Isaiah 17:6

Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in the day of the Lord's anger, and had their lives given them for a prey and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of God's courts. 1. They shall be but a small remnant, a very few, who shall be marked for preservation (Isa 17:6): Gleaning grapes shall be left in it. The body of the people were carried into captivity, but here and there one was left behind, perhaps one of two in a bed when the other was taken, Luk 17:34. The most desolating judgments in this world are short of the last judgment, which shall be universal and which none shall escape. In times of the greatest calamity some are kept safe, as in times of the greatest degeneracy some are kept pure. But the fewness of those that escape supposes the captivity of the far greatest part; those that are left are but like the poor remains of an olive tree when it has been carefully shaken by the owner; if there be two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough (out of the reach of those that shook it), that is all. Such is the remnant according to the election of grace, very few in comparison with the multitudes that walk on in the broad way. 2. They shall be a sanctified remnant, Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8. These few that are preserved are such as, in the prospect of the judgment approaching, had repented of their sins and reformed their lives, and therefore were snatched thus as brands out of the burning, or such as having escaped, and becoming refugees in strange countries, were awakened, partly by a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their deliverance, and partly by the distresses they were still in, to return to God. (1.) They shall look up to their Creator, shall enquire, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night, in such a night of affliction as this? Job 35:10, Job 35:11. They shall acknowledge his hand in all the events concerning them, merciful and afflictive, and shall submit to his hand. They shall give him the glory due to his name, and be suitably affected with his providences. They shall expect relief and succour from him and depend upon him to help them. Their eyes shall have respect to him, as the eyes of a servant to the hand of his master, Psa 123:2. Observe, It is our duty at all times to have respect to God, to have our eyes ever towards him, both as our Maker (the author of our being and the God of nature) and as the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant with us and the God of grace; particularly, when we are in affliction, our eyes must be towards the Lord, to pluck our feet out of the net (Psa 25:15); to bring us to this is the design of his providence as he is our Maker and the work of his grace as he is the Holy One of Israel. (2.) They shall look off from their idols, the creatures of their own fancy, shall no longer worship them, and seek to them, and expect relief from them. For God will be alone regarded, or he does not look upon himself as at all regarded. He that looks to his Maker must not look to the altars, the work of his hands, but disown them and cast them off, must not retain the least respect for that which his fingers have made, but break it to pieces, though it be his own workmanship - the groves and the images; the word signifies images made in honour of the sun and by which he was worshipped, the most ancient and most plausible idolatry, Deu 4:19; Job 31:26. We have reason to account those happy afflictions which part between us and our sins, and by sensible convictions of the vanity of the world, that great idol, cool our affections to it and lower our expectations from it.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Isa 17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two [or] three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four [or] five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

Ver. 6. Yet gleaning grapes, &c.] See on Isa 17:5.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_17:6

Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it

Autumn: the diminutions of life

The prophet is here predicting a season of national calamity.

He represents the condition of the people under the figure of an autumnal scene. Armed hosts from the north have invaded the country like a sharp wind. The substance of its inhabitants has been carried away before their rapacity, as when the harvest man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm. With this difference, however, that it has been destroyed by the violence of strangers, instead of being garnered for the use of those who had tilled the soil; and the sickle is the sword. The population is thinned, like the trees in the waning part of the year. Only that the wrath of man, unlike the severity of nature, has no benevolent purpose in it. The comforts and blessings of life are shaken down as faded leaves. Only it is without any sign from experience, that they shall be replaced by a new spring. A desolated prospect rises before his sight. Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough; four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof. The Word of the Lord was a burden in those days, and he felt its weight upon his own heart as he held it over the heads of his people. He comforted himself at least with the thought that the visitation itself, if not his warning, would bring them to a more faithful mind (Isa_17:7-8). There lies in the text, apart from its historical reference, this general truth,--that circumstances of decline and destitution are suited to wean the heart from its vanities. In the day of adversity men consider. And when time and fortune have made the enjoyments of the world fewer, and thrown a longer shadow and a paler tint upon those that remain, the soul naturally remembers its truer and more enduring portions.

