Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 27:12
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.
12. the Lord shall beat off Egypt ] Rather: Jehovah shall thresh out from the corn-ears of the River (the Euphrates) unto (those of) the brook of Egypt, i.e. all that grows between those limits. The term “beat out” is applied both to the beating of olives from the tree (Deu 24:20) and to the beating out of grain with a staff a more careful process than the ordinary methods (Isa 28:27; Jdg 6:11). The latter analogy gives the best sense here. The “brook of Egypt” is the Wadi el Arish, the south-western frontier of Palestine, this and the Euphrates being the extreme boundaries of the ideal territory of Israel (Gen 15:18, &c.). The meaning is that within this territory Jehovah will carefully separate the corn from the chaff and straw, the true Israelites from heathens and apostates, Isa 27:13 then describes, under another figure, the ingathering of those who were exiled beyond these limits.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12, 13. The return from Exile, a prophecy of the same character as ch. Isa 11:11-16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off – The word which is used here ( chabat) means properly to beat off with a stick, as fruit from a tree Deu 20:20. It also means to beat out grain with a stick Jdg 6:11; Rth 2:17 The word which is rendered in the other member of the sentence, shall be gathered ( laqat), is applied to the act of collecting fruit after it has been beaten from a tree, or grain after it has been threshed. The use of these words here shows that the image is taken from the act of collecting fruit or grain after harvest; and the expression means, that as the farmer gathers in his fruit, so God would gather in his people. In the figure, it is supposed that the garden or vineyard of Yahweh extends from the Euphrates to the Nile; that his people are scattered in all that country; that there shall be agitation or a shaking in all that region as when a farmer beats off his fruit from the tree, or beats out his grain; and that the result would be that all those scattered people would be gathered into their own land. The time referred to is, doubtless, after Babylon should be taken; and in explanation of the declaration it is to be remembered that the Jews were not only carried to Babylon, but were scattered in large numbers in all the adjacent regions. The promise here is, that from all those regions where they had been scattered they should be re-collected and restored to their own land.
From the channel of the river – The river here undoubtedly refers to the river Euphrates (see the note at Isa 11:15).
Unto the stream of Egypt – The Nile. And ye shall be gathered one by one. As the farmer collects his fruits one by one – collecting them carefully, and not leaving any. This means that God will not merely collect them as a nation, but as individuals. He will see that none is overlooked, and that all shall be brought in safety to their land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 27:12
Ye shall be gathered one by one
The one-by-one principle
This principle is developed–
I.
IN THE DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE.
II. IN THE PROVISIONS OF THE GOSPEL.
III. IN THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW OF GOD. (F. Greeves.)
Gathered one by one
1. There is a country whose mysterious shores are visited each year by thousands from every continent of earth, and not one of them ever returns to detail its marvels. It is called in Scripture a land of darkness, and the shadow of death. It is a great republic, though it has a despot for its ruler; and it is the only one in which the dream of human equality can be fully realised. There the rich and the poor meet together, and are on a perfect level; there the cheek of beauty, the form of grace, and the withered limbs of age, are alike the banquet of the heedless worm; there the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice, of the oppressor; the small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. There, side by side, in peaceful slumber, lie kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and the judges of the earth: both young men and maidens; old men, and children. Mysterious land! And oh! how densely peopled! But does it not throw a fearful solemnity over this thought, when we consider that to it we shall be gathered one by one? We live together; we act together; but we must die alone. Shall not this consideration lead you to remember your individuality now, and one by one to prepare for that hour by working out your salvation with fear and trembling?
2. Solemn, however, as is this gathering of the grave, it derives, fresh importance from the fact, that we need not fear, and we must not hope that it will be the last gathering. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and we shall be raised incorruptible. What a gathering that shall be! They shall come, the dead of all generations–from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to the Saviour, from the Saviour to us, from ourselves to the judgment; all shall come; the sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and the earth the dead that are in it, and death and hell the dead that are in them; and the whole posterity of Adam, young and old, rich and poor, countless as the sands on the seashore, or the stars of
Heaven–all, without exception, shall be gathered there. But let us not forget the principle before us. Each individual of that mighty gathering will retain his own personal identity.
3. This, however, is but the opening scene of a yet more tremendous tragedy. It is but the lurid dawning of the great and terrible day of the Lord. There shall be yet another gathering, the most momentous gathering of our race, and the last. Each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
4. Learn thus that you have an individuality. Each one of you has powers, duties, talents, responsibilities, which you cannot share with any other being in the universe of God. You may commit sin in a crowd; but when you are judged for it you must stand alone.
5. Will ye be gathered now, gathered to the Saviours arms, gathered one by one? (F. Greeves.)
Gathered in death one by one
We often ask why should we die alone? It is not for us to give an answer for God. The Judge of all the earth will do right. Our entrance into the world is one by one; it is not unnatural that our departure should be the same. Each ones conversion, marriage, all the great events of life, are passed through, not in the mass, but each by himself, one by one.
I. The individuality of Gods dealings with men in their highest and most solemn experiences is AN HONOUR AND A FAVOUR. Each is thus made His special care. The most precious fruit is gathered by hand.
