And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah a possessor of my mountains; and mine elect shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isaiah 65 opens with God's charge against a rebellious people, but at verse 8 He spares a cluster for the blessing in it. Verse 9 names what that cluster becomes: a seed, an heir, His chosen, His servants.
The verses just before this leave Israel under judgment. One commentator sees here God's refusal to let His promise die with the guilty nation.
This might seem to threaten total and hopeless ruin to the ancient people. But no: God had promised; and the unfaithfulness of the people, however surely judged, cannot make void the promises of grace. So in verses 8-10 God goes on to make something known. It is not the bringing in of the Gentiles while Israel is cut off for a time from the olive tree of promise and testimony on earth. It is the keeping back of a portion out of Jacob and Judah — the germ of a nation, blessed and a blessing — according to His early pledges to their fathers.
The verse piles up titles: a seed, an heir, the elect, the servants. One writer sees in those titles a group God marks off from the mass around them.
Here God sets the remnant apart. Jehovah acts in His name of might and majesty. He is supreme, and He brings out of Jacob and Judah — out of all this evil — a Seed, an Inheritor, His elect, His servants. These are names of Jesus, here attached to the remnant.
The word "servants" runs through the second half of Isaiah. One commentator calls it the key to the book from chapter 40 on, and here it marks out a group inside the nation.
Again, Isaiah 65 and 66, where a remnant is distinguished by the Lord as His servants. See chapter 65:8-15, and 66:5, 14, where there is a remnant very expressly distinguished even from others that are spared. And here I would remark in passing — what seems to me the key to all Isaiah, from chapter 40 to the end — it is this word servant.
Many readers assume "elect" means the church. The ESV renders the same word "chosen." One writer reads it here as a title for Israel, and ties it to the elect Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24.
The Jewish elect are scattered to all quarters and so need to be gathered when the time comes for the Son of Man's presence on the earth. They are expressly called His "elect" in Isaiah 65:9, 15, 22, as well as in Matthew 24:31.
Being chosen as a nation and being right with God are two different things. One writer warns against mixing the two.
Scripture does teach that Jacob, or Israel, is elect for earth. Scripture also teaches that they will be blessed as a nation, since God never takes back His gifts and His call. But this says nothing about their souls being saved; the positive testimonies to the contrary are clear (Isaiah 65:9). Read the whole chapter, which teaches plainly that only a remnant shall be saved.
The promise here sounds local — God's mountains, held by Jacob's seed. One writer hears Jesus take up that promise and stretch it past Israel's borders.
First, it was to this godly seed that the Lord Jesus referred at the beginning of His well-known Sermon on the Mount. The prophet speaks of "possessors of my mountains," and says, "my chosen shall possess it." The third beatitude is, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Now this enlarges the promise. It applies beyond the borders of Jacob and Judah. The meek of all peoples will inherit the earth, when heaven's kingdom is at last set up over the whole world.
Older translations read "inherit" here where the ESV reads "possess."
God says I will bring forth the seed. One writer links that work to Christ through Boaz. In the book of Ruth, Boaz was the relative who bought back a family's land and raised up an heir for it.
Boaz faintly pictured Christ Jesus and His redeeming work for the people of Israel. By that work He will do two things. First, He will restore to them the land the Lord gave them for a lasting inheritance. Second, He will provide a line of undying heirs to that earthly kingdom. So He fulfils the Lord's promise, "I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains."
- Spared — The judgment on the nation was real. But God would not let His promises to the fathers fail. He kept back a portion out of Jacob and Judah — "the germ of a nation."
- Named — One verse gives that portion four titles: a seed, an inheritor, His elect, His servants. These are names of Jesus, now attached to the remnant.
- Servants — This title is the key to Isaiah from chapter 40 to the end. Here it marks off a remnant even from others who are spared.
- Chosen — "Elect" here is a title for Israel's remnant, the same elect the Son of Man gathers at His coming. But a chosen nation is not a nation of saved souls.
- Inheriting — The seed takes God's mountains through Christ, the true kinsman who restores the land. Jesus widens that promise to the meek of every people.
And the Sharon shall be a fold for flocks, and the valley of Achor a couching-place of the herds, for my people that have sought me.
Two place-names carry this promise. Sharon is a rich coastal plain. The Valley of Achor is where Israel once buried a man it had executed for his sin. Both become grazing ground for flocks and herds — and God gives the promise to those who have sought Him, not to the nation as a whole.
Verses 8-10 turn from threat to pledge. The words just before this sounded like the end of Israel.
This might seem to threaten total and hopeless ruin to the ancient people. But no: God had promised; and the unfaithfulness of the people, however surely judged, cannot make void the promises of grace. So in verses 8-10 God makes known that He will keep back a portion — the seed of a nation, blessed and a blessing, out of Jacob and Judah, in keeping with His early pledges to their fathers... His chosen, the remnant, are here clearly distinguished from the rest of the people.
One writer traces how the chapter first answers the nation as a whole, then divides it:
The Lord answers them in Isaiah 65. At first He answers harshly, treating them as the whole nation in their sins. But in verses 8-15 He distinguishes between them and the nation at large. He will not destroy them all. He will preserve this chosen remnant to inherit the land (verses 8-10).
One writer weighs a common reading of these chapters:
Some claim that in these chapters Zion means the church. But when all the joy has come, Zion says, "The LORD has forsaken me." That is impossible if Zion is the church. Could the church be forsaken in the middle of its joy? Read Isaiah 49:14-23; also Isaiah 62, which likewise applies to Israel; also Isaiah 65:10-25, where the blessings can only be earthly — blessings the earth has not yet seen. In that day God Himself will rejoice over Jerusalem.
Sharon is a real region with a reputation.
A very fertile plain, near the Mediterranean, stretching from near Joppa northward to Mount Carmel. Scripture speaks of its excellence, and the bride in Song of Solomon 2:1 calls herself a 'rose of Sharon.'
The Valley of Achor is the opposite. Its name is tied to Israel's own trouble. Yet that is the ground God chooses for rest.
The valley of Achor was a place of judgment, as told in Joshua 7:24-26. That place of judgment is to become "a door of hope," according to Hosea 2:15. Our verse reveals it as a place of rest for flocks and for men. Is there not a parable in this? Where judgment has fallen, there you find hope, and rest is the final result.
The chapter opens with God found by people who were not looking for Him. By verse 10 the blessing rests on those who did seek. One writer holds the two together:
How blessed it is to seek Him! In that wonderful sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, the Lord says, "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me." He then adds that Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for His people who have sought Him. That valley is where Israel buried Achan, the man who took what God had forbidden (Joshua 7). And again, showing His willingness to bless such people: "Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear" (verses 1, 10, 24).
Sometimes the valley is one we made ourselves.
We may find ourselves in "valley" circumstances as the result of our own failures, an experience involving sorrow of heart. In Joshua 7, God's people are in the "valley of Achor" — the valley of sorrow — after their defeat by the men of Ai... Yet the light of sovereign mercy shines even in the gloom of such a valley... If failure has come in, with its resulting sorrow, the remedy is to seek the Lord. He alone can make such circumstances yield blessing and substance to truly repentant hearts.
- Promise — God's pledges to the fathers stand. He judges unfaithfulness, but it cannot cancel grace.
- Remnant — God marks out the blessing for a spared few. They are not the nation at large, but the seed that inherits the land.
- Ground — flocks, herds and named plains point to earthly blessing on real soil, not a picture of something else.
- Reversal — Sharon is the land at its best; Achor is the land at its worst. Where judgment fell, hope rises and rest follows.
- Seeking — the chapter begins with God found by those not looking for Him. It ends with rest for those who have sought Him. When failure brings sorrow, seeking the Lord is still the remedy.
But ye who forsake Jehovah, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and fill up mixed wine unto Meni
God's answer in this chapter splits the people in two: a remnant who will inherit the land, and a mass who have left Him for other gods. Verse 11 speaks to that second group and names what they chose instead — Fortune and Destiny.
The verse says first what the people left, then what they turned to. Older Bibles blurred that second half into "that troop" and "that number."
God cannot forget the state of departure and sin that marked the people in Isaiah's day. They had forsaken Jehovah; they had forsaken His holy mountain, where His temple stood. And what had they turned to? The rest of the verse reveals it, though the translation is unclear. Darby's New Translation puts "Gad" for "that troop," and "Meni" for "that number." Its footnotes explain that the first word means "Fortune, or the planet Jupiter," and the second "Number, or Fate, or the planet Venus."
The two words have a plain meaning in Hebrew. Which gods stood behind them is disputed.
These idolatrous objects have been much contested. Some argue for Baal and Ashtoreth, or Sun and Moon. Others argue for the planets Jupiter and Venus, and others again for Chance and Fate. Gad means troop, and Meni means number.
Setting a table and filling cups was not a casual act. It was worship, and something real stood behind it.
The people had turned aside to worship the heavenly bodies. They tied that false worship to the gambling instincts that are so strong in fallen humanity. If things went well it was Fortune. If badly, it was Fate. In the minds of the people these were deities to whom they made offerings of food and drink. As so often, "table" is a figure for solid food, as with the table of showbread, and wine supplied the drink. This throws some light on the Apostle's words in 1 Corinthians 10:21, where he mentions "the cup of demons" and "the table of demons." Demon power lay behind the "Gad" and the "Meni" mentioned here.
A table is never neutral. Eating at one says where you belong.
The principle that Paul applied in the matter still stands for us to apply to present conditions. The principle is this. Eating at a table expresses identification and fellowship with that table, with what it stands for, and with everyone else who eats there.
The sentence God passes in the next verse plays on the very name they had been honouring.
When in verse 12 God says He will "number" them to the sword, there is an allusion to the name "Meni," which means number. God tells the people plainly that judgment and death lay before them. They were rejecting the law of God. We are living in an age when men are rejecting the grace of God; and to do this is more serious than rejecting law. When we preach the gospel, let us make this very plain.
The word "but" at the start of the verse marks a turn from one group to the other.
In the verses that follow, God separates "the nation" from "the remnant" and speaks to them by turns. "But you (the nation) are those who forsake the LORD..." We saw how the nation, with its chiefs, will be in league with antichrist, making a "covenant with death" and an "agreement with hell." This seems to be what the verse points to.
Some writers place this idolatry in the future — a return to the very sin the nation had long since given up.
In that day even they will see plainly that not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Mere descent will prove useless. Jewish hatred of idols was strong after the Babylonian captivity, and stronger still after the Roman conquest. Even so, it will give way to the great falling away of the last days, and to the still worse evil of worshipping Antichrist. But Jehovah will bring forth a seed to possess His mountains: His elect, His servants, His people who have sought Him.
Birth into the nation was the ground the Jews stood on. It gave them less than they thought.
By natural descent the Jews were beyond question Israelites. But did that give them a claim on the blessings of the kingdom? If they thought so, they had read the Hebrew Scriptures to little profit. The Psalms and the prophets say otherwise: natural descent by itself does not secure a share in the final blessings of God's people.
- Forsake — the verse names two departures — from the LORD, and from His holy mountain. Everything else follows.
- Fortune — the vague "troop" and "number" are Gad and Meni, Fortune and Fate. Writers differ on which gods these were. The gambling instinct behind the worship is clear.
- Table — a table set and cups filled is not a private choice. It declares fellowship, which is why Paul warns about the table of demons.
- Numbered — God numbers to the sword those who set a table for Destiny. The name they honoured becomes the word for their sentence.
- Chosen — the same chapter divides a nation. Descent guarantees nothing; God brings out a seed of His own: His elect, His servants, the people who have sought Him.
I will even assign you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down in the slaughter; because I called, and ye did not answer, I spoke, and ye did not hear; but ye did what was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delight not.
In this chapter God draws a line through His own people. He keeps some and sentences others. Verse 12 gives the sentence. Then, with "because," it gives the reason: God called and no one answered.
The sentence in verse 12 follows the charge in verse 11, where the people set a table for idols. One writer explains who those idols were:
The people had turned aside to worship the heavenly bodies. They tied their false worship to the gambling instinct, which is so strong in fallen humanity. If things went well, it was Fortune. If they went badly, it was Fate. In the minds of the people these were gods, and they brought them offerings of food and drink. As so often, "table" stands for solid food, as on the table of showbread, and wine supplied the drink. This throws some light on the Apostle's words in 1 Corinthians 10:21, where he mentions "the cup of demons" and "the table of demons."
