Chapter Forty-Nine

This is one of the most important messianic chapters of the prophet Isaiah, directly adjoining chapter 42 and having the closest connection with chapters 50 and 52. It begins the second division of the second part of the book of the prophet Isaiah (chapters 49–57). Beginning from this chapter, the subject matter of the prophet’s speech noticeably changes: the prophet ceases to speak of the Babylonian captivity and the role of Cyrus as temporal and transient events, and directs his gaze chiefly toward that eternal world event which was to open a new era in the history of all humanity (redemption through the Messiah). True, the prophet Isaiah had touched upon this subject more than once before (especially in chapter 42), but as it were in passing and veiled, more figuratively than directly. Now, however, the external history of the chosen people of God recedes into the background, while the internal history of God’s economy of salvation for Israel and all the sinful world through the voluntary sacrificial death of the Redeemer comes to the forefront. Hence begins the most important section of the book of the prophet Isaiah, for which he received, above all, the well-deserved honorable title of “the Old Testament evangelist.”

1–5. The calling of the Son of God to His special, messianic ministry; 6–7. the extension of His mission to the Gentiles; 8–12. the miraculous and beneficial character of this ministry and its beneficial fruits; 13–21. a solemn thanksgiving hymn to the Lord from the face of all the reborn and renewed Zion; 22–26. the victorious triumph of the New Covenant, spiritual Israel over all its enemies and the highest glorification of the Lord.

Isaiah 49:1. Listen to Me, islands, and attend, distant peoples: the Lord called Me from the womb, from My mother’s womb He named My name; “Listen to Me, islands, and attend, distant peoples.” A call to special attentiveness in view of the extraordinary importance of the subsequent discourse (Isa 48:16); and also, probably, an indication of its comprehensive, universal character, since it concerns not only the narrow circle of the chosen people, but also all “distant peoples” (cf. Isa 43:4; Isa 24:15-16; Isa 41:1; Isa 52:4).

Isaiah 6:1–6. “The Lord called Me from the womb, from My mother’s womb He named My name.” These words can least of all be applied to the prophet Isaiah himself, who, as is known, was called to his prophetic ministry in mature age (Isa. 6:1–6). Only with great strain can they be interpreted relative to a collective personality (for instance, all of Israel, cf. Isa 44:2). But it is most natural and best to apply them to a singular personality (Isa 42:4; Jer 1:5) and namely to the personality of the Beloved Servant of the Lord, concerning whose especial calling “from old” and concerning the very naming of whose name the prophet Isaiah has already spoken more than once before (Isa 7:13-15; Isa 42:6; Isa 48:15; cf. Ps 109:2). As for the fulfillment of these prophecies, the evangelists speak to us of it (Matt 1 and Luke 1:31). Some commentators call attention to the fact that here, at birth, only one mother is mentioned, which seems to give a veiled allusion to his virgin conception. Isaiah 49:2. and made My mouth like a sharp sword; with the shadow of His hand He covered Me, and made Me a sharpened arrow; in His quiver He kept Me; “And made My mouth like a sharp sword...a sharpened arrow.” A poetic image, frequently encountered also in other places of the Old and New Testament, characterizing the penetrating power of God’s word (Ps 44:6; Ps 119:4; Heb 4:12; etc.). Among the parallels from the prophet Isaiah himself relevant here, one can point to the following: “I put My words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens and set the earth firm, and to say to Zion: ‘You are My people’” (Isa 51:16; see also Isa 11:4; Isa 42:1). All of this eloquently depicts the irresistible action of the messianic proclamation, penetrating into the most secret recesses of the human spirit and powerfully subduing itself to its will (Heb 4:12).