1. With some the change relates to their worldly goods and the general prosperity of their affairs.

2. A second class of diminutions concerns the bodily ease and health.

3. The third instance of diminutions to which our attention is called, is found in the encroachments of age.

4. One more instance of destitution is when companions and friends drop off like the foliage of summer, and we are more and more frequently bereft. (N. L.Frothingham.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:6 Although the God of Israel judged the wickedness of Israel, he was still its God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Because God would have his covenant stable, he promiseth to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

in it--that is, in the land of Israel.

two or three . . . in the top--A few poor inhabitants shall be left in Israel, like the two or three olive berries left on the topmost boughs, which it is not worth while taking the trouble to try to reach.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(6) Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it.—The idea of the “remnant” is still in the prophet’s thoughts, even in the case of the northern kingdom. First the vineyard, then the olive-yard, supplies a similitude. The “shaking” followed on the “beating” of Deu_24:20 (comp. Isa_24:13), but even after that a few berries might be seen on the topmost bough.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Yet gleaning grapes … olive tree] Render (cf. R.V.) And gleanings shall be left in it as at the beating of an olive tree. The olives were struck down from the higher branches with a stick (ch. Isa_24:13; Deu_24:20); the few that were overlooked were left for the poor.

the uppermost bough] The Hebr. word does not occur again except in Isa_17:9, where (if correct) it must bear a different sense.

the outmost fruitful branches] Render, the branches of the fruitful tree,—the last word containing perhaps a play on the name Ephraim.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it,.... In Ephraim or Jacob; that is, in the ten tribes, a few of them should escape, a remnant should be saved; comparable, for the smallness of their number, to grapes that are gleaned after the vintage is got in: though Kimchi interprets it of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were but few, in comparison of the ten tribes, who were many; and Jarchi explains it of Hezekiah and his company, in the midst of Jerusalem, who were but few; and observes, that some of their Rabbins understood it of the few men that were left of the multitude of Sennacherib's army, when it was destroyed; but the first sense is best: and the same thing is signified by another simile,

as the shaking of an olive tree; with the hand, when the fruit is ripe; or, "as the striking" (q) of it with a staff; to beat off the berries, when there are left

two or three berries at the top of the uppermost bough: the word "amir" is only used here, and in Isa 17:9 and signifies, as Kimchi says, the upper bough or branch; and so Aben Ezra interprets it, the highest part of the olive; and observes, that it so signifies in the language of Kedar, or the Arabic language; in which it is used for a king, a prince, an emperor, one that has the command and government of others (r); and hence the word "amiral" or "admiral" comes: now two or three olive berries, being in the uppermost bough, are left, because they cannot be reached by the hand of the gatherer, nor by the staff of the striker. Kimchi applies this to Jerusalem, which was the highest part of the land of Israel; and what was in it the hand of the king of Assyria could not reach:

four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof; which escape the gatherer, shaker, or striker, for the same reason. These similes are very aptly made use of, since the people of Israel are frequently compared to grapes, and vines, and olives, Isa 5:1, Jer 11:16,

saith the Lord God of Israel; this is added to confirm what is said, and to express the certainty of it; and shows that the Israelites are meant, to whom the Lord was a covenant God. The Targum applies the metaphors thus,

"so shall the righteous be left alone in the world among the kingdoms, saith the Lord God of Israel.''

(q) "ut strictura oleae", Cocceius. (r) "imperator; princeps, dux qui allis quomodo cumque praest imperatque", Golius, col. 158. Castel. col. 150. though the verb in the Hebrew language is used in the sense of elevation or lifting up, and seems to be derived from hence. So Schindler, col. 96. "ramus, summitas rami----inde verbum", "eminere aut prominere fecit, rami aut frondis instar exaltavit, extulit, evexit", Deut. xxvi. 17, 18. Psal. xciv. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Yet gleaning-grapes ... - They shall not all be removed, or destroyed. A “few” shall be left, as a man who is gathering grapes or olives will leave a few that are inaccessible on the topmost boughs, or the furthest branches. Those would be usually the poorest, and so it may be implied that those left in Israel would be among the poorer inhabitants of the land.

