"For Zion's sake I will not keep silence, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Till her righteousness break forth like morning brightness, And her salvation like a blazing torch (Lowth and Delitzsch). And thou shalt be called by a new name, Which the mouth of JEHOVAH shall determine. And thou shalt be a beautiful crown in the hand of JEHOVAH, And thy land is married. For as a young man marrieth a maiden, So shall thy sons (or Restorer) (Lowth) marry thee: And with the joy of the bridegroom in his bride, So shall thy God rejoice in thee. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen, And all the day and all the night long shall they not keep silence (Alexander): Ye that remind JEHOVAH (the Lord's remembrancers) (margin), keep not silence; And give no rest to Him, till He establish, And till He set Jerusalem a praise in the earth. ISAIAH lxii. 1-7. XXIX. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." "And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah : for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." The New -ISAIAH lxii. 2-5. THE Bells of COMFORT seem to ring with quickening peal, as the the Threefold prophecy is approaching its close. Blessing. This chapter, indeed, forms in itself, a unique repository of consolation; it continues the colloquial structure of the one which precedes it. There, we found the MessiahKing, in the opening verses, issuing a manifesto, in which He unfolds alike His own character, and the nature and design of His mediatorial offices and Kingdom. At the close, the Church responds, in a song of joy, to Him who had clothed her with "the garments of salvation" and covered her "with a robe of righteousness." At the commencement of the present chapter, God Himself, the Great Jehovah of His people, answers their ascription of praise with a renewed promise of blessing: that for Zion's sake He will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake He will not rest, “until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness" (or like the ruddy hues of a brilliant morning), "and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth" (ver. 1). The picture brought before us, is a repetition of that with which we are now familiar in many preceding portions of the prophecy, and specially in chapter lx. Zion is in ruins; the Queenly Matron is uncrowned, sitting, a mourning, forlorn widow, shrouded in darkness. Her twin name is "Forsaken" and "Desolate" (ver. 4). But suddenly the darkness vanishes; and not only is the silent, deserted city flooded with light, but, by a new and rapid change of figure, it becomes a stronghold with sentinels on its towers, sounding their watch-cries or watchsongs. God Himself is represented, in a beautiful apostrophe, as turning and addressing Zion thus-" I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night." The Prophet next interposes, as he hears this gracious announcement, and thus calls upon the watchmen as they pace the battlements-"Ye that make mention of the Lord" (or, margin-‘Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers'), "keep not silence; and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Jehovah again speaks in reply, in verse 8. Because He could swear by no greater, He swears by Himself. He makes a solemn asseveration "by His right hand, by the arm of His strength," that every word He had spoken would be fulfilled,-that the day was coming in a better and brighter future, when the Church, undeterred by the dread of pillage and plunder, would reap her own harvest and garner her own corn, and drink, as of old, the vintage-cup of thanks within the courts of His holiness (ver. 9). Then, following out the dramatic form in which the chapter is cast, we may suppose a new chorus of voices heard, calling upon the gates to be flung open, the obstructing stones to be gathered out, the highways to be repaired for the return of the ransomed (vers. 10-12)—"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to the end of the world, Say ye to the Daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh :" while, by universal acclaim, the once despised people are called "Holy, the redeemed of the Lord;" and the once despised city, "Sought out, a city not forsaken." |