IMAGES IN ISAIAH'S POETRY | A BARREN WOMAN

1. Images In Isaiah's Poetry

a) The New Testament writers Peter and Paul, draw on the words of Isaiah the prophet when they are teaching about the relationship of Christ to the church. The apostles draw our attention to three images in Isaiah's poetry which evoke a heightened understanding and appreciation of Christ’s preeminence in the church. 

b) Here is one of the images in Isaiah's poetry.

2. A Barren Woman

Isaiah 54:1
1 “Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

a) The image of a barren woman in Isaiah represents Jerusalem as a barren woman who will be made fertile and will therefore rejoice. After the destruction of Jerusalem it was a forlorn and desolate place, a woman not only barren but widowed. Isaiah uses this emotional image to represent the sorrow of Jerusalem, yet he tells Jerusalem to rejoice for her children will be many, even more than if she were a woman happily married and fertile (Isaiah 54:1-3).

b) Paul takes this passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 54:1-3) and links it to the story of Hagar and Sarah (Galatians 4:21-31, Genesis 21). He sees the true story as containing an allegory..

c) The fertile woman mentioned by Isaiah is represented by Hagar, Sarah’s slave girl who was fertile and who bore Abraham a son Ishmael. The barren woman whom Isaiah tells to rejoice is represented by Sarah who, although barren and old, gave birth to Isaac according to God’s promise. Isaac was the ancestor of Christ, and a type or symbol of Christ. The Jerusalem that was once so rich and fertile is represented by Hagar, but like her it was cast away. Jerusalem was destroyed and became desolate and barren like Sarah. However just as Sarah gave birth after many years, so the Christ would arise. He would create a new Jerusalem (the church or heavenly Jerusalem) and its children will be a great multitude. 

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