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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
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Fury is not in Me; would that I were as the briers and thorns in flame! I would with one step burn it altogether.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Isaiah 27:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 10:17 The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
- Hebrews 6:8 but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- 2 Samuel 23:6 But all the ungodly will be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand,
- Psalms 85:3 You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
- Psalms 103:9 He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.
- Isaiah 26:20-21 Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
- Isaiah 54:6-10 For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God. “For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer. “For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
- Ezekiel 16:63 that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
- Nahum 1:3-7 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.
- Malachi 4:3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- 2 Peter 2:9 the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- Isaiah 9:18 For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Therefore he will destroy the kingdom of Satan, because…
Therefore he will destroy the kingdom of Satan, because he loveth his Church for his own mercy’s sake, and cannot be angry with it, but wisheth that he may pour his anger upon the wicked infidels, whom he meaneth by briers and thorns.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 27:4 Fury [is] not in me: who would…
Isa 27:4 Fury [is] not in me: who would set the briers [and] thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
Ver. 4. Fury is not in me.] Whatever you may think of me, because of my many dreadful menaces, and your heavy calamities, Non est in me sed in vobis culpa istarum calamitatum, the fault is not in me but in yourselves; do you but mend, and all shall be soon well between us. It is but displeased love that maketh me chide or strike my dear children, lop my vines, Ut bonus vinitor vires luxuriantes falce Tatar et purgat; αιρει, καθαιρει; {Joh 15:2} leaves and luxuriances must be taken off, or it will be worse. Better the vine should bleed than die; better be preserved in brine, than perish in honey. But assure yourselves, I am not implacable; as your sins have put thunderbolts into my hands, so by sound repentance you may soon disarm me.
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Who would set the briers and thorns.] God’s vineyard is not without briers and thorns, his field without tares, his Church without hypocrites, which prick God and his people, galling them to the heart. These he will make a hand of, take an order with, by treading them down and burning them up, especially if once they shall be so mad and mankind, as they say, as to bid him battle. See Job 9:4. {See Trapp on "Job 9:4"}
I would burn them together.] Or, I will burn them out of it. See 2Sa 23:7. {See Trapp on "2Sa 23:7"}
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 Fury, to wit, against my vineyard, or my people;…
Fury, to wit, against my vineyard, or my people; which is easily understood both from the foregoing and following verses. I have been displeased with them, and have chastised them; but I am not implacable towards them, and resolved utterly to destroy them, as their enemies are, and would have me to be.
I would go through them, I would burn them together: this is added as a reason of the foregoing clause and assertion; which may be conceived either,
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1. Thus, I rather desire to contend with briers and thorns, i.e. with the wicked enemies of my church, who are thus called, Isa 10:17; Eze 28:24; and if my wrath was now kindled against them, as it is against my people, I would be furious towards them, and never leave till I had utterly consumed them; but I will deal more indulgently with my people. Which exposition seems to receive some light and strength from Isa 27:6-8. Or,
2. Thus, For I consider the weakness of my people, that if I should let loose my fury upon them, they could no more stand before me than briers and thorns (to which God’s people, when they fall into sin, and provoke God, are not unfitly resembled) can stand before a devouring fire, and therefore they would in an instant be utterly destroyed; which I will not do. And this consideration of man’s imbecility is elsewhere alleged as a reason of God’s indulgence, as Psa 103:13-16; Isa 57:16. But this I deliver with submission.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Fury is not in me,.... Against his vineyard he…
Fury is not in me,.... Against his vineyard he takes so much care of, his church and people, whom he has loved with an everlasting love; they are indeed deserving of his wrath, but he has not appointed them to it, but has appointed his Son to bear it for them, who has delivered them from wrath to come, and they being justified by his blood and righteousness, are saved from it; and though the Lord chastises them for their sins, yet not in wrath and sore displeasure; there is no wrath or fury in his heart towards them, nor any expressed in the dispensations of his providence:
