Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
4. the reproach of thy widowhood clearly refers to the period of the Exile when Zion regarded herself as cast off by Jehovah. The sense of the shame of thy youth is less obvious. Since the conception has some affinities with the striking allegory in Ezekiel 16 it is probable that the reference goes back to the origin of the nation (cf. Eze 16:4-8); the reference being to the Egyptian oppression.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. Zion shall forget her former shame in the joy of reconciliation to her God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fear not … – (See Isa 41:10, note, Isa 41:14, note).
Neither shalt thou be confounded – All these words mean substantially the same thing; and the design of the prophet is to affirm, in the strongest possible manner, that the church of God should be abundantly prospered and enlarged. The image of the female that was barren is kept up, and the idea is, that there should be no occasion of the shame which she felt who had no children.
For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth – In the abundant increase and glory of future times, the circumstances of shame which attended their early history shall be forgotten. The youth of the Jewish people refers doubtless to the bondage of Egypt, and the trials and calamities which came upon them there. So great should be their future prosperity and glory, that all this should be forgotten.
The reproach of thy widowhood – The captivity at Babylon, when they were like a woman bereft of her husband and children (see the notes at Isa 49:21).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 54:4
Fear not; for thou shalt net be ashamed
Shame
Here, as in many other cases, shame includes the disappointment of the hopes, hut with specific reference to previous misconduct (Job 6:20).
The first clause declares that the Church has nocause for despondency, the second disposes of the causes which might seem to be suggested by her history. The essential meaning is, thy former experience of My displeasure. (J. A. Alexander.)
Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth
Shall I remember my sins in heaven?
In looking forward to heaven, two questions have stirred the minds and hearts of most Christians: Shall I remember my sins in heaven? and If I remember my sins in heaven, will not the recollection mar my joy, and interfere with my blessedness? These
questions are not idle. They originate with that consciousness of depravity which is the first step towards our personal salvation, and they recur in connection with the dispensation of Divine mercy. Our condition prompts the inquiry, and the reply will reveal to us the unsearchable riches of Divine grace. The questions resolve themselves into this: Will the dispensation of Divine mercy, when it has done its work, blot out all the mischievous consequences of sin? The text guides our reply. There was a people taken up by God when in circumstances of great degradation. They are brought into the closest connection with Him–into such a connection as that the conjugal union is the best possible representation of it.. God is faithful to this people, but they are faithless to Him. He institutes means to bring them back to Himself, and He does bring them back. Then, speaking of their restoration, He says, Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, etc. In the realization of their restoration, they shall (in a certain sense) forget their apostacy. We declare our belief that, in heaven, you will not so remember your sins as to have your happiness interfered with by the recollection, and that whatever remembrance you have of the apostacy and depravity, will rather be the occasion of increasing your blessedness and joy, than of interfering with the one, or of marring the other. The remembrance of sin did exist under the Levitical dispensation; but in the dispensation of Christ there is nothing at all analogous to the annually recurring day of atonement Heb 10:17). So far as our intercourse with God and the cherishing of bright prospects are concerned there is to be a complete forgetfulness of sin. With respect to heaven, we put before you two remarks.
I. THERE IS A RECOLLECTION INEVITABLE. The identity of passions will involve an identity of consciousness. What are the recollections which are inevitable?
