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  1. Sat: Psalms 37-41
  2. Sun: Exodus 29-30
  3. Mon: Mark 14-16
Tuesday · Week 19
The Early Prophets

Isaiah 49-50

Week 19 · about 8 min
  1. Wed: 2 Samuel 7-12
  2. Thu: Ephesians 1-3
  3. Fri: Ezekiel 36-37

The Servant speaks again, and God answers Zion’s fear that she’s been forgotten.

Written on the Palms of His Hands

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:15-16 (KJV)

The Servant feels he has worked for nothing. God tells him that restoring Israel is too small a job, so he will also be “a light to the Gentiles.” Zion complains, “The LORD hath forsaken me.” God answers with a picture. A nursing mother might forget her baby, but he won’t forget his people. Their names are engraved on his hands. In chapter 50 the Servant says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” He sets his face like flint and doesn’t turn back. That reads a lot like Jesus walking toward Jerusalem and the cross.

Reflect: When you feel forgotten, what does it mean that your name is written on God’s hands?

Isaiah 49

1Listen to Me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.

2He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.

3He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, in whom I will display My glory.”

4But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the LORD, and My reward is with My God.”

5And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him— for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength—

6He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

7Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

8This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,

9to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.

10They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

11I will turn all My mountains into roads, and My highways will be raised up.

12Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”

13Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

17Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.

18Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride.

19For your ruined and desolate places and your ravaged land will now indeed be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.

20Yet the children of your bereavement will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; make room for us to live here.’

21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

22This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

24Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?

25Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.

26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Isaiah 50

1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.

3I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”

4The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

5The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.

6I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

7Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

8The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!

9Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.

10Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.

11Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB). The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain.