O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate!I will rebuild you with precious jewels and make your foundations from lapis lazuli.I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones.I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace.
Isaiah 54:11-13
But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you.These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken
!Isaiah 54:17
Oftentimes prophets carried messages of sorrow and destruction, but Isaiah also had many messages of hope.
- My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
Isaiah 53:2
https://www.gotquestions.org/root-out-of-dry-ground.html
- All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
The concept of becoming a scapegoat, carrying away the sins of the people, would have been well understood by the Israelites.
- “Sing, O childless woman,you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the LORD. “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.”
Isaiah 54:1-3
Being childless was considered a disgrace in the ancient Near East, and women had little to no protection if they were childless and widowed.
- Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with lapis lazuli.
I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
All your children will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be their peace.
Isaiah 54:11-13
Šālôm– completeness, safety, soundness (in body), welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, peace and friendship of human relationships with God especially in covenant relationship
limmûḏ–learned, discipled, taught
pûḵ–from an unused root meaning to paint; dye (specifically, stibium for the eyes):—fair colours, glistering, paint(-ed) (-ing). Same word is used (and translated “turquoise” though this translation is not for certain) in 1 Chronicles 29:2 in the building of the temple.
bēn–sons, children
- More hopeful messages: Isaiah 55:1-3, 55:12-13, 56:3-5, 57:15
Keep these hopeful messages close to your heart and written in your soul.
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