who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? either suggesting the weakness of his people, who, was he to deal with them as their sins and corruptions deserved, for which they may be compared to thorns and briers, they would be as unable to bear his wrath and fury as briers and thorns could to withstand a consuming fire; or rather intimating, that should such persons rise up in his vineyard, the church, as often do, comparable to briers and thorns for their unfruitfulness and unprofitableness, for the hurt and mischief they do, and the grief and trouble they give to the people of God, as hypocrites and false teachers, and all such as are of unsound principles, and bad lives and conversations, and which are very offensive to the Lord; and therefore, though there is no fury in him against his vineyard, the church, yet there is against those briers and thorns, wicked men, whom he accounts his enemies, and will fight against them in his wrath, and consume them in his fury; see Sa2 23:6,
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I would go through them: or, "step into it" (p); the vineyard, where those briers or thorns are set and grow up; the meaning is, that he would step into the vineyard, and warily and cautiously tread there, lest he should hurt any of the vines, true believers, while he is plucking up and destroying the briers and thorns; or contending, in a warlike manner, with carnal and hypocritical professors:
I would burn them together; or, "I would burn" out of it (q); that is, gather out of the vineyard the briers and thorns, and bind them up in bundles, as the tares in the parable, which signify the same as here, and burn them, or utterly destroy them; though the words may be rendered, "who will give, or set, me a brier and thorn in battle, that I should go against it, and burn it up together?", or wholly (r) and the meaning is, who shall irritate or provoke me to be as a brier and thorn, to hurt, grieve, and distress my people, to cause me to go into them, and against them, in a military way, in wrath and fury to consume them? no one shall. This rendering and sense well agree with the first clause of the verse. Jerom renders it thus, "who will make me an adamant stone?" as the word "shamir" is rendered in Eze 3:9, Zac 7:12 and gives the sense, who will make me hard and cruel, so as to overcome my nature, my clemency, to go forth in a fierce and warlike manner, and walk upon my vineyard, which before I kept, and burn it, which I had hedged about?
(p) "gradiar in eam"; so some in Vatablus; "caute ingrediar eam", Piscator. (q) "succendam ex ea", Junius & Tremellius; "comburam illos ex ipsa", Piscator. (r) So De Dieu; and some in Vatablus; and which is approved by Noldius, who renders it in like manner, to the same sense, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 409. No. 1671.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Fury is not in me - "I…
Verse 4. Fury is not in me - "I have no wall"] For חמה chemah, anger, the Septuagint and Syriac read חומה chomah, wall. An ancient MS. has חימה cheimah. For בה bah, in her, two MSS. read בם bam, in them, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall and a fence of thorns - human strength and protection, (as the Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbours for assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Egypt:) JEHOVAH replies, that this would not avail her, nor defend her against his wrath. He counsels her, therefore, to betake herself to his protection. On which she entreats him to make peace with her.
From the above note it appears that the bishop reads, חומה chomah, wall, for חמה chemah, anger or fury, in accordance with the Syriac and Septuagint. The letter ו vau makes the only difference, which letter is frequently absent from many words where its place is supplied by the point cholem: it might have been so here formerly; and in process of time both vau and cholem might have been lost. The Syriac supports the learned bishop's criticism, as the word [Syriac] shora is there used; which word in the plural is found, Heb 11:30: "By faith the walls of Jericho." The bishop thinks the Septuagint is on his side: to me, it seems neither for nor against the criticism. The words in the Vatican copy are εγω πολις οχυρα, I am a fortified city; which the Arabic follows: but instead of οχυρα, the Codex Alexandrinus has ισχυρα, I am a STRONG city.
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The word חומה chomah, wall, is not found in any MS. in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, nor in any of my own MSS.
However, one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. has חימה cheimah; but probably that which now appears to be a י yod was formerly a ו vau, and now partially obliterated.
This song receives much light from being collated with that in chap. v.; and perhaps the bishop's criticism will find its best support from such a collation. In Isa 5:5 of that chapter, God threatens to take away the wall of his vineyard: this was done; and here the vineyard complains, I have no wall, and wishes for any kind of defense rather than be thus naked. This is the only natural support of the above criticism.
"About Tripoli there are abundance of vineyards and gardens, inclosed, for the most part, with hedges, which chiefly consist of the rhamnus, paliurus, oxyacantha," c. Rawolf, p. 21, 22. A fence of thorns is esteemed equal to a wall for strength, being commonly represented as impenetrable. See Mic 7:4 Ho 2:6.
