1 Sing, O barren woman who did not give birth;break into jubilant song, you who were not in labor.The children of the deserted wifeshall outnumber those of the espoused, says Jehovah.
2 Expand the site of your tent;extend the canopies of your dwellings.Do not hold back; lengthen your cordsand strengthen your stakes.
3 For you shall spread abroadto the right and to the left;your offspring shall dispossess the nationsand resettle the desolate cities.
4 Be not fearful, for you shall not be confounded;be not ashamed, for you shall not be disgraced.You shall forget the shame of your youthand remember no morethe reproach of your widowhood.
5 For he who espouses you is your Maker,whose name is Jehovah of Hosts;he who redeems you is the Holy One of Israel,who is called the God of all the earth.
6 Jehovah calls you backas a spouse forsaken and forlorn,a wife married in youth only to be rejected,says your God.
7 I forsook you indeed momentarily,but with loving compassion I will gather you up.
8 In fleeting exasperation I hid my face from you,but with everlasting charityI will have compassion on you,says Jehovah, who redeems you.
9 This is to me as in the daysa of Noah,when I swore that the waters of Noahwould no more flood the earth.So I swear to have no more anger toward you,never again to rebuke you.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
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10 For the mountains shall be removedand the hills collapse with shaking,but my charity toward you shall never be removed,nor my covenant of peace be shaken,says Jehovah, who has compassion on you.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
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(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
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11 Poor wretch, tempest-tossed and disconsolate!I will lay antimony for your building stonesand sapphires for your foundations;
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
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(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
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12 I will make your skylights of jacinth,your gates of carbuncle,and your entire boundary of precious stones.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
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(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
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13 All your children shall be taught by Jehovah,and great shall be the peace of your posterity.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
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14 You shall be firmly established through righteousness;you will be far from oppressionand have no cause to fear,far from ruin, for it shall not approach you.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
blue
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his arm of righteousness, who prepares an elect people for Jehovah's coming and rules with him in the earth's millennial age of peace.
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15 Those who gather into mobs are not of me;whoever masses against you shall fall because of you.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
blue
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his arm of righteousness, who prepares an elect people for Jehovah's coming and rules with him in the earth's millennial age of peace.
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16 It is I who create the smith who fans the flaming coals,forging weapons to suit his purpose;it is I who create the ravager to destroy.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
blue
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his arm of righteousness, who prepares an elect people for Jehovah's coming and rules with him in the earth's millennial age of peace.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers to forge weapons of war with which to destroy the evildoers of his people and the nations in his Day of Judgment.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers to forge weapons of war with which to destroy the evildoers of his people and the nations in his Day of Judgment.
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17 Whatever weapon is devised against you,it shall not succeed;every tongue that rises to accuse you,you shall refute.This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah,and such is their vindicationb by me, says Jehovah.
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance, who typify Jehovah's anger toward the reprobates of his people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
(1) Jehovah's everlasting covenant of peace and salvation with his elect; and (2) Jehovah's end-time servant, who acts as its mediator as did Moses and who assigns them everlasting inheritances.
blue
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his arm of righteousness, who prepares an elect people for Jehovah's coming and rules with him in the earth's millennial age of peace.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers to forge weapons of war with which to destroy the evildoers of his people and the nations in his Day of Judgment.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers to forge weapons of war with which to destroy the evildoers of his people and the nations in his Day of Judgment.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, the tongue or spokesman of the wicked, whom apostates emulate by railing against Jehovah's servants and falsely accusing them.
red
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, who typifies Jehovah's vindication or righteousness, who acts as a proxy savior to his people and empowers additional servants of Jehovah.
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Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 54
Isaiah’s depicting Jehovah’s people as two cities, one righteous, the other wicked, has a parallel in two women or wives, one faithful, the other unfaithful. The imagery of a woman who typifies Jehovah’s covenant relationship with his people thus divides into that of two women: (1) “a wife married in youth only to be rejected” for her unfaithfulness, but whom Jehovah now remarries (vv 5-6); and (2) the wife currently married, whom Jehovah now rejects for her unfaithfulness: “Surely by sinning you sold yourselves; because of your crimes is your mother cast off” (Isaiah 50:1; cf. 1:21; 57:3-13).
A reversal of circumstances takes place when the natural lineages of Jehovah’s people who anciently rejected their covenant Lord renew their relationship with him—while, at the same time, the assimilated lineages of his people who displaced them now reject him through their idolatries (Isaiah 42:17; 44:15; 45:20; 46:1-2). In the millennial age of peace, the “children” or “sons” (banim) who are born to the remarried spouse—a chief covenant blessing—far exceed those of the spouse who is cast off. She who was “barren” during the intervening centuries has cause to rejoice (Isaiah 49:20-22).
In the millennial age of peace, promised lands—a second chief covenant blessing—consist not only of the ones Jehovah promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but also others of his people who lived as righteously as they did. As all promised lands are covenant blessings, and as Jehovah gave Abraham the land stretching from the Euphrates to the Nile (Genesis 15:18), additional promised lands follow the same pattern. When blessing his son Joseph, Jacob could thus declare, “The blessings of your father have exceeded the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bounds of the primeval hills” (Genesis 49:26).
Although the Zion/Jerusalem category of Jehovah’s people inherits promised lands conditionally, as Israel did anciently—conditional on keeping the terms of the Sinai covenant—the son/servant category and levels higher inherit promised lands unconditionally. The Woman Zion, whom Jehovah marries, inherits the place Zion to which she returns (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11; 60:8-9), where Jehovah protects her in his Day of Judgment (Isaiah 4:5-6; 14:32; 46:13) and where he comes to reign (Isaiah 52:8; 59:20; 62:11). From there, however, she spreads abroad and inherits the lands of her oppressors.
