The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
The solitary place - literally, a dry place, tsiyaah (H6723), without springs of water. A moral wilderness is meant.
For them - namely, on account of the punishment inflicted according to the preceding prophecy on the enemy: probably the blessings set forth in this chapter are included in the causes for joy, Isaiah 55:12.
The rose (Hebrew, chªbatsaalet (H2261)) - rather, the meadow-saffron, an autumnal flower with bulbous roots: so the Syriac (chamizalyotow: evidently the same word slightly changed) translation. The Colchicum autumnale, or autumn crocus: from betsel, a bulb. Royle understands it to be the Polyanthus narcissus. The fragrance of the narcissus makes it more likely than the crocus, which has no such odour. Also the chªbatselet (H2261), in Song of Solomon 2:1, is associated with the lily, which blossoms in spring; whereas the colchicum blossoms in autumn. Chateaubriand mentions the narcissus as growing in the plain of Sharon ('Itineraire,' 2:
130). The rose is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: but in the Greek Apocrypha it is, Sir 24:14 , 'I (wisdom) was as a rose plant in Jericho.'