Isaiah 54:13

Isa 54:13 And all thy children [shall be] taught of the LORD; and great [shall be] the peace of thy children.

Ver. 13. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.] Outwardly, by his word; inwardly, by his Spirit: and here he explaineth that which he had spoken before concerning gems and jewels. The glory of the Church consisteth not in outward splendour, but in inward virtues and gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are found only in God’s disciples.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_54:13

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord

Disciples of Jehovah

The expression is probably suggested by what the Servant of Jehovah says of Himself in Isa_50:4; the idea being that the citizens of the New Jerusalem shall be the spiritual seed of the Servant.

(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

Inward illumination the spiritual glory of the Church

The outward glory of the city (Isa_54:11-12) is but the sense-representation of the spiritual glory of t-he Church that dwells therein (Isa_54:13). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

The school of the highest culture

I. THE NATURE OF THIS CULTURE. True culture is threefold--physical, intellectual, and moral. Our text relates to the highest form, and implies all the rest. It is complete culture, the development of the whole man.

1. The text presupposes mans ignorance. Man needs teaching, the imparting of truth.

(1) There is mans ignorance of self.

(2) Of duty.

(3) Of God.

(4) Of destiny.

2. The statement of the text implies the Divine intention. It is not Gods will that man remain in ignorance.

3. The statement of the text announces the Divine plan. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.

(1) The student--Thy children.

(2) The Teacher--The Lord. He is an omniscient Teacher, knowing the truths to be taught, and the temperament and disposition of the students. He is a patient Teacher. He is an omnipresent Teacher.

(3) The subjects taught. Language (Zep_3:9). The language of faith, of prayer, of love. Mathematics (Mar_8:36; 2Pe_1:5; Act_12:24; Isa_53:12; Php_3:8). Political science. The kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in Heaven: citizens of the commonwealth of Israel. Natural and spiritual science. Of Origins Joh_1:1-3). Of preservation (Col_1:17; Heb_1:3). Of the Divine (Joh_17:3). Of the human (Gen_1:26). God, man, sin, salvation, duty and destiny are all studied.

(4) The methods of teaching. The Word method (.Joh_5:39; 2Ti_3:15). The object method (Psa_19:1-6). The Holy Spirit method (Joh_16:13). The conscience method (Rom_2:15). The corrective method (Proverbs ill 12).

II. THE GREAT RESULT. And great shall be the peace of thy children.

1. This teaching shall result in enlightenment. Culture means light.

2. In elevation. All true culture leads that way.

3. In spiritual strength (Heb_5:12-14).

4. In peace. There is a threefold peace, peace with God, peace with conscience, peace with fellow-men. This school appeals for students. Will you enter The condition of entrance is given in Joh_1:11-12. The completion of a life course in this school develops the soul for promotion to the University of the New Jerusalem. Every graduate receives the degree of Sinner saved, and then begins the higher course in the University where boundless prospects and boundless possibilities lie before the student. What other school offers attractions such as these? (W. C. Kantner, D. D.)

The teaching unction and common knowledge

1. In the writings of all the apostles, as well as in the anticipations of evangelical prophets, this place of the Spirit as instructor and guide of the elect individual is ungrudgingiy recognized. James speaks of a wisdom that comes to every believing suppliant direct from the Father of lights. Paul speaks of an enlightenment and revelation that are gifts of the Spirit, and says that no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. And John speaks of the anointing of the Holy one through which all doubts may be resolved, and the lowly disciple made safe against current sophistry and error. Peter asserts that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. Such testimony coming from leading and honoured apostles has a peculiar emphasis and impressiveness about it. The best barrier against heresy which could be raised up was that which consisted in the common knowledge possessed by all who had received the Spirit, and none of the apostles shows the slightest jealousy of the growing insight of their converts. They were quite content that the Church official should be abased and even superseded, so that the work of the teaching Spirit should be magnified.

