Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 27:7
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? [or] is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
7. For the thought cf. Jer 10:24-25. The interrogations imply, of course, a negative answer; Jehovah has not smitten Israel as He has those that smote it. In the second question the reading of LXX. and Peshito is to be preferred on account of the parallelism: hath he been slain according to the slaughter of those that slew him (Israel).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 11. A summons to national repentance and reformation. Has Israel suffered the extremity of Divine punishment as its oppressors have done (7)? There is a ground of hope in the moderation displayed by Jehovah in His chastisement of Israel; the prospect of ultimate reconciliation is held out; and this hope will be realised when all the monuments of idolatry are erased from the land (9). At present the city lies desolate, a witness to the sinful blindness of the people and the estrangement of its Creator (10, 11). The section is full of difficulties. The words of Isa 27:8 stand in no obvious relation to the context, and are probably to be regarded (with Duhm) as a marginal gloss to Isa 27:10. The connexion between Isa 27:9 and Isa 27:10 is also somewhat obscure.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote them? – Has God punished his people in the same manner and to the same extent as he has their enemies? It is implied by this question that he had not. He had indeed punished them for their sins, but he had I not destroyed them. Their enemies he had utterly destroyed.
According to the slaughter of those that are slain by him – Hebrew, According to the slaying of his slain. That is, not as our translation would seem to imply, that their enemies had been slain BY them; but that they were their slain, inasmuch as they had been slain on their account, or to promote their release and return to their own land. It was not true that their enemies had been slain by them; but it was true that they had been slain on their account, or in order to secure their return to their own country.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? the question implies a denial; he hath not so smitten him, to wit, Jacob. He hath not dealt so severely with his people as he hath dealt with his and their enemies, whom he hath utterly destroyed. This may look either,
1. Backward, upon times past. If you consult former experiences, you will find that God hath done so, hath spared and restored his people, and in judgment remembered mercy to them, when he hath totally ruined their enemies. Or,
2. Forward, upon the time to come, of which he speaks as of a thing past, after the manner of the prophets, and of which he speaks in the next verse.
Of them that are slain by him; of those who were slain by Israel, or rather by God at the prayer and on the behalf of Israel. Heb. of his slain ones, i.e. of those of his smiters or enemies who were slain; which exposition is favoured by comparing this with the foregoing clause.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. him . . . thoseIsraelIsrael’senemies. Has God punished His people as severely as He has thoseenemies whom He employed to chastise Israel? No! Far from it. Israel,after trials, He will restore; Israel’s enemies He will utterlydestroy at last.
the slaughter of them thatare slain by himrather, “Is Israel slain accordingto the slaughter of the enemy slain?” the slaughterwherewith the enemy is slain [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?…. No; the Lord does smite his people by afflictive dispensations of his providence; he smites them in their persons, and families, and estates; see Isa 57:17 as he smote Israel, by suffering them to be carried captive, and as the Jews are now smitten by him in their present state; yet not as he smote Pharaoh, with his ten plagues, and him and his host at the Red Sea; or as he smote Sennacherib and his army, by an angel, in one night; or as Amalek was smitten, and its memory perished; or as he will smite mystical Babylon, which will be utterly destroyed; all which have been smiters of God’s Israel, who, though smitten of God, yet not utterly destroyed; the Jews returned from captivity, and, though now they are scattered abroad, yet continue a people, and will be saved. God deals differently with his own people, his mystical and spiritual Israel, than with their enemies that smite them: he afflicts them, but does not destroy them, as he does their enemies; he has no fury in him towards his people, but he stirs up all his wrath against his enemies:
[or], is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? or, “of his slain” w; the Lord’s slain, or Israel’s slain, which are slain by the Lord for Israel’s sake; though Israel is slain, yet not in such numbers, to such a degree, or with such an utter slaughter, as their enemies; though the people of God may come under slaying providences, yet not such as wicked men; they are “chastened, but not killed”; and, though killed with the sword, or other instruments of death, in great numbers, both by Rome Pagan and Papal, yet not according to the slaughter as will be made of antichrist and his followers, Re 19:15.
w “occisorum ejus”, Montanus; “interfecti illius”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet does not return even now to his own actual times; but, with the certainty that Israel will not be exalted until it has been deeply humbled on account of its sins, he placed himself in the midst of this state of punishment. And there, in the face of the glorious future which awaited Israel, the fact shines out brightly before his eyes, that the punishment which God inflicts upon Israel is a very different thing from that inflicted upon the world. “Hath He smitten it like the smiting of its smiter, or is it slain like the slaying of those slain by Him? Thou punishedst it with measures, when thou didst thrust it away, sifting with violent breath in the day of the east wind.” “ Its smiter ” ( maccehu ) is the imperial power by which Israel had been attacked (Isa 10:20); and “those slain by Him” ( ) are the slain of the empire who had fallen under the strokes of Jehovah. The former smote unmercifully, and its slain ones now lay without hope (Isa 26:14). Jehovah smites differently, and it is very different with the church, which has succumbed in the persons of its righteous members. For the double play upon words, see Isa 24:16; Isa 22:18; Isa 10:16. When Jehovah put Israel away (as if by means of a “bill of divorcement,” Isa 50:1), He strove against it (Isa 49:25), i.e., punished it, “ in measure,” i.e., determining the measure very exactly, that it might not exceed the enduring power of Israel, not endanger the existence of Israel as a nation (cf., b e mishpat in Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28). On the other hand, Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel read , from a word ,
(Note: Bttcher refers to a Talmudic word, (to remove), but this is to be pronounced (= ), and is moreover, very uncertain.)
related to , or even , “when thou didst disturb (or drive forth);” but the traditional text does not indicate any various reading with mappic., and the ancient versions and expositors all take the word as a reduplication of , which stands here as the third of an ephah to denote a moderately large measure. The clause hagah b e rucho is probably regarded as an elliptical relative clause, in which case the transition to the third person can be best explained: “thou, who siftedst with violent breath.” Hagah , which only occurs again in Pro 25:4, signifies to separate, e.g., the dross from silver (Isa 1:25). Jehovah sifted Israel (compare the figure of the threshing-floor in Isa 21:10), at the time when, by suspending captivity over it, He blew as violently upon it as if the east wind had raged (vid., Job 2:1-13:19). But He only sifted, He did not destroy.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Correction and Compassion. | B. C. 718. |
7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? 8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. 9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. 10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. 11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour. 12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Here is the prophet again singing of mercy and judgment, not, as before, judgment to the enemies and mercy to the church, but judgment to the church and mercy mixed with that judgment.
