Isaiah 49:7-12 meaning

Isaiah 49:7-12 is a continuation of the second of four Servant Songs in Isaiah. The second Servant Song is the longest. It began in Isaiah 49:1 and it concludes in Isaiah 49:26.

This section is the second part, or “verse,” of this Servant Song.

This song is a prophetic ensemble with multiple “singers.”

The first part is Isaiah 49:1-6. The speaker or “singer” is the LORD’s Servant—the Messiah.

In the first “verse” of the second Servant Song, the Servant of the LORD calls upon the Gentiles to pay attention (Isaiah 49:1) as He recounts how the LORD has a “hidden” plan to send Israel’s Messiah to bring them salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:2, 6).

Also in the first section, the Servant revealed that He was disheartened and felt that He had spent His life in vain (Isaiah 49:4). This was prophetic of how Israel would reject the Messiah. This may have been similar to the prayers Jesus shared with His Father in the garden of Gethsemane or on the cross as Israel rejected Him as their Messiah.

But the Servant reveals how the LORD consoled Him, telling Him that the Messiah would not only redeem Israel, but that the LORD’s salvation shall “reach the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

In verse 7, the speaker/“singer” changes from the Servant of the LORD (the Messiah) to the LORD Himself.

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One (v 7a).

This line explicitly notifies the reader that the speaker/“singer” has changed to the LORD.

The LORD is identified as both the Redeemer of Israel and the Holy One of Israel. The LORD will redeem, restore, and reclaim Israel’s lost value. And the LORD is the Holy One, perfect, without blemish or sin, and set apart from the nation of Israel.

Israel was called to be holy and set apart only unto the LORD, but the people of Israel habitually disobeyed God, worshipped other gods, and fell into sin. But the LORD would be Israel’s Redeemer.

The LORD is speaking to His Servant, the Messiah. His Servant is addressed and identified in this verse with three descriptions:

To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers (v 7b).

The first description of the Messiah is the despised One.

This description predicted how the Messiah would be hated. To be despised means to be intensely hated and disliked. People want to harm those they despise. The Messiah would be despised by the people of Israel—the people He came to save and lead. This explains why the Servant previously said, “I have toiled in vain” (Isaiah 49:4).

This adverse response to the Messiah is pictured in Genesis by the rejection of Joseph by his brothers.

The second description of the Messiah is the One abhorred by the nation.

This description is similar to the first one, but it is more explicit. It prophesied that the Messiah would be abhorred by the nation. To be abhorred means to become an object of horror. The nation is Israel—the very people whom the Messiah came to save and lead. This explains why the Servant previously said, “I have toiled in vain” (Isaiah 49:4).

Jesus the Messiah would be despised and abhorred by the nation of Israel: “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). They rejected Him and called for Pilate to crucify Him (Matthew 27:22-25). On the cross, Jesus became a bloody object of horror and loathing for all of Israel to behold (Matthew 27:37-44).

These first two descriptions indicate that what follows is prophetic of what the LORD says to the Messiah during His loathsome state of rejection. What follows is prophetic of what God the Father said to Jesus, His Son, during His suffering in Gethsemane until His death.

The third description of the Messiah is the Servant of rulers.

The Messiah is more commonly referred to as “the LORD’s Servant” (Isaiah 42:1, 49:3, 5, 52:13, 53:11). But here, the Messiah is referred to as the Servant of rulers. This is predictive of how the Messiah did not initially come to topple kingdoms or instigate a military takeover; he came to save everyone, including the people who ruled those kingdoms (John 3:18).

The Messiah will come as a righteous conqueror when He comes the second time (Revelation 19:11-21). But the first time the Messiah came, He came to serve all men, including rulers (Jew and Gentile alike).

This is seen in how Jesus, the Messiah, said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus served all humankind by sacrificing Himself on the cross to redeem people from their sins. Jesus came to save the world, not condemn them (John 3:17-18). This included the rulers who conspired to condemn and crucify Him. The Servant was “kind to ungrateful and evil men” (Luke 6:35b).

