Isaiah 65:20

20 A young child of days shall no more be there, and an eld man, that filleth not his days; for why a child of an hundred years shall die, and a sinner of an hundred years shall be cursed. (And there shall not be a young child there, who liveth only for a few days, nor an old man who filleth not all of his days, for why should any child die before a hundred years of age; but a sinner shall die there before living a hundred years, for he shall be cursed.)

Isaiah 65:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 65:20

There shall be no more thence an infant of days
That is, there shall no more be carried out from thence, from Jerusalem, or any other place where the church of God is, to the grave, in order to be interred, an infant that has lived but a few days, a very common thing now; but, in the latter day, such instances will be rare, or rather there will be none at all; every child born will live to the age of man, and not be cut off by any premature death, either by any natural disease, or by famine, or sword, or any other calamity, which will now have no place: nor an old man that hath not filled his days;
who, though he may in some sense, or in comparison of others, be said to be old, yet has not arrived to the full term of man's life, threescore years and ten, or more; for it seems, by what follows, as if the term of human life will be lengthened in the latter day, and reach in common to a hundred years; so that as long life is always reckoned a temporal happiness, among the rest that shall be enjoyed, this will be one in the latter day; and which is to be understood not of the Millennium state, in which there will be no death, ( Revelation 21:4 ) , which yet will be in this, as the following words show; but of the state preceding that, even the spiritual reign of Christ: for the child shall die an hundred years old;
not that that shall be reckoned a child that shall die at a hundred years of age F8, the life of man being now, in these days of the Messiah, as long as they were before the flood, as the Jewish interpreters imagine; but the child that is now born, or he that is now a child, shall live to the age of a hundred years, and not die before: but lest this outward happiness should be trusted to, and a man should imagine that therefore he is in a happy state for eternity, being blessed with such a long life, it follows, "but" or though the sinner, being an hundred years old; shall be accursed;
for though this shall be common in this state to good men and bad men, to live a hundred years, yet their death will not be alike; the good man will be blessed, and enter into a happy state of joy and peace; but the wicked man, though he lives as long as the other in this world, shall be accursed at death, and to all eternity; see ( Ecclesiastes 8:12 Ecclesiastes 8:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Vid. Gloss. in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 91. 2.

Isaiah 65:20 In-Context

18 But ye shall have joy, and make full out joying till into without end, in these things which I make; for lo! I make Jerusalem (to be) full out joying, and the people thereof (to be a) joy. (But ye shall have joy, and shall rejoice until forever, over these things which I make; for lo! I shall make the new Jerusalem to be full of joy, and its people to have joy.)
19 And I shall make full out joying in Jerusalem, and I shall have joy in my people (Yea, I shall rejoice over Jerusalem, and I shall have joy over my people); and the voice of weeping and the voice of cry shall no more be heard therein.
20 A young child of days shall no more be there, and an eld man, that filleth not his days; for why a child of an hundred years shall die, and a sinner of an hundred years shall be cursed. (And there shall not be a young child there, who liveth only for a few days, nor an old man who filleth not all of his days, for why should any child die before a hundred years of age; but a sinner shall die there before living a hundred years, for he shall be cursed.)
21 And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them, and they shall plant vines, and shall eat the fruits of those.
22 They shall not build houses, and another shall inhabit, they shall not plant, and another shall eat; for why the days of my people shall be after the days of the tree, and the works of their hands shall be eld to my chosen men. (They shall not build houses, which another shall inhabit, and they shall not plant, what another shall eat; for the days of my people shall be like the many days of a tree, and the works of their hands shall be long lasting for my chosen ones.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.