II. THE SHOCK OF BEREAVEMENT IS THUS LESSENED; a sparing mercy to those who are left to mourn.
III. WARNINGS OF THE INEVITABLE HOUR ARE THUS MULTIPLIED, that survivors may prepare. (Homiletic Review.)
Gathered one by one,
Gathered one by one, i.e., ye shall carefully gathered together, and brought safe into your own land. The words are taken from olives or apples or the like fruits, which are gathered one by one, and so laid up in some place appointed; which olives or apples or other fruit so gathered last better than they which are beaten off or shaken down from the tree. He seems to oppose this gathering one by one, to that beating off mentioned in this verse. (W. Day, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The channel of the river] The river Sabbation, beyond which the Israelites were carried captive. – Kimchi.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall beat off; or, shall beat out; which is not meant in a way of punishment, which is rather designed by threshing, as Isa 21:10; 25:10, than by beating; but as an act of mercy, as is evident from the following clause of this, and from the next verse. It is a metaphor from some grains which were beaten out with a rod or staff, of which see Isa 28:27,28, and then were carefully gathered and laid up, for the use of man.
From the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; from Euphrates to Nilus, which were the two borders of the Land of Promise, Jos 1:4; 13:3. All the Israelites which are left in the land; which are here opposed to those of them that are dispersed into foreign parts, such as Assyria and Egypt.
Ye shall be gathered one by one; which signifies either the smallness of the remnant of that numerous people; or rather Gods exact and singular care of them, that not one of them should be lost.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Restoration of the Jews fromtheir dispersion, described under the image of fruits shaken fromtrees and collected.
beat offas fruitbeaten off a tree with a stick (De24:20), and then gathered.
riverEuphrates.
stream of Egypton theconfines of Palestine and Egypt (Num 34:5;Jos 15:4; Jos 15:47),now Wady-el-Arish, Jehovah’s vineyard, Israel, extendedaccording to His purpose from the Nile to the Euphrates (1Ki 4:21;1Ki 4:24; Psa 72:8).
one by onegatheredmost carefully, not merely as a nation, but as individuals.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day,…. When the song will be sung, Isa 27:2 when God will appear to have taken particular care of his church, and is about to bring it into a flourishing condition; when its troubles and afflictions will come to an end, with a sanctified use of them; and when the city of Rome will be destroyed, and all the antichristian powers, then will be the conversion of the Jews; for antichrist stands in the way of that work:
[that] the Lord shall beat off; or “beat out” g; alluding either to the beating off of fruit from a tree, or to the beating out of grain from the ear; and signifies the separating of the Lord’s people in the effectual calling from the rest of the world; as the fruit beaten off is separated from the tree, and corn beaten out is separated from the ear and chaff; for this beating off does not intend judgment, but mercy; and is done not by the rod of affliction, but by the rod of the Lord’s strength sent out of Zion, even the Gospel, the power of God to salvation; which, in the ministration of it, should reach
from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; from the river Euphrates, on the banks of which was the city of Babylon, to the river Nile in Egypt, which were the limits and boundaries of the land of Israel, De 11:24 and in which places many Jews h were, or would be, as in the following verse Isa 27:13. The Septuagint version is,
“from the ditch of the river to Rhinocorura;”
which, Jerom says, is a town on the borders of Egypt and Palestine. The meaning is, that the Lord would find out his people, wherever they were, in those parts, and separate and call them by his grace, and gather them to himself, and to his church and people, as follows:
and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel; as fruit is gathered up, when beaten off of the tree; and the phrase “one by one” denotes either the fewness of them, and the gradual manner in which they will be gathered; or rather, since this does not so well suit with the conversion of the Jews, which will be of a nation at once, it may signify the completeness of this work, that they shall be everyone gathered, not one shall be left or lost, but all Israel shall be saved; or it may be also expressive of the conjunction of them, and union of them one to another, in the Gospel church state, into which they shall be gathered, as fruit beaten off, and gathered up, is laid together in a storehouse. To this sense agrees the Targum,
“ye shall be brought near one to another, O ye children of Israel i.”
g “excutiat”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Cocceius. h Ben Melech interprets the river of the river Sabation or the Sabbatical river, beyond which the Jews generally suppose the ten tribes are, and from whence they will come at the time of their restoration and, as this writer says, will come to Egypt, and there be gathered together with their brethren, the children of this captivity, Judah and Benjamin, which are scattered in every corner, and join one another. i “ad unum unum”, Montanus; “unus ad unum”; so some in Vatablus, Forerius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But when Israel repents, the mercy of Jehovah will change all this. “And it will come to pass on that day, Jehovah will appoint a beating of corn from the water-flood of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and ye will be gathered together one by one, O sons of Israel. And it will come to pass in that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and the lost ones in the land of Asshur come, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and cast themselves down before Jehovah on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” I regard every exposition of Isa 27:12 which supposes it to refer to the return of the captives as altogether false. The Euphrates and the brook of Egypt, i.e., the Wady el-Arish, were the north-eastern and south-western boundaries of the land of Israel, according to the original promise (Gen 15:18; 1Ki 8:65), and it is not stated that Jehovah will beat on the outside of these boundaries, but within them. Hence Gesenius is upon a more correct track, when he explains it as meaning that “the kingdom will be peopled again in its greatest promised extent, and that as rapidly and numerously as if men had fallen like olives from the trees.” No doubt the word c habat is applied to the beating down of olives in Deu 24:20; but this figure is inapplicable here, as olives must already exist before they can be knocked down, whereas the land of Israel is to be thought of as desolate. What one expects is, that Jehovah will cause the dead to live within the whole of the broad expanse of the promised land (according to the promise in Isa 26:19, Isa 26:21). And the figure answers this expectation most clearly and most gloriously. Chabat as the word commonly applied to the knocking out of fruits with husks, which were too tender and valuable to be threshed. Such fruits, as the prophet himself affirms in Isa 28:27, were knocked out carefully with a stick, and would have been injured by the violence of ordinary threshing. And the great field of dead that stretched from the Euphrates to the Rhinokoloura,
(Note: Rhinokoloura (or Rhinokoroura): for the origin of this name of the Wady el-Arish, see Strabo, xvi. 2, 31.)