2. The spirit of man has been degraded by evil, warped by prejudice and mistaken training, distracted and torn in opposite directions by the fickle and contradictory movements of a flesh inflated with egotisms and bubbling self-sufficiencies. It must undergo some radical transformation before it can become the test of what is true. One might as well call in a boiler-riveter organically deaf with the din of his occupation to settle conflicting criticisms respecting a quarter tone in music, or some spirit-drinker with burnt-up tongue and palate to do the work of an accomplished tea-taster, as appeal subtle spiritual questions to such a court as that. It is only after the Spirit has come to possess the nature of a man, and to make the undefiled conscience rule the life, that the nature can become in any sense a test of religious truth. The heart of man must be disengaged from its old embarrassments and distractions, redeemed from the bias of its passion and wilfulness, chastened into docility and meekness and humility, quickened, purified, exalted, before it can discern. It is this specific anointing with the Spirit which confers upon the conscience its new prerogative as a competent judge of truth. (T. G. Selby.)

Truth developed in the life by the action of the Spirit of God

When a strip of wood or forest has been destroyed by fire, it will sometimes happen that new and better species of trees grow up and take the place of those which have been burned. The seed had been long buried within the ground, but all to no purpose, because it was forestalled and overshadowed by the growths which first got possession of the soil. The earlier species were like feudal lords, who had seized the land and monopolized all the mists and the dews and the rains that came to moisten the sunburnt earth. But in their downfall hidden and worthier seeds had a chance of light and life and dominion. And is it not thus with human nature? The seed of every truth is within us, although there may often be little outward sign of that significant fact. The proud growths of the flesh overshadow, stifle, and choke down the inner growths of the conscience and the moral life. But at last the Spirit of God comes to us like a consuming fire, and then the superficial growths of passion and prejudice are burnt away, and seeds of sublime truth that had been slumbering from the time of mans creation in the image of God flower out into strange life, splendour, and fruitfulness. (T. G. Selby.)

The Holy Spirit in relation to the Bible, the Church and thy religious teacher

If we accept this idea of the common knowledge possessed by believers in Christ who receive the promised Spirit, what will be our attitude towards the Bible, the Church, the Christian teacher, and all those forms of religious authority so jealously upheld in the past? Does not this idea of common knowledge introduce a competing authority, and bid fair to prove a solvent of ecclesiastical rule and prerogative, and produce a new confusion of tongues? The Churches of the Reformation rightly make the Bible a test of faith, and bring all teaching to the tribunal of its impartial balances. The New Testament is mainly a statement of historical facts from the lips or pens of eye-witnesses, to which there can be no addition by subsequent revelation. In so far as it is a statement of the doctrinal interpretations identified with those facts, it furnishes a permanent record of what was taught by the Spirit to the first generation of believers, and of what was approved and attested in their own experiences by those representatives of the early Churches who received the component parts of the New Testament into the canon. It gives absolutely trustworthy notes of the work of the Spirit in saving and instructing and sanctifying men. The unchanging Spirit is not likely to contradict Himself now, and teach divergent doctrines to a docile recipient of His ministries; and the Church whose members are inwardly led to the acceptance of the truths which accord with the original standards of the Bible proves itself so far a recipient of the same inspiration. The Bible is the seal by which we are to measure our own inspiration and spiritual insight; but it will not do our seeing for us, and each man must perceive for himself and acquire by the use of his spiritual senses this common knowledge.

2. But some tell us that the Church is the assay-house of religious thought, and that all statements of doctrine must be weighed in the scale of ecclesiastical balances. What have the early councils said? What does the congregation of cardinals or the House of Convocation say to-day? Our reply is that the spiritual discernment of the rulers of a Church must be tested by the scale or standard presented in the Bible and handed down from those who were themselves both personal followers of Christ and the first recipients of Pentecostal gifts. A Church may fall and grope in darkness as woefully as an individual, and then its authority ceases. The mere shell of a Church corporation cannot possibly be a centre of authority, for its directing personnel is ever changing, and if it be found in conflict with the primitive revelations of the Spirit, the very sanctity of the Church is lost and its right to teach forfeited.

3. It is sometimes argued that the teacher duly certified by the Christian Church is a specialist, and that we must give ourselves implicitly into his hands, just as we give ourselves into the hands of any other professional man who has the technical Knowledge we lack. Well, we may recognize that within certain limits he who has not yet received the Spirit must be indebted for such second-hand knowledge as he possesses to the Church and its ministries. But, after all, there is no specialism in connection with the truths which concern the daily life and experience of believers. All specialism is in non-essentials, and the cry for the specialist not only reflects on the impartiality of the Spirit, and implies that His illumination is particular rather than universal, but assumes that religion is a thing of intermittent rites and functions rather than a daily life in which the humblest is schooled to knowledge and insight. (T. G. Selby.)