Thus, Jesus was the Servant of rulers as the LORD prophetically says He would be.

And this is what the LORD says to His Servant as the Messiah is despised and abhorred by Israel:

“Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You” (v 7c).

With these words, the LORD encourages His Servant during the depths of His despair.

Though His Servant is despised and abhorred by His own nation for a time, the Servant will eventually be exalted by the LORD for His obedience. The Messiah will not exalt Himself. The LORD will exalt Him. This is what is meant by the final expression of verse 7: Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.

The LORD is faithful to His obedient Servant. The LORD will not allow His loyal Servant to be despised forever. The Servant has been chosen to go to Israel and obey the LORD, and the Servant will be chosen to be lifted up above every king and prince on the earth.

It is interesting to point out that the LORD’s promise of being chosen for exaltation is spoken in the past tense. This could be a use of the prophetic past, which speaks to the assurance of a future event as though it has already happened. The past tense could also be spoken as a reminder of the LORD’s promise to exalt His Servant long before the Servant came and was rejected.

After this happens, the Servant will be honored for His service to the world.

The Servant will become the most honored person who ever lived (Philippians 2:9-11). Kings, who normally have people stand in their honor, will see what He has done and will arise in the Servant’s honor. Princes, who normally have people bow down in reverence to them, will also bow down before Him.

This is similar to what Isaiah more elaborately predicted of the Messiah, at the end of the fourth Servant Song,

“As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.”
(Isaiah 53:11-12)

The LORD’s consolation to His Servant of how kings will one day see and arise in recognition of the Servant and princes bow down is a foreshadowing of what Paul says will happen to Jesus when every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).

After the LORD gave the Servant a word of encouragement in His state of being despised and abhorred, the LORD continued to offer additional encouragements to Him:

Thus says the LORD,
“In a favorable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You (v 8a).

In the first two lines of verse 8, the LORD speaks to the Servant using prophetic past tense.

…I have answered You…. I have helped You. Even though these are future events, the prophetic past tense speaks as though they have already taken place. The effect is that these events are so certain they are as good as done.

A favorable time is in reference to the LORD’s time, when the LORD favors the Messiah. It could be in reference to the favorable time when the LORD exalts the Servant and the kings and princes bow down before Him. Or a favorable time could be in reference to some other time when I (the LORD) will have personally answered You (the Servant).

And in a day of salvation is in reference to when I the LORD will have personally helped and rescued You (the Servant).

There are multiple fulfillments of this prophetic promise.

In the life of Jesus the Messiah who is the LORD’s Servant, a favorable time appears to be that time when the LORD sets Jesus and His name above every name in heaven and on earth (Philippians 2:9-11). This favorable time could also be in reference to when the LORD answered Jesus’s prayer on the cross, “Father into Your hands, I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

The line—in a day of salvation I have helped You—could also refer to when the LORD answered Jesus’s prayer on the cross (Luke 23:46) or it could refer to when the LORD raised Jesus from the dead.

Both of these lines are meant to reassure the Servant, that His prayers will be answered favorably in the LORD’s good time.

The Apostle Paul quotes these lines from Isaiah 49:8 in 2 Corinthians 6:2 as he implores the believers of Corinth to recognize that they are living in an age where these promises have been fulfilled:

“for He says,

‘At the acceptable time I listened to you,
And on the day of salvation I helped you.’

Behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’”
(2 Corinthians 6:2)

Namely he is exhorting them to live appropriately in light of the favorable time of the LORD and that today is the day of salvation. Paul goes on to say:

“in everything [they do, believers should be] commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions in hardships, in distress, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine, love, in the word of truth, in power of God.”
(2 Corinthians 8:4-6)

In other words, Paul exhorts believers to dedicate themselves to being “servants of God” (2 Corinthians 8:4a) just as Jesus the Messiah dedicated Himself to being the Servant of the LORD)

Back to Isaiah: the LORD continues to speak His promises to His unjustly despised and abhorred Servant.