The name of the idol comes back on its worshippers. Where the ESV says God will "destine" them to the sword, older translations read "number" — and "number" is what the idol's name means.
When in verse 12, God says He will "number" them to the sword, there is an allusion to the name "Meni," which means number. The people are plainly told that judgment and death lay before them. They were rejecting the law of God. We are living in an age when men are rejecting the grace of God; and to do this is more serious than to reject law.
The charge is not that they never heard. God had been calling for a very long time before the sword was ever mentioned:
The people had been rebellious. They followed "their own thoughts" instead of God's thoughts, as expressed in His holy law, and these thoughts of theirs led their feet into a way that was not good. God had stooped to plead with them "all the day," and that "day" had been a long one, stretching over centuries. They never responded to His pleading.
So the blame falls on one side only. One writer states it plainly:
It is important to see this side of the truth: God is perfectly ready for Israel — indeed, for all people — to be saved. It is man who is the rebel, the lawbreaker, and now the one who rejects the mercy of God.
The verse ends by saying they chose what God took no pleasure in. In the next chapter the same charge returns. There God answers people who insist on choosing. One writer quotes it from an older translation:
"They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. So I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them."
The "you" of verse 12 is not everyone. The chapter deliberately separates two groups and gives each a different future.
The people who forsook Him will be judged. He will number them with the sword, and they will bow down to the slaughter. But there will be a chosen remnant in grace — the servants of the Lord, whom He will spare and bless.
Being born into the nation guaranteed nothing. One writer answers those who claimed the kingdom's blessings on the ground of their descent:
By natural descent the Jews were certainly Israelites. But did that give them a claim on the blessings of the kingdom? If they thought so, they had read the Hebrew Scriptures to little profit. The Word of God gives plenty of teaching that disproves such expectations. To stand on that ground was useless. They could stand there and still not be counted among God's faithful people.
- Called. God spoke first and kept speaking. His hands were stretched out "all the day," and that day ran over centuries. The sentence comes only after the calling.
- Refused. Silence toward God was not neutral. They answered nothing, heard nothing, and chose what He took no pleasure in.
- Chosen. They chose their own ways, and God's reply is to choose their delusions. In the end He grants people the choice they insist on.
- Numbered. The idol Meni means "number," and God numbers them to the sword. Fortune and Fate could not save the people who set a table for them. Rejecting God's grace today is more serious still.
- Divided. The same chapter that sentences the nation also spares a remnant. Family descent decides nothing. Answering God's call decides everything.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, my servants shall eat, and *ye* shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, and *ye* shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, and *ye* shall be ashamed;
Chapter 65 is God's reply to the prophet's prayer. The answer splits the people in two before it blesses anyone. Here the Lord turns and speaks straight to the rebellious. He sets their coming hunger beside the full table of those He calls "my servants."
The repeated "behold" is not one message to one audience. Commentators read it as God speaking to two groups inside one nation, turn by turn. The pronouns carry the weight.
In the verses that follow, "the nation" and "the remnant" are distinguished from each other and addressed by turns... "Behold, My servants (the remnant) shall eat, but you (the nation) shall be hungry."
Another writer reads the whole chapter the same way. God condemns the mass and saves a minority, and gives that minority a title.
Isaiah 65 is the reply to the intercession of the prophet. God distinguishes between the nation and the remnant. He condemns the nation and saves the remnant. They own Christ the Servant, and they become Jehovah's servants throughout.
The contrasts are not abstractions. One writer names both sides and shows which one God delights in.
God has to pronounce judgment on the evildoers, and that judgment must be carried out in due time. Yet He delights in the mercy and blessing He gives to His true servants. He makes this clear in the passage that begins with verse 13. Notice that earthly blessings and earthly judgments are in view. On one side: food, drink, rejoicing and song. On the other: hunger, thirst, shame and sorrow. A curse and death will come upon them. People will count their very name a curse, while God calls His chosen servants by another name.
Verse 13 begins with "therefore." It is a sentence passed. One writer sets the two destinies side by side and marks the verse as a turning point in time.
In verses 11-16 Jehovah contrasts the apostates and the elect of the people, the idol-worshippers and His own servants, with their different destinies. God will judge the old evil at the close. He will then make inquiry for all the righteous blood that was shed. It is a time of judgment. It brings in days of unequalled enjoyment for this earth. That is, it is the end of this age and the dawn of a new one.
Verse 13 belongs to a run of nine mentions of "servants" in these closing chapters. One writer traces them all and shows how the two sides treat each other.
The oppressing hypocrites say they are holier than the others (Isaiah 65:5); but God says they are a smoke in His nose. Proud professing Christian leaders today cast the best believers out of the assembly (see 3 John). In the same way, these men cast out the real servants here (Isaiah 66:5). But the Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and with full blessing for His servants.
Some read the whole passage as the church age in figure. One writer tests that reading against the words that follow verse 13 and finds it will not hold.
Suppose someone says this means the gospel. The passage has just said that the unbelieving Jews will be left as a curse to His chosen. Then let him tell me what it means that the former troubles are forgotten, and how the rest of the passage applies to the church. The former troubles of the Jews were only then beginning, or at most being worked out. Wrath had "come upon them to the uttermost." To the Gentiles it could have no application, for there was nothing "former" to them.
Another writer sees the pattern already at work today.
This will be fulfilled in days to come, but it is remarkable how we can see a fulfilment of it even in our day... A remnant, according to the election of grace, is still being called out of that people and joined with chosen Gentiles as the church of God. Another Name is called upon them, for they are CHRISTians.
- Servants. God saves a remnant who own Christ the Servant. They become His servants, and that title divides the chapter.
- Sorted. The verse addresses two parties by turns inside one nation: "my servants" and "you," the remnant and the mass.
- Supplied. Their portion is concrete: food, drink, rejoicing and song. The other side gets hunger, thirst, shame and sorrow. God delights in giving the blessing.
- Settled. The "therefore" is a sentence passed. Judgment ends this age and opens days of unequalled enjoyment for the earth.
