Isaiah 27 commentary

The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that old serpent. The world is a fruitless, worthless wilderness; but the church is a vineyard, a place that has great care taken of it, and from which precious fruits are gathered. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous. God also takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We need the continual waterings of Divine grace; if these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Though God sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and thorns instead of vines, and they are set in array against him, he will tread them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. Ever since sin first entered, there has been, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let us take hold on that. Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by lively faith take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy, believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to be saved. God is willing to be reconciled to us.

In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The Jews yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through so many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divine origin of the Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continued warning against sin. But though winds are ever so rough, ever so high, God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls. According to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people have shown such hatred to idols and idolatry as the Jews. And to all God's people, the design of affliction is to part between them and sin. The affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it. Jerusalem had been defended by grace and the Divine protection; but when God withdrew, she was left like a wilderness. This has awfully come to pass. And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with severely, because God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see how weak those pleas will be. Verses 12,13, seem to predict the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and their recovery from their present dispersion. This is further applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gathered into the grace of God; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet, are brought in to worship God, and added to the church; and the last trumpet will gather the saints together.

1. In that day. Here the Prophet speaks in general of the judgment of God, and thus includes the whole of Satan’s kingdom. Having formerly spoken of the vengeance of God to be displayed against tyrants and wicked men who have shed innocent blood, he now proceeds farther, and publishes the proclamation of this vengeance.

On leviathan. The word “leviathan” is variously interpreted; but in general it simply denotes either a large serpent, or whales and sea-fishes, which approach to the character of monsters on account of their huge size. “The word leviathan, which, from its etymology, appears to mean contorted, coiled, is sometimes used to denote particular species, (e.g., the crocodile,) and sometimes as a generic term for huge aquatic animals, or the larger kind of serpents, in which sense the corresponding term! תנין (tănnīn) is also used. They both appear to be employed in this case to express the indefinite idea of a formidable monster, which is in fact the sense now commonly attached to the word dragon.” — Alexander

FT447 Ses organes et instrumens

FT448 “Chantez à la vigne rouge;” — “Sing to the red vineyard.”

Ft449 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 162

FT450 “Si quelqu’un est de cet advis, je n’empesche point qu’il ne le suive;” — “If any one is of that opinion, I do not hinder him from following it.”

FT451 “Tellement qu’il est constraint comme l’emprunter d’ailleurs quand il se courrouce;” — “So that he is compelled, as it were, to borrow it from another quarter when he is enraged.”

FT452 That is, instead of making it the beginning of the following sentence, “in battle (or, in a hostile manner) I will pass through them,” it might be read as the conclusion of the question, “Who shall engage me with briers and thorns in battle?” And this concluding suggestion accords with our English version. — Ed

FT453 “Of the various senses ascribed to או, (ō,) such as unless, oh that if, etc., the only one justified by usage is the disjunctive sense of or.” — Alexander

FT454 “Ils sentiront la pesanteur de ma main;” — “They shall feel the weight of my hand.”

FT455 That is, our Author is of opinion that או (ō) frequently has the same force as the Latin interrogative particle An. — Ed

FT456 “Ce vaut-neant-ci;” — “This good-for-nothing.”

FT457 “Sans feintise;” — “Without hypocrisy.”

FT458 Such is Calvin’s translation of באים, (bāīm,) coming, which, occupying a somewhat anomalous position at the beginning of the verse, has perplexed the critics. The usual and best defended supplement is ימים, (yāmīm,) days, and thus the construction is supposed to be, “In coming days.” The French version takes ci-apres, “hereafter;” the Italian has Ne’ giorni a venire, “In the days to come;” Luther’s version has As mirb bennoch bazu fummen, “Yet it will come to this.” Our English version connects the word with “Jacob,” and makes it to signify “Them that come of Jacob,” which is countenanced by the Septuagint, οἱ ἐρχόμενοι τέκνα Ιακὼβ, “They that come, the children of Jacob,” but does not appear to have the support of any modern critic or version. — Ed

FT459 “Hath he smitten him as he smote (Heb., according to the stroke of) those that smote him?” — Eng. Ver.

FT460 “Ne plus ne moins que si le feu y avoit passé;” — “In exactly the same manner as if fire had passed on them.”

FT461 “Et mis en chemin de salut;” — “And led into the way of salvation.”

FT462 “Quiconque se flatte en son ordure, il attirera sur sa teste infalliblement l’ire de Dieu;” — “Whosoever flatters himself in his pollution will infallibly draw down on his head the wrath of God.”

FT463 “And consume the branches thereof.” — Eng. Ver.

FT464 “When the boughs thereof are withered.” — Eng. Ver.

FT465 See p. 83

FT466 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 96

FT467 “Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower.” — Eng. Ver.

FT468 “Woe to Samaria, the proud chaplet of the drunkards of Ephraim, which stands at the head of a rich valley belonging to a race of sots! ‘Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it.’ — Maundrell, p. 58. Hence it is likened to a chaplet, or wreath of flowers, worn upon the head by Jews, as well as Greeks and Romans, at their banquets, as may be seen, Wisd. 2:7, 8.” — Stock

FT469 “De la vallee grasse;” — “Of the fat valley.”

FT470 “Tyran de Sicile;” — “Tyrant of Sicily.”

FT471 Justin, in a rapid sketch of that tyrant, informs us that, “after having defeated his rivals, he abandoned himself to indolence and gluttony, which brought on such weakness of sight that he could not bear day-light; that the consciousness of being despised on account of his blindness made him more cruel than before, and led him to fill the city with murders as much as his father had filled the jails with prisoners, so that he became universally hated and despised.” — Justin, Hist. 1. 21, c. 11. The appalling facts are confirmed by other historians. — Ed

FT472 “Puis donc qu’ils sont coulpables d’une mesme ingratitude;” — “Since they are guilty of the same ingratitude.”

FT473 “Aux despens de leurs freres;” — “At the expense of their brethren.”

FT474 “Que nous regimbons contre l’esperon;” — “That we kick against the spur.”

FT475 “A des petis enfans n’agueres sevrez;” — “To young infants hardly weaned.”

FT476 “Que tous apportent du ventre de la mere;” — “Which all bring from their mother’s womb.”

FT477 “Afin de ne fascher les oreilles des lecteurs.”

FT478 “Line upon line.” — Eng. Ver.

FT479 “De toutes parts, ou, ligne apres ligne;” — “On all sides, or, line after line.”

FT480 The reader may consult the Author’s exposition, and the Translator’s notes Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 1, pp. 312, 313. — Ed

FT481 “For with stammering lips. (Heb. Stammerings of lips.)” — Eng. Ver.

FT482 “But since this patience has been lost upon them, a stronger way shall be taken to force their attention. God will thunder in their ears, what to them will appear jargon, the language of a foreign nation, by whom they shall be carried into captivity.” — Stock

FT483 “De ce que la parole est au milieu de nous;” — “Because the word is in the midst of us.”

FT484 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 282

FT485 From which the noun לצון (lātzōn) is derived. The phrase אנשי לצון (ănshēlatzon) literally signifies “men of scorn,” and is so rendered by Stock and others; but the force of the Hebrew idiom is fully brought out by the word “scoffers,” as in Lowth, or by “scornful men,” as in the English Version. — Ed

FT486 “Ces moqueurs;” — “Those mockers.”

FT487 חזה (chōzĕh) is properly a participle (seeing) often used as a noun to denote a seer or prophet. Here the connection seems distinctly to require the sense of league or covenant. That there is no error in the text may be inferred from the substitution of the cognate form חזות (chŭzūth) in verse 18. Hitzig accounts for the transfer of meanings by the supposition that in making treaties it was usual to consult the seer or prophet. Ewald supposes an allusion to the practice of necromantic art or divination as a safeguard against death, and translates the word orafel, (oracle.) The more common explanation of the usage traces it to the idea of an interview or meeting, and the act of looking one another in the face, from which the transition is by no means difficult to that of mutual understanding or agreement.” — Alexander. Buxtorf renders it “a seer, or prophet,” and, by a transferred meaning, “provision,” or “foresight,” “We have made provision, we have looked forward, we have acted with foresight;” and adds, that the Chaldee version renders it שלמא, (shĕlūmā,) peace. — Ed

FT488 “Car c’eust esté une chose trop ridicule et dont les petits enfans se fussent moquez;” “For it would have been too absurd, and even young children would have laughed at it.”

FT489 Lucian is often alluded to by our Author as the type of daring and scornful infidels. See Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 2, p. 283, n. 1. — Ed

FT490 Commonly called the Septuagint. — Ed

FT491 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 280

FT492 “Voire en despit de leurs dents;” — “Even in spite of their teeth.”

FT493 “Qu’il leur pend une horrible calamité sur leurs testes, laquelle ils ne voyent point;” — “That there hangs over their heads a dreadful calamity which they do not see.”

FT494 “And it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. Or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine.” — (Eng. Ver.) “And even the report alone shall cause terror.” — Lowth. “And it shall be terror merely to hear the report of it.” — Stock. “And only vexation (or distress) shall be the understanding of the thing heard.” — Alexander. “E’l sentirne il grido non produrrà altro che commovimento;” — “And to hear the cry of it will produce nothing but distress.” — (Ital. Ver.)

FT495 “There are three interpretations of the last clause, one of which supposes it to mean, that the mere report of the approaching scourge should fill them with distress; another, that the effect of the report should be universal distress; a third, that nothing but a painful experience would enable them to understand the lesson which the Prophet was commissioned to teach them. שמועה (shĕmūgnāh) meaning simply what is heard, may of course denote either rumor or revelation. The latter seems to be the meaning in verse 9, where the noun stands connected with the same verb as here. Whether this verb ever means simply to perceive or hear, may be considered doubtful; if not, the preference is due to the third interpretation above given, viz., that nothing but distress or suffering could make them understand or even attend to the message from Jehovah.” — Alexander

FT496 “La sua opera strana, la sua operazione straordinaria;” — “His strange work, his extraordinary act.” — Ital. Ver.

FT497 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 360

FT498 “Avec mesme raison et equité;” — “With the same reason and justice.”

FT499 “The common version, ‘all day,’ though it seems to be a literal translation, does not convey the sense of the original expression, which is used both here and elsewhere to mean ‘all the time,’ or ‘always.’” — Alexander

FT500 “Et les fideles sont sujets à beaucoup de miseres, voire plus que ne sont pas les reprouvez;” — “And believers are liable to many afflictions, even more than the reprobate are.”

FT501 “Will the ploughman never sow, but always cut the earth by spades and instruments for ploughing?” — Jarchi

FT502 “This apposite simile from the various methods used by the husbandman in preparing his land, and in managing the crop after it is gathered, is addressed to those who might question divine providence, because sentence against the wicked is not executed speedily. God, who teacheth the farmer the proper time and manner of treating his crop, knoweth best when and how to punish sinners: he reduceth them not to dust at once, any more than corn is suffered to lie under pressure till it is rendered unserviceable, but chastiseth in mercy, in order to reclaim them.” — Stock

FT503 “The principle wheat and the appointed barley. Or, wheat in the appointed place, and barley in the appointed place.” — Eng. Ver. “The choice wheat and the picked barley.” — Stock. “The wheat in due measure.” — Lowth

FT504 “The words שורה (sōrāh) and נמסן (nĭmsān) are by some explained as epithets of the grain; principal wheat, appointed or sealed barley. Ewald makes them descriptive of the soil; wheat in the best ground, barley in the rough ground. But the explanation best sustained by usage and analogy is that of Gesenius, who takes נמסן (nĭmsān) in the sense of appointed, designated, and שורה (sōrāh) in that of a row or series.” — Alexander

FT505 “Car en France on n’escout point le bled sinon avec le fleau, excepté en Provence;” — “For in France corn is not thrashed in any way but with the flail, except in Provence.”

FT506 “Et comme faire passer la charue et la herse sur les peuples;” — “And, as it were, to pass the waggon and the harrow over the nations.”

FT507 “Comme si les meschans avoyent la bride sur le col;” — “As if the wicked had the bridle on their neck.” A1though this description applies to the king of Egypt, yet under one class he intended also to include the other enemies of the Church. For my own part, I have no doubt that he speaks allegorically of Satan and of his whole kingdom, describing him under the figure of some monstrous animal, and at the same time glancing at the crafty wiles by which he glosses over his mischievous designs. In this manner he intended to meet many doubts by which we are continually assailed, when God declares that he will assist us, and when we experience, on the other hand, the strength, craft, and deceitfulness of Satan. Wonderful are the stratagems with which he comes prepared for doing mischief, and dreadful the cruelty which he exercises against the children of God. But the Prophet shews that all this will not prevent the Lord from destroying and overthrowing this kingdom. It is indeed certain that this passage does not relate to Satan himself, but to his agents or instruments, {Bogus footnote} by which he governs his kingdom and annoys the Church of God. Now, though this kingdom is defended by innumerable cunning devices, and is astonishingly powerful, yet the Lord will destroy it.

To convince us of this, the Prophet contrasts with it the Lord’s sword, hard, and great, and strong, by which he will easily slay an enemy that is both strong and crafty. It ought therefore to be observed, that we have continually to do with Satan as with some wild beast, and that the world is the sea in which we sail. We are beset by various wild beasts, which endeavor to upset our ship and sink us to the bottom; and we have no means of defending ourselves and resisting them, if the Lord do not aid us. Accordingly, by this description the Prophet intended to describe the greatness of the danger which threatens us from enemies so powerful and so full of rage and of cunning devices. We should quickly be reduced to the lowest extremity, and should be utterly ruined, did not God oppose and meet them with his invincible power; for by his sword alone can this pernicious kingdom of Satan be destroyed.

But we must observe what he says in the beginning of the verse, In that day. It means that Satan is permitted, for some time, to strengthen and defend his kingdom, but that it will at length be destroyed; as Paul also declares, “God will quickly bruise Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20.) By this promise he shews that the time for war is not yet ended, and that we must fight bravely till that enemy be subdued, who, though he has been a hundred times vanquished, ceases not to renew the warfare. We must therefore fight with him continually, and must resist the violent attacks which he makes upon us; but, in order that we may not be discouraged, we must keep our eye on that day when his strong arm shall be broken.

On leviathan the piercing serpent, and on leviathan the crooked serpent. The epithets applied to “leviathan” describe, on the one hand, his tricks and wiles, and, on the other hand, his open violence; but at the same time intimate that he is endued with invincible power. Since בריח (bārīăch) signifies a crowbar, that word denotes metaphorically the power of piercing, either on account of venomous bites or on account of open violence. The second name, עקלתון, (gnăkāllāthōn,) is derived from the verb עקל, (gnākăl,) to bend; and hence it comes to be applied to crooked and tortuous foldings.

