In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard! I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day. Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together. Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”
In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
It will happen in that day that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.
It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 That is, by his mighty power, and by his…
That is, by his mighty power, and by his word. He prophesieth here of the destruction of Satan and his kingdom under the name of Leviathan, Assyria, and Egypt.
At the time appointed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Isa 27:1 In that day the LORD with his…
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.
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The Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword.] Heb., With his sword, that hard or heavy one, and that great one, and that strong one, that is, with his Word, saith Oecolampadius, who by leviathan here understandeth the devil, who is elsewhere also called the "serpent and the great dragon." {Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2} But they do better, in my judgment, who by leviathan here understand some great tyrant, acted by the devil against the Church, such as was Pharaoh; {Eze 29:3} Sennacherib; {Isa 8:7} or Nebuchadnezzar; {Jer 51:13} and at this day the Grand Signor, who hath swallowed up countries, as the leviathan or the whale doth fishes; for in the greatness of his empire is swallowed up both the name and empire of the Saracens, the most glorious empire of the Greeks, the empire of Trapezonum, the renowned kingdoms of Macedonia, Peloponnesus, Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Judea, Tunis, Algiers, Medea, Mesopotamia, with a great part of Hungary, as also of the Persian kingdom. His territories do somewhat resemble a long and winding serpent, as some learned men have observed; and for the slights and might which he useth against Christians still, who knows them not out of the Turkish story? God therefore will shortly take him to do, sharpening haply the swords of men, as he hath lately and marvellously done of the Venetians, as instrumental to ruin this vast empire, which laboureth with nothing more than the weightiness of itself.
And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.] i.e., In fluctuante huius saeculi aesluario. {a} Of the strange length of dragons, see Aelian., lib. ii. cap. 21, and Plin., lib. viii. cap. 14. In the last year of the reign of Theodosius, senior, there was a dragon seen in Epirus, of that vast size that when he was dead eight yokes of oxen could hardly draw him. By dragon, some understand the same with leviathan, viz., the whale or whirlpool. The dragon is never satisfied with blood, though never so full gorged; no more are persecutors.
{a} Jun.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Shall punish leviathan; what kind of creature the leviathan…
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 God’s 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 men’s 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.
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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.
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Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,
The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,
I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God's church (Isa 27:1), tribulation to those that trouble it, Th2 1:6. When the Lord comes out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth (Isa 26:21), 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 12:3. 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, Psa 37:13. 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 20:10.
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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, Isa 5:4. 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 (Psa 80:13); 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, Psa 91:6. 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, Isa 53:1. Christ crucified is the power of God (Co1 1:24); 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 (Isa 27:6): 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, Isa 37:31. 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 1:6), fruit that remains, Joh 15:16.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–13 In that day the Lord with his sore and…
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, Rev 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,
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"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, Rev 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, Rev 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, Rev 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, Rev 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 God's care over his vineyard, ver. 1-6. His chastisements…
God's care over his vineyard, ver. 1-6. His chastisements on them, ver. 7-9. His severe judgments against them, ver. 10, 11. Their return, ver. 12, 13.
Leviathan - By this leviathan, serpent and dragon (for all signify the same thing) be understands some powerful enemy or enemies 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. The piercing - Which by its sting pierces deeply into mens bodies. Crooked serpent - Winding and turning itself with great variety and dexterity. Whereby he seems to signify the craftiness and activity of this enemy, whose strength makes it more formidable.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Destruction of the enemies of the Church, 1.
CHAPTER XXVII
Destruction of the enemies of the Church, 1.
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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 תנין 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 Isa 27:1. In that day, &c. — This verse,…
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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–13 In that day - In that future time when…
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, הקשׁה haqāshâh - ‘Hard.’ Septuagint, Τὴς ἁγίαν Tēn hagian - ‘Holy.’ The Hebrew means a sword that is hard, or well-tempered and trusty.
