Bible Answer

Does Isaiah 26 speak of all Jews rising and shouting for joy?

In Isaiah 26:19 it says that the dead of Israel will live and corpses will rise and shout for joy as the earth gives birth to departed spirits. Does this mean alll Jews from the past who have died?

In Isaiah 26, we read:

Is. 26:18  We were pregnant, we writhed in labor, 
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. 
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth, 
Nor were inhabitants of the world born.
Is. 26:19  Your dead will live; 
Their corpses will rise. 
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, 
For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, 
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
Is. 26:20  Come, my people, enter into your rooms 
And close your doors behind you; 
Hide for a little while 
Until indignation runs its course.

In this chapter of Isaiah, the prophet is preparing Israel for their experience in Tribulation. The trials of that time will feel like enduring the labor of pregnancy but the labor continues on without satisfaction (v.18). Eventually, the dead will live, referring to the resurrection of the Old Testament saints at the end of Tribulation, which Daniel describes in Daniel 12:

Dan. 12:1  “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

Notice Daniel says that those who will be resurrected (i.e., given new, eternal physical bodies) are the Old Testament saints, those who have died in faith. The souls of the Old Testament saints are currently present with Jesus in Heaven without physical bodies, and at the end of the Tribulation they will receive new physical bodies, which the Bible describes as the dead "rising." To rise from the dead (or to be resurrected) means to receive a new body. 

Only those Jews who have placed faith in the promised Messiah will be included in this moment, Daniel says; those written in the book of life. Those Jews who die without faith in Messiah will not receive eternal life. Instead, they will be resurrected at a later time and enter into the Lake of Fire. Faith has always been the requirement for salvation, as Paul says in Romans:

Rom. 3:19  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;
Rom. 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Rom. 3:21  But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom. 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom. 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
Rom. 4:1  What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
Rom. 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom. 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Rom. 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
Rom. 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,