciled to Him, and call on them to participate and have their part in Him. They take God's deliverance to the world (see Isaiah 51:4-5). This unusual use here conjoined with Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12 cannot be accidental. For we are now to read of a sacrifice that replaces all sacrifices. The sacrificial offering of the Servant. This will be applied by His ‘sprinkling many nations (Isaiah 52:15), presumably with the waters of purification which have as it were received His ashes (Numbers 19:17), and contained in the vessels of Yahweh.
We can compare here also how the Gentiles who restore God's exiles to Himself are seen as bearing the vessels of Yahweh, the litters that carry His true people because they are holy (Isaiah 66:20). So the vessels of Yahweh are what carry holy things.
And they will not go with haste and flee as they did from Egypt, and as men fled from Babylon (Isaiah 48:20). This is not an escape from the world of nations, that is something that is now behind them. This is a triumphant and glorious departure from Zion (‘from there'). We can compare Isaiah 55:12 where the same verb ‘go out' is used. See also Isaiah 2:3. It is a going forward to the nations with God in attendance with them. They will go forward firmly and deliberately, triumphantly and gloriously, and Yahweh will go before them and protect them from behind (Exodus 14:19), as He did in their time of need. They will enjoy His full protection and presence. Compare here Isaiah 58:8, ‘your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of Yahweh will be your rearward' where it is to be the result of their ‘good living'. This privilege was given to them at the Exodus, how much more so now that the exodus is reversed as they go out from Jerusalem to the world with the message of God's salvation.
NOTE on ‘You who bear the vessels of Yahweh' (compare Numbers 1:50-51 where the same verb and noun are used) .
In Isaiah 52:1 Zion is to put on the ‘garments of beauty' of the priesthood (Exodus 28:2), and in Isaiah 52:14 the Servant ‘sprinkles' many nations. Again a responsibility of the priests. It is clear therefore that priestly functions are very much in mind in this section. ‘Israel', the new refined Israel (Isaiah 49:3), are to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:5-6), going out with the Instruction of Yahweh (Isaiah 2:3), and taking the water of purification to the peoples (Isaiah 52:15; Ezekiel 36:25-28).
Thus this phrase ties in with these references. It may not necessarily be saying that the literal vessels are actually taken to the nations. The vessels may well be metaphorical (compare Isaiah 66:20) and to be seen as bearing the message that they take. Or it may simply be defining the status of those going out, that they are ‘the bearers of the vessels of Yahweh', i.e. ‘God's priests'. But if the Servant is to ‘sprinkle many nations' (Isaiah 52:15) He must in some way be ‘bearing a vessel of Yahweh', at least symbolically, for that is how sprinkling took place. Of course the sprinkling is equally as symbolic as the vessels. We can compare Ezekiel 36:25 where the sprinkling is of ‘clean' water, that is the water of purification (Numbers 8:7) or separation (Numbers 19:9; Numbers 19:13; Numbers 19:20-21) but as symbolising the pouring out of the Spirit. That would then make the vessels of Yahweh symbolic. But either way it would seem that the idea is that the benefits of His sacrifice (Isaiah 53:10) are to be taken out and offered to the whole world. This would tie in with Isaiah 2:2-3 where the nations come to the mount of Yahweh, while the instruction goes out from Jerusalem to the world.
While we cannot suggest here that Isaiah in any way has in mind ‘the cup of blessing' which in multiplied form (1 Corinthians 10:16) would be taken out from Jerusalem to the world, as the new congregation of Israel was being formed by the establishment of Christ's ‘congregation' around the world, and would partake of the cup of the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:21). But the idea is the same. Zion, having drunk of the cup of God's anger (Isaiah 51:17), now takes out from Jerusalem the vessels of blessing for all the world, and Jesus may well have had these verses in mind.
The attribution of these verses to the return from Babylon is extremely unlikely. There is nothing in this section remotely connected with that. Why then should such a reference be introduced so oddly here? All the emphasis is on the preparation of Zion in order that she might be the Servant of Yahweh, so that the Servant might be seen by the world and experience His priestly activity (Isaiah 52:15). And the departure mentioned here bears no resemblance to the earlier description of the departure of people from Babylon in Isaiah 48:20 (whatever that means). To bring Babylon in here is totally to ignore the context. There men were called on to flee. Here they will specifically not flee.
End of note.