Isa 49:14-26 | KD | STEP | The prophet, looking back at the period of suffering from the standpoint of the deliverance, exclaims from the midst of this train of thought: “Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.” The period of suffering which forces out this lamentation still continues. What follows, therefore, applies to the church of the present, i.e., of the captivity. , “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb? Even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.” In reply to the complaining church, which knows that her home is in Zion-Jerusalem, and which has been kept so long away from her home, Jehovah sets forth His love, which is as inalienable as a mother’s love, yea, far greater than even maternal love. On עוּל, the min in mērachēm is equivalent to ὥστε μή, as in ; ; , etc. גּם, so far as the actual sense is concerned, is equivalent to גּם־כּי (Ewald, §§362, b ): “granted that such (mothers) should forget, i.e., disown, their love.” The picture of Zion (not merely the name, as clearly shows) is drawn in the inside of Jehovah’s hands, just as men are accustomed to burn or puncture ornamental figures and mementoes upon the hand, the arm, and the forehead, and to colour the punctures with alhenna or indigo (see Tafel, xii., in vol. ii. pp. 33-35 of Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians ). There is the figure of Zion, unapproachable to every creature, as close to Him as He is to Himself, and facing Him amidst all the emotions of His divine life. There has He the walls of Zion constantly before Him (on neged , see at ; ); and even if for a time they are broken down here below, with Him they have an eternal ideal existence, which must be realized again and again in an increasingly glorious form.

‏ Isaiah 49:14-26

The prophet, looking back at the period of suffering from the standpoint of the deliverance, exclaims from the midst of this train of thought: Isa 49:14 “Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.” The period of suffering which forces out this lamentation still continues. What follows, therefore, applies to the church of the present, i.e., of the captivity. Isa 49:15, Isa 49:16 “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb? Even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.” In reply to the complaining church, which knows that her home is in Zion-Jerusalem, and which has been kept so long away from her home, Jehovah sets forth His love, which is as inalienable as a mother’s love, yea, far greater than even maternal love. On עוּל, the min in mērachēm is equivalent to ὥστε μή, as in Isa 23:1; Isa 24:10; Isa 33:15, etc. גּם, so far as the actual sense is concerned, is equivalent to גּם־כּי (Ewald, §§362,b): “granted that such (mothers) should forget, i.e., disown, their love.” The picture of Zion (not merely the name, as Isa 49:16 clearly shows) is drawn in the inside of Jehovah’s hands, just as men are accustomed to burn or puncture ornamental figures and mementoes upon the hand, the arm, and the forehead, and to colour the punctures with alhenna or indigo (see Tafel, xii., in vol. ii. pp. 33-35 of Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians). There is the figure of Zion, unapproachable to every creature, as close to Him as He is to Himself, and facing Him amidst all the emotions of His divine life. There has He the walls of Zion constantly before Him (on neged, see at Isa 1:15; Isa 24:23); and even if for a time they are broken down here below, with Him they have an eternal ideal existence, which must be realized again and again in an increasingly glorious form. Isa 49:17-18

It is this fact of a renewed glorification which presents itself afresh to the prophet’s mind. “Thy children make haste, thy destroyers and masters draw out from thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all these assemble themselves together, and come to thee. As truly as I live, saith Jehovah, thou wilt put them all on like jewellery, and gird them round thee like a bride.” The pointing adopted by the lxx, Targ., Jer. and Saad., is בּניך. The antithesis favours this reading; but בּניך suits Isa 49:18, Isa 49:19 better; and the thought that Zion’s children come and restore her fallen walls, follows of itself from the very antithesis: her children come; and those who destroyed their maternal home, and made it a desolate ruin, have to depart from both city and land. Zion is to lift up her eyes, that have been cast down till now, yea, to lift them up round about; for on all sides those whom she thought she had lost are coming in dense crowds לך (cf., לא = לו with אליו, Isa 49:5), to her, i.e., henceforth to belong to her again. Jehovah pledges His life (chai 'ănı̄, ζῶν ἐγώ, Ewald, §329,a) that a time of glory is coming for Zion and her children. כּי in the affirmative sense, springing out of the confirmative after an affirming oath, equivalent to אם־לא elsewhere (e.g., Isa 5:9). The population which Zion recovers once more, will be to her like the ornaments which a woman puts on, like the ornamental girdle (Isa 3:20) which a bride fastens round her wedding dress. Isa 49:19-20

