I read a few translations and some commentary. No revelation light bulb type moment for me.
Isaiah 54:1 (KJV) Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
I read a few translations and some commentary. No revelation light bulb type moment for me.
No doubt. The commentaries do not look at it literally. A woman in prophecy-speak is always a religion or nation/group. So this passage is speaking to a particular people... thereafter, it is only a process of elimination:
Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
She is desolate - she has no children at this time... She has not produced. She is not the married wife, as she is compared to the married wife. The married wife is the House of Judah, whom she cannot be.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
She cannot be the gentiles, as her seed will inherit the gentiles, and will participate in the restoration of the desolate cities.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
She was shamed in her youth by her own doing, and widowed (cut off). Here comes the kicker:
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
She was a wife, but was refused early on. There is only ONE people who this could be, as YHWH has only divorced one wife, and she was never shown mercy - The House of Israel. His other wife, the House of Judah, was not ever divorced, and was shown mercy over and over.
Knowing that the House of Judah and the House of Israel are treated as two entities changes the entire view of the OT. and most especially the prophecy... and has a great impact upon the NT as well.
Why is it important? Because YHWH divorced her, and in her divorcement, she slept with other gods. By His own law, He cannot take her back once she has slept with another... Why is she told to sing for joy at the death of Christ? The marriage vow is only until death... And this prophetic declaration enjoins her again as the wife of her Maker, YHWH, Lord of Hosts.
I will leave off and let you figger it out from there, But to discount the ten tribes of the House of Israel is an huge oversight in Christianity.
(*note* all quotes e-Sword:KJV)