This section of Isaiah, like the preceding one, reflects on the third Servant Song (50:4-9). Here the emphasis is on the expectations of those who will listen to the Servant as well as encouragement to those followers of righteousness. >From this point through 52:12 the Servant theme builds to its climax in 52:13-53:12.
God called His people to listen three times in verses 1-8. They should listen and look back, to remember what He had done (vv. 1-3). They should listen and look up, to remember who God is (vv. 4-6). And they should listen and not fear, to remember what God had promised (vv. 7-8).545
51:1 The Lord appealed for the righteous in Israel to listen to Him (cf. 50:10). These were the Israelites who sincerely wanted to trust and obey God but found it difficult to do so because impending captivity seemed to contradict God's promises. The Lord called them to consider their history, their origin.
"Abraham was the rock from which his descendants were hewn--having a rocklike quality imparted to him by God's faithfulness and grace."546
51:2 Consider Abraham and Sarah, God counseled. From old Abraham and his barren wife God had made a whole nation of people.
51:3 Even though the Babylonians would reduce the population of Jerusalem almost to zero, the God who gave Abraham numerous descendants could and would repopulate Zion (cf. 49:20). He would comfort His people, personified as Zion, by doing this. He would reverse Zion's fortunes transforming her desert wilderness areas into another Eden.
"Like Edenis not simply a figure of beauty and plenty but also one of the absence of the divine curse consequent upon sin."547
God would turn her sorrow and wailing into joyful singing and thanksgiving. The implication is that as Abraham was strong in faith and believed God's promises, so should the Israelites of Isaiah's day (cf. Gen. 15:6).
51:4 Again the Lord urged His nation to listen attentively to Him (cf. v. 1). What God would do for His people in preserving them and returning them to the land would be a lesson (Heb. torah, instruction, "law") to the whole world. His justice in fulfilling His promises to the Israelites would lead many of the Gentiles out of their darkness and into His light.548
51:5 The righteousness, salvation, and strong judgment that the Lord promised to bring would be larger than just Israel's emancipation from Babylon, however, because the nations would anticipate it. Cyrus brought deliverance to the Israelites from Babylon, but the Servant would bring salvation to the nations of the world. The farthest reaches of humanity wait expectantly for God's delivering power in the sense that everyone wants someone to correct the mess we are in, not that they know how salvation will come. This salvation was imminent, the Lord promised, as imminent as Messiah's appearing.
51:6 The sky and the earth may appear to be permanent, but the really permanent realities are God's promises of coming abiding salvation and righteousness (cf. Luke 21:33).
51:7 For a third time the Lord urged His people who already knew something of righteousness to listen to Him (cf. vv. 1, 4). They were the people who had received God's instruction by special revelation and who treasured it in their hearts. They were the godly remnant in Israel. They could count on unbelievers reproaching and reviling them. Nevertheless, they should not fear them or lose heart but follow the example of the perfect Servant and trust God to fulfill His word (50:4-9; cf. 2 Pet. 3:3-13).
51:8 Their unbelieving critics would pass away in time, the product of natural decay (cf. 50:11). But God's righteousness and salvation will last forever, and so will those who trust in Him who will bring them to pass (cf. 50:10).
