Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 27:13
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
13. the ( a) great trumpet ] Cf. ch. Isa 18:3; Zec 9:14; Mat 24:31; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16.
they which were ready to perish ] the lost ones.
outcasts ] Cf. ch. Isa 11:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The great trumpet shall be blown – This verse is designed to describe in another mode the same fact as that stated in Isa 27:12, that Yahweh would re-collect his scattered people. The figure is derived from the trumpet which was blown to assemble a people for war (Grotius); or from the blowing of the trumpet on occasion of the great feasts and festivals of the Jews (Vitringa). The idea is, that God would summon the scattered people to return to their own land. The way in which this was done, or in which the will of God would be made known to them, is not specified. It is probable, however, that the reference here is to the decree of Cyrus Ezr 1:1, by which they were permitted to return to their own country.
Which were ready to perish – Who were reduced in numbers, and in power, and who were ready to be annihilated under their accumulated and long-continued trials.
In the land of Assyria – The ten tribes were carried away into Assyria 2Ki 17:6; and it is probable that many of the other two tribes were also in that land. A portion of the ten tribes would also be re-collected, and would return with the others to the land of their fathers. Assyria also constituted a considerable part of the kingdom of the Chaldeans, and the name Assyria may be given here to that country in general.
And the outcasts – Those who had fled in consternation to Egypt and to other places when these calamities were coming upon the nation (see Jer 41:17-18; Jer 42:15-22).
And shall worship the Lord – Their temple shall be rebuilt; their city shall be restored; and in the place where their fathers worshipped shall they also again adore the living God. This closes the prophecy which was commenced in Isa. 24; and the design of the whole is to comfort the Jews with the assurance, that though they were to be made captive in a distant land, yet they would be again restored to the land of their fathers, and again worship God there. It is almost needless to say that this prediction was completely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 27:13
The great trumpet shall be blown
The Gospel trumpet
I.
THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL IS HERE COMPARED TO THE BLOWING OF A TRUMPET.
1. This figurative expression may allude to the trumpet which sounded upon Mount Sinai, at the solemn promulgation of the law. And though the ministers of Christ must not blend the law and the Gospel together, yet they are not Gospel ministers who do not preach the law, both as a ministration of wrath and as a rule of duty.
2. The words may allude to the trump of jubilee, which was sounded throughout the land of Israel at the end of every forty-nine years, proclaiming redemption and liberty to all prisoners and slaves, and causing the following to be a year of national festivity and joy (Lev 25:8-13). This interesting period having been prefigurative of our redemption by Christ, of our deliverance from the curse of the law and the dominion of sin, and of our introduction to the glorious liberty of the children of God, it is with great propriety that the proclamation of the Gospel is compared to the trump of jubilee.
3. Trumpets were also used on other occasions, which may bear some allusion to the proclamation of the Gospel. The Jews had an annual solemnity, which by way of distinction was called the feast of trumpets, and which introduced the new year (Lev 23:24). And these demonstrations of joy, like the rest of that typical dispensation, were only the shadow of good things to come; all had a reference to the promulgation of the Gospel.
4. Whatever be the immediate allusion in the text it is evident that the principal design of a trumpet is to sound an alarm; and such is the direct object of the Gospel ministry.
5. The preaching of the Gospel is compared to a great trumpet. Great things were contained in Gods law, but still greater things are made known by the Gospel.
6. The great trumpet which was sounded by the first heralds of salvation, continues still to proclaim the same good tidings.
II. THE EFFECT WHICH WAS TO FOLLOW UPON THE SOUNDING OF THE GOSPEL TRUMPET. They shall come which were ready to perish. Men as sinners are in a perishing condition. But those only who see and feel their perishing condition actually come.
1. This coming implies repentance towards God.
2. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for with this, all true repentance is invariably connected.
3. All that come unto God by a Mediator, will also come to Zion with their faces thitherward, openly professing their attachment to Christ, and devoting themselves to His service. The text, indeed, seems to be a prophecy of the union that should take place between Jews and Gentiles, under the Gospel dispensation, when they should be formed into one body, and equally participate in the blessings of salvation. The trumpet of the Gospel is still sounding in our ears, proclaiming the great jubilee, the day of salvation, and inviting us to seek the Lord in this welcome and accepted time. Have we embraced the invitation, and answered to the call? (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The Gospel trumpet
I. We make TWO EXPLANATORY REMARKS.
1. The prediction primarily refers to the proclamation of Cyrus for the deliverance of the Jews from captivity.
2. This prophecy has an ulterior reference to the times of the Messiah, and the inbringing of the Jews in the latter days.
II. We consider THE GREATNESS AND GRANDEUR OF THE GOSPEL here represented by a great trumpet. Trumpets were of very common use among Gods ancient people. They directed their journeys, animated them on the march, reused them to arms against the invader, and sounded the dreadful onset to battle, proclaimed the tidings of victory, and summoned the people to divide the spoil. The chief use of the instrument is to give strength to the human voice, that warnings or invitations might be more extensively heard. No kind of wind instrument was in more general use, and therefore no symbol could have been selected with which they were more familiarly acquainted. Their solemn assemblies were convened by its sound; and surely the greatness and the grandeur of the Gospel is hereby strikingly and significantly symbolised.
1. The greatness of the Gospel will appear from the dignity and moral grandeur of its Author.
2. From the gracious tidings it proclaims.
3. From the objects it hath already accomplished and is destined to achieve.
III. We notice that THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL IS THE GREAT ORDINANCE OF GOD FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN. The great trumpet shall be blown. Its sound shall be long and loud, that the proclamation of the glad tidings of great joy shall be universal. Conclusion–
1. Let Christians appreciate their advantages and highly prize the Gospel Psa 89:15).
2. Let Gospel despisers fear, and flee for refuge to the hope set before them in the Gospel (Heb 2:2).
3. Let all rejoice in the glorious results already secured and yet to be achieved by the preaching of the Gospel. (W. M Queen.)
