Isaiah 60:18

By this point the chapter has described the nations coming to Zion’s light (Isaiah 60:3) and bringing their wealth with them (Isaiah 60:5–7). Verse 15 looks back at what she had been, so that the change can be seen in full. “Forsaken” translates ʻâzab, which means to loosen or let go, and so to leave, abandon or leave destitute. Zion had been left desolate under God’s judgment, and the nations around her hated and despised her, taking her fall as a sign that her God was weak. “No man went through thee” pictures a city with empty roads, emptied of people, trade and even travellers passing her gates. For Israel a thriving city was a sign of God’s favour, so this emptiness was a deep shame. The prophecy speaks to Jerusalem as it lay after the Babylonian exile, with broken walls and few people.

Into that ruin God says, “I will make thee”. The change is his decision and his work from start to finish. The word for excellency, gâʼôwn, can mean pride or arrogance elsewhere, and here it carries its good sense of majesty, splendour and ornament, an honour God himself bestows. He calls it “eternal”, so it will outlast every earlier glory of the city. “A joy of many generations” uses mâsôws, which means delight, both the feeling of joy and the thing that causes it. Zion will be a delight to those who see her and a cause of rejoicing handed on from one generation to the next.

Isaiah returns to this promise more than once. “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah” (Isaiah 62:4). And God says, “behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (Isaiah 65:18).

Verse 16 pictures the wealth of the nations as milk. The verb yânaq means to suck, the way a child drinks milk from its mother’s breast. Zion will draw her life from “the Gentiles”, gôwy, the foreign nations outside God’s covenant people, who had so often been Israel’s oppressors, and even from their kings, who stand at the height of worldly power. Milk and the breast speak of life, sustenance and care, so the picture is of nations and rulers willingly giving Zion what she needs to flourish. It reverses Israel’s long history under foreign powers. Isaiah has said it before: “kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers” (Isaiah 49:23). There were partial fulfilments after the return from exile, and the size of the promise reaches further, to the day Zechariah describes when “many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:22–23), and to the holy city of Revelation, where the nations walk in its light and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it (Revelation 21:24).

All this giving leads to something greater: “thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer”. This knowing (yada) comes by experience, as Zion learns who God is from what he does for her. A Saviour delivers from distress. A Redeemer, gâʼal, is the kinsman-redeemer of Israel’s law, the near relative who had the right and the duty to buy back family land, avenge a wrong, or marry a dead relative’s widow to keep the family line alive. When God calls himself Zion’s Redeemer, he claims her as his own family and promises to act on her behalf, buying her back from ruin and disgrace.

“The mighty One of Jacob” ends the verse. The word ʼâbîyr speaks of strength, and the title goes back to Jacob’s blessing on Joseph, whose arms “were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob” (Genesis 49:24). God ties his promise to the covenant he made with the patriarch and his descendants, so Zion’s future rests on his strength and his faithfulness.

The New Testament names the price of that redemption: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). Through Christ, Gentiles who were strangers become “fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19–22), and Jew and Gentile are made “one new man” (Ephesians 2:14–16). The nations now bring themselves as well as their wealth, offered as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), and they come to know God’s salvation in the Word made flesh (John 1:14).

Verse 17 promises four exchanges, each one upward: gold for brass, silver for iron, brass for wood, and iron for stones. The word for brass, nᵉchôsheth, means copper or bronze, a common and useful metal that looks plain beside gold. These were the materials of the tabernacle and the temple (Exodus 25, 1 Kings 6), and a people who had seen their treasures plundered would hear in this promise that God will rebuild them richer than before. Even the wood and stone of ordinary building are raised. The same pattern, something ordinary or damaged made into something far better, runs on to God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17).

