Isaiah 49:13-14 meaning

Isaiah 49:13-14 is a continuation of the second of four Servant Songs in Isaiah. The second Servant Song is the longest of these Servant songs. It began in Isaiah 49:1 and it concludes in Isaiah 49:26. This song is a prophetic ensemble with multiple “singers.”

Isaiah 49:13 is an interlude. Isaiah 49:14 is a short “verse”—the third “verse” or perspective of Isaiah’s second Servant Song.

The speaker or “singer” of the first “verse” of this Servant Song is the LORD’s Servant—the Messiah (Isaiah 49:1-6). He expresses dejection at having toiled in vain to accomplish His goal of redeeming Israel even as He believes the LORD will honor Him (Isaiah 49:4-5), for the LORD has told Him that His salvation will extend to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

The “singer” of the second verse of this Servant Song is the LORD (Isaiah 49:7-12). In the second verse, the LORD reassures His wrongly despised and abhorred Servant that He will make His name so great that kings will bow before Him (Isaiah 49:7) and that He will reclaim Israel from exile and lead them along roads back to the land of their inheritance (Isaiah 49:8-11). Moreover, Gentiles will also come from afar to live in the Messiah’s kingdom (Isaiah 49:12).

Isaiah 49:13 is an interlude of praise to the LORD in response to the incredible thing He will do. This interjection is not assigned to any particular “singer” or individual or group. Rather it appears to be a general exhortation of praise by Isaiah, the writer and narrator—or perhaps the Servant Himself—that is to be shared by the readers of this prophetic “song.”

Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people (v 13).

The appropriate response to this incredible news of how the LORD will bring salvation to Israel and to the ends of the earth is to shout for joy.

O heavens, which means the angelic chorus. The heavens are exhorted to shout for joy at what the LORD will do.

O earth, which could mean the physical earth or all the peoples of the earth—or both are to rejoice for the salvation that the LORD has brought His people.

O mountains, refers to the land itself. The mountains are exhorted to break forth into joyful shouting. All of creation (heavens, humanity, and nature) are to praise the LORD.

The reason why they are to rejoice is because the LORD has comforted His people and He will have compassion on His afflicted.

The term: His people could refer to Israel, or it could refer to all who come to the LORD (Jew and Gentile). The term, His afflicted, refers to all of His people who suffer unjustly, as the LORD’s Servant will suffer unjustly.

Interestingly, the final two lines of verse 13 are prophesied in different tenses.

The first of the final two lines is prophesied in a past tense: the LORD has comforted His people. The second line is prophesied in a future tense: And He will have compassion on His afflicted. Even though both of these prophecies will be fulfilled in the future, the two tenses could speak to a gap between fulfillments.

The fulfillments could look like this: The LORD comforted His people when He sent them the Messiah, His Servant—the man Jesus of Nazareth. But Israel rejected Him and crucified Him. (This occurred around 30 A.D.). However, the LORD will continue to have compassion on those who are afflicted. He will have compassion on those who share in the Messiah’s sufferings by enduring their own trials as Jesus did—by faith. This fulfillment is ongoing.

Paul exhorts the believers in Rome to suffer with the Messiah “so that we may be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17b). This compassion will ultimately be fulfilled at Christ’s judgment of believers at the end of the age. Paul considers the sufferings of this world (however unpleasant they may be) unworthy of comparison to the blessings that will be rewarded to the faithful (Romans 8:18).

After this interjection of praise for what the LORD will do for His people, the people of Israel sing a third and comparatively short “verse” of this Servant Song.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
And the Lord has forgotten me” (v 14).

Isaiah 49:14 is the third “verse” of Isaiah’s second Servant Song. It is “sung” by Zion.

As verse 13 was an interjection of praise for the LORD’s faithfulness, verse 14 is Zion’s interjection of doubt, lamenting how the LORD has forsaken and forgotten her.

Zion—the people of Israel—feels that the LORD has forsaken them. This is despite the LORD promising His Servant, the Messiah, that He will deliver and redeem Israel (Isaiah 49:8-11); and despite the call for everyone and everything to rejoice and shout for joy for the LORD’s deliverance.

The Hebrew root word that is translated as forsake in Isaiah 49:14 is a form of עָזַב (H5800—pronounced “aw-zab'”). It means “to leave behind,” “abandon,” “reject,” “fail,” or “desert.” Forsaken (“awzab”) is an emphatic and stark word.