- Seen. The people cast out now are the ones seated then. Commentators differ on how far the passage reaches the church. All agree that God Himself works the reversal.
behold, my servants shall sing aloud for gladness of heart, and *ye* shall cry out for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
In Isaiah 65 God speaks to one nation as two groups. This verse draws the sharpest line between them: song from one side, wailing from the other. Two questions follow. Who are "my servants," and when does this reversal come?
The pronouns keep switching. Commentators read this as God speaking to two groups inside Israel by turns.
In the verses that follow, God separates "the nation" from "the remnant" and addresses them by turns... "Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Behold, my servants (the remnant) shall eat, but you (the nation) shall be hungry."
These servants come out of the old nation, a preserved seed inside it.
So I will do for my servants' sakes, and not destroy them all. I will bring out a seed from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will live there... His chosen, the remnant, stand out here clearly from the rest of the people.
Read the pairs in order: eating, drinking, rejoicing, singing. Each stands against hunger, thirst, shame, sorrow. The last pair moves inward, from the table to the heart. One writer takes them at face value.
God has to pronounce judgment on the evildoers, and that judgment must be carried out in due time. Yet He delights in the mercy and blessing He gives to His true servants... Notice that earthly blessings and earthly judgments are in view. Food, drink, rejoicing and song on one side; hunger, thirst, shame and sorrow on the other.
The sorrow has a stated cause. God's "therefore" reaches back to a charge of refusal, and the reversal has a set time.
Then in verses 11-16 the Lord contrasts two parts of the people: those who have abandoned Him and His chosen ones, the idol-worshippers and His own servants. He shows where each will end... "because I called and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not hear. You did what was evil in my eyes, and you chose what I do not delight in."... This is a time of judgment that brings in days of unmatched enjoyment for this earth. It is the end of this age and the dawn of a new one, when former troubles are forgotten.
The same refusal has a modern form. One writer applies it to preaching today.
God plainly tells the people that judgment and death lay before them. They were rejecting the law of God. We live in an age when men reject the grace of God, and that is more serious than rejecting law... When we preach the Gospel, let us make this very plain.
Some read the whole passage as a picture of the gospel age. One writer tests that against the words "the former troubles" a few verses later. It does not hold.
Suppose someone says this passage means the gospel. God has just said the unbelieving Jews will be left as a curse to His chosen. So let that person tell me what it means that the former troubles are forgotten, and how the rest of the passage applies to the church. The former troubles of the Jews were only beginning then, or at the very least were still running their course. Wrath had "come upon them to the uttermost."
Before the singing comes rejection. Right now, people who claim to be holier are pushing these servants out.
The oppressing hypocrites say they are holier than the others, but God says they are a smoke in His nose. Proud professing Christian leaders today throw the best believers out of the church gathering. These men do the same here: they cast out the real servants. But the Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and full blessing for His servants.
Where does that singing finally land? One writer places these servants in God's house, singing there.
Christ brings the servants of the Lord (see Isaiah 65:13-14) to the sanctuary, and there He calls on them to bless the Lord. He has set their feet at peace. In the settled feeling of their rest He says, "Now praise the Lord" — bless God their Maker, who gave songs in the night.
- Called — The sorrow has a cause. God called, and they did not answer. He spoke, and they did not hear. They chose what He takes no delight in.
- Divided — One nation, two audiences: "my servants," the remnant kept out of Jacob and Judah, and "you," the many who left Him. God speaks to both by turns.
- Fed — The promised blessings are earthly and solid: food, drink, rejoicing, song. Each stands against its opposite — hunger, thirst, shame, sorrow.
- Vindicated — The people pushed out today by those who claim to be holier are the ones who will sing. The Lord comes with judgment for the wicked and full blessing for His servants.
- Singing — The song ends in God's house. There the servants of the Lord bless Him at rest, for He gave them songs in the night.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto mine elect; for the Lord Jehovah will slay thee, and will call his servants by another name
God divides two groups inside one nation, and He does it by name: one group loses its name to a curse, the other receives a new name from Him. So who are "my chosen," what happens to the old name, and what is the new one?
The verse moves between "you" and "his servants." One writer names the two groups behind those words:
In the verses that follow, "the nation" and "the remnant" stay distinct, and God speaks to each in turn: "You (the nation) shall leave your name… but his servants (the remnant) he will call by another name."
God uses "chosen" for a definite group, one He names again through the chapter:
When God restores Israel to blessing again, He will choose a remnant, whom He calls His "elect." Isa. 65:9, 15, 22; Matt. 24:22, 24, 31; Rom. 11:28.
God sets the two destinies side by side. The judgment is also a turning point:
Then in verses 11-16 Jehovah contrasts two sets of people and their different destinies: the apostates and the elect, the idol-worshippers and His own servants… He will judge the old evil at the close. He will also demand a reckoning then for all the righteous blood that has been shed. It is a time of judgement which ushers in days of unparalleled enjoyment for this earth: that is, it is the end of this age and the dawn of a new one.
The rewards and the losses here touch daily life:
God must pronounce judgment on the evildoers, and in due time He must carry it out. Yet He delights in the mercy and blessing He gives to His true servants… Notice that earthly blessings and earthly judgments are in view: food, drink, rejoicing and song on one side; hunger, thirst, shame and sorrow on the other. A curse and death will come upon them. Their very name will count as a curse, while He calls the chosen servants by another name.
The word "servant" already has a history in Isaiah:
Let us retrace here the use of the word servant. First it was Israel. Then Christ Himself, the only true Servant among this people. After that, the remnant who listened to His words as the Servant, or Spirit of prophecy. For the Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. It is this last group that He calls servants here.
The new name also overturns a verdict. God names as His servants the very people others were pushing out:
The oppressing hypocrites say they are holier than the others (Isa. 65:5); but God says they are a smoke in His nose… these men cast out the real servants here (Isa. 66:5); but the Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and with full blessing for His servants.
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches. One sees a foretaste already, and links the other name with the name Christians carry:
This will be fulfilled in days to come, but it is remarkable how we can see a fulfilment of it even in our day. The very name "Jew" has taken on an unpleasant flavour, and what the Apostle Paul wrote in Thessalonians 2:14-16 explains why. On the other hand, God is still calling a remnant out of that people, according to the election of grace, and joining them with elect Gentiles as the church of God. Upon such another Name is called, for they are CHRISTian.
