Isaiah 27:10

10 For the fortified city lies deserted— a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

Isaiah 27:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 27:10

Yet the defenced city [shall be] desolate
Or "but", or "notwithstanding" ^F2; though the Lord deals mercifully with his own people, and mixes mercy with their afflictions, and causes them to issue well, and for their good; yet he does not deal so with others, his and their enemies: for by the "defenced city" is not meant Jerusalem, as many interpret it, so Kimchi; nor Samaria, as Aben Ezra; nor literal Babylon, as others; but mystical Babylon, the city of Rome, and the whole Roman or antichristian jurisdiction, called the "great" and "mighty" city, ( Revelation 18:10 ) which will be destroyed, become desolate, or "alone" ^F3, without inhabitants: [and] the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness;
or "habitations"; the singular for the plural; even beautiful ones, as the word ^F4 signifies, the stately palaces of the pope and cardinals, and other princes and great men, which, upon the destruction of Rome, will be deserted, and become as a wilderness, uninhabited by men: there shall the calf feed:
not Ephraim, as Jarchi, from ( Jeremiah 31:18 ) nor the king of Egypt, as Kimchi, from ( Jeremiah 46:20 ) nor the righteous that shall attack the city, and spoil its substance, as the Targum; see ( Psalms 68:30 ) but literally, and which is put for all other cattle, or beasts of the field, that should feed here, without any molestation or disturbance: there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof;
which the Targum interprets of the army belonging to the city; it denotes the utter destruction of it, and its inhabitants; see ( Revelation 18:2 ) . Some of the Jewish writers ^F5 interpret this passage of Edom or Rome, and of the Messiah being there to take vengeance on it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (yk) "sed", Junius & Tremellius, Forerius; "tamen, nihilominus", Calvin.
F3 (ddb) "solitaria", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F4 (hwn) "amoenum habitaculum", Tigurine version; Piscator
F5 Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 3.

Isaiah 27:10 In-Context

8 By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.

9 Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

10 For the fortified city lies deserted— a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

12 In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.