For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
6. Although Zion is temporarily estranged from Jehovah, she is yet a “wife of youth” holding a permanent place in her husband’s affections.
For the Lord hath called thee ] i.e. “calls thee” now (Cheyne, “hath recalled thee”). The reference is not to the first espousals of the nation at the exodus, but to the renewal of conjugal intercourse in the restoration from exile.
as a wife (R.V.) forsaken and grieved in spirit ] neglected by her husband, and left to her own bitter reflexions, but not cast off. Cf. Hos 3:3.
and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused ] R.V. “even a wife of youth, when she is cast off.” The clause is difficult. Probably it is an exclamation: and a wife of youth can she be rejected? (so Cheyne, after Ewald); it is impossible that she should be finally disowned.
a wife of youth ] one who has been wooed and won in youth; Pro 5:18; Mal 2:14 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the Lord hath called thee – This is designed to confirm and illustrate the sentiment in the previous verse. God there says that he would be a husband to his people. Here he says, that although he had for a time apparently forsaken them, as a husband who had forsaken his wife, and although they were cast down and dejected like a woman who had thus been forsaken, yet he would now restore them to favor.
Hath called thee – That is, will have called thee to himself – referring to the future times when prosperity should be restored to them.
As a woman forsaken – Forsaken by her husband on account of her offence.
And grieved in spirit – Because she was thus forsaken.
And a wife of youth – The Septuagint renders this very strangely, The Lord hath not called thee as a wife forsaken and disconsolate; nor as a wife that hath been hated from her youth; showing conclusively that the translator here did not understand the meaning of the passage, and vainly endeavored to supply a signification by the insertion of thee negatives, and by endeavoring to make a meaning. The idea is that of a wife wedded in youth; a wife toward whom there was early and tender love, though she was afterward rejected. God had loved the Hebrew people as his people in the early days of their history. Yet for their idolatry he had seen occasion afterward to cast them off, and to doom them to a long and painful exile. But he would yet love them with all the former ardor of affection, and would greatly increase and prosper them.
When thou wast refused – Or, that hath been rejected. Lowth, But afterward rejected. It may be rendered, Although ( ky has often the sense of although) thou wert rejected, or although she was rejected. The idea is, that she had been married in youth, but had been afterward put away.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 54:6-13
For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken
God is love
None of those who came before the Lord Jesus ventured to define God as love.
But it does not follow, as we sometimes assume, that the holy men who were moved by the Holy Ghost before Christ came into the world did not know and teach the fatherly and redeeming love of God. They could not be so familiar with that love as we are; but that they recognized it, and insisted on it with rare force and pathos, that they did all that mere words could do to convince and persuade men of it, no candid student of the Old Testament will deny, although when they were most profoundly moved by it we can still detect in their language a certain accent of almost incredulous surprise. Isaiah, for example, as he utters these pathetic phrases of my text, can hardly believe for joy and wonder. Again and again he is compelled to remind himself that it is God who is speaking in him and through him. The tender phrases which, were they not so tender, might run on with even flow, are again and again broken with such words as saith thy God, or saith the Lord thy Redeemer, or saith the Lord that hath compassion on thee. Do you wonder that Isaiah, who knew God so well, found it hard to believe in a love so tender and true, and so feared that his hearers would find it quite impossible to believe Ah, but consider who and what they were on whom he was told that God had set His heart, and all the treasures of His love and compassion I God had lavished on them every possible means of grace, insomuch that He both could, and did, appeal to them whether there was even one single thing He could have done for him which He had not done. Yet, despite His singular and boundless grace, they had sunk to the level, and below the level, of the heathen around them. Was it likely that God should love them? Consider, too, how stern and dreadful was the burden which Isaiah had been commissioned to denounce upon them. And God had been as good as His word. Assyrian and Chaldean armies had swept the land of its inhabitants; their cities were burned with fire, and the once fertile and wealthy land turned into a desert. All who were left of the people were carried away captive, and left to weep for seventy years over their unstrung harps as they sat by the waters of Babylon. It was to these sinful, miserable captives and exiles that the prophet was moved to proclaim the tender and inalienable love of God! The words authenticate themselves. None but God could have spoken them. No man would have dared to conceive of God–no man, untaught of Heaven, ever has conceived of God, as yearning with love for the human race; and still less could any man have invented the tender, melting, beseeching phrases in which Isaiah has clothed that conception. (S. Cox, D. D.)