Like Israel’s ethnic lineages that she represents, the Woman Zion was fearful, confounded, ashamed, and disgraced during the long centuries of covenant curses she endured while divorced from her husband. When she renews the covenant, however, her curses turn into blessings. Having decided that loyalty to her husband—her Maker, Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth—is for her and her children’s best good, her afflictions vanish. Though in times past she made poor choices, suffering barrenness and reproach from neighbors, she happily reunites with her Redeemer.
Jehovah’s ancient covenant people, now received back, remarry their Redeemer whom they long repudiated. The account of his taking back his former spouse thus abounds in covenant language. Terms such as “loving compassion” and “everlasting charity” denote an unconditional and eternal covenant. The words “I forsook you, indeed, momentarily” and “in fleeting exasperation I hid my face from you” express justified actions, showing that consequences for transgression in the form of covenant curses are, in the end, designed to bring Jehovah’s people back into a blessed relationship with him.
Chapter 54 depicts many features of the new covenant Jehovah makes with his people at the inception of the millennial age, the term “charity” denoting its unconditional nature. As Jehovah made a “covenant of peace” with the Levites and with King David (Numbers 25:10-13; Jeremiah 33:20-22; Malachi 2:4-6), so he makes it in the days of his end-time servant named David (Isaiah 55:3-5; Ezekiel 34:23-25; 37:24-26). His servant’s personifying Jehovah’s covenant, moreover (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8), means that he serves as its mediator as Moses did anciently (Exodus 19:3-6; Deuteronomy 29:1).
The new covenant further resembles the covenant Jehovah made with Noah after the Flood (Genesis 9:8-17). Only this time a world cataclysm like the Flood involves the shaking of mountains or nations. He who “shakes” the nations is the king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah’s anger (Isaiah 10:5; 14:16). The peace that characterizes the millennial age—as manifested in Jehovah’s “covenant of peace”—stems directly from the “price of our peace” Jehovah pays in his descent phase (Isaiah 26:12; 45:7; 53:5). That peace, his people now enjoy everlastingly (Isaiah 26:3; 33:20; 52:7).
Like the heroine of fairy tales, the Woman Zion goes through a refiner’s fire and inherits the equivalent of a glorious castle for her home. As precious stones signify higher spiritual categories of people (Isaiah 49:17-18; Malachi 3:16-17), the idea of promised lands adorned with gemstones additionally implies that those who live into the millennial age have ascended to higher spiritual levels. Prominent among these is Jehovah’s servant, whose task is to restore Jehovah’s people even beyond their former glory: “I lay in Zion a stone, a keystone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16).
Just as Jehovah enhances the blessing of his people’s lands by regenerating and adorning them (vv 11-12; Isaiah 35:1-2; 51:3), so he enhances the blessing of their posterity by personally teaching them. The basis of these blessings is his people’s righteousness—the opposite of their former wickedness that caused their oppression and ruin. The peace they long sought but couldn’t find thus comes as a covenant blessing not from human agreements. Jehovah’s servant—his righteousness (Isaiah 41:2; 46:11-13)—establishes their peace (Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:4-9; 16:5; 32:1, 16-20; 33:20; 52:7; 55:4-5, 12).
Before Jehovah reverses his people’s circumstances, their enemies grow more agitated and oppressive. Forming an integral part of his people’s refiner’s fire, however, the opposition they receive serves as an opportunity for them to ascend to higher spiritual levels as they prove faithful to Jehovah through the midst of their trials. The descent phase of Jehovah’s people nevertheless doesn’t last forever, their enemies’ violation of their rights being the very thing that brings covenant curses upon them. As gathering into mobs is not of God, so the term “fall” identifies Isaiah’s Babylon category (Isaiah 21:9).
The terms “smith” and “ravager” identify the king of Assyria/Babylon, who ravages and desolates the earth: “His purpose shall be to annihilate and to exterminate nations not a few” (Isaiah 10:7; cf. 9:18-19; 13:9-13; 14:16-17; 33:1). Jehovah empowers him to destroy the wicked of his people and the nations in his Day of Judgment: “Have you not heard how I ordained this thing long ago, how in days of old I planned it? Now I have brought it to pass. You were destined to demolish fortified cities, [turning them] into heaps of rubble” (Isaiah 37:26; cf. 5:25-30; 10:5-6; 13:4-5; 28:2-3, 21-22).
A third chief covenant blessing (cf. vv 1-3)—divine protection—comes when Jehovah’s people and their proxy saviors keep the terms of his covenants (Isaiah 37:35; 41:10-13; 48:18; 63:17; 65:8-9). Even when “wickedness is set ablaze like a fire” and “forests” or cities “billow upward in mushrooming clouds of smoke” (Isaiah 9:18), when “whole nations have been burned like lime, mown down like thorns and set ablaze” (Isaiah 33:12), Jehovah provides a way for his people to “live through the devouring fire” on account of their justice and righteousness (Isaiah 33:14-15; cf. 1:27; 32:17; 43:2; 58:8).
Essential to his people’s end-time preservation is the role of Jehovah’s servant, their proxy savior who assures their “vindication” or “righteousness” (sidqatam) (Isaiah 53:11), and the role of other servants who similarly serve as proxy saviors under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 56:6; 63:17; 65:8-9, 13-14; 66:14). The empowerment of additional such servants—the “followers of righteousness” or those who “know righteousness” (Isaiah 51:1, 7)—derives from the mission of Jehovah’s servant (Isaiah 61:3). All these refute the tongue—the king of Assyria/Babylon—and others like him.