context indicates that this non-literal language describes the restoration of son. The Israel from captivity. This “rebirth” of the nation then seems to be the basis for the exhortation to rejoice in v. 10.
The Text Verses 10–11. Three synonymous verbs in the imperative exhort the hearers to “rejoice with Jerusalem.” Again, if we read with vv. 7–9, the basis for this joy is that Zion/Jerusalem will give miraculous birth to this son/nation/children. Thus those who are called to rejoice are those who both “love Jerusalem and mourn over her.” These are those who, as Daniel in Daniel 9, understand why Jerusalem was punished, mourn over this, and trust in Yahweh’s promise to restore her; they maintain the true faith in the midst of the exile. Jerusalem/Zion is key because it is the central location around which the people of God based their identity: It is the capital of the Davidic kingdom and the place where the Temple was (and will be again), the place where Yahweh has put his name and where Israel is to go and present themselves to him. In the imagery of vv. 7–10 the city is likened to a mother giving birth. The “Zion as mother” image continues in v. 11 where the hearers are promised that they will “nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast” and “slurp/drink deeply from her glorious abundance.” The hearers are both invited in v. 10 to rejoice at the birth of the son/nation/children mentioned in vv. 7–9 and promised in v. 11 that they too will nurse as children themselves. Are the hearers supposed to see themselves as distinct from the son of v. 7 to whom Zion gives birth? The promise of v. 11 may indicate that the hearers are perhaps identified with the children of v. 8, but there appears at least an initial distinction made between the hearers and the son of v. 7 when the hearers are invited to rejoice at the birth of Jerusalem’s son before they then are promised that they too will nurse from Jerusalem as children. The son of v. 7 is the nation of Israel and the hearers each members of this nation. Verses 12–14. “For thus said Yahweh”—the initial line of v. 12 indicates that what follows will contain explanation/exposition of vv. 10-11. Verse 12a promises that peace and the glory of the nations (see Isaiah 2:2–3) will extend/flow to Jerusalem like a river/wadi. Verse 12b recalls once again the imagery of “Jerusalem as mother” in the promise that the hearers will be cared for as children by this mother. Verse 13, however, is most important in explaining what the earlier nonliteral language means: the agent of this act of comforting is not Jerusalem but Yahweh: “As a man whose mother comforts him, I myself will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Yahweh is the one who will bring about this rebirth and restoration of the nation in Jerusalem. The promise in v. 14a is that the hearers will see, rejoice, and thrive. Verse 14b contains a promise and threat that actually provides a good summary of the wider context of Isaiah 65:9–66:24: “The hand of Yahweh will be made
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