We’re going to do things a little differently today by starting with the last section of our study. The reason I want to do this is to show you the time period that this prophecy seems to point to the most. You see the time period clearly at the end. Then we’ll bounce back to the beginning of today’s section.

The remnant had asked God to wake up (vs.9), now God asks Jerusalem to wake up.

Jerusalem is pictured as a person who has drunk too much wine and has staggered, fallen, and now needs to get up. God’s wrath is compared to wine because it confuses those who experience it and makes them fall. (cf. Rev. 14:9-10)

dregs – The last bits of sediment at the bottom of the cup.

The picture is that Jerusalem is drunk (vs. 17) and has no one to guide her in her drunken state. It would be hard to see this as the Jews being under God’s wrath during the Babylonian captivity because they had Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to guide them.

two things – I think there is a sense of Hebrew poetic parallelism here. Desolation pairs with famine for one thing, destruction pairs with the sword for the second thing.

Zechariah records that at the time of the end, the world will be disgusted with Israel and will gathered together to destroy the nation (Zech 12:1-3).

There are no warriors remaining to defend the city. They’re all dead.

bow down – in ancient times, the conquerors would often make their enemies bow down so they could step on their necks.

God is promising to bring judgment on those who tormented the Jews.

A lot of commentaries seem to apply this section (:17-23) to the time when the Jews had been conquered by the Babylonians, and God would bring them back to Jerusalem. But there’s something that doesn’t fit. It’s the "no more" of verse 22. The Jews would be conquered again by the Romans and Jerusalem would once more be destroyed. We can’t even say that this is where the Jews are today because there is still yet one more time of affliction ahead of them.

This promise of never again experiencing God’s fury would seem to apply to the time after Jesus comes back. That means that these verses for a time just around the corner from us.

This is the same group of people addressed at the beginning of the chapter (51:1).

It’s interesting that God speaks like this. This is not a typical description of an Old Testament Jewish person. For the Old Testament person, God’s law was written on stone tablets. But God promised a time when He would write His laws on the hearts of people instead. This is the "New Covenant", the "New Testament":

reproach – cherpah – reproach, scorn; taunt

revilings – gidduwph – revilings, reviling words

Do we face persecution?

garment – one of the ways a person’s wealth was measured in ancient times was by their clothes, the number of garments they owned. And yet this symbol of wealth could easily be ruined by a little moth. We can look at people and consider them as such a significant influence in the world. Yet people will come and go. God can easily remove any person.

God is encouraging them not to be afraid of people. People aren’t permanent.

This is a cry of God’s people for God to help them.

Rahab – a name used symbolically to represent Egypt (Is. 30:7 NIV; Ps.87:4; 89:10)

dragon – tanniyn – dragon, serpent, crocodile. Probably a reference to the Pharaoh –

God’s people are calling out to God to deliver them like He did during the Exodus from Egypt.

A reference to Israel crossing through the Red Sea (Ex. 14)

Therefore – the pilgrims are coming with joy because the Lord would have delivered them from their enemies. I believe this is when the Jews who have been fleeing from the persecution of the antichrist return to Jerusalem to meet King Jesus.

redeemed – padah – to ransom, redeem, rescue, deliver. The concept of "redemption" in the Bible is similar to the idea of purchasing a slave and setting them free.

singing unto Zion – it was customary for pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to be singing songs. Psalms 120-134 are the "Psalms of Ascent", the songs that the Jews would sing as they hiked up the hill to Jerusalem.

gladness – sasown – gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing. The word speaks of human happiness and abounding delight (TWOT).

joy – simchah – joy, mirth, gladness; gaiety, pleasure. It speaks of being glad or joyful with the whole person since it is associated with the heart (Ex. 4:14), the soul (Ps. 86:4), and the lighting up of the eyes (Prov. 15:30) (TWOT). Many things can bring joy such as perfume (Prov. 27:9), a wise son (Prov. 15:20) or a kind word (Prov. 12:25), but the best source of joy is the Lord (Ps. 5:11).

everlasting joy shall be upon their head – a picture of something visible and real, like the anointing oil being poured over their head.

This seems to be God’s response to the prayer of verse 9.

God is on our side, what are we afraid of? (Rom. 8:31-32)

We find comfort (51:12) in remembering our Almighty God.

God is encouraging the people that with Him on their side, they don’t need to be afraid of those who are persecuting them. For the Jews in the Tribulation, this is going to apply to the antichrist. They don’t need to be afraid of their human enemies because they’re only temporary (51:7-8)

(Isa 51:14 NIV) The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

It’s probably talking about the parting of the Red Sea. It speaks of God scaring the sea into parting itself. Could this be an encouragement to surfers? J

LORD of hosts – or, "Lord of Sabaoth" – the "hosts" are the armies of heaven, and God is the head of His armies.

covered – kacah – to cover, conceal, clothe; overwhelm.

plant – nata’ – to plant, fasten, establish; setting up heaven like the setting up of a tent.

In the more literal translations (KJV, NAS) there seems to be a purpose stated here. God has put His words in our mouth and put His hand on us, for the purpose of building heaven and earth, and for the purpose of saying to Zion that they belong to God.