Sermon Tone Analysis

*ISAIAH 54:1-10  *

Three motifs divide this poem: family [54:1-5, marriage [54:6-10], and city [54:11-17].

Chapter 50:1-3 pictured a broken marriage relationship in which the alienated husband came and “called” [50:2] his erring wife to be restored.

Since she would not respond, it became part of the Servant’s work to “/bring back/” Jacob [49:5-6].

The Servant has now finished his work and restoration has been accomplished.

This new situation is summed up as a “covenant of peace” [54:10], which refers back to the making of peace by the punishment which fell on the Servant: “/he was wounded for our transgressions…the chastisement of our peace fell upon him/” [53:5].

The fruits of that vicarious punishment have been conserved as the eternal and pledged possession of the Lord’s people.

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*THE REUNION *

*1.        **The Confidence *

The call to confidence: “/fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed/…” [54:4].

§         אַל־תִּֽירְאִי֙ - “/fear not/” [54:4], ‘afraid, frightened’; ‘to be in a state of distress’;

*a.        **The Total Confidence *

 “/for thou shalt not be ashamed/…” [54:4].

§         תֵב֔וֹשִׁי - “/ashamed/” [54:4], qal imperfect, ‘to be ashamed’; ‘painful feeling and emotional distress, by having dome something wrong, with the associated meaning of having the disapproval of those around them’;

§         תִּכָּלְמִ֖י - “/confounded/” [54:4], niphal imperfect, ‘to be disgraced’;

§         תַחְפִּ֑ירִי - “/put/ /to/ /shame/” [54:4], hiphil imperfect, ‘to be humiliated’; 

*i.

**The Condition of Childlessness *

The condition of being childless: “/Sing, O barren, thou that did not bear/…” [54:1].

§         עֲקָרָ֖ה - “/barren/” [54:1], ‘infertile’; ‘sterile’;

§         יָלָ֑דָה - “/bear/” [54:1], ‘to have a child’; ‘to be pregnant’;

§         חָ֔לָה - “/travail/” [54:1], ‘wait for’; ‘extend a period of time in a place or state’; 

*ii.

**Shame of Childlessness *

One of the results of childlessness in the ancient world was terrible shame: “/she was in bitterness of soul/…” [1Sam.1:10].

§         Child-bearing was an indication of the blessing if God: “/be fruitful, and multiply/…” [Gen.1:28].

§         To be child-less was taken to be an indication of God’s displeasure: “/the Lord had shut up her womb.

And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret/…” [1Sam.1:6].

*iii.

**The Removal of Childlessness *

The reversal of childlessness: “/for more are the children of the desolate/…” [54:1].

§         רַבִּ֧ים - “/more/” [54:1], ‘many, much, great’;

§         בְּֽנֵי - “/children/” [54:1], ‘child, offspring, either male of female’;

§         שׁוֹמֵמָ֛ה - “/desolate/” [54:1], ‘destitute, laid waste, ruined, deserted’;

*Application*

The three words are synonymous and are heaped up to rule out every possibility of disappointment or shamefacedness in the future.

§         In a historical context, Israel had been humiliated by the apparent failure of her God to deliver her, so she went off to exile in shame: “/my tears have been my meat…while they say to me continually, Where is thy God?/” [Psa.42:3].

*2.

**The Entire Past *

*a.        **The Beginning > Egypt *

The beginning of the relationship: “/for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth/…” [54:4].

§         תִּשְׁכָּ֔חִי - “/forget/” [54:4], ‘be unmindful of’; ‘not remember information of’;

§         בֹ֤שֶׁת - “/shame/” [54:4], ‘disgrace’; ‘low status’;

§         עֲלוּמַ֙יִךְ - “/youth/” [54:4], ‘period of time when one is adolescent’;

§         A reference to redemption from the Egypt slavery: “/I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness/…” [Jer.2:2].

*b.        **The Recent Past > Babylonian Exile *

The recent past in her relationship: “/shalt not remember the reproach/…” [54:4].

§         תִזְכְּרִי־עֽוֹד - “/remember/” [54:4], ‘to recall information or events’;

§         חֶרְפַּ֥ת - “/reproach/” [54:4], ‘contempt’; ‘state of dishonour’;

§         אַלְמְנוּתַ֖יִךְ - “/widowhood/” [54:4], ‘state of being without a spouse because of the death of that person’;

§         A reference to the Babylonian widowhood:

*Application*

The essential point is that from the early spring of youth right through the sadnesses life holds in store all is subsumed under the category of things past and forgotten, out of sight and out of mind, the slate and the memory are both wiped clean.

