Isaiah 49:11-12 King James Version
11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Previous Bible Study: Salvation of the Gentiles Prophecy in Isaiah 49
In the previous Bible Study we discussed that verses 1-7 of Isaiah 49 is about the prophecy of the coming Servant of the Lord which is Jesus Christ who will give the light of Salvation to the Gentiles, it also prophesied that He would be betrayed by His own people, the Jews which is why Israel was not restored during His First Advent and God now focuses more on the Gentiles until their time is fulfilled (Luke 21:24) then God turns back to dealing with the nation of Israel.
In verses 8 until the end of the chapter talks about the prophecy of the Restoration of Israel, Great Tribulation and Christ’s Millenium Reign.
In Isaiah 49:11 – “And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.” This pertains to Jesus Christ setting up His Millenium Kingdom on Earth. Let’s look at Isaiah 2 for context.
Isaiah 2:1-3 King James Version - The Mountain of the Lord
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The last days pertains to the Great Tribulation / Jacob’s Trouble, and it says “it shall come to pass” means it is after the Great Tribulation that Jesus Christ will establish His Millenium Kingdom on Earth, we see these last days coming to pass and the establishment of His Kingdom on the top of the mountains again in Micah 4.
Micah 4:1-2 King James Version
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Continuing in verse 11: “…and my highways shall be exalted.”
Isaiah 35:8-10 King James Version
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
So we see here that the highway of the LORD is called “The way of holiness”, and anyone who is unclean shall not be able to cross it. In Ezekiel 44 it highlights who are unclean to the LORD.
Ezekiel 44:9 King James Version
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.”
So in order to pass “The way of holiness”, from what we read you have to be a Jew (circumcised in the flesh and not a stranger among the children of Israel), if you’re a Gentile living during this time you’ll need to be a proselyte Jew. Regarding the circumcision in the heart, Deuteronomy tells us what we’ll need to do to circumcise the heart.
Deuteronomy 10:12,16 King James Version
12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Deuteronomy 30:6 King James Version
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”
In today’s Church Age, the way to get saved is by Grace through Faith alone, and if a Jew wants to get saved they have to go to the Gentiles for the Saving Gospel, but during Christ’s Millennium Kingdom, the way to get save is by Works alone, Salvation will go back to the way of the Old Testament: keeping the commandments, animal sacrifices (Isaiah 56:7), and in addition they have to go on a yearly pilgrimage to Israel to worship and serve the LORD (Zechariah 14:16).
Continuing in verse Isaiah 35:8 about the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein
Jeremiah 32:39-40 King James Version
39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Jeremiah 50:4-5 King James Version
4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
The wayfaring men, even if they’re fools will not stray from the paths of the LORD as long as they have the fear of the LORD in them, and this is the everlasting Gospel that the angel will preach during the last days.
Revelation 14:6-7 King James Version
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
And if they fear the LORD then the LORD will make a covenant with them
Psalms 25:14 King James Version
“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
Moving to Isaiah 49:12 – “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”
During the Millennium Kingdom of Jesus Christ, all the remaining nations of the world will need to go to Jerusalem and serve and worship Him on a yearly basis.
Zechariah 14:16 King James Version
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
And all of these people will be coming from the north, west and from the land of Sinim. Notice that the verse did not specify east and south. In Geography you’ll see that the East and South of Israel are the Arab Nations, and it’s probable that these nations will not exist during the Millennium Reign of Christ after Jesus judges the nations in his parable at Matthew 25:31-46, nations that helped the Jews during the Great Tribulation will enter in the Millennium Kingdom, while those that don’t help the Jews will be cast down to hell.
The one thing that stands out in the verse is the “land of Sinim”, the word “Sinim” can only be found once in the entire Bible and it is only found here in Isaiah 49:12. So what is the land of Sinim, where can it be found today?
Let’s look at the meaning of the word “Sinim” using both Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (an index of every word in the King James Version (KJV), constructed under the direction of James Strong. Strong first published his Concordance in 1890, while professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary.) and Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible (a Bible concordance to the King James Version compiled by Robert Young. First published in 1879, it contains "about 311,000 references subdivided under the Hebrew and Greek originals with the literal meaning and pronunciation of each.)
Strong’s Concordance
Sinim (סִינִים)
- Plural of an otherwise unknown name; Sinim, a distant Oriental region -- Sinim.
Young’s Concordance
Sinim (סִינִים)
- A people in the far east; the Chinese?