Then the promise moves from metals to the people who govern. “Officers” are those in authority and oversight, and “exactors” comes from nâgas, to drive, as one drives an animal, a labourer or a debtor. The word describes taskmasters and harsh collectors of tax and tribute. Israel had known such rulers from Assyria and Babylon, and from her own kings too, as Samuel warned when the people asked for one (1 Samuel 8:11–18). God says he will make the officers “peace” and the exactors “righteousness”. shâlôwm is completeness, soundness, welfare, peace and safety. tsᵉdâqâh is rightness and justice, uprightness in the ruler and fairness in his dealings. God makes peace and righteousness the very character of those who hold power, and so of the life of the whole city.

This is the rule Isaiah promised under the coming King, who will judge the poor with righteousness and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:1–5). A psalm of the king prays, “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness” (Psalm 72:3), and Zechariah promises that “Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth” (Zechariah 8:3). Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), to whom “All power is given ... in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), and the leaders of his church are to shepherd the flock in righteousness and peace under him, the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4).

Verse 18 promises an end to what Jerusalem had suffered again and again through sieges, conquests and finally the exile. The word for violence, châmâç, covers cruelty, wrong and unjust gain as well as physical force. “Shall no more be heard” means that even the sound and report of it will be gone from the land. “Wasting” (shôd) is ravage and plunder by enemies, and “destruction” (sheber) is breaking and ruin, so the whole range of devastation ends “within thy borders”.

In a city of Israel the walls were its defence and marked out its bounds, and the gates were where trade was done, cases were judged and the community met. Zion will give both new names. Her walls will be called Salvation, yᵉshûwʻâh, a word for deliverance, help, victory and welfare. Scripture uses it for rescue by men as well, as when Jonathan “hath wrought this great salvation in Israel”, and it traces every deliverance finally to the LORD, so here the city’s defences bear the name of his saving work. Her gates will be called Praise, tᵉhillâh, praise or a hymn of praise. Everyone going in and out, and the whole public life of the city, will give thanks to God.

The Psalms already know God as this kind of wall: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1–3). Zechariah pictures the safety of the restored city, with old men and women sitting in its streets and boys and girls playing there (Zechariah 8:3–5). Isaiah himself foresaw the nations coming up to the mountain of the LORD’s house and learning war no more (Isaiah 2:2–4). In the New Jerusalem the gates stand open by day and nothing that defiles enters (Revelation 21:23–27), and God wipes away all tears (Revelation 21:4).

We still live in a world of violence, and this verse shows us the end we wait for. Jesus said, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). At the cross he spoiled principalities and powers, “triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). His people already belong to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22–24), and they are called to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Meanwhile we pray for his kingdom to come and work for peace where we are.

Verses 19 and 20 are the height of the chapter. It opened with Zion’s light coming while darkness covered the earth (Isaiah 60:1–3), and it closes with the LORD himself as her light. “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee”. The two lights that rule day and night, that mark out seasons and harvests, and that the nations around Israel worshipped, give way to the One who made them.

The word for light, ʼôwr, means illumination or a luminary, something that gives light, and it can also picture happiness. The LORD will be Zion’s light in every sense: her brightness, her guidance and her joy. “Everlasting” is ʻôwlâm, time out of mind, stretching beyond sight into the past or the future, and so lasting for ever. The sun rises and sets and the moon waxes and wanes, while the LORD’s light stays the same through every age. The name used is Yᵉhôvâh, the LORD, the self-existent God of the covenant, and then “thy God”, ʼĕlôhîym, a plural in form that, when it names the true God, is read as a plural of majesty. “Thy God thy glory” uses tiphʼârâh, which means beauty, glory or ornament, the state of being worthy of honour. Zion’s beauty and honour will be God himself.

Verse 20 says the same thing from the other side: “Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself”. Zion’s day will have no sunset, and her moon will always shine. The setting sun and the hidden moon picture every interruption of God’s favour, and the verse promises that these will end because “the LORD shall be thine everlasting light”. Zechariah speaks of the same day: “at evening time it shall be light” (Zechariah 14:7). The God who promised, “the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee” (Isaiah 54:10), will be as constant as his light.