Who would set the briers and thorns against me - "O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier"] Seven MSS., (two ancient,) and one edition, with the Syriac, Vulgate, and Aquila, read ושית veshayith, with the conjunction ו vau prefixed: Who would set the briers and thorns. מי יתנני שמיר שית mi yitteneni shamir shayith, Who shall give me the brier and thorn, i.e., for a defense: but hear Kimchi: "Who (the vineyard) hath given me (Jehovah) the brier and the thorn instead of good grapes."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 27:4-5. Fury is not in me — Namely,…
Isa 27:4-5. Fury is not in me — Namely, against my vineyard or my people; I have been displeased with them, and have chastized them, but I am not implacable toward them, and resolved utterly to destroy them, as their enemies are. Who would set the briers and thorns against me, &c. — Yet if any hypocrite in the church, false professor, or wilful sinner, shall offer to contend with me, he shall feel the effects of my fury. Or, more largely, thus: “Though fury doth not belong to me, and vengeance be called my strange work, (Isa 28:21,) yet if the briers and thorns, that is, the wicked and incorrigible, bid defiance to me, they will find I shall soon destroy and consume them like fire.” Or let him take hold of my strength, &c. — Rather, let such a one return to me, and make his peace with me, by unfeigned repentance and living faith, and he shall make peace with me — For I am always ready to receive returning sinners, and to pardon the truly penitent, who have recourse to me for mercy and salvation.
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 Fury is not in me - That is, I…
Fury is not in me - That is, I am angry with it no more. He had punished his people by removing them to a distant land. But although he had corrected them for their faults, yet he had not laid aside the affection of a Father.
Who would set - Hebrew, ‘Who would give me.’ The Septuagint renders this, ‘Who would place me to keep the stubble in the field?’ Great perplexity has been felt in regard to the interpretation of this passage. Lowth translates it:
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‘O that I had a fence of the thorn and the brier;’
evidently showing that he was embarrassed with it, and could not make of it consistent sense. The whole sentence must refer either to the people of God, or to his enemies. If to his people, it would be an indication that they were like briers and thorns, and that if his fury should rage they would be consumed, and hence, he calls upon them Isa 27:5 to seize upon his strength, and to be at peace with him. If it refers to his enemies, then it expresses a wish that his enemies were in his possession; or a purpose to go against them, as fire among thorns, and to consume them if they should presume to array themselves against his vineyard. This latter I take to be the true sense of the passage. The phrase ‘who would set me,’ or in Hebrew, ‘who will give me,’ may be expressed by “utinam,” indicating strong desire; and may be thus paraphrased: ‘I retain no anger against my people. I have indeed punished them; but my anger has ceased. I shall now defend them. If they are attacked by foes, I will guard them. When their foes approach, “I desire, I earnestly wish,” that they may be in my possession, that I may destroy them - as the fire rages through briers and thorns.’ It expresses a firm determination to defend his people and to destroy their enemies, unless Isa 27:5, which he would prefer, they should repent, and be at peace with him.
The briers and thorns - His enemies, and the enemies of his people (compare the notes at Isa 9:17; Isa 10:17). Perhaps the phrase is used here to denote enemies, because briers and thorns are so great enemies to a vineyard by impeding growth and fertility.
I would go through them - Or, rather, I would go against them in battle to destroy them.
I would burn them up together - As fire devours the thorns and briers; that is, I would completely destroy them.
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 In me, against the Church; nor shall I become…
In me, against the Church; nor shall I become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an everlasting peace with me. (Challoner) --- God rather speaks of the enemy. If he attempt to lay waste this vineyard, I will chastise him. (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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Fury is not in me--that is, I entertain no…
Fury is not in me--that is, I entertain no longer anger towards my vine.
who would set . . . in battle--that is, would that I had the briers, &c. (the wicked foe; Isa 9:18; Isa 10:17; Sa2 23:6), before me! "I would go through," or rather, "against them."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Fury is not in me] Or, wrath have…
4. Fury is not in me] Or, wrath have I none. These words naturally go with the first stanza, expressing, as they seem to do, Jehovah’s contentment with the condition of His vineyard.
who would set … battle] The phrase “Who will give?” is the well known Hebrew equivalent of the Latin utinam, “Would that!” Hence the R.V.: O that the briers and thorns were against me in battle!
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briers and thorns] (ch. Isa_5:6) must here mean heathen intruders. The next clause reads as in R.V.: I would march upon them. Cf. 2Sa_23:6 f.
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 (4) Fury is not in me.—Better, There is no…
(4) Fury is not in me.—Better, There is no wrath in me. Who will set briars and thorns before me? With war will I go forth against them; I will burn them up together. The reversal of the sentence is continued. Wrath against this vineyard has passed away from Jehovah. Should briars and thorns (symbols of the enemies of His people, as in Isa_9:18; Isa_10:17; 2Sa_23:6-7; Eze_2:6) spring up, he will do battle against them, and consume them utterly.
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 Fury is not in me; i.e. "I am not…
Fury is not in me; i.e. "I am not now angered against my vineyard, as on the former occasion; (Isa_5:4-7) or at any rate my anger now is not fury." (Isaiah frequently ascribes "fury" to God, as in Isa_34:2 Isa_42:25 Isa_51:17, Isa_51:20, 22 58:1-8 63:3, 5, 6 66:15) Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? The "briars and thorns" are apparently unrighteous members of the Church, who have fallen below their privileges. God asks, "Who will set the briars and thorns in array against me?" in a tone of contempt. "Who will dare to do battle against me with such weak material?" And then he adds a forecast of the result in such a case: "I would move forward; I would burn them all together". (comp. Isa_10:17)
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 Fury is not in Me.
Isa_27:4-5
Fury is not in Me.
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--Of all the senses put upon this difficult verse there are only two which can be looked upon as natural or probable. The first may be paraphrased as follows:--It is not because I am cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My people, but because she is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briars, on account of which I must pass through her and consume her (i.e., burn them out of her)
. The other is this: I am no longer angry with My people; oh, that their enemies (as thorns and briars) would array themselves against Me, that I might rush upon them and consume them. (J. A. Alexander.)
Liberty and discipline
I. A BLESSED ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD. Fury is not in Me. Fury seems to be uncontrolled and uncontrollable anger. A vessel in a storm, with its rudder gone or its screw broken, is passive in the power of winds and waves. A lion, who for hours has been disappointed of his prey, is passive under the dominion of his hunger. In both cases no influence, internal or external, is able to resist the onward course. And when a man is so in the hand of anger that no consideration from within or intercession from without can mollify him, when he is passive in its power, he is in a state of fury. But no such estate is possible to our God. His anger is always under control, and we have plentiful evidence that, in the height of His displeasure, He is accessible to intercession on behalf of His creatures. Nevertheless--
II. THIS BLESSED ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD IS COMPATIBLE WITH CONTENTION WITH THE UNREPENTING. Who would set the briars and thorns against Me in battle? etc. Imagine a father and son at variance, the father being in the right and the son in the wrong, There are two ways of reconciliation: either the son must comply with the conditions of the father, or the father must lower his standard to the level of the son. But what a wrong would the father do to himself, his family, and society if he were to adopt this course. He ought not, will not. If the son resolves to fight it out, reconciliation is impossible. This is the relative position of God and the ungodly man. God declares His conditions, Let the wicked forsake his way, etc. Consider what is involved in the conditions of the ungodly. Nothing less than the inversion of the whole moral law. God says, I am Jehovah, I change not. It is a blessed impossibility. But the unrepentant man ought, can, must! If not, the fire of goodness must be set against the briars of wickedness, a contest as hopeless, and of which the issue is as certain, as that of the devouring flame with briars and thorns.
III. THE ABSENCE OF FURY IN GOD LEADS HIM TO PREFER PARDON TO PUNISHMENT, AND TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR THE FORMER. Let him take hold of My strength, etc. Men, churches, and nations are lovers of peace in proportion as they are righteous (Psa_72:3). The preference of God for peace depends upon the very attribute of which the ungodly would rob Him--namely, His righteousness. What is Gods strength? How take hold of it? When a man falls overboard at sea, the appointed means of rescue is the life belt which is thrown to him. Seizing that, he takes hold of the strength of the vessel to save him. When the man slayer, fleeing from the avenger of blood, entered the city of refuge, he took hold of Gods appointed means of shelter. Gods strength is His pardoning prerogative, exercised to us through Christ, the arm, or strength, of the Lord. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Fury not in God
I. FURY IS NOT IN GOD. But how can this be? Is not fury one manifestation of His essential attributes--do we not repeatedly read of His fury--of Jerusalem being full of the fury of the Lord--of God casting the fury of His wrath upon the world--of Him rendering His anger upon His enemies with fury--of Him accomplishing his fury upon Zion--of Him causing His fury to rest on the bloody and devoted city? We are not, therefore, to think that fury is banished altogether from Gods administration. There are times and occasions when this fury is discharged upon the objects of it; and there must be other times and occasions when there is no fury in Him. Now, what is the occasion upon which He disclaims all fury in our text? He is inviting men to reconciliation; and He is assuring them that if they will only take hold of His strength they shall make peace with Him. Fury will be discharged on those who reject the invitation. But we cannot say that there is any exercise of fury in God at the time of giving the invitation. There is the most visible and direct contrary. This very process was all gone through at and before the destruction of Jerusalem. It rejected the warnings and invitations of the Saviour, and at length experienced His fury. But there was no fury at the time of His giving the invitations. The tone of our Saviours voice when He uttered, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, was not the tone of a vindictive and irritated fury. There was compassion in it--a warning and pleading earnestness that they would mind the things which belong to their peace. Let us make the application to ourselves.