And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people,
To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages (v 8b).

In these lines, the LORD personally promises four things for the Servant.

1.  I will keep You.
In this context, to keep means to not allow the Servant to be obliviated and forgotten.

Indeed, the LORD does keep Jesus the Messiah from oblivion. This is most powerfully seen though His resurrection, as the LORD does not keep Jesus in the grave for long (Psalm 16:10).

2.  And I will give You for a covenant of the people.
The LORD will use the service of the Servant to make a new and better covenant of the people. Previously, the LORD had made a covenant with the people through Moses. That covenant or treaty was called the Mosaic Law (Exodus 19:8). But with this new covenant, the LORD’s Servant Himself will be the basis of this covenant. The Messiah will be given as a covenant for the people of Israel.

It could be that the Messiah serves as the covenant by virtue of coming to dwell in the hearts of those who believe. Jeremiah prophesied that God would create a new covenant written on people’s hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:33). Jesus inaugurated a new covenant with His blood and sealed it with the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within each believer (Luke 22:20, 2 Corinthians 1:22).

This promise seems to particularly address that the Servant’s life and His efforts have not been spent in vain, as the Servant lamented earlier in Isaiah 49:4. The LORD will use the Servant’s “toil” to ultimately redeem Israel.

The fulfillment of this promise is partial. More fulfillment is to come. The part that is complete is that Jesus has established a new and better covenant on the basis of Himself.

• Jesus fulfilled and perfectly kept the Law.
  (Matthew 5:17)

• Jesus is the eternal and perpetual high priest
  (Hebrews 7:15-17).

• Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to end all blood sacrifices
  (Hebrews 10:11-14).

The part of this prophecy that is still yet to be fulfilled as of this writing (2024 AD), is that all Israel is yet to recognize and rightfully receive Jesus as their Messiah and enter into His salvation:

“A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written.”
(Romans 11:25b-26)

See The Bible Says commentaries for Romans 10 and 11 for a more thorough explanation of Israel’s general rejection of Jesus as their Messiah and how God is using their hardness of heart to redeem Gentiles, and how He will fulfill the promise to redeem Israel.

3.  To restore the land
This promise likely refers to the land that was promised to Abraham for him and the nation that would descend from him (Genesis 13:14-18). When the LORD said He would restore the land He was reaffirming that He would make good on His promise to Abraham, from whom the Servant descended, on the favorable time and/or the day of salvation.

This promise also could be in reference to the people of Israel’s return to and reoccupation of the land from exile. The return from the Babylonian exile began in 538 A.D. after Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah discuss some of the key events of Israel’s return. More recently, the people of Israel returned to their promised land, following the Holocaust of the Second World War, when Israel was recognized as a modern nation in 1948 A.D.

4.  to make them inherit the desolate heritages.
This promise seems to accompany the idea of Israel’s return to the land from exile as the LORD will make the people inherit homes and heritages that were left desolate when they left.

In another sense, however, this promise fits how the LORD will restore His people from the destruction of sin. As people are delivered from sin, they are able to receive their inheritance that was abandoned and left desolate while they were not following Him.

This speaks to what Paul sometimes refers to as the Prize of Eternal Life, which is available to all who have believed in Jesus and received the Gift of Eternal Life. The Gift of Eternal Life is freely given on the basis of faith in Jesus (John 3:16, Romans 3:28). The Inheritance/Prize of Eternal Life is granted on the basis of living by faith as Jesus lived by faith (Matthew 7:13-14, 7:21, Luke 9:23-26, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10).

To learn more about the Inheritance/Prize of Eternal Life, see The Bible Says article: “Eternal Life: Receiving the Gift vs Inheriting the Prize.”

This inheritance of eternal life is what the so-called “rich young ruler” was asking Jesus about when he asked: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17).

