Awake, &c.— This second apostrophe is again directed to the church, about the time of the manifestation of the kingdom of God. The prophet, by the Spirit, beholds this church, heretofore brought out of Egypt, and delivered from the Assyrians, again, to its great grief, mixed with the profane and impure multitude, by whose means the name of God was daily blasphemed, Isaiah 52:5. He commands her, therefore, to lay aside her old dress, which was suitable to the ancient dispensation, and to assume a new and spiritual one, as being now about to enter upon that state and oeconomy, which should exclude the hypocrite and profane. The metaphor is taken from a virgin, or any woman in distress, to whom, sitting as a captive, amidst grief and defilement, her bridegroom or husband being absent, news of immediate deliverance are brought, and of the change of her present condition for the better; wherein, united to her husband, she should enjoy all the prosperity that she desired; and who for that purpose is ordered to dress and adorn herself agreeably to this state. By the uncircumcised and the unclean, are to be understood, in a mystical sense, the impure in heart and work. See 2 Corinthians 7:1.Revelation 21:27.
Related Commentaries of Isaiah 52:1
Isaiah 52:1-2
1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.