The LORD did not and never will forsake Zion or His people. However, it appears that Israel will go through seasons where it will feel rejected.

The LORD promised the people of Israel through His servant Moses that He “will not fail you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6), using the same root word, “awzab,” for “forsake.” We know God has not forsaken Israel because the LORD does not break His promises (Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, Joshua 21:45, Isaiah 40:8, Hebrews 6:18).

Nevertheless, Zion feels as if the LORD has forsaken them, like the Servant felt that He had toiled in vain and spent His strength for nothing (Isaiah 49:4a).

But feelings and emotions, however powerful they may be, are unreliable indicators of reality. Our feelings do not determine reality. God determines what is real. Whenever we feel strong emotions rather than obeying our feelings blindly, we can use the following tool to help us make the best choice within our situation.

This tool is the acronym: “L.I.D.D..” L.I.D.D. stands for:
“Listen”—“Investigate”—“Decide”—“Dismiss.”

Listen
The first thing we should do whenever we feel big emotions is to Listen to what they are saying to us. Feelings and Emotions are responders to reality. And they are being caused by something. Listening entails acknowledging what we are feeling, rather than ignoring or pretending that we aren’t feeling anything. Ignoring our feelings is unhealthy, and will likely lead to becoming numb to all things (good and bad) and/or emotional outbursts or sudden eruptions as the pressure becomes too great for us to bottle them up.

Investigate
The second thing we should do is to Investigate the potential causes of what we are feeling and their likely outcomes. (We can’t do this if we don’t listen/acknowledge what we are feeling in the first place). Investigate considers what happened for or/against our own expectations that caused our emotions to respond the way they did. Sometimes the emotion is an appropriate response. Sometimes what we are feeling is really a “false alarm.” Investigate is a check of what we are feeling against reality. Reality includes not only what happened, our expectations, but also God’s Word which determines what is good and true versus what is bad and false. Prayer and reading God’s Word should be a significant part of Investigate.

Decide
After listening to our big emotions and investigating their causes and likely outcomes alongside the reality of God’s word, it is time to Decide what we will do. Decide means to make a choice. Sometimes this choice is in alignment with our emotions. Sometimes our choice is not in alignment with our emotions. But our choice should always be in alignment with what God’s Word says is best because God has the final say on reality.

Dismiss
The final step before acting out our decision (or just after we act) is to Dismiss our emotions. This means that we “thank” them for bringing whatever it was to our attention and let them know that we can take it from here. Their job is complete, and they are no longer needed. The step of Dismiss allows our feelings to reset the alarms and realign to reality. And it helps our minds to focus on what it is that we must do.

When the Servant told the LORD that He felt that He spent His life in vain, He was listening to His emotions, investigating the causes and outcomes against reality, and He decided to live according to what God says is best:

“Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My reward with My God.”
(Isaiah 49:4b)

Zion, it seems, has not done all of this with their emotions. Zion has only listened to their emotions and is offering their complaints to the LORD that He has forsaken them.

Zion also claims that the Lord has forgotten me.

The Lord has not forgotten Zion. God has just explained to His Servant the incredible plans that He has for Zion. The LORD has just promised to:

• Retore the land, and make them inherit the desolate heritages
  (Isaiah 49:8)

• Liberate the captives
  (Isaiah 49:9a)

• Provide for them
  (Isaiah 49:9b-10)

• Make a way for them to return home
  (Isaiah 49:11)

Perhaps Zion is jealous as it is not currently experiencing the joys of those promises while recalling that the LORD will bring Gentiles from afar into His blessings (Isaiah 49:12).

In the next section, the LORD will respond to Zion’s accusation and reassure them that He has not forsaken them or forgotten His promises to them.

But before we continue, it is worth pointing out that Zion uses both God’s covenant name “Yahweh” translated as LORD (capital letters) and God’s title of sovereignty: “Adonai” translated as Lord.

Zion’s first accusation seems to be accusing the LORD of breaking His covenant with Zion to never forsake them (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Zion’s second accusation seems to be accusing the Lord of failing to be sovereign and in control as He has neglected to remember His own people.

In the next section these concerns will be addressed. God will assure Israel He has not forgotten her and will certainly bring her blessing.