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The Vindication and Salvation of Zion

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,

until her vindication shines out like the dawn,

and her salvation like a burning torch.

The nations shall see your vindication,

and all the kings your glory;

and you shall be called by a new name

that the mouth of the L ord will give.

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the L ord,

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,

and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;

but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,

and your land Married;

for the L ord delights in you,

and your land shall be married.

For as a young man marries a young woman,

so shall your builder marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,

I have posted sentinels;

all day and all night

they shall never be silent.

You who remind the L ord,

take no rest,

and give him no rest

until he establishes Jerusalem

and makes it renowned throughout the earth.

The L ord has sworn by his right hand

and by his mighty arm:

I will not again give your grain

to be food for your enemies,

and foreigners shall not drink the wine

for which you have labored;

but those who garner it shall eat it

and praise the L ord,

and those who gather it shall drink it

in my holy courts.

Go through, go through the gates,

prepare the way for the people;

build up, build up the highway,

clear it of stones,

lift up an ensign over the peoples.

The L ord has proclaimed

to the end of the earth:

Say to daughter Zion,

“See, your salvation comes;

his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.”

They shall be called, “The Holy People,

The Redeemed of the L ord”;

and you shall be called, “Sought Out,

A City Not Forsaken.”

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

10. Pass through, pass through the gates. From the preceding statement he draws the conclusion, that there shall be a free passage through the gates of the city, which formerly were shut or in a ruinous state; shut when it was besieged by enemies; in a ruinous state, when the city was thrown down and levelled with the ground. He means that there shall be such a restoration of the city, that its inhabitants shall be numerous, and there shall be frequent passing to and from it.

Some think that these words are addressed to the pastors, that they may enter in at the gates, and go before others as their conductors. But it is a general and figurative statement, by which he compares the Church to a populous city, though for a time it was ruinous and desolate, as Jerusalem had been. Others pursue more ingenious speculations, and say that the gates of a Church are opened, when pardon of sins is proclaimed in it, and by that message God invites all to come to him. But if we wish to get at the Prophet’s meaning, we must believe that all these things are spoken figuratively, as we have already mentioned.

Clear the way for the people. This is, strictly speaking, the duty of teachers; but the Prophet speaks in general terms, and addresses all whose agency the Lord employed for preparing the way for the people. At that time, indeed, he spoke to Medes and Persians, by means of whom he opened up the way for the Jews, that they might return to their native country; but next he includes all others by whom the Lord restored his Church.

Level, level the road. He authoritatively commands all men to “clear and level the roads;” that the Jews might know that every obstacle shall easily be removed, and that all men, however inveterate their hostility, shall immediately obey the command of God. In this way he enjoins believers to gird themselves manfully for the work, as if many workmen were ready to give assistance, and the emphatic repetition of the word (“Level, level”) deserves notice as intended to express certainty.

Pave it with stones. סקל (sikkel) sometimes means to remove stones, and sometimes to pave with stones; and I think that it ought rather to be understood here in this latter signification, though commentators are generally of a different opinion. ¹⁷⁰¹⁷⁰ “The words סקלו מאבן (sakkelu meeben) are used elliptically for סקלו הדרך מאבן, (sakkelu hadderek meeben,) ‘remove the stones from the road;’ for סקל, (sikkel,) which.in general means ‘to stone, or to throw stones,’ as ויסקל באבנים את דוד, (vayesakkel baabanim eth David,) (2 Samuel 16:6, 13,) here means to take away many stones, as in Isaiah 5:2; and מאבן (meeben,) as Jarchi remarks, is equivalent to מהיות שם אבן, (mihyoth sham eben,) ‘that there may be no stones there,’ at which travellers might stumble. Thus, ‘I will make them מאדם, (meadam) from a man;’ that is, that not a man shall be left. (Hosea 9:12.)” — Rosenmuller.

Lift up a standard to the peoples. This is of the same import with the former clause; for the Prophet means that the peoples shall obey the command of God, in the same manner as subjects are wont to obey princes; for they shall assemble and run together when “the standard is lifted up,” and shall lend their aid to bring back the people; and thus he extols in lofty terms the power of God, that the Jews might be fully persuaded that they would one day be restored. ¹⁷¹¹⁷¹ “Here the style of the Prophet is very Pindarical. First, he speaks to the captives, as if he saw them near the gates of Babylon, and bids them go through them, that is, pass out of the place of their captivity; then, as if he saw workmen in the road, he bids them level the ground, and make it plain, that they may not be tired by ascending and descending steep precipices, nor hurt their feet with sharp stones; then, as if they had not yet received notice of their deliverance, or were not informed of the place where they were to rendezvous, in order to return altogether, he commands a standard to be erected for the people, that is, over their heads, so high that it might he seen by those at the greatest distance.” — White.

11. Behold, Jehovah hath, proclaimed. He means that the Lord, by acting miraculously and beyond the judgment or expectation of the flesh, will cause all the nations to know that this is done by his command. It might be objected, How shall it be brought about that the peoples, who now make fierce resistance to God, shall become obedient to him? He assigns the reason, “Because the Lord will proclaim your return, so that they shall acknowledge that at his command you are restored.”

