Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 4:27
For it is written, Rejoice, [thou] barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband.
27. For it is written ] The quotation is taken exactly from the Septuagint version of Isa 54:1.
By the ‘barren’ we must understand Sarah, who was a type of the Gospel dispensation. Small and persecuted in its early days, the Church of Christ has now ‘many more children’ than the Jewish Church could ever boast of. ‘She which hath an husband’ (rather, ‘the husband’) is Hagar, who took the place of Sarah in the conjugal society of the husband. She represents the Jewish people, nationally and ecclesiastically, and for a time enjoyed the peculiar favour of her God a relation to Him which in the O.T. is frequently described as that between husband and wife. St Paul’s use of this passage of Isaiah in no wise interferes with its primary reference to the promised deliverance of Israel from exile and oppression. Those who overlook or deny a primary and literal fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old Testament unconsciously weaken the foundation on which the hope (or the belief) of a spiritual and ultimate accomplishment of them rests.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For it is written – This passage is found in Isa 54:1. For an exposition of its meaning as it occurs there, see my notes at Isaiah. The object of the apostle in introducing it here seems to be to prove that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would partake of the privileges connected with the heavenly Jerusalem. He had in the previous verse spoken of the Jerusalem from above as the common mother of all, true Christians, whether by birth Jews or Gentiles. This might be disputed or doubted by the Jews; and he therefore adduces this proof from the Old Testament. Or if it was not doubted, still the quotation was pertinent, and would illustrate the sentiment which he had just uttered. The mention of Jerusalem as a mother seems to have suggested this text. Isaiah had spoken of Jerusalem as a female that had been long desolate and childless, now rejoicing by a large accession from the Gentile world, and increased in numbers like a female who should have more children than one who had been long married. To this Paul appropriately refers when he says that the whole church, Jews and Gentiles, were the children of the heavenly Jerusalem, represented here as a rejoicing mother. He has not quoted literally from the Hebrew, but he has used the Septuagint version, and has retained the sense. The sense is, that the accession from the Gentile world would be far more numerous than the Jewish people had ever been; a prophecy that has been already fulfilled.
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not – As a woman who has had no children would rejoice. This represents probably the pagan world as having been apparently forsaken and abandoned, and with whom there had been none of the true children of God.
Break forth and cry – Or break forth and exclaim; that is, break out into loud and glad exclamations at the remarkable accession. The cry here referred to was to be a joyful cry or shout; the language of exultation. So the Hebrew word in Isa 54:1 tsaahal means.
For the desolate – She who was desolate and apparently forsaken. It literally refers to a woman who had seemed to be desolate and forsaken, who was unmarried. In Isaiah it may refer to Jerusalem, long forsaken and desolate, or as some suppose to the Gentile world; see my note at Isa 54:1.
Than she which hath an husband – Perhaps referring to the Jewish people as in covenant with God, and often spoken of as married to him; Isa 62:4-5; Isa 54:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 4:27-28
Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not.
Rejoice, thou barren
I. The Church in her sadness.
1. The figure is drawn from the closest tie that nature knows, that of marriage relationship, and teaches that as both male and female are incomplete without each other, so the happiness of God is incomplete without the love of the creature He has made to love Him.
2. The picture, however, is that of a wife whose husband has forsaken her. She is
(1) barren, desolate, and therefore
(2) sorrowful.
3. This applies to the Hebrew Church.
II. The Church in her gladness.
1. Restrictions between Jew and Gentile broken down.
2. Arbitrary barriers of race and rank and law are removed.
3. All nations are redeemed and gathered into a common salvation. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
Songs for desolate hearts
Take the text to refer–
I. To the Church of God.
1. For a long season before the Advent the Church was desolate.
2. During Christs temporal stay with her her condition was not much better.
3. Suddenly after His departure, on the Day of Pentecost, she became fruitful.
4. And continued fruitful (luring the whole apostolic age.
Notice–
1. That at all seasons when the Church has been desolate and barren God has appeared to her.
(1) In the dark ages the Church was barren, but the Lord appeared through Luther, and she became fruitful.
(2) In the last century the Church was barren, but God appeared and made her fruitful through the Wesleys and Whitefield.
2. That in the present age of comparative barrenness we may expect revival.
II. To any one church.
1. There are some separate Churches that are in a sad condition, with a lifeless ministry, worldly officers, and declining membership.
2. What is the present duty of members of such Churches?
(1) Labour to be conscious of your state, of its evil and danger.
(2) Pray earnestly for revival.
(3) Do all you can personally to bring it about.
III. To the poor, helpless sinner.
1. His fruitlessness.
2. Desolation.
3. Help in Christ.
4. Trust in Him, and He will make thee fruitful.
IV. To the depressed believer.
1. Barrenness is the platform of Divine power.
2. Desolation the setting for Gods everlasting love.
V. To those Christians who have not been successful in doing good.
1. It is good for you while you are barren to feel desolate.
2. But you may be barren only in your own esteem.
3. Wait, and toil on, for in due season you will reap if you faint not.
4. If your barrenness is real let it humble you, but repair to the source of fruitfulness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christianity not a failure
While Christianity is speaking in languages more numerous, by tongues more eloquent, in nations more populous than ever before: marshalling better troops with richer harmony; shrinking from no foe, rising triumphant from every conflict; shaking down the towers of old philosophies that exalt themselves against God; making the steam press rush under the demand for her Scriptures, and the steam horse groan under the weight of her charities; emancipating the enslaved, civilizing the lawless, refining literature, inspiring poetry; sending forth art and science no longer clad in soft raiment to linger in kings palaces, but as hardy prophets of God to make earth bud and blossom as the rose; giving God-like breadth and freedom and energy to the civilization that bears its name, elevating savage islands into civilized states, leading forth Christian martyrs from the mountains of Madagascar, turning the clubs of cannibals into the railings of the altars before which Fiji savages call upon Jesus; repeating the Pentecost by many an ancient river and many a palmy plain; thundering at the seats of ancient Paganism; sailing all waters, cabling all oceans, scaling all mountains in the march of its might, and ever enlarging the diameter of those circles of light which it has kindled on earth, and which will soon meet in a universal illumination–you call it a failure! A little more such failure and we shall have, over all the globe, the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. (E. Thompson.)
The enlargement of the Church
I. Depends on the promise–made to Abraham and secured in Christ–is effected by the Spirit–realized in the children of promise (Gal 4:28).
II. Is certain–because the revealed purpose of God–which must surmount all the difficulties of barrenness and apparent desolation.
III. Will be glorious–surpassing all experience–hope–faith.
IV. Will be a source of unspeakable joy- to all believers- to the world at large. (J. Lyth.)
The children of promise
I. The resemblance of the Gentile Christians to Isaac.
1. They had been promised.
2. They had been begotten (spiritually) by a supernatural and extraordinary operation.
II. The spiritual character of the promise.
1. It appealed to faith.
2. Its fulfilment was by Divine grace.
III. The dignity and privilege of the relation it creates. The relation is–
1. Immediate.
2. Vital.
3. Spiritual. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not] This quotation is taken from Isa 54:1, and is certainly a promise which relates to the conversion of the Gentiles, as the following clause proves; for the desolate – the Gentile world, hath many more children – is a much larger and more numerous Church, than she – Jerusalem, the Jewish state, which hath a husband – has been so long in covenant with God, living under his continual protection, and in possession of a great variety of spiritual advantages; and especially those offered to her by the Gospel, which she has rejected, and which the Gentiles have accepted.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is written, Isa 54:1. Some think that the apostle doth but allude to that of the prophet; and that the sense of the prophet was only to comfort the Jews, whose city, though it should be for a present time barren, thin of inhabitants, during the time of the Babylonish captivity; yet it should be again replenished with people, and be more populous than other cities. But the apostle seemeth rather to interpret that prophecy, than merely to allude to it; so that verse is one of those prophetical passages about the calling of the Gentiles, of which are many in that prophet. In this sense, the Gentiles are to be understood under the notion of the woman that was barren and desolate. The church of the Jews is represented under the notion of a woman that had a husband and children. The prophet, by the Spirit of prophecy, calleth upon the Gentiles, that brought forth no children to God, and to whom God was not a husband, to rejoice, and to cry out for joy, for there should be more believers, more children brought forth to God, amongst them, than were amongst the Jews: so as the church of the Gentiles are compared to Sarah, who was a long time barren, but then brought forth the child of the promise, the seed in which all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. (Isa54:1).
thou barrenJerusalemabove: the spiritual Church of the Gospel, the fruit of “thepromise,” answering to Sarah, who bore not “afterthe flesh”: as contrasted with the law, answering to Hagar, whowas fruitful in the ordinary course of nature. Isaiah speaksprimarily of Israel’s restoration after her long-continuedcalamities; but his language is framed by the Holy Spirit so as toreach beyond this to the spiritual Zion: including not only the Jews,the natural descendants of Abraham and children of the law, but alsothe Gentiles. The spiritual Jerusalem is regarded as “barren”while the law trammeled Israel, for she then had no spiritualchildren of the Gentiles.
break forthintocrying.
cryshout for joy.
many moreTranslate asGreek, “Many are the children of the desolate (the NewTestament Church made up in the greater part from the Gentiles, whoonce had not the promise, and so was destitute of God as herhusband), more than of her which hath an (Greek, ‘THE’)husband (the Jewish Church having GODfor her husband, Isa 54:5;Jer 2:2).” Numerous as werethe children of the legal covenant, those of the Gospel covenant aremore so. The force of the Greek article is, “Her who hasTHE husband of which theother is destitute.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For it is written,…. Isa 44:1, which is cited to prove, that the heavenly Jerusalem, or Gospel church state, is the mother of us all, and has brought forth, and still will bring forth, many souls to Christ, even many more than were under the legal dispensation by the Jewish church, though the Lord was an husband to them, Jer 31:32. The words are,
rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband; by her that was “barren”, and “bore” not, and “travailed” not, and was “desolate”, is not meant the Gentile world, which before the coming of Christ was barren and destitute of the knowledge of him, and from among whom very few were called by grace; but the Gospel church in the first beginnings of it, in Christ’s time, and especially about the time of his death, and before the pouring forth of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, when the number of its members were few; for the names of the disciples together were but 120, when it seemed to be barren, and desolate, and deprived of its husband Christ, but was quickly to have a large accession to, it, both of Jews and Gentiles; and therefore is called upon to “rejoice, break forth”, and “cry”; that is, to break forth into songs of praise, and express her spiritual joy, by singing aloud, and setting forth in hymns and spiritual songs the glory of powerful and efficacious grace, in the conversion of such large numbers of souls, the like of which had never been known under the former administration. Three thousand were converted under one sermon, and added to this first Gospel church; and the number of its members still increased, and the number of the men that afterwards believed was about five thousand; and after this we hear of more believers being added to the Lord, both men and women; and also that a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith; and when out of this church, the apostles, and other preachers of the Gospel went everywhere into the Gentile world, thousands of souls were converted, and a large number of churches formed, and a spiritual seed has been preserved ever since; and in the latter day Zion will travail in birth, and bring forth a numerous offspring; a nation shall be born at once, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in. Agreeably to this sense the Jewish writers, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Aben Ezra, understand this passage of Jerusalem; as does also the Chaldee paraphrase, which renders it thus:
“Praise, O Jerusalem, which was as a barren woman that bringeth not forth; rejoice in praise, and be glad, who was as a woman which conceives not, for more are the children of Jerusalem forsaken than the children of the habitable city, saith the Lord.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Which is our mother ( ). The mother of us Christians, apply the allegory of Hagar and Sarah to us. The Jerusalem above is the picture of the Kingdom of God. Paul illustrates the allegory by quoting Isa 54:1, a song of triumph looking for deliverance from a foreign yoke.
Rejoice (). First aorist passive imperative of .
Break forth (). First aorist active imperative of , to rend, to burst asunder. Supply (joy) as in Isa 49:13.
The desolate ( ). The prophet refers to Sarah’s prolonged barrenness and Paul uses this fact as a figure for the progress and glory of Christianity (the new Jerusalem of freedom) in contrast with the old Jerusalem of bondage (the current Judaism). His thought has moved rapidly, but he does not lose his line.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “For it is written,” (gegraptai gar) “For it has been written,” Isa 54:1-10.