Religious education the safeguard of the nation

There are three radical defects in the theory of a secular education.

I. IT IGNORES THE EXISTENCE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF CONSCIENCE. Whatever conscience may be, all agree that it is that which is educable. That it is a moral something in man, that may be trained to be in him a monitor and a guide--something that will respond to every voice of truth and of justice. While it is true that some well-informed or enlightened consciences may go astray, yet the rule is, that, as is the conscience so is the virtue of the individual. What are the prime factors in an educated conscience?

1. Belief in a personal God--the Author and Creator of the human mind--He who is, in Himself, the supreme reason of virtue.

2. Reverence for Gods laws.

3. The dread of the Divine displeasure. By what force would you deter man from vice and crime? By the displeasure of good citizens? But that displeasure is the creation of a religious education. By the beneficence of public morals? But that beneficence is written all over the constitution of nature, whose author is God. Without this recognition of a personal God--whose laws are to be revered, whose displeasure is to be dreaded--without such an educated conscience there can be no authority, as there can be no standard, either for private or public virtue.

II. IT OVERLOOKS THE FACT THAT SECULAR EDUCATION CONTAINS NO ELEMENT TO PURIFY AND REFORM. Science enlightens, but it cannot renew and elevate human nature which is depraved in principle and sinful in practice. Knowledge is power; but it is a power for good or evil, according to the controlling motives.

III. IT OVERLOOKS THE FACTS THAT THE STABILITY OF OUR GOVERNMENT IS IN THE MORAL CONVICTIONS OF THE PEOPLE. (J. P. Newman, D. D.)

Great shall be the peace of thy children

The great peace of Gods pupils

Thy children--whose? To answer this question is to get at the true key to the whole of this part of the prophecy. The words were spoken to the exiled Jews in Babylon, but were plainly meant to cover more than their needs. They are words which picture and promise the condition which should one day embrace the whole earth.

I. They are men who have got over the great difficulty in all teaching; THEY ARE WILLING TO LEARN. They are eager. They come cheerfully to that which has grown to be a pleasure. They are on the outlook for knowledge. Now, if any man is really on the outlook for knowledge he will be sure to get it; perhaps not all at once, but little by little. There has already been some progress made in learning where this is the temper of the pupil. How much, only those various and manifold testings of their knowledge which come up in every mans life, can really reveal.

II. If this be the character of the learners, WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF THE TEACHER? The pupil learns what is the character of the Teacher in the lessons he gives. The lessons He gives are according to the wants and capacities of His pupils. And if only we will, we may learn this about the Teacher, from the lessons He gives us, how great is His interest in each of us; how accurate His knowledge of us; how constant His regard for us; how completely fitted His wise treatment; how full His whole conduct is of care and love; how, in a word, God is as loving as He is wise, as tender as He is strong, and as constant in His affection towards us as He is persistent in bringing the same lesson before our eye, until we have learnt it by heart. Again; the pupil learns what is the character of the Teacher from the bearing of the Teacher toward him after He has given him his lessons. Does He turn away and leave the pupil to himself? Does He set the task, and then vanish out of sight? Does He leave the lesson with the pupil, and the pupil with the lesson, and make no further sign? We know that, in regard to God, this is not so. It is true, that when God wishes us to work out some great lesson of our life, He withdraws from us, as it were, that we may put forth all our strength, that we may grapple with it, and, if we can, master it. But it is also true that God never leaves His pupils altogether. His eye is still resting upon them when they think Him a great way off. His very presence is with them when they think that they are utterly alone. And when He sees that the right moment has come He speaks the cheery word; He parts asunder the thick storm cloud, and lets the light of His countenance shine upon us and illumine our path. Nay, still more; how many hard and soul-searching questions has God helped us to spell out; how frequently the guiding and sustaining hand has been over our own, when, with painfulness and much sorrow, we have been trying to write out in our lives some fair copy of a simple command! Even after the lesson is given, how patient God is, how ready to help, how gentle, how loving, how merciful. The pupil also learns what the Teacher is, from the great example of His own lessons which He, the Teacher, shows Himself.