1. I was a sinner.
2. I was restored to God by such means and under such influences.
II. THERE IS A REMEMBRANCE OF SINS IMPOSSIBLE. There is one suggestion that seems of importance here. It is that by and by memory will not be the faculty chiefly exercised and put forth. When is it that we live most in the past? It is when we are sad. In heaven there will be no sadness, no solitude, no fear, no carefulness. Memory, therefore, will not be goaded as now. Memory will then have an inferior place. Observation and penetration will be the chief mental exercises of heaven. A man will be surrounded by objects of intense interest, all connected with God. The commanding recollection of sin will therefore be impossible. The remembrance of sin in heaven will always be connected with the consciousness that sin has been blotted out. This will awaken thankfulness; and joy, with gratitude, will flow through the soul as a large and mighty river. Nothing in Gods conduct in heaven will put sin forward. Then, within yourselves there will be complete and conscious holiness. Look at another fact. You may have had companions here in iniquity, but you will have no unsaved companions in sin with you there. You may recognize persons with whom you trod the broad road, but you will there recognize them as redeemed beings; and, just as in your own case, the commanding thought is not sin but forgiveness, so with them the commanding association will be the wonderfulness of their redemption; not the depth of their apostacy and the length of their wanderings; so that their presence, instead of forcing upon you a remembrance of guilt, will only magnify before your eye and your heart the unsearchable riches of Gods grace and mercy. You will be employed by and by. Your employment will be all-absorbing, and it will be constant. Why should we talk to you about this? If you have a secret idea, or rather an impression, that there must be some limitation to Gods mercy, that it will not secure all this blotting out, what is the consequence? The effect is to limit your application to this pro-vision–you do not take full advantage of the riches of Gods mercy. (S. Martin.)
Gods gift of forgetfulness
To many religious people the burden of the past is the heaviest of their lives. No difficulties and trials of the present can match it for bitterness. They look forward calmly and hopefully to whatever the years may bring. Even the valley of the shadow has little terror for them, believing as they do that they will be shepherded through that to the eternal fold. And yet they are often weighted by a sore burden of the past; they are hag-ridden by shadows of dead days. Sometimes it is the very greatness and success and joy of the past which induce this constant recollection. But the burden of the past, which is more in keeping with the thought of our text, is not the recollection of some joy or success, but of some failure, some sorrow, some loss, some sin, some shame. And to some who live ever under the shadow of this memory it would mean new life to them if the promise came to them with the meaning it had in the prophets lips, Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. Of course, there is a certain sense in which we cannot forget, and are not meant to forget. Experience has its lessons to teach. All religion begins with repentance, and the appeal to repentance is an appeal to memory. But the promise of our text is a tacit condemnation of the sentimental brooding on the past, whatever that past may be, which weakens the present life, which keeps a man from gathering up the fragments of his life that remain, keeps him from doing his duty calmly, and giving himself to whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report. If we believe in the eternal love of God we must not let any pale ghost of the past, spectral figures of the night, chill our blood and keep us from our pilgrimage. 1)o not fear that this Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of sin will make sin easy; it is the only thing that can make sin impossible–the light that drives out the darkness, the love of God that fills the heart and leaves no room for evil, not even for evil memory. (Hugh Black, M. A.)
A blessed forgetfulness
The reproach of thy widowhood clearly refers to the period of the exile when Zion regarded herself as cast off by Jehovah. The sense of the shame of thy youth is less obvious. Since the conception has some affinities with the striking allegory in Eze 16:1-63., it is probable that the reference goes back to the origin of the nation Eze 16:4-8), the reference being rather to the Egyptian oppression. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Forgetting the shame of youth
A man who had lived for many years the Christian life, told me how there was a place in a street in Edinburgh which was associated with a sin. Every time in his early life he passed it, it brought back again the keen remorse and shame. It seemed to stain his life afresh whenever he saw the very place. But when he came to God and gave his heart and life to Christ, the first time he passed that place afterwards his soul was filled by a great transport of joy that all that was done, that it was no longer part of his life, that God had forgiven and forgotten and cast it behind His back. And he entered, for a moment at least in foretaste, into the perfect joy of soul, and he forgot the shame of his youth and remembered the reproach no more. (Hugh Black, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth] That is, “The bondage of Egypt: widowhood, the captivity of Babylon.” – Secker.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt not be ashamed for that barrenness and widowhood, which once was the matter of thy grief and shame, because now thou shalt be delivered from it, and God will own thee for his wife, and beget children of thee; as it is explained in the following words.
Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; it shall be forgotten both by thee and others: thou shalt not be upbraided with thy former barrenness in thy youthful state, nor confounded and tormented with the remembrance of it; both remembering and forgetting in Scripture use connote or comprehend those affections which naturally and usually follow upon them; so great shall be thy fertility and felicity, that it shall cause thee to forget thy former unfruitfulness and misery, as men commonly do in like cases, as Gen 41:51; Job 11:16; Isa 65:16; Joh 16:21.
