Galatians 4:27

King James Version (KJV)

For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not - This quotation is taken from Isaiah 54:1, and is certainly a promise which relates to the conversion of the Gentiles, as the following clause proves; for the desolate - the Gentile world, hath many more children - is a much larger and more numerous Church, than she - Jerusalem, the Jewish state, which hath a husband - has been so long in covenant with God, living under his continual protection, and in possession of a great variety of spiritual advantages; and especially those offered to her by the Gospel, which she has rejected, and which the Gentiles have accepted.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

For it is written - This passage is found in Isaiah 54:1. For an exposition of its meaning as it occurs there, see my notes at Isaiah. The object of the apostle in introducing it here seems to be to prove that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would partake of the privileges connected with the heavenly Jerusalem. He had in the previous verse spoken of the Jerusalem from above as the common mother of all, true Christians, whether by birth Jews or Gentiles. This might be disputed or doubted by the Jews; and he therefore adduces this proof from the Old Testament. Or if it was not doubted, still the quotation was pertinent, and would illustrate the sentiment which he had just uttered. The mention of Jerusalem as a mother seems to have suggested this text. Isaiah had spoken of Jerusalem as a female that had been long desolate and childless, now rejoicing by a large accession from the Gentile world, and increased in numbers like a female who should have more children than one who had been long married. To this Paul appropriately refers when he says that the whole church, Jews and Gentiles, were the children of the heavenly Jerusalem, represented here as a rejoicing mother. He has not quoted literally from the Hebrew, but he has used the Septuagint version, and has retained the sense. The sense is, that the accession from the Gentile world would be far more numerous than the Jewish people had ever been; a prophecy that has been already fulfilled.

Rejoice thou barren that bearest not - As a woman who has had no children would rejoice. This represents probably the pagan world as having been apparently forsaken and abandoned, and with whom there had been none of the true children of God.

Break forth and cry - Or “break forth and exclaim;” that is, break out into loud and glad exclamations at the remarkable accession. The cry here referred to was to be a joyful cry or shout; the language of exultation. So the Hebrew word in Isaiah 54:1 צהל tsaahalmeans.

For the desolate - She who was desolate and apparently forsaken. It literally refers to a woman who had seemed to be desolate and forsaken, who was unmarried. In Isaiah it may refer to Jerusalem, long forsaken and desolate, or as some suppose to the Gentile world; see my note at Isaiah 54:1.

Than she which hath an husband - Perhaps referring to the Jewish people as in covenant with God, and often spoken of as married to him; Isaiah 62:4-5; Isaiah 54:5.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The heavenly Jerusalem, the true church from above, represented by Sarah, is in a state of freedom, and is the mother of all believers, who are born of the Holy Spirit. They were by regeneration and true faith, made a part of the true seed of Abraham, according to the promise made to him.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

27. It is written. The quotation is from Isa. 54:1 (see Vol. IV, pp. 26-30).

Rejoice, thou barren. In Isaiah’s day literal Israel had been “barren” in the sense that she had not brought forth the fruits of righteousness (see Isa. 5:1-7) and had done nothing toward evangelizing the world. The prospect of glorious success now belongs to the Christian church. This promise of the glorious fulfillment of God’s will for them as a nation of light bearers to mankind, originally made to literal Israel, Paul now applies to the church (see Vol. IV, pp. 29, 35, 36). As an Oriental woman who had no children would rejoice at having children, so the Gentiles may rejoice that the gospel privileges once offered Israel are now theirs (see Acts 11:18). The Jews had forfeited their opportunity to be heralds of the Messiah to all the world. In fact, the most stubborn and persistent opposition to the work of the Apostle to the Gentiles came from the Jews.

The desolate. That is, the “freewoman” of vs. 22, 23, “desolate” because she was once “barren.”

Many more children. Here, the large number of Gentile converts who were responding to the gospel message of Paul and the other apostles. When Paul returned to the church at Jerusalem to report to the leaders there, he invariably told of his success among the Gentiles (see Acts 15:12; 21:17-19). The Jews were anxious to make proselytes (see Matt. 23:15), and were, indeed, successful (see Vol. V, p. 62). In nearly every Gentiles, either full proselytes to the Jewish faith or, like Cornelius when Peter first met him (see Acts 10:1, 2), God fearers, attracted by the comparatively high ideals of Judaism. The latter, in great numbers, hesitated to accept circumcision, and were therefore excluded from the full benefits of Jewish worship. When these Gentiles heard the gospel proclaimed, they gladly accepted the good news that accorded them equal opportunity with the Jews to receive all the benefits of salvation provided by Jesus Christ. Many of Paul’s first Gentile converts from city to city probably came from this group. Paul proclaimed the universality of the gospel (see Rom. 1:15-17; Gal. 3:26).

She which hath an husband. In Paul’s allegory, Hagar.

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Ellen G. White
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6 (EGW), 1077

13. See EGW on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. 6BC 1077.1

15-21 (1 Timothy 1:9, 10; James 1:22-25; see EGW on 2 Corinthians 3:6-9). Not Obedient, but Transgressors, Under Bondage—Paul in his Epistle to Timothy describes the very men who are under the bondage of the law. They are the transgressors of the law. He names them lawless, disobedient, sinners, unholy, profane, murderers, adulterers, liars, and all who depart from sound doctrine. 1 Timothy 1:9, 10. 6BC 1077.2

The law of God is the mirror to show man the defects in his character. But it is not pleasant to those who take pleasure in unrighteousness to see their moral deformity. They do not prize this faithful mirror, because it reveals to them their sins. Therefore, instead of instituting a war against their carnal minds, they war against the true and faithful mirror, given them by Jehovah for the very purpose that they may not be deceived, but that they may have revealed to them the defects in their character. 6BC 1077.3

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Cross References

Rejoice

barren