Teks -- Isaiah 49:1 (NET)

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! Pay attention, you people who live far away! The Lord summoned me from birth; he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.

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Wesley: Isa 49:1 - Listen

God turns his speech to the Gentiles, and invites them to hearken to those counsels and doctrines which the Jews would reject.

Wesley: Isa 49:1 - Me

Unto Christ: Isaiah speaks these words in the name of Christ.

JFB: Isa 49:1 - O isles

Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews (Isa 49:4-5), and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea.

JFB: Isa 49:1 - from the womb

(Isa 44:2; Luk 1:31; Joh 10:36).

JFB: Isa 49:1 - from . . . bowels . . . mention of my name

His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth (Mat 1:21).

Clarke: Isa 49:1

Listen, O isles, unto me "Hearken unto me, O ye distant lands"- Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon; with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in, to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of chap. 42.; but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one Church together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God.

Calvin: Isa 49:1 - Hear me, O islands! // Jehovah hath called me from the womb // From my mother’s belly he hath had my name in remembrance

1.Hear me, O islands! After having treated of the future deliverance of the people, he comes down to Christ, under whose guidance the people were brought out of Babylon, as they had formerly been brought out of Egypt. The former prophecy must have been confirmed by this doctrine; because they would scarcely have hoped that the Lord would deliver them, if they had not placed Christ before their eyes, by whom alone desponding souls can be comforted and strengthened; for from him they ought not only to expect eternal salvation, but ought equally to expect temporal deliverance. Besides, it is customary with the prophets, when they discourse concerning the restoration of the Church, to bring Christ into view, not only because he would be the minister of the Church, but because on him was founded the adoption of the people. The Jews also, or, at least, such of them as have any soundness of understanding, admit that this passage cannot be understood as relating to any other person than Christ. But still the train of thought which we have pointed out has not been perceived by every interpreter; for the Prophet does not, by a sudden transition, mention Christ, but interweaves this with the former subject, because in no other manner could the people entertain the hope of deliverance, since on him depended their reconciliation with God. And in order that the style might be more energetic, he introduces Christ as speaking, and addresses not only the Jews but nations that were beyond the sea, and foreign nations who were at a great distance from Judea, to whom, as we have formerly remarked, ¹ he gives the name of “Islands.”

Jehovah hath called me from the womb A question arises, What is the nature of this calling? For, seeing that we were

“chosen in Christ before the creation of the world,”
(Eph 1:4,)

it follows that election goes before this calling; for it is the commencement and foundation of our election. Accordingly, it might be thought that Isaiah says far less than the occasion demands, when he says that he was “called from the womb;” for he had been called long before. But the answer is easy; for the subject here treated of is not eternal election, by which we are adopted to be his sons, but only the appointment or consecration by which Christ is set apart to that office, that no man may think that he intruded into it without being duly authorized. “For no man,” as the Apostle says,

“taketh this honor upon himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he who spake to him, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Heb 5:4.)

Moreover, the Prophet does not describe the commencement of the period, as if it were only from the womb that God began to call him; but it is as if he had said, “Before I came out of the womb, God had determined that I should hold this office.” In like manner Paul also says that he was “set apart from the womb,” (Gal 1:15,) though he had been “elected before the creation of the world.” (Eph 1:4.) To Jeremiah also it is said, “Before thou camest out of the womb, I knew thee.” (Jer 1:5.) In short, the meaning is, that Christ was clothed with our flesh by the appointment of the Father, in order that he might fulfill the office of Redeemer, to which he had been appointed.

From my mother’s belly he hath had my name in remembrance This has the same import as the former clause; for by “the remembrance of the name” is meant familiar acquaintance. He therefore distinguishes himself from the ordinary rank of men, because he was elected to an uncommon and remarkable office.

TSK: Isa 49:1 - Listen // and hearken // The Lord

Listen : Isa 41:1, Isa 42:1-4, Isa 42:12, Isa 45:22, Isa 51:5, Isa 60:9, Isa 66:19; Zep 2:11

and hearken : Isa 55:3, Isa 57:19; Eph 2:17; Heb 12:25

The Lord : Isa 49:5; Psa 71:5, Psa 71:6; Jer 1:5; Mat 1:20,Mat 1:21; Luk 1:15, Luk 1:31, Luk 2:10,Luk 2:11; Joh 10:36; Gal 1:15; 1Pe 1:20

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Poole: Isa 49:1 - Listen, O isles // Unto me // Hearken, ye people, from far // The Lord hath called me from the womb // Made mention of my name

Listen, O isles God having in the last words secretly signified the wickedness of the Jewish nation, after so glorious a deliverance, and foreseeing that, for their wickedness, he should cast them off, he here turneth his speech to the nations of the Gentiles, who are frequently described in this prophecy and elsewhere under the title of isles , as hath been formerly noted, and inviteth them to hearken to those counsels and doctrines which the Jews would reject.

