Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 65:20
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner [being] a hundred years old shall be accursed.
20. Amongst the blessings of the new people of God the chief shall be a miraculous extension of the term of human life. This is the dominant idea down to the end of Isa 65:22. The expression of the thought is unaccountably laboured and obscure.
an infant of days ] must mean one who lives only a few days.
nor an old man days ] (cf. Gen 25:8; Exo 23:26; Job 5:26), i.e. none shall become prematurely old; each shall attain the allotted measure of life according to the standard which shall then be normal.
for the youth shall die an hundred years old &c. ] These two cases must be regarded as hypothetical merely. Death at the age of 100 years (if such a thing took place) would be looked on as an untimely death in extreme youth, and as a special mark of the Divine anger on a career of wickedness (Job 15:32; Job 20:5). The possibility of a hardened sinner being actually found in the Messianic community cannot be seriously contemplated (see ch. Isa 60:21).
It is evident that the idea of immortal life is unknown to the writer. He looks forward to a restriction of the power of death, but not to its entire cessation. The same idea is probably implied in a prophecy of the early post-exilic period (Zec 8:4; see on ch. Isa 25:8); and a conception precisely similar is characteristic of the first section of the Book of Enoch. see Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 26, 55, 98. Comp. En. Isa 5:9: “And [the elect] will not be punished all the days of their life, nor will they die of plagues or visitations of wrath, but they will complete the full number of the days of their life, and their lives will grow old in peace, and the years of their joy will be many, in eternal happiness and peace all the days of their life.” Cf. also Isa 10:17 and Isa 25:4-5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There shall be no more thence – The Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, read this, There shall not be there. The change requires the omission of a single letter in the present Hebrew text, and the sense seems to demand it. The design of the prophet here is, to describe the times of happiness and prosperity which would succeed the calamities under which the nation had been suffering. This he does by a great variety of images, all denoting substantially the same thing. In Isa 65:17, the change is represented to be as great as if a new heaven and a new earth should be created; in this verse the image is, that the inhabitants would reach a great age, and that the comparatively happy times of the patriarchs would be restored; in Isa 65:21, the image is taken from the perfect security in their plans of labor, and the fact that they would enjoy the fruit of their toil; in Isa 65:25, the image employed is that taken from the change in the nature of the animal creation. All these are poetic images designed as illustrations of the general truth, and, like other poetic images, they are not to be taken literally.
An infant of days – A child; a sucking child. So the Hebrew word, ul, denotes. The Septuagint renders it, Nor shall there be there anymore an untimely birth ( aoros) and an old man who has not filled up his time. The idea is not that there should be no infant in those future times – which would be an idea so absurd that a prophet would not use it even in poetic fiction – but that there will not be an infant who shall not fill up his days, or who will be short-lived. All shall live long, and all shall be blessed with health, and continual vigor and youth.
Nor an old man that hath not filled his days – They shall enjoy the blessings of great longevity, and that not a longevity that shall be broken and feeble, but which shall be vigorous and happy. In further illustration of this sentiment, we may remark,
1. That there is no reason to suppose that it will be literally fulfilled even in the millenium. If it is to be regarded as literally to be fulfilled, then for the same reason we are to suppose that in that time the nature of the lion will be literally changed, and that he will eat straw like the ox, and that the nature of the wolf and the lamb will be so far changed that they shall lie down together Isa 65:25. But there is no reason to suppose this; nor is there any good reason to suppose that literally no infant or child will die in those times, or that no old man will be infirm, or that all will live to the same great age.
2. The promise of long life is regarded in the Bible as a blessing, and is an image, everywhere, of prosperity and happiness. Thus the patriarchs were regarded as having been highly-favored people, because God lengthened out their days; and throughout the Scriptures it is represented as a proof of the favor of God, that a man is permitted to live long, and to see a numerous posterity (see Gen 45:10; Psa 21:4; Psa 23:6; Psa 128:6 (Hebrew); Psa 91:16; Pro 3:2-14; Pro 17:6.