Two or three - A very few - such as would be left in gathering grapes, or in endeavoring to shake olives from a tree.

Four or five - A very few that would remain on the furthest branches, and that could not be shaken off or reached.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Some few Israelites were left after their captivity, who joined themselves to the kingdom of Judah, and were carried captive to Babylon with them, from whence also they returned with them, as we find in the history of their return in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Gleaning grapes shall be left — Similar to what remains of lingering olives — two or three in the top and four or five in the lateral branches, after the hard beating with sticks in the late harvest of the olive trees. The deportation of people will be so thorough that only here and there will an occasional poor family be left. See THOMSON’S The Land and the Book, (vol. i, page 74,) where present practices in that land exhibit the aptness and beauty of the figure in the text.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it; rather, yet gleanings shall be left in it. There is no mention of grapes, and it is clear that the "gleaning" intended is that of an olive-ground. As the shaking of an olive tree; rather, as at the beating of an olive tree. The olive crop was obtained, not by shaking, but by beating the trees. (Deu_24:20) The owner was forbidden to "go over the boughs again," in order that a portion of the crop might be left for the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless to glean. In the top of the uppermost bough. Where the sticks of the beaters had not reached. Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches; rather, four or fire apiece on its fruitful branches, This is the average that would be left, after beating, on a good-sized branch.

Vers. 6-11. National repentance may come too late to avert national ruin.

The crisis of a nation"s fate is brought on by slow degrees, and results from a multitude of acts, each one of which, when once done, is past recall. Up to a certain point there is a possibility of retrieval. "Tout peut se retablir," as a great monarch of our own time said. The modes of action that have brought the state into difficulties may be renounced, or even reversed; and recovery may set in as a natural consequence of such reversal. Or the change of conduct may have appeased God"s anger, and his favor may raise up the nation which he has depressed, to mark his displeasure. Such was the case with united Israel during the period of the judges. Seven times was the nation for its sins "sold into the hand" of a foreign power, its independence suspended, its ruin all but accomplished; and seven times upon its repentance did God raise up a deliverer who restored it to vigorous life and re-established its prosperity. But this process cannot go on forever. A time comes when the sources of national vigor are sapped, when exhaustion has set in, when foreign neighbors have become enormously powerful, and when it would require, not one miracle only, but a series of miracles, to save the state from the consequences of its long-continued misconduct. Then, although the remnant left may perceive its danger, and regret the past, and repent, and put away the evil of its doings, and even reverse its modes of action, turning to God (ver. 7) instead of turning away from him (ver. 10), and looking to the Holy One instead of looking to idols and vanities, it may be too late to reverse the fiat that has long since gone forth, or to arrest the destruction decreed and determined on. The remnant may save their own souls, but they cannot save their country. The "day of grief and of desperate sorrow" comes on, whatever they may do; and the nation perishes in consequence of its past misdeeds, despite its tardy amendment.

The Lord"s remnant.

Figuratively here is called to mind the fact that God"s dealings are never wholly destructive; they never utterly desolate; there is always a mitigation, always a spared remnant. The figure used, of the few olive berries left for the gleaner, is a very striking one, if the customs of the olive-growing countries is understood. In Thomson"s "Land and the Book" there is a full description. "Early in autumn the berries begin to drop off of themselves, or are shaken off by the wind. They are allowed to remain under the trees for some time, guarded by the watchman of the town"s very familiar Bible character. Presently public proclamations are made that the owners may gather the fruit. And in November comes the general and final summons. No olives are now safe unless the owner looks after them, for the watchmen are removed, and the orchards are alive with men, women, and children. It is a merry time, and the laugh and the song echo far and wide. Everywhere the people are in the trees," shaking" them with all their might, to bring down the fruit. The effort is to make a clear sweep of all the crop; but in spite of shaking and beating, there is always a gleaning left or three berries in the top of the uttermost boughs, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches." These are afterwards gleaned up by the very poor, who have no trees of their own." Matthew. Henry well expresses the thought to which this figure directs us: "Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in the day of the Lord"s anger, and had their lives given them for a prey, and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of God"s courts." God"s remnants are illustrated in the Flood; fate of Sodom; Captivity; Elijah"s time; and siege by the Romans of Jerusalem. Always there has been "a remnant according to the election of grace." This remnant has shown in every age that God"s judgments are never