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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 - לויתן livyâthân. The Septuagint renders this, Τὴν δράκοντα Tēn drakonta - ‘The dragon.’ The word ‘leviathan’ is probably derived from לוה lâvâh 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 Robinson’s 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’ (נחשׁ nāchâsh) 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, Ὄφιν Φεύγοντα Ophin pheugonta - ‘Flying serpent. The Hebrew, בריח bāriyach, rendered ‘piercing,’ is derived from ברץ bârach,” 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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Hard. Septuagint, "holy." (Calmet) --- Leviathan. That is, the…
Hard. Septuagint, "holy." (Calmet) --- Leviathan. That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God. He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent from his wiles, and the whale of the sea, from they tyranny he exercises in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of Christ, when his power was destroyed. (Challoner) --- It may also literally refer to Nabuchodonosor, and the king of Egypt, or rather to Cambyses, or Holofernes, but particularly Cambyses. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 10 1 In that day the Lord with his1 sore…
7. THE DOWNFALL OF THE WORDLY POWERS AND ZION’S JOYFUL RESURRECTION
Isa_27:1-9
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1 In 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.
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 4 would set the briers and thorns against me in battle?
I would 5go 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 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.
7 Hath 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?
8 In measure, 8when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it;
9 10He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9 By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;
And this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
When he maketh all the stones of the altar
As 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 (ἀμπελὼν καλὸς ἐπιθν́μημα), of the Targum (vinea plantata in terra bona), and of many codices and editions, many interpreters read חֶמֶד, which finds support in כַּרְמֵי־חֶמֶד, Amo_5:11, and שְׂדֵי חֶמֶד, Isa_32:12. Comp. Isa_5:7; Jer_3:19. Although חמר is the more difficult reading, חֶמֶד is perhaps to be preferred here. For what does כרם חמר mean? [But compare גֶפֶן הַיַּיִן, 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 חמד, there is no necessity for altering here the common text of the Hebrew Bible.—D. M.]. If the supposition be made that כֶּרֶם denotes a plantation in general, and כֶּרֶם זַיִת, Jdg_15:5, be appealed to, still כרם alone denotes a vineyard in so many places that the addition חמר appears pleonastic. [But this objection would equally avail against such an expression as a spring of water.—D. M.]. It cannot be proved that חמר denotes a nobler kind of wine. I prefer therefore, with Drechsler and Delitzsch, and many older interpreters, to read חֶמֶד.
Isa_27:5. Drechsler is in error in thinking that יעשׂה cannot be taken as jussive. Comp. Naegelsbach, § 90, 3, c.
Isa_27:6. הִשְׁרִישׁ radices agere (Job_5:3; Psa_80:10) is denominative from שֹׁרֵשׁ (comp. 48:24).
Isa_27:8. The word בסאסאה is best derived from סְאָה mensura, so that the word is contracted from בִּסְאָה סְאָה. Dagesh forte in the second ס arises from the assimilation of the ה, while the first א has completely lost its power as a consonant. Compare לִקְרַאת for חַטַאת ,לְקִרְאַת for חַטְּאַת.
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, 24–27, 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 Israel’s 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 Israel’s 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 day——in 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 world’s history as what precedes. The Prophet freely uses the verb פקד in these chapters of punitive visitation: Isa_24:21; Isa_26:14; Isa_26:21; Isa_27:3. That יפקר here is connected with לפקד, 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 בהר ציון ובירושׁלים (Isa_24:23 comp. Isa_25:6) or בהר הקדשׁ ובירושׁלים (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 נחשׁ בריח is mentioned as a constellation. Hence the conclusion is drawn that also נחשׁ עקלתון 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, נחשׁ בריח and נהשׁ עקלתון 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 נחשׁ ב׳ and נחשׁ ע׳. 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 נחשׁ בריח 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 Herzog’sR. 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 נחשׁ עקלתון occurs in no other place as the name of a constellation. The question then is, what is the proper meaning of נחשׁ בריח? That נחשׁ denotes a serpent, is undoubted. The word is found in this signification in Isa_14:29; Isa_65:25. But בריח which, besides here and Job_26:13, occurs only Isa_43:14, can according to its etymology (בָּרַחfugere) have only the meaning “fleeing.” A נחש בריח is therefore a serpent which at full stretch flees away in haste. In opposition to it נחשׁ עקלתון is a crooked, coiled serpent. The word עקלתון is ἃπ. λεγ. The radix עקל occurs besides only in מְעֻקָל (Hab_1:4 jus perversum) and in עֲקַלְקַלּוֹתtortuosa, crookednesses, crooked ways (Jdg_5:6; Psa_125:5). לִוְיָתָן 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 תַּנִּין. 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 תנין 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 תַּנִּין 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 תנין 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 יָם comp. Isa_18:2; Isa_19:5; Isa_21:1). But if the תַּנִּין 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 day——wine.
