Isaiah 52:1

Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion,.... Aben Ezra says, all interpreters agree that this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, and so it is: by Zion is meant the church in Gospel times, in the

Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 52 The church redeemed, and called upon to rejoice therein, . The universal preaching of the gospel glorious, . A call to free ourselves from bondage, ,12. Christ’ s kingdom shall be exalted, . Awake, awake; put on thy strength: God biddeth his church do that which she entreated him to do, . And because God’ s word is operative, and effectual, and his sayings are doings, this is a prediction and promise what she should do, that she should awake or arise out of her low estate, and be strong and courageous. Put on thy beautiful garments: thy sorrows shall be ended, and thou shalt be advanced into a most glorious and blessed condition. O Jerusalem, the holy city; O my church, which is every where called by the name of Zion or Jerusalem. For henceforth there shall no more come into thee, either to molest thee, or to associate themselves with thee, or to defile or corrupt thee, the uncircumcised, heathens or infidels, who are commonly called uncircumcised; and the unclean; nor any others, who though they be circumcised, as the Jews generally were, are unclean in any thing: whereby he intimates that there should be a greater purity and reformation in the church than formerly there had been, which was eminently accomplished in the church and kingdom of Christ.

Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.Ver. 1. Awake, awake.] Pluck up thy best heart, as we say, and rouse up thyself to receive the sweet promises; for as man’ s laws, so God’ s promises favour not them that are asleep, but awake and watchful. O Jerusalem, the holy city.] Thou that hast been brought through the fire; being refined as silver is refined, and tried as gold is tried. There shall no more come into thee.] Or, Against thee, i.e., I will not suffer tyrants to vex thee, or profane ones to harbour with thee. See Isaiah 35:8.

LII. (1) Awake, awake . . .—The repetition of the burden of Isa Ii. 9, 17, indicates, by a subtle touch of art, the continuity of thought. The call is addressed as before to Zion, as a castaway. It summons her to the highest glory. She is to put on the garments of beauty, which belong to her as the priestly queen of cities. (Comp. Exodus 28:2.) The alien and the impure shall no longer ride victorious through her streets, as in Isaiah 51:23. (Comp. Ezekiel 44:9, and the picture of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21:2.)

CHAPTER LII Jerusalem, in manifest allusion to the strong figure employed in the close of the preceding chapter, is represented as fallen asleep in the dust, and in that helpless state bound by her enemies. The prophet, with all the ardour natural to one who had such joyful news to communicate, bids her awake, arise, put on her best attire, (holiness to the Lord,) and ascend her lofty seat; and then he delivers the message he had in charge, a very consolatory part of which was, that "no more should enter into her the uncircumcised and the polluted," 1-6. Awaking from her stupefaction, Jerusalem sees the messenger of such joyful tidings on the eminence from which he spied the coming deliverance. She expresses, in beautiful terms, her joy at the news, repeating with peculiar elegance the words of the crier, 7. The rapturous intelligence, that Jehovah was returning to resume his residence on his holy mountain, immediately spreads to others on the watch, who all join in the glad acclamation, 8; and, in the ardour of their joy, they call to the very ruins of Jerusalem to sing along with them, because Jehovah maketh bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth are about to see the salvation of Israel's God, 9, 10. To complete the deliverance, they are commanded to march in triumph out of Babylon, earnestly exhorted to have nothing to do with any of her abominations, and assured that Jehovah will guide them in all their way, 11, 12. The prophet then passes to the procuring cause of this great blessedness to the house of Israel in particular, and to the world in general, viz., the humiliation, sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ; a very celebrated and clear prophet which takes up the remainder of this and the whole of the following chapter. NOTES ON CHAP. LII Verse 1. There shall no more come into thee] For יבא yabo, "shall come," לבא lebo, "to come," is the reading of five of Kennicott's and two of De Rossi's MSS. This is the better reading, כי לא יוסיף לבא ki lo yosiph lebo, "There shall not add to come." The uncircumcised and the unclean.] Christians have turned many passages of the prophets against the Jews; and it is not to be wondered at, that in support of their obstinate and hopeless cause, they should press a prophecy into their service, and make it speak against the Christians. This Kimchi does in this place; for he says, by the uncircumcised, the Christians are meant; and by the unclean, the Turks. The Christians are uncircumcised; and the Turks, though circumcised, and using many ablutions, are unclean in their works.

Ch. Isaiah 52:1-2. Here the prophet’s imagination takes a higher flight. The cup of indignation having finally passed from her hands, Jerusalem is summoned to shake off her stupor, and array herself in garments befitting her dignity as the bride of Jehovah. The description is influenced by the contrast (evidently intentional) to the taunt-song on the “daughter of Babylon” (ch. Isaiah 47:1 ff.). put on thy strength] Cf. ch. Isaiah 51:9. the holy city] as ch. Isaiah 48:2. for … there shall no more come &c.] Note the correspondence with Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 47:5. the uncircumcised and the unclean] i.e. not foreigners generally (as Joe 3:17), as if the passage expressed the exclusiveness of later Judaism, but the “destroyers” and “wasters” who at present desecrate her soil; see on Isaiah 49:17. Cf. Nahum 1:15; Zechariah 9:8. 2. arise and sit down] The meaning might be, “arise from the dust, and sit on thy throne,”—a contrast to Isaiah 47:1. loose thyself … neck] Better perhaps loose for thee the bonds &c.; the reflexive verb having the same force as an ethical dative. The alternative rendering of R.V. marg. “the bands of thy neck are loosed” represents the Hebrew consonantal text. The Qerê, however, is here supported by the Ancient Versions, and is undoubtedly to be preferred.

Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isaiah 51:9). This address to Jerusalem is intimately connected with the closing verses of the preceding chapter. Jerusalem is there represented as down-trodden in the dust before her enemies.

1, 2. Put on… strength — Not splendour, (Gesenius,) but “strength,” imparted through conscious union with Jehovah.