Galatians 4:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Galatians 4:27
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.
(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — nominative plural neuter
more
μᾶλλονmallon
G3123
(adverbially) more (in a greater degree)) or rather · adverb
children
τέκναtekna
G5043
a child (as produced) · noun — nominative plural neuter
than
ἢē
G2228
disjunctive · conjunction
which
τὰta
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — nominative plural neuter
hath
ἐχούσηςechousēs
G2192
to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, genitive singular feminine
husband
ἄνδρα.andra
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — accusative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 54:1-5 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the…
Psalms 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
Ruth 4:14-16 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Isra…
1 Samuel 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that…
Ruth 1:11-13 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
1 Timothy 5:5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
2 Samuel 13:20 And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard n…
Isaiah 49:21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Galatians 4:21–end
In these verses the apostle illustrates the difference between believers who rested in Christ only and those judaizers who trusted in the law, by a comparison taken from the story of Isaac and Ishmael. This he introduces in such a manner as was proper to strike and impress their minds, and to convince them of their great weakness in departing from the truth, and suffering themselves to be deprived of the liberty of the gospel: Tell me, says he, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? He takes it for granted that they did hear the law, for among the Jews it was wont to be read in their public assemblies every sabbath day; and, since they were so very fond of being under…
(Isa 54:1).
thou barren--Jerusalem above: the spiritual Church of the Gospel, the fruit of "the promise," answering to Sarah, who bore not "after the flesh": as contrasted with the law, answering to Hagar, who was fruitful in the ordinary course of nature. Isaiah speaks primarily of Israel's restoration after her long-continued calamities; but his language is framed by the Holy Spirit so as to reach beyond this to the spiritual Zion: including not only the Jews, the natural descendants of Abraham and children of the law, but also the Gentiles. The spiritual Jerusalem is regarded as "barren" while the law trammeled Israel, for she then had no spiritual children of the Gentiles.
break fort…
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not - This quotation is taken from Isa 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.
The Church Fathers
Sarah signifies the heavenly Jerusalem, having been deserted for a long time by her husband's embraces because of her perceived sterility. For men such as Abraham did not use women to satisfy lust but for the procreation of offspring. Now to her sterility age had also been added.… The age of Isaac's parents serves to signify that, new though the people of the New Covenant are, their predestination lies nonetheless with God and is that heavenly Jerusalem of old.
Wherefore the Church beareth much fruit of the redeemed: because no longer Moses (as) mediator nor Elijah (as) messenger, but the Lord Himself has redeemed us, granting many more children to the Church than to the first Synagogue; as Isaiah declared, saying: "Rejoice thou barren, that didst not bear." The barren is the Church, which never at all in former times presented sons to God. "Cry out and call, thou that didst not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her which hath an husband." Now the first Synagogue had as husband the Law.
"Rejoice, you barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, you that travailest not; for she that is desolate has many more children than she that has an husband." In that He said, "Rejoice, you barren that bearest not," He referred to us, for our church was barren before that children were given to her. But when He said, "Cry out, you that travailest not," He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of weakness. And in that He said, "For she that is desolate has many more children than she that has an husband," [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Heaven — (1.) Definitions. The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens, (a) The firmament,…
Sarah — Princess, the wife and at the same time the half-sister of Abraham (Gen. 11:29; 20:12). This name was given to her at the time that it was announced to Abraham that she should be the mother of the…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Galatians 4:27
For it is written,.... Isaiah 44:1, which is cited to prove, that the heavenly Jerusalem, or Gospel church state, is the mother of us all, and has brought forth, and still will bring forth, many souls to Christ, even many more than were under the legal dispensation by the Jewish church, though the Lord was an husband to them, Jeremiah 31:32. The words are,
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; by her that was "barren", and "bore" not, and "travailed" not, and was "desolate", is not meant the Gentile world, which before the coming of Christ was barren and destitute of the kn…
Galatians 4:27-31
27. 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.
27. Scriptum est enim: Exulta, sterilis, qum non paris; erumpe et elama, quae non parturis; quaE plures erunt liberi desertae quam habentis maritum. (Isaiah 54:1.)
28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
28. Nos autem, fratres, secundum Issac, promissionis sumus filii. (Romans 9:7.)
29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
29. Sed quemadmodum tunc, qui secundum carnem erat genitus, persequeba…
The quoted passage, Isa 54:1, promised Israel that they would be fruitful after the Exile. Because those who have faith in Christ are Sarah’s children (Gal 4:26), they fulfill the promise that Sarah (the childless woman) would be more abundantly fruitful than the slave-wife Hagar. To the Judaizers, those who don’t follow the law may have been considered “barren,” but through faith they are abundantly fruitful as the bride of Christ (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:31-33).
