For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
God speaks here to Zion as a husband speaks to a wife He had set aside. He weighs a short absence against a vast return. Two questions press: who is He speaking to, and how can centuries count as a brief moment?
Many read this chapter as a promise to the church. One commentator says the words cannot carry that meaning.
Only when this chapter is read of Israel does it flow in its own proper channel. Excluding Israel from the blessing to come, and handing the chapter over to the church as its intended scope, produces nothing but violence and confusion. It is not true that God has forsaken the church even for a small moment. He does not hide His face from the Christian for an instant in a little wrath. That is how great the power of redemption is. For the Jew, it is exactly what is true right now: and just as surely He will yet gather His ancient people in His mercy for ever.
The same writer asks which people this pattern of favour, loss and return can fit.
One people once stood in full favour and close relationship to the LORD. They forfeited it for a time. At last they are restored, more than ever and for ever. There is only one such people: it is impossible that God should fail to have mercy on Israel.
The forsaking has already run far longer than any human lifetime, yet God calls it small. The writers quoted here use an older translation. It reads "a small moment" and "great mercies" where the ESV has "a brief moment" and "great compassion."
How striking are the contrasts in verses 7-10. This time in which Israel is "Lo-ammi," covering more than two thousand years, may seem long to them, but it is "a small moment" to Him. When at last they are re-gathered it will be with "great mercies," given righteously, since God's humbled Servant had borne their iniquities. Put the stress also on the word "mercies," for no thought of merit will enter into their blessing. The Jew lies under wrath as a nation. Yet seen in the light of the coming mercy, it is "a little wrath," and the kindness shown to them in mercy will be "everlasting."
This forsaking is told in the language of marriage. It follows a refusal on her side, not His.
Jerusalem is seen as barren and desolate, because she rejected Him who came to be her husband. But now grace has made the LORD her righteousness, and she is called to enlarge the place of her tent and spread out the curtains of her dwelling. That same grace counts as her children all who were gathered while she lay desolate. For a little while God has treated her as a rejected wife, but has now comforted her with everlasting mercies.
This promise comes straight after Isaiah 53, the chapter about the suffering Servant. One writer traces the singing that follows back to the cross.
After the cross, the singing. What singing there will be on the earth when at last "they look on Him whom they have pierced." Israel will one day know the full meaning of Isaiah 53. When He is owned at last, infinite grace will give them the glories and blessings of restoration. Enlargement and faithfulness will be the results. The shame of Israel's youth and long widowhood is ended. The forsaking is ended. Everlasting kindness will be their happy portion. The fear and sorrow of Israel are ended because "He poured out His soul to death."
One writer follows this mercy out to its furthest reach.
"With everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," says the LORD your Redeemer. Then Zion's children shall be many. Her seed shall inherit the nations, and the Redeemer of Israel shall be called the God of the whole earth. The same mercy will embrace the Gentiles. For it is written, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"; and again, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people."
- The moment — More than two thousand years feel long to Israel, but God calls the whole span small.
- The mercies — She is gathered by mercy, not merit; no thought of what she earned enters into the blessing.
- The marriage — She rejected the One who came to be her husband, and He takes her back as a wife once refused.
- The ground — The forsaking can end because the Servant of Isaiah 53 poured out His soul to death. After the cross, the singing.
- The reach — The mercy that gathers Zion does not stop with her. Her Redeemer is called the God of the whole earth, and the nations rejoice with His people.
In the outpouring of wrath have I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting loving-kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer.
One verse, two measures: anger that lasts a moment, and love that never ends. Who is God speaking to here, and what makes such a promise safe to build a nation's future on?
(Some writers quote an older Bible. Their "everlasting kindness" is the ESV's "everlasting love.")
Chapter 53 sets out the sufferings of the Messiah. Chapter 54 follows straight on, and one writer traces its blessing back to that source:
Isaiah 54 goes on to unfold what the sufferings of her Messiah will produce for Israel. The first word is "Sing." The margin of Psalm 65:1 reads, "Praise is silent for You, O God, in Zion." That is how it stands today. But a time is coming when Israel — the true Israel of God — will break out into singing. It will be one of the fruits springing from Christ's sacrificial death. That people was barren and unfruitful under the law, while outwardly married to the LORD on that basis. They will be not only joyful but multiplied and blessed in abundance.
The hidden face fits the picture running through this chapter: a marriage, a wife left desolate, and comfort at last:
Isaiah 54 gives the result of these events for Jerusalem in those days. The prophet looks at Jerusalem as barren and desolate, after she rejected the One who came to be her husband. But now grace has made the LORD to be her righteousness, and she is called to enlarge the place of her tent… For a little while God has treated her as a rejected wife. Now He has comforted her with everlasting mercies.
Some readers hand this chapter to the church. One writer says the wording will not allow it. God has never hidden His face from a Christian, not even for an instant:
Read this way, and only this way, our chapter runs in its own proper channel. Shut Israel out of the future, hand the chapter over to the church as its intended scope, and you produce nothing but violence and confusion. God has not forsaken the church even for a small moment. He does not hide His face in a little wrath from the Christian for an instant. Such and so great is the power of redemption. Of the Jew as such it is exactly the present fact. And just as surely will He yet gather His ancient people in His mercy for ever.
The anger is measured in a moment. The kindness is measured against the mountains:
If God had forsaken the nation in His wrath, it will be with "great mercies" and "everlasting kindness" that He regathers them. And when He restores them it will be for everlasting blessing… The mountains that look so immovable may depart, and the hills be removed, but the kindness of God will not depart from the nation.
The verse ends with a title: "your Redeemer." One writer shows what that title has already meant for Israel:
God redeemed the nation of Israel out of Egypt both by buying them back and by power. As their Goel, their kinsman-redeemer, the LORD brought them out of slavery with His "outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment." Centuries later, Assyria and then Chaldea carried the nation off into captivity. Again and again the LORD sent them promises of deliverance by redemption. He called Himself "the LORD, your Redeemer (Goel)," and added other titles such as "the Holy One of Israel." In these and other prophecies, the LORD reminds His earthly people that He alone holds the right of their redemption.
The prophet backs the promise with the flood. What God said would come, came:
He is unfolding the certain and glorious future of Israel. God has rejected that nation at this moment because of their refusal of their Messiah, whose murder is a national sin. The prophet describes in the most beautiful way how they are going to be brought into wonderful blessing later on. It will come as a result of the God-glorifying path of Christ, set out in his fifty-third chapter… That is to say, God bears witness through this prophet's pen. Just as "the waters of Noah" had most certainly rolled over the world of the ungodly, so they could count on it that what He promised Israel would yet surely happen.
- Cause. Chapter 54's blessing flows out of chapter 53. The Messiah's sufferings are why a barren, silent people will sing.
- Moment. The anger was real, and it hid God's face — but the verse measures it in a moment.
- Everlasting. The kindness has no end date. Mountains may go before it goes, and when God restores His people it is for ever.
- Redeemer. God signs the promise as Goel, the kinsman-redeemer who alone holds the right to buy His people back — and who bought them out of Egypt once already.
- Certainty. The flood came just as God said it would, and so will this blessing. And the promise is Israel's: God has never hidden His face from the church, not even for a moment.
For this is [as] the waters of Noah unto me, since I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving-kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah, that hath mercy on thee.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.