III. WHAT WILL COME OF THE PUPILS LEARNING THESE LESSONS. He may not learn any one of them thoroughly. He may feel, in regard to much of his knowledge of God, for example, that it needs revision, correction, enlargement. He may be conscious that some of the most elemental truths in Divine wisdom have to be learned and relearned. There does, however, come a result from all his application which will be all the more pronounced when the education itself is perfected. And what is this result? Great peace.

1. The peace comes after she learning, not before. The peace is after the victory, not before the battle.

2. Another thing is also to be noted: this great peace does not come to us by mastering every lesson at once, however hard and difficult it may be, but in patiently resting in Him who has sent it. (J. J. Goadby.)

The Gospel of the children

In every age the children were included in the promise and in the Church.

I. THE PERIOD.

1. It is impressible. The photographers plate is very sensitive. When he removes the covering which keeps off the light from the sun, the image of the object directly opposite is instantaneously impressed on the plate. So is the childs mind. Whatever is the object of its observation--good or bad--the image is made. What care should be taken lest that sensitive plateshould be exposed to that which is sinful!

2. It expands its impressions. When any one cuts the initials of his name on the bark of a young tree, as the tree grows so the letters will become larger. The child receives impressions to grow with its being.

3. It is a period when correction is possible. Evil impressions may cling to a child, but we can stop their influence by admonition and warning.

II. THE LEARNING. Instruction is the birthright of every child; national prosperity depends on the early training of its families. Spiritual instruction is the best gift that parents can give to their children. The prophet saw a vision in this chapter which was far removed from his own time--the Gospel period. Let us look at the adaptation.

1. It is the Gospel of childhood. Some look on the Gospel as only comprehensible by men of mature age. This is an error. The child can learn the alphabet of the language, although it cannot pronounce its long words. Timothy from a child knew the Scriptures.

2. It is the Gospel of growth. The story of Bethlehem grows into a fact. Accounts of miraculous cures, which only appear to a child wonderful, become the evidences of divinity. The great fact of the Crucifixion, which only creates pity in a childs heart, grows to the importance of life itself. The prayer repeated by infant lips becomes the fervent prayer of the righteous man.

3. It is the Gospel of maturity. Generally the things of childhood are unfit for youth, and those of youth are unsuitable for manhood; but the Gospel expands, and is abreast of every experience.

III. THE BLESSING. It will be a great peace. This is the fruit of Divine instruction.

1. Gods Word brings peace to the heart. The child as well as the man needs that peace.

2. Gods Word brings peace to the home.

3. Peace in death. The tranquil spirit which the child knew sixty years before is the sheet-anchor which stays the soul in every trying hour. We appeal to the children and say that if they are to be taught of the Lord, they must be willing to learn. Then we further urge the children to obedience and prayer in respect of their teachers. (J. Daveis, M. A.)

Spiritual teaching

I. DIVINE TEACHING.

1. We all need Divine teaching.

2. We are all by nature opposed to it.

3. Divine teaching is promised.

II. ITS EFFECT. Peace, great peace. Learn--

1. Our relationship to God. The children of Zion are also children of God.

2. Our rightful privileges. Spiritual instruction and abiding peace. (C. Clayton, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 54:13-14. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord — The church’s children, being born of God, shall be taught of God, and that not only outwardly, by his word, but inwardly, by his Spirit. Our Lord, who quotes this passage, Joh 6:45, applies it to gospel grace, and represents it as having its accomplishment in all those that are brought savingly to believe in him. And great shall be the peace of thy children —

1st, Inward peace, arising from clear discoveries of God’s love, and his reconciliation to us, and wrought by the Spirit of adoption, which is more abundantly given to believers under the gospel than under the law. 2d, Outward peace, safety, and happiness, which is more fully promised in the following verses, and which God, when he sees fit, will confer upon his church. In righteousness shalt thou be established — This kingdom shall be set up and established, not by injustice, fraud, or tyranny, as other kingdoms frequently are, but upon a righteous foundation, and by the exercise of righteousness and holiness, which is the glory and felicity of any society. Thou shalt be far from oppression — Either by thine own governors, or by foreign powers. Those that have oppressed thee shall be removed; those that would oppress thee shall be restrained; and therefore thou shalt not fear — Thou shalt neither have any just cause of fear, nor be given up to the torment of fear without cause.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13, 14. All thy children — Dwellers within the glorious city, or, in literal terms, all who are pure in heart and love the communion of Zion and of Zion’s Jehovah.

