Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 27:1
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.
1. The judgment on the ungodly powers of this world, is represented symbolically as the destruction of three living monsters by the sword of Jehovah. It is disputed whether the reference is to the world-power in general, or to a single Empire, or to three separate Empires. Assuming that they are distinct the “Dragon that is in the sea” is almost certainly an emblem of Egypt (ch. Isa 51:9; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Psa 74:13). To the reference of the other two we have no key. It is of the essence of apocalyptic symbolism to be obscure; and it will always be possible, at any date, to find representatives, more or less suitable, of the three creatures. If the prophet wrote during or soon after the Exile they might denote Assyria and Babylonia; if at a later period, perhaps Babylonia and Persia, or even Persia and Greece.
For the sword of Jehovah cf. ch. Isa 34:5-6, Isa 66:16; Deu 32:41 f.; Eze 21:4-5; Eze 21:9 ff., &c. For sore render hard.
leviathan ] The word apparently means “twisted,” and is originally an epithet for the serpent. Although applied (probably) in Job 41 to the crocodile, it is no doubt mythological in its origin, denoting (like our “dragon”) a fabulous monster figuring largely in popular legends. It is so used in Job 3:8 and perhaps Psa 104:26; as a political symbol in Psa 74:14 and here.
the piercing serpent ] the fugitive serpent. The phrase occurs in Job 26:13, where we have the wide-spread myth of the dragon that devours the sun (in eclipses, &c.). See Dr Davidson’s Job, p. 20. How this astronomical dragon came to be specially connected with any political power we cannot tell; but we find an analogous case in the word Rahab as a symbol for Egypt (see on ch. Isa 30:7).
even leviathan that crooked serpent ] Render: and Leviathan the tortuous serpent.
the dragon that is in the sea ] The sea means here the Nile, as often: see on Isa 19:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In that day – In that future time when the Jews would be captive in Babylon, and when they would sigh for deliverance (see the note at Isa 26:1). This verse might have been connected with the previous chapter, as it refers to the same event, and then this chapter would have more appropriately commenced with the poem or song which begins in Isa 27:2.
With his sore – Hebrew, haqashah – Hard. Septuagint, Ten hagian – Holy. The Hebrew means a sword that is hard, or well-tempered and trusty.
And great, and strong sword – The sword is an emblem of war, and is often used among the Hebrews to denote war (see Gen 27:40; Lev 26:25). It is also an emblem of justice or punishment, as punishment then, as it is now in the Turkish dominions, was often inflicted by the sword Deu 32:41-42; Psa 7:12; Heb 11:37. Here, if it refers to the overthrow of Babylon and its tyrannical king, it means that God would punish them by the armies of the Medes, employed as his sword or instrument. Thus in Psa 17:13, David prays, Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword (compare the notes at Isa 10:5-6).
Leviathan – livyathan. The Septuagint renders this, Ten drakonta – The dragon. The word leviathan is probably derived from lavah in Arabic, to weave, to twist (Gesenius); and literally means, the twisted animal. The word occurs in six places in the Old Testament, and is translated in Job 3:8, mourning, Margin, leviathan; in Job 41:1, leviathan – in which chapter is an extended description of the animal; in Psa 74:14, it is rendered leviathan, and seems to be applied to Pharaoh; and in Psa 104:26, and in the passage before us, where it is twice also rendered leviathan. Bochart (Hierez. ii. 5. 16-18) has gone into an extended argument to show that by the leviathan the crocodile is intended; and his argument is in my view conclusive. On this subject, Bochart, Dr. Good (on Job 41), and Robinsons Calmet, may be consulted.
The crocodile is a natural inhabitant of the Nile and of other Asiatic and African rivers; is of enormous voracity and strength, as well as of fleetness in swimming; attacks mankind and all animals with prodigious impetuosity; and is furnished with a coat of mail so scaly and callous that it will resist the force of a musket ball in every part except under the belly. It is, therefore, an appropriate image by which to represent a fierce and cruel tyrant. The sacred writers were accustomed to describe kings and tyrants by an allusion to strong and fierce animals. Thus, in Eze 29:3-5, the dragon, or the crocodile of the Nile, represents Pharaoh; in Eze 22:2, Pharaoh is compared to a young lion, and to a whale in the seas; in Psa 74:13-14, Pharaoh is compared to the dragon, and to the leviathan. In Dan. 7, the four monarchs that should arise are likened to four great beasts. In Rev. 12, Rome, the new Babylon, is compared to a great red dragon.
In the place before us, I suppose that the reference is to Babylon; or to the king and tyrant that ruled there, and that had oppressed the people of God. But among commentators there has been the greatest variety of explanation. As a specimen of the various senses which commentators often assign to passages of Scripture, we may notice the following views which have been taken of this passage. The Chaldee Paraphrast regards the leviathans, which are twice mentioned, as referring, the first one to some king like Pharaoh, and the second to a king like Sennacherib. rabbi Moses Haccohen supposes that the word denotes the most select or valiant of the rulers, princes, and commanders that were in the army of the enemy of the people of God. Jarchi supposes that by the first-mentioned leviathan is meant Egypt, by the second Assyria, and by the dragon which is in the sea, he thinks Tyre is intended.
Aben Ezra supposes that by the dragon in the sea, Egypt is denoted. Kimchi supposes that this will be fulfilled only in the times of the Messiah, and that the sea monsters mentioned here are Gog and Magog – and that these denote the armies of the Greeks, the Saracens, and the inhabitants of India. Abarbanel supposes that the Saracens, the Roman empire, and the other kingdoms of Gentiles, are intended by these sea monsters. Jerome, Sanctius, and some others suppose that Satan is denoted by the leviathan. Brentius supposes that this was fulfilled in the day of Pentecost when Satan was overcome by the preaching of the gospel. Other Christian interpreters have supposed, that by the leviathan first mentioned Mahomet is intended; by the second, heretics; and by the dragon in the sea, Pagan India. Luther understood it of Assyria and Egypt; Calvin supposes that the description properly applies to the king of Egypt, but that under this image other enemies of the church are embraced, and does not doubt that allegorically Satan and his kingdom are intended. The more simple interpretation, however, is that which refers it to Babylon. This suits the connection: accords with the previous chapters; agrees with all that occurs in this chapter, and with the image which is used here. The crocodile, the dragon, the sea monster – extended, vast, unwieldy, voracious, and odious to the view – would be a most expressive image to denote the abhorrence with which the Jews would regard Babylon and its king.
The piercing serpent – The term serpent ( nachash) may be given to a dragon, or an extended sea monster. Compare Job 26:13. The term piercing, is, in the Margin, Crossing like a bar. The Septuagint renders it, Ophin pheugonta – Flying serpent. The Hebrew, bariyach, rendered piercing, is derived from barach, to flee; and then to stretch across, or pass through, as a bar through boards Exo 36:33. Hence, this word may mean fleeing; extended; cross bar for fastening gates; or the cross piece for binding together the boards for the tabernacle of the congregation Exo 26:26; Exo 36:31. Lowth renders it, The rigid serpent; probably with reference to the hard scales of the crocodile. The word extended, huge, vast, will probably best suit the connection. In Job 26:13, it is rendered, the crooked serpent; referring to the constellation in the heavens by the name of the Serpent (see the note at that place). The idea of piercing is not in the Hebrew word, nor is it ever used in that sense.
That crooked serpent – This is correctly rendered; and refers to the fact that the monster here referred to throws itself into immense volumes or folds, a description that applies to all serpents of vast size. Virgil has given a similar description of sea monsters throwing themselves into vast convolutions:
Ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta
– immensis orbibus angues.
– AEn. ii. 203.
And again:
Sinuantque immensa volumine terga.
Idem. 208.
The reference in Isaiah, I suppose, is not to different kings or enemies of the people of God, but to the same. It is customary in Hebrew poetry to refer to the same subject in different members of the same sentence, or in different parts of the same parallelism.
The dragon – Referring to the same thing under a different image – to the king of Babylon. On the meaning of the word dragon, see the note at Isa 13:22.
In the sea – In the Euphrates; or in the marshes and pools that encompass Babylon (see Isa 11:15, note; Isa 18:2, note). The sense of the whole verse is, that God would destroy the Babylonian power that was to the Jews such an object of loathsomeness and of terror.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 27:1
The Lord . . . Shall punish leviathan
The Church has formidable enemies
The Church has many enemies, but commonly someone that is more formidable than the rest.
So Sennacherib was in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his. So Pharaoh had been formerly; and he is called leviathan, and the dragon (Psa 74:14; Isa 51:9; Eze 29:3). And the New Testament Church has had its leviathans; we read of a great red dragon, ready to devour it (Rev 12:3). Those malignant, persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan in bulk and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the world; to dragons, for their rage and fury; to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, that if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body; crossing like a bar, so the margin, standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them; to crooked serpents, subtle sad insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. (M. Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXVII
Destruction of the enemies of the Church, 1.
God’s care of his vineyard, 2-11.
Prosperity of the descendants of Abraham in the latter days,
12, 13.
The subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the measure, and the design of God’s dealings with his people.
1. His judgments inflicted on their great and powerful enemies, Isa 27:1.
2. His constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue, Isa 27:2.
3. The moderation and lenity with which the severity of his judgments have been tempered, Isa 27:7.
4. The end and design of them, to recover them from idolatry, Isa 27:9. And,
5. The recalling of them, on their repentance, from their several dispersions, Isa 27:12.
The first verse seems connected with the two last verses of the preceding chapter. – L.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII
Verse 1. Leviathan] The animals here mentioned seem to be the crocodile, rigid by the stiffness of the backbone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent or dragon, flexible and winding, which coils himself up in a circular form: and the sea-monster, or whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images, is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily with in the design of these notes. R. D. Kimchi says, leviathan is a parable concerning the kings of the Gentiles: it is the largest fish in the sea, called also tannin, the dragon, or rather the whale. By these names the Grecian, Turkish, and Roman empires are intended. The dragon of the sea seems to mean some nation having a strong naval force and extensive commerce. See Kimchi on the place.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall punish leviathan; what kind of creature the leviathan is, See Poole “Job 41:1“, &c.; whence it is evident that it was a very great and terrible sea-monster. But here it is certain that the expression is metaphorical, and that by this leviathan, serpent, and dragon (for all signify the same thing) he understands some very powerful enemy or enemies (for the singular number may be here put for the plural, as it is in many other places) of God, and of his church or people, which may well be called by these names, partly for their great might, and partly for the great terror and destruction which they cause upon the earth, as the leviathan doth in the sea. He seems to have a special respect to some particular enemy and oppressor of Gods people; either the Assyrian emperor, who now was so; or rather the Babylonian, who should be so. Some understand this of the devil; but although it may be applied to him in a mystical sense, it seems to be literally meant of some potent and visible adversary; which seems more agreeable to the following verses, and to the usage of this and other prophets.
The piercing serpent; which by its sting pierceth quickly and deeply into mens bodies. Or, the bar (as this word is elsewhere used) serpent, as this may be called, either for its length, or strength, or swift motion.
That crooked serpent; winding and turning itself with great variety and dexterity; whereby he seems to signify the craftiness and activity of this enemy, which being added to his strength makes it more formidable.
The dragon; or rather, the whale, as this word is rendered, Gen 1:21; Job 7:12, and elsewhere; which agrees better with the following words,
that is in the sea, which possibly were added only to limit that general and ambiguous word to a sea-monster, and not to describe the place in which the enemy signified by this dragon had his abode. Although the sea, which here follows, may be metaphorically understood of the great largeness of his empire, and the multitude of his subjects, by comparing this with Rev 17:1,15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. sorerather, “hard,””well-tempered.”
leviathanliterally, inArabic, “the twisted animal,” applicable to everygreat tenant of the waters, sea-serpents, crocodiles, c. In Eze 29:3Eze 32:2; Dan 7:1;Rev 12:3, c., potentates hostileto Israel are similarly described antitypically and ultimately Satanis intended (Re 20:10).
piercingrigid [LOWTH].Flying [MAURER andSeptuagint]. Long, extended, namely, as the crocodile whichcannot readily bend back its body [HOUBIGANT].
crookedwinding.
dragonHebrew,tenin; the crocodile.
seathe Euphrates, orthe expansion of it near Babylon.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword,…. Meaning either the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, quick and powerful, and sharper than a twoedged sword, Eph 6:17 or else some sore judgment of God: some understand it of the Medes and Persians, by whom the Lord would destroy the Babylonish monarchy; or rather it is the great power of God, or his judiciary sentence, and the execution of it, the same with the twoedged sword, which proceeds out of the mouth of the Word of God, by which the antichristian kings and their armies will be slain,
Re 19:15:
shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent i, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea; by which are meant, not literally creatures so called, though the Talmud k interprets them of the whales, the leviathan male and female; but mystically earthly princes and potentates, for their great power and authority, their cruelty and voraciousness, their craft and cunning; so the Targum and Aben Ezra interpret them of the kings of the earth; and are to be understood either of distinct persons, or countries they rule over: some think three are pointed at, as the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Edomites, or Romans, so Jarchi; or the Greeks, Turks, and Indians, as Kimchi. The Targum is,
“he shall punish the king who is magnified as Pharaoh the first, and the king that is exalted as Sennacherib the second, and shall slay the king that is strong as the dragon (or whale) that is in the sea.”
Some are of opinion that only one person or kingdom is here meant, either the king of Egypt, compared to such a sea monster, because of the river Nile, that watered his country; see Eze 29:3 others, the king of Babylon, which city was situated by the river Euphrates, and is described as dwelling on many waters, Jer 51:13 and others the king of Tyre, which was situated in the sea; it seems most likely that all tyrannical oppressors and cruel persecutors of the church are intended, who shall be destroyed; and particularly Rome Pagan, signified by a red dragon, Re 12:3 and Rome Papal, by a beast the dragon gave his power to, which rose out of the sea, and by another out of the earth, which spoke like a dragon, Re 13:1 both the eastern and western antichrists may be included; the eastern antichrist, the Turk, whose dominions are large, like the waters of the sea; and the western antichrist, the whore of Rome, described as sitting on many waters, Re 17:1 both which are comparable to serpents and dragons for their cruelty and poison; moreover, Satan, at the head of all these, called the dragon, the old serpent, and devil, must be taken into the account, who is the last enemy that will be destroyed; he will be taken and bound a thousand years, and then, being loosed, will be retaken, and cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet be, Re 20:1. Kimchi thinks this prophecy belongs to the times of Gog and Magog.
i Or boom, or bar-serpent, “serpentem vectem”, V. L. and Montanus; the same, as the Bishop of Bergen thinks, with the “soeormen”, or sea snake, which often lies stretched out before a creek, like a boom, to block up the passage; and is soon bent, in a curve, in folds, and is soon again in a straight line, like a pole or beam; see his History of Norway, p. 206, 207. k T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 74. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Upon whom the judgment of Jehovah particularly falls, is described in figurative and enigmatical words in Isa 27:1: “In that day will Jehovah visit with His sword, with the hard, and the great, and the strong, leviathan the fleet serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea.” No doubt the three animals are emblems of three imperial powers. The assertion that there are no more three animals than there are three swords, is a mistake. If the preposition were repeated in the case of the swords, as it is in the case of the animals, we should have to understand the passage as referring to three swords as well as three animals. But this is not the case. We have therefore to inquire what the three world-powers are; and this question is quite a justifiable one: for we have no reason to rest satisfied with the opinion held by Drechsler, that the three emblems are symbols of ungodly powers in general, of every kind and every sphere, unless the question itself is absolutely unanswerable. Now the tannin (the stretched-out aquatic animal) is the standing emblem of Egypt (Isa 51:9; Psa 74:13; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2). And as the Euphrates-land and Asshur are mentioned in Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13 in connection with Egypt, it is immediately probable that the other two animals signify the kingdom of the Tigris, i.e., Assyria, with its capital Nineveh which stood on the Tigris, and the kingdom of the Euphrates, i.e., Chaldea, with its capital Babylon which stood upon the Euphrates. Moreover, the application of the same epithet Leviathan to both the kingdoms, with simply a difference in the attributes, is suggestive of two kingdoms that were related to each other. We must not be misled by the fact that nachash bariach is a constellation in Job 26:13; we have no bammarom (on high) here, as in Isa 24:21, and therefore are evidently still upon the surface of the globe. The epithet employed was primarily suggested by the situation of the two cities. Nineveh was on the Tigris, which was called Chiddekel,
(Note: In point of fact, not only does Arab. tyr signify both an arrow and the Tigris, according to the Neo-Persian lexicons, but the old explanation “Tigris, swift as a dart, since the Medes call the Tigris toxeuma ” (the shot or shot arrow; Eustath, on Dion Perieg. v. 984), is confirmed by the Zendic tighri , which has been proved to be used in the sense of arrow or shot ( Yesht 8, 6, yatha tighris mainyavacao ), i.e., like a heavenly arrow.)
on account of the swiftness of its course and its terrible rapids; hence Asshur is compared to a serpent moving along in a rapid, impetuous, long, extended course ( bariach , as in Isa 43:14, is equivalent to barriach, a noun of the same form as , and a different word from berriach , a bolt, Isa 15:5). Babylon, on the other hand, is compared to a twisted serpent, i.e., to one twisting about in serpentine curves, because it was situated on the very winding Euphrates, the windings of which are especially labyrinthine in the immediate vicinity of Babylon. The river did indeed flow straight away at one time, but by artificial cuttings it was made so serpentine that it passed the same place, viz., Arderikka, no less than three times; and according to the declaration of Herodotus in his own time, when any one sailed down the river, he had to pass it three times in three days (Ritter, x. p. 8). The real meaning of the emblem, however, is no more exhausted by this allusion to the geographical situation, than it was in the case of “the desert of the sea” (Isa 21:1). The attribute of winding is also a symbol of the longer duration of one empire than of the other, and of the more numerous complications into which Israel would be drawn by it. The world-power on the Tigris fires with rapidity upon Israel, so that the fate of Israel is very quickly decided. But the world-power on the Euphrates advances by many windings, and encircles its prey in many folds. And these windings are all the more numerous, because in the prophet’s view Babylon is the final form assumed by the empire of the world, and therefore Israel remains encircled by this serpent until the last days. The judgment upon Asshur, Babylon, and Egypt, is the judgment upon the world-powers universally.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Doom of Persecutors; The Privilege of Saints. | B. C. 718. |
1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. 3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. 4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. 6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,
I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God’s church (v. 1), tribulation to those that trouble it, 2 Thess. i. 6. When the Lord comes out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth (ch. xxvi. 21), he will be sure to punish leviathan, the dragon that is in the sea, every proud oppressing tyrant, that is the terror of the mighty, and, like the leviathan, is so fierce that none dares stir him up, and his heart as hard as a stone, and when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid,Job 41:10; Job 41:24; Job 41:25. The church has many enemies, but commonly some one that is more formidable than the rest. So Sennacherib was in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his; so Pharaoh had been formerly, and is called leviathan and the dragon,Isa 51:9; Psa 74:13; Psa 74:14; Eze 29:3. The New-Testament church has had its leviathans; we read of a great red dragon ready to devour it, Rev. xii. 3. Those malignant persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan for bulk, and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the world,–to dragons for their rage and fury,–to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, and which, if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body,–crossing like a bar (so the margin), standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them,–to crooked serpents, subtle and insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. Great and mighty princes, if they oppose the people of God, are in God’s account as dragons and serpents, the plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with and call to an account, and therefore the great God will take the matter into his own hands. He has a sore, and great, and strong sword, wherewith to do execution upon them when the measure of their iniquity is full and their day has come to fall. It is emphatically expressed in the original: The Lord with his sword, that cruel one, and that great one, and that strong one, shall punish this unwieldy, this unruly criminal; and it shall be capital punishment: He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea; for the wages of his sin is death. This shall not only be a prevention of his doing further mischief, as the slaying of a wild beast, but a just punishment for the mischief he has done, as the putting of a traitor or rebel to death. God has a strong sword for the doing of this, variety of judgments sufficient to humble the proudest and break the most powerful of his enemies; and he will do it when the day of execution comes: In that day he will punish, his day which is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. This is applicable to the spiritual victories obtained by our Lord Jesus over the powers of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and cast out, the prince of this world, but with his strong sword, the virtue of his death and the preaching of his gospel, he does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that great leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall be bound, that he may not deceive the nations, and that is a punishment to him (Rev 20:2; Rev 20:3); and at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 10.
II. Of mercy to the church. In that same day, when God is punishing the leviathan, let the church and all her friends be easy and cheerful; let those that attend her sing to her for her comfort, sing her asleep with these assurances; let it be sung in her assemblies,
1. That she is God’s vineyard, and is under his particular care, Isa 27:2; Isa 27:3. She is, in God’s eye, a vineyard of red wine. The world is as a fruitless worthless wilderness; but the church is enclosed as a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has great care taken of it and great pains taken with it, and from which precious fruits are gathered, wherewith they honour God and man. It is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, ch. v. 4. Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this vineyard: I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this as glorying in it that he is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel. Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall be always under his protection. He speaks this as assuring us that they shall be so: I the Lord, that can do every thing, but cannot lie nor deceive, I do keep it; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. God’s vineyard in this world lies much exposed to injury; there are many that would hurt it, would tread it down and lay it waste (Ps. lxxx. 13); but God will suffer no real hurt or damage to be done it, but what he will bring good out of. He will keep it constantly, night and day, and not without need, for the enemies are restless in their designs and attempts against it, and, both night and day, seek an opportunity to do it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are no less dangerous. God’s people shall be preserved, not only from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, but from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day, Ps. xci. 6. This vineyard shall be well fenced. (2.) Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment, and yet it shall not be overwatered. The still and silent dews of God’s grace and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that it may bring forth much fruit. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for, if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. God waters his vineyard by the ministry of the word by his servants the prophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew. Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; for without him the watchman wakes and the husbandman waters in vain.
2. That, though sometimes he contends with his people, yet, upon their submission, he will be reconciled to them, Isa 27:4; Isa 27:5. Fury is not in him towards his vineyard; though he meets with many things in it that are offensive to him, yet he does not seek advantages against it, nor is extreme to mark what is amiss in it. It is true if he find in it briers and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in battle against him (as indeed that in the vineyard which is not for him is against him), he will tread them down and burn them; but otherwise, “If I am angry with my people, they know what course to take; let them humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and so take hold of my strength with a sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I will soon be reconciled to them, and all shall be well.” God sees the sins of his people and is displeased with them; but, upon their repentance, he turns away his wrath. This may very well be construed as a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. (1.) Here is a quarrel supposed between God and man; for here is a battle fought, and peace to be made. It is an old quarrel, ever since sin first entered. It is, on God’s part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man’s part, most unrighteous. (2.) Here is a gracious invitation given us to make up this quarrel, and to get these matters in variance accommodated: “Let him that is desirous to be at peace with God take hold of his strength, of his strong arm, which is lifted up against the sinner to strike him dead; and let him by supplication keep back the stroke. Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel–a prince with God.” Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let him take hold of that. Christ is the arm of the Lord, ch. liii. 1. Christ crucified is the power of God (1 Cor. i. 24); let him by a lively faith take hold of him, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is within his reach, or as the malefactor took hold of the horns of the altar, believing that there is no other name by which he can be saved, by which he can be reconciled. (3.) Here is a threefold cord of arguments to persuade us to do this. [1.] Time and space are given us to do it in; for fury is not in God; he does not carry it towards us as great men carry it towards their inferiors, when the one is in a fault and the other in a fury. Men in a fury will not take time for consideration; it is, with them, but a word and a blow. Furious men are soon angry, and implacable when they are angry; a little thing provokes them, and no little thing will pacify them. But it is not so with God; he considers our frame, is slow to anger, does not stir up all his wrath, nor always chide. [2.] It is in vain to think of contesting with him. If we persist in our quarrel with him, and think to make our part good, it is but like setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire, which will be so far from giving check to the progress of it that they will but make it burn the more outrageously. We are not an equal match for Omnipotence. Woe unto him therefore that strives with his Maker! He knows not the power of his anger. [3.] This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to reconciliation: “Let him take this course to make peace with me, and he shall make peace; and thereby good, all good, shall come unto him.” God is willing to be reconciled to us if we be but willing to be reconciled to him.
3. That the church of God in the world shall be a growing body, and come at length to be a great body (v. 6): In times to come (so some read it), in after-times, when these calamities are overpast, or in the days of the gospel, the latter days, he shall cause Jacob to take root, deeper root than ever yet; for the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than ever the Jewish church was, and shall spread further. Or, He shall cause those of Jacob that come back out of their captivity, or (as we read it) those that come of Jacob, to take root downward, and bear fruit upward, ch. xxxvii. 31. They shall be established in a prosperous state, and then they shall blossom and bud, and give hopeful prospects of a great increase; and so it shall prove, for they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. Many shall be brought into the church, proselytes shall be numerous, some out of all the nations about that shall be to the God of Israel for a name and a praise; and the converts shall be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness. The preaching of the gospel brought forth fruit in all the world (Col. i. 6), fruit that remains, John xv. 16.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 27
PUNISHMENT AND PRESERVATION
Without attempting to define or describe “leviathan”, which the Lord will punish with His sword, it is sufficient to recognize it as symbolizing: Assyrian Sennacheib (the piercing serpent of the swift-flowing Tigris), Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar -(the coiling serpent of the Euphrates), and the Egyptian Pharaoh – all of those whose evil characteristics will be concentrated in the anti-christ, (Isa 27:1; Psa 74:14).
The Lord will put an end to the old dragon who has been the perpetual serpent and enemy of His people, (Isa 27:1 b; comp. Revelation 12-13; Rev 20:1-3; Rev 20:7-10).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. In that day. Here the Prophet speaks in general of the judgment of God, and thus includes the whole of Satan’s kingdom. Having formerly spoken of the vengeance of God to be displayed against tyrants and wicked men who have shed innocent blood, he now proceeds farther, and publishes the proclamation of this vengeance.
On leviathan. The word “leviathan” is variously interpreted; but in general it simply denotes either a large serpent, or whales and sea-fishes, which approach to the character of monsters on account of their huge size. (189) A1though this description applies to the king of Egypt, yet under one class he intended also to include the other enemies of the Church. For my own part, I have no doubt that he speaks allegorically of Satan and of his whole kingdom, describing him under the figure of some monstrous animal, and at the same time glancing at the crafty wiles by which he glosses over his mischievous designs. In this manner he intended to meet many doubts by which we are continually assailed, when God declares that he will assist us, and when we experience, on the other hand, the strength, craft, and deceitfulness of Satan. Wonderful are the stratagems with which he comes prepared for doing mischief, and dreadful the cruelty which he exercises against the children of God. But the Prophet shews that all this will not prevent the Lord from destroying and overthrowing this kingdom. It is indeed certain that this passage does not relate to Satan himself, but to his agents or instruments, (190) by which he governs his kingdom and annoys the Church of God. Now, though this kingdom is defended by innumerable cunning devices, and is astonishingly powerful, yet the Lord will destroy it.
To convince us of this, the Prophet contrasts with it the Lord’s sword, hard, and great, and strong, by which he will easily slay an enemy that is both strong and crafty. It ought therefore to be observed, that we have continually to do with Satan as with some wild beast, and that the world is the sea in which we sail. We are beset by various wild beasts, which endeavor to upset our ship and sink us to the bottom; and we have no means of defending ourselves and resisting them, if the Lord do not aid us. Accordingly, by this description the Prophet intended to describe the greatness of the danger which threatens us from enemies so powerful and so full of rage and of cunning devices. We should quickly be reduced to the lowest extremity, and should be utterly ruined, did not God oppose and meet them with his invincible power; for by his sword alone can this pernicious kingdom of Satan be destroyed.
But we must observe what he says in the beginning of the verse, In that day. It means that Satan is permitted, for some time, to strengthen and defend his kingdom, but that it will at length be destroyed; as Paul also declares, “God will quickly bruise Satan under your feet.” (Rom 16:20.) By this promise he shews that the time for war is not yet ended, and that we must fight bravely till that enemy be subdued, who, though he has been a hundred times vanquished, ceases not to renew the warfare. We must therefore fight with him continually, and must resist the violent attacks which he makes upon us; but, in order that we may not be discouraged, we must keep our eye on that day when his strong arm shall be broken.
