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The Promise of Redemption
v. 1. Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion, arousing herself from her dejection and assuming the proper confidence in view of the happy message which is now proclaimed; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the Holy City, in view of her coming elevation and glorification, for the restoration of Jerusalem was a type of the renewal of the Church of God in the Messianic era; for henceforth, after the consecration by the redemption of the Messiah, there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean, any one not in communion with the God of the covenant. In the Zion of the New Testament the Lord Himself reigns in an uninterrupted rule of mercy, the outward membership of hypocrites not being regarded as a true membership.
v. 2. Shake thyself from the dust, where she had occupied the seat of mourners, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem, on the throne which was properly her place; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion, who is here still regarded as an exile nation, but with the fetters of her captivity broken.
v. 3. For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for naught, He Himself having given them into the power of their enemies, but without receiving anything in return; and ye shall be redeemed without money, since the Lord would not offer the enemy tyrants any money to release His people. The Lord intended to use His almighty power in bringing deliverance to His people, in overthrowing the hosts of the enemy.
v. 4. For thus saith the Lord God, the all-powerful Jehovah, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, to enjoy the privilege of guests, not to be placed into bondage, this feature being added by the Egyptians against Jehovah's will; and, at a later date, the Assyrian oppressed them without cause, without justification, in inexcusable tyranny.
v. 5. Now, therefore, what have I here, in the case of the Babylonian exile, saith the Lord, that My people is taken away for naught? He received no return for his act in permitting the Chaldeans to take Israel captive. They that rule over them make them to howl, their oppressors making boisterous noises, saith the Lord, and My name continually, every day, is blasphemed, since the enemies would not acknowledge His hand as He shaped events in their favor, but blasphemously ascribed their success to themselves and to their idols.
v. 6. Therefore My people shall know My name, in view of such behavior on the part of the oppressors; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak, powerful for the deliverance of His people and for the overthrow of all enemies; behold, it is I, the Lord is known for fulfilling-His promises. It is the same Lord upon whose power and mercy we depend in all vicissitudes of life, knowing that He is the one true God.