Isaiah 27:2 Ulasan

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.

In that day sing ye unto her,.... The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; or rather the church of Christ; for after, and upon the destruction of his and her enemies, there will be great rejoicing and singing alternately, and by responses, as the word signifies; see Rev 15:1. Gussetius (l) renders it, "afflict her"; as if spoken by the Lord to the enemies to do their worst to her, and he would take care of her, that it shall be in vain, and to no purpose, since he would keep her: A vineyard of red wine; as the people of the Jews are compared to one, Isa 5:1 so is the church of Christ under the Gospel dispensation; see Sol 8:11 a vineyard is a spot of ground separated from others, and the church and people of God are separated from the rest of the world by electing, redeeming, and calling grace; a vineyard is a place set with various vines, so is the church; there is Christ the true vine, the principal one, which stands in the first place, Joh 15:1 and there are particular congregated churches, which belong to the vineyard, the general or catholic church, Sol 2:13 and there are particular believers that may be so called, Sol 6:11 moreover, sometimes in vineyards other trees are planted besides vines, as barren fig trees, Luk 13:6 and so there are in the visible church of God nominal believers, carnal professors, trees without fruit; there are no true vines but such as are ingrafted and planted in Christ, and who, through union to him, and abiding in him, bring forth fruit; a vineyard is the property of some one person, as this is of Christ, whose it is by his own choice, by his Father's gift, by inheritance, by purchase, as well as it is of his planting, and under his care; vineyards are valuable, pleasant, and profitable, but exposed to beasts of prey, and therefore to be fenced and guarded; all which may be applied to the church of Christ, which shall, in the latter day especially, be very fruitful, and answer to this character given her in this song, a vineyard "of red wine"; the allusion is to such a vineyard, in which vines grow, that bring forth grapes, productive of the best wine, as the red was reckoned in the eastern countries; see Gen 49:12 and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; this is a vineyard very different from that in Isa 5:5 and from the vine of Israel, Hos 10:1 the fruit of it, signified by "red wine", may intend the graces of the Spirit, which like grapes, the fruit of the vine, grow in clusters; where one is, all of them are, and come from Christ, the vine, from whom all the fruit of divine grace is found: and which receive their tincture from the blood of Christ, their vigour and their usefulness; and may be said, like wine, to cheer the heart of God and man, Jdg 9:13 grace when in exercise is delightful to God and Christ, Sol 4:9 and gives pleasure to other saints, Psa 34:1 and as the fruit of the vine must be squeezed ere the liquor can be had, so the graces of the Spirit are tried by afflictive dispensations of Providence, by which the preciousness and usefulness of them are made known; moreover, the fruits of righteousness, or good works, may be also intended, by which the graces of faith and repentance are evidenced, and which, when performed aright, are acceptable to God through Christ, and profitable to men; and for these fruits of grace and good works the church will be famous in the latter day. (l) Comment. Ebr. p. 622.

(Verse 2, 3.) On that day, the vineyard of wine will sing for him. I am the Lord who tends it, and I will suddenly water it, lest anyone harm it. LXX: On that day, her desire will be a good vineyard, that she may be a prince. I am a strong city, a city that is besieged: in vain will I give her drink. For they will be captured at night, but the wall will fall during the day. There is much disagreement between the Hebrew and the LXX edition in this passage, therefore we will discuss each one separately. The vineyard about which Isaiah speaks: The vineyard has become a beloved one in a fertile place, which should be understood, let us learn from the Teacher himself (or, rather, let us say): For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:1), of which it is sung in the psalm: You have brought the vineyard out of Egypt, etc. (Psalm 80:8). To this vineyard also, through Jeremiah, the most bitter cup is given (Jeremiah 25). For when he had sent him to intoxicate all the nations, and the Prophet had willingly offered himself for this task, he is first ordered to make Jerusalem drunk. Where it says: You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived (Jeremiah 20:7). Therefore, Jerusalem will drink and be made to drink a bitter potion, so that she may learn lamentation and weeping. And the Lord says that He has kept her for a long time and given her a place for repentance, but because she refused to return, she will suddenly be made drunk. For the Scripture says that the Lord has acted in this way day and night, always preserving her with His help. And the same beautiful vineyard is called the Seventy by the LXX, in which there was the Law and the Prophets, the priesthood and the pontificate, and the knowledge of God, as the Scripture says: God is known in Judah, His name is great in Israel (Psalm 75:1). What others think, according to their edition, pertains to the Church, which is nothing more beautiful. And of which it is said: Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God (Ps. LXXXVI, 3): which is the mother of her offspring, and says in the Song of Songs: The sons of my mother fought against me (Cant. I, 5). And he speaks: I am a firm city, a city that is besieged. He said that it is beautifully besieged, not conquered. And immediately he connects it with the Synagogue, which has been turned from head to tail: In vain do I impart the drink of my teachings to her, for she will be taken in the darkness of her error. And because it does not receive clear light, its wall collapses during the day, that is, everything that it believed to be help for itself, and there will be no opponent who does not understand that we must grasp power from opposites.

621. In that day. Here correction by their own scourges is set out. Hence he first describes the chastisement; second, the consolation: and it shall come to pass, that in that day (Isa 27:13). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he foretells the chastisement; second, the manner is examined: there is no indignation in me (Isa 27:4). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he foretells the song of sorrow: the vineyard, formerly, in the prophets and patriarchs, of pure wine, above: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isa 5:7).