“John 1. “In His quiver He kept Me.” The arrow “chosen”—this is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. God had many other arrows—leaders and prophets—by means of which He influenced hardened humanity; “but the chosen and most excellent of all arrows, Christ, was hidden in the foreknowledge of the Father, as it were in a quiver” (St. Cyril of Alexandria. In Jn. 1).” Isaiah 49:3. and said to Me: You are My Servant, Israel, in You I shall be glorified. “You are My Servant Israel,—in You I shall be glorified.” It is beyond question that this passage cannot be applied to the historical, fleshly Israel, because then a sharp contradiction would result with one of the preceding verses (v. 5). It is risky to apply it to the prophet Isaiah himself, because this would not at all accord with the prophet’s personal humility and the actual character of his ministry. It remains, therefore, the only possible and correct interpretation to apply this address to the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord. “Appearing in the world, the Servant of the Lord is depicted here as the fulfiller of God’s will (Ps 39:8-9; Matt 5:17); and since the fulfillment of that will constituted the historical calling of the Israelite people and served to glorify the Lord, then He who fulfilled all God’s will, the Servant of the Lord, through this appeared as the representative of Israel, through whom God is glorified (cf. Isa 42:1; John 17—St. Petersburg professor).”

John 13:31. “In You I shall be glorified.” The best commentary on these words is the well-known, solemn beginning of Jesus Christ’s farewell discourse with His disciples: “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him” (Jn. 13:31). And St. John Chrysostom in one of his commentaries beautifully elucidates that “God esteems our salvation as His glory” (Vol. 10. Sermon 7, on 1 Cor 2:6-7). Isaiah 49:4. But I said: I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and emptiness. Yet surely My right is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God. “But I said: I have labored in vain.” By these words the Servant of the Lord, the Son of God, expresses doubt in the success of His mission—even more than that—He recognizes its uselessness and seems to become disappointed in it. The historical justification for these words should be seen in that sorrowful circumstance that the first and immediate purpose of the Messiah’s coming—the gathering of the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24; Matt 23:37)—was not accomplished because of their hard-heartedness (John 1:11). In the consciousness of this seeming insufficiency and incompleteness of the redemptive mission of the God-man should be seen the chief reason for that deepest heart-ache and that sense of oppression and abandonment which the Divine Sufferer experienced according to His humanity, both the night before, during prayer concerning the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, and while hanging on the cross, in the last moment before death (Matt 26:37-38 and Matt 27:46). “Yet surely My right is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.” Instead of the words “right” and “reward” the LXX and Slavonic translation have: “judgment” and “work”. In the Hebrew text the first concept is expressed by the term mischpath, which means “judgment,” and also the “legal right” recognized by judgment to something (Deut 21:17); and the term peulla, having a corresponding synonym in the Latin word merces—“reward,” “payment for work.” Consequently, the sense of this consolation would be as follows: although the work of the Messiah, that is, the result of His redemptive ministry, will not be accompanied by the desired success with regard to the greater part of the Jewish people, nevertheless through this it will not lose its value in the sight of the highest Divine righteousness, which clearly sees that the cause of such partial failure lies not in the activity of the Messiah, but in the hard-heartedness of men who oppose truth. Expressions analogous to this were encountered by us in the prophet Isaiah before (Isa 35:4; Isa 40:10). As for the very character and content of this reward, it will be spoken of below (Isa 53:10-12).

Isaiah 49:5. And now the Lord says, He who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, and that Israel be gathered to Him—I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and My God is My strength. “And now the Lord says...I am honored in the sight of the Lord and My God is My strength.” The present verse stands in the closest connection with the preceding one and serves as a further development and intensification of the thought contained in it. In the fourth verse is depicted the process of internal struggle in the soul of the Messiah regarding the value and usefulness of His ministry, ending in the victory of positive sentiments. Here such a decision is as it were sanctioned by the authority of God Himself, Who solemnly assures that the activity of His messenger will not only not lose its reward, but will merit special honor, because, in essence, it is accomplished in the name and by the power of God Himself. The whole period which we have omitted, from the words “He who formed Me from the womb” and ending with the words “that Israel be gathered to Him”—represents an ordinary insertion, merely, so to speak, sharpening the main thought, but not introducing any new data into it. Regarding this insertion, properly speaking the second half of it, one can only observe what the blessed Jerome emphasized with special attention, namely, a textual variation in the Hebrew, Massoretic text, Targum, LXX and Aquila read in the positive sense: to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel be gathered to Him; but the blessed Jerome, as well as Symmachus and Theodoret translate in the negative form: Jacob will not turn back and Israel will not be gathered.