On leviathan the piercing serpent, and on leviathan the crooked serpent. The epithets applied to “leviathan” describe, on the one hand, his tricks and wiles, and, on the other hand, his open violence; but at the same time intimate that he is endued with invincible power. Since בריח ( bārīăch) signifies a crowbar, that word denotes metaphorically the power of piercing, either on account of venomous bites or on account of open violence. The second name, עקלתון, ( gnăkāllāthōn,) is derived from the verb עקל, ( gnākăl,) to bend; and hence it comes to be applied to crooked and tortuous foldings.
(189) “The word leviathan, which, from its etymology, appears to mean contorted, coiled, is sometimes used to denote particular species, ( e.g., the crocodile,) and sometimes as a generic term for huge aquatic animals, or the larger kind of serpents, in which sense the corresponding term! תנין ( tănnīn) is also used. They both appear to be employed in this case to express the indefinite idea of a formidable monster, which is in fact the sense now commonly attached to the word dragon. ” — Alexander
FT447 Ses organes et instrumens
FT448 “ Chantez à la vigne rouge;” — “Sing to the red vineyard.”
Ft449 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 162
FT450 “ Si quelqu’un est de cet advis, je n’empesche point qu’il ne le suive;” — “If any one is of that opinion, I do not hinder him from following it.”
FT451 “ Tellement qu’il est constraint comme l’emprunter d’ailleurs quand il se courrouce;” — “So that he is compelled, as it were, to borrow it from another quarter when he is enraged.”
FT452 That is, instead of making it the beginning of the following sentence, “in battle (or, in a hostile manner) I will pass through them,” it might be read as the conclusion of the question, “Who shall engage me with briers and thorns in battle?” And this concluding suggestion accords with our English version. — Ed
FT453 “Of the various senses ascribed to או, (ō,) such as unless, oh that if, etc., the only one justified by usage is the disjunctive sense of or. ” — Alexander
FT454 “ Ils sentiront la pesanteur de ma main;” — “They shall feel the weight of my hand.”
FT455 That is, our Author is of opinion that או (ō) frequently has the same force as the Latin interrogative particle An. — Ed
FT456 “ Ce vaut-neant-ci;” — “This good-for-nothing.”
FT457 “ Sans feintise;” — “Without hypocrisy.”
FT458 Such is Calvin’s translation of באים, (bāīm,) coming, which, occupying a somewhat anomalous position at the beginning of the verse, has perplexed the critics. The usual and best defended supplement is ימים, ( yāmīm,) days, and thus the construction is supposed to be, “In coming days.” The French version takes ci-apres , “hereafter;” the Italian has (lang. it) Ne’ giorni a venire , “In the days to come;” Luther’s version has As mirb bennoch bazu fummen , “Yet it will come to this.” Our English version connects the word with “Jacob,” and makes it to signify “Them that come of Jacob,” which is countenanced by the Septuagint, οἱ ἐρχόμενοι τέκνα Ιακὼβ, “They that come, the children of Jacob,” but does not appear to have the support of any modern critic or version. — Ed
FT459 “Hath he smitten him as he smote (Heb., according to the stroke of) those that smote him?” — Eng. Ver.
FT460 “ Ne plus ne moins que si le feu y avoit passé;” — “In exactly the same manner as if fire had passed on them.”
FT461 “ Et mis en chemin de salut;” — “And led into the way of salvation.”
FT462 “ Quiconque se flatte en son ordure, il attirera sur sa teste infalliblement l’ire de Dieu;” — “Whosoever flatters himself in his pollution will infallibly draw down on his head the wrath of God.”
FT463 “And consume the branches thereof.” — Eng. Ver.
FT464 “When the boughs thereof are withered.” — Eng. Ver.
FT465 See p. 83
FT466 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 96
FT467 “Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower.” — Eng. Ver.
FT468 “Woe to Samaria, the proud chaplet of the drunkards of Ephraim, which stands at the head of a rich valley belonging to a race of sots! ‘Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it.’ — Maundrell, p. 58. Hence it is likened to a chaplet, or wreath of flowers, worn upon the head by Jews, as well as Greeks and Romans, at their banquets, as may be seen, Wis 2:7.” — Stock
FT469 “ De la vallee grasse;” — “Of the fat valley.”
FT470 “ Tyran de Sicile;” — “Tyrant of Sicily.”
FT471 Justin, in a rapid sketch of that tyrant, informs us that, “after having defeated his rivals, he abandoned himself to indolence and gluttony, which brought on such weakness of sight that he could not bear day-light; that the consciousness of being despised on account of his blindness made him more cruel than before, and led him to fill the city with murders as much as his father had filled the jails with prisoners, so that he became universally hated and despised.” — Justin, Hist. 1. 21, c. 11. The appalling facts are confirmed by other historians. — Ed
FT472 “ Puis donc qu’ils sont coulpables d’une mesme ingratitude;” — “Since they are guilty of the same ingratitude.”
FT473 “ Aux despens de leurs freres;” — “At the expense of their brethren.”
FT474 “ Que nous regimbons contre l’esperon;” — “That we kick against the spur.”
FT475 “ A des petis enfans n’agueres sevrez;” — “To young infants hardly weaned.”
FT476 “ Que tous apportent du ventre de la mere;” — “Which all bring from their mother’s womb.”
FT477 “ Afin de ne fascher les oreilles des lecteurs.”
FT478 “Line upon line.” — Eng. Ver.
FT479 “ De toutes parts, ou, ligne apres ligne;” — “On all sides, or, line after line.”
FT480 The reader may consult the Author’s exposition, and the Translator’s notes Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 1, pp. 312, 313. — Ed
FT481 “For with stammering lips. (Heb. Stammerings of lips.)” — Eng. Ver.
FT482 “But since this patience has been lost upon them, a stronger way shall be taken to force their attention. God will thunder in their ears, what to them will appear jargon, the language of a foreign nation, by whom they shall be carried into captivity.” — Stock
FT483 “ De ce que la parole est au milieu de nous;” — “Because the word is in the midst of us.”
FT484 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 282
FT485 From which the noun לצון ( lātzōn) is derived. The phrase אנשי לצון (ă nshēlatzon) literally signifies “men of scorn,” and is so rendered by Stock and others; but the force of the Hebrew idiom is fully brought out by the word “scoffers,” as in Lowth, or by “scornful men,” as in the English Version. — Ed
FT486 “ Ces moqueurs;” — “Those mockers.”
FT487 חזה ( chōzĕh) is properly a participle ( seeing) often used as a noun to denote a seer or prophet. Here the connection seems distinctly to require the sense of league or covenant. That there is no error in the text may be inferred from the substitution of the cognate form חזות ( chŭzūth) in Isa 28:18. Hitzig accounts for the transfer of meanings by the supposition that in making treaties it was usual to consult the seer or prophet. Ewald supposes an allusion to the practice of necromantic art or divination as a safeguard against death, and translates the word orafel , ( oracle.) The more common explanation of the usage traces it to the idea of an interview or meeting, and the act of looking one another in the face, from which the transition is by no means difficult to that of mutual understanding or agreement.” — Alexander. Buxtorf renders it “a seer, or prophet,” and, by a transferred meaning, “provision,” or “foresight,” “We have made provision, we have looked forward, we have acted with foresight;” and adds, that the Chaldee version renders it שלמא, ( shĕlūmā,) peace. — Ed
FT488 “ Car c’eust esté une chose trop ridicule et dont les petits enfans se fussent moquez;” “For it would have been too absurd, and even young children would have laughed at it.”
FT489 Lucian is often alluded to by our Author as the type of daring and scornful infidels. See Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 2, p. 283, n. 1. — Ed
FT490 Commonly called the Septuagint. — Ed
FT491 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 280
FT492 “ Voire en despit de leurs dents;” — “Even in spite of their teeth.”
FT493 “ Qu’il leur pend une horrible calamité sur leurs testes, laquelle ils ne voyent point;” — “That there hangs over their heads a dreadful calamity which they do not see.”
FT494 “And it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. Or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine.” — (Eng. Ver.) “And even the report alone shall cause terror.” — Lowth. “And it shall be terror merely to hear the report of it.” — Stock. “And only vexation (or distress) shall be the understanding of the thing heard.” — Alexander. “ (lang. it) E’l sentirne il grido non produrrà altro che commovimento;” — “And to hear the cry of it will produce nothing but distress.” — (Ital. Ver.)
FT495 “There are three interpretations of the last clause, one of which supposes it to mean, that the mere report of the approaching scourge should fill them with distress; another, that the effect of the report should be universal distress; a third, that nothing but a painful experience would enable them to understand the lesson which the Prophet was commissioned to teach them. שמועה ( shĕmūgnāh) meaning simply what is heard, may of course denote either rumor or revelation. The latter seems to be the meaning in Isa 28:9, where the noun stands connected with the same verb as here. Whether this verb ever means simply to perceive or hear, may be considered doubtful; if not, the preference is due to the third interpretation above given, viz., that nothing but distress or suffering could make them understand or even attend to the message from Jehovah.” — Alexander
FT496 “ (lang. it) La sua opera strana, la sua operazione straordinaria;” — “His strange work, his extraordinary act.” — Ital. Ver.
FT497 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 360
FT498 “ Avec mesme raison et equité;” — “With the same reason and justice.”
FT499 “The common version, ‘all day,’ though it seems to be a literal translation, does not convey the sense of the original expression, which is used both here and elsewhere to mean ‘all the time,’ or ‘always.’” — Alexander
FT500 “ Et les fideles sont sujets à beaucoup de miseres, voire plus que ne sont pas les reprouvez;” — “And believers are liable to many afflictions, even more than the reprobate are.”
FT501 “Will the ploughman never sow, but always cut the earth by spades and instruments for ploughing?” — Jarchi
FT502 “This apposite simile from the various methods used by the husbandman in preparing his land, and in managing the crop after it is gathered, is addressed to those who might question divine providence, because sentence against the wicked is not executed speedily. God, who teacheth the farmer the proper time and manner of treating his crop, knoweth best when and how to punish sinners: he reduceth them not to dust at once, any more than corn is suffered to lie under pressure till it is rendered unserviceable, but chastiseth in mercy, in order to reclaim them.” — Stock
FT503 “The principle wheat and the appointed barley. Or, wheat in the appointed place, and barley in the appointed place.” — Eng. Ver. “The choice wheat and the picked barley.” — Stock. “The wheat in due measure.” — Lowth
FT504 “The words שורה ( sōrāh) and נמסן ( nĭmsān) are by some explained as epithets of the grain; principal wheat, appointed or sealed barley. Ewald makes them descriptive of the soil; wheat in the best ground, barley in the rough ground. But the explanation best sustained by usage and analogy is that of Gesenius, who takes נמסן ( nĭmsān) in the sense of appointed, designated, and שורה ( sōrāh) in that of a row or series.” — Alexander
FT505 “ Car en France on n’escout point le bled sinon avec le fleau, excepté en Provence;” — “For in France corn is not thrashed in any way but with the flail, except in Provence.”
FT506 “ Et comme faire passer la charue et la herse sur les peuples;” — “And, as it were, to pass the waggon and the harrow over the nations.”
FT507 “ Comme si les meschans avoyent la bride sur le col;” — “As if the wicked had the bridle on their neck.”
(190) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
D. JOINING OF JUDAH AND GENTILES, CHAPTER 27
1. JOINED BY DIVINE PROTECTION
TEXT: Isa. 27:1-6
1
In that day Jehovah with this hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.
2
In that day: A vineyard of wine, sing ye unto it.
3
I Jehovah am its keeper; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
4
Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together.
5
Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; yea, let him make peace with me.
6
In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
QUERIES
a.
What is a leviathan?
b.
Who is to take hold of Jehovahs strength?
PARAPHRASE
In that day when Jehovah makes a feast and removes the covering spread over all nations and swallows up death forever, He will take His hard, great and strong sword and will bring judgment upon the monster, the swift, serpent-like one and upon the monster, the winding, serpent-like one. He will slay the monster that is in the sea. In that specific day, the Lord will have a delightful vineyard. O sing of it! I, Jehovah, am its Sustainer. My concern for it is constant and I will refresh it and protect it every day against those who would harm it. I, the Lord, harbor no spiteful resentment against My remnant. If enemies, like thorns and briers, stubbornly set themselves against My remnant, I will come upon them and destroy them. However, if these enemies cast themselves upon My mercy and make effort to come to terms of peace with Me and Mine, then they shall have My strength. Indeed, I invite all My enemies to make peace with Me and Mine. The day is coming when the true Israel of God will be established and it will certainly prosper. This true Israel of God will fill the earth with its offspring.
COMMENTS
Isa. 27:1 MONSTER DEFEATED: Two Hebrew words in this verse may be translated monster; they are liveyathan and thaniyn. Liveyathan is translated crocodile in Job 40:25 (RSV) and thaniyn is translated serpent in most uses. In Eze. 29:3; Eze. 32:2, thaniyn is translated dragon, refering to Egypt. Some commentators have concluded that the first leviathan, since it is swift, symbolizes Nineveh (Assyria) built upon the swift, serpent-like Tigris River, while the second, winding, crooked, leviathan symbolizes Babylon built upon the winding, serpentlike Euphrates River, and the monster that is in the sea symbolizes Egypt.
It is evident from the context (chapters 2427) the prophet is speaking of that day of the Messianic fulfillment (the first coming of Christ and the establishment of the church). Then what is the leviathan to be punished or slain? Obviously it refers to all the enemies of God and His people who were defeated at the first coming of Christ (cf. Eph. 4:8; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14-15; 1Jn. 3:8; Joh. 12:31; Joh. 16:11; Mat. 12:29; Luk. 10:18, etc.) In the book of Revelation the Roman empire is referred to as the beast, false prophet and harlot, who is allied with Satan (called the great dragon). (cf. Revelation 13 through 20) But the beast, false prophet, and harlot are defeated and cast into the lake of fire. The dragon (Satan) is bound for a thousand years, then loosed for a short time and finally cast into the lake of fire forever with the beast. Daniel chapters 7 and 8 refer to the enemies of God as various beasts. Wherever the spirit of opposition to God has appeared, in whatever kingdom it may be, Satan is the author of it. He is the motivating spirt in all the forces that oppose Gods rule in the universe. Perhaps in one area he assumes one characteristic, while in another he assumes still another characteristic. In Isaiahs day great world empires (Assyria, Babylon and Egypt) were the leviathans standing opposed to Gods rule in creation (cf. Eze. 29:3; Eze. 32:2; Jer. 51:34; Isa. 51:9; with Dan. ch. 7 & 8). The leviathans (monster, serpent, dragon) strongest and most potent weapon against God and His people is deception. Isaiah points, in this section, to that day when the feast will be made, the veil is removed from all nations, and death is swallowed up forever. Leviathan, with all his power to deceive and hold man in bondage to the fear of death will be cast out, judged and triumphed over, when the Messiah brings life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Isa. 27:2-6 MERCY DISPENSED: At the same time, on the same day, Jehovah defeats the monster He dispenses mercy to all men. Gods vineyard (the covenant people) in that day (the church) will be producing according to His wishes. It will produce wine not sour grapes like the vineyard of Isaiah, chapter 5. Its fruitfulness and pleasantness will motivate a response of rejoicing. The Hebrew word ahnu means literally, to answer, respond to by singing. Songs of praise, honor and rejoicing for Gods church are appropriate human responses for the mercy God has provided through His new covenant relationship.
Jehovah Himself is the notsrah (keeper) which has the connotation of preserver. He will refresh it constantly. He protects it constantly (cf. Psa. 121:4). The Lord watches over this new vineyard (the church) in such a manner that even the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. There are many enemies ready to destroy the church but not one shall succeed. Gods new vineyard will be invincible. Whatever wrath Jehovah once held for His rebellious vineyard (Isaiah 5), He does not hold for His new vineyard. Gods wrath against His covenant people is removed and punished in Christ. His wrath is still abiding on those who do not believe (cf. Joh. 3:18; Joh. 3:36), but those who believe are made branches in the Vine (cf. Joh. 15:1-11) and God cherishes them, prunes them, they produce much fruit and have much joy. Since this vineyard is symbolic of the Messianic kingdom it is a prediction of that day when all nations (Isa. 26:5 ff) are part of it. It is a prediction of the joining (grafting, cf. Romans 11) of the Gentiles with the Hebrews.
If briers and thorns attempt to choke out the vineyard, God will step upon them and crush them, then burn them. There is the challenge of the sovereign God here to His enemies. Nothing foreign to His vineyard can enter and take His vineyard. He will protect and purify it. Destruction is inevitable to the enemies of His vineyard.
There is one alternative open to His enemies. They may take hold of His strength. God bids His enemies take refuge in His maoozyi, or His fortress, refuge or stronghold. If the enemy comes into Gods fortress (the church) he does so only after he has made peace with God. The Hebrew word translated make is the most fundamental Hebrew word for make, ashah, and therefore indicates a significant part of the peace between man and God is action initiated by man in making peace with Him. That action is belief, repentance and obedience. When an enemy of God believes, repents and obeys, he is no longer an enemy but has come into Gods stronghold (the new vineyard, the new covenant, the church). The repetition of the phrase, let him make peace with me, serves to emphasize Gods merciful grace in offering the invitation to His enemies to come to peace lest they be crushed and burned like weeds (cf. Psa. 2:1-11; Luk. 3:7-9; Joh. 15:6, Jer. 12:10 ff, etc.)
In days future to Isaiah, Israel will take root. How many days in the future this promise is we are left to surmise from the context. It is obviously speaking of that day of Isa. 25:6; Isa. 25:9; Isa. 26:1; Isa. 27:1-2, in other words, the day of the Messiah. The Messiah is to be the shoot and branch out of the stump of Jesse (cf. Isa. 11:1 ff). The Messianic people will take root, flourish, produce fruit and fill all the earth with its fruit (cf. Hos. 14:4 ff). In the missionary proclamation of the gospel this passage finds it fulfillment, the Israel of God (cf. Gal. 6:14-18).
So, as before in these chapters (2427), we see the focus of Gods purging, chastening judgments on Judah is the preparation of a remnant through which He may accomplish His Messianic redemption of all mankind. Jews and Gentiles, all enemies of God, will be given opportunity to come into His stronghold (the church) when they have made peace with Him. Gods judgment on Judah in her captivity was not capricious nor malicious but loving and purposefulGod aimed it all at calling to Himself a people zealous of good works.
QUIZ
1.
What do leviathan and monster symbolize?
2.
Where is Gods vineyard mentioned elsewhere in the Bible?
3.
When is all this going to take place?
4.
Why is Gods wrath no longer upon the vineyard?
5.
How do Gods enemies make peace with Him?
6.
When is Jacob to take root and fill the earth with fruit?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXVII.
(1) Leviathan the piercing serpent.Rather, fleet, or fugitive. The verse paints in vivid symbolic language the judgment of Jehovah on the great world-powers that had shed the blood of His people. The sword of the Lord (primarily, perhaps, representing the lightning-flash) is turned in its threefold character as sore, and swift, and strong, against three great empires. These are represented, as in Eze. 17:3; Eze. 29:3 Dan. 7:3-7, by monstrous forms of animal life. The dragon is as in Isa. 51:19; Psa. 74:13-14; Eze. 29:3; Eze. 32:2, the standing emblem of Egypt: the other two, so generically like, that the leviathan (crocodile in Job. 41:1, but here, probably, generically for a monster of the serpent type) serves as a common type for both, while each has its distinctive epithet, may refer respectively to Assyria and Babylon, the epithets indicating (1) the rapid rush of the Tigris and the tortuous windings of the Euphrates; and (2) the policy characteristic of each empire, of which the rivers were looked upon as symbols, one rapidly aggressive, the other advancing as by a sinuous deceit. By some commentators, however, Egypt is represented in all three clauses; while others (Cheyne) see in them the symbols not of earthly empire, but of rebel powers of evil and darkness, quoting Job. 26:12-13 in support of his view.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. In that day The same time as that referred to in the preceding verse, when the Lord should come “out of his place to punish.” This verse should have closed the preceding chapter.
Sore An epithet applied to the “sword” with which the Lord efficiently enters the contest, meaning hard and well-tempered.
Great and strong sword Triple epithets completed, denoting no failure of providential turnings in the adjustments of this war.
Leviathan dragon Really the same sea or river monster, thrice named. There is but little doubt that leviathan the piercing, or fleeing, (or, if Arabic etymology is a help to its meaning, as Gesenius thinks, cross mailed, referring to the twisted mailed covering of the crocodile,) applies to Assyria on the rapid Tigris, and leviathan the crooked, to Babylon, on the winding Euphrates, where the stream is stagnant and marshy.
The dragon Referring to the same beast, probably, applies to Egypt on the Nile sea, including thus the three great representative world-powers which had more or less always harassed Israel. The meaning here is difficult, and has been explained variously; this, however, seems the best explanation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Destruction of the Great Serpent Monsters ( Isa 27:1 ).
In this one verse Yahweh declares the bringing about of His purpose of judgement on all who stand against Him, whether man or god, in fulfilment of Isa 26:20-21. Some see this as a description of three monsters needing to be slain (representing the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile), others see it as one monster in a poetic threefold description. Either is possible. In them is summed up all evil empires under their evil masters, both earthly and heavenly.
Analysis.
a In that day Yahweh with his sore and great and strong sword
b Will punish Leviathan the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent (nachash)
b And Leviathan the crooked (many-coiled) serpent (nachash)
a And he will slay the dragon (tannin) that is in the sea.
Isa 27:1
‘In that day Yahweh with his sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent (nachash), and Leviathan the crooked (many-coiled) serpent (nachash), and he will slay the monster (tannin) that is in the sea.’
‘In that day’ here has in mind any time when God acts to deliver His people, but specially to the final days of God’s indignation on the peoples, included in Isa 26:20, when all enemies must finally be dealt with, and when the powerful triune sword of Yahweh will slay all the enemies of God’s people, who are symbolised in the form of great serpent-like monsters. In mind surely must be the sinister being who lay behind the serpent (nachash) in Genesis 3. We can parallel the description here with Rev 19:11-21 taken with Rev 12:9-17; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:8-14.
The sword of Yahweh will be a regular feature in Isaiah’s prophecies (Isa 34:5-6; Isa 41:2; Isa 66:16). Here it is described in a threefold way as sore (fierce) and great and strong, bringing out again that Yahweh is the Mighty Irresistible God. Nothing can stand against Him. Not even Leviathan.
Leviathan is seen here as a great serpent-like monster, also described as a ‘tannin’ (sea monster), and it may be that only one monster is in mind. Many, however, argue that three monsters are in mind, an idea which might be seen as confirmed by the threefold prepositions before their descriptions, and the picture is then one of threefold power, and therefore of all empires. They are seen as swift and sinuous, ominously moving in swirling coils, and dwelling in the sea, indicating something greatly feared (Israel feared the sea), although not by God with His mighty sword. Compare the wild beasts that later arise from the sea in Dan 7:3. Note that the threefold power of the sword parallels the threefold description of the monsters. None can stand against His mighty threefold sword (compare Rev 19:15; Rev 19:21). The descriptions are seen by many as associating the monsters with the great powers of both the north (Assyria and Babylon) and the south (Egypt), with the swiftness of the serpent symbolising the swiftly moving Tigris, the coiling of the serpent signifying the twisting Euphrates, and the tannin in the sea representing Egypt, with the ‘sea’ being the home of the crocodile of the Nile, which is earlier described as a sea (Isa 19:5).
A Leviathan was regularly seen as something dreadful, a creature of the night, better not awakened (Job 3:8). It was seen as a water beast in Job 41:1 where the beast in mind may have been a large crocodile such as inhabited the Nile. But though fearsome to Israel it is regularly stressed that it is a creature of God, often seen as a creature of the sea (Psa 104:26), and described in Psa 74:14, where it is multiple headed, when Yahweh breaks its heads in order to feed people living in the wilderness. Thus any large water creatures may be in mind, although partly interpreted and thought of in terms of mythology. The Canaanite myth of the seven-headed monster probably arose because many who went to sea and saw such creatures probably mistook them as having a number of heads, and then so described them, deceived by seeing only parts (or groups close together only partly seen) arising out of the water, and having in their minds the pictures from mythology. It may be that Psa 74:14 is using it to describe the might of Egypt, for there reference is also made there to the dividing of the sea and the breaking of the heads of the ‘tannin’ in the waters in the same context as the feeding in the wilderness, but if so the thought is more universally expanded both there and here.
Certainly the tannin is elsewhere used to describe Egypt and Pharaoh (Eze 29:3-5) where again the crocodile is in mind.
But the fearsomeness of Leviathan was extended even more by the part that it played in the mythology of Canaan where it was Lotan (cognate with Leviathan) ‘the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent, the crooked serpent, the foul-fanged (or ‘accursed’) with the seven heads’ which was slain by Baal (the lord).
So here the descriptions of the Leviathans deliberately parallel those in the Baal epic and may be seen as suggesting huge serpent-like creatures that glide swiftly, possibly through the air (Job 26:13), coils ominously like a serpent, and are connected in thought with the tannin, the monster in the sea. Thus the thought here is of the destruction of beasts that represent all that is at enmity with God’s faithful people, of great and awesome creature or creatures, with influence in both heaven and earth and sea, which are the enemy of God and His people, and have been so from the beginning when one first brought about man’s fall. They symbolise within themselves all the enmity within creation, both natural and supernatural (Isa 24:21), against God’s people, while probably having specifically in mind both the great Enemy himself, and the reality of the great nations who constantly threatened the people of God, influenced by the sinister forces of evil (Daniel 10). But here these great monsters are depicted as a defeated foe, to be smitten by the mighty sword of Yahweh.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Isa 27:6
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Prophecies Against the Nations Isa 13:1 to Isa 27:13 records prophecies against twelve nations, culminating with praise unto the Lord. God planted the nation of Israel in the midst of the nations as a witness of God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Instead of embracing God’s promises and commandments to mankind, the nations rejected Israel and their God, then they participated in Israel’s destruction. Although God judges His people, He also judged these nations, the difference being God promised to restore and redeem Israel, while the nations received no future hope of restoration in their prophecies; yet, their opportunity for restoration is found in Israel’s rejection when God grafts the Church into the vine of Israel (Rom 11:11-32). The more distant nations played little or no role in Israel’s idolatry, demise, and divine judgment, so they are not listed in this passage of Scripture.
It is important to note in prophetic history that Israel’s judgment is followed by judgment upon the nations; and Israel’s final restoration is followed by the restoration of the nations and the earth. Thus, some end time scholars believe that the events that take place in Israel predict parallel events that are destined to take place among the nations.
Here is a proposed outline:
1. Judgment upon Babylon Isa 13:1 to Isa 14:27
2. Judgment upon Philistia Isa 14:28-32
3. Judgment upon Moab Isa 15:1 to Isa 16:14
4. Judgment upon Damascus Isa 17:1-14
5. Judgment upon Ethiopia Isa 18:1-7
6. Judgment upon Egypt Isa 19:1-25
7. Prophecy Against Ethiopia & Egypt Isa 20:1-6
8. Judgment upon the Wilderness of the Sea Isa 21:1-10
9. Judgment upon Dumah Isa 21:11-12
10. Judgment upon Arabia Isa 21:13-17
11. Judgment upon Judah Isa 22:1-25
12. Judgment upon Tyre Isa 23:1-18
13. Judgment upon the Earth Isa 24:1-23
14. Praise to God for Israel’s Restoration Isa 25:1 to Isa 27:13
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Praise unto God Isa 25:1 to Isa 27:13 contains a passage of praise unto God. It naturally follows a lengthy passage of judgments upon the nations of the earth; for it teaches us that divine chastisement and judgment is for our good, producing the fruit of righteousness. This passage of Scripture helps us to understand that God judged the world out of love in order to turn the nations back to Him so that He might be praised and worshipped upon the earth.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Downfall of the Worldly Powers
v. 1. In that day, v. 2. In that day sing ye unto her, v. 3. I, the Lord, do keep it, v. 4. Fury is not in Me, v. 5. Or let him take hold of My strength, v. 6. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 27:1
THE TRIPLE JUDGMENT ON THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. The crowning judgment of all is now briefly described. “In that day”the day of God’s vengeancewhen all his other enemies have been put down, Jehovah shall finally visit with his sword three mighty foes, which are described under three figuresthe first as “Leviathan, the swift serpent;” the second as “Leviathan, the crooked serpent; “and the third as “the dragon that is in the sea.” It has been usual to see in these three monsters three kingdoms inimical to Godeither Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt; or Assyria, Egypt, and Tyre; or Media, Persia, and Egypt. But this diversity of interpretation shows that there is no particular fitness in the emblems to symbolize any special kingdoms or world-powers, while the imagery itself and the law of climax alike point to something higher than world-powers being intended. “Leviathan,” in Job 3:8, where the word first occurs, represents a supra-mundane powerprobably “the dragon, the enemy of light, who in old Eastern traditions is conceived as ready to swallow up sun and moon, and plunge creation in original chaos or darkness”; and the “dragon” is a customary emblem of Satan himself (Psa 91:13; Isa 51:9; Rev 12:7, Rev 12:9), the prince of darkness. The triple vengeance here is parallel to the triple punishment, in the apocalyptic vision (Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10), of “the devil,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” who have been termed by commentators “the three great enemies of God’s kingdom”.
