Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 49:1

"Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far: Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name:" — Isaiah 49:1 (ASV)

Listen - This is the exordium, or introduction. According to the interpretation that applies this to the Messiah, it is to be regarded as the voice of the Redeemer calling the distant parts of the earth to pay respectful attention to the statement of his qualifications for his work, and to the assurances that his salvation would be extended to them .

The Redeemer here is to be regarded as having already come in the flesh, and as having been rejected and despised by the Jews , and as now turning to the Gentile world, and offering salvation to them.

The time when this is supposed to occur, therefore, as seen by the prophet, is when the Messiah had preached in vain to his own countrymen, and when there was an evident fitness and propriety in his extending the offer of salvation to the pagan world.

O isles - You distant lands (see the note at Isaiah 41:1). The word is used here, as it is used there, in the sense of countries beyond the sea; distant, unknown regions; the dark, pagan world.

You people from far - The reason why the Messiah thus addresses them is stated in Isaiah 49:6. It is because he was appointed to be a light to them, and because, having been rejected by the Jewish nation, it was determined to extend the offers and the blessings of salvation to other lands.

The Lord has called me from the womb - Yahweh has set me apart for this office from my very birth. The emphasis here is on the fact that he was thus called, and not on the particular time when it was done. The idea is that he had not presumptuously assumed this office; he had not entered on it without being appointed to it; he had been designated for it even before he was born .

A similar expression is used in respect to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5): Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations. Paul also uses a similar expression respecting himself (Galatians 1:15): But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb. That this actually occurred in regard to the Redeemer, it is not necessary to pause here to show .

From the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name - This is another way of stating the fact that he had been appointed to this office from his very infancy. Many have supposed that the reference here is to the fact that Mary was commanded by the angel, before his birth, to call his name Jesus (Luke 1:31). The same command was also repeated to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:21). So Jerome, Vitringa, Michaelis, and some others understand it.

By others it has been supposed that the phrase ‘he has made mention of my name’ is the same as ‘to call.’

The Hebrew is literally, ‘He has caused my name to be remembered from the bowels of my mother.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘He has called my name.’ Grotius renders it, ‘He has given to me a beautiful name, by which salvation is signified as about to come from the Lord.’ I see no objection to the supposition that this refers to the fact that his name was actually designated before he was born.

The phrase seems obviously to imply more than merely to call to an office. As his name was thus actually designated by God, and as God designed that there should be special significance and applicability in the name, there can be no impropriety in supposing that this refers to that fact. If so, the idea is that he was not only appointed to the work of the Messiah from his birth, but that he actually had a name given him by God before he was born, which expressed the fact that he would save people, and which constituted a reason why the distant pagan lands should listen to his voice.