“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 63:9 Mean?
Isaiah describes God's empathy with stunning intimacy: in all their affliction he was afflicted. God does not observe his people's suffering from a distance. He enters it. Their pain becomes his pain.
The angel of his presence saved them — God's own presence, personified, acting as deliverer. The rescue is not delegated to a lesser being. God's own presence does the saving.
"In his love and in his pity he redeemed them" — the motivation is dual: love and pity. Love that reaches toward the beloved. Pity that feels the pain of the suffering. Both drive the redemption.
"He bare them, and carried them all the days of old" — the image is a parent carrying a child. Not just walking beside them. Bearing them. Carrying the full weight of their existence across the span of their history.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does it mean that God is 'afflicted in all their affliction' — not just aware but affected?
- 2.How does the image of God carrying his people change your experience of hardship?
- 3.Where do you need to believe that God feels your pain rather than just observing it?
- 4.How does divine empathy differ from divine indifference — and which do you tend to assume?
Devotional
In all their affliction he was afflicted. God felt it. Every wound, every injustice, every grief his people endured — he was not watching from the outside. He was afflicted in their affliction. Their pain was his.
The angel of his presence saved them. Not a distant command. His presence — close, personal, tangible — did the saving. God does not outsource rescue. He shows up.
In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. Love and pity. Both at once. The fierce devotion of love and the tender ache of compassion, working together to produce redemption.
He bare them, and carried them. Like a parent with a child too small to walk. He did not just lead them or guide them. He carried them — bore their weight on his own shoulders across every day of their history.
If you are in affliction right now, this verse says something that should change how you experience it: God is afflicted too. Your pain is not private. It is shared. The one who carries you feels what you feel. You are not suffering alone. You are suffering with someone who is suffering with you.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
In all their affliction he was afflicted,.... That is, God, who said the above words; not properly speaking; for to be…
In all their affliction he was afflicted - This is a most beautiful sentiment, meaning that God sympathized with them in…
The prophet is here, in the name of the church, taking a review, and making a thankful recognition, of God's dealings…
In all their affliction he was afflicted (lit. "there was affliction to Him"). This is the sense of the Qĕrê, which…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture