Isaiah 27:5

5 Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."

Isaiah 27:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 27:5

Or let him take hold of my strength
Not on the law, as the Targum and Kimchi; but on Christ, as Jerom rightly interprets it; who is the strength and power of God, the man of his right hand he has made strong for himself; a strong tower, as the word signifies, a rock of defence, to whom saints may betake themselves, and be safe; in him they have righteousness and strength; in him is everlasting strength. The sense is, let the people of God, any and everyone of them, when afflicted and chastised by him particularly, and are ready to conclude that he is wroth with them, and is dealing with them in hot displeasure; let such look to Christ, and lay hold, and a strong hold, on him by faith, which will be greatly to their advantage and support. The Targum and Jarchi render (wa) , translated "or", by "if"; and then the words are to be read thus, "if he will", or "should, take hold of my strength", or fortress F19; or, as some render them, "O that he would F20"; it follows, [that] he may make peace with me, [and] he shall make peace with
me;
or rather, "he shall make peace with me, peace shall he make with me". The phrase is doubled for the certainty of it; and the meaning is, not that the believer who lays hold by faith on Christ, Jehovah's strength, shall make peace with him; which is not in the power of any person to do, no, not the believer by his faith, repentance, or good works; but Christ the power of God, on whom he lays hold, he shall make peace, as he has, by the blood of his cross, and as the only peacemaker; and hereby the believer may see himself reconciled to God, and at peace with him; and therefore may comfortably conclude, under every providence, that there is no fury in God towards him.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wzemb qzxy wa) "si prehenderit munitionem meam", Noldius.
F20 "Utiuam, O si apprehenderit munitionem meam", Forerius.

Isaiah 27:5 In-Context

3 I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day;
4 I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together.
5 Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."
6 In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.