Another argues the opposite, from the timing of the troubles in the passage:
Here we have both points: blessing brought in by judgment, and its link with the Jewish people. If anyone says this means the gospel, let him tell me two things. After God says the unbelieving Jews will be left as a curse to His chosen, what does it mean that the former troubles are forgotten? And how does the rest of the passage apply to the church? For the former troubles of the Jews were only then beginning. To the Gentiles it could have no application, for they had nothing "former."
- Two names, one nation. God speaks to the nation and to the remnant by turns. The "you" who leaves a cursed name and the "servants" who get a new one stand in the same crowd.
- Chosen. "My chosen" are the remnant God calls His elect, the group He preserves when He restores Israel to blessing.
- Cursed. Judgment leaves the old name behind. The blessings and losses here are earthly: food, drink and song against hunger, thirst and shame.
- Servants. The word "servant" runs through Isaiah: first Israel, then Christ as the only true Servant, then the remnant who listen to Him. They are the very ones the religious majority cast out.
- New age. The judgment is not the destination; it ends one age and opens another. Commentators differ: some see a foretaste now, others say the whole passage waits for the day ahead.
so that he who blesseth himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the land shall swear by the God of truth because the former troubles shall be forgotten, and because they shall be hidden from mine eyes.
In Isaiah 65 God has just divided His servants from the nation that forsook Him, and here He names the God people will bless and swear by. Two questions press: what is this title, and whose troubles are the ones no longer remembered?
The phrase rendered "the God of truth" carries a word every reader already knows in another form. A study of the Hebrew notes how rare this translation is:
Translators always render this Hebrew word "Amen," except twice in Isaiah 65:16, where they render it "truth"… In Jeremiah 11:5 they translate it "So be it." There God declared that He would perform the oath that He had sworn, and the prophet answered, "So be it, O Lord." A related Hebrew word means "to believe."
So the God men will swear by is the God who is Himself the "So be it" — the One whose word settles the matter.
The same title comes back in the New Testament. One writer ties it straight to this verse:
All the promises of God are amen in Him — that is, they are steadfast and carried through to completion in Him. But more than that, He Himself is "the Amen." He takes it to Himself as a title. It reminds us how Jehovah speaks of Himself twice in Isaiah 65:16, as "the God of truth," literally, "the God of Amen." The Jehovah in whom everything is made certain is the Jesus of the New Testament. Tellingly, the word "verily," so often on His lips, is really the word Amen.
The title is not decoration. It answers what becomes of God's promises when people fail them:
This is a Hebrew word meaning what is fixed, true, unchangeable. You can see its force in Isaiah 7:9 and 65:16, where the words "believe" and "truth" are literally Amen… It implies divine certainty… The Church has completely failed to make good the promises and truth of God. In Christ both stand secure. In His Person we have the guarantee that every promise and every truth will be Amened.
The verse follows a sharp separation inside Israel. God judges one group and blesses the other:
In verses 11-16 Jehovah contrasts two groups and their destinies: the apostates and the elect of the people, the idol-worshippers and His own servants… He will judge the old evil at the close, and He will then make inquiry for all the righteous blood that was shed. It is a time of judgment that ushers in days of unmatched enjoyment for this earth. It is the end of this age and the dawn of a new one, when former troubles are forgotten. Yet in verse 16 "the land" may be meant rather than the wider sense of "earth."
Earlier verses in the chapter show why the promise still stands:
God had promised. The unfaithfulness of the people, however surely God judges it, cannot make void the promises of grace… His chosen, the remnant, stand here clearly distinguished from the rest of the people.
Some read this section as a picture of the gospel age. One writer tests that reading against the wording of the verse itself:
Suppose someone says this means the gospel. The passage has just said that the unbelieving Jews will be left as a curse to His chosen. Then let him tell me what it means that the former troubles are forgotten, and how the rest of the passage applies to the church. The former troubles of the Jews were only then beginning, or at most being worked out — so much so that wrath had "come upon them to the uttermost." To the Gentiles it could have no application, for there was nothing "former" to them.
The forgetting is only half of it. Something new comes with it:
The Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and with full blessing for His servants. "The former troubles" shall be forgotten; they shall be blessed in the God of truth. He then says to them, "Be glad and rejoice for ever." He says, "I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." It will be like a new creation.
- The name — "the God of truth" is literally the God of Amen, from the same root as "believe" and "so be it."
- The Person — Christ takes that very title to Himself, and His constant "verily" is that same word.
- The guarantee — Amen means fixed, true, unchangeable. Where people fail God's promises, Christ secures them.
- The divide — the promise runs to His servants, the remnant. The nation's unfaithfulness cannot cancel grace.
- The result — judgment opens an age when the former troubles are forgotten and God creates Jerusalem a rejoicing.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isaiah's closing chapters answer a cry for God to act, and God's answer goes past anything repair could achieve: He will create. Two questions follow: when does this happen, and how can the old world be forgotten?
The word "create" carries the weight here. The promised joy is not the old world patched up. It is something God makes, and one writer links that to the language of the New Testament:
In the prophets, the joys of the promised kingdom go with the arrival of what is absolutely new and created by God, not with the repairing of the old things… Nothing can be newer than a created thing. And the principle is true in Christianity, just as it will be in the coming millennial day. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
Isaiah does not spring this on us. He speaks of "new things" much earlier in the book too, and one writer reads the two passages together:
If you read Isaiah 42:8-16, and then Isaiah 65:17-18, it seems plain that we may call Isaiah the prophet of the new things. Between these two passages we get the prediction of the great and glorious basis on which the new things will securely rest.
The promise covers the heavens as well as the ground under our feet. One writer explains the change above by who holds power there:
At present the heavens are the seat of Satan's power, as Ephesians 6:12 shows. They will be in a new condition when those evil powers are cast out, and heavenly saints are installed, as we know from the New Testament that they will be. When the Messiah acts as "the Arm of the Lord," and His rule reaches to the ends of the earth, it will be a new earth indeed. Compared with it, the old order will be so horrible that men will banish it from their minds.
