Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 27:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 27:5. Or - "Ah"] For או o I read אוי oi, as it was at first in a MS. The י yod was easily lost, being followed by another י yod.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Shameful exile and glorious return (27:2-13)

From its beginning, Israel was God’s chosen people. God compares the nation to a beautiful vineyard, which he has cared for and guarded continually (2-3). Israel’s enemies are likened to thorns and briars, and unless they repent of their wrongdoing and seek God’s forgiveness, they will suffer a fiery destruction (4-5). Israel, by contrast, will flourish like a giant tree and bring blessing to the whole world (6).
Before that can happen, however, God must deal with Israel because of its sins. The nation, in both its northern and southern kingdoms, must be punished because it has turned away from the true God to serve the false gods of its neighbours. God does not punish his people as severely as he punishes his enemies. Those nations he destroys, but his own people he only sends into captivity, so that when their sins are removed they can return to their own land (7-9).
The desolation of their homeland is a just punishment that God sends upon his rebellious people (10-11). But when their punishment is ended, they will be gathered from many places back into their land, as grain is gathered together after it has been threshed (12-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“In that day: A vineyard of wine, sing ye unto it. I Jehovah am its keeper; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together. Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; yea, let him make peace with me. In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.”

“This is a joy-song, set over against the dirge recorded in Isaiah 5:1-7.”The Pulpit Commentary, p. 433. Both regard the Lord’s vineyard; but the one in Isaiah 5:1-7 is the object of God’s disapproval and judgment; and the one here is a vineyard approved and protected by the Lord. “The first one of these is beyond all doubt the Jewish Church in the times of Isaiah”;Ibid. and the one here in this chapter is just as certainly identified with the New Israel of God, namely, the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord. “In the end of the age there will be occasion for a counterpart to the Mournful Vineyard song of Isaiah. Redeemed Israel will be the vineyard that a holy God may properly protect from its foes.”Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 627. The mention of God’s watering and caring for the vineyard is the same promise found in Matthew 28:18-20.

The text in this portion of the chapter has suffered somewhat, and many have pointed out that it is very difficult in places. Gleason’s rendition of Isaiah 27:4 here appears to be a viable option in meaning: “The Berkeley Version translates this verse 4 thus: `There is no wrath now with Me. Should I find thorn-bushes and briers in it, I would fight them and burn them altogether.’“Ibid.

“Make peace with me; yea, let him make peace with me” Many have observed that in this verse is revealed God’s purpose of converting his enemies into friends and of saving, if possible, even those who oppose his plans. “God’s enemies he is willing to spare if they will surrender their hostility.”Peake’s Commentary Series, p. 454.

Isaiah 27:6 speaks of “filling the face of the world” with the fruit of Israel; but this is a reference to the efforts and success of Christian evangelism throughout the world. As Hailey expressed it, “The first vineyard is national Israel in the past; and the new vineyard is the spiritual Israel,”Homer Hailey, p. 220. that is, the kingdom-church of our Lord.

Isaiah 27:7-11 speak of God’s judgments against his people and of desolation and captivity brought upon his people by their sins and transgression; but they also speak of God’s mercy, God’s partiality, and God’s purpose in those privations, designed not to destroy but to redeem his people. There seems to be no well organized paragraph in this passage, so we shall note the implications one verse at a time.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Or let him - The Hebrew word rendered here or (או 'ô) means “unless;” and the sense is, the enemies of the Jewish people shall be completely destroyed as briers are by fire, “unless” they flee to God for a refuge.

Take hold of my strength - That is, let the enemy take hold of me to become reconciled to me. The figure here is taken probably from the act of fleeing to take hold of the horns of the altar for refuge when one was pursued (compare 1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28).

That he may make peace with me - With me as the guardian of the vineyard. If this were done they would be safe.

And he shall make peace with me - That is, even the enemy of me and of my vineyard “may” be permitted to make peace with me. Learn,

(1) That God is willing to be reconciled to his enemies.

(2) That peace must be obtained by seeking his protection; by submitting to him, and laying hold of his strength.

(3) That if this is not done, his enemies must be inevitably destroyed.

(4) He will defend his people, and no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

5.Will she take hold of my strength? או (ō,) is frequently a disjunctive conjunction, ⁽¹⁹⁶⁾ and therefore this passage is explained as if the particle had been twice used, “Either let her take hold of my strength, or let her make peace with me;” that is, “If she do not enter into favor with me, she will feel my strength to her great loss.” Others explain it somewhat differently, “Who shall take hold of my strength?” that is, “Who shall restrain me?” But I pass by this interpretation, because I consider it to be too far-fetched. I return to that which is more generally received.

It is supposed that God threatens the Jews in order to try all the ways and methods by which they may be brought back to the right path; for God is laid under a necessity to urge us in various ways, because we are accustomed to abuse his forbearance and goodness. On this account he frequently threatens to punish us for our ingratitude, as Isaiah appears to do in this passage, “If they do not choose to avail themselves of my kindness, and repent, that they may return to favor with me, they shall feel my strength, ⁽¹⁹⁷⁾ which I have hitherto restrained.” Yet another meaning equally appropriate might perhaps be drawn from it, as if God exhorted his people to acknowledge his power, which leads them to seek reconciliation; for whence comes that brutish indifference which makes us view without alarm the wrath of God, but because we do not think of his power with due reverence?

But I prefer to view it as a question, as in other passages also it frequently has this meaning. ⁽¹⁹⁸⁾ “Will he take hold of my strength, so as to enter into peace with me?” As if a father, anxious and perplexed about his son, were to groan and complain, “Will not this scoundrel ⁽¹⁹⁹⁾ allow himself to receive benefit? for I know not how I ought to treat him; he cannot endure severity, and he abuses my goodness. What shall I do? I will banish him till he repent, and then he will feel how great is that fatherly power by which I have hitherto preserved him. Since he does not permit me to exercise forbearance, he must be treated with the utmost rigour of the law. Will he not then perceive how great my power is, that he may come into a state of favor with me?” We shall understand this better, if we consider that the source of all our distresses is, that we are not affected with a sense of the divine goodness; for if we should take into consideration the greatness of the blessings which we have received from God, we should quickly be drawn aside from our iniquities and transgressions, and should desire to return into a state of favor with him.

Here we see what care about our salvation is manifested by our Heavenly Father, who wishes us to take hold of his power and goodness, that we may know how great it is, and may partake of it more and more abundantly; for he would wish to deal with us on the same familiar terms as with his children, if we did not prevent him by our wickedness. Since, therefore, we are incapable of enjoying his fatherly tenderness, he must display his strength and majesty, that, being awed by it, and affected by the anticipation of the judgment, we may humbly entreat him, and sincerely implore peace and pardon. Now, this is done when we are truly ⁽²⁰⁰⁾ converted to him; for, so long as we please ourselves, and flatter our vices, we cannot but displease him; and, on the other hand, if we enter into peace with him, we must make war against Satan and sin.

How earnestly God desires to be reconciled to us appears still more clearly from the repetition of the words. He might have said, in a single word, that he is merciful and ready to bestow pardon; and therefore, when he twice repeats the words, that he may make peace with me, he declares that willingly and most earnestly he hastens to blot out all our offenses.

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Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 27:

In that day ( Isaiah 27:1 )

Now what day? In the day in which God is bringing the Great Tribulation upon the earth.

In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent ( Isaiah 27:1 );

So Satan.

and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea ( Isaiah 27:1 ).

You saw the beast coming out of the sea in Revelation having ten horns and so forth and with a mouth of a dragon, the antichrist, Satan, the power of darkness.

In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine ( Isaiah 27:2 ).

Chapter 27 really goes back with those of twenty-six. "Now in that day sing unto her," that is, to Israel, "a vineyard of red wine."

I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together ( Isaiah 27:3-4 ).

You can't put a barbed wire to keep God out.

Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit ( Isaiah 27:5-6 ).

Now here is just a neat little prophecy tucked in God's statement of how He's going to again bless the nation Israel. How He again is going to make them His vineyard. It's quite a contrast with chapter 5 where God speaks out the woes against His vineyard. How He had taken care of the vineyard and all but it didn't bring forth fruit. Brought forth just wild grapes, and so He let the vineyard go. Now God says the day is coming when He's going to take again His vineyard and watch over it and keep it and water it and dress it. And, "He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."