David already knew this light: “The LORD is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1), and “in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9). Isaiah had promised that “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2). That light came into the world in Jesus, who said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). In him was life, “and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4–5). He is “the brightness of his glory” (Hebrews 1:3), and God has shined in our hearts “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Verse 21 turns from the city to its people. “Thy people also shall be all righteous”. tsaddîyq means righteous, right with God and conformed to his standard, and “all” means the whole community. This reverses the sin and unfaithfulness that led to the exile, and it is God’s own work, the work of the new covenant in which he says, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). Christ “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30), and the Spirit changes believers into his image “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

“They shall inherit the land for ever.” yârash means to occupy and possess, often by driving out those who held the land before, and for Israel it named the possession of the promised land. The promise goes back to God’s word to Abram, “Unto thy seed will I give this land” (Genesis 12:7). “For ever” makes the possession secure and permanent.

“The branch of my planting, the work of my hands” says twice over that the people are God’s doing. maṭṭâʻ, from nâṭaʻ, to plant, is a planting or plantation, a garden God has set out and tends himself. “The work of my hands” pictures a craftsman shaping what he makes. Paul says the same of believers: “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The word “branch” also recalls the Branch of Isaiah’s earlier prophecy, the rod out of the stem of Jesse on whom the Spirit of the LORD rests (Isaiah 11:1–2). Here the branch is the people, and they live as branches joined to Christ: “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5).

“That I may be glorified” gives the purpose of it all. Their righteousness, their inheritance and their very existence display God’s power and faithfulness, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever” (Romans 11:36). Christ showed that glory in the flesh, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Verse 22 closes the chapter. “A little one” is qâṭân, which means small, young or of little account, always in comparison with something greater. “A small one” (tsâʻîyr) says the same. The remnant who came back to Jerusalem were few and discouraged, and God promises that the little one will become a thousand (ʼeleph), and the small one a strong (ʻâtsûwm) nation. The word for nation is gôwy, the same word translated “Gentiles” in verse 16. It usually names the nations outside Israel, and here God uses it for Zion’s own people, made as great and as strong as any nation on earth.

Zechariah asks, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10), and Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed, the least of all seeds, that becomes a tree where the birds lodge (Matthew 13:31–32). Daniel saw a stone that became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). The church began with Jesus and twelve disciples, and on the day of Pentecost “there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). It ends in a people redeemed “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9), “a great multitude, which no man could number” (Revelation 7:9), a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

“Thou” in these verses is Zion, which is Jerusalem and, through her, the people of Israel. After chapters that lay bare her sin (Isaiah 58, Isaiah 59), God promises to bring her out of the ruin her sins had brought and to make her glorious. Some of this was fulfilled when the exiles returned and rebuilt, and the promises reach far beyond anything Jerusalem saw then. Believers differ on how the rest is fulfilled. Some look for a literal future restoration of Jerusalem, perhaps in a millennial kingdom before the new heavens and new earth. Others read Zion in these promises as the church, the people of God from every nation, whom Peter calls “an holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Many hold both together. All agree that these chapters reach their fullest end in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, and that they are fulfilled in Christ.

Christ himself walked the road of verse 15. He was forsaken and hated, and on the cross he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). God then highly exalted him and gave him “a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9–11). He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and anyone in him “is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). His people, once far off, are built on him as the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20). They rejoice “with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8), and when he appears they will “appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). In the city to come, God dwells with his people and wipes away every tear (Revelation 21:3–4).

Every promise in these verses begins with God. He makes, brings, names, plants and hastens, and his people receive. That is good news for anyone whose life or church has known seasons of being forsaken, because a past of ruin is exactly where God chose to begin with Zion. Our safety rests on the walls he calls Salvation, and the fitting answer to his saving work is praise at every gate. When what he has begun looks small, we remember that the little one becomes a thousand, and when it looks slow, we remember that the time is his and he will hasten it. Until the day when the LORD is our everlasting light and our mourning is ended, we walk in the light we already have in Christ, for his glory.