The reproach of thy widowhood; that time and state when thou wert like a widow, disconsolate and desolate, forsaken by her husband, and having in a manner no children; which was a great reproach, especially among the Jews.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. (Isa 41:10;Isa 41:14).
shame of thy youthIsrael’sunfaithfulness as wife of Jehovah, almost from her earliesthistory.
reproach ofwidowhoodIsrael’s punishment in her consequent dismissal fromGod and barrenness of spiritual children in Babylon and her presentdispersion (Isa 54:1; Isa 49:21;Jer 3:24; Jer 3:25;Jer 31:19; Hos 2:2-5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fear not,…. The fulfilment of these things; however unlikely and unpromising they might seem, yet God was able to perform them; and therefore way should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart:
for thou shall not be ashamed; as men are, when disappointed of what they have been hoping for and expecting; but so it should not be with the church, she should not be ashamed of her hope, faith, and confidence; for there would be a performance of all that the Lord had spoken: nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness, which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts, which would be many; and of the straitness of the place of her tent or habitation, which would now be enlarged:
neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; other words made use of to express the same thing, and for the further confirmation of it, that she needed not, and that she should not be put to the blush, or to shame and confusion, on the above accounts:
for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; by which may be meant either the small number of converts at the first preaching of the Gospel; or more especially that there were so few of the wise and learned, the rich and noble, that embraced it, with which the first Christians were greatly upbraided; or those persecutions which attended them the three first centuries, which, being now at an end, shall be forgotten:
and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more; which signifies much the same as before, the seeming desolate estate of the church upon the death of Christ; when she seemed to be deprived of her husband, and forsaken by him, and left as a widow, and without children, barren and unfruitful; which was reckoned reproachful with the Jews, Lu 1:25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The encouraging promise is continued in Isa 54:4: “Fear not, for thou wilt not be put to shame; and bid defiance to reproach, for thou wilt not blush: no, thou wilt forget the shame of thy youth, and wilt no more remember the reproach of thy widowhood.” Now that redemption was before the door, Israel was not to fear any more, or to be overcome (as the niphal nikhlam implies) by a felling of the shame consequent upon her state of punishment, or so to behave herself as to leave no room for hope. For a state of things was about to commence, in which she would have no need to be ashamed (on bosh and c hapher or hechpr ), but which, on the contrary ( , imo , as in Isa 10:7; Isa 55:9), would be so glorious that she would forget the shame of her youth, i.e., of the Egyptian bondage, in which the national community of Israel was still but like a virgin ( almah ), who entered into a betrothal when redeemed by Jehovah, and became His youthful wife through a covenant of love ( ehe = b e rth ) when the law was given at Sinai (Jer 2:2; Eze 16:60); so glorious indeed, that she would never again remember the shame of her widowhood, i.e., of the Babylonian captivity, in which she, the wife whom Jehovah had taken to Himself, was like a widow whose husband had died.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 4-8: FEAR, SHAME AND WIDOWHOOD EXCHANGED FOR EVERLASTING JOY
1. Zion is no longer to be afraid, for she will never again be brought to shame or confusion, (Isa 45:17).
2. The shame of her youth – when she rebelled against her divine husband (Jer 31:19) – and the reproach of her widowhood will all be relegated to the past, (Isa 4:1; Isa 25:8; Isa 51:7).
3. Henceforth, her Maker is her husband (Jer 3:14; Hos 2:19-20); she is restored to fellowship (vs. 5) – the very SAME NATION that was cut off because of the willful disobedience of her unbelief!
a. Her husband (Lord, King, and divine Provider) is “Lord of Hosts”.
b. Her Redeemer is “the Holy One of Israel”, (Isa 43:14; Isa 48:17).
c. Henceforth, He shall be known, not only as ISRAEL’S GOD, but, as “the God of the WHOLE EARTH”! (comp. Isa 6:3; Isa 11:9).
