Isaiah 60:15

Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Whereas thou hast been forsaken . . .—The figure of the daughter of Zion, who had been as a forsaken and slighted wife (comp. Isaiah 62:4), mingles with the literal picture of a city in ruins, abandoned and unvisited.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 60:15. Whereas thou hast been forsaken — Both of God, as to outward appearance, and man; and hated — Either slighted and neglected, or suffering actual miseries and slaughters; so that no man went through thee — Thy streets were left desolate and thou wast in a manner depopulated. The state of the Christian Church, during the dark and persecuting ages of Popery, is here described, in language borrowed from Jerusalem lying in desolation. I will make thee an eternal excellency — Being reformed from idolatry and other superstitions and abominations, and thy members being enlightened with the truth, and regenerated by the grace of God, and thereby rendered wise and holy, thou shalt be blessed and exalted with continual tokens of the divine favour, and made a lasting and increasing blessing in the world. The Hebrew, לגאון עולם, is literally, for a lifting up, or, an exaltation, continually, or, for ever. A joy of many generations — Hebrew, Of generation and generation. The meaning is, that the church’s prosperity and happiness should be the rejoicing and comfort of many succeeding ages, or the matter of their great and continual rejoicing. Bishop Lowth translates this clause, I will make thee an everlasting boast, a subject of joy for perpetual generations. It cannot be said of the Jewish nation, since this was uttered, that it has in any degree answered these characters. For after their restoration to their own land, they were first in subjection to the Persians, afterward to the Macedonians, the successors of Alexander the Great; whose yoke they had scarcely shaken off, when they fell under the power of the Romans, who treated them with great severity, and at last destroyed them, together with their city of Jerusalem, almost to an entire extirpation. So that we are compelled to look for the accomplishment of this prophecy in the Christian Church, the perpetual excellences of which far exceed those of the Jewish, and in the glorious privileges and blessings of the religion of Christ, which are indeed, and will be, the joy of many generations.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

60:15-22 We must look for the full accomplishment in times and things, exceeding those of the Old Testament church. The nations and their kings shall lay themselves out for the good of the church. Such a salvation, such a redemption, shall be wrought out for thee, as discovers itself to be the work of the Lord. Every thing shall be changed for the better. In thy land shall no more be heard threats of those that do violence, nor complaints of those that suffer violence. Thy walls shall be means of safety, thy gates shall be written upon with praises to God. In the close of this chapter are images and expressions used in the description of the New Jerusalem, Re 21:23; 22:5. Nothing can answer to this but some future glorious state of the church on earth, or the state of the church triumphant in heaven. Those that make God their only light, shall have him their all-sufficient light. And the happiness shall know no change or alloy. No people on earth are all righteous; but there are no mixtures in heaven. They shall be wholly righteous. The spirits of just men shall there be made perfect. The glory of the church shall be to the honour of God. When it shall be finished, it will appear a work of wonder. It may seem too difficult to be brought about, but the God of almighty power has undertaken it. It may seem to be delayed and put off; but the Lord will hasten it in the time appointed by his wisdom, though not in the time prescribed by our folly. Let this hope cheer us under all difficulties, and stir us up to all diligence, that we may have an abundant entrance into this everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whereas thou hast been forsaken - Hebrew, 'Instead of (תחת tachath) thy being forsaken,' that is, thy subsequent prosperity shall come in the place of thy being formerly forsaken. The forsaking here refers to the various calamities, persecutions, and trials, which she had been called to endure.

So that no man went through thee - When the country was desolate and abandoned, so that no caravan passed from one part of it to another, or made it a thoroughfare in going to other lands (compare Lamentations 1:4; see the notes at Isaiah 34:10).

I will make thee an eternal excellency - Lowth, 'An everlasting boast.' Noyes, 'Glory.' I will make you forever honored or exalted, so that you shall no more be desolate and abased.

A joy of many generations - A subject of joy from generation to generation; that is, one age after another.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. forsaken—(Ps 78:60, 61).

no man went through thee—Thy land was so desolate that no traveller, or caravan, passed through thee; true only of Israel, not true of the Church (La 1:4).

excellency—glory, that is, for ever honored.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Forsaken, both of God, i.e. as to outward appearance; and of her inhabitants, being upon the matter depopulated.

Hated; either slighted and neglected, or suffering actual miseries and slaughters: thus was she dealt with, Lamentations 1:2.