I. Here is judgment threatened even to Jacob and Israel. They shall blossom and bud (v. 6), but, 1. They shall be smitten and slain (v. 7), some of them shall. If God find any thing amiss among them, he will lay them under the tokens of his displeasure for it. Judgment shall begin at the house of God, and those whom God has known of all the families of the earth he will punish in the first place. 2. Jerusalem, their defenced city, shall be desolate,Isa 27:10; Isa 27:11. “God having tried a variety of methods with them for their reformation, which, as to many, have proved ineffectual, he will for a time lay their country waste,” which was accomplished when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans; then that habitation was for a long time forsaken. If less judgments do not do the work, God will send greater; for when he judges he will overcome. Jerusalem had been a defenced city, not so much by art or nature as by grace and the divine protection; but, when God was provoked to withdraw, her defence departed from her, and then she was left like a wilderness. “And in the pleasant gardens of Jerusalem cattle shall feed, shall lie down there, and there shall be none to disturb them or drive them away; there they shall be levant and couchant, and they shall eat the tender branches of the fruit-trees,” which perhaps further signifies that the people should become an easy prey to their enemies. “When the boughs thereof are withered as they grow upon the tree, being blasted by winds and frosts and not pruned, they shall be broken off for fuel, and the women and children shall come and set them on fire. There shall be a total destruction, for the very trees shall be destroyed.” And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard (v. 2) when it brought forth wild grapes (ch. v. 2); and our Saviour seems to refer to this when he says of the branches of the vine which abide not in him that they are cast forth and withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned (John xv. 6), which was in a particular manner fulfilled in the unbelieving Jews. The similitude is explained in the following words, It is a people of no understanding, brutish and sottish, and destitute of the knowledge of God, and that have no relish or savour of divine things, like a withered branch that has no sap in it; and this is at the bottom of all those sins for which God left them desolate, their idolatry first and afterwards their infidelity. Wicked people, however in other things they may be wits and politicians, in their greatest concerns are of no understanding; and their ignorance, being wilful, shall not only not be their excuse, but it shall be the ground of their condemnation; for therefore he that made them, that gave them their being, will not have mercy on them, nor save them from the ruin they bring upon themselves; and he that formed them into a people, formed them for himself, to show forth his praise, seeing they do not answer the end of their formation, but hate to be reformed, to be new-formed, will reject them, and show them no favour; and then they are undone: for, if he that made us by his power do not make us happy in his favour, we had better never have been made. Sinners flatter themselves with hopes of impunity, at least that they shall not be dealt with so severely as their ministers tell them, because God is merciful and because he is their Maker. But here we see how weak and insufficient those pleas will be; for, if they be of no understanding, he that made them, though he made them, and hates nothing that he has made, and though he has mercy in store for those who so far understand their interests as to apply to him for it, yet on them he will have no mercy, and will show them no favour.
II. Here is a great deal of mercy mixed with this judgment; for there are good people mixed with those that are corrupt and degenerate, a remnant according to the election of grace, on whom God will have mercy and to whom he will show favour: and these promises seem to point at all the calamities of the church, for which God would graciously provide these allays.
1. Though they shall be smitten and slain, yet not to that degree, and in that manner, in which their enemies shall be smitten and slain, v. 7. God has smitten Jacob, and he is slain. Many of those that understand among the people shall fall by the sword and by flame many days, Dan. xi. 33. But it shall not be as those are smitten and slain, (1.) Who smote him formerly, who were the rod of God’s anger and the staff in his hand, which he made us of for the correction of his people, and to whose turn it shall come to be reckoned with even for that: the child is spared, but the rod is burnt. (2.) Who shall afterwards be slain by him, when he shall get the dominion, and repay them in their own coin, or slain for his sake in the pleading of his cause. God’s people and God’s enemies are here represented, [1.] As struggling with each other; so the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent have been, are, and will be. In this contest there are slain on both sides. God makes use of wicked men, not only to smite, but to slay his people; for they are his sword, Ps. xvii. 13. But, when the cup of trembling comes to be put into their hand, it will be much worse with them than ever it was with God’s people in their greatest straits. The seed of the woman has only his heel bruised, but the serpent has his head crushed and broken. Note, Though God’s persecuted people may be great losers, and great sufferers, for a while, yet those that oppress them will prove to be greater losers and greater sufferers at last, here or hereafter; for God will render double to them, Rev. xviii. 6. [2.] As sharing together in the calamities of this present time. They are both smitten, both slain, and both by the hand of God; for there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. But is Jacob smitten as his enemies are? No, by no means; to him the property is altered, and it becomes quite another thing. Note, However it may seem to us, there is really a vast difference between the afflictions and deaths of good people and the afflictions and deaths of wicked people.
2. Though God will debate with them, yet it shall be in measure, and the affliction shall be mitigated, moderated, and proportioned to their strength, not to their deserts, v. 8. He will deal out afflictions to them as the wise physician prescribes medicines to his patients, just such a quantity of each ingredient, or orders how much blood shall be taken when a vein is opened: thus God orders the troubles of his people, not suffering them to be tempted above what they are able, 1 Cor. x. 13. He measures out their afflictions by a little at a time, that they may not be pressed above measure; for he knows their frame, and corrects in judgment, and does not stir up all his wrath. When the affliction is shooting forth, when he is sending it out and giving it its commission, then he debates in measure, and not in extremity. He considers what we can bear when he begins to correct; and when he proceeds in his controversy, so that it is the day of his east-wind, which is not only blustering and noisy, but blasting and noxious, yet he stays his rough wind, checks it, and sets bounds to it, does not suffer it to blow so hard as was feared; when he is winnowing his corn, it is with a gentle gale, that shall only blow away the chaff, but not the good corn. God has the winds at his command, and every affliction under his check. Hitherto it shall go, but no further. Let us not despair when things are at the worst; be the winds ever so rough, ever so high, God can say unto them, Peace, be still.
