Thomas Aquinas Commentary Isaiah 27:1-13

"In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea. In that day: A vineyard of wine, sing ye unto it. I Jehovah am its keeper; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together. Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; [yea], let him make peace with me. In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by them? In measure, when thou sendest them away, thou dost contend with them; he hath removed [them] with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, [so that] the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favor. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will beat off [his fruit] from the flood of the River unto the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come that were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem." — Isaiah 27:1-13 (ASV)

1. In that day. In this part, the author recalls God’s divine and fatherly correction. This correction comes first by foreign scourges and second by their own scourges: in that day (Isaiah 27:2). Thus it is said in Wisdom 11:11: for you did admonish and try them as a father.

   Regarding the first, he describes the scourge of Babylon: with his sword, meaning vengeance; Leviathan, meaning Nebuchadnezzar, because of the additionAccording to Jerome, De nominibus Hebraicis (PL 883–884), “Leviathan” means “their addition” (“additamentorum eorum”). Cf. Gregory, Moralia, 4.9.15, 33.9.17. to his kingdom that he subjugated; the serpent, because of his poisonous tyranny; bar, because of the correction of the people by God, as stated above: woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod of my anger (Isaiah 10:5); crooked, because of their infidelity: behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder (Job 40:18); the whale: I sit in the heart of the sea (Ezekiel 28:2).

2. In that day. Here, correction by their own scourges is presented.

   First, he describes the chastisement; second, the consolation: and it shall come to pass, that in that day (Isaiah 27:13).

   Regarding the first point, he does two things:

   1. He foretells the chastisement.
   2. The manner is examined: there is no indignation in me (Isaiah 27:4).

   Regarding the chastisement, he does three things:

   1. He foretells the song of sorrow: the vineyard, formerly, in the prophets and patriarchs, of pure wine,Vini meri. as stated above: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7).
   2. He presents the intention of the one who punishes: I am the Lord that keep it, and below: you have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath (Isaiah 51:17).
   3. He points out the benefit for which they were ungrateful: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day: your word, O Lord, which heals all things .

3. There is no indignation in me. Here he examines the manner of punishment.

   First, the deliberation of the judge is presented; second, the execution of the result of that deliberation: for the strong city shall be desolate (Isaiah 27:10).

   Regarding the first point, he does three things.

   First, he lays out the severe judgment, presenting the wrath of rage: there is no indignation in me, as if to say, “Indeed, I am justly indignant, for they are ungrateful for my benefits,” as stated below: full of the indignation of the Lord (Isaiah 51:20). Out of wrath, He determines a severe punishment: who shall give to me a thorn and a brier, regarding the difficulties that arose among them, as stated above: briers and thorns shall come up over it (Isaiah 5:6). In battle refers to the attack of the enemy: I myself will fight against you (Jeremiah 21:5–6). Shall I set it on fire refers to the destruction of homes and cities: my indignation goes forth like a fire (Jeremiah 21:12).

4. Second, he presents the moderation of the sentence: or rather shall I take hold of my strength? This is as if to say, “I will restrain my wrath,” in contrast to Jeremiah 30:24: the Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation. He then lays out the fruit of this moderation for the good, which all will bear. In relation to God: shall it make peace with me, as if to ask, “Will he make peace with me by good works?” As it says below: the work of justice shall be peace (Isaiah 32:17). In relation to Israel itself, Israel shall blossom in faith or in good intention, and bud in the completion of the work, as stated below: Jerusalem shall flourish like the lily (Isaiah 35:1). And in relation to his neighbor: they shall fill the face of the world with seed, who shall rush in, namely, the Apostles, as stated above: the law shall come forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3); their sound has gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world (Psalms 18:5 (19:4)).

5. And he lays out the supplementing of the punishment for the ungrateful: has he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? Here he reproaches them with the benefit of the moderated punishment: he has not dealt with us according to our sins (Psalms 102:10 (103:10)). In measure: here he threatens a judgment adequate to their sin; when it shall be cast off, from the worship of God through faithlessness by not believing in Christ: according to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be (Deuteronomy 25:2). He has meditated: here he shows the support for the sentence, with his severe spirit, because it cannot be appeased, as stated above: cease therefore from the man, whose breathSpiritus. is in his nostrils (Isaiah 2:22).

6. Third, he explains the motive for moderating the punishment, so that He would not destroy them entirely at that time. This was because Christ and the Apostles were to descend from that people, and through their preaching the worship of idols was to be abandoned. This is what is meant by, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, as stated above: man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 17:7).

7. The strong city, namely, Jerusalem: how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people? (Lamentations 1:1). Regarding the power of the enemy: there the calf—the army of the enemy—shall feed, as if resting without fear. Branches, metaphorically, means ears of wheat, which signify princes, as stated above: wild beasts shall rest there (Isaiah 13:21). Or literally, it may be a sign of desolation: they saw the chambers joining to the temple thrown down . And the destruction of men: its harvest shall be destroyed with drought. This is a metaphor, meaning that just as ears of wheat are crushed in the drought of summer, so will the people be. Women shall come and teach it, by whom the people were greatly thrown into sin, as stated above: as for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them (Isaiah 3:12). Or it is because the women themselves taught them, like Deborah (Judges 4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14).

8. Second, he presents the fairness of the punishment in relation to their guilt: for it is not a wise people, as stated above: therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge (Isaiah 5:13).

9. Third, the magnitude of the destruction, both regarding the universality of place: and it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, that is, from one end to the other, as stated above: from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein (Isaiah 1:6); and regarding the small number of men who will remain: and you shall be gathered together one by one: you shall remain few in number (Deuteronomy 28:62).

10. And it shall come to pass. Here he presents the consolation through their return to their land. A great trumpet means the command of the king, as stated above: he shall set up a signDR: “standard.” unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel (Isaiah 11:12).

11. Note on the words, the Lord with his sword shall visit (Isaiah 27:1), that the vengeance of God is called a sword that is:

    1. Hard, because of the harshness of punishment.
    2. Great, because of the universality of those who are punished: a great sword was given to him (Revelation 6:4).
    3. Strong, because of the power of the one who punishes: flee from the face of the sword (Job 19:29).
    4. Sharp, because it is piercing, even to the soul: the word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).
    5. Shining, because of its evident fairness: you shall perish by the sword, it shall devour you like the bruchus (Nahum 3:15).

12. Also on the word, Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1), note that the devil is called Leviathan because he adds:See note on verse 1.

    1. To human wickedness: add you iniquity upon their iniquity (Psalms 68:28 (69:27)).
    2. To his own power: all these will I give you, if falling down you will adore me (Matthew 4:9).
    3. To divine justice: my iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon (Genesis 4:13).
    4. To divine mercy: whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words (Genesis 34:3).

13. Note also on the word, serpent (Isaiah 27:1), that the devil is called a serpent:

    1. Because of his ability to renew himself: Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
    2. Because of his manner of going about: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it (Job 1:7).
    3. Because of his poisonous bite: in the end, it will bite like a snake (Proverbs 23:32).
    4. Because of his manner of enveloping: he sets up his tail like a cedar, the sinews of his testicles are wrapped together (Job 40:12).