2. Sing to the vineyard of redness. {Bogus footnote} He now shews that all this will promote the salvation of the Church; for the Lord attends to the interests of his people, whom he has taken under his guardianship and protection. In order, therefore, that the Church may be restored, Satan and all his kingdom shall be utterly destroyed. The object of all the vengeance which God takes on his enemies is to shew that he takes care of the Church; and although in this passage the Prophet does not name the Church, he shews plainly enough that he addresses her in this congratulation.

This figure conveys the meaning even more strongly than if he had spoken expressly of the people of Israel; for since the whole excellence of a vineyard depends partly on the soil in which it is planted, and partly on diligent cultivation, if the Church of God is a vineyard, we infer that its excellence is owing to nothing else than the undeserved favor of God and the uninterrupted continuance of his kindness. The same metaphor expresses also God’s astonishing love towards the Church, of which we spoke largely under the fifth chapter. {Bogus footnote}

He calls it a vineyard of redness, that is, very excellent; for in Scripture, if we compare various passages, “red wine” denotes excellence. He says that this song may at that time be sung in the Church, and foretells that, though it would in the mean time be reduced to fearful ruin, and would lie desolate and waste, yet that afterwards it will be restored in such a manner as to yield fruit plentifully, and that this will furnish abundant materials for singing.

3. I Jehovah keep it. Here the Lord asserts his care and diligence in dressing and guarding the vine, as if he had said, that he left nothing undone that belonged to the duty of a provident and industrious householder. Not only does he testify what he will do, when the time for gladness and congratulation shall arrive, but he relates the blessings which the Jews had already received, that their hope for the future may be increased. Yet we must supply an implied contrast with the intermediate period, during which God appeared to have laid aside all care of it, so that at that time it differed little from a wilderness. This then is the reason why the Lord’s vineyard was plundered and laid waste; it was because the Lord forsook it, and gave it up as a prey to the enemy. Hence we infer that our condition will be ruined as soon as the Lord has departed from us; and if he assist, everything will go well.

I will water it every moment. He next mentions two instances of his diligence, that he “will water it every moment,” and will defend it against the attacks of robbers and cattle and other annoyances. These are the two things chiefly required in preserving a vineyard, cultivation and protection. Under the word water he includes all that is necessary for cultivation, and promises that he will neglect nothing that can carry it forward. But protection must likewise be added; for it will be to no purpose to have cultivated a vineyard with vast toil, if robbers and cattle break in and destroy it. The Lord, therefore, promises that he will grant protection, and will not permit it to suffer damage, that the fruits may ripen well, and may be gathered in due season. Though the vine may suffer many attacks, and though enemies and wild beasts may assail it with great violence, God declares that he will interpose to preserve it unhurt and free from all danger. Moreover, since he names a fixed day for singing this song, let us remember that, if at any time he cease to assist us, we ought not entirely to cast away hope; and therefore, if he permit us to be harassed and plundered for a time, still he will at length shew that he has not cast away all care of us.

4. Fury is not in me. This verse contains excellent consolation; for it expresses the incredible warmth of love which the Lord bears towards his people, though they are of a wicked and rebellious disposition. God assumes, as we shall see, the character of a father who is grievously offended, and who, while he is offended at his son, still more pities him, and is naturally inclined to exercise compassion, because the warmth of his love rises above his anger. In short, he shews that he cannot hate his elect so as not to bear fatherly kindness towards them, even while he visits them with very severe punishments.

Scripture represents God to us in various ways. Sometimes it exhibits him as burning with indignation, and having a terrific aspect, and sometimes as shewing nothing but gentleness and mercy; and the reason of this diversity is, that we are not all capable of enjoying his goodness. Thus he is constrained to be perverse towards the perverse, and holy towards the holy, as David describes him. (Psalm 18:25.) He shews himself to us what we suffer him to be, for by our rebelliousness we drive him to severity.

Yet here the Prophet does not speak of all indiscriminately, but only of the Church, whose transgressions he chastises, and whose iniquities he punishes, in such a manner as not to lay aside a father’s affection. This statement must therefore be limited to the Church, so as to denote the relation between God and his chosen people, to whom he cannot manifest himself otherwise than as a Father, while he burns with rage against the reprobate. Thus we see how great is the consolation that is here given; for if we know that God has called us, we may justly conclude that he is not angry with us, and that, having embraced us with a firm and enduring regard, it is impossible that he shall ever deprive us of it. It is indeed certain that at that time God hated many persons who belonged to that nation; but, with respect to their adoption, he declares that he loved them. Now, the more kindly and tenderly that God loved them, so much the more they who provoked his anger by their wickedness were without excuse. This circumstance is undoubtedly intended to aggravate their guilt, that their wickedness constrains him, in some measure, to change his disposition towards them; for, having formerly spoken of his gentleness, he suddenly exclaims, —

“Who shall engage me in battle with the brier and thorn?” or, as some render it, “Who shall set me as a brier and thorn?” Yet it might not be amiss also to read, “Who shall bring against me a brier, that I may meet it as a thorn?” for there is no copulative conjunction between those two words. Yet I willingly adhere to the former opinion, that God wishes to have to deal with thistles or thorns, which he will quickly consume by the fire of his wrath. If any one choose rather to view it as a reproof of those doubts which often arise in us in consequence of unbelief, when we think that God is inflamed with wrath against us, as if he had said, “You are mistaken in comparing me to the brier and thorn,” that is, “You ascribe to me a harsh and cruel disposition,” let him enjoy his opinion, though I think that it is different from what the Prophet means. {Bogus footnote}

Others think that God assumes the character of a man who is provoking himself to rage; as if he had said, “I do not choose to be any longer so indulgent, or to exercise such forbearance as I have formerly manifested;” but this is so forced, that it does not need a lengthened refutation. It is true, indeed, that since God is gentle and merciful in his nature, and there is nothing that is more foreign to him than harshness or cruelty, he may be said to borrow a nature that does not belong to him. {Bogus footnote} But the interpretation which I have given will of itself be sufficient to refute others, namely, that God complains bitterly that he will as soon fight with thorns as with his vineyard, for when he considers that it is his inheritances he is compelled to spare it.

I will pass through them in a hostile manner, and utterly consume them. These words confirm my former exposition; for the burning relates to “briers and thorns,” and he declares that, if he had to deal with them, he would burn them all up, but that he acts more gently, because it is his vineyard. Hence we infer that, if God is not enraged against us, this must be attributed, not to any merits of men, but to his election, which is of free grace. By these words, מי יתנני, (mi yittĕnēnī,) “Who shall give me?” he plainly shews that he has just cause for contending with us, and even for destroying us in a hostile manner, were he not restrained by compassion towards his Church; for we would be as thorns and briers, and would be like wicked men, if the Lord did not separate us from them, that we might not perish along with them. If the phrase במלחמה, (bămmilhāmāh,) in battle, which we have translated “in a hostile manner,” be connected with the question, “Who shall set me?” it will not ill agree with the meaning. {Bogus footnote}

5. Will she take hold of my strength? או (ō,) is frequently a disjunctive conjunction, {Bogus footnote} and therefore this passage is explained as if the particle had been twice used, “Either let her take hold of my strength, or let her make peace with me;” that is, “If she do not enter into favor with me, she will feel my strength to her great loss.” Others explain it somewhat differently, “Who shall take hold of my strength?” that is, “Who shall restrain me?” But I pass by this interpretation, because I consider it to be too far-fetched. I return to that which is more generally received.

It is supposed that God threatens the Jews in order to try all the ways and methods by which they may be brought back to the right path; for God is laid under a necessity to urge us in various ways, because we are accustomed to abuse his forbearance and goodness. On this account he frequently threatens to punish us for our ingratitude, as Isaiah appears to do in this passage, “If they do not choose to avail themselves of my kindness, and repent, that they may return to favor with me, they shall feel my strength, {Bogus footnote} which I have hitherto restrained.” Yet another meaning equally appropriate might perhaps be drawn from it, as if God exhorted his people to acknowledge his power, which leads them to seek reconciliation; for whence comes that brutish indifference which makes us view without alarm the wrath of God, but because we do not think of his power with due reverence?

But I prefer to view it as a question, as in other passages also it frequently has this meaning. {Bogus footnote} “Will he take hold of my strength, so as to enter into peace with me?” As if a father, anxious and perplexed about his son, were to groan and complain, “Will not this scoundrel {Bogus footnote} allow himself to receive benefit? for I know not how I ought to treat him; he cannot endure severity, and he abuses my goodness. What shall I do? I will banish him till he repent, and then he will feel how great is that fatherly power by which I have hitherto preserved him. Since he does not permit me to exercise forbearance, he must be treated with the utmost rigour of the law. Will he not then perceive how great my power is, that he may come into a state of favor with me?” We shall understand this better, if we consider that the source of all our distresses is, that we are not affected with a sense of the divine goodness; for if we should take into consideration the greatness of the blessings which we have received from God, we should quickly be drawn aside from our iniquities and transgressions, and should desire to return into a state of favor with him.

Here we see what care about our salvation is manifested by our Heavenly Father, who wishes us to take hold of his power and goodness, that we may know how great it is, and may partake of it more and more abundantly; for he would wish to deal with us on the same familiar terms as with his children, if we did not prevent him by our wickedness. Since, therefore, we are incapable of enjoying his fatherly tenderness, he must display his strength and majesty, that, being awed by it, and affected by the anticipation of the judgment, we may humbly entreat him, and sincerely implore peace and pardon. Now, this is done when we are truly {Bogus footnote} converted to him; for, so long as we please ourselves, and flatter our vices, we cannot but displease him; and, on the other hand, if we enter into peace with him, we must make war against Satan and sin.

How earnestly God desires to be reconciled to us appears still more clearly from the repetition of the words. He might have said, in a single word, that he is merciful and ready to bestow pardon; and therefore, when he twice repeats the words, that he may make peace with me, he declares that willingly and most earnestly he hastens to blot out all our offenses.

6. Afterwards {Bogus footnote} shall Jacob put forth roots. He now gives actual proof of that love of which he formerly spoke. In order to understand it better, we must consider the condition of that ancient people; for it was the heritage of God, not through its own merits, but by the blessing of adoption. The Lord might justly have been offended at that nation to such an extent as to destroy it utterly, and blot out its name; but he refrained from exercising such severity, because he had to deal with his vineyard and heritage. He aimed at nothing more than that the people should acknowledge their guilt and return to his favor; and therefore he followed up the former statement with this promise, lest the people, struck with excessive terror at that power which exhibits the judgments of God and his chastisements and stripes, should grow disheartened; for the contemplation of the judgment of God might throw us into despair, if we did not entertain some hope of being restored. Accordingly, he says —

Jacob shall again put forth roots. “Though I shall lessen my Church, and reduce it to a very small number, yet it shall be restored to its ancient and flourishing condition, so as to fill the whole world; for, after having once been reconciled, it will be more and more increased.” This metaphor borrowed from roots is highly elegant; for by the wrath of the Lord we are as it were cut off, so that we appear to be completely slain and dead; but to whatever extent the Lord afflicts his Church, he never allows the roots to die, but they are concealed for a time, and at length bring forth their fruit.

And the face of the world shall be filled with fruit. What he now says, that “the world shall be filled with the fruit” of those roots, was accomplished at the coming of Christ, who collected and multiplied the people of God by the gospel; and Israel was united with the Gentiles in one body, so that the distinction which formerly existed between them was removed. (Ephesians 2:14.) Now, we know that the gospel, and all the fruit that sprung from it, proceeded from the Jews. (Isaiah 2:3; John 4:22.)

7. Hath he smitten him? {Bogus footnote} He confirms the former statement, and shews that, even in chastisements, there are certain and manifest proofs of the goodness and mercy of God; for while the Lord chastises his people, he moderates the severity in such a manner as always to leave some room for compassion. There are various ways of explaining this verse. Some interpret it thus: “Did I smite Israel as his enemies smote him? The Assyrians did not at all spare him: they acted towards him with the utmost cruelty. But I laid a restraint on my wrath, and did not smite as if I wished to destroy him; and thus I gave abundant evidence that I am not his enemy.” But I prefer another and commonly received interpretation, which leads us to understand that a difference between believers and the reprobate is here declared; for God punishes both indiscriminately, but not in the same manner. When he takes vengeance on the reprobate, he gives loose reins to his anger; because he has no other object in view than to destroy them; for they are “vessels of wrath, appointed to destruction,” (Romans 9:22,) and have no experience of the goodness of God. But when he chastises the godly, he restrains his wrath, and has another and totally different object in view; for he wishes to bring them back to the right path, and to draw them to himself, that provision may be made for their future happiness.

But it may be asked, Why does the Prophet employ a circuitous mode of expression, and say, “according to the stroke of him that smote him?” I answer, he did so, because the Lord often employs the agency of wicked men in chastising us, in order to depress and humble us the more. It is often a very sore temptation to us, when the Lord permits us to be oppressed by the tyranny of wicked men; for we have doubts whether it is because he favors them, or because he deprives us of his assistance, as if he hated us. To meet this doubt, he says that he does indeed permit wicked men to afflict his people, and to exercise their cruelty upon them for a time, but that he will at length punish them for their wickedness more sharply than they punished the godly persons. Yet, if any one choose to adopt the former interpretation, namely, that the Lord will not deal with us as with enemies, I have no objection. Hence arises also that saying, that “it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men;” for the Lord can never forget his covenant, that he will deal in a gentle and fatherly manner with his Church. (2 Samuel 24:14; 1 Chronicles 21:13.)

8. In measure. This is the second proof of the divine compassion towards all the elect, whom he chastises for this purpose, that they may not perish; and, by mitigating the punishments which he inflicts upon them, he pays such regard to their weakness that he never permits them to be oppressed beyond measure. As to the word בסאסאה, (bĕsăssĕāh,) in measure, all interpreters agree that it denotes moderation; for otherwise we could not bear the hand of the Lord, and would be overwhelmed by it; but he keeps it back, and “is faithful,” as Paul says,

“not to suffer us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.” (1 Corinthians 10:13.)

Thus also Jeremiah prays to the Lord to “chastise him in judgment,” that is, with moderation, accommodating the stripes to his weakness. (Jeremiah 10:24.)

In her shooting forth, בשלחה, (bĕshāllĕchāch.) Interpreters are not agreed as to the meaning of this word. Some think that it means, “by engaging them in internal wars with each other,” and others, “that God will punish their sins by that sword which they have drawn and put into his hand.” But as I cannot approve of either of those interpretations, I pass them by. I approve more highly of those who interpret it, “in her shootings forth,” that is, in plants; so as to mean, that in inflicting punishment, the Lord attacks not only their outward circumstances, but also their persons. We know that the Lord’s chastisements are various. The more light and moderate are those by which he takes from us only external blessings, which are called “the good things of fortune.” So then God punishes believers in such a manner as not only to afflict their persons, but to take from them what is necessary for the support of life, such as corn, wine, oil, and other things of that kind which the earth produces; for שלח(shālăch) signifies to “shoot forth,” and to “produce.”

