Isaiah 27

Isaiah 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 Ezekiel 29:3 , 32:2 , Daniel 7:1 , &c. Revelation 12:3 , &c., potentates hostile to Israel are similarly described; antitypically and ultimately Satan is intended ( Revelation 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 ( Psalms 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" 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; Isaiah 9:18 , 10:17 , 2 Samuel 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 ( 1 Kings 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 ( Isaiah 45:24 , Romans 5:1 , Ephesians 2:14 ; compare Job 22:21 ).

6. He--Jehovah. Here the song of the Lord as to His vineyard ( Isaiah 27:2-5 ) ends; and the prophet confirms the sentiment in the song, under the same image of a vine (compare Psalms 92:13-15 , Hosea 14:5 Hosea 14:6 ).
Israel . . . fill . . . world--( Romans 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 , Psalms 6:1 , Jeremiah 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; Isaiah 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 , Jeremiah 18:17 ).