Isaiah 60:14

The prophecy now returns to the world of man. "The children also of thy tormentors come bending unto thee, and all thy despisers stretch themselves at the soles of thy feet, and call thee 'City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.'" The persecutors of the church both in work and word are now no more (Isa 26:14), and their children fell themselves disarmed. They are seized with shame and repentance, when they see the church which was formerly tormented and despised so highly exalted. They come shechōăch (an inf. noun of the form טחון, Lam 5:13; used here as an accusative of more precise definition, just as nouns of this kind are frequently connected directly with the verb הלך, Ewald, 279, c), literally a bow or stoop, equivalent to bowing or stooping (the opposite to rōmâh in Mic 2:3), and stretch themselves "at the soles of thy feet," i.e., clinging to thee as imploringly and obsequiously as if they would lay themselves down under thy very feet, and were not worthy to lie anywhere but there (as in Isa 49:23); and whereas formerly they called thee by nicknames, they now give thee the honourable name of "City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel," not "Sanctuary of Israel," as Meier supposes, since qedōsh Israel is always a name of Jehovah in the book of Isaiah. It is a genitive construction like Bethlehem of Judah, Gibeah of Saul, and others.

This whole chapter is all to the same purport, all in the same strain; it is a part of God's covenant with his church, which is spoken of in the last verse of the foregoing chapter, and the blessings here promised are the fruits of the word and Spirit there promised. The long continuance of the church, even unto the utmost ages of time, was there promised, and here the large extent of the church, even unto the utmost regions of the earth; and both these tend to the honour of the Redeemer. It is here promised, I. That the church shall be enlightened and shone upon (Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2). II. That it shall be enlarged and great additions made to it, to join in the service of God (Isa 60:3-8). III. That the new converts shall be greatly serviceable to the church and to the interests of it (Isa 60:9-13). IV. That the church shall be in great honour and reputation among men (Isa 60:14-16). V. That it shall enjoy a profound peace and tranquility (Isa 60:17, Isa 60:18). VI. That, the members of it being all righteous, the glory and joy of it shall be everlasting (Isa 60:19-22). Now this has some reference to the peaceable and prosperous condition which the Jews were sometimes in after their return out of captivity into their own land; but it certainly looks further, and was to have its full accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, the enlargement of that kingdom by the bringing in of the Gentiles into it, and the spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ Jesus with which it should be enriched, and all these earnests of eternal joy and glory.