Chapter 27
2024 - This chapter also starts with "in that day", another signal. Are we still talking about the Millennial? Or have we moved on until later? It seems to me that so far, every time this phrase has appeared it has moved us forward in time to a still more future event. So...we were in the Millennial the last two chapters...so we can start off with the assumption that we are still at least there. Except...Barnes says we are still only looking ahead to the Babylonian captivity. See the 2022 notes below on this position.
2021 - I did not notice that I was supposed to skip the above and just move on to here. Changing from the chronological Bible to this NT/OT mix has meant that I covered these chapters in Isaiah over several days, giving me more time with each chapter - AND more time with the NT chapters. The results of this have been amazing for me. I am learning much, surmising much.
Note that chapter 27 begins with "In that day....", which I believe ties it back to what was going on at the end of 26. I think Isaiah is speaking of the rapture, and he will now move on to tell us about the salvation of the Jews during the Great Tribulation. (And I think it is now obvious for whom Revelation is written. It will be a road map for the Jews during this terrible time.)
2021 - This opening verse:
[Isa 27:1 ESV] In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
A fleeing and twisting serpent and a dragon. Separate creatures? The same? From Job we know Leviathan lives in the ocean, and this says dragon in the sea, so could be the same creature. Satan is referred to as a dragon. I heard somewhere that the "sea" refers to the Gentiles. Is this about clearing Jerusalem of the beast and his followers? But why rename them Leviathan? I suppose it is possible that we have skipped ahead all the way to the Millennial. Satan - the dragon - will be thrown into the pit during this time. But I still don't get the reference to Leviathan, nor to the sea. Maybe that is where Satan runs - he is earthbound at this point, as he has been cast forever out of heaven - to escape once he loses the battle at the end of gt. Maybe he will hide under the water, unsuccessfully?
2022 - So here is what Barnes says about Leviathan:
"Leviathan - לויתן livyâthân. The Septuagint renders this, Τὴν δράκοντα Tēn drakonta - 'The dragon.' The word 'leviathan' is probably derived from לוה lâvâh in Arabic, to weave, to twist (Gesenius); and literally means, "the twisted animal." The word occurs in six places in the Old Testament, and is translated in Job 3:8, 'mourning,' Margin, 'leviathan;' in Job 41:1, 'leviathan' - in which chapter is an extended description of the animal; in Psalm 74:14, it is rendered 'leviathan,' and seems to be applied to Pharaoh; and in Psalm 104:26, and in the passage before us, where it is twice also rendered 'leviathan.' Bochart (Hierez. ii. 5. 16-18) has gone into an extended argument to show that by the leviathan the crocodile is intended; and his argument is in my view conclusive. On this subject, Bochart, Dr. Good (on Job 41), and Robinson's Calmet, may be consulted.
The crocodile is a natural inhabitant of the Nile and of other Asiatic and African rivers; is of enormous voracity and strength, as well as of fleetness in swimming; attacks mankind and all animals with prodigious impetuosity; and is furnished with a coat of mail so scaly and callous that it will resist the force of a musket ball in every part except under the belly. It is, therefore, an appropriate image by which to represent a fierce and cruel tyrant. The sacred writers were accustomed to describe kings and tyrants by an allusion to strong and fierce animals. Thus, in Ezekiel 29:3-5, the dragon, or the crocodile of the Nile, represents Pharaoh; in Ezekiel 22:2, Pharaoh is compared to a young lion, and to a whale in the seas; in Psalm 74:13-14, Pharaoh is compared to the dragon, and to the leviathan. In Daniel 7, the four monarchs that should arise are likened to four great beasts. In Revelation 12, Rome, the new Babylon, is compared to a great red dragon." So...a crocodile, symbolic of the leader of the nation that takes Judah captive.
2022 - It occurs to me, reading Barnes, that I have perhaps tried to read way too much about end times into Isaiah's prophecies. Perhaps they are mostly about the impending situation in that part of the world over the next couple hundred years or so, but do not in fact point to the events of Revelation. I don't think looking at the book this way precludes some near/far interpretations, but I think I need to be a lot more careful about that. It seems that if you don't know the history of the time Isaiah is writing about very well, the tendency, at least for me, is to "push" it all into Revelation. Barnes is showing that a majority (I think that is a fair word to use) of the prophecies have already come to pass, are done and over with. They are still beyond remarkable in all their detail and historic accuracy...and maybe, as the end gets nearer, we will see that there is definitely a far component to what Isaiah says. But from here on, I will be a lot more careful about trying to assign an end times interpretation to everything Isaiah says.
2024 - I think we find phrases embedded in these prophecies that cannot have come true. We saw many of those yesterday and they are specifically noted in yesterday's reading notes, and dated 2024. I do not believe that this is "only" about the Babylonian captivity. I think we have seen a definite, scripturally supportable progression of time in these prophecies that goes far beyond Babylon. Barnes notwithstanding. I note that Barnes, in the note above, says crocodile skin resists even a musket ball. We have to remember that even these great commentaries are to some extent subject to the prevailing interpretations of their own time. In the same way a "creation scientist" is never going to be recognized by secular scientist for having a novel idea about why the earth must be young, so these commentators were never going to be recognized for going outside prevailing interpretations. Not saying that old commentaries are worthless...but they are still subject to error. Commentaries are NOT scripture!
