Глава 27

“On that day the Lord will bring His steadfast sword, and great and strong, against Leviathan the stubborn serpent, and against Leviathan the crafty serpent, and will slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Is. 27:1). The prophet thus designates the kings who persecute the people of Judah. Two images in particular point to two kings: the Assyrian and the Babylonian, who, as Isaiah mentions, waged a long war with the Jews. At the same time, the king of Assyria is likened to a stubborn and crafty serpent due to his great malice and cunning, because the Assyrians were the first to seek dominion over the entire universe. The Babylonian king is likened to a dragon in the sea, because Babylon was surrounded and fortified by many waters. The King of Babylon said in pride: “I enjoy the world; no one can harm me; I am safe as a dragon in the sea.” Likewise, and for the same reason, the prophet Ezekiel calls the king of Egypt “the serpent is great to them, who rests among the rivers” (Ezek. 29:3). But probably the prophet depicted the glorious sacraments here in small images and pointed to the day on which God visited and redeemed the world and destroyed the works of the devil. And since the works of Satan are numerous, the prophet gives him various names. “In that day, good grapes, sing over them” (Is. 27:2), that is, at this very time a people will rise up, and not such a people as I likened to desolate grapes, bearing only wild grapes; to him sing, sons of light, with the word of the Lord, which was revealed to me from the Lord. “I, the Lord... will guard it, - that is, I constantly guard My people, because I am concerned about their affairs, - I will visit them, night and day, guard them" (Is. 27:3). This is similar to what was said to Hezekiah: “I will protect this city” (Is. 37:35). “Don’t you have a wall? I am your wall. Who made the thistles and thorns grow in you? (Isa.27:4). This is what the prophet calls the Assyrian army, which came and invaded the property of the Lord. “Soon I’ll breathe on him and burn him.” This was explained by the Spirit Himself, further saying: “The nations will be burned like dust” (Isa. 27:4, 9). “And I will make peace for him when he comes to Me” (Is. 27:5). “Israel will vegetate and prosper, and the world will be filled with its fruit” (Is. 27:6), because the Israelites will preach everywhere about the miracles recently performed for their salvation, and about the wonderful descent of their fathers from Egypt. And these seeds, sown in those who hear, will bear abundant fruits of righteousness throughout the entire universe. “You will condemn him,” that is, the Lord will condemn the Assyrian people to suffer, as he himself forced others to suffer. “You will repay with the measure that you yourself measured” (Is. 27:8), that is, not with the merciful measure that You, Lord, usually gave to the beloved people of Your righteous, not with a rod that punishes your sons, but with Your sword, strong, great and strong, that is, which You spoke against Your enemies and against the persecutors of Your people. “For he thought in his soul on the day of heat,” that is, when his spirit was inflamed with pride and, marveling at his courage and greatness, said: “I will be strong forever.” “If you eat like that, the flesh itself will be wounded: and as you kill, so will you be killed” (Is. 27:7), that is, the Assyrians will be struck by the people of Judah, because the Lord rewards the Assyrians according to their deeds for His people, the Jews, and as they did to the people of God, so it will be done to them. And this word was actually fulfilled on Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and it mysteriously refers to the economy of the Lord. This is how the Lord punished Satan. For, having taken on our flesh and become one of us, those plagues that Satan inflicted on Adam and those born of him, he reversed and inflicted on himself. And so, now children and wives, strengthened by God, mock (mock) Satan and cast him down as weak. “For this reason the iniquity of Jacob will be taken away... when they have laid down all the stones of the churches, they will be broken in pieces like dust” (Is. 27:9). The iniquity of Jacob will be taken away when all the stones from which the Jews built altars to their calves and idols will be crushed and turned into dust like mortar. Hezekiah did it. The Prophet, showing that Hezekiah received a great reward for this, adds: “for... the fenced city will be desolate.” This signifies the destroyed army and the city and kingdom of the Assyrians. “There will be a calf grazing there, and there he will be... eating his grain” (Is. 27:10). The prophet calls the calf the people of Judah, who will go out and gather the spoils reaped and prepared for them by the right hand of the Angel. “The women who go and bring light to him will be crushed, that is, the cities that came to the aid of the Assyrians, are not people with meaning, because they considered God equal to the idols of Samaria, for this reason the Creator will not spare me” (Is. 27:11), because he threw arrows of blasphemy at the Creator. “The Lord will shake the river of his peers, even to the watercourse of Egypt, - that is, with the weapon of the Assyrians he will shake and destroy the nations from the Euphrates River to the Nile River, which is called here the watercourse - but you will be gathered together as one ... in one” (Is. 27:12), that is, you, the Jews, scattered by previous disasters and preserved by the care of God, you will be gathered into one great congregation and people. “They will sound a great trumpet.” The prophet calls the good news about the end of captivity the great trumpet. This news, by decree of Cyrus, as if proclaimed by a great trumpet, reached the ears of the Jews scattered in distant countries. For after the destruction of the city and the church, and the captivity of their brethren, they were scattered throughout the whole world. And not only the Jews, but also the Assyrians and Egyptians and all the pagan peoples formed one faithful people, and together they began to “worship the Lord on the holy mount in Jerusalem” (Is. 27:13); Caiaphas also prophesied about this, as it is said in the Gospel that “Jesus wanted to die for people... but that He might also gather the scattered children of God into one” (John 11:51–52). You might be interested in: