John Gill Commentary Isaiah 24:13

"For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done." — Isaiah 24:13 (ASV)

When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people
When the above judgments shall be executed, the city of Rome shall be destroyed, and the vials of God's wrath are poured out on all the antichristian states, on all the followers of the beast, throughout the whole Romish jurisdiction:

[there shall be] as the shaking of an olive tree, [and] as the gleaning of grapes, when the vintage is done ; as when an olive tree is shaken, or beaten with a staff, which was the usual way of gathering olives, and which the word ^F20 here signifies, there are some few left upon the uppermost or outermost branches, which cannot be reached;

and as, after the vintage is got in, there are some grapes to be gleaned and gathered from the vines; see (Isaiah 17:6) so it is here suggested that there would be some, though but a few, a remnant, according to the election of grace, that should escape the above calamities, and be preserved as a seed for the church of God;

and so it will be, that just before the destruction of mystical Babylon, the Lord's people will be called out of her, so that they do not partake of her sins, and of her plagues, (Revelation 18:4) .

The Targum is, ``for now shall be left alone the righteous in the midst of the earth, among the kingdoms, as the shaking of olives, as the gleaning of grapes after the vintage;'' and to olives and grapes are these gracious persons fitly compared, for the goodness, loveliness, and fruitfulness of them, through the grace of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (tyz Pqnk) "similes olivis destrictae oleae", Junius & Tremellius; "tanquam strictura oleae", Cocceius.