3. No one can doubt that the prevalence of the gospel everywhere would greatly lengthen out the life of man. Let anyone reflect on the great number that are now cut off in childhood in pagan lands by their parents, all of whom would have been spared had their parents been Christians; on the numbers of children who are destroyed in early life by the effects of the intemperance of their parents, most of whom would have survived if their parents had been virtuous; on the numbers of young men now cut down by vice, who would have continued to live if they had been under the influence of the gospel; on the immense hosts cut off, and most of them in middle life, by war, who would have lived to a good old age if the gospel had prevailed and put a period to wars; on the million who are annually cut down by intemperance and lust, and other raging passions, by murder and piracy, or who are punished by death for crime; on the million destroyed by pestilential disease sent by offended heaven on guilty nations; and let him reflect that these sources of death will be dried up by the prevalence of pure virtue and religion, and he will see that a great change may yet take place literally in the life of man.
4. A similar image is used by the classic writers to denote a golden age, or an age of great prosperity and happiness. Thus the Sybil, in the Sybilline Oracles, B. vii., speaking of the future age, says, , Stesei de to genos, hos paros en soi – A race shall be restored as it was in the ancient times. So Hesiod, describing the silver age, introduces a boy as having reached the age of an hundred years, and yet but a child:
,
.
All’ hekaton men tais etea para meteri kednr,
Etrephet atallon mega nepios o eni oiko.
For the child shall die an hundred years old – That is, he that is an hundred years old when he dies, shall still be a child or a youth. This is nearly the same sentiment which is expressed by Hesiod, as quoted above. The prophet has evidently in his eye the longevity of the patriarchs, when an individual of an hundred years of age was comparatively young – the proportion between that and the usual period of life then being about the same as that between the age of ten and the usual period of life now. We are not, I apprehend, to suppose that this is to be taken literally, but it is figurative language, designed to describe the comparatively happy state referred to by the prophet, as if human life should be lengthened out to the age of the patriarchs, and as if he who is now regarded as an old man, should then be regarded as in the vigor of his days. At the same time it is true, that the influence of temperance, industry, and soberness of life, such as would exist if the rules of the gospel were obeyed, would carry forward the vigor of youth far into advancing years, and mitigate most of the evils now incident to the decline of life.
The few imperfect experiments which have been made of the effect of entire temperance and of elevated virtue; of subduing the passions by the influence of the gospel, and of prudent means for prolonging health and life, such as the gospel will prompt a man to use, who has any just view of the value of life, show what may yet be done in happier times. It is an obvious reflection here, that if such effects are to be anticipated from the prevalence of true religion and of temperance, then he is the best friend of man who endeavors most sedulously to bring others under the influence of the gospel, and to extend the principles of temperance and virtue. The gospel of Christ would do more to prolong human life than all other causes combined; and when that prevails everywhere, putting a period, as it must, to infanticide, and war, and intemperance, and murder, and piracy, and suicide, and duelling, and raging and consuming passions, then it is impossible for the most vivid imagination to conceive the effect which shall be produced on the health and long life, as well as on the happiness of mankind.
But the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed – The sense of this appears to be, not all who reach to a great age shall be judged to be the friends and favorites of God. Though a sinner shall reach that advanced period of life, yet he shall be cursed of God and shall be cut down in his sins. He shall be held to be a sinner and shall die, and shall be regarded as accursed. Other interpretations of this expression may be seen in Poole and in Vitringa. The above seems to me to be the true exposition.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 65:20
There shall be no more thence an infant of days
Longevity
The whole is a highly poetical description of longevity, to be explained precisely like the promise of new heavens and a new earth (Isa 65:17).
(J. A. Alexander.)
The child shall die an hundred years old
Youth and age
There is promised a practical annihilation of the line which divides youth and age. Youth shall be wise and age shall be ardent. We are to study the spirit of youth in history and in the Church. Hope, enthusiasm, energy, and audacity are elemental forces in youth. Youth makes mistakes, but age magnifies difficulties. Age regards that impossible which to youth presents the prospect of success. Most of the leaders of our American Revolution were under forty, and the same fact appears in European history, so that Disraeli was right in saying, The history of heroes is the history of youth So in art. Raphael died at thirty-seven, Keats at twenty-two, Shelley before thirty, and Professor Clifford at thirty-five. The time for action is the morning! There is a fiery enthusiasm in youth. It is to be utilized. Luther was but twenty-four when he denounced the Papa! Church, and Calvin twenty-six when he wrote his great work, The Institutes. So with Wesley and Summerfield, who made themselves felt in early manhood. Robertson, of Brighton, died at thirty-four. Though preaching to but few, he has influenced the world by his broad and catholic views. Henry Martyn died at thirty-two, and Harriet Newell when hardly out of girlhood. Is youth blind? It is sometimes good to be blind to danger and difficulty, uninfluenced by discouragements, if only awake to the grandeur of the work and the promised alliance of God!
