Chapter Fifty-Four

By external connection of images and facts, the present chapter appears to have nothing in common with the content of the preceding chapter 53. This connection can and should be found somewhat earlier, in the Isa 49:18-20, Isa 51:17, and Isa 52:1 chapters, where the restoration of the renewed Jerusalem, as the center of the future spiritual Israel, is discussed in exactly the same way. The thoughts expressed in the chapters just enumerated in parts and under the veil of images here become the subject of special detailed exposition, giving them greater scope, as well as greater breadth and depth. But if we ponder the inner sense of the prophet’s words, it is not difficult to establish the connection of the present (chapter 54) with the preceding (chapter 53). In the concluding verses of the latter chapter, in the speech about the fruits of the great redemptive sacrifice of the Messiah, it was indicated, among other things, that the Innocent Sufferer, after His glorification by God, shall see much and numerous offspring (10) and that He shall save and justify “the many.” It is about this “long-lived seed,” about these justified many children of the barren mother that the prophet now wishes to conduct logically quite fitting, special speech.

1–6. Prophecy of the multiplication of children of the church being rebuilt and reunited by God. 7–10. The eternity and immovability of the covenant of God with the new covenant church. 11–17. The providential care of God for the new church: its adornment, instruction, establishment in righteousness, and protection from enemies.

Isa 54:1-3. There occurs the solemn address to the subject of the speech, usual for the prophet Isaiah in such cases (cf. Isa 35:1; Isa 48:1; Isa 49:1; Isa 51:1; Isa 52 and others), though not sufficiently clear – to whom exactly? Because of this, some say that this is an address to the pagans, others – to those who believed from the Jews, still others – to spiritual Israel in general, as composed of both pagans and Jews. The last explanation is more complete and better answers the main theme of this discourse.

Isaiah 54:1. Rejoice, barren woman who has not given birth; cry out and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of the one who has a husband, says the Lord. “Rejoice, barren woman, who has not given birth; cry out and shout, you who have not endured labor pains.” The pleonasm and parallelism of thought common in Hebrew poetic speech. As for the meaning of the address itself, the majority of Holy Fathers incline to see here an exclusive address to the “barren pagan church of former times” (Holy Cyril of Alexandria, Holy John Chrysostom, Jerome, and others). But, as evident from the testimony of Jerome, such a somewhat one-sided view became established in opposition to another, even more one-sided and much more dangerous view – that of the Jewish chiliasts, who based their crude sensual false messianic desires on this and similar passages. But for us such danger disappears, and we can boldly restore the true meaning of this prophetic image. To do this, it is necessary to compare it with other similar images taken from the same prophet.

Isaiah 54:1. Such a close parallel is found at the beginning of chapter 35: “Let the desert rejoice and the parched land, and let the wasteland be glad.” The unity of the image of the “barren, childless” and the image of the “parched” “uninhabited” desert will be revealed not only from the similarity of Isaiah 54:1 with Isa 35:1, but also from the fact that individual features relating in chapter 54 to the “barren” are also found in the first part of the book. Compare for example, verse 1 with Isa 26:17-18 (especially “who gave birth, as it were, to the wind”), the words: – “the desolate one has more children... you shall spread to the right and to the left,” compare with Isa 26:15; verse 2 with Isa 33:20; verse 11–12 with Isa 28 (Priest Thaddeus, cited work, p. 215, note). In chapter 35, according to the commonly accepted opinion, the “thirsty desert” means the land of Israel or Palestine, which during the Babylonian captivity indeed fell into great desolation (Isa 49:19) and flourished again only upon the return of its inhabitants from Babylonian captivity. From this we can conclude that in chapter 54, under the image of “a barren and childless wife, temporarily abandoned... by her husband,” is meant, first and foremost, the people of Israel. But not the entire Israel, for the most part having rejected the Messiah and for that cast off by God, but the better, though smaller part of this Israel, but “his holy seed,” which served as leaven for the new spiritual Israel, flowing primarily from the depths of paganism. Some analogy of the address, namely to this “remnant” of Israel can be discerned, for example, in the following words of the prophet Isaiah: “Rejoice and be glad, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.” (Isa 12:6). See also the solemnly joyful discourses of the prophet about spiritual Zion (chapters 51–52). “For the desolate woman has more children than the one who has a husband.” Those who in the preceding address saw an indication of the desert of “paganism,” and in this comparison see a contrast between the new covenant (pagan) church and the old covenant (Jewish) church. But we, holding to a different interpretation in the first case, must consequently propose another in this place. By the wife who has a husband and yet is quite barren, we understand the historical, old covenant Israel, which in spite of all the exclusivity of its covenant, as the chosen people, with God, turned out in its whole mass to be however a “barren fig tree.” By the “wife abandoned by her husband” and yet bearing many children, we understand the “remnant” of faithful Israel, namely Christians from the Jews, who, although they lost their former exclusivity in their relationship with God (in the Church of Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek” Gal 3:28), nevertheless acquired very many faithful children of the new covenant church from former pagans. The fact that this wife is abandoned by God does not debase her at all, because she is abandoned not for her worthlessness, but as a result of the ineffectiveness, the unnecessary nature, the extinction of this very marriage, for Christianity is so universal and cosmopolitan that there is no longer room in it for any exclusive tribal or national covenants with God. Thus, here we have, properly speaking, the address of the prophet to faithful Israel, who believed in the Messiah and thereby justified their high calling. But since this “remnant” of Israel served as leaven or seed for the birth of many children of the new covenant church from the midst of paganism, thereby the converted pagans are not excluded from the prophet’s discourse. We cannot fail to note, finally, one important circumstance, that our interpretation stands in full agreement with the view of the Apostle Paul regarding the role in the history of Christianity of the best representatives of Judaism, when, for example, he says that “He called not only from the Jews, but also from the pagans” (Rom 9:24), or when he calls the Christian from the pagans a “wild olive,” grafted onto the stem of Judaism (Rom 11:17).

