Isaiah 27:5

5 Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; [yes], let him 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 Yahweh am its keeper; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
4 Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march on them, I would burn them together.
5 Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; [yes], let him make peace with me.
6 In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the surface of the world with fruit.
7 Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? or are they slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by them?
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