But I have another exposition which comes nearer to the Prophet’s meaning, that in shooting forth God contends with the Church, because, though he cuts down the branches and even the trunk, yet his wrath does not extend to the roots, so as to prevent the tree from again shooting forth; for there is always some remaining vigor in the roots, which he never permits to die. And this agrees with what goes before, when he promised (verse 6) that Israel would bring forth “fruit.” This explains what he formerly said, in measure; namely, that he will not pull up the root; for the Lord cuts down what appears outwardly, such as branches and leaves, but defends the root and preserves it safe. But, on the other hand, he tears up the reprobate by the roots, and cuts them down in such a manner that they can never rise again.

Though he blow with his violent wind. Some translate it, “he blew with his wind,” but I think that the meaning is made more clear by saying, “though he blow.” He continues the metaphor, by which he had alluded to herbs and plants, which a violent wind causes to wither, but only in appearance; for the root is always safe. Thus though the Lord attacks believers with great violence, and takes away all their beauty and comeliness, so that they appear to be entirely slain, yet he usually preserves in them some internal vigor.

In the day of the east wind. When the Prophet spoke of “the day of the east wind,” he had his eye on the situation of Judea, to which, as we learn from other passages, that easterly wind was injurious. We know that each country has its own particular wind that is injurious to it; for in some countries the north wind, in others the south wind, and in others the east or equinoctial wind, occasions great damage, throwing down the corn, scorching or spoiling all the fruits, blasting the trees, and scarcely leaving anything in the fields uninjured. By “the east wind” in this passage, is supposed to be meant “the equinoctial wind,” which in many countries is very destructive.

9. Therefore in this manner shall the iniquity of Jacob be expiated. After having spoken of the chastisement of the people, he begins to state more clearly that the Lord promotes the interests of his people by these chastisements, so that they derive benefit from them. He had mentioned this formerly, but now he explains it more fully, that all the chastisements which God inflicts will tend to wash away the sins of his people, that thus they may be reconciled to God.

A question arises, Are our sins expiated by the stripes with which God chastises us? For if it be so, it follows that we must satisfy God for our sins, as the Papists teach. These two things are closely connected. If God punish us for our sins in order to expiate them, when punishments are not inflicted, satisfactions must come in their room. But this difficulty will be easily removed, if we consider that here the Prophet does not handle the question, whether we deserve the forgiveness of sins on account of our works, or whether the punishments which God inflicts on us may be regarded as making amends for them. He simply shews that chastisements are the remedies by which God cures our diseases, because we are wont to abuse his goodness and patience. God must therefore bring us to acknowledgment of our sins, and to patience; and thus the punishments which he inflicts as chastisements for our sins are remedies, because our desires may be said to be consumed by them as by fire, {Bogus footnote} to which also Scripture frequently compares them. (Psalm 66:10; 89:46.) In no respect can they yield satisfaction, but men are prepared by them for repentance. Hence he shews, therefore, that the godly have no reason for exclaiming against God’s chastisements, and that they ought to acknowledge, on the contrary, that their salvation is thus promoted, because otherwise they would not acknowledge the grace of God. If any person wish to have a short reply, we may state it in a single word, that chastisements expiate our offenses indirectly, but not directly, because they lead us to repentance, which again, in its turn, brings us to obtain the forgiveness of sins.

And this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin. Some render it in the genitive case, “the fruit of the taking away of his sin;” but I prefer to read it in the nominative case. כל, (chōl,) all, frequently means, “great and abundant;” and therefore it denotes the plentiful fruit by which the chastisements will be followed. In a word, he intends to commend to us God’s chastisements on the ground of their usefulness, that the godly may bear them with calmness and moderation, when they know that by means of them they are purged and prepared for salvation. {Bogus footnote} And immediately afterwards the Prophet explains his meaning more clearly by speaking of abolishing superstitions. So long as the people of Israel enjoyed prosperity, they did not think of repentance; for it is natural to men that prosperity should make them insolent and harden them more and more. He therefore shews how, in chastising his people, God also takes away their sin, because, having formerly indulged in wickedness and proceeded to greater lengths in sinning in consequence of his goodness and forbearance, they shall now know that they were justly punished, and shall change their life and conduct.

When he shall have made all the stones of the altar. Here Isaiah, by a figure of speech, exhibits a single class, so as to explain the whole by means of a part, and describes in general terms the removal of idolatry and superstitions; for he does not speak of the altar which was consecrated to God, but of that which they had erected to their idols. Thus, when the stones of it shall have been broken, and the idols thrown down and destroyed, so that no trace of superstition shall be seen, the iniquity of the people shall at the same time be removed.

Hence it ought to be remarked, first, that we ought not to expect pardon from the Lord, unless we likewise repent of our sins; for whosoever flatters himself must be the object of the anger of God, {Bogus footnote} whom he does not cease to provoke, and our iniquity is taken away only when we are moved by a true feeling of repentance. Secondly, it ought to be observed, that though repentance is an inward feeling of the heart, yet it brings forth its fruits before men. In vain do we profess that we fear God, if we do not give evidence of it by outward works; for the root cannot be separated from its fruits. Thirdly, it ought to be inferred, that idolatry is chiefly mentioned here, because it is the source of all evils. So long as the pure worship of God and the true religion are maintained, there is also room for the duties of brotherly kindness, which necessarily flow from it; but when we forsake God, he permits us also to fall into every kind of vices. And this is the reason why, under the name of idolatry, he includes likewise other acts of wickedness. Besides, we see that he condemns not only statues and images, but everything that had been invented by the Jews contrary to the injunction of the law; and hence it follows that he sets aside every kind of false worship.

That groves and images may never rise again. By adding this, he shews how strongly God abhors idolatry, the remembrance of which he wishes to be completely blotted out, so that not even a trace of it shall henceforth be seen. Yet the Prophet intended to express something more, namely, that our repentance ought to be of such a kind that we shall steadfastly persevere in it; for we will not say that it is true repentance, if any one, through a sudden impulse of feeling, shall put down superstitions, and afterwards shall gradually allow them to spring up and bud forth; as we see to be the case with many who at first burn with some appearance of zeal, and afterwards grow cold. But here the Prophet describes such steadfastness that they who have once laid aside their filth and pollution maintain their purity to the end.

10. Yet the defenced city shall be desolate Here the copulative ו (vau) is generally supposed to mean for, and some take it for otherwise. There will thus be a twofold interpretation; for if we translate it because, the Prophet will assign a reason for the former statement, but that exposition is rejected by the context, and is altogether absurd. With greater plausibility it is taken for otherwise; for this threatening might be appropriately introduced, “If you do not repent, you see what awaits you, the defenced city shall be like a wilderness.” But I consider that exposition to be a departure from the natural meaning, and therefore I choose rather to take it as signifying nevertheless or yet

The Prophet means that Jerusalem and the other cities of Judea must “nevertheless” be destroyed, and that, although the Lord wishes to spare his people, it is impossible for them to be preserved. Godly men would have grown disheartened, when they saw that holy city overthrown and the temple demolished; but from these predictions they learned that God would have abundance of methods for preserving the Church, and were supported by that consolation. So then the Prophet intended to meet this very sore temptation; and hence also we learn that we ought never to lose courage, though we suffer every hardship, and though the Lord treat us with the utmost severity. Although this threatening extends to the whole of Judea, yet I think it probable that it relates chiefly to Jerusalem, which was the metropolis of the nation.

There shall the calf feed. This metaphor is frequently employed by the prophets when they speak of the desolation of any city; for they immediately add, that it will be a place for pasture. Here we ought to take into account the judgment of God, which places calves and brute beasts in the room of the Jews who had profaned the land by their crimes. Having been adopted by God to be his children, with good reason ought they to have obeyed so kind a Father; but since they had shaken off the yoke and given themselves up to wickedness, it was the just reward of their ingratitude, that the land should be possessed by better inhabitants, taken not from the human race but from brute beasts.

And shall browse on its tops. {Bogus footnote} What he says about the “tops” tends to shew more strongly the desolation; as if he had said that there will be such abundance of grass that the calves will crop none but the tender parts. סעף (sāīph) signifies also branch; but as branches naturally rise high, I take it here for summit or top. It might also be thought that there is an allusion to the beauty of the city, and that as its houses formerly were lofty and magnificent, when these have been thrown down, nothing will be seen in it but herbs and leaves, the “tops” of which the calves which enjoy abundant pasture will eat in disdain.

11. When its harvest shall wither. {Bogus footnote} Some think that the Prophet has in his eye the metaphor of a vineyard, which he employed at the beginning of the chapter, and therefore they translate קציר (kātzīr,) branches. The word is certainly ambiguous; but as קציר (kātzīr) means also a harvest, and as the metaphor of a harvest is more appropriate, I prefer to take it in that sense. Nor do I translate it, “When the harvest shall be withered,” but “When the harvest shall wither.” In this passage wither means nothing else than to approach to maturity. Before the harvest of the land is ripe, it shall be cut down; as if he had said, “The Lord will take away from thee the produce which thou thoughest to be already prepared for thee and to be in thy hand.”

The women coming shall burn it. When he says that “women shall come,” he means that God will have no need of robust soldiers to execute his judgment, and that he will only make use of the agency of women. This exhibits in a still stronger light the disgracefulness of the punishment, for he threatens that the calamity shall also be accompanied by disgrace; because it is more shameful and humiliating to be plundered by “women,” who are unused to war, than by men.

For it is a people of no understanding. At length he assigns the reason of so heavy a calamity. At first sight it might appear to be excessively harsh that the Lord should permit the people whom he had chosen to be wretchedly tormented and scattered, and not to render them any assistance; for it is inconsistent with his kindness and fatherly love which he bears towards them. But the Prophet shews that God had good reason for punishing the Jews with such severity; for they were destitute of knowledge and sound “understanding.”

Nor is it without reason that he pronounces ignorance to have been the source of all evils; for since “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,” (Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10,) they who despise God and obey the wicked passions of their flesh are justly condemned by the Spirit of God as blind and mad. And yet such ignorance does not at all excuse us or lessen the guilt of our 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. Hence it comes that “ignorance,” or “ignorances,” is the general name given by the Hebrew writers to every kind of sin, and hence also that saying of Moses,

“O that they were wise and understood!” (Deuteronomy 32:29.)

Any man will easily perceive this, if he consider how great is the power of evil passions to trouble us; for when we have been deprived of the light of doctrine, and are void of understanding, the devil drives us as it were to madness, so that we do not dread the arm of God, and have no respect for his holy word.

Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them. For the purpose of still heightening their terror, he at length takes away all hope of pardon; for even if a remnant was preserved, the wrath of God did not on that account cease to rage against the multitude at large. The Prophet here calls God the Maker and Creator of Israel, not in the same manner that he is called the Creator of heaven and earth, (Genesis 1:1,) but inasmuch as he has formed his Church by the Spirit of regeneration. In like manner Paul also declares, that in that sense we are αὐτοῦ ποίημα, his workmanship, (Ephesians 2:10,) as we have already stated in the exposition of another passage. {Bogus footnote} (Isaiah 19:25.) Isaiah made this statement, in order to exhibit more strongly the ingratitude of the people, and to shew how justly they deserve to be punished, since, after having been formed and preserved by God, they treated him with dishonor and contempt.

12. And yet it shall come to pass on that day. He softens the harshness of the former statement; for it was a dreadful judgment of God, that the people were deprived of all hope of mercy and favor. The particle ו (vau) must therefore be explained as in the tenth verse, “Nevertheless, or, and yet it shall come to pass on that day.”

That Jehovah shall thrash. The Prophet speaks metaphorically; for he compares the gathering of the Church to the “thrashing” of wheat, by which the grain is separated from the chaff. The meaning of the metaphor is, that the people were so completely overwhelmed by that captivity that they appeared to be nothing else than grain concealed or scattered here and there under the chaff. It was necessary that the Lord should “thrash,” as with a fan, what was concealed amidst the confused mass; so that this gathering was justly compared to “thrashing.”

From the channel of the river to the river of Egypt. By this he means Euphrates and the Nile; for the people were banished, partly into Chaldea or Assyria, and partly into Egypt. Many fled into Egypt, while others were carried captive into Babylon. He therefore foretells that the Lord will gather his people, not only from Chaldea, and from the whole of Mesopotamia, but also from Egypt.

And you shall be gathered one by one. לאחד אחד, (lĕăhăd ĕhād,) which we have translated “one by one,” is translated by others “each out of each place;” but this is an excessively forced exposition, and the exposition which I have stated appears to me more simple. Yet there are two senses which the words will bear; either, “I will gather you into one body,” or “I will gather you, not in companies nor in great numbers, but one after another,” as usually happens when men who had wandered and been scattered are gathered; for they do not all assemble suddenly, but approach to each other by degrees. The Jews were scattered and dispersed in such a manner that they could not easily be gathered together and formed into one body; and therefore he shews that this dispersion will not prevent them from being restored to a flourishing condition. This was afterwards fulfilled; for the Jews were gathered and brought back, not by a multitude of horsemen or chariots, not by human forces, or swords, or arms, as Hosea states, but solely by the power of God. (Hosea 1:7.)

13. It shall also come to pass in that day. This is the explanation of the former verse. He speaks metaphorically, and shews that so great will be the power of God, that he will easily bring back his people. As kings assemble large armies by the sound of a trumpet, so he shews that it will be easy for the Lord to gather his people, on whom prophecy had not less efficacy than the trumpet by which soldiers are mustered.

And they shall come who were perishing. He calls them perishing, because they were miserably scattered, and appeared to be very near destruction, without any hope of being restored. The enemies, while their monarchy lasted, would never have permitted their captives to return, nor had they led them into banishment in a distant country with any other design than that of gradually casting into oblivion the name of Israel.

And who had been scattered in the land of Egypt. What he adds about Egypt contains a more remarkable testimony of pardon, namely, that those who fled into Egypt, though they did not deserve this favor, shall be gathered. They had offended God in two respects, as Jeremiah plainly shews; first, because they were obstinate and rebellious; and, secondly, because they had refused to obey the revelation, (Jeremiah 28:10, 11;) for they ought to have submitted to the yoke of the Babylonians rather than flee into Egypt in opposition to the command of God.

And shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain. At length, he describes the result of their deliverance, that the Jews, having returned from captivity into their country, may again worship God their deliverer in a pure and lawful manner. By the mountain he means the temple and sacrifices. This was indeed accomplished under Darius, but the Prophet undoubtedly intended to extend this prophecy farther; for that restoration was a kind of dark foreshadowing of the deliverance which they obtained through Christ, at whose coming the sound of the spiritual trumpet, that is, of the gospel, was heard, not only in Assyria or Egypt, but in the most distant parts of the world. Then were the people of God gathered, to flow together to Mount Zion, that is, to the Church. We know that this mode of expression is frequently employed by the prophets when they intend to denote the true worship of God, and harmony in religion and godliness; for they accommodated themselves to the usages of the people that they might be better understood. We know also that the gospel proceeded out of Zion; but on this subject we have spoken fully at the second chapter. {Bogus footnote}

CHAPTER 28

Isaiah 28:1-29

1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

1. Væ coronæ superbiæ temulentorum Ephraim; quia decor gloriæ ejus erit flos deciduus, quæ est super caput vallis pinguium, oppresorum a vino.

2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which, as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

2. Ecce durus et fortis Domino, sicut inundatio grandinis, turbo subvertens; sicut impetus aquarum vehementium inundantium, dejiciens in manu ad terram.

3. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

3. Pedibus conculabitur corona superbiæ temultorum Ephraim.

4. And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

4. Et erit flos deciduus decor gloriæ ejus, quæ est super caput vallis pinguium, quasi fructus præcox ante æstivos, quem qui viderit, aspiciens eum dum adhuc in manu est, devorat.

5. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.

5. In illa die Iehova exercituum in corona gloriæ, et diadema decoris reliquiis populi sui,

6. And for spirit of judgement to him that sitteth in judgement, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

6. Et in spiritum judicii sedenti super tribunal, et in fortitudinem propulsantibus prœlium ad portam.

7. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way: the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

7. At isti quoque præ vino errarunt, præ sicera hallucinati sunt. Sacerdos et propheta errarunt præ sicera, absorpti sunt a vino; hallucinati sunt præ sicera, errarunt in visione, impegerunt in judicio.

8. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean

8. Quoniam omnes mensæ plenæ sunt vomitu stercoreo, ut locus non vacet.

9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

9. Quem docebit scientiam, et quem intelliegere faciet doctrinam? Abductos a lacte, abstractos ab uberibus?

10. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

10. Quoniam præceptum ad præceptum, præceptum ad præceptum; instructio ad instructionem, instructio ad instructionem; paululum ibi, paululum ibi.

11. For with stammering lips, and another tongue, will he speak to this people.

11. Quoniam balbis labiis et lingua exotica loquetur ad populum istum.

12. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

12. Quoniam illis dixit, Hæc est requies; requiescere facite lassum, et hoc refrigerium; et noluerunt audire.

13. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

13. Erit igitur illis verbum Iehovæ regula ad regulam, regula ad regulam; instructio ad instructonem, instructio ad instructionem; paululum ibi, paululum ibi; propterea ibunt, et corruent retrorsum, conterentur, irretientur et capientur.

14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

14. Propterea audite verbum Iehovæ, viri illusores, qui dominamini populo huic, qui est in Ierusalem.

15. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.

15. Quia dixitis, Percussimus fœdus cum morte, et cum inferno fecimus pactum; flagellum inundans cum transierit, non veniet ad nos; quia posuimus mendacium refugium nostrum, et sub vanitate sumus absconditi.

16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

16. Quare sic dicit Donminus Iehova: Ecce ego ponam in Sion lapidem, lapidem probationis, angulum pretiosum, fundamentum solidum. Qui credit non festinabit.

17. Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteouseness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.

17. Et ponam judicium ad regulam, et justitiam ad mensuram (vel, trutinam.) Everret grando fiduciam mendacii, et latibulum aquæ inundabunt.

18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

18. Et abolebitur pactum cum morte; visio vestra cum inferno non stabit, flagellum inundans cum transierit, tunc eritis ei in conculcationem.

19. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

19. Ex quo transierit, rapiet vos utique mane quotidie, transibit interdiu et noctu. Et erit ut terror (vel commotio) duntaxat intelligere faciat auditum.

20. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower that that he can wrap himself in it

20. Quoniam contractus est lectus, ut non sufficiat; angusta erit stragula colligendo.

21. For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

21. Quoniam sicut in monte Perazim stabit Iehova, et sicut in valle Gibeon, irascetur (vel, tumultuabitur) ad faciendum opus suum, alienum opus suum; ad designandum facinus suum, alienum facinus suum.

22. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

22. Nunc itaque ne sitis illusores; ne forte constringantur vincula vestra. Quoniam consumptionem et finitionem audivi a Domino Iehova exercituum super universam terram.

23. Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

23. Auscultate, et audite vocem meam; advertite et audite sermonem meum.

24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

24. An quotidie arat arator, ut seminet? aperit et confringit glebas agri sui?

25. When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place?

25. Annon cum æquaverit faciem ejus, tunc sparget viciam, seret cyminum, et ponet triticum in mensura, hordeum demensum, et speltam suo modo?

26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

26. Docet eum rectitudinem Deus suus, et instituit eum.

27. For the fitches are not thrashed with a thrashing-instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

27. Certe non triturabitur vicia tabula dentata, nec rota plaustri super cyminum circumferetur; quia baculo excutitur vicia, et cyminum virga.

28. Bread-corn is bruised; because he will not ever be thrashing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

28. Triticum licet trituretur, non in perpetuum triturat ipsum, nec rotam plaustri sui perpetuo strepere facit, ne dentibus suis conterat ipsum.

29. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

29. Etiam hoc ab Iehova exercituum egressum est, qui mirificus est, consilio et magnificus opere.

CHAPTER 27

Is 27:1-13. Continuation of the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-sixth Chapters.

At the time when Israel shall be delivered, and the ungodly nations punished, God shall punish also the great enemy of the Church.

1. sore--rather, "hard," "well-tempered."

leviathan--literally, in Arabic, "the twisted animal," applicable to every great tenant of the waters, sea-serpents, crocodiles, &c. In Eze 29:3; 32:2; Da 7:1, &c. Re 12:3, &c., potentates hostile to Israel are similarly described; antitypically and ultimately Satan is intended (Re 20:10).

piercing--rigid [Lowth]. Flying [Maurer and Septuagint]. Long, extended, namely, as the crocodile which cannot readily bend back its body [Houbigant].

crooked--winding.

dragon--Hebrew, tenin; the crocodile.

sea--the Euphrates, or the expansion of it near Babylon.

2. 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].

unto her--rather, "concerning her" (see on Is 5:1); namely, the Jewish state [Maurer].

3. lest any hurt it--attack it [Maurer]. "Lest aught be wanting in her" [Horsley].

4. 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; Is 9:18; 10:17; 2Sa 23:6), before me! "I would go through," or rather, "against them."

5. Or--Else; the only alternative, if Israel's enemies wish to escape being "burnt together."

strength--rather, "the refuge which I afford" [Maurer]. "Take hold," refers to the horns of the altar which fugitives often laid hold of as an asylum (1Ki 1:50; 2:28). Jesus is God's "strength," or "refuge" which sinners must repair to and take hold of, if they are to have "peace" with God (Is 45:24; Ro 5:1; Ep 2:14; compare Job 22:21).

6. He--Jehovah. Here the song of the Lord as to His vineyard (Is 27:2-5) ends; and the prophet confirms the sentiment in the song, under the same image of a vine (compare Psa 92:13-15; Ho 14:5, 6).

Israel ... fill ... world--(Ro 11:12).

7. him ... those--Israel--Israel's enemies. Has God punished His people as severely as He has those enemies whom He employed to chastise Israel? No! Far from it. Israel, after trials, He will restore; Israel's enemies He will utterly destroy at last.

the slaughter of them that are slain by him--rather, "Is Israel slain according to the slaughter of the enemy slain?" the slaughter wherewith the enemy is slain [Maurer].

8. In measure--not beyond measure; in moderation (Job 23:6; Psa 6:1; Jr 10:24; 30:11; 46:28).

when it shooteth--image from the vine; rather, passing from the image to the thing itself, "when sending her away (namely, Israel to exile; Is 50:1, God only putting the adulteress away when He might justly have put her to death), Thou didst punish her" [Gesenius].

stayeth--rather, as Margin, "when He removeth it by His rough wind in the day," &c.

east wind--especially violent in the East (Job 27:21; Jr 18:17).

9. By this--exile of Israel (the "sending away," Is 27:8).

purged--expiated [Horsley].

all the fruit--This is the whole benefit designed to be brought about by the chastisement; namely, the removal of his (Israel's) sin (namely, object of idolatry; De 9:21; Ho 10:8).

when he--Jehovah; at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, His instrument. The Jews ever since have abhorred idolatry (compare Is 17:8).

not stand up--shall rise no more [Horsley].

10. city--Jerusalem; the beating asunder of whose altars and images was mentioned in Is 27:9 (compare Is 24:10-12).

calf feed--(Is 17:2); it shall be a vast wild pasture.

branches--resuming the image of the vine (Is 27:2,6).

11. boughs ... broken off--so the Jews are called (Ro 11:17, 19, 20).

set ... on fire--burn them as fuel; "women" are specified, as probably it was their office to collect fuel and kindle the fire for cooking.

no understanding--as to the ways of God (De 32:28, 29; Jr 5:21; Ho 4:6).

12. Restoration of the Jews from their dispersion, described under the image of fruits shaken from trees and collected.

beat off--as fruit beaten off a tree with a stick (De 24:20), and then gathered.

river--Euphrates.

stream of Egypt--on the confines of Palestine and Egypt (Nu 34:5; Jos 15:4, 47), now Wady-el-Arish, Jehovah's vineyard, Israel, extended according to His purpose from the Nile to the Euphrates (1Ki 4:21, 24; Psa 72:8).

one by one--gathered most carefully, not merely as a nation, but as individuals.

13. great trumpet--image from the trumpets blown on the first day of the seventh month to summon the people to a holy convocation (Le 23:24). Antitypically, the gospel trumpet (Re 11:15; 14:6) which the Jews shall hearken to in the last days (Zec 12:10; 13:1). As the passover in the first month answers to Christ's crucifixion, so the day of atonement and the idea of "salvation" connected with the feast of tabernacles in the same seventh month, answer to the crowning of "redemption" at His second coming; therefore redemption is put last in 1Co 1:30.

Assyria--whither the ten tribes had been carried; Babylonia is mainly meant, to which Assyria at that time belonged; the two tribes were restored, and some of the ten accompanied them. However, "Assyria" is designedly used to point ultimately to the future restoration of the ten fully, never yet accomplished (Jr 3:18).

Egypt--whither many had fled at the Babylonish captivity (Jr 41:17, 18). Compare as to the future restoration, Is 11:11, 12, 16; 51:9-16 ("Rahab" being Egypt).

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.

Sing ye unto her - אנו לה anu lah. Bishop Lowth translates this, Sing ye a responsive song; and says that ענה anah, to answer, signifies occasionally to sing responsively; and that this mode of singing was frequently practiced among the ancient Hebrews. See De Poes. Sac. Hebrews Prael. xix., at the beginning.

This, indeed, was the ancient method of singing in various nations. The song was divided into distinct portions, and the singers sang alternately. There is a fine specimen of this in the song of Deborah and Barak; and also in the Idyls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil.

This kind of singing was properly a dialogue in verse, sung to a particular tune, or in the mode which is now termed recitativo. I have seen it often practiced on funeral occasions among the descendants of the aboriginal Irish. The poems of Ossian are of this kind.

The learned Bishop distinguishes the parts of this dialogue thus: -

3. Jehovah. It is I, Jehovah, that preserve her; I will water her every moment: I will take care of her by night; And by day I will keep guard over her.

4. Vineyard. I have no wall for my defense: O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier! Jehovah. Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together.

5. Ah! let her rather take hold of my protection. Vineyard. Let him make peace with me! Peace let him make with me!

6. Jehovah. They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.

A vineyard of red wine - The redder the wine, the more it was valued, says Kimchi.

Bishop Lowth translates, To the beloved vineyard. For חמר chemer, red, a multitude of MSS. and editions have חמד chemed, desirable. This is supported by the Septuagint and Chaldee.

Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day - "I will take care of her by night; and by day I will keep guard over her" - For פן יפקד pen yiphkod, lest any visit it, the Syriac read ואפקד veephkod, and I will visit it. Twenty MSS. of Kennicott's, fourteen of De Rossi's, and two of my own, and six editions read אפקד ephkod, I will visit, in the first person.

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 bad, 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 neighbors 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 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.

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. 5.; 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, "etc. 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; Hos 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."

Or "Ah" - For או o I read אוי oi, as it was at first in a MS. The י yod was easily lost, being followed by another י yod.

To take root "From the root" - For ישרש yashresh, I read, with the Syriac, משרש mishshoresh. And for יציץ ופרח yatsits uparach, יציצו פרח yatsitsu parach, joining the ו vau to the first word, and taking that into construction with the first part of the sentence, Israel shall bud forth. I suppose the dialogue to be continued in this verse, which pursues the same image of the allegory, but in the way of metaphor.

The groves "And if the groves" - ולא velo. Four MSS., two ancient, of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, with the Septuagint; this makes a fuller sense.

There shall the calf feed - That is, the king of Egypt, says Kimchi.

The boughs thereof "Her boughs" - קציריה ketsireyha, MS. and Vulg.; that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above.

The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the east is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow-dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers; see Mat 6:21-30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here: "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; "Eze 15:3, Eze 15:4. "If a man abide not in one, "saith our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch of the vine and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned;" Joh 15:6. They employed women and children to gather these things, and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel; but the prophet says that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken, and the women shall come and gather them up, and carry away the whole of them to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer's Observations, vol. i., p. 254, etc.

The channel of the river - The river Sabbation, beyond which the Israelites were carried captive. - Kimchi.

The great trumpet shall be blown - Does not this refer to the time spoken of by our Lord, Mat 24:31 : He shall send forth his angels - the preachers of his Gospel with a great sound of a trumpet - the earnest invitation to be saved by Jesus Christ; and shall gather his elect - the Jews, his ancient chosen people, from the four winds - from all parts of the habitable globe in which they have been dispersed.

In this prophet there are several predictions relative to the conversion of Egypt to the true faith, which have not yet been fulfilled, and which must be fulfilled, for the truth of God cannot fail. Should Egypt ever succeed in casting off the Ottoman yoke, and fully establish its independence, it is most likely that the Gospel of Christ would have a speedy entrance into it; and, according to these prophecies, a wide and permanent diffusion. At present the Mohammedan power is a genuine antichrist. This also the Lord will remove in due time.

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.

