Isaiah 49:7-13

b.

DESIRABLE SAVIOUR

TEXT: Isaiah 49:7-13

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Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Jehovah that is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.

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Thus saith Jehovah, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;

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saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

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They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them.

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And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

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Lo, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

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Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for Jehovah hath comforted his people, and will have compassion upon his afflicted.

QUERIES

a.

Why the change from abhorrence to worship (Isaiah 49:7)?

b.

How is a person given for a covenant (Isaiah 49:8)?

c.

When did Jehovah comfort His people (Isaiah 49:13)?

PARAPHRASE

Jehovah, Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel speaks to the One whom men will at first despise, for whom His own nation will feel revulsion, and whom men in high places will esteem lower than a slave, His Servant, and says: Do not be discouraged, kings and princes will one day recognize Your deity and will respectfully worship You. This will happen because Jehovah is absolutely faithful to fulfill His divine purpose of redemption in You. Jehovah also says, At the time acceptable to Me, at the time when, according to My sovereign will, I decide to accomplish My salvation of the world, I will deliver You from those who would try to thwart Your mission and I will make You, personally, My covenant. Through You My people shall receive the inheritance I promised to their forefathers; through You I will say to those in bondageyou are freed; to those in blindnessyou may now see. My people, like sheep, shall be fed in green pastures and on grassy hill-sides. They shall not be hungry or thirsty for righteousness; nothing will be allowed to hurt them any more for they will be led by One who loves them to an everlasting source of living water. I will remove all obstacles in their way and smooth out all the rough places. Behold, these people of Mine will be coming from the fartherest reaches of the worldeven from the far east. All of creation is invited to sing praises unto Jehovah because, when He has done what He here predicts through His Servant, He will have comforted His afflicted people as He promised to do.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 49:7-8 VINDICATION: Jehovah calls Himself Redeemer of Israel. Redeemer is from the Hebrew word, go-'el, which means, avenger, vindicator, ransomer, retributor, recoverer (often translated, kinsman, esp. in Ruth). Jehovah is going to redeem mankind through His Servant, and when He does His Servant will be vindicated. During His earthly tenure, the Servant, because of His humble station and His sinless purity, will be despised by rebellious, sinful men. In order to destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the cleverness of the clever, God chose what is weak, low, despised and foolish to the world in order to save the world. Man must learn to trust completely in God. If man is given any margin for egotism or boasting in self, he cannot trust God completely (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31). So God chose to send the Messiah, born in a Bethlehem barn, of poor parents, not tutored in the rabbinical schools, reared in Galilee (circuit of the Gentiles), a friend of fishermen, tax-collectors and harlots. He was abhorred by His own people. They called Him, Samaritan, demon-possessed, friend of sinners. He had no form or comeliness. that they should desire Him, (cf. Isaiah 53:1 f). They were sure no good thing could come out of Nazareth (John 1:46). Finally, they murdered Him (cf. Acts 2:22-24; Acts 3:13-16; Acts 13:26-32, etc.). But Jehovah raised Him from the dead and exalted His name above every name (cf. scriptures just cited plus Philippians 2:9-10; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 15:3-4; Revelation 19:11-16). After the exaltation of the Servant, kings and princes and men in high places became His followers and worshipped Him (cf. Acts 13:7; Acts 17:32-34; Acts 18:8; Romans 16:23; Philippians 1:13). In succeeding centuries many kings and national leaders have become Christians. The Son was, for a little while, made lower than the angels (cf. Hebrews 2:9). After He suffered the necessary humiliation and accomplished atonement for sin, He was enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3 f) and was restored to the glory He had with the Father from the beginning (John 17:5). All this was according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23 f) and God kept His word (Acts 3:12-26).

The acceptable time (Heb. be-'eth ratzon) means literally, delightful, pleasing, gracious, satisfying time. It is the time pre-figured in the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8 ff), when tribal inheritances were restored and bond-slaves were set freea time for great rejoicing. Jubilee was a type of the time of delight and grace that would come when the Messiah appeared (cf. Isaiah 61:2) to release captives, etc. Day of salvation (Heb. yom yeshu-'ah) is, interestingly, day of Jesus or day of Joshua. The apostle Paul apparently quotes this verse in 2 Corinthians 6:2 and applies it to the N.T. dispensation. In the fulness of time, God sent His Servant (Galatians 4:4) to bring salvation and, in person, be a covenant of the people. Isaiah has already revealed that the Servant will Himself be given as a covenant to the whole world (cf. Isaiah 42:6). How does the Servant become a covenant? Girdlestone says in his, Synonyms of The Old Testament, The Lord Jesus is called the mediator of the New Covenant, because He is the medium wherein the Disposition of God is carried into effect, whether as regards the individual or the race as a whole (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24). The inheritance which was given by promise to Christ (Galatians 3:16) was conveyed by covenant (through His blood-shedding) to all believers (Galatians 3:17; Galatians 3:29), who are made one with Him by faith; and it is this union of God with man, and of man with God, in Christ, which is summed up in the N.T. sense of the word berith. Jesus, in the offering of Himself to die the second death for all sin, became personally a covenant. Covenant relationship is relationship to Christ, the Person, not to a legal system. He said His blood (death) was the covenant (Matthew 26:26-29). All the promises of God find their Yes in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20). Christ became a servant. to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given. (Romans 15:8). When God could find nothing higher to swear by in order to show the unchangeable character of His purpose, He interposed (Himself) with an oath (Hebrews 6:17). Malachi calls Him the messenger of the covenant (Malachi 3:1-2). Daniel says the prince, the anointed one who is to be cut off will make a strong covenant with many (Daniel 9:24-27). The renovated land of verse eight is all part of the imagery of the fulfillment of Jehovah's covenant with Abraham and his spiritual descendants, and is not to be understood literally. We come into covenant relationship with God by being joined in discipleship to Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are those who have been baptized into Him and keep His word (Matthew 28:18 f; John 8:31 f).