2024 - So. In 27:1, why would God - Christ on his Millennial throne - be using His sword to kill Leviathan in the sea? I don't think He would. So then this Leviathan must be symbolic of something else. The word is used only 6x in the KJV. In Job, a crocodile. A whale in Psa 104.25, a dragon that produces eclipses, again in Job, in Psa 74.14, figurative of Egypt as all-engulfing, and here in Isaiah, possibly a symbol for Babylon. At the end of the verse, we get a different word that is translated dragon, and for the most part means a sea monster. The only way we get from sea monster to Babylon is noting that when the rivers around Babylon were in flood, it made the city appear to be in the ocean. I read that in one of the commentaries. So you can make Babylon the dragon that way. And if we do this, we are pulling back to a prophecy of the next few years, rather than end times....though we should not forget about the fall of that future Babylon getting two or three chapters in Revelation.
2021 - This verse convinces me that we are indeed into the Millennial at this point:
[Isa 27:6 ESV] In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.
During the Millennial, the world will be governed from Israel. Justice will flow from there. All will seek the counsel of Israel. The whole world will be at peace, and have plenty during the Millennial. That must be where we are in this prophecy.
2022 - Even after the 2022 paragraph just preceding this, how can you not connect this verse with the Millennial reign? Isaiah seems to always be talking about two "times" at the same time!
Most of these notes are from 2019. Just read straight through it in 2020. Next year, I'll take time on this chapter.
I need to figure out what Leviathan represents for one thing next year! MSB note goes back to Job 41:1...but surely it means more than that?
Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.
Isaiah 27:9 ESV
2021 - At the end of gt, Israel will receive the promises God made to them. By persevering through the fire of t/gt, they see the end of the wrath of God against them, and he welcomes them back as the faithful they now are, and do not worship the idols that so incensed Him in the days of Manasseh. I also note that once Israel returned from Babylon, idol worship was really never a problem again. So there is both a near and far aspect of this verse. This is another VERY long verse.
2024 - "by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for" surely speaks to the end times. In the NASB it reads "Jacob's iniquity will be forgiven". Surely no one would argue that today, Jacob has been forgiven. We can perhaps see that after 70 years in Babylon, God relented. But he did not restore. They had a priest but no King. And then in 70 AD, they lost the priest also. We can surely see this chapter as the defeat of Satan's army - Pre-Millennial - and then the setting up of the physical Kingdom on earth. Israel will come home and live there while the serpent, the dragon, is imprisoned.
This chapter is about the restoration of Jacob. There are some verses in 1-11 that seem clear. Others I just have no idea about. There are things about restoration, but there is also this, especially the last half of it:
When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
Isaiah 27:11 ESV
This doesn't seem like restoration.
2021 - We know that at the end of the Millennium there will be one more final battle. There will be people who still insist on rebellion despite the throne of God on earth. Maybe these verses are about them? Those who will not believe, will not submit even with Christ present on earth in all his glory. For these, there is no more gospel, no more compassion, no more calling. Those who rebel during this time in history receive no grace, no mercy. Those days are past.
Last verse of the chapter:
And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 27:13 ESV
2021 - Look how well this verse fits with my notes at the end of chapter 26! It may be that many converted Jews will still be scattered over the world at the beginning of the Millennial. This trumpet will sound at the Millennial to call them ALL home to the promised land, and even more, to the fulfillment of all that was ever promised. Jerusalem will likely "fill up" during this thousand years, and very possibly Jerusalem will contain all the saved left on earth. All will migrate there over the thousand years, leading to that final battle at the end of the Millennial when the entire unsaved world surrounds Jerusalem to battle with the Lord. He will destroy them with his breath, and then will begin the GWT judgment, the last and final judgment of all.
Wow. A trumpet to call the Jews home. In "that day". This has to tie in to something in Revelation! This will precede all those verses - in Revelation and elsewhere, about the Jews coming home. The highway from Assyria has already been mentioned. This trumpet will start that movement. How could anyone believe this prophecy so clearly and specifically about Israel when it was pronounced, is now to be fulfilled by the church?
I have previously just tried to slog through this book. There is so much here!
2022 - So...Barnes can make it all about the "present" in Isaiah's time, but these last few verses of 27, to me, make it very sure and certain that the end times - the ultimate fate of Israel and Judah - are ALSO in view!
2024 - We see "in that day" again, introducing both vs 12 and vs 13. Vs 12 seems to me to tie to the restoration of Israel - the final restoration - during the Millennial, when the Jews from all over the planet turn to Him and come home. We have seen before that Abraham was promised everything from the Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt - the Nile? or some thing a little further East, but surely way more than they have ever had restored to them. This part DID NOT HAPPEN after Babylon. This is still future. Vs 13 surely seems to bring it home. But...these two "in that day" uses seem to take us backward from the Millennial, into the last half of tgt. That is when they come home. Or is it? Maybe they don't really come home until after the throne is established in Zion? Maybe I have that part of the timeline messed up. They don't rush home during tgt...because the SoP is in charge and he in fact occupies Jerusalem and he and the dragon are very busy trying to extinguish the Jews from the planet. They would not come home then. They would hide...remember these two verses in the last chapter: 20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. [Isa 26:20-21 ESV]. When the whole world is being punished, when the fury is raging, take cover and hide, and wait until the battle is done, and then come home to the whole land promised to Abraham, and receive the promises. Yeah...I've had the return of the Jews to the land too early. They don't come in numbers until after the battle. So...when does that put the Pre-Millennial judgment, and who is it exactly that will be judged?