Isaiah 27:9 Kommentar

In this chapter the prophet goes on to show, I. What great things God would do for his church and people, which should now shortly be accomplished in the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and the destruction of the Assyrian army; but it is expressed generally, for the encouragement of the church in after ages, with reference to the power and prevalency of her enemies. 1. That proud oppressors should be reckoned with (Isa 27:1). 2. That care should be taken of the church, as of God's vineyard (Isa 27:2, Isa 27:3). 3. That God would let fall his controversy with the people, upon their return to him (Isa 27:4, Isa 27:5). 4. That he would greatly multiply and increase them (Isa 27:6). 5. That, as to their afflictions, the property of them should be altered (Isa 27:7), they should be mitigated and moderated (Isa 27:8), and sanctified (Isa 27:9). 6. That though the church might be laid waste, and made desolate, for a time (Isa 27:10, Isa 27:11), yet it should be restored, and the scattered members should be gathered together again (Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13). All this is applicable to the grace of the gospel, and God's promises to, and providences concerning, the Christian church, and such as belong to it.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 27 This chapter refers to the same times as the two foregoing ones Isa 25:1; and is a continuation of the same song, or rather a new one on the same occasion; it is prophetical of the last times, and of what shall be done in them, as the destruction of the antichristian powers, and Satan at the head of them, Isa 27:1 the happy state of the church, and its fruitfulness under the care and protection of the Lord, and his affection for it, Isa 27:2 its peace, prosperity, and flourishing condition, Isa 27:5 the nature, use, and end of all its afflictions and chastisements, Isa 27:7 the ruin and destruction of the city of Rome, and its inhabitants, and of its whole jurisdiction, Isa 27:10 a great gathering and conversion of the Lord's people, both Jews and Gentiles, by the ministry of the Gospel, Isa 27:12.

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged,.... Or "expiated", or "atoned" (a); not that afflictions are atonements for sin, or give satisfaction to divine justice for it; but they are the means of bringing the Lord's people to a sense of their sins, and to repentance and humiliation for them, and confession of them, and of leading them to the blood and sacrifice of Christ, by which they are expiated and atoned, and which the Spirit of God brings near, and applies unto them; whereby their sins, they are convicted of by means of afflictions, and which lay heavy upon their consciences, are purged away, and removed from them: and this is all the fruit, to take away sin; this is the design and use of afflictions, the profit and advantage of them to the saints, that, being humbled for their sins, they depart from them, leave and forsake them; as well as the guilt of them is taken away from their consciences, through the application of pardoning grace, upon their repentance; see Job 36:8 this shows another difference between the afflictions of God's people and of others: namely, in the use and end of them. The sin of idolatry seems to be particularly designed by what follows; unless the sin of the present Jews, in their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, should be rather intended; which, through their long affliction, they will be convinced of in the latter day, and it will be taken away from them, and be purged and expiated through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the Saviour and Deliverer, they will embrace, Rom 11:25, when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder; that is, when Jacob, or the people of the Jews, being convinced of their idolatry by their afflictions, shall pull down all their idolatrous altars; perhaps particularly referring to that which Ahaz made, Kg2 16:10 and remove the stones thereof, and break them to pieces, as chalkstones for lime, which is easily done: the groves and the images shall not stand up; erect, to be worshipped; but shall be thrown down, demolished, and broke to pieces; and, by thus abandoning their idols and idolatrous practices, they will show the sense they have of their sins, and the sincerity of their repentance; and it is to be observed, that the Jews, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, never practised idolatry more, not in the literal sense; perhaps some respect may be had here to the time when they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn; and when they shall renounce all their legal sacrifices, traditions of the elders, and their own righteousness, their idols, and look alone to the sacrifice of Christ, and declare against all the idolatry of the church of Rome, and all antichristian worship. (a) "propitiabitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "expiabitur", Piscator.