resembled a floor covered over with such tender, costly fruit. There true Israelites and apostate Israelites lay mixed together. But Jehovah would separate them. He would institute a beating, so that the true members of the church would come to the light of day, being separated from the false like grains sifted from their husks. “Thy dead will live;” it is to this that the prophet returns. And this view is supported by the choice of the word shibboleth , which combines in itself the meanings of “flood” (Psa 69:3, Psa 69:16) and “ear” (sc., of corn). This word gives a fine dilogy (compare the dilogy in Isa 19:18 and Hab 2:7). From the “ ear ” of the Euphrates down to the Peninsula of Sinai, Jehovah would knock – a great heap of ears, the grains of which were to be gathered together “one by one,” i.e., singly (in the most careful manner possible; Greek, ). To this risen church there would be added the still living diaspora, gathered together by the signal of God (compare Isa 18:3; Isa 11:12). Asshur and Egypt are named as lands of banishment. They represent all the lands of exile, as in Isa 19:23-25 (compare Isa 11:11). The two names are emblematical, and therefore not to be used as proofs that the prophecy is within the range of Isaiah’s horizon. Nor is there any necessity for this. It is just as certain that the cycle of prophecy in chapters 24-27 belongs to Isaiah, and not to any other prophet, as it is that there are not two men to be found in the world with faces exactly alike.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 12-13: ULTIMATE MERCY AND RESTORATION
1. The restoration of Israel is likened unto the beating of olives from the trees, (vs. 12; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 17:6; Isa 24:13; Isa 56:6-8).
2. At the sound of a great trumpet they which were ready to perish will come to worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem, (vs. 13; Mat 24:31; Zec 14:16-17).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. And yet it shall come to pass on that day. He softens the harshness of the former statement; for it was a dreadful judgment of God, that the people were deprived of all hope of mercy and favor. The particle ו ( vau) must therefore be explained as in the tenth verse, “ Nevertheless, or, and yet it shall come to pass on that day.”
That Jehovah shall thrash. The Prophet speaks metaphorically; for he compares the gathering of the Church to the “thrashing” of wheat, by which the grain is separated from the chaff. The meaning of the metaphor is, that the people were so completely overwhelmed by that captivity that they appeared to be nothing else than grain concealed or scattered here and there under the chaff. It was necessary that the Lord should “thrash,” as with a fan, what was concealed amidst the confused mass; so that this gathering was justly compared to “thrashing.”
From the channel of the river to the river of Egypt. By this he means Euphrates and the Nile; for the people were banished, partly into Chaldea or Assyria, and partly into Egypt. Many fled into Egypt, while others were carried captive into Babylon. He therefore foretells that the Lord will gather his people, not only from Chaldea, and from the whole of Mesopotamia, but also from Egypt.
And you shall be gathered one by one. לאחד אחד, ( lĕăhăd ĕ hād,) which we have translated “one by one,” is translated by others “each out of each place;” but this is an excessively forced exposition, and the exposition which I have stated appears to me more simple. Yet there are two senses which the words will bear; either, “I will gather you into one body,” or “I will gather you, not in companies nor in great numbers, but one after another,” as usually happens when men who had wandered and been scattered are gathered; for they do not all assemble suddenly, but approach to each other by degrees. The Jews were scattered and dispersed in such a manner that they could not easily be gathered together and formed into one body; and therefore he shews that this dispersion will not prevent them from being restored to a flourishing condition. This was afterwards fulfilled; for the Jews were gathered and brought back, not by a multitude of horsemen or chariots, not by human forces, or swords, or arms, as Hosea states, but solely by the power of God. (Hos 1:7.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) The Lord shall beat off . . .The English Version conveys scarcely any meaning. The verb used is that which we find in Isa. 28:27 for the beating out of seeds from their husks, as a form of threshing. In Deu. 24:20 it is used of the beating down of the olive crop. So understood, the words imply a promise, like that of Isa. 17:6, but on a far wider scale. Instead of the gleaning of a few olives from the topmost boughs, there should be a full and abundant gathering, and yet each single olive, one by one should receive an undivided care. Judah and Israel should once more be peopled as in the days of old, and the ideal boundaries or their territory should be restored.
The channel, or flood of the river, is the Euphrates.
The stream of Egypt.As in Gen. 15:18, 1Ki. 8:65, not the Nile, but the river which divides Palestine from Egypt, known by the Greeks as Rhinocolura, and now the Wady-el-Arish.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. But on Israel’s repentance all this is to cease, as to Jerusalem.
Shall beat off from the channel Of the Euphrates to the river of Egypt (Wady el Arish) the Rhinocolura of the Septuagint, ancient boundary line between Egypt and Palestine. Over the whole extent of the original land of Promise, Jehovah shall order the growth and beating, or threshing, of grain for the sustenance of the returned ones of Israel. This is one view of the imagery employed here. Another is, that the beating implies an extensive growth of olives or other fruit to be carefully beaten off and discriminated as to the good and the bad; the good then to be gathered together; the whole signifying that the true Israel shall be discriminately gathered.
One by one Rather, one to another, or, one after another, in colonies, to their home in Judea, from the different directions where their exile has been. Perhaps this meaning better suits the idea of the text.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s Harvesting Of His Own ( Isa 27:12-13 ).
In the day when Yahweh acts He will ‘beat out’ (a harvesting term) His people from the flood of the Euphrates down to the Wadi of Egypt, gathering them one by one. A great trumpet will blow and those who were perishing in Assyria, or who were outcasts (refugees) in Egypt will come back to their land and worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Analysis.