The LORD continues speaking promises to His Servant about what He will accomplish for the Messiah’s people:

Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
Along the roads they will feed,
And their pasture will be on all bare heights (v 9).

Here the LORD promises the Messiah that He will release the people of Israel (the Servant’s people) from their imprisonment and captivity.

The LORD Himself will announce their liberty. He will be the One saying to those of His people who are bound, ‘Go forth—you are free” and to those of His people who are fugitives hiding in darkness, ‘Show yourselves—for you no longer have any reason to remain in hiding.’

After His resurrection from the dead, the LORD Jesus personally proclaimed similar things to His disciples—“Peace be with you” (John 20:19)—while they were still hiding in fear of those who had crucified Him. In Galatians 5:13, Paul pronounces that “…you were called to freedom, brethren.” In Christ, the Messiah, each believer can choose freedom from the power of sin through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

The LORD’s promise in Isaiah: Along the roads they will feed, likely refers to how He will sustain the people as they make the journey back to the land from their place of captivity. As the LORD sustained the children of Israel in the wilderness with manna, so too will He sustain them with food to feed upon as they travel along the roads during their return home.

The LORD also provides nourishment and spiritual food for believers as they make their pilgrimage through this world. The LORD himself, Jesus, is “the bread of life” (John 6:35, 49-51). His sacrifice and example are the spiritual food that we are to feed upon as we travel along the roads of this life.

The promise: And their pasture will be on all bare heights, may be a metaphor describing how the LORD will miraculously provide for His people, who are His sheep (Psalm 23). He will provide green pastures even in places that are expected to be bare—such as bare and treacherous mountain heights.

God did this same thing for Israel when they journeyed out of Egypt, miraculously providing for them in the wilderness. Similarly, Israel’s journey back to the land will not be smooth, but the LORD will provide everything they need, even when things are hard and difficult or seem to be bare.

Jesus the LORD told His disciples: “In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). He also promised them, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b). Just as God’s presence accompanied Israel through the wilderness, so will the presence of Jesus accompany His followers in this life.

The LORD continues to speak to His Servant about how He will provide for the Messiah’s people:
They will not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them
And will guide them to springs of water (v 10).

This verse affirms how the LORD will protect the Servant’s people—the nation of Israel.

They—the Messiah’s people—will not hunger or thirst. God will provide them nourishment.

Jesus, who is the LORD, not only is “the bread of life” (John 6:35), He also provides “living water,” and “whoever drinks of the water that [He] will give him shall never thirst…[and that] water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Moreover, Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). Jesus provides spiritual nourishment just as God provided physical nourishment for Israel when He gave them manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:14, 31).

The LORD will also protect the Messiah’s people from the scorching heat so that the sun will not strike them down. The area surrounding the land of Israel is hot and arid. Some of the roads to and from Israel crossed through hot deserts. Travelers needed water to make this treacherous journey or risk being killed by dehydration caused by the scorching heat of the desert sun.

Metaphorically, this may speak to the weariness of life. How God will sustain His followers through long and exhausting trials that have the potential to strike them down. This metaphor is similar to what Isaiah prophesied earlier in Isaiah 40 when he wrote:

“He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.”
(Isaiah 40:29-31)

Verse 10 of Isaiah 49 goes on to say why the LORD will protect the Messiah’s people:

For He who has compassion on them will lead them.

The LORD loves the people who follow His Servant. The LORD is described here as He who has compassion on the people. Like a good shepherd loves and leads his sheep, so the LORD, who is the Good Shepherd (Psalm 23) will lead His people.

Jesus, the Messiah and the LORD, is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). Jesus looked upon His people in Israel with “compassion, because they were distressed and dispirited like a sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

And the LORD will guide them to springs of water.

A good guide through the desert leads his people to sources of water. A good shepherd leads his flock to water. Springs of water are sources of water, where water flows from the ground continually. It is not dependent on whether there has been a recent rain. Springs of water are perpetual sources of water. The LORD will guide His people of Israel to springs of water.