Already we are seeing this prophecy fulfilled. Israel is blossoming and budding and filling the earth with fruit. Israel is the fourth largest exporter of fruit of any nation in the world. United States leads in the exporting of fruit. But Israel is the third largest fruit-exporting nation in the world. And yet it is smaller than the state of California. But not only has Israel gone into the exporting of fruit, all over Europe. Actually, there are these jumbo jets that are flying out of Tel Aviv every night to the major cities of Europe taking fruit and taking flowers.

In the wintertime you can buy fresh flowers in the flower shops throughout all of Europe. Where do they come from? They come from Israel. They grow the flowers year-round down in the Jordan Valley and they ship them out overnight on these jumbo jets to the markets of Europe. And the same with the fruit. You buy the oranges and the fruit from Israel in the markets of Europe. It is blossoming. It is budding, filling the earth with fruit and also with flowers. The interesting blossoming bud.

Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof ( Isaiah 27:7-10 ).

In other words, the bareness that would happen to the nation Israel, which did happen. The cities were destroyed and the land was a wilderness for so long.

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for the people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor. But it shall come to pass ( Isaiah 27:11-12 )

They went through this barren wilderness.

But it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem ( Isaiah 27:12-13 ).

God's regathering of His people back into the land. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The future blessing and former discipline of Israel 27:2-11

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Enemies of the vineyard could come to the Lord for His protection and He promised to provide it (cf. Isaiah 16:4-5). Peace would be possible for any enemies of God’s people. In the Hebrew text the emphasis is on "with Me" in the first "Let him make peace with Me" and on "peace" in the second.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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 או, 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 s; or, as some render them, "O that he would t", c. 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.

s או יחזק במעזו "si prehenderit munitionem meam", Noldius. t "Utiuam, O si apprehenderit munitionem meam", Forerius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.   2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.   3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.   4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.   5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.   6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

      The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,

      I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God's church (Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 27:1), tribulation to those that trouble it,2 Thessalonians 1:6. When the Lord comes out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth (Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 26:21), he will be sure to punish leviathan, the dragon that is in the sea, every proud oppressing tyrant, that is the terror of the mighty, and, like the leviathan, is so fierce that none dares stir him up, and his heart as hard as a stone, and when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid,Job 41:10; Job 41:24; Job 41:25. The church has many enemies, but commonly some one that is more formidable than the rest. So Sennacherib was in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his; so Pharaoh had been formerly, and is called leviathan and the dragon,Isaiah 51:9; Psalms 74:13; Psalms 74:14; Ezekiel 29:3. The New-Testament church has had its leviathans; we read of a great red dragon ready to devour it, Revelation 12:3. Those malignant persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan for bulk, and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the world,--to dragons for their rage and fury,--to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, and which, if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body,--crossing like a bar (so the margin), standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them,--to crooked serpents, subtle and insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. Great and mighty princes, if they oppose the people of God, are in God's account as dragons and serpents, the plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with and call to an account, and therefore the great God will take the matter into his own hands. He has a sore, and great, and strong sword, wherewith to do execution upon them when the measure of their iniquity is full and their day has come to fall. It is emphatically expressed in the original: The Lord with his sword, that cruel one, and that great one, and that strong one, shall punish this unwieldy, this unruly criminal; and it shall be capital punishment: He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea; for the wages of his sin is death. This shall not only be a prevention of his doing further mischief, as the slaying of a wild beast, but a just punishment for the mischief he has done, as the putting of a traitor or rebel to death. God has a strong sword for the doing of this, variety of judgments sufficient to humble the proudest and break the most powerful of his enemies; and he will do it when the day of execution comes: In that day he will punish, his day which is coming, Psalms 37:13. This is applicable to the spiritual victories obtained by our Lord Jesus over the powers of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and cast out, the prince of this world, but with his strong sword, the virtue of his death and the preaching of his gospel, he does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that great leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall be bound, that he may not deceive the nations, and that is a punishment to him (Revelation 20:2; Revelation 20:3); and at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be cast into the lake of fire,Revelation 20:10.

