Isaiah 27:1

In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword,.... Meaning either the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, quick and powerful, and sharper than a twoedged sword, Ephesians 6:17 or

In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 27 God’ s care over his vineyard . His chastisements on them, . His severe judgments against them, ,11. Their return, ,13. Shall punish leviathan; what kind of creature the leviathan is, See Poole "", &c.; whence it is evident that it was a very great and terrible sea-monster. But here it is certain that the expression is metaphorical, and that by this leviathan, serpent, and dragon (for all signify the same thing) he understands some very powerful enemy or enemies (for the singular number may be here put for the plural, as it is in many other places) of God, and of his church or people, which may well be called by these names, partly for their great might, and partly for the great terror and destruction which they cause upon the earth, as the leviathan doth in the sea. He seems to have a special respect to some particular enemy and oppressor of God’ s people; either the Assyrian emperor, who now was so; or rather the Babylonian, who should be so. Some understand this of the devil; but although it may be applied to him in a mystical sense, it seems to be literally meant of some potent and visible adversary; which seems more agreeable to the following verses, and to the usage of this and other prophets. The piercing serpent; which by its sting pierceth quickly and deeply into men’ s bodies. Or, the bar (as this word is elsewhere used) serpent, as this may be called, either for its length, or strength, or swift motion. That crooked serpent; winding and turning itself with great variety and dexterity; whereby he seems to signify the craftiness and activity of this enemy, which being added to his strength makes it more formidable. The dragon; or rather, the whale, as this word is rendered, , and elsewhere; which agrees better with the following words, that is in the sea, which possibly were added only to limit that general and ambiguous word to a sea-monster, and not to describe the place in which the enemy signified by this dragon had his abode. Although the sea, which here follows, may be metaphorically understood of the great largeness of his empire, and the multitude of his subjects, by comparing this with ,15.

Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.Ver. 1. In that day.] The day of God’ s great assize, and of execution to be done on the enemy and the avenger. Now we know how well people are pleased when princes do justice upon great offenders. The Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword.] Heb., With his sword, that hard or heavy one, and that great one, and that strong one, that is, with his Word, saith Oecolampadius, who by leviathan here understandeth the devil, who is elsewhere also called the "serpent and the great dragon." But they do better, in my judgment, who by leviathan here understand some great tyrant, acted by the devil against the Church, such as was Pharaoh; Sennacherib; or Nebuchadnezzar; and at this day the Grand Signor, who hath swallowed up countries, as the leviathan or the whale doth fishes; for in the greatness of his empire is swallowed up both the name and empire of the Saracens, the most glorious empire of the Greeks, the empire of Trapezonum, the renowned kingdoms of Macedonia, Peloponnesus, Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Judea, Tunis, Algiers, Medea, Mesopotamia, with a great part of Hungary, as also of the Persian kingdom. His territories do somewhat resemble a long and winding serpent, as some learned men have observed; and for the slights and might which he useth against Christians still, who knows them not out of the Turkish story? God therefore will shortly take him to do, sharpening haply the swords of men, as he hath lately and marvellously done of the Venetians, as instrumental to ruin this vast empire, which laboureth with nothing more than the weightiness of itself. And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.] i.e., In fluctuante huius saeculi aesluario. Of the strange length of dragons, see Aelian., lib. ii. cap. 21, and Plin., lib. viii. cap. 14. In the last year of the reign of Theodosius, senior, there was a dragon seen in Epirus, of that vast size that when he was dead eight yokes of oxen could hardly draw him. By dragon, some understand the same with leviathan, viz., the whale or whirlpool. The dragon is never satisfied with blood, though never so full gorged; no more are persecutors. Jun.