Taught of the Lord — Informed and learned in the deep things of God. Jer_31:34; Mat_5:2-10.

Peace — Isa_2:4; Isa_9:6.

In righteousness… established — In Isa_54:13-14, the plain doctrines taught are those connected with the mission of the Holy Spirit throughout the complete reign of Messiah. “Peace” is to be established on intrinsic “righteousness.” Assaults, therefore, shall be unavailing. No cause for fear.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

54:13 I will teach: Jesus alluded to this verse in John 6:45. • They will enjoy great peace, the benefits of God’s presence and protection (Isa 53:5; see 48:17-18; 54:10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

By the hearing of his word and inward moving of his Spirit.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Quoted by the Saviour (Joh 6:45), to prove that in order to come to Him, men must be "drawn" by the Father. So Jer 31:34; Mic 4:2; Co1 2:10; Heb 8:10; Heb 10:16; Jo1 2:20.

great . . . peace--generally (Psa 119:165). Specially referring to the peaceful prosperity which shall prevail under Messiah in the latter days (Isa 2:4, Isa 9:6).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(13) All thy children shall be taught of the Lord . . .—More accurately, shall be the disciples of Jehovah; quoted by our Lord as fulfilled in His disciples (Joh_6:45).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13, 14. The righteousness, peace and security of the inhabitants.

taught of the Lord] lit. disciples of Jehovah, initiated in the true knowledge of God, and obedient to His will. Cf. Jer_31:34; Joh_6:45. The expression is probably suggested by what the Servant of Jehovah says of himself in ch. Isa_50:4; the idea being that the citizens of the new Jerusalem shall be the spiritual seed of the servant.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord,.... The children of the church, who are born in her, and nursed up at her side, and who are the children of God by adoption, which is made manifest by regeneration; these the Lord will take care of that they be "taught", even "all" of them, from the least to the greatest, Jer 31:34, they shall be taught of the Lord himself, by his ministers, word, and ordinances, as means, and by his Spirit, as the efficient; by whom they are taught to know themselves, their vileness and sinfulness, their folly and weakness, their want of right counsels, and the insufficiency of their own to know Christ, and the way of salvation by him; him as the only Saviour, able and willing so to know him as to believe in him, receive him, and walk on in him; this had an accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel; see Joh 6:45 and will have a further one in the latter day, when there will be a greater effusion of the Spirit, when the doctrines of the Gospel will be taught and understood more clearly, fully, and largely:

and great shall be the peace of thy children; the inward peace of their minds in and from Christ, arising from a view of their justification by his righteousness, from the sprinklings of his blood upon their consciences, and from the discoveries of his love to their souls, enjoyed in a way of believing, and by means of the word and ordinances; also peace among themselves, harmony and concord, and no more strifes, contentions, and animosities; likewise outward peace from enemies, no more persecution or war. This word includes all kind of prosperity, external and internal, temporal and spiritual. This, with the following verses, explain the figurative phrases used in the foregoing. These words are applied by the Jews (a) to the times of the Messiah, when all Israel shall learn the law from the Lord; so the Targum,

"all thy children shall know the law of the Lord;''

but it is much better understood of all the children of the church, the true Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, learning the Gospel of Christ.

(a) Midrash Tillim, apud Yalkut in Psal. xxi. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And all thy children - All that dwell in this splendid city; all that are the true friends of the Redeemer. It shall be a part of their future glory that they shall be all under divine instruction and guidance. See Jer 31:34 - ‘And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.’

And great shall be the peace of thy children - (See the notes at Isa 2:4; Isa 9:6).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lord, Christ, Jeremias xxxi. 33., and John vi. 45.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Shall be taught of the Lord; not only outwardly by his word, which was made known to all the Jews under the Old Testament, but inwardly by his Spirit, which is poured forth under the New Testament, both upon a far greater number of persons, and in a far higher measure, and with much more efficacy and success, than it was under the Old.

The peace:

1. Inward peace of mind or conscience arising from the clear discoveries of God’s love and reconciliation to us, and wrought by the Spirit of adoption, which is more abundantly given to believers under the gospel, whereas the spirit of bondage was more common and prevalent under the law.

