dew--which falls copiously in the East and supplies somewhat the lack of rain ([Ho 14:5]).
cast out ... dead--that is, shall bring them forth to life again.
20. enter ... chambers--When God is about to take vengeance on the ungodly, the saints shall be shut in by Him in a place of safety, as Noah and his family were in the days of the flood ([Ge 7:16]), and as Israel was commanded not to go out of doors on the night of the slaying of the Egyptian first-born ([Ex 12:22], ; [Psa 31:20]; ). The saints are calmly and confidently to await the issue ([Ex 14:13], ).
21. ([Mi 1:3]; Jude 14).
disclose ... blood--([Ge 4:10], ; [Job 16:18]; [Eze 24:7], ). All the innocent blood shed, and all other wrongs done, so long seemingly with impunity, shall then be avenged ([Re 16:6]).
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]; ; [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]; ; [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], ).
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]; ; ).
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],).
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], ; [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], ), now Wady-el-Arish, Jehovah's vineyard, Israel, extended according to His purpose from the Nile to the Euphrates ([1Ki 4:21], ; [Psa 72:8]).