I. THE ELDER SHOULD NOT BE JEALOUS OF THE YOUNGER. It is pitiful to see a cynical spirit shown toward those who are coming to take our places. Better imitate the magnanimous temper of John, who said, as he saw the growing popularity of the Master, He must increase, I must decrease. The coming generation must do their own thinking and make their own philosophies. Wisdom was not born with us. It will not die with us. God honours individuality. He makes faces unlike and minds unlike.
II. THE CHURCH SHOULD BE ALERT TO TRAIN YOUTH TO BE EQUAL TO THE DEMANDS OF THE AGE. its offices of trust should not be wholly in the hands of old persons.
III. SOME PEOPLE NEVER SEEM TO LOSE THEIR YOUTH. It is a lovely sight to see the youthful spirit strong at seventy. It is like seeing a river pouring its life through a desert.
IV. WE LEARN HOW TO CONTINUE TO BE YOUTHFUL. If linked to Christ, how can we be otherwise than glad and growing, hopeful and purposeful? A vital, vivid, constant faith in God feeds enthusiasm with perpetual strength. Suffering often brings a deep, quiet joy. Shrink not from it. Moreover, we can cultivate this youthful spirit. We can compel ourselves to look on the bright side of things. They who believe that all things work together for good to those who love God ought to be continually young. (A. H Bradford,. D. D.)
The child shall die an hundred years old
The verse is a puzzling one. But none the less it is true. The more Christlike men and women become, the nearer they grow to absolute childlikeness. It is with them as with the ripe corn in the autumn; the corn bends its head down again to the ground out of which it sprang in the spring. Just so the saints of God, in their maturity, in their noblest and wisest and heavenliest estate here on earth, resemble most the children–resemble them in their trustfulness and teachableness and lowliness. (A. Smellie, M. A.)
A child-man
When James Clerk Maxwell, loaded as he was with his scientific learning, lay dying, these were his last words: Lay me down lower, for I am very low myself, and it suits me to lie low; and then, with a long, loving look at his wife, he went home to God. He was a man, but he died as a child. (A. Smellie, M. A.)
But the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursed
The aged sinner
I. IT IS NOT USUAL FOR A MAN TO LIVE TO THE AGE OF A HUNDRED YEARS. Some, indeed, have lived so long, but their number has been very small, and he who flatters himself that he shall do so is both vain and foolish.
II. As it is not usual for any man to live to the age of a hundred years, so IT IS LESS LIKELY THAT THE SINNER SHOULD LIVE SO LONG. The way of a sinner is such as naturally tends to shorten his days, and provoke God to destroy him.
III. IF A WICKED MAN SHOULD LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED YEARS OLD, YET HE MUST DIE AT LAST.
IV. WHENEVER WICKED MEN DIE, WHETHER IT BE IN YOUTH OR EXTREME OLD AGE, THEY DIE ACCURSED. Some of them are cursed by their fellow-creatures, whom they have injured or oppressed; but, above all, they are under the curse of God. It is a dreadful thing to live under a curse, but it is far worse to die under one; yet this is the awful condition of such as live and die in their sins. They may possess much, and have their houses, lands and estates, but it is with a curse; they may also hope for more, but when it comes it is with a curse. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. Thence – “There”] For mishsham, thence, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read sham, there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whereas God hath made many promises of long life to the Jews, they should all be fulfilled to Gods people among them, so as there should be rare abortions among them, Exo 23:26; few infants should be carried out to burial, nor but few that should not have filled up their years; those that were now children should die at a great age; yet none of these things should be of any advantage to wicked men, but if, any of them should live to be.a hundred years old, yet they should die accursed. This seemeth to be the plain sense. If any desire to read more opinions of these words, he may find enough in the English Annotations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. The longevity of men in thefirst age of the world shall be enjoyed again.