      II. Of mercy to the church. In that same day, when God is punishing the leviathan, let the church and all her friends be easy and cheerful; let those that attend her sing to her for her comfort, sing her asleep with these assurances; let it be sung in her assemblies,

      1. That she is God's vineyard, and is under his particular care, Isaiah 27:2; Isaiah 27:3. She is, in God's eye, a vineyard of red wine. The world is as a fruitless worthless wilderness; but the church is enclosed as a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has great care taken of it and great pains taken with it, and from which precious fruits are gathered, wherewith they honour God and man. It is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 5:4. Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this vineyard: I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this as glorying in it that he is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel. Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall be always under his protection. He speaks this as assuring us that they shall be so: I the Lord, that can do every thing, but cannot lie nor deceive, I do keep it; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. God's vineyard in this world lies much exposed to injury; there are many that would hurt it, would tread it down and lay it waste (Psalms 80:13); but God will suffer no real hurt or damage to be done it, but what he will bring good out of. He will keep it constantly, night and day, and not without need, for the enemies are restless in their designs and attempts against it, and, both night and day, seek an opportunity to do it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are no less dangerous. God's people shall be preserved, not only from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, but from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day,Psalms 91:6. This vineyard shall be well fenced. (2.) Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment, and yet it shall not be overwatered. The still and silent dews of God's grace and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that it may bring forth much fruit. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for, if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. God waters his vineyard by the ministry of the word by his servants the prophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew. Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; for without him the watchman wakes and the husbandman waters in vain.

      2. That, though sometimes he contends with his people, yet, upon their submission, he will be reconciled to them, Isaiah 27:4; Isaiah 27:5. Fury is not in him towards his vineyard; though he meets with many things in it that are offensive to him, yet he does not seek advantages against it, nor is extreme to mark what is amiss in it. It is true if he find in it briers and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in battle against him (as indeed that in the vineyard which is not for him is against him), he will tread them down and burn them; but otherwise, "If I am angry with my people, they know what course to take; let them humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and so take hold of my strength with a sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I will soon be reconciled to them, and all shall be well." God sees the sins of his people and is displeased with them; but, upon their repentance, he turns away his wrath. This may very well be construed as a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. (1.) Here is a quarrel supposed between God and man; for here is a battle fought, and peace to be made. It is an old quarrel, ever since sin first entered. It is, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous. (2.) Here is a gracious invitation given us to make up this quarrel, and to get these matters in variance accommodated: "Let him that is desirous to be at peace with God take hold of his strength, of his strong arm, which is lifted up against the sinner to strike him dead; and let him by supplication keep back the stroke. Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel--a prince with God." Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let him take hold of that. Christ is the arm of the Lord,Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 53:1. Christ crucified is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24); let him by a lively faith take hold of him, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is within his reach, or as the malefactor took hold of the horns of the altar, believing that there is no other name by which he can be saved, by which he can be reconciled. (3.) Here is a threefold cord of arguments to persuade us to do this. [1.] Time and space are given us to do it in; for fury is not in God; he does not carry it towards us as great men carry it towards their inferiors, when the one is in a fault and the other in a fury. Men in a fury will not take time for consideration; it is, with them, but a word and a blow. Furious men are soon angry, and implacable when they are angry; a little thing provokes them, and no little thing will pacify them. But it is not so with God; he considers our frame, is slow to anger, does not stir up all his wrath, nor always chide. [2.] It is in vain to think of contesting with him. If we persist in our quarrel with him, and think to make our part good, it is but like setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire, which will be so far from giving check to the progress of it that they will but make it burn the more outrageously. We are not an equal match for Omnipotence. Woe unto him therefore that strives with his Maker! He knows not the power of his anger. [3.] This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to reconciliation: "Let him take this course to make peace with me, and he shall make peace; and thereby good, all good, shall come unto him." God is willing to be reconciled to us if we be but willing to be reconciled to him.

      3. That the church of God in the world shall be a growing body, and come at length to be a great body (Isaiah 27:6; Isaiah 27:6): In times to come (so some read it), in after-times, when these calamities are overpast, or in the days of the gospel, the latter days, he shall cause Jacob to take root, deeper root than ever yet; for the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than ever the Jewish church was, and shall spread further. Or, He shall cause those of Jacob that come back out of their captivity, or (as we read it) those that come of Jacob, to take root downward, and bear fruit upward,Isaiah 37:31; Isaiah 37:31. They shall be established in a prosperous state, and then they shall blossom and bud, and give hopeful prospects of a great increase; and so it shall prove, for they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. Many shall be brought into the church, proselytes shall be numerous, some out of all the nations about that shall be to the God of Israel for a name and a praise; and the converts shall be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness. The preaching of the gospel brought forth fruit in all the world (Colossians 1:6), fruit that remains, John 15:16.