The blast of the Gospel trumpet
I. THE PERIOD to which this promise or prophecy refers. That day. In the prophetical parts of Scripture, this phrase is often to be understood of New Testament times.
II. THE GREAT MEANS that God promises to employ in New Testament days for accomplishing His design among the Gentiles. The great trumpet shall be blown.
1. The Gospel intimates to all that hear it, the offering of a great sacrifice.
2. The Gospel contains an indication of a joyful and solemn feast.
3. The Gospel is the appointed means of gathering a solemn assembly. As me silver trumpets were used for gathering the assemblies in Israel, so the Gospel is employed, according to Christs appointment, for gathering a Church to Himself.
4. The Gospel is the great means of directing the march of the armies of the spiritual Israel, through the wilderness of this world. When the priests sounded an alarm with the trumpets, the tribes of Israel were to decamp, and set forward in their journeys, in that order which God had appointed.
5. The Gospel is the great means of calling forth the armies of the living God to that spiritual warfare in which they are engaged under Christ,–of directing their motion in the day of battle,–and of animating them to continue the combat, amidst all the dangers and terrors with which they often find themselves surrounded. The silver trumpets were also to be used to blow an alarm when Israel was called to go to war against any enemy that should oppress them in their land.
6. The Gospel proclaims an universal jubilee to all that hear it.
III. THE PERSONS UPON WHOM THE SOUND OF THIS GREAT TRUMPET SHALL TAKE EFFECT are described by two circumstances.
1. They are persons ready to perish. The original worn is still more emphatical–there shall come the perishing in the land of Assyrian All mankind are, by nature, in a perishing condition. Situated in desert land, which affords no provision but empty husks, we faint for spiritual thirst and hunger, and are ready to perish for want. Led captive by a cruel enemy, we are ready to perish by the weight of our chains. Enslaved by a tyrannical master, and employed in the vilest drudgery, we are ready to perish through fatigue and weariness. Sunk into a fearful pit, and struggling, without a possibility of extricating ourselves, in the miry clay, we must quickly perish without supernatural help. Above all, being condemned to death by a just sentence of the Court of Heaven, we are every moment in danger of perishing by the hand of justice.
2. They are outcasts. There seems to be here an allusion to the situation of the Hebrew children in Egypt, who, by Pharaohs inhuman decree, were all to be cast out into the river.
IV. THE PLACES FROM WHICH THESE PERSONS WERE TO BE GATHERED, by the sound of the great trumpet, are also two. The land of Assyria and the land of Egypt. These two countries are mentioned as examples: and what is here said of them has been verified, and will again be verified in all other countries resembling them. Perishing sinners have been gathered from every quarter.
V. THE END TO BE GAINED by the blast of this trumpet among them. This also is set before us in two particulars.
1. They shall come.
(1) They shall come to Christ by faith.
(2) They shall, come to the holy mount at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was of old the place of Gods solemn worship. Every person who feels the efficacy of the Gospel becomes a genuine citizen of the New Jerusalem. And from that time forth he takes pleasure in attending upon Gods ordinances; accounting a day in His courts better than a thousand.
(3) They come to God Himself who dwells in the holy mount.
2. As they come, they worship. This imports–
(1) Their cordial renunciation of all idolatry and false worship.
(2) Their careful and diligent observance of all those ordinances by which God has required Himself to be worshipped.
(3) Their carefulness to perform every act of worship in the manner that the Word of God has prescribed. (J. Young.)
The blowing of the great trumpet
I. THE BLOWING OF THE GREAT TRUMPET.
II. THE CHARACTERS IN WHOSE EARS AND HEARTS THIS GREAT TRUMPET IS TO BE BLOWN.
III. THE EFFECT WHICH THE BLOWING OF THE GREAT TRUMPET PRODUCES UPON THEM. (J. C. Philpot.)
The great trumpet
I. SEE HOW A COMPARISON OF SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE WILL ENABLE US TO UNDERSTAND THE WORD TRUMPET.
II. THE BLOWING OF THE TRUMPET.
III. THE RESULTS OF THAT BLOWING. (J. H. Crowder, M. A.)
The Gospel trumpet
I. THE GRANDEUR OF THE GOSPEL.
The great trumpet. It is elsewhere called a great light–a great salvation There is a grandeur in the glorious Gospel of God which soars far beyond all finite excellency and conception.
1. The period of its introduction is called the fulness of time.
2. The Gospel regards immediately the soul and eternity–the only two things in the world which are absolutely great.
3. The Gospel abounds with exceeding great and precious promises; it unfolds blessings that are incomprehensible in their nature and excellency.
4. Everything, compared with the Gospel, is trifling and mean.
II. THE DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL. The great trumpet is to be blown.
1. Who is to blow this trumpet? Men, and not angels. There is a difference here between the administration of the law and the dispensation of the Gospel.
2. How is this trumpet to be blown? Common sense says, in such a way as to answer the design of its being blown. There must be no ambiguity in our preaching. It should be blown courageously.
III. WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF THOSE TO WHOM THE GOSPEL IS ADDRESSED? Outcasts, and ready to perish. This is the figure; and what is the fact? Remember that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise; having no hope, and without God in the world. You are not heathen; but turn to Scripture, and you will find that you are all by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
IV. Its ATTRACTION must be noticed. They shall come. Whatever knowledge the heathen had, they were utterly unable to carry it into effect, both for want of evidence and want of authority. None of them could speak in the name of that God who calleth the things that are not as though they were. Hence, we find Plato complaining that he was unable, by all his instructions, to bring over the inhabitants of a single village. Now, go to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Colosse, to Ephesus; survey the character of the inhabitants before they received the Gospel: it is largely described by the apostle; we cannot suppose that the devil himself could make or wish them worse. Yet the apostle stands forth, and says, Such were some of you; ye were sometimes far off; ye were dead in trespasses and sins; but, you hath He quickened. Our Gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power also; the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Accordingly, the Gospel is expressed evermore by images which indicate its efficacy. It is called a two-edged sword–leaven, which commences its operations in the centre, and extends them to the circumference until the whole is leavened–seed, which, though it looks dead, yet fills the earth with its fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. This success God Himself has ensured, or we could not reckon upon it. The Gospel never leaves people as it finds them: it enlightens their understandings; it prevails on their wills; it purifies their affections; it makes them new creatures. How can we honour the Gospel so much as by showing what it can do? The trumpet is blown; but it is heard–it is answered–they come.
1. How do they come? With weeping and with supplication; they come eagerly, hastening, running, flying like doves to their windows when they behold the approaching storm.
2. From whence do they come? From the dark dens of ignorance–from the lurking holes of hypocrisy–from the false refuges of pharisaism–from the service of sin–from the bondage of Satan.
3. To whom do they come! Christ is the only resource. What is faith, what is religion, but the soul in motion to Him, and negotiating all its affairs with Him!
V. THE EFFECT OF ITS INFLUENCE. They shall come and worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. We ever find this dedication of themselves to God, in connection with the spread and influence of the Gospel. All the ends of the world shall hear, and shall turn unto God; all nations whom Thou hast made, shall come unto Thee and worship Thee; from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, in every place men shall offer incense and a pure offering. The holy mount means the Church of God. And in this mount all who partake of Gospel grace, worship. They do so habitually, in the shop–in the warehouse–in the field; for whereer they seek Him, He is found. They do so in private. All these worship God in their families too. In His sanctuary also. CONCLUSION–
1. This Scripture has been fulfilled. Myriads in Heaven have exemplified its truth, the numbers that rejoice in it in our day are wonderful; but soon there shall he vaster accessions still. A nation shall be born in a day. Have you heard the sound of this trumpet? Have you obeyed?
2. If the sound of this peaceful trumpet is despised, I must remind you that another great trumpet will be blown. Ere long shall be heard the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.
3. But, here are some who are alive to the text. You have heard the sound of this trumpet; you have come. What are you doing? Surely, you are giving thanks unto Him who has called you out of darkness into light; who has made you meet for the inheritance of the saints. Surely, you are endeavouring to bring others into the same condition. (W. Jay.)
The silver trumpet
As when the front and back doors of a barn are open, a gust of wind scatters the dust and chaff, so the Jews had been swept every whither–some wandering in Assyria, and some exiled in Egypt; but their coming back, as by the call of a trumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly descriptive of the exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their return at the trumpet call of the Gospel.
1. Need I stop to prove that out of God we are in exile? Who here is at home in his sins? Does he not wander about looking for a home? You have been expatriated. You are in worse than Siberian exile. The chains are harder. The mine is darker. The climate is colder. The gloom is ghastlier. Lost in the land of Assyria! If a man has missed his way, the more he walks the more he is lost. He starts off and goes ten miles in the wrong direction. Nor can you find your way out of this spiritual confusion. Lost, and without food. Lost, and without water. Ingenious little children sometimes tell you how, with a few letters, they can spell a very large word. With three letters I can spell bereavement. With three letters I can spell disappointment. With three letters I can spell suffering. With three letters I can spell death. With three letters I can spell perdition. S-i-n, Sin. That is the cause of all our trouble now. That is the cause of our trouble for the future.
2. But upon this dark background of the text a light falls. Amidst the harsh discords there sound the sweet and thrilling notes of a great trumpet. A trumpet, God made, yet needing no giants to use it, but suited to faint lips and trembling hand and feeble lungs; so that sick Edward Payson, leaning against the pulpit, might hold it, and Frederick Robertson, worn out with ulcers and spinal complaints, might breathe through it. This Gospel trumpet is great in its power. On a still night you may hear the call of a brazen trumpet two or three miles; but this is so mighty that it is not only heard from heaven to earth, but it is to arrest the attention of all nations.
(1) This trumpet is great in its sweetness. In some musical instruments there is noise and crash and power, but no fineness of sound. Others can not only thunder, but weep and whisper and woo. Like that is the Gospel trumpet. In all tenderness and sweetness and sympathy it excels.
(2) The Gospel trumpet is a trumpet of alarm.
(3) It is one of recruit. War is declared. Who is on the Lords side? There is no neutral ground.
(4) The Gospel trumpet is one of assault. Let the wicked forsake His way, etc.
(5) This Gospel trumpet is also one of retreat. It is the part of good generalship sometimes to blow the trumpet of retreat. There is no need of your trying to face certain temptation; you are foolhardy to try it. Your only safety is in flight.
(6) This Gospel trumpet is one of victory.
(7) One of reveille. We, who are the soldiers of Christ, cannot always be marching and fighting. The evening will come; the shadows will gather; and we must go to the white tents of the grave. There we shall sleep soundly. But the night will pass along, and the first thing we shall hear will be the trumpet call sounding the reveille of the resurrection; and we will come up and fall into a long line of light, the sword of Christian conflict gleaming in the unsetting sun. The roll shall be called, and we shall answer to our names; and then we will go to the morning repast of heaven. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
Blowing of the great trumpet
We shall look at the text as applying to heathens as well as Jews, even to all who are ignorant of and are rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. With regard to these there are three things to be looked at–
I. THEIR URGENT NEED. They are described as ready to perish. The word is literally lost. The idea is that of a lost sheep. Or of a lost child who has left his home and wandered into the fields, or into the woods, and been overtaken by night and darkness. There is no one to care for him, no one to guide him, no one to shelter him. He is left to himself. A hundred things may happen that may be death to him. Without knowing it, he may be on the point of falling over a precipice or into a river. Now, a child or a man who has gone astray from God is ready to perish too. Still more is it true of everyone who is not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true, alas! of many even in this highly favoured land of ours. It is true of the Jews. And what shall I say of the heathen.
