Isaiah 56:3

3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’

Isaiah 56:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 56:3

Neither let the son of the stranger
A Gentile, that is so by birth, the son of one that is an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger from the covenants of promise, and so had no right to come into the congregation of the Lord under the former dispensation; but now the middle wall of partition being broken down, in the times to which this prophecy belongs, such are encouraged to expect admission: that hath joined himself to the Lord;
who, having a spiritual knowledge of him in Christ, loves him, believes in him, gives up himself to him, to walk in his ways and ordinances, and cleaves unto him with full purpose of heart; see ( Isaiah 44:5 ) ( Jeremiah 1:5 ) such an one should not speak, saying, the Lord hath utterly separated me from his people;
by a law of his, ( Deuteronomy 23:3 ) , for now the wall of separation, the ceremonial law, is destroyed, and God declares himself to be the God of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews; and of all that fear God, and believe in Christ, of every nation, who are accepted with him; and that they are all one in Christ, and all partakers of the same promises and blessings; so strangers, and the sons of strangers, were to have an inheritance among the children of Israel in Gospel times; see ( Ezekiel 47:22 Ezekiel 47:23 ) and therefore should have no reason to speak after this manner: neither let the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree;
having no children, nor could have any; and to be written childless was reckoned a reproach and a curse; nor might an eunuch enter the congregation of the Lord, ( Deuteronomy 23:1 ) , and yet such a man, having the grace of God, and acting agreeably to it, as in the following verse, should not distress himself on the above accounts.

Isaiah 56:3 In-Context

1 This is what the LORD says: “Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display my righteousness among you.

2 Blessed are all those who are careful to do this. Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of rest and keep themselves from doing wrong.

3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’

4 For this is what the LORD says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me.

5 I will give them—within the walls of my house— a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!