(Verse 9) Therefore, because of this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven, and all this fruit will be removed, so that its sin may be taken away. For they have set up all the stones of the altar like scattered ashes; neither the lights nor the shrines will stand. LXX: Therefore, the iniquity of Jacob will be taken away, and this will be his blessing when I remove his sin, when I set up all the stones of the altars shattered like crushed ash, and their trees and idols will not endure. The reason why they suffer no harm even after the Jews laid hands upon the Lord is that they may obtain forgiveness if they choose to repent, so that the prayer of the Savior may be fulfilled: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). Therefore, it is said, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be pardoned, and its sin will be taken away, so that it may deserve the blessing of God, which had been cursed upon it when it said: His blood be upon us, and upon our children (Matthew 27:25). Because through the Apostles, the Gospel will be sown from the stock of Israel throughout the whole world, and idolatry will be destroyed, and altars will be crushed to dust, lights will be cut down, temples will fall, and the knowledge of the one God under the mystery of the Trinity will be proclaimed.

625. Third, he explains the motive for moderating the punishment, so that he would not destroy them entirely at that time, namely, because Christ and the Apostles were to descend from that people, and through their preaching the worship of idols was to be abandoned; and this is what is meant by, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, above: man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel (Isa 17:7).

Ambassadors being come from several neighboring nations to solicit the king of Judah to join in a confederacy against the king of Babylon, Jeremiah is commanded to put bands and yokes upon his neck, (the emblems of subjection and slavery), and to send them afterwards by those ambassadors to their respective princes; intimating by this significant type that God had decreed their subjection to the Babylonian empire, and that it was their wisdom to submit. It is farther declared that all the conquered nations shall remain in subjection to the Chaldeans during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and those of his son and grandson, even till the arrival of that period in which the Babylonians shall have filled up the measure of their iniquities; and that then the mighty Chaldean monarchy itself, for a certain period the paramount power of the habitable globe, shall be voted with a dreadful storm of Divine wrath, through the violence of which it shall be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel, the fragments falling into the hands of many nations and great kings, Jer 27:1-11. Zedekiah, particularly, is admonished not to join to the revolt against Nebuchadnezzar, and warned against trusting to the suggestions of false prophets, Jer 27:11-18. The chapter concludes with foretelling that what still remained of the sacred vessels of the temple should be carried to Babylon, and not restored till after the destruction of the Chaldean empire, Jer 27:19-22.

The groves "And if the groves" - ולא velo. Four MSS., two ancient, of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, with the Septuagint; this makes a fuller sense.

CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH, TWENTY-FIFTH, AND TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTERS. (Isa 27:1-13) 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 Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Dan 7:1, &c. Rev 12:3, &c., potentates hostile to Israel are similarly described; antitypically and ultimately Satan is intended (Rev 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.

By this--exile of Israel (the "sending away," Isa 27:8). purged--expiated [HORSLEY]. all the fruit--This is the whole benefit designed to be brought about by the chastisement; namely, the removal of his (Israel's) sin (namely, object of idolatry; Deu 9:21; Hos 10:8). when he--Jehovah; at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, His instrument. The Jews ever since have abhorred idolatry (compare Isa 17:8). not stand up--shall rise no more [HORSLEY].

He was angry, but not without love; He punished, but only to be able to pardon again. "Therefore will the guilt of Jacob be purged thus: and this is all the fruit of the removal of his son: when He maketh all altar-stones like chalk-stones that are broken in pieces, Astarte images and sun-pillars do not rise up again." With the word "therefore" (lâcēn) a conclusion is drawn from the expression "by measure." God punished Israel "by measure;" His punishment is a way to salvation: therefore it ceases as soon as its purpose is secured; and so would it cease now, if Israel would thoroughly renounce its sin, and, above all, the sin of all sins, namely idolatry. "Thus" (by this) refers to the בּשׂומו which follows; "by this," namely the breaking to pieces of the altars and images of the moon goddess; or possibly, to speak more correctly, the goddess of the morning-star, and those of the sun-god as well (see Isa 17:8). By the fact that Israel put away the fundamental cause of all mischief, viz., idolatry, the guilt for which it had yet to make atonement would be covered, made good, or wiped away (on cuppar, see at Isa 22:14). The parenthesis (cf., Isa 26:11) affirms that this very consequence would be all the fruit (cŏl-peri) desired by Jehovah of the removal of the sin of Israel, which the chastisement was intended to effect.