Both the 19th Century Concordances agree that the location of the land of Sinim is in a distant eastern region / far east
Let's look at other sources that argues that the land of Sinim in the Bible is referred to China.
Excerpt from an Article by Timothy Tow, Far Eastern Bible College - Singapore
The land of Sinim, according to Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, from the context, must have been the extreme south or east of the known world. The LXX favours the view that a country in the east is intended, and some modern commentators have identified Sinim with China, the land of the Sinae. The ancients’ view that Sinim refers to China is attested overwhelmingly by continuing modern Hebrew usage. My English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English lexicon by Prof M Segal and Prof M B Dagut, says China is סין (Sin) and Chinese is סיני (Sini). The root of “Sinim” is “Sin,” so “Sinim” points most assuredly to China and not to Aswan, which is translated from a different word סונה as stated above. Thus, one who is well-versed in Chinese is called a sinologue and sinology is the study of Chinese language, history, customs, etc; and the war between China and Japan was called the Sino-Japanese war.
Reliable historians state that no one knows where the Chinese came from, or what was the beginning of their race, or how old their civilization is. There is a great deal of fossil evidence in China and Mongolia to lead the atheistic scientist to conclude that Paleolithic, Stone Age man existed there for tens of thousands of years. But, since some of the most striking evidence of their early art and industry clearly came from Mesopotamia I would insist that once again we must look to the biblical narrative for answers. Some say that the Chinese descended from Ham, while others say Shem. Those who theorize that the Chinese came from Ham point to the son of Canaan called Heth. The cuneiform of the word Hittite is Khittae also known as Khitai which comes down to us as Cathay, an old word referring to the Chinese people. Quoting directly from Tim Osterholm who uses “Noah’s Three Sons” by Arthur Custance, “Genesis and Early Man” by the same author, Bill Cooper’s “After the Flood”, Henry Morris’ “The Genesis Record”, and Ruth Beechick’s “Genesis, Finding our Roots”, among others, as references;
Genesis 10:6,15-17 King James Version
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
“Sin (or Seni), a brother of Heth, has many occurrences in variant forms in the Far East. There is one significant feature concerning the likely mode of origin of Chinese civilization. The place most closely associated by the Chinese themselves with the origin of their civilization is the capital of Shensi, namely, Siang-fu (Father Sin). Siang-fu appears in Assyrian records as Sianu. Today, Siang-fu can be loosely translated, "Peace to the Western Capital of China". The Chinese have a tradition that their first king, Fu-hi or Fohi (Chinese Noah), made his appearance on the Mountains of Chin, was surrounded by a rainbow after the world had been covered with water, and sacrificed animals to God (corresponding to the Genesis record). Sin himself was the third generation from Noah, a circumstance which would provide the right time interval for the formation of early Chinese culture.
Furthermore, those who came from the Far East to trade were called Sinæ (Sin) by the Scythians. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, referred to China as the land of Sinim or Sinæ. Reference to the Sinim in Isaiah 49:12 notes they came "from afar," specifically not from the north and not from the west. Arabs called China Sin, Chin, Mahachin, Machin. The Sinæ were spoken of as a people in the remotest parts of Asia. For the Sinæ, the most important town was Thinæ, a great trading emporium in Western China. The city Thinæ is now known as Thsin or simply Tin, and it lies in the province of Shensi. Much of China was ruled by the Sino-Khitan Empire (960-1126 A.D.), which Beijing became the southern capital. The Sinæ became independent in Western China, their princes reigning there for some 650 years before they finally gained dominion over the whole land.
In the third century B.C., the dynasty of Tsin became supreme. The word Tsin itself came to have the meaning of purebred. This word was assumed as a title by the Manchu Emperors and is believed to have been changed into the form Tchina. From there the term was brought into Europe as China, probably from the Ch'in or Qin dynasty (255-206 B.C.). The Greek word for China is Kina (Latin is Sina). As well, Chinese and surrouding languages are part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Years ago, American newspapers regularly carried headlines with reference to the conflict between the Chinese and Japanese in which the ancient name reappeared in its original form, the Sino-Japanese war. Sinology refers to the study of Chinese history. – Frederick Widdowson
From an etymological perspective, the Chinese originates from Heth and Sin which are Ham’s line, but in biblical perspective they are more related to Shem as we read further to Genesis 10:18
Genesis 10:18 King James Version
“And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.”
The families of Canaan which include Heth and Sin are already spreading abroad possibly far from their initial borders, and when they spread abroad they’re more likely to intermingle with people in the region they’re going.
