Isaiah 49:23

“And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers, &c.] Who shall show favour and respect to the church and people of God, grant them liberty, and protect and defend them in their religious privileges: for this is to be understood not figuratively of apostles and apostolical men, as Jerom, who are kings and priests unto God, and who feed the church with the milk of the word, and the breasts of ordinances; but literally of the kings and queens of the earth; and is thought to have had its fulfilment, at least in part, in Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Esther, and others; but more so in Christian kings and queens, as Constantine and Helena, Theodosius and Placilla, and others; and…”

“lick . . . dust--that is, kiss thy feet in token of humble submission. for they . . . not . . . ashamed . . . wait for me--The restoration of Israel shall be in answer to their prayerful waiting on the Lord (Isa 30:18-19; Psa 102:16-17; Zac 12:10; Zac 14:3).”

“And kings shall be thy nursing fathers - Margin, ‘Nourishers.’ That is, they would patronize the church of God; they would protect it by their laws, and foster it by their influence and become the personal advocates of the cause of Zion. The idea is properly that of guarding, educating, and proriding for children; and the sense is that kings and princes would evince the same tender care for the interests of the people of God which a parent or a nurse does for a child. It is needless to say that this has been already to a considerable extent fulfilled, and that many princes and monarchs have been the patrons of the church, though doubtless it is destined to a more ample fulfillment still in…”

“Lick the dust - They shall highly reverence and honour thee. These expressions are borrowed from the practice of the eastern people, who bowed so low as to touch the ground. Ashamed - Their expectations shall not be disappointed. Isaiah 49:24”

“49:23 you will know that I am the Lord: The stunning role-reversal—kings and queens serving the lowly exiles upon their return—would reveal God’s power to do the unimaginable (see also 60:16). • The godly would experience temporary disgrace in the Exile but would not ultimately be put to shame, as the idolaters and ungodly were.”

“kings: Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, and other Persian monarchs, as well as Alexander the Great, and his successors, particularly Demetrius, conferred many privileges and immunities on the Jewish people, and were munificent benefactors to their temple. But the prophecy was more remarkably and fully fulfilled in the favour which Constantine the Great, and other Christian princes and princesses from his time to the present day, have shewn to the church of Christ; though it cannot be disputed, that the grand and signal accomplishment of these predictions is yet future. Isa 49:7, Isa 52:15, Isa 60:3, Isa 60:10, Isa 60:11, Isa 60:16, Isa 62:2; Ezr 1:2-4, Ezr 6:7-12, 7:11-28; Neh 2:6-10; Esth.…”

“Such affectionate treatment does the church receive, which is assembling once more upon its native soil, whilst kings and their consorts hasten to serve the re-assembled community. "And kings become thy foster-fathers, and their princesses they nurses: they bow down their face to thee to the earth, and they lick the dust of thy feet; and thou learnest that I am Jehovah, He whose hoping ones are not put to shame." As foster-fathers devote all their strength and care to those entrusted to them, and nurses nourish children from the very marrow of their own life, so will kings become the shelterers of Zion, and princesses the sustainers of her growth. All that is true in the regal headship of…”