Isaiah 62:12

And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) The redeemed of the Lord.—Literally, ransomed, as in Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 51:10.

Sought out . . .—i.e., a city which men would seek after to honour, and promote its welfare. (Comp. the opposite, “Zion, which no man seeketh after,” in Jeremiah 30:17.)

A city not forsaken.—With special reference to the name “Azubah” in Isaiah 62:4. (Comp, the change of names in Hosea 2:1.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

62:10-12 Way shall be made for Christ's salvation; all difficulties shall be removed. He brings a reward of comfort and peace with him; but a work of humiliation and reformation before him; and they shall be called, The holy people, and, The redeemed of the Lord. Holiness puts honour and beauty upon any place or person, makes them admired, beloved, and sought after. Many events may have been part fulfilments of this, as earnests of more glorious times yet to come. The close connexion between the blessedness of the Jews and of the Gentiles, runs through the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus will complete his work, and he never will forsake one whom he has redeemed and sanctified.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall call them - It shall be the honorable and just name by which they shall be known, that they are a holy people, and that they are the redeemed of Yahweh. No name is so honorable as that; no one conveys so much that is elevated and ennobling as to say of one, 'he is one whom Yahweh has redeemed from sin and death and hell by atoning blood.' He who has a just sense of the import of this name, will desire no Other record to be made of his life - no other inscription on his tomb - than that he is one who has been redeemed by Yahweh.

And thou shalt be called - (See the notes at Isaiah 62:2).

Sought out - The city much sought after, or much desired - to wit, by converts who shall come from afar; by foreigners who shall come to do thee honor (see Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 40:5-6, Isaiah 40:10-11; Isaiah 49:18-22). Or it may mean that Jerusalem would be a city sought out and desired by Yahweh; that is, no more forsaken by him. So Gesenius understands it.

A city not forsaken - No longer given up to the invasions of a foreign enemy, and abandoned to long desolation. The idea is, that the church and people of God would be the object of his kind protecting care henceforward, and would enjoy his continued smiles.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Sought out—Sought after and highly prized by Jehovah; answering to "not forsaken" in the parallel clause; no longer abandoned, but loved; image from a wife (Isa 62:4; Jer 30:14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They shall call them, The holy people; or, they shall be called, or they shall be, a peculiar, separate people, Isaiah 4:3.

Sought out; or, one found that was lost: see Ezekiel 34:16. Or, sought out, or for, or one in great esteem, one that the Gentiles should seek to join themselves withal, so as to be one church with her. That reproach should be wiped off from her, that this is Zion whom no man seeketh after, Jeremiah 30:17. Or, cared. for, viz. by God, whom he hath out of infinite love gathered to himself.

A city not forsaken: see Isaiah 62:4. The meaning is, that thus they shall esteem the gospel church; she shall be accosted With such salutations as these are,

the holy people, the

redeemed of the Lord, & c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall call them the holy people,.... For whom the way is prepared, to whom the standard is lifted up, and the proclamation made, and who upon it are gathered in to Christ the Saviour, and to the church: these shall be called, by men that know them, have a spirit of discerning, and are capable of judging, "the holy people"; a people separated and set apart for God, for his service and glory; chosen to be a special people, above all the people of the earth; chosen through sanctification of the Spirit, and to holiness here and hereafter, and so sanctified by God the Father, as in Jde 1:1, and in consequence of it are made holy by the Spirit of God, in the effectual calling; they are not holy by nature, nor by their own power, but by the grace of God, who calls them with a holy calling, and to holiness, and implants principles of grace and holiness in them, so that they are truly and really so. This character respects the church and its members in the latter day, when everyone that remains in Jerusalem, and every pot and vessel there, shall be holiness to the Lord; yea, that shall be upon the bells of the horses, Isaiah 4:3,

the redeemed of the Lord; which character includes the blessing of redemption, from whence the denomination is, which is a blessing of a spiritual nature; the redemption of the soul from sin, Satan, the law, its curse, and condemnation, and from all enemies; a blessing early in the heart of God; contrived by his infinite wisdom; secured in the covenant of grace; wrought out by Christ; is a plenteous one, containing various blessings of grace in it, and, in its effects and consequences, of an eternal duration: this character is also expressive of Christ, as the author of the above blessing: these are not redeemed by themselves, nor by their friends, nor by men, nor by angels, but by the Lord; who, as man, is the near kinsman of his people, and has the right to redeem; as God, he is mighty and able to redeem them; and who by his precious blood has obtained redemption for them; so that he has a property in them, which is asserted in this character; they are not their own, nor any other's but his, a peculiar people, redeemed from among men, the special favourites of heaven; and who, in consequence of it, are called, and kept, and saved with an everlasting salvation:

and thou shalt be called, Sought out; thou, daughter of Zion; or the church of God, consisting of elect, redeemed, and called ones; such as are sought out of the ruins of the fall, among the men of the world, and dust of the earth; found in a very miserable condition, usually by means of the Gospel, and by Christ, who knows them well, where are, and what the time of finding them, and can by name, and does; all which is the fruit and effect of his love unto them; though this character may chiefly respect the notice that will be taken of the church in the latter day; whereas she has been Zion, whom no man seeks after, Jeremiah 30:17, now she shall be sought and flocked unto by all nations, and by great personages, even by the kings and princes of the earth, Isaiah 2:2.

A city not forsaken; the city of the living God, of which saints are fellow citizens, consisting of many persons, in good and flourishing circumstances, and which shall not be forsaken of men, as it has been, Isaiah 60:15, but shall be filled with converts, both Jews and Gentiles; nor forsaken of God, but shall enjoy his gracious presence, and sensible communion with him in his ordinances; nor shall any of its true members be forsaken, or the work of grace in them; they shall none of them perish, but have everlasting life; so that here is a cluster of glorious doctrines, in their order and connection one with another: election in the first character; redemption in the second; effectual calling in the third; and final perseverance in the last.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A {o} city not forsaken.

(o) That is, one over whom God has had a singular care to recover her when she was lost.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Zion and its people shall then be recognised in their true character by all.

The holy people] The priesthood of humanity; ch. Isaiah 61:6.

The redeemed of the Lord] ch. Isaiah 35:10 [Isaiah 51:10]; cf. Isaiah 48:20.

Sought out] i.e. “much sought after.” Cf. Jeremiah 30:17, “This is Zion whom no man seeketh after.”

A city not forsaken] See Isaiah 62:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - They shall call them; or, men shall call them, equivalent to "they shall be called." The holy people. The Persians in some degree recognized this character in the Israelites (Ezra 1:2, 3; Ezra 6:8-12: 7:12-26). So did Alexander, according to Josephus. The Romans, on the contrary, regarded them as the votaries of a degrading superstition. Since the Roman conquest, they have been almost universally despised. Perhaps the prophecy may be considered to still await its complete fulfilment. Thou shalt be called. "Thou" refers to Zion or Jerusalem. She should be called Sought out - i.e. a special object of God's care - and A city not for-saken - the very opposite of her former name (ver. 4), which was "Forsaken." All the conditions of her former existence would be altered, nay, reversed, in the future.



Isaiah 62:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The concluding strophe goes back to the standpoint of the captivity. "Go forth, go forth through the gates, clear the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the road, clear it of stones; lift up a banner above the nations! Behold, Jehovah hath caused tidings to sound to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. And men will call them the holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and men will call thee, Striven after, A city that will not be forsaken." We cannot adopt the rendering proposed by Gesenius, "Go ye into the gates," whether of Jerusalem or of the temple, since the reading would then be שׁערים בּאוּ (Genesis 23:10) or בשּׁערים (Jeremiah 7:2). For although בּ עבר may under certain circumstances be applied to entrance into a city (Judges 9:26), yet it generally denotes either passing through a land (Isaiah 8:21; Isaiah 34:10; Genesis 41:46; Leviticus 26:6, etc.), or through a nation (2 Samuel 20:14), or through a certain place (Isaiah 10:28); so that the phrase בּשּׁער עבר, which does not occur anywhere else (for in Micah 2:13, which refers, however, to the exodus of the people out of the gates of the cities of the captivity, שׁער ויּעברוּ do not belong together), must refer to passing through the gate; and the cry בשׁערים עברוּ means just the same as מבּבל צאוּ ("Go ye forth from Babylon") in Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 52:11.