In that day - When this enemy shall be destroyed. A vineyard - My church and people, of red wine, of the choicest and best wine, which in those parts was red.

I keep it - I will protect my church from all her enemies, and supply her with all necessary provisions.

Or - Or if at any time fury seem to be in me against my people. Let him - My people. Take hold - Which he may by humble prayer not only restrain from doing him hurt, but engage to do him good.

Take root - To be firmly settled in their possessions. Fruit - Their posterity shall seek habitations in other countries, and replenish them with people. But this seems to be understood of the spiritual seed of Jacob.

Hath he - He hath not dealt so severely with his people, as he hath dealt with their enemies, whom he hath utterly destroyed. Of them - Of those who were slain by God on the behalf of Israel.

In measure - With moderation. When - When the vine shooteth forth its luxuriant branches, he cuts them off, but so as not to destroy the vine. Contend - God is said to contend with men, when he executes his judgments upon them, Amos 7:4. Stayeth - He mitigates the severity of the judgment. In the day - In the time when he sends forth his east - wind; which he mentions because that wind in those parts was most violent and most hurtful.

By this - By this manner of God's dealing with them. When - Which sin of Jacob's shall be purged, when he shall truly repent of all his sins, and especially of his idolatry. Altar - Their idolatrous altars. Possibly he may say the altar, with respect to that particular altar, which Ahaz had set upon the place of God's own altar; and this prophecy might be delivered in Ahaz's time, while that altar stood. Chalk - stones - When he shall break all those goodly altars in pieces. Not stand - Shall be thrown down with contempt.

Yet - Yet before this glorious promise be fulfilled, a dreadful and desolating judgment shall come. The city - Jerusalem and the rest of the defenced cities in the land. The habitation - The most inhabited and populous places. The calf - This is put for all sorts of cattle, which may securely feed there, because there shall be no men left to disturb them.

Broken - That there may be no hopes of their recovery. Women - He mentions women, because the men would be destroyed. Not understanding - They know not the things which concerns their peace, but they blindly and wilfully go on in sin. Therefore - Thus he overthrows their conceit that God would never destroy the work of his own hands.

Beat out - It is a metaphor from grain which was beaten out with a rod or staff, and then carefully gathered and laid up. From - From Euphrates to the Nile, which were the two borders of the land of promise. All the Israelites who are left in the land. One by one - Which signifies, God's exact care of them.

Trumpet - God shall summon them altogether by sound of trumpet, by an eminent call of his providence. He alludes to the custom of calling the Israelites together with trumpets.

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.

What kind of Creature the Leviathan is, see in my Notes on Iob 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 signifie 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 Terrour 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 Emperour, 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 sence, 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.

Which by its Sting pierceth quickly and deeply into Mens Bodies. Or, the bar (as this Word is elsewhere used) serpent, as this may be called, either for its length, or strength, or swift motion.

Win[illegible: 1+ letters]ing and turning it self with great variety and dexterity. Whereby he seems to signifie the Craftiness and Activity of this Enemy, which being added to his Strength, makes it more formidable.

Or rather, the whale, as this Word is rendred Gen. 1. 21. Iob 7. 12. and elsewhere; which agrees better with the following Words, that is in the sea, which possibly were added onely 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 Revel. 17. 1, 15.

Marginal references: Or, crossing like a bar.; Chap. 51. 9.

2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine .

When this potent Enemy shall be destroyed.

The Words in the Hebrew Text lie thus, A vineyard (Behold, a vineyard; or, Iacob or Israel▪ my Church and People, which is sufficiently understood from the next Verse, and is expressed v. 6. shall be a vineyard, shall be defended and dressed, shall thrive and flourish like a Vineyard) of red wine (i. e. of the choicest and best Wine, which in those Parts was Red, as appears both from Scripture, as Prov. 23. 31. whence it is called the blood of the grape, Gen. 49. 11. Deut. 32. 14. and from other Authors) sing ye (O you faithful Souls, sing with Joy and Thanksgiving to God) to (or of, or concerning, as this Prefix is elsewhere used) her, or it, to wit, the Vineyard or Church, (which is frequently compared to a Vineyard, as Psal. 80. 8. Isa. 5. 7. and elsewhere) now delivered from her great Enemy, and blessed with Peace and Prosperity.

3 I the LORD do keep it , I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

I will secure it, that neither Men, nor Beasts, nor Drought shall spoil it; which alone are the things that can hurt it. I will protect my Church from all the Assaults of her Enemies, and supply her with all necessary Provisions, with my Ordinances, and with my Spirit and Grace.

4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battel? I would go through them, I would burn them together .

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.

This is added as a Reason of the foregoing Clause and Assertion; which may be conceived either, 1. thus, I rather desire to contend with Briars and Thorns, i. e. with the wicked Enemies of my Church, who [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]hus called Isa. 10. 17. Ezek. 28. 24. and if my Wrath [illegible: 1 word] now kindled against them, as it is against my People▪ i would be furious towards them, and never leave till [illegible: 1 word] utterly consumed them; but I will deal more indulgently with my People. Which Exposition seems to receive some [illegible: 1 word] and strength from v. 6, 7, 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 Briars 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 Mans Imbecillity is elsewhere alledged as a Reason of God's Indulgence, as Psal. 103. 13, 14, 15, 16. Isa. 57. 16. But this I deliver with submission.

Marginal references: Or, march against.

5 Or let him take hold of my strength , that he may make peace with me , and he shall make peace with me.

Or if at any time Fury be, or seem to be in me against my Vineyard or People.

My People, as is clearly implied from the following Words; for, there is no peace to those who are not God's People, or to the wicked, Isa. 57. 21. and is expressed in the following Verse.

i. e. Take hold of my Arm, which is metonymically called strength, and stay it from giving the Blow, not by Force, which is impossible, but by humble Submission and earnest Supplication. Or, strengthen himself or be strong (as this Word properly signifies, and is elsewhere used) by my strength; not by his own Strength, which he will oppose to mine, but by my Strength, which he may by humble and frequent Prayers not onely restrain from doing him hurt, but effectually engage to assist him, and do him good. He seems to allude to that History of Iacob's wrestling with the Angel of God, Gen. 32. 28. which he could never have done but by a Strength received from God.

That in stead of opposing me, he may in this manner reconcile himself to me. Or, and he shall make peace with me, as the same Words are rendred in the next Clause; which may be repeated to assure them of that great and important Favour, that God would make Peace with them. Or, the Words may be rendred in both Clauses, let him make peace with me, yea let him make peace with me, this Future Verb being taken Imperatively, as the other is in the former clause of the Verse.

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 .

To be firmly setled in their Possessions, and not tossed hither and thither, as they have been.

Their Posterity shall be so numerous, that their own Land shall not be sufficient for them, but they shall be forced to seek Habitations in other Countries, and shall replenish them with People. But this seems to be understood of the Spiritual Seed of Iacob, or of Believers, who are oft called God's Israel, as Rom. 9. 6. and elsewhere.

7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him ? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him ?

The Question implies a Denial; He hath not so smitten him, to wit, Iacob. He hath not dealt so severely with his People, as he hath dealt with his and their Enemies, whom he hath utterly destroyed. This may look either, 1. backward upon Times past. If you consult former Experiences, you will find, that God hath done so, hath spared and restored his People, and in Judgment remembred Mercy to them, when he hath totally ruined their Enemies; or, 2. forward upon the time to come, of which he speaks as of a thing past, after the manner of the Prophets, and of which he speaks in the next Verse.

Of those who were slain by Israel, or rather by God at the Prayer and on the behalf of Israel. Heb. of his slain ones, i. e. of those of his Smiters or Enemies who were slain. Which Exposition is favoured by comparing this with the foregoing Clause.

Marginal references: Heb. according to the stroke of those.

8 In measure when it shooteth forth , thou wilt debate with it : he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east-wind .

With moderation, in certain Proportions which God meteth out and fitteth to their Strength.

When the Vine shooteth forth its luxuriant Branches, he, like the Vinedresser, cutteth them off, but so as not to spoil or destroy the Vine. Or, as divers Interpreters render it, and the Word properly and frequently signifies, in or by casting or dismissing or sending her or it out, or, when thou dost cast or send her out, to wit, out of her own Land, in which she was planted, into Captivity. He alludes to a Man that divorceth his Wife, which is expressed by this Word; but withal intimates, that this shall not be peremptory and perpetual, as other Divorces were.

God is said to debate or contend with Men, when he executeth his Judgments upon them, as Isa. 49. 25. & 57. 16. Amos 7. 4.

He mitigateth the severity of the Judgment. But, I must confess, I do not meet with any of the ancient or modern Translators that agree with ours in this Version: nor is the Hebrew Verb ever used, so far as I know, in the signification of staying or restraining: besides, our Translation takes no notice of the Hebrew Preposition. But this Word unquestionably signifies to remove or take away, as 2 Sam. 20. 13. Prov. 25. 4, 5. and thus most Interpreters understand it. And so the Place is very fitly thus rendred, be (or, when be, which Particle may easily be understood out of the former Clause, as is usual) removeth (understand either it, to wit, the Vine; or them, to wit, the Enemies of God and his People. And so this agreeth with the former Verse, in representing the different way of God's Proceeding against his People, and his and their Enemies. Either way there is onely a defect of the Pronoun, which I have before shewed in divers places to be very usual in the Hebrew Language) with or by his rough wind, by which sometimes Vines and other Trees are pulled up by the Roots, as that did 1 Kings 19. 11. whereby he understands his most terrible Judgments.

In the time when he sendeth forth his East-wind; which he mentions because that Wind in those Parts was most violent and most hurtful to Trees and Fruits, as hath been oft observed, and therefore is used to signifie the most grievous Calamities.

Marginal references: Job 23. 6. Jer. 10. 24. & 30. 11. & 46. 28.; Or, when thou sendest it forth.; Or, when he removeth it.

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 chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder , the groves and ‖ images shall not stand up .

By this manner of God's dealing with his People.

That the difference between Iacob and his Enemies, in their several Sufferings, may appear.

Heb. expiated or forgiven upon their true Repentance, which shall be the happy effect of their Chastisement.

The effect hereof shall not be to destroy the Sinner, as it is in other Men, but onely to take away the guilt and power of their Sins.

Which Sin of Iacob's shall be purged and taken away, and the Judgment removed, when he shall truly repent of all his Sins, and especially of his Idolatry, to which they were most inclined, and for which the most of God's Judgments which they had hitherto felt had been inflicted upon them.

Which by an usual Enallage may be put for the Altars, to wit, their Idolatrous Altars, as is evident from the following Words. Possibly he may say the altar with respect to that particular Altar which Ahaz had set up in the place of God's own Altar; and this Prophecy might be delivered either to the Prophet, or by him to the People, in Ahaz his time, while that Altar stood and was used.

When he shall break all those goodly Altars in pieces, which God by his Law had enjoyned.

Which kind of Stones are of themselves apt to break into small pieces, and by the Artificer are broken into smaller pieces for making Mortar. He seems to allude to that Fact of Moses, who, to shew his detestation of Idolatry, took the golden calf, and burnt it, and ground it to powder; and intimates, that when their Repentance should be sincere, it would discover it self by their Zeal in destroying the Instruments of their Idolatry.

Which were frequently erected to the Honour of Idols, of which we have many Instances in Scripture, which God therefore commanded his People to destroy, Deut. 7. 5. & 12. 3.

Shall be thrown down with Contempt and Indignation.

Marginal references: 18.; [illegible: 1+ letters]ma.

10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness : there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof .

Yet before this glorious Promise concerning the removal of Israel's Sin and Calamity be fulfilled, a dreadful and desolating Judgment shall first come upon them.

Ierusalem and the rest of the Defenced Cities in the Land, the Singular Number being put for the Plural.

The most inhabited and populous Places. Or, as the Hebrew Word properly signifies, their pleasant habitations, whether in the City or Country.

Which was fulfilled in the time of the Babylonish Captivity.

Which is Synechdochically put for all sorts of Cattel, which may securely feed there, because there shall be no Men left to disturb or annoy them.

Of their pleasant Habitation; of the young Trees which shall grow up in that ruinated Country.

11 When the boughs thereof are withered , they shall be broken off : the women come and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding : therefore he that made them , will not have mercy on them; and he that formed them, will shew them no favour.

When they shall begin to wither, as they will when they are thus gnawed and cropped by Cattel.

That there may be no hopes nor possibility of their Recovery.

He mentions women, either because it is their usual Work in the Country to make Fires, and to gather Fewel for them; or to signifie, that the Men should be generally destroyed.

They do not understand either me or themselves, either my Word or Works; they know not the things which concern their own Peace and Happiness, but like bruit Beasts, made to be destroyed, they blindly and wilfully go on in those Courses which will bring them to certain ruine.

Both as they are Creatures, and as they are his People; for this also is expressed by making or forming, as Psal. 100. 3. & 102. 18. & 149. 2. Thus he overthroweth their false and presumptuous Conceits, that God would never destroy the Work of his own Hands, nor the Seed of Abraham his Friend for ever, and plainly declareth the contrary.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 28. Chap. 1. 3.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the chanel of the river unto the stream of Egypt , and ye shall be gathered one by one , O ye children of Israel.

Or, shall beat out: Which is not meant in a way of Punishment, which is rather designed by threshing, as Isa. 21. 10. & 25. 10. than by beating; but as an Act of Mercy, as is evident from the following Clause of this, and from the next Verse. It is a Metaphor from some Grains which were beaten our with a Rod or Staff, of which see Isa. 28. 27, 28. and then were carefully gathered and laid up for the use of man.

From Euphrates to Nilus, which were the two Borders of the Land of Promise, Ios. 1. 4. & 13. 3. All the Israelites which are left in the Land; which are here opposed to those of them that are dispersed into Foreign Parts, such as Assyria and Egypt.

Which signifies either the smallness of the Remnant of that numerous People; or rather God's exact and singular Care of them, that not one of them should be lost.

13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria , and the out-casts in the land of Egypt , and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Which may be heard even to the remotest Parts of the Earth. God shall summon them all together as it were by Sound of Trumpet, to wit, by an eminent Call or Act of his Providence on their behalf. He alludes to the Custom of calling the Israelties together with Trumpets; of which see Numb. 10. 2, 3.

Where the Ten Tribes were carried Captive.

Where many of the Iews were, as is manifest both from Scripture, as Ier. 43. 7. & 44 28. Hos. 8. 13. Zech. 10. 10. and from other Authors.

