The Message of the Song (Part 2)

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 27:9b

⁸In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind In the day of the east wind. ⁹Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered; And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: When he makes all the stones of the altar Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin - And this is all the “object” or “design” of their captivity and removal to Babylon. “Taking away” does not here refer to the removal of sin in the Christian sense, but rather to the removal of the sin of the people from the land in captivity.

When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten to dust - That is, God shall make the stones of the altars reared in honor of idols like chalk stones; or shall throw them down, and scatter them abroad like stones that are easily beaten to pieces and blown away by the wind of the tempest as if they were never there. The sense is, that God, during their captivity in Babylon, would overthrow the places where they had worshipped idols and purge them completely away.

Wooden images and incense alters shall not stand - The groves consecrated to idols, and the images erected therein (see the note at Isa. 17:8).

By way of application, we note that this passage teaches that though God will debate with his people, yet it shall always be in measure, and the affliction shall be mitigated, moderated, and proportioned to their strength, not to their deserts, (v. 8). He will deal out afflictions to them as the wise physician prescribes medicines to his patients, just such a quantity of each ingredient, or orders how much blood shall be taken when a vein is opened: thus God orders the troubles of his people, not suffering them to be tempted above what they are able, (1 Co. 10:13). He measures out their afflictions by a little at a time that they may not be pressed above measure; for he knows their frame, and corrects in judgment, and does not stir up His entire wrath. When the affliction is shooting forth, when he is sending it out and giving it its commission, then he debates in measure, and not in extremity. He considers what we can bear when he begins to correct; and when he proceeds in his controversy, so that it is the day of his east-wind, which is not only blustering and noisy, but blasting and noxious, yet he stays his rough wind, checks it, and sets bounds to it, does not suffer it to blow so hard as was feared; when he is winnowing his corn, it is with a gentle gale, that shall only blow away the chaff, but not the good corn. God has the winds at his command, and every affliction under his check. Hitherto it shall go, but no further. Let us not despair when things are at the worst; be the winds ever so rough, ever so high, God can say unto them, Peace, be still.

Though God will afflict His people, yet He will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls, and correct them as the father does the child, to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts (v. 9): By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. This is the design of the affliction, to this it is adapted as a proper means, and, by the grace of God working with it, it shall have this blessed effect. It shall mortify the habits of sin; by this those defilements of the soul shall be purged away. It shall break them off from the practice of sin: This is all the fruit, this is it that God intends, this is all the harm it will do them, to take away their sin, than which they could not have a greater kindness done them, though it be at the expense of an affliction.

Therefore, because the affliction is mitigated and moderated, and the rough wind stayed, therefore we may conclude that he designs their reformation, not their destruction; and, because he deals thus gently with us, we should therefore study to answer his ends in afflicting us. The particular sin which the affliction was intended to cure them of was the sin of idolatry, the sin which did most easily beset that people and to which they were strangely addicted. Ephraim is joined to idols. But by the captivity in Babylon they were not only weaned from this sin, but set against it. Ephraim shall say, What have I do to any more with idols? Jacob has his sin taken away, his beloved sin, when he makes all the stones of the altar, of his idolatrous altar, the stones of which were precious and sacred to him, as chalk-stones that are beaten asunder; he not only has them in contempt, and values them no more than chalk-stones, but he conceives an indignation at them, and, in a holy revenge, beats them asunder as easily as chalk-stones are broken to pieces. The groves and the images shall not stand before this penitent, but they shall be thrown down too, never to be set up again. This was according to the law for the demolishing and destroying of all the monuments of idolatry (Deu. 7:5); and according to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people in the world have such a rooted aversion to idols and idolatry as the people of the Jews. Note, The design of affliction is to separate between us and sin, especially that which has been our own iniquity; and then it appears that the affliction has done us good when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use all needful precaution that we may not only not relapse into it, but not so much as be tempted to it, (Ps. 119:67).