Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord,
&c.] Since the Messiah, who is the Lord God, should be raised up to thorn, whom they should serve, and he should save them; and so had nothing to fear from their enemies; and had no reason to doubt of salvation and deliverance, seeing so great a person was engaged for them. The language is very much like the Prophet Isaiah's: neither be dismayed, O Israel:
the same thing in other words; for Jacob and Israel are the same; and to fear and be dismayed are much alike: for, lo, I will save thee from afar;
from a far country; not from Babylon only, but from all distant countries where they are dispersed, east, west, north, or south; distance of place should be no hinderance to their salvation, and so need be no objection in their minds to it: and thy seed from the land of their captivity;
their children should come forth with them: it seems to respect future times; that though this should not be accomplished in the persons of the Israelites then living, yet should be in their posterity: and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none
shall make [him] afraid;
which was not fulfilled upon the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity; for they quickly met with much opposition and disturbance in the rebuilding of their city and temple; and afterwards from Antiochus, in the times of the Maccabees, by whom they were greatly disquieted; and at last by the Romans, by whom their nation was subdued and ruined; wherefore this respects the quiet and peaceable times they shall have when they are converted, and have embraced the Christian religion.