Isaiah 65:9

Isa 65:9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Ver. 9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob.] The good husband keeps some of his corn for seed; which, though it be not much, yet it will come to much.

And mine elect shall inherit it,] i.e., Reinhabit the land, a type of the last conversion of the Jews to Christ. {Rom 11:25-26}

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.

seed--"the holy seed" (Isa 6:13), a posterity from Jacob, designed to repossess the Holy Land, forfeited by the sin of the former Jews.

my mountains--Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, peculiarly God's (compare Isa 2:2; Isa 11:9; Isa 14:32).

it--the Holy Land.

elect-- (Isa 65:15, Isa 65:22).

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

Verse 9. An inheritor of my mountains - "An inheritor of my mountain"] הרי hari, in the singular number; so the Septuagint and Syriac; that is, of Mount Sion. See Isa 65:11 and Isa 56:7, to which Sion, the pronoun feminine singular, added to the verb in the next line, refers; ירשוה yereshuah, "shall inherit her." - L.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob . . .—Jacob (i.e., Israel) and Judah are used to represent respectively the remnants of the two kingdoms that had been carried into captivity.

My mountains.—One of Isaiah’s characteristic phrases (comp. Isa_14:25; Isa_29:11; Eze_6:2-3. Not Zion only, but every hill in Canaan was a sharer in a derived sanctity.

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

9. When a separation is effected the true Israelites shall possess the land (ch. Isa_57:13, Isa_60:21).

a seed] Cf. ch. Isa_6:13, Isa_53:10.

my mountains] the mountain land of Palestine, an Isaianic phrase (ch. Isa_14:25). shall inherit it] i.e. the land.

shall dwell there] Dillmann infers from the adv. “there” that neither the prophet nor his hearers lived in Palestine; but the argument cannot be sustained. “There” may be said of a place just mentioned, irrespective of the speaker’s relation to it. Thus in ch. Isa_37:33 Isaiah says that the king of Assyria “shall not shoot an arrow there,” referring to Jerusalem (“this city”) where he was living.

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 I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob,.... Jerom says most understand this of Christ; and who indeed is called the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, and sprang from Jacob or Israel, and came out of the tribe of Judah; and may be fitly signified by the cluster, in which new wine and a blessing were, which "seed" here is explanative of; since the clusters of all divine perfections, of all the blessings of grace, and of all the promises of it, are in him: and since he is that seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, and with whom the covenant of grace was made, Gal 3:16, but others, the above ancient writer observes, understood it of the apostles; and it seems to design the first that believed in Christ, who were of the Jewish nation, the apostles and others; for though the generality of that people rejected the Messiah, there were a few that believed on him, a remnant according to the election of grace, whom the apostle calls a seed, the Lord left among them, and reserved for himself, Rom 9:29, Rom 11:4 such who received the seed of the word into their hearts, and were born again of incorruptible seed, and which remained in them; these were distinguished by the grace of God from the rest of the people, and were called and brought forth from among them:

and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; this also is true of Christ, who not only came out of the tribe of Judah, as was foretold he should, and as it is manifest he did; hence he is called the Lion of that tribe; but he is also an heir or inheritor of the mountains of God; he is indeed heir of all things, Heb 1:2, as he is the Son of God, he is heir by nature of all the Father has; and, as Mediator, he is heir by appointment of all persons and things; he has all persons for his inheritance, and in his possession, and at his dispose, angels and men; and he is possessed of all things, of all blessings of goodness, natural and temporal, spiritual and eternal; and his chosen people are joint heirs with him, and who may be here meant; such as are the seed of the Lord are sons and heirs; they are heirs of God, being the sons of God; heirs of his covenant, the blessings and promises of it, which is as a mountain, firm and immovable; they are heirs of the grace of life, and of the kingdom; heirs of righteousness, life, and salvation; of eternal glory, the heavenly Canaan, signified by the mountains of the Lord; alluding to the mountains on which the temple and Jerusalem stood, or to those about Jerusalem, or in the land of Judea in general:

and mine elect shall inherit it; Christ is God's first and chief elect, and his people are chosen in him through grace to glory; and these are the seed and heirs that do inherit grace, and shall inherit glory; for this is to be understood not literally of the land of Judea, which was not long inherited by any after the times of Christ and his apostles, to which this prophecy respects; unless it can be thought to belong to the latter day, when the Jews will be converted, and return to it; but figuratively of Mount Zion, or of the heavenly country:

and my servants shall dwell there; my righteous servants, as the Targum; these are the same with the seed, the inheritor, and the elect, who become the servants of God, through the power of his grace, and serve him cheerfully, willingly, and without selfish ends and views; to this they are chosen, and for this purpose become a spiritual seed; nor is this inconsistent with their being heirs; and who shall receive the inheritance in a way of grace, and possess it for ever; they shall dwell in the church below, and enjoy all the privileges of it, and shall dwell upon their estate for ever; for their inheritance is an eternal one, reserved in the heavens.