3. Though God will afflict them, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls, and correct them as the father does the child, to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts (v. 9): By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. This is the design of the affliction, to this it is adapted as a proper means, and, by the grace of God working with it, it shall have this blessed effect. It shall mortify the habits of sin; by this those defilements of the soul shall be purged away. It shall break them off from the practice of sin: This is all the fruit, this is it that God intends, this is all the harm it will do them, to take away their sin, than which they could not have a greater kindness done them, though it be at the expense of an affliction. Therefore, because the affliction is mitigated and moderated, and the rough wind stayed, therefore we may conclude that he designs their reformation, not their destruction; and, because he deals thus gently with us, we should therefore study to answer his ends in afflicting us. The particular sin which the affliction was intended to cure them of was the sin of idolatry, the sin which did most easily beset that people and to which they were strangely addicted. Ephraim is joined to idols. But by the captivity in Babylon they were not only weaned from this sin, but set against it. Ephraim shall say, What have I do to any more with idols? Jacob has his sin taken away, his beloved sin, when he makes all the stones of the altar, of his idolatrous altar, the stones of which were precious and sacred to him, as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder; he not only has them in contempt, and values them no more than chalk-stones, but he conceives an indignation at them, and, in a holy revenge, beats them asunder as easily as chalk-stones are broken to pieces. The groves and the images shall not stand before this penitent, but they shall be thrown down too, never to be set up again. This was according to the law for the demolishing and destroying of all the monuments of idolatry (Deut. vii. 5); and according to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people in the world have such a rooted aversion to idols and idolatry as the people of the Jews. Note, The design of affliction is to separate between us and sin, especially that which has been our own iniquity; and then it appears that the affliction has done us good when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use all needful precaution that we may not only not relapse into it, but not so much as be tempted to it, Ps. cxix. 67.
4. Though Jerusalem shall be desolate and forsaken for a time, yet there will come a day when its scattered friends shall resort to it again out of all the countries whither they were dispersed (Isa 27:12; Isa 27:13); though the body of the nation is abandoned as a people of no understanding, yet those that are indeed children of Israel shall be gathered together again, as the sheep of the flock when the shepherds that scattered them are reckoned with, Ezek. xxxiv. 10-19. Now observe concerning these scattered Israelites, (1.) Whence they shall be fetched: The Lord shall beat them off as fruit from the tree, or beat them out as corn out of the ear. He shall find them out, and separate them from those among whom they dwelt, and with whom they seemed to be incorporated, from the channel of the river Euphrates north-east, unto Nile, the stream of Egypt, which lay south-west–those that were driven into the land of Assyria, and were captives there in the land of their enemies, where they were ready to perish for want of necessaries, and ready to despair of deliverance–and those that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, whither many of those that were left behind, after the captivity in Babylon, went, contrary to God’s express command (Jer 43:6; Jer 43:7), and there lived as outcasts: God has mercy in store for them all, and will make it to appear that, though they are cast out, they are not cast off. (2.) In what manner they shall be brought back: “You shall be gathered one by one, not in multitudes, not in troops forcing your way; but silently, and as it were by stealth, dropping in, first one, and then another.” This intimates that the remnant that shall be saved consists but of few, and those saved with difficulty, and so as by fire, scarcely saved; they shall not come for company, but as God shall stir up every man’s spirit. (3.) By what means they shall be gathered together: The great trumpet shall be blown, and then they shall come. Cyrus’s proclamation of liberty to the captives is this great trumpet, which awakened the Jews that were asleep in their thraldom to bestir themselves; it was like the sounding of the jubilee-trumpet, which published the year of release. This is applicable both to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gathered in to the grace of God, such as were outcasts and ready to perish (those that were afar off are made nigh; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord), and also to the archangel’s trumpet at the last day, by which saints shall be gathered to the glory of God, that lay as outcasts in their graves. (4.) For what end they shall be gathered together: To worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. When the captives rallied again, and returned to their own land, the chief thing they had their eye upon, and the first thing they applied themselves to, was the worship of God. The holy temple was in ruins, but they had the holy mount, the place of the altar, Gen. xiii. 4. Liberty to worship God is the most valuable and desirable liberty; and, after restraints and dispersions, a free access to his house should be more welcome to us than a free access to our own houses. Those that are gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet are brought in to worship God and added to the church; and the great trumpet of all will gather the saints together, to serve God day and night in his temple.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 7-11: A NECESSARY DISCIPLINE
1. Israel’s punishment, tempered with mercy, is not as severe as that of her enemies, (vs. 7; comp. Isa 30:31-33; Isa 31:8-9; Isa 37:36-38).
2. Her punishment is carefully measured – the Lord sending her into exile (to purge her sin), rather than putting her to death as an adulteress, (vs. 8-9; Isa 48:9-11; Isa 50:1; Isa 54:7; Isa 1:25; Hos 10:8); she must forever abandon her idols, (Isa 17:8; Exo 34:13; Deu 12:3; Rom 11:27).
3. Before this comes to pass Jerusalem must be destroyed; only through humiliation can her rebel heart ever know the real blessing of Jehovah, (vs. 10-11; Rom 11:17; Rom 11:19-20; Deu 32:28-29; Jer 5:21; Hos 4:6).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. Hath he smitten him? (202) He confirms the former statement, and shews that, even in chastisements, there are certain and manifest proofs of the goodness and mercy of God; for while the Lord chastises his people, he moderates the severity in such a manner as always to leave some room for compassion. There are various ways of explaining this verse. Some interpret it thus: “Did I smite Israel as his enemies smote him? The Assyrians did not at all spare him: they acted towards him with the utmost cruelty. But I laid a restraint on my wrath, and did not smite as if I wished to destroy him; and thus I gave abundant evidence that I am not his enemy.” But I prefer another and commonly received interpretation, which leads us to understand that a difference between believers and the reprobate is here declared; for God punishes both indiscriminately, but not in the same manner. When he takes vengeance on the reprobate, he gives loose reins to his anger; because he has no other object in view than to destroy them; for they are “vessels of wrath, appointed to destruction,” (Rom 9:22,) and have no experience of the goodness of God. But when he chastises the godly, he restrains his wrath, and has another and totally different object in view; for he wishes to bring them back to the right path, and to draw them to himself, that provision may be made for their future happiness.