Unto me unto Christ; for it is apparent from Isa 49:6 , and other passages of this chapter, that Isaiah speaks these words ill the name of Christ, by whose Spirit they were dictated to him, 1Pe 1:11 , and unto whom alone they belong, as we shall see. So this chapter is a prophecy of Christ, which also is very proper and seasonable in this place. The prophet having at large prophesied of the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, he now proceeds further, and prophesieth of the redemption of the world by Christ, of which that deliverance out of Babylon was a type and forerunner.

Hearken, ye people, from far which live in countries far from Judea, now the only place of God’ s special presence and worship. It is evident from the foregoing clause, and many other passages following, that he speaks of distance of place, not of time.

The Lord hath called me from the womb: this or the like expression is used of Jeremiah, Isa 1:5 , and of Paul, Gal 1:15 ; but it was far more eminently true of Christ, who, as he was chosen to this great office of redemption from eternity, so he was separated and called to it before he was born, being both conceived and sanctified by the Holy Ghost in his mother’ s womb, and sent into the world upon this errand; of which see Mat 1:21 Luk 1:31 , &c.; it. 11, &c.

Made mention of my name called by my name, and by such a name as signified my office and work, in the places now mentioned.

Haydock: Isa 49:1 - Shoulders

Shoulders. Thus the Syrians commonly carried children astride. (Cotovic. xiv.)

Haydock: Isa 49:1 - Give

Give. This fresh discourse continues to chap. lvi. 9., relating to the Messias, who is introduced speaking to all the world, Acts xiii. 47., and 2 Corinthians vi. 2. Some apply a part to Cyrus, Isaias, or John the Baptist, as to his figures. (Calmet) ---

The prophet has foretold the conversion of the Gentiles, as he now does, like an evangelist. (St. Jerome) ---

Many Jews will embrace the gospel at the end of time. (Worthington)

Gill: Isa 49:1 - Listen, O isles, unto me // and hearken, ye people, from far // the Lord hath called me from the womb // from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name

Listen, O isles, unto me,.... These are not the words of Cyrus, as Lyra mentions; nor of the Prophet Isaiah, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and other Jewish writers think; but of Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands properly so called, as ours of Great Britain, and may be chiefly designed, being a place where the Gospel of Christ came early, and has been long; or all such that dwell in countries beyond the sea, it being usual with the Jews to call all such countries isles that were beyond sea to them; Christ is the great Prophet of his church, and is alone to be hearkened unto, and in all things, Mat 17:5,

and hearken, ye people, from far; that were afar off from the land of Judea, as well as afar off from God and Christ, and the knowledge of him, and of righteousness and salvation by him; the Gentile nations are meant; see Eph 2:12, for this is to be understood of kingdoms afar off, as the Targum paraphrases it; and not of distant and future things, to be accomplished hereafter, as Aben Ezra; taking this to be the subject they are required to hearken to, and not as descriptive of persons that are to hearken:

the Lord hath called me from the womb; to the office of a Mediator; to be Prophet, Priest, and King; to be the Saviour and Redeemer of men; he did not assume this to himself, but was called of God his Father, Heb 5:4, and that not only from the womb of his mother Mary, or as soon as he was conceived and born of her; but from the womb of eternity, from the womb of eternal purposes and decrees; for he was set forth, or foreordained in the purposes of God, to be the propitiation for sin; and was predestinated to be the Redeemer before the foundation of the world, even before he had a being in this world as man. So the Targum,

"the Lord, before I was, appointed me;''

he prepared a body for him, and appointed him to be his salvation. The Syriac version join, the words "from far" to this clause, as do the Septuagint and Arabic versions, contrary to the accents, and renders them, "of a long time the Lord hath called me, from the womb"; even from eternity:

from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name; Jarchi interprets this of Isaiah, whose name was fixed and given him by the Lord, while he was in his mother's bowels, signifying that he should prophesy of salvation and comfort; but it is much better to understand it of Christ, whose name Jesus, a Saviour, was made mention of by the Lord, while he was in his mother's womb, and before he was born, Mat 1:20, for the words may be rendered, "before the womb, and before the bowels of my mother" ^r; that is, before he was in them.