2) “Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not,” (euphrantheti steira he ou tiktousa) “Be thou glad, 0 barren, the one not bearing;” this alludes to Israel, barren of the Redeemer, the Messiah, for so long in Gentile captivity, but not to remain forever. The waiting of Abraham and Sara was long for the true son, yet he came, So did Israel wait long for the Christ, Luk 2:25-32; Luk 2:36-38.
3) “Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not,” (hrekson kai boeson he ouk odinousa) “Break forth (explode) and shout, the one not travailing,” or thou that dost not travail, Israel and her Judah who was to bring forth the Redeemer, Gen 49:10; Gal 4:4-5.
4) “For the desolate hath many more children”, (hoti polla ta tekna tes eremou) “Because many are the children of the desolate;” Hagar the Gentile-or the bondage woman; So is it with the church today, while the Jews are scattered among the nations, as the masses from Gentiles are by faith grafted in, Rom 11:11-12; Rom 11:20.
5) “Then she which hath an husband,” (mallon e tes echouses ton andra) “Rather than the one having the husband;” Sara, the Jewish people even today, Rom 11:13-14; God is husband of Israel. He has given her a “bill of divorcement,” but will take her to Himself again, to fulfill His covenant of Land grant to Abraham, to possess in peace, when Christ shall rule over it on David’s throne, and when Jesus shall take His bride-wife as a joint-heir administrator during the Millennium, when the twelve apostles shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Isa 54:1-2; Jer 3:8; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22-23; Luk 1:32-33; Luk 22:28-30; 2Co 11:1-2; Rev 19:7-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
27. For it is written. The apostle proves, by a quotation from Isaiah, that the lawful sons of the Church are born according to the promise. The passage is in Isa 54:0 where the prophet speaks of the kingdom of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles, and promises to the barren wife and the widow a numerous offspring; for it is on this ground that he exhorts the Church to “sing” and “rejoice.” The design of the apostle, let it be carefully remarked, is to deprive the Jews of all claim to that spiritual Jerusalem to which the prophecy relates. Isaiah proclaims, that her children shall be gathered out of all the nations of the earth, and not by any preparation of hers, but by the free grace and blessing of God.
He next concludes that we become the sons of God by promise, after the example ( κατὰ ᾿Ισαὰκ) of Isaac, and that in no other way do we obtain this honor. To readers little skilled or practiced in the examination of Scripture, this reasoning may appear inconclusive; because they do not hold the most undoubted of all principles, that all the promises, being founded on the Messiah, are of free grace. It was because the apostle took this for granted, that he so fearlessly contrasted the promise with the law.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) Rejoice, thou barren.The quotation is from Isa. 54:1. It has reference, in the first instance, to the restoration of the exiled Jews to Jerusalem and to the coming greatness of the newly-settled city. Though at present it is desolate and in ruins, it shall become greater and more populous than ever it had been in its best days before. The revived theocracy under Zerubbabel is naturally taken as a type of the final theocratic reign of the Messiah. The representation of the theocracy under the figure of marriage is common, both in the prophetic writings and in St. Paul.
Thou barren that bearest not.This was originally spoken of the revived condition of Jerusalem, in which for a long time no children had been born. Here it is applied to the despised and persecuted condition of the early Church.
Break forthi.e., into singing. The phrase is expressed in full in the Authorised version of Isa. 54:1.
The desolate. . . . she which hath an husband.In the original, Jerusalem after the exile, opposed to Jerusalem in the time of its prosperity under David and Solomon; in the typical application, Sarah, who had long been barren, as opposed to Hagar, whose marriage had been fruitful; in the anti-typical application, the new dispensation, Christianity, with its small beginnings, as opposed to the old dispensation, with its material possessions and privileges.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Written St. Paul adorns his allegory with a choice gem from old prophetic poetry. Isa 54:1. The passage is clearly Messianic, and is spoken in view of the gathering in of the Gentiles, Gal 4:3. She who was barren, and that travailed not, has now a numerous offspring. The barrenness, according to Paul, is the effeteness of fallen Judaism, and the new fertility is the life and increase of new Christianity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For it is written, “Rejoice you who are barren and do not bear, Break forth and cry you who do not suffer birth pains, For the children of the desolate are more than she who has a husband.’
