When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor. When its limbs are dry, they are broken offThis phrase speaks to the imagery of a vineyard or a tree, often used in Scripture to symbolize Israel or God's people. The Hebrew word for "limbs" (זְרֹעֹת, zerot) can also mean "arms" or "branches," indicating parts of a whole that are meant to be fruitful and productive. The drying and breaking off of these limbs suggest a state of spiritual barrenness and judgment. Historically, Israel faced periods of spiritual decline, leading to divine discipline. This imagery serves as a warning to remain spiritually vibrant and connected to God, lest one becomes dry and broken. Women come and use them for kindling
The use of dry branches for kindling signifies their complete lack of life and usefulness in their intended purpose. In ancient times, kindling was essential for starting fires, a mundane task. The Hebrew context here implies that what was once valuable and full of potential is now reduced to mere fuel for fire. This serves as a metaphor for the consequences of spiritual neglect and disobedience. The imagery is stark, reminding believers of the importance of remaining spiritually alive and fruitful, lest they become spiritually irrelevant. For this is a people without understanding
The phrase "without understanding" (בִּינָה, binah) highlights a lack of discernment or insight, often associated with spiritual ignorance or rebellion. In the biblical context, understanding is not merely intellectual but deeply spiritual, involving a heart aligned with God's will. The historical context of Israel's repeated failure to heed prophetic warnings underscores the importance of seeking divine wisdom. This serves as a call to pursue a deeper relationship with God, characterized by a heart and mind open to His guidance. Therefore their Maker will have no compassion on them
The term "Maker" (יֹצְרָם, yotzeram) refers to God as the Creator, emphasizing His authority and sovereignty over His creation. The lack of compassion (רַחֵם, rakhem) from God is a sobering reminder of the consequences of persistent disobedience and rejection of His ways. In the conservative Christian perspective, this underscores the seriousness of sin and the necessity of repentance. God's justice is balanced with His mercy, but persistent rebellion leads to judgment. This serves as a call to repentance and a reminder of God's righteous standards. and their Creator will show them no favor
The word "Creator" (עֹשֵׂה, oseh) again emphasizes God's role as the one who formed and established His people. The absence of favor (חֵן, chen) indicates a withdrawal of divine grace and blessing. In the biblical narrative, favor is often associated with God's presence and blessing upon His people. The historical context of Israel's exile and suffering due to their unfaithfulness serves as a backdrop for this warning. For believers, it is a call to remain faithful and obedient, seeking God's favor through a life aligned with His purposes. Persons / Places / Events 1. IsraelThe primary audience of Isaiah's prophecy, often depicted as a vineyard or tree in need of care and judgment. 2. WomenSymbolically represent those who gather the dry twigs, indicating the ease with which judgment will come upon the unrepentant. 3. The Maker/CreatorRefers to God, emphasizing His role as the one who formed Israel and has the authority to judge them. 4. IsaiahThe prophet delivering God's message, calling Israel to repentance and understanding. 5. JudgmentThe event of divine retribution due to Israel's lack of understanding and faithfulness. Teaching Points Understanding and ObedienceTrue understanding of God leads to obedience. Without it, we risk spiritual dryness and judgment. The Role of KnowledgeKnowledge of God is crucial. Ignorance leads to destruction, as seen in Israel's history. God's Compassion and FavorGod's compassion is linked to our response to Him. A hardened heart forfeits His favor. Spiritual FruitfulnessLike a tree, our lives should bear fruit. Spiritual barrenness invites divine discipline. Repentance and RestorationEven in judgment, God offers a path to restoration through repentance and renewed understanding. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of dry twigs in Isaiah 27:11 reflect the spiritual state of Israel, and how can this apply to our personal spiritual lives? 2. In what ways does the lack of understanding lead to judgment, and how can we cultivate a deeper understanding of God in our daily walk? 3. How do the roles of God as Maker and Creator in this verse influence our view of His authority and our accountability to Him? 4. What parallels can we draw between the judgment described in Isaiah 27:11 and the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament regarding spiritual fruitfulness? 5. How can we ensure that we are not like the people described in Isaiah 27:11, who are without understanding, and what practical steps can we take to grow in knowledge and obedience to God? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 5:1-7This passage also uses the vineyard metaphor to describe Israel's failure to produce good fruit, leading to God's judgment. Hosea 4:6Highlights the theme of destruction due to a lack of knowledge, similar to the "people without understanding" in Isaiah 27:11. Matthew 13:13-15Jesus speaks of people who hear but do not understand, paralleling the spiritual blindness addressed in Isaiah. Romans 1:21Discusses how people knew God but did not honor Him, leading to futile thinking and darkened hearts, akin to the lack of understanding in Isaiah. John 15:6Jesus speaks of branches that do not remain in Him being thrown away and burned, echoing the imagery of dry twigs used for kindling. People Isaiah, Israelites, JacobPlaces Assyria, Brook of Egypt, Egypt, Euphrates River, JerusalemTopics Boughs, Branch, Branches, Broken, Cause, Compassion, Creator, Discernment, Dry, Favor, Favour, Fire, Fires, Foolish, Formed, Former, Gracious, Intelligence, Limbs, Maker, Mercy, Pity, Setting, Shew, Shows, Thereof, Understanding, Withered, Withering, WomenDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 27:11 5963 sympathy
8355 understanding 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 27:11 NIVIsaiah 27:11 NLTIsaiah 27:11 ESVIsaiah 27:11 NASBIsaiah 27:11 KJV
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