Isaiah 5.9 52

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Isaiah 51:9–16 ESV

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, 13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. 15 I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

Verses 9–10: Call for God to awake and remember his past victories—defeating Rahab and drying up the sea for the redeemed (Isa 51:1–23)

Rahab functions as a poetic name for Egypt1. The term draws on ancient Near Eastern mythology, where Rahab appears as a chaos monster defeated by God, but the biblical writers repurposed this image to represent Egypt’s power and opposition to God’s purposes.

The connection makes sense historically: Egypt’s oppressive role toward Israel before the Exodus and the sea’s central role in that deliverance (Exodus 14–15) made the defeated sea dragon an apt metaphor for Egyptian power2. When Isaiah invokes the memory of God cutting Rahab “in pieces,” he’s drawing a parallel between God’s mythological victory over chaos and His historical triumph over Egypt at the Red Sea.

Verse 11: The ransomed of the LORD will return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy (Isa 51:1–23)

Verses 12–16: God assures his people of his protection and presence

Isaiah 51:17–23 ESV

17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. 19 These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you? 20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. 21 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; 23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.”

Remember our framework, the “awake, awake.” In 9-16, it was a plea for the Lord God to wake up, now it is not directed at God, but at Jerusalem. The problem is not with him; he is ready to deliver them at the earliest moment when they are willing to exercise faith in him.

Verses 17–20: Call for Jerusalem to awake from her stupor caused by drinking God’s cup of wrath2

Matthew 26:39 “39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

The cup of wrath satisfied the conditions of God, and now they can be renewed and brought into the righteousness they were called to and made for.

Verses 21–23: Once Jerusalem has experienced God’s full judgment, he will remove the cup of wrath and give it to her tormentors, particularly Babylon. Isa 52:1-12

Isaiah 52:1–12 ESV

1 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.” 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. 9 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. 12 For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

This section continues the framework we’ve been discussing: awake awake! What does it mean or what is it referring to when it walks about putting on Zion’s strength?

Central Principle: While she has no strength to deliver herself, she does have strength to lay hold of God’s promises and must exercise that strength if deliverance is to be realized. This is a principle of divine-human relations that is the same in all circumstances.

And the conditions of God’s holiness have already been met, that’s the cup of wrath being poured out. Lay ahold of that holiness, “put on your beautiful garments!”

The uncircumcised are not only among the foreigners; they are also among the circumcised Israelites, because uncleanness is finally a matter of the spirit, not of the flesh. Here again it is evident that Israel’s problem, the problem from which the arm of the Lord will deliver them, is much more than Babylonian captivity. If they are to be the people of God, living in the holy city, something must happen to cure them of their rebellion and their uncleanness (Rev. 21:27).

We get this digression about the nature of their ransom. Here’s the picture being painted. They were not sold by God to some creditors, it is NOT that God owes some debt to some other god in order to redeem or rescue his people. NO, he gave them over on his own volition to serve as a consequence to the disobedience, and now he can redeem them by his own power and strength. God does not owe a debt, BUT Israel owes a debt to God, that is the barrier.

There is no barrier to our relationship with God in the world; the only barrier is in the offended justice of God. If a way can be found to break that barrier down, nothing can keep his salvation from flowing to us. The only thing that remains is for us to rise from the dust and receive it. This had been Isaiah’s challenge to the exiles concerning physical and material restoration (e.g., 46:8–13), and here it is extended to spiritual restoration as well.

And then we get this beautiful statement in v. 7: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feed of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation. This is quoted in Romans 10:15 “15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

But the image is that of the coming of Salvation and the watchmen being able to give this good report, such that the people would rejoice, be glad, and have faith.

This whole section ends with Isaiah 52:11–12 “11 Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. 12 For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

They need not make haste, for in salvation, there is no opposing power that can keep God’s people in bondage. There is no opposing force that can work effectively against the salvation of the Lord.

Let’s move on to the end of the chapter—Isa. 52:13-15

Isaiah 52:13–15 ESV

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

The servant reappears, this time to act in a way that would cause him to be lifted high. This must then be about the messiah, NOT Israel, NOT Isaiah, not someone who would be so highly exalted, this is the anointed one of the Lord.

And people will be shocked by him. The nations will astonished, astonished at his appearance, but also astonished that this one would be exalted. You see: I read it in two ways: they will be surprised by the lowly nature of this servant, of his suffering, of his disfigurement at the hands of those who reject him, and startled that even though he is disfigured, dishonored, shamed, he is exalted, high and lifted up.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 a. Astonishment and Rejection (52:13–53:3)

the point is that instead of the Servant demonstrating that he was the gift of God through his obvious attractiveness, the very opposite was true. We are repelled by the face of self-giving and undefensiveness, and appalled by the visage of one who would prefer to lose than to win for the wrong reasons. Whatever attractiveness he might have for people will have to be from within, for it is certainly not on the surface.