Isaiah 27:1

King James Version (KJV)

In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Leviathan - The animals here mentioned seem to be the crocodile, rigid by the stiffness of the backbone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings: the serpent or dragon, flexible and winding, which coils himself up in a circular form: and the sea monster, or whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the prophet under these images, is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily with in the design of these notes. R. D. Kimchi says, leviathan is a parable concerning the kings of the Gentiles: it is the largest fish in the sea, called also תנין tannin, the dragon, or rather the whale. By these names the Grecian, Turkish, and Roman empires are intended. The dragon of the sea seems to mean some nation having a strong naval force and extensive commerce. See Kimchi on the place.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

In that day - In that future time when the Jews would be captive in Babylon, and when they would sigh for deliverance (see the note at Isaiah 26:1). This verse might have been connected with the previous chapter, as it refers to the same event, and then this chapter would have more appropriately commenced with the poem or song which begins in Isaiah 27:2.

With his sore - Hebrew, הקשׁה haqāshâh - ‹Hard.‘ Septuagint, Τὴς ἁγίαν Tēn hagian - ‹Holy.‘ The Hebrew means a sword that is hard, or well-tempered and trusty.

And great, and strong sword - The sword is an emblem of war, and is often used among the Hebrews to denote war (see Genesis 27:40; Leviticus 26:25). It is also an emblem of justice or punishment, as punishment then, as it is now in the Turkish dominions, was often inflicted by the sword Deuteronomy 32:41-42; Psalm 7:12; Hebrews 11:37. Here, if it refers to the overthrow of Babylon and its tyrannical king, it means that God would punish them by the armies of the Medes, employed as his sword or instrument. Thus in Psalm 17:13, David prays, ‹Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword‘ (compare the notes at Isaiah 10:5-6).

Leviathan - לויתן livyâthân The Septuagint renders this, Τὴν δράκοντα Tēn drakonta - ‹The dragon.‘ The word ‹leviathan‘ is probably derived from לוה lâvâh in Arabic, to weave, to twist (Gesenius); and literally means, “the twisted animal.” The word occurs in six places in the Old Testament, and is translated in Job 3:8, ‹mourning,‘ Margin, ‹leviathan;‘ in Job 41:1, ‹leviathan‘ - in which chapter is an extended description of the animal; in Psalm 74:14, it is rendered ‹leviathan,‘ and seems to be applied to Pharaoh; and in Psalm 104:26, and in the passage before us, where it is twice also rendered ‹leviathan.‘ Bochart (Hierez. ii. 5. 16-18) has gone into an extended argument to show that by the leviathan the crocodile is intended; and his argument is in my view conclusive. On this subject, Bochart, Dr. Good (on Ezekiel 29:3-5, the dragon, or the crocodile of the Nile, represents Pharaoh; in Ezekiel 22:2, Pharaoh is compared to a young lion, and to a whale in the seas; in Psalm 74:13-14, Pharaoh is compared to the dragon, and to the leviathan. In Job 26:13. The term ‹piercing,‘ is, in the Margin, ‹Crossing like a bar.‘ The Septuagint renders it, Ὄφιν Φεύγοντα Ophin pheugonta - ‹Flying serpent. The Hebrew, בריח bāriyach rendered ‹piercing,‘ is derived from ברץ bârach to flee;” and then to stretch across, or pass through, as a bar through boards Exodus 36:33. Hence, this word may mean fleeing; extended; cross bar for fastening gates; or the cross piece for binding together the boards for the tabernacle of the congregation Exodus 26:26; Exodus 36:31. Lowth renders it, ‹The rigid serpent;‘ probably with reference to the hard scales of the crocodile. The word “extended, huge, vast,” will probably best suit the connection. In Job 26:13, it is rendered, ‹the crooked serpent;‘ referring to the constellation in the heavens by the name of the Serpent (see the note at that place). The idea of piercing is not in the Hebrew word, nor is it ever used in that sense.

That crooked serpent - This is correctly rendered; and refers to the fact that the monster here referred to throws itself into immense volumes or folds, a description that applies to all serpents of vast size. Virgil has given a similar description of sea monsters throwing themselves into vast convolutions:

‹Ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta

- immensis orbibus angues.‘

- AEn. ii. 203.

And again:

‹Sinuantque immensa volumine terga.‘

Idem. 208.

The reference in Isaiah, I suppose, is not to “different” kings or enemies of the people of God, but to the same. It is customary in Hebrew poetry to refer to the same subject in different members of the same sentence, or in different parts of the same parallelism.

The dragon - Referring to the same thing under a different image - to the king of Babylon. On the meaning of the word ‹dragon,‘ see the note at Isaiah 13:22.

In the sea - In the Euphrates; or in the marshes and pools that encompass Babylon (see Isaiah 11:15, note; Isaiah 18:2, note). The sense of the whole verse is, that God would destroy the Babylonian power that was to the Jews such an object of loathsomeness and of terror.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that old serpent. The world is a fruitless, worthless wilderness; but the church is a vineyard, a place that has great care taken of it, and from which precious fruits are gathered. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous. God also takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We need the continual waterings of Divine grace; if these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Though God sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and thorns instead of vines, and they are set in array against him, he will tread them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. Ever since sin first entered, there has been, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let us take hold on that. Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by lively faith take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy, believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to be saved. God is willing to be reconciled to us.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

1. Leviathan. See on Job 41:1; Ps. 74:13, 14. In ancient Canaanite mythology “leviathan” was regarded as a seven-headed serpent that fought against the gods and the forces of right, and was itself thus considered a personification of the forces of evil. Ancient Canaanite texts from Ras Shamrah (see Vol. I, pp. 128, 129) speak of a seven-headed monster “Lotan,” which is believed to be the same name as the Biblical word “leviathan” (Heb. liwyathan). In the ancient Mesopotamian creation myth there was a tradition of a primeval conflict between the gods and a dragon of chaos.

These and other legends among the heathen appear to indicate a confused but prevalent and persistent concept of Satan as a serpent engaged in a death struggle with the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15; cf. Rev. 12:3, 4). Job’s “leviathan” is, evidently from the context, a literal animal (Job 41), generally believed to be the crocodile. The psalmist, referring to the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, speaks of the Lord as breaking “the heads of leviathan in pieces” (Ps. 74:13, 14). A many-headed crocodile would be a symbolic monster quite appropriate as a designation for Egypt. The crocodile flourished in the River Nile. Repeatedly in Isa. 27; 30; 31 Egypt is mentioned, and this tends to confirm the idea that “leviathan” here stands, first of all, as a symbol of Egypt. Compare also the “dragon” of Isa. 27:1 with that of Eze. 29:3; cf. ch. 32:2, 4.

Revelation pictures Satan as “a great red dragon, having seven heads” (Rev. 12:3), and declares that “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” and that “the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:7, 9). “That day” when the Lord slays “leviathan” appears to be the day when “the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” (Isa. 26:21). Whether Isaiah’s words may be applied to Satan is uncertain.

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Cross References

that day

with his