Isaiah 49
Big idea: The second servant passage, and it contains a complaint: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing. The answer enlarges the job rather than reducing it — restoring Israel is too small a thing; you will be a light to the nations.
Verse 15 — can a woman forget her nursing child? — is the direct answer to Zion's claim in verse 14 that she has been forgotten.
49:1–13 — It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
The servant addresses the world directly: listen, islands, and hear, you peoples from far away. Yahweh called me from the womb; from the body of my mother he named me. The images for his equipment are both about being kept in reserve — he made my mouth like a sharp sword, and hid me in the shadow of his hand; he made me a polished shaft, and kept me close in his quiver. A weapon prepared and then not used yet.
1 Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name. 2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.” 5 Now Yahweh, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes, and my God has become my strength. 6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” 7 Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 8 Yahweh says, “I have answered you in an acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage, 9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water. 11 I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” 13 Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
49:14–26 — Can a woman forget her nursing child?
Zion's complaint is quoted exactly, and it is the sentence the whole second half of the book is answering: Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. The reply is a question about the strongest bond anyone in the audience could name: can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? And then the concession, which is what makes it convincing rather than sentimental — yes, these may forget. It is granted that it happens. Yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you! 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. 17 Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you. 18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride. 19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20 The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ 21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’” 22 The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.” 24 Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? 25 But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your children. 26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).