Isaiah 49:12 - Exposition

These shall come from far . The nations shall flow in from all sides to the Redeemer's kingdom ( Isaiah 2:2 ; Isaiah 11:10 ; Isaiah 60:1-5 , etc.). They shall come from the north and from the west ; literally, from the north and from the sea , which generally means "the west," but which, in one enumeration of the points of the compass ( Psalms 107:3 ), is certainly "the south." They shall also come from the land of Sinim by which most recent interpreters understand China. But it is highly improbable that an ethnic name which was not known to the Greeks till the time of Ptolemy should have recoiled Palestine by b.c. 700. And if "the sea" means "the south" in the preceding clause, the Sinim may be these of Phoenicia ( Genesis 10:17 ), who were among the furthest inhabitants of Asia towards the west. In any case, the reference is, not to the dispersed Jews, but to the remote Gentiles, who would pass from all quarters lute the kingdom of the Redeemer.