For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea,
&c.] These words are spoken either by the Lord to the prophet, calling Israel his people; or by the prophet to Hezekiah, as Jarchi and Kimchi think; or they may be rendered thus, "for though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea" F19; that is, innumerable, as was promised to Abraham, ( Genesis 22:17 ) ( Hosea 1:10 ) : [yet] a remnant of them shall return;
or "be converted in it" F20, to the Messiah; or "be saved", as the apostle interprets it, (See Gill on Romans 9:27); a remnant is a few, as Kimchi explains it, out of a great number: it signifies, that the majority of the Jewish nation should reject the Messiah, only a few of them should believe in him; and these should certainly believe in him, and be saved by him; and that for the following reason, because the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness;
that is, the precise and absolute decree, concerning the salvation of the remnant, God will cause to overflow, or abundantly execute, in a righteous manner, consistent with his divine perfections; and so it makes for the comfort of the remnant of the Lord's people, agreeably to the intent of the apostle's citation of it, (See Gill on Romans 9:28); though some understand it of God's punitive justice, in consuming and destroying the greater part of the Jewish people, the ungodly among them, and saving a remnant, which return and repent; and to this sense are the Targum, and the Jewish commentators.