The prophet, looking back at the period of suffering from the standpoint of the deliverance, exclaims from the midst of this train of thought: Isaiah 49:14 "Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me." The period of suffering which forces out this lamentation still continues. What follows, therefore, applies to the church of the present, i.e., of the captivity. Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 49:16 "Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb? Even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me." In reply to the complaining church, which knows that her home is in Zion-Jerusalem, and which has been kept so long away from her home, Jehovah sets forth His love, which is as inalienable as a mother's love, yea, far greater than even maternal love. On עוּל, the min in mērachēm is equivalent to ὥστε μή, as in Isaiah 23:1; Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 33:15, etc. גּם, so far as the actual sense is concerned, is equivalent to גּם־כּי (Ewald, 362, b): "granted that such (mothers) should forget, i.e., disown, their love." The picture of Zion (not merely the name, as Isaiah 49:16 clearly shows) is drawn in the inside of Jehovah's hands, just as men are accustomed to burn or puncture ornamental figures and mementoes upon the hand, the arm, and the forehead, and to colour the punctures with alhenna or indigo (see Tafel, xii., in vol. ii. pp. 33-35 of Lane's Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians). There is the figure of Zion, unapproachable to every creature, as close to Him as He is to Himself, and facing Him amidst all the emotions of His divine life. There has He the walls of Zion constantly before Him (on neged, see at Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 24:23); and even if for a time they are broken down here below, with Him they have an eternal ideal existence, which must be realized again and again in an increasingly glorious form.

Isaiah 49:22 Parallel Commentaries

behold

Isaiah 49:12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, see, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

Isaiah 2:2,3 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains...

Isaiah 11:10,11 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek...

Isaiah 42:1-4 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit on him...

Isaiah 60:3-11 And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising...

Isaiah 66:20 And they shall bring all your brothers for an offering to the LORD out of all nations on horses, and in chariots, and in litters...

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.

Psalm 67:4-7 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah...

Psalm 72:8,17 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth...

Psalm 86:9 All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles...

Luke 13:29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

arms. Heb. bosom