Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even these forget, but I will not forget thee.
Zion — God's chosen city — has just cried out that the LORD has forsaken and forgotten her. This verse is His reply, and it points to the closest bond people know: a mother and her nursing baby.
The verse answers a specific complaint. One commentator puts it beside the cry that provoked it, and follows the answer to its end.
"But Zion said, Jehovah has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me." But Jehovah answers Zion's reproach. He says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child…? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you." The enemies of Israel disappear. Israel comes forward, long forgotten in appearance, but now to be established for ever.
God compares Himself to a mother with her baby. The comparison carries an admission inside it: even that tie can break.
Zion stands for the godly seed who will receive the mercy. In their worst hour they will be tempted to think their God has forsaken and forgotten them. But He has not. Among mankind there is no stronger tie than a mother's love. Yet under extreme pressure even that tie may break. The godly in Israel have a tie with Jehovah that will never break.
Another writer follows the promise on to what God then does for Zion:
Zion thought she was forsaken altogether. A woman may, unnaturally, forget the child of her womb; but Jehovah does not forget His own people. He comforts Zion; He consoles her, and rapidly increases her children.
This promise has waited a long time. One writer gives the reason for the delay, and what stays fixed through it:
Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me"… "Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you"… This same unchanging love for Zion speaks again through Zechariah. If the words may be used with reverence, it stirs Jehovah up to step in and deliver and restore her. She may still have to wait. Centuries may pass, because of her even greater sin in crucifying the Messiah. But the eyes and heart of Jehovah will rest on her without a break.
God says this to people who forget Him. One writer sets Peter's collapse beside the promise:
Peter was full of self-confidence, yet he truly loved his Master. He vowed that he would face prison and death for his beloved Lord. Yet at the voice of a servant girl he denied his Master with oaths and cursing! Peter sinned, but his faith did not fail… "My people have forgotten Me days without number." Jer. 2:32. "Yet I will not forget you." Isa. 49:15.
The promise rests on something fixed: God has engraved Zion on His hands. One writer applies those hands to Christians now.
Only the nail-pierced hands can carry us through the wilderness to the rest of God that lies ahead of us. Those hands were pierced for everlasting service… He said to Israel, "Can a woman forget her nursing child…? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands." Yes, beloved Christians, and we too are engraved on the palms of His hands. Those hands hold us in everlasting safety. They are lifted up in intercession for us and in blessing over us — the nail-pierced hands.
Commentators differ on how far the promise stretches. Some hold it to Zion and her future restoration. Others, like Mawson, take the same assurance for believers today.
- Complaint. Zion says she is forsaken and forgotten. The verse is God's answer to her, not a general saying about love.
- Comparison. God sets His faithfulness beside the strongest human tie there is. Even a mother's love can break under pressure. His cannot.
- Contrast. A mother forgetting her child would be unnatural, and God never forgets His own. His people forgot Him "days without number," and He still says He will not forget them.
- Continuation. The waiting is long, and the crucifixion of the Messiah made it longer. Yet His eyes and heart rest on Zion, and she will be established for ever.
- Certainty. The proof is not a feeling but an engraving on His hands. Writers see those hands now as the nail-pierced hands, lifted in intercession.
Lo, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Zion has just said out loud what suffering people always say: God has walked away and lost track of me. God's reply is not an argument. He points to an engraved hand and to ruined walls He still keeps in view.
God is answering a city that looked abandoned for centuries:
The rest of the chapter speaks of the Lord's faithfulness and love for His earthly people. That love is seen in the restoration of Zion, the city of God's sovereign choice. For long centuries she seemed "forsaken" and "forgotten," yet the Lord loves her with a compassion greater than a mother's love for a child. Her walls are continually before the Lord. The day is coming when her children will hurry back and every destroyer will leave the city.
The verse just before compares God's love to a mother's love for her child.
Zion here stands for the godly people who will receive the mercy. In their extreme trouble they will be tempted to think their God has forsaken and forgotten them — but He has not. Among mankind there is no stronger tie than a mother's love. Yet under extreme pressure even that tie may break. The godly in Israel have a tie with the Lord that will never break. While they are set aside as a nation, God has wider purposes of blessing that reach the most distant peoples. Yet He keeps perfect faithfulness to all His promises.
Engraving is stonework. The same craft cut the names of Israel's tribes into the jewels the high priest wore on his chest and shoulders.
The precious stones were engraved too, both on the shoulder plates and on the breastplate. God said of Zion, "Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands." Engraving means something no one can erase or rub out — it lasts. These engraved stones are a moving picture. They show the deep and lasting place believers have in the heart of Christ.
The second half of the verse turns to Zion's walls. One writer asks what a wall stands for:
The first thought of a wall is separation from the evil outside, but there may be another thought, and that thought is ownership. The thought of ownership is also seen in Isaiah 49:16… God's people belong to the Lord. He owns what is His, and the words "your walls are continually before Me" stress it.
Writers link the palms in this verse to the hands nailed to the cross. Those hands still serve.