Isaiah 49:6. And He said: It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; but I will also make You a light to the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. “And He said: It is too small a thing...I will also make You a light to the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” The divine encouragement of the Messiah reaches its highest point. Not only that, the Lord says, your labor will not be completely fruitless even regarding its immediate purpose—the salvation of Israel—since the best representatives of Israel, “his holy remnant” will hear the proclamation of the Messiah and respond to it; but it will receive new and enormous profit through the attraction to the proclamation of the Messiah of new members of the kingdom of God, the Gentiles, scattered over all the face of the earth (Isa 1:9; Isa 11:11; Isa 42:6; Joel 2:32; Luke 2:30-32; Acts 13:46; Rom 9:27). Thus, the mission of Christ goes beyond the narrow limits of Jewish nationality and acquires its proper universal Christian character.

Isaiah 49:7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to the despised one, whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see and stand up, princes shall bow down, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You. 62 “Thus says the Lord...despised by all, abused by the people, servant of rulers.” This, strictly speaking, is the beginning of a new discourse of the Lord, though closely connected with the former. It reveals the miraculous and beneficial fruits of the messianic ministry, which, of course, is at the same time the best proof of its high significance and meaning. “The seventh verse is quite an important moment in the process of gradual communication of the Old Testament revelation about the suffering Righteous One. On the one hand, it reproduces the known passage (Ps 21) (partly Ps 68), in which the Sufferer-Christ speaks of Himself: ‘I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised of the people’ (7 v. Cf. Ps 68:15), and on the other hand, it serves as an introduction to the prophecy of chapters 42–43, where the sufferings of the righteous one are depicted in such detail” (I. Grigoriev “The Prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah and His Kingdom”—p. 168. Kazan 1902). But following this brief moment of temporal humiliation of the Messiah, at once comes the moment of exaltation, which is depicted in the prophet in such colors: “Kings shall see and stand up; princes shall bow down because of the Lord who is faithful...who has chosen You.” From a state of voluntary humiliation the Savior of the world shall be exalted to the height of glory befitting Him. “The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall bring Him tribute; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall offer gifts; and all kings shall bow to Him; all peoples shall serve Him” (Ps 71:10-11). The actual fulfillment of this prophecy is given in the entire history of Christian peoples, where kings and rulers often went ahead of all to Christ and led their peoples to Him. Not without foundation also the ancient Christian tradition considers the known wise men of the East, who came to the cave to worship Christ the Infant, as local princes or kings (The pulp. Comment. 231 p.). All this will come to pass “because of the Lord who is faithful, because of the Holy One of Israel,” “because the Messiah—sent from the Lord—is consubstantial with the Father; because, despite the form of a servant, He is God Almighty; because the One who chooses and the Chosen are one: ‘I and the Father are one’” (John 10—Vlastov). “The second half of the verse transfers the reader to the future moment of the triumph of the Messiah, when He shall overcome the sin of the world and shall be surrounded by the brilliant halo of unearthly majesty. The kings, who before despised the humble Servant, now with reverent respect shall gather around His throne; the princes, who hitherto shrank from the suffering Servant, shall bow their knees before Him and submit to Him” (I. Grigoriev Op. cit.).

Isaiah 49:8. Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; and I will keep You and give You for a covenant to the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages; “Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard You and in the day of salvation I have helped You.” The content of verse 8 gives a direct answer and resolves the doubt expressed in verse 4: “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and emptiness.” No, all this was done by no means in vain, but reached God and received from Him an appropriate response. Although the verbs “heard” and “helped” appear, it seems, in past forms, in reality they refer to future time, to the moment of the forthcoming glorification of the Son of God after His voluntary humiliation. This is the so-called praeteritum propheticum—“prophetic past,” which in order to express the certainty of the future speaks of it in the language of the past. Although the help of the Lord to His Servant was, as is known, rendered to Him throughout the whole duration of His messianic ministry (Luke 2:40; John 3:2; John 8:28; John 12:28; John 14 and others), nevertheless the chief and most obvious moment of its bestowal is indicated here as a special acceptable time (καιρω—δεκτω), a day of salvation. The Apostle Paul, citing this passage from the prophet Isaiah, applies it to his time, that is, to the triumph of the Christian church, and in particular, sees the fulfillment of this prophecy in the universality of Christianity and in its all-conquering power (2 Cor 6:2-10). All this eloquently spoke more than any words that the work of the Messiah was far from being futile.