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 מי־יתננו שׁמיר שׁית 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 כרם חמר form the title prefixed absolutely (comp. הַבָּאִים 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. חֶמֶר 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.]. ענו לה is not to be joined with ביום חהוא. For this date plainly refers to all that follows, and ענו לה are not words of the Prophet, but words which people at that day will call out to one another. לְ after ענה in the signification “in reference to” as Num_21:17; 1Sa_21:12; 1Sa_29:5; Psa_147:7.
4. I the LORD——peace 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 (לרגעיםevery moment asלבקרים 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 (פקד with על which elsewhere denotes a visitation for punishment, comp Hos_12:3; Jer_9:24 sq., seems to stand here in the sense of, פּגַשׁ ,פָּגַע . The fury (חֵמָה 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 בַּמִּלְחָמָה 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). מי יתנני (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. במלחמה 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 (פשׂעgradiri, ingredi only here, substantives derived from it 1Sa_20:3; 1Ch_19:4) against them (בָּהּ the feminine suffix refers to the nouns שָׁמִיר שַׁיִת, and is to be taken in a neuter sense, as afterwards the suffix in אציתנה) and burn up the bushes all altogetherהֵצית for הִצִּית 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 (אוֹ as conjunction with omitted כִּי comp. Exo_21:36; 2Sa_18:13 comp. Lev_13:16; Lev_13:24) to lay hold of the protection of Jehovah (החזק בְּ4:1; 1Ki_1:50; מעוזdefence, 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 one’s self to him, union with Him.
To the last thought peculiar weight and emphasis is given by its repetition with שׁלום the chief term placed first. The close of the song is thus at the same time fitly intimated.
5. He shall cause——with 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. Naegelsbach’s 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.] הבאים supply יָמִים, comp. e.g., יָמִים בָּאִיםJer_7:32; Ecc_2:6 and אֹתִיוֹתres 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 מלאו, as only the singular would have been requisite, as in the verbal forms יציץ ,פרה ישׁרשׁ. That יציץ (only here in Isaiah) stands before פרח (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 (תנובהproventus, 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 smitten—stand 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 (מַכֶּה as Isa_10:26; Isa_14:7; Isa_30:26; מַכֵּהוּ (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)? הֶרֶג in Isaiah besides Isa_30:25. Part. הרוגים in Isaiah only here and Isa_26:21. הֹרַג 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 לַמִּשְׁפָּט is used in a like sense. Knobel objects that סאה 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. סְאָה 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 בְּסַאְסְאָהּ Inf. Pilp. from =זוע=סואby his disquietude. But this thought, apart from the artificial etymology, does not suit the context. It appears to me that this בסאסאה 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, ריכ stands here with accusative of the person in a signification in which it is commonly construed with one of the prepositions אֶל ,עִם or בְּ, 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 Israel’s 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 הָגָה 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 הגה is identical with the הגה 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 one’s 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, הָגָה 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 שׁלחה 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 הָגָה is then quite normal, in order to describe further a matter contained in the principal sentence (שׁלחה). The expression רוח קשׁה does not elsewhere occur. But Isaiah does speak of a אֲדֹנִים קָשֶׁה19:4, of a חָזוּת קָשָׁה21:2, of עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה14:3, of a חֶרֶב קָשָׁה 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 רוּחַ יהוה as a breath proceeding from the mouth of God; wind being frequently in the O. T. described as God’s breath, or God’s 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 (לָכֵן 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. בזאת cannot be referred to the following בשׂומו, because atonement is not made for Israel by this שׂוּם וגו׳, but on the contrary, this שׂום וגו׳ 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. [יְכֻפַּר, 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.]. זֶה refers to פְּרִי and what follows. All fruit of the forgiveness of sin, consequently all sanctification concentrates itself in Israel’s keeping now the first and greatest commandment, and in definitively renouncing idolatry. זֶה 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 בְּשׂוּמוֹ (not שׂוּמוֹ) can follow. Comp. עֲלוּ זֶה בַנֶּנֶב 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. גיר (ἅπ. λεγ) is lime, אבני גיר are not lime-stones, in the mineralogical sense, but stones in a wall which are covered with lime, mortar [?]. מנפצות, (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.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–13 In that day when leviathan shall be destroyed, the…