The wonderful love of God
Mark what the words do convey. God is speaking to men who had persistently sinned against all the influences of His love and grace, to men who were being consumed by the inevitable results of their transgressions. And He tells these poor miserable creatures that they are as dear to Him as the bride to her husband; that, though their offences against Him have been so many and so deep, He cannot tear His love for them out of His heart. Nay, as if this were not enough, He goes on to say that, though the blame is none of His, He is willing to take all the blame of their offences on Himself. Instead of reproaching them for their sins against HIS love, He compares them to a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, to a young and tender bride whose husband has despised and disgraced her, refusing to live with her and sending her away from his tent. It is He who has abandoned her, not she who has abandoned Him. It is He who has been hard and stern, not she who has been wilful and gone astray. But He never meant to be hard and stern. It was only for a brief moment that He left her, and in a momentary flush of anger. If she will return to Him, and give Him another chance, He will welcome her with great mercies and comfort her with an everlasting kindness. How shall He persuade her to return, to trust in Him? how convince her that He will be angry with her no more? He calls heaven and earth to witness to His truth, His fidelity, His deathless and unchanging love. He can appeal to His covenant with her, with Israel. She may think that that has been broken both by Him and by herself. But there was one of His covenants that had never been broken, an unconditional covenant, the covenant with Noah, which did not depend on men and their obedience, which depended only on God and on His faithfulness to His word. Henceforth His covenant with her shall be as the waters of Noah; He will no more fall in His love to her than He will suffer the earth to be wasted by another flood. He will never forsake her, even though she should forsake Him; never be wroth with her, nor rebuke her, even though she should still be wilful and provoke Him to anger. Nay, more; as if even this great promise were not enough, He casts about for another and a still more reassuring figure, and goes on to say: The mountains were planted and the hills stood firm before the Deluge swept over the earth; even the waters of Noah could not wash them away, nor as much as make them quake. And His love shall henceforth be firm and unchanging as the mountains and hills; nay, more firm and unchanging. The mountains may remove and the hills may quake; but His lovingkindness shall never remove, His covenant of peace shall never quake. Even all this, wonderful and incredible as it is, is not enough. There is the sigh of an infinite compassion and truth in the exclamation, O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted! There is an unbounded and Divine generosity in the promise to the bride, to the woman, that, if she will only come back to Him, her very palace shall be built of rare gems; and in the promise to the mother, than which no promise could be more dear to a mothers heart, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. Is that a fable of mans invention? Can it be? Would any man have dared to give it as a statement of the facts, or possible facts of human life? (S. Cox, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The Lord hath called thee, to return and come again to him. As a woman forsaken; when thou wast like a woman forsaken. Or, as a husband recalleth his wife. Forsaken by her husband, who hath given her a bill of divorce.
Grieved in spirit, for the loss of her husbands flavour and society, and for the reproach attending upon it.
And a wife of youth; or, and as (which note of similitude is supplied here by the LXX. and Chaldee interpreters, and is easily understood out of the foregoing clause, in which it is expressed) a wife of youth, i.e. as readily and affectionately as a husband recalleth his wife which no married in her and his own youth, of whom see on Pro 5:18, whom though he might through a sudden and violent passion put away, yet he soon repents of it, and his affections work towards her, and he invites her to return to him.
When thou wast refused; when thou wast in a desolate estate, and hadst been for some time rejected by me, then I recalled thee. Or, although thou wast refused, or dismissed, or despised by me, and that justly; yet I had mercy upon thee, and freely offered reconciliation to thee. Saith thy God; who will again be, and still show himself to be, thy God, and will renew his covenant with thee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. calledthat is, recalled:the prophetic past for the future.
forsakenthat hadbeen forsaken.
