Isaiah 54:7

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. FOR A SMALL MOMENT HAVE I FORSAKEN THEE - as compared with Israel's coming long prosperity (; ). So the spiritual Israel (; ). BUT WITH GREAT MERCIES WILL I GATHER THEE - to myself from thy dispersions....

7._For a little moment I forsook thee. _The Prophet explains more fully the former statement, and shows what will be the nature of this divorce, namely, that she shall be speedily restored to her former condition. He magnifies the mercy of God, and extenuates the sorrow by which the hearts of believers might be oppressed. It was not enough for believers to expect some revival, if they were not convinced that God’s wrath would be of short duration. We quickly lose courage and faint, if the Lord be not nigh, and if he do not quickly stretch out his hand to us. For this reason Isaiah, after having spoken of restoring the Church, adds that this divorce shall last but “for a moment,” but that _his mercy shall be everlasting _ When he says that he _forsook _his people, it is a sort of admission of the fact. (67) We are adopted by God in such a manner that we cannot be rejected by him on accoun...

6-10 As God is slow to anger, so he is swift to show mercy. And how sweet the returns of mercy would be, when God should come and comfort them! He will have mercy on them. God's gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit of theirs; and it is with great mercies, with everlasting kindness. The wrath is little, the mercies great; the wrath for a moment, the kindness everlasting. We are neither to despond under afflictions, nor to despair of relief. Mountains have been shaken and removed, but the promises of God never were broken by any event. Mountains and hills also signify great men. Creature-confidences shall fail; but when our friends fail us, our God does not. All this is alike applicable to the church at large, and to each believer. God will rebuke and correct his people for sins; but he will not cast them off. Let this encourage us to give the more diligence to mak...

Verse Isaiah 54:7. _FOR A SMALL MOMENT _- "In a little anger"] So the _Chaldee_ and _Syriac_, either reading רגז _regaz_, for רגע _rega_; or understanding the latter word as meaning the same with the former, which they both make use of. See Psalms 30:5; Psalms 35:20, in the _Septuagint_, where they render רגע _rega_ by οργη, _anger_....

FOR A SMALL MOMENT - The Chaldee and Syriac render this, ‘In a little anger.’ Lowth has adopted this, but without sufficient authority. The Hebrew means, ‘For a little moment;’ a very short time. The reference here is probably to the captivity at Babylon, when they were apparently forsaken by Yahweh. Though to them this appeared long, yet compared with their subsequent prosperity, it was but an instant of time. Though this had probably a primary reference to the captivity then, yet there can be no impropriety in applying it to other similar cases. It contains an important principle; that is, that though God appears to forsake his people, yet it will be comparatively but for a moment. He will remember his covenant, and however long their trials may seem to be, yet compared with the subsequent mercies and the favors which shall result from them, they will seem to be but as the sorrows of t...

SECTION IV.—A RENEWAL OF PROMISES TO ISRAEL, COMBINED WITH EXHORTATION (CH. 54-56:8). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 54:1 A PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF GREAT INCREASE, AND OF GOD'S PERSISTENT PROTECTION. There is no close connection between this chapter and the last, or even between this section and the preceding. Isaiah 54:1 take up the thought of...

FOR A SMALL MOMENT HAVE I FORSAKEN THEE,.... The people of God seem to be forsaken by him when he hides his face from them, as it is afterwards explained; when they are in distress, and he does not immediately appear for them; when they are afflicted in body and mind, though these afflictions are but for a moment; nor are they really forsaken, not as to things temporal or spiritual; God never forsakes the work of his own hands, nor his people, at least for ever, or so as that they shall perish. Some interpret this of the seventy years' captivity of the Jews in Babylon, which was but a very short time; others of the times of ignorance in the Gentile world before the coming of Christ, which God winked at, when he overlooked them, and took no notice of them; but I choose to understand it of the time and state of the Christian church, during the ten persecutions of Rome Pagan, when it seemed...

Isaiah 54:1. _Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD._ This promise is made to the long-barren and desolate Gentile Church the may well sing, for God has visited her in mercy, and, at this day, her children are more numerous than those of the Jewish Church. We have waited, but we have been well repaid for our waiting, for we have a larger and richer blessing than God's ancient people ever enjoyed. Isaiah 54:2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and o

CHAPTER 54 ISRAEL CALLED TO SING 1. _The blessings of restoration (Isaiah 54:1) _ 2. _Mercy bestowed (Isaiah 54:7) _ 3. _The earthly glory of Jerusalem (Isaiah 54:11) _ 4. _Jehovah keeps and defends His people (Isaiah 54:15) _ After the cross the singing. What singing there will be in the earth when at last “they will look upon Him, whom they have pierced.” Israel will some day know the full meaning ofIsaiah 53:1-12 2, and when He is owned at last the glories and blessings of restoration will, through infinite grace, be bestowed upon them. Enlargement and faithfulness will be the results. The shame of Israel

LIV. ZION SHALL BE RESTORED TO HER PLACE AS YAHWEH'S WIFE, NEVER AGAIN TO BE REJECTED. The poet pictures Zion as a barren wife, left desolate by her husband. Let her break into transports of joy, for Yahweh promises that her children shall yet be more than the children of a wife not deserted so many that her tent must be enlarged. He bids her stretch forth her tent-hangings (so LXX), without stint lengthening the cords and strengthening the tent-pegs to support the larger tent. For Zion's inhabitants shall overflow south and north, overrunning other nations and peopling the deserted cities. Let Zion not blush for shame: the shame of her early days as Yahweh's bride the Egyptian captivity and her widowhood the exile, when her husband, Yahweh, forsook her shall be forgotten. For Yahweh has called her to Him, as a husband summons to his favour a wife neglected and dejected the Heb. forsaken...