2. Outward peace, safety, and happiness, which is more fully promised in the following verses, and which God, when he sees fit, will confer upon his church.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. (comp. Isa_44:3 Jer_31:33, 34 Eze_11:19 Joe_2:28 Act_2:17, Act_2:18, etc.) Christians are all of them "taught of God". (Joh_6:45 1Th_4:9) The "anointing," which they have from the Holy Ghost, "teaches them, and is truth, and is no lie", (1Jn_2:27) and causes them to "know all things". (1Jn_2:20) And great shall be the peace of thy children. Messiah was to be "the Prince of Peace". (Isa_9:6) His birth heralded the coming of "peace on earth". (Luk_2:14) So far forth as men are true Christians, does peace reign in the conscience and show itself in the life. Externally there may be persecution, tumult, wars, fightings; but internally, in each heart, there will be a "peace that passes all understanding". (Php_4:7) God "keeps in perfect peace" those" whose minds are stayed on him". (Isa_26:3)

The prize of life, and its pursuit.

"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." We gather from this text

I THE TRUE PRIZE OF LIFE. What is that thing which is most worth having, most worth the thought of our minds, the strenuous striving of our soul, the labour of our hands? Nations, communities, individual men, have given different replies. One has said case, another wealth, another pleasure, another power, another glory. The inspired Hebrew said peace. The blessing he invoked on those he loved, and that which he lauded in speech and song, was peace. And he was right. Peace is the indispensable, the immeasurably precious thing.

1. It is a profound blessing. It goes down to the depth of our compound nature; it is the excellent result of complete rightness rightness of heart with God, rightness of life with man.

2. It is a lasting thing. Other prizes may be snatched away by untoward circumstances, or their worth dims and lessens with the passing years, or even (with some of them) with the fleeting days. But this abides; prosperity does not injure it, adversity does not remove it, age does not diminish its excellency.

3. It is the condition of holy usefulness. We can serve our race in higher and greater things without the other prizes of life, but not without this. Not until our hearts have found rest in God"s truth and in himself can we be and say and do that which will guide the feet of our fellow-men into and along the paths of righteousness and wisdom.

II THE ONE WAY OF WINNING IT. The children of Zion would have great peace, inasmuch as they would be "taught of the Lord.":Nothing else will give to the human heart the peace which it craves.

1. Comfortable circumstances will not ensure it. These circumstances cannot be generally commanded, and, if they could, there would still be a craving of the soul which no comforts or successes of any earthly kind would satisfy.

2. Philosophy is not equal to the task. Stoicism tried its hand, and with some of its disciples there was the appearance of success; but it has no power to minister to the necessities of the multitudes of mankind, to the ordinary human heart, to men and women as we meet and know them every day. To the common, questioning, thirsting human heart it is a fountain without water, a name without the power behind it.

3. A Divine Saviour alone can supply the need. He only who brings everlasting truth to our mind, the sympathy and love of an unfailing friendship to the heart, spiritual excellence to the soul, meaning and worth to human life, a hope bright with immortal glory to the closing hour, he only is entitled to say, "Come unto me... I will give you rest." "My peace I give unto you." Great peace peace that passeth understanding, and that outliveth mortal life, have they who learn of him and take his yoke upon them. C.

Divine favour reaching to the children.

"And all thy children shall be disciples of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children." This is probably the passage quoted by our Lord, as recorded in Joh_6:45, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God." The point on which Isaiah dwells is that the Divine favour shall not be limited to the generation that was actually restored; it would abide from generation to generation, and the guarantee for this would be found in the Divine care and training of the children in preparation for their responsibilities and privileges when their turn of manhood came. It is not precisely known in what ways the religious education of the children of the returned exiles was arranged, but the system of regular synagogue instruction was developed soon after. It is full of suggestion, for those who work among children now, that God should find the hope of stability for the restored nation in discipling its children. And that work is, in part, the work of the home; and, in part, the work of the Church.