In that day when leviathan shall be destroyed, the vineyard (Psa 80:8), the Church of God, purged of its blemishes, shall be lovely in God's eyes; to bring out this sense the better, LOWTH, by changing a Hebrew letter, reads "pleasant," "lovely," for "red wine."
sing--a responsive song [LOWTH].
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unto her--rather, "concerning her" (see on Isa 5:1); namely, the Jewish state [MAURER].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 1. In that day — The same time as…
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.
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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.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–13 1. The judgment on the ungodly powers of this…
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.
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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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–13 (1) Leviathan the piercing serpent.—Rather, fleet, or fugitive. The…
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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–13 THE TRIPLE JUDGMENT ON THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. The…
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 vengeance when all his other enemies have been put down, Jehovah shall finally visit with his sword three mighty foes, which are described under three figures the 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 God either 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 power probably "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" ("Speaker"s Commentary," vol. 4. p. 28); 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" (see "Speaker"s Commentary on the New Testament," vol. 4. p. 802).
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, 6 46:1-6) 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 at one 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).
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Ver. 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.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 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 nations a 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. CLARKSON Vers. 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" (ver 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 sword pain, 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 (ver. 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" (vers. 10, 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. (ver. 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 (ver. 2); he, the Lord, does keep it night and day; he waters it every moment; he guards it against the despoiling enemy (ver. 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. (Vers. 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. (Ver. 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. (Ver. 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.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 The Lord . . . Shall punish leviathan
Isa_27:1
The Lord . . . Shall punish leviathan
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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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 Isa_27:2-3. In that day sing ye unto her, &c.…
GOD’S GOODNESS TO THE CHURCH
Isa_27:2-3. In that day sing ye unto her, &c. [1084]
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[1084] Cowles only follows Alexander in the rendering of these verses. Birks translates: “In that day sing ye unto her. A vineyard of choice wine!” &c. Cheyne: “In that day—a pleasant vineyard—sing ye of it. I Jehovah, its keeper—moment by moment I water it; lest any should invade it, by night and by day I keep it.” Kay: “Sing ye unto her.”
The Church a vineyard: a spot set apart: weeds taken out; choice trees planted; supplied with means; fruitful of “red wine,” the best (Pro_31:31).
I. GOD’S CARE OF HIS CHURCH.
1. It is constant, “night and day.”
2. It is all-sufficient. “I, the Lord, do keep it”—what Omniscience and Omnipotence guards, none can hurt.
II. GOD’S MINISTRY TO THE CHURCH. Not only does He guard it from external assault, He ministers to its internal necessities. “I will water it.” God’s influence upon His Church is—
1. Adapted to its wants. The vine needs moisture.
2. It is a continued blessing. “Every moment.”
3. It is followed by blessed results: Growth, fragrance, beauty, fruitfulness.
Application.—
1. How secure is the true Church of God (H. E. I., 1246–1251; 2449).
2. How important to belong to it.
3. How great are its obligations to God.
4. How zealous we ought to be for its extension.—British and Foreign Pulpit, i. 74, 75.
THE SONG TO THE VINEYARD
Isa_27:2-3. In that day sing ye unto her, &c.