Say ye to the daughter of Zion. Undoubtedly this refers literally to the ministers of the word and to the prophets, whom the Lord invests with this office of promising deliverance and salvation to the Church. And hence we conclude that these promises are not merely limited to a single age, but must be extended to the end of the world; for, beginning at the return from Babylon into Judea, we must advance as far as the coming of Christ, by which this prophecy was at length accomplished, and redemption was brought to a conclusion; for the Savior came, when the grace of God was proclaimed by the Gospel. In a word, he foretells that the voice of God shall one day resound from the rising to the setting of the sun, and shall be heard, not by a single nation only, but by all nations.

Behold, the Savior cometh. This is a word which, we know, belongs peculiarly to the Gospel; and therefore he bids the teachers of the Church encourage the hearts of believers, by confirmed expectation of the coming of the Lord, though he appeared to be at a great distance from his people. But this promise relates chiefly to the reign of Christ, by which these things were fully and perfectly accomplished; for he actually exhibited himself as the “Savior” of his Church, as we have seen before in the fortieth chapter.

Behold, his reward is with him, and the effect of his work is before him. That they may no longer be distressed by any doubt, when God the Savior shall appear, he invests him with power, as in Isaiah 40:10; for he repeats the same words which we found in that passage. As if he had said, “As soon as it shall please God to display his hand, the effect will be rapid and sudden; for so long as he stops or delays, the judgment of the flesh pronounces him to be idle;” and we see how very many fanatics imagine some deity that has no existence, as if they were painting a dead image. Justly, therefore, does the Prophet declare that God’s “work and reward are before him,” that he may make it evident, whenever it shall be necessary, that he is the righteous Judge of the world.

12. And they shall call you a holy people. He describes the benefit of the coming of the Lord; that is, because, by shewing that he takes care of his elect as his heritage, he will make it evident to the whole world that the covenant of adoption, which he made with Abraham, was not deceptive. He therefore calls them “a holy people,” because the Lord hath separated and consecrated them to himself; for, although he governs all nations, he has deigned to choose the seed of Abraham, that he might make them the object of his peculiar care. (Exodus 19:6.)

The redeemed of Jehovah. In the sense now stated, God declares that they shall be a holy people, when he shall appear as their Savior and Redeemer; for, as the people are said to be “profaned” when they lie amidst filth, being afflicted and distressed by the reproaches of the wicked, so they are said to be “sanctified,” when the Lord actually shews that he presides over their salvation. This was accomplished by a wonderful redemption; and at that time God also testified that he remembered his heritage, which, in the eyes of men, he appeared to have forsaken and disregarded; for in these words, Sought out, ¹⁷²¹⁷² “The word דרושה, (derushah,) the name that shall be given to Jerusalem, is rendered by some sought after, that is, a city to which, as being very highly celebrated and visited by crowds of strangers, all shall resort and shall desire to be enrolled among her citizens. Others render it cared for, that is, by Jehovah, who appeared to have abandoned and given her up to forgetfulness, as her citizens complained. (Isaiah 49:14.) Both agree with what is here added, ‘A city not forsaken.’ (See Jeremiah 30:14-17.)” — Rosenmuller. not forsaken, is denoted a contrast between the time when God made a divorce from his people, and the time when he again reconciled to himself those whom he had cast off.

¹⁷⁰ “The words סקלו מאבן (sakkelu meeben) are used elliptically for סקלו הדרך מאבן, (sakkelu hadderek meeben,) ‘remove the stones from the road;’ for סקל, (sikkel,) which.in general means ‘to stone, or to throw stones,’ as ויסקל באבנים את דוד, (vayesakkel baabanim eth David,) (2 Samuel 16:6, 13,) here means to take away many stones, as in Isaiah 5:2; and מאבן (meeben,) as Jarchi remarks, is equivalent to מהיות שם אבן, (mihyoth sham eben,) ‘that there may be no stones there,’ at which travellers might stumble. Thus, ‘I will make them מאדם, (meadam) from a man;’ that is, that not a man shall be left. (Hosea 9:12.)” — Rosenmuller.

¹⁷¹ “Here the style of the Prophet is very Pindarical. First, he speaks to the captives, as if he saw them near the gates of Babylon, and bids them go through them, that is, pass out of the place of their captivity; then, as if he saw workmen in the road, he bids them level the ground, and make it plain, that they may not be tired by ascending and descending steep precipices, nor hurt their feet with sharp stones; then, as if they had not yet received notice of their deliverance, or were not informed of the place where they were to rendezvous, in order to return altogether, he commands a standard to be erected for the people, that is, over their heads, so high that it might he seen by those at the greatest distance.” — White.

¹⁷² “The word דרושה, (derushah,) the name that shall be given to Jerusalem, is rendered by some sought after, that is, a city to which, as being very highly celebrated and visited by crowds of strangers, all shall resort and shall desire to be enrolled among her citizens. Others render it cared for, that is, by Jehovah, who appeared to have abandoned and given her up to forgetfulness, as her citizens complained. (Isaiah 49:14.) Both agree with what is here added, ‘A city not forsaken.’ (See Jeremiah 30:14-17.)” — Rosenmuller.