Isaiah 48:19

19 and thy seed would have been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: their name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Isaiah 48:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 48:19

Thy seed had also been as the sand
Upon the sea shore, as numerous as that, as was promised to Abraham, ( Genesis 22:17 ) : and the offspring of thy bowels as the gravel thereof;
that is, of the sand; the little stones that are in it, which lie in great numbers on the sea shore; the same thing expressed in different words, denoting the number of their posterity, as it would have been, had they received the Messiah, his doctrines and ordinances: it may be rendered, "and the offspring", or "those that go out of thy bowels", that spring from thee, are born of thee, "as the bowels thereof" F17, that is, of the sea; as what is within it, particularly the fishes of it, which are innumerable; and so Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech: his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me:
the name of Israel, as the Targum has it; the name of the people of the Jews is no more in the land where they dwelt; they are cut off as a nation; their city and temple are destroyed, where they appear no more before the Lord; which would not have been, had they hearkened to the Messiah, embraced his truths, and been obedient to his commands.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wytemk) "sicut viscera ejus", Montanus; "interiora maris"; Munster.

Isaiah 48:19 In-Context

17 Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I [am] Jehovah thy God, who teacheth thee for [thy] profit, who leadeth thee in the way that thou shouldest go.
18 Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then would thy peace have been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea;
19 and thy seed would have been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: their name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Go ye forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing; declare, cause this to be heard, utter it to the end of the earth; say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; yea, he clave the rock, and the waters gushed out.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.