There are different opinions as to what is meant by “leviathan, that crooked serpent,” and “the dragon that is in the sea” (Isa_27:1), whether the same power is signified by different names, &c.
(1.) On a point concerning which learned and able men cannot see eye to eye, it would be presumptuous in me to give an opinion.
(2.) If we cannot feel certain as to the literal meaning, the spiritual is plain.
(3.) Neither of the expositions affects the substance of the prophecy. A great deliverance is spoken of, to be accomplished by the destruction of the enemies of the Church, and the Lord gives a command to comfort His people. There is in our text a command and a promise.
I. THE COMMAND.
1. “Sing ye unto her.” It is taken for granted that the spiritual condition of the Church is pleasing to God, but that the feeling of His people is in a low state. Sometimes the Lord directs His servant to reprimand them: “Show unto my people their transgression.” A Church may need comfort while some of its members deserve correction. Possibly the faulty members are the cause of discomfort to the Church, and render it desirable that she should be comforted. It is so in the family. We comfort the family when a member of it has transgressed. The fact that one member needs correction causes the others to need consolation. In some cases, it requires much wisdom to decide whether an encouragement or a reproof should be given. We have seen the rod used when a kind word would have been more suitable; and some are singing songs while it would be more appropriate to sound an alarm. There is need for rightly dividing the Word of truth. “A word in its season,” &c.
Possibly the accurate expositor will ask who is commanded to sing. Is it the prophets, or the priests, or the choir of the Temple? This is a poetical book, and sometimes it calls on the heavens, the mountains, and the trees of the field to sing. In this respect I would rather let the command of the text remain undecided, and say to everybody and everything, “Sing unto her!”
2. What shall be sung to this vineyard? Remind her in this song that she is “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts.” The Old Testament is full of references to a vineyard, to vines, and to wine. The reason for this is, that the Bible is an Eastern book. A vineyard supposes—
(1.) Separation. Not the superiority of its soil to that of the surrounding country makes the vineyard, but its separation. It is not because the saints are by nature better than others that they are God’s vineyard, but because they are set apart by Him. The idea of separation as regards the Church is made conspicuous in every age. The saints, the disciples, constitute the flock and the vineyard of the Old Testament, the Church of the New. When I speak of a separated Church, of course I do not allude to any sect, but to the Church in general. There are hypocrites in the Churches, but none in the Church. It is in the world, but not of the world. The soul is in the body, but not of the body. “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (2Co_6:7). Ceremonials cannot plant the vine; there are necessarily ordinances, but circumcision could not make the Jews a godly people, and there were thousands of ungodly people partaking every year of the Passover. A change of heart, a change in the condition of the soul, constitutes the planting in the vineyard; not a ceremonial separation, but a change of mind; not the affixing of the stamp of a sect, but the impartation of the image of God (H. E. I. 1171–1183).
II. THE PROMISE.
A large and comprehensive one. It includes—
1. Care. “I the Lord do keep it.” With regard to a vineyard, there is a special meaning in the word “keep.” The vine requires great care. There is much work for the knife. From the pruning of the vine by the vinedresser, there is much valuable instruction to be gained. We learn that what appear to be grievous losses may secure great gains (H. E. I. 63, 104, 126). Oh, this pruning, how painful it often is! But it is not done because the Owner of the vineyard delights in it; it proves His love. See Jochebed taking an ark of bulrushes, putting the child Moses in it, and then laying it amidst the perils of the Nile: not because she hated him! No; love was at the bottom of it all, though it appeared otherwise. It behoves the pulpit still to assure God’s people of His care for them.
