Isaiah 49 is part of a prophecy about the restoration of Israel. When God, through Moses, gave Israel the opportunity to become His chosen people (Exodus 19:5-6), they agreed to follow God’s commandments (Exodus 19:8). Chief among these commandments was that they needed to abandon any worship of idols and false gods and only worship God (Exodus 20:2). Over the subsequent generations, the people of Israel repeatedly broke this commandment, as recorded throughout 1 and 2 Kings. Some examples of this are in 1 Kings 12:28-33, 1 Kings 15:25-26, 1 Kings 15:33-34, 1 Kings 14:22-24 and 1 Kings 15:1-3.
God warned Israel that He would punish them for their disobedience by dissolving their nation and scattering their people throughout the world (Leviticus 26:14-33, for example). However, God did not intend this punishment to be permanent, and when the period of their punishment eventually elapsed, God would gather the scattered people and oversee the reformation of their nation (Isaiah 43:1-7, for example). Isaiah 49 is a prophecy about this time of national restoration. The prophecy uses phrases such as “the Lord hath called me from the womb” in verse 1 and “saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant” in verse 5 to perhaps help convey the sense that the restoration of Israel has always been part of God’s plan, before the prophet was even born. God’s words about gathering Israel to Him in the second half of verse 5 were a reassurance to the people that although the punishment would be harsh and seem long, His disfavor would not be eternal.
The first part of the verse 6, “it is too light a thing” means that although providing salvation and restoration for Israel will be miraculous, God is willing and capable to perform an even greater act of restoration. By including “the Gentiles” in His words, God’s promise of restoration is extended to cover all mankind. This is reinforced by the end of the verse which prophesizes “salvation unto the end of the earth.” What a comforting and inspiring thought it is that God, the wise, loving, just and powerful Creator of all things, has always planned for the salvation of all mankind!
Additional Resources:
- Video: Israel – Born to Destiny
- Online Booklet: Israel – A Nation of Miracles
Image Credit
Featured image of open Bible generated using ChatGPT (OpenAI) based on a prompt written by the poster