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

And I will bring forth a seed - I will give descendants to Jacob, who shall share my favor and repossess the land.

An inheritor of my mountains - The mountains of Palestine - Jerusalem and the vicinity - called the mountains of God because he claimed that land as his special residence, and the place where his holy religion was established.

And mine elect - They who have been chosen by me to maintain my religion in the world.

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

Mountains of Judea, (Deuteronomy iii. 25.) which the captives shall recover, as a figure of those who shall embrace the Christian faith.

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).

I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob; no seed beareth a proportion to the tree or plant that it produceth, but in comparison with that is very little; yet it is enough, through the virtue which the God of nature hath put into it, to preserve and uphold the species to which it doth relate. They are but a remnant (saith God) that shall be saved; see Rom 11:5; but a small number that shall come out of the captivity of Babylon: or, (which I rather choose) they will be but a few that shall believe in my Son. yet they shall be enough for my promise to live in: this Paul argueth, Ro 11. As the plant yet lives in the seed, when the root is plucked up, the leaves dropped off, and the stalk is burnt up; so the promise of God lives in a few, when the generality of the people for their sins are cast off and destroyed. The favour of God to men, and the promise of God to good men, lived in one family of Lot, when the five cities were burned, and in the one family of Noah, when the world was drowned; the favour and promise of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David lived in the few that returned out of Babylon, and in those few who under the gospel received Christ, and believed in him, though the generality of them rejected the counsel of God against themselves. God further promiseth to bring out of

Judah an inheritor of his mountains, which the most and best interpreters do interpret of the Jews’ return out of the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem, and into their own country, and particularly to worship God in his temple upon Mount Zion. My mountains: the country of Judea was a mountainous country, Eze 36:1,8. The mountains were round about Jerusalem, Psa 125:2. See also Eze 38:8. God calls these mountains his mountains, because he had chosen that country before all others, and was once truly worshipped there.

Mine elect signifieth here God’s chosen ones, as in Psa 106:23; Isa 48:10. The term doth not always signify such as belong to the

election of grave, but such as are dignified with some special favour. The whole nation of the Jews are called a chosen people. But possibly this promise is to be interpreted with relation to the sincerer part of that people, after that the others should be wasted by the captivity.

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

9, 10. Seed out of Jacob… Judah — “Out of Jacob and… Judah” (which means the faithful few taken from the whole body of Israelites) the small worthy number (Isa_65:7-8) shall prove to be the “handful of corn upon the top of the mountains,” the fruit whereof “shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth,” (Psa_72:16-17,) enduring in glorious fertility as long as the sun and moon endure. And the whole land shall be in peace, from Sharon in the west, to the valley of Achor, near Jericho. Jos_7:24.

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

A seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah. Scarcely, "the people of the two captivities" (Delitzsch), though no doubt many Israelites of the ten tribes did return with Zerubbabel. (1Ch_9:3 Ezr_2:2, 70 3:1 6:17 8:35, etc.) Rather, a mere pleonasm, as in Isa_9:8 Isa_10:21, 22 27:6 29:23 40:27 41:8, etc.. (see the comment on Isa_40:27) An inheritor of my mountains. The whole of Palestine is little more than a cluster of mountains. The cluster may be divided into three groups:

(1) The mountains of Galilee, extending from Hermon to Tabor, separated from the next group by the plain of Esdraelon;

(2) the mountains of Samaria and Judaea, extending from Carmel and Gilbea to the plateau of Mature above Hebron, which is 3600 feet above the sea;

(3) the mountains of the trans-Jordanic region, including those of Bashan, Gilead, Moab, and Edom, separated from the two other groups by the Jordan valley. The highest elevation attained is that of Hermon (9400 feet); other minor heights are Jebel Jurmuk, in Galilee, 4000 feet; Safed, also in Galilee, 2775 feet; Ebal and Gerizim, in Samaria, 2700 feet; Sinjil, 2685; Neby Samwill, 2650; and the Mount of Olives, 2724 feet. The plateau of Mature reaches a height of 3600 feet. The only Palestinian plains are those of Esdraelon, Sharon, and the Ghor, or Jordan valley. Thus the land may well be spoken of as "my mountains." Mine elect. (comp. Isa_43:20 Isa_45:4) The same expression is used of Israel in 1Ch_16:13 Psa_89:3 Psa_105:6, 43 106:5. God "chose" Israel out of all the nations of the earth to be his "peculiar people.