4. The Lord calls her back to Himself who was forsaken and grieved in spirit, (vs. 6; Isa 49:14-21; Isa 50:1-2; comp. Isa 62:4).
5. It was due to her malicious rebellion that He forsook her “for a small moment” (vs. 7a; Isa 26:20; comp. Psa 30:5); but, with great mercy He will gather and restore her, (vs. 7b; Isa 11:12; Isa 43:5-7).
6. In overflowing wrath Jehovah momentarily hid His face from her, (vs. 8a; Isa 60:10); but, with everlasting kindness, He will have mercy on her, (vs. 8b; Isa 63:7).
a. The word rendered “kindness” is again “hesed” – a word which strongly proclaims divine fidelity to the covenant as anciently set forth, (Deu 7:9; Deu 7:12; Neh 1:5; Neh 9:32; Dan 9:4; Psa 25:10).
b. Nor for a moment has He forsaken His covenant, nor ceased to love her who has so flagrantly violated it!
7. Jehovah is her REDEEMER! (Isa 49:10; Isa 49:13).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. Here, as formerly, he strengthens the hearts of believers, and addresses the whole Church; for the calamity was universal, and the Church appeared to be totally ruined. He bids her be of good cheer, and next assigns the reason; that the issue of her troubles will be such that she “shall not be ashamed;” as if he had said, “Although for a time thou art wretched, yet thy affairs shall be prosperous;” and as it is elsewhere said, “They who hope in the Lord shall not be ashamed.” (Psa 25:3)
Blush not; that is, “cherish good hope, and be confident.” Those men “blush” who are ashamed, and who, being disappointed of their hope, suffer their hearts to be cast down. He next assigns the same reason, “for thou shalt not be exposed to shame.” I consider that here, as formerly, כי (ki) signifies for; and therefore the same sentence is twice repeated under a variety of expressions, except that the former clause may relate to the disposition of the heart, and the latter to the external cause. But the more simple meaning of both clauses is, that it is a promise of success and prosperity, as if he had said that the calamity shall be brought to an end.
Yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth. This is a confirmation of the former clause. He means the calamities which befell the Church while she was still young, and the remembrance of which will be wholly obliterated by the prosperity which she shall afterwards enjoy. We mentioned a little before, that widowhood is a term used in regard to her, because God had forsaken, and, so to speak, had divorced her.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Thou shalt forget.The shame of thy youth, was the Egyptian bondage, from which Jehovah chose Israel to be His bride (Jer. 3:1-11; Eze. 16:1-14). The reproach of widowhood was the captivity in Babylon.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Fear not not be ashamed Keywords to what follows. Childlessness was a reproach among orientals, and especially so among Jews.
Thy youth That is, in years when family barrenness came as a judgment.
Widowhood When sin caused thee to become bereft of Jehovah, thy proper husband. The figures here, of course, cover spiritual conditions. Defection from God is, plainly enough, the meaning. The times when this condition was very marked in Israel cover many periods during the monarchy. Backsliding from Jehovah was the rule among them; spiritual worship and fidelity the exception. The exile period alone was distinguished for the deepest and most radical reform.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Ver. 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. ] As widows and barren women wont to be. Thou hast been “without God and without Christ in the world”; but henceforth thou shalt be “married to him who is raised from the dead, that thou mayest bring forth fruit unto God.” Rom 7:4 Ipse enim quod vult iubet, et dat quod iubet. a When you would and should be certain and quiet in conscience, saith Mr Bradford, martyr, in a sweet letter of his to a woman troubled in mind, then should your faith burst through all things until it come to Christ crucified, and the eternal sweet mercies and goodness of God in Christ. Here, here is the bridal bed, here is your spouse’s resting place; creep into it, and in your arms of faith embrace him. Bewail your weakness, your unworthiness, your diffidence, &c., and you shall see he will turn to you. What said I, you shall see? Nay, I should have said, you shall feel he will turn to you. b
a Augustine.
b Acts and Mon., 1490.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 54:4-8
4Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the shame of your youth,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5For your husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the LORD of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth.