II. GOD IS NOT WANTING TO GLORIFY HIMSELF BY THE DEATH OF SINNERS. When God says, Who would set the thorns and the briars against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together, He speaks of the ease wherewith He could accomplish His wrath upon His enemies. They would perish before Him like the moth. Why set up, then, a contest so unequal as this? God is saying in the text that this is not what He is wanting. In the language of the next verse, He would rather that this enemy of His, not yet at peace with Him, and who may therefore be likened to a briar or a thorn, should take hold of His strength, that He may make peace with Him--and as the fruit of his so doing, He shall make peace with Him. Now tell me if this do not open up a most wonderful and a most inviting view of God? It is the real attitude in which He puts Himself forth to us in the gospel of His Son. What remains for you to do? God is willing to save you: are you willing to be saved?
III. THE INVITATION. Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. Or here is the same with rather. Rather than that what is spoken of in the fourth verse should fall upon you. We have not far to seek for what is meant by this strength, for Isaiah himself speaks (Isa_33:6) of the strength of salvation.
1. We read of a mighty strength that had to be put forth in the work of a sinners justification. Just in proportion to the weight and magnitude of the obstacle was the greatness of that strength which the Saviour put forth in the mighty work of moving it away. A way of redemption has been found out in the unsearchable riches of Divine wisdom, and Christ is called the wisdom of God. But the same Christ is also called the power of God.
2. But there is also a strength put forth in the work of mans regeneration.
3. When you apply to a friend for some service, some relief from distress or difficulty, you may be said to lay hold of him; and when you place firm reliance both on his ability and willingness to do the service, you may well say that your hold is upon your friend--an expression which becomes all the more appropriate should he promise to do the needful good office, in which case your hold is not upon his power only, but upon his faithfulness. And it is even so with the promises of God in Christ Jesus--you have both a power and a promise to take hold of. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
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 Isa_27:4-5. Fury is not in me, &c.
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Isa_27:4-5. Fury is not in me, &c.
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The figurative language in Isa_27:1 sets forth some powerful and terrible enemies of Israel—cruel, crafty, and bloodthirsty oppressors. But, terrible as they were to Israel, they were no more than “briers and thorns” in the way of Israel’s God. He would “march against them and go through them,” just as soldiers on their march tread down and crush so frail a barrier as these would be against them. His own people the while should be the object of His special and necessary care (Isa_27:2-3). And if they should so offend as to draw down His judgments upon them, still He would not deal with them as adversaries. He would be ready to make peace with them again on their humbling themselves before Him. The solemn disclaimer of our text should be borne in mind by us when we study—
I. GOD’S THREATENINGS AGAINST THE WICKED. Many of these are very terrible, and a certain class of religionists would have us believe that these alarming texts of Holy Scripture are metaphors that mean nothing, and that we dishonour “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” if we associate His name with anything that savours of wrath, vengeance, and severity. But this is taking a meagre and one-sided view of the Divine character. In God there is not only love, but also holiness, which “cannot look upon iniquity;” justice, which “will by no means clear the guilty;” and truth, which forewarns and will not fail to punish the transgressors of law and order. Let us not mistake the character of such punishment. A furious man acts on the passionate impulse of the moment. He strikes blindly and without consideration; does many things which, when the excitement is over, he will be sorry for and try to undo. But nothing like this is there with God. His threatenings are not uttered in blind and inconsiderate wrath, but in awful calmness of judgment, and in vindication of His essential and eternal holiness; and thus, too, they will be executed. This it is that will make the judgment-day so awful, and that then will reduce the condemned to despair. The son who sees his father’s anger so stirred against him, that vain attempt were it to reason with him, vain to offer a word of explanation or excuse, does well to keep out of his father’s way, and hope for a better time to stand before him and ask to be forgiven. But no such hope is there, when the offender sees that his aggrieved parent—not furiously, but “of very faithfulness”—is about to administer a threatened punishment; ay, and that his heart is heavy, and his eye dim with tears, even while he punishes! And this, allowing for the inevitable weakness of any illustration of such a matter, may serve to convey the idea which I would impress upon you. “The Father of mercies and God of all comfort” will certainly execute His threatenings against impenitent transgressors. Not in passionate haste, not on sudden impulse of which He might afterwards repent, will the Lord make “a way for His anger” against sin.
II. THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT. Not a few earnest men becloud and all but explain away this fundamental doctrine, because (they tell us) they cannot endure the thought of sin being punished in the person of the Sinless One. They do not like to hear of the Father’s “wrath” being averted and (as it is said) “appeased” by the death of His Son; of God looking out (as it were) for a victim, and fastening upon the One found guiltless as a substitute for the guilty mass! But this mistaken representation arises from attributing to God a passion which in men would be indignation and wrath. But what does our text say? “Fury is not in Me.” We may not think of our heavenly Father as an angry Being, furiously raging against those whom the devil has proved too strong for, and not to be appeased till He found a victim on which to wreak His vengeance! But no unwillingness on our part to hear it can alter that which is written (2Co_5:21; 1Pe_4:18; Isa_53:5-6). If we study this great subject aright, we shall find in the Atonement the result of the co-working of the calmest (and therefore most inflexible) justice and the tenderest love.—T. W. Peile, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 101–112.
The text expresses the preference of God for forgiveness rather than for punishment, and the conditions of that forgiveness; but, at the same time, the utter overthrow of all who continue in opposition to His will. It suggests—
I. A blessed absence in the nature of God. “Fury is not in me.” Fury seems to be uncontrolled and uncontrollable anger, such as that with which the storm seems to beat upon the dismasted, helmless vessel; such as that which inspires the hungry lion that has been for some hours disappointed of its prey. When a man is so under the influence of anger that no consideration from within or intercession from without can pacify him, he is in a state of fury. But no such state is possible to our God. His anger is always under control, He is always the Lord God, abundant in goodness and truth; and we have also plentiful evidence that, in the height of His displeasure, He is accessible to intercession on behalf of His creatures. See how the Son of God ends His woes against “Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites,” with “O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered,” &c. Recall the effect of Abram’s pleading for Sodom, and that of Moses for unbelieving Israel (Numbers 14) The declaration of the text has been abundantly verified in all ages. Nevertheless,
II. This blessed absence in the nature of God is compatible with contention with the unrepenting. “Who would set the briers,” &c. Imagine a father and a son at variance, the father being in the right, and the son in the wrong. There are two ways of reconciliation: either the son must comply with the conditions of the father, or the father must lower his standard to the level of the son. But what a wrong would the father do himself, his family, and society, if he were to adopt this course! He ought not, will not. If the son resolves to fight it out, reconciliation is impossible. This is the relative position of God and the ungodly man. God says, “I am Jehovah, I change not.” It is a blessed impossibility. But the unrepentant man ought, can, must! If not, the fire of goodness must be set against the briers of wickedness, a contest as hopeless, and of which the issue is as certain, as that of the devouring flame with briers and thorns.
Conclusion.—The absence of fury in God leads Him to prefer pardon to punishment, and to provide means for the former. “Let him take hold of my strength,” &c. Men, churches, and nations are lovers of peace in proportion as they are righteous (Psa_72:3). The preference of God for peace depends upon the very attribute of which the ungodly would rob Him, His righteousness. What is God’s strength? How take hold of it? When a man falls overboard at sea, the appointed means of rescue is the life-belt which is thrown to him. Seizing that, he lays hold of the strength of the vessel to save him. When the man-slayer, fleeing from the avenger of blood, entered the city of refuge, He took hold of God’s appointed means of shelter. God’s strength is His pardoning prerogative, exercised to us through Christ, the “arm” or “strength” of the Lord. See how Moses takes hold of it (Num_14:19). And the prodigal (Luk_15:21; Rom_5:1).—Horace Bushnell, D.D.
