Isaiah 30:19
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
God's waiting people will live secure in Zion at Jerusalem, their weeping ended because He answers graciously the moment He hears their cry after their time of distress. He waits ready to be kind to those who have repented and turned to Him, hearing their prayer and answering it, guiding them in His way and strengthening those whose resolve is failing to call for help. Their tears cease forever because He Himself wipes them away, and this comfort belongs to the future gathering when risen and changed believers dwell in Jerusalem, tended as a mother tends her children. The promise looks especially to the last days and is typical of the Christian age, when Jehovah comes down to judge, to defend and deliver Jerusalem as birds hovering over it, and to establish Christ's kingdom in place of sin. It rebukes trusting in human help as Israel's rebellion in seeking Egypt, a warning that applies to churches seeking union with civil power, while after disappointment God's people find renewed joy when they hear His message.
Historical Setting and Context
Isaiah 30:19 belongs to the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39. That first part was formed from single prophecies published at different times and on different occasions and afterward gathered into one collection. It was produced while Isaiah was actively mingling in the public concerns of rulers and people as God's messenger to the nation. It does not belong to the second part, chapters 40 to 66, written in his later years apart from active exertion and occupied wholly with the future. Within that first part it stands in the group of prophecies in chapters 24-35 that look especially toward the last days and God's judgments on the earth. More narrowly it falls within chapters 28-31, which warn against trusting in people.
The chapter rebukes Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness. Forsaking God and seeking help from Egypt was rebellion.
Gracious Promise and Comfort
The promise is to waiting people that they shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, weep no more, and receive a gracious answer at the voice of their cry, pointing to deliverance after a time of distress when their needs have been met even in affliction. God waits to be gracious and is ready to show grace and mercy, responding with great kindness when His people cry to Him. He hears their plea and answers them, and His mercy brings their weeping to an end.
His answering enables them to hear and recognize His voice directing their way, and the Christian who has experienced His love continually seeks to know His will and is guided away from danger. To those who have repented of their sins and turned to the Lord, the assurance is that He will be gracious at the voice of their cry, hearing their prayer and answering it. The same assurance encourages those whose strength and resolve are failing to call upon God for help, for He will be gracious when they cry, hear and answer them.
They shall weep no more because God Himself will wipe away their tears, ending anguish, bereavement, adversity, and sorrow. That healing comes from God and not merely from the passing of time, and tears He wipes away will not flow again. Zion is the place where His people shall dwell comforted and weeping no more, which belongs to the future time when risen and changed believers are gathered to live in Jerusalem, where God answers their cry and they receive comfort there as children comforted by their mother.
Prophetic Fulfillment and Warning
The prophecy concerning Israel to which the verse belongs is typical of conditions in the Christian age. It is part of a prophetic announcement whose fulfillment has special significance in the latter days, as Christ's timeless kingdom is about to supersede sin on earth. The chapter shows the literal pre-millennial coming of Jehovah to judgment, with a millennial deliverance interwoven into it. At that coming Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard and shall show the lighting down of His arm with the indignation of His anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones. He shall come down to fight for Jerusalem and for its hill, and as birds flying He shall defend Jerusalem, defending also delivering it, and passing over preserving it. The promise belongs to that coming when eyes shall see the King in His beauty, for which prayer is made for Jesus to come.
The verse describes God's gracious response to His people after distress, that they shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, weep no more, and receive an answer when they cry to Him. In the 1844 experience these words further describe the joy that returned to God's disappointed people when they heard the Lord's message.
The chapter's rebuke of Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness, in that forsaking God and seeking help from Egypt was rebellion, carries the same lesson for churches seeking union with civil power.