when thouor, “whenshe was rejected”; one who had been a wife of youth(Eze 16:8; Eze 16:22;Eze 16:60; Jer 2:2)at the time when (thou, or) she was rejected for infidelity[MAURER]. “A wife ofyouth but afterwards rejected” [LOWTH].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,…. That has lost her husband by death, is solitary upon it, is like one forsaken, and mourns for the loss of him; or is forsaken by a living husband, rejected by him, having a bill of divorce from him, and so she grieves at his unkindness to her, and the reproach cast upon her; as such an one was the church when it was first constituted, when the members of which it consisted were called out of the world by the grace of God, and formed into a church state; almost as soon as ever they were thus embodied together, Christ was taken from them by death, and they were left alone, and filled with grief and trouble: the apostles and first preachers of the Gospel were persecuted from place to place, and all of them lost their lives for the cause in which they were engaged; and the church endured grievous persecutions during the three first centuries, when she seemed to be forsaken of God, and was greatly oppressed and grieved in spirit. Some understand this of the Gentiles, and of their state and condition when called, as described in Eph 2:10, but rather it may be interpreted of the Jews, now cut off and forsaken; and who, when they come to be sensible of their case, will be grieved and mourn, even when they shall be called and converted in the latter day; but I think the first sense is best:
and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God; or, “and as a wife of youth m”; whom a man marries in his youth, and she a young woman herself, which makes it the more grievous to be despised, refused, and forsaken, or to seem to be so. The words may be rendered thus, “and”, or “but, a wife of youth thou art, though thou wast despised” n, or “refused, saith thy God”; that is, though thou hast been seemingly despised and cast off, my providential dispensations towards thee may be so interpreted by thyself and others; yet I am thy God, thy Maker, Redeemer, and Husband, and thou art as dear to me as the wife of a man’s youth, for whom he has the most passionate love; and which agrees with what follows.
m , , Sept.; sic Arab. Targum “et velut foeminam”, Tigurine version, Castalio; “et ut uxorem”, Vitringa. n “quamvis spreta sis”, Junius Tremellius “fueris”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And this relation He now renews. “For Jehovah calleth thee as a wife forsaken and burdened with sorrow, and as a wife of youth, when once she is despised, saith thy God.” The verb , which is the one commonly used in these prophecies to denote the call of grace, on the ground of the election of grace, is used here to signify the call into that relation, which did indeed exist before, but had apparently been dissolved. is used here out of pause (cf., Isa 60:9); it stands, however, quite irregularly for the form in ekh , which is the one commonly employed (Jdg 4:20; Eze 27:26). “And as a wife:” is equivalent to . The hypothetical belongs to the figure. Jehovah calls His church back to Himself, as a husband takes back the wife he loved in his youth, even though he may once have been angry with her. It is with intention that the word is not used. The future (imperfect) indicates what partially happens, but does not become an accomplished or completed fact: He is displeased with her, but He has not cherished aversion or hatred towards her.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Prosperity of the Church. | B. C. 706. |
6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
The seasonable succour and relief which God sent to his captives in Babylon, when they had a discharge from their bondage there, are here foretold, as a type and figure of all those consolations of God which are treasured up for the church in general and all believers in particular, in the covenant of grace.
I. Look back to former troubles, and in comparison with them God’s favours to his people appear very comfortable, v. 6-8. Observe, 1. How sorrowful the church’s condition had been. She had been as a woman forsaken, whose husband was dead, or had fallen out with her, though she was a wife of youth, upon which account she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill, frets, and grows melancholy upon it; or she had been as one refused and rejected, and therefore full of discontent. Note, Even those that are espoused to God may yet seem to be refused and forsaken, and may be grieved in spirit under the apprehensions of being so. Those that shall never be forsaken and left in despair may yet for a time be perplexed and in distress. The similitude is explained (Isa 54:7; Isa 54:8): For a small moment have I forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee. When God continues his people long in trouble he seems to forsake them; so their enemies construe it (Ps. lxxi. 11); so they themselves misinterpret it, ch. xlix. 14. When they are comfortless under their troubles, because their prayers and expectations are not answered, God hides his face from them, as if he regarded them not nor designed them any kindness. God owns that he had done this; for he keeps an account of the afflictions of his people, and, though he never turned his face against them (as against the wicked, Ps. xxxiv. 16), he remembers how often he turned his back upon them. This arose indeed from his displeasure. It was in wrath that he forsook them and hid his face from them (ch. lvii. 17); yet it was but in a little wrath: not that God’s wrath ever is a little thing, or to be made light of (Who knows the power of his anger?), but little in comparison with what they had deserved, and what others justly suffer, on whom the full vials of his wrath are poured out. He did not stir up all his wrath. But God’s people, though they be sensible of ever so small a degree of God’s displeasure, cannot but be grieved in spirit because of it. As for the continuance of it, it was but for a moment, a small moment; for God does not keep his anger against his people for ever; no, it is soon over. As he is slow to anger, so he is swift to show mercy. The afflictions of God’s people, as they are light, so they are but for a moment, a cloud that presently blows over. 2. How sweet the returns of mercy would be to them when God should come and comfort them according to the time that he had afflicted them. God called them into covenant with himself when they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out of their afflictions when they were most pressing, v. 6. God’s anger endures for a moment, but he will gather his people when they think themselves neglected, will gather them out of their dispersions, that they may return in a body to their own land,–will gather them into his arms, to protect them, embrace them, and bear them up,–and will gather them at last to himself, will gather the wheat into the barn. He will have mercy on them. This supposes the turning away of his anger and the admitting of them again into his favour. God’s gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit of others; and it is with great mercies (v. 7), with everlasting kindness, v. 8. The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over against the other, that we may neither despond under our afflictions nor despair of relief.