A quotation is now cited from Isa 54:1. It refers to the divine principle that those who initially ‘have not’ are the ones who, through God’s mercy, often eventually ‘have’, because ‘their Maker is their husband’ (Isa 54:5). They do not look to a husband of the flesh but to a husband of the Spirit. And thus the seemingly barren become fruitful. Paul then refers this to Sarah who had been barren and had produced no children. Possibly he is considering the fact that through natural relations with her husband Sarah could not bear. When it came to having children she ‘had no husband’. Thus God Himself had to intervene, almost acting as the husband in producing a child for her. But she will yet rejoice and have many children, more than she who first bore. She who was barren will produce many children. For Sarah represents the new Jerusalem which will indeed produce many children.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 4:27 . Proof from Scripture [221] that no other than this , the free Jerusalem ( ), is our mother. This, namely, is according to Paul the subject addressed, the unfruitful one, because Sarah who, according to the allegory, answers to the heavenly Jerusalem was, as is well known, barren. The historical sense of the prophecy (Isa 54:1 , exactly according to the LXX.) is the joyful promise of a great increase to the depressed people of God in its state of freedom after the Babylonian exile. The desolate, uninhabited Jerusalem, which had become like an unfruitful wife, is summoned to rejoice, because it and in this light, certainly, it is poetically compared with itself as a second person (in opposition to Hofmann) is to become more populous, more rich in children, than formerly, when it was the husband-possessing spouse (of Jehovah). The fulfilment of this Messianic prophecy
Messianic because pervaded by the idea of the victorious theocracy is discerned by Paul in the great new people of God, which belongs to the , to this Sarah in the sense of the fulfilment, as its mother. Before the emergence of the Christian people of God, this heavenly Jerusalem was still unpeopled, childless; it was , , , ( solitaria , that is, in conformity with the contrast: without conjugal intercourse), consequently quite the Sarah of the allegory, before she became the mother of Isaac. But in and with the emergence of the Christian people of God, the has become a fruitful mother, rejoicing over her wealth of children, richer in children than , this mother of the ancient people of God, which hitherto, like Hagar, had been , . This is God (not the law, as Luther interprets), whose relation to the theocratical commonwealth of the old covenant is conceived as conjugal intercourse. In virtue of this idea, the relation of God to the the latter regarded as a woman is the counterpart of the relation of Abraham to the Hagar, whose descendants came into life . On the other hand, the relation of God to the the latter likewise regarded as a woman, who, however, had hitherto been . . . is the counterpart of the relation of Abraham to the free Sarah, whose far more numerous descendants were children of promise (Gal 4:28 ). Comp. Rom 9:8 .
] not for the past participle (Grotius and others), but expressing the state of the case as it stands: “ which does not bear ,” the consequence of , sterilis , unfruitful, as Sara was . In the same way afterwards, .
] is usually supplied. For many instances of or (Eur. Suppl . 710), to unchain the voice, that is, to speak aloud , see Wetstein, in loc.; Loesner, Obss . p. 333; Jacobs, ad Anthol . X. p. 385, XI. p. 57, XII. p. 131. Comp. the Latin rumpere vocem (Drakenborch, ad Sil. It . iv. 528). But since the verb alone is never thus used, it is safer to derive the supplement from what has preceded; hence Kypke and Schott correctly supply ( rumpe jubilum, begin to rejoice ), not because stands in the Hebrew (Schott), but because flows from the previous ; [222] “rejoice, let it break forth .” The opposite is (Plut. Per . 36), . (Soph. Trach . 919).
. . .] applies in the connection of the original text to Jerusalem, and is also here necessarily (see Gal 4:26 ) according to the Messianic fulfilment of the prophecy, in the light of which Paul apprehends the Scriptural saying to be referred to Jerusalem, but to the , , whereas the which is placed in comparison with it is the . See above. Chrysostom and his successors, Bengel and others, consider that the words . . . apply to the Gentile Christians (she who had the husband being the Jewish church); but against this view it may be urged that that , which refers to all Christians, is to be proved by Gal 4:27 .
