Jesus the Servant of Jehovah
49
📚Listen 📖 to me,O islands,
and pay attention,
you peoples far away!
The LORD called me
from the womb 📖;
from the body of my mother
he made mention
of my name.
2 📚And he has made
my mouth like a sharp sword 📖.
He has hidden me in the shadow 📖
of his hand,
and made me a polished arrow 📖.
He has hidden me in his quiver,
3 📚And said to me,
“You are my servant 📖,
O Israel;
in you I will be glorified 📖”.
4 📚Then I said,
“I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength
for nothing, in vain.
Yet surely justice for me
is with the LORD,
49:4 The nation admits their efforts to fulfill God’s purposes came to nothing. But in hope they leave their future in God’s hands.⚜
and my reward is
with my God”.
God’s purposes
5 📚“And now the LORD
who formed me from the womb
to be his servant 📖 to bring Jacob
back to him says (even though
Israel is not gathered,
yet I will be honoured
in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God will be my strength 📖),
6 📚Yes, he says,
‘It is too small a thing
for you to be my servant
to raise up the tribes
of Jacob 📖,
and to restore the preserved
ones of Israel.
I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be my salvation
to the ends of the earth 📖.’ ”
7 📚Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer and
Holy One of Israel,
to him whom man despises 📖,
to him whom the nation
abhors,
to a servant 📖 of rulers,
“Kings will see and arise;
princes also will worship,
because of the LORD
who is faithful,
and the Holy One
of Israel,
and he will choose you”.
49:1-7 In this section God tells the world that He chose the nation Israel for special purposes (v 2,3). They failed in these purposes (v 4) and went away from God (v 5). But One would rise out of Israel Who would bring Israel back to God and be a source of salvation to the whole world (vs 5,6). This is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.⚜
God will restore Israel
8 📚Thus says the LORD,
“In an acceptable time
I have heard you,
and in the day of salvation 📖
I have helped you.
And I will keep you,
and give you as a covenant 📖
for the people,
to restore the earth 📖,
to assign the desolate
inheritances,
9 📚That you may say
to the prisoners,
‘Go out!’ to those who are
in darkness,
‘Show yourselves!’
They will feed along
the paths,
and their pastures will be
in all the high places.
10 📚They will not hunger
or thirst,
nor will the heat or sun
strike them,
for he who has mercy
on them will lead them,
and will guide them
by the springs of water.
11 📚And I will make a road
of all my mountains,
and my highways will be
raised up.
12 📚See, these will come
from afar,
and, lo and behold,
these from the north and
from the west,
and these from the land
of Sinim 📖”.
13 📚Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
Break out into singing,
O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted
his people,
and will have mercy
on his afflicted.
14 📚But Zion has said,
“The LORD has forsaken me,
and my Lord has forgotten me”.
15 📚“Can a woman forget her
nursing child,
so that she does not have
compassion on the son
of her womb?
Yes, they may forget,
but I will not forget you.
16 📚See, I have engraved you
on the palms of my
hands 📖.
Your walls are continually
before me 📖.
49:15-16 From this verse to the end of the chapter God speaks to the city of Jerusalem. How can we ever imagine that God will not fulfill His word to the nation of Israel? That the literal Zion is here meant is clear from the context (v 5,6,19,22). Of course the spiritual truth is applicable to all believers in every age.⚜
17 📚Your children 📖 will make haste;
your destroyers and those
who laid you waste will go
away from you.
18 📚Lift up your eyes
and look all around;
all these assemble together
and come to you.
As I live,
says the LORD,
you will surely put them all
on as an ornament 📖,
and fasten them on you,
as a bride does.
19 📚For your waste and
desolate places,
and your destroyed land,
will now be too small
for the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up
will be far away.
20 📚The children whom you will have,
after you have lost the others,
will say again in your ears,
‘This place is too small
for me.
Give me a place where I can live.’
49:19-20 This was not fulfilled when the exiles returned from Babylon. A comparatively small number returned then. See Ezra 2:64.⚜
21 📚Then you will say
in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these
for me,
since I have lost my children,
and been desolate, a captive,
and going here and there?
And who brought these up?
See, I was left alone.
As for these,
where have they been?’ ”
22 📚Thus says the Lord God:
“See, I will lift up
my hand to the Gentiles,
and set up my banner
for the peoples;
and they will bring your sons
in their arms,
and your daughters will be
carried on their shoulders.
23 📚And kings will be
your foster fathers,
and their queens
your nursing mothers.
They will bow down to you
with their face
toward the ground,
and lick up the dust
of your feet.
And you will know 📖 that
I am the LORD;
for those who wait for me
will not be put to shame 📖”.
49:23 Jerusalem will become the beloved city, the favourite of the nations – Isa 2:2-4.⚜
24 📚Will the prey be taken
from the mighty,
or the lawful captive delivered?
25 📚But thus says the LORD:
“Even the captives of the mighty
will be taken away,
and the prey of the terrible
will be rescued.
For I will contend 📖 with him
that contends with you,
and I will save your children.
49:25 God will restore the captives of Israel, and their plunder – Isa 14:2.⚜
26 📚And I will cause those who
oppress you to eat their
own flesh,
and they will be drunk with
their own blood as with
sweet wine.
And all flesh will know that I,
the LORD,
am your Saviour
and your Redeemer,
the mighty One of Jacob 📖”.
49:26 God will make Israel’s enemies as Israel’s enemies made them (Lam 4:10).⚜