XXVII. (1) Leviathan the piercing serpent.—Rather, fleet, or fugitive. The verse paints in vivid symbolic language the judgment of Jehovah on the great world-powers that had shed the blood of His people. The “sword of the Lord” (primarily, perhaps, representing the lightning-flash) is turned in its threefold character as sore, and swift, and strong, against three great empires. These are represented, as in Ezekiel 17:3; Ezekiel 29:3 Daniel 7:3-7, by monstrous forms of animal life. The “dragon” is as in Isaiah 51:19; Psalms 74:13-14; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2, the standing emblem of Egypt: the other two, so generically like, that the “leviathan” (“crocodile” in Job 41:1, but here, probably, generically for a monster of the serpent type) serves as a common type for both, while each has its distinctive epithet, may refer respectively to Assyria and Babylon, the epithets indicating (1) the rapid rush of the Tigris and the tortuous windings of the Euphrates; and (2) the policy characteristic of each empire, of which the rivers were looked upon as symbols, one rapidly aggressive, the other advancing as by a sinuous deceit. By some commentators, however, Egypt is represented in all three clauses; while others (Cheyne) see in them the symbols not of earthly empire, but of rebel powers of evil and darkness, quoting Job 26:12-13 in support of his view.

CHAPTER XXVII Destruction of the enemies of the Church, 1. God's care of his vineyard, 2-11. Prosperity of the descendants of Abraham in the latter days, 12, 13. The subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the measure, and the design of God's dealings with his people. 1. His judgments inflicted on their great and powerful enemies, Isaiah 27:1. 2. His constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue, Isaiah 27:2. 3. The moderation and lenity with which the severity of his judgments have been tempered, Isaiah 27:7. 4. The end and design of them, to recover them from idolatry, Isaiah 27:9. And, 5. The recalling of them, on their repentance, from their several dispersions, Isaiah 27:12. The first verse seems connected with the two last verses of the preceding chapter. - L. NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII Verse 1. Leviathan] The animals here mentioned seem to be the crocodile, rigid by the stiffness of the backbone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent or dragon, flexible and winding, which coils himself up in a circular form: and the sea-monster, or whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images, is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily with in the design of these notes. R. D. Kimchi says, leviathan is a parable concerning the kings of the Gentiles: it is the largest fish in the sea, called also תנין tannin, the dragon, or rather the whale. By these names the Grecian, Turkish, and Roman empires are intended. The dragon of the sea seems to mean some nation having a strong naval force and extensive commerce. See Kimchi on the place.

1. The judgment on the ungodly powers of this world, is represented symbolically as the destruction of three living monsters by the sword of Jehovah. It is disputed whether the reference is to the world-power in general, or to a single Empire, or to three separate Empires. Assuming that they are distinct the “Dragon that is in the sea” is almost certainly an emblem of Egypt (ch. Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2; Psalms 74:13). To the reference of the other two we have no key. It is of the essence of apocalyptic symbolism to be obscure; and it will always be possible, at any date, to find representatives, more or less suitable, of the three creatures. If the prophet wrote during or soon after the Exile they might denote Assyria and Babylonia; if at a later period, perhaps Babylonia and Persia, or even Persia and Greece. For the sword of Jehovah cf. ch. Isaiah 34:5-6, Isaiah 66:16; Deuteronomy 32:41 f.; Ezekiel 21:4-5; Ezekiel 21:9 ff., &c. For sore render hard. leviathan] The word apparently means “twisted,” and is originally an epithet for the serpent. Although applied (probably) in Job 41 to the crocodile, it is no doubt mythological in its origin, denoting (like our “dragon”) a fabulous monster figuring largely in popular legends. It is so used in Job 3:8 and perhaps Psalms 104:26; as a political symbol in Psalms 74:14 and here. the piercing serpent] the fugitive serpent. The phrase occurs in Job 26:13, where we have the wide-spread myth of the dragon that devours the sun (in eclipses, &c.). See Dr Davidson’s Job, p. 20. How this astronomical dragon came to be specially connected with any political power we cannot tell; but we find an analogous case in the word Rahab as a symbol for Egypt (see on ch. Isaiah 30:7). even leviathan that crooked serpent] Render: and Leviathan the tortuous serpent. the dragon that is in the sea] The sea means here the Nile, as often: see on Isaiah 19:5.

In that day - In that future time when the Jews would be captive in Babylon, and when they would sigh for deliverance (see the note at Isaiah 26:1).

1. In that day — The same time as that referred to in the preceding verse, when the Lord should come “out of his place to punish.” This verse should have closed the preceding chapter.