Isaiah 60:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 60:9
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
to gleam · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine 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
Isaiah 55:5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and…
Isaiah 2:16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which sh…
Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm sh…
Isaiah 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Isaiah 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and…
Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made…
Isaiah 66:19-20 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 60:9-14
The promises made to the church in the foregoing verses are here repeated, ratified, and enlarged upon, designed still for the comfort and encouragement of the Jews after their return out of captivity, but certainly looking further, to the enlargement and advancement of the gospel church and the abundance of spiritual blessings with which it shall be enriched.
I. God will be very gracious and propitious to them. We must begin with that promise, because thence all the rest take rise. The sanctuary that was desolate begins to be repaired when God causes his face to shine upon it, Dan 9:17. All the favour that the people of God find with men is owing to the light of God's countenance and his fa…
(see on Isa 42:4).
Tarshish first--The ships of Tartessus (see on Isa 2:16; Isa 23:1, that is, vessels that trade to the most distant regions) will be among the foremost to bring back the scattered Israelites (Isa 66:20).
their silver--The nations among whom the Jews have been scattered shall help them with their money in returning (Isa 60:5-7, Isa 60:11, Isa 60:16), as was the case at the return from Babylon (Ezr 1:4; compare Psa 68:30-31).
unto the name . . . to the Holy One--rather, because of the name--because of the Holy One (compare Isa 55:5) [LOWTH].
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 60:9
The ships of Tarshish first "The ships of Tarshish among the first" - For בראשנה barishonah twenty-five MSS. and the Syriac read כבראשנה kebarishonah, "as at the first." The ships of Tarshish AS at the first; that is, as they brought gold and silver in the days of Solomon.
John Gill on Isaiah 60:9
Surely the isles shall wait for me;.... The Targum is,
"for my Word.''
The Messiah, and his coming. The isles of Great Britain may more especially be intended, who, as they waited for his Gospel, and readily received it, and embraced it, as soon as it was brought to them, which was very early; so there are many here now waiting for the spiritual coming of Christ, and the glory of his churches in the latter day, and perhaps more than in any other part of the world besides:
and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them; this is to be understood of the Jews converted in distant parts of the world, who shall be brought in transport ships to…
The Church Fathers
It is possible to contemplate the fulfillment of the divine word when one sees, in consequence of the conversion of the nations, such souls dedicating themselves to the message of godliness and being diligently busy in the ministry of the altar of God. It is then especially on account of the conversion of such souls and their salvation that the church of God receives glory.
He calls the ships "from Tharsis," those that come from Tharsis in India, which is situated in the far east and puts us in mind of Jonah. These will come to Jerusalem not for its sake but for God, who wished to ratify the promise made to the ancestors through his great mercy. And next, "And strangers will build you walls." This can now be seen, for the Gentiles lead the churches and fence them round with their teachings, so that there is no place for a contrary word of counsel. "And their kings will minister to you." For even today the leaders of the Roman administration and the fear of kings restrain those plotting against the churches. Indeed, "minister" means their subordination. For they listen to the church's holy oracles and value the gospel message with all consideration.
We need to observe how the Lord, out of his benevolence, foretells all things before they happen. When he threatens doom, this is so that his servants, afraid of what might happen, will turn and repent and manage to deflect the terrible trials. Again, blessings are promised, and these promises strengthen the souls of those who act justly, providing them with hope before God. But there is never any necessity on God to carry out these things. For when people repent there is no need for anger, or, when they do not persevere in doing good, he will not [necessarily] bring to an end the promised blessings either, we ourselves being the ones who provide the reasons for God to execute the promised harm.And these events can be discovered if one looks, for instance, at when Cyrus and then Darius rebuilt Jerusalem. Also, no less a person than Alexander was impressed by the sacred vestment and turned anger into worship.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Excellency And Glory Of The Church, The · Augmented by increase of its members — Augmented by increase of its members
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Gold · Used as money — Used as money
Jews, The · Promises respecting: Future prosperity of — Promises respecting: Future prosperity of
Liberality · 1:2-4; — 1:2-4;
Money · Gold used as — Gold used as
Ship · .With Tarshish — .With Tarshish
Ships · Mentioned in scripture: Of Tarshish — Mentioned in scripture: Of Tarshish
Tarshish · .Commerce and wealth of — .Commerce and wealth of
Waiting Upon God · Predicted of the Gentiles — Predicted of the Gentiles
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).
Surely the islands shall wait for me. After having employed every eulogium that he could find for extolling that wonderful benefit of restoration, Isaiah introduces God himself as speaking, that the discourse may carry greater weight. This "waiting" is supposed by some to denote desire; as if he had said that this is done, because nations beyond the seas shall, as it were, hunger after him; because they shall feel that they are destitute of life and salvation. Others view it as simply denoting hope. But sometimes it likewise means "to observe," in which sense David employs it. "Wicked men wait for my soul;" that is, "they lay snares for my life." (Psalm 56:6) In that sense it may be understo…
From the mainland, over which caravans and flocks are coming, the prophet now turns his eyes to the sea. "Who are these who fly hither as a cloud, and like the doves to their windows? Yea, the islands wait for me; and the ships of Tarshish come first, to bring thy children from far, their silver and gold with them, to the name of thy God, and to the holy One of Israel, because He hath ornamented thee." Upon the sea there appear first of all enigmatical shapes, driving along as swiftly as if they were light clouds flying before the wind (Isa 19:1; Isa 45:22), or like doves flying to their dovecots (celeres cavis se turribus abdunt, as Ovid says), i.e., to the round towers with their numerous…
as in the beginning Like ‘as in the beginning,’ meaning in the days of Solomon, like the matter that is stated (I Kings 10:22): “For the king had at sea ships of Tarshish, etc.; once in three years, the ships of Tarshish would come, etc.” Tarshish is the name of the sea.
in the name of the Lord your God that is called upon you, for they will hear a report of Him and the name of His might, and come.
for He has glorified you He has given you glory.