And it will come about in that day that Yahweh will beat out (‘his herbs’ or ‘his corn’ or ‘his olives’ should be understood) from the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt (Isa 27:12 a).
And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel (Isa 27:12 b).
And it will come about in that day that a great trumpet will be blown (Isa 27:13 a).
And they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem (Isa 27:13 b).
Isa 27:12
‘And it will come about in that day that Yahweh will beat out (‘his herbs’ or ‘his corn’ or ‘his olives’ should be understood) from the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.’
In the day of God’s working, which began at the first coming of the King and will continue through to His second coming, God’s work of harvesting will go on. His people will be gathered and harvested, and it will be accomplished one by one. As Jesus Himself declared in His day, the fields were white already for harvest (Joh 4:35). The harvest-time had begun (compare Mat 9:37-38; Luk 10:2; Mat 13:3-50).
‘Thresh/beat out -’. No object is found in the Hebrew. Thus the verb refers to harvesting, but we are not told of what. See for its use in Isa 28:27 – of herbs; in Deu 24:20 – of olives; in Jdg 6:11; Rth 2:17 – of grain. Compare Isa 17:6; Isa 24:13, where, however, a different verb is used. Cha^bat is the word commonly applied to the knocking out of fruits with husks, which were too tender and valuable to be threshed. Such fruits, as the prophet himself affirms in Isa 28:7, were knocked out carefully with a stick, and would have been injured by the violence of ordinary threshing. Thus God will deal gently with them.
‘From the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt.’ This is often the ideal description of the extent of the promised land (Gen 15:18; Exo 23:31), thus indicating all His true people. So God will search the land for His people, and ‘beat them out’, removing the husks and making them ready for use, preparatory to summoning those in exile in Egypt and Assyria. Although the thought may be that these boundaries are intended to signify Assyria and Egypt as the place where His people are, and may simply mean ‘from north and south’. This gathering of the harvest began in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles, whose ministry reached out over these areas. And both Assyria and Egypt were among the first to become aware of the presence of the King, and to have the opportunity to respond to His call. And from there He gathered His true people one by one, preparing them to be a holy people and a kingdom of priests to the world (Exo 19:6). As the Apostles declared, it was the ministry of ‘the last days, the end of the ages’
(Note: We must stress again that the fact that ‘that day’ and ‘the end of the ages’ began at the resurrection is vital and is clearly stated in Scripture. ‘He was revealed at the end of the times for your sake’, says Peter (1Pe 1:20), so that he can then warn his readers ‘ the end of all things is at hand’ (1Pe 4:7). So to Peter the first coming of Christ began the end times spoken of by the prophets. In the same way Paul says to his contemporaries ‘for our admonition, on whom the end of the ages has come’ (1Co 10:11), and declares ‘the day is at hand’ so that we are to walk ‘as in the day’ (Rom 13:11-13). What could be clearer? The first coming of Christ was the end of the ages promised by the prophets, not the beginning of a new age. The writer to the Hebrews also tells us ‘He has in these last days spoken to us by His Son’ (Heb 1:1-2), and adds ‘once in the end of the ages has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself’ (Heb 9:26-28). So all those early writers saw their days as ‘the last days’, for they knew that they had ushered in the final activity of God before the end. End of note).
Isa 27:13
‘And it will come about in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.’
This second illustration, following on the first, likens the gathering of God’s people from abroad to the blowing of a great trumpet rallying the people (compare Num 10:1-10). Note their condition, ready to perish, outcasts. They are those who recognise their true condition and are seen by the world as nothings. But God will call them from both north and south and they will come to ‘the holy mountain at Jerusalem’ to worship. They are His chosen ones, His elect.
We note that Babylon is not in mind. Assyria was still the powerful nation to the north, and was the place to which exiles have been taken, and, as ever, Egypt was the nation of the south, containing refugees.
But the overall idea is that God’s people will gather from wherever they are. This occurred literally once Cyrus declared that people could go back to their homelands, and continued figuratively in the proclamation of the Gospel by Paul and others in Jewish synagogues around the world, as God’s people were gathered back to their true source. The ‘holy mountain at Jerusalem’ is Mount Zion, symbolic of God’s heavenly dwelling-place, and ever the focal point of the worship of His people both physically and spiritually (Gal 4:26).
Some refer the ‘great trumpet’ to the trumpet of Jubile in Lev 25:9, the introduction of the great year of deliverance. And that is possible. But that was not said to be a ‘great trumpet’, and the likelihood here therefore is that the emphasis is more on the heavenly and unique nature of the trumpet. In the end therefore this represents God’s summons, the final trumpet, the ‘last trump’, which will gather all His people to the heavenly Jerusalem (which was what the holy mountain at Jerusalem represented) and the everlasting kingdom (Mat 24:31; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16) pictured in terms of the thought forms of Isaiah’s day.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 27:12. And it shall come to pass, &c. This verse contains the 5th attribute of that time, in which God, raising his church as it were from the dead, and purifying it from idolatry and superstition, collected together by his powerful arm the dispersed members thereof. The prophet makes use of a peculiar expression, iachbot, which we render shall beat off: It is metaphorical, and alludes not only to the beating or thrashing of wheat, but also to the beating of olives from the trees; and the meaning is, that God will beat or thrash the land and people of Syria, which kingdom extended as widely as the prophet here expresses; taking vengeance of the tyranny and perfidy which they had used towards his people; that by this means liberty might be granted to the Jewish nation of going to Jerusalem, and performing the duties of their religion. They should be gathered one by one like olives, which, being beaten by a vehement motion from the tree, are carefully gathered one by one and brought together. See Jer 3:14 and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 899
CONVERSION OF THE JEWS GRADUAL
Isa 27:12-13. 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. 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.