Isaiah 54:2. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not hold back; let out your ropes long and strengthen your stakes; Isaiah 54:3. for you shall spread to the right and to the left, and your offspring shall possess the nations and shall dwell in desolate cities. “Enlarge the place of your tent... let out your long ropes and strengthen your stakes.” With our understanding of the first verse, the interpretation of the present becomes very simple and clear. The remnant of faithful Israel is very small and therefore lives in the most cramped shelter (tent). But since it is about to expand and grow greatly, thanks to the influx of new children from among the pagans, the prophet urges it to rebuild its dwelling to make it as spacious and roomy as possible. The images – of a ruined tent, in case of misfortune, and of a renewed and expanded one, in case of prosperity and happiness – are among the favorite and commonly used ones among the prophets (Isa 33:20; Jer 10:20 and others). In the prophetic and typological sense, under the enlarged and renewed tent, spread out to all parts of the world (“right and left” in verse 3), we can understand the new covenant church, as Jerome explains: “it must spread to the right and to the left, must not imitate the narrowness of the Jewish tabernacle, which had a hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, nor be confined within the short space of the temple, which had sixty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width, but must continually occupy places to the right and to the left.” And the blessed Theodoret adds to this: “one would hardly err if he called the stakes the holy prophets, apostles, and martyrs: for they, hidden in the ground, like stakes, hold the tent of the church, bound by teaching, as it were by ropes.” It is necessary to recall that both the very image of the “tent of salvation” and the application of this image to the “holy remnant of Israel” is for the prophet Isaiah not something completely unexpected and new, but gives, it seems, a brief repetition of what was the subject of special exposition in one of the earlier chapters of the first part of his book (see chapter IV in particular verses 2–3 and 6). “And your offspring shall possess nations and dwell in devastated cities.” The new covenant Christian church is treated here as the natural continuation of the old covenant Jewish church. And so, when the majority of representatives of the old covenant theocracy did not recognize Christ as the Messiah, rejected Him and thereby departed from their true calling and, as it were, abandoned the ideal places of their dwelling (in the religious sense), then in their depleted places there appeared in multitude others, worthy of occupying them, – the former pagans, who became true descendants not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, of the renewed Israel (Rom 9:7-8; Gal 4:28 and others).

