Isaiah 27:12 - Exposition

The Lord shall beat off ; i.e. "gather in his harvest." The metaphor is taken either from the beating of olive trees to obtain the berries (see Isaiah 17:6 ), or from the beating out of the grain by a threshing-flail ( 6:11 ; Ruth 2:17 ; and below. Isaiah 28:27 ). Perhaps the best translation would be, The Lord shall thresh . From the channel of the river ; rather, from the strong stream of the river . As usual, "the river" ( hannahar ) is the Euphrates (comp. Genesis 31:21 ; Exodus 23:31 ; Deuteronomy 11:24 ; Joshua 24:2 , Joshua 24:3 , Joshua 24:14 , Joshua 24:15 , etc.). Its "strong stream," or "flood," is contrasted with the scant thread of water which was alone to be found in the "Torrens AE gypti." The stream of Egypt ( nachal Mizraim ) is generally allowed to be the modern Wady el Arish , which was appointed to be the southern boundary of the Holy Land ( Numbers 34:5 ; 1 Kings 8:65 ). The Lord would collect within these limits all that were of Israel. He would also, as appears from the next verse, subsequently overstep the limits.