THE conversion of the Jews has till of late occupied a very small portion of attention in the Christian world: and even at this moment a sad indifference towards it too generally prevails. Notwithstanding the prophecies relating to it are so clear, the subject is scarcely ever brought before a Christian audience; and notwithstanding it is inseparably connected with the conversion of the Gentile world, it is overlooked for the most part as an event in which we have no interest. Degraded as the Jews are, God still declares, that they are beloved of him for their fathers sakes: but by us, who are indebted to their fathers for all the light that we enjoy, they are neglected and despised, as though their souls were of no value. This unconcern for their welfare is even justified by us, from a mistaken notion that God will in some miraculous way effect their conversion suddenly, and without the intervention of human means. But, whilst the prophecy before us serves to correct that error, it encourages us to exert ourselves in their behalf, and to expect that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.
In it we see,
I.
The mercy reserved for the Jewish people
That they shall be gathered from their dispersion, and worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem, is certain: and,
1.
It may well be thought that this shall be accomplished literally
[There are even amongst wise and good men some who doubt whether the Jews shall literally be restored to their own land; and therefore I would spook with diffidence respecting it: but I confess that in my opinion the declarations of God respecting it are so strong and numerous, that I should scarcely know what to believe on the authority of Scripture, if I did not believe that. I will however content myself with mentioning only two passages; which yet, I consider as clearly determining the point. Moses, in one of his last addresses to the Jews, tells them, that if by their iniquities they should provoke God to drive them out of the land of Canaan, and to scatter them among the nations, yet he would, on their repentance, have compassion on them, and gather them from all the nations whither they were scattered; yea, though they should be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, even from thence would the Lord fetch them, and bring them again into the land which their fathers possessed; and do them good there, and multiply them above their fathers [Note: Deu 30:1-5.]. This was never verified at their return from Babylon, since they were not brought from the uttermost parts of heaven, but almost exclusively from Babylon; nor did they ever afterwards become near so numerous, as they had been under David and Solomon. The other passage to which I will call your attention is taken from the Prophet Zechariah, who wrote after their return from Babylon. Extremely particular is the prophet in stating the populousness and prosperity of the nation at the period of their final return to their own land from their present dispersion: that old men and old women should dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man walking with his staff in his hand for very age, whilst the streets should be full of boys and girls playing in them [Note: Zec 8:3-5.]. If it be inquired what period is there referred to, we are told, that it should be when ten men out of all languages of the nations should take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you [Note: Zec 8:23.]. When, I would ask, was this ever fulfilled? When were the Jews ever so high in favour with all the nations of the earth? At no past period assuredly: but they shall be at a future season, even at that season when God shall interpose to reestablish them in the land from whence they have been driven out. But, however this may be,]
2.
It is confessed by all, that it shall be spiritually fulfilled
[The Christian Church is called Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to which all true believers are come [Note: Heb 12:22.]. And to it shall the Jewish people also come in due season. Scattered as they now are, and at the utmost possible distance from Christianity, the time is coming, when the good Shepherd will seek and search them out, and bring them into his fold, and cause them to feed upon the mountains of Israel [Note: Eze 34:11-14.]. Then, says God, I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; and he shall feed them, and be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it [Note: Eze 34:23-24.]. Let this be compared with what the Prophet Hosea says to the same effect; and no doubt can remain, either respecting whom it is spoken, or at what period it is to be accomplished [Note: Hos 3:5.]. Were we to take from the Old Testament all the passages which speak to the same purpose, we should transcribe no inconsiderable portion of the prophetic writings. But this is unnecessary, since there is not any one who believes the Scriptures, who does not believe that the Jews shall at a future period be converted to the faith of Christ, and acknowledge him as their Messiah. Yet we must on no account pass over the testimony of St. Paul, who occupies one entire chapter with this subject; assuring us, that there is yet among the Jews a remnant according to the election of grace [Note: Rom 11:6.]; that they shall again be graffed on their own olive-tree, from which for our sakes (though for their own transgressions) they have been broken off: and that as their temporary rejection from the Church of God has been the means of introducing the Gentiles into it, so shall their restoration to it be an infinitely richer blessing to the Gentiles than ever their rejection was, being to the whole Gentile world as life from the dead [Note: Rom 11:12; Rom 11:15; Rom 11:19-20; Rom 11:24.].]
Regarding then the bestowment of this mercy to the Jews as certain, we proceed to state,
II.
The way in which it shall be vouchsafed to them
This we will trace,
1.
In its commencement
[The extent of territory originally assigned to them in Gods covenant with Abraham, was that which is here specified in our text; it was from the river Euphrates to the Nile [Note: Gen 15:18]. But, having been driven from thence, they are compared to an olive-tree which has been stripped of all its fruit, except a few that were either hidden from the owner, or inaccessible to him, on the topmost boughs [Note: Isa 17:4-6.]. God, however, will send his servants to seek out this scattered fruit, and to beat it off, or shake it off, from the tree, in order to gather it for him. The success that will attend their labours will not be great: the Jews will be gathered only, as if it were, one by one. But to them it will be a joyful event, that they have not been left to be devoured by the birds, but have been collected for the Masters use. This is elsewhere described by the same prophet: When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive-tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done: they shall lift up their voice; they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord; they shall cry aloud from the sea [Note: Isa 24:13-14.]. To the same effect, God speaks also by the Prophet Jeremiah: Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family (or tribe), and I will bring you to Zion [Note: Jer 3:14.].
