Isaiah 49:18

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. LIFT UP THINE EYES ... ALL THESE GATHER THEMSELVES TOGETHER ... THOU SHALT SURELY CLOTHE THEE WITH THEM ALL, AS WITH AN ORNAMENT. As Zion is often compared to a bride (), so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels," ; ). Her literal children are, however, more immediately meant as the context refers to their restoration, and only secondarily to her spiritual children by conversion to Christ. Israel shall be the means of the final complete conversion of the nations ...

18._Lift up thine eyes round about. _He arouses the Church to survey this magnificent work, as if it were actually before her eyes, and to behold the multitudes of men who shall flock into it from every quarter. Now, as this assemblage must have encouraged godly hearts during the dispersion, so they who were eye-witnesses must have been excited to gratitude. This shews clearly that this prediction was useful at both periods, not only while the event was still concealed by hope, but when it had been actually accomplished. Though he speaks to the whole Church at large, yet this discourse relates also to individuals, that all with one accord, and each person separately, may embrace these promises. When he bids them “lift up their eyes,” he means that the reason why we are so much cast down is, that we do not examine the Lord’s work with due attention, but have a vail placed, as it were, bef...

18-23 Zion is addressed as an afflicted widow, bereaved of her children. Numbers flock to her, and she is assured that they come to be a comfort to her. There are times when the church is desolate and few in number; yet its desolations shall not last for ever, and God will repair them. God can raise up friends for returning Israelites, even among Gentiles. They shall bring their children, and make them thy children. Let all deal tenderly and carefully with young converts and beginners in religion. Princes shall protect the church. It shall appear that God is the sovereign Lord of all. And those who in the exercise of faith, hope, and patience, wait on God for the fulfilment of his promises, shall never be confounded....

Verse Isaiah 49:18. _BIND THEM_ ON THEE, _AS A BRIDE_ DOETH - "Bind them about thee, as a bride _her jewels_."] The end of the sentence is manifestly imperfect. Does a bride bind her children, or her new subjects, about her? Sion clothes herself with her children, as a bride clothes herself, - with what? some other thing certainly. The _Septuagint_ help us out in this difficulty, and supply the lost word: ὡς κοσμον νυμφη· as a bride her ornaments. ככליה כלה _kichleyha callah_, or ככלה כליה _kecallah keleyha_. The great similitude of the two words has occasioned the omission of one of them. See Isaiah 61:10....

LIFT UP THINE EYES ROUND ABOUT - That is, see the multitudes that shall be converted to thee; see thy ruined city rise again in its former beauty; see the Gentiles come and yield themselves to the worship of the true God; see kings and princes approach and do thee homage. ALL THESE GATHER THEMSELVES - That is, from a far country, from the north, the west, and the south, Isaiah 49:12. AS I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD - The customary form of an oath when Yahweh swears It is a solemn assurance that the event shall as certainly occur as he has an existence (see the note at Isaiah 45:23; compare Jeremiah 22:24;...

SECTION III. THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (CH. 49-53). EXPOSITION The connection of the present section is especially with Isaiah 42:1, where the mission of the Servant of Jehovah was first announced. That mission was there described with extreme brevity. It has now to be fully set forth, for the instruction, consolation, and comfort of all Israel, which is represented as sunk in despondency, deeming itself forgotten of God and forsaken by him (Isaiah 42:13, Isaiah 42:14). In the present chapter Jehovah's at

LIFT UP THINE EYES ROUND ABOUT, AND BEHOLD,.... Look east, west, north, and south, and behold the flocking converts from all parts; see on Isaiah 49:12. The words are spoken to the church, and for her comfort; and so the Targum, "lift up thine eyes round about, O Jerusalem, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity:'' ALL THESE GATHER THEMSELVES TOGETHER, AND COME TO THEE; though of different nations, and come from different quarters, yet coalesce together, make one body, and join themselves with the church, in which they centre, and are incorporated: AS I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD; this is the form of an oath, sometimes used by the Lord, to denote the importance and certainty of a thing, and to assure his people of it: thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament; as children's children are the

Isaiah 49:1. _Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; the Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;_ Our Lord Jesus, that great Prophet of the Church, was in a special manner the Lord's in the matter of his birth. A wondrous holy mystery hangs about his birth at Bethlehem, he was, in that respect, the Lord's in a very remarkable sense. «He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.» You know how our Lord's mouth, or the Word of his gospel that issues from his mouth, is like a sharp sword how it conquers, how it cuts its way, how, wherever it comes, it pierces «even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the tho

2. THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH, HIS SUFFERING AND HIS GLORY (49-57) CHAPTER 49 The Servant of Jehovah and His Mission 1. _The servant speaks of himself (Isaiah 49:1)_ 2. _He complains of failure (Isaiah 49:4)_ 3. _Jehovah's answer to him (Isaiah 49:5)_ 4. _Zion speaks (Isaiah 49:14) Jehovah's answer (Isaiah 49:15) _ This entire chapter is the key to the whole section. The Servant of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands in the foreground. He is seen as the Rejected One, who complains that He has labored in vain. The ultim

JERUSALEM SHALL BE FORTHWITH REBUILT AND REPEOPLED. Zion has believed herself forgotten of Yahweh. But though a mother should forget her babe He will not forget Zion. His plan for rebuilding it He has cut upon the palms of His hands that it may be ever before Him. Zion's builders (_mg._) shall speedily get to work, while her destroyers shall haste out of the city. From all sides the dispersed people return; they shall be to the newly-built city as ornaments to a new-made wife. Though all the waste places be made habitable (?) still the people shall more than fill them. Oppressors shall be far away. Those born while the city lay desolate are so many as on their return to strive in Zion's hearing for room. And Zion shall ask herself in bewilderment, Who hath borne and reared me these when I was childless? (_cf._ Genesis 16:2)....