II. Look forward to future dangers, and in defiance of them God’s favours to his people appear very constant, and his kindness everlasting; for it is formed into a covenant, here called a covenant of peace, because it is founded in reconciliation and is inclusive of all good. Now,
1. This is as firm as the covenant of providence. It is as the waters of Noah, that is, as that promise which was made concerning the deluge that there should never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, v. 9. God then contended with the world in great wrath, and for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting mercy; for he gave his word, which was as inviolable as his oath, that Noah’s flood should never return, that he would never drown the world again; see Gen 8:21; Gen 8:22; Gen 9:11. And God has ever since kept his word, though the world has been very provoking; and he will keep it to the end; for the world that now is is reserved unto fire. And thus inviolable is the covenant of grace: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. He will not be so angry with them as to cast them off and break his covenant with them (Ps. lxxxix. 34), nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and put out their name for ever and ever, Ps. ix. 5.
2. It is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation (v. 10): The mountains shall depart, which are called everlasting mountains, and the hills be removed, though they are called perpetual hills, Hab. iii. 6. Sooner shall they remove than God’s covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of God were never broken by the shock of any event. The day will come when all the mountains shall depart and all the hills be removed, not only the tops of them covered, as they were by the waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the covenant of peace between God and believers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and figure. Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and bear them up? They shall depart and be removed. Creature-confidences shall fail us. In vain is salvation hoped for from those hills and mountains. But the firmament is firm, and answers to its name, when those who seem to prop it are gone. When our friends fail us our God does not, nor does his kindness depart? Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves against the Lord? They shall depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of the salvation of the church, shall be made plain (Zech. iv. 7); but God’s kindness shall never depart from his people, for whom he loves he loves to the end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever be removed, for he is the Lord that has mercy on his people. Therefore the covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on God’s mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6. For as a woman forsaken. He meets a doubt which might arise in the minds of believers amidst so distressing a calamity. It seemed as if the Lord had rejected them, so that they had nothing to look for but destruction. The Prophet therefore reminds them that they ought not to despair, because they have been thus forsaken; for God, according to his mercy, is ready to be reconciled, and is even willing to raise them from the dead. (65)
And a wife of youth. He employs this expression in order that, by this metaphor, he may more fully confirm their hearts in that hope; for the hearts of young husbands are more easily reconciled than the hearts of older husbands, being attracted, and, as it were, driven forward by youthful age and tender love. In like manner, he shows that God will be easily reconciled. “True, thou wast divorced; but the divorce shall not be of long duration. The Lord will show himself ready to be reconciled, and will even, of his own accord, be the first to invite thee to reconciliation.” (66)
(65) “ Et mesmes vent redresser celuy qui est au sepulcher.” “And even wishes to revive him who is in the grave.”
(66) “He compares the Hebrew nation to ‘a wife of youth;’ that is, to a wife whom he married in youth, (Pro 5:18; Mal 2:14) towards whom he retained his former love. Compare Isa 62:4.” Rosenmuller. “A wife of youth, not merely a young wife, but one married early.” Alexander.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) For the Lord hath called thee.The words find their explanation, perhaps their starting-point, in the history of Hosea and Gomer (Hosea 1-3). The husband has punished the faithless wife by what seemed a divorce, but his heart yearns after her, and he takes her back again.
When thou wast refused.Some critics render Can she be rejected . . .? with the implied answer. No, that is impossible, but the Authorised version is tenable, and gives an adequate meaning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The Lord hath called thee The Lord hath taken thee back again to the relation of a beloved wife the closest and dearest of all relations. The divorcement has to thee been very painful; made thee consciously forsaken, and conscious of no true spouse at hand as thy helper; but it has brought thee to the deepest penitence.