6For the LORD has called you,
Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,
Says your God.
7For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
8In an outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,
Says the LORD your Redeemer.
Isa 54:4 Fear not This is a Qal IMPERFECT (BDB 431, KB 432) used in a JUSSIVE sense. This is a recurrent theme in Isaiah (cf. Isa 7:4; Isa 8:12; Isa 35:4; Isa 41:10; Isa 41:13-14; Isa 43:5; Isa 44:2; Isa 51:7; Isa 54:4; Isa 54:14; Isa 57:11). Abraham’s seed are to remember that they are the recipients of
1. the presence of YHWH
2. the promises of YHWH
3. the purpose of YHWH
for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced
Notice the three promises to Abraham’s returning seed.
1. shame – negated Qal IMPERFECT, BDB 101, KB 116 (opposite of Isa 1:29; Isa 20:5)
2. feel humiliated – negated Niphal IMPERFECT, BDB 482, KB 480, cf. Isa 45:17; Isa 50:7
3. disgraced – negated Qal IMPERFECT, BDB 344, KB 340
you will forget. . .you will remember no more Notice the parallelism. These returnees are encouraged by the use of two family terms.
1. your youth
2. your widowhood
Israel was sinful in her early days (and it continued), therefore, she was exiled by YHWH (i.e., widowhood), but now both will be forgotten and hopefully a new day of faith and faithfulness begins!
Isa 54:5 Again, like Isa 54:4, family metaphors are used. Notice the different titles for Israel’s husband (cf. Isa 54:6-8; Hosea 1-3).
1. your Maker, – YHWH as both husband and creator, cf. Isa 43:1; Isa 43:7; Isa 44:2; Isa 44:21; Isa 44:24; Deu 32:18
2. the LORD of hosts – see Special Topic at below
3. your Redeemer – recurrent title in Isaiah (cf. Isa 41:14; Isa 43:14; Isa 44:6; Isa 44:24; Isa 47:4; Isa 48:17; Isa 49:7; Isa 49:26; Isa 54:5; Isa 54:8; Isa 59:20; Isa 63:16)
4. the Holy One of Israel – recurrent title in Isaiah (cf. Isa 1:4; Isa 5:19; Isa 5:24; Isa 10:20; Isa 12:6; Isa 17:7; Isa 29:19; Isa 29:23; Isa 30:11-12; Isa 30:15; Isa 31:1; Isa 37:23; Isa 41:14; Isa 41:16; Isa 41:20; Isa 43:3; Isa 43:14-15; Isa 45:11; Isa 48:17; Isa 49:7; Isa 54:5; Isa 55:5; Isa 60:9; Isa 60:14 (in both sections of Isaiah , 1-39, 40-66)
5. the God of all the earth – this universalism is characteristic of Isaiah, i.e., Isa 6:3; Isa 11:9; Isa 45:6; Isa 52:10
These titles are a Hebraic way of highlighting the characteristics of Israel’s God! For other wonderful texts on God’s character see Exo 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Psa 86:15; Psa 103:8; Psa 145:8-9.
SPECIAL TOPIC: LORD OF HOSTS
SPECIAL TOPIC: Characteristics of Israel’s God
Isa 54:6 Israel is described as a faithless wife who has been divorced (cf. Isa 49:14-21; Isa 50:1-2; Isa 62:4).
Isa 54:7 YHWH divorced His faithless wife but now seeks her out again (cf. Hosea 1-3). This is shocking in light of Moses’ writings about not remarrying the same woman.
For a brief moment I forsook you See Isa 26:20. God does get angry but it passes (cf. Psa 103:9-14).
I will gather you This (Piel IMPERFECT, BDB 867, KB 1062) is a way of referring to a reversal of the exile, a new exodus from Mesopotamia (cf. Isa 11:12; Isa 43:5; Isa 49:18; Isa 56:8; Isa 60:4).