But it may be asked, Why does the Prophet employ a circuitous mode of expression, and say, “according to the stroke of him that smote him?” I answer, he did so, because the Lord often employs the agency of wicked men in chastising us, in order to depress and humble us the more. It is often a very sore temptation to us, when the Lord permits us to be oppressed by the tyranny of wicked men; for we have doubts whether it is because he favors them, or because he deprives us of his assistance, as if he hated us. To meet this doubt, he says that he does indeed permit wicked men to afflict his people, and to exercise their cruelty upon them for a time, but that he will at length punish them for their wickedness more sharply than they punished the godly persons. Yet, if any one choose to adopt the former interpretation, namely, that the Lord will not deal with us as with enemies, I have no objection. Hence arises also that saying, that “it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men;” for the Lord can never forget his covenant, that he will deal in a gentle and fatherly manner with his Church. (2Sa 24:14; 1Ch 21:13.)
(202) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE AFFLICTIONS OF GODS PEOPLE
Isa. 27:7-9. Hath He smitten him as He smote his smiter, or was he slain as his slayers were slain? In exact measure, when dismissing her, Thou didst contend with her; He scared her away with His rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore on these terms [or, hereby] shall the guilt of Jacob be purged, and this shall be all the fruit of taking away his sin, when he maketh all the altar-stones like lime-stones dashed in pieces, that Ashrahs and sun-images rise up no more.Cheyne.
This is a continuation of the song of the vineyard (Isa. 27:2-6). That song was to be sung after deliverance from disasters which had come upon Gods chosen people, as the chastisement of their sins. The prophet here pauses to reflect and to instruct them. His instructions are of exceeding value to us, for God acts on the same principles in every age.
I. GODS PEOPLE ARE OFTEN SEVERELY AFFLICTED.
They fail in duty, or they even transgress His commandments. Then they certainly suffer. Utter is the delusion that they may sin with impunity. Unlike human parents, God never spoils His children; He has no foolish fondness for them that would lead Him to be blind to or tolerant of their faults. On the contrary, sin in them is most grievous to Him (H. E. I., 45634570), and the chastisement thereof is certain and often severe (Amo. 3:2). Terrible was the punishment which Isaiah foresaw would come upon Israeldeportation to the land of their conquerors. In that calamity what varied and awful sufferings were involved! So it is still! there is severity as well as mercy in the God we serve. Because He loves us, He will not allow us to go on to ruin unchecked. By terrible calamities, if need be, He will arrest us in the path to perdition.
II. IN THE SEVEREST AFFLICTIONS WHEREWITH GOD VISITS HIS PEOPLE HIS MERCY IS MANIFEST.
Manifest,
1. In the fact that they befall them here and now. How kind in Him, not to stand silently by, and leave them to go on unchecked to ruin! Remember, the sinner has no claim upon the mercy of God in any form.
2. In the restraint with which they are measured out [1096] There is no passion or vindictiveness in Gods dealings with them that provoke Him to anger. Though His chastisements may seem to burst upon the backslider like a hurricane of east wind, in reality mercy controls and directs the storm. In exact measure, &c., [1099] Because it is so exactly measured out by mercy,
(1) it always falls short of the guilt of the sinner. Did justice measure it out, so that it should be commensurate with the guilt of the transgressor, it would mean destruction. This is seen in the case of the enemies of God. Persistent ungodliness is visited at length, not with chastisement, but with judgment, i.e., utter ruin (note the picture of the doom of Babylon in Isa. 27:10-11). So that when Gods erring people have been chastened most severely, His prophets can put to them Isaiahs question in Isa. 27:7. To it they can only return the answer given in Psa. 103:10.
(2). It always falls short of the transgressors power of endurance (H. E. I., 180,187). When it is ended, he still liveslives to bless the hand that smote him (Psa. 119:71; Psa. 119:75; Psa. 119:67).
3. In the motive that inspires them all. By them God seeks, not the destruction of His erring people, but their deliverance. Israel was held in the degrading bondage of idolatry; the terrible calamities of the captivity were the strokes by which He brake their fetters. When the discipline was over, they hated idolatry in all its forms; all the altar-stones in which they had delighted were like limestones dashed in pieces, and the Ashrahs and sun-images rose in their midst no more. It is the same motive that inspires Him in all His afflictive dealings with His people to-day (H. E. I., 5659, 6674). Therefore, if He is visiting us with afflictions,
1. Let us not be rebellious, but submissive (H. E. I., 158).
2. Let us be moved to penitential self-examination (H. E. I., 145147).
3. Let us give heartfelt thanks to God because He is resolved to make us like Himself (Heb. 12:10; H. E. I., 162165).
[1096] See pp. 6, 20.
[1099] Isa. 27:8. In measure. Rather, with measure by measure: Heb. with seah-seah, a seah, being the third part of an ephab, was a moderate measure. With forbearance and graduated severity, dealing out punishment in carefully adjusted quantities, and at successive times, not suffering Thy whole displeasure to arise,correcting with judgment, not in anger (Jer. 10:24; Jer. 30:11).Kay.
THE DISCIPLINE OF SIN
Isa. 27:9. By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin.
The history of Gods ancient people is a divine teaching. He had brought them into special relations to Himself, and had conferred on them special privileges. They were intended to be witnesses for Him in the world. To a large extent they failed. Instead of persistent faithfulness to their mission, they repeatedly fell into idolatrous practices. Punishment came. They repented. But when the impression was gone, they renewed the sin. For centuries this continued, until the terrible disaster of the Babylonian captivity. Then they finally renounced idolatry. This was the divine design in permitting that disaster to befall them. The prophet foretold it with suggestive accuracy. By this shall the iniquities of Jacob be purged, &c.
Their conduct, and the divine dealing with them, finds its parallel in the history of the modern Church. The parallel holds
I. WITH REGARD TO THEIR SIN.
The spiritual Jacob sins. Saintly individuals, here and there, whose conduct is an honour to the gospel; but comparatively limited number. Many who in youth felt strongly have seriously declined from the warmth of their first love. Instead of keeping themselves from the world, they are under its influence; like imperfect swimmers, who get within the power of a wave and find they have neither strength nor skill to cope with it. They listen to the sentiments of the world on matters of religion and morality. By little and little they conform. Like Samson, when shorn of his locks, they become weak as other men. From contentment with imperfection they become reconciled to positive sin. Sometimes they even exceed their teachers. Christian professors who have declined into sinful ways often become worse than those from whom they have taken their lesson.
And does not God hate sin in them as He hates it in others? A mans standing in Christ is nothing, if he is living in wilful sin. It deadens his conscience, interrupts his communion with God, exposes him to the peril of final apostasy and perdition. Read the former as well as the latter part of 1Jn. 1:7. (H. E. I., 45634570.)
