Isaiah 62:9

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) In the courts of my holiness.—Better, of my sanctuary. The harvest and the vintage festivals are to be kept, as of old, without interruption, the master of the house, with his family and the Levites and the poor (Deuteronomy 14:22-27), eating of the first- fruits “before the Lord.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

62:6-9 God's professing people must be a praying people. He is not displeased with us for being earnest, as men commonly are; he bids us to cry after him, and give him no rest, Lu 11:5,6. It is a sign that God is coming to a people in mercy, when he pours out a spirit of prayer upon them. See how uncertain our creature-comforts are. See also God's mercy in giving plenty, and peace to enjoy it. Let us delight in attending the courts of the Lord, that we may enjoy the consolations of his Spirit.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But they that have gathered it shall eat it - There shall be a state of security, so that every man may enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing is a more certain indication of liberty and prosperity than this - that every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing more certainly marks the advance of civilization, and nothing so much tends to encourage industry and to promote prosperity. When a man has no security that what he sows shall be reaped by himself; when there is danger that it will be destroyed or consumed by foreign invaders; or, when it is liable to be taken by arbitrary power to minister to the needs and luxuries of the great, there will be no industry, no incitement to labor. Such is the condition always in war. Such is the condition now in the Turkish dominions; and such is the state in savage life, and in all uncivilized communities. And as the tendency of true religion is to repress wars, to establish order, and to diffuse just views of the rights of man, it everywhere promotes prosperity by furnishing security that a man shall enjoy the avails of his own productive industry. Wherever the Christian religion prevails in its purity, there is seen the fulfillment of this prophecy; and the extension of that religion everywhere would promote universal industry, order, and law.

And praise the Lord - They shall not consume it on their lusts, nor shall they partake of it without gratitude. God shall be acknowledged as the bountiful giver, and they shall render him appropriate thanksgiving.

And they that have brought it together - They who have gathered in the vintage.

Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness - It would be drank with gratitude to God in the feasts which were celebrated at the temple (see Leviticus 6:16; Deuteronomy 12:17-18; Deuteronomy 14:23). The idea is, that the effect of true religion would be to produce security and liberty, and to make people feel that all their blessings came from God; to partake of them with gratitude, and to make them the occasion of praise and thanksgiving.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. eat … and praise—not consume it on their own lusts, and without thanksgiving.

drink it in … courts—They who have gathered the vintage shall drink it at the feasts held in the courts surrounding the temple (De 12:17, 18; 14:23, &c.).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They that have gathered it, i.e. the wine mentioned in the former verse, that have brought it from their several vineyards, and laid it in their cellars, every one shall eat the fruit of his own labours; thou shalt not sow, and another reap, as formerly.

And praise the Lord; they themselves shall praise him, viz. for his bounty and goodness; and others also that shall be partakers with them; God will be bountiful, and they shall be thankful. In the courts of my holiness; as I have commanded, Deu 14:23;

in my courts; holiness being put for God himself by a metonymy of the adjunct; alluding to those anniversary feasts and thank-offerings that were to be eaten in those places about the temple, and perhaps in special to that part which was appropriated to the priests, implying herein that they should be all priests; and, for aught I know, here may be an allusion to the great gospel feast, or thank-offering in the Lord’s supper, these promises being not only applicable to, but do point at, the soul protections and the soul provisions of the church of Christ.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord,.... That is, the corn; they who have manured the land, sowed seed in it, reaped it when ripe, gathered it in its season; these shall eat the fruit of their labours, and praise the Lord for it, acknowledge his bounty and goodness to them; for notwithstanding all the diligence, industry, and labour of men, it is through the blessing of the Lord, and owing to his favour, that they have bread, and a sufficiency of it, to eat; which when they have, they should be thankful for it, Deuteronomy 8:10.

and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness: that is, the wine they shall drink; having planted vineyards, and gathered the grapes when ripe, and brought them to the winepress, and there made wine of them; they shall drink it at a proper time and place: the allusion is to the priests and Levites eating and drinking holy things, within the compass and bounds of the temple; and may signify the converted Jews, partaking of the Gospel and Gospel ordinances in the house of God, as well as the Gentiles, being all now made priests unto God. The Arabic version interprets it of persons "gathered", that should eat and drink. The Targum is express, they that gather the corn in, and they that press the wine.

Geneva Study Bible

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Cf. ch. Isaiah 65:21-22.

in the courts of my holiness] Render, in my holy courts; not as R.V., “in the courts of my sanctuary.” The allusion is to the festivals in the Temple, where the first-fruits were eaten with rejoicing before Jehovah (Deuteronomy 12:17 f., Isaiah 14:23 ff., Isaiah 16:9-14).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. This is not to be understood literally, at any rate, of the whole produce of the laud. What is meant is, that the produce will be consecrated by such festal means as the Law enjoined (Deuteronomy 14:22-27), and that then the remainder will be consumed with due thanks and acknowledgments. Isaiah 62:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The following strophe expresses one side of the divine promise, on which the hope of that lofty and universally acknowledged glory of Jerusalem, for whose completion the watchers upon its walls so ceaselessly exert themselves, is founded. "Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand, and by His powerful arm, Surely I no more give thy corn for food to thine enemies; and foreigners will to drink thy must, for which thou hast laboured hard. No, they that gather it in shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that store it, shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary." The church will no more succumb to the tyranny of a worldly power. Peace undisturbed, and unrestricted freedom, reign there. With praise to Jehovah are the fruits of the land enjoyed by those who raised and reaped them. יגעתּ (with an auxiliary pathach, as in Isaiah 47:12, Isaiah 47:15) is applied to the cultivation of the soil, and includes the service of the heathen who are incorporated in Israel (Isaiah 61:5); whilst אסּף (whence מאספיו with ס raphatum) or אסף (poel, whence the reading מאספיו, cf., Psalm 101:5, meloshnı̄; Psalm 109:10, ve-dorshū, for which in some codd. and editions we find מאספיו, an intermediate form between piel and poel; see at Psalm 62:4) and קבּץ stand in the same relation to one another as condere (horreo) and colligere (cf., Isaiah 11:12). The expression bechatsrōth qodshı̄, in the courts of my sanctuary, cannot imply that the produce of the harvest will never be consumed anywhere else than there (which is inconceivable), but only that their enjoyment of the harvest-produce will be consecrated by festal meals of worship, with an allusion to the legal regulation that two-tenths (ma‛ăsēr shēnı̄) should be eaten in a holy place (liphnē Jehovah) by the original possessor and his family, with the addition of the Levites and the poor (Deuteronomy 14:22-27 : see Saalschtz, Mosaisches Recht, cap. 42). Such thoughts, as that all Israel will then be a priestly nation, or that all Jerusalem will be holy, are not implied in this promise. All that it affirms is, that the enjoyment of the harvest-blessing will continue henceforth undisturbed, and be accompanied with the grateful worship of the giver, and therefore, because sanctified by thanksgiving, will become an act of worship in itself. This is what Jehovah has sworn "by His right hand," which He only lifts up with truth, and "by His powerful arm," which carries out what it promises without the possibility of resistance. The Talmud (b. Nazir 3b) understand by עזו זרוע the left arm, after Daniel 12:7; but the ו of ובזרוע is epexegetical.