II. THE HELP WANTED. What is to be done to meet this terrible state of things? If it were a dying man–a perishing child–we should ask, Is there anything that will save the dying one–any medicine or food–anything we can give–anything we can do? And that should be our question about the perishing millions all over the world.
1. The sounding of the trumpet may be regarded as typical of the preaching of the Gospel, by which both the outcasts of Israel and the ready to die of all nations are to be saved.
2. But there must be someone to sound the trumpet. It cannot sound of itself. It must be blown. And who are to do this, but those who have heard it and complied with its call themselves, and who, with hearts full of love and thankfulness, can sing, Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound? It is as much our duty to blow the trumpet as to hear it.
3. How, then, are we to blow the trumpet? None of us are too young or feeble to sound the trumpet ourselves. In our own way we can tell the story of redeeming love.
(1) The best that any of you can give is yourselves. He gives by far the largest contribution who gives himself.
(2) But where you cannot give yourselves you can do something by giving your money.
III. THE SUCCESS PROMISED. They which were ready to perish shall come. The return from the Jewish captivity was wonderful in its own way; but more and better is in store, for all Israel shall be saved. Already many Jews and Jewesses have been converted to Christ. And as regards the heathen world, the history of the progress of the Gospel in recent times reads almost like a chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And yet it must be owned that anything like a complete fulfilment of the promise is still a thing of the future. What is to be done? The great trumpet must be sounded as it never has been. (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)
The urgency of missions
Are not missions to Jews and heathens and Mohammedans hopeless? They dont want them; they wont have them. But does it not only make the case the stronger if they do not know their need and their danger, and do not ask for help? Perhaps, in some cases, they refuse help when it is offered. And what of that? As I pass along the banks of a stream, I see something in a pool. On going nearer, I see it is the body of a boy. There is no cry for help, there is no outstretched hand. He is past all that. Am I, on that account, not to give help! Is not the call all the louder and more urgent? (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. The great trumpet shall be blown] Does not this refer to the time spoken of by our Lord, Mt 24:31: He shall send forth his angels – the preachers of his Gospel with a great sound of a trumpet – the earnest invitation to be saved by Jesus Christ; and shall gather his elect – the Jews, his ancient chosen people, from the four winds – from all parts of the habitable globe in which they have been dispersed.
In this prophet there are several predictions relative to the conversion of Egypt to the true faith, which have not yet been fulfilled, and which must be fulfilled, for the truth of God cannot fail. Should Egypt ever succeed in casting off the Ottoman yoke, and fully establish its independence, it is most likely that the Gospel of Christ would have a speedy entrance into it; and, according to these prophecies, a wide and permanent diffusion. At present the Mohammedan power is a genuine antichrist. This also the Lord will remove in due time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The great trumpet; which may be heard even to the remotest parts of the earth. God shall summon them all together as it were by sound of trumpet, to wit, by an eminent call or act of his providence on their behalf. He alludes to the custom of calling the Israelites, together with trumpets; of which see Num 10:2,3.
The land of Assyria, where the ten tribes were carried captive. The land of Egypt, where many of the Jews were, as is manifest both from Scripture, as Jer 43:7; 44:28; Hos 8:13; Zec 10:10, and from other authors.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. great trumpetimage fromthe trumpets blown on the first day of the seventh month to summonthe people to a holy convocation (Le23:24). Antitypically, the gospel trumpet (Rev 11:15;Rev 14:6) which the Jews shallhearken to in the last days (Zec 12:10;Zec 13:1). As the passover in thefirst month answers to Christ’s crucifixion, so the day of atonementand the idea of “salvation” connected with the feast oftabernacles in the same seventh month, answer to the crowningof “redemption” at His second coming; therefore redemptionis put last in 1Co 1:30.
Assyriawhither the tentribes had been carried; Babylonia is mainly meant, to which Assyriaat that time belonged; the two tribes were restored, and someof the ten accompanied them. However, “Assyria” isdesignedly used to point ultimately to the future restorationof the ten fully, never yet accomplished (Jer3:18).
Egyptwhither many hadfled at the Babylonish captivity (Jer 41:17;Jer 41:18). Compare as to thefuture restoration, Isa 11:11;Isa 11:12; Isa 11:16;Isa 51:9-16 (“Rahab”being Egypt).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day,…. When the Lord is about to do the above things, and in order to it. The Talmudists k apply this text to the world to come, or times of the Messiah, when the ten tribes shall be returned:
[that] the great trumpet shall be blown; meaning not the edict or proclamation of Cyrus, but the ministration of the Gospel, called a “trumpet”, in allusion to those that were ordered by Moses to be made for the congregation of Israel, Nu 10:1, or to the jubilee trumpet, Le 25:9 or with respect to any trumpet giving a musical sound; the Gospel being a joyful sound, a sound of love, grace, and mercy through Christ, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; and which may be called a “great” one, the author of it, God, being great; and it is the effect of great love, and the produce of great wisdom; it proclaims and publishes great things, great promises, great truths, and a great salvation; it gives a great sound, which has and will again go into all the world, and reach to the ends of the earth; and has been, and will be, attended with great power; the “blowing” of it intends the ministry of the word, which to perform aright requires ability and skill; and here it respects the ministration of it in the latter day, when this Gospel trumpet will be blown more clearly, and without any jar, discord, and confusion; and more loudly, openly, and publicly; and more effectually, and to greater purpose:
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt; all mankind are in a perishing condition, but all are not sensible of it; some are, and they become so through the preaching of the word, attended with the power and Spirit of God; whereby they are convinced of sin, and of their lost estate by nature; their consciences are loaded with guilt, their souls are filled with a sense of wrath; they have a sight of sin, but not of a Saviour from it, or of the pardon of it; they have a view of a broken law, which curses and condemns, and of injured justice brandishing its sword against them, but see they have no righteousness to satisfy one or the other; and find themselves in a starving condition, ready to perish with hunger; and are like the wretched infant “cast out” into the open field, to the “loathing” of its person: and these now, whether in Assyria or in Egypt, or wherever they are, the Gospel trumpet will reach them, and encourage them to come; and powerful and efficacious grace accompanying it will engage and cause them to “come” first to Christ as poor perishing sinners, and venture their souls on him for life and salvation; they shall come to him in a way of believing, for pardon, cleansing, rest, food, righteousness, and life; and then they shall come to his churches, and give up themselves unto them, to walk with them:
and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem; in the Gospel church, signified frequently by Mount Zion and Jerusalem; see
Heb 12:22 where the Jews shall come, when converted, and join themselves, and worship God internally and externally, in spirit and in truth: and it may be true of Mount Zion, and of Jerusalem, in a literal sense, which will be rebuilt, and inhabited by the Jews, and become a place of divine worship.