II. WITH REGARD TO THE DISCIPLINE OF SIN.
The discipline God sent to the Jewish people was
(1.) Severe. It seemed hard to be driven from their beautiful city to a foreign land, possibly to be absorbed in its population or held in slavery. Nor had they the consolation of knowing that they had not brought it on themselves. God knows how to regulate the severity of suffering according to all the facts that must be taken into account, and all the ends that are to be served. However severe our sufferings, we are compelled to admit that they are always less than we deserve. But if His strokes are to be felt, they must sometimes be severe.
(2.) Punitive. God punished Jacob for his sin; but He did not cast him off. His disapprobation of sin had been shown in words; now it must be shown by punishment (Hos. 12:2). The sufferings of Gods people are sometimes trials of faith. But they are often punishments. When a parent inflicts punishment, does he mean that he has disowned his child? Does it not spring from and prove the relation between them? God punishes as a father: and because He is a father. But this is different from allowing the penal consequences of sin to fall fully on them. That would be disownment, perdition. He fulfils His word (Psa. 89:30-37. H. E. I., 5659, 6670).
(3.) Corrective. Purged; and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin. It does not win the pardon of sin. No mans suffering can atone for his sin. That comes another way. The divine One has atoned. Here repentance, reformation is contemplated. As when the husbandman prosecutes his labours he aims to produce the fruit, so Gods design in His peoples troubles is to take away their sin. A rough method; but necessary. The wild storm damages but purifies. The vine-dresser cuts off branches that the tree may bear more fruit. The sharp frosts of affliction kill the weeds of sin. The medicine is distasteful, but it attacks and dislodges the disease.
But have afflictions invariably this effect? No. Sometimes received in a rebellious spirit; God not recognised in them; thoughtfulness not encouraged; the heart is hardened; comfort is sought from pernicious sources; the soul is driven further from God and deeper into sin.
But when trouble is sanctified
(1.) It suggests serious thoughtfulness. How has it come? From God? Why? Sin. Our moral instincts point to retribution. Perhaps some particular sin. May be an immediate connection of the punishmentwith intemperance for instance, or fraudulent business transactions. There will be self-examination. God, responsibility, eternity will be realised.
(2.) It produces self-humiliation. Confession of sin. Penitential cry for mercy at the cross. Renewed self-dedication.
(3.) It reawakens spiritual life. It is a reason for the reception of fresh impetus. New earnestness in the culture of holiness; new watchfulness against evil. Like a child corrected.
Then if troubles surround you
(1.) Be conscious of Gods hand. Look beyond the secondary causes.
(2.) Justify God in His dealing.
(3.) Be patient; wait His time.
(4.) Study His design in sending the trouble. And unite with Him for the accomplishment of that design (H. E. I., 143154).J. Rawlinson.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. JOINED BY DIVINE PURGING
TEXT: Isa. 27:7-13
7
Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by them?
8
In measure, when thou sendest them away, thou dost contend with them; he hath removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
9
Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more.
10
For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
11
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.
12
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will beat off his fruit from the flood of the River unto the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
13
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come that were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
QUERIES
a.
How does taking them away forgive the sin of Jacob?
b.
Why does Jehovah not have compassion on them?
c.
What is the trumpet that is to be blown?
PARAPHRASE
Has Jehovah stricken His own people as severely as He has stricken their oppressors? Have His people known death as those who killed them have known it? No! He has dealt with His own people by driving them from their land and dispersing them. He has driven them by His fierce blast, it is true; like the scorching wind from the desert He has come upon them. Yet only in this purging shall the guilt of His people be removed. Only in this way can the peoples forgiveness be accomplishedif they smash their pagan altars into pounded chalk, and leave no idols standing. Look at most of the fortified cities of Israel to the north; they are desolate like a deserted house and as forsaken as the desert. Calves graze there; animals make them their habitations and feeding grounds. The limbs of the trees of these cities wither, dry up and break off and women come and use them for firewood. These northern neighbors of yours are foolish, stupid and rebellious people. This is the reason their Creator cannot have pity upon them or show them His favorthey do not want it. In that day when Jehovah begins to make His feast and remove the covering spread over all nations and swallows up death forever, He will gather His chosen together one by one like hand-picked grain, selecting them from the far reaches of the worldfrom Mesopotamia and from Egypt. In that same day a great beckoning shall be made like a trumpet blast and those who were lost in the far reaches of the world will come and worship the Lord in Zion.
COMMENTS
Isa. 27:7-11 CALL TO REPENTANCE: In view of that day (Isa. 25:6-9, etc.) and all Jehovah proposes to do with His people, the Lord now calls Judah, through Isaiah, to repent. First the Lord reminds His people that He has dealt with them mercifully. God has not smitten His own people as He has others. It is true He has handled them roughly, but this was for their good, that they might repent. Others (like the Canaanites and Amalekites) were extinguished as a race by the sovereign permission of God working through secondary agents. But He would not allow the covenant people to suffer extinction. He purposed to bring redemption to the whole world through them. However, He cannot work through any people unless they are willing. His firm, often severe, chastening hand rested upon them and will again rest upon them in exile to bring them to repentance. The Hebrew word for measure is saah which means a third part of an ephah. This enforces the idea that God does not extinguish Judah but only carries them away into exile, purifying for Himself a remnant through which He will yet work His redemption.
Isa. 27:9 shows that the effect of the exile will be the expiation of Judahs sin. The captivity was the means by which the nation was brought to repentancenot the grounds of their forgiveness. There was no merit in their suffering. The suffering was a means to bring them to repentance. Only when they repented and turned to God could they be forgiven. The fruit worthy of repentance in their case was to be the breaking asunder of their idols and pagan altars and grinding them into chalky obliteration.
Secondly, the Lord directs the attention of Judah to most of the now desolate and ruined cities of Israel, the northern kingdom. The Assyrians have overrun and destroyed most of Israelonly the capital Samaria is left, and it is under siege. Assyrian armies now appear headed for Judah. To refer to a future desolate Jerusalem would have little impact on Isaiahs audience. But to point to most of Israel already lying in desolate ruins where dead trees and grazing animals are the only inhabitants of its cities would serve as a graphic warning. The accusation that the people of these deserted cities are without understanding fits very well the description of the people of the northern kingdom as Hosea pictured them (Hos. 4:1-6, etc.).
