What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52nd Chapter, 1st verse, which says:?

Question

Put on thy strength, O Zion-- and what people had Isaiah reference to?

Answer 1

The prophet Joseph Smith asked this same question. The response from Jesus Christ is found below:

7 Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to?
8 He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost.

Answer 2

The people of Zion are Jews - and in this passage you have to take the whole chapter into context. It regards the day when the enemies of Israel will gather around her and attack her...,

It will be a bitter sweet day in that the people of Zion should strengthen themselves and gird themselves with the splendor of righteousness, because on that day God will deliver them.

I say it is a bitter sweet day because; (a) death even of one's enemies is never a pleasant sight (b) deliverance from one's enemies bent on killing you is something awesome and long awaited.

The world will see Zion (Israel/Jerusalem) delivered by God's miraculous hand and true peace will come.

Also keep in mind chapters and verses were inserted in the Bible by man for reasons of being able to locate scriptures quickly and it serves for people being able to tell someone right were an exact scripture is that they recite.

So chapter 52 does not start in one context - but prior to it and flows on throughout the book., The book has to be taken as a whole. For whatever reason these chapters and verses throughout the Bible were never set to "logical" topics. They were just placed. Many scripture verses split in mid sentence which makes no sense. So you have to take the scriptures in proper context and it does not always align with the way the chapters and verses are marked.

Answer 3

It's a football cheer leading chant. The O Zions were one of the big football teams during the biblical era (indeed, rumored to be God's favorite team!) and the crowds would always chant 'Put on thy strength, O Zion' - especially when the defense was on the field.

Answer 4

Zion and Jerusalem are terms often used to refer to Israel, probably the faithful of Israel.

Isa 52:1 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
(ESV)

Isa 52:1 Jerusalem, wake up! Stand up and be strong. Holy city of Zion, dress in your best clothes. Those foreigners who ruined your sacred city won't bother you again. (CEV)

Answer 5

Terms like Zion, Jerusalem, My Servant, Jacob, etc.. in Isaiah are used almost exclusively to refer to the Jewish people.

Answer 6

The beautiful garments symbolizes the restored priesthood to the House of Isreal in the Last Days and the Loosing of the Bands from the neck signified the removal of the curses of God If Isreal will return to God. New revelations would be given.

Answer 7

Verse 1 employs several figures in the call for an appropriate response of faith by the people. The addressee here is “Zion”—hence the feminine forms of the verbs. “Zion” is the mountain on which the temple once stood; so here it is a metonymy of subject for the people of the land who center their attention on Jerusalem. It is possible the prophet is addressing the exiles still; but it is interesting that the provenance of his oracles now shifts to the focus in the land of Israel.

The first figure is “Awake”; this is an implied comparison, comparing the waking up from sleep with responding by faith to God’s Word. The idea of “awake” has been used previously in chapter 50 for responding to the Word of God, as well as in chapter 51 for the unfaithful to wake up. Here the word is repeated; the figure of repetition is used to urge the immediate response of the people.

“Put on” (libsi [liv-she], s.v. labas [lah-vash]) is another comparison, linking the ideas of putting on clothes with acting by faith (compare Ephesians 6 with its “put on the whole armor of God”). The idea means to make full use of something. Here that “something” is “strength” (‘oz [oze]), probably a metonymy of effect, the cause being the power of God that will give the believers the strength to do what needs to be done (recall the renewing of strength in Isaiah 40). So the point is that by faith they must respond to the Word of God and trust God to enable them to return to the land.

They are called to put on their “beautiful garments.” The expression recalls the festive robes of the priests (cf. Exod. 19:14 and 28:40). Rather than be in the estate of the slave (47:1), the people will be restored to their dignified state of a holy nation and a kingdom of priests (see Zech. 3 which symbolizes this restoration by having the filthy garments removed from the priest (who signifies the nation) and clean robes and a new miter or turban given to him (which signifies the renewal to spiritual service after the exile).

The explanation given in the verse is that from this time on the un-circumcised and the unclean (probably referring to the Babylonian invading armies among others) will not plunder the temple and the state and desecrate them. Of course, this promise is contingent upon their putting on the strength by faith. Unfortunately, very soon after their return the people lapsed into sin, necessitating the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah, and even Malachi. Consequently, the un-circumcised and unclean (Seleucids, Romans, and others) did again enter and plunder. Thus, the promise of the restoration to the land and to service must await the end of the age. All the prophets continued to hold out such glorious promises; and the people had the opportunity to fulfill it, to be that generation. But as each generation failed, the people knew that their time wasn’t it—they looked for another.

Further references: for the un-circumcised Babylonians, see Ezek. 44:9; for “put on” metaphor terminology, see Isa. 11:5 and 51:9; for the ultimate spiritual fulfillment of this promise that nothing unclean will enter the holy city, see Rev. 21:2,10.

Verse 2 calls for the people to depart from their bondage. “Shake yourself from the dust” is a call to end their mourning. It could be taken as an implied comparison; but if there actually were periods of mourning where real dust was applied, then metonymy of adjunct would work very well. Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra all address the issue of whether or not the fasts from Babylon were still to be mourned when they were back in the land. So I would prefer the latter figure. The expression “Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck” would be hypocatastasis, comparing being in stocks and bondage with the general idea of exile. They were not actually in such neck-bonds.

Now the people are referred to as the “captive daughter of Zion” rather than merely “Zion.” Since cities and locations are usually feminine in Hebrew, the people from Zion could easily be referred to as a daughter (collectively). The implied comparison is meant to indicate that this is the nation from Zion/Judah, what Judah produced.

Answer 8

Looks to me like its pointing forward to some type of salvation by faith and redemption

Is 51:1,2
1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the LORD :
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one,



Is 52:3 For this is what the LORD says:
"You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed."

and the suffering servant will sacrificially springly not just Israel but many nations

Is 52 13 See, my servant will act wisely [b] ;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him [c]—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—

15 so will he sprinkle many nations, [d]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

This seems a appropriate introlduction to Is 53 where is is said about 7 time each that the suffering servant will be rejected, suffer for our sins, die and over com death. I think it is hard to interpret this other than Jesus.

And interestingly inthe center of Is 53 an awasome statement about God

It please the Lord to crush him and make his life an offering

and

The pleasures of God will be multiplied in his hand

Clealry the crushing of the suffering servant somehow leads to greater glory and the greater pleasure of God... a totally awesome cosmic thing of importance

Answer 9

Gods people....strength is a choice when you get up in the morning. The bible also says to put on the full armor of God so that you can quench the fiery darts of the enemy.

Answer 10

I think it means go to the temple and recieve your endowments