God has committed us to His hands. Because we are His children, He could not have committed us into any other hands. It would not have been enough to put us into the hands of Gabriel or Michael. Only the nail-pierced hands, bored for everlasting service, can carry us through the wilderness to the rest of God that lies ahead… In the same way we too are engraved on the palms of His hands. Those hands hold us in everlasting safety. He lifts them up in intercession for us and in blessing over us — the nail-pierced hands.
The engraved hand leads to a change on the ground:
The enemies of Israel disappear, and Israel comes forward. She seemed forgotten for a long time. Now God will establish her forever.
One writer applies these words to any believer who fears God has written them off:
Cast down we may be, and often are, and it is good for us too, for "God… comforts the downcast" (2 Corinthians 7:6) — but cast off, never. God cannot deny Himself. He cannot be false to His word. There are wonderful words in the Old Testament that assure us of this. They were meant in the first place for Israel, but we may take them for ourselves: "Can a woman forget her nursing child?… Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." But the New Testament makes the assurance even surer. There we are in our own sphere, and we read, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
- Complaint. Zion says she is forsaken and forgotten; this verse is God's direct reply to that feeling, not a rebuke of it.
- Compared. A mother's love is the strongest human tie, yet it can break under pressure — the tie God has with His people never will.
- Carved. "Engraved" is stonecutter's language, like the tribal names cut into the high priest's jewels. Nothing can rub it out.
- Claimed. The walls kept continually before Him mark ownership — the city, and the people it stands for, belong to God.
- Carried. Writers see the palms as the nail-pierced hands. Those hands hold believers safe and rise in intercession and blessing.
Thy sons shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall go forth from thee.
Zion has just cried out that God has dropped her and forgotten her, and this verse is His reply: the wreckers leave the city while her children stream back in. Who are these returning ones, and when does a ruined city ever see such a reversal?
A note on wording: where the ESV says "your builders," the writers quoted below follow an older reading, "your children."
This promise sits at a turning point. Isaiah 49 opens a new dispute between God and His people, and the subject has changed.
Isaiah 49 begins the second charge — the rejection of Christ, not idolatry — and it runs to the end of chapter 57. (Compare the end of Isaiah 48.) Israel, having rejected the Messiah, this is said to be of little value. God sets Him as a light to the Gentiles, and Zion is to be re-established.
So God promises this restoration to a people at their worst point, not their best.
Verse 17 is the second half of an answer. Zion complains; God replies first with a mother's love, then with this picture of traffic reversing at the city gates.
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." Jehovah answers her reproach. He says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go out from you" (vv. 14-17). The enemies of Israel disappear, and Israel comes forward — long forgotten in appearance, but now to be established forever.
Two crowds move in opposite directions in a single sentence.
The verse is not a prediction about Zion's strength. It rests on an affection that centuries of ruin have not cooled, and it is still waiting to be filled out.
The rest of the chapter speaks of Jehovah's faithfulness and love for His earthly people. That love shows itself in the restoration of Zion, the city of God's sovereign choice (Ps. 78:68). For long centuries she seemed "forsaken" and "forgotten," yet the city is loved with a compassion greater than a mother's love for her child. Her walls are continually before the Lord, and the day is coming when her children will hurry back and all her destroyers go out from the city.
The chapter's earlier verses explain why God can speak this way at all. One writer also warns against reading the promise as a picture of the Church.
Turn now to Isaiah 49. Israel failed as God's servant and is set aside. God presents Christ as the true Servant. Yet He says, "I have labored in vain," for we know that Israel rejected Him... In verse 8 God gives Him as a covenant to the people, to deliver them in the end... The idea of applying this to the Church is almost too far-fetched to be worth a comment. When does the Church ever say, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me" — and that at the very time when the blessing is complete?
Jerusalem has been rebuilt before, and each time few people lived in it. Those past recoveries fall short of what this verse promises.
How different it will be in the coming day of Jerusalem's glory. Then the city will still be "large and great," but the people will no longer be few. In that day the land will be too narrow for the number of people living in it, and of the city they will say, "The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in" (Isaiah 49:14-21). This reminds us that reformation, restoration and revival, however bright and blessed, fall far short of the glory that is to come. There had been reformation in the days of the kings. There had been restoration in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and those restored people had enjoyed their revivals. But whether reformation, restoration or revival, it was always a time of outward weakness.
- Charge — Isaiah 49 opens God's second dispute with His people. The issue is now the rejected Messiah, not idolatry.
- Complaint — Zion cries that God has forsaken and forgotten her. He answers with love stronger than a mother's.
- Exchange — One sentence moves two crowds: the destroyers walk out, the children hurry in. Israel's enemies disappear and Israel comes forward.
- Ground — The comfort rests on the true Servant. His labour looked wasted, yet God gives Him as a covenant to deliver the people in the end.
- Reach — Every past rebuilding was small and weak. The promise here is a city too full to hold its own people, and it is still ahead.