Isa 27:1
The Lord with his sore and great and strong sword. The “sword” of Jehovah is first heard of in the Pentateuch, where it is called” glittering” (Deu 32:41). It is spoken of by David (Psa 7:12), and frequently by Isaiah (see Isa 31:8; Isa 34:5, Isa 34:6; Isa 46:1-13 :16). Mr. Cheyne supposes the idea to have been taken from the Baby-Ionian mythology, and seems to think it half material. But it is merely on a par with other anthrepomorphisms. The word rendered “sore” probably means “well-tempered,” “keen.” Leviathan. Etymologically, the term “Leviathan” appears to mean “that which is coiled” or “twisted,” whence it would seem to have been primarily applied, as in the present verse, to serpents. In Job 41:1-34, however, it manifestly designates the crocodile, while in Psa 104:26 it must be used of some kind of cetacean. Thus its most appropriate English rendering would be “monster.” The piercing serpent; rather, the fleet, or fugitive serpent. It is a general characteristic of the snake tribe to glide away and hide themselves when disturbed. Even leviathan that crooked serpent; rather, and also leviathan that crooked serpent. It is quite clear that two distinct foes of God are pointed atone characterized as “fleet,” the other as “tortuous.” And he shall slay the dragon. Here is mention of a third enemy, probably Satan himself (see the introductory paragraph to this section).
Isa 27:2-6
GOD‘S CARE FOR HIS VINEYARD. This piece may be called a companion picture to Isa 5:1-7, or a joy-song to be set over against that dirge. In both the figure of the vineyard is employed to express the people of God, and God is “the Lord of the vineyard.” But whereas, on the former occasion, all was wrath and fury, menace and judgment, here all is mercy and loving-kindness, protection and promise. The difference is, no doubt, not with God, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas 1:17), but with the vineyard, which is either not the same, or, if the same, then differently circumstanced. The vineyard of Isa 5:1-30. is beyond all doubt the Jewish Church in the time of Isaiah, or in the times shortly after. The vineyard of the present place is either the Christian Church, or the Jewish Church reformed and purified by suffering. It is not the Church triumphant in heaven, since there are still “briars and thorns” in it, and there are still those belonging to it who have to “make their peace with God.” The prophet has come back from his investigations of the remote future and the supra-mundane sphere to something which belongs to earth, and perhaps not to a very distant period. His second “song of the vineyard” may well comfort the Church through all her earthly struggles.
Isa 27:2
Sing ye unto her. Our translators have, strangely enough, inverted the order of the two clauses, which stand thus in the Hebrew: “A vineyard of red wine; sing ye unto it, “or “sing ye of it.” The “vineyard of red wine” is one that produces abundance of rich fruit.
Isa 27:3
I the Lord do keep it; or, guard it (comp. Isa 26:3; Isa 42:6; Isa 49:8; Psa 121:5). Vineyards were considered to require special watching, since they were liable to damage both from thieves and foxes (So Isa 2:15). It was usual to build towers in them, from which a watch could be kept (Isa 5:2; Mat 21:33). I will water it every moment (compare the threat in Isa 5:6, “I will command my clouds that they rain no rain upon it”). The Church needs and receives “the continual dew of God’s blessing.”
Isa 27:4
Fury is not in me; i.e. “I am not now angered against my vineyard, as on the former occasion (Isa 5:1-30 :47); or at any rate my anger now is not fury.” (Isaiah frequently ascribes “fury” to God, as in Isa 34:2; Isa 42:25; Isa 51:17, Isa 51:20, Isa 51:22; Isa 58:1-14 :18; Isa 63:3, Isa 63:5, Isa 63:6; Isa 66:15.) Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? The “briars and thorns” are apparently unrighteous members of the Church, who have fallen below their privileges. God asks, “Who will set the briars and thorns in array against me?” in a tone of contempt. “Who will dare to do battle against me with such weak material?” And then he adds a forecast of the result in such a case: “I would move forward; I would burn them all together” (comp. Isa 10:17).
Isa 27:5
Or let him take hold of my strength. There is another alternative. If the “thorns and the briars” are not prepared to contend in battle against God, let them adopt a different course. Let them “lay hold of God’s strength,” place themselves under his protection, and make their appeal to him, and see if they cannot “make their peace with him.” A truly evangelical invitation! The enemies of God are entreated to cease from striving against him, and are taught that the door of repentance is still open to them. God is willing to be reconciled even to his enemies. Let them make peace with him, make peace with him. The reiteration constitutes an appeal of extreme earnestness and tenderness, which none could reject but the utterly impenitent.
Isa 27:6
He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; rather, in the days to come Jacob shall strike root. Jacob, lately the vineyard, is now compared to a single vine, which becomes strong by striking its roots deep into the soil, and then, as a consequence, blossoms and buds, and fills the face of the world with fruit. So the Israel of God, firmly rooted in the soil of God’s favor, would blossom with graces of all kinds, and bring forth the abundant fruit of good works.
Isa 27:7-11
THE COMING JUDGMENT UPON JUDAH A CHASTISEMENT IN WHICH MERCY IS BLENDED WITH JUSTICE. A coming judgment upon Judah has been one of the main subjects of Isaiah’s prophecy from the beginning. It has been included in the catalogue of “burdens” (see Isa 22:1-25.). It will have to be one of the prophet’s main subjects to the end of his “book.” Hence he may at any time recur to it, as he does now, without special reason or excuse. In this place the special aspect under which the judgment presents itself to him is that of its merciful character,
(1) in degree (verses 7, 8);
(2) in intention (verse 9).
While noting this, he feels, however, bound to note also, that the judgment is, while it lasts, severe (verses 10, 11).
Isa 27:7
Hath he smitten him; etc.? i.e. “Has God smitten Judah, as he ‘(God) smote Judah’s smiters?” Judah’s chief smiters were Assyria and Babylon. The judgments upon them would be more severe than that upon Judah. They would be destroyed; Judah would be taken captive, and restored. Them that are slain by him; rather, them that slew him (so Lowth, Ewald, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne). But, to obtain this meaning, the pointing of the present text must be altered. The law of parallelism seems, however, to require the alteration.
Isa 27:8
Our translators have entirely mistaken the meaning of this verse. The proper rendering is, In measure, when thou puttest her away, thou wilt contend with her; he sighed with his keen breath in the day of the east wind. “In measure” means “with forbearance and moderation”the punishment being carefully adjusted to the degree of the offence. God was about to “put Judah away”to banish her into a far country; but still he would refrain himselfhe would “not suffer his whole displeasure to arise,” or give her over wholly to destruction. In the day of the east wind, or of the national catastrophe, when his breath was fierce and hard against his people, he would “sigh” at the needful chastisement. As Dr. Kay well says, “Amid the rough and stern severity which he breathed into the tempest, there was an undertone of sadness and grief.”
Isa 27:9
By this; i.e. “by the punishment inflicted.” God accepts punishment as an expiation of sin; and this punishment of Judah was especially intended to be expiatory, and to remove at once his guilt, and the evil temper which had led him into sin. Its fruit would be a revulsion from idolatry, which would show itself in a fierce determination to destroy all idolatrous emblems and implements, altars, groves, images, and the like. This spirit was strongly shown in the Maccabee period (see 1 Macc. 5:44, 68; 10:84; 13:47, etc.). He maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones. A calcining of the stones into lime is probably intended. It was usual to subject the idolatrous objects to the action of fire, and then to stamp them into powder (2Ki 23:4, 2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:11, 2Ki 23:12, 2Ki 23:15, etc.). The groves and images.
Isa 27:10
Yet the defensed city shall be desolate. Though her punishment is in mercy, as a chastisement which is to purge away her sin, yet Jerusalem shall for a time be desolate, void, without inhabitant, left like a wilderness. Forsaken; or, put away; the same word that is used in Isa 27:8 of Jerusalem. There shall the calf feed. A familiar image of desolation (comp. Isa 5:17; Isa 17:2; Isa 32:14, etc.).
Isa 27:11
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off. By a sudden introduction of metaphor, the city becomes a tree, the prophet’s thought going back, perhaps, to Isa 27:6. “Withered boughs” are indications of internal rottenness, and must be “broken off” to give the tree a chance of recovery. Samaria may be viewed as such a “bough,” if the “tree” be taken as “the Israel of God” in the wider sense. Otherwise, we must suppose a threat against individual Judaeans. The women come. Weak women are strong enough to break off dead branches; they fall at a touch, and “their end is to be burned” (Heb 6:8). For it is a people of no understanding. It was folly, madness, to turn away from Jehovah, and go after other gods. Only through having “no understanding” could Israel have been so foolish (comp. Deu 32:28; 2Ki 17:15; Jer 4:22). He that made them he that formed them (comp. Isa 43:1, Isa 43:7). God “hateth nothing that he has made” (Collect for Ash Wednesday). He made all men, but he “made” and “formed” Israel with exceptional care, and exceptional care leads on to exceptional love. Will not have mercy will show them no favor; i.e. “will not spare.” No contradiction of Isa 27:7, Isa 27:8 is intended. God will have “measure” and “mercy” in his punishment of Israel, but will not so have mercy as not to punish severely.
Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13
JUDAH PROMISED RESTORATION. The general practice of Isaiah is to append to gloomy prophecies words of encouragement He does this even when heathen nations are denounced (Isa 18:7; Isa 19:18-25; Isa 23:17, Isa 23:18); and still more when he is predicting judgments upon Israel (Isa 2:2-4; Isa 6:13; Isa 10:20-34; Isa 24:23; Isa 29:18-24, etc.). The encouragement in this place is a promise of return after dispersion, and of re-establishment on the “holy mount at Jerusalem” (verse 19).
Isa 27:12
The Lord shall beat off; i.e. “gather in his harvest.” The metaphor is taken either from the beating of olive trees to obtain the berries (see Isa 17:6), or from the beating out of the grain by a threshing-flail (Jdg 6:11; Rth 2:17; and below. Isa 28:27). Perhaps the best translation would be, The Lord shall thresh. From the channel of the river; rather, from the strong stream of the river. As usual, “the river” (hannahar) is the Euphrates (comp. Gen 31:21; Exo 23:31; Deu 11:24; Jos 24:2, Jos 24:3, Jos 24:14, Jos 24:15, etc.). Its “strong stream,” or “flood,” is contrasted with the scant thread of water which was alone to be found in the “Torrens AEgypti.” The stream of Egypt (nachal Mizraim) is generally allowed to be the modern Wady el Arish, which was appointed to be the southern boundary of the Holy Land (Num 34:5; 1Ki 8:65). The Lord would collect within these limits all that were of Israel. He would also, as appears from the next verse, subsequently overstep the limits.
Isa 27:13
The great trumpet shall be blown; rather, a great trumpet (comp. Mat 24:31; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16). This imagery, and the return of the Israelites from Egypt and Assyria, point rather to the final gathering of Israel into the Church triumphant than to the return from the Babylonian captivity. Egypt and Assyria were certainly not the countries from which they came chiefly at that time. But they are the countries from which they will chiefly come when Jehovah “sets his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isa 11:11). The outcasts (comp. Isa 11:12).
HOMILETICS
Isa 27:1
Spiritual wickedness in high places powerless to resist God.
As Isaiah was, somehow or other, brought into contact with the dualistic doctrine of the Zoro-astrians (Isa 45:5-7), it was important that he should bear witness to the impotency of the powers of evil when they matched themselves against Jehovah. The Zoroastrians taught that there were two great principles, one of good, and the other of evil, whom they called respectively Ahura-mazda and Angro-mainyus, who were both of them uncreated and independent one of the other, and between whom there had been from all eternity, and always would be, a bitter contest and rivalry, each seeking to injure, baffle, and in every possible way annoy and thwart the other. Both principles were real persons, possessed of will, intelligence, power, consciousness, and other personal qualities. The struggle between them was constant and well-balanced, with certainly no marked preponderance of the good over the evil. Whatever good thing Ahura-mazda had created from the beginning of time, Angro-mainyus had corrupted and ruined it. Moral and physical evils were alike at his disposal. He could blast the earth with barrenness, or make it produce thorns, thistles, and poisonous plants; his were the earthquake, the storm, the plague of hail, the thunderbolt; he could cause disease and death, sweep off a nation’s flocks and herds by murrain, or depopulate a continent by pestilence; ferocious wild beasts, serpents, toads, mice, hornets, mosquitoes, were his creation; he had invented and introduced into the world the sins of witchcraft, murder, unbelief, cannibalism; he excited wars and tumults, continually stirred up the bad against the good, and labored by every possible expedient to make vice triumph over virtue. Ahura-mazda could exercise no control over him; the utmost that he could do was to keep a perpetual watch upon his rival, and seek to baffle and defeat him. This he was not always able to; despite his best endeavors, Angro-mainyus was not infrequently victorious. It was probably to meet this doctrine, and prevent its having weight with his disciples, that Isaiah taught so explicitly the nothingness of the highest powers of evil in any contest with the Almighty. He had already stated that, at the end of the world, God would visit and punish “the host of the high ones that were on high,” as well as the kings of the earth upon the earth (Isa 24:21). He now presents evil in a threefold personal form of the highest awfulness and grandeur, and declares its conquest in this threefold form by Jehovah. God is to “punish” the two leviathans with his sword, and actually to “slay the dragon.” This might seem to go beyond the statements of the Revelation of St. John (Rev 20:10); but it is probably to be understood, in the same sense, of a living death. The triumph is at any rate complete, final, unmistakable. Evil can do nothing against good, but is wholly overcome by it.
Isa 27:3-5
The means whereby God purifies and perfects his Church.
Despite human weakness and human perversity, God will build up and establish a faithful Churchhe will “purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Tit 2:14). It is for his honor that this should be so, and he is strong enough to effect it. His “strength is made perfect in weakness” (2Co 12:9). We are shown here some, at any rate, of the chief means whereby he effects his purpose. Most prominent of all is
I. HIS PERPETUAL WATCHFUL GUARDIANSHIP. “I the Lord do keep it.” “I will keep it night and day.” Incessant watchful care, never slacking, never wearied, the fruit of abounding infinite love,this is the first thing. The Lord “keeps the city.” The Lord is his Church’s “Keeper,” so that “the sun shall not burn it by day, neither the moon by night;” so that the thief shall not enter in, nor the fox spoil; so that the hatred and wiles of Satan shall be of no avail; so that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). The Lord’s care is unceasing”he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psa 121:4). The Lord’s care is effectual”he keepeth his mercy forever” (Psa 89:28).
II. HIS CONSTANT REFRESHING GRACE. “I will water it every moment.” Not only day by day and hour by hour, but momently, does his grace descend on his Church, strengthening it, reviving it, refreshing it. His Holy Spirit teaches men’s hearts continually with a doctrine that “distils as the dew” (Deu 32:2), softens them with an influence that “drops as the rain.” He gives “grace for grace;” leads on “from strength to strength;” converts, upholds, confirms, sustains, each weak and wavering soul; cleanses, purifies, infuses light, and strength, and sweetness, and every other virtue into each heart that will admit them; thus constituting and “presenting to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27).
III. HIS KEEN PURGING FIRES. “The briars and thorns will I burn together.” The Church, while on earth, will always have imperfections, weak brethren, unworthy members, faults, ay, sins, even in the best. It is among the greatest of God’s mercies to the Church that he does not overlook these, but is keenly alive to themyea, “sets men’s secret sins in the light of his countenance” (Psa 90:8). For when these things are noted, there is a hope that they may be remedied. God is ever purging his Church. He “turns his hand upon it, and purely purges away its dross and taketh away all its tin” (Isa 1:25). By pain and suffering, by chastisements of various kinds, by sickness, and disappointment, and ill success, and loss of those dear to them, he leads men to conviction of sin, and hatred of it, and aversion from it, and contrition, and amendment. Where these fail, there is the final remedy, which saves the Church, when the individual will not be savedthe remedy of excision, when the dead branch is broken off, and “cast into the fire, and burned” (Joh 15:6). But in thousands of cases the purging is effectual, the keen fire does its work, and purifies without destroying. The soul that was in danger turns to God, and “takes hold of his strength,” and “makes its peace with him,” and both the Church and the individual gain.
Isa 27:7, Isa 27:8
The moderation of God’s chastisements.
All God’s doings are “with measure.” At the creation he “weighed the hills in a balance” (Isa 40:12), “made a weight for the winds,” and” weighed the waters by measure” (Job 28:25). He sets one thing against another, “looks to the end of the earth,” and “seeth under the whole heaven” (Job 28:24). There is nothing hasty, rash, or inconsiderate in his doings. He is a law to himself; and the perfect harmony of his own nature necessarily produces the result that order and measure pervade all that he accomplishes. “Measure,” as Hooker says, “is that which perfecteth all things, because everything is for some end, neither can that thing be available to any end which is not proportionable thereunto, and to proportion as well excesses as defects are opposite” (‘Eccl. Pol.,’ 5:55, 2). God’s chastisements have for their end the recovery of those whom he chastises, and would not be effectual for this end unless they were carefully apportioned and adjusted’ to the particular case. Chastisements unduly light would have no restraining or educational force; they would be contemned, despised, and would harden those whom they were intended to influence for good. On the other hand, over-severe chastisements would crush and ruin. They would “quench the smoking flax” and “break the bruised reed” (Mat 12:20), so rendering recovery impossible. Thus measure is needed in chastisements; and those which God inflicts are measured with most marvelous exactitude. He metes out to all the exact cross, difficulty, suffering, which is suited to bring them to him. He afflicts them always more lightly than they deserve. “In measure he contends with them,” apportioning their day to their strength, and their temptations to their ability to bear them.
Isa 27:12
The Israel of God gathered in and garnered one by one.
While Scripture often speaks broadly of the call and conversion of nations, it yet, to an attentive reader, is continually proclaiming the fact that salvation is an individual matter. No privileges of birth or covenant, of Church-membership or Church-position, assure any one who has come to years of discretion that he is among the saved, or can make up for the want of personal fitness, personal faith, personal sincerity. God is very careful, and very choice, when he “makes up his jewels” (Mal 3:17). His eye is not only over all, but each. He tests them “one by one.” He says to each, “My son, give me thy heart” (Pro 23:26). He requires of each conversion to him, trust in him, the earnest wish to please him. “One by one,” as they become fit for it, he gathers them in, adds them to his crown, causes them to join the “innumerable company” of his elect”the spirits of just men made defect” (Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23). This consideration should make men careful to assure themselves;
(1) of their hold on the faith;
(2) of their interest in Christ;
(3) of their possession of that “holiness” without which “no one shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 27:1-13
In that day.
We have here a general picture of the events which precede the condition of the inauguration of a new era.
I. THE FIGHT WITH THE MONSTER OR MONSTERS. We cannot enter into the subject of this symbolism, in reference to which, in the absence of definite information, so much of fanciful interpretation has gathered. We cannot refer the serpent or the dragon to the storm-cloud, or lightning, as some have done; nor historically to Egypt and Assyria. Something much deeper seems to be meant, as in the legends of the combat of Apollo, the greatest god of the Greeks, with the Python at Delphi. The dragon is symbolic, in ancient thought generally, of the power of death, of the under-world, into which humanity in its sinfulness and weakness is prone to fall. Jehovah will overcome this fiendish power; such seems to be the meaning of the prophecy.
II. RESTORATION OF ISRAEL TO FAVOR. Here the prophecy passes into song. The Church appears under the favorite image of the vineyard. Jehovah is its Keeper, who waters and watches it by night and by day. His feelings are those of pure love, and his wrath is reserved for those who would injure the sacred enclosure. Were such thorns and thistles before him, he would set them on fire. These are figures of the enemies of the Church (see 2Sa 23:6, 2Sa 23:7). Yet if ever these yield themselves, they may find mercy. “A truly evangelical belief that God is willing to be reconciled, even to his enemies. Its presence has given the prophecy a spiritual superiority over the other prophetic descriptions of the judgment upon the hostile nations, e.g. Isa 66:16. Even according to Isa 19:22, Egypt must be first smitten in order that it may be healed” (Cheyne). As the proverb says, “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Pro 18:10). So here the meaning is, “Let the unrighteous man take sanctuary with Jehovah, and become by penitence and obedience a servant of his.” And the elect nation will take root, and throw its sheltering foliage over the nationsa tree of healing (Rev 22:2); and the blessings of salvation shall be diffused over the world (cf. Isa 37:31; Hos 14:6). The union of Jew and Gentile seems foreshadowed, and the removal of the distinction between them. Salvation was of them and for the world (Joh 4:22; Eph 2:14).
III. THE MITIGATION OF DIVINE CHASTISEMENTS. The punishment of the people has not been so severe as that of their enemies. There was and ever is “measure” in the afflictions of God; they do not exceed the bounds of justice nor the limits of man’s enduring power. “He never smites with both hands;” he sifts, but does not destroy. (For the threshing-floor, cf. Isa 21:10.) He was wroth, but not without love; has banished, but not put an end to, his people. And now, as ever, he would “reason together” with them, and proclaim the terms upon which he will mercifully accept their repentance as an atonement for guilt. They must destroy the emblems of idolatry, and put an utter end to it; and thus, purged from its filth, be prepared for salvation. Punishment will cease when sin ceases, but not before. And when the sin is honestly put away, it may ever be said to the sinner, “Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; with them, forgive yourself.”
IV. THE FATE OF THE WORLD‘S METROPOLIS. For it seems better so to understand the allusion than to Jerusalem. Its fortifications will be razed, its population be dismissed, and the cattle will browse upon the deserted scene. In contrast to the magnificent parks and gardens of the great cities, there will be but stunted bushes, affording firewood to the poor women who come to pick it up (Cheyne). Others, however, understand the prophecy to refer to Jerusalem itself. The reason assigned for the doom is ignorance, as so often in Scriptureguilty ignorance. As the “beginning of wisdom ‘is not prudence, policy, science, or philosophy, but the “fear of God,” so irreverence and contempt of Divine laws, leading to sensuality and vice, are identical with ignorance and folly. “Such ignorance does not excuse men or lessen the guilt of their wickedness; for they who sin are conscious of their sinfulness, though they are blinded by their lust. Wickedness and ignorance are therefore closely connected, but the connection is of such a nature that ignorance proceeds from the sinful disposition of the mind” (Calvin). Oh “to be wise and to understand” (Deu 32:29)! How dark and dreadful the ignorance which seems to shut out the favor and compassion of the all-compassionate God!
V. ORACLE OF COMFORT. The hand that smites and brings low is also the hand that raises up; it scatters in judgment, but recalls and gathers together again in mercy. From the great river of Assyria to that of Egypt the children of Israel will be gathered one by one. A great trumpet, signaling the Divine interposition, will be blown (cf. Isa 18:3; Isa 11:12; Mat 24:31), and the scattered abroad will be seen throning to the holy mount in Jerusalem. Thus again there rises upon us that glorious vision of a united and redeemed Church, gathered out of all nations, for which change and suffering, conflict and sifting, prepare. All Christian prayer, activity, waiting, and watching point toward the coming of the Christ, the Deliverer, to the spiritual Zion, to turn away ungodliness and to found the new and enduring empire of righteousness.J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 27:3
Divine guardianship.
“Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Then there are hurtful powers and hurtful people in the world. The Word itself lets light in upon the condition of humanity. There are hidden invisible foes; and there is need for One who can discern and defeat them.
I. THE EYE THAT SEES. This is all-important. For we are blind to our worst enemies. Evil puts on the garb of good. And evil hides itself. The serpent is coiled up at the bottom of the cup. The adder lurks in the grass. By the river-side the alligator lurks; his skin the very color of the stones. God’s eye can search all. His vision sweeps all space. His vigilance never sleeps. “He that keepeth thee will not slumber.”
II. THE HEART THAT LOVES. This is our truest defense. It is affection that keeps alive this vigilance. There is no eye like the eye of love. We know this in a measure from our observation of the human spheres. How quick a mother’s eye is to detect first departures from the holy and the truefirst dalliances with evil! The tutor is not so sure a guardian as the parent. All Divine revelation tells us that God is love. Why warn, rebuke, exhort? Why send the prophet to the guilty cities, and the only begotten Son, the Savior, to the lost race? This is the explanation of all: “God so loved the world.”
III. THE GUARDIANSHIP THAT IS COMPLETE. Lest “any.” That includes all the’ forms and forces of evil. We may be awake to special dangers, just as we pay honor to special virtues. There are dangers which are so pronounced, where the penalties are so marked, that our consciousness is awake to the dread results. But when we remember the vast and varied sources of peril, we rejoice to know that there may be immunity from all disaster. “Deliver us from evil” is the prayer taught us by the Savior; and God will hear that prayer, for “thine is the power.”
IV. THE WATCHFULNESS THAT NEVER SLEEPS. “By night and by day.” In the darkness and in the night. For the darkness is no darkness to God. As Sentinel he never sleeps. Our watch-fires die out, and the beasts of the forest break into the camp in the silent hours of darkness. We cannot “keep.” But the soul is too precious to be left to finite watchfulness. The Tower of London contains no jeweled crowns so rich in value as the nature that contains the pearl of great price. The temple of Jerusalem had costly vessels and sacred altars; but the temple of the soul has in it the true Shechinah. This is God’s promise. This is his own testimony to himself; and it is g promise to wear as an amulet on the heart in such a world as this.W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 27:1-11
God’s treatment of the rebellious and the righteous.
Amid the different and difficult interpretations and the numerous and dubious applications given to these verses, we may discern some truths respecting God’s treatment of human character.
I. HIS TREATMENT OF THE WICKED.
1. The sharpness of his instruments. He punishes with “a sore and great and strong sword” (Isa 27:1) He “whets his glitter-nag sword (Deu 32:41). Out of the mouth of the Son of God “goeth a sharp sword” (Rev 19:15). The various miseries, visitations, calamities, which come to us as the sad consequences of sin are God’s swordpain, sickness, separation, bereavement, famine, war, death, etc.; sore and sharp and strong are these.
2. The thoroughness of his judgments. It is not only that the blows he sends are severe, but his judgments are continued and are multiplied till all their punitive or corrective work is done. He will “go through the briars and thorns” which are spoiling his vineyard, and will burn them together (Isa 27:4). “The defended city shall be desolate,” so abandoned of man that the calf shall feed there and lie down and browse upon the branches, and these shall be so withered that the women shall come and “set them on fire” (Isa 27:10, Isa 27:11). When headstrong and rebellious men defy the power and despise the Word of God, they find that they are contending with One whose correction is not confined to one or two blows. God pursues such men with his holy and righteous punishment, until the briars are consumed, until the city is desolate, until the haughty heart is humbled to the very dust.
3. The opening which he offers them. “Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me,” etc. (Isa 27:5). The most rebellious may return unto him: Ahab may humble his heart, Manasseh may repent, Saul the persecutor may become his most active servant, taking hold of his Divine magnanimity, which is the strength of the Divine character.
II. HIS TREATMENT OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
1. The care which he takes of them. He turns the neglected wilderness into a cultivated vineyard (verse 2); he, the Lord, does keep it night and day; he waters it every moment; he guards it against the despoiling enemy (verse 3). God distinguishes his people by granting them peculiar privileges; he expends on them his watchful love; he guards them against their spiritual adversaries: they have to bless him for attention, for enrichment, for defense.
