Isaiah 60:14

60:9-14 God will be very gracious. We must begin with his promise, thence all mercies take rise. Many shall be brought into the church, even from far countries. Christ is always ready to receive all who come to him; and the gate of mercy is always open, night and day. All that are about the church shall be made serviceable to it. But those who will not be subject to Christ's golden sceptre, to his word and Spirit, who will not be kept in by the laws and rules of his family, shall be broken in pieces by his iron rod. The peculiar advantages of every nation, and of every description of men, shall join to beautify the church of Christ. We must suppose this to be accomplished in the beauties of holiness, and the graces and comforts of the Spirit, with which gospel ordinances are adorned and enriched. Blessed be his name, the gates of Zion are ever open to returning sinners.

Isaiah 60:14 . The sons of them, that afflicted thee — Their posterity, or themselves, for it is the manner of the Hebrews so to speak; shall come bending unto thee — Humbling themselves as penitents, and thus manifesting their respect and reverence for thee. They shall acknowledge their former errors, or the errors of their fathers, and instead of being persecutors shall become proselytes. And all they that despised thee — As a poor, mean, insignificant, and despicable people; shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet — Shall prostrate themselves before thee as humble suppliants, or rather before Christ, the head, husband, and king of his church. And they shall call thee, The city of the Lord — They shall acknowledge thee to be so, and to be so called, both from the love that God hath to thee, and from the presence of God with thee.

As there is no account of any thing like this happening to the Jews, that any people, who had before persecuted and afflicted them, came and made submission to them in such a suppliant manner as is here represented, this must, of necessity, be considered as a description, either, 1st, Of that change of things which was made in the Roman empire, when the highest powers in it, even the emperors themselves, became Christians, in consequence of which the heathen became suppliants to the Christians, whom they had before treated in the most cruel and barbarous manner: or, 2d, Of that still greater change which shall take place, in this respect, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he will make his church’s enemies to come and worship, that is, to prostrate themselves before her feet, and to know that he has loved her, Revelation 3:9 .

The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending to thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves {p} down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (p) To worship their head Christ, by obeying his doctrine.

The sons; either their posterity, acknowledging their fathers’ sins in afflicting thee; or themselves; for it is the manner of the Hebrews to put the sons of a thing for the thing itself. Bending; humbling themselves, as penitents; this being the sign of reverence and respect; and that either for love or fear submit to the yoke of Christ; they shall be like Christ, of a humble and meek spirit, and the degree of this is mentioned in the next clause. Bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet: this notes that great degree of submission, that even despisers and enemies shall yield to the church, prostrating themselves as humble suppliants; see Isaiah 49:23 ; or rather to Christ, the Head, King, and Husband of the church. They shall call thee, The city; they shall give her that honourable title, or acknowledge her to be so, and so called, both from the love that God had for her, and from the temple of God that was in her.

14 . The homage done to Zion by her former oppressors is probably to be regarded as the consequence of the new glory which accrues to the Sanctuary ( Isaiah 60:13 ). The sons also … feet ] The LXX. reads simply: “And there shall come crouching unto thee the sons of thine afflicters and despisers.” The words omitted (“ all ” and “ shall bow … feet ”) are probably a gloss. The Zion of the Holy One of Israel ] On the construction of the proper name followed by a genitive see Davidson, Syntax , § 24, R. 6.

Verse 14. - The sons ( i.e. descendants) also of them that afflicted thee; i.e. of the various nations that at different times oppressed and afflicted Israel - as Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, etc. Shall come bending unto thee. Bowing themselves down to the new Israel - the Israel of God - as the eleven sheaves bowed themselves down to Joseph's sheaf ( Genesis 37:7 ). At the soles of thy feet (comp. Isaiah 49:23 ). Shall call thee, The city of the Lord. Hitherto her enemies had bestowed on Jerusalem disparaging names, as "Forsaken," or "Desolate" ( Isaiah 62:4 ). Now they will substitute for such names titles of honour, such as "City of Jehovah," "Zion of Israel's Holy One." Isaiah 60:14

(14) The sons also of them that afflicted thee . . . —The explanation commonly given is that the “sons” are named because the persecutors themselves are thought of as no more. It seems better, however, to see in the words an expression of the law of inherited retribution, which entered so largely into the Hebrew’s thought of the moral government of the world. That law will show itself in the prostrate homage with which the descendants of the old oppressors will recognise that the restored city is indeed the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

The sons of them that afflicted thee - In the previous verses the prophet had said that strangers and foreigners would become tributary to the true religion. Here, to give variety and interest to the description, he says, that even the descendants of those who had oppressed them would become tributary to them, and acknowledge them as favored by Yahweh. Shall come bending unto thee - Shall come to time in a posture of humiliation and respect, In regard to the fulfillment of this, we may observe: 1. That there was a partial fulfillment of it in the conquest of Babylon. The sons, the descendants of those who had destroyed Jerusalem, and led the Jews into captivity, were constrained to acknowledge them, and, under Cyrus, to reconduct them to the land of their fathers (see the notes at Isaiah 14:1-2). 2. It has often occurred, in times of persecution, that the immediate descendants of the persecutors, and that too by means of the persecution, became converted to the true religion, and acknowledged the God of those whom they bad persecuted to be the true God. 3. It often occurs in times when there is no open and public persecution. Many of those now in the church are the children or descendants of those who had been the enemies of the gospel. They themselves did all that could be done, by their lives and examples, to train up their children in opposition to it.

But the sovereign mercy of God interposed, and from such he selected heralds of salvation and preachers of righteousness to a lost world, or such as should become shining lights in the more obscure walks of the Christian life. And all they that despised thee - There shall yet be a universal acknowledgment of the true religion even in those nations that have spurned the gospel. This does not mean that all who have ever despised the true religion shall be converted and saved, but that there shall be a universal acknowledgement that it is of God, and that the church is under his care. See an explanation of this sentiment in the notes at Isaiah 45:23. At the soles of thy feet - In a posture of the utmost reverence and submission (see Revelation 3:9; compare the notes at Isaiah 49:23). And they shall call thee - They shall honor thee as the favored of the Lord; as the abode of the true God (see Isaiah 2:3). The Zion ... - The Zion, or the royal court where the holy God that is worshipped in Israel dwells.