The Anointed One Announcing Blessing On Zion (Isaiah 62:1-5).
The Anointed One promises His continued activity on behalf of God's people in their association with Zion (see note on Isaiah 59:20) so that they may be a true witness to God and enjoy Yahweh's favour. Here the idea of Zion (60) and the idea of the Anointed One (61) are combined. The Anointed One has come in order to establish Zion.
‘For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace,
And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp which burns.
And the nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory,
And you will be called by a new name,
Which the mouth of Yahweh will name.'
The Anointed One first declares His intentions to bring home the concept of Zion to the nations. He will not rest until the nations know that Yahweh is there, reigning in glory among His true people. He will not rest until they see the glory of the Zion that is calling to them. Then He declares to them the certain fulfilment of what He will accomplish. His central purpose is the establishment of all that Zion means (see notes on Isaiah 59:20; Isaiah 60 introduction), and He will not cease His endeavours or give Himself rest until all His people are a shining witness of the effectiveness of His work; until all see their righteousness shining out (Matthew 5:16) and all behold their salvation which will be like a burning lamp.
‘For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace.' The verb can refer to action rather than words (see Judges 18:9; Psalms 107:29), which would then parallel the second line. Alternately it may indicate the determined nature of His teaching, or the equally determined nature of His intercession on His people's behalf (compare Isaiah 62:6). He cannot rest until His words have been successful (compare Isaiah 61:1-2; Isaiah 42:3-4; Isaiah 50:4) on behalf of His people. Here Zion and Jerusalem are used to denote the purified, faithful Israel, but in the whole context of God's presence with them and among them.
‘Until her righteousness goes forth as vivid brightness, and her salvation as a lamp which burns.' Once again salvation and righteousness are paramount. Both go together. There can be no salvation until they are accounted righteous, and that can only be through that salvation. Both go forward hand in hand. Then once righteousness has been imputed (Isaiah 53:11; Isaiah 4:3) and imparted it will be like a shining brightness, a vivid brightness before them. They will be a fit witness to the glory of Yahweh. Their lights will shine out before men who will see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). The consequences of their deliverance and salvation will also be a burning light, in a similar way to the lives of men like John the Baptiser (John 5:35). The basic thought is of a world in darkness, unable to see, until the brightness of the light shines on them out of the darkness, revealed in the purity of life of God's people.
‘And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will name.' Such will be the brightness of their lives that nations and kings will see and wonder, and there will be given to them a new name depicting the glorious change that has occurred in them, a name given to them by Yahweh. For so wonderful will be their transformation that only Yahweh can provide the name. They will be His workmanship. The giving of a new name indicates total transformation. They will be those named by Yahweh (as Peter was named by Jesus as the rock-man).
The giving of such a new name is a theme of Revelation (Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 19:13; Isaiah 19:16; Isaiah 22:4). Indeed John took up the themes of Isaiah in his contrast of Christ named as King of Kings (Revelation 19:16) and Babylon named as the Mother of Harlots (Revelation 17:5).
All this was what Jesus claimed to have come to accomplish. He came as the light of the world that men who followed Him might not walk in darkness but have the light of life (John 8:12), that they might become ‘sons of light' (John 12:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:5), that they too might be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14 compare Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:12).
‘You will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You will no more be termed, Forsaken,
Nor will your land any more be termed Desolate,
But you will be called, My Delight Is In Her (Hephzibah),
And your land, Married (Beulah),
For Yahweh delights in you,
And your land will be married.'
For as a young man marries a virgin,
So shall your sons marry you,
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So will your God rejoice over you.'
Here the total transformation is described. God's people will also become a royal crown of beauty in Yahweh's hand. It is not on His head because that would depict that royal authority belongs to His people, it is in His hand because they are under His care and protection, because it shows that they are His own private possession, and because it represents the royal worth and dignity that is theirs. The thought may also be that He has fashioned it with His own hands.
In the past they have been Forsaken and Desolate, but this will be so no longer, for instead they will be called My Delight Is In Her (hephzibah - in contrast to forsaken) and Married (beulah - in contrast to desolate). When God's true people feel forsaken and desolate they can take comfort in these words, that in their new state they are those in whom God delights and who are bound to Him by the closest of ties.
Indeed Zion may be sure that it is Yahweh Who delights in her, and that she will be married both to her many sons, (indicating the profusion of future blessing and the fact that her ‘children' will acknowledge her as a faithful virgin), and to Yahweh Who is her heavenly bridegroom. Her purity is recognised by both man and God.
While the illustration of the sons marrying a virgin mother is hardly realistic literally, its point is clear. Zion will have become pure and her sons, her people, will recognise the fact and join with her purity. Her children will be pure in all respects and in all relationships. But of far greater import is it that Yahweh also will delight in her and rejoice over her like a bridegroom to a bride.
Note the use of the name Hephzibah. That was the name of Manasseh's mother and may point therefore to a date in his reign for this prophecy as Isaiah uses a well known name to illustrate his point..