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(3)
'The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken' (54:6).
(4)
'For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great
mercies will I gather thee' (54:7).
(5)
'Thou hast been forsaken ... I will make thee ... a joy' (60:15).
(6)
'Thou shalt no more be termed "Forsaken"' (62:4).
(7)
'Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken' (62:12).
The former prophecy is divided into three great groups, the first group
ending with 10:33 to 12:6, the second with chapters 24 to 28, and the third
with chapter 35. These three closing portions of the three groups contain a
special prophetic message, which finds an echo in the latter part of the
prophecy. Taking the earlier chapters first, we have the following:
(1)
'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid ... the lion shall eat straw like the ox
... they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain'
(Isa. 11:6 -9).
(2)
'The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces' (25:8).
(3)
'Everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away' (Isa. 35:10).
These early promises are found, in inverse order, in the latter portion
of the prophecy:
(3)
'Everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain
gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away' (Isa.
51:11).
(2)
'The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the
voice of crying' (65:19).
(1)
'The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall
eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord'
(65:25).
The forsaking of Israel was consequent upon Israel's own forsaking of
their covenant with God; their restoration will be based upon a New Covenant
of grace. The word 'covenant' occurs twelve times in Isaiah, and its
distribution is in complete harmony with the trend of the prophecy.
The first and last occurrences are in chapter 24 and chapter 61:
'They have ... broken the everlasting covenant' (Isa. 24:5).
'I will make an everlasting covenant with them' (Isa. 61:8).
The full list of occurrences is as follows: