Read Isaiah 56 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
56:1-2 {s} My salvation and righteousness about to be revealed: Blessed is he who keeps Sabbath and refrains from evil
56:3 {p} Do not let the foreigner or eunuch say they are separated from His people with no posterity
56:4-5 {s} The eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths and covenant, I will give them an everlasting memorial
56:6-9 {p} The foreigners who love YHVH and+ Keep My Sabbaths and covenant, I will bring to My house of prayer
56:10- …
The Strong theme:
56:1-3 {s+p} My salvation and righteousness to be revealed: Blessed is he who keeps Sabbath (even foreigners and eunuchs)
56:4-9 {s+p} The eunuchs and foreigners who keep My Sabbaths and My covenant, I will give them an everlasting memorial, and bring into My house of prayer
The Chiastic structure:
How Isaiah 55 and 56 invite the Gentiles to be included in YHVH’s covenant
The call to come, to drink and eat that which truly satisfies (Isa 55:1) is universal: “Everyone” means, every person there is; it’s all-inclusive. It is echoed in Yeshua’s “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden” (Mat 11:28). “All” means, the whole amount, quantity, or extent of; the whole number or sum of. Yeshua’s “Come to Me” echoes Isaiah’s yalak, come, movement toward.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Gen 17:7
This is the everlasting covenant, marked by the sign of circumcision (Gen 17:13). The sure and steadfast love of David (Isa 55:3-4) is a prophetic nod to David’s Messianic root and branch, who holds up the banner for the nations (Isa 11:10-12). He is the witness for the peoples, not Jacob only.
The son of Adam is blessed who holds fast YHVH’s covenant and keeps from profaning the Sabbath (vs. 2). Adam’s sons refers to all humanity.
And let not the son of the foreigner, who has joined himself to YHVH, speak, saying, “YHVH has surely separated me from His people.” Isa 56:3
To make His universal call crystal clear, He specifically addresses the son of the foreigner, not of Jacob, who holds fast to His covenant and keeps His Sabbaths. YHVH gathers him in, for His house is a house of prayer for all peoples, and not Israel only (vs. 7).
The root and branch of David, Messiah Yeshua, opened the door for all, everyone, to come as Isaiah prophesied (Eph 2:12-14).
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