Isaiah 27:6

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) He shall cause them that come of Jacob . . .—Better, In the days that come Jacob shall strike root. The figure of Israel as the vine of Jehovah’s vineyard is carried to its close. The true Israel of God shall go through its normal stages of growth, and its restoration shall be as “the riches of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:12; Hosea 14:6). With this picture of blessedness the psalm of the Church of the future comes to an end.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 27:6. He shall cause them of Jacob to take root — To be firmly settled in their possessions. The words may be rendered, In times to come he shall cause Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud — Shall revive and flourish. The metaphor of a vine is still pursued, and these expressions signify the increase of the Jewish people, after their return from their captivity in Babylon. And fill the face of the world with fruit — Their posterity shall be so numerous that their own land shall not be sufficient for them, but they shall be forced to seek habitations in other countries, and shall replenish them with people. This prediction was indeed fulfilled after the captivity; for the Jews filled all Judea and Syria, and were spread over all the Roman empire, as appears, not only from their own histories, but from the books of the New Testament. See note on Isaiah 26:15. But, perhaps, this is chiefly intended to be understood of the spiritual seed of Jacob, or of believers, who are often called God’s Israel, as Romans 9:6, and elsewhere.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:6-13 In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The Jews yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through so many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divine origin of the Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continued warning against sin. But though winds are ever so rough, ever so high, God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls. According to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people have shown such hatred to idols and idolatry as the Jews. And to all God's people, the design of affliction is to part between them and sin. The affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it. Jerusalem had been defended by grace and the Divine protection; but when God withdrew, she was left like a wilderness. This has awfully come to pass. And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with severely, because God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see how weak those pleas will be. Verses 12,13, seem to predict the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and their recovery from their present dispersion. This is further applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gathered into the grace of God; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet, are brought in to worship God, and added to the church; and the last trumpet will gather the saints together.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root - This language is derived from the vine, as the shoots or cuttings of the vine take root and flourish. To take root, therefore, is an emblem denoting that the descendants of Jacob, or the people of God, would increase and prosper.

Shall blossom and bud - An image also taken from the vine, or from fruit trees in general, and meaning that they should greatly flourish in the time succeeding their return from the captivity.

And fill the face of the world with fruit - On the meaning of the word 'face,' see the note at Isaiah 25:7. The sense is, that the people of God would so increase and flourish that the true religion would ultimately fill the entire world. The same idea of the universal prevalence of the true religion is often advanced by this prophet, and occurs in various parts of the hymns or songs which we are now considering (see Isaiah 25:6-8). The figure which is used here, drawn from the vine, denoting prosperity by its increase and its fruit, is beautifully employed in Psalm 92:13-14 :

Those that be planted in the house of Yahweh,

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;

They shall be rich and green.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. He—Jehovah. Here the song of the Lord as to His vineyard (Isa 27:2-5) ends; and the prophet confirms the sentiment in the song, under the same image of a vine (compare Ps 92:13-15; Ho 14:5, 6).

Israel … fill … world—(Ro 11:12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To take root; to be firmly settled in their possessions, and not tossed hither and thither, as they have been.

Fill the face of the world with fruit; their posterity shall be so numerous, that their own land shall not be sufficient for them, but they shall be forced to seek habitations in other countries, and shall replenish them with people. But this seems to be understood of the spiritual seed of Jacob, or of believers, who are oft called God’s Israel, as Romans 9:6, and elsewhere.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root,.... That is, the posterity of Jacob, the seed of Israel, in a spiritual sense; such who are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; these shall be so far from being plucked up, or rooted out of the vineyard, the church, that they shall take deeper root, and their roots shall spread yet more and more; they shall be rooted and grounded in the love of God, and also in Christ, and be built up in him, as well as firmly settled and established in the church, Ephesians 3:17 or, "them that come to Jacob (u)"; proselytes unto him, converted Gentiles, that come to the church of Christ, signified by "Jacob", and give up themselves unto it, and are added to it, these shall take root. The words may be rendered, in days "to come, he shall cause Jacob to take root": or, he "shall take root", as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Ben Melech supply the words; and so they are a prophecy of the stability and prosperous estate of the church in the latter day:

Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit; which may be understood of the fruits of grace and righteousness, which shall appear upon the people of God, in all parts of the world; or of the great number of converts everywhere; so the Targum, by "fruit", understands children's children; the sense is, that when the church of God, in the latter day, is settled and established, grounded in Christ, and in the doctrines of grace, it shall be in very flourishing and fruitful circumstances, abounding in grace and good works, and with numbers of converts; it shall be like the mustard tree, when it becomes so great a tree as that the birds of the air make their nests in it; and as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, when it becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, Matthew 13:31 compare with this Isaiah 37:31.

(u) So some in Gataker.

Geneva Study Bible

{f} He shall cause them that descend from Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

(f) Though I afflict and diminish my people for a time, yet will the root spring again and bring forth in great abundance.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. The verse is attached to the song, but forms no integral part of it. It reads as in R.V.: In days to come shall Jacob take root, &c. By a unique ellipsis the word “days” is omitted in the original; hence the mistaken rendering of A.V., “them that come.”

and fill the face of the world with fruit] For a contrast see ch. Isaiah 14:21. The fruitfulness anticipated belongs to the sphere of temporal prosperity,—teeming population, &c.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; rather, in the days to come Jacob shall strike root. Jacob, lately the vineyard, is now compared to a single vine, which becomes strong by striking its roots deep into the soil, and then, as a consequence, blossoms and buds, and fills the face of the world with fruit. So the Israel of God, firmly rooted in the soil of God's favor, would blossom with graces of all kinds, and bring forth the abundant fruit of good works. Isaiah 27:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophet now adds to the song of the vineyard, by way of explanation. "In future will Jacob strike roots, Israel blossom and bud, and fill the surface of the globe with fruits." We may see from הבּאים (acc. temp. as in Ecclesiastes 2:16, equivalent in meaning to "Behold, the days come," Jeremiah 7:32, etc.), that the true language of prophecy commences again here. For the active וּמלאוּ, compare Jeremiah 19:4; Ezekiel 8:17, etc. The prophet here says, in a figure, just the same as the apostle in Romans 11:12, viz., that Israel, when restored once more to favour as a nation, will become "the riches of the Gentiles."