TAKING HOLD OF GOD’S STRENGTH
Isa_27:5. Or let him take hold of My strength, &c. [1087]
[1087] Cheyne translates and comments: “Or else.… A truly evangelical belief that God is willing to be reconciled even to His enemies.… Seize upon my fortress—Let him take sanctuary in the Name of Jehovah (Pro_18:10); in short, let him become a believing servant of Jehovah. ‘Fortress,’ a symbolical name for a protecting deity, as Isa_17:10, Psa_52:7 (9).” Kay: “Or, ‘Let a man lay hold of My strong refuge;’ let him flee to my altar of reconciliation (cf. 1Ki_1:50).”
I. IN WHAT GOD’S STRENGTH CONSISTS. First, we think of Almightiness, that irresistible power which created the world, &c. We are apt to forget those other and higher sources of strength which belong to God (1Ki_19:12). Wisdom is strength (Ecc_9:15-16). Truthfulness is strength. Justice is power. Mercy to the weak is often the manifestation of the highest strength. England has often put forth her power; her soldiers have crushed the most appalling rebellions; her guns have sunk the mightiest navies; but history will perhaps record it as the highest display of her power when, under a sense of justice, she withdrew her forces when she might have crushed her foes (as in the late Transvaal war, 1881). Now, this element of mercy, as manifest in the work of Christ, is God’s strength (Rom_1:16; 1Co_1:24). God’s fatherly love is the essence of His power (H. E. I., 3206). Christ is the expression of that love. Christ is God’s strength. “And let him take hold of My strength.”
II. HOW MAY MAN TAKE HOLD OF GOD’S STRENGTH?
(1.) By submission. (Rom_6:13; Psa_2:10). As nothing is so reasonable, so nothing is so wise as submission to God.
(2.) By prayer. Prayer is the hand of the child stretching out in the dark and anxious to feel itself under that father’s protecting power. Prayer takes hold of God’s strength.
(3.) By obedience (1Pe_1:14). When Saul of Tarsus, after asking, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” went straightway and did God’s will, then there came to him a moral power mightier than he had ever wielded before.
(4.) By implicit trust in God’s mercy [1090]
[1090] “I think I can convey the meaning of this passage so that every one may understand it, by what took place in my own family within these few days. One of my children committed a fault for which I thought it to be my duty to chastise him. I called him to me, explained to him the evil of what he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must punish him for it. He heard me in silence, then rushed into my arms, and burst into tears. I could sooner have cut off my arm than have then struck him for his fault; he had taken hold of my strength—he had made peace with me.”—Toller.
III. THE RESULT OF THUS TAKING HOLD OF GOD’S STRENGTH. The result is that Divine strength is infused into our minds. We become “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” Trust is the medium through which God’s power is transmitted to man’s weakness (Heb_6:19). We can only really know those whom we love and trust (Dan_11:32). The most invincible and lasting institution in the world is the Church of Christ, because composed of those who are “partakers of the Divine nature,” and whom God has made strong.—William Parkes, F.R.G.S.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This continues to speak about the people of Israel as if they were a vineyard (See: Isaiah 27:2-3).
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I am not angry, Oh, that there were briers and thorns! In battle I would march against them
"I am not angry. If there were briers and thorns I would march against them in battle"
I am not angry
It is understood that Yahweh is not angry with his people any longer. AT: "I am not angry with my people any longer" (See: Ellipsis)
that there were briers and thorns
The enemies of the people of Israel are spoken of as if they were briers and thorns growing in the vineyard. (See: Metaphor)
briers and thorns
See how you translated this phrase in Isaiah 5:6.
In battle I would march against them
Yahweh fighting his enemies is spoken of as if he were a warrior in an army. (See: Metaphor)
I would march against them; I would burn them all together
Here Isaiah combines different images to speak of Yahweh's enemies. He speaks of them as if they are briers and thorns but also as soldiers in an army. (See: Metaphor)
unless they grasp my protection
This can be reworded so that the abstract noun "protection" is expressed as the verb "protect." AT: "unless they ask me to protect them" (See: Abstract Nouns)
make peace with me; let them make peace with me
"they ask to live peacefully with me; I want them to live peacefully with me"
translationWords
anger
thorn
peace
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.