] not used instead of , which would leave the multitude of children entirely undetermined; but it affirms that both had many children , the solitary one , however, the greater number: for numerous are the children of the solitary one in a higher degree than those of her who possessed the husband. So the LXX. has rightly understood the Hebrew .
[221] For this Scriptural proof, the particular passage Isa 54:1 is selected with great skill and true tact, since the is the allegorical counterpart of Sarah , this . . .
[222] The LXX. probably did not read .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Ver. 27. For it is written ] When these testimonies of the Old Testament are thus cited in the New, it is not only by way of accommodation, but because they are the proper meaning of the places.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27 .] Proof of this relation from Prophecy . The portion of Isaiah from which this is taken, is directly Messianic: indicating in its foreground the reviviscence of Israel after calamity, but in language far surpassing that event. See Stier, Jesaias nicht pseudo-Jesaias, vol. ii. p. 512. The citation is from the LXX, verbatim.
] sc. : cf. many examples in Wetst. Probably the rule of supplying ellipses from the context (following which Kypke and Schtt. here supply , from , and Isa 49:13 ; Isa 52:9 ; cf. also ‘erumpere gaudium, Ter. Eun. iii. 5. 2 (Ellic.)) need hardly be applied here; the phrase with was so common, as to lead at last to the omission of the substantive.
The Hebrew , ‘into joyful shouting,’ seems not to have been read by the LXX.
St. Paul here interprets the barren of Sara, who bore not according to the flesh (= the promise), and the fruitful of Agar (= the law). Clem. Rom., Eph 2 . ad Cor. 2, p. 333, takes the of the Gentile Church, , , (the Jewish Church), and similarly Origen (in Rom., lib. vi. 7, vol. iv. p. 578), ‘quod multo plures ex gentibus quam ex circumcisione crediderint.’ And this has been the usual interpretation. It only shews how manifold is the ‘perspective of prophecy:’ this sense neither is incompatible with St. Paul’s, nor surely would it have been denied by him. (So Chrys., al., in this passage, which is clearly wrong: for , even without , must apply to all Christians for the argument to hold.)
] not, as E. V., “ many more &c.,” which is inaccurate: but, many are the children of the desolate, more than (rather than; both being numerous, hers are the more numerous) of her , &c.
] The E. V. has perhaps done best by rendering ‘ an husband ,’ though thus the force of the Greek is not given. ‘The husband’ would mislead, by pointing at the one husband (Abraham) who was common to Sara and Agar, which might do in this passage, but would not in Isaiah: whereas . means, ‘her (of the two) who has (the) husband,’ the other having none: a fineness of meaning which we cannot give in English.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 4:27 . The prophecy of Isa 54:1 , here quoted from the LXX, describes the restoration of Zion, the enlargement of her borders and increase of her people, under the figure of a wife long neglected and barren, but now restored to the favour of her husband and fruitful in children. This picture was perhaps suggested to the prophet by the history of Sarah’s prolonged barrenness before she became the fruitful mother of Israel, and is peculiarly appropriate for describing the long delayed but fertile growth of the Christian Church, of which she was the typical mother.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the desolate, &c. = many are the children of the desolate rather than of her that hath the husband. Quoted from Isa 54:1.
husband. Greek. aner, App-123.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] Proof of this relation from Prophecy. The portion of Isaiah from which this is taken, is directly Messianic: indicating in its foreground the reviviscence of Israel after calamity, but in language far surpassing that event. See Stier, Jesaias nicht pseudo-Jesaias, vol. ii. p. 512. The citation is from the LXX, verbatim.
] sc. : cf. many examples in Wetst. Probably the rule of supplying ellipses from the context (following which Kypke and Schtt. here supply , from , and Isa 49:13; Isa 52:9; cf. also erumpere gaudium, Ter. Eun. iii. 5. 2 (Ellic.)) need hardly be applied here; the phrase with was so common, as to lead at last to the omission of the substantive.
