The Prediction of the Song (Part 2)

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 27:12-13

¹²And it shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will thresh, From the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. ¹³So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 27:12

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will thresh - The word which is used here means properly “to beat off with a stick,” as fruit from a tree (Deut. 20:20). It also means to beat out grain with a stick (Judg. 6:11; Ruth 2:17) The word which is rendered in the other member of the sentence, ‘shall be gathered’ is applied to the act of “collecting” fruit after it has been beaten from a tree, or grain after it has been gathered. The closest parallel would be the idea of threshing as our translation shows. 

The use of these words here shows that the image is taken from the act of collecting fruit or grain after harvest; and the expression means, that as the farmer gathers in his fruit, so God would gather in his people. In the figure, it is supposed that the garden or vineyard of God extends from the Euphrates to the Nile; that his people are scattered in all that country; that there shall be agitation or a shaking in all that region as when a farmer beats off his fruit from the tree, or beats out his grain; and that the result would be that all those scattered people would be gathered into their own land. The time referred to is, doubtless, after Babylon should be taken; and in explanation of the declaration it is to be remembered that the Jews were not only carried to Babylon, but were scattered in large numbers in all the adjacent regions. The promise here is, that from all those regions where they had been scattered they should be re-collected and restored to their own land.

From the channel of the river - The river here undoubtedly refers to the river Euphrates (see the note at Isa. 11:15).

To the brook of Egypt - Though there is a small wadi in the desert called the “Brook of Egypt”, this is likely a reference to the Nile.

And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel - “And ye shall be gathered one by one.” As the farmer collects his fruits one by one - collecting them carefully, and not leaving any. This means that God will not merely collect them as a nation, but as “individuals.” He will see that none is overlooked, and that all shall be brought in safety to their land. This is unmistakably a reference to being gathered in Christ as the OT fashion was to relate to God nationally.  All of the promises to Israel are fulfilled both to and in Christ.  Ultimately, all of this finds its fulfillment in the regathering of national Israel at the time of the end and their conversion to Christ.

Isaiah 27:13

So shall it be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown - This verse is designed to describe in another fashion the same fact as that stated in Isa. 27:12, that God would regather His scattered people. The figure is derived from the trumpet which was blown to assemble a people for war; or from the blowing of the trumpet on occasion of the great feasts and festivals of the Jews. Either image suits well.  The idea is, that God would summon the scattered people to return to their own land. The “way” in which this will be done, or in which the will of God will be made known to them, is not specified. It is probable, however, that the reference here is to the decree of Cyrus Ezra 1:1, by which they were permitted to return to their own country. That “regathering” is typical of the great regathering that will occur at the time of the end.  Isaiah turns to the theme throughout the entire last half of this great book.

They will come who are about to perish - Who were reduced in numbers, and in power, and who were ready to be annihilated under their accumulated and long-continued trials. Additionally, we might note that this refers, prophetically, to those who are about to perish in the judgment of God.

In the land of Assyria - The ten tribes were carried away into Assyria (2 Kings 17:6); and it is probable that many of the other two tribes were also in that land. A portion of the ten tribes would also be regathered, and would return with the others to the land of their fathers. Assyria also constituted a considerable part of the kingdom of the Chaldeans, and the name Assyria may be given here to that country in general. This is one of the indicators that this passage is speaking to a larger regathering than was seen at the end of the captivity.  The “lost” tribes were not entirely regathered at that time - that regathering awaits the coming of the Lord and the time of the end.

And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt - Those who had fled in consternation to Egypt and to other places when these calamities were coming upon the nation (see Jer. 41:17-18; 42:15-22).

And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem - Their temple shall be rebuilt; their city shall be restored; and in the place where their fathers worshipped shall they also again adore the living God. Another indicator of the fact that this speaks to the time of the end is that, but for a brief time, the Jews did not truly worship the God of their Fathers, but fell into false religion once again very, very quickly.  Outright idolatry was not the culprit this time, but self-righteousness and human merit.

This closes the prophecy which was commenced in Isa. 24; and the design of the whole is to comfort the Jews with the assurance, that though they were to be made captive in a distant land, yet they would be again restored to the land of their fathers, and again worship God there. It is almost needless to say that this prediction was completely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus. Though Jerusalem shall be desolate and forsaken for a time, yet there will come a day when its scattered friends shall resort to it again out of all the countries whither they were dispersed (v. 12, 13); though the body of the nation is abandoned as a people of no understanding, yet those that are indeed children of Israel shall be gathered together again, as the sheep of the flock when the shepherds that scattered them are reckoned with, (Eze. 34:10–19).