Jesus provides living water of spiritual life (John 4:14). He leads people to Himself so that they might live and flourish.

The LORD continues speaking to the Servant, the Messiah of Israel.

I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways will be raised up (v 11).

In this verse the LORD promises that He will make a way for the people of the abhorred and despised Messiah to return to the land.

Mountains are formidable obstacles that are difficult to pass through. But the LORD says: I will make all My mountains a road through which people can pass.

And the LORD also says: My highways will be raised up. Highways are major trade routes between destinations. Kings often built up the highways in their kingdom so that the roadway would be elevated and raised up. This made for more consistent and safe travel. If highways were raised up, then they were less likely to flood or stay muddy.

These lines are likely metaphorical of how the LORD will use the Messiah’s rejection and service to make a way for Israel to return to Him and inherit His blessings.

Even though Jesus, the Servant and Messiah, was despised, abhorred, and rejected by the people He came to save, the LORD used His suffering and death to make a way for Israel to be reconciled to the LORD. Jesus’s obedience, service, and sacrifice created a road through the valleys of sin and death and over the mountains of God’s law to the land of eternal life for all who believe in Him.

The cross that killed the Messiah was made into the raised up highways that lead believers to salvation. Jesus told His disciples: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). All who believe on Jesus, looking at Him upon the cross, are delivered from the poisonous venom of sin, which leads to death (John 3:14-15).

The LORD continues speaking to the Servant, the Messiah of Israel.

Behold, these will come from afar;
And lo, these will come from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim (v 12).

In this verse, the LORD tells the Messiah that His highways to gain eternal life which He will make will extend far beyond the borders of Israel. It will extend to the Gentiles. This is why the Servant began this Servant Song exhorting the Islands (i.e. the Gentiles) to listen and pay attention (Isaiah 49:1).

The word Behold, means “pay attention” because something significant or unexpected is about to happen. The pronoun—these—refers to the Gentiles who will come from afar and who will believe in and follow the Jewish Messiah.

Some of these Gentiles will come along the roads from the north. The north is often a reference to Israel’s enemies like Assyria and Babylon, who always attacked from the north, coming the river route.

Some of these Gentiles will come along the roads from the west. The west likely refers to Europe, i.e. Greece and Rome. 

And some of these Gentiles will come along roads from the land of Sinim. It is not clear what is meant by the land of Sinim.

Some have suggested that Sinim refers to China. This is based on the similarity between "Sinim" and "Sin," an ancient name associated with the Chinese region. If this is the case, then this refers to a nation in the far east, which aligns with the understanding of afar.

Others have proposed that Sinim refers to Syene, located in Upper Egypt (modern Aswan). This interpretation comes from linguistic similarities and the context of Isaiah's prophecy, which mentions places in different directions (north, west). Syene was considered the southern boundary of Egypt and could fit as a remote region afar to the west.

Still others claim that Sinim might refer to an unknown region beyond what was well-known in the ancient Near Eastern world. The ambiguity may suggest that it represents the farthest parts of the world known at the time of writing.

Because there is no direct Biblical or historical evidence conclusively identifying the land of Sinim, these interpretations remain speculative. However, the broader message of Isaiah 49:12 clearly emphasizes the gathering of the Messiah’s people from distant places, symbolizing inclusivity of the Gentiles and restoration of all the peoples of the earth.

Verse 12 also restates the LORD’s assurance to His Servant earlier in verse 6,

“It is too small a thing that
You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
(Isaiah 49:6)

In fulfillment of these prophecies from Isaiah 49, the salvation of Jesus, the LORD’s Servant, will go to the remotest parts of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). Jesus said:

“I say to you that many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 8:11)

Likewise, Revelation describes how the Messiah’s people will be:

“a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches in their hands.”
(Revelation 7:9)

Isaiah 49:12 ends the second “verse” of Isaiah’s second Servant Song.