Such will be the effects produced upon the Jews at the commencement of the efforts that shall be made for their restoration to God. As it respects the mass of the dispersed, the first converts will be only a small remnant, a gleaning after the gathering has been made; as the prophet has informed us: Though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant only shall return [Note: Isa 10:22.]: but as it respects the complete in-gathering which shall ultimately follow, they will be as the first-fruits before the harvest, and the drop before the shower.]
2.
In its progress
[In due time the great trumpet will be blown, and the Jews that are scattered to the utmost ends of the earth shall hear it. The trumpets were, by Gods command, to be blown on different occasions; and especially, for the convoking of the people to the tabernacle in the wilderness; for the regulating of their journeys towards the Promised Land [Note: Num 10:2.]; and for the proclaiming every fiftieth year the year of Jubilee [Note: Lev 25:9.]. The Gospel is this trumpet, which will be sounded out through the whole world; and it will come with power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance [Note: 1Th 1:5; 1Th 1:8; 1Th 2:13.], to the outcast Israelites in the land of Egypt, and to those who are ready to perish in the land of Assyria. Then will that be fulfilled which is spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah, The watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child, together; a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born [Note: Jer 31:6-14. Quote the whole of this.]. &c. &c. Then shall the Lord set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, and from Egypt, &c.; and shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, &c.: and there shall be an high-way for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt [Note: Isa 11:11-12; Isa 11:15-16.]. Nor shall they come alone from the places of their dispersion; for vast multitudes will accompany them, insomuch, that Israel shall be only as a third of the whole number, whom the Lord of Hosts will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance [Note: Isa 19:23-25.]. Thus eventually shall all Israel be saved: for this is Gods covenant with them, when he shall take away their sins [Note: Rom 11:26-27.].]
3.
In its consummation
[They shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem: and O what worship will then be offered in every place! the worshippers all so enlightened! (for the light of the moon will then be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days [Note: Isa 30:26.]:) and their experience of heavenly things so deep! for the knowledge of the Lord will then cover the earth, not in extent only, but in depth also, as the waters cover the sea [Note: Hab 2:14.]: and God revealing himself so gloriously in the midst of them! (for then the sun will be no more their light by day, neither for brightness will the moon give light unto them; but the Lord will be an everlasting light unto them, and their God their glory [Note: Isa 60:19-21. Cite the whole, with suitable remarks.].) Then will be realized (at least in its incipient state), that vision of the beloved disciple, who says, I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people; and God himself shall be with them, and be their God [Note: Rev 21:2-3.].]
see then from hence,
1.
How groundless is the objection which so many raise against the efforts that are making for the conversion of the Jews, that they are useless
[Many ask, not with grief and sorrow, but with a kind of malignant triumph, What good have you done? Your society has now been instituted several years, and what has been their success? I answer, that no person can reasonably expect to sow and reap on the same day. No other society has prospered at the first moment of its institution. Inquire of missions to the heathen; Have they prospered all at once? How much less then can it be expected, that the Jews, with all their deep-rooted prejudices, should in a moment lay them all aside, and, overcoming obstacles greater than can be conceived, become at once the disciples of the despised Nazarene? But the Christian world have conceived a notion, that the Jews are to be converted all in a day. This however is a mistake. What God may do at a future period I presume not to say. I do myself conceive, that in Gods appointed time, when Gods servants shall prophesy unto them, and the great trumpet be blown throughout the earth, there will be a resurrection of the dry bones; and they will rise a great army [Note: Eze 37:9-10.]. But this is not to be expected at the first commencement of our endeavours, as you have already heard. We are not taught to expect, in the first instance, more than the gleanings of an olive-tree: and, if we get one of a city, and two of a tribe, and gather them from different places, one by one, we are to account ourselves richly recompensed fur our labours. How many, I would ask, did our Lord Jesus Christ, and his twelve apostles, aided by seventy other disciples, convert in the four years previous to the day of Pentecost? Yet they wrought miracles in confirmation of their word. Was the smallness of their success during that period any ground for saying, that they had lost their labour, and that it would be useless to prosecute their object any further, especially since they must do it at so great a risk to themselves, and to all who should embrace their religion? Thus then I say, that as many have been gathered as, considering the contracted scale on which the efforts have been used, and the total want of a proper medium of access to them which till lately we have experienced, could in reason be expected. We grant that the converts have hitherto been few, and that yet for a season they may continue to be only us slender gleanings; but is this a reason why we should not search them out, and endeavour with care and labour to beat the tree? If a house with only half-a-dozen persons in it should be on fire, and some were exerting themselves for their preservation, what would you think of the humanity of the person who should deride and damp their efforts, from the consideration that they could only hope to benefit a few? Look at the text, and see the description given of the Jews: are they not outcasts, and ready to perish? And is not this a sufficient reason to seek their salvation, though we should save from destruction only one or two? They are called the lost sheep of the House of Israel: and has not our Lord taught us, that, if there be only one of a hundred gone astray, we should go after that one and seek to bring it home? Yea, has he not in this very connexion told us, that it is not the will of your Father that one of his little ones should perish [Note: Mat 18:12-14.]? Should not we then be like-minded with God, and determine, that not one shall perish, through any want of effort on our part to save him? Should we not all unite as one man to carry into effect the purposes of Gods love towards them? Is there any hope that the few which invite our labours, shall be gathered in, if there be none to beat or shake the tree? or can there be a general convocation of them to the Lord, if there be none to go forth and sound the trumpet in their ears? Know ye then, that we want instruments, active and zealous instruments, to do the Lords work: we need pecuniary aid also, that we may send forth missionaries to the ends of the earth, with the Gospel trumpet in their hands, and the love of God in their hearts, to make known to the Jews their Messiah, and to bring them home as an offering to the Lord their God [Note: Isa 66:20.]. O that God would stir us all up to seek the welfare of the children of Israel, and make use of us to hasten forward the period of their complete redemption!]
