Instead of your shame [ye shall have] double; instead of confusion they shall celebrate with joy their portion therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
God speaks here to a people who have carried public disgrace for generations. He promises that their reward will match the exact measure of their shame. Three questions follow: what is this "double," when does it come, and how can shame turn into joy?
Where the promise falls
The Lord Jesus read the opening of this chapter aloud and applied it to Himself. He stopped partway through verse 2. What follows that break belongs to a later moment.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinLuke 4 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ applied the opening verses to Himself... But our Lord did not quote the whole of verse 2. He only read up to "the acceptable year of the Lord." That sentence marks the work He did at His first coming. His second coming brings the day of vengeance. The verses that follow describe the results of His second coming.
Shame answered, not merely ended
The disgrace will not simply fade. God will reverse it.
F. B. HoleVerse 7 speaks of shame and confusion. These things have been their portion under the strong hand of their God. He governed them in holiness because of their many sins. But now all of it is to be reversed.
The reversal reaches to those who caused the shame as well as to those who bore it.
William KellyThe shame of God's servants will be taken away. Their enemies will certainly be put to lasting disgrace. This comes after the downfall of their pride, and after all the painful discipline that the people of Israel will pass through.
What "double" means
How much is a "double portion"? One writer names what is doubled.
Edward DennettThe Lord will repay double — double in comfort and blessing compared with what they have suffered. (See Isaiah 40:1-2.)
The cost behind the compensation
Two things stand together here. God did discipline His people. Yet their suffering does not buy the blessing that follows.
William KellyBy sovereign grace they will "be saved out of it," and they will look on Him whom they pierced... And the answer will be: "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins." Yet without Christ's cross it would all have been in vain. On Him the LORD laid the iniquity of all who believe. But this does not stop the LORD from also governing His people, so that they may learn His ways of faithfulness.
Everlasting joy rests on an everlasting covenant
This verse promises joy without end. The next verse gives the ground it stands on.
F. B. HoleOther passages have shown us that their whole spiritual condition will be reversed under "the everlasting covenant," which verse 8 speaks of. The everlasting joy promised in verse 7 rests on that everlasting covenant. Everyone will have to admit that they are now a born again people, "an offspring the LORD has blessed."
A portion held in their own land
The verse says where this portion is held: "in their land." One writer describes the kingdom it belongs to.
Michael HardtIt will be a literal kingdom, with its centre in Jerusalem or Zion... This kingdom will reach out to the nations. They will be subject to Israel (Isaiah 61:5–9).
That kingdom also gives the whole nation a priestly place, not just one family.
R. S. BarkerGod will restore on the ground of grace what Israel lost through unfaithfulness. They will then "be called the priests of the LORD … the ministers of our God" (Isaiah 61:6). This, it seems, will be true of the whole people, and not only of the family of Aaron.
Summary
- Double received — God's hand first gave Jerusalem double for her sins. The discipline was real and measured.
- Double returned — the same measure comes back as comfort and blessing, matched to what they suffered.
- Double secured — none of it stands without the cross. There the LORD laid on Christ the iniquity of all who believe.
- Double held — the portion is theirs in their own land. It is a real kingdom centred on Zion, with the nations serving them.
- Double lasting — an everlasting covenant holds up an everlasting joy. The shame is not just over. God has reversed it for good.