And a wife of youth Once rejoicing in early marriage, but soon fallen and therefore soon rejected; but on account of thy repentance, the Lord receives thee back again.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord’s Promise of Eternal Love and Faithfulness
v. 6. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, v. 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, v. 8. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, v. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me, v. 10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 54:6. For the Lord, &c. For as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, the Lord calls thee against as a wife of youth, after she had been despised, saith thy God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 978
GODS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS COVENANT ENGAGEMENTS
Isa 54:6-10. The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go ever the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
THE covenant of grace, as securing to the believer all the blessings of time and eternity, is not considered by any means so much as the importance of it demands. There is in the minds of the generality, a jealousy respecting it, so that they can scarcely bear to hear the subject stated as it is in the Holy Scriptures. But we must not conceal any thing; and least of all should we keep back from you that which is the fountain and foundation of all the other blessings which you either have or hope for. Certain it is that there is a covenant, called in my text, The covenant of Gods peace; the provisions of which are here set before us with singular force and clearness.
The whole passage may be considered,
I.
In reference to the Jewish Church
[To them it primarily refers. The Jewish Church is hero represented as a repudiated wife, put away for her unfaithfulness to her Maker, who calls himself her husband [Note: ver. 5.]. Great and manifold were her offences against him: and most justly did she merit the displeasure with which on different occasions she was visited. In the days of the Judges she was often delivered up to her enemies, who oppressed her with the heaviest yoke of bondage: at last she was sent into captivity in Babylon: and at this hour is Jerusalem a desolation, having for eighteen centuries been trodden down of the Gentiles, and left without a temple, or priest, or sacrifice, or any ordinance whatever.
Yet is she not finally cast off. Her Divine Husband yet remembers his covenant-engagements, though she has forgotten hers; and his oath will he fulfil, though she has violated hers in ten thousand instances. His wrath against her, though so richly merited, is small and transient; whilst the mercies which he has prepared for her are great and everlasting. He has yet thoughts of love and peace towards her; and will in due season restore her to her former privileges; yea, and load her with benefits far beyond any which she ever before enjoyed. The very sun shall be ashamed, and the moon confounded, in the day that he shall visit her with his mercies; so utterly will all creature enjoyments be swallowed up and annihilated by the manifestations of his love [Note: Isa 24:23; Isa 30:26. See the glories of that period described in ver. 11, 12. compared with Isa 60:13-22.]
Of this he graciously assures her, by a two-fold representation; first, in a way of comparison, and then in a way of contrast. At the time of the deluge, God promised with an oath to Noah, that he would no more deluge the earth: and appointed the rainbow itself (which, as being a reflection of the rays of the sun from the drops of rain, marked the actual descent of rain at the time) to be a pledge that he would fulfil his word. In like manner, says God, I have sworn to thee, that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee to thy utter ruin: and thou mayest regard the very afflictions with which I visit thee, as a pledge of thy future restoration: for I will not make a full end of thee; though I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished [Note: Jer 30:11.]. Again: Of all things which may be deemed stable upon earth, the hills and the mountains may be regarded as the most firm and immovable: but, says God, the hills and mountains have been, and shall be, removed: but it shall not be so with you; for the covenant of my peace shall never be removed.
The manner in which God speaks of himself, whilst announcing this determination, is yet further worthy to be noticed: for he does not call himself by any name that would inspire fear and terror, but by names importing the most tender love: not The Lord thy Creator, thy Governor, thy Judge; but, The Lord thy Redeemer, the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
Now it is this view of the covenant which encourages us in all our efforts for the conversion of the Jews: for we know infallibly, that they are not cast off for ever; that they are still beloved of God for their fathers sakes; and that in due time they shall be engrafted in again upon their own olivetree, and experience, Doth in a temporal and spiritual view, such prosperity as they never yet enjoyed even under Solomon himself. Our trust is, not in any efforts of man, but in the power and fidelity of God. And though in their present condition they are as dry bones, very dry, reduced to dust, and scattered over the face of the earth, yet are we sure, that, by the simple preaching of the Gospel to them, they shall arise, a whole army [Note: Eze 37:1-2; Eze 37:10.]. Yes, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this: as we are assured by many similar declarations of the prophet Jeremiah [Note: Jer 31:35-37; Jer 33:23-26.] ]
But the passage must also be explained,
II.