2.
What we all need in order to our own salvation
[Let us not, in our zeal for others, forget ourselves. We are all, with the exception of a small remnant, in as bad a state as the Jews themselves. The only difference between us is, that they are ignorant of Christ, but we profess to know Christ, yet in works deny him. As far as respects vital godliness, we are as far from God as they. All we like sheep have gone astray; and, no less than they, do we need to return to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls [Note: 1Pe 2:25.]. It is true of us, as well as of them, that the truly pious are but a remnant. The god of this world has the harvest; and the God of heaven nothing but the gleanings. The Lords people are but a little flock; and in comparison of the multitudes who go in the broad road that leadeth to destruction, they are but few who enter in at the strait gate, and walk in the narrow path. Forgive me, then, if with holy violence I enveavour to beat you off from the tree on which you are yet standing, and to gather you for the Lord. Let me sound in your ears the Gospel trumpet, which proclaims liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: and let me entreat you to return (as the remnant will assuredly do) to the living God [Note: Isa 10:21.], to worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. We must be content, we fear, to gather you one by one: for, notwithstanding all the efforts that are made for the restoration of your souls to God, it is a melancholy fact, that we succeed but little better with you in the midst of all your advantages, than we do with the Jews in the midst of all their disadvantages. If we labour ever so much, and can reach only two or three upon the topmost bough, and four or five upon the outermost bough, we are forced to be content, yea, and to think ourselves well repaid; so little power has the Gospel in the present day, and so sparingly is the Spirit of God poured out upon us. Know this however for your good. Whatever is necessary for the Jews, is necessary for us also. Must they believe in Christ? so must we. Must they give themselves up to him? so must we. Must they walk in his steps, and be conformed to his image? so must we. And sure I am, that the more we experience these blessings in our own souls, the more shall we labour to communicate them to the whole world, and more especially to those for whose sake God has imparted to us the superior blessings we enjoy [Note: Rom 11:30-31.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
The chapter closeth most graciously. There is a day promised, when Israel shall be gathered, yea, individually gathered. And when the gospel proclamation, in the jubilee trumpet, shall be blown, the saving effects shall be known. Poor sinners, ready to perish, from all the countries of the earth, shall come, outcasts from Assyria and Egypt; and all the Lord’s people, shall be united together, and be one fold under one shepherd; for Jesus shall be all in all. Jer 33:13 ; Rev 14:6-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 27:12 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.
Ver. 12. In that day, ] sc., When God shall have purged his people by his Word and by his rod.
The Lord shall beat off.
And ye shall be gathered.
One by one.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 27:12-13
12In that day the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. 13It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isa 27:12-13 This seems to form a concluding literary statement. Isa 27:12 is talking about God’s dealing with (i.e., thresh, BDB 286, KB 285, Qal IMPERFECT which denotes an eschatological harvest with its separation of the faithful and unfaithful, cf. Mat 13:36-43; Mat 24:31; Mat 25:32) His people, using national imagery. It refers to the limits of the Promised Land found so often in the OT (cf. Gen 15:18; 1Ki 8:65; Eze 47:15-19). Isa 27:13 is international in scope; it deals with those Gentile nations beyond the people of God who are also invited to respond to God by faith (i.e., Isa 2:2-4; Isa 19:18-25).
These last two verses reflect Deu 30:1-10 in eschatological imagery (note Hos 11:8-11).
Isa 27:12 from the flowing stream This word (BDB 987) has two meanings.
1. flowing stream, BDB 987 I, cf. Psa 69:2; Psa 69:15
2. gathering grain, BDB 987 II, cf. Isa 17:5; Gen 41:5-7; Gen 41:22-24; Gen 41:26-27; Rth 2:2; Job 24:24
This chapter uses both senses. Number 1 fits the allusion in Isa 27:1, but number 2 fits the immediate VERB (thresh) and the metaphor for judgment (i.e., harvesting).
the brook of Egypt This refers to the wadi El’arish, which is the southern boundary of the Promised Land.
Isa 27:13 in that day that a great trumpet will be blown This is a recurrent eschatological theme using a worship or military metaphor of a blown trumpet (two kinds).
1. worship, Exo 19:16; Exo 19:19; Lev 25:9; Num 10:2; Num 10:8; Num 10:10; 1Ch 15:24
2. military, Num 10:9; Joshua 6; Jdg 3:27; Jdg 6:34; Judges 7; 1Sa 13:3; 2Sa 2:28
3. eschatological, here and possibly Zec 9:14; Mat 24:31; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16
SPECIAL TOPIC: HORNS USED BY ISRAEL
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Who or what is Leviathan in Isa 27:1?
2. How is Isa 27:5 related to Isa 1:16-17?
3. Why is Isa 27:6 so significant in light of God’s plan for Jerusalem?
4. How are Isa 27:12-13 characteristic of this entire literary unit? (i.e. a play between the national and the international and the corporate and the individual)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
in that day: verses: Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13 refer to Israel, as verses: Isa 27:7, Isa 27:10-11 refer to Israel’s enemies.
beat off: i.e. as olives from a tree = “beat off [his fruit]”: i.e. gather the sons of Israel.
channel = flood.
river: i.e. the Euphrates.