Thus will Zion shine forth once more with the multitude of her children as with a festal adorning. “For thy ruins and thy waste places and thy land full of ruin - yea, now thou wilt be too narrow for the inhabitants, and thy devourers are far away. Thy children, that were formerly taken from thee, shall say in thine ears, The space is too narrow for me; give way for me, that I may have room.” The word “for” (kı̄) introduces the explanatory reason for the figures just employed of jewellery and a bridal girdle. Instead of the three subjects, “thy ruins,” etc., the comprehensive “thou” is employed permutatively, and the sentence commenced afresh. כּי is repeated emphatically in עתּה כּי (for now, or yea now); this has essentially the same meaning as in the apodosis of hypothetical protasis (e.g., Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10), except that the sense is more decidedly affirmative than in the present instance, where one sees it spring out of the confirmative. Zion, that has been hitherto desolate, now becomes too small to hold her inhabitants; and her devourers are far away, i.e., those who took forcible possession of the land and cities, and made them untenable. עוד is to be understood in accordance with Psa 42:6, and בעזניך in accordance with Psa 54:2 (see at Isa 5:9). It will even come to this, that the children of which Zion was formerly robbed will call to one another, so that she becomes a witness with her ears to that which they have so clearly seen: the space is too narrow, give way (geshâh, from nâgash, to advance, then to move generally, also to move in an opposite direction, i.e., to fall back, as in Gen 19:9) for me, that I may be able to settle down. Isa 49:21

The words that sound in the ears of Zion are now followed by the thought of astonishment and surprise, that rises up in her heart. “And thou wilt say in thy heart, Who hath borne me these, seeing I was robbed of children, and barren, banished, and thrust away; and these, who hath brought them up? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?” She sees herself suddenly surrounded by a great multitude of children, and yet she was robbed of children, and galmūdâh (lit. hard, stony, Arab. 'galmad, 'gulmūd, e.g., es-sachr el'gulmūd, the hardest stone, mostly as a sugstantive, stone or rock, from gâlam, from which comes the Syriac gelomo, stony ground, related to châlam, whence challâmı̄sh, gravel, root gal, gam, to press together, or heap up in a lump or mass), i.e., one who seemed utterly incapacitated for bearing children any more. She therefore asks, Who hath borne me these (not, who hath begotten, and which is an absurd question)? She cannot believe that they are the children of her body, and her children’s children. As a tree, whose foliage is all faded away, is called nōbheleth itself in Isa 1:30, so she calls herself gōlâh vesūrâh, extorris et remota (sūr = mūsâr, like sūg in Pro 14:14 = nâsōg or mussâg), because her children have been carried away into exile. In the second question, the thought has dawned upon her mind, that those by whom she finds herself surrounded are her own children; but as she was left alone, whilst they went forth, as she thought to die in a foreign land, she cannot comprehend where they have been hitherto concealed, or where they have grown up into so numerous a people. Isa 49:22

The prophecy now takes a step backward in the domain of the future, and describes the manner in which the children of Zion get back to their home. “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lift up my hand to nations, and set up my standard to peoples: and they bring thy sons in their bosom; and thy daughters, upon shoulders are they carried.” The setting up of a standard (Isa 5:26; Isa 11:12; Isa 18:3, cf., Isa 62:10) is a favourite figure with Isaiah, as well as swaying the hand. Jehovah gives a sign to the heathen nations with His hand, and points out to them the mark that they are to keep in view, with a signal pole which is set up. They understand it, and carry out His instructions, and bring Zion’s sons and daughters thither, and that as a foster-father ('ōmēn) carries an infant in the bosom of his dress (chōtsen, as in Neh 5:13; Arabic as in Psa 129:7, hidn, from hadana, to embrace, to press tenderly to one’s self; vid., Num 11:12), or upon his arms, so that it reclines upon his shoulder (‛al-kâthēph; cf., ‛al-tsad, Isa 60:4; Isa 66:12). Isa 49:23

Such affectionate treatment does the church receive, which is assembling once more upon its native soil, whilst kings and their consorts hasten to serve the re-assembled community. “And kings become thy foster-fathers, and their princesses they nurses: they bow down their face to thee to the earth, and they lick the dust of thy feet; and thou learnest that I am Jehovah, He whose hoping ones are not put to shame.” As foster-fathers devote all their strength and care to those entrusted to them, and nurses nourish children from the very marrow of their own life, so will kings become the shelterers of Zion, and princesses the sustainers of her growth. All that is true in the regal headship of the church will be realized, and all that is false in regal territorialism will condemn itself: “vultu in terram demisso adorabunt te et pulverem pedum tuorum lingent” (Jerome). They do homage to the church, and kiss the ground upon which she stands and walks. According to Isa 45:14, this adoration belongs to the God who is present in the church, and points the church itself away from all thought of her own merits to Jehovah, the God of salvation, cui qui confidunt non pudefient (וידעתּ with an auxiliary pathach, like יגעתּ in Isa 47:15; Ges. §65, 2: אשׁר with the first person made into a relative as in Isa 41:8; Ges. §123, 1, Anm. 1). Observe, however, that the state will not be swallowed up by the church - a thing which never will occur, and is never meant to occur; but by the state becoming serviceable to the church, there is realized a prelude of the perfected kingdom of God, in which the dualism of the state and the church is entirely abolished. Isa 49:24-26

