John Trapp on Isaiah 27:1

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.