Deuteronomy 3:28. “And give You for a covenant to the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages.” Revealing still more definitely and clearly the scope and character of the messianic ministry of His Messenger, the Lord says that His chief role will be that of founder, or restorer of the covenant between God and men. To a certain degree, it will be analogous to the role of the mediators of the Old Covenant (Moses and Joshua—Deut. 3:28; Josh 1:6), who restored the covenant of the Israelite people with God and divided the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel), but it will infinitely surpass them in its breadth and comprehensiveness. Hence, by “the desolate heritages” in the messianic sense should be understood the entire domain of the pagan world, desolated by the errors of idolatry, but once having known better times, more close to true worship of God (“ancient monotheism.” That is why it says “restore”).

Isaiah 49:9. to say to the prisoners: Go forth; to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves. They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on all the bare heights; Isaiah 49:10. They shall not hunger or thirst, nor shall the scorching wind or sun strike them; for He who has compassion on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. From verses 9–12 continues directly and develops further the same thought—about the beneficial fruits of the messianic ministry of God’s Messenger. Of them the first two verses (9–10) even serve as the conclusion of that period which began with the second half of verse 8. “That you may say to the prisoners: Go forth, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves...They shall not hunger or thirst and the scorching wind or sun shall not strike them.” The image of “prisoners released from prison” used here gives some ground for supposing that the discourse concerns the exit of Jews from the Babylonian captivity. But comparing this image with all the others present here (deliverance from hunger and thirst, from sun and heat), and also bringing in the corresponding parallels (Isa 61 and Isa 62:7), we are fully convinced that all this is nothing else than symbols and emblems for expressing the idea of high spiritual joy. The image of “prison or darkness in general,” in which the pagan peoples found themselves, becomes especially expressive and powerful by contrast with the “light” which the Messiah brought with Himself (John 1:4-5; Matt 5:14; Phil 2:15). Similarly, the other, purely evangelical image of the “good shepherd,” used here, and also more than once before by the prophet Isaiah, should be recognized as remarkably apt (Isa 30:23; Isa 40:11; Isa 42:15-16; cf. John 10:9-11).

John 6:35. “The whole of verse 10 takes images from the book of Exodus. But the present meaning of hunger and thirst and their eternal satisfaction in the spiritual sense is revealed only by the Lord (Jn. 6:35, 54)...As for the complete and final fulfillment in the future of the prophecy about those led by the Compassionate “to the fountain of waters of life,” cf. Rev 7:16-17: ‘They shall hunger no more nor thirst anymore, and the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb...will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water’ (Vlastov)”. Isaiah 49:11. And I will make all My mountains a road, and My highways shall be raised up. “And I will make all My mountains a road...Behold, some shall come from afar; and behold, some from the north and from the sea, and others from the land of Sinim.” Concluding His discourse about the productive and fruitful ministry of the Messiah, the Lord prophetically unveils a picture of the wonderful and magnificent multiplication of the Christian church, the way to which will be, so to speak, a “great, well-trodden road” for all peoples, along which continuously thick crowds of peoples will flow from all ends of the earth. The images of “mountains” and “roads” found in the indicated verses should be compared with their parallels: “Prepare the way for the Lord...every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” (Isa 40:3-4). “And there shall be a great road and a way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness” (Isa 35:8). One should also bring in here the well-known messianic prophecy of Isaiah about the “mountain of the house of the Lord,” which shall be manifest in the last days and shall be set on the head of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all peoples shall flow to it (Isa 2:2-3; cf. Isa 56:7).

