649-588 B.C.

Isaiah 27)

1 In that day (i.e. the period of judgment foretold in 26:21) the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan (three great aquatic animals are here mentioned: probably referring to Israel's 3 great enemies: Assyria [with Ninevah, on the Tigris]; Babylon [on the Euphrates]; and Egypt [on the Nile] with Satan himself behind them all, as their great instigator) the fleeing serpent (or fugitive [like the Tigris]), even leviathan that tortuous serpent (like the winding Euphrates); and He shall slay the crocodile of the Nile that is in the Nile. (as in 19:5. Nah. 3:8)
2 In that day sing (or answer) you all to her, A vineyard of red wine. (some codices read pleasant, or lovely)
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 Wrath (or heat, displeasure) is not in Me (i.e. not now. There was in the other song [5:5-7]: but now, "in that day", all wrath will have gone): who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? (i.e. the internal enemies of the vineyard [as the wild beasts are the external enemies]. These are now the objects of His wrath, not His vineyard) I would go through them, I would burn them together.
5 Or let him take hold of Me, as a refuge or protection, that he may make peace with Me (i.e. if such enemies wish to avert My wrath, then let them 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 inhabited world with fruit.(this verse is not an "addendum", or "irrelevant", or "an illegible gap". It is necessary in order to give us the subject of the Song, which is reversed till this verse. The symbol to tell us that Israelis the vineyard [cp. v.12]. 26:1-21 we have he Song of Judah, while in 27:2-6, the Song concerning Israel)

7-13. Acknowledgment.

D  l  7. Enemies.
    m  8,9. Israel.
   l  10,11. Enemies.
    m  12,13. Israel.

7 Has He smitten him, according to the stroke of those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
8 By measure (referring to the smiting of Israel, as being in a limited measure), when You did send it forth (i.e. the stroke of v.7), You will curb it (i.e. the stroke of v.7): He stays His harsh (or severe) wind (ruach) in the day of the east wind. (a violent, hot, scorching wind; pernicious to the fruit of a vineyard)
9 In this way therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be covered (i.e atoned for. Heb. kaphar. See Ex. 29:33); and all this is all the fruit (or result) to take away his sin; when He makes all the stones of [all] altar no better than chalk-stones that are beaten to pieces, the asherahs and images of ashteroth shall no more stand up. (see 17:8)
10 For the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken (see 1:4), and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and devour the branches thereof.
11 When her harvest dries up, they (fem., i.e. the "stones" of v.9) shall be broken (or destroyed): 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 favor.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day (vv.12,13 refer to Israel, as vv.7,10, and 11 refer to Israel's enemies), that the Lord shall beat off (i.e. as olives from a tree = "beat of [His fruit]": i.e. gather the sons of Israel) from the flood of the river (i.e. the Euphrates) to the stream of Egypt, and you all shall be gathered one by one, O all you sons 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 (so the end will be like the beginning. See Deut. 26:5), and shall worship the Lord in the set apart mountain at Jerusalem. (see Ex.3:5)

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