Isaiah 45:14

Thus saith the Lord, &c.— This illustrious prophesy contains an apostrophe to Jerusalem, or to the company of returning exiles, and without all doubt relates some joyful consequence of the deliverance foretold; which consequence immediately respects religion; and the meaning of the sentence is, that it should come to pass, that in time, after the return from Babylon, proselytes of various nations, and among these particularly Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans, should be joined to the Jewish church, and be convinced by the reasons demonstrating the truth of the Jewish religion. They should come, suppliant and adoring God, to Jerusalem, and, confessing their faith, humbly entreat to be admitted into the communion of that church. Which accession of proselytes from these and other nations should be fulfilled under the oeconomy of Gospel grace, when not only individuals, but whole nations, chained and bound, that is, bound in the spirit (Acts 20:22.), should submissively receive the doctrine of this holy religion. The prophet, in chap. Isaiah 14:1 speaks of the proselytes to religion in terms which fully explain the phrase, In chains they shall come over. See 1 Corinthians 14:24 and Vitringa.