Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob
The Jews, the descendants of Jacob: and all the remnant of
the house of Israel;
those that remained of the ten tribes that had been carried
captive long ago. These may, in a spiritual sense, design those
who are Israelites indeed; the household of the God of Jacob; the
chosen of God, and called; the remnant according to the election
of grace: which are borne by me from the belly, which are
carried from the womb:
here the Lord distinguishes himself from the idols of the
Babylonians; they were laid as burdens upon beasts, and bore and
carried by them; but the Lord is born and carried by none, but
bears and carries his people. The allusion is to tender parents
that have compassion on their children as soon as born, and take
care of them, and bear them in their bosoms, and carry them in
their arms; and may have respect, in the literal sense, to the
infant state of the Jews, both as a church and commonwealth, when
the Lord took pity on them, and care of them, and bore them as a
father bears his son; and bore with their manners too, and
carried them all the days of old through the wilderness to
Canaan's land; see ( Numbers
11:12 ) ( Deuteronomy
1:31 ) ( Acts 13:18 ) ( Isaiah 63:9 ) . It may
be applied to the care of God in the preservation of men by his
providence, especially his own people, whose God he is from their
mother's belly; who takes them under his protection as soon as
born, and carries them through every state of infancy, youth,
manhood, and old age, and never leaves nor forsakes them; see (
Psalms
22:10 ) ( Psalms 71:5 Psalms 71:6 Psalms 71:17
Psalms
71:18 ) ( 48:14 ) , and
with great propriety may be applied to regenerate persons, who,
as soon as born again, are regarded by the Lord in a very
visible, tender, and compassionate manner; he "bears" them in his
bosom, and on his heart; he bears them in his arms; he puts his
everlasting arms underneath them; he bears with them, with all
their weakness and infirmities, their peevishness and
frowardness; he bears them up under all their afflictions, and
sustains all their burdens; he bears them through and out of all
their troubles and difficulties: he "carries" them, in like
manner, in his bosom, and in his arms; he "carries" them into his
house, the church, which is the nursery for them, where they are
nursed and fed, and have the breasts of consolation drawn out to
them; he carries on the good work of grace in them; he carries
them through all their trials and exercises safe to heaven and
eternal happiness; for they are poor, weak, helpless creatures,
like newly born babes, cannot go alone, but must be bore up and
carried.