The Hebrew , into joyful shouting, seems not to have been read by the LXX.
St. Paul here interprets the barren of Sara, who bore not according to the flesh (= the promise), and the fruitful of Agar (= the law). Clem. Rom., Ephesians 2. ad Cor. 2, p. 333, takes the of the Gentile Church, , , (the Jewish Church), and similarly Origen (in Rom., lib. vi. 7, vol. iv. p. 578), quod multo plures ex gentibus quam ex circumcisione crediderint. And this has been the usual interpretation. It only shews how manifold is the perspective of prophecy: this sense neither is incompatible with St. Pauls, nor surely would it have been denied by him. (So Chrys., al., in this passage, which is clearly wrong: for , even without , must apply to all Christians for the argument to hold.)
] not, as E. V., many more &c., which is inaccurate: but, many are the children of the desolate, more than (rather than; both being numerous, hers are the more numerous) of her, &c.
] The E. V. has perhaps done best by rendering an husband, though thus the force of the Greek is not given. The husband would mislead, by pointing at the one husband (Abraham) who was common to Sara and Agar, which might do in this passage, but would not in Isaiah: whereas . means, her (of the two) who has (the) husband, the other having none: a fineness of meaning which we cannot give in English.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 4:27. , it is written) Isa 54:1-, rejoice) with singing.-, barren) Sion, Jerusalem above.-, break forth) into crying.- , and shout) for joy.- , of the desolate) i.e. The New Testament Church, collected for the most part from the Gentiles, who had not [answering to , the desolate] the promise; and as this New Testament Church was made up of those who heretofore were seen to have had no such aims, it is called not bearing, not travailing,- , than she who hath) the Jewish Church.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 4:27
Gal 4:27
For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: For more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath the husband.-Isa 54:1 had foretold this state, that she who first was barren, brought forth no children, would rejoice in the number of her children, for she would have more children than the one that bore children. Sarah, the lawful wife, childless until the child of promise came, had more children than Hagar, who early bore children of the flesh. So the church of promise, or the promise through the seed of promise, had in these last days burst forth and bore children not only among the fleshly children of Abraham, but among the Gentiles not married to Christ. And there were many more converts among the Gentiles who had not been in covenant relation with God than among the Jews who had been.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Rejoice: Isa 54:1-5
barren: 1Sa 2:5, Psa 113:9
desolate: Rth 1:11-13, Rth 4:14-16, 2Sa 13:20, Isa 49:21, 1Ti 5:5
Reciprocal: Gen 21:6 – God Psa 45:16 – children Psa 67:4 – O let Psa 68:6 – God Isa 52:9 – Break Eze 16:61 – when Joe 2:23 – ye children Zec 14:2 – shall not Joh 16:21 – for Rev 3:12 – the city Rev 12:2 – travailing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 4:27. , -For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: because many are the children of the desolate one more than of her who has an husband, or the man. The quotation is according to the Septuagint from Isa 54:1, and the idiomatic variations between it and the Hebrew are of no real importance-the Greek using the article and present participle for the Hebrew praeterite. After , may be understood, or , or , but such an ellipse is common. The term , H8262, joyous shouting, is omitted by the Seventy. The Hebrew idiom is correctly imitated in the Greek . . . , and is different from , for both are to have many children, but the children of the desolate are far to outnumber the other; and the past participle is paraphrased by -the man whom the desolate woman has not. The two women contrasted, in the apostle’s use of the quotation, are Sarah, and Hagar who had Abraham- -when Sarah gave him up to her, and was the first of the two to have children.