In reference to the Christian Church
We do not approve of limiting to the Church of Christ a multitude of prophecies which belong primarily to the Jewish Church. On the other hand, we must not rob the Christian Church of that interest which she has in them. It is observable, that the very first verse of this chapter is cited by St. Paul as applicable to the Christian Church [Note: Gal 4:26-27.]: and at the close of the chapter all the rich promises contained in it are said to belong to her: This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord (whoever they may be); and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord [Note: ver. 17.]. Now,
The Christian Church stands in the relation of a Spouse to Christ
[So it is represented through the whole Book of Canticles. So it is declared by the Psalmist [Note: Psa 45:10-11.]. The same is affirmed by our Lord himself [Note: Mat 9:15.], and by all his Apostles [Note: Joh 3:29. Eph 5:32. Rev 21:9.] ]
But too often does she provoke the Lord to hide his face from her
[How often have the Church at large, and every member of it in particular, alienated their hearts from God, and adulterously placed on the creature those affections which were due to him alone! Too true is that accusation which he brings against us, that we have played the harlot with many lovers [Note: Jer 3:1.]
What then might we not expect, if God should deal with us according to our iniquities? What, but that he should cast us off, and swear in his wrath that we should never more be received into his favour?]
Yet still does God remember his covenant towards her
[He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. He will not break his covenant, though we have broken ours: nor will he violate his oath, though we have violated ours times without number. He will visit our transgressions with the rod, and our iniquity with stripes: (and, if the chastening us with whips will not suffice, he will chastise us with scorpions, even seven-fold more, for our sins [Note: 1Ki 12:11. Lev 26:18.]): nevertheless his loving-kindness will he not utterly take from us, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail: his covenant will he not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips: for once he has sworn by his holiness that he will not lie unto David [Note: Psa 89:33-35.]. He knew what we wore, and what we should be also, if left to ourselves, before he chose us: yet did he bid us live, and spread his skirt over us, and entered into covenant with us [Note: Eze 16:6; Eze 16:8. Isa 48:8.]. It was on this very account that he in his covenant undertook to do for us all that related either to the pardoning of our guilt, or to the sanctifying of our nature [Note: Jer 31:11-12.]: and engaged, not only never to depart from us, but never to leave us to depart from him [Note: Jer 32:39-41.]. Of all this he has assured us by promise and by oath, on purpose that by these two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest consolation, if we have fled for refuge to the hope that is set before us [Note: Heb 6:17-18.]. If our continuance in his favour had depended altogether on our stability, who would ever be saved at last? (It is of the grounds of our security that we are now speaking, and not of the means; of them we shall speak in another place.) Our final stability must be the work of his grace, as much as our first inclination to serve him: all our good works from first to last must be wrought in us by him [Note: Isa 26:12.]: and when he chose us, he chose us to the end, and to the means; or rather to the end by the means [Note: 2Th 2:13-14.]: and his gifts and calling are without repentance [Note: Rom 11:29.]. Our security then rests upon the unchangeableness of our God [Note: Mal 3:6.], whose compassions fail not [Note: Lam 3:22.], and with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [Note: Jam 1:17.]. I again repeat, that he may hide himself from us, and for a long period too, as it may appear to us; for it is both his right and his property to do so [Note: Isa 45:15.]: but his anger will endure but for a little moment; and though our weeping may endure for a night, joy shall come to us in the morning [Note: Psa 30:5.].]
In a review of this subject,
1.
Let none, however desolate their condition may be, indulge despair
[This is the true use to be made of this important subject. Let not Jews despair of being restored to the favour of their God; but let them plead with God, as their forefathers did [Note: Isa 63:15-16.] and accept the invitation which God himself has given them to return unto him [Note: Jer 3:12-14.].
Nor let Christians who are under the hidings of Gods face despond. Let not any of you ask, like David, Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? This were only to betray your own infirmity [Note: Psa 77:7-10.], and to shew your utter ignorance of God [Note: Isa 40:28-31; Isa 49:14-16.]
You will say then, What shall we do? I answer, Lay hold on Gods covenant, and look to him to fulfil every part of it. Approach your God with penitential sorrow, as the Church of old did; We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Yet do not abhor us, for thy names sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, break not thy covenant with us [Note: Jer 14:20-21.]. See how David pleaded under similar circumstances [Note: Psa 27:9.]: and resolve, as the Prophet Isaiah teaches you, I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him [Note: Isa 8:17.].]
2.
