Isaiah 52 Study Notes

52:1 For the third time in this section, the call to wake up occurs (51:9,17; see also 50:4). This time it is addressed to Zion, again personified as a woman (49:14-50:4). The description is of a renewed, refreshed, and restored Jerusalem. The city is no longer contaminated by the uncircumcised and the unclean.

52:2 In an obvious allusion to the exile, Zion is pictured as freed from bondage. She will rise from the dust to take her seat, perhaps implying a transition from dusty captive to dignified queen.

52:3 God was so anxious to get rid of sinful Zion that he sold her for nothing. Since he sold her for nothing, he can now redeem her for nothing.

52:4 The prophecy speaks from a prophetic perspective as if Isaiah were living at the time of the Babylonian captivity. From that time in the future, he looks back on two previous traumatic periods in Israelite history—the exodus from Egypt in the second millennium BC and the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom during Isaiah’s lifetime (722 BC). The Babylonian captivity dates to 586-539 BC.

52:5-6 God’s people come to know him through this process of punishment and restoration. Paul quotes v. 5 in Rm 2:24.

52:7 In the ancient world, news was carried by a herald. In this verse the herald announces the end of hostilities and the fact that God reigns as King over his people. A variation of this verse occurs in Nah 1:15. Paul quotes this verse in Rm 10:15.

52:8-9 Watchmen were posted on city walls to keep an eye out for attack, or in this case to be the first to witness the return of the Lord to his Holy City, Jerusalem. Their words are recorded in v. 9.

52:10 The salvation referred to here is the conspicuous restoration of Jerusalem after it had been reduced to ruins by the Babylonians.

52:11 The priests (who carry the vessels of the Lord) are now encouraged to leave, presumably from Babylonian captivity (48:20-22). Ezekiel 1:5-11 recounts the return of the temple vessels under the leadership of Sheshbazzar. This pronouncement exhorts the priests not to defile themselves ritually because they are going back to a Zion that is not stained by impurity (Is 52:1). Paul quotes this verse in 2Co 6:17.

52:12 Unlike in the first exodus (Ex 12:11) they will not go out in haste because there will be no one chasing them. The imagery of the rear guard is from Jos 6:9; 8:13.

52:13-53:12 See the note at 42:1-9 for the view that the servant in this passage represents the purified remnant of Israel and ultimately the Messiah. The NT authors recognized that the description of a suffering servant, who “bore the sin of many” (53:12), fits Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of his people. This chapter’s description is the most individualistic of all the servant songs in the book of Isaiah, and thus most clearly points to application beyond Israel.

52:13 The poem begins with the end point—the exaltation of the servant (53:11-12). Glory will be the end result of his suffering.

52:14 The suffering of the servant will so disfigure him that he will not appear human.

52:15 Much debate surrounds the meaning of the servant sprinkling many nations. The main problem is that the verse does not specify what the servant will use to sprinkle them. The best guess is that it refers to a ritual act like the sprinkling of blood (Lv 4:6,17; 16:14-15,19; Nm 19:4) or oil (Lv 8:11). The effect of this sprinkling is either to purify or to dedicate to a holy status. Paul quotes this verse in Rm 15:21.