Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 62:12

"And they shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah: and thou shalt be called Sought out, A city not forsaken." — Isaiah 62:12 (ASV)

And they shall call them - It will be the honorable and just name by which they will be known, that they are a holy people, and that they are the redeemed of Yahweh. No name is so honorable as that; no one conveys so much that is elevated and ennobling as to say of one, ‘he is one whom Yahweh has redeemed from sin and death and hell by atoning blood.’ He who has a just sense of the import of this name, will desire no other record to be made of his life—no other inscription on his tomb—than that he is one who has been redeemed by Yahweh.

And you will be called - (See the notes at Isaiah 62:2).

Sought out - The city much sought after, or much desired—namely, by converts who will come from afar; by foreigners who will come to do you honor (Isaiah 40:5–6; Isaiah 40:10–11; Isaiah 49:18–22). Or it may mean that Jerusalem would be a city sought out and desired by Yahweh; that is, no more forsaken by him. So Gesenius understands it.

A city not forsaken - No longer given up to the invasions of a foreign enemy, and abandoned to long desolation. The idea is, that the church and people of God would be the object of his kind protecting care henceforth, and would enjoy his continued smiles.

That led them by the right hand of Moses - (See the notes at Isaiah 41:10-13; Isaiah 45:1).

Dividing the water before them - (Exodus 14:21).

To make himself an everlasting name - He designed to perform a work which, it would be seen, could not be performed by any false god or by any human arm, and to do it in such circumstances and in such a manner that it might be seen everywhere that this was the true God (compare the notes at Isaiah 45:6). The deliverance from Egypt was attended with such amazing miracles and with such a sudden destruction of his foes that none but the true God could have performed it.

Egypt was at that time the center of all the science, civilization, and art known among humankind; and what occurred there would be known to other lands. God, therefore, in this signal manner, designed to make a public demonstration of his existence and power that will be known in all lands and that should never be forgotten.