The next verse turns to Jerusalem and her people. Many commentators take that as pointing to the thousand-year reign of Christ, not to eternity. One writer sees the promise as a single line with two ends:
The true key to this is that the predicted change from present things begins at the start of the day of the Lord. It is only complete before that day gives place to eternity… So the beginning of the day of the Lord will be a first instalment of "new heavens and a new earth," when the LORD creates Jerusalem to be a joy and her people a gladness. But the full accomplishment waits for the close of the millennial day. Then God will make all things new to the fullest: the present earth and heavens not only shaken but dissolved, the sea gone forever, and a new heaven and a new earth appearing, where righteousness dwells.
Commentators differ on the emphasis. Some read the verse as already pointing to the eternal state, and take the forgetting of the old heaven and earth as a hint of "the abounding excellence" of what replaces them (J. G. Bellett).
Three verses later Isaiah says how long people will live. One writer takes verse 20 as decisive against reading this promise of eternity:
Death is not completely gone in the state of things mainly in view for our prophet. It is exceptional, but it still exists as an instrument of judicial punishment. Man will then fill out his days, which he has never yet done — not even before the flood, not even Methuselah himself… In eternity death does not exist.
One writer measures how far the New Testament carries Isaiah's promise:
These words are taken from God's promise to Israel… But though similar language is used, the New Testament vastly expands its meaning. The state of things in the millennial age differs so much from what went before that it is described figuratively as a new heaven and a new earth. But the context shows the change is only from the present condition of the world to the far more blessed condition it will take on, in body and in character, under the reign of Christ. That is the scope of Old Testament prophecy. The New Testament brings us to the shores of the boundless eternity beyond, and tells us to gaze on the new heaven and new earth of that unending age.
- Create. The promise is not the old world mended but something made — and nothing is newer than a created thing.
- Ground. Isaiah is the prophet of the new things, and between his first announcement of them and this one stands the great and glorious basis they rest on.
- Reach. New heavens too — Satan's powers cleared out above, Christ's rule extending to the ends of the earth below.
- Timing. The change begins at the day of the Lord and is complete only when that day gives way to eternity. Verse 20 still records deaths, so the first stage is not the last.
- Result. Next to the new, the old order looks so horrible that men banish it from memory — and the New Testament stretches these words to an age where death does not exist.
But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Earlier in this chapter God divides the rebels from His servants. Now He turns to what He will make. He calls for gladness that never ends — gladness in one object: what He creates.
The command fixes the object of the rejoicing before it names the emotion. One writer draws out why the prophets tie the coming kingdom to the word "create":
In the prophets, the joys of the promised kingdom come with something completely new, which God creates. They do not come with the patching up of old things. […] Nothing can be newer than a created thing. And the principle holds true in Christianity, just as it will in the coming millennial day. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).
Another writer applies this to the faithful remnant of Israel:
But they, the remnant, are to rejoice in what Jehovah creates; the restoration of the old is utterly rejected. […] Jerusalem becomes their joy.
Does "Jerusalem" here stand for something else? One writer answers plainly:
These prophecies speak of the future reign of Christ in His kingdom. Zion really means Zion, and Jerusalem means that very city, now trampled underfoot. See that, and everything becomes plain. […] Notice how careful Scripture is to show that all this blessing flows from Jerusalem as the centre, since it is the place of His throne.
This promise sits beside "new heavens and a new earth", so when does it happen? One writer treats the two as stages of one work, spread across the millennial day — the thousand-year kingdom:
Here is the true key. The change from present things begins when the day of the Lord opens. It is complete only before that day gives place to eternity. […] So the start of the day of the Lord will be a first fulfilment of "new heavens and a new earth", when Jehovah creates Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness. But the full and final fulfilment waits for the close of the millennial day, when all things will be made new to the fullest.
The rest of the chapter marks this scene off from the one in Revelation:
For instance, we read, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17). Yet look at the context, and we soon see that this passage hardly has Revelation 21:1-5 in view. The prophet goes on to speak of the new conditions in Jerusalem in the millennial age, when death may possibly still take place. In the scene pictured in Revelation, death is gone for ever.
The city is not merely made happy; it is created to be joy. That language is read as an act of divine power, on the level of raising the dead:
It will indeed be like "life from the dead." […] It is resurrection power. It is new creation work, though not, of course, in the complete sense in which the church knows it in Christ.
The invitation is addressed to people God has just distinguished from the proud in the same chapter:
The oppressing hypocrites say they are holier than the others (Isa. 65:5), but God says they are smoke in His nose. […] The Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and with full blessing for His servants. "The former troubles" shall be forgotten; they shall be blessed in the God of truth. He then says to them, "Be glad and rejoice forever"; "I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness."
The gladness commanded here is answered by God's own, as the next verse shows:
What a beautiful word this is! His people rejoice in Him and He rejoices in them. Jerusalem has become at last the place of joy and peace, and Jerusalem is His joy.
- Create — this joy rests on something God makes new, not on the old put back together. The same principle marks anyone in Christ today.
- Jerusalem — the writers take the city and her people literally. The very city now trampled down becomes the centre from which blessing flows.
- Stages — the change begins when the day of the Lord opens. It is complete only when that day gives way to eternity. Death still appears later in this chapter, which sets the scene apart from Revelation 21.
- Power — turning a ruined city into gladness takes resurrection power. One writer calls it new creation work.
- Mutual — God calls His servants to rejoice for ever. He delights in them in return.
And I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and will joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Isaiah 65:19 is God's answer to a city that had known nothing but tears. Two questions follow: what kind of joy is this, and which Jerusalem, and which age, does He mean?
The verse sits inside a promise of new heavens and a new earth. One writer ties the word "create" to the power that raises the dead:
It will indeed be like "life from the dead." It will be like "the new heavens and the new earth" which the Lord will make (Isa. 66:22). "Behold," He says, "I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy" (Isa. 65:18). It is resurrection power. It is new creation work, though not, of course, in the full sense in which the church knows it in Christ.
So the joy is in what God makes, not in a rebuilt version of what stood before:
But they, the faithful remnant, are to rejoice in what Jehovah creates. Restoring the old is rejected altogether. Then comes the new birth of the people, in the remnant, and Jerusalem becomes their joy.
Commentators differ over whether these words describe the reign of Christ on earth or the eternal state. One writer explains the change as beginning early and completing late:
The true key is this. The promised change from present things begins at the start of the day of the Lord. It is only complete before that day gives way to eternity. This alone, as Scripture plainly shows, will reconcile all the passages that deal with the subject… The beginning of the day of the Lord will be an early accomplishment of "new heavens and a new earth," when Jehovah creates Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. But the absolute fulfilment waits for the close of the thousand-year reign.
