Isaiah 49:8-16

Restoration of Israel

8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.

12 See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.^[a] ”

13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

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Isaiah 49:8-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 49

This is a prophecy concerning Christ, and redemption by him; and of the enlargement of the church in the latter day, by the conversion of Jews and Gentiles; which the isles, and people afar off, are exhorted to listen and hearken to, delivered out by the prophet, in the person of Christ; who gives an account of his call to his office, and the time of it; of what the Lord did for him, and said unto him, Isa 49:1-3, then follows a complaint of his labouring in vain, and a correction of it, Isa 49:4 and a further declaration of his call and appointment to office, and of each of the parts of the work assigned him, with encouragement to it, Isa 49:5,6. Christ is again represented under discouraging circumstances, as despised of men, abhorred by the nation, and a servant of rulers; who is encouraged by divine promises that kings should rise up before him, and worship him; that God would be faithful to his promise to him, and yet choose him, hear and help him, at a proper time; preserve him, and give him for a covenant to the people, to the establishment of the earth, and making it habitable, Isa 49:7,8 for the release of prisoners, and feeding, leading, and guiding them, and removing all difficulties out of the way, Isa 49:9-11 when the calling of the Gentiles is foretold, which would occasion great joy in the world, Isa 49:12,13 yet the church is introduced as complaining that she was forsaken of God, Isa 49:14 which is denied, and the contrary affirmed; being dear to the Lord as a sucking child to its mother, and more so; never forgotten by him, and always under his care, Isa 49:16, and, for her comfort, she is assured that those who had destroyed and made her waste should be removed; and that she should have converts that would be an ornament to her, and these numerous, insomuch that the place of their habitation would be too strait and narrow, and which would be matter of astonishment to her, Isa 49:17-21 and, besides those that would be converted in the land of Judea, there would be great numbers in the Gentile world converted by the power of God accompanying his Gospel, set up as a standard there, kings and queens countenancing and encouraging the interest of Christ, Isa 49:22,23 and yet still it is questioned whether the church should be delivered from her oppressors, Isa 49:24 to which it is answered, that she should be delivered, and her persecutors destroyed; by which it would be known that the Lord is the Redeemer and Saviour of his people, Isa 49:25,26.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 30

1. Psalms 69:13; Isaiah 60:10; Isaiah 61:2
2. S Isaiah 41:10; 2 Corinthians 6:2*
3. S Isaiah 5:2; Isaiah 26:3
4. S Isaiah 42:6
5. Leviticus 25:10; S Psalms 37:9; Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 58:12; Isaiah 61:4; Ezekiel 36:10,33; Amos 9:11,14
6. S Numbers 34:13; S Isaiah 60:21
7. Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 61:1; S Luke 4:19
8. S Psalms 107:10
9. Isaiah 41:18
10. S Isaiah 33:16
11. Psalms 121:6; Revelation 7:16
12. S Isaiah 14:1
13. S Psalms 48:14; S Isaiah 42:16; S Isaiah 48:17
14. S Isaiah 33:21; S Isaiah 35:7
15. S Isaiah 11:16
16. Isaiah 40:4; Jeremiah 31:9
17. S Isaiah 2:3; S Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 43:5-6
18. Isaiah 59:19; S Matthew 8:11
19. S Isaiah 48:20
20. S Psalms 96:11
21. S Psalms 65:12-13; Psalms 98:4; Isaiah 44:23
22. S Psalms 71:21; S Isaiah 40:1; S 2 Corinthians 1:4
23. S Isaiah 14:1
24. S Psalms 9:12
25. Isaiah 40:9
26. S Psalms 9:10; S Psalms 71:11; S Isaiah 27:8
27. S 1 Kings 3:26; Isaiah 66:13
28. S Isaiah 44:21
29. S Genesis 38:18; S Exodus 28:9; Song of Songs 8:6
30. Psalms 48:12-13; Isaiah 62:6

Footnotes 1

[a]. Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text "Sinim"