k T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 110. 2. Midrash Kohelet. fol. 68. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. It shall also come to pass in that day. This is the explanation of the former verse. He speaks metaphorically, and shews that so great will be the power of God, that he will easily bring back his people. As kings assemble large armies by the sound of a trumpet, so he shews that it will be easy for the Lord to gather his people, on whom prophecy had not less efficacy than the trumpet by which soldiers are mustered.
And they shall come who were perishing. He calls them perishing, because they were miserably scattered, and appeared to be very near destruction, without any hope of being restored. The enemies, while their monarchy lasted, would never have permitted their captives to return, nor had they led them into banishment in a distant country with any other design than that of gradually casting into oblivion the name of Israel.
And who had been scattered in the land of Egypt. What he adds about Egypt contains a more remarkable testimony of pardon, namely, that those who fled into Egypt, though they did not deserve this favor, shall be gathered. They had offended God in two respects, as Jeremiah plainly shews; first, because they were obstinate and rebellious; and, secondly, because they had refused to obey the revelation, (Jer 28:10😉 for they ought to have submitted to the yoke of the Babylonians rather than flee into Egypt in opposition to the command of God.
And shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain. At length, he describes the result of their deliverance, that the Jews, having returned from captivity into their country, may again worship God their deliverer in a pure and lawful manner. By the mountain he means the temple and sacrifices. This was indeed accomplished under Darius, but the Prophet undoubtedly intended to extend this prophecy farther; for that restoration was a kind of dark foreshadowing of the deliverance which they obtained through Christ, at whose coming the sound of the spiritual trumpet, that is, of the gospel, was heard, not only in Assyria or Egypt, but in the most distant parts of the world. Then were the people of God gathered, to flow together to Mount Zion, that is, to the Church. We know that this mode of expression is frequently employed by the prophets when they intend to denote the true worship of God, and harmony in religion and godliness; for they accommodated themselves to the usages of the people that they might be better understood. We know also that the gospel proceeded out of Zion; but on this subject we have spoken fully at the second chapter. (209)
(209) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE GOSPEL TRUMPET
Isa. 27:13. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet, &c.
The Jews had been scattered every-whithersome wandering in Assyria, and some exiled in Egypt; but their coming back, as by the call of a trumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly descriptive of the exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their return at the trumpet-call of the Gospel.
I. THE SINNERS CONDITION. He is
1. An exile.
2. He is ready to perish.
II. THE GOSPEL TRUMPET.
1. It was not fashioned by man.
2. It is great in its power. In a still night you may hear a brazen trumpet two or three miles away; but this is so mighty that it is not only heard from heaven to earth, but it is to arrest the attention of all nations. Men with physical hearing all gone catch the first strain of it. Men buried half a century in crimes have heard it. It is the power of God unto salvation. Instance some of the men who have heard it.
2. It is great in its sweetness.
3. It is a trumpet of alarm. It puts us on our guard against the foes who are advancing to destroy us.
4. It is a trumpet of recruit. It summons us to join the standard of the Son of God.
5. It is a trumpet of retreat. It warns us against the fool-hardiness of entering into temptation.
6. It is a trumpet of victory. It tells of victories achieved, and of others still more glorious yet to be won.
7. It is a trumpet of awakening. As chaplain I was a little while in the army. Early every morning we were awakened by a trumpet sounding the rveille. At that sound all the troops arose from the tents, hastened to their places in the line, and answered the roll-call. That done, they went to their morning rations. We who are the soldiers of Christ cannot always be marching and fighting. The evening will come. The shadows will gather, and we must go to the white tents of the grave. There we shall sleep soundly. But the night will pass along, and the first thing we shall hear will be the trumpet-call sounding the rveille of the resurrection; and we shall come up and fall into the long line of light, the trophies of Christian conflict gleaming in the unsetting sun. The roll shall be called, and we shall answer to our names; and then we shall go to the morning repast of heaven (1Co. 15:52-55).De Witt Talmage, D.D.: Christian World Pulpit, i. 410.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE GREAT TRUMPET
Isa. 27:13. And it shall come to pass in that day, &c.
This prophecy was literally fulfilled (Ezra 1); but it has a wider meaning, and thus also it shall be fulfilled.
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE GOSPEL. The great trumpet.