The address of the prophet is to the ancient Israel, not to Jerusalem simply, or because in it no children were born during the Babylonish exile. Her desolate condition is to be succeeded by a blessed prosperity, and by the possession of Gentile countries. Zion in her youth had been espoused by Jehovah to Himself, but the nuptial covenant had been broken and she had been repudiated, and had suffered the reproach of such widowhood, forsaken and grieved in spirit. But re-union is promised on the part of the divine Husband under the claim of a Goel or Redeemer, and by a new and significant title, God of the whole earth. In a gush of wrath He had hidden His face a moment, but in everlasting kindness would He have mercy on her (compare 51:2). The result is a numerous progeny. What the precise historic reference of the prophecy is, it is needless to inquire. Under its peculiar figure, so common in the prophets, it portrays, after a dark and sterile period, augmented spiritual blessings, and suddenly enlarged numbers to enjoy them, as the next chapter so vividly describes. In the apostle’s use of the quotation, and in accordance with the context, Hagar-she that hath -is the symbol of the theocratic church with its children in bondage to the law; and Sarah-she that was desolate-is the symbol of the New Testament church, composed both of Jews and Gentiles, or the Jerusalem above which is our mother. Compare Schttgen in loc. The prophecy is adduced to prove and illustrate this maternal relation. Some of the fathers took a different view of this prophecy. The Roman Clement, Origen, Chrysostom, and many others, suppose her that bears not, the barren one, to be the Gentile church as opposed to the Jewish church or synagogue; but this is against the scope and language of the allegory. The Jerusalem that now is is the Jewish dispensation, the children of the bond-maid Hagar; the Jerusalem above, which prior to the advent was sterile and childless-Sarah-is now a fruitful mother, her children greatly more numerous than those of her rival, for all believers like her son Isaac are the seed of Abraham, children of promise.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 4:27. Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, etc. An illustration of the allegory by a passage from Isa 54:1, which prophesies the deliverance of Gods afflicted nation from the foreign bondage of the Babylonian exile, and her restoration to freedom and prosperity, so that from a mourning widow, like Sarah, she shall become a rejoicing mother of many children. The prophet himself, in a previous chapter (Isa 51:2), refers to Gods dealings with Abraham and Sarah, as a type of his dealings with their descendants. In the application, the barren who becomes fruitful, is the type of the Christian church, more especially the Gentile Christian church, as opposed to the Jewish synagogue. This application is fully justified by the Messianic character of the whole second part of Isaiah (beginning with chap. 40).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle here proceeds, and still goes on in his former allegory: the church of the Gentiles he compares to Sarah, who was a long time barren, but at last brought forth a child of the promise, a seed in which all the families of the earth were blessed. The church of the Jews is represented under the notion of a women who had an husband and many children; but the barren Gentiles are, by a spirit of prophecy, called upon to rejoice, and shout for joy, because there should be more children brought forth to God amongst them, than were amongst the Jews.
Here and hence observe, That it is not the church’s lot to be always alike fruitful in bringing forth children unto God; she hath her barren times, in which the labours of her ministers are attended with little success, and few are converted and brought home to God: in the first beginnings of the Christian church, though Christ himself was the preacher, she was one that beareth not, and travaileth not.
Learn, 2. That upon the enlargement of Christ’s kingdom, and the weakening of Satan’s interest in the world, when souls are gathered in, and brought home to Christ; by the power of converting grace, all the churches of Christ ought to rejoice, and break forth into singing, as being matter of exceeding joy and great exultation: Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth into singing, &c.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
For it is written [Isa 54:1; Isa 51:2], Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: For more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath the husband.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 27
It is written; Isaiah 54:1.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
For it is written, Rejoice, [thou] barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Paul says it is written – where is it written might come to mind? This is from Isa 54:1 “Sing, O barren, thou [that] didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou [that] didst not travail with child: for more [are] the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.”
This seems to continue the picture message that Paul is giving. It relates to the fact that Sarah was barren, but that she was told by God that she would have a child – and she did – the seed that would produce Messiah.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
4:27 {7} For it is written, Rejoice, [thou] barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the {f} desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
(7) He shows that in this allegory he has followed the steps of Isaiah, who foretold that the Church should be made and consist of the children of barren Sara, that is to say, of those who should be made Ahraham’s children by faith, and this only spiritually, rather than of fruitful Hagar, even then foretelling the casting off of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles.
(f) She that is destroyed and laid waste.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The quotation from Isa 54:1 predicted that Israel, which was comparatively barren before the Babylonian exile, would enjoy numerous children in the future. This is probably a reference to the blessings of the millennial kingdom. Paul applied this prophecy to Sarah. She would have greater blessing and more children in the future than in the past, children of the promises, namely, all true believers including Christians.