The punishment of the oppressors of God’s people. The Lord’s favour to his church.

¹ In that day, the Lord will visit, with his harsh and great and strong sword, against Leviathan, the barred serpent, and against Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he will slay the whale that is in the sea.¹

1. 27:1Leviathan: That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God. He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent from his wiles; and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of Christ, when his power was destroyed.(Challoner)

² In that day, the vineyard of pure wine will sing to them.¹

1. 27:2The vineyard, etc: The church of Christ.(Challoner)

³ I am the Lord, who watches over it. I will suddenly give drink to it. I will watch over it, night and day, lest perhaps someone visit against it.¹

1. 27:3I will suddenly give it drink: Or, as the Hebrew may also be rendered, I will continually water it.(Challoner)

⁴ Indignation is not mine. Who will be a thorn and a brier to me in battle? I will advance against them. I set them on fire together.¹

1. 27:4No indignation in me, etc: Viz., against the church: nor shall I become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an everlasting peace with me.(Challoner)

⁵ Or will he, instead, take hold of my strength? Will he make peace with me? Will she make peace with me?¹

1. 27:5The word ‘spinam’ is feminine and the word ‘veprem’ is masculine, hence the translation: “will he…will she….” The spine represents the false prophetess of the Book of Revelation, and the brier represents the Antichrist.(Conte)

⁶ As they advance with violence against Jacob, Israel will flourish and spring forth, and they will fill the face of the world with offspring.¹

1. 27:6When they shall rush in, etc: Some understand this of the enemies of the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual invasion made by the apostles of Christ.(Challoner)

⁷ Has he struck him with the scourge that he himself used to strike others? Or has he killed in the manner that he himself used to kill his victims?¹

1. 27:7Has he struck him, etc: Has God punished the carnal persecuting Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints?(Challoner)

⁸ You will judge this by comparing one measure to another, when he has been cast out. He has decided this, by his stern spirit, for the day of heat.¹²

1. 27:8When it shall be cast off, etc: When the synagogue shall be cast off, you shall judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes.(Challoner)
2. 27:8He has meditated, etc: God has designed severe punishments in the day of his wrath.(Challoner)

⁹ Therefore, concerning this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven. And this is the reward of all: that their sin be taken away, when he will have made all the stones of the altar to be like crushed cinders. For the sacred groves and the shrines shall not stand.¹

1. 27:9Of the house of Jacob: Viz., of such of them as shall be converted.(Challoner)

¹⁰ For the fortified city will be desolate. The shining city will be abandoned and will be left behind like a desert. In that place, the calf will pasture, and in that place, he will lie down, and he will feed from its summits.¹

1. 27:10The strong city: Jerusalem.(Challoner)

¹¹ Its harvest will be crushed by dryness. Women will arrive and teach it, for it is not a wise people. Because of this, he who made it will not take pity on it, and he who formed it will not spare it.

¹² And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will strike, from the channel of the river, even to the torrent of Egypt. And you shall be gathered together, one by one, O sons of Israel.

¹³ And this shall be: in that day, a noise will be made with a great trumpet. And those who had been lost will approach from the land of the Assyrians, with those who had been outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they will adore the Lord, on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.¹

1. 27:13A great trumpet: The preaching of the gospel for the conversion of the Jews.(Challoner)