When these families head east they would intermingle with Shem’s line, thus over the generation of intermingling they would be more related to Shem rather than Ham. This will also support Genesis 9:27
Genesis 9:27 King James Version
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
You only see Ham’s line from Africa are treated as a servant of servants to the other two lines: Japheth and Shem in history. And some would argue that Genesis 9:27 is prophetic which was later fulfilled when Europeans colonized the known world and worshipping the God of Shem which Europeans are because of their Christian Religion.
Excerpt from God and the Ancient China By Samuel Wang & Ethel R. Nelson
The Significance of Qin
In Isaiah’s day, the state of Qin was only one of hundreds of states under Zhou (770 – 256 B.C.). It was located in the present Gansu Province through which trade with the West was conducted. How is it that Isaiah chose Qin to indicate the Middle Kingdom? What was so special about Qin?
Rang Kung was appointed as the first Duke of Qin (770 B.C.), then a small, aristocratic house. Under his administration, the state of Qin emerged as one of the 14 major states under the Zhou dynasty.8 It was 500 years after Isaiah that Qin Shi Huangdi defeated all the other competitive states and established the Qin dynasty. From then on, Qin represented the Middle Kingdom [China].
Simply put, the God of Isaiah, with divine foreknowledge, saw all the stages in the development of Qin—from a small, dependent, aristocratic house to becoming the famous Qin empire. God knew that the Duke of Qin would become ever stronger, equal with those of the other 13 states. Furthermore, He foresaw that after another 500 years, the Dukedom of Qin would still exist, defeat all the other states, and unite them as one empire, even choosing “Qin” as the name for the new empire! --Samuel Wang & Ethel R. Nelson
Daniel 2:21 King James Version
“And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:”
Going back to Isaiah 49:12, the land of Sinim whether it be China or other Far East countries that will be one of the surviving nations during Christ’s Millennium Kingdom, and they will go to the House of the LORD in Jerusalem to serve and worship Him on a yearly basis. This would mean that there are going to be Jews in these lands that will go through the Great Tribulation and survive, so are there any Jews currently living in China right now?
The Jews of Kaifeng: China’s Only Native Jewish Community
Source: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-jews-of-kaifeng-chinas-only-native-jewish-community/
Jews have lived in Kaifeng, a city in central China’s Henan province, for over 1,000 years. This makes the Kaifeng Jews the oldest Jewish community in China.
The exact time Jews arrived in Kaifeng is not entirely certain. Most scholars believe that Jews first arrived during the Song Dynasty (960-1127 C.E.), from India or Persia (present day Iran), stops on the Silk Road. During this period, the Chinese people called the Jews “Tiaojinjiao” (the religion that removes the tendon) because Jewish dietary law (kashrut) forbids the consumption of the sciatic nerve. A bit later, during the Ming Dynasty, the emperor assigned Jews one of eight last names because he found Hebrew names confusing. To this day Kaifeng Jews can be recognized by their last names: Ai, Shi, Gao, Gan, Jin, Li, Zhang or Zhao.
At its peak, the Kaifeng Jewish community had around 5,000 members. While some Kaifeng Jews have discreetly recovered their lost Jewish identities, there is nothing close to a formal, organized Jewish community in the city today.
The Kaifeng Synagogue
Kaifeng’s first synagogue was built in 1163 and destroyed by a flood in 1461. In 1600 a fire burned down the synagogue which had replaced the original building. A second flood destroyed the third version of the synagogue in 1642. Yet another flood wiped out Kaifeng’s last synagogue in the 1860’s. The community’s last religious leader died around the same time.
Sketch of the Kaifeng Synagogue ca. 1722, via Wikimedia Commons.
Kaifeng Jews had prayed in their synagogue in both Hebrew and Mandarin. They wore blue head coverings while worshipping, which led misguided neighbors to call them “the Muslims with the blue caps” in order to differentiate these congregants from “the Muslims with the white caps” (actual Muslims who wore white headgear for prayer). Jews in Kaifeng faced westward when praying — the direction of Jerusalem.
Sketch of Kaifeng Jews worshipping, via Wikimedia Commons.
Much like Jews outside of China, for centuries, Kaifeng Jews centered their Jewish practices around the synagogue: observing Shabbat and other Jewish holidays, holding circumcisions for sons and giving their children Hebrew names in addition to Chinese names.
History of Judaism in China (1126-Present)
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Psalms 22:27 King James Version
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.”
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