For the fortified city lies deserted--a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. For the fortified city lies desertedThe phrase "fortified city" refers to a place of strength and security, often associated with human pride and self-reliance. In the Hebrew context, the word for "fortified" (מִבְצָר, mibtsar) suggests a stronghold or a place of defense. Historically, cities like these were centers of power and influence. The image of such a city lying "deserted" (נָטַשׁ, natash) conveys a powerful message of divine judgment and the futility of relying on human strength apart from God. This desolation serves as a reminder of the transient nature of earthly power and the ultimate sovereignty of God over all nations. a homestead abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness
The "homestead" (נָוֶה, naveh) represents a place of dwelling and community, often associated with stability and prosperity. The terms "abandoned" (עָזַב, azav) and "forsaken" (שָׁמֵם, shamem) emphasize the complete desolation and emptiness that has befallen what was once a thriving place. The comparison to a "wilderness" (מִדְבָּר, midbar) underscores the barrenness and lack of life, symbolizing spiritual desolation and the consequences of turning away from God. This imagery calls believers to reflect on the importance of spiritual vitality and the dangers of spiritual neglect. there the calf grazes
The presence of a "calf" (עֵגֶל, egel) grazing in the deserted city highlights the reversal of roles and the irony of the situation. What was once a bustling city is now reduced to a pasture for animals. This image serves as a metaphor for the humbling of human pride and the restoration of God's order. In a broader scriptural context, it can also symbolize the peace and restoration that follow divine judgment, as creation returns to a state of harmony. there it lies down and feeds on its branches
The act of the calf lying down and feeding "on its branches" (סְעִפֶּיהָ, se'ipeha) suggests a sense of peace and contentment in the midst of desolation. The branches, once part of a thriving city, now serve as sustenance for the animals. This imagery can be seen as a symbol of God's provision and care, even in judgment. It reminds believers of the hope and renewal that God offers, even when circumstances seem bleak. The peaceful scene invites reflection on the ultimate restoration and peace that God promises to His people, pointing to the future hope of redemption and renewal in Christ. Persons / Places / Events 1. Fortified CityRepresents a place of strength and security that has been abandoned. In the context of Isaiah, it often symbolizes human pride and self-reliance that ultimately fails. 2. WildernessA place of desolation and abandonment, often used in the Bible to signify judgment or a lack of divine presence. 3. CalfAn animal that symbolizes innocence and simplicity, grazing in the abandoned city, indicating a reversal of fortunes and the futility of human efforts without God. 4. IsaiahThe prophet who conveyed God's messages to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, warning them of judgment and offering hope for restoration. 5. Judgment and RestorationThemes throughout Isaiah, where God judges the unfaithfulness of His people but also promises eventual restoration and peace. Teaching Points The Futility of Human PrideHuman efforts and pride, symbolized by the fortified city, are ultimately futile without reliance on God. We must place our trust in Him rather than in our own strength. God's Sovereignty in JudgmentGod is sovereign and just in His judgments. The desolation of the city serves as a reminder of the consequences of turning away from Him. Hope in RestorationEven in judgment, there is hope for restoration. God's ultimate plan includes redemption and renewal for those who turn back to Him. Simplicity and InnocenceThe image of the calf grazing in the abandoned city suggests a return to simplicity and innocence. We are called to live lives of humility and trust in God. Reflecting on Our Spiritual StateJust as the city was once fortified but became desolate, we must examine our spiritual lives to ensure we are not relying on false securities. Bible Study Questions 1. What does the image of the fortified city becoming deserted teach us about the dangers of relying on human strength and pride? 2. How can we see God's justice and mercy in the themes of judgment and restoration in Isaiah 27:10? 3. In what ways does the desolation of the city serve as a warning for us today in our personal and communal lives? 4. How can the image of the calf grazing in the abandoned city inspire us to seek simplicity and innocence in our walk with God? 5. What other biblical examples can you find where God uses desolation as a means to bring about repentance and restoration? How do these examples apply to our lives today? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 5:5-6This passage also speaks of desolation as a result of judgment, where God removes His protection from a vineyard, symbolizing Israel. Jeremiah 4:26Describes cities laid waste due to God's anger, similar to the deserted city in Isaiah 27:10. Revelation 18:2Speaks of the fall of Babylon, a great city, becoming a dwelling place for animals, echoing the theme of desolation and judgment. People Isaiah, Israelites, JacobPlaces Assyria, Brook of Egypt, Egypt, Euphrates River, JerusalemTopics Abandoned, Alone, Bare, Boughs, Branches, Calf, Calves, Cast, Consume, Consumed, Defenced, Delight, Desert, Deserted, Desolate, Feed, Fenced, Forlorn, Forsaken, Fortified, Graze, Grazes, Habitation, Homestead, Isolated, Lie, Lies, Lieth, Living-place, Ox, Rest, Settlement, Solitary, Stands, Strip, Strips, Strong, Thereof, Town, Unpeopled, Waste, Wilderness, YetDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 27:10 4045 chaos Isaiah 27:9-10 5508 ruins Library The Grasp that Brings Peace
'Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; yea, let him make peace with Me.'--ISAIAH xxvii. 5. Lyrical emotion makes the prophet's language obscure by reason of its swift transitions from one mood of feeling to another. But the main drift here is discernible. God is guarding Israel, His vineyard, and before Him its foes are weak as 'thorns and briers,' whose end is to be burned. With daring anthropomorphism, the prophet puts into God's mouth a longing for the enemies to measure …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureTwelfth Day for the Spirit to Convince the World of Sin
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit to convince the World of Sin "I will send the Comforter to you. And He, when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin."--JOHN xvi. 7, 8. God's one desire, the one object of Christ's being manifested, is to take away sin. The first work of the Spirit on the world is conviction of sin. Without that, no deep or abiding revival, no powerful conversion. Pray for it, that the gospel may be preached in such power of the Spirit, that men may see that they have …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ;
OR, A PLAIN AND PROFITABLE DISCOURSE ON JOHN 6:37 SHOWING THE CAUSE, TRUTH, AND MANNER OF THE COMING OF A SINNER TO JESUS CHRIST; WITH HIS HAPPY RECEPTION AND BLESSED ENTERTAINMENT. WRITTEN BY JOHN BUNYAN, AUTHOR OF "THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS." "And they shall come which were ready to perish."--Isaiah 27:13. London, 1681. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. "Come and welcome to Jesus Christ," is a subject peculiarly fitted to the deep and searching experience of John Bunyan. He knew all the wiles of sin and …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin?
That we may give some satisfaction to this question, we shall, 1. Shew what are the ingredients in this case, or what useth to concur in this distemper. 2. Shew some reasons why the Lord is pleased to dispense thus with his people. 3. Shew how Christ is life to the soul in this case. 4. Shew the believer's duty for a recovery; and, 5. Add a word or two of caution. As to the first, There may be those parts of, or ingredients in this distemper: 1. God presenting their sins unto their view, so as …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life "But we are all as an Unclean Thing, and all Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags,"
Isaiah lxiv 6, 7.--"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," &c. This people's condition agreeth well with ours, though the Lord's dealing be very different. The confessory part of this prayer belongeth to us now; and strange it is, that there is such odds of the Lord's dispensations, when there is no difference in our conditions; always we know not how soon the complaint may be ours also. This prayer was prayed long before the judgment and captivity came …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Mercy of God
The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy. Mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness. Psa 33:5. So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy. The most learned of the heathens thought they gave their god Jupiter two golden characters when they styled him good and great. Both these meet in God, goodness and greatness, majesty and mercy. God is essentially good in himself and relatively good to us. They are both put together in Psa 119:98. Thou art good, and doest good.' This …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pliny writes, "From Pelusium are the intrenchments of Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake." Either my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,--or mount Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and Pelusium. Sirbon implies burning; the name of …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly
DO not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God has so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch: …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial What Messiah did the Jews Expect?
1. The most important point here is to keep in mind the organic unity of the Old Testament. Its predictions are not isolated, but features of one grand prophetic picture; its ritual and institutions parts of one great system; its history, not loosely connected events, but an organic development tending towards a definite end. Viewed in its innermost substance, the history of the Old Testament is not different from its typical institutions, nor yet these two from its predictions. The idea, underlying …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Great Shepherd
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. I t is not easy for those, whose habits of life are insensibly formed by the customs of modern times, to conceive any adequate idea of the pastoral life, as obtained in the eastern countries, before that simplicity of manners, which characterized the early ages, was corrupted, by the artificial and false refinements of luxury. Wealth, in those …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 27:10 NIVIsaiah 27:10 NLTIsaiah 27:10 ESVIsaiah 27:10 NASBIsaiah 27:10 KJV
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