Isa 27:1

Upon whom the judgment of Jehovah particularly falls, is described in figurative and enigmatical words in Isa 27:1 : “In that day will Jehovah visit with His sword, with the hard, and the great, and the strong, leviathan the fleet serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea.” No doubt the three animals are emblems of three imperial powers. The assertion that there are no more three animals than there are three swords, is a mistake. If the preposition were repeated in the case of the swords, as it is in the case of the animals, we should have to understand the passage as referring to three swords as well as three animals. But this is not the case. We have therefore to inquire what the three world-powers are; and this question is quite a justifiable one: for we have no reason to rest satisfied with the opinion held by Drechsler, that the three emblems are symbols of ungodly powers in general, of every kind and every sphere, unless the question itself is absolutely unanswerable. Now the tannin (the stretched-out aquatic animal) is the standing emblem of Egypt (Isa 51:9; Psa 74:13; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2). And as the Euphrates-land and Asshur are mentioned in Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13 in connection with Egypt, it is immediately probable that the other two animals signify the kingdom of the Tigris, i.e., Assyria, with its capital Nineveh which stood on the Tigris, and the kingdom of the Euphrates, i.e., Chaldea, with its capital Babylon which stood upon the Euphrates. Moreover, the application of the same epithet Leviathan to both the kingdoms, with simply a difference in the attributes, is suggestive of two kingdoms that were related to each other. We must not be misled by the fact that nâchâsh bâriach is a constellation in Job 26:13; we have no bammarōm (on high) here, as in Isa 24:21, and therefore are evidently still upon the surface of the globe. The epithet employed was primarily suggested by the situation of the two cities. Nineveh was on the Tigris, which was called Chiddekel,In point of fact, not only does Arab. tyr signify both an arrow and the Tigris, according to the Neo-Persian lexicons, but the old explanation “Tigris, swift as a dart, since the Medes call the Tigris toxeuma” (the shot or shot arrow; Eustath, on Dion Perieg. v. 984), is confirmed by the Zendic tighri, which has been proved to be used in the sense of arrow or shot (Yesht 8, 6, yatha tighris mainyavacâo), i.e., like a heavenly arrow. on account of the swiftness of its course and its terrible rapids; hence Asshur is compared to a serpent moving along in a rapid, impetuous, long, extended course (bâriach, as in Isa 43:14, is equivalent to barriach, a noun of the same form as עלּיז, and a different word from berriach, a bolt, Isa 15:5). Babylon, on the other hand, is compared to a twisted serpent, i.e., to one twisting about in serpentine curves, because it was situated on the very winding Euphrates, the windings of which are especially labyrinthine in the immediate vicinity of Babylon. The river did indeed flow straight away at one time, but by artificial cuttings it was made so serpentine that it passed the same place, viz., Arderikka, no less than three times; and according to the declaration of Herodotus in his own time, when any one sailed down the river, he had to pass it three times in three days (Ritter, x. p. 8). The real meaning of the emblem, however, is no more exhausted by this allusion to the geographical situation, than it was in the case of “the desert of the sea” (Isa 21:1). The attribute of winding is also a symbol of the longer duration of one empire than of the other, and of the more numerous complications into which Israel would be drawn by it. The world-power on the Tigris fires with rapidity upon Israel, so that the fate of Israel is very quickly decided. But the world-power on the Euphrates advances by many windings, and encircles its prey in many folds. And these windings are all the more numerous, because in the prophet’s view Babylon is the final form assumed by the empire of the world, and therefore Israel remains encircled by this serpent until the last days. The judgment upon Asshur, Babylon, and Egypt, is the judgment upon the world-powers universally.

Isa 27:2-5

The prophecy here passes for the fourth time into the tone of a song. The church recognises itself in the judgments upon the world, as Jehovah’s well-protected and beloved vineyard.In that day a merry vineyard - sing it! I, Jehovah, its keeper, Every moment I water it. That nothing may come near it, I watch it night and day. Wrath have I none; O, had I thorns, thistles before me! I would make up to them in battle, Burn them all together. Men would then have to grasp at my protection, Make peace with me, Make peace with me.

Instead of introducing the song with, “In that day shall this song be sung,” or some such introduction, the prophecy passes at once into the song. It consists in a descending scale of strophes, consisting of one of five lines (Isa 27:2, Isa 27:3), one of four lines (Isa 27:4), and one of three lines (Isa 27:5). The thema is placed at the beginning, in the absolute case: cerem chemer. This may signify a vineyard of fiery or good wine (compare cerem zaith in Jdg 15:5); but it is possible that the reading should be cerem chemed, as in Isa 32:12, as the lxx, Targum, and most modern commentators assume.  ענּה ל signifies, according to Num 21:17; Psa 147:7 (cf., Exo 32:18; Psa 88:1), to strike up a song with reference to anything - an onomatopoetic word (different from ענה, to begin, literally to meet). Cerem (the vineyard) is a feminine here, like בּאר, the well, in the song of the well in Num 21:17-18, and just as Israel, of which the vineyard here is a symbol (Isa 3:14; Isa 5:1.), is sometimes regarded as masculine, and at other times as feminine (Isa 26:20). Jehovah Himself is introduced as speaking. He is the keeper of the vineyard, who waters it every moment when there is any necessity (lirgâ‛im, like labbekârim in Isa 33:2, every morning), and watches it by night as well as by day, that nothing may visit it. על פּקד (to visit upon) is used in other cases to signify the infliction of punishment; here it denotes visitation by some kind of misfortune. Because it was the church purified through afflictions, the feelings of Jehovah towards it were pure love, without any admixture of the burning of anger (chēmâh). This is reserved for all who dare to do injury to this vineyard. Jehovah challenges these, and says, Who is there, then, that gives me thorns, thistles! עיתּנני = לי יתּן, as in Jer 9:1, cf., Jos 15:19.) The asyndeton, instead of ושׁית שׁמיר, which is customary elsewhere, corresponds to the excitement of the exalted defender. If He had thorns, thistles before Him, He would break forth upon them in war, i.e., make war upon them (bâh, neuter, upon such a mass of bush), and set it all on fire (הצית = הצּית). The arrangement of the strophes requires that we should connect כּמּלחמה with אפשׂעה (var. אפשׂעה), though this is at variance with the accents. We may see very clearly, even by the choice of the expression bammilchâmâh, that thorns and thistles are a figurative representation of the enemies of the church (2Sa 23:6-7). And in this sense the song concludes in Isa 27:5 : only by yielding themselves to mercy will they find mercy. או with a voluntative following, “unless,” as in Lev 26:41. “Take hold of:” hechezik b', as in 1Ki 1:50, of Adonijah, who lays hold of the horns of the altar. “Make peace with:” ‛âsâh shâlōm l', as in Jos 9:15. The song closes here. What the church here utters, is the consciousness of the gracious protection of its God, as confirmed in her by the most recent events.

Isa 27:6

The prophet now adds to the song of the vineyard, by way of explanation. “In future will Jacob strike roots, Israel blossom and bud, and fill the surface of the globe with fruits.” We may see from הבּאים (acc. temp. as in Ecc 2:16, equivalent in meaning to “Behold, the days come,” Jer 7:32, etc.), that the true language of prophecy commences again here. For the active וּמלאוּ, compare Jer 19:4; Eze 8:17, etc. The prophet here says, in a figure, just the same as the apostle in Rom 11:12, viz., that Israel, when restored once more to favour as a nation, will become “the riches of the Gentiles.”

Isa 27:7-8

The prophet does not return even now to his own actual times; but, with the certainty that Israel will not be exalted until it has been deeply humbled on account of its sins, he placed himself in the midst of this state of punishment. And there, in the face of the glorious future which awaited Israel, the fact shines out brightly before his eyes, that the punishment which God inflicts upon Israel is a very different thing from that inflicted upon the world. “Hath He smitten it like the smiting of its smiter, or is it slain like the slaying of those slain by Him? Thou punishedst it with measures, when thou didst thrust it away, sifting with violent breath in the day of the east wind.” “Its smiter” (maccēhū) is the imperial power by which Israel had been attacked (Isa 10:20); and “those slain by Him” (הרגיו) are the slain of the empire who had fallen under the strokes of Jehovah. The former smote unmercifully, and its slain ones now lay without hope (Isa 26:14). Jehovah smites differently, and it is very different with the church, which has succumbed in the persons of its righteous members. For the double play upon words, see Isa 24:16; Isa 22:18; Isa 10:16. When Jehovah put Israel away (as if by means of a “bill of divorcement,” Isa 50:1), He strove against it (Isa 49:25), i.e., punished it, “in measure,” i.e., determining the measure very exactly, that it might not exceed the enduring power of Israel, not endanger the existence of Israel as a nation (cf., bemishpât in Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28). On the other hand, Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel read בּסאסאה, from a word סאסא,Böttcher refers to a Talmudic word, הסיא (to remove), but this is to be pronounced הסּיא (= הסּיע), and is moreover, very uncertain. related to זעזע, or even טאטא, “when thou didst disturb (or drive forth);” but the traditional text does not indicate any various reading with ה mappic., and the ancient versions and expositors all take the word as a reduplication of סאה, which stands here as the third of an ephah to denote a moderately large measure. The clause hâgâh berūchō is probably regarded as an elliptical relative clause, in which case the transition to the third person can be best explained: “thou, who siftedst with violent breath.” Hâgâh, which only occurs again in Pro 25:4, signifies to separate, e.g., the dross from silver (Isa 1:25). Jehovah sifted Israel (compare the figure of the threshing-floor in Isa 21:10), at the time when, by suspending captivity over it, He blew as violently upon it as if the east wind had raged (vid., Job 2:1-13 :19). But He only sifted, He did not destroy.

Isa 27:9

He was angry, but not without love; He punished, but only to be able to pardon again. “Therefore will the guilt of Jacob be purged thus: and this is all the fruit of the removal of his son: when He maketh all altar-stones like chalk-stones that are broken in pieces, Astarte images and sun-pillars do not rise up again.” With the word “therefore” (lâcēn) a conclusion is drawn from the expression “by measure.” God punished Israel “by measure;” His punishment is a way to salvation: therefore it ceases as soon as its purpose is secured; and so would it cease now, if Israel would thoroughly renounce its sin, and, above all, the sin of all sins, namely idolatry. “Thus” (by this) refers to the בּשׂומו which follows; “by this,” namely the breaking to pieces of the altars and images of the moon goddess; or possibly, to speak more correctly, the goddess of the morning-star, and those of the sun-god as well (see Isa 17:8). By the fact that Israel put away the fundamental cause of all mischief, viz., idolatry, the guilt for which it had yet to make atonement would be covered, made good, or wiped away (on cuppar, see at Isa 22:14). The parenthesis (cf., Isa 26:11) affirms that this very consequence would be all the fruit (cŏl-peri) desired by Jehovah of the removal of the sin of Israel, which the chastisement was intended to effect.

Isa 27:10-11

The prophet said this from out of the midst of the state of punishment, and was therefore able still further to confirm the fact, that the punishment would cease with the sin, by the punishment which followed the sin. “For the strong city is solitary, a dwelling given up and forsaken like the steppe: there calves feed, and there they lie down, and eat off its branches. When its branches become withered, they are broken: women come, make fires with them; for it is not a people of intelligence: therefore its Creator has no pity upon it, and its Former does not pardon it.” The nation without any intelligence (Isa 1:3), of which Jehovah was the Creator and Former (Isa 22:11), is Israel; and therefore the fortress that has been destroyed is the city of Jerusalem. The standpoint of the prophet must therefore be beyond the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the midst of the captivity. If this appears strange for Isaiah, nearly every separate word in these two vv. rises up as a witness that it is Isaiah, and no other, who is speaking here (compare, as more general proofs, Isa 32:13-14, and Isa 5:17; and as more specific exemplifications, Isa 16:2, Isa 16:9; Isa 11:7, etc.). The suffix in “her branches” refers to the city, whose ruins were overgrown with bushes. Synonymous with סעפּים, branches (always written with dagesh in distinction from סעפים, clefts, Isa 2:21), is kâtzir, cuttings, equivalent to shoots that can be easily cut off. It was a mistake on the part of the early translators to take kâtzir in the sense of “harvest” (Vulg., Symm., Saad., though not the lxx or Luther). As kâtzir is a collective term here, signifying the whole mass of branches, the predicate can be written in the plural, tisshâbarnâh, which is not to be explained as a singular form, as in Isa 28:3. אותהּ, in the neuter sense, points back to this: women light it האיר, as in Mal 1:10), i.e., make with it a lighting flame (אור) and a warming fire (אוּר, Isa 54:16). So desolate does Jerusalem lie, that in the very spot which once swarmed with men a calf now quietly eats the green foliage of the bushes that grow between the ruins; and in the place whence hostile armies had formerly been compelled to withdraw without accomplishing their purpose, women now come and supply themselves with wood without the slightest opposition.

Isa 27:12-13

But when Israel repents, the mercy of Jehovah will change all this. “And it will come to pass on that day, Jehovah will appoint a beating of corn from the water-flood of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and ye will be gathered together one by one, O sons of Israel. And it will come to pass in that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and the lost ones in the land of Asshur come, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and cast themselves down before Jehovah on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” I regard every exposition of Isa 27:12 which supposes it to refer to the return of the captives as altogether false. The Euphrates and the brook of Egypt, i.e., the Wady el-Arish, were the north-eastern and south-western boundaries of the land of Israel, according to the original promise (Gen 15:18; 1Ki 8:65), and it is not stated that Jehovah will beat on the outside of these boundaries, but within them. Hence Gesenius is upon a more correct track, when he explains it as meaning that “the kingdom will be peopled again in its greatest promised extent, and that as rapidly and numerously as if men had fallen like olives from the trees.” No doubt the word châbat is applied to the beating down of olives in Deu 24:20; but this figure is inapplicable here, as olives must already exist before they can be knocked down, whereas the land of Israel is to be thought of as desolate. What one expects is, that Jehovah will cause the dead to live within the whole of the broad expanse of the promised land (according to the promise in Isa 26:19, Isa 26:21). And the figure answers this expectation most clearly and most gloriously. Châbat as the word commonly applied to the knocking out of fruits with husks, which were too tender and valuable to be threshed. Such fruits, as the prophet himself affirms in Isa 28:27, were knocked out carefully with a stick, and would have been injured by the violence of ordinary threshing. And the great field of dead that stretched from the Euphrates to the Rhinokoloura,Rhinokoloura (or Rhinokoroura): for the origin of this name of the Wady el-Arish, see Strabo, xvi. 2, 31. resembled a floor covered over with such tender, costly fruit. There true Israelites and apostate Israelites lay mixed together. But Jehovah would separate them. He would institute a beating, so that the true members of the church would come to the light of day, being separated from the false like grains sifted from their husks. “Thy dead will live;” it is to this that the prophet returns. And this view is supported by the choice of the word shibboleth, which combines in itself the meanings of “flood” (Psa 69:3, Psa 69:16) and “ear” (sc., of corn). This word gives a fine dilogy (compare the dilogy in Isa 19:18 and Hab 2:7). From the “ear” of the Euphrates down to the Peninsula of Sinai, Jehovah would knock - a great heap of ears, the grains of which were to be gathered together “one by one,” i.e., singly (in the most careful manner possible; Greek, καθεῖς κατη ̓ ἓνα). To this risen church there would be added the still living diaspora, gathered together by the signal of God (compare Isa 18:3; Isa 11:12). Asshur and Egypt are named as lands of banishment. They represent all the lands of exile, as in Isa 19:23-25 (compare Isa 11:11). The two names are emblematical, and therefore not to be used as proofs that the prophecy is within the range of Isaiah’s horizon. Nor is there any necessity for this. It is just as certain that the cycle of prophecy in chapters 24-27 belongs to Isaiah, and not to any other prophet, as it is that there are not two men to be found in the world with faces exactly alike.