Another writer weighs two answers to the difficulty this raises:
In Isaiah, the promise clearly comes with statements that belong not to the everlasting state but to the millennial period. Building houses and planting vineyards can have no place in the everlasting state. Sin and death, to however limited an extent, are found in the state the prophet describes… Some judge that Isaiah 65:17 refers to the actual new heavens and earth that follow the burning up of the present ones. In the verses after it, the prophet turns back from that final prospect to the thing that most resembles it — the millennial state. Others judge that Isaiah has no eye to the literal heavens and earth after the thousand years, but speaks only of the millennial state.
The promise lands on the city that had wrecked itself:
Jerusalem has destroyed herself, but her help is in God. She is stained with blood, but the blood will be washed away… She is now desolate and rejected, because she rejected Jesus. Yet one day she will be greeted as "the home of righteousness, the mountain of holiness," and called "the Lord is there"… Up to now Jesus has known her as the place of His tears and weeping (Luke 19). Here she has become the place of His fresh springs and of His singers.
The joy has a source, and the source is a throne:
The moment we see that these prophecies speak of the future reign of Christ in His kingdom, and that Zion really means Zion, and Jerusalem means that very city, now trampled underfoot, everything becomes plain. See how carefully Scripture shows that all this blessing flows out from Jerusalem as the centre, because that is where His throne is.
The chapter has already split the nation in two. God's promise goes to the servants that others threw out:
Just as proud leaders who claim to be Christian today throw the best believers out of the church, so these men cast out the real servants here (Isa. 66:5). But the Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and full blessing for His servants. "The former troubles" will be forgotten, and they will be blessed in the God of truth. He then says to them, "Be glad and rejoice for ever."
- Created — Jerusalem's joy is made, not recovered. It is new creation work, and the old is not restored.
- Given — the joy is God's own: He rejoices over Jerusalem, and He calls her people to be glad for ever.
- Centred — the gladness flows out from Jerusalem, because that is where His throne is.
- Received — the servants others cast out are the ones told to rejoice for ever.
- Staged — many read this as the reign of Christ on earth, since sin and death still appear in the verses that follow. Commentators differ over how it fits the final new heavens and new earth, but all agree the weeping ends.
There shall be no more thenceforth an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not completed his days; for the youth shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
Isaiah paints Jerusalem remade in joy, yet the scene still holds dying and a curse. So when does this belong, and why is there any death in it at all?
The chapter opens with new heavens and a new earth, so many read it as heaven itself. But the details rule that out. The scene belongs to the millennium — the thousand years when the Lord reigns on earth — and Jerusalem and her people stand at its centre.
The whole description here suits the millennium rather than eternity. I have already pointed out the special place of Jerusalem and her people. That alone is enough to prove it. The new Jerusalem does keep a lasting character of special glory. Even so, the New Testament is explicit: on the new earth, all such distinctions as an earthly city or people melt away for eternity.
Death in the picture settles it. Another writer sets the scene against the closing vision of Revelation.
When we look at the context, we soon see that what Revelation 21:1-5 predicts is hardly in view in this passage. The prophet goes on to speak of the new conditions that will hold in Jerusalem in the millennial age, when death may still take place. But in the scene pictured in Revelation, death is gone for ever.
Isaiah promises that no old man will fail to fill out his days. One writer takes that as human life reaching its full span for the first time.
Man will then fill his days, which he has never yet done — not even before the flood — no, not even Methuselah himself. No one has yet lived across ten centuries. This will be the rule for the righteous who are alive on earth when the Lord reigns for the thousand years… And he who dies at a hundred years old will be a sinner under some express curse.
Why call a hundred-year-old a child? One writer works it out as a ratio against the length of life in that day.
Count a man's life now at seventy years, and a tenth of that is seven. A tenth of man's life then, of a thousand years, would be one hundred. So a hundred years then would stand for only the age of a child, as seven years does now.
Today death is the rule. That changes under Christ's reign, though other troubles remain.
In the millennium there will be death, not as the rule, but as the exception. Death, though only inflicted as a judgment, will not be quite stamped out yet. There will also be the need of healing, as we gather from Revelation 22:2 and Ezekiel 47. There will even be judgments from God where needed, as is plain in Isaiah 65:20, Isaiah 66:24 and Zechariah 14:17-19.
The second half of the verse is a check on a rosy view of that age. One writer names the mistake.
What makes it so hard to understand is that many have a false idea of the millennial age. They picture it as "righteousness dwelling" on the earth instead of "righteousness reigning" over it… The eighteenth psalm looks ahead to that time and says, "The strangers shall submit themselves to Me." The margin gives that word as "lie," or "yield feigned obedience." They submit to superior power, not in heart.
(Those words from Psalm 18 follow an older translation than the ESV.) So the verse cuts both ways for people who submit outwardly only. It gives them the long life of that age, and takes it away the moment they sin.
This passage shows two things. Even those who are not born again will enjoy long life, if they submit to Christ's rule. But they will be cut off if they sin.
Does anyone die in that age except by judgment? One writer says the text does not settle it.
So it is clear that in some cases God will inflict death during the millennium as a judgment, and sinners cut off in that way will of course be raised for condemnation. But is it just as clear that death will happen only as a judgment? No doubt people in Israel will live very long lives. Yet we are not told that this reaches the other nations. Nor are we told that even in Israel death comes only as a penalty.
- Reign, not rest. This is Christ's reign on earth, not eternity. Jerusalem and her people still hold their own place.
- Reign restores. Under that reign, life reaches its full measure at last. No one has yet lived out his days — not even Methuselah, the longest-lived man in Scripture.
- Reign rescales. Dying at a hundred is like dying in childhood — what seven years is to a life of seventy today.
- Reign restrains. Death stays on only as a rare event and a judgment. Zechariah and Isaiah 66 name other judgments of that age.
- Reign exposes. Righteousness reigns over the earth; it does not yet dwell in it. Outward submission buys long life, but the sinner is cut off. Commentators differ on whether death then is only ever a penalty.