thencefrom that timeforward.
infant of daysthat is,an infant who shall only complete a few days; short-lived.
filled . . . daysNoneshall die without attaining a full old age.
child . . . die . . . hundredyearsthat is, “he that dieth an hundred years old shalldie a mere child” [LOWTH].
sinner . . . hundred . . . beaccursed“The sinner that dieth at an hundred years shallbe deemed accursed,” that is, his death at so early an age,which in those days the hundredth year will be regarded, just as ifit were mere childhood, shall be deemed the effect of God’s specialvisitation in wrath [ROSENMULLER].This passage proves that the better age to come on earth, though muchsuperior to the present will not be a perfect state; sin and deathshall have place in it (compare Rev 20:7;Rev 20:8), but much lessfrequently than now.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There shall be no more thence an infant of days,…. That is, there shall no more be carried out from thence, from Jerusalem, or any other place where the church of God is, to the grave, in order to be interred, an infant that has lived but a few days, a very common thing now; but, in the latter day, such instances will be rare, or rather there will be none at all; every child born will live to the age of man, and not be cut off by any premature death, either by any natural disease, or by famine, or sword, or any other calamity, which will now have no place:
nor an old man that hath not filled his days; who, though he may in some sense, or in comparison of others, be said to be old, yet has not arrived to the full term of man’s life, threescore years and ten, or more; for it seems, by what follows, as if the term of human life will be lengthened in the latter day, and reach in common to a hundred years; so that as long life is always reckoned a temporal happiness, among the rest that shall be enjoyed, this will be one in the latter day; and which is to be understood not of the Millennium state, in which there will be no death, Re 21:4, which yet will be in this, as the following words show; but of the state preceding that, even the spiritual reign of Christ:
for the child shall die an hundred years old; not that that shall be reckoned a child that shall die at a hundred years of age h, the life of man being now, in these days of the Messiah, as long as they were before the flood, as the Jewish interpreters imagine; but the child that is now born, or he that is now a child, shall live to the age of a hundred years, and not die before: but lest this outward happiness should be trusted to, and a man should imagine that therefore he is in a happy state for eternity, being blessed with such a long life, it follows, “but” or
though the sinner, being an hundred years old; shall be accursed; for though this shall be common in this state to good men and bad men, to live a hundred years, yet their death will not be alike; the good man will be blessed, and enter into a happy state of joy and peace; but the wicked man, though he lives as long as the other in this world, shall be accursed at death, and to all eternity; see Ec 8:12.
h Vid. Gloss. in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 91. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There will be a different measure then, and a much greater one, for measuring the period of life and grace. “And there shall no more come thence a suckling of a few days, and an old man who has not lived out all his days; for the youth in it will die as one a hundred years old, and the sinner be smitten with the curse as one a hundred years old.” Our editions of the text commence Isa 65:20 with , but according to the Masora (see Mas. finalis, p. 23, col. 7), which reckons five at the commencement of verses, and includes our v. among them, it must read , as it is also rendered by the lxx and Targum. The meaning and connection are not affected by this various reading. Henceforth there will not spring from Jerusalem (or, what hayah really means, “come into existence;” “ thence,” m issham , not “from that time,” but locally, as in Hos 2:17 and elsewhere, cf., Isa 58:12) a suckling (see p. 90) of days, i.e., one who has only reached the age of a few days ( yamm as in Gen 24:55, etc.), nor an old man who has not filled his days, i.e., has not attained to what is regarded as a rule as the full measure of human life. He who dies as a youth, or is regarded as having died young, will not die before the hundredth year of his life; and the sinner ( with seghol, as in Ecc 8:12; Ecc 9:18; Ges. 75, Anm. 21) upon whom the curse of God falls, and who is overwhelmed by the punishment, will not be swept away before the hundredth year of his life. We cannot maintain with Hofmann ( Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, 567), that it is only in appearance that less is here affirmed than in Isa 25:8. The reference there is to the ultimate destruction of the power of death; here it is merely to the limitation of its power.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days. Some think that this points out the difference between the Law and the Gospel; because “the Law, as a schoolmaster,” (Gal 3:24,) kept scholars in the first elements, but the Gospel leads us on to mature age. Others suppose it to mean that there will no longer be any distinction of age; because, where life is eternal, no line is drawn between the child and the old man. But I interpret the words of the Prophet in this manner, “Whether they are children or old men, they shall arrive at mature age so as to be always vigorous, like persons in the prime of life; and, in short, they shall always be healthful and robust;” for it is on account of our sins that we grow old and lose our strength. “All our days,” saith Moses, “pass away when thou art angry: we close our years quicker than a word. The days of our years in which we live are seventy years, or, at the utmost, eighty: what goeth beyond this in the strongest is toil and vexation; our strength passeth swiftly, and we fly away.” (Psa 90:9.) But Christ comes to repair our strength, and to restore and preserve our original condition.
