Isaiah 26:20,21

Isaiah 26:20 to Isaiah 27:1. Let Yahweh's People Take Shelter, for He is about to Execute Judgment. Here the apocalypse is resumed. The Jews are warned that Yahweh's indignation is about to break loose on the earth, which will reveal the bloodshed she has concealed; let them take shelter, for His wrath will soon be executed. In that day He will punish the two leviathans and the dragon in the sea.

Isaiah 26:21 b. Cf. Genesis 4:10 *.

Isaiah 27:1. It is generally thought that the three monsters here mentioned are to be identified with empires. If so, the dragon is probably here, as elsewhere, Egypt. The fleeing (mg.) serpent has been identified with Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Syria; the winding serpent with Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Parthia, according to the historical circumstances which are supposed to lie behind the oracle. It is possible that constellations are intended: if so, Smend and Burney may be right in identifying the first leviathan with Serpens, the second with Draco, and the dragon with Hydra. The sea will in this case be the heavenly ocean. It must be remembered that the stars were thought of as personal powers (cf. Judges 5:20), and they would be connected with the host of the high ones on high of Isaiah 24:21.