Isaiah 49:12. Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold, some from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim. “Behold, these shall come from afar...some from the north and from the west, and some—from the land of Sinim.” 63. The blessed Jerome sees here the usual Biblical indications of the four cardinal directions. If “north and west”—serve as quite clear indication of North and West, then “afar” and “land of Sinim,” obviously, indicate East and South; the term “afar” (merahoh), in all probability, gives a hint at the East; then the land of Sinim—will indicate the South. 64 Most modern commentators are inclined to see in the land “Sinim” or “Henim” a hint at the distant southeastern country—China, information about which the prophet supposedly could have had even in his time (Gesenius—St. Petersburg professor, p. 776). However, “the standard English commentary” disputes this, on the weighty ground that the ethnic name of China was not even known to the Greeks until the era of Ptolemy (120 years before Christ). Therefore, under the land of Sinim he sees one of the southern Phoenician regions, of which under the name of the land “Sinim or Sinites” also speaks the well-known biblical table of nations (Gen 10:17).

Isaiah 49:13. Sing for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth; break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. “Sing for joy, O heavens, rejoice, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains.” The present verse occupies in the structure of chapter 49 a special, middle position, serving as it were as a dividing line of its two halves—one, originally messianic (1–12), the other—serving as a repetition and more detailed development of the first (14–26). Of itself, it represents a quite usual for the author of the present book solemn laudatory hymn to God the Creator and Redeemer from the face of the whole universe (Isa 44:23; Isa 52 and others). “For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted.” Here are indicated the motives of that high joy to which the prophet invites the whole world. 65. By the “compassion” and “comfort” mentioned here, according to the thought of the author, should be understood not so much the immediate deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, but rather its more distant, messianic image—the liberation of spiritual Israel from the bonds of sin, curse and death (Isa 2:3). In the interests of the unity and authenticity of the book of the prophet Isaiah, one should also pay attention to the quite characteristic term “afflicted” used here, encountered also in the first part of the book of the prophet Isaiah (Isa 11:4). 66 Isa 49:14-17. From this point inclusive comes a special encouraging discourse of the prophet, addressed by him to Zion. Essentially, it represents somewhat modified repetition of the earlier discourse of the Messiah Himself (v. 4). Just as there the Messiah lamented the needlessness and seeming pointlessness of His future mission, so here the entire people, of whom the Messiah was the representative, pours out unjust complaints of their abandonment and forsaking by God. And just as then the Lord dispersed all doubts and despondency of His Servant, so now He clearly manifests the entire groundlessness of such fears in Zion.

Isaiah 49:14. But Zion said: The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. “But Zion said: The Lord has forsaken me, and My God has forgotten me!” Comparing this place with one of the nearest parallels (Isa 40:27), we have every right to refer it to the historical Israel and to that faint-heartedness and murmuring against God, which more than once came forth from the lips of this stiff-necked and ungrateful people, always ready to transfer the responsibility for all their supposed and real misfortunes to someone else, chiefly to God Himself. And in this case under Zion, murmuring against God, should be understood, evidently, again the same Israelite people, in the person of its generation contemporary with the prophet...Their representatives, experiencing a whole series of historical troubles, hearing the threatening denunciatory discourses of the prophet and not seeing the fulfillment of their earthly false messianic plans, came into despondency and, as usual, murmured against God for abandoning and forgetting them. The prophet does not leave all this without an answer; but in the very answer he skillfully substitutes a new subject of discourse: instead of the old Zion—that is, the fleshly historical Israel, he passes to the new, spiritual Zion, that is, to the Church of Christ, and beautifully explains that this true and only worthy to God Zion, the Lord will never abandon and will not forget with His mercy, but on the contrary—will give it wide distribution and high flourishing. “In the Old Testament period Zion was called the mountain of God, on which stood the temple of the Most High, sanctified by Him (1 Sam 8-9 ch.). The spiritual center of humanity was among the community of the faithful to the Lord, who with faith and hope listened to the prophets who spoke of Emmanuel. The sins of the people and the constant defilements of the temple (Ezek 8-Ezek 9:7; Ezek 10-Ezek 11:23), seemingly, destroyed Zion on earth...But in the following words of the prophecy of Isaiah we see that the Lord fulfills the promises given to all humanity, and then the name of Zion is transferred to all those who call upon the name of the Lord (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:21); for, as the Apostle Paul says to all Christians: ‘You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven’. (Heb 12:22-23 – Vlastov).