2. The fact that he moderates his corrections of them. (Verses 7, 8.) He does not visit them with the severity he shows toward those who are defiant of his will; there is measure, limitation, in the day when the “east wind” of his chastisement is made to blow. God restrains his hand when it is his own children whom he is correcting (Psa 103:8-10).
3. The parental purpose of his chastisement. (Verse 9.) It is that iniquity may be purged, that the dark consequences and the evil stain of sin may be “taken away,” that the degrading idolatries of the heart as well as of the life may be demolished; it is that those whom he loves may be cleansed from their impurities and may be his children indeed, not only enjoying his favor and dwelling beneath his roof, but bearing his likeness and fulfilling his will.
4. The prosperity which he promises them. (Verse 6.) The prosperity which is inward, in “taking root,” in laying hold of the regard and the affections of men; that also which is outward, in blossom and bud and widespread fruit, in commanding the honor and enjoying the blessings of the world.C.
Isa 27:5
Taking hold of God’s strength.
How can man take hold of God’s strength? The answer depends on the kind of strength which God is putting forth; and his strength is manifold. He is strong
I. IN WISDOM, and the effectuating power which results therefrom. It is in virtue of his wisdom that the elements of nature have their various attributes, and the processes of nature their constant lawsthat seeds sprout, and shrubs and trees bear flower and fruit; that living bodies grow, and minds advance, and souls mature. We take hold of God’s strength of wisdom when we do our human, instrumental part in these his workingswhen we plough and sow and weed; when we observe and study; when we use the privileges of devotion.
II. IN MAGNANIMITY. God is strong indeed in this grace. Provoked by everything in man that is fitted to arouse his anger, he has withheld his retributive hand (Psa 103:10). He has not sentenced us to eternal exile; he has continued his loving-kindnesses even to the most obdurate and rebellious (Mat 5:45). He has shown himself willing to receive again the sons and daughters that have wandered farthest away from his home. We take hold of this his strength when we avail ourselves of his merciful overtures, and hasten in penitence and faith to his feet.
III. IN COMPASSION. God is strong in pity. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so he pitieth,” etc. His commiseration, his tenderness, his parental responsiveness to our various sorrows, is quick, is immediate, is perfect; there is great strength of loving sympathy in Jesus Christ (Heb 4:15). We take hold of his strength when, in our dark days, in our heavier sorrows, we unburden our hearts to him, realize the fullness of his compassion, make our earnest, confident appeal for his sympathy and succor.
IV. IN UPHOLDING POWER. In such a world as this with all its allurements and its dangers, with such a nature as is ours with all its frailty, there is required great power to preserve us in our integrity and to build us up on the foundation of our faith. But God is able to do this; he is able to “make us stand” (Rom 14:4), to “keep us from falling, and present us faultless,” etc. (Jud 1:24). We take hold of his strength when we act with such obedience and wisdom that we place ourselves in the path where that power is actingthe path of reflection, of moral safety, of Christian fellowship, of worship, of holy activity.
V. IN TRANSFORMING POWER. It is impossible for us to make even Divine truth effectual to the regeneration of a sinful soul. But God is mightier than we; the things which are impossible to us are possible to him (Mat 19:26). His strength is not unequal even to the softening of the hard heart, the bending of the proud and stubborn will, even of the hardest and haughtiest of souls. We take hold of this his strength when we faithfully plead with our fellow-men that they should return to God, and when we earnestly plead with God that he should put into exercise that renewing and transforming energy.C.
Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13
The return of God’s absent ones.
In the relation of God to his people in exile, as depicted in these two verses, we may find a picture of the relation in which he stands to all his absent children.
I. THE BREADTH OF HIS KINGDOM: the broad fields of the husbandman, in which he might “beat off” fruit, from the far river in the East to the far river in the Westfrom end to end of the known earth. God’s rights and claims extend to all peoples, to all classes, to men of every character and every temperament and every tongue, to both sexes; his empire, like his commandment, is “exceeding broad.” He looks everywhere for fruit to be beaten off, to be gathered in, at the time of harvest.
II. THE NEED OF HIS INTERPOSITION. This fruit which God is seeking is spiritual; it is the reverence, the love, the worship, the obedience, of his own children. But these his sons and daughters are:
1. Afar off. They are outcasts, a long way from home. It is not geographical, but moral and spiritual distance which has to be deplored. They are in the “strange land” of doubt, of denial, of disobedience, of indifference and forgetfulness, of utter unlikeness to the heavenly Father.
2. Or they are at the point of extinction. “Ready to perish.” Those who have not “bowed the knee to Baal, “who have not been fascinated and won by ruinous seductions, are a mere remnant, and even their life, like Elijah’s, is at stake. Everything cries for God’s merciful interposition.’
III. HIS SUMMONS TO RETURN. The “great trumpet” is being blown; its notes are sounding far and wide. “The voice of Jesus sounds o’er land and sea,” saying, “Return unto thy Rest;” “Come unto me, all ye that labor.” From the “far country” of sin, of folly, of selfishness, of unrest, the summons calls all human hearts to leave behind them their sin, their misery, their bondage, and to cast themselves at the feet of the Divine Father, and beg to be taken back into that holy service which is perfect freedom.
IV. HIS DISTINGUISHING KINDNESS. “Ye shall be gathered one by one.” God does not content himself with issuing a general proclamation which each man may interpret and apply. He comes to every human soul himself. In the Person, and by the direct influence, of his Holy Spirit, he makes his appeal to the individual heart and conscience. He says, “Come thou, my child.” “Return thou, my daughter.” “My son, give me thy heart.”
V. THE GATHERING–PLACE OF HIS RETURNED ONES. “Ye shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” All they who return unto God
(1) gather at his house on earth for worship there; and
(2) meet in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, for “nobler worship there.”C.
Isa 27:2, Isa 27:3
Vineyard-keeping.
The vine is a familiar Bible figure for the pious individual; and the vineyard, or cluster of vines, an equally familiar figure of the Church. Several things make the figure specially suitable. The vine is a beautiful plant; it is dependent, and cannot be its best when standing alone; it brings forth rich and abundant fruit; it needs constant and careful tending; its wood is useless for any other purpose than carrying the sap that flows through it; and it is exposed to peril from changing atmospheres and outward foes. To this last point of comparison these verses direct us. For the others such passages may be consulted as Psa 80:8-16; Isa 5:1-7. We note that vineyard-keeping includes
I. TENDING. This is called to mind by the very strong assurance, “I will water it every moment,” which is evidently meant to impress on us the constancy, the care, the gracious wisdom, the prompt helpfulness, of the Divine dealings with the Church. To our minds it has a somewhat exaggerated sound, but that is only because we have no associations with a parched, hilly, hot, and almost rainless country, such as Pales-fine or Egypt. Constant and abundant irrigation is the essential condition of vegetable life in such lands, and to it the science and practical skill of the people are devoted. Channels are made in which the water may run to the vineyards, and much of the gardener’s skill is devoted to this regular and efficient watering. The Eastern idea of a fruitful tree is one “planted by the rivers of water;” “its leaf shall not wither.” They who are thus careful about the watering of their vines will be sure to do everything else for them that is necessary for their well-being. They will gather out the stones, enrich the soil, clean the blue, prune luxurious growths, guide the trailing branches, and thin the crowded bunches. And so does the Lord of that vineyard, the Church, meet her needs at every point. That he should “water it every moment” suggests that his supreme care is for the renewal of her vitality, and assures us of his further care of all the forms and expressions of that vitality. We may be sure, in New Testament language, that with “his dear Son, God will freely give us all things.” He will feed, he will correct, he will encourage, he will check. Whatsoever is needful for the wise tending of the Church, we may fully trust him that he will do, for he is a Master-gardener. In following out this thought, precise practical applications may be made to the conditions and necessities of the particular Church addressed.
II. WATCHING. “Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Van Lennep tells us that “vineyards which are at a distance from a village require a constant watch and guard during the fruit season, or they are completely devoured by the jackals.” Some of the very earliest Egyptian paintings are vivid-hued representations of trellised and festooned “vines,” while, peering through the bough-twisted fences, is seen the sharp and mobile nose of the “fox,” stealthily stealing towards his favorite repast. It is usual to dig a ditch all round the vineyard, into which stone posts are driven, branches are twisted in and out of these posts, and, as wild plants and briars soon grow up among them, a thick and solid fence or hedge is made. But the bus-bandman is obliged from time to time to examine all parts of the hedge, and close up any gap or breach made by the foxes, jackals, badgers, hares, hedgehogs, and perhaps even wild bears which, by trampling, destroy more than they eat. A frail shed raised on poles a good height is prepared for the defense of the vineyard, in it a watcher remains day and night while the fruit is ripening. From his elevated position he can see all over the vineyard, and arrangement is sometimes made for his signaling to the neighboring village in case of emergency. He is provided with weapons suitable for dealing with the precise foes which he may have to encounter. These points will suggest the gracious forms in which God has ever defended his ancient Church. Historical illustrations may be given. What he has ever been, that he still is; and the individual Christian, as well as the Christian Church, may rest secure in his keeping. No foes can come nigh us that he will not see. None can prove stronger in attack than he in defense. Sometimes the Christian may, in his despairings, say after over-worn David, “I shall now Perish one day by the hand of Saul;” but, with God’s watching and keeping, he shall no more perish than David did. The Church, overestimating the force of evil at any given time, may cry that it “is in danger.” It is always an untrustful cry, raised when men fail to look to the “Watcher in the booth,” who keeps the vineyard night and day. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his People from henceforth even forever.”R.T.
Isa 27:5
Making peace with God.
The Rev. T.Toiler gives a very striking illustration of the figure used in this verse. He says, “I think I can convey the meaning of this passage so that every one may understand it, by what has taken place within my own family. One of my little children had committed a fault, for which I thought it my duty to chastise him. I called him to me, explained to him the evil of what he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must punish him for it. He heard me in silence, and then rushed into my arms and burst into tears. I would sooner have cut off my arm than have then struck him for his fault; he had taken hold of my strength, and he had made peace with me.” God, with whom sinful man is at war, alone can make peace; but he can, and he will. “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” The text is suggestive of what would be understood as a “simple gospel sermon,” and the main lines may be as follows:
I. PEACE IS BROKEN BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. Right and comfortable relations depend on man’s submission and obedience. Self-will and rebelliousness break up those relations. Man is God’s child; peace depends on obedience. Man is God’s servant; peace depends on doing the Master’s will. The essence of sin is willfulness.
II. GOD IS ABLE TO RESTORE THE BROKEN PEACE. He may be able as a matter of sovereignty; but it is more interesting to us to know that he is able through a scheme of peace-making which he has himself devised and carried out in the Person of his Son. “His own arm has brought salvation.” Such aspects of the great atoning work may be here dwelt upon as most commend themselves to the preacher.
III. GOD ACTUALLY OFFERS RESTORATION OF THE BROKEN PEACE. He asks us to “lay hold of his strength;” he invites us to “come and reason with him;” he even grieves, over our hesitancy, saying, Why Will ye die, O house of Israel? why will ye die? God hath offered to usgiven to us”eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
IV. THEY MUST BE RIGHT–HEARTED WHO SEEK TO MAKE PEACE WITH GOD. What is included in right-heartedness?
1. Humility.
2. Sense of sin.
3. Penitence.
4. Sign of earnestness in putting away sin.
5. Forsaking of self-trusts.
6. Fervent desire.
7. Whole-heartedness of purpose.
“Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye seek for me with your whole heart.”R.T.
Isa 27:6
The world-mission of Israel.
Just as “no man liveth unto himself,” but every man liveth for the circle in which he is set, so no nation liveth unto itselfit liveth for the world of nations in its time, and for all the ages. This universal truth is illustrated for us in the case of prominent, or elect, or selected nations. Egypt keeps alive the sense of mystery for the world, the claims of the unknown. Chaldea pleads in all the world for the claims of human observation, for the basis-principle of science. Greece keeps up today its mission to the world, and preaches to us the claims of the “beautiful,” the basis of all art, all ideal creations. Rome declares to the world the supreme importance of wise and stable government for the ordering of society. And Israel has its voice in every land and every age, pleading for the foundation-principles of religion, which are the unity and spirituality of God. Israel is a tree whose branches overspread the earth; these are its leaves, and these leaves are for the healing of the nations that are diseased and dying of idolatries and sensuousness. As we think of Israel after the flesh, we should remember that we are the true Israel, the spiritual Israel, who hold fast and testify for the old Mosaic truths, “God is One” and “God is a Spirit.” The world-mission of Israel is
I. To PRESERVE THE WORLD‘S TRUTH. That is, “In the beginning God.” This truth was given to man as man. It is man’s birthright. When man became mentally and emotionally biased by yielding to self-will and sin, this first truth was imperiled. If man, as God created him, had thought, he would only have thought of God, one God. When sinful man thinks, he runs along one or other of two lineshe either conceives of two gods, one presiding over pleasant things, and the other over disasters; or else he thinks of many gods, each one occupying a more or less limited sphere. So “monotheism” was put in peril, and had to be preserved through all the ages during which God left man to a free experiment of that self-willedness which he had chosen. In his infinite wisdom God preserved the essential and foundation-truths of religion for long ages in a direct Adamic line, giving to men length of life sufficient to permit of tradition covering the long generations up to the Flood. After the Flood, God preserved the world’s truth in the one Abrahamic family; and when that family grew into a nation, he made it, in a very solemn way, the depositary of the world’s truth, and set it in a central land, where it might be but slightly influenced by the notions of surrounding nations. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” It is true that Israel did not prove faithful to its duty of preserving the world’s truth; but after the chastisement of the Babylonian exile (and to that the prophet is referring in our text) they never fell into idolatry, and they exist to-day, scattered everywhere, but holding fast their trust of monotheistic truth.
II. To EXHIBIT THE WORKING OF THAT TRUTH. “Example is better than precept.” The world might fairly ask to see a national life raised on the foundation of belief in one unseen, spiritual God. Israel is that nation. It is in many respects a striking example. It failed only when it shifted from its foundation. A glance at the old world, which grouped round the eastern end of the Mediterranean, will show how central “little Palestine” was, so as to be in view of all the nations, as a “city set on a hill.” The practical applications of this part of the subject are that we hold the trust of these truths, and of the yet further revelations that have been given; and the question of supreme interest to all around us isDo they make us better men and women? Are others won to accept our truths because of the illustrations which we find for them in our lives and relations? Do we “walk worthy of our calling?”
III. To WITNESS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FOR THAT TRUTH. The presence of a Jew anywhere is a plea for belief in one God. The exaggerated stubbornness with which Jews plead for this truth prevents their being willing to receive the further revelation concerning the one God, that he has been manifest in the flesh. We who are the spiritual Jews have it as our work to proclaim “God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” to all the nations. Jews have but half a mission now; but the time is coming when their veil shall be taken away; they shall see in Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God, and join with us in going out through all the world, and preaching the old truth and the new gospel to every creature.R.T.
Isa 27:7-9
Judgments and chastisements.
These verses set forth two modes of apprehending the afflictions and sorrows of life, and help us in estimating the distinction between the modes. We may say that it sets forth God’s ways with the enemies of Israel, and God’s ways with Israel.
I. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN JUDGMENTS AND CHASTISEMENTS. In a sense we may say that judgments are ends in themselves, and chastisements are means to a higher end. Then has God two ways of dealing with men? Thoughtlessly, and misled by appearances, many of us answer, “Yes,” and suppose that we can account for some difficult and perplexing things by the help of this supposition. But this answer will not bear the test of either patient thought or Holy Scripture. Thought says, “God is One; truth and right are one; men are one; and, if there be two principles of dealing with the same creatures, both cannot be right.” What God does may to us look different; it must really be the same, for the “God of the whole earth shall he be called.” Scripture assures us of the Divine unchangeableness. It says, “One event happeneth to the righteous and to the wicked.” It expresses the conviction that the “Judge of all the earth will do right.” It bids us see that God makes his “sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” There is no modification of ordinary natural conditions for the sake of the elect few. Health, accident, disease, death, affect alike the righteous and the wicked. Then comes in another questionCan all judgments be regarded as remedial in their design and tendency? There is a disposition toward the general acceptance of this theory nowadays; in dealing with crime, the reformation of the criminal is put in a first place. We may venture to say that God’s final end is always recovery. But he works over indefinitely long periods; and his immediate endsnecessary as stagesmay not always be remedial. As a part of the work towards securing the final end, God may stamp by suffering the quality of sin; he may demonstrate his indignations, as in the case of Babylon. It may even be necessary to make us fear lest the consequences of sin may prove irremediable; and this may explain such things as everlasting punishment, the sin against the Holy Ghost that bath never forgiveness, and the day of grace that may be lost. Whether Divine dealings be judgment or chastisement may depend on three things:
(1) the point from which they are viewed;
(2) the moral condition of those who suffer; and
(3) the relations of God being regarded as governmental or as paternal.
II. THE PURPOSE OF JUDGMENT APPREHENDED AS CHASTISEMENT. (Isa 27:9.) Apprehended as only judgment, our mind is overborne by our calamity. Apprehended as chastisement, the mind is started with new and trustful thoughts. The trouble may at first crush, but soon we learn to accept it calmly. That we are under fatherly chastisements puts the deepest solemnity into life and into sin; it helps us to lift our hearts away from the present and the seen to the future and the unseen. All deaths become gates of life when this sunlight streams on them. Prophecy then keeps before us this cheering factall anxieties and sufferings are fatherly. Their “fruit is to take away our sin.” And as we so little know the subtleties of our sin, we need not wonder that we cannot understand either the subtleties or the severities necessary for taking it away. Our wonder ought to be that “refining fires,” so graciously tempered for us, are made to accomplish so great a cleansing.R.T.
Isa 27:9
Repentance proved in deeds.
The first clause may be translated thus: “On these terms shall the guilt of Jacob be purged.” There must be the signs of reformationthe actual destruction of idols and all idol-associations, as the proof and manifestation of the declared heart-surrender of idolatry. The child’s verse is correct theology and practical godliness
“Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before;
And show that we in earnest grieve,
By doing so no more.”
The very “stones of the altar” must be as “chalkstones that are beaten in sunder” if Jacob would make plain its repentance of its idolatries, and come to receive Divine forgiveness. Illustrations may be taken from the practical reformations on which Hezekiah and Josiah insisted as the outward signs of the national repentance. From this verse deal with the constant temptation to rest in mere sentiment, and impress the demand which God ever makes for proof in act of the repentance, or the faith, or the humility, or the zeal, that may be possessed. As our Savior expressed the same point in another of its connections, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
I. GOOD SENTIMENTS ARE GOOD BEGINNINGS. Therefore in preachings and teachings appeal is properly made to feeling; effort is made to arouse emotions and to persuade. By the way of the heart access can often be gained to a man; and Scripture provides material for emotional appeals. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” To move feeling, and to awaken good sentiment, is at least to make a breach in the walls. It is a beginning, and there is hope of what may be further accomplished when such a beginning is made. But we should be alive to the constant disposition of men to rest in sentiment. There is a subtle pleasure in feeling deeply. We easily get a kind of satisfaction in our good sentiments; and so Scripture roughly shakes down the satisfaction by calling such things “refuges of lies,” or staffs that pierce the hand that leans on them.
II. GOOD SENTIMENTS MAY SOON FADE. They always do when they remain as sentiments, and do not become motives to action. Our minds are constantly passing on to fresh things, and the older ones grow dim in the distance. If things are to keep up their interest, we must put continuous thought to them, and make them bear on daily conduct. We weep over a pathetic story-book, but in a little while all is forgotten as a dream when one awaketh. It would be a most humbling sight for us all if God were to show us the great heap of beautiful sentiments we once had and enjoyed.
III. GOOD SENTIMENTS HAVE NO VOICE THAT GOD CAN HEED. If we offer such things to him, he will entirely withdraw and hide himself within a cloud, and wait and see how long the good sentiment will last. Penitence that is only a sensational sigh or tear he will not regard. It means nothing. It is but a passing ripple on a pool. Why should he turn aside to notice that? This thought will unfold into a practical dealing with the danger of forced emotions in revivalistic services; or the straining of religious feeling in children and young people. Mere emotion is too light a thing to ascend as prayer to the throne of God.
IV. GOOD SENTIMENTS MUST SPEAK TO GOD THROUGH DEEDS. YOU say you repent. But the supreme question isWhat has your repentance made you do? You repent of that sin: then have you put it away? You repent of that wrong to your neighbor: then have you, as far as possible, put the wrong right? You repent of your idolatry: then have you broken up your idol-altars? Corresponding actions, “works meet for repentance,”these are the terms of “purging;” this is the “fruit to take away all the sin.”R.T.
Isa 27:13
Restorations prove Divine forgiveness.
This is the answering truth to that dwelt on above, in the homily on Isa 27:9; God in his dealings with man never stops with sentiment. We know that he forgives us, because with the forgiveness he grants us restoration to his favor. Israel had grievously offended Jehovah by his unfaithfulness. Divine indignations had put the offending child away. But the child learned the lessons of judgment. The child came, penitent and humble, seeking forgiveness; and the Lord heard, granted the forgiveness, and sealed it in a gracious restoration. This is the vision of that great restoring-day. “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.” Our Lord presented this truth in his exquisite picture of the prodigal son. The father forgives the penitent, and we might say, “That is enough; such a son can expect no more and deserves no more; forgiven, let him go away where he will.” But love cannot stop at such limitations; it cannot be content until it can restore: it wants to seal its forgiveness; it would make it the fullest blessing possible; so the forgiven son is in his old place at the home-table; nay, he is even decked in the joy-robe, and made the occasion of a feast. He knows he is forgiven, for he is restored. In nothing do God’s ways appear to be higher than man’s ways than in thisGod can restore when he forgives, and man halts at the restoring work; he is seldom grand enough for that. We cannot restore our criminals even when they are penitent. We cannot put back into her place in society the “woman a sinner,” who bathes the feet of Jesus with penitential tears. The apostle makes an almost overwhelming demand on us when he says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.” How souls yearn for this sealing of forgiveness is seen in David’s prayer, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” The subject may be treated under two divisions.
I. DIVINE RESTORATION ASSURED IN EXAMPLES AND PROMISES. These assure us that it is God’s way of dealing, and so they become a persuasion to hope even in our penitence, and in our prayer for forgiveness.
II. DIVINE RESTORATION REALIZED IN ACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES. Not always outward circumstances; only so far as these may have been affected by the sin. Always in inward circumstances of mind and feeling.R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 27:1. In that day, &c. In that day shall Jehovah punish with his sword; his well-tempered, and great, and strong sword; Leviathan the rigid serpent, and Leviathan the winding serpent: and shall slay the monster, that is in the sea. Lowth. This prophesy may be connected either with the last verse of the preceding chapter, and that day, or time, refer to the time of indignation there spoken of; or you may connect it with the latter end of the 24th chapter, and particularly the 21st verse; for the destruction of the kings of the earth there mentioned, is the same with that of the animals in the present verse. There are three distinct creatures here spoken of: By the leviathan, rigid or straight serpent, the crocodile seems to be meant; by the winding serpent, the dragon, or large African serpent; and by the monster in the sea, most probably the whale. Vitringa thinks, that by the two first of these creatures are signified the kingdoms of Egypt and Assyria, as they existed after the times of Alexander the Great; and by the whale the kingdom of Arabia, and the other neighbouring nations, which were adversaries to the people of God; or that by these three animals are to be understood the persecutors and adversaries of the church, who should exist successively in the world, and be destroyed by the divine judgments. See his Note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
7. THE DOWNFALL OF THE WORDLY POWERS AND ZIONS JOYFUL RESURRECTION
Isa 27:1-9
1In that day the Lord with his1 sore and great and strong sword,
Shall punish leviathan the 2 3piercing serpent,
Even leviathan, that crooked serpent;
And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
2In that day sing ye unto her,
A vineyard of red wine.
3I the Lord do keep it;
I will water it every moment.
Lest any hurt it,
I will keep it night and day.
4Fury is not in me;
Who 4 would set the briers and thorns against me in battle?
I would 5go through them,
I would burn them together.
5Or let him take hold of my strength,
That he may make peace with me;
And he shall make peace with me.
66 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:
Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.
7Hath he smitten him, 7as he smote those that smote him?
Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
8In measure, 8when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it;
9 10He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;
And this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
When he maketh all the stones of the altar
As 11chalkstones that are beaten in sunder,
The 12groves and 13images shall not stand up.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 27:2. On the authority of the Septuagint ( ), of the Targum (vinea plantata in terra bona), and of many codices and editions, many interpreters read , which finds support in , Amo 5:11, and , Isa 32:12. Comp. Isa 5:7; Jer 3:19. Although is the more difficult reading, is perhaps to be preferred here. For what does mean? [But compare , Num 6:4; Jdg 13:14, and such phrases as a mine of wealth, a well of water. Though Dr. Naegelsbach follows most modern commentators in preferring the reading , there is no necessity for altering here the common text of the Hebrew Bible.D. M.]. If the supposition be made that denotes a plantation in general, and , Jdg 15:5, be appealed to, still alone denotes a vineyard in so many places that the addition appears pleonastic. [But this objection would equally avail against such an expression as a spring of water.D. M.]. It cannot be proved that denotes a nobler kind of wine. I prefer therefore, with Drechsler and Delitzsch, and many older interpreters, to read .
Isa 27:5. Drechsler is in error in thinking that cannot be taken as jussive. Comp. Naegelsbach, 90, 3, c.
Isa 27:6. radices agere (Job 5:3; Psa 80:10) is denominative from (comp. 48:24).
Isa 27:8. The word is best derived from mensura, so that the word is contracted from . Dagesh forte in the second arises from the assimilation of the , while the first has completely lost its power as a consonant. Compare for , for .
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. If we consider that Isa 27:1; Isa 27:10-11 of this chapter are directed against the worldly power, while Isa 27:2-9; Isa 27:12-13, contain words of comfort for Israel, we ascertain that the chapter is divided into two principal parts, each of which again consists of two subdivisions which correspond to one another. The Prophet sees here also the salvation of Israel set off by the foil of the judgment inflicted on the heathen worldly power. If we connect, as many do, Isa 27:1 with chap. 26. we destroy the beautiful parallelism of chapter 27, violate the principle of the number two, which dominates chaps, 2427, and bring Isa 27:1 into a connection to which it does not belong. For after the words in Isa 26:21, which are of so general a character, chap. 27. would not follow naturally; and is not Isa 27:1, by the formula in that day, even as manifestly separated from Isa 26:21 as it is connected thereby with Isa 27:2? As chapter 25. is related to chapter 24, so is chap. 27. related to chap. 26. As in chap. 25. Mount Zion emerges from the all-embracing scenes of judgment as the only place of salvation and peace, so the leading thought in chap. 27 is seen to be Israels victory over its enemies, the worldly powers, and its deliverance from their grasp, in order, as a united people, to partake of salvation on Mount Zion. The Prophet in Isa 25:10 sqq., set forth the worldly powers under the name of Moab, and he now gives a different emblematic representation of them. He exhibits them under the form of beasts as the straight and the coiled Leviathan, and as the crocodile. Of all these he declares that they will be vanquished by the mighty sword of Jehovah (Isa 27:1). A call is at the same time made by him to begin a hymn regarding Israel, as he himself had already done, Isa 25:1 sqq. (Isa 27:2). In this hymn Jehovah Himself is introduced as the Speaker. He declares that He will faithfully protect and tend Israel as His vineyard (Isa 27:3). And if hostile powers, like thorns and thistles, should desire again to injure the vineyard, He will terribly intervene, and burn them up (verse 4): unless they make peace with Him by humble and believing submission under His might (5). Israel shall accordingly in the distant future take root, blossom and bud, and fill the earth with its fruits (Isa 27:6). That the prospect of such a glorious future is disclosed to Israel ought not to seem strange. Think how the Lord has hitherto treated Israel. It has never been exposed to such destructive strokes as its enemies (Isa 27:7). The Lord metes out punishment to Israel in spoonfuls, not by the bushel, punishing it only by temporary rejection when He makes His breath pass over the land like a blast of the east wind (Isa 27:8). And by these very chastisements Israels guilt is purged, and Israel reaps then the blessed fruit, that the stones of the altars of its false gods are become as lime-stones that are crushed and cast away, and that therefore the images of Ashtoreth and of the sun will stand up no more (Isa 27:9).
2. In that dayin the sea.
Isa 27:1. The expression in that day indicates here too that what is introduced by this formula belongs to the same stage of the worlds history as what precedes. The Prophet freely uses the verb in these chapters of punitive visitation: Isa 24:21; Isa 26:14; Isa 26:21; Isa 27:3. That here is connected with , Isa 26:21, may be readily admitted. For truly the visitation spoken of in Isa 27:1 is a part, yea, the chief part of that universal one which has for its object, according to Isa 26:21, the whole population of the earth. But I cannot concede that the visitation Isa 27:1 is absolutely identical with the one threatened in Isa 26:21. For, as has been shown above, chap. 27 is not of so general a character as chap. 26. And the formula in that day points to a difference as well as to contemporaneousness. In Isa 27:1 that part of the judgment is prominently set forth which has respect to the great worldly powers that are the immediate oppressors of Israel, as chaps, 25 and 27 have for their subject the singular position of Israel in the general judgment indicated by (Isa 24:23 comp. Isa 25:6) or (Isa 27:13). The sword of Jehovah, symbol of His power that destroys everything opposed to it, is after the original passage, Deu 32:41 sq., often mentioned; Psa 7:13; Psa 17:13; Isa 34:5-6; Isa 66:16; Jer 12:12; Jer 47:6. This sword with which the Lord will annihilate the enemies of Israel is described as hard in respect to its material, great in regard to its length, and strong with reference to its irresistible action. These enemies of Israel are represented under the image of monstrous beasts. This form of expression is based on views which pervade the divine revelation of the Old and New Testament. Comp. Psa 68:31; Psa 74:13; Dan 7:3 sqq.; Isa 8:3 sqq.; Rev 12:3 sqq.; Isa 13:1 sqq. The kingdom of God is human (Dan 7:13 sqq.), the worldly power is animal, brutal, heartless, cruel. Here, first of all, the question arises whether merely earthly powers of the world are meant, and not rather powers of heaven and of the world as Isa 24:21. In support of the view that the two Leviathans mentioned in this verse are powers of heaven, appeal is made to Job 26:13, where certainly is mentioned as a constellation. Hence the conclusion is drawn that also is a constellation (Hitzig, Hendewerk, Drechsler). But the whole structure of these four chapters proves that powers of heaven cannot be here in question. For our chapter stands parallel to chap. 25, and treats of the peculiar position of Israel in opposition to the worldly power. But in chap. 25. the worldly power is represented by what is of the earth, by the personified Moab. Here there is a climax, while three animal forms, placed at the commencement of the discourse, take the part of Moab, which is there placed at the close. Moreover, in this passage, and are not the leading terms. But these designations only define more particularly the term Leviathan. The case would be different if the latter term were wanting, and the Prophet spoke only of and . As our text runs, we can only say that the Prophet has in view two powers that in their nature are closely related, nay essentially alike, for which reason he designates both of them by the name Leviathan.They have, however, their individual peculiarities, wherefore he more particularly defines the one as the fleeing serpent and the other as the coiled serpent. The predicate fleeing serpent is manifestly borrowed from Job 26:13, as we have already observed manifold traces of the use of the book of Job in Isaiah (comp. on Isa 14:30; Isa 17:2; Isa 21:4; Isa 22:2; Isa 22:4; Isa 22:22; Isa 22:24; Isa 23:12; Isa 25:2). The expression denotes in Job, as is on all hands admitted, a constellation or appearance in the heavens, although the learned still dispute whether it is the dragon, or the milky way, or the scorpion, or the rainbow (comp. Leyrer in HerzogsR. Ency. XIX., p. 565). Isaiah, however, found the expression in its literal signification fit to be appended as an apposition to the term Leviathan. This is apparent, because Leviathan nowhere else denotes a constellation, and the second apposition occurs in no other place as the name of a constellation. The question then is, what is the proper meaning of ? That denotes a serpent, is undoubted. The word is found in this signification in Isa 14:29; Isa 65:25. But which, besides here and Job 26:13, occurs only Isa 43:14, can according to its etymology (fugere) have only the meaning fleeing. A is therefore a serpent which at full stretch flees away in haste. In opposition to it is a crooked, coiled serpent. The word is . . The radix occurs besides only in (Hab 1:4 jus perversum) and in tortuosa, crookednesses, crooked ways (Jdg 5:6; Psa 125:5). is a poetic symbolical generic name which is sometimes given to the Crocodile (Job 40:25; Psa 74:14), sometimes to other monsters of the deep (Job 3:8; Psa 104:26). With such a bellua aquatica the two worldly powers are here compared in such a way that each is placed in parallel with a species of this genus. For it is plain that two powers are compared with two species of the genus Leviathan, the one with one species, and the other with another species; and that a third power is compared with the . The sword is a single one. It is only once mentioned, and is the subject common to three predicates. But the Leviathan is twice named, each time with a different specifying word. And that the Prophet understands under the a third hostile power is evident from his not putting this term in apposition to the term Leviathan. When afterwards, Isa 27:12-13, the land of the Euphrates, Assyria and Egypt are expressly designated as the countries from which redeemed Israel will return home, is not this to be regarded as a consequence of the Lord having according to Isa 27:1 crushed these hostile powers and so compelled them to let Israel go free? It has been further observed that denotes Egypt, Isa 51:9 (the only place beside this one where it occurs in Isaiah); Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Psa 74:13. The word is in meaning, though not in etymology, closely connected with the term Leviathan. Now if these places where is used in reference to Egypt are borrowed from the one before us, they certainly bear witness to an ancient and indisputable interpretation. We are, therefore, fully justified in understanding Egypt to be denoted by the dragon that is in the sea (regarding comp. Isa 18:2; Isa 19:5; Isa 21:1). But if the denotes Egypt, then the Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, must be the land of the Tigris, i.e., Assyria, for the serpent shooting quickly along is an apt emblem of the rapid Tigris, which name, according to the testimony of the ancients (Strabo XI. p. 527; Curt. VI. 36), means an arrow. In the Persian and Kurdish Tir denotes both an arrow and the Tigris (comp. Gesen.,Thes., p. 448). In regard to the windings of the Euphrates Herodotus speaks (I., 185) and relates that in sailing down the river, Arderikka, a place situated on it, is passed by three times in three days. Might not Jeremiah (Jer 50:17) have had this passage before his mind in writing: first the king of Assyria ate him, and last this Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, hath crushed his bones? Assyria, the power that rushed straight upon Israel,laid hold of him with its teeth. But it tore off as it were only pieces of his flesh, inflicted flesh wounds. But Babylon has as the Boa Constrictor enfolded Israel in the coils of his powerful body and crashed his bones. Comp. Naegelsbach on Jer 50:17. That Isaiah had Babylon before his mind is just as possible here as Isa 21:1-10. Both places are to be similarly explained.
3. In that daywine.
Isa 27:2. While the worldly powers are annihilated, Israel is elevated to high joy and honor. The Prophet announces this for the comfort of his people in a hymn which is parallel to the hymn Isa 25:1-5. This hymn is peculiar in its structure, as it consists of brief members formed of only two words. It is true that many members of it consist of three or four words. But two constitute always the leading ideas what is over and above, may be said to be accessory ideas which are only grammatically indispensable. In Isa 27:4 in the line the first two and the last two words form each one principal notion. The two chief sentences, verses 3 and 4, contain each four such members or lines consisting of two ideas; the introduction (Isa 27:2) and the close (Isa 27:5) each contain three of them. The principle of duality is here carried out in such a way that the whole consists of six times two, and eight times two, consequently, of 28 members. That the introduction and close have each only three times two members, imparts to the whole the charm of a sort of crescendo and decrescendo. Isa 27:2 does not properly belong to the song itself. For it contains only the theme and the summons to celebrate it in song. But it is rhythmically constructed as the song itself, and rhythmically regarded, it is a part of the song. The words form the title prefixed absolutely (comp. Isa 27:6). Israel is compared with a vineyard as in Isa 5:1 sqq. But there is this difference, that in Isa 5:1 sqq. Israel appears as a vineyard consigned to destruction as a punishment; here it is a vineyard faithfully protected and tended. is found only here and Deu 32:14. That the word denotes wine is certain; but it is doubtful how this meaning is reached whether ab effervescendo (from fermenting) or a rubedine. [The analogy of the cognate Arabic and Syriac supports the former of these derivations, which is the one commonly adopted by modern scholars.D. M.]. is not to be joined with . For this date plainly refers to all that follows, and are not words of the Prophet, but words which people at that day will call out to one another. after in the signification in reference to as Num 21:17; 1Sa 21:12; 1Sa 29:5; Psa 147:7.
4. I the LORDpeace with me.
Isa 27:3-5. The Prophet by putting into the mouth of the people a song in which Jehovah Himself as speaker gives glorious promises to the people, intimates that the people may regard these promises as their own certain possession. For they belong to them as those who publish them, and they are sure to them, because they proclaim them as verba ipsissima of Jehovah. The Lord promises now that He will keep His vineyard and abundantly water it (every moment as which two expressions stand together Job 7:18, Comp. Isa 33:2; Psa 73:14 et saepe) yea watch it night and day, that it may not be visited by an enemy ( with which elsewhere denotes a visitation for punishment, comp Hos 12:3; Jer 9:24 sq., seems to stand here in the sense of, , . The fury ( here for the first time comp. Isa 34:2; Isa 42:25; Isa 51:13; Isa 51:17; Isa 51:20; Isa 51:22 et saepe in the second part of Isaiah), which the Lord formerly felt and manifested toward His vineyard Israel (Isa 27:5 sqq.), no longer exists. Nay more, thorns and thistles, which the Lord according to ver, 6 would for a punishment let grow up in the old vineyard, He wishes now to be set before Him in order to show by destroying them the zeal of His love for the renewed vineyard. Thorns and thistles, which grow from the soil of the vineyard itself, are, in opposition to the wild beasts which break in from without, symbols of internal decay, symptoms of the germs of evil still existing in the vineyard itself. Here external foes are not expressly mentioned as in chap. 5, and we have therefore to understand here under thorns and thistles everything which could set itself against the nature and purpose of the vineyard. [But does not the expression point rather to external enemies of the Church as denoted under the symbols of briers and thorns? D. M.]. The asyndetonbriers, thorns, is explained by the lively emotion of the Prophet (comp. Isa 32:13). (only here in Isaiah, comp. Job 29:2; Jer 9:1) is a formula expressive of a wish. The suffix has here a dative sense. is connected by the Masoretes with what precedes, but it belongs necessarily to what follows, as Knobel and Delitzsch have perceived. With war,i.e., with martial impetuosity, would the Lordstride in (gradiri, ingredi only here, substantives derived from it 1Sa 20:3; 1Ch 19:4) against them ( the feminine suffix refers to the nouns , and is to be taken in a neuter sense, as afterwards the suffix in ) and burn up the bushes all altogether for only here. When in Isa 27:5 the Lord speaks of people before whom the alternative is placed, either to be overcome by the storm of war just mentioned, or ( as conjunction with omitted comp. Exo 21:36; 2Sa 18:13 comp. Lev 13:16; Lev 13:24) to lay hold of the protection of Jehovah ( 4:1; 1Ki 1:50; defence, protection, Isa 17:9-10; Isa 23:4; Isa 23:11; Isa 23:14; Isa 25:4; Isa 30:3) and to make peace with Him (Jos 9:15), we perceive that He thinks of such among the people for whom there is a possibility of repentance and salvation. From this possibility even the external enemies of the theocracy are not excluded (Isa 2:3; Isa 25:6 sqq.), but to Israel it appertains pre-eminently. This is another reason for supposing that under the thorns and thistles (Isa 27:4) internal enemies arising out of Israel are to be understood. The taking hold of protection is a subordinate matter, involving merely passive submission and endeavor after safety. But in the making of peace with God there is something higher, positive yielding of ones self to him, union with Him.
To the last thought peculiar weight and emphasis is given by its repetition with the chief term placed first. The close of the song is thus at the same time fitly intimated.
5. He shall causewith fruit.
Isa 27:6. The cessation of a uniform rhythm shows that the language of prose is resumed. But what is now said is in sense closely connected with the song, the thoughts of which it explains and completes. For it sounds as the solution of a riddle (comp. Isa 27:7), when it is now explicitly stated that Israel is the vineyard of the Lord; at the same time the fruit of the vineyard is described as glorious, and spreading far and wide. [Dr. Naegelsbachs translation of the first clause: In the coming days Jacob shall take root is adopted by the best modern scholars, and is much more natural and accurate than the rendering of the Eng. ver.: He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root. The sense of causing to take root is foreign to the form of the verb employed, and the order of the words will not admit of the translation those that come of Israel.D M.] supply , comp. e.g., Jer 7:32; Ecc 2:6 and res futurae Isa 41:23; Isa 44:7. The accusative marks the duration of time. The names Jacob and Israel designate sometimes the whole people (chaps. 2, 3, 5, 6 and seqq.), sometimes the northern kingdom in particular (Isa 9:7). Here, however, it seems as if the Prophet by the use of the two names intended to designate the entire people by its two halves. In favor of this view is the plural , as only the singular would have been requisite, as in the verbal forms , . That (only here in Isaiah) stands before (germinare, sprout, comp. Isa 17:11; Isa 35:1-2; Isa 66:14) is not to be pressed. We too, can say blossom and bud or bud and blossom. At most we might say that the Prophet wished to put the blossom first as the higher of the two. The fruit (proventus, produce of fruit, only here in Isaiah) will be in such abundance that the whole earth will be filled with it (Isa 37:31). Israel will then, when the judgment shall have destroyed the worldly powers and the heathen, be all in all. For mount Zion and Jerusalem shall stand, even if heaven and earth should perish.
6. Hath he smittenstand up.
Isa 27:7-9. The declaration that Israel will continue, even if all the rest of the world should be swallowed up by the floods of judgment, is so bold as to require a particular justification. This is given by the Prophet while he shows from history how the Lord always distinguished Israel, and even when He smote him, never smote him as his enemies. (Comp. Isa 10:24 sqq.). Therefore he asks, verse Isaiah 7 : has Jehovah, his God, smitten him, namely Israel, with the stroke of his smiter ( as Isa 10:26; Isa 14:7; Isa 30:26; (comp. Isa 9:12; Isa 10:20; Isa 14:29) i.e., even so hard as He smote those who smote Israel? Or has he ever been so slain as the enemies of the theocracy that were slain by him (Israel)? in Isaiah besides Isa 30:25. Part. in Isaiah only here and Isa 26:21. Pual only here and Psa 44:23. The meaning is: Israel has never suffered complete destruction. Turning to address the Lord Himself the Prophet continues: In small measure by sending her away thou punishest her. The connection requires the signification mensura. Reference is rightly made to Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11 (Jer 46:28), where is used in a like sense. Knobel objects that does not signify measure in general, but a definite measure, and the figurative use of it would be as hard as if we should say: to punish one by the quart. is by all means a definite measure of grain, and according to the statements of the ancients, the third part of an ephah. But this signification suits admirably, The translation in measure is of course not literal. It should be: with the measure of a seah by putting away thou punishest her. The meaning accordingly is that the Lord ordains only a small measureful of punishment for Israel. The antithesis to this is then a large measure which causes destruction. The expression small measure involves necessarily the idea of clemency. Hitzig, Ewald and Knobel propose to read Inf. Pilp. from ==by his disquietude. But this thought, apart from the artificial etymology, does not suit the context. It appears to me that this was a popular and familiar expression. At all events, it occurs in the language of Scripture only here. The feminine suffix in the last two words shows that the Prophet, in accordance with the notion of putting away, thinks of Israel as a wife, stands here with accusative of the person in a signification in which it is commonly construed with one of the prepositions , or , namely = altercari, to contend, dispute with, punish. However, this construction with the accusative is found elsewhere: Isa 49:25; Deu 33:8; Job 10:2; Hos 4:4. The imperfect (future) is not used to express repetition in the past; for the Prophet cannot yet say that Israels exile has terminated. Israel is to-day still in exile. The imperfect rather marks the still uncompleted, enduring fact. That the second person imperfect is used, while before and afterwards Jehovah is spoken of in the third person, has, apart from the ease with which in Hebrew the person is changed, its reason perhaps in this, that the Prophet wishes to make the three words of this clause which are like one another in respect to the ending and number of the consonantal sounds, as conformable to one another as possible in their initial sounds also. For Tan is certainly more nearly related to the S-sounds with which the preceding words begin, than Yod. Lexicographers and interpreters are inclined to regard as an independent verbal stem, to which they ascribe the meaning amovere, separare, to sift, which is supposed to occur only here and Pro 25:4-5. I believe that our is identical with the that occurs so frequently. The word is clearly onomatopoetic, and its radical meaning is to breathe; and it means that kind of breathing which consists is a strong ejection of air through the throat. The sound that is thus produced corresponds to the rough guttural sound of the roaring lion (Isa 31:4), to the noise of thunder (Job 37:2), to the moaning of a dove (Isa 38:14), to the muttering of conjurers (Isa 8:19), and to the sighing of a man (Isa 16:7), and is also the physical basis for human speech, whether this be a speaking with others or a speaking with ones self under profound emotion (meditari). Even in Pro 25:4 sq. this signification holds. Breathe (blow) the dross from the silver is what we read there. This means, we are to remove by blowing the impure ingredients that swim on the surface of the molten silver. And so (Pro 25:5) the court is to be purified from the hurtful presence of a wicked man, he is to be blown away as scum upon molten silver. In our place, too, is simply to breathe. He breathes with his rough breath in the day of the east wind means nothing else than: God blows Israel away out of his land by sending, like the storm of an east wind, His breath with great force over the land. The thought involved in is once more expressed by an image. The Prophet knows that exile is the severest punishment which Jehovah inflicts on His people. Whether it was the case that Isaiah had already witnessed the carrying away of the ten tribes, or that passages of the Pentateuch which threaten the punishment of exile were present to him (Deu 4:27 sq.; Deu 28:36; Deu 28:63 sqq.; Deu 29:28), he certainly means that Jehovah does not exterminate His people as He, e.g., exterminated the Canaanites, but that He inflicts on them as the maximum of punishment only temporary exile. The use of the perfect is then quite normal, in order to describe further a matter contained in the principal sentence (). The expression does not elsewhere occur. But Isaiah does speak of a 19:4, of a 21:2, of 14:3, of a Isa 27:1. A mighty political catastrophe which would purify the land is here compared with a stormy wind, or east wind, the most violent wind known in Palestine (Job 27:21; Hos 13:15, which place was perhaps before the mind of the Prophet; Jon 4:8; Eze 17:10; Eze 19:12); and this wind is marked as as a breath proceeding from the mouth of God; wind being frequently in the O. T. described as Gods breath, or Gods breath being described as wind (Exo 15:8; Job 4:9; Job 15:30; Hos 13:15; Isa 40:7; Isa 59:19). As a violent tempest causes much damage, but at the same time does much good by its purifying influence, so this punishment of expulsion from the land is so far from being intended for the destruction of Israel, that the salvation of Israel arises from it. For just thereby ( as Isa 26:14; Jer 5:2) the guilt of Jacob is expiated (covered comp. Isa 22:14). The words by this, therefore, are to be taken together, and point with emphasis backwards. cannot be referred to the following , because atonement is not made for Israel by this , but on the contrary, this is the fruit of the expiation. By this expiatory punishment Israel is made partaker of great blessing. The Lord knows how to make good come out of evil (Gen 50:20). The expiation, i.e., the removal of guilt has the effect that Israel thereby becomes free also from the power and dominion of sin. [, though it strictly means shall be atoned for, is here metonymically used to denote the effect and not the cause, purification and not expiation. In the very same way it is applied to the cleansing of inanimate objects. Alexander.D. M.]. refers to and what follows. All fruit of the forgiveness of sin, consequently all sanctification concentrates itself in Israels keeping now the first and greatest commandment, and in definitively renouncing idolatry. is not, however, the demonstrative pronoun, but is to be taken adverbially; this word, as is well known, possessing the two significations this and there. Hence the construction (not ) can follow. Comp. Num 13:17. Israel by so dashing in pieces all the stones of their idolatrous altars, that they can no longer serve for places of worship for Ashtoreth and images of the sun, exhibits the fruit of the expiation that has been rendered and of the forgiveness that has been received. (. ) is lime, are not lime-stones, in the mineralogical sense, but stones in a wall which are covered with lime, mortar [?]. , (comp. Isa 11:12; Isa 33:3) are the same stones, when they, in consequence of the destruction of the wall which they formed, lie broken in pieces. This shall happen to the stones of the idolatrous altars, and they will in consequence no longer serve as pedestals on which images of Ashtoreth and of the sun (comp on Isa 17:8) stand up.
Footnotes:
[1]hard.
[2]Or, crossing like a bar.
[3]fleeing.
[4]will set.
[5]Or, march against.
[6]In coming days will Jacob take root.
[7]Heb. according to the stroke of those.
[8]Or, when thou sendest it forth.
[9]Or, when he removeth it.
[10]he bloweth with his rough blast.
[11]stones of mortar.
[12]images of Ashtoreth.
[13]Or, sun-images.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Here is the same delightful subject continued, and carried on, through the whole; namely, the Lord’s care of his church, and the destruction of his enemies, and this united subject runs through the whole chapter.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
In the opening of this chapter, the Prophet begins it, if not in the same words, yet at least to the same amount, as the Psalmist doth one of his Psalms, when he saith, I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto thee, O Lord, will I sing; Psa 101:1 ; for here is mercy to the Lord’s Church; and judgment to the Lord’s enemies. The Prophet is using figurative language, when, under the image of a serpent and a dragon, he would represent the enemies of God’s Church and people. The scripture hath explained both, and in the victories of Jesus plainly shown to whom they both refer. The arch-apostate spirit is uniformly known in the word of God, as the dragon, and the old serpent, which is the devil, Rev 20:2 . The Church is very frequently represented under the similitude of a vineyard, and a garden; and the red wine is the choicest wine, intimating that all choice things are given to the Church; Isa 5:1 . etc. Mat 20:1 , etc. Son 7:11-12 . But what a sweet promise is here of the Lord’s keeping his vineyard: how gracious, how constant, how unceasing is the Lord’s watchfulness over it! And Reader! do observe: the Lord not only keeps it, but waters it; not only defends it from without, but blesses it from within; not only keeps off evil, but is himself her chief good! Son 4:12 . And observe how gracious the Lord is in the intimations of his love and forbearance. There is nothing of anger or resentment in him towards his people. If there were, everything opposed to the Lord, would be but as briers and thorns, which the fire of his fury would instantly consume.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Day of the East Wind
Isa 27:8
I take our text as a poet’s thought. Translated, then, I read these meanings in it: Firstly, Our trials are timed. Secondly, Our sufferings are measured. Thirdly, Our lives are compensated.
I. Our Trials are Timed. ‘He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.’ It is something to know the east wind has its day. To everything under heaven, even the blighting scourge out of the east, there is a time.
In its larger aspects we are all agreed on that There are whole classes of trials that have their season as surely as seed-time and harvest have. God in the life means order, means succession, means changing discipline for changing years. When I once see that trials have their times, I gain a new stability and peace.
Take no anxious thought about tomorrow. Do not go out to meet your troubles half-way. Till the day of the east wind dawns it cannot blow. When its morning comes, a sovereign God will summon it
II. Our Sufferings are Measured. The rough, rude, boisterous gale is on a man. He never could stand the blight of the east wind now. God sees: God knows: God willeth not that any man should perish. If the east wind must blow, the rough wind shall be called home that morning. And that is a poet’s image of God’s tender mercy.
III. Our Lives are Compensated. The east wind blows. Is life worth living Today? Can there be any compensation for that searching gale? Just on account of that east wind, God kept the rough wind in its chains this morning. It is heaven’s compensation for the one that the other shall have no liberty to blow Today.
I want you to believe God’s ways are equal. We should fret less, we should worry less, we should have sweeter hearts, and far, far kindlier tongues, if we but realized God’s compensating hand. You have been crying out bitterly against the east wind; you have quite forgotten that the rough wind is stayed. You have no iron will, no masterful character; you are impressionable, yielding, almost weak. So is the sea impressionable, yet there are glories unspeakable of light and shadow on it, and a highway for the great navies there.
G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, p. 220.
References. XXVII. 12. J. A. Baird, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. 1906, p. 148. XXVII. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 2868. XXVIII. 1-13. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 125. XXVIII. 3-5. Ibid. p. 132. XXVIII. 5. Ibid. p. 136. XXVIII. 5, 6. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, vol. i. p. 85. T. McCrie, Sermons, p. 304. XXVIII. 10, 13. D. Fraser, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 189.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Use of the Rough Wind
Isa 27:8
Many comforting discourses have been preached from this text Men eagerly seize consolation, whether it flows from the text, or is imported into it. Why this eager grasping after comfort? Simply because all men need it Look upon the largest congregation that can assemble, and any wise preacher who has had experience of his work will know that in the crowd that throngs around him are people with broken hearts, or are sensible of disappointment, anxiety, fear, or are apprehensive of coming distress. Hence I have never hesitated to advise the young preacher to remember that the most of his hearers are not geniuses or critics, but needy, pain-struck, and weary souls. He who preaches to that class will always be abreast of the times, will always keep step for step with any progress which civilisation can ever make. Venerable and pastoral preachers have comforted their flocks with this gracious text. They have used it in the sense that God would not send both the east wind and the rough wind at one and the same time in the sense that God holdeth back the rough wind as a skilled rider might hold back some proud and urgent steed; they have not been slow to quote the words “He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb,” and so full of gracious poetry are these words that many have not hesitated to believe they were in the Bible. All beautiful words are in the Bible, if not literally yet spiritually, suggestively, in all the helpfulness of solace and stimulus. All Indian poetry is in the Bible. But how gracious and comforting soever the discourses may have been, they have had absolutely no relation to this text. Yet who that knows human nature ever credited human nature with being logical? The thing that was wanted was the comfort. But comfort of the kind which has been indicated is not in this text. All words of wise comfort are true in themselves, but when it becomes a question of direct exposition, our first business is to know what the words originally meant, then if we desire to proceed further, with the consent of our hearers we may bring comfort from the four quarters of heaven, for human life needs it all, so broken is it and so self-helpless.
The word “stayeth” is, in the first instance, a principal word. It is not a common term. We find it, however, in a strange place, even in the book of Proverbs. The fourth and fifth verses of the twenty-fifth chapter of that book will show what is meant “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.” The word that is rendered “stayeth” is rendered in the passage now cited “take away.” The literal meaning is that God’s rough wind separateth. It is a wind that blows away the chaff, but allows the weighty wheat to remain: Take away the dross take away the wicked take away the chaff. When God sendeth his rough wind it is to sift, it is that after it has done blowing there may be nothing left but the true wheat. God conducts evermore a great separating process in life. The process takes part in the individual life that longs to develop itself truly and wisely and divinely. Man is always losing something in the process of his education, as well as gaining something: God’s wind bloweth through and through his character, shaking it, separating part from part, a great ventilating process goes on, and a wondrous economy of sifting, separation, purification, so that at the last when the wind his sobbed itself to rest there is a man left marked by pureness, health, reality; all that was mean, unworthy, dross-like, wicked, has been blown away, and there now stands a man after God’s own heart.
The object of punishment, then, is not destruction. When God sends his rough wind he does not send it as a wind of judgment, for the purpose of destroying men, carrying them tempestuously away into abysses on which the sun never shines. Let us understand the spirit and the purpose of Providence. When God tears a man down, it is to do the man good; when the rough wind comes into a man’s estate and uproots the oldest trees, it is to make way for other growths of a kind more approved and more fruitful. If we could grasp this doctrine and commit ourselves to it, then the wind might blow at noonday and at midnight and we should say, The Lord is sifting, separating, taking away the dross, taking away the wicked, taking away the mean, and he will leave behind the pure silver, the true character, the noble soul. God will never destroy anything that has in it virtue, health, reality of value. Then let the great wind blow; let us be thankful for the sifting wind. Many of us would never sift ourselves. We are so blinded that we mistake chaft for wheat in many instances, and we think there is some value even in the dross when we cannot part with pleasures that give the palate even one moment’s joy. The whole process of sifting must be done from without. The other processes, however conducted, indicate the same purpose. Wine is emptied from vessel to vessel, not for the purpose of destroying the wine, but for the purpose of purifying it, so that at the last there shall be no dregs, but real wine, fit for the drinking of the angels. All this is often done by the invisible hand of Providence through the visible action of events. What can we do to keep back the process of events? Nothing. We have only a sheet of paper to oppose to the great fires that are coming on. Our fences are wooden; when we oppose them to the fire we add to the conflagration which we meant to extinguish. Better yield ourselves to God, saying to him, Take away whatever is worthless; thou knowest all purposes, the end as the beginning is in thine hand; only at the last may we find that every stroke was delivered in love, every tempest roared in order to prepare the way for a sweet gospel, and every grave was dug only to hide that which was doomed to corruption.
Another rendering has been approved by critics who have established a claim to confidence. It is poetical rather than grammatical “He sigheth with his rough wind.” The idea is that whilst God is conducting processes of judgment he is sighing compassionately; he is not grieving the children of men willingly; his great soughing, sobbing, moaning wind is like the sigh of pity. All such processes are needful. Even this is allowable. It falls into line with all we have known through the medium of reading and experience and consciousness of the method of the divine rule. God is subject to emotion; that is to say, he is so represented to us, because he allows us to approach him along the only roads we can travel: he is so majestic that no humiliation of language can tarnish the glory of his excellency; so he will allow us to talk about him as if he were a man; we may speak of his seeing, hearing, grieving, pitying; as subject to disappointment, and as wailing because of the apparent failures of his providence. All this method of revelation is an accommodation to our littleness. When we talk to children we talk their language, not ours; we lay aside all the latest phrases and expressions, all linguistic gymnastics, and go right down to them and babble to them in their own prattle. God comes down to us and uses our words, enshrines his glory in our little vocables, and so permits us to have at least some hold upon him, that we may be rich with some hint and suggestion as to his infinity and glory. So when it is said the rough wind is as the sighing of God, the poetry is but a glorification of the grammar; it does not despise the syntax but flies above it and lightens it from on high. It is a sublime and gracious truth: God pities, God sighs.
This text may be regarded as the key of the whole chapter. A perusal of the chapter will show what rough reading there is here and there, and yet how all the reading is centralised by this gracious testimony, that God, in all the rough ways of providence and government, means to bring the sons of men at last to be fruitful olive-trees, and he himself, according to this chapter, will in the end take off the leaves “one by one” such is the prophet’s own term and will rejoice in the abundant fruitfulness of that which was once condemned to infertility, nay, which was all but blasted, save one little green sprout, which was left in sign that God had not wholly abandoned the plant. Through how many images does the truth shine! “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword” ( Isa 27:1 ). What is the sword of God in Biblical language? It is symbolised by the lightning: a sword all edge, a sword without a handle, a sword which only God can touch. Have we ever used the lightning as a whip? Has any man ever been clever enough to put the lightning into his hand, and to use it as a sword? In what sense? In a sense so limited that he himself would be the very last to claim it in any suggestion as is the very life of this passage. The Lord “shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent.” These are symbolical expressions. All the ancient forms of tyranny were represented by monstrous forms, living animals; and here we have “the piercing serpent,” and “that crooked serpent:” what is the meaning of that? The meaning relates to the rush of the aggressive Tigris; and the crooked serpent relates to the sinuous movement of the Euphrates; and God says he will lay his lightning-sword upon both the rivers and cut them in twain. The whole reference is to aggressive war, serpent-like policy; and whether it be the Tigris with all its rush, or the Euphrates with all its gliding movement, God shall cut the rivers in two: all controversial policies, self-seeking designs, all cunning diplomacy, all the infernal cleverness of men who use language to conceal their thoughts: God’s lightning flash shall cut them and their policies in twain; he will “frustrate their knavish tricks;” he will “confound their politics;” he will send them home bleeding at every pore, and sad at heart that they ever attempted the ill-paying game of lying. Thus the Lord is in what we may term the greater providences namely, the providences that relate to empires, nationalities, dynasties, thrones; as well as in the more limited providences that number the hairs of our head, that watch over us lest our steps should slide, or lest at any moment we should dash our foot against a stone. All things are little to God: all things are equally great to him: there can be no relation between the finite and the infinite; how vast soever the finite, it is only a vastness of littleness, an attempt to touch the intangible. So all things are God’s. “In that day” a song shall be sung about “a vineyard of red wine.” The judgment will hardly have taken off its clouds until those who were afflicted shall begin to sing of the goodness of God. Is it not so in practical life? Of what is life made up? Of tragedy, comedy; suffering, laughter; old age, and fresh childhood; trees gnarled and withered, and flowers that seem to have been dropped from heaven rather than to have come out of the cold earth. God will have a hymn sung, and he himself will dictate the words
“I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together” ( Isa 27:3-4 ).
“Let him take hold of my strength.” The captive fleeing away from his pursuers made straight for the altar, and if he could seize the horns of the altar in the sacred house he was safe. This is the image of the verse “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.” Flee to the sanctuary, flee to the altar; lay hold of righteousness and truth, for the very action of laying hold of righteousness and truth is an action which means confession, humiliation, penitence, trust in God, and renunciation of self. That ought to be the meaning of all church-going. To see a man hastening to his accustomed place of worship or some other hospitable sanctuary, should mean he is fleeing from pursuit, he is conscious of sin, he feels the heart’s deepest necessity, he is going to the fountain for water, he is going to his father’s house for bread. Is that the meaning of church-going? Were it so, the Sabbath would double its golden hours, and we should feel that seated within God’s house we were homed within an impenetrable rock, our security complete, and our vision of heaven without a cloud.
What has been God’s purpose in all this? growth. He has always meant by his pruning, and his great wind, and his terrible judgments, to increase the growing power of life. “In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it” ( Isa 27:8 ). When it shooteth forth, he will prepare the way for its expansion; lie will so use his winds that growth shall be facilitated. He always means us to grow, to bring forth fruit. Herein is mercy, that whatever else has been taken away from us, growth-power has not been withdrawn. There lives not a man who may not this very moment begin to grow a better self, a nobler nature, a diviner humanity. Very much has gone: youthful enthusiasm has vanished, old resolutions have been forgotten, many a faculty has fallen into desuetude, but still there is power to sigh, to look, to put out, how feebly soever, a hand heavenward, though it can hold itself up but for one moment. The meaning of this is that we may even yet become fruitful; we may grow, we may reach a nobler humanity. This being so, the Gospel is a word of comfort, stimulus, encouragement. What sweeter word is there than this “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench”? The reed is bruised, and it is difficult to get any music through it: there is not only a rift in the lute, but the reed itself is broken, and the player can perform but brokenly on such an instrument. But God will not break it. An impatient man would take it, and dash it on the ground, and ask for some better reed through which he might pour his music. God says, This can be amended, this reed need not be thrust away, not one child need be cast out as worthless, hopeless. God will not break the bruised reed. He will not quench the smoking flax. He might put his foot upon it and turn it to blackness, but he takes it up, shakes it that is the idea shakes it gently, like a torch that will not bear much movement, and then the fire begins to be fed by the shaking in the air, and now it begins to spread, and the shaking proceeds, until the whole is recovered. That is God’s meaning in all his providences with us to repair us, reconstruct us, renew us, make us new creatures, and bring us through many a rough wind and many an east wind and many a graveyard, to perfectness, to nobler stature, to valour of spirit, to pureness of communion. Who will yield himself to this noble ministration? Let the prayer be Great God of the winds, thou who hast the lightning flash in thine hand like a sword, thou who dost search men in rein and heart and innermost motive, do not let me fall out of thine hands or escape the ministry of thy love! Do what thou wilt with me, only at last may I take part in the sweet hymn with which angels praise thee, and with which the sons of men shall in immortal song celebrate thy redeeming power!
Prayer
Almighty God, do thou deliver us from all false trusts, and lead us to repose our confidence in thee alone. We have gone astray from thy sanctuary. We have committed two evils: we have forsaken thee, the fountain of living waters, and we have hewn out unto ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. We own it all; we are ashamed of it from beginning to end; we have returned, by thy grace, revealed in Christ Jesus the world’s one Saviour, to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. Thou hast received us with open arms; thou hast fallen upon our neck, and kissed us, and clothed us, and given us the ornaments of heaven; and behold thou hast filled our life with all joy and sense of triumph. May we never stray any more; may we be like little children at home, asking God’s will, anxious to do that will whatever it may be; and may our whole life be swallowed up of God, so that whatsoever be its service its reward shall be present and large. We rejoice that thou didst promise to the ancient church a king who should reign in righteousness: we have seen the true Hezekiah, we have come to live under the government of Immanuel, God with us. He is the King of grace; he is the King of glory: we will have this man to reign over us; we will not be the subjects of any other crown, we will live under the throne and sceptre of Christ. Mighty One, strong enough to bear the Cross for the sins of the world, rule us, dwell in us, make us like thyself, according to our degree, so that we too may be pure, may be sons of God, may be in the image and likeness of the Eternal. To this end continue to abide with us; break our bread at eventide, be our bright and morning star, be thou our midday glory. O Jesus, sweet Jesus, Christ of God, dwell with us, then we shall not be tempted to go elsewhere for succour and defence and gladness; thou wilt be all in all to us, and we shall know that thy riches are unsearchable, and thy wisdom past finding out, and that thou hast all things for the growing capacities of men. We rejoice that we love thee in some degree: but we would love thee wholly; we would that there were no rival affection, but that thou mightest sit upon the throne of our heart as with undisputed right. If we pray for this, surely this will be accomplished, not today, nor tomorrow, but little by little, like a growing light, until the morning is lost in noontide. Hear us when we pray and when we praise; and may the end of all our education here be large wisdom, radiant holiness, and preparation for that lofty company to be found in the celestial city, white-robed, with palms in their hands, singing eternally, doing all thy will with a glad heart and an unwearying energy. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXVII
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.
Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.
In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.
In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.
In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.
The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.
In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.
In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.
In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.
In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).
The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7
In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:
1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.
2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.
3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .
In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.
In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.
The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.
In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”
Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .
The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”
So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?
In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”
The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”
The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23
QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?
2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?
3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?
4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?
5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?
6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?
7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?
8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?
9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?
10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?
11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?
12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?
14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?
15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?
16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?
17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?
18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?
19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?
20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?
21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?
22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?
23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?
24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?
25. Where is the great invitation and promise?
26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?
27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?
28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?
29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?
30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?
31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XV
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 7
Isaiah 24-27
This section (Isaiah 24-27) is called, in our outline of the book of Isaiah, “The First Book of Judgment.” In this section we emerge out of the prophecies relating to the typical forms of national life, as in the preceding section, into others of a broader character, which concern the world at large. In this we have the deluge of divine justice taking in the whole world. The central people, Israel, first, and then all the surrounding people have been laid low, and the silence of death reigns. Yet in the remote parts of the earth songs arise, songs of hope of the future glory of Jehovah, the king, as he swallows up death forever, so that they who dwell in the dust, awake, arise, to live forever. Israel’s recovery is as life from the dead, to the surrounding nations. In Isa 24 we have a deep elegiac tone, but in Isaiah 25-27 we have the sound of the triumphant songs of the righteous. Of this section Sampey says, “Whatever may be the historical setting and exact fulfilment of these chapters, like the book of Revelation, they contain many magnificent pictures and glorious promises, and a sense of the divine presence that make them of permanent value.”
The chapters constitute the divisions of this section. Isa 24 is a picture of the terrible judgments to come. Isa 25 sounds out the glorious triumph of Jehovah over sin and death. Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah for Jehovah’s defense of Zion, the overthrow of the proud city and the deliverance of his people. Isa 27 is the pronouncement of Judgment against the oppressor on behalf of Israel. To sum up, we have (1) World-Judgments, (2) A Song of Triumph, (3) A Song of Praise, and (4) Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel.
The broad sweep of this section reminds us of the prophecy of Joel. Man’s sin has infected the whole earth, therefore, the punishment must include the whole world and its inhabitants.
There is a word of frequent occurrence in this section. It is the Hebrew word for “earth,” here translated “land” in some instances. There is some difficulty in deciding just how it should be translated: whether it should be translated “land” or “earth” uniformly, or whether the translation should vary. Some passages seem to favor the use of the word, “land,” and others the word “earth.” Dr. Day in the “Bible Commentary” says, “The truth appears to be this: The land of Israel was a miniature of the world. Its recovery from the moral pollution of the idolatrous races was a historical prelude of a like recovery of our earth.”
The temple congregation was a type of the New Testament church, which in turn is a type of the “glory church,” and the visible king, a type of the “king of all the earth.” In Israel was the germ of blessing for all nations. Consequently, if Israel’s light was eclipsed, the whole world was darkened. When Israel languished under a curse, the “everlasting covenant” appeared to be annulled, or at least suspended. So in the use of this word Isaiah seems to comprehend the whole earth as involved in Israel’s mission. If the land of Israel was doomed to desolation, then the whole earth became “waste and void.” (Cf. Jer 4:23 .)
In Isa 24:1-12 we have (1) a universal catastrophe in which there is a complete emptying of the earth and equalizing of its inhabitants; (2) the causes of it, which are the transgression of the laws, the violation of the statutes and the breaking of the everlasting covenant; (3) the manifestations of it in sadness and gloom, everywhere, all means of joy perverted and desolation on every hand; (4) the promise of the remnant, which is compared to the gleaning after harvest.
Now this question arises: What the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ? The laws, statutes, and covenant, referred to in this passage seem to antedate the Mosaic law and to include the laws, statutes, and covenant which were in the very constitution of things. Law, in its last analysis, is the intent or purpose of the Creator with respect to the thing created. So the law of man is God’s purpose for man in his very being. There were statutes for man expressed in the history and covenants prior to the Mosaic code. There was God’s covenant with Adam for the whole race, renewed in Noah and particularized in Abraham. It was an everlasting covenant, comprehending the redemption of a lost race. So the world here is presented as violating every vestige of law which it had received to this time.
We have in Isa 24:14-20 the songs of the remnant in many parts of the world and especially from the sea, i.e., the Mediterranean Sea, and its isles, but these songs are ineffective in view of the awful distress upon the earth, which represents a mighty upheaval to come, before Jehovah, through the remnant, shall become the recognized, universal king. The reference here to the sea and its isles corresponds to the fact that it was on the Mediterranean coasts that the first Christian churches arose, whose songs have been drowned many a time by the din of war.
In Isa 24:21-23 we have a picture of Jehovah’s overthrow of the kings of the earth and his own glorious reign in Mount Zion, and is clearly a reference to the great conflict which will immediately precede the millennium. The kings of the earth shall be engaged in one mighty struggle after which the Messiah will be received by the Jews and then will be ushered in the great reign of our Lord through the converted Jews who become the flaming evangels of the world. This glorious period we have presented again in the closing part of the book, in the prophet Zechariah and in other parts of the Old and New Testaments. The title of Isa 25 is “A Song of Triumph” and it is vitally related to the preceding chapter as an effect is related to a cause. The prophet in the closing part of Isa 24 proclaims the final establishment of the kingdom in the heavenly Zion and now he is carried away by the sense of exultant gladness into a triumphant song of which this chapter is the expression.
This chapter divides itself into three parts: (1) a thanksgiving for deliverance (Isa 25:1-5 ) ; (2) a commemoration of blessings granted (Isa 24:6-8 ) ; (3) an exultation in the security obtained (Isa 25:9-12 ).
Isaiah seems to get his pattern for this song from the “Song of Moses” (Exo 15 ) which contains many of the phrases in Isaiah’s song here.
The word “city” in Isa 25:2 is here used distributively and does not point to any particular city. The prophet is referring to all those cities which have been the enemies of Jehovah. The words “palace” and “strangers” are used in the same way.
The blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah are to be celebrated by a feast of fat things. This idea is presented in many other scriptures, as in the case of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and the picture which our Lord gave, thus: “They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in my kingdom.”
Then what the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ? This is the glass through which Paul says we see darkly. It includes the Jewish veil of Judicial blindness and the veil of prejudice and misconception of all people in their natural state. Blessed time, when it shall be removed and we shall see face to face. The swallowing up of death here makes us think of Hosea’s prophecy: “I will redeem them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Otherwise, this is the first clear announcement of the resurrection, and it was a marked advance on the dim light respecting the future, as realized by God’s people hitherto. This puts us alongside of Paul, and the wiping away of tears, etc., places us with John on Patmos where he saw Paradise regained and the glorious bride adorned for her husband. A glorious outlook, yet to be realized. The exultation expressed here is an exultation in the salvation of Jehovah, with the complete destruction of Moab.
But who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance? Moab ‘is used symbolically to represent the degradation of Zion’s remaining enemies. The following are some of the reasons why Moab may have been chosen:
1. Moab sought to bring a curse on Israel by the help of Balaam’s sorceries, and although these were ineffectual, yet the artifice suggested by Balaam of seducing Israel by means of the licentious rites of Peor, did bring heavy chastisement upon the people. Moab stood at the entrance of Canaan to prevent Israel, if possible, from entering upon its inheritance, and thus it acted the very part of the serpent’s seed.
2. The mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea, rise up as if in rivalry with those of Judah) from which they are separated by the Dead Sea. So between Moab and Zion was “a great gulf fixed,” like that fixed by divine judgment between Abraham and Dives.
3. Moab, the child of Lot, the offspring of a dark deed of unconsciousness superinduced by intoxication, stands as the mystical representative of the corrupted and sensual world. Now the theme of Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah. In the preceding song the prophet poured forth his own thankfulness for the prospect of Zion’s glorious redemption and triumph, but in this he represents the redeemed themselves in the glorified state singing praise to God for the same.
The purpose of this prophetic revelation was strictly practical. It was for the comfort and admonition of that existing generation. In every age the people of God must have the characteristic of patient faith and upright obedience, which is very greatly expanded in the progress of divine revelation.
A synopsis of this chapter is as follows:
1. The New Jerusalem versus the Old, Isa 26:1-7 .
2. The desire of the righteous is for Jehovah versus the perverseness of the wicked, Isa 26:8-10 .
3. The prosperity of Jehovah’s people versus the destruction of their enemies, Isa 26:11-15 .
4. Israel’s barrenness versus her hope in the resurrection, Isa 26:16-19 .
5. An exhortation to Israel to hide till Jehovah’s indignation be past, Isa 26:20-21 .
The points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 are:
1. The two cities mentioned in this paragraph are set over against each other. The first is the New Jerusalem which is abundantly described by John in Rev 21 , while the second is the Old Jerusalem which is here ‘represented as laid waste, trodden under foot as we see her today.
2. The expression of and exhortation to implicit faith in Jehovah as an object of peace and confidence is characteristic of Isaiah. From Isa 26:4 , I preached a sermon once on the theme, “The Rock of Ages,” combining with this text Psa 61:2 , “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” This is the outline followed:
1. The Foundation (1Pe 2:6 ; Isa 28:17 )
2. The Shadow (Isa 32:2 )
3. The Fortress (Psa 18:2 )
4. The Water (1Co 10:1-4 )
5. The Cleft (Exo 33:21-23 )
6. The Rock of Ages: (a) everlasting to me; (b) everlasting for all of every age.
7. Trust in the Lord forever, for he is a “forever [everlasting] rock.”
3. A suggested translation of Isa 26:3-4 is the following: “A mind (imagination) stayed (on thee) thou keepest in perfect peace; because in thee it trusts (is confident). Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for Jehovah is an everlasting rock.” A poet has beautifully expressed this lofty idea thus: As some toll cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, The round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
The passage (Isa 26:8-10 ) expresses the longing of the righteous for the display of Jehovah’s judgment against the wicked and corresponds to the New Testament teaching that God’s people are to leave vengeance to him and await God’s own time for its display. To this end we have the parable of the unjust judge, and the cry by the martyrs under the altar, “How long, Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” is an expression of this same desire.
In Isa 26:19 is the expression of Israel’s faith in God’s promise, a foundation stone of the doctrine of the resurrection. It certainly suggests a resurrection of individuals, and not merely a return of material prosperity, as in Hos 6:2 ; Eze 37 ; Dan 12:2 .
The lesson of Isa 26:20-21 is distinctly a call to prayer and patient waiting on God. The opening of the door of the prayer chamber in times of distress is the opening of a door into another world, a scene of serenity and elevation. In the presence of him who seeth in secret are the most difficult problems solved. That which opposes us is overcome by the new energy of the Spirit here imparted. Let us here listen to the poet Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream Of glory on the consecrated hour Of man in audience with Deity; Who worships the great God, that instant joins, The first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell.
The title of Isa 27 is “Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel” and the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter are as follows:
1. A triple vengeance on the oppressors of Israel and the protection of Jehovah’s vineyard (Isa 27:1-6 ).
2. Jehovah’s dealing with Jacob a chastisement instead of vengeance, and for the purpose of his purification (Isa 27:7-11 ).
3. The homecoming of the exiles (Isa 27:12-13 ).
The meaning of the oft-recurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter, is significant. This expression here refers to the time of God’s vengeance heretofore described, when God is visiting the enemies of his kingdom in vengeance, as stated in Isa 26:21 . There is evidently a variation in the time referred to in the different instances of its use, since all the prophecies of the chapter do not refer to the same period of time. So each instance of its use will have to be determined by the context, just as in its use in other scriptures.
The meaning of “Leviathan” in verse I is a very difficult question to answer. Some deny the possibility of identification of the powers represented by these symbols; others identify them as three world powers: Leviathan, the swift serpent; Leviathan, the crooked serpent; and “the dragon of the sea,” making the first refer to Assyria, the second to Babylon, and the third, to Egypt. There seem to be points of identification sufficient for such an explanation, as the swift serpent, referring to Assyria with its long, swift Tigris; the crooked serpent, referring to Babylon with its winding Euphrates; and the dragon, referring to Egypt, the land of darkness, for which the dragon stands.
There is a sharp contrast in Isa 27:1-6 between God’s dealings with Leviathan, the enemies of the kingdom, and his dealing with Jacob. The one shall be punished into destruction and the other shall take root, blossom, and bud. The passage (Isa 27:2-6 ) is a companion picture of Isa 5:1-7 , a joy song set over against a dirge. Both vineyards refer to God’s people, the former to Israel nominally, the latter to Israel really. This is the holy remnant spoken of so often in Isaiah, but now flourishing and prosperous.
The contrast in Isa 27:7-11 is a contrast in the purpose and extent of punishment upon Judah and Israel and the enemies of Judah and Israel. In the one case it was to be without measure, but in the other it was “in measure”; or without restraint in the one case, the purpose was purely punitive, while in the other it was to purify by chastisement.
There is an important lesson of Isa 27:9 which is a lesson on the conditions of forgiveness. These chastisements of Jacob were looking to his repentance. Jehovah was looking for the fruits of repentance, viz: the putting away of sin and idolatry. The child’s verse is, after all the best theology and practical godliness: Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve By doing so no more.
The prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 is a prophecy of the homecoming of God’s scattered people. As a fruit gatherer Jehovah will gather them from the Euphrates to Egypt. He will give the signal of the trumpet and they shall be gathered from the remote countries of Assyria and Egypt. This prophecy had a partial fulfilment in the return of the Jews after the captivity but in this return they did not come mainly from Assyria and Egypt. There was a larger fulfilment in the gospel trumpet sounded on the day of Pentecost which was heard and heeded by representatives from these countries here mentioned, but the complete fulfilment of this prophecy is doubtless, to be realized when the signal of our Lord shall call these scattered Jews from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, and thus assembled in their own land the veil that has so long bedimmed their eyes shall fall from their faces and they shall behold, by faith, him whom they have pierced. Then shall come the blessed time when “they shall worship Jehovah in his holy mountain at Jerusalem,” a glorious anticipation.
QUESTIONS
1. What is Isaiah 24-27 called in our outline of the book of Isaiah?
2. Give a brief introductory statement of this section, showing its nature in the light of the preceding section.
3. What is the outline of the section
4. The broad sweep of this section reminds us of what other prophecy?
5. What word is of frequent occurrence in this section, what its meaning, and what the significance of its use here?
6. What are the contents of Isa 24:1-13 , and what their interpretation?
7. What are the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ?
8. What the contents and interpretation of Isa 24:14-20 ?
9. What is the picture in Isa 24:21-23 ?
10. What is the title of Isa 25 and what the relation of this chapter to the preceding one?
11. Give a brief analysis of this chapter.
12. Where does Isaiah seem to get his pattern for this song and what the proof?
13. What city is referred to in Isa 25:2 ?
14. How are the blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah to bo celebrated?
15. What the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ?
16. What announcement here as to the resurrection and further blessedness?
17. How is the exultation expressed?
18. Who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance?
19. What is the theme of Isa 26 ?
20. What is the character of this son in contrast with the preceding one?
21. What is the purpose of this prophetic revelation?
22. Give a synopsis of this chapter.
23. What are the points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 ?
24. What is expressed in Isa 26:8-10 ?
25. What is suggested by Isa 26:19 ?
26. What is the lesson of Isa 26:20-21 ?
27. What is the title of Isa 27 ?
28. What are the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter?
29. What is the meaning of the oft-occurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter?
30. What is the meaning of “Leviathan” in Isa 27:1 ?
31. What is the contrast in Isa 27:1-6 ?
32. What is the contrast in Isa 27:7-11 ?
33. What is the important lesson of Isa 27:9 ?
34. What is the prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 and when the complete fulfilment of it?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Isa 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.
Ver. 1. In that day. ] The day of God’s great assize, and of execution to be done on the enemy and the avenger. Isa 26:21 Now we know how well people are pleased when princes do justice upon great offenders.
The Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword.
And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
a Jun.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah Chapter 27
This is the closing portion of the series that has been occupying us. It is “in that day,” while Isa 28 manifestly introduces a new part of the prophecy.
The great crisis is arrived. Not only does Jehovah come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth is compelled to disclose her deeds of blood, and her slain shall be covered no more; but there are yet greater things. For “in that day Jehovah with his sore and great and strong sword will visit leviathan, the piercing serpent (or, fugitive), and leviathan, the crooked serpent; and he will slay the dragon (or, monster) that is in the sea” (v. 1).* It is the execution of divine judgement on the power of Satan, figuratively set forth under forms suited to describe his hostility as at work against Israel among the Gentiles. “The day of Jehovah” takes in not only the thousand years of peaceful reign, but a little more.
*Delitzch suggests a reference to the Assyrian and Babylonian powers, answering to the swift and straight river Hiddekel, and the very winding Euphrates respectively. But the serpent in either form points to the subtle foe behind the scene.
Thence the Spirit turns to Jehovah’s ways with His own. “In that day [shall be] a vineyard of pure wine; sing concerning it: I Jehovah keep it; I will water it every moment: lest [any] harm it, I will keep it night and day” (vv. 2, 3). His care never failed, whatever the times that passed over His land and people. When earth comes once more into His view, and consequently Israel, His watchful goodness will prove itself unremitting on their behalf. “Fury [is] not in me. Oh that I had briars [and] thorns against me in battle! I would march through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength; let him make peace with me, peace let him make with me” (vv. 4, 5). There seems not a little obscurity in the language, if one may judge from the discrepancies of expositors, and the difficulty of suggesting such a sense as carries the unbiased along with it. But assuming that the substantial force is given in the English Bible, Jehovah on the one hand challenges the adversaries and warns of their sure destruction; on the other He proffers His own protection as the only door of peace and safety. The next verse is transparent, “In future Jacob shall take root; Israel shall bud and blossom, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (v. 6). Such is the purpose of Jehovah, and it shall stand.
It was not only purpose, however: there was patient and persevering discipline in His ways with Israel. “Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? [or] is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, in sending her away, didst thou contend (or, wilt debate) with her? He hath removed [her] with his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this [is] all the fruit of taking away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in pieces – the Asherahs and the sun images shall not stand. For the fortified city [is] solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume its boughs. When its branches are withered, they shall be broken off: women come [and] set them on fire. For it [is] a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and ho that formed them will show them no favour” (vv. 7-11). Thus, there was indeed a mighty difference in God’s ways with Israel and their enemies. Faithfully did He chastise them in their pride, and rebelliousness, and unbelief; but it was not with the unsparing judgement which uprooted and destroyed His and their foes. There was slaughter too; but what was it in comparison of those that are destined to be slain before the day of restitution arrives? In Israel’s case judgement was tempered with mercy; His dealing was measured. In His debate or controversy with Israel He deigned to plead; and even when the sorest trial came, there was a gracious mitigation and arrest in His people’s favour; and not this only, but also moral profit, when every trace of idolatry should be ground like chalkstones to powder. They must not be surprised, then, if in such mighty changes the works of the men of the earth passed away, the defended city was desolated, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness only relieved by pasturage for the calf, and by withered, broken firewood for women to come and set on fire; for oh! the folly of the people and the ruin they bring justly, necessarily, on themselves.
