Isaiah — Chapter 62
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: Zion's new name and new dignity — 'You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give' (v.2). The new names: 'Hephzibah' (My delight is in her) and 'Beulah' (Married) replace 'Forsaken' and 'Desolate' (v.4). The watchmen on Jerusalem's walls (v.6-7) who give the Lord no rest. The royal road prepared for the coming of the Savior (v.10-12). Lapide reads the new names as the Church's identity in Christ.
Verse 4
Non vocaberis ultra Derelicta et terra tua non vocabitur amplius Desolata
You shall no more be called Forsaken, and your land shall no more be called Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married. The Old Covenant name (Forsaken, Desolate) replaced by the New Covenant name (Beloved, Married). Lapide: the Church is God's bride (Eph 5:25-32), and in her God's delight is complete. 'The Lord delights in you' = the theological foundation of joy: we are loved by God not for our merits but by His free choice, and this love is the ground of all genuine gladness. Applied to the soul: the sinner redeemed receives a new name in baptism — no longer 'forsaken' (under sin) but 'beloved' (adopted child).
Verse 11
Ecce Dominus audiri fecit in extremis terrae: Dicite filiae Sion: Ecce salvator tuus venit
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes. Cited by Matthew (21:5) with reference to Christ's entry into Jerusalem — the Palm Sunday fulfillment. Lapide: every liturgical Advent repeats this cry; the Church proclaims annually to every soul that the Savior comes — in the historical Incarnation, in the sacramental present, and in the eschatological Second Coming. The three advents of Christ (Bernard's theology of the three comings: in the flesh, in grace, in glory) are compressed into this single prophetic announcement.