I VINDICTIVE. They are always, and for every one

II DISCIPLINARY. And they are so mitigated as

III NEVER TO CRUSH OUT HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet - Some few Israelites were left after their captivity, who joined themselves to Judah, and were carried captive to Babylon with them, from whence also they returned with them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“And gleanings shall be left therein like the beating (or shaking) of an olive tree, two (or) three berries in the top of a high bough, four (or) five in the branches of the fruit-tree, saith Jehovah God of Israel.” There is here an allusion to the custom of beating the unripe olives from the tree for the purpose of making oil. Those described as left may either be the few left to ripen for eating, or the few overlooked by the gatherer or beyond his reach. The common version (gleaning grapes) is too restricted, and presents the incongruity of grapes upon an olive-tree. The transition from the figure of a harvest to that of an olive-gathering may be intended simply to vary and multiply the images, or, as some suppose, to complete the illustration which would otherwise have been defective, because the reaper is followed by the gleaner who completes the ingathering at once, whereas the olive-gatherer leaves some as a matter of course. Two, three, four, and five, are used, as in other languages, for an indefinite small number or a few. This verse is regarded by most interpreters as describing the extent to which the threatened judgment would be carried. The gleanings, then, are not the pious remnant, but the ignoble refuse who survived the deportation of the ten tribes by the Assyrians.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

This continues to compare the nation of Israel with a field after it is harvested. (See: Isaiah 17:4-5)

Gleanings will be left

The word "Gleanings" here represents the people who will still live in Israel. AT: "But there will be a few people left in Israel" (See: Metaphor)

as when the olive tree is shaken

People harvested olive trees by shaking them so that the olives would fall out. AT: "like the few olives that remain on the olive trees after people harvest them" (See: Simile)

four or five

The word "olives" is understood from the phrase before this. AT: "four or five olives" (See: Ellipsis)

this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Israel

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. AT: "this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

men will look toward their Maker ... will look to the Holy One of Israel

Looking toward God here represents hoping that he will help them. AT: "men will hope that their Maker, the Holy One of Israel, will help them" (See: Idiom)

men will look

The word "men" represents people in general. AT: "people will look" (See: Synecdoche)

their eyes will look

Here "eyes" represents the people who look. AT: "they will look" or "the people will look" (See: Synecdoche)

Holy One of Israel

See how you translated this in Isaiah 1:4.

translationWords

glean

olive

declare

Yahweh

God

Israel

Holy One

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And...shall be left in it Hezekiah and his company, who are inside Jerusalem. They are few people like the gleanings of a vineyard and like the cutter of an olive tree, who leaves over two or three berries.

like the cutter of an olive tree Heb. כְּנֹקֶף, like the one who cuts olives to pick them from the tree. Comp. (infra 10:34) “And the thickets of the forest shall be cut off (וְנִקַּף).” Our Rabbis expounded: “And...shall be left in it,” as referring to Sennacherib’s army; i.e., there shall be left in the multitude of Sennacherib a few people like the cutter of an olive tree, as it is stated in the Aggadah of ‘Chelek’ (95b).

at the end of the uppermost bough at the end of the bough.

on its branches Heb. בִּסְעִפֶיהָ. Comp. infra (27:10) “And he shall finish its branches (סְעִיפֶיהָ).” Also (supra 10:33), “Lops off the branches (מְסָעֵף).”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

כנוקף As the shaking of. Comp. ונקף and he will cut down (10:34); ינקופו let them kill (29:1).

אמיר The top of the olive-tree. Comp. האמירך He hath exalted thee (Deut. 26:18); the word אמיר has the same meaning in Arabic.

Four or five. Supply berries.

בסעיפיה פוריה In the branches of the fruitful olive-tree.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.