The call to go out of Babylon forms the conclusion of the prophecy here, just as it does in Isaiah 48:20-21; Isaiah 52:11-12. It is addressed to the exiles; but who are they to whom the command is given, "Throw up a way," - a summons repeatedly found in all the three books of these prophecies (Isaiah 40:3; Isaiah 57:14)? They cannot be the heathen, for this is contradicted by the conclusion of the charge, "Lift ye up a banner above the nations;" nor can we adopt what seems to us a useless fancy on the part of Stier, viz., that Isaiah 62:10 is addressed to the watchmen on the walls of Zion. We have no hesitation, therefore, in concluding that they are the very same persons who are to march through the gates of Babylon. The vanguard (or pioneers) of those who are coming out are here summoned to open the way by which the people are to march, to throw up the road (viz., by casting up an embankment, hamsillâh, as in Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 49:11; maslūl, Isaiah 35:8), to clear it of stones (siqqēl, as in Isaiah 5:2; cf., Hosea 9:12, shikkēl mē'âdâm), and lift up a banner above the nations (one rising so high as to be visible far and wide), that the diaspora of all places may join those who are returning home with the friendly help of the nations (Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 49:22). For Jehovah hath caused tidings to be heard to the end of the earth, i.e., as we may see from what follows, the tidings of their liberation; in other words, looking at the historical fulfilment, the proclamation of Cyrus, which he caused to be issued throughout his empire at the instigation of Jehovah (Ezra 1:1). Hitzig regards השׁמיע as expressing what had actually occurred at the time when the prophet uttered his predictions; and in reality the standpoint of the prophets was so far a variable one, that the fulfilment of what was predicted did draw nearer and nearer to it ἐν πνεύματι. But as hinnēh throughout the book of Isaiah, even when followed by a perfect, invariably points to something future, all that can be said is, that the divine announcement of the time of redemption, as having now arrived, stands out before the soul of the prophet with all the certainty of a historical fact. The conclusion which Knobel draws from the expression "to the end of the earth," as to the Babylonian standpoint of the prophet, is a false one. In his opinion, "the end of the earth" in such passages as Psalm 72:8; Zechariah 9:10 ('aphsē-'ârets), and Isaiah 24:16 (kenaph hâ'ârets), signifies the western extremity of the orbis orientalis, that is to say, the region of the Mediterranean, more especially Palestine; whereas it was rather a term applied to the remotest lands which bounded the geographical horizon (compare Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 48:20, with Psalm 2:8; Psalm 22:28, and other passages). The words that follow ("Say ye," etc.) might be taken as a command issued on the ground of the divine hishimiă‛ ("the Lord hath proclaimed"); but hishimiă‛ itself is a word that needs to be supplemented, so that what follows is the divine proclamation: Men everywhere, i.e., as far as the earth or the dispersion of Israel extends, are to say to the daughter of Zion - that is to say, to the church which has its home in Zion, but is now in foreign lands - that "its salvation cometh," i.e., that Jehovah, its Saviour, is coming to bestow a rich reward upon His church, which has passed through sever punishment, but has been so salutarily refined. Those to whom the words "Say ye," etc., are addressed, are not only the prophets of Israel, but all the mourners of Zion, who become mebhasserı̄m, just because they respond to this appeal (compare the meaning of this "Say ye to the daughter of Zion" with Zechariah 9:9 in Matthew 21:5). The whole of the next clause, "Behold, His reward," etc., is a repetition of the prophet's own words in Isaiah 40:10. It is a question whether the words "and they shall call thee," etc., contain the gospel which is to be proclaimed according to the will of Jehovah to the end of the earth (see Isaiah 48:20), or whether they are a continuation of the prophecy which commences with "Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed." The latter is the more probable, as the address here passes again into an objective promise. The realization of the gospel, which Jehovah causes to be preached, leads men to call those who are now still in exile "the holy people," "the redeemed" (lit. ransomed, Isaiah 51:10; like pedūyē in Isaiah 35:10). "And thee" - thus does the prophecy close by returning to a direct address to Zion-Jerusalem - "thee will men call derūshâh," sought assiduously, i.e., one whose welfare men, and still more Jehovah, are zealously concerned to promote (compare the opposite in Jeremiah 30:17) - "a city that will not be forsaken," i.e., in which men gladly settle, and which will never be without inhabitants again (the antithesis to ‛ăzūbhâh in Isaiah 60:15), possibly also in the sense that the gracious presence of God will never be withdrawn from it again (the antithesis to ‛ăzūbhâh in Isaiah 62:4). נעזבה is the third pers. pr., like nuchâmâh in Isaiah 54:11 : the perfect as expressing the abstract present (Ges. 126, 3).

The following prophecy anticipates the question, how Israel can possibly rejoice in the recovered possession of its inheritance, if it is still to be surrounded by such malicious neighbours as the Edomites.