Isaiah 56:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 56:5
Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
house
בְּבֵיתִ֤יbe.vei.Ti
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
walls
וּבְחֽוֹמֹתַי֙u.ve.cho.mo.Tai
H2346
a wall of protection · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
place
יָ֣דyad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular absolute
name
וָשֵׁ֔םva.Shem
H8034
an appellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
better
ט֖וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
sons
מִבָּנִ֣יםmi.ba.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
daughters
וּמִבָּנ֑וֹתu.mi.ba.Not
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
give
אֶתֶּן'e.ten-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
everlasting
עוֹלָם֙o.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
name
שֵׁ֤םshem
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct
off
יִכָּרֵֽתyi.ka.Ret
H3772
to cut (off · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God,…
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess…
1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not,…
Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a n…
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, t…
Isaiah 26:1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Isaiah 48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 56:3-8
The prophet is here, in God's name, encouraging those that were hearty in joining themselves to God and yet laboured under great discouragements. 1. Some were discouraged because they were not of the seed of Abraham. They had joined themselves to the Lord, and bound their souls with a bond to be his for ever (this is the root and life of religion, to break off from the world and the flesh, and devote ourselves entirely to the service and honour of God); but they questioned whether God would accept them, because they were of the sons of the stranger, Isa 56:3. They were Gentiles, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and aliens from the covenants of promise, and therefore feared they had no…
in mine house--the temple, the emblem of the Church (Ti1 3:15). They shall no longer be confined as proselytes were, to the outer court, but shall be admitted "into the holiest" (Heb 10:19-20).
a place--literally, "a hand."
than of sons--Though the eunuch is barren of children (Isa 56:3), I will give him a more lasting name than that of being father of sons and daughters (regarded as a high honor among the Hebrews) (Joh 1:12; Joh 10:3; Jo1 3:1; Rev 2:17; Rev 3:12).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 56:5
I will give them an everlasting name - For לו lo, him, in the singular, it is evident that we ought to read למו lamo, them, in the plural: so read the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.
John Gill on Isaiah 56:5
Even to them will I give in mine house and within my walls,.... The Targum is,
"in the house of my sanctuary, and in the land of the house of my Shechinah;''
meaning the temple at Jerusalem, in the land of Judea; but a Gospel church state is here meant, which is the house of God; the materials of which are true believers; the foundation Christ; the pillars and beams of it are the ministers of the word; the windows the ordinances, the door into it faith in Christ, and a profession of it; the provisions of it the word and ordinances; the stewards of it the preachers of the Gospel; where are saints of various sorts, fathers, young men, and children; where Christ is as a son over his own house…
The Church Fathers
The house and wall that are strength and security seem to describe the church that is above somewhere in the heavens, that is, over the earth. People dwell there who have grown in holiness and virtue and who shine forth and receive the honor of self-control along with a greater inheritance. They receive from God an eternal glory. There is nothing lacking of grace in them. For the rewards of self-control are great. And not only to the guileless eunuchs does he announce the provision of illustrious dignity, but he also announces it to those who keep the [new] sabbath that Christ established. For the others kept his sabbath by the law. For what was formerly in type is now illuminated in the beauty of truth.
And what could be greater than the reward the Lord bestowed upon His mother, whom He honored above all others? For He deemed no gift more abundant than virginity, as Scripture teaches us. For thus the Lord spoke through Isaiah: Let not the eunuch say, I am but a dry tree. Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: Whoever keeps my commandments, and chooses what I desire, and embraces my covenant, I will give them a place in my house and on my wall, a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name will I give them, which shall not be cut off. He promises others that they will not fail: did he allow his mother to fail? But Mary does not fail, the teacher of virginity does not fail; nor could it be possible that she who carried God would think of carrying a human being.
All the pure virgins who are betrothed to Christ shall light their lamps, and with the Bridegroom they shall go into the marriage chamber. All those who are betrothed to Christ are far removed from the curse of the law and are redeemed from the condemnation of the daughters of Eve. For they are not wedded to men so as to receive the curses and come into the pains of childbirth. They take no thought of death, because they do not deliver children who will die. And in place of a mortal husband, they are betrothed to Christ. And, "because they do not bear children, there is given to them the name that is better than sons and daughters." And instead of the groans of the daughters of Eve, they utter the songs of the Bridgroom. The wedding feast of the daughters of Eve continues for only seven days. But for these virgins, the Bridegroom never leaves. The adornment of the daughters of Eve is wool that wears out and perishes, but the garments of these does not wear out. Old age withers the beauty of the daughters of Eve, but the beauty of these shall be renewed at the time of the resurrection.
Dictionary and topics
Proselyte — Is used in the LXX. for “stranger” (1 Chr. 22:2), i.e., a comer to Palestine; a sojourner in the land (Ex. 12:48; 20:10; 22:21), and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism. There were such…
Covenant, The · Blessings connected with — Blessings connected with
Eunuch · Prohibited from certain privileges of the congregation — Prohibited from certain privileges of the congregation
Proselytes · Were entitled to all privileges — Were entitled to all privileges
Walls · Mentioned in scripture: Of temples — Mentioned in scripture: Of temples
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
I will give to them in my house. Here we see that all men, however unworthy, may obtain admission into the kingdom of God: he alludes to Jerusalem, and to the temple in which the Lord placed a memorial of his name. No place was given in it to any but to the Jews alone; and they would have reckoned the temple to be polluted, if any of the Gentiles had entered into it. Hence also a serious insurrection arose against Paul for having brought into the temple uncircumcised persons. The Lord now admits, without distinction, those whom he previously forbade; and indeed he set aside this distinction, when we, who were the children of strangers, were brought by him into the temple, that is, into his C…
"For thus saith Jehovah to the circumcised, Those who keep my Sabbaths, and decide for that in which I take pleasure, and take fast hold of my covenant; I give to them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters: I give such a man an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." The second condition after the sanctification of the Sabbath has reference to the regulation of life according to the revealed will of God; the third to fidelity with regard to the covenant of circumcision. יד also means a side, and hence a place (Deu 23:13); but in the passage before us, where ושׁם יד form a closely connected pair of words, to which וּמבּנות מבּנים is appende…
within the walls of my house: Those previously excluded would have a place in God’s presence. • a memorial and a name: Everlasting existence in God’s presence is better than the blessing of physical descendants.