2. Provision. “I will water it.” There was necessity for watering the vineyard constantly. This was done by means of trenches conveying the water to the roots of the plants. For this purpose rain-water was carefully stored in cisterns; dew was also of great service. The means of grace are somewhat like watercourses. We are dry enough and withered in appearance, but what would we be without the means of grace? What is the dew? The noiseless influences of the Holy Spirit. We will compare revivals to showers; they are not with us, like the watercourses, always. I do not know whether the natural vineyards must have water without intermission; but the vineyard of the Lord of hosts requires it “every moment,” and here is His promise to supply the need.
3. Safety. “Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” It shall be protected from the blighting frost, from thieves and spoilers, from “the boar out of the wood,” from “the little foxes that spoil the vines.” “I the Lord do keep it.” He will not only give His angels charge concerning it, though He will do that. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.” That shall be done, and more! “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about her, and will be the glory in the midst of her.” All things are in the hand of God, and under His control they shall co-operate for her safety. It is not surprising that Moses, as he surveyed Israel from the top of Mount Nebo, should say, “Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help? The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” In dwelling near God there is safety. Israel was always flourishing when with God. The safety of God’s people means more than being kept together and saved from destruction: “Lest any hurt it!” How excellent are the promises of God!—Gweithiau Rhyddieithol, pp. 48–51, by the late William Ambrose of Port Madoc, translated from the Welsh by the Rev. T. Johns, of Llanelly.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Two somewhat distinct meanings may be attached to these…
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.
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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.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5
Isaiah
THE GRASP THAT BRINGS PEACE
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Isa 27:5.
Lyrical emotion makes the prophet’s language obscure by reason of its swift transitions from one mood of feeling to another. But the main drift here is discernible. God is guarding Israel, His vineyard, and before Him its foes are weak as ‘thorns and briers,’ whose end is to be burned. With daring anthropomorphism, the prophet puts into God’s mouth a longing for the enemies to measure their strength against His, a warrior’s eagerness for the fight. But at once this martial tone gives place to the tender invitation of the text, and the infinite divine willingness to be reconciled to the enemy speaks wooingly and offers conditions of peace. All this has universal application to our relations to God.
I. The Hostility.
That our relations with God are ‘strained,’ and that men are ‘enemies of God,’ is often repelled as exaggeration, if not as directly false. And, no doubt, the Scripture representation has often been so handled as to become caricature rather than portraiture. Scripture does not deny the lingering presence in men of goodness, partial and defective, nor does it assert that conscious antagonism to God is active in godless men. But it does assert that ‘God is not in all their thoughts,’ and that their wills are ‘not subject to the law of God.’ And in such a case as man’s relations to God, indifference and forgetfulness cannot but rest upon divergence of will and contrast of character. Why do men ‘not like to retain God in their knowledge, ‘but because they feel that the thought of Him would spoil the feast, like the skeleton in the banqueting chamber? Beneath the apparent indifference lie opposition of will, meeting God’s ‘Thou shalt’ with man’s ‘I will not’; opposition of moral nature, impurity shrinking from perfect purity; opposition of affection, the warmth of human love being diverted to other objects than God.
II. The entreating Love that is not turned aside by hostility.
The antagonism is wholly on man’s part.
True, man’s opposition necessarily turns certain sides of the divine character to present a hostile front to him. Not only God’s physical attributes, if we may so call them, but the moral attributes which guide the energies of these, namely, His holiness and His righteousness, and the acts of His sovereignty which flow from these, must be in opposition to the man who has set himself in opposition to God. ‘The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.’ If it were not, He would not be God.
But still, God’s love enfolds all men in its close and tender clasp. As the context says, in close connection with the threat to burn the briers and thorns, ‘Fury is not in Me.’ Man’s hostility does not rouse God’s. He wars against the sin because He still loves the sinner. His love ‘must come with a rod,’ but, at the same time, it comes ‘with the spirit of meekness.’ It gives its enemy all that it can; but it cannot give all that it would.
