The Promise of the Song (Part 1)
Pastor Bill Farrow
Isaiah 27:5-7
5Or let him take hold of My strength, That he may make peace with Me; And he shall make peace with Me.” 6Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit. 7Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him? Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?
Isaiah 27:5
Or let him - The Hebrew word rendered “or” 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; 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. We are to 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.
Isaiah 27:6
Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob - This language is derived from the vine, as the shoots or cuttings of the vine take root and flourish. To take root, therefore, is an emblem denoting that the descendants of Jacob, or the people of God, would increase and prosper.
Israel shall blossom and bud - An image also taken from the vine or from fruit trees in general, and meaning that they should greatly flourish in the time succeeding their return from the captivity.
And fill the face of the world with fruit - On the meaning of the word ‘face,’ see the note at Isa. 25:7. The sense is, that the people of God would so increase and flourish that the true religion would ultimately fill the entire world. The same idea of the universal prevalence of the true religion is often advanced by this prophet, and occurs in various parts of the hymns or songs which we are now considering (see Isa. 25:6-8). The figure which is used here, drawn from the vine, denoting prosperity by its increase and its fruit, is also beautifully employed in Ps. 92:13-14.
Isaiah 27:7
Has He struck Israel, as He struck those that struck him? - Has God punished his people in the same manner and to the same extent as he has their enemies? It is implied by this question that he had not. He had indeed punished them for their sins, but he had I not destroyed them. Their enemies he had utterly destroyed.
Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him - Hebrew, ‘According to the slaying of his slain.’ That is, not as our translation would seem to imply, that their enemies had been slain “BY” them; but that they were ‘their slain,’ inasmuch as they had been slain on their account, or to promote their release and return to their own land. It was not true that their enemies had been slain “by” them; but it was true that they had been slain on their account, or in order to secure their return to their own country.