Isa. 27:12-13 CALL TO RESTORATION: The predicted exile will have its effect in producing repentance and turning from idolatry back to Jehovahat least in a faithful remnant. Out of, and through, that remnant restored to Palestine in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel will come the fulfillment of the Messianic order idealized and symbolized in this section. That day of Isa. 27:12-13 are obviously still integral parts of the whole context of this section (ch. 2427) and refer directly back to the day when the feast is made, the covering is removed and death is swallowed up forever.
Jehovah will have fruit (Hebrew, parah; produce, offspring) from the far reaches of the world as a result of the exiled penitent, restored remnant. The Hebrew word translated gathered is lakat which means literally, collect, pick up, the same word as is used in Exo. 16:5; Exo. 16:16; Exo. 16:26-27, to describe the Israelites collecting manna and quail. He will collect His own one by one, selectively. As Leupold says, The point is, Gods fatherly care for His own will appear in this that the scattered ones will be most faithfully gathered and made a unit again. Their unity however will express itself in their united worship at the sanctuary . . .
If our interpretation is correct and that day refers back to the messianic program predicted in chapter 25, then the great trumpet to be sounded on that day must be the gospel proclamation which gathered (and is still gathering, collecting, picking) the true Israel of God from the far reaches of the world and uniting them in the worship of Jehovah in Zion, the real and abiding Zion (the church), not the earthly and passing Jerusalem, (see our comments on Isa. 19:16-25, Volume I, College Press).
Thus closes a very significant section of Isaiahs message. It is a message to the last, remaining segment of the covenant nation. They are to be judged for their sin and idolatry. But it is the judgment of a merciful and sovereign Lord. He is judging for a purpose. That purpose is to purge the covenant people of their sin in order that they may progress toward the goal Jehovah has for them. That goal is the redemption of all mankind through their Messiah and through them as a messianic people.
QUIZ
1.
Why ask if He has smitten his own people as He has others?
2.
How does their removal relate to their being forgiven?
3.
What does the fortified city have to do with their forgiveness?
4.
What day is referred to in Isa. 27:12-13?
5.
How is God going to gather them?
6.
Where are they going to worship?
7.
Summarize this entire section.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) Hath he smitten him . . .The pronouns are left in the English Version somewhat obscure, but the use of capitals makes the meaning plain: Hath He (Jehovah) smitten him (Israel) as He smote those that smote him; or is he slain according to the slaughter of those that are slain by Him? A slight alteration in the last clause in the text gives, according to the slaughter of his slayers. In any case the thought is that Jehovah had chastised the guilt with a leniency altogether exceptional. They had not been punished as others had been. The words admit, however, of another meaning, which is preferred by some critics, viz., that Jehovah doth not smite Israel with the smiting like that with which his (Israels) smiters smote himi.e., had not punished, as the oppressors had punished, ruthlessly and in hate, but had in His wrath remembered mercy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7, 8. Him That is, Israel. The question, in form, calls for a negative answer. Not to the degree God has punished his enemies has he punished Israel. He has punished in measure, only moderately. , ( b’sassah,) composed probably of two words, and to be translated in measure, measure, which means, very moderately. The word is used in no other place in the Bible, and has occasioned a world of difficulty. But interpreters of approved character come together in the explanation above given.
When it shooteth forth A translation not intelligible. Literally, it is, In sending her forth, that is, God’s vineyard, or Jewish people.
Thou wilt debate Or, enter into contention with this vineyard. With these clauses, “in measure” is to be construed. Then the meaning of the verse is: “When thou didst send thy people into Babylon, thou didst punish them very moderately, considering, first, their deserts, and second, the fruits of this captivity.”
He stayeth Showing how he punished only moderately. He checked the severe rough wind upon them. He is to return them to Jerusalem, though not in the period of the tempestuous east wind. Such winds are emblematic of divine judgment. See Job 27:21.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh Has Had Compassion On His People, For Even In The Past He Has Not Treated Israel As Badly As They Deserved ( Isa 27:7-9 ).
Yahweh has not smitten His people as severely as He has smitten others, nor has He slaughtered them with the same severity. In His treatment of her (as with a wife, compare Isa 50:1) He will contend with her in measured fashion, by removing her (bringing about a separation with her) through one who comes from the East (Assyria) like a strong wind. And by means of this the iniquity of Jacob (Israel) will be purged. This is how He will take away his (Jacob’s) sin. This last will take place when Jacob finally gets rid of all idolatry.
Analysis.
a Has He smitten him as He smote those who smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him? (Isa 27:7).
b When you send her away you contend with her in measure, He has removed her with His rough blast in the day of the east wind (Isa 27:8).
b Therefore by this will the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin (Isa 27:9 a).
a When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crushed to pieces, so that the Asherah images and the sun-images will rise no more (Isa 27:9 b).
In ‘a’ Yahweh has smitten His people in a measured way, and in the parallel the result must be that they in turn are to crush in pieces their idols so that they have nothing more to do with them. In ‘b’ He ‘causes a separation’ with His people and in the parallel the purpose is that through exile their sin will be purged.
Isa 27:7
‘Has he smitten him as he smote those who smote him?
Or is he slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him?’
Isaiah now points out that although Yahweh has smitten Israel, and has caused men to be slain in her, yet He has not done so to the extent that He has with her enemies. His hand has been more heavy on her enemies, smiting them severely and slaying them in large numbers (see Isa 37:36). But with Israel He has been much less severe. Justice has been tempered with mercy. For the identity of who did the smiting on God’s behalf see Isa 10:20. It was the Assyrian.
Isa 27:8
‘When you send her away you contend with her in measure.
He has removed her with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.’
God’s treatment of Israel has always been measured. The change to the feminine pronoun indicates that He is seeing her as similar to a wife. When He has ‘sent her away’ (brought about a separation from her – compare Isa 50:1), that is, has had her taken away captive it has always been in reasonable proportions. Her removal has always been with the rough, but short, blast of the desert wind, so that she could soon be restored, rather than with the more constant continuing winds from other directions which would have ensured her permanent downfall. Or the ‘rough blast in the day of the east wind’ might be the Assyrians coming from the east. Either way His purpose is always finally to restore her
Isa 27:9
‘Therefore by this will the iniquity of Jacob be purged,
And this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin,
When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crushed to pieces,
So that the Asherah images and the sun-images will rise no more.’