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof
This verse promises something ordinary and very human: work a person gets to keep and enjoy. Commentators read it as a picture of settled, secure life on earth, which raises three questions — when, for whom, and why such simple things need a promise at all.
Some read this promise as a description of heaven. One commentator places it firmly on earth.
This picture of what the Lord can do is glowing and beautiful. But it belongs to the earth and to an earthly people. It is not the eternal state. It is a day of tremendous glory, when death will be the exception and life the rule.
Some have read Zion in these chapters as the church. One writer tests that against the text.
Some have claimed that in these chapters Zion means the church. But when all the joy has come, "Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me." That is impossible, if Zion is the church. What! The church forsaken while its joy is at its height? Read Isaiah 49:14-23. Read Isaiah 62 too, which also applies to Israel. And read Isaiah 65:10-25, where these blessings are plainly earthly — blessings the earth has never yet known.
One writer traces the need for this promise back to the ground itself.
In that day man stands in the happiest and most blessed relationship with God possible. God Himself will act for him then. We have already looked at Genesis 3, where the curse came in. Adam, the head of creation, fell, and for his sake God cursed the ground. It did not yield its increase. It is by the sweat of the brow that man has had to earn his bread ever since.
For a disobedient Israel, the opposite was true.
When disobedient to God, an Israelite might build a house and never live in it. He might plant a vineyard and never enjoy its fruits.
This verse reverses that, line by line.
Such a promise only holds if the right hands hold the power.
All this is sweet and worthy of God. Yet it is not heavenly or eternal in the full sense, though it is a foretaste of final blessedness. In it God vindicates His character on earth, and His faithful promises to Israel there. Power will then be on the side of righteousness, and God will openly destroy the works of the devil here below. Not even disappointment will be known. And the long-groaning earth, freed from its labour pains, will yield her increase.
Two questions remain: how far the change goes, and how long it lasts. The same writer answers both from Amos.
The curse is to be removed entirely. It was partly eased in Noah's day, but it will be completely done away in Messiah's day. Look at Amos 9: "I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine... I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God."
- Curse. Since Adam, the ground has fought man and bread has cost him sweat. Against that background, a house you live in and a vineyard you eat from is a promise worth making.
- Reversal. Disobedience once meant building a house and never living in it, planting a vineyard and never tasting it. This verse undoes that.
- Ownership. The blessing is earthly and it is Israel's — a nation, a city, a land, not the church and not heaven.
- Security. It holds because power will be on the side of righteousness, and God vindicates His own character on earth.
- Permanence. Planted in their land, never uprooted again — the work of their hands enjoyed, not lost.
they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
This promise belongs to Isaiah's picture of a restored Jerusalem, where God's people keep what they build and plant. Two questions decide how we read it: who are "my people" and "my chosen," and how long are "the days of a tree"?
The ESV says "my chosen." Older translations say "mine elect," and the writers quoted here use that word. They tie it to Israel's future restoration.
When God again restores Israel into blessing it will be a remnant that will be chosen, whom He calls His "elect." Isa. 65:9, 15, 22; Matt. 24:22, 24, 31; Rom. 11:28.
The same word links this verse to Jesus' promise to gather His elect in Matthew 24.
The Jewish elect are scattered to every quarter. So they must be gathered when the time comes for the Son of man to be present on the earth. Scripture plainly calls them His "elect" in Isaiah 65:9, 15, 22, and in Matthew 24:31.
Isaiah announces new heavens and a new earth a few verses earlier. Yet the same passage still speaks of death and sin. So one writer reads it of the millennial earth: the thousand years of Christ's reign.
When Isaiah speaks of "new heavens and a new earth" (Isa. 65:17), he refers to the renewed, millennial earth. A quick reading of the passage will prove this. It speaks of Jerusalem in a very distinct way. It speaks of the possibility of death: "The child shall die a hundred years old." And it speaks of sin: "The sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed."
Commentators differ over how far the promise stretches. Some see it beginning with the thousand years and reaching further:
It begins with the day of Jehovah. That day of the Lord lasts one thousand years. At its close God will create the new heavens and the new earth. The complete fulfilment comes when the eternal ages begin.
The second half of the verse explains the first. Long life means people keep enjoying what their own hands made.
"The days of a tree" means, as the next clause shows, the wonderfully long life of that time: "my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands." This period is one of blessing and peace everywhere. But Scripture keeps us from thinking that evil has stopped. In this very passage we see judgment fall on the open sinner. He will be cut off in childhood, because a hundred years will be only youth in that day. So the passage shows two things. Even people who are not converted will enjoy long life, if they submit to Christ's rule. And they will be cut off if they sin.
Another writer marks off this age from eternity.
Death is not completely gone in the state of things our prophet has before him. It is exceptional, but it still exists as an instrument of judgment. Man will then live out his full days, which he has never yet done — not even before the flood. ... In eternity death does not exist.
Losing your house and harvest to a stranger was once the penalty in Israel's covenant for turning away from God. This verse promises the reverse.
This is just the fulfilment of the promises God made to His people, on condition that they observed and kept His commandments (see Deut. 28:1-12). The same chapter shows the contrast. God warns them that if they turned aside from His statutes and laws, others would eat the fruit of their land and all their work. (v. 33.)
One writer looks further back, at the curse itself.
The curse is to be removed entirely. It was partly eased in the day of Noah, but it will be completely cancelled in Messiah's day.
One writer looks past the security to the happiness itself.
I believe they will then have an enjoyment of natural happiness that we can hardly imagine... The happiness of the saints on earth will be in passing on full joy and blessing to others through Christ. Their joy will not only be in receiving blessing. It will be in having the mind and joy of the one who blesses.
- Chosen — "my people" and "my chosen" are a restored Israel, the same elect gathered when the Son of man is present on the earth.
- Curse — losing house and harvest to strangers was the penalty for turning from God's commandments. This verse undoes it, and the curse itself goes with it.
- Length — "the days of a tree" means long life. A hundred-year-old is still a youth, and death becomes rare: a judgment, not the normal end.
- Limit — this is the millennial earth, not eternity. Sin and death still appear in it. Commentators differ on how far the promise reaches beyond it.
- Enjoyment — long life exists for lasting possession. It brings a natural happiness we can hardly imagine, and joy that flows out to others.