The Doom of Persecutors; The Privilege of Saints. (b. c. 718.)

1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. 3 I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. 4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. 6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,

I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God's church (v. 1), tribulation to those that trouble it, 2 Thess. i. 6. When the Lord comes out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth (ch. xxvi. 21), he will be sure to punish leviathan, the dragon that is in the sea, every proud oppressing tyrant, that is the terror of the mighty, and, like the leviathan, is so fierce that none dares stir him up, and his heart as hard as a stone, and when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid, Job xli. 10, 24, 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, ch. li. 9; Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14; Ezek. xxix. 3. The New-Testament church has had its leviathans; we read of a great red dragon ready to devour it, Rev. xii. 3. Those malignant persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan for bulk, and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the world,—to dragons for their rage and fury,—to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, and which, if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body,—crossing like a bar (so the margin), standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them,—to crooked serpents, subtle and insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. Great and mighty princes, if they oppose the people of God, are in God's account as dragons and serpents, the plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with and call to an account, and therefore the great God will take the matter into his own hands. He has a sore, and great, and strong sword, wherewith to do execution upon them when the measure of their iniquity is full and their day has come to fall. It is emphatically expressed in the original: The Lord with his sword, that cruel one, and that great one, and that strong one, shall punish this unwieldy, this unruly criminal; and it shall be capital punishment: He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea; for the wages of his sin is death. This shall not only be a prevention of his doing further mischief, as the slaying of a wild beast, but a just punishment for the mischief he has done, as the putting of a traitor or rebel to death. God has a strong sword for the doing of this, variety of judgments sufficient to humble the proudest and break the most powerful of his enemies; and he will do it when the day of execution comes: In that day he will punish, his day which is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. This is applicable to the spiritual victories obtained by our Lord Jesus over the powers of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and cast out, the prince of this world, but with his strong sword, the virtue of his death and the preaching of his gospel, he does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that great leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall be bound, that he may not deceive the nations, and that is a punishment to him (Rev. xx. 2, 3); and at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 10.

II. Of mercy to the church. In that same day, when God is punishing the leviathan, let the church and all her friends be easy and cheerful; let those that attend her sing to her for her comfort, sing her asleep with these assurances; let it be sung in her assemblies,

1. That she is God's vineyard, and is under his particular care, v. 2, 3. She is, in God's eye, a vineyard of red wine. The world is as a fruitless worthless wilderness; but the church is enclosed as a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has great care taken of it and great pains taken with it, and from which precious fruits are gathered, wherewith they honour God and man. It is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, ch. v. 4. Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this vineyard: I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this as glorying in it that he is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel. Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall be always under his protection. He speaks this as assuring us that they shall be so: I the Lord, that can do every thing, but cannot lie nor deceive, I do keep it; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. God's vineyard in this world lies much exposed to injury; there are many that would hurt it, would tread it down and lay it waste (Ps. lxxx. 13); but God will suffer no real hurt or damage to be done it, but what he will bring good out of. He will keep it constantly, night and day, and not without need, for the enemies are restless in their designs and attempts against it, and, both night and day, seek an opportunity to do it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are no less dangerous. God's people shall be preserved, not only from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, but from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day, Ps. xci. 6. This vineyard shall be well fenced. (2.) Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment, and yet it shall not be overwatered. The still and silent dews of God's grace and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that it may bring forth much fruit. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for, if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. God waters his vineyard by the ministry of the word by his servants the prophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew. Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; for without him the watchman wakes and the husbandman waters in vain.

2. That, though sometimes he contends with his people, yet, upon their submission, he will be reconciled to them, v. 4, 5. Fury is not in him towards his vineyard; though he meets with many things in it that are offensive to him, yet he does not seek advantages against it, nor is extreme to mark what is amiss in it. It is true if he find in it briers and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in battle against him (as indeed that in the vineyard which is not for him is against him), he will tread them down and burn them; but otherwise, "If I am angry with my people, they know what course to take; let them humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and so take hold of my strength with a sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I will soon be reconciled to them, and all shall be well." God sees the sins of his people and is displeased with them; but, upon their repentance, he turns away his wrath. This may very well be construed as a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. (1.) Here is a quarrel supposed between God and man; for here is a battle fought, and peace to be made. It is an old quarrel, ever since sin first entered. It is, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous. (2.) Here is a gracious invitation given us to make up this quarrel, and to get these matters in variance accommodated: "Let him that is desirous to be at peace with God take hold of his strength, of his strong arm, which is lifted up against the sinner to strike him dead; and let him by supplication keep back the stroke. Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel—a prince with God." Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let him take hold of that. Christ is the arm of the Lord, ch. liii. 1. Christ crucified is the power of God (1 Cor. i. 24); let him by a lively faith take hold of him, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is within his reach, or as the malefactor took hold of the horns of the altar, believing that there is no other name by which he can be saved, by which he can be reconciled. (3.) Here is a threefold cord of arguments to persuade us to do this. [1.] Time and space are given us to do it in; for fury is not in God; he does not carry it towards us as great men carry it towards their inferiors, when the one is in a fault and the other in a fury. Men in a fury will not take time for consideration; it is, with them, but a word and a blow. Furious men are soon angry, and implacable when they are angry; a little thing provokes them, and no little thing will pacify them. But it is not so with God; he considers our frame, is slow to anger, does not stir up all his wrath, nor always chide. [2.] It is in vain to think of contesting with him. If we persist in our quarrel with him, and think to make our part good, it is but like setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire, which will be so far from giving check to the progress of it that they will but make it burn the more outrageously. We are not an equal match for Omnipotence. Woe unto him therefore that strives with his Maker! He knows not the power of his anger. [3.] This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to reconciliation: "Let him take this course to make peace with me, and he shall make peace; and thereby good, all good, shall come unto him." God is willing to be reconciled to us if we be but willing to be reconciled to him.

3. That the church of God in the world shall be a growing body, and come at length to be a great body (v. 6): In times to come (so some read it), in after-times, when these calamities are overpast, or in the days of the gospel, the latter days, he shall cause Jacob to take root, deeper root than ever yet; for the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than ever the Jewish church was, and shall spread further. Or, He shall cause those of Jacob that come back out of their captivity, or (as we read it) those that come of Jacob, to take root downward, and bear fruit upward, ch. xxxvii. 31. They shall be established in a prosperous state, and then they shall blossom and bud, and give hopeful prospects of a great increase; and so it shall prove, for they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. Many shall be brought into the church, proselytes shall be numerous, some out of all the nations about that shall be to the God of Israel for a name and a praise; and the converts shall be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness. The preaching of the gospel brought forth fruit in all the world (Col. i. 6), fruit that remains, John xv. 16.

Correction and Compassion. (b. c. 718.)

7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? 8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he 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 chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. 10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. 11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour. 12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Here is the prophet again singing of mercy and judgment, not, as before, judgment to the enemies and mercy to the church, but judgment to the church and mercy mixed with that judgment.

I. Here is judgment threatened even to Jacob and Israel. They shall blossom and bud (v. 6), but, 1. They shall be smitten and slain (v. 7), some of them shall. If God find any thing amiss among them, he will lay them under the tokens of his displeasure for it. Judgment shall begin at the house of God, and those whom God has known of all the families of the earth he will punish in the first place. 2. Jerusalem, their defenced city, shall be desolate, v. 10, 11. "God having tried a variety of methods with them for their reformation, which, as to many, have proved ineffectual, he will for a time lay their country waste," which was accomplished when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans; then that habitation was for a long time forsaken. If less judgments do not do the work, God will send greater; for when he judges he will overcome. Jerusalem had been a defenced city, not so much by art or nature as by grace and the divine protection; but, when God was provoked to withdraw, her defence departed from her, and then she was left like a wilderness. "And in the pleasant gardens of Jerusalem cattle shall feed, shall lie down there, and there shall be none to disturb them or drive them away; there they shall be levant and couchant, and they shall eat the tender branches of the fruit-trees," which perhaps further signifies that the people should become an easy prey to their enemies. "When the boughs thereof are withered as they grow upon the tree, being blasted by winds and frosts and not pruned, they shall be broken off for fuel, and the women and children shall come and set them on fire. There shall be a total destruction, for the very trees shall be destroyed." And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard (v. 2) when it brought forth wild grapes (ch. v. 2); and our Saviour seems to refer to this when he says of the branches of the vine which abide not in him that they are cast forth and withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned (John xv. 6), which was in a particular manner fulfilled in the unbelieving Jews. The similitude is explained in the following words, It is a people of no understanding, brutish and sottish, and destitute of the knowledge of God, and that have no relish or savour of divine things, like a withered branch that has no sap in it; and this is at the bottom of all those sins for which God left them desolate, their idolatry first and afterwards their infidelity. Wicked people, however in other things they may be wits and politicians, in their greatest concerns are of no understanding; and their ignorance, being wilful, shall not only not be their excuse, but it shall be the ground of their condemnation; for therefore he that made them, that gave them their being, will not have mercy on them, nor save them from the ruin they bring upon themselves; and he that formed them into a people, formed them for himself, to show forth his praise, seeing they do not answer the end of their formation, but hate to be reformed, to be new-formed, will reject them, and show them no favour; and then they are undone: for, if he that made us by his power do not make us happy in his favour, we had better never have been made. Sinners flatter themselves with hopes of impunity, at least that they shall not be dealt with so severely as their ministers tell them, because God is merciful and because he is their Maker. But here we see how weak and insufficient those pleas will be; for, if they be of no understanding, he that made them, though he made them, and hates nothing that he has made, and though he has mercy in store for those who so far understand their interests as to apply to him for it, yet on them he will have no mercy, and will show them no favour.

II. Here is a great deal of mercy mixed with this judgment; for there are good people mixed with those that are corrupt and degenerate, a remnant according to the election of grace, on whom God will have mercy and to whom he will show favour: and these promises seem to point at all the calamities of the church, for which God would graciously provide these allays.

1. Though they shall be smitten and slain, yet not to that degree, and in that manner, in which their enemies shall be smitten and slain, v. 7. God has smitten Jacob, and he is slain. Many of those that understand among the people shall fall by the sword and by flame many days, Dan. xi. 33. But it shall not be as those are smitten and slain, (1.) Who smote him formerly, who were the rod of God's anger and the staff in his hand, which he made us of for the correction of his people, and to whose turn it shall come to be reckoned with even for that: the child is spared, but the rod is burnt. (2.) Who shall afterwards be slain by him, when he shall get the dominion, and repay them in their own coin, or slain for his sake in the pleading of his cause. God's people and God's enemies are here represented, [1.] As struggling with each other; so the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent have been, are, and will be. In this contest there are slain on both sides. God makes use of wicked men, not only to smite, but to slay his people; for they are his sword, Ps. xvii. 13. But, when the cup of trembling comes to be put into their hand, it will be much worse with them than ever it was with God's people in their greatest straits. The seed of the woman has only his heel bruised, but the serpent has his head crushed and broken. Note, Though God's persecuted people may be great losers, and great sufferers, for a while, yet those that oppress them will prove to be greater losers and greater sufferers at last, here or hereafter; for God will render double to them, Rev. xviii. 6. [2.] As sharing together in the calamities of this present time. They are both smitten, both slain, and both by the hand of God; for there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. But is Jacob smitten as his enemies are? No, by no means; to him the property is altered, and it becomes quite another thing. Note, However it may seem to us, there is really a vast difference between the afflictions and deaths of good people and the afflictions and deaths of wicked people.

2. Though God will debate with them, yet it shall be in measure, and the affliction shall be mitigated, moderated, and proportioned to their strength, not to their deserts, v. 8. He will deal out afflictions to them as the wise physician prescribes medicines to his patients, just such a quantity of each ingredient, or orders how much blood shall be taken when a vein is opened: thus God orders the troubles of his people, not suffering them to be tempted above what they are able, 1 Cor. x. 13. He measures out their afflictions by a little at a time, that they may not be pressed above measure; for he knows their frame, and corrects in judgment, and does not stir up all his wrath. When the affliction is shooting forth, when he is sending it out and giving it its commission, then he debates in measure, and not in extremity. He considers what we can bear when he begins to correct; and when he proceeds in his controversy, so that it is the day of his east-wind, which is not only blustering and noisy, but blasting and noxious, yet he stays his rough wind, checks it, and sets bounds to it, does not suffer it to blow so hard as was feared; when he is winnowing his corn, it is with a gentle gale, that shall only blow away the chaff, but not the good corn. God has the winds at his command, and every affliction under his check. Hitherto it shall go, but no further. Let us not despair when things are at the worst; be the winds ever so rough, ever so high, God can say unto them, Peace, be still.

3. Though God will afflict them, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls, and correct them as the father does the child, to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts (v. 9): By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. This is the design of the affliction, to this it is adapted as a proper means, and, by the grace of God working with it, it shall have this blessed effect. It shall mortify the habits of sin; by this those defilements of the soul shall be purged away. It shall break them off from the practice of sin: This is all the fruit, this is it that God intends, this is all the harm it will do them, to take away their sin, than which they could not have a greater kindness done them, though it be at the expense of an affliction. Therefore, because the affliction is mitigated and moderated, and the rough wind stayed, therefore we may conclude that he designs their reformation, not their destruction; and, because he deals thus gently with us, we should therefore study to answer his ends in afflicting us. The particular sin which the affliction was intended to cure them of was the sin of idolatry, the sin which did most easily beset that people and to which they were strangely addicted. Ephraim is joined to idols. But by the captivity in Babylon they were not only weaned from this sin, but set against it. Ephraim shall say, What have I do to any more with idols? Jacob has his sin taken away, his beloved sin, when he makes all the stones of the altar, of his idolatrous altar, the stones of which were precious and sacred to him, as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder; he not only has them in contempt, and values them no more than chalk-stones, but he conceives an indignation at them, and, in a holy revenge, beats them asunder as easily as chalk-stones are broken to pieces. The groves and the images shall not stand before this penitent, but they shall be thrown down too, never to be set up again. This was according to the law for the demolishing and destroying of all the monuments of idolatry (Deut. vii. 5); and according to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people in the world have such a rooted aversion to idols and idolatry as the people of the Jews. Note, The design of affliction is to separate between us and sin, especially that which has been our own iniquity; and then it appears that the affliction has done us good when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use all needful precaution that we may not only not relapse into it, but not so much as be tempted to it, Ps. cxix. 67.