Isaiah 49:15. Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even should these forget, yet I will not forget you. “Can a woman forget her nursing child...yet I will not forget you.” The strength of the love and care of the Lord for His faithful Zion surpasses all, the very strongest and most inseparable natural, human bonds.

Isaiah 49:16. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me. “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms.” A new, no less powerful image of the constant remembrance by God of His spiritual Zion. At the same time, it notes a characteristic, purely everyday trait of the primitive peoples of the East—to make on themselves, on the face or hands, special, mnemonic marks, as witnessed by ethnographers and historians of Palestine (Deut 6:8; Deut 11:18 The pulp. Commentary—p. 233). “Your walls are always before Me.” As Zion serves as an emblem of the whole people, so the “walls” of Zion are a symbol of the whole city (Ps 50:20). St. Cyril of Alexandria under the “walls” of the Christian church allegorically understands the apostles, evangelists and in general, the pastors and leaders of the church.

Isaiah 49:17. Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go away from you. In it the prophet announces solid, inner peace to faithful Zion, through the return of true sons and the removal of all harmful members. Instead of the words: “your children shall make haste” the LXX, Targum, Vulgate 67 and other translations have “your builders,”—which occurred through confusion of two phonetically similar Hebrew words—banajh (“your children”) and bonajh (“building you”),—in correspondence with which a certain change was also made to the subsequent discourse. The commentary of the St. Petersburg professor prefers the Hebrew Massoretic text. In the messianic sense by the true sons of spiritual Zion are understood “the children of light,” on whom the temple of the living God is built (John 12:36; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 1 Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16); and by the destroyers and despoilers—those false teachers and heresiarchs of the young Christian church, against whom the holy Apostle John the Theologian complained: “they went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 Jn. 2:19) and Paul: “Would that those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!” (Gal 5:12). Isa 49:18-21. From verses 18–21 inclusive all these thoughts, with even greater expressiveness and force develop in a new magnificent image, especially close and understandable to the peoples of the ancient East. For them, especially for the Jews, there was no greater misfortune than childlessness and widowhood, and on the contrary—there was no greater joy than numerous offspring. And behold, Zion, which at first is presented in a sorrowful role as a childless widow, is now depicted in the position of a rejoicing bride, to whom numerous offspring is already assured, so abundant that it will even be cramped around its mother, who herself will marvel where she, still so recently childless, barren and abandoned by all, suddenly gathered such a large and already grown family?

Isaiah 49:18. Lift up your eyes round about and see; all of them gather together, they come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all on like an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does. “Lift up your eyes round about and see—all of them gather together, they come to you.” An inspired, highly poetic appeal, encountered in the prophet Isaiah more than once, in connection with the calling of the Gentiles into the church of Christ (Isa 60:4; Isa 61:10). It is not without reason that it entered into the composition of one of the songs of the well-known paschal canon.

Ephesians 5:23–24. “You shall put them all on like an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.” “The abundance, variety and beauty of the children of Zion gathered from everywhere are like the abundance, variety and beauty of an adorned bride. The comparison of the church with a bride in Sacred Scripture is one of the usual, cf. Song of Songs, Ephesians 5:23–24” (St. Petersburg professor). “The Bride” of Christ in the New Testament is called the entire church, not just one part of it (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:29; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:12 and others).

Isaiah 49:19. For your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall now be too narrow for inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away. Verses 19–20 speak particularly clearly of the replacement of the former children of fleshly Israel with new sons of spiritual Israel, and the colors for this picture are taken from the subsequent fate of the historical Israel. “For your waste and desolate places and your desolate land.” The land of Judea, desolated by the invasion of the Babylonians, serves for the prophet also as a symbol of the soulless and barren religion of form, into which the full-of-spirit and powerful legislation of Moses degenerated for later Jews. And now, in the church of renewed Israel, on the place of this empty wilderness shall appear, according to the word of the prophet, thick crowds of people, to whom it becomes even cramped in Jerusalem and its surroundings.