Let none, however confident of their state before God, be guilty of presumption
[Of the book of Gods decrees we know nothing, but as it is made visible by facts. Respecting any mans election to eternal life, we can judge only by his works. One thing is clear; that he who committeth sin is of the devil; and he that doeth not righteousness is not of God [Note: 1Jn 3:8; 1Jn 3:10.]. Hence, if we are living in the wilful commission of any one sin, or habitual neglect of any one duty, we have no ground whatever to imagine that we are of the number of Gods elect. To fancy therefore that a work of grace has been begun in us, and to conclude from thence that God will carry it on unto the end, whilst daily experience proves that it is not carrying on, but that we are the willing slaves of sin and Satan, is only to deceive our own souls, and to surrender up ourselves an easy prey into the hands of our great adversary. Our wisdom is, to seek an union with the Lord Jesus Christ by faith; and not to be dreaming of privileges which we do not possess: for, as it is certain, on the one hand, that no man can be saved who lives in any allowed sin, so it is equally certain, on the other hand, that no one can ever perish who flees to Christ for refuge, and relies altogether upon him for wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. This then must be our daily work: and so far is the covenant of grace from superseding this duty, that it affords us our greatest encouragement to perform it; because it assures us, that we shall never seek Gods face in vain, and that they who trust in him shall never be confounded. Whilst therefore I would say to the trembling Believer, Look to the covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure [Note: 2Sa 23:5.], and expect God to fulfil all the promises of it to your souls; to the Unbeliever I would say, Look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to wash you from your guilt, and to renew you by his Spirit. Respecting the provisions of the covenant trouble not yourselves, till you have an evidence in your own souls that you desire deliverance from sin as much as freedom from condemnation: and get your souls well instructed in a thorough experience of the first principles of repentance and faith, before you presume to build your hopes either on the secret decrees of heaven, or on any fallacious arguments deduced from them.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
These words form a gracious continuation of the same soul-reviving promises; and all in Christ. Jesus was, and is, the husband of his church from everlasting. By the fall, a bill of divorcement was, as it were, written, and she was put away. By the interposition of his grace in redemption, she is again brought home; and now never more to be separated from her first love, but with everlasting kindness, nourished and cherished, in grace here, and glory to all eternity. Pro 8:22-31 ; Hos 2 throughout. Jer 3:14 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Ver. 6. For the Lord hath called thee. ] Or, Recalled thee.
As a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit.
And a wife of youth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
forsaken. See note on Isa 1:4.
spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a woman: Isa 49:14, Isa 62:4, Hos 2:1, Hos 2:2, Hos 2:14, Hos 2:15, Mat 11:28, 2Co 7:6, 2Co 7:9, 2Co 7:10
a wife: Pro 5:18, Ecc 9:9, Mal 2:14
Reciprocal: 1Sa 1:8 – am not 1Sa 1:10 – in bitterness of soul Son 2:11 – General Son 5:6 – but my Isa 27:4 – Fury Isa 30:19 – thou shalt Isa 40:27 – sayest Isa 51:3 – the Lord Isa 54:11 – thou afflicted Isa 60:15 – thou Mar 4:38 – carest Luk 1:54 – General Rom 11:26 – all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 54:6-8. For the Lord hath called thee To return and come again to him; as a woman forsaken When thou wast like a woman forsaken by her husband, who had given her a bill of divorce; and grieved in spirit For the loss of her husbands favour and society, and for the reproach attending it; and a wife of youth As affectionately as a husband recalleth his wife whom he married in her and his own youth, whom, though he might on some provocation put away, yet he soon repents of doing it, and his affection for her reviving, he invites her to return to him; when thou wast refused Though for a time thou wast refused and rejected by him; saith thy God Jehovah, who will again show himself to be thy God, and will renew his covenant with thee. For a small moment For the space of some few years, as seventy years in Babylon, and some such intervals, which may well be called a small moment, in comparison of Gods everlasting kindness, mentioned in the next verse: have I forsaken thee Withdrawn my favour and help from thee, and left thee in thine enemies hands. But with great mercies Such as are very precious, and of long continuance; will I gather thee From all the places where thou art dispersed, from all parts of the world. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee I removed the means and pledges of my presence and kindness; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy, &c. With kindness to thee, and thy seed, through all succeeding generations, in time, and to all eternity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a {h} wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
(h) As a wife who was forsaken in your youth.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord called His people back to Himself, even though they had been unfaithful to Him (cf. Hosea). He would transform their attitude from that of an abandoned and brokenhearted wife, because her sins had separated her from her God, to that of a new bride whose relationship with her husband was unstained.