Isaiah 49:9-11 VIVIFICATION: The Servant will give Jehovah's people back their life. Men will be released from their bondage to sin and delivered from their blindness (darkness) (cf. Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:16-30; John 8:12; John 9:39; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:10; etc.). Furthermore the Servant will shepherd Jehovah's people (see comments on Isaiah 40:11). God's people will not have to wander in the deserts of unbelief and sin aimlessly. They will be led by the Incarnate Messiah-Son who has partaken of their nature in order to become The Good Shepherd (cf. John 10:1 f). They will pasture in ways that formerly would not provide or were inaccessible. The Servant will change everything! The Servant's people will not want (Psalms 23); when they hunger or thirst after righteousness, they will be filled (Matthew 5:6). The Hebrew word sharav may be translated heat, drought, or mirage. It is the same word used in Isaiah 35:7 and there translated glowing sand which would seem to mean mirage. The mirage was a common experience of the thirsty Palestinian traveler, who often thought he saw water where there was none. The Servant will not delude the many dying of spiritual thirstHe will provide living water and that in abundance. The Hebrew word mabbu-ey is translated springs and means, to gush out, effervescent, bubbling out, abundant. It is also found in Isaiah 35:7, translated springs. The final thing the Servant will do will be to make mountains into highways and raise the roads through deep valleys up to where they are safe and easily accessible. Apparently the mountains and valleys here stand for obstacles that are to be overcome by the Servant on behalf of His people (cf. Isaiah 40:4). Faith in Christ makes mountains into mole-hills (cf. Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23). Every obstacle to the knowledge of God may be destroyed with the weapons of the Servant (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Isaiah 49:12-13 VERIFICATION: The Servant will also verify that God has kept His promise (Isaiah 40:1-2) to comfort His people and bring their warfare to an end (see comments on Isaiah 40:1-2). The Servant's people are to come from the far reaches of the world. We have again the universal nature of the messianic salvation. The return from exile in Babylon is no longer the focus. The prophet's revelation is now expanded to the whole world. The word Siyniym (Sinim) means, some commentators say, people of the wilderness of Sin, or the Sinites, a people of Canaan (Genesis 10:17; 1 Chronicles 1:15). Gesenius says it means Chinese. Kyle and Delitzsch also believe it refers to people of the ancient land of China. The word Tsin can be traced back to about 1122-1115 B.C. as a name (in many different forms) of small states into which the empire of China was divided after the reign of Wu-wang. Tsin, according to the Sinologist Neumann, was the name of a feudal kingdom of some importance in Shen-si, one of the western most provinces of the land of China, and Fei-tse, the first feudal king of Tsin, began to reign as early as 897 B.C. It would be quite possible then for Isaiah to have heard of the land of the Sinese. Of course, there were no exiles in China from the Babylonian dispersion. However, there is documentation that there were Jews who immigrated from Persia to China during the Han dynasty (205 B.C.220 A.D.). If Isaiah is speaking of the messianic era, as we think he is, then there is no problem with some people from China (Sinim) becoming followers of the Messiah. Since the emphasis is on distance from Palestine, China is more acceptable than the first two suggestions. Whatever the case, the whole universe is commanded to acknowledge in a hymn of praise that Jehovah has comforted His people and shown compassion to the afflicted. He has done it in the Person of the Servant who, despised and abhorred, tested in the crucible of incarnate weakness and disappointment, is now the exalted and desirable Savior.

QUIZ

1.

What does the word Redeemer encompass?

2.

Why was the Servant abhorred?

3.

Can you name some of the kings and princes who worshiped Him?

4.

What is the acceptable time?

5.

What do you know about the Servant becoming a covenant?

6.

Where do all the people come from to be comforted through the Servant?