There follows now a sceptical question prompted by weakness of faith; and the divine reply. The question, Isa 49:24 : “Can the booty indeed be wrested from a giant, or will the captive host of the righteous escape?” The question is logically one, and only divided rhetorically into two (Ges. §153, 2). The giant, or gigantically strong one, is the Chaldean. Knobel, in opposition to Hitzig, who supposes the Persian to be referred to, points very properly to Isa 51:12-13, and Isa 52:5. He is mistaken, however, in thinking that we must read עריץ שׁבי in Isa 49:24, as Ewald does after the Syriac and Jerome, on account of the parallelism. The exiles are called shebhı̄ tsaddı̄q, not, however, as captives wrested from the righteous (the congregation of the righteous), as Meier thinks, taking tsaddı̄q as the gen. obj.; still less as captives carried off by the righteous one, i.e., the Chaldean, for the Chaldean, even regarded as the accomplisher of the righteous judgment of God, is not tsaddı̄q, but “wicked” (Hab 1:13); but merely as a host of captives consisting of righteous men (Hitzig). The divine answer, Isa 49:25, Isa 49:26 : “Yea, thus saith Jehovah, Even the captive hosts of a giant are wrested from him, and the booty of a tyrant escapes: and I will make war upon him that warreth with thee, and I will bring salvation to thy children. And I feed them that pain thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as if with new wine; and all flesh sees that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and that thy Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.” We might take the kı̄ in Isa 49:25 as a simple affirmative, but it is really to be taken as preceded by a tacit intermediate thought. Rosenmüller’s explanation is the correct one: “that which is hardly credible shall take place, for thus hath Jehovah said.” He has also given the true interpretation of gam: “although this really seems incredible, yet I will give it effect.” Ewald, on the contrary, has quite missed the sense of Isa 49:24, Isa 49:25, which he gives as follows: “The booty in men which a hero has taken in war, may indeed be taken from him again; but Jehovah will never let the booty that He takes from the Chaldean (viz., Israel) be wrested from Him again.” This is inadmissible, for the simple reason that it presupposes the emendation עריץ שׁבי עריץ noita; and this 'ârı̄ts is quite unsuitable, partly because it would be Jehovah to whom the case supposed referred, and still more, because the correspondence in character between Isa 49:24 and Isa 49:14 is thereby destroyed. The gibbōr and 'ârı̄ts is called יריבך in Isa 49:25, with direct reference to Zion. This is a noun formed from the future, like Jareb in Hos 5:13 and Hos 10:6 - a name chosen as the distinctive epithet of the Asiatic emperor (probably a name signifying “king Fighting-cock”). The self-laceration threatened against the Chaldean empire recals to mind Isa 9:19-20, and Zec 11:9, and has as revolting a sound as Num 23:24 and Zec 9:15 -passages which Daumer and Ghillany understand in the cannibal sense which they appear to have, whereas what they understand literally is merely a hyperbolical figure. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the Old Testament church was a nation, and that the spirit of revelation in the Old Testament assumed the national form, which it afterwards shattered to pieces. Knobel points to the revolt of the Hyrcanians and several satraps, who fought on the side of Cyrus against their former rulers (Cyrop. iv 2, 6, v. 1-3). All this will be subservient to that salvation and redemption, which form the historical aim of Jehovah and the irresistible work of the Mighty One of Jacob. The name of God which we meet with here, viz., the Mighty One of Jacob, only occurs again in Isa 1:24, and shows who is the author of the prophecy which is concluded here. The first half set forth, in the servant of Jehovah, the mediator of Israel’s restoration and of the conversion of the heathen, and closed with an appeal to the heaven and the earth to rejoice with the ransomed church. The second half (Isa 49:14-26) rebukes the despondency of Zion, which fancies itself forgotten of Jehovah, by pointing to Jehovah’s more than maternal love, and the superabundant blessing to be expected from Him. It also rebukes the doubts of Zion as to the possibility of such a redemption, by pointing to the faithfulness and omnipotence of the God of Israel, who will cause the exiles to be wrested from the Chaldean, and their tormentors to devour one another. The following chapter commences a fresh train of ideas.