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 27:12-13
Isa 27:12-13
“And it will come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will beat off his fruit from the flood of the River to the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 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.”
There are a number of things that positively identify this passage as a concluding reference to the final judgment. (1) There is the double mention of “in that day.” (2) Also, the sound of the mighty trumpet must be invariably associated with the final judgment. Our Lord said:
“And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat 24:31).
Many of the comments encountered seem to overlook some of the most important conclusions mandated by this passage. Note that no “nation” whatever is mentioned as being gathered in, that no “race” is included; but that the saved shall be gathered “one by one,” that is, individually. “Every man shall receive the reward of the deeds done in “his body” (2Co 5:10). Note also that the return from Assyria and the outcasts of Egypt refer to different generations, pointing to a simultaneous judgment of all peoples and nations at one time, as indicated clearly by Christ in Matthew 25.
“Beat off his fruit …” (Isa 27:12). is a reference to the manner of harvesting such things as olives, which were harvested by threshing the tree, that is, beating off the fruit.
Rawlinson has an interesting interpretation of this passage, stating that, “The imagery here points rather to the final gathering of Israel into the Church triumphant than to the return from Babylonian captivity.” This is correct of course in the sense that the return from Babylon is simply not in the passage; but the error of it is in not seeing the final judgment here. Remember the `great trumpet!’ God never did blow the big trumpet when some Jew was converted to Christ! That is an event connected with the second advent and the end of the world.
(The end of Division III)
Isa 27:12-13 CALL TO RESTORATION: The predicted exile will have its effect in producing repentance and turning from idolatry back to Jehovah-at 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. 24-27) 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 Isa 19:16-25,).
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.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
beat off: Isa 11:11-16, Isa 24:13-16, Isa 56:8, Gen 15:18, Psa 68:22, Psa 72:8
ye shall be: Deu 30:3, Deu 30:4, Neh 1:9, Jer 3:14, Amo 9:9, Mat 18:12-14, Luk 15:4, Joh 6:37, Joh 10:16
Reciprocal: Num 34:5 – the river Jdg 12:6 – Shibboleth 2Ki 24:7 – from the river Isa 2:11 – in that day Isa 4:2 – them that are escaped Isa 12:1 – And in that Isa 43:5 – I will Isa 54:7 – with Jer 16:15 – that brought Jer 23:3 – General Jer 23:8 – General Jer 31:10 – He Jer 44:28 – a small Eze 20:41 – I bring Eze 28:25 – When Eze 36:24 – General Eze 37:21 – General Eze 39:25 – Now will Eze 39:28 – and have Eze 48:28 – the river Dan 12:1 – thy people Hos 3:5 – seek Hos 9:6 – Egypt Mic 2:12 – surely assemble Mic 7:12 – also Zep 3:10 – General Zep 3:20 – even Zec 8:7 – I Zec 10:8 – hiss Zec 10:10 – out of the Joh 7:35 – the dispersed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 27:12-13. It shall come to pass, &c., that the Lord shall beat off Or, beat out: which is not meant in the way of punishment, but as an act of mercy, as is evident from the following clause of this, and of the next verse: the sense is, He shall sever, and take from among the nations, and gather together, like thrashed corn into the garner; from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt All the Israelites that are scattered in those parts. It is a metaphor taken from thrashing, or beating out and separating the pure grain from the chaff. And ye shall be gathered one by one Which signifies Gods exact and singular care of them. And in that day the great trumpet shall be blown God shall summon them, as it were, by the sound of trumpet, namely, by an eminent call, or act of his providence on their behalf. He alludes to the custom of calling the Israelites together with trumpets: of which see Num 10:2-3. And they shall come which were in the land of Assyria Into which the ten tribes had been carried captive; and the outcasts in the land of Egypt Where many of the Jews were, as is manifest, both from the Scriptures and from other authors. This prediction had its first accomplishment in the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, to whom many of the Israelites from Assyria were joined, and returned with them; and to whom many from Egypt, and other parts, came and united themselves, and having rebuilt the city and temple, worshipped the Lord, as is here said, in his holy mountain at Jerusalem. But this prophecy has manifestly a further aspect, and foretels the restoration of the Jews in the latter times; when, the gospel trumpet having been blown, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, the Jews shall be gathered from their several dispersions, united to Gods church, numbered among his true worshippers, and probably reinstated in their own land.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 27:12 f. End of the Apocalypse.These verses link on to Isa 27:1. The general subject is the restoration of Israel from the Dispersion. The interpretation of Isa 27:12 is most uncertain. Perhaps the sense is that from the Euphrates to the Wady el-Arish Yahweh will gather His people, beating out the good grain (that is, the Jews) from the straw (that is, the heathen). The trumpet will sound, and those lost (mg.) in Assyria and outcasts in Egypt will assemble for the worship of Yahweh at Jerusalem.
Isa 27:12. beat off: like olive berries from the tree (Isa 17:6, Isa 24:13), but perhaps more probably beat out, i.e. like grain from the ear.flood: the word also means ear of corn.
Isa 27:13. Assyria: Isa 11:11*, Num 24:23 f.*
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
27:12 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD shall gather from the channel of the {m} river to the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
(m) He will destroy all from the Euphrates to the Nile: for some fled toward Egypt, thinking to have escaped.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The gathering of Jewish and Gentile believers 27:12-13
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord would assemble the remnant of His people from the Promised Land as a farmer gathers up (gleans, cf. Isa 24:13) his crops. Not only will He destroy His enemies then, but He will also gather redeemed Israelites into His kingdom (cf. Mat 24:30-31; Rev 14:15-16).