Isaiah 54:4. Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed; do not be embarrassed, for you shall not be abused: you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the disgrace of your widowhood anymore. From verse 4–8 there is a special, deliberate encouragement of the “holy Israel,” to which is revealed the complete groundlessness of its fears and all the richness of the divine mercy poured out upon it. “Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed... you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the disgrace of your widowhood anymore.” Two thoughts, twice repeated, parallel in content, encouraging in tone: do not fear, forget your brief shame, Jerome in his translation from the Hebrew places them even in a causal relationship: “do not fear... because you will forget the shame of your youth...” The LXX text does the same, together with the Slavonic: “do not fear... for you will forget eternal shame” (cf. Zech 8:15). Some confusion is raised here only by the question of what is meant by “shame of youth” and “disgrace of widowhood”? Since, according to our interpretation, the subject of this prophecy is Christians from the Jews, who perhaps were somewhat disturbed by their special, isolated condition (the majority of Jews stood on a hostile to Christianity ground), in the noted terms one should see an indication of certain specific periods from Israeli history. The “shame of youth” is best understood as the time before the covenant at Sinai, particularly the period of Egyptian wandering, when the Hebrew people almost entirely forgot the true God, about which the prophet Ezekiel expressly remarks: “and they played the harlot in Egypt, played the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed, and there was poured out their virgin bosoms” (Ezek 23:3). By the “disgrace of widowhood” is usually meant the period of Babylonian captivity, when the Lord, for the sins and apostasy of Israel in following foreign gods, again abandoned it and deprived it of His gracious presence (the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem). Direct confirmation of such a view can be found in the prophet Jeremiah: “Israel shall not remain a widow, and Judah by his God” (Jer 51:5), and indirect – in Isaiah himself: “you were sold for your sins and for your transgressions your mother was sent away” (Isa 50:1).

Isaiah 54:5. For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel: He shall be called God of all the earth. “For your Maker is your husband.” Better, in Russian, to reverse these definitions: “your husband – is your Maker.” The faithful remnant of Israel, disturbed by its small number, might, in a moment of despondency, consider itself abandoned by men and forsaken by God. The prophet comforts it, saying that for faithful Israel the time of disgraceful widowhood has already passed, and that it has a husband again, who is the Maker and not only Maker, but also Redeemer. “He shall be called God of all the earth.” This is one of the significant old covenant passages where the idea of the universality of God is expressed particularly clearly: He is – not the God of Israel and Judea alone, but God of all the earth, Creator of the universe and Redeemer of all mankind. To such a height could the religious consciousness of old covenant humanity rise only in rare exceptional cases (Ps 23:1; Ps 46:2; and others); but wider dissemination and deeper understanding of all this gradually developed only in new covenant times. Isa 54:6-8. There is a repetition of the same thought – of the new covenant between God and the people – expressed in more detailed development of the already repeatedly mentioned image of a spousal union, first temporarily broken, then restored again.

Isaiah 54:6. For as a wife abandoned and grieving in spirit the Lord calls you, and as a wife of youth who was rejected, says your God. “For as a wife abandoned and grieving in spirit.” In the last words one cannot fail to see a hint at the immediate reason for the prophecy offered in this discourse to console the small remnant of faithful Israel.

Isaiah 54:7. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. Isaiah 54:8. In a surge of wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with eternal kindness I will have compassion on you, says your Redeemer, the Lord. Hosea 2:19–20. “For a brief moment I abandoned you... but with eternal kindness I will have compassion on you.” The usual Hebrew poetic devices – parallelism of thoughts and their antithesis. Both the content of this image and its very form remind us rather closely of the well-known symbolic image so thoroughly expounded in the prophet Hosea (particularly Hosea 2:19–20). What deserves attention here is the contrast between Divine wrath and love: wrath – for a short time, but mercy and love – forever. Isa 54:9-10. These two verses represent a Divine oath, given to affirm the immutability of what was said – about the eternal mercy of God toward His true, faithful Israel. The content or sign of this oath is a reference to another similar historical event, in which the eternity of Divine mercy was once sufficiently expressed. This is an allusion to the concluding moment of the history of the universal flood, when the Lord swore to Noah that He would not repeat such a devastating punishment for the sins of men (Gen 9:11). And so, just as the Lord faithfully and inviolably fulfills this promise despite all the terrible crimes of humanity, in exactly the same way He will immutably fulfill His new promise of mercy toward the new covenant Israel.

Isaiah 54:10. The mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed – but my mercy shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be shaken, says the Lord who has mercy on you. “The mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed, but my mercy shall not depart from you.” An extraordinarily joyful and comforting thought, expressed moreover in a most definite, solemnly categorical form, which naturally calls for comparison with the well-known words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt 24:35). “The mountains shall sooner move and hills be shaken than my thoughts change, as it is said in the Gospel. Such is my mercy, that the covenant of peace by which the world is reconciled to me be preserved not by the merit of those to whom it is given, but by my mercy” (Jerome). Isa 54:11-17. At the conclusion of the chapter a poetic, touchingly beautiful description is given of the special Divine care for His faithful, new covenant Israel.