Isa 54:8 In the OT the characteristics of YHWH as loving and compassionate are contrasted with Him as a God of justice and righteousness. Israel is the object of both YHWH’s love and wrath (lit. overflowing anger, BDB 1009, KB 1637, found only here). Theologically this is where the work of the Messiah (Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12) is needed. Love and justice meet at Calvary!
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you Wow! These are powerful words of God’s love and promises.
1. everlasting – see Special Topic: Forever (‘olam)
2. lovingkindness – see Special Topic: Lovingkindness (hesed)
3. compassion – Piel PERFECT, BDB 933, KB 1216; this is used of YHWH in Isa 14:1; Isa 30:18; Isa 49:10; Isa 49:13; Isa 49:15; Isa 54:7-8; Isa 54:10; Isa 55:7; Isa 60:10; Mic 7:19 (negatively in Isa 9:17; Isa 27:11)
the LORD This is literally YHWH; see Special Topic: Names for Deity .
Redeemer See Special Topic: Ransom/Redeem .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fear not. ashamed. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:6). Compare Isa 44:16, Isa 44:17.
the shame of thy youth. Reference to Israel’s days of idolatry. Compare Jer 3:24, Jer 3:25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fear not: Isa 41:10, Isa 41:14, Isa 45:16, Isa 45:17, Isa 61:7, 1Pe 2:6
thou shalt forget: Jer 31:19, Eze 16:22, Eze 16:43, Eze 16:60-63, Hos 3:1-5
Reciprocal: Gen 2:25 – ashamed Job 11:16 – Because Son 7:4 – Heshbon Isa 25:8 – rebuke Isa 29:22 – who redeemed Isa 35:4 – fear not Isa 43:1 – Fear Isa 65:16 – because Jer 30:10 – fear Lam 1:1 – as a Eze 36:15 – men Joe 2:21 – Fear Joe 2:26 – and my Zep 3:11 – shalt thou Zep 3:16 – be said Rom 9:33 – and whosoever Phi 1:20 – in nothing 2Ti 1:12 – I am 1Pe 4:16 – let him not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 54:4-5. Thou shalt not be ashamed As formerly, of the straitness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children. Thou shalt forget the reproach of thy youth Thy barrenness in former times: so great shall be thy fertility and felicity, that it shall cause thee to forget thy former unfruitfulness and misery. And shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood That time and state when thou wast like a widow, disconsolate and desolate, deprived or forsaken of her husband, and having few or no children. For thy Maker He who made thee out of nothing, and therefore can fulfil all these promises, how improbable soever their fulfilment may appear; is thy husband Will own thee for his spouse, and give thee proof of his conjugal affection. The Lord of hosts Who hath the sovereign command of all men and creatures, and therefore can subdue the Gentiles to thee, and can make thee to increase and multiply in so prodigious a measure, even in thy old age, notwithstanding thy barrenness in the days of thy youth, of which he speaks in the foregoing verse. The God of the whole earth shall he be called The God and Father of all nations. Whereas formerly he was called the God of Israel only, and the Gentiles had no special relation to him, the time is now coming when he shall be called the God of the Gentiles also, having admitted them into the same covenant relation to himself with the Jews, and the partition wall between Jews and Gentiles being broken down. See Zec 14:9; Rom 3:29; Eph 2:11-16.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy {d} youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy {e} widowhood any more.
(d) The afflictions which you suffered at the beginning.
(e) When you were refused for your sins, Isa 50:1 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God’s third command (cf. Isa 54:1-2) was not to fear. These were not idle promises; God would stand behind them and bring them to pass. Sarah initially felt ashamed because she did not believe the Lord would give her a child (Gen 18:12-14; cf. Gen 16:4; 1Sa 1:6; 1Sa 1:25; Luk 1:25). Nevertheless, God stood by His promise, gave her a child, and she had no reason to feel ashamed. The relative barrenness of God’s people throughout their lifetime would end, and their reproach would pass away. Israel’s youth included Egyptian slavery (cf. Jer 2:2-3), and her widowhood involved Babylonian captivity.