No man went through thee; thy streets were left desolate. An eternal excellency: the abstract is put here for the concrete, whereby the Hebrews were wont to express the superlative degree; and in this happy estate we find the church, Zechariah 2. per tot. Zechariah 9:9, &c.; which refers to the coming of Christ; and it is said to be eternal, i.e. for a great while; it being an hyperbolical expression, frequent with the Hebrews, who express a long time by eternity.

A joy of many generations; the church’s happiness should be, the rejoicing and comfort of succeeding generations; she would be the matter of their great rejoicing; a metonymy of the object.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whereas thou hast been forsaken,.... Seemingly forsaken of God; thought to be so by herself, which was matter of complaint; and by her enemies, which to them was matter of joy; the Lord not appearing for her immediate relief, and for her deliverance out of the hands of her persecutors:

and hated: of all men, of wicked and profane sinners, and of carnal professors, and especially of the antichristian party:

so that no man went through thee; very few passengers in Zion's ways; few asked the way to her, or joined themselves in fellowship and worship with her. Jacob was small; the number of converts exceeding few:

I will make thee an eternal excellency; the saints are the excellent in the earth, in the esteem of God and Christ; they, are their jewels and peculiar treasure, having the excellent graces of the Spirit of God in them; and the excellent robe of Christ's righteousness on them; an excellent knowledge of divine and spiritual things; an excellent spirit of love and unity; and an excellent order and discipline maintained among them; as well as excellent truths preached, and ordinances administered to them; all which shall continue, being made clearly to appear to be their case:

the joy of many generations; of age and age (e); or, as the Targum,

"the house of joy of generation and generation;''

that is, the church will be the joy of God and Christ, of the saints, and of the whole world, age after age, for a long period of time: see Isaiah 65:18 there seems to be some respect to Psalm 48:2.

(e) "generationis et generationis", Vatablus, Pagninas, Montanus; "cujusque generationis", Vitringa.

Geneva Study Bible

Whereas thou has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. Instead of thy being forsaken and hated] Cf. ch. Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 49:21, Isaiah 54:6; Isaiah 54:11.

so that no man went through thee] with none passing by (or through).

15, 16. Instead of being shunned and hated by all nations, Zion shall become the joy of the whole earth, her wants being abundantly supplied from the best that the nations can bestow.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 15-18. - The fourth stanza, Zion's prosperity. Verse 15. - Thou hast been forsaken and hated (comp. Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 62:4). Zion has been a wife repudiated for her adulteries, "forsaken" by her husband, and the object of his just "hate." So that no man went through thee. The mixed metaphor is awkward, but readily intelligible. Zion is at once a city and a wife. As a wife, she is "hated and forsaken," as a city, no man goes through her. An eternal excellency (comp. Isaiah 59:21, and see the Homiletics on the passage). Isaiah 60:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The fourth turn (Isaiah 60:15-18) describes the glorification of Zion through the growth and stability of its community both without and within. A glorious change takes place in the church, not only in itself, but also in the judgment of the nations. "Whereas thou wast forsaken, and hated, and no one walked through thee, I make thee now into eternal splendour, a rapture from generation to generation. And thou suckest the milk of nations, and the breast of kings thou wilt suck, and learn that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Of the two ideas of a church (the mother of Israel) and a city (Metropolis) involved in the term Zion, the former prevails in Isaiah 60:15, the latter in Isaiah 60:16. For although עזוּבה and שׂנוּאה are equally applicable to a city and a church (Isaiah 54:6, Isaiah 54:11), the expression "no one walked through thee" applies only to the desolate city as she lay in ruins (see Isaiah 34:10). The fusion of the two ideas in Isaiah 60:15 is similar to Isaiah 49:21. Jerusalem will now become thoroughly a splendour, and in fact an eternal splendour, a rapture of successive generations so long as the history of this world continues. The nations and their kings give up their own vital energy to the church, just as a mother or nurse gives the milk of her breasts to a child; and the church has thereby rich food for a prosperous growth, and a constant supply of fresh material for grateful joy. We cannot for a moment think of enriching by means of conquest, as Hitzig does; the sucking is that of a child, not of a vampyre. We should expect melâkhōth (Isaiah 49:23) instead of melâkhı̄m (kings); but by שׁד (as in Isaiah 56:11 for שׁדי) the natural character of what is promised is intentionally spiritualized. The figure proves itself to be only a figure, and requires an ideal interpretation. The church sees in all this the gracious superintendence of her God; she learns from experience that Jehovah is her Saviour, that He is her Redeemer, He the Mighty One of Jacob, who has conquered for her, and now causes her to triumph (אני כּי with munach yethib, as in Isaiah 49:26, which passage is repeated almost verbatim here, and Isaiah 61:8).