Isaiah 27:7

The prophet does not return even now to his own actual times; but, with the certainty that Israel will not be exalted until it has been deeply humbled on account of its sins, he placed himself in the midst of this state of punishment. And there, in the face of the glorious future which awaited Israel, the fact shines out brightly before his eyes, that the punishment which God inflicts upon Israel is a very different thing from that inflicted upon the world. "Hath He smitten it like the smiting of its smiter, or is it slain like the slaying of those slain by Him? Thou punishedst it with measures, when thou didst thrust it away, sifting with violent breath in the day of the east wind." "Its smiter" (maccēhū) is the imperial power by which Israel had been attacked (Isa 10:20); and "those slain by Him" (הרגיו) are the slain of the empire who had fallen under the strokes of Jehovah. The former smote unmercifully, and its slain ones now lay without hope (Isa 26:14). Jehovah smites differently, and it is very different with the church, which has succumbed in the persons of its righteous members. For the double play upon words, see Isa 24:16; Isa 22:18; Isa 10:16. When Jehovah put Israel away (as if by means of a "bill of divorcement," Isa 50:1), He strove against it (Isa 49:25), i.e., punished it, "in measure," i.e., determining the measure very exactly, that it might not exceed the enduring power of Israel, not endanger the existence of Israel as a nation (cf., bemishpât in Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28). On the other hand, Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel read בּסאסאה, from a word סאסא, (Note: Bttcher refers to a Talmudic word, הסיא (to remove), but this is to be pronounced הסּיא (= הסּיע), and is moreover, very uncertain.) related to זעזע, or even טאטא, "when thou didst distu…

Here is the prophet again singing of mercy and judgment, not, as before, judgment to the enemies and mercy to the church, but judgment to the church and mercy mixed with that judgment. I. Here is judgment threatened even to Jacob and Israel. They shall blossom and bud (Isa 27:6), but, 1. They shall be smitten and slain (Isa 27:7), some of them shall. If God find any thing amiss among them, he will lay them under the tokens of his displeasure for it. Judgment shall begin at the house of God, and those whom God has known of all the families of the earth he will punish in the first place. 2. Jerusalem, their defenced city, shall be desolate, Isa 27:10, Isa 27:11. "God having tried a variety of methods with them for their reformation, which, as to many, have proved ineffectual, he will for a time lay their country waste," which was accomplished when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans; then that habitation was for a long time forsaken. If less judgments do not do the work, God will send greater; for when he judges he will overcome. Jerusalem had been a defenced city, not so much by art or nature as by grace and the divine protection; but, when God was provoked to withdraw, her defence departed from her, and then she was left like a wilderness. "And in the pleasant gardens of Jerusalem cattle shall feed, shall lie down there, and there shall be none to disturb them or drive them away; there they shall be levant and couchant, and they shall eat the tender branches of the fruit-trees," which perhaps further signifies that the people should become an easy prey to their enemies. "When the boughs thereof are withered as they grow upon the tree, being blasted by winds and frosts and not pruned, they shall be broken off for fuel, and the women and children shall come and set t…

27:7-11 Isaiah reminded readers of the reasons for the Exile and judgment: Israel’s sinfulness, God’s righteous judgment, and the absence of divine compassion. 27:7 Despite being God’s covenant people, Israel was struck and punished like any other wicked nation. However, Israel was not completely destroyed; a remnant remained.