Read Isaiah 51-52 at Bible Gateway.
For the LORD will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the LORD;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Isa 51:3
How many times in these past chapters have we read about the comfort of the LORD for His people, and the joy and gladness that belongs to the redeemed?
“Comfort” is in Hebrew, nacham, Strong’s H5162, nun + chet + mem. The pictographs are of the seed + the fence + the water. The seed, the sons or daughters, as well as the animals, livestock, and grain, whatever is needed for the continuation of the family, is surrounded by the fence, that guards and protects the seed. Surrounding the fence, is the water, the sea, which can also mean chaos or flood. So chaos, destruction, flood, is outside, but inside, the seed continues. It is at rest from hurt or harm. This is the same root that the name Noah, which means comfort or rest, is from.
To comfort, according to Webster’s, means, to give strength and hope to; to ease the grief or trouble of.
I also find it interesting how many times growing old like a garment has been mentioned recently: YHVH will justify His Servant, and His adversary will grow old like a garment (Isa 50:9); the earth will grow old like a garment, but the LORD’s salvation and favor will be forever (Isa 51:6); and men who reproach the LORD’s people, in whose heart is His torah, will be eaten up as a moth eats up a garment (Isa 51:8).
Children of the LORD, we are not to be afraid of men who will die, even of the antichrist, because he is like grass (Isa 51:12). Our Abba Daddy is YHVH our Maker who has done mighty things! For us, He has spoken comfort, rest, joy, gladness, salvation, and favor, which will never pass away!
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