Thus would occur the purging of the iniquity, the inner sinfulness, of Jacob (compare Isa 6:7). It would be fulfilled in this measured but violent way, which would accomplish what was necessary. It would be so that she would receive the full fruit in order that her sin might be dealt with. And it would result in the taking away of Jacob/Israel’s outwardly expressed sins. It would result in the crushing to pieces of the altar stones of their false gods as though they were chalkstones, removing the false altars used for the worship of the Asherah images and the sun-images, so that these false divinities would rise no more, that is, would no more be worshipped or taken heed of.
God’s purpose always in allowing His people to be distressed was so that they might turn from sin and be freed from idolatry, and that is depicted as fully accomplished here. For one day Israel would be set free from the idolatry to which she was prone. Note the fact that it is ‘Jacob’ not Judah that is described here. Isaiah still has in mind the whole nation.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Gathering of the Church
v. 7. Hath He, v. 8. In measure, when it shooteth forth, Thou wilt debate with it, v. 9. By this, therefore, v. 10. Yet the defensed city, v. 11. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off, v. 12. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off, v. 13. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 27:7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? [or] is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
Ver. 7. Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? ] No; for the one he smote to correction, the other to destruction – the one with the palm, of his hand, as a man smiteth his son, the other with his clutched fist, as one smiteth his slaver whom he careth not where he hits or how he hurts. Temporal evils are in the nature sometimes of a curse, sometimes of a cure. Hinc distinctio illa poenae in conferentem et nocentem, sive in suffocantem et promoventem; item in poenam vindictae, et poenam cautelae, sive in condemnantem et corregentem.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 27:7-11
7Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?
8You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.
9Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven;
And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
10For the fortified city is isolated,
A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert;
There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.
11When its limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of discernment,
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.
Isa 27:7 This is a very difficult verse. It states that God’s judgment is going to fall on those nations that He had used to judge His own people. (cf. Isa 47:6).
Repetition of words and phrases is characteristic of this literary unit (see Isa 26:6). Here the NOUN, (BDB 646, FEMININE, often used of YHWW bringing judgment on His own people, cf. Lev 26:21; Deu 28:61; Jer 30:12), to wound, or to slaughter, is followed by the repeating of a related VERB, (BDB 645, KB 697, Hiphil PARTICIPLE and Hiphil PERFECT). Those who YHWH used to punish will be punished even more severely than they punished God’s people (NET Bible).
Isa 27:8 them The them of Isa 27:8 refers to Israel being divorced (i.e., context, BDB 936, KB 1224, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Hos 2:2) by God because she broke the covenant (cf. Isa 50:1). Therefore, God brought foreign rulers to judge His people (cf. Deu 28:49-57; i.e., Assyria, Isa 10:5, and Babylon, Isaiah 14). However, God will judge them also (cf. Isa 27:7; Isa 47:6; Isa 49:25).
NASBby banishing them
NKJVin measure
NRSVby expulsion
NJBby expelling
LXXdismiss
PESHITTAin measure by which he has measured
The MT has (found only here), which can be understood as
1. , in measure by measure (BDB 684, KB 738, Pilpel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, Targums and Vulgate)
2. , by driving her out (see next paragraph)
The UBS Hebrew Text Project gives #1 a B rating (some doubt), possibly because doubling of words and phrases is so common in this literary unit.
The next Hebrew word is (BDB 1018, KB 1511, Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT), which means send away by exile. Several of the translations above simply leave out the first VERBAL and translate the second VERBAL.
by driving them away The Hebrew VERB (BDB 212, KB 237, Qal PERFECT) denotes a cleansing by removing impurities (from the refining of silver, cf. Pro 25:4).
east wind Often this refers to the powers of Mesopotamia (i.e., Isa 46:11; Eze 17:10; Hos 13:15) that invade Palestine, but that cannot be the meaning here because of Isa 27:7. So it must be a metaphor of divine judgment (cf. Exo 10:13; Psa 48:7; Jer 18:17). Sometimes the east wind is a divine act of blessing (cf. Exo 14:21; Exo 15:10; Num 11:31; see NIDOTTE, vol. 3, pp. 871-873).
Isa 27:9 Here again many have asserted that this shows that Israel/Judah was forgiven because of the judgment that they experienced from the hand of God. But wait, they must also destroy all remnants of their fertility worship (lines 3, 4). However, this must be brought in line with the concept of the Suffering Servant found in Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12. Again, it is not an either/or situation, but two different ways of looking at the actions of God in human history. The Messiah is the means of salvation, but people must respond to Him in faith and faithfulness.
altar stones. . .Asherim These were the symbols of the male and female fertility deities of Canaan which were so devastating to the worship of YHWH. They will be destroyed! See Fertility Worship of the Ancient Near East .
chalk stones This word (BDB 162) appears only here in the OT. It denotes a soft stone that can easily be pulverized.
The same word is found in Dan 5:5, but in Aramaic, and refers to the plaster on the walls of the banquet room in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, Belshazzar.
Isa 27:10 For the fortified city is isolated This is a play on the term city. See note at Isa 24:10 and chart at chapter 26, Introduction, D.
Isa 27:11 The imagery of a deserted pasture representing the exiled, sinful people of God continues from Isa 27:10 in Isa 27:11, lines 1-2.
These disobedient covenant people are characterized:
1. they are not a people of discernment, cf. Hos 4:14
2. their Maker (cf. Isa 43:1; Isa 43:7; Isa 44:2; Isa 44:21; Isa 44:24; Deu 32:18) will not have compassion on them
3. their Creator will not be gracious to them
as, &c. = according to the stroke of those, &c.
Isa 27:7-11
Isa 27:7
“Hath he smitten them as he smote them that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by them?”
Such questions in Hebrew require negative answers; and this verse means that God’s punishments have not been as severe as they might have been. Proof of this is seen in the fact that, whereas, Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly destroyed from the face of the earth for their wickedness; Israel which became `worse than Sodom and Gomorrah’ (Eze 16:47), was dealt with much more leniently.
Isa 27:8
“In measure, when thou sendest them away, thou dost contend with them; he hath removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.”
This verse is ambiguous. Cheyne stated that `in measure’ here or `in exact measure’ means, “dealing out punishment in carefully adjusted quantities”; The Hebrew word used for dry measure here is “`[~seah],’ meaning one-third of an ephah.” This surely reminds us of the judgments connected with the trumpets in Rev 8:7-8; Rev 8:10, where we read that only “one third” was allowed in the various destructions prophesied.
