What is the context?
The chapter opens with the Lord judging Leviathan and the dragon of the sea. The Hebrew name לִוְיָתָן, livyathan, pronounced liv-yah-THAHN, is explained by Brown–Driver–Briggs as a serpent, dragon or sea monster in poetic passages. Here the creature’s strength is no match for the Lord’s sword.
The next picture is a fruitful vineyard, guarded and watered by the Lord. This reverses the abandoned vineyard of Isaiah 5. The One who keeps it offers protection and peace, and Jacob takes root until Israel fills the world with fruit.
The middle verses distinguish the Lord’s treatment of Israel from the ruin of its oppressors. Exile and judgment are real, but the removal of guilt is accompanied by the destruction of idolatrous altars. The deserted city shows the severity of the warning against a people without understanding.
The final scene gathers Israelites one by one. A great ram’s horn sounds, and those perishing in Assyria and exiled in Egypt come to worship the Lord in Jerusalem. The chapter moves from defeated hostile power to a people preserved, cleansed and gathered for worship.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry reads Leviathan in relation to the devil and Christ’s victory over him. Wesley gives a broader explanation: a powerful enemy or enemies of God and His people. Gill includes both oppressive rulers and Satan behind their hostility. These are interpretations of the image, rather than meanings established simply by the creature’s name.
Henry and Wesley read the vineyard as God’s people under His continuing care. They emphasize that correction has a purpose in removing sin, rather than treating Israel exactly like the enemies brought to an end.
Henry connects the closing gathering both with return from captivity and with the gospel gathering people into worship. Gill places particular emphasis on the gospel as the trumpet call, while also allowing a future gathering connected with Jerusalem. The common hope is that scattered people are not beyond the Lord’s care.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Romans 11:25–32 draws on Isaiah’s promises of a deliverer and the removal of sins, combining language from Isaiah 59 with Isaiah 27:9. Paul speaks about Israel, the fullness of the Gentiles and God’s mercy, warning his readers against conceit.
The final gathering also has a close parallel in Matthew 24:29–31, where the Son of Man sends angels with a loud trumpet call to gather His elect. This is a parallel in the gathering imagery; the passage does not name every place or settle every question of sequence in Isaiah.
Together these connections place restoration within God’s larger purpose of removing sin, showing mercy and gathering His people. The point is more than survival after a disaster: the gathered people come to worship Him.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.