Isaiah 56:3

3 Foreigners who have joined the LORD should not say, "The LORD will separate us from his people." Castrated men should not say, "We're only dead trees!"

Isaiah 56:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 56:3

Neither let the son of the stranger
A Gentile, that is so by birth, the son of one that is an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger from the covenants of promise, and so had no right to come into the congregation of the Lord under the former dispensation; but now the middle wall of partition being broken down, in the times to which this prophecy belongs, such are encouraged to expect admission: that hath joined himself to the Lord;
who, having a spiritual knowledge of him in Christ, loves him, believes in him, gives up himself to him, to walk in his ways and ordinances, and cleaves unto him with full purpose of heart; see ( Isaiah 44:5 ) ( Jeremiah 1:5 ) such an one should not speak, saying, the Lord hath utterly separated me from his people;
by a law of his, ( Deuteronomy 23:3 ) , for now the wall of separation, the ceremonial law, is destroyed, and God declares himself to be the God of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews; and of all that fear God, and believe in Christ, of every nation, who are accepted with him; and that they are all one in Christ, and all partakers of the same promises and blessings; so strangers, and the sons of strangers, were to have an inheritance among the children of Israel in Gospel times; see ( Ezekiel 47:22 Ezekiel 47:23 ) and therefore should have no reason to speak after this manner: neither let the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree;
having no children, nor could have any; and to be written childless was reckoned a reproach and a curse; nor might an eunuch enter the congregation of the Lord, ( Deuteronomy 23:1 ) , and yet such a man, having the grace of God, and acting agreeably to it, as in the following verse, should not distress himself on the above accounts.

Isaiah 56:3 In-Context

1 This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice, and do what is right. My salvation is about to come. My righteousness is about to be revealed.

2 Blessed is the one who does these things and the person who holds on to them. Blessed is the one who keeps the day of worship from becoming unholy and his hands from doing anything wrong.

3 Foreigners who have joined the LORD should not say, "The LORD will separate us from his people." Castrated men should not say, "We're only dead trees!"

4 This is what the LORD says: [I will remember] the castrated men who keep my days of worship, choose what pleases me, and faithfully observe the conditions of my promise.

5 Inside my house and within my walls, I will give them something better than sons and daughters. I will give them a monument and a name. I will give them a permanent name that will not be forgotten.