4. Though Jerusalem shall be desolate and forsaken for a time, yet there will come a day when its scattered friends shall resort to it again out of all the countries whither they were dispersed (v. 12, 13); though the body of the nation is abandoned as a people of no understanding, yet those that are indeed children of Israel shall be gathered together again, as the sheep of the flock when the shepherds that scattered them are reckoned with, Ezek. xxxiv. 10-19. Now observe concerning these scattered Israelites, (1.) Whence they shall be fetched: The Lord shall beat them off as fruit from the tree, or beat them out as corn out of the ear. He shall find them out, and separate them from those among whom they dwelt, and with whom they seemed to be incorporated, from the channel of the river Euphrates north-east, unto Nile, the stream of Egypt, which lay south-west—those that were driven into the land of Assyria, and were captives there in the land of their enemies, where they were ready to perish for want of necessaries, and ready to despair of deliverance—and those that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, whither many of those that were left behind, after the captivity in Babylon, went, contrary to God's express command (Jer. xliii. 6, 7), and there lived as outcasts: God has mercy in store for them all, and will make it to appear that, though they are cast out, they are not cast off. (2.) In what manner they shall be brought back: "You shall be gathered one by one, not in multitudes, not in troops forcing your way; but silently, and as it were by stealth, dropping in, first one, and then another." This intimates that the remnant that shall be saved consists but of few, and those saved with difficulty, and so as by fire, scarcely saved; they shall not come for company, but as God shall stir up every man's spirit. (3.) By what means they shall be gathered together: The great trumpet shall be blown, and then they shall come. Cyrus's proclamation of liberty to the captives is this great trumpet, which awakened the Jews that were asleep in their thraldom to bestir themselves; it was like the sounding of the jubilee-trumpet, which published the year of release. This is applicable both to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gathered in to the grace of God, such as were outcasts and ready to perish (those that were afar off are made nigh; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord), and also to the archangel's trumpet at the last day, by which saints shall be gathered to the glory of God, that lay as outcasts in their graves. (4.) For what end they shall be gathered together: To worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. When the captives rallied again, and returned to their own land, the chief thing they had their eye upon, and the first thing they applied themselves to, was the worship of God. The holy temple was in ruins, but they had the holy mount, the place of the altar, Gen. xiii. 4. Liberty to worship God is the most valuable and desirable liberty; and, after restraints and dispersions, a free access to his house should be more welcome to us than a free access to our own houses. Those that are gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet are brought in to worship God and added to the church; and the great trumpet of all will gather the saints together, to serve God day and night in his temple.

CHAP. XXVII.

Ver. 1. IN that day] The day of Gods great Aſſize, and of execution to be done on the enemy and the Avenger, chap. 26.21. Now we know how well people are pleaſed, when Princes do Juſtice upon great Offendors.

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. & 20.2. But they do better in my Judgement, who by Leviathan here underſtand ſome great Tyrant, acted by the Devil againſt the Church: ſuch as was Pharaoh, ſee Ezek. 29.3. Sennacherib, ſee chap. 8.7. or Nebuchadnezzar, ſee Jer. 51.13. and at this day, the Grand Signior, 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 Saraſines, the moſt glorious Empire of the Greeks, the Empire of Trapezonum, the renowned Kingdoms of Macedonia, Peloponneſus, Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Boſna, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Judea, Tunis, Argeirs, Media, Meſopotomia, 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 & 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 ruine this vaſt Empire, which laboureth with nothing more then the weightineſs of it ſelf.

Jun. And he ſhall ſlay the Dragon that is in the ſea] i. In fluctuante hujus ſaeculi aeſtuario. Of the ſtrange length of Dragons, ſee Aelian. l. 2. c. 21. and Plin. l. 8. c. 11. In the laſt year of the raign of Theodoſius ſenior there was a Dragon ſeen in Epirus of that vaſt bigneſs, that when he was dead, eight yokes of Oxen could hardly draw him. By Dragon, ſome underſtand the ſame with Leviathan, v[illegible: 1 letter]z. the Whale or Whirlpool. The Dragon is never ſatisfied with blood, though never ſo full gorged: no more are Perſecutors.

Ver. 2. In that day ſing ye to her] Or, of her: a new ſong for a new deliverance. Haply this ſhall be done by the Chriſtian Churches upon the converſion of the Jews, after the Turks downfall: like as at the building of the ſecond Temple, the people ſang and ſhouted Grace Grace unto it, Zech. 4, 7.

A Vineyard of red Wine] i. e. Of rich and generous Wine, Vini meri, non labruſcarum, ut cap. 5. See Prov. 23.31. Gen. 49.22. By this red wine Oecolampadius underſtandeth Chriſts blood, wherewith the Church is purged and beautified. Sanguis Chriſti venuſtavit genas meas, ſaid a certain good woman, a Martyr.

Ver. 3. I the Lord do keep it] And then it cannot but be well kept. The matter is well amended with Gods Vineyard ſince chap. 5.5. The Lord is with you whiles ye are with him, 2 Chron. 15.2. The hand of our God is upon all them for good that ſeek him: but his power and his wrath is againſt all them that forſake him. Ezra 8.12. Do good O Lord, unto thoſe that be good, &c. As for ſuch as turn aſide unto their crooked ways, &c. Pſal. 125.4, 5.

I will water it every moment] God will be to his Vineyard both a Wall and a Well; a Sun and a Shield; as Pſal. 84.11. all that heart can wiſh, or need require. Of all poſſeſſions, ſaith Cato, none requireth more care and pains, then that of Vineyards. Corn comes up, and grows alone, Mar. 3. but vines muſt be daily dreſſed, fenced, ſupported, In Philip. watered. Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit, ſaith Primaſius. Yong Vines muſt be often watered: Gods Vines ſhall not want for watering, though once he forbad the clouds to rain upon them, chap. 5.6. He hath not been wanting to England either for watching or for watering it. We may now much better ſay of it, then once Polydor Virgil did, Regnum Angliae Regnum Dei: he meant becauſe none ſeemed to take care of England, but God. He grant we may at length walk worthy of ſuch a mercy: Amen. The Vulgar here rendreth it, but not ſo well Repente propinabo ei, I will ſhortly drink to her.

Leſt any hurt it] Heb. Leſt he viſit on it: left any profane perſon ſhould rudely and unmannerly ruſh upon it, he gardeth it conſtantly.

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 calami, atum: the fault is not in me but in your ſelves: do you but mend, and all ſhall be ſoon well betwixt us. It is but diſpleaſed love that maketh me chide or ſtrike my dear children; Lop my Vines, Ʋt bonus Vinitor Vites luxuriantes falce putat & purgat, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Job. 15.2. leaſes and luxuriances muſt be taken off, or it will be worſe. Better the Vine ſhould bleed, then die: better be preſerved in brine, then periſh in honey. But aſſure your ſelves I am not implacable: as your ſins have put thunder-bolts into my hands, ſo by ſound repentance you may ſoon diſarm me.

Who would ſet the briars and thorns] Gods Vineyard is not without briars 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 an 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. with the Note.

I would burn them together] Or, I will burn them out of it; See 2 Sam 23.7. with the Note.

Ver 5. Or let him take hold of my ſtrength] i. Of mine arm wherewith I am about to ſmite him, or to throw the fire of my wrath at him; let him by true repentance, appeaſe me, as ſubmitting Abigail once did angry David: let him but meet me with intreaties of peace, and he ſhall have peace, yea he ſhall be ſure of it. See Job 22.21. with the Notes. To run in to God, is the way to eſcape ſin: as to cloſe and get in with him that would ſtrike you, doth avoid the blow.

Ver. 6. He ſhall cauſe them that come to Jacob] i. e. His Proſelytes; Or, that come from Jacob. i. e. his Poſterity. Vitium hoec conditio eſt, the condition of Vines is ſuch as that they muſt undergo cold blaſts and hard winters: howbeit at the return of the Spring they recover their verdure, and flouriſh again; ſo ſhall the ſeed of Jacob: their dead ſhall live, chap. 26. and the mountain of the Lord ſhall be exalted above all mountains, chap. 2.

Ver. 7. Hath he ſmitten him, as he ſmote thoſe that ſmote him] No: for the one he ſmote to correction, the other to deſtruction: the one with the Palm of his Hand, as a man ſmiteth his Son, the other with his clutch-fiſt, as one ſmiteth his ſlave whom he careth not where he hits, or how he hurts. Temporal evils are in the nature ſometimes of a curſe, ſometimes of a cure. Hinc diſtinctio illa poenae in conferentem & nocentem, ſive in ſuffocantem & promoventem: item in poenam vindicta, & poenam cautelae, ſive in condemnantem & corrigentem.

Ver. 8. In meaſure] Heb. Modio, i. e. exigua menſura, in a ſmall meaſure,By peck-peck. and as his people are able to bear, 1 Cor. 10.13. ad emendationem, non ad internecionem.

When it ſhooteth forth] Or, in the bunches; not at the root, as God ſmiteth at a wicked man reſolving to have him down. See here his different dealing with his own and others. Upon his children he doth but ſprinkle a parcel of his wrath, ſome few ſparks of his diſpleaſure: but the wicked he utterly conſumeth and burneth up with the fire of his indignation, Iſa. 42.25. & 66.15.

Thou wilt debate with it] Dijudicabis thou wilt put a difference, or diſcern betwixt the righteous and the wicked, Mal. 3.18. D Goodw. flagella tantum quaedam decutiuntur. Scultet.

He ſtayeth his rough wind, &c.] i. e. Such afflictions as would ſhake his plants too much, or quite blow them down. But he letteth out of his treaſury, even He who holdeth the winds in his fiſt) ſuch a wind as ſhall make them fruitful, and blow away their unkindly bloſſoms and leaves.

In the day of the Eaſt-wind] That boiſterous and blaſting and bluſtering wind. Hinc Euroclydon, Acts 27.14.

Ver. 9. By this therefore ſhall the iniquity of Jacob be purged] Hac re, i. e. deportatione in Babyloniam, ſaith Piſcator: By this, that is, by their being carried captive into Babylon, as it was made a means to bring the Elect to repentance. As one poyſon is antidotary to another: ſo is Affliction to ſin. Croſſes are Leeches to ſuck out the noxious blood: Flails to threſh off our husks: Files to brighten out graces, &c. Sanctfied afflictions (ſaid Mr. Dod) are good promotions. Corrections of Inſtructions are the way of life, Prov. 16.23. For though not joyous but grievous at preſent, yet afterwards they yield the peaceable fruit of righteouſneſs unto them that are thereby exerciſed, Heb. 12.11. It fareth with Gods afflicted, as it did once with thoſe that had the ſwearing ſickneſs in this land; If they ſlept they died: To keep them waking therefore, they were ſmitten with Roſemary-branches: whereat though they cried out, you kill me, you kill me, yet it proved a happy means to keep them alive. It was good for David that he was afflicted, Pſal. 119.71. it rid him of thoſe two evil humours, High mindedneſs and Earthly-mindedneſs, Pſal. 131.1.

And this is all the fruit] Gods rod, like Aarons, bloſſometh: and like that of Jonathan, it hath honey at the end of it. A good uſe and a good iſſue of afflictions is ever to be prayd for. I read of a gracious man, who lying under great torments of the Stone, would often cry out, The uſe, Lord, the uſe! And Mr. Perkins in like caſe deſired his friends to pray to God not ſo much for eaſe of his pain, as for increaſe of his faith and patience. Perdidiſti fructum afflictionum, ſaid Auſtin to ſome in his time, and it was a great loſs doubtleſs.

To take away his ſin] The ſin, not the man: D. Goodw. See Pſal. 99.8. A leprous or ulcerous member, a man loves as it is his own fleſh, Epheſ. 5.29. though he loatheth the corruption and putrefaction that is in it; therefore he cuts it not off, but plaiſtereth it: whereas a Wart or Wen he cutteth off, as not his fleſh: ſo here.

When he maketh all the ſtones of the Altar as Chalk-ſtones] When he, that is Jacob, in token of his true repentance, abandoneth all his mawmets and monuments of idolatry, and them aboliſheth and demoliſheth, ſo as never to be re-edified. The Jews after the captivity were ſo far from idolatry, that, they would not admit a Painter or Carver into their City. And how zealous they were to keep their Temple from ſuch defilement both in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and of the Romans, Hiſtories ſhew us.

Ver. 10. Yet the defenced City ſhall be deſolate] Or, But, or Therefore ſhall they ſuffer, ut ad ſaniorem mentem & ad frugem calamiteſi redeant, that they may be thereby bettered: See on ver. 9.

Ver. 11. For it is a people of no underſtanding] Heb. Not a people of underſtandings, i. e. non ſapiunt niſi plagis emendentur, they will not be wiſe without whipping: I muſt therefore handle them the more ſharply and ſeverely. Caſtigat Deus quem amat, etiamſi non amat caſtigare.

Therefore he that made them] Deus factor ejus & fictor. A fearful ſentence: ſuch as ſhould affright thoſe many Ignaro's that ſay, God that made us will ſurely ſave us.

Ver. 12. In that day] ſc. When God ſhall have purged his people by his Word, and by his Rod.

The Lord ſhall beat off] Or, ſhall threſh: The Miniſtry of the Word is Gods Flail to ſever the Chaff from Corn: to ſingle his out of the midſt of wicked and prophane worldlings. See the like of Afflictions ſanctified, ver. 9.

And ye ſhall be gathered] As Ears of Corn are for threſhing.

One by one] There is no threſher in the world (ſaith one here) that threſheth half ſo clean: for he looſeth not one grain. See Joh. 17, 12. & 10.3. Chriſt hath a care of every one particularly and by the poll; ſome gather from hence that the calling of the Jews ſhall be general and univerſal.

Ver. 13. The great Trumpet ſhall be blown] Or, a blaſt ſhall be blown with a great trumpet. Tuba haec magna Apoſtolica praedicatio eſt, ſaith Oecolampadius. This great trumpet is the Goſpel the preaching whereof is of power to ſave thoſe that periſh, to put life into the dead, Joh. 5.25.