Isaiah 54:11. Poor, battered by storm, comfortless! Behold, I will lay your stones upon carbuncles and make your foundations of sapphires; “Poor, battered by storm, comfortless!” In such words the prophet addresses the new covenant Jewish church, and through it – to all spiritual Zion. How much poetic tenderness, touching solicitude, and sincere warmth of feeling there are in them! And how strongly and beautifully all the vicissitudes of the external and internal fate of Israel are embraced in these few words, beginning with the gradual internal norm of its moral and religious life and ending with the loss of its political independence, which forced it to constantly pass from one master to another.

Isaiah 54:12. and I will make your windows from rubies, and your gates – from pearls, and all your walls – from precious stones. “I will lay your stones upon carbuncles... your gates of pearls and all your walls of precious stones.” In contrast to the extreme instability of the old covenant Jewish church, the new covenant Christian church (led by the believing Jews) will be established especially firmly and solidly: rubies and sapphires shall be laid as its foundation, pearls shall serve as its gates, and the walls shall be made entirely of precious stones. All this testifies, on the one hand, to the extreme durability and stability of the church building, and on the other – to the wealth and splendor of its external adornment. Apparently, this same image, in the form of the “upper Zion or heavenly Jerusalem,” is described in detail in the Apocalypse (Rev 21:10-27), and in a somewhat altered form also in the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 40-48 chapter). The immediate, historical meaning of this image is that although the new covenant church will also not be without strong upheavals and storms, they are not to be feared, just as the fury of the sea waves is powerless against a solid granite rock, or as external siege is not dangerous to a well and strongly fortified city. In the allegorical prophetic sense, according to the interpretation of the Holy Fathers – under the cornerstone lying in the foundation of the Church building, one must understand Christ (cf. Isa 28:16; Amos 7:8; Zech 3:8; Ps 117:22; Matt 21:42; Luke 20:17-18; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:4-8); and under the other precious stones concentrated around Him – His apostles and disciples, as well as all their worthy successors (Matt 16:18; and others).

Isaiah 54:13. All your sons shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your sons. Verses 13–14 depict the future internal well-being of the new covenant church. “All your sons shall be taught by the Lord.” That the Lord will pour out peace and mercy on the new covenant children of His, and will impart to them the gracious lessons of love, wisdom, and piety – is spoken of repeatedly in many places of both the Old and New Testaments (Isa 44:3; Jer 31:33; Ezek 11:19; Joel 2:28; John 6:45; Acts 2:17; 1 Thess 4:10 and others).

Isaiah 54:14. You shall be established in righteousness; you shall be far from oppression, for you will have nothing to fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. “Psalm 44. “You shall be established in righteousness.” From verse 14 it is evident that the words of the Lord are addressed to the Bride and Spouse of the Great King, to the Church of Christ. The Church, the Bride of Christ, “shall be established in righteousness.” But is not it He who is her Bridegroom about whom the Psalmist (Psalm 44) prophesied and who is the same Emmanuel and Servant of the Lord: “hasten, ride on the chariot, for truth and meekness and righteousness” (Ps 44:5)?” “Does not Isaiah say about Him: “A child is born to us... and his name shall be called... Prince of Peace. To the increase of his dominion and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and in his kingdom, to establish it and to strengthen it with judgment and righteousness from now on and forever.” (Isa 9:6-7 Vlastov). Isa 54:15-17. The Lord promises His almighty help against all enemies who may ever rise up against His Church.

Isaiah 54:15. Behold, they will gather together, but not by me; whoever gathers against you will fall. “Behold, they will gather together, but not by me.” A new point of view is affirmed regarding the troubles and sufferings of the church: the old covenant church experienced troubles, which, to instruct it, the Lord Himself permitted or even, as it were, sent upon it (Isa 1:5-6; Isa 2:6; Isa 6:10; Isa 10:5; Jer 7:25-34; Ezek 8-11 and others). But the new covenant sufferings – troubles and persecutions – have another source and different significance, partly revealed by the Apostle Peter (1 Pet 4:12-13).

Isaiah 54:16. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coals in the fire and produces a weapon for his work, – and I create the destroyer to ruin. Isaiah 54:17. No weapon forged against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall refute. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants, their vindication from me, says the Lord. The destruction of the church’s enemies, who fall as victims of their own blind malice, is spoken of. This thought is encountered repeatedly in the prophet Isaiah earlier as well (Isa 42:25; Isa 44:25; Isa 49:26; Isa 52 and others). “The heritage of the Lord’s servants,” that is their ultimate reward – is vindication before God and eternal salvation. Thus the conclusion of the discourse, returning to its beginning, removes all reason for the despondent confusion and fear of some (the “remnant” of Israel), which gave the prophet the reason for pronouncing this very discourse.