He stoops to sue for our amity. It is the creditor who exhausts beseechings on His debtor, so much does He wish to ‘agree with His adversary quickly.’ The tender pleading of the Apostle was but a faint echo of the marvellous condescension of God, when he, ‘in God’s stead, besought: ‘Be ye reconciled to God.’
III. The grasp which ends alienation.
The word for ‘strength’ here means a stronghold or fortified place, which serves as an asylum or refuge. There may be some mingling of an allusion to the fugitive’s taking hold of the horns of the altar, and so being safe from the vengeance of his pursuers. If we may take this double metaphor as implied in the text, it vividly illustrates the essence of the faith which brings us into peace with God. That faith is the flight of the soul to God, and, in another aspect, it is the clinging of the soul to Him. How much more these two metaphors tell of the real nature of faith than many a theological treatise! They speak of the urgency of the peril from which it seeks deliverance. A fugitive with the hot breath of the avenger of blood panting behind him, and almost feeling the spear-point in his back, would not let the grass grow under his feet. They speak of the energetic clutch of faith, as that of the man gripping the horns of the altar. They suggest that faith is something much more vital than intellectual assent or credence, namely, an act of the whole man realising his need and casting himself on God.
And they set in clear light what is the connection between faith and salvation. It is not the hand that grasps the altar that secures safety, but the altar itself. It is not the flight to the fortress, but the massive walls themselves, which keeps those who hunt after the fugitive at bay. It is not my faith, but the God on whom my faith fastens, that brings peace to my conscience.
IV. The peace that this grasp brings.
In Christ God has ‘put away all His wrath, and turned Himself from the fierceness of His anger.’ And He was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. It is a one-sided warfare that men wage with Him, and when we abandon our opposition to Him, the war is ended. We might say that God, clasped by faith and trusted in and loved, is the asylum from God opposed and feared. His moral nature must be against evil, but faith unites us to Jesus, and, by union with Him, we receive the germ of a nature which has no affinity with evil, and which God wholly delights in and loves. To those who live by the life, and growingly bear the image of His Son, the divine Nature turns a face all bright and favouring, and His moral and physical attributes are all enlisted on their side. The fortress looks grim to outsiders gazing up at its strong walls and frowning battlements, but to dwellers within, these give security, and in its inmost centre is a garden, with flowers and a springing fountain, whither the noise of fighting never penetrates. We have but to cease to be against Him, and to grasp the facts of His love as revealed in the Cross of Christ, the sacrifice who taketh away the sin of the world, and we are at peace with God. Being at peace with Him, the discords of our natures warring against themselves are attuned into harmony, and we are at peace within. And when God and we are at one, and we are at one with ourselves, then all things will be on our side, and will work together for good. To such a man the ancient promise will be fulfilled: ‘Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 1. The powers hostile to God's people are here…
1. The powers hostile to God's people are here symbolically represented as monsters. Leviathan the piercing (RV 'swift') serpent perhaps stands for Assyria, watered by the rapid Tigris, and 'leviathan the crooked serpent' (RV) for Babylon, whose river was the winding Euphrates. The dragon] crocodile, i.e. Egypt, as in Isa_51:9.
2. Sing ye, etc.] RV 'a vineyard of wine, sing ye unto it.' The vineyard is God's people (Isaiah 5); the song begins at Isa_27:3.
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4. Who would, etc.] RV 'would that the briers and thorns were against me.' Go through] RV 'march upon.' God's anger against his vineyard has ceased, and He will now turn against their enemies, figuratively represented as briers and thorns (Isa_9:18; Isa_10:17).
5. A gracious overture even to God's enemies.
6. He shall cause] RV 'In days to come shall Jacob take root'; the image of the vineyard continued.
7. Hath Jehovah smitten Israel as he smote their oppressors? Is Israel slain according to the slaughter of those slain by Jehovah? The implied answer is No.
8. When, etc.] RV 'when thou sendest her away thou dost contend with her; he hath removed her with his rough blast,' etc. Israel has been smitten but only in measure.
