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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 27:2 - 27:2
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The prophecy here passes for the fourth time into the tone of a song. The church recognises itself in the judgments upon the world, as Jehovah's well-protected and beloved vineyard.
In that day a merry vineyard - sing it!
I, Jehovah, its keeper,
Every moment I water it.
That nothing may come near it,
I watch it night and day.
Wrath have I none;
O, had I thorns, thistles before me!
I would make up to them in battle,
Burn them all together.
Men would then have to grasp at my protection,
Make peace with me,
Make peace with me.
Instead of introducing the song with, “In that day shall this song be sung,” or some such introduction, the prophecy passes at once into the song. It consists in a descending scale of strophes, consisting of one of five lines (Isa 27:2, Isa 27:3), one of four lines (Isa 27:4), and one of three lines (Isa 27:5). The thema is placed at the beginning, in the absolute case: cerem chemer. This may signify a vineyard of fiery or good wine (compare cerem zaith in Jdg 15:5); but it is possible that the reading should be cerem chemed, as in Isa 32:12, as the lxx, Targum, and most modern commentators assume. עִנָּה לְ signifies, according to Num 21:17; Psa 147:7 (cf., Exo 32:18; Psa 88:1), to strike up a song with reference to anything - an onomatopoetic word (different from עָנָה, to begin, literally to meet). Cerem (the vineyard) is a feminine here, like בְּאֵר, the well, in the song of the well in Num 21:17-18, and just as Israel, of which the vineyard here is a symbol (Isa 3:14; Isa 5:1.), is sometimes regarded as masculine, and at other times as feminine (Isa 26:20). Jehovah Himself is introduced as speaking. He is the keeper of the vineyard, who waters it every moment when there is any necessity (lirgâ‛im, like labbekârim in Isa 33:2, every morning), and watches it by night as well as by day, that nothing may visit it. עַל פָּקַד (to visit upon) is used in other cases to signify the infliction of punishment; here it denotes visitation by some kind of misfortune. Because it was the church purified through afflictions, the feelings of Jehovah towards it were pure love, without any admixture of the burning of anger (chēmâh). This is reserved for all who dare to do injury to this vineyard. Jehovah challenges these, and says, Who is there, then, that gives me thorns, thistles! עיִתְּנֵנִי = לִי יִתֵּן, as in Jer 9:1, cf., Jos 15:19.) The asyndeton, instead of וָשַׁיִת שָׁמִיר, which is customary elsewhere, corresponds to the excitement of the exalted defender. If He had thorns, thistles before Him, He would break forth upon them in war, i.e., make war upon them (bâh, neuter, upon such a mass of bush), and set it all on fire (הֵצִית = הִצִּית). The arrangement of the strophes requires that we should connect כַּמִּלְחָמָה with אֶפְשָׂעָה (var. אֶפְשְׂעָה), though this is at variance with the accents. We may see very clearly, even by the choice of the expression bammilchâmâh, that thorns and thistles are a figurative representation of the enemies of the church (2Sa 23:6-7). And in this sense the song concludes in Isa 27:5 : only by yielding themselves to mercy will they find mercy. אוֹ with a voluntative following, “unless,” as in Lev 26:41. “Take hold of:” hechezik b', as in 1Ki 1:50, of Adonijah, who lays hold of the horns of the altar. “Make peace with:” ‛âsâh shâlōm l', as in Jos 9:15. The song closes here. What the church here utters, is the consciousness of the gracious protection of its God, as confirmed in her by the most recent events.