Isaiah 55:3

“Incline your ear, and come unto me, &c.] The exhortations are repeated, to show the importance of them, how welcome these persons were to the Lord, and to his house, and his earnest and tender care and concern for them: hear, and your soul shall live; or, “that your soul may livef1096”; spiritually and eternally. There must be life before hearing; men must be made alive before they can come to Christ spiritually, or hear his word so as to have a spiritual understanding of it, or savingly believe it; but the meaning is, that by coming and hearing the word of the Lord, they should have something to live upon, good, solid, substantial food; and that they should live comfortably and plentifully,…”

“me . . . live--by coming to me ye shall live: for "I am the life" (Joh 14:6). everlasting covenant-- (Jer 32:40; Sa2 23:5). with you . . . David--God's covenant is with the antitypical David, Messiah (Eze 34:23), and so with us by our identification with Him. sure--answering to "everlasting," irrevocable, unfailing, to be relied on (Psa 89:2-4, Psa 89:28-29, Psa 89:34-36; Jer 33:20-21; Sa2 7:15-16; Co2 1:18-20). mercies of David--the mercies of grace (Isa 63:7; Joh 1:16) which I covenanted to give to David, and especially to Messiah, his antitype. Quoted in Act 13:34.”

“Hear, and your soul shall live - That is, if you attend to my command and embrace my promises, you shall live. Religion in the Scriptures is often represented as life John 5:40; John 6:33; John 8:13; John 20:31; Romans 5:17-18; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:6; 1 John 5:12; Revelation 2:7-10. It stands opposed to the death of sin - to spiritual and eternal death. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - On the word ‘covenant,’ see the notes at Isaiah 28:18; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:8. Here it means that God would bind himself to be their God, their protector, and their friend. This covenant would be made with all who would come to him. It would not be with the nation of the Jews, as such, or…”

“An everlasting covenant - That everlasting covenant of grace and peace which I made with Abraham, and his seed. Of David - Even that covenant which was made first with Abraham, and then with David, concerning those glorious and sure blessings which God hath promised to his people, one and the chief of which was giving Christ to die for their sins. David here seems to be put for the son of David. Isaiah 55:4”

“55:3 Come to me. . . . Listen . . . find life: Those who respond obediently to God’s word find eternal life (see also 55:11). • an everlasting covenant . . . I promised to David: King David received a special covenant from God, a promise to preserve his kingly line (see 2 Sam 7:15-16). David’s dynasty was eternally confirmed in the kingship of the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see Isa 9:6-7; 11:1-16; Acts 2:22-36; 13:34).”

“Incline: Psa 78:1, Psa 119:112; Pro 4:20 come: Mat 11:28; Joh 6:37, Joh 6:44, Joh 6:45, Joh 7:37 hear: Mat 13:16, Mat 17:5; Joh 5:24, Joh 5:25, Joh 8:47, Joh 10:27 and I will: Isa 54:8, Isa 61:8; Gen 17:7; Sa2 23:5; Jer 32:40, Jer 50:5; Heb 13:20 the sure: Sa2 7:8-17; Psa 89:28, Psa 89:35-37; Jer 33:20, Jer 33:21, Jer 33:26; Eze 37:24, Eze 37:25; Act 13:34 Isaiah 55:4”

“And in this way it is possible to obtain not only the satisfaction of absolute need, but a superabundant enjoyment, and an overflowing fulfilment of the promise. "Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and let your soul revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the true mercies of David. Behold, I have set him as a witness for nations, a prince and commander of nations. Behold, thou wilt call a mass of people that thou knowest not; and a mass of people that knoweth thee not will hasten to thee, for the sake of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, that He hath made thee glorious." The expression "make a covenant" (kârath berı̄th) is not always applied to a…”