Isa 66:7-9 | JFB | STEP | 7. she —Zion. Before . . . travailed . . . brought forth —The accession of numbers, and of prosperity to her, shall be sudden beyond all expectation and unattended with painful effort ( ). Contrast with this case of the future Jewish Church the travail-pains of the Christian Church in bringing forth "a man child" ( ). A man child's birth is in the East a matter of special joy, while that of a female is not so; therefore, it here means the manly sons of the restored Jewish Church, the singular being used collectively for the plural: or the many sons being regarded as one under Messiah, who shall then be manifested as their one representative Head.

Isaiah 66:7-9

7. she—Zion.

Before . . . travailed . . . brought forth—The accession of numbers, and of prosperity to her, shall be sudden beyond all expectation and unattended with painful effort (Isa 54:1, 4, 5). Contrast with this case of the future Jewish Church the travail-pains of the Christian Church in bringing forth "a man child" (Re 12:2, 5). A man child's birth is in the East a matter of special joy, while that of a female is not so; therefore, it here means the manly sons of the restored Jewish Church, the singular being used collectively for the plural: or the many sons being regarded as one under Messiah, who shall then be manifested as their one representative Head.

8. earth—rather, to suit the parallelism, "is a country (put for the people in it) brought forth in one day?" [LOWTH]. In English Version it means, The earth brings forth its productions gradually, not in one day (Mr 4:28).

at once—In this case, contrary to the usual growth of the nations by degrees, Israel starts into maturity at once.

for—rather, "is a nation born at once, that Zion has, so soon as she travailed, brought forth?" [MAURER].

9. cause to bring forth, and shut—rather, "Shall I who beget, restrain the birth?" [LOWTH], (Isa 37:3; Ho 13:13); that is, Shall I who have begun, not finish My work of restoring Israel? (1Sa 3:12; Ro 11:1; Php 1:6).

shut—(compare Re 3:7, 8).