Isaiah 49:20. The children born during the time of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears: The place is too cramped for me; make room for me, that I may dwell. “The children born in your bereavement.” The image is taken from the historical fact—the death through voluntary naturalization in Babylon of many Jews, in place of whom the Lord promises to raise up new children of Israel, of whom more is spoken in the following verse.

Isaiah 49:21. Then you will say in your heart: Who has borne these for me, seeing I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away? And who has brought up these? I was left alone—where then have these come from? “Who has borne these for me?...who has brought them up?...where were they?” With these exclamations of amazement the prophet quite clearly shows us the unusualness and supernatural character of the fact of which he speaks. Consequently, the discourse here is not of fleshly birth of natural children, but of the miraculous spiritual birth of children of the New Covenant church. Some commentators in this astonishment are ready to see a prophetic allusion to those disputes about circumcision and the significance of the Mosaic law, which existed in the primitive (chiefly Jerusalem) church and which were resolved at the apostolic council (Acts 15:5-29).

Isaiah 49:22. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. As if in answer to the questions of the preceding verse, God Himself says that all this has come to pass not by itself, not by way of some natural historical processes, but solely by the wave of His almighty Hand, which is obeyed by all the mighty of the earth. “I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My signal to the peoples.” The raising of the hand and the raising of the signal—this is a sign by which attention is drawn to all to the important content of the subsequent discourse. The blessed Jerome allegorically understands by the signal the instrument of redemption—the Cross of Christ, the symbol of the victorious sign of Christians. “Nations” and “peoples” here are definitely called those territories which will produce from among themselves the chief contingent of the future children of spiritual Israel, that is, the Church of Christ.

Isaiah 49:23. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for Me shall not be put to shame. “And kings shall be your foster fathers and their queens your nursing mothers.” This, first of all, is a symbol of the highest honor which the newly converted children of the New Covenant church shall enjoy. But it is not free from a positive historical sense, as we have already seen before (see commentary on verse 7). In particular, one cannot help but remember the example of the holy equal-to-the-apostles king Constantine and his mother Helen.

Isaiah 49:24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or shall the captives of the tyrant be delivered? Isaiah 49:25. Surely, thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your sons. Isaiah 49:26. And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with new wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. In concluding His discourse about the power of the exclusive Divine protection of the New Covenant church, the prophet on behalf of the Lord says that no usual examples and comparisons can be applied to it. Thus, among men it is thought that no one can wrest the prey from the hands of the mighty or captives from the victor (24). With the Lord, on the contrary, the prey of the tyrant will be taken from him and the captives will be delivered from slavery to the victor. The very images of “prey” and “captivity” are taken, it seems, from the era of the Babylonian captivity; but received here a messianically allegorical character, which the blessed Jerome interprets adaptively to the discourses of Jesus Christ about the power of Satan over the sinful world, destroyed by the blood of the Redeemer. * * * In the Slavonic translation of the LXX instead of “Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, despised by all, abused by the people, servant of rulers”—“Thus says the Lord, the God who has delivered you of Israel: Sanctify the one who despises his own soul, hated by the nations, servants of princes.” One gets an entirely different, far more befitting the chosen one of God sense. Not a servant of rulers—but only temporarily abused by the nations, slaves of princes! Note of the editor. According to the LXX “Persia” and the Slavonic translation “and others from the land of Persia”—Note of the editor. It is completely clear—they shall come from the north and from the sea. The sea is the Mediterranean, and all the islands are there. And the land of Persia lies to the east, Persia. From afar—the south. There inhabited lands lie far away, beyond the Arabian desert. Note of the editor. In the Slavonic translation from the LXX: “and comfort Your humble people.” Note of the editor.

Isaiah 11:4. “But with righteousness He shall judge the humble, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” Note of the editor. In the Slavonic translation—“shall soon be rebuilt”—Note of the editor.