I THE DIVINE FAVOUR REACHES THE CHILDREN THROUGH GOOD HOMES. Through good-charactered parents and wisely ordered family life. Good character has its foundation in faith in God; its superstructure is all virtue , including reverence, obedience, uprightness, patience, and holy persistency in that which is good. Character is the supreme power, but it finds its best expressions through the family rule. Parents must, by due punishments and rewards, repress the evil and encourage the good. No Divine favour resting on our lives should kindle greater thankfulness than that shown in providing for us pious fathers and mothers, and gracious home influence.

II THE DIVINE FAVOUR REACHES THE CHILDREN THROUGH THE CHURCH. The conditions of modern civilized life put the religious education of thousands of children altogether into the hands of Christ"s Church. Multitudes of parents cannot, or will not, train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But in all such cases the Church can do a noble supplemental work. We may see the special Divine favour resting on our age, and the best security for the permanence and nobility of our nation, in the wide spreading and vigorous improvement of our Sunday schools. The "peace" assured to the children is a term designed to include all sorts of good. We cannot be wrong in thinking that the better tone of society and family life in our day is the direct result of our increased concern for the moral and religious culture of the nation"s children. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Taught - Not only outwardly by his word, but inwardly by his spirit. The peace -

1. Inward peace arising from the clear discoveries of God's love and reconciliation to us, and wrought by the spirit of adoption, which is more abundantly given to believers under the gospel, than under the law.

2. Outward peace, safety, and happiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The outward glory of the city is only the manifestation, which strikes the senses, of the spiritual glory of the church dwelling therein. "And all thy children will be the learned of Jehovah; and great the peace of thy children." We translate both halves of the v. as substantive clauses, although they might be accusatives of both the object and predicate, dependent upon שׂמתּי. ה למּוּדי are disciples of Jehovah, but, as in Isa 50:4, with the subordinate idea of both docility and learning. The children of Jerusalem will need no instruction from man, but carry within them the teaching of heaven, as those who are "taught of God" (διδακτοὶ Θεοῦ, Joh 6:45; θεοδίδακτοι, Th1 4:9). Essentially the same promise is given in Joe 3:1-2, and Jer 31:34; and represented in Jo1 2:20 ("Ye have the anointing of the Holy One, and know all things") as already fulfilled. In the place of the former inward and outward distress, there has no entered shâlōm, perfect inward and outward peace, complete salvation, and blessedness as its result. רב is an adjective, for this form cannot be shown to have existed as a syncopated third pers. praet., like שׁח, חי (= חיי). The v. closes palindromically.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

“And all thy children disciples of Jehovah, and great (or plentiful) the peace of thy sons (or children).” Some make the sentence simply descriptive, by supplying ‘are’ in the present tense. Others supply ‘shall be’, and thus make it a prediction or a promise. The common version, ‘taught of God’, which Lowth changes into ‘taught by God’, though not erroneous, is inadequate; since the Hebrew word is not a participle but a noun, used elsewhere to denote a pupil, follower, or disciple. (See Isa 8:16). The promise is not one of occasional instruction, but of permanent connection with Jehovah, as His followers and partakers of His constant teaching. That the words are applicable to the highest teaching of which any rational being is susceptible, to wit, that of the Holy Spirit making known the Father and the Son, we have our Savior’s own authority for stating. (See Joh 6:45, and compare Mat 23:8; Heb 8:11; 1Jn 2:27). Paul too describes believers as theodidaktoi in relation to the duties of their calling (1Th 4:9). Similar promises under the Old Testament are given in Jer 31:34 and elsewhere. As in Isa 43:9, all the gifts of the Spirit are included. The consequence of this blessed privilege is peace, no doubt in the widest sense of spiritual welfare and prosperity (Joh 14:27; Philip 4:7).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Jerusalem.

Then all your children will be taught by Yahweh

This can be stated in active form. AT: "And Yahweh will teach all your children" (See: Active or Passive)

by Yahweh

Yahweh speaks of himself in the third person. It can be stated in first person. AT: "by me, Yahweh" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

In righteousness you will be established

The abstract noun "righteousness" can be stated as the adjective "right." This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will cause you to be strong again because you will do what is right"

it will not come near to you

No one in the city or outsiders will ever terrify the inhabitants of Jerusalem again.

translationWords

children

Yahweh

peace

righteous

persecute

fear

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

למודי Taught of. It is an adjective, and is used as a synonym of תלמיד pupil.

ורב And great shall be. It is a verb; the ו turns the past into the future.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.