Sing, O {a} barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the {b} desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

(a) After he has declared the death of Christ, he speaks to the Church, because it would feel the fruit of the same, and calls her barren, because in the captivity she was a widow without hope to have any children.

(b) The Church in this her affliction and captivity will bring forth more children, than when she was free, or this may be spoken by admiration, considering the great number that would come from her. Her deliverance under Cyrus was as her childhood, and therefore this was accomplished when she came of age, which was under the gospel.

Wesley's Notes

54:1 Sing - The prophet having largely discoursed of the sufferings of Christ, and of the blessed fruits thereof, and here foreseeing that glorious state of the church, he breaks forth into this song of triumph. And as the foregoing chapter literally speaks of Christ, so doth this of the church of Christ. This church, consisting at first of the Jews, and afterwards of the Gentiles, had been barren, 'till the coming of Christ. The desolate - The church of the Gentiles, which in the times of the Old Testament was desolate, does now bring forth to God a more numerous posterity than that of the Jews.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin travail

See Scofield Note: "Mic 5:1".

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 54

Isa 54:1-17. The Fruit of Messiah's Sufferings, and of Israel's Final Penitence at Her Past Unbelief (Isa 53:6): Her Joyful Restoration and Enlargement by Jehovah, Whose Wrath Was Momentary, but His Kindness Everlasting.

Israel converted is compared to a wife (Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5) put away for unfaithfulness, but now forgiven and taken home again. The converted Gentiles are represented as a new progeny of the long-forsaken but now restored wife. The pre-eminence of the Hebrew Church as the mother Church of Christendom is the leading idea; the conversion of the Gentiles is mentioned only as part of her felicity [Horsley].

1. Sing-for joy (Zep 3:14).

barren-the Jewish Church once forsaken by God, and therefore during that time destitute of spiritual children (Isa 54:6).

didst not bear-during the Babylonian exile primarily. Secondarily, and chiefly, during Israel's present dispersion.

the children-the Gentiles adopted by special grace into the original Church (Isa 54:3; Isa 49:20, 21).

than . married wife-than were her spiritual children, when Israel was still a married wife (under the law, before the Babylonian exile), before God put her away [Maurer]. So Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (Ga 4:27). But the full accomplishment of it is yet future.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

54:1-5 Observe the low state of religion in the world, for a long time before Christianity was brought in. But by preaching the gospel, multitudes were converted from idols to the living God. This is matter of great rejoicing to the church. The bounds of the church were extended. Though its state on earth is but mean and movable, like a tent or tabernacle, it is sometimes a growing state, and must be enlarged as the family increases. But the more numerous the church grows, the more she must fortify herself against errors and corruptions. Thy Maker is thy Husband. Christ is the Holy One of Israel, the Mediator of the covenant made with the Old Testament church. Long he had been called the God of Israel; but now he shall be called the God of the whole earth. And he will cleanse from sin, and cause every true believer to rejoice in this sacred union. We never can enough admire this mercy, or duly value this privilege.