9. The sense is that Israel's sin will be purged on condition that it rejects all idolatry. The fruit] RV 'the fruit of taking away': i.e. the result or proof of contrition required as a condition of taking away. Groves and images] RV 'Asherim and sun-images': see Isa_17:8. Not stand up] RV 'rise no more.'
10. Defenced city] i.e. of the enemies (as in Isa_25:2). Some, however, understand Jerusalem, which must for a season be desolate.
11. It] i.e. Israel.
12. Beat off] RV 'beat off the fruit' as from oüve trees (Deu_24:20). The ingathering of exiled Israel compared to a fruit harvest. River] RV 'River,' i.e. Euphrates. Stream of Egypt] the stream dividing Palestine from Egypt (1Ki_8:65).
13. Trumpet] summoning the sacred assembly (Num_10:1-10).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 27 Israel’s Enemies Overthrown and the Great Restoration
CHAPTER 27 Israel’s 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. Israel’s 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.”
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The last word tells of Israel’s 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 Israel’s future glory and blessing.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 The Downfall of the Worldly Powers
The Downfall of the Worldly Powers
v. 1. In that day, at the time when God’s judgments will be carried out upon the world, the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword, His well-tempered, powerful, and irresistible weapon, shall punish leviathan, the piercing serpent, the fleeing dragon, even leviathan, that crooked serpent, whose mighty coils threaten to crush everything they enfold; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea, the reference being to the three great world-powers, Assyria, along the Tigris, Babylonia, along the Euphrates, and Egypt, representing all the forces which are hostile to the Lord and His people.
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v. 2. In that day sing ye unto her, the Church of God, A vineyard of red wine, literally, "A desirable vineyard-sing [antiphonally] to it!
v. 3. I, the Lord, do keep it, as the almighty Watchman; I will water it every moment, thus combining watchful with loving care; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day, so that no enemy may attack and harm it.
v. 4. Fury is not in Me, the Lord feels nothing but the most sincere love for His Church; who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? literally, "Would that were given Me, that I had before Me, thorns and briers in battle!" the reference being to His warfare against the wicked of the world. I would go through them, I would burn them together, with martial impetuosity the Lord would stride in against them and destroy them.
v. 5. Or let him take hold of My strength, let him make his peace with God, the only alternative by which the wicked may escape the threatened punishment, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. To take refuge with God and make peace with Him is the only advisable course for all those who have ever opposed Him. The prophet now adds to this song, as an explanation for the sake of his readers:
v. 6. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root, literally, "In the coming days Jacob shall take root," the Church of God being established. Israel shall blossom and bud, the believers being active in good works, and fill the face of the world with fruit, Rom 11:12. The believers of all times are rich in good works, to the glory of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 On that day
On that day
"At that time"
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Yahweh with his hard, great and fierce sword will punish
Yahweh having the power to destroy his enemies is spoken of as if he had strong, large sword. (See: Metaphor)
the monster that is in the sea
This refers to Leviathan.
A vineyard of wine, sing of it
"Sing about the vineyard of wine." This speaks about the people of Israel as if they were a vineyard that produced fruit. AT: "Sing about the people of Israel as if they were a vineyard that produced grapes for wine" (See: Metaphor)
I, Yahweh, am its protector
"I, Yahweh, protect the vineyard"
night and day
The words "night" and "day" are combined here to mean "all the time." AT: "all the time" or "continually" (See: Merism)
translationWords
Yahweh
sword
punish
Leviathan
serpent
vineyard
wine
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 27:1 Israel adapted the imagery of Leviathan to refer…
27:1 Israel adapted the imagery of Leviathan to refer to evil powers that oppose God. Leviathan’s death symbolizes the end of evil, Satan, the demonic, and the dominion of forces hostile to God (see 51:9; Pss 74:14; 104:7-9, 26; see also the serpent in Gen 3; Rev 12; 13; 16:13; 20:2, 10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.