Isaiah 27:7

7 1Has he struck them 2as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain 3as their slayers were slain?

Isaiah 27:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 27:7

Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?
&c.] No; the Lord does smite his people by afflictive dispensations of his providence; he smites them in their persons, and families, and estates; see ( Isaiah 57:17 ) as he smote Israel, by suffering them to be carried captive, and as the Jews are now smitten by him in their present state; yet not as he smote Pharaoh, with his ten plagues, and him and his host at the Red Sea; or as he smote Sennacherib and his army, by an angel, in one night; or as Amalek was smitten, and its memory perished; or as he will smite mystical Babylon, which will be utterly destroyed; all which have been smiters of God's Israel, who, though smitten of God, yet not utterly destroyed; the Jews returned from captivity, and, though now they are scattered abroad, yet continue a people, and will be saved. God deals differently with his own people, his mystical and spiritual Israel, than with their enemies that smite them: he afflicts them, but does not destroy them, as he does their enemies; he has no fury in him towards his people, but he stirs up all his wrath against his enemies: [or], is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain
by him?
or, "of his slain" F23; the Lord's slain, or Israel's slain, which are slain by the Lord for Israel's sake; though Israel is slain, yet not in such numbers, to such a degree, or with such an utter slaughter, as their enemies; though the people of God may come under slaying providences, yet not such as wicked men; they are "chastened, but not killed"; and, though killed with the sword, or other instruments of death, in great numbers, both by Rome Pagan and Papal, yet not according to the slaughter as will be made of antichrist and his followers, ( Revelation 19:15-21 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F23 (wygrh) "occisorum ejus", Montanus; "interfecti illius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Isaiah 27:7 In-Context

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?
8 Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Hosea 6:1, 2
  • 2. See Isaiah 37:36-38
  • 3. Isaiah 37:18, 19
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.