Isaiah 27, In That Day

Isaiah continues his prophecy about a future day in which God will appear to right the wrongs and bring His people together, from all nations.

Isaiah 27:1, Leviathan slain

In that day,

the LORD will punish with his sword—

    his fierce, great and powerful sword—

Leviathan the gliding serpent,

    Leviathan the coiling serpent;

he will slay the monster of the sea.

Leviathan, the great serpent, will be slain. Leviathan represents evil and chaos, a being who roils the world in pain and anger. In that day, YHWH will destroy Leviathan.

Isaiah 27:2-5, A vineyard

In that day—

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:

I, the LORD, watch over it;

    I water it continually.

I guard it day and night

    so that no one may harm it.

I am not angry.

If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!

    I would march against them in battle;

    I would set them all on fire.

Or else let them come to me for refuge;

    let them make peace with me,

    yes, let them make peace with me.”

YHWH tends a vineyard (Israel) and watches over it, protecting it. He is happy to march out against any of the "weeds" that might attack His vineyard. He invites any "thorns" to instead go to Him as a refuge, in peace.

Isaiah 27:6-7, Israel blossoms

In days to come Jacob will take root,

    Israel will bud and blossom

    and fill all the world with fruit.

Has the LORD struck her

    as he struck down those who struck her?

Has she been killed

    as those were killed who killed her?

In that future day, Israel will blossom and bud, inviting all the world to her. Despite the previous defeats (as judgments) Israel will survive and rise. (It is not clear if Isaiah means the northern kingdom of Israel here or if he is referring to the entire family of Israelites, both northern and southern kingdoms. Grogan argues that Isaiah is speaking of both kingdoms, of all of Israel.)

Isaiah 27:8-9, No more Asherah poles

By warfare and exile you contend with her—

    with his fierce blast he drives her out,

    as on a day the east wind blows.

By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,

    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones

    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,

no Asherah poles or incense altars

    will be left standing.

Verse 8 seems to address God in second person, then third person? God contends with Israel but eventually her guilt is atoned for. When Israel is finally delivered, there will be no idols, no incense altars or Asherah poles. Since the days of Joshua, Israel has been instructed to remove the idols and Asherah poles and has failed to do. Now, finally, Israel will worship in purity and truth.

Isaiah 27:10, A desolate city

The fortified city stands desolate,

    an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;

there the calves graze,

    there they lie down;

    they strip its branches bare.

Is the city Jerusalem? Here a city is abandoned and the animals move in. Grogan claims that the fortified city is generic, a representative of any city that expected to survive God's judgment.

Isaiah 27:11, Dry twigs

When its twigs are dry, they are broken off

    and women come and make fires with them.

For this is a people without understanding;

    so their Maker has no compassion on them,

    and their Creator shows them no favor.

The Israel of Isaiah's day had no understanding or compassion; they were dry twigs, to be gathered and burned.

Isaiah 27: 12-13, Gathered to Zion

In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

But in that future day, after a judgment "threshing" of the chaff, people will come from Assyria in the east and Egypt in the west and worship YHWH in Jerusalem. (Assyria and Egypt here represent the eastern and western edges of the world; this invitation will be global.) This time is also described in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:24-38.

The people of many nations will be invited by the sounding of a great trumpet. In New Testament times, it is this trumpet that Paul writes about in his letter to Thessalonica -- see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.