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 52:8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring agai…
Ezekiel 3:17-21 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
Psalms 134:1-2 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.
Jeremiah 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may d…
Ezekiel 33:2-9 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 62:6-9
Two things are here promised to Jerusalem: -
I. Plenty of the means of grace - abundance of good preaching and good praying (Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7), and this shows the method God takes when he designs mercy for a people; he first brings them to their duty and pours out a spirit of prayer upon them, and then brings salvation to them. Provision is made,
1. That ministers may do their duty as watchmen. It is here spoken of as a token for good, as a step towards further mercy and an earnest of it, that, in order to what he designed for them, he would set watchmen on their walls who should never hold their peace. Note, (1.) Ministers are watchmen on the church's walls, for it is as a city besieged,…
I--Isaiah speaking in the person of the Messiah.
watchmen upon . . . walls--image from the watches set upon a city's wall to look out for the approach of a messenger with good tidings (Isa 52:7-8); the good tidings of the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon, prefiguring the return from the present dispersion (compare Isa 21:6-11; Isa 56:10; Eze 3:17; Eze 33:7). The watches in the East are announced by a loud cry to mark the vigilance of the watchmen.
ye that . . . mention . . . Lord--Hebrew, "ye that are the Lord's remembrancers"; God's servants who by their prayers "put God in remembrance" of His promises (Isa 43:26); we are required to remind God, as if God could, which He cannot,…
Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence - The faithful, and in particular the priests and Levites, are exhorted by the prophet to beseech God with unremitted importunity (compare Luk 18:1, etc.) to hasten the redemption of Sion. The image in this place is taken from the temple service; in which there was appointed a constant watch, day and night, by the Levites: and among them this seems to have belonged particularly to the singers, see Ch1 9:33. Now the watches in the east, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time of the watchmen, to mark the time, and that very frequently, and in order to show that they themselves are constantly attentive to their duty. He…
The Church Fathers
Again, he gives the name Jerusalem to the bride but calls guards those who lead the godly people through city and town, those who night and day sing praises to God and guard the city. If one wants to take these as angels, one would not be far wrong. For it says, "The angel of the Lord will encircle those who are afraid and protect them."
Jerusalem … there is nothing like you; for there is nothing like you among us. Nevertheless, because whatever he has surpasses the human by the excess of glory, God outstrips us by the glory of his divinity in his being good and compassionate.…If you could correct yourself, Jerusalem, that is, if you could change to spiritual worship, if you could … take notice of the things written by Moses, if you would receive God's grace through faith and make his praise known through the earth, then you would make known the shining glory that is in Christ. This is the glory by which the Lord has sworn, since he has no one better to swear by. He has sworn "by his right arm," in that those who of old afflicted you with great injustice would no longer get in your way.
Instead of "there is none like you, until he sets Jerusalem right and makes it a shining example on the earth," Symmachus has, "do not be silent and do not let him be silent until he prepares and makes Jerusalem to sing on the earth." … For with the prophetic choir asking such questions, the Holy Spirit is encouraging them and exhorting them to continue in those prayers on behalf of those mentioned. So he says, "Don't be silent and give no silence, that is, to the Lord who promises these things, until he has prepared and makes Jerusalem to sing on the earth." He provides for the intercession made by the powers of all the people, that it should not be quiet or ever fall silent, but with shouts and unrestrained cries rouse him. The people's intercession should never give God peace.
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
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Intercession · OF MAN WITH GOD — OF MAN WITH GOD
Jews, The · Pray importunately for — Pray importunately for
Prayer, Intercessory · Should be offered up for: The Church — Should be offered up for: The Church
Titles And Names Of Ministers · Watchmen — Watchmen
Walls · Of cities: Kept by watchmen night and day — Of cities: Kept by watchmen night and day
Watchfulness · God especially requires in ministers — God especially requires in ministers
Watchmen · Were stationed: On the walls of cities — Were stationed: On the walls of cities
Zeal, Religious · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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 have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,.... Not angels, as Jarchi; nor kings, as Kimchi; nor princes and civil magistrates, as others; nor the mourners in Zion, as Aben Ezra; but ministers of the Gospel; as the prophets of the Old Testament are called watch men, Isaiah 21:11, so ministers of the New, Isaiah 52:8 who are to watch in all things over themselves, and for the souls of men; for their good, and to guard them against that which is evil, pernicious, and dangerous, both in principle and practice, 2 Timothy 4:5. The allusion is to watchmen on the walls of cities, whose business is to keep their place and stand, and not move from it; to look out diligently, and descry an enemy,…
On thy walls. As the Prophet intended to describe the perfect happiness of the kingdom of Christ, so he makes an assemblage of all that belongs to the prosperous condition of any country or city. To other advantages he adds guards and a garrison; because the greatest abundance of all good things would be of little avail, if we were not safe from enemies; and therefore he declares that the Lord will not only supply the Church with all that is necessary, but will also appoint faithful guards to ward off enemies and robbers, that he may thus be recognised, both within and without, as the author of a happy life.
Who shall not be, silent. By "being silent," he means "being at rest;" as if he had…
Watchmen stationed upon the walls of Zion (says the third strophe) do not forsake Jehovah till He has fulfilled all His promise. "Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I stationed watchmen; all the day and all the night continually they are not silent. O ye who remember Jehovah, leave yourselves no rest! And give Him no rest, till He raise up, and till He set Jerusalem for a praise in the earth." As the phrase hiphqı̄d ‛al signifies to make a person an overseer (president) over anything, it seems as though we ought to render the sentence before us, "I have set watchmen over thy walls." But hiphqı̄d by itself may also mean "to appoint" (Kg2 25:23), and therefore עלח־ומתיך may indicate the place o…
The watchmen probably represent the prophets. • they will pray day and night: They will continually seek the full restoration and blessing of Zion, unlike the destructive watchmen of 56:10.
Rashi on Isaiah 62:6
On your walls, O Jerusalem Our Rabbis expounded it according to its apparent meaning as referring to the angels who remind the Lord concerning its destruction, to build it. What do they say? (Ps. 102:14) “You shall rise, You shall have mercy on Zion”; (ibid. 132:13) “For the Lord has chosen Zion.” As is found in the Tractate Menahoth (87a, Rashi ad loc.). Jonathan, [however,] renders “your walls,” the early forefathers, who protect us like a wall.
I have appointed watchmen to inscribe a book of remembrances, that their merit be not forgotten from before Me.
they shall never be silent not to mention their merit before Me.
those who remind the Lord of the merit of the forefathers.
be not s…