In this light, we find it difficult to believe that only God’s judgments of Northern Israel are in view here. It appears to us that this is simply a promise of restraint on God’s part in those judgments poured out on mankind in general during the Messianic age, that clearly being the teaching in the great judgment passages of the Apocalypse.
Isa 27:9
“Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be forgiven, and this all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more.”
The mention of “forgiveness” in this passage is a positive indication that the era of the New Covenant is spoken of, and not the history of pre-Christian Israel. There was no forgiveness whatever under the old covenant. For this reason, the crushing of the altars of idols and the cessation of adoration for the Asherim, etc., were indeed the “fruit” of Christianity and positively did not result from God’s pardoning ancient Israel prior to such things and being, in fact, the cause of them. On the other hand, the abolition of idol worship was a direct result, not of anything Israel ever did, but as a result of the gospel.
Here also is a positive and convincing evidence that this portion of Isaiah must be identified with the eighth century (when Isaiah lived) and not with the period of the exile, to which time the critics would dearly love to assign it. “This mention of the Asherim is not what we should expect from a writer living during the Babylonian exile.” It is disappointing, however, that Cheyne at once declared that, “The phenomenon is not decisive. But, of course, it is decisive and carries the positive imprimatur of the times of Isaiah.
Isa 27:10
“For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof.”
This is once more a reference to that time-period mentioned in Rev 16:9, near the close of the dispensation of the grace of God, when the “cities of the nations” shall fall. This will occur at a time when Adam’s race shall almost have run its course, and when, due to rampant wickedness, God will have no moral choice available except to destroy the sinful world.
Isa 27:11
“When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.”
This is once more a picture of the judgment of mankind at the last day. It is incorrect to limit this to racial Israel, because racial Israel is not to be destroyed in the total sense until the final reckoning and destruction of all of Adam’s sinful race, except the redeemed of God.
Isa 27:7-11 CALL TO REPENTANCE: In view of that day (Isa 25:6-9, etc.) and all Jehovah proposes to do with His people, the Lord now calls Judah, through Isaiah, to repent. First the Lord reminds His people that He has dealt with them mercifully. God has not smitten His own people as He has others. It is true He has handled them roughly, but this was for their good, that they might repent. Others (like the Canaanites and Amalekites) were extinguished as a race by the sovereign permission of God working through secondary agents. But He would not allow the covenant people to suffer extinction. He purposed to bring redemption to the whole world through them. However, He cannot work through any people unless they are willing. His firm, often severe, chastening hand rested upon them and will again rest upon them in exile to bring them to repentance. The Hebrew word for measure is saah which means a third part of an ephah. This enforces the idea that God does not extinguish Judah but only carries them away into exile, purifying for Himself a remnant through which He will yet work His redemption.
Isa 27:9 shows that the effect of the exile will be the expiation of Judahs sin. The captivity was the means by which the nation was brought to repentance-not the grounds of their forgiveness. There was no merit in their suffering. The suffering was a means to bring them to repentance. Only when they repented and turned to God could they be forgiven. The fruit worthy of repentance in their case was to be the breaking asunder of their idols and pagan altars and grinding them into chalky obliteration.
Secondly, the Lord directs the attention of Judah to most of the now desolate and ruined cities of Israel, the northern kingdom. The Assyrians have overrun and destroyed most of Israel-only the capital Samaria is left, and it is under siege. Assyrian armies now appear headed for Judah. To refer to a future desolate Jerusalem would have little impact on Isaiahs audience. But to point to most of Israel already lying in desolate ruins where dead trees and grazing animals are the only inhabitants of its cities would serve as a graphic warning. The accusation that the people of these deserted cities are without understanding fits very well the description of the people of the northern kingdom as Hosea pictured them (Hos 4:1-6, etc.).
he smitten: Isa 10:20-25, Isa 14:22, Isa 14:23, Isa 17:3, Isa 17:14, Jer 30:11-16, Jer 50:33, Jer 50:34, Jer 50:40, Jer 51:24, Dan 2:31-35, Nah 1:14, Nah 3:19
as he smote: Heb. according to the stroke of
Reciprocal: 2Sa 16:12 – requite Isa 10:24 – smite thee Isa 28:27 – the fitches Jer 46:28 – will I Eze 6:8 – General Amo 9:8 – saving
Isa 27:7. Hath he smitten him Namely, Jacob; as he smote those that smote him? The question implies a denial. He hath not so smitten him. He hath not dealt so severely with his people as he hath with their enemies, whom he hath utterly destroyed. Or is he slain as those slain by him Namely, those slain by God on the behalf of Israel? The meaning is, God had never permitted the Jews to be smitten to their entire destruction, as he had their enemies, but had always taken care to preserve a remnant.
Isa 27:7-11. Israels Gentle Chastisement and the Terms on which it may be Pardoned.This is an insertion out of connexion with the context, and it does not itself hang well together. The writer asks, Has Yahweh punished Israel as severely as He has punished Israels oppressors? No, for Israels oppressors have been slain, while Israel has been simply driven forth into exile. Israels guilt may be removed on condition that false worship is given up. The city is deserted, the calf pastures on its site, and there the women collect their firewood, for its people are without knowledge of God, and He will have no mercy upon them.
Isa 27:8. in measure: the meaning is quite uncertain (mg.), the explanations offered quite improbable.east wind: the sirocco, stifling and violent. It is vividly described in the opening chapters of E. F. Bensons The Image in the Sand.
Isa 27:9. by this: on these terms.fruit: this should mean result, but we rather expect the cause to be mentioned, the surrender of idolatry being the reason for pardon rather than its consequence.altar: i.e. heathen altars, the stones of which are to be shattered.the Asherim and the sun-images: Isa 17:8.
Isa 27:10. The identity of the city is uncertain. Apparently it is not Jerusalem but Samaria, or some heathen city.
27:7 Hath he smitten {g} him, as he smote those that smote him? [or] is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
(g) He shows that God punishes his in mercy, and his enemies in justice.
Rhetorically Isaiah asked if the Lord had ever dealt as harshly with Israel as He had with Israel’s oppressors. He had not, of course. He had always demonstrated special care and restraint when He dealt with His chosen people.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)