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.

Sing ye unto her - אנו לה anu lah. Bishop Lowth translates this, Sing ye a responsive song; and says that ענה anah, to answer, signifies occasionally to sing responsively; and that this mode of singing was frequently practiced among the ancient Hebrews. See De Poes. Sac. Hebrews Prael. xix., at the beginning. This, indeed, was the ancient method of singing in various nations. The song was divided into distinct portions, and the singers sang alternately. There is a fine specimen of this in the song of Deborah and Barak; and also in the Idyls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil. This kind of singing was properly a dialogue in verse, sung to a particular tune, or in the mode which is now termed recitativo. I have seen it often practiced on funeral occasions among the descendants of the aboriginal Irish. The poems of Ossian are of this kind. The learned Bishop distinguishes the parts of this dialogue thus: - 3. Jehovah. It is I, Jehovah, that preserve her; I will water her every moment: I will take care of her by night; And by day I will keep guard over her. 4. Vineyard. I have no wall for my defense: O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier! Jehovah. Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together. 5. Ah! let her rather take hold of my protection. Vineyard. Let him make peace with me! Peace let him make with me! 6. Jehovah. They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. A vineyard of red wine - The redder the wine, the more it was valued, says Kimchi. Bishop Lowth translates, To the beloved vineyard. For חמר chemer, red, a multitude of MSS. and editions have חמד chemed, desirable. This is supported by the Septuagint and Chaldee.

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.

In that day when leviathan shall be destroyed, the vineyard (Psa 80:8), the Church of God, purged of its blemishes, shall be lovely in God's eyes; to bring out this sense the better, LOWTH, by changing a Hebrew letter, reads "pleasant," "lovely," for "red wine." sing--a responsive song [LOWTH]. unto her--rather, "concerning her" (see on Isa 5:1); namely, the Jewish state [MAURER].

The prophecy here passes for the fourth time into the tone of a song. The church recognises itself in the judgments upon the world, as Jehovah's well-protected and beloved vineyard. In that day a merry vineyard - sing it! I, Jehovah, its keeper, Every moment I water it. That nothing may come near it, I watch it night and day. Wrath have I none; O, had I thorns, thistles before me! I would make up to them in battle, Burn them all together. Men would then have to grasp at my protection, Make peace with me, Make peace with me. Instead of introducing the song with, "In that day shall this song be sung," or some such introduction, the prophecy passes at once into the song. It consists in a descending scale of strophes, consisting of one of five lines (Isa 27:2, Isa 27:3), one of four lines (Isa 27:4), and one of three lines (Isa 27:5). The thema is placed at the beginning, in the absolute case: cerem chemer. This may signify a vineyard of fiery or good wine (compare cerem zaith in Jdg 15:5); but it is possible that the reading should be cerem chemed, as in Isa 32:12, as the lxx, Targum, and most modern commentators assume. ענּה ל signifies, according to Num 21:17; Psa 147:7 (cf., Exo 32:18; Psa 88:1), to strike up a song with reference to anything - an onomatopoetic word (different from ענה, to begin, literally to meet). Cerem (the vineyard) is a feminine here, like בּאר, the well, in the song of the well in Num 21:17-18, and just as Israel, of which the vineyard here is a symbol (Isa 3:14; Isa 5:1.), is sometimes regarded as masculine, and at other times as feminine (Isa 26:20). Jehovah Himself is introduced as speaking. He is the keeper of the vineyard, who waters it every moment when there is any necessity (lirgâ‛im, like labbekârim in Isa 33:2, every morning), and watches it by night as well as by day, that nothing may visit it. על פּקד (to visit upon) is used in other cases to signify the infliction of punishment; here it denotes visitation by some kind of misfortune. Because it was the church purified through afflictions, the feelings of Jehovah towards it were pure love, without any admixture of the burning of anger (chēmâh). This is reserved for all who dare to do injury to this vineyard. Jehovah challenges these, and says, Who is there, then, that gives me thorns, thistles! עיתּנני = לי יתּן, as in Jer 9:1, cf., Jos 15:19.) The asyndeton, instead of ושׁית שׁמיר, which is customary elsewhere, corresponds to the excitement of the exalted defender. If He had thorns, thistles before Him, He would break forth upon them in war, i.e., make war upon them (bâh, neuter, upon such a mass of bush), and set it all on fire (הצית = הצּית). The arrangement of the strophes requires that we should connect כּמּלחמה with אפשׂעה (var. אפשׂעה), though this is at variance with the accents. We may see very clearly, even by the choice of the expression bammilchâmâh, that thorns and thistles are a figurative representation of the enemies of the church (Sa2 23:6-7). And in this sense the song concludes in Isa 27:5 : only by yielding themselves to mercy will they find mercy. או with a voluntative following, "unless," as in Lev 26:41. "Take hold of:" hechezik b', as in Kg1 1:50, of Adonijah, who lays hold of the horns of the altar. "Make peace with:" ‛âsâh shâlōm l', as in Jos 9:15. The song closes here. What the church here utters, is the consciousness of the gracious protection of its God, as confirmed in her by the most recent events.