Hermeneutics of Isaiah 60:22b


by BANNU EDITS

Isaiah 60:22b GNB  When the right time comes, I will make this happen quickly. I am the LORD!"

The entire verse: 


Isaiah 60:22 GNB  Even your smallest and humblest family Will become as great as a powerful nation. When the right time comes, I will make this happen quickly. I am the LORD!"


Isaiah 60:22 ESV  The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.


By selecting only a part of the text in Isaiah 60:22, there is a tendency for readers to make a quick interpretation thinking that this is about what God will do to everybody. Many people are in a haste in the application of this verse for which reason, a lot of bad hermeneutics happen. 


Literary and Historical Context 


  • From the verse alone, one can tell that God’s promise of a good future was made to a nation, not an individual. 

  • To whom God was speaking to?

    • Obviously, to the Israelites (vv. 9 and 14 specifically pointed it out).

  • Where were the Israelites and what was the setting? 

    • They were captives in Babylon!

    • Isaiah 48:20 ESV  Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth…

    • Isaiah 52:1-2 ESV  Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.  (2)  Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

  • What was the exact promise?

    • The promise of redemption from Babylonian captivity.

      • Isaiah 48:20 ESV  Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

    • The promise of return, security in the land (Canaan), and the new people of righteousness.

      • Isaiah 60:21-22 ESV  Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.  (22)  The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.

    • The promise of rebuilding Jerusalem.

      • Isaiah 62:6-7 ESV  On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,  (7)  and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.

    • Notice the word “forever” in 60:21.

      • Until now, the entire land of Canaan which was promised by God to the Israelites was not yet theirs. 

      • K.L. Brooks mentioned the setting up of the Kingdom in the earth (on the second coming of Christ) will mean the repairing of all the waste places and all the ends of the earth shall see God’s great salvation. Here, the word “forever” makes sense. 

      • Albert Barnes notes, “chapter 60, in its design and structure, is intimately connected with the preceding. That it refers to the Messiah will be shown in the notes at Isa 61:1-3, and the main scope and design of the chapter is to show some of the glorious results of his coming.


Meaning of the text 

  • Isaiah was talking about the promise of God to Israel in taking them out from Babylonian captivity to go back to their homeland. When the Lord makes this happen, they shall become a mighty nation. But since the promise of return and repossession of the land is going to be an eternal possession, there is a sense in which this promise relates to the second coming of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth and then fulfill all other prophecies from that day through eternity. 


Universal truth or principles from the meaning of the text 

  • God is true to His promise. All of what He promised shall come to pass!

  • We are not the Israelites who were captives in Babylon, but God promised us through His Son that He is going to bring His disciples to His Father’s house (John 14)–the new heaven and new earth–God’s dwelling place where His people shall dwell forever (Rev. 21) with great joy. 


Application

  • What promises in the Bible are applicable to us, Christians, which we can hold on to? 

    • Heavenly promises: 

      • John 10:28 ESV  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

      • John 5:24 ESV  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

      • Etc. 

    • Earthly promises: 

      • Matthew 6:33 ESV  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

      • Matthew 7:7 ESV  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

      • Etc. 

  • Like Isaiah, would you be willing to be used by God in encouraging your fellow believers with God’s promises? 

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