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To Babylon the prophet cried:
"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground:
there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called tender
and delicate . . . . . thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms" (Isa. 47: 1-5).
No.9.
(49: 13 - 52: 12).
The "good tidings" of 52: 7 completes the section
opened by the "good tidings" of 40: 9.
pp. 26 - 31
On either side of that section of Isaiah which deals with `waking' and `hearing' we
have a reference to the fact that Israel had been `sold', thus:
A | Isa. 49: 13; 50: 1. Sing . . . sold
A | Isa. 52: 3-9.
Sold . . . sing
Coming to Isa. 52: 3-12 we find it is associated with that which goes before by the
recurring word `comfort':
A1 |
51: 9, 10. Awake, awake
B1
| 51: 11-16. I, even I, am He that comforteth you.
A2 |
51: 17-19-. Awake, awake
B2
| 51: -19-23. By whom shall I comfort thee?
A3 |
52: 1, 2. Awake, awake
B3
| 52: 3-12. The Lord hath comforteth His people.
In Isa. 50: 1 the Lord asked "which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you?" as
though He had been reduced to selling His children by bankruptcy. This however was
not the case. No `creditor' had paid money at the sale of Israel. "Behold, for your
iniquities ye have sold yourselves." This being the case, redeeming love can now
interpose:
"Ye have sold yourselves for nought: and ye shall be redeemed without money"! (52: 3).
To be sold is to become a captive, a slave, consequently when the Lord said to Israel
"Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion" He referred to
this deliverance "without money".
The prophet follows this reference to deliverance from a bondage into which Israel
had been as it were `sold', by speaking of Egypt and the Assyrian:
"My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian
oppressed them without cause" (Isa. 52: 4).