1. It is designed for the world. When liberty was proclaimed for the slaves of the West Indies, the slaves of America remained in bondage. When the slaves of America were liberated, the bondmen in Cuba, Peru, &c., were not set free. But here is a blessing for the whole world. Which shall be to all people,. a light to lighten the Gentiles (Luk. 2:10; Luk. 2:32). One side of the earth can only enjoy the rays of the sun at the same time; but this light shall shed its rays on the whole world.
2. It is designed for the world in its most important interests. There are inventions and scientific discoveriessuch as the steam-engine, &c.which are valuable to the whole world. But they are valuable only in regard to the present life. But the Gospel meets the wants of the soul, and concerns the endless life beyond.
3. It is so great that all other things in the world are small in comparison with it; trade, learning, &c.
4. It is so great that it bestows greatness upon everything it touches. Upon oratory, although it is independent of excellency of speech. Upon any country in which it is proclaimed and accepted: e.g., Great Britain, America. Under its shelter liberty, learning, &c., flourish (H. E. I. 11241132).
II. THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL. The great trumpet shall be blown. What is the good of a trumpet without some one to blow it? (Rom. 10:14.)
1. Who is to blow it? Not angels (Heb. 2:5). The law was given by the ministry of angels; by them the trumpet was blown on Mount Sinai (Act. 7:53). But they recognise that the trumpet of the Gospel is to be blown by man (Act. 5:20; Act. 10:31-32). This treasure is in earthen vessels. Gideons Lamps. Men are better than angels for this purpose. This is proved by the fact that God ordered it so. But there are other minor satisfactory arguments, such as:
(1.) The danger of glorifying the missionary above the mission.
(2.) The angels disadvantages. They lack the necessary experience. Blessed lack, in all other respects! They have never been contaminated by sin, and hence know not how to speak to the heart of the sinner. By men the trumpet is now being blown, and will be blown to the end of time. The trumpeters are falling, ministers are dying, but the ministry is alive!
2. How is it to be blown?
(1.) Clearly (1Co. 14:8). If the promises are proclaimed, care must be taken to show to whom they belong. So with the threatenings, &c.
(2.) Vigorously. It must be done thoroughly, or not at all.
(3.) Bravely (Eph. 6:19). The question is not what will take, what is popular, what would please the masses, but What saith the Lord?
III. THE OBJECTS OF THE MINISTRY. They which were ready to perish.
1. Pagans are such (Romans 1) Them which sat in the region and shadow of death (Mat. 4:16).
2. Every unconverted sinner. They are all to be addressed as those who are ready to perish. The matter cannot be compromised because they are seat-holders, contributors, &c. Your kindness shall not prevent our blowing from the trumpet the tones you need to hear.
IV. THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. 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.
1. Whence shall they come? From their Pharisaical hiding-places, the quicksands of excuses, &c. They are bound in the chains of slavery; but they shall come! This is as certain as the deliverance from Babylon. Take up your harps and strike them!
2. How will they come? Weeping. Without delay. Confidently.
3. Whither and to whom will they come?
(1.) To Christ; they cannot live without Him.
(2.) To His house.
APPLICATIONS.
1. Thousands have come; will you?
2. God has another trumpet.Gweithiau Rhyddiethol (pp. 174176), by the late Rev. W. Ambrose, Portmadoc. Translated from the Welsh by the Rev. T. Johns, Llanelly.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(13) The great trumpet shall be blown . . .The symbolism had a probable origin in the silver trumpets which were used in the journeys of the Israelites for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the camps (Num. 10:1-10), and which were solemnly blown in the year of Jubilee on the eve of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9). It re-appears in the Apocalyptic eschatology of Mat. 24:31; 1Co. 15:52; 1Th. 4:16, standing there, as here, for any great event that heralds the fulfilment of a Divine purpose. That purpose, in this instance, is the proclamation of the Year of Redemption, the restoration of the dispersed of Israel from the countries of their exile, of which, as in Isa. 11:11; Isa. 19:23, Assyria and Egypt are the two chief representatives. (Comp. Zep. 3:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. The great trumpet An image taken from the trumpet blown to summon the people to holy convocation. Lev 23:24. Jehovah is, as it were, to summon his righteous ones to worship him on Mount Zion.
Ready to perish That is, those who, in the region of the Euphrates, had not enjoyed religious opportunities, and those who, amid national trouble in Judah, had fled in consternation to Egypt. All these shall hear the call to return, and, purified from old vices, with intense zeal to serve Jehovah shall they come.
Thus closes these four chapters respecting the destiny of the true Israel, not alone of Judah, but the sincere and true of all tribes of Israel, who, one after another, were to be gathered as individuals or in colonies to Mount Zion.
PART 5.
Historico-prophetic discourses relating to Assyria and the Egyptian alliance
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 27:13. And it shall come to pass in that day. Every one must observe, that the present verse is similar to that preceding, though it contains something greater and more expressive. The allusion is, probably, to the trumpets blown at the Jewish festivals; and the sense of the metaphor or emblem is, that it should come to pass that the dispersed Israelites, especially in Egypt and Assyria, should be most clearly informed and invited by some public edict or proclamation, or some other manifest sign of liberty, to return to their own country, freely to live there, and perform the rites of their religion at Jerusalem. The first completion of this prophesy must be fixed at the time of the Maccabees; see particularly 2 Maccabees 1 : But certainly it has a much more extensive view, and refers to the times of the Messiah, and the great trumpet of the gospel, summoning to Jerusalem, as the seat of Jesus Christ, all the faithful, both Jews and Gentiles. See Hos 11:10-11 and Mat 24:31. Some have thought, and with great appearance of truth, that this remarkable prophesy will then have its full completion, when, the conversion of the Gentiles being perfected, the Jews shall embrace the religion of Christ. See Rom 11:25. The latter part of the verse may be read, And they shall come, who wander in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts who are in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship, &c.
REFLECTIONS.1st, We have here,
1. The execution of judgment on the great enemy of God’s people, called Leviathan, the serpent, the dragon, either Antichrist, Rev 12:3 or Satan himself, or rather both. Though strong, furious, crafty, and poisonous, God’s sword can reach him; and as he hath destroyed the persecuting powers of old, he will as surely destroy those that still rage, by the two-edged sword of his gospel expelling their poisonous errors, or by the sword of his judgments punishing them with everlasting destruction, Rev 20:15; Rev 20:15.
2. In the day of vengeance on his enemies, his grace and mercy to his church will eminently appear, and she shall sing for joy over her persecutors fallen, and the peace and comfort of the faithful shall be everlastingly restored, Rev 15:1-4; Rev 19:1-7.
(1.) The church is represented as a vineyard of red wine, a people ingrafted on Christ the living vine, and thence enabled to bring forth the choicest fruits of faith and holiness. I the Lord do keep it; though his church lies in the midst of a howling wilderness, where wicked men, more savage than beasts of prey, roam continually, and threaten to break through and spoil, yet it is safe under his protection, and flourishing under his care: I will water it with the dew of heavenly influences every moment, for every moment we need his gracious help; lest any hurt it, or lest he visit it, the enemy of souls, intent to deceive and destroy; I will keep it night and day, in prosperity and adversity, at all times, amidst every danger; he that slumbereth not, neither sleepeth, will preserve all those souls which live by faith on him. Note; The more we know of the riches and fulness of the divine promises, the more will our hearts be filled with thankfulness, and our lips with praise.
(2.) The people of God, as such, are assured of his favour. Fury is not in me; however terrible to his enemies, to the faithful God is all love, and their iniquities are cancelled by redeeming blood; no wrath remains against them, even their chastisements are the rod of mercy: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together, meaning either, that should he contend with them for their sins, his own people would be but as briers and thorns before the consuming fire without the atoning Blood; or rather, that when hypocrites and false teachers, like briers and thorns, spring up to trouble his people, he would step into his vineyard as a man of war, and quickly destroy and burn them up.
(3.) God directs them how to preserve an abiding sense of his regard to them. Or let him take hold of my strength; in times when his corrections are on his people, they need not be terrified, but apply to that Almighty Saviour the strength of God, who is the ever-living and all-prevailing advocate for faithful believers; that he may make peace with me, by pleading the Blood which he once shed for the redemption of the world; and he shall make peace with me; God, for his sake, will be perfectly pacified toward the believing soul, and comfort it with the confidence of his mercy.
(4.) The church shall have a great increase. He shall cause them that come of Jacob, the spiritual Israel of God, to take root, to be established and to spread their branches on every side; especially in the latter day of gospel-truth, when Israel shall bloom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit, as in the days of the Apostles, Col 1:6 and as it shall be more abundantly fulfilled hereafter.
2nd, Though God had intimated that sometimes afflictions would fall upon his faithful people, yet very different would his dealings with them be from his judgments on their enemies.
1. Respecting the measure of them. Though he should smite them, yet not as he smote those that smote him, his strokes on his people would be mitigated; and, however rough the wind blew for a season, he would say, Peace, be still. But their enemies would be utterly consumed, their fortresses destroyed, their country a wilderness, where cattle would feed. Like a withered tree they would be condemned to the flames; and this in just judgment, because they are a people of no understanding; and, being ungrateful and disobedient to their Maker, receive the reward of their deeds in utter destruction. This may primarily refer to the Jewish nation and their foes, but it has a more enlarged view to all the people of God and their enemies. Note; (1.) If we be God’s children, we shall, because we need it, feel his gracious rod. (2.) Though involved in the same outward calamities, there is at all times a wide difference between those who are corrected in mercy, and those who suffer in wrath. (3.) They who obstinately reject God’s warnings may expect in a judgment-day no mercy.
2. The end that God proposed in correcting his people, was their holiness and salvation. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; and a gracious end this is, for which every faithful soul has reason to bless God, who can say, before I was afflicted I went astray. The particular sin here to be removed is idolatry: when he maketh all the stones of the altar, erected for idol-worship, 2Ki 16:10-12 as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. And after the captivity the Jews were so thoroughly cured of that idolatry, to which before they were so prone, that the least traces of it no longer appeared among them. Note; It is a blessed symptom for good, when our sin, our bosom sin, which did most easily beset us, is thus radically destroyed.
3. When God hath, for their good, corrected his faithful people, he will gather them together wherever dispersed, and however distressed. It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off, and collect his faithful ones, as fruits to be laid up in store, or as corn separated from the chaff, from the channel of the river (Euphrates) unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, every soul that cleaves by faith to Jehovah, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, which, if referred literally to the Jewish people, signifies the proclamation of Cyrus; by which they were restored to their own land from all places of their dispersion; but rather it refers to the collection of the faithful Israel of God, even those who yield to be saved by grace, and by the means of the trumpet of the everlasting Gospel, recovering those who were ready to perish, and the outcasts, like the wretched in Ezekiel, lying in their blood; outcasts from God’s church, and perishing in their sins, till quickened and restored by the power of divine grace through the word of the Gospel, and brought to join the holy worship of the saints in God’s church on earth, and to prepare for the everlasting service of God in glory. Note; (1.) Whenever the Gospel trumpet is blown, they who know the joyful sound will assemble thither. (2.) The Gospel is to the lost the trump of Jubilee, glad tidings of great joy. (3.) It is a mercy when we have liberty to worship God, and a greater to delight in the service, and to say of God’s courts, Here would I dwell for ever.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
READER! while Jehovah is thus singing to his Church, and commanding his people to sing unto her also, a vineyard of red wine: let you and I join the holy song, and beginning in Him, who is the chief musician, and the whole cause of our song, and who alone can string our hearts, and tune them to his praise; let us consider the blessedness of this vineyard of the Lord, and how he hath formed it for himself, and for the showing forth of his glory. Did not God the Father form this vineyard? And did not Jesus, his dear and ever-blessed Son, purchase it from his Father, at infinite cost and pains, even with his blood? And did not God the Holy Ghost gather the stones out of the hearts of his people and form them as trees of his own right hand planting? And do not all the sacred persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless this vineyard, and with their sweet and gracious droppings of dew and rain, and all the blessed influences of heaven, visit it, and watch it, and water it every moment? And if so, who but would sing the song of salvation to this vineyard, so favoured, so blessed, and so kept, by sovereign and almighty grace! Oh! Lord! grant that there may be no blasted fruit, no withered branches in thy church and vineyard; but let the gracious cultivation flourish and bring forth fruit to the praise of thy name! And, Oh! precious Jesus! do thou come into thy garden, and eat of thy pleasant fruit! Oh! suffer not the wild boar out of the wood to root it up, nor the wild beast of the field to devour it. But do thou enable all of thine to take hold of thy strength, and in thy righteousness to be eternally secured. Be thou, Lord, the security of thy vineyard, and both the glory and the defense thereof: for then we shall be indeed strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; and unceasingly sing of the Lord’s redemption of his vineyard, the Church, upon earth, and the everlasting glories of Jesus and his Church in heaven Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Ver. 13. The great trumpet shall be blown. ] Or, A blast shall be blown with a great trumpet. Tuba haec magna apostolica praedicatio est, saith Oecolampadius. This great trumpet is the gospel, the preaching whereof is of power to save those that perish, to put life into the dead. Joh 5:25
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ready to perish. So the end will be like the beginning. See Deu 26:5.
holy. See note on Exo 3:5.
mount = mountain.
hasty fruit = early fig [becomes].
eateth it up = swalloweth it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And it: Isa 2:11
the great: Isa 18:3, Lev 25:9, Num 10:2-4, 1Ch 15:24, Psa 47:5, Psa 81:3, Psa 89:15, Zec 9:13-16, Mat 24:31, Luk 4:18, Rom 10:18, 1Th 4:16, Rev 8:2, Rev 8:6-13, Rev 9:1, Rev 9:14, Rev 10:7, Rev 11:15-18
and they: Isa 11:16, Isa 19:23-25, 2Ki 17:6, Hos 9:3, Hos 11:11, Zec 10:8-12
the outcasts: Isa 11:12, Isa 16:3, Isa 16:4, Isa 56:8, Jer 43:7, Jer 44:28, Hos 8:13
and shall: Isa 2:3, Isa 25:6, Isa 66:18, Zec 14:16, Mal 1:11, Joh 4:21-24, Heb 12:22
Reciprocal: Lev 23:24 – In the seventh Lev 26:38 – General Num 10:10 – in the day Num 29:1 – blowing Jos 6:4 – trumpets of rams’ Jdg 7:8 – trumpets Jdg 7:20 – blew Job 29:13 – ready Psa 48:1 – mountain Psa 147:2 – he Isa 2:2 – and all Isa 4:2 – them that are escaped Isa 11:11 – from Assyria Isa 12:1 – And in that Isa 19:18 – shall five Isa 26:10 – in the Isa 43:5 – I will Isa 58:1 – like Jer 16:15 – that brought Jer 23:3 – General Jer 23:8 – General Jer 49:36 – the outcasts Eze 20:41 – I bring Eze 28:25 – When Eze 36:24 – General Eze 37:21 – General Eze 39:25 – Now will Dan 12:1 – thy people Hos 3:5 – seek Mic 4:1 – and people Mic 7:12 – also Zep 3:10 – General Zep 3:20 – even Zec 8:7 – I Zec 9:14 – blow Zec 10:10 – out of the Luk 14:23 – Go Joh 7:35 – the dispersed 1Co 14:8 – General 1Co 15:52 – last
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great trumpet shall be {n} blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD on the holy mount at Jerusalem.
(n) In the time of Cyrus, by whom they would be delivered: but this was chiefly accomplished under Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
That day will prove to be the greatest Day of Atonement of all time (cf. Isa 27:9). A trumpet blast will summon all the redeemed from distant parts of the earth, not just Jews from Palestine (cf. Zec 14:9; Mat 24:31). They, too, will come to Jerusalem and enter the millennial kingdom (cf. Isa 19:24-25). Amillennialists typically interpret this gathering as a reference to the conversion of Gentiles to Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 1:10). [Note: See Young, 2:252.] Isaiah used Assyria and Egypt here as he used Edom earlier (cf. Isa 25:10), namely, as representative in his time of those areas of the world in the future.
"These verses provide a fitting climax to chs. 24-27 with their emphasis upon God’s sovereignty over the nations and his intention to restore his people from the nations. In this respect this is the second of three such passages. The others are Isa 11:12-16 and Isa 35:1-10. Each of these occurs at the end of a major segment. This fact suggests something about the structure of the book. . . . chs. 7-12 make the point that if you trust in the nations, the nations will destroy you. Nonetheless, God will not leave his people in destruction; he intends to deliver them from the nations. But this raises the immediate question: Can he deliver them from the nations? Chs. 13-27 answer that question with a resounding affirmative. They do so first in a particularizing way, showing that all nations, including Israel, are under God’s judgment (chs. 13-23). Then chs. 24-27 make the same point in a more generalized way, asserting that God is the main actor in the drama of human history. These things being so, God can deliver his people, and the promise is reaffirmed in these two closing verses." [Note: Oswalt, p. 500.]
"Chapters 1-12 reveal God’s saving purpose for Judah and Israel. Chapters 13-27 reveal his saving purpose for the whole world." [Note: Ortlund, p. 144.]