Yet here, as elsewhere, great tribulation is the immediate precursor of a greater deliverance. “And it shall come to pass in that day [that] Jehovah shall beat off from the flood of the river unto the torrent of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O children of Israel” (v. 12). The Judge of all the earth must do right; but He will interpose in saving and sovereign mercy. He will sift out and gather the Israelites one by one. Nay more, “And it shall come to pass in that day [that] the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come that were perishing in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem” (v. 13). Those who have accompanied me thus far will have no trouble or doubt in determining the true application. It is the trumpet of Mat 24:31 , not of 1Th 4:16 and 1Co 15:52 . The latter scriptures refer to the divine summons to the heavenly saints; our chapter, as well as the passage in the first Gospel, describes the call to Israel to re assemble, from north and south, to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem.
It may be noticed that as Isa 26 was occupied with Judah and its land, however deep it might go, our chapter which deals with the crushing of Satan’s power in various forms goes on to Israel; and this throughout, so as to prove it is not casual.
“We know not” (justly said the eloquent H. Melvill) “with what eyes those men can read Prophecy, who discover not in its announcements the final restoration and conversion of the Jews. It is useless to resolve into figurative language, or to explain, by a purely spiritual [rather, mystical] interpretation, predictions which seem to assert the reinstatement of the exiles in the land of their fathers, and their becoming the chief preachers of the religion which they have so long laboured to bring into contempt. These predictions are inseparably bound up with others, which refer to their dispersion and unbelief; so that if you spiritualize [or, allegorise] any one, you must spiritualise the whole. And since every word has had a literal accomplishment, so far as the dispersion and unbelief are concerned, how can we doubt that every word will have also a literal accomplishment, so far as the restoration and conversion are concerned? If the event had proved the predicted dispersion to be figurative, the event in all probability would prove also the predicted restoration to be figurative. But so long as we find the two foretold in the same sentence, with no intimation that we are not to apply to both the same rule of interpretation we seem bound to expect, either in both cases a literal fulfilment or in both a spiritual; and since in the one instance the fulfilment has been undoubtedly literal, have we not every reason for concluding that it will be literal in the other?”
(Sermon on the Dispersion and Conversion of the Jews, 131, 132 preached at Cambridge in February, 1837)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 27:1
1In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
Isa 27:1 In that day See note at Isa 2:11.
Leviathan the fleeing serpent Leviathan (BDB 531) seems to be a Ugaritic mythological sea animal (i.e., Job 41:19-21) mentioned in Job 3:8; Psa 104:26; Amo 9:3. However, sometimes it is used as a symbol for an evil nation (cf. Psa 74:13-14, possibly Egypt). It resembles a river snaking through their land. Sometimes this term is linked specifically to Rahab, which is a way of referring to Egypt (cf. Psa 87:4; Psa 89:9-10; and Isa 30:7). It seems to me that, in context, we are talking about a river symbolizing a national enemy, either Egypt or Assyria (cf. Isa 27:12). The reason this term can be used symbolically so easily is that it was previously used in some of the mythological literature of Canaan (cf. Psa 74:12-17; see G. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, pp. 239-240).
There is a parallelism between
1. the fleeing serpent (BDB 638 I) or sea monster (NASB footnote)
2. the twisted sea monster
3. the dragon who lives in the sea
This same allusion is found in (1) Ugaritic poems and (2) Isa 51:9, using Rahab, who is also identified by the term dragon (BDB 1072).
The only apparent connection between this verse and the context is Isa 27:11-12.
1. YHWH as creator, Isa 27:11
2. flowing streams of the Euphrates and the brook of Egypt in Isa 27:12
3. the end of time is like the beginning of time (i.e., Genesis 1-2; Revelation 21-22)
Apparently Isaiah is a compilation of his writings over many years and compiled on the basis of word plays or themes, not history.
dragon This term (BDB 1072) means
1. serpent, Exo 7:9-10; Exo 7:12; Deu 32:33; Psa 91:13
2. dragon, Neh 2:13; Jer 51:34
3. sea/river monster, Gen 1:21; Job 7:12; Psa 74:13; Psa 148:7. It is parallel to Leviathan (cf. Psa 74:13-14). It is used as a metaphor for Egypt in Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9-10; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2.
The two great river systems of the Ancient Near East were the cradles of civilization (i.e., the Nile and the Tigris/Euphrates).
Tanin (BDB 1072) is parallel with
1. Leviathan, Psa 74:13-14; Isa 27:1
2. Rahab, Isa 51:9
3. Bashan, Psa 68:22; Amo 9:3 (cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 87)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
In that day: i.e. the period of judgment foretold in Isa 26:21.
leviathan. Three great aquatic animals are here mentioned: probably referring to Israel’s three great enemies: Assyria (with Nineveh, on the Tigris); Babylon (on the Euphrates); and Egypt (on the Nile); with Satan himself behind them all, as their great instigator.
piercing = fleeing, or fugitive (like the Tigris). crooked tortuous (like the winding Euphrates).
dragon = the crocodile of the Nile.
sea = the Nile, as in Isa 19:5. Nah 3:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 27:
In that day ( Isa 27:1 )
Now what day? In the day in which God is bringing the Great Tribulation upon the earth.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent ( Isa 27:1 );
So Satan.
and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea ( Isa 27:1 ).
You saw the beast coming out of the sea in Revelation having ten horns and so forth and with a mouth of a dragon, the antichrist, Satan, the power of darkness.
In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine ( Isa 27:2 ).
Chapter 27 really goes back with those of twenty-six. “Now in that day sing unto her,” that is, to Israel, “a vineyard of red wine.”
I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together ( Isa 27:3-4 ).
You can’t put a barbed wire to keep God out.
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit ( Isa 27:5-6 ).
Now here is just a neat little prophecy tucked in God’s statement of how He’s going to again bless the nation Israel. How He again is going to make them His vineyard. It’s quite a contrast with chapter 5 where God speaks out the woes against His vineyard. How He had taken care of the vineyard and all but it didn’t bring forth fruit. Brought forth just wild grapes, and so He let the vineyard go. Now God says the day is coming when He’s going to take again His vineyard and watch over it and keep it and water it and dress it. And, “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
Already we are seeing this prophecy fulfilled. Israel is blossoming and budding and filling the earth with fruit. Israel is the fourth largest exporter of fruit of any nation in the world. United States leads in the exporting of fruit. But Israel is the third largest fruit-exporting nation in the world. And yet it is smaller than the state of California. But not only has Israel gone into the exporting of fruit, all over Europe. Actually, there are these jumbo jets that are flying out of Tel Aviv every night to the major cities of Europe taking fruit and taking flowers.
In the wintertime you can buy fresh flowers in the flower shops throughout all of Europe. Where do they come from? They come from Israel. They grow the flowers year-round down in the Jordan Valley and they ship them out overnight on these jumbo jets to the markets of Europe. And the same with the fruit. You buy the oranges and the fruit from Israel in the markets of Europe. It is blossoming. It is budding, filling the earth with fruit and also with flowers. The interesting blossoming bud.
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof ( Isa 27:7-10 ).
In other words, the bareness that would happen to the nation Israel, which did happen. The cities were destroyed and the land was a wilderness for so long.
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for the people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor. But it shall come to pass ( Isa 27:11-12 )
They went through this barren wilderness.
But 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 ( Isa 27:12-13 ).
God’s regathering of His people back into the land. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Isa 27:1. In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, That is to say, he will punish those who are like leviathan; the proudest, the greatest, and the most powerful sinners shall not escape divine justice.
Gods laws are not, like cobwebs, meant to catch the little flies while the great ones break through, but he will strike leviathan, he will surely punish the mightiest sinners of the earth.
Isa 27:1. Even leviathan that crooked serpent;
Hard to come at, difficult to find, he shall not escape the sword of the Lord.
Isa 27:1. And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
If men should try to hide from God in hell itself, yet would he find them out; there is no possibility that any offender shall escape his all-seeing eye.
Isa 27:2-3. In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
Thus the Lord reveals the tenderness of his love to his Church. Then follows a remarkable passage in which, it seems to me, we have the plan of salvation plainly set out. First, here is man at enmity with his Maker.
Isa 27:4. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
Men who are at enmity with God little know how terrific is the force of his strength. They are like dry thorns when the fire catches them, and nothing burns more readily. The bush upon the common, when some wild youth sets light to it, suddenly blazes up, crackles, and is gone; so will it be with the ungodly. God has but to go through them, and they shall be destroyed. But now comes a message of mercy.
Isa 27:5. Or let him take hold of my strength,
This is what the repenting and believing sinner does, he lays hold of Christ, he takes the strength of God to be his defense, and then the strong God, instead of being a terror, becomes a comfort to him.
Isa 27:5-6. That he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:
Taking root should be well looked after by the Christian. Some professors have no root; they are all leaf and flower, but they have no root, and consequently they soon wither and die. Happy is that man who is rooted and grounded in the faith!
Isa 27:6-7. Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?
No; God smites his people, but he never smites them as he does their enemies. He smites his people, as old Trapp says, with the palm of his hand, as a man may smite his child; but he smites his enemies with his fist, as one would dash his foe to the ground. There is a great difference between the chastisements of Gods people and the righteous judgments that fall upon the wicked.
Isa 27:7-8. Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it:
God always chasteneth his people in measure; he makes a debate about it; he weighs their troubles in scales, and their sorrows in balances.
Isa 27:8. He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
He never sends too many troubles at a time; if the east wind is blowing, he does not send his rough wind. We have much to thank God for, that he times our troubles, had they come an hour before, they might have been too much for us; had they been kept back a week longer, they might have overthrown us. God knoweth when to chasten his people, and he will always chasten them at the right time.
Isa 27:9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
When one of the old Puritans was afflicted with a very painful disease, perhaps the most painful to which flesh is heir, he kept crying out, The use, Lord? The use, Lord? Show me the use of it. This should be the point at which the Christian should always aim.
Isa 27:9. When he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
You see, the Israelites had piled up stones, and held them in veneration, but when God brought them back to himself, they counted those stones to be but as common chalkstones of the valley. It is a good thing for us when our sins bring us no pleasure, when they are only like common stones of the street. When we break our images, and dash down our idol-gods, we show that we prize them no longer. The Lord make this to be the issue of all our trials! Then will we bless him for our troubles so for our chief mercies.
This exposition consisted of readings from Isa 26:20-21; and Isa 27:1-9.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 27:1
Isa 27:1
MORE ON THE FINAL JUDGMENT
As Jamieson noted, “This chapter is a continuation of Isaiah 24; Isaiah 25; and Isaiah 26, and therefore a conclusion of Division III, all four of these chapters dealing with the eternal judgment.
The outstanding and most challenging thing in the chapter is the very first verse where it is revealed that “in that day” Almighty God will take his terrible sword and slay the principal three enemies of God. The day when that will occur is the final judgment. The scholars like to talk about mythical creatures called Leviathan; and it seems to be certain enough that the three terrible dragons suggested by this passage constituted a part of the mythology of the ancient world; “But it is equally clear that Isaiah is here using these names metaphorically, to describe historical enemies of God.
We are able absolutely to identify these three terrible enemies because of the Revelation to the Apostle John, the last half of which (with the exception of the last two chapters) introduces those three terrible enemies one at a time, and then, in the reverse order, describes the final and total overthrow of each one of them. Thus (1) The great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns was the first introduced and the last to be destroyed.
Rev 12:9 identifies that “Great Red Dragon” as “The old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.”
(2) The second of God’s three greatest enemies was the sea-monster, the terrible enemy of God appearing here (Revelation 13) in the very image of the Devil himself, having “seven heads and ten horns.” This creature came up out of the sea and in Revelation is called “the beast,” that is the “sea beast” who worshipped the Devil; and the Devil gave his power, his throne, and his authority to the sea beast (Rev 13:2-8).
(3) The third great enemy of God and of all mankind who was introduced in the Apocalypse of John was also a beast, “coming up out of the earth” (Rev 13:11); but his horns like a lamb, along with his lying miracles, identify him as a religious beast, referred to subsequently in the Apocalypse as “the false prophet.” As someone said, “He was the land-beast, the dirty one!” His utility, however, was exactly that of the sea-beast; he caused all men to worship the sea-beast, and both of them were effective allies of the Devil.
Now it is not difficult to see the correspondence between these three enemies and the three terrible creatures appearing here in Isa 27:1. Oddly enough, these three great enemies appear here in the same order that their destruction is prophesied in Revelation. The use of the name “serpent” for the first two (the swift serpent and the crooked serpent) refers to the “beast” and the “false prophet” in Revelation; and the use of “dragon” (KJV), one of the specific names of the Devil himself (Rev 12:9), refers to Satan.
One of the most exciting and interesting things in all the Bible is the apocalyptic account of the destruction of these same three enemies, in the reverse order of their introduction. Thus (1) the false prophet (false religion) was destroyed in Revelation 17-18; (2) the sea-beast (apostate government hostile to God) was destroyed in Isaiah 19; and (3) the Devil himself was destroyed in Isaiah 20. How were they all destroyed? By being cast into the lake of fire. They were not destroyed separately but all alike simultaneously were cast into hell. The horrible meaning of this is that hostile human government, apostate religion, and the operations of Satan shall continue until the end of time.
Isa 27:1
Thus we find right here in Isa 27:1 what might serve as the topic sentence of the last half of the Book of Revelation!. It is not necessary to suppose that Isaiah himself had any inkling of the full meaning of what God revealed in this verse through Isaiah.
“In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the swift serpent, and Leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.”
Note that there are three descriptions of God’s sword: hard and great and strong. Of course, men know almost nothing about the “sword” of God; but one does not proceed very far in the Bible until it is encountered. Cheyne identified it with the “turning sword by the cherubim, which God placed eastward in the Garden of Eden “to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). It is of interest that sea-monster in our version is rendered “dragon” in the KJV and that this is one of the names of Satan (Rev 12:9).
The mythological background of these great enemies points to the sea, or the Nile river (the same being called the `sea’ frequently in scripture) and to two other great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Dummelow pointed out that:
“The powers hostile to God’s people are here symbolically represented as monsters. Leviathan the swift serpent perhaps stands for Assyria, watered by the rapid Tigris, and Leviathan the crooked serpent stands for Babylon, whose river was the winding Euphrates. The dragon (sea-monster) or crocodile stands for Egypt as in Isa 51:9.
Cheyne agreed with this, stating that, “Most critics believe that three separate kingdoms are referred to under these symbols, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. It is significant that none of the critics have ever supposed for a moment that Isaiah gave any credence whatever to any of the myths. Their terminology indeed appears here and there in the Bible, but always in a symbolical or metaphorical sense.
Any argument from passages like this to the effect that Satan is a myth must rank as the height of absurdity. Christ taught his disciples to pray, “Deliver us from the evil one!” (Mat 6:13).
Kidner believed that the graphic description of the destruction of God’s triple enemies on earth, Satan, False Religion, and God-hating Government, as depicted in this verse, “Is the same all-embracing judgment as in Isa 24:21, where `the host of heaven’ corresponds to `Leviathan’ here, as indicated by, `The Devil and his angels’ (Rev 12:7 ff).
Isa 27:1 MONSTER DEFEATED: Two Hebrew words in this verse may be translated monster; they are liveyathan and thaniyn. Liveyathan is translated crocodile in Job 41:1 (RSV) and thaniyn is translated serpent in most uses. In Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2, thaniyn is translated dragon, refering to Egypt. Some commentators have concluded that the first leviathan, since it is swift, symbolizes Nineveh (Assyria) built upon the swift, serpent-like Tigris River, while the second, winding, crooked, leviathan symbolizes Babylon built upon the winding, serpentlike Euphrates River, and the monster that is in the sea symbolizes Egypt.
It is evident from the context (chapters 24-27) the prophet is speaking of that day of the Messianic fulfillment (the first coming of Christ and the establishment of the church). Then what is the leviathan to be punished or slain? Obviously it refers to all the enemies of God and His people who were defeated at the first coming of Christ (cf. Eph 4:8; Col 2:15; Heb 2:14-15; 1Jn 3:8; Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11; Mat 12:29; Luk 10:18, etc.) In the book of Revelation the Roman empire is referred to as the beast, false prophet and harlot, who is allied with Satan (called the great dragon). (cf. Revelation 13 through 20) But the beast, false prophet, and harlot are defeated and cast into the lake of fire. The dragon (Satan) is bound for a thousand years, then loosed for a short time and finally cast into the lake of fire forever with the beast. Daniel chapters 7 and 8 refer to the enemies of God as various beasts. Wherever the spirit of opposition to God has appeared, in whatever kingdom it may be, Satan is the author of it. He is the motivating spirt in all the forces that oppose Gods rule in the universe. Perhaps in one area he assumes one characteristic, while in another he assumes still another characteristic. In Isaiahs day great world empires (Assyria, Babylon and Egypt) were the leviathans standing opposed to Gods rule in creation (cf. Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Jer 51:34; Isa 51:9; with Dan. ch. 7 & 8). The leviathans (monster, serpent, dragon) strongest and most potent weapon against God and His people is deception. Isaiah points, in this section, to that day when the feast will be made, the veil is removed from all nations, and death is swallowed up forever. Leviathan, with all his power to deceive and hold man in bondage to the fear of death will be cast out, judged and triumphed over, when the Messiah brings life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This circle of prophecy ends with a message which describes the process toward ultimate restoration, and announces its certainty. The way to restoration is the way of judgment, and this the prophet first announces in figurative language.
The first issue of judgment will be restoration of God’s chosen people, and the prophet refers to this under the figure of the vineyard. This figure stands in striking contrast to that in chapter five. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is now seen as kept by Him, and watered every moment, and the plant of His choice is seen filling the world with fruit. The process of such restoration is judgment, and the prophet declares this in the next section of the message. A ruined vineyard is always the result of failure, and on such failure the Lord can have no compassion.
The last note is hope. The broken and scattered people are to be brought back at the sound of the trumpet, and are to realize their highest vocation, that is, worshiping Jehovah in their holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Gods Care for His Vineyard
Isa 27:1-13
Throughout these chapters we must remember that the doom of Babylon and the restoration of Gods people are symbolical of other events, for which the world is preparing. Then Babylon the Great shall give place to the Holy City, which comes down out of heaven from God. Egypt and Babylon are represented by the leviathan, a general term applicable to any great water animal. The one had its Nile, the other its Euphrates. Parallel with the destruction of our foes is Gods care of His own people. The Church is His vineyard. We do not keep Him, but He, us. Not for a moment does He relax His care. Those who oppose His purposes are trampled down as briars beneath the booted foot. In Isa 5:6 we have a prevision of the ultimate mission of the Hebrew race.
Note the difference in Isa 27:7-11 between punishment and chastisement. The former is irremediable and destructive, the latter is always in measure. The rough wind is stayed in the day of the east wind. Its object is to purge away our sins. After the captivity idolatry ceased out of Israel. How tenderly God gathers His wanderers-one by one as hand-picked fruit; even those who had wandered farthest and were ready to perish!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
EXPOSITORY NOTES ON
THE PROPHET ISAIAH
By
Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.
Copyright @ 1952
edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago
ISAIAH CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JEHOVAH’S VINEYARD RESTORED
ONCE again we have a song of the vineyard, but it depicts entirely different conditions from those set forth in the previous song recorded in chapter five. We saw the Lord looking for grapes and finding only wild grapes, for Israel after the flesh bore no fruit for GOD. Now all is changed, and we see vines loaded with luscious grapes, thus giving satisfaction to the heart of the Owner. In this way the Spirit of GOD tells us of the joy which the Lord will find in His people when Israel shall be restored to Himself and shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.
The first verse, however, has no connection with the song, as such. It might have been better had the chapter divisions occurred after this verse, rather than to separate it from those that have gone before. It tells of the judgment to be meted out to that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, who is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years when the kingdom of GOD is established in power and glory over all this earth where for so long the adversary has exercised his control over the hearts and minds of men.
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall publish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (verse 1).
The great dragon having thus been dealt with, we now hear the voice of the Lord Himself, lifted up in song as He rejoices over His delivered people.
“In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day” (verses 2, 3).
Wine, in Scripture, is a symbol of joy. We read in Jdg 9:18 of wine that cheereth GOD and man. In Psa 104:15, we have a similar expression. Because of its exhilarating effect when used in moderation, it expresses that which cheers the spirit and gladdens the heart. The Lord Himself will find occasion for rejoicing when Israel shall return to Him in penitence and self-judgment after the long years of rebellion and self-will. Then will their lives be fruitful with the graces of
the Holy Spirit, and GOD will rejoice over them as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride (Isa 62:5).
No longer will the Lord’s vineyard be let out to unfaithful husbandmen, but He will watch over it Himself, protecting from everything that would tend to make it unfruitful or destroy it.
“Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (verses 4-6).
No more will the Lord manifest His indignation against the people who are called by His name, because of their waywardness. His Spirit will be quieted toward them, and on their part it would be folly indeed for any again to rise up against Him. To do so would be to meet such immediate destruction as a fire consuming thorns and briers. By returning to GOD in contrition and confession they make peace with Him whose wrath would otherwise have been poured out upon them.
This is the only place in the Scriptures where we have a suggestion of man making peace with GOD, and it is well to note that it does not have to do with eternal things but with submission to the government of GOD in this world. When it comes to the settlement of the sin question there is no man who, by any effort of his own, can make his peace with GOD.
The glorious truth of the gospel is that CHRIST has made peace by the blood of His Cross and that peace becomes ours the moment we put our trust in Him. “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). He, Himself, is our peace. We are reconciled to GOD through the death of His Son.
Where it is a question of the divine government, man is called upon to submit himself to the will of GOD, recognizing the folly of rebelling against divine law. To this Israel will be brought in the coming day. Then, instead of being a curse among the nations (Jer 29:18) and the Name of the Lord being blasphemed by the Gentiles because of Israel’s perversity, they will be a means of blessing to the whole earth as GOD has intended from the beginning a nation of priests, through whom GOD will make known His salvation to the ends of the earth.
“Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin: when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up” (verses 7-9).
Elsewhere, the Lord declared concerning Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amo 3:2). Even as He permitted the Gentile powers to chastise Israel and then, in turn, destroyed the very nations that
had been His rod for the correction of His people, so others will be dealt with in the day of the Lord, but Israel will be preserved and after their time of affliction has passed will be restored to the divine favor.
Then they will abhor themselves because of the idolatries and abominations to which they have given themselves in times past, but every evidence of these follies will be destroyed utterly and the Lord’s Name alone will be exalted in the day of their recovery and repentance.
“Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour” (verses 10, 11).
These words may refer not only to the cities of the nations, but to the apostate part of Israel. When GOD arises in His wrath to deal with man’s defiance of His authority He will not cease to exercise His vengeance until all who continue to resist Him shall be blotted out. Sin, of whatever character, is an insanity. It is a manifestation of a disordered mind. In the parable of the prodigal, in Luke 15, our Lord tells us that it was when the young man came to himself that he said, “I will arise and go to my father.”
Men may think of themselves as too wise or learned to accept the Word of GOD at its face value, but they little realize that their very unbelief and arrogance only make manifest the fact that they are a people of no understanding. It was thus with Israel when they turned away from GOD. It is thus with all men everywhere who refuse submission to His holy will.
“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. 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” (verses 12, 13).
At the second advent of the Lord JESUS, when He comes as the Son of Man to set up the kingdom of GOD on earth, the great trumpet will be blown (Joe 2:15, 16) in order to summon the outcasts of Israel to return to Zion and be gathered unto their long-looked-for Messiah and to rejoice in His favor. Compare these two verses with Mat 24:31. It is vain to say that this prophecy of Isaiah’s concerning the regathering of Israel had its fulfillment in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when a remnant returned to Palestine to rebuild the city and temple at Jerusalem. The Lord has declared, as we have already seen (chapter 11:11), that He will gather them a second time, and it is to this future gathering that these verses refer.
~ end of chapter 27 ~
http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Isa 27:8
Two somewhat distinct meanings may be attached to these words. They may mean that two evil winds cannot blow in full force together. If they blow together, there is a chastening of the evil influence of both winds. Or the prophet may be referring to the same wind, by the words “rough wind” and “east wind,” and he may mean simply to imply that every strong wind God restrains. Whichever view you take of the passage, the great truths presented by it are the same. The subject is the adaptation of trial to the state of those who are afflicted.
I. Sorrows are strong forces. They are winds; they act as winds; they are forces before which we bend and bow. (1) The wind acts upon the sapling or the young tree, and shaking it, it roots it. So do troubles act upon young Christians. (2) The wind acts upon ripe fruit, which hangs upon the boughs of the tree ready to fall, and which requires a slight mechanical force only, a mere touch, to bring it down. Thus it is with the fruits of the Spirit, and with all the produce of Divine training and heavenly discipline.
II. Sorrows have their appointed time. “In the day of the east wind.” There is a time to mourn. Trouble does not come before its time, it does not come after its time; it comes in its season. They are here, and the day of their residence may be long; but every hour of that day tells of the day’s approaching end, when the trouble will be no more.
III. Sorrows are God’s servants. “He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind,” just because the winds are His. Troubles are God’s ministers; they are entirely under His control, and they do only His bidding. They are adapted to the state of those who are afflicted. (1) Adapted by whom? By the Almighty Father. (2) Adapted to what? To the strength of the sufferer, and to the work which has to be accomplished. (3) How does God do this? Sometimes by removing one trouble before another comes. Sometimes by lightening the affliction itself, or by so strengthening the heart of the sufferer, that the affliction is relatively lighter; or by pouring through the soul of the troubled one rich and abundant consolation. (4) For what purpose does God do this? He does it for present peace and for present joy. He would sooner see you laugh than cry, smile than weep. “He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind” that there may be a restoration of the elasticity of the spirit.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 3rd series, No. 12.