§         The point is that ‘the woman has already been shamed by her barrenness but is now being released from it’.

§         From the earliest days of her marriage to her later years, this woman, like Sarah and Elisabeth, has lived with unremitting reproach and contempt.

*3.

**The Cause of the Confidence *

*a.        **The Husband *

*i.        **The Maker *

The woman’s husband is the Creator: “/for thy maker is thy husband/…” [54:5].

§         עֹשַׂ֔יִךְ - “/thy maker/” [54:5], qal participle, ‘to do, perform an action’; ‘to create’;

§         This is the God of redeeming, transforming work, ‘making’ those who were not his people to become his people: “/every that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him/” [43:7]; “/God who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were/” [Rom.4:17].

§         בֹעֲלַ֙יִךְ - “/thy husband/” [54:4], qal participle, ‘to be taken by a husband in matrimony’;

§         Denotes a deliberately formed relationship designed for perpetuity: “/where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement/…” [50:1].

*ii.

**The Power *

The husband’s name: “/the Lord of hosts is his name/…” [54:5].

§         יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת - “/Lord of hosts/” [54:5], the exodus revelation of the God who saves his people and overthrows his and their enemies: “/I AM that I AM has sent thee/…” [Exo.3:15];

“/Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory/…” [6:3].

§         שְׁמ֑וֹ - “/name/” [54:5], ‘personal name’; ‘reputation, character’;

§         This “name” expresses the absolute control of the earth that Jacob envisioned in his dream: “/he dreamed a dream, and behold a ladder/…” [Gen.28:12-15].

*b.        **The Redeemer *

*i.        **The Kinsman Redeemer *

The woman’s husband is also her Redeemer: “/thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel/…” [54:5].

§         גֹֽאֲלֵךְ - “/thy Redeemer/” [54:5], qal participle, ‘to deliver, save, redeem’; ‘purchase back an item or person, with money or goods, that had been sold at a prior time’ [Lev 25:25];

§         The participle גֹֽאֲלֵךְ is the technical term for the next-of-kin who has the right to take his helpless relative’s needs as his own: “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away /some /of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold…” [Lev.25:25];

“/if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him/” [Num.5:8];

*ii.

**The Transcendent & Immanent God *

The transcendent and immanent redeemer God: “/the Holy One of Israel/…” [54:5].

§         קְד֣וֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל - “/Holy One of Israel/” [54:5], “/For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place/…” [57:15];

§         אֱלֹהֵ֥י כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ - “/God/” [54:5],

§         יִקָּרֵֽא - “/shall he be called/” [54:5], niphal imperfect,

§         Emphasises the absolute /transcendence/ of God: “Holy, holy, holy, /is /the LORD of hosts…” [6:3]; and also his unbelievable /condescension/: “/his train filled the temple…the whole earth is full of his glory/” [6:1-2].

*Application*

The Lord has committed himself to us as “husband” in all his fullness and power; he is on our side as “redeemer” in all the fullness of the divine nature as “the Holy One”.

Every circumstance that befalls us is within the divine sovereignty of the God “of all the earth”.

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*THE REUNION *

*1.        **The Broken Marriage  *

The initial “/for/” [54:6] links verses 6-10 with verses 1-5, explaining the reference to the Lord as “/husband/” [54:5].

*a.        **The Forsaken ~/ Grieving Wife *

The picture of a narrow-eyed, strained, and embittered woman: “/a woman forsaken and grieved/…” [54:6].

§         כְאִשָּׁ֧ה - “/woman/” [54:6], ‘woman, wife’;

§         עֲזוּבָ֛ה - “/forsaken/” [54:6], qal passive participle, ‘to abandon’; ‘to break of previous relationship’;

§         עֲצ֥וּבַת - “/grieved/” [54:6], qal passive participle, ‘distressed’; ‘a condition of emotional distress and sorrow’;

§         ר֖וּחַ - “/in/ /spirit/” [54:6],

*b.        **The Young Bride  *

*i.        **Loving*

The picture of a laughing bride with dancing eyes: “/a wife of youth when you were/…” [54:6].

§         אֵ֧שֶׁת - “/wife/” [54:6], ‘woman, wife’;

§         נְעוּרִ֛ים - “/of/ /youth/” [54:6], ‘childhood’; ‘youth’;

§         A “/wife of youth/” [54:6] suggests all the passionate devotion of a young married couple with the bright hopes of their early married life: “/I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness/…” [Jer.2:2ff].