Isa 49:1, 5, Rom 8:29 | JFB | STEP | Messiah, as the ideal Israel ( ), states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success. 1. O isles-- Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews ( , ), and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea. from the womb-- ( ; ; ). from ... bowels ... mention of my name-- His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth ( ).

‏ Isaiah 49:1

CHAPTER 49 Is 49:1-26. Similar to Chapter 42:1-7 (Is 49:1-9).

Messiah, as the ideal Israel (Is 49:3), states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success.

1. O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews (Is 49:4, 5), and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea.

from the womb--(Is 44:2; Lu 1:31; Joh 10:36).

from ... bowels ... mention of my name--His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth (Mt 1:21).

‏ Isaiah 49:5

5. The reason why He was confident that His work would be accepted and rewarded, namely, because He is "glorious in the eyes of Jehovah," &c.

to bring Jacob again to him--(Mt 15:24; Ac 3:26).

Though Israel be not gathered--metaphor from a scattered flock which the shepherd gathers together again; or a hen and her chickens (Mt 23:37). Instead of the text "not," the Keri has the similar Hebrew word, "to Him," which the parallelism favors: "And that Israel may be gathered to Him."

yet--rather, parenthetically. "For I am glorious, &c., and My God is My strength." Then (Is 49:6) resuming the words from the beginning of Is 49:5, "He saith" (I repeat), &c. Horsley explains, "Notwithstanding the incredulity of the Jews, Messiah shall be glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles," reading as English Version: but if the Keri be read, "Israel shall at one time or other be gathered, notwithstanding their incredulity during Messiah's sojourn on earth."

‏ Romans 8:29

29. For--as touching this "calling according to his purpose" (Ro 8:28).

whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate--foreordain. In what sense are we to take the word "foreknow" here? "Those who He foreknew would repent and believe," say Pelagians of every age and every hue. But this is to thrust into the text what is contrary to the whole spirit, and even letter, of the apostle's teaching (see Ro 9:11; 2Ti 1:9). In Ro 11:2, and Psa 1:6, God's "knowledge" of His people cannot be restricted to a mere foresight of future events, or acquaintance with what is passing here below. Does "whom He did foreknow," then, mean "whom He foreordained?" Scarcely, because both "foreknowledge" and "foreordination" are here mentioned, and the one as the cause of the other. It is difficult indeed for our limited minds to distinguish them as states of the Divine Mind towards men; especially since in Ac 2:23 "the counsel" is put before "the foreknowledge of God," while in 1Pe 1:2 "election" is said to be "according to the foreknowledge of God." But probably God's foreknowledge of His own people means His "peculiar, gracious, complacency in them," while His "predestinating" or "foreordaining" them signifies His fixed purpose, flowing from this, to "save them and call them with an holy calling" (2Ti 1:9).

to be conformed to the image of his Son--that is, to be His sons after the pattern, model, or image of His Sonship in our nature.

that he might be the first-born among many brethren--"The First-born," the Son by nature; His "many brethren," sons by adoption: He, in the Humanity of the Only-begotten of the Father, bearing our sins on the accursed tree; they in that of mere men ready to perish by reason of sin, but redeemed by His blood from condemnation and wrath, and transformed into His likeness: He "the First-born from the dead"; they "that sleep in Jesus," to be in due time "brought with Him"; "The First-born," now "crowned with glory and honor"; His "many brethren," "when He shall appear, to be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is."