Vers. 9, 10. From depression to prosperity.

We learn here

I THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD MAY FALL INTO A STATE OF SAD DEPRESSION. "Jacob" and "Judah," at the time of this prophecy, were reduced to a very low estate. It seemed as if they would produce nothing.

II THAT COMFORT MAY THEN BE FOUND IN GOD"S RELATION TO THEM. They are still "mine elect;" still those whom the Divine Father pities and purposes to bless, for whom the Divine Saviour died, with whom the Divine Spirit pleads.

III THAT THEY SHOULD SPEND THEIR STRENGTH IN SEEKING AND IN SERVING. "My servants shall dwell there... for my people that have sought me." In the time of difficulty and distress let good men be earnest and constant in prayer; let them be consistent in life and active in holy labour. Then they will find

IV THAT THEY MAY LOOK FOR A RENEWED AND A NOBLE HERITAGE. From end to end of the land (from Sharon to Achor) the scenes of pastoral industry shall be witnessed, and God"s servants shall dwell in the land; there shall be fulness and permanence of blessing. C.

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

Judah - God farther promises to bring out of Judah, an inheritor of his mountains which refers to the Jews return out of the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem, to worship God in his temple, upon Mount Zion. Mine elect - My chosen ones. The term signifies such as are dignified with some special favour. The whole nation of the Jews are called a chosen people.

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

“And I will bring forth from Jacob a seed and from Judah an heir of my mountains, and my chosen ones shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” This is an amplification of the promise, ‘I will do so’, in the foregoing verse. ‘My mountains’ denotes the whole of Palestine, as being an uneven, hilly country. See the same use of the plural in Isa 14:25, and the analogous phrase, mountains of Israel, repeatedly employed by Ezekiel (Eze 36:1; Eze 36:8; Eze 38:8). The corresponding singular, ‘my mountain’ (Isa 11:9; Isa 57:13) is by many understood in the same manner. The adverb at the end of the sentence properly means ‘thither’, and is never perhaps put for ‘there’ except in cases where a change of place is previously mentioned or implied. If so, the sense is not merely that they shall abide there, but that they shall first go or return thither, which in this connection is peculiarly appropriate. Of the promise here recorded there are three principal interpretations. The first, embraced by nearly all the modern Germans, is that the verse predicts the restoration of the Jews from Babylon. The second may be stated in the words of Henderson, viz. that "the future happy occupation of Palestine by a regenerated race of Jews is here clearly predicted.” The third is that the verse foretells the perpetuation of the old theocracy or Jewish church; not in the body of the nation, but in the remnant which believed on Christ; and which, enlarged by the access on of the Gentiles, is identical in character and rights with the church of the old dispensation, the heir to all its promises, and this among the rest, which either has been or is to be fulfilled both in a literal and figurative sense; in the latter, because the Church already has what is essentially equivalent to the possession of the land of Canaan under a local ceremonial system; in the former, because Palestine is yet to be recovered from the Paynim and the Infidel, and rightfully occupied, if not by Jews, by Christians, as the real seed of Abraham, partakers of the same faith and heirs of the same promise (Heb 11:9), for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith (Rom 4:13). If it should please God to collect the natural descendants of the patriarch in that land and convert them in a body to the true faith, there would be an additional coincidence between the prophecy and the event, even in minor circumstances, such as we often find in the history of Christ. But if no such national restoration of the Jews to Palestine should ever happen, the extension of the true religion over that benighted region, which both prophecy and providence encourage us to look for, would abundantly redeem the pledge which God has given to His people in this and other parts of Scripture.

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.

my mountains

This refers to the highest locations of Jerusalem and all of Judea.

Sharon

This was a fertile grazing area. (See: How to Translate Names)

Valley of Achor

This is the name of a valley that possibly ran from Jerusalem to south of Jericho. This was also a fertile grazing area. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

descend

Jacob

Judah

chosen one

servant

life

Sharon

flocks

rest

people of God

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

And I will bring forth out of Jacob, of those that had gone into exile, of the righteous among them: who deserve to be called mine elect.

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.