References: Isa 27:8.-Preacher’s Lantern, vol. ii., p. 507; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 183. Isa 27:10.-Ibid., p. 183. Isa 28:1-4.-Ibid., vol. iv., p. 314. Isa 28:5.-Ibid., vol. iv., p. 138. Isa 28:5, Isa 28:6.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages from the Prophets, vol. i., p. 85. Isa 28:7-13.-S. Cox, Expositor, 1st series, vol. i., p. 98. Isa 28:9, Isa 28:13.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 147. Isa 28:10.-Preacher’s Lantern, vol. ii., p. 311. Isa 28:10, Isa 28:13.-D. Fraser, Penny Pulpit, No. 975 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p. 189). Isa 28:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1593. Isa 28:15.-Forsyth and Hamilton, Pulpit Parables, p. 158.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 27 Israels Enemies Overthrown and the Great Restoration
1. Assyria, Babylon and Egypt punished (Isa 27:1) 2. What Jehovah has done and will do (Isa 27:2-11) 3. The vineyard established and the glorious consummation (Isa 27:12-13) This is a fitting finale to the second section of this book. Israels chief enemies are indicated by the leviathan, the serpent and the dragon. Behind them stands the serpent and the dragon, Satan. When these enemies are overthrown and Satan is bound then Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
The last word tells of Israels literal regathering under the blowing of the trumpet Mat 24:31 and their future worship in Jerusalem. The ending of the first and second sections are alike. They reveal Israels future glory and blessing.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
that day: Isa 26:21
with his: Isa 34:5, Isa 34:6, Isa 66:16, Deu 32:41, Deu 32:42, Job 40:19, Psa 45:3, Jer 47:6, Rev 2:16, Rev 19:21
leviathan: Job 12:1-25, Psa 74:14, Psa 104:26
piercing: or, crossing like a bar
crooked: Isa 65:25, Job 26:13
the dragon: Isa 51:9, Psa 74:13, Psa 74:14, Jer 51:34, Eze 29:3, Eze 32:2-5, Rev 12:3-17, Rev 13:2, Rev 13:4, Rev 13:11, Rev 16:13, Rev 20:2
in the sea: Jer 51:13, Rev 13:1, Rev 17:1, Rev 17:15
Reciprocal: Gen 3:1 – Now Exo 13:9 – strong hand Deu 33:29 – the sword Job 41:1 – General Job 41:2 – General Psa 7:12 – he will Psa 44:19 – in the Psa 91:13 – the dragon Psa 148:7 – ye dragons Isa 2:11 – in that day Isa 12:1 – And in that Isa 17:13 – but Isa 26:1 – this song Isa 28:2 – the Lord Eze 21:9 – sharpened Eze 38:17 – whom Amo 9:3 – the serpent Zec 13:7 – O sword Mar 3:27 – General Luk 8:28 – I beseech Luk 11:22 – General Rom 10:2 – but not 1Jo 3:8 – this purpose Rev 12:9 – that Rev 18:8 – for Rev 21:1 – and there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 27:1. In that day, &c. This verse, which Bishop Lowth considers as being connected with the last two verses of the preceding chapter, is translated by him as follows: In that day shall Jehovah punish with his sword; his well-tempered, and great, and strong sword; Leviathan the rigid serpent, and Leviathan the winding serpent: and shall slay the monster that is in the sea. And he observes, The animals here mentioned seem to be, the crocodile, rigid, by the stiffness of the back-bone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent, or dragon, flexible and winding, which coils himself up in a circular form; the sea-monster, or the whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt, for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God; but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images, is a matter of great difficulty. Vitringa, who considers the prophecy contained in verse 19 of the preceding chapter, as referring to the deliverance granted to the Jews under the Maccabees, thinks that by the first two of these creatures, the piercing, or rigid serpent, and the crooked, or winding serpent, the kingdoms of Egypt and Assyria are meant, as they existed after the times of Alexander the Great; and by the whale, the kingdom of Arabia, and the other neighbouring nations, which were adversaries to the people of God; or that by these three animals are to be understood the persecutors and adversaries of the church, who should exist successively in the world, and be destroyed by the divine judgments. But whether this be the right interpretation of the allegory is much to be questioned.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 27:1. In that day the Lord shall punish leviathan. It would seem that the Assyrian and Chaldean empire are here intended. See on Job 41:1. Amo 9:13. The desolations mentioned in the tenth verse appear to indicate the same thing; for cattle should feed in their once strong but now desolate city. In the prophetic style, these are indications of utter execration.By the dragon, the Egyptian nation, it would seem, was intended; and both those kingdoms received their scourge from Gods great and strong sword.
Isa 27:2. In that day, sing ye to her, (even Jerusalem) A vineyard of red wine, the best and most delicious wine. Oh Judah, keep the feast, the fall of thine oppressors shall raise thee to happier days. This ode is full of beauties, in the ideas, the figures, and the words.
Isa 27:4. Fury is not in me. chaimah. Forerius thinks it should be translated wall; and he is followed by Lowth, who reads the passage as a dialogue between the Lord and the church. Sing ye, in that day, to the beloved vineyard a responsive song. It is I JEHOVAH that preserve her. I will water her every moment. I will take care of her by night; and by day will I keep guard over her.Vineyard. I have no wall. Oh that I had a hedge of thorn and brier.Jehovah. Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together. Ah, let her rather take hold of my protection.
Isa 27:9. Chalk-stones. Hebrews gar, designates limestones, or gypsum, or chalk, to shame the Hebrew idolaters, who, building their altars with lias, saw that the fire reduced the stones to lime, and the rain reduced them to dust. Their groves and their worship should not stand: and what is worse, they would destroy their country, as in the next words.
Isa 27:10. The defenced city (Jerusalem) shall be desolate. Isaiah here saw, as in Mal 4:1, that the Lords prophets would fail in the struggle against atheism, idolatry, and vice; that the carnal Hebrew vine would wither, and that the burning of the city would follow. Dan 9:27. Nothing but a hope in the Messiah could have supported them in a hopeless contest with the errors of their age.
Isa 27:12. From the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt. That is, from the Euphrates to the Nile, and the ancient boundaries of the promised land.
REFLECTIONS.
We see here, as in all other places, the care which God takes of his church. While he makes the world a wilderness, and cities desolate for the wickedness of the inhabitants, he regards his church as his vineyard; yea, a vineyard producing red wine. And when she sighs, because she seems to have no wall against the wicked, he himself becomes that wall. He waters her with his grace every moment, and watches for her safety. Happy Zion; the praise of the whole earth shalt thou be called.
In times of sore visitation and war, when the Lord cuts off the wicked, root and branch, he little more than purges the iniquity of his people, and renders unto Zion by measure. Let us therefore rely on his providence at the worst of times.
The visitations which overwhelm the infidel world with despair and impervious gloom, brighten with cheering hope on the church. The Lord shall blow with his great trumpet, and a time of tears shall be followed with the joy of jubilee. In all promises of temporal deliverance to Israel, the prophets most assuredly kept their eye on the great and everlasting deliverance which God shall accord to his people, when all Israel shall be saved, and the fulness of the gentiles be brought in. The authorities which the scriptures give for this assertion are so numerous and evident, that it is useless for a cold and corrupt theology to deny them. This great trumpet therefore, which called the Jews back to their sanctuary after the Assyrian invasion, and the Babylonian captivity, was figurative of the gospel trumpet or joyful sound, which shall be heard in all the earth.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27:1 In that {a} day the LORD with his severe and great and strong {b} sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.
(a) At the time appointed.
(b) That is, by his mighty power, and by his word. He prophecies here of the destruction of Satan and his kingdom under the name of Liviashan, Assur, and Egypt.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The defeat of Israel’s enemies 27:1
Leviathan was something very horrific (Job 3:8). It seems to have been a water beast either in reality or in myth (Job 41). The psalmist used it figuratively to describe Egypt, a powerful and deadly enemy of Israel (Psa 104:26). Thus Leviathan was a symbol of the immense power arrayed against the Lord’s people. It was also a figure in Canaanite mythology. Isaiah’s reference to it does not mean he believed in the Canaanite myth. He simply used a term used in mythology to illustrate. Similarly, Christian preachers sometimes refer to fictional characters without believing that they really exist. [Note: See John N. Day, "God and Leviathan in Isaiah 27:1," Bibliotheca Sacra 155:620 (October-December 1998):423-36; and Meredith G. Kline, "Death, Leviathan, and the Martyrs: Isaiah 24:1-27:1," in A Tribute to Gleason Archer, pp. 229-49.] Here Leviathan’s descriptions suggest that this dragon-like creature glides swiftly (possibly through the air, as a spirit being), that it is a deadly foe (like a coiling serpent), and that it inhabits the sea (a place notoriously uncontrollable by humans). In short, it seems to stand for the strong spiritual enemies of God’s people. Some interpreters believe Isaiah had in mind Satan himself (cf. Isa 24:21)-who occupies the air, the land, and the sea; he infests the whole creation. God will punish Satan and his host in the future (cf. Isa 24:22-23). [Note: Motyer, pp. 221-22; Dyer, in The Old . . ., pp. 547, 549.] Another view is that the swift serpent is an allusion to the fairly straight Tigris River, the coiling serpent to the more twisting Euphrates River, and the dragon by the sea to Egypt (the Nile River). Thus Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt are in view. [Note: Grogan, p. 170; cf. Archer, p. 627.] Still other interpreters favor taking the monsters and locations as representing all of Israel’s human enemies. [Note: E.g., Young, 2:234-35. Cf. Delitzsch, 1:454-55.] I think the passage pictures God’s punishment of Israel’s enemies at the Second Coming. [Note: See also J. Martin, p. 1076.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XXIX
GODS POOR
DATE UNCERTAIN
Isa 25:1-12; Isa 26:1-21; Isa 27:1-13
WE have seen that no more than the faintest gleam of historical reflection brightens the obscurity of chapter 24, and that the disaster which lowers there is upon too world-wide a scale to be forced within the conditions of any single period in the fortunes of Israel. In chapters 25-27, which may naturally be held to be a continuation of chapter 24, the historical allusions are more numerous. Indeed, it might be said they are too numerous, for they contradict one another to the perplexity of the most acute critics. They imply historical circumstances for the prophecy both before and after the exile. On the one hand, the blame of idolatry in Judah, {Isa 27:9} the mention of Assyria and Egypt, {Isa 27:12-13} and the absence of the name of Babylon are indicative of a pre-exilic date. Arguments from style are always precarious: but it is striking that some critics, who deny that chapters 24-27 can have come as a whole from Isaiahs time, profess to see his hand in certain passages. Then, secondly, through these verses which point to a pre-exilic date there are woven, almost inextricably, phrases of actual exile: expressions of the sense of living on a level and in contact with the heathen; {Isa 26:9-10} a request to Gods people to withdraw from the midst of a heathen public to the privacy of their chambers (chapters 20, 21); prayers and promises of deliverance from the oppressor (passim); hopes of the establishment of Zion, and of the repopulation of the Holy Land. And, thirdly, some verses imply that the speaker has already returned to Zion itself: he says more than once, “in this mountain”; there are hymns celebrating a deliverance actually achieved, as God “has done a marvel. For Thou hast made a citadel into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a castle of strangers to be no city, not to be built again.” Such phrases do not read as if the prophet were creating for the lips of his people a psalm of triumph against a far future deliverance; they have in them the ring of what has already happened.
This bare statement of the allusions of the prophecy will give the ordinary reader some idea of the difficulties of Biblical criticism. What is to be made of a prophecy uttering the catchwords and breathing the experience of three distinct periods? One solution of the difficulty may be that we have here the composition of a Jew already returned from exile to a desecrated sanctuary and depopulated land, who has woven through his original utterances of complaint and hope the experience of earlier oppressions and deliverances, using even the names of earlier tyrants. In his immediate past a great city that oppressed the Jews has fallen, though, if this is Babylon, it is strange that he nowhere names it. But his intention is rather religious than historical; he seeks to give a general representation of the attitude of the world to the people of God, and of the judgment which God brings on the world. This view of the composition is supported by either of two possible interpretations of that difficult verse, Isa 27:10 : “In that day Jehovah with His sword, the hard and the great and the strong, shall perform visitation upon Leviathan, Serpent Elusive, and upon Leviathan, Serpent Tortuous; and He shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea.” Cheyne treats these monsters as mythic personifications of the clouds, the darkness, and the powers of the air, so that the verse means that, just as Jehovah is supreme in the physical world, He shall be in the moral. But it is more probable that the two Leviathans mean Assyria and Babylon-the “Elusive” one, Assyria on the swift-shooting Tigris: the “Tortuous” one, Babylon on the winding Euphrates-while “the Dragon that is in the sea” or “the west” is Egypt. But if the prophet speaks of a victory over Israels three great enemies all at once, that means that he is talking universally or ideally: and this impression is further heightened by the mythic names he gives them. Such arguments, along with the undoubted post-exilic fragments in the prophecy, point to a late date, so that even a very conservative critic, who is satisfied that Isaiah is the author, admits that “the possibility of exilic authorship does not allow itself to be denied.”
If this character which we attribute to the prophecy be correct-viz., that it is a summary or ideal account of the attitude of the alien world to Israel, and of the judgment God has ready for the world-then, though itself be exilic, its place in the Book of Isaiah is intelligible. Chapters 24-27 fitly crown the long list of Isaiahs oracles upon the foreign nations: they finally formulate the purposes of God towards the nations and towards Israel, whom the nations have oppressed. Our opinions must not be final or dogmatic about this matter of authorship; the obscurities are not nearly cleared up. But if it be ultimately found certain that this prophecy, which lies in the heart of the Book of Isaiah, is not by Isaiah himself, that need neither startle nor unsettle us. No doctrinal question is stirred by such a discovery, not even that of the accuracy of the Scriptures. For that a book is entitled by Isaiahs name does not necessarily mean that it is all by Isaiah: and we shall feel still less compelled to believe that these chapters are his when we find other chapters called by his name while these are not said to be by him. In truth there is a difficulty here, only because it is supposed that a book entitled by Isaiahs name must necessarily contain nothing but what is Isaiahs own. Tradition may have come to say so; but the Scripture itself, bearing as it does unmistakable marks of another age than Isaiahs, tells us that tradition is wrong: and the testimony of Scripture is surely to be preferred, especially when it betrays, as we have seen, sufficient reasons why a prophecy, though not Isaiahs, was attached to his genuine and undoubted oracles. In any case, however, as even the conservative critic whom we have quoted admits, “for the religious value” of the prophecy “the question” of the authorship “is thoroughly irrelevant.”
We shall perceive this at once as we now turn to see what is the religious value of our prophecy. Chapters 25-27 stand in the front rank of evangelical prophecy. In their experience of religion, their characterizations of Gods people, their expressions of faith, their missionary hopes and hopes of immortality, they are very rich and edifying. Perhaps their most signal feature is their designation of the people of God. In this collection of prayers and hymns the people of God are not regarded as a political body. They are only once called the nation and spoken of in connection with a territory. Only twice are they named with the national names of Israel and Jacob. {Isa 27:6; Isa 27:9; Isa 27:12} We miss Isaiahs promised king, his pictures of righteous government, his emphasis upon social justice and purity, his interest in the foreign politics of his State, his hopes of national grandeur and agricultural felicity. In these chapters Gods people are described by adjectives signifying spiritual qualities. Their nationality is no more pleaded, only their suffering estate and their hunger and thirst after God. The ideals that are presented for the future are neither political nor social, but ecclesiastical. We saw how closely Isaiahs prophesying was connected with the history of his time. The people of this prophecy seem to have done with history, and to be interested only in worship. And along with the assurance of the continued establishment of Zion as the centre for a secure and holy people, filling a secure and fertile land, -with which, as we have seen, the undoubted visions of Isaiah content themselves, while silent as to the fate of the individuals who drop from this future through death, -we have the most abrupt and thrilling hopes expressed for the resurrection of these latter to share in the glory of the redeemed and restored community.
Among the names applied to Gods people there are three which were destined to play an enormous part in the history of religion. In the English version these appear as two “poor and needy”; but in the original they are three. In Isa 25:4 : “Thou hast been a stronghold to the poor and a stronghold to the needy,” poor renders a Hebrew word, “dal,” literally wavering, tottering, infirm, then slender or lean, then poor in fortune and estate; needy literally renders the Hebrew “ebhyon,” Latin egenus. In Isa 26:6 : “the foot of the poor and the steps of the needy,” needy, renders “dal,” while poor renders “ani,” a passive form – forced, afflicted, oppressed, then wretched, whether under persecution, poverty, loneliness, or exile, and so tamed, mild, meek. These three words, in their root ideas of infirmity, need, and positive affliction, cover among them every aspect of physical poverty and distress. Let us see how they came also to be the expression of the highest moral and evangelical virtues.
If there is one thing which distinguishes the people of the revelation from other historical nations, it is the evidence afforded by their dictionaries of the power to transmute the most afflicting experiences of life into virtuous disposition and effectual desire for God. We see this most clearly if we contrast the Hebrews use of their words for poor with that of the first language which was employed to translate these words-the Greek in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. In the Greek temper there was a noble pity for the unfortunate; the earliest Greeks regarded beggars as the peculiar proteges of Heaven. Greek philosophy developed a capacity for enriching the soul in misfortune; Stoicism gave imperishable proof of how bravely a man could hold poverty and pain to be things indifferent, and how much gain from such indifference he could bring to his soul. But in the vulgar opinion of Greece penury and sickness were always disgraceful; and Greek dictionaries mark the degradation of terms, which at first merely noted physical disadvantage, into epithets of contempt or hopelessness. It is very striking that it was not till they were employed to translate the Old Testament ideas of poverty that the Greek. words for “poor” and “lowly” came to bear an honourable significance. And in the case of the Stoic, who endured poverty or pain with such indifference, was it not just this indifference that prevented him from discovering in his tribulations the rich evangelical experience which, as we shall see, fell to the quick conscience and sensitive nerves of the Hebrew?
Let us see how this conscience was developed. In the East poverty scarcely ever means physical disadvantage alone: in its train there follow higher disabilities. A poor Eastern cannot be certain of fair play in the courts of the land. He is very often a wronged man, with a fire of righteous anger burning in his breast. Again, and more important, misfortune is to the quick religious instinct of the Oriental a sign of Gods estrangement. With us misfortune is so often only the cruelty, sometimes real, sometimes imagined, of the rich; the unemployed vents his wrath at the capitalist, the tramp shakes his fist after the carriage on the highway. In the East they do not forget to curse the rich, but they remember as well to humble themselves beneath the hand of God. With an unfortunate Oriental the conviction is supreme, God is angry with me; I have lost His favour. His soul eagerly longs for God.
A poor man in the East has, therefore, not only a hunger for food: he has the hotter hunger for justice, the deeper hunger for God. Poverty in itself, without extraneous teaching, develops nobler appetites. The physical, becomes the moral, pauper; poor in substance, he grows poor in spirit. It was by developing, with the aid of Gods Spirit, this quick conscience and this deep desire for God, which in the East are the very soul of physical poverty, that the Jews advanced to that sense of evangelical poverty of heart, blessed by Jesus in the first of His Beatitudes as the possession of the kingdom of heaven.
Till the Exile, however, the poor were only a portion of the people. In the Exile the whole nation became poor, and henceforth “Gods poor might become synonymous with Gods people.” This was the time when the words received their spiritual baptism. Israel felt the physical curse of poverty to its extreme of famine. The pains, privations, and terrors, which the glib tongues of our comfortable middle classes, as they sing the psalms of Israel, roll off so easily for symbols of their own spiritual experience, were felt by the captive Hebrews in all their concrete physical effects. The noble and the saintly, the gentle and the cultured, priest, soldier and citizen, woman, youth and child, were torn from home and estate, were deprived of civil standing, were imprisoned, fettered, flogged, and starved to death. We learn something of what it must have been from the words which Jeremiah addressed to Baruch, a youth of good family and fine culture: “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; only thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” Imagine a whole nation plunged into poverty of this degree-not born into it having known no better things, nor stunted into it with sensibility and the power of expression sapped out of them, but plunged into it, with the unimpaired culture, conscience, and memories of the flower of the people. When Gods own hand sent fresh from Himself a poets soul into “the clay biggin” of an Ayrshire ploughman, what a revelation we received of the distress, the discipline, and the graces of poverty! But in the Jewish nation as it passed into exile there were a score of hearts with as unimpaired an appetite for life as Robert Burns; and, worse than he, they went to feel its pangs away from home. Genius, conscience, and pride drank to the dregs in a foreign land the bitter cup of the poor. The Psalms and Lamentations show us how they bore their poison. A Greek Stoic might sneer at the complaint and sobbing, the self-abasement so strangely mixed with fierce cries for vengeance. But the Jew had within him the conscience that will not allow a man to be a Stoic. He never forgot that it was for his sin he suffered, and therefore to him suffering could not be a thing indifferent. With this, his native hunger for justice reached in captivity a famine pitch; his sense, of guilt was equalled by as sincere an indignation at the tyrant who held him in his brutal grasp. The feeling of estrangement from God increased to a degree that only the exile of a Jew could excite: the longing for Gods house and the worship lawful only there; the longing for the relief which only the sacrifices of the Temple could bestow; the longing for Gods own presence and the light of His face. “My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth after Thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, as I have looked upon Thee in the sanctuary, to see Thy power and Thy glory. For Thy lovingkindness is better than life!”
“Thy lovingkindness is better than life!”-is the secret of it all. There is that which excites a deeper hunger in the soul than the hunger for life, and for the food and money that give life. This spiritual poverty is most richly bred in physical penury, it is strong enough to displace what feeds it. The physical poverty of Israel which had awakened these other hungers of the soul-hunger for forgiveness, hunger for justice, hunger for God-was absorbed by them; and when Israel came out of exile, “to be poor” meant, not so much to be indigent in this worlds substance as to feel the need of pardon, the absence of righteousness, the want of God.
It is at this time, as we have seen, that Isa 24:1-23; Isa 25:1-12; Isa 26:1-21; Isa 27:1-13 was written; and it is in the temper of this time that the three Hebrew words for “poor” and “needy” are used in chapters 25 and 26. The returned exiles were still politically dependent and abjectly poor. Their discipline therefore continued, and did not allow them to forget their new lessons. In fact, they developed the results of these further, till in this prophecy we find no fewer than five different aspects of spiritual poverty.
1. We have already seen how strong the sense of sin is in chapter 24. This poverty of peace is not so fully expressed in the following chapters, and indeed seems crowded out by the sense of the “iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth” and the desire for their judgment. {Isa 26:21}
2. The feeling of the poverty of justice is very strong in this prophecy. But it is to be satisfied; in part it has been satisfied. {Isa 25:1-4} “A strong city,” probably Babylon, has fallen. “Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill.” The complete judgment is to come when the Lord shall destroy the two “Leviathans” and the great “Dragon of the west”. {Isa 27:1} It is followed by the restoration of Israel to the state in which Isaiah {Isa 5:1} sang so sweetly of her. “A pleasant vineyard, sing ye of her. I, Jehovah, her Keeper, moment by moment do I water her; lest any make a raid upon her, night and day will I keep her.” The Hebrew text then reads. “Fury is not in Me”; but probably the Septuagint version has preserved the original meaning: “I have no walls.” If this be correct, then Jehovah is describing the present state of Jerusalem, the fulfilment of Isaiahs threat, Isa 5:6 : “Walls I have not; let there but be briers and thorns before me! With war will I stride against them; I will burn them together.” But then there breaks the softer alternative of the reconciliation of Judahs enemies: “Or else let him seize hold of My strength; let him make peace with Me-peace let him make with Me.” In such a peace Israel shall spread, and his fulness become the riches of the Gentiles. “In that by-and-bye Jacob shall take root, Israel blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
Perhaps the wildest cries that rose from Israels famine of justice were those which found expression in chapter 34. This chapter is so largely a repetition of feelings we have already met with elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah, that it is necessary now only to mention its original features. The subject is, as in chapter 13, the Lords judgment upon all the nations; and as chapter 13 singled out Babylon for special doom, so chapter 34, singles out Edom. The reason of this distinction will be very plain to the reader of the Old Testament. From the day the twins struggled in their mother Rebekahs womb, Israel and Edom were at either open war or burned towards each other with a hate which was the more intense for wanting opportunities of gratification. It is an Eastern edition of the worst chapters in the history of England and Ireland. No bloodier massacres stained Jewish hands than those which attended their invasions of Edom, and Jewish psalms of vengeance are never more flagrant than when they touch the name of the children of Esau. The only gentle utterance of the Old Testament upon Israels hereditary foe is a comfortless enigma. Isaiahs “Oracle for Dumah,” {Isa 22:11 f.} shows that even that large-hearted prophet, in face of his peoples age-long resentment at Edoms total want of appreciation of Israels spiritual superiority, could offer Edom, though for the moment submissive and inquiring, nothing but a sad, ambiguous answer. Edom and Israel, each after his fashion, exulted in the others misfortunes: Israel by bitter satire when Edoms impregnable mountain-range was treacherously seized and overrun by his allies; {Oba 1:4-9} Edom, with the harassing, pillaging habits of a highland tribe, hanging on to the skirts of Judahs great enemies, and cutting off Jewish fugitives, or selling them into slavery, or malignantly completing the ruin of Jerusalems walls after her overthrow by the Chaldeans. {Oba 1:10-14; Eze 35:10-15} In “the quarrel of Zion” with the nations of the world Edom had taken the wrong side, -his profane, earthy nature incapable of understanding his brothers spiritual claims, and therefore envious of him, with the brutal malice of ignorance, and spitefully glad to assist in disappointing such claims. This is what we must remember when we read the indignant verses of chapter 34. Israel, conscious of his spiritual calling in the world, felt bitter resentment that his own brother should be so vulgarly hostile to his attempts to carry it out. It is not our wish to defend the temper of Israel towards Edom. The silence of Christ before the Edomite Herod and his men of war has taught the spiritual servants of God what is their proper attitude towards the malignant and obscene treatment of their claims by vulgar men. But at least let us remember that chapter 34, for all its fierceness, is inspired by Israels conviction of a spiritual destiny and service for God, and by the natural resentment that his own kith and kin should be doing their best to render these futile. That a famine of bread makes its victims delirious does not tempt us to doubt the genuineness of their need and suffering. As little ought we to doubt or to ignore the reality or the purity of those spiritual convictions, the prolonged starvation of which bred in Israel such feverish hate against his twin-brother Esau. Chapter 34, with all its proud prophecy of judgment, is. therefore, also a symptom of that aspect of Israels poverty of heart, which we have called a hunger for the Divine justice.
3. POVERTY OF THE EXILE. But as fair flowers bloom upon rough stalks, so from Israels stern challenges of justice there break sweet prayers for home. Chapter 34, the effusion of vengeance on Edom, is followed by chapter 35, the going forth of hope to the return from exile and the establishment of the ransomed of the Lord in Zion. Chapter 35 opens with a prospect beyond the return, but after the first two verses addresses itself to the people still in a foreign captivity, speaking of their salvation (Isa 35:3-4), of the miracles that will take place in themselves (Isa 35:5-6) and in the desert between them and their home (Isa 35:6-7), of the highway which God shall build, evident and secure (Isa 35:8-9), and of the final arrival in Zion (Isa 35:10). In that march the usual disappointments and illusions of desert life shall disappear. The “mirage shall become a pool”; and the clump of vegetation which afar off the hasty traveller bails for a sign of water, but which on his approach he discovers to be the withered grass of a jackals lair, shall indeed be reeds and rushes, standing green in fresh water. Out of this exuberant fertility there emerges in the prophets thoughts a great highway, on which the poetry of the chapter gathers and reaches its climax. Have we of this nineteenth century, with our more rapid means of passage, not forgotten the poetry of the road? Are we able to appreciate either the intrinsic usefulness or the gracious symbolism of the kings highway? How can we know it as the Bible-writers or our forefathers knew it when they made the road the main line of their allegories and parables of life? Let us listen to these verses as they strike the three great notes in the music of the road: “And a highway shall be there, and a way; yea, the Way of Holiness shall it be called, for the unclean shall not pass over it”: that is what is to distinguish this road from all other roads. But here is what it is as being a road. First, it shall be unmistakably plain: “The wayfaring man, yea fools, shall not err therein.” Second, it shall be perfectly secure. “No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon; they shall not be met with there.” Third, it shall bring to a safe arrival and ensure a complete overtaking: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall overtake gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
4. So Israel was to come home. But to Israel home meant the Temple, and the Temple meant God. The poverty of the exile was, in the essence of it, poverty of God, poverty of love. The prayers which express this are very beautiful, -that trail like wounded animals to the feet of their master, and look up in His face with large eyes of pain. “And they shall say in that day, Lo, this is our God: we have waited for Him, that He should save us; this is the Lord: we have waited for Him; we will rejoice and be glad in His salvation . . . . Yea, in the way of Thy ordinances, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; to Thy name and to Thy Memorial was the desire of our soul. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, by my spirit within me do I seek Thee with dawn”. {Isa 25:9; Isa 26:8}
An Arctic explorer was once asked, whether during eight months of slow starvation which he and his comrades endured they suffered much from the pangs of hunger. No, he answered, we lost them in the sense of abandonment in the feeling that our countrymen had forgotten us and were not coming to the rescue. It was not till we were rescued and looked in human faces that we felt how hungry we were. So is it ever with Gods poor. They forget all other need, as Israel did, in their need of God. Their outward poverty is only the weeds of their hearts widowhood. “But Jehovah of hosts shall make to all the peoples in this mountain a banquet of fat things, a banquet of wines on the lees, fat things bemarrowed, wines on the lees refined.” We need only note here-for it will come up for detailed treatment in connection with the second half of Isaiah-that the centre of Israels restored life is to be the Temple, not, as in Isaiahs day, the king; that her dispersed are to gather from all parts of the world at the sound of the Temple trumpet: and that her national life is to consist in worship. {cf. Isa 27:13}
These then were four aspects of Israels poverty of heart: a hunger for pardon, a hunger for justice, a hunger for home, and a hunger for God. For the returning Jews these wants were satisfied only to reveal a deeper poverty still, the complaint and comfort of which we must reserve to another chapter.