This next segment was partially fulfilled by the return to the land and the rebuilding of it. They will be helped by Gentiles, for several leaders of the Medo-Persian Empire will give them aid. But there is a bigger picture here in that many Gentiles will believe in Christ, who is of Israel, and the Gentiles of Christ's church will be a friend to the people of Israel.
"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up My banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.'" (Isaiah 49:22) This verse symbolizes the way "the nations" (Gentiles) will aid Israel. Another occasion which may be in view here was when Israel was recognized as a sovereign nation again in 1948 by nations that were not Jewish.
"Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in Me will not be disappointed. Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives from the fierce?" (Isaiah 49:23-24) It is generally understood by Christian scholars that the phrase "lick the dust at your feet" is poetic language signifying that some of the leaders of nations and their people will give honor to Israel and will worship the God of Israel. Several Gentile leaders in the early church age and on up until now have been sympathetic to Israel. In the book of Revelation we are told that Israel was helped by others to flee from the wrath of the Antichrist. We are also told in the book of Revelation that there will be a great turning to Christ among the people of Israel.
I think that the licking of the dust at their feet may also depict the way the Lord will judge the enemies of Israel. They will be forced to bow on their knees and acknowledge that God is Lord and acknowledge how much the Lord has loved His people. The Lord asked how plunder can be taken from warriors and captives from the fierce; it is because He is on their side that they will be rescued. "But this is what the Lord says: 'Yes, captives will be taken from warriors and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save." (Isaiah 49:25)
"I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49:26) The phrase "eat their own flesh" may have to do with enemy nations that fall apart from the inside---nations with a lot of division that makes them easy prey for invaders or for economic, political, and military collapse. What we can take away from this is that the Lord knows His own, the Lord watches over them, the Lord sees every wrong done to them, and the Lord avenges those wrongs.
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