For the son of a hundred years shall die young. It is proper to distinguish between the two clauses; for, after having said that the citizens of the Church shall be long-lived, so that no one shall be taken out of the world till he has reached mature age and fully completed his course, he likewise adds that, even in old age, they shall be robust. Although the greater part of believers hardly support themselves through weakness, and the strength of others decays even before the time, yet that promise is not made void; for, if Christ reigned truly and perfectly in us, his strength would undoubtedly flourish in us, and would invigorate both body and soul. To our sins, therefore, it ought to be imputed, that we are liable to diseases, pains, old age, and other inconveniences; for we do not permit Christ to possess us fully, and have not advanced so far in newness of life as to lay aside all that is old. (214)
Here it ought also to be observed, that blessings either of soul or body are found only in the kingdom of Christ, that is, in the Church, apart from which there is nothing but cursing. Hence it follows that all who have no share in that kingdom are wretched and unhappy; and, however fresh and vigorous they may appear to be, they are, nevertheless, in the sight of God, rotten and stinking corpses.
(214) “ Tout le vieil homme.” “All the old man.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) There shall be no more thence . . .The prophet sees in the restored city not so much an eternal and a deathless life as the return of the traditional longevity of the prediluvian and patriarchal age (Genesis 5, 11), Life will not be prematurely cut off, as it had been, by pestilence and war. (Comp. Zec. 8:4.) He who dies at the age of a hundred will be thought of as dying young; even the sinner, dying before his time as the penalty of his guilt, shall live out the measure of a century. The noticeable fact is that sin is thought of as not altogether extinctas still appearing, though under altered conditions, even in the restored Jerusalem.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. No more an infant of days There is considerable variety of not very clever comment on this passage. Nor is it easy to be made clear. Evidently the thread of illustration is not broken from Isa 65:17, wherein Jehovah, under poetic imagery, is creating a new heaven and a new earth perhaps even from Isa 65:13, in which contrast is drawn between the status of the righteous and that of the unrighteous. In Isa 65:20 the characteristic blessedness of the new order of things in the great future is that of longevity: “No more thence (from holy Jerusalem) shall be (rather, shall go, perhaps to burial) an infant of days.” To agree with second clause of this verse this must mean: No one shall die in infancy. The old man and the one now an infant shall alike enjoy the full covenant blessing made to Abraham when he was a hundred years old. (And even if early death perchance occur, it shall be no bar to the promise of the inheritance. Gen 17:17.) In the second clause comes the contrast, like that of Isa 65:13-16.
For the child shall die a hundred years old This seems to have a meaning touching child-likeness in simplicity, truthfulness, sincerity, and standing in a right relationship with God for a hundred years, or for an indefinite length of life. But every sinner, though “a hundred years old,” shall die accursed. His long life has nothing in it to redeem his character from disgrace.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 65:20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, &c. No more shall there be an infant short-lived; nor an old man who hath not fulfilled his days: for he that dieth at an hundred years, shall die a boy; and the sinner that dieth at an hundred years shall be deemed accursed. Lowth. The prophet in this verse promises longevity as a necessary adjunct to the felicity of the state which he is describing; and as a proof of this longevity, he mentions, that he who shall die by any extraordinary cause, aged a hundred years, shall be thought to die a child; while the sinner, to be taken off by divine judgment, is not to be thought burdened with age, but punished for his crimes, though he be a hundred years old. Vitringa does not understand this passage in the letter, but metaphorically; as much as to say, “In this holy city, there shall be no violent or punitive death; but, all the inhabitants being holy, all shall die full of days and happy, and shall have, as it were, a foretaste, a pledge and earnest of life eternal, in their long and happy life below.” See chap. Isa 25:8.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner [being] an hundred years old shall be accursed.
Ver. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days. ] This verse, as some others, had been easy, had not commentators made it so knotty. There shall be no more thence – that is, from Jerusalem Isa 65:19 – an infant of days, or a child for days; viz., that shall so die by an untimely death, for longevity is the blessing here promised.
Nor an old man that hath not filled his days.
For the child shall die an hundred years old,
But the sinner, being an hundred years old, a shall be accursed.] And the more accursed because so long lived, and yet dieth in his sin, going down to the grave with his bones full of the sins of his youth. See Ecc 8:12-13 . See Trapp on “ Ecc 8:12 “ See Trapp on “ Ecc 8:13 “
a Hinc proverb, Puer centum annorum.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
There. Some codices read “And there”.
of days: i.e. of a few days.
child shall die = youth may die: i.e. neither early death, nor premature decay.
accursed = cut off. Compare Psa 101:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
There shall: Deu 4:40, Job 5:26, Psa 34:12
but: Isa 3:11, Ecc 8:12, Rom 2:5-9
Reciprocal: Exo 23:26 – the number Deu 11:21 – as the days 1Ki 2:6 – let Psa 91:16 – With long life Ecc 6:6 – yet Ecc 7:15 – there is a wicked Zec 8:4 – There Joh 8:21 – and shall die Tit 2:2 – the 2Pe 2:14 – cursed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 65:20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, &c. There shall he no untimely or premature deaths, either of infants and children, who do not grow up to mans estate, or of old men, who do not live out the full term of life. For the child shall die, &c. This should rather be translated, For he that dies a hundred years old shall die a child: and the sinner that dies a hundred years old shall be (that is, shall be deemed) accursed, or cut off by the justice of God for his crime. Thus the prophet describes this renovation of the world as a paradisiacal state, and such as the patriarchs enjoyed before the flood, when men commonly lived nearly a thousand years. So he that died at a hundred years of age would have been looked upon as dying in the age of childhood, and be judged to have been cut off in the beginning of his years, as a punishment for some great sins he had committed. Lowth. It is justly observed here by Mr. Scott, that the event alone can certainly determine whether this is meant literally or figuratively; but it is evident that the universal prevalence of real Christianity would so terminate wars, murders, contentions, idleness, intemperance, and licentiousness, as greatly to lengthen out the general term of mans life. Many diseases which now destroy thousands and tens of thousands in the prime of life, and communicate distempers to succeeding generations, would, in that case, scarcely be heard of any more; and thus the human constitution would soon be much mended, and children would generally come into the world more vigorous and healthy than they can do while vice so greatly prevails. What God may further intend in this matter we cannot determine. Vitringas view of the passage seems to have been, that there shall be no violent or punitive death in this holy city, but that all the inhabitants being holy, all shall die full of days and happy, and shall have, as it were, a foretaste, pledge, and earnest of life eternal, in their long and happy life below.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
65:20 There shall be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man that hath {z} not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner [being] {a} an hundred years old shall be accursed.
(z) Meaning, in this wonderful restoration of the Church there would be no weakness of youth, nor infirmities of age, but all would be fresh and flourishing: and this is accomplished in the heavenly Jerusalem, when all sins will cease, and the tears will be wiped away.
(a) By which he shows that the infidels and unrepentant sinners have no part of this benediction.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Specifically, death will not have the power that it has had. Infant mortality will be virtually unknown, and people’s life-spans will be much longer. This seems to describe a return to conditions before the Flood, when people lived hundreds of years (Genesis 5). In short, one of the sources of sorrow and weeping, namely, Death, will suffer defeat. Christians need not fear the second death even now. Believers alive in the Millennium will live longer on this earth than they do now, but they will die. [Note: See Louis A. Barbieri Jr., "The Future for Israel in God’s Plan," in Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, p. 175.] And in the eternal state, even physical death will be gone.
". . . Isa 65:20 expresses a double thought: death will have no more power and sin no more presence." [Note: Motyer, p. 530.]
"This